Along Came Merrie (4 page)

* * * *

“How’s the Johnston’s cow doing?” Braden asked as he descended the stairs.

“Good. The poor thing got tangled up in some barbwire. I hate barbwire.” Leo set his bag by the door then strode into the kitchen. He opened the fridge and pulled out a pitcher of iced tea. “How’s the patient?”

While Leo poured himself a glass of tea, Braden flopped his hat onto the table. “Awake. Her name is Merrie Walden. I told her you’d be up to see her.”

“What the hell happened to her?”

“The Demon Devils.”

Leo paused with the glass halfway to his mouth. “Shit.”

Braden nodded grimly. “She was lost, stopped to use the phone then some man named Axe attacked her. She jumped from the back seat of her car when they were taking her away, fell down an embankment, which is how she broke her wrist, and got banged up. Then she spent the night fleeing through the woods. She said they were going to kill her.”

“She needs to go to the cops,” Leo insisted.

“Axe made it sound like they were in his pocket.”

“Do you think that could be true? Givon and North are pretty tight.”

“Do we want to take that chance?”

Leo frowned, stared at his drink then drank half of the tea before he set the glass on the counter. “Let me go talk to her.”

As Leo brushed by him, Braden grabbed his brother’s arm. “Be nice to her.”

“Of course,” Leo grumbled, extracting himself. “I have an excellent bedside manner.”

“Yeah, but you can’t scratch this patient behind the ear or pat her belly.”

Leo grinned and walked to his bag by the front door. He bent and retrieved his stethoscope before heading upstairs.

Merrie glanced up when a small knock sounded. The door was already open and a Native American man stood grinning at her. Even in her battered condition, she realized how handsome he was with short black hair and dark brown eyes.

“Hi. I’m Leo Cloud Dancer.”

“You’re Braden’s brother?”

Leo walked farther into the room and looked at her plastered wrist. “Honorary. His parents took me in and raised me with Braden. Helped get me through school then they co-signed my student loans. They’re good people, but they got tired of Wyoming winters so they moved to Florida.”

After examining her wrist, he began a check-up that included pupil dilation, counting her pulse and listening to her lungs. When he was done, he draped the stethoscope around his neck and rocked back on his heels to study her.

“I have to be honest, Merrie,” he said. “I wanted to take you to the hospital.”

“Thank you for not doing that,” she replied. “I don’t know if that man—Axe—would be scouting the hospitals or if the staff would be obligated to call the police. I just can’t trust them after what he said.”

He sighed. “All right. As long as nothing goes sour, I won’t beat a dead horse.”

“Oh, bad pun.”

“Sorry.” A bit of amusement resided in his tone. “Do you feel up to talking about what you saw?”

“That’s just it,” she said. “I don’t know what I saw. I think that man Axe thought I was someone else and when he realized I wasn’t, it was too late. He’d already assaulted me.”

“We’ll keep you safe here until you get on your feet,” he assured her. “I’m at the ranch most days. My practice is only half a mile down the road. Braden is usually in and out, dealing with the horses.”

She bit the part of her lip that wasn’t sore. “I’m sorry about this, about imposing on you.”

“Are you kidding? It was quite interesting treating a two-legged person instead of something with fur.”

She chuckled then winced. “Don’t make me laugh.”

“Then don’t talk to Braden,” Leo said, immediately losing all levity. “He’s the jokester in the family.”

Merrie eyed him dubiously. Braden McClintock had seemed more taciturn than funny. Then Leo’s lips twitched and she realized he was joking with her, which caused her to chuckle and hold her sides.

“Oh, you’re a very bad man for making me laugh,” she chastised with a smile.

He patted her hand. “I suspect you’re going to be bored, lying in bed. Am I right?”

She nodded. “I’m a doer not a lay-about, although I’m not sure how to help out with this cast. Plus, I’m right-handed, so don’t hand me a paring knife or I’m likely to need a whole different kind of bandage.”

“I’ve got an e-reader full of books. You can borrow it. If there’s anything you want, just download it.”

“What if I download some steamy romance?”

“Who’s to say it’s not already on there?”

She raised an eyebrow. “Well, Mr. Cloud Dancer, you are definitely not like your brother.”

“Thank God,” Leo praised, glancing skyward.

She gave another muffled laugh then groaned.

“Sorry. You’re very easy to tease.”

“Are you flirting with me?”

“Being a vet, I never thought I’d say this to a patient, but I have an ethical responsibility not to flirt with you.”

“Yeah, that does sound slightly weird. I was only teasing, you know.”

He smiled. “I know. Hey, we can be a couple of teases together, which is good to keep Braden from being too serious. He’s only two years older than I am but sometimes he acts like my grandfather. Speaking of family, is there anyone we can call for you?”

She shook her head as her smile immediately slid away. “I don’t have anyone anymore. I was actually moving to Cheyenne in hopes of finding a better job.”

“What about friends who will worry about you?”

“None. I guess I’m the perfect person to murder—no one to come looking for me.” She bit her bottom lip but that didn’t do much to quiet her quivering chin. She looked away from his warm brown eyes. “Pretty pathetic, huh?”

He took her left hand in his and rubbed the soft skin on her wrist with his thumb. The contrast between their colorings transfixed her.

“It’s okay,” he told her. “Merrie, why did these men do this to you?”

“I wish I knew,” she whispered. “They were talking about making sure to h-hide my body. And I believed them, Leo. I was so scared.”

She struggled to hold back the tears from the terror still lingering inside her. She’d come so close to dying, to vanishing without anyone being the wiser. And the thought of that man, Axe, finding her to finish what he’d started, settled in her soul like a festering wound.

Merrie shifted and winced.

“Would you like some pain medication?” Leo asked. “It’ll help you rest and right now you need lots of sleep. That’s when your body heals.”

“Okay,” she whispered.

He let go of her hand, rose and walked out of the bedroom. A few minutes later, he returned with a glass bottle and a new syringe. He opened the syringe package, drew up the medicine then injected it into her arm.

“Rest now.” Leo pushed a curl off her forehead.

Soon, lethargy flowed into her veins and she closed her eyes. She let the oblivion of the drug work its magic and succumbed to the peaceful arms of sleep.

Leo couldn’t stop staring at her. Merrie Walden wasn’t what he had expected, although now that he thought about it, he wasn’t quite sure what he
had
been expecting. In the back of his mind, he’d really thought this whole thing had been a scam, sucking Braden into whatever con she was concocting. But there was no denying the anxiety and shock still swimming in her toffee-colored eyes.

She was a strong woman, although he doubted she realized it. Not many people could keep their wits about them long enough to plan an escape or even face the pain she’d known she was going to inflict by jumping out of a speeding car.

Even under her fear, he could see her spunk.

He rose and retraced his steps back downstairs where he slid the used capped needle into his case to dispose of it properly once he got back to his office.

Braden stood at the table bent over a map.

“You were reading my mind,” he said, coming to stand next to his brother.

“I’d like a look at the road she was traveling on, see if we can find anything,” Braden stated. He circled an area with his index finger. “If we factor in her starting point was the bar and I found her here, not to mention the fact that she walked through the river, I’m thinking she had to jump from the car somewhere around here. Do you think it’s okay to leave her alone?”

“I gave her a shot of pain medicine. She’s going to be out for a few hours. But just in case, we’ll leave her a brief message that we’ll be back soon.”

Leo could see Braden mulling things over in his mind. He knew his brother didn’t want to leave her alone, because Leo didn’t want to either. Something about Merrie tugged on his heartstrings. More than just the abuse she’d suffered, Leo felt drawn to her and it made him want to help her, in any capacity.

After a few minutes, Braden gave a nod and Leo picked up the map, folding it so they could see the area Braden had pointed out. He scribbled a quick note and left it on the table. He made sure they’d locked the front door before heading to Braden’s truck. He tried to push his worries aside, because no one could trace Merrie Walden to them, even if one of those men had been tracking her through the forest. She hadn’t emerged on their property. Braden had been on his way to talk to a neighbor about a few horses and had used the southern road.

This time Braden took the paved main road, which twisted a little out of the way but had an on ramp for Route 18. The bar lay toward the southwest, so Braden turned north and drove slowly. Leo kept his eyes focused on the side of the road, hoping to see anything that might be a clue.

A few minutes later, he pointed. “Look. The shoulder disappears around that curve and gives way to a sheer embankment.”

“Merrie said she fell straight down instead of hitting the asphalt.”

Braden pulled over, while the road still had a shoulder, and jabbed the hazard lights on before turning off the engine.

“How far do you think we are from the Demon Devil’s bar?” Braden asked.

“Uh, fifteen miles? Not quite sure,” Leo answered.

They jumped out of the truck and began walking. Route 18 was a two-lane road that occasionally opened up into three so cars could pass slow-moving vehicles. It had once been the only road that linked the small town of Destiny to the bigger city of Cody, but that had changed once the nearby highway had been built. Now Route 18 was used mostly for locals, ranchers, and of course, for the Demon Devil Motorcycle Club that had moved in almost twenty years ago.

“Leo,” Braden said, pointing. “Look at the grass. It’s been trampled.”

Leo bent over to study the tall stalks of weeds and a flattened path down the side.

“That’s at least fifty yards down,” he muttered.

“Christ,” Braden muttered. “She jumped out of a car and rolled down that? How the hell did she survive?”

Leo shook his head in amazement. “And the only bone she broke was her wrist. She’s fucking lucky.”

“Come on,” Braden said. “Let’s cruise past the bar, see if we see anything.”

Leo wasn’t so sure that was a wise decision but he was curious too. They probably wouldn’t be so bold as to have her car out where anyone could see it, but stupider things had happened.

Braden stepped on the gas and sometime later, they drove by the Demon Devil’s hang out. A mile down the road, Braden made a U-turn in the middle of the road and drove by again, this time a little slower than before. Bikes surrounded the bar and a large sign held a white circle with two black D’s in the center with a devil in the background boldly proclaiming ownership to the Demon Devils.

They didn’t see a car, so Braden sped up and hurried back to the ranch. Leo was glad. He suddenly didn’t want Merrie left alone.

“What do we do now?” he asked.

Braden shook his head. “I don’t know.”

Chapter Four

When Merrie opened her eyes again, twilight peeked through the window’s lace curtains. Her wrist throbbed but the pain was minimal until she moved. Wincing, she took stock of the rest of her body, feeling like one big stubbed toe.

“Be careful,” Leo said, as he entered the room. He carried a lap tray that held steaming soup, crackers and a glass of water. “Dinner.”

Behind him, Braden followed, minus his hat this time.

She took the glass of water and drank it down thirstily. When she had finished, she handed the empty glass back to Leo.

“Can one of you help me to the bathroom before I eat?”

Braden nodded and stepped forward. Instead of helping her out of bed, he scooped her up and carried her to the hallway bathroom. For a moment, as she clung to his shoulders, her heart fluttered and her breath hitched. Her unexpected attraction toward Braden McClintock unsettled her and she made a conscious effort not to show how she’d reacted to his touch.

“This is an older house, so we only have two bathrooms,” he informed her. His gaze fell to her lips and lingered. When he raised his eyes once more, she saw a flash of answering desire before he hid behind his expressionless façade.

“So it’s a communal bathroom,” she said, breathless.

He nodded. “But Leo and I will share the one downstairs until you—”

“Don’t be silly,” she said. “Do both of you sleep on the second floor?”

“Yes.”

“Then don’t let me disrupt your routine. I’m an unwanted guest.”

He gently set her down just outside the blue-painted bathroom, but didn’t let go of her arms right away. When she glanced up at him curiously, wondering why he still held her upper arm, she saw a fleeting emotion she couldn’t identify in his eyes.

“You’re not unwanted,” he told her. “I’ll stay right here and wait till you’re done then I’ll carry you back.”

“You don’t have to do that,” she said softly.

“Leo and I want you to heal, not because we want you to leave.” He traced a finger gently around the cut on her face. Tenderness softened the hard angles of his face.

At his touch, her heart erupted with longing and brought forth a smattering of tears that she quickly hid by nodding and turning away. When she closed the door, she took a moment to breathe deeply and collect herself. She’d never had someone tell her something so sweet, not even her mother. It had made her feel…cared for.