The Cowboy's Rules: 2 (Cowboys After Dark:) (9 page)

Moving to stand at his side Cassie stared down at the ground; a small oil stain, still wet, was on the pristine pavement.

“Whoever it was, their car is dripping,” Chad remarked.

“What should we do?” she asked, a worried frown creasing her forehead.

“Right now I think we should go to bed,” he said taking her by the hand. “I’ll call the Sheriff in the morning.”

“Both of those are very good ideas,” she nodded, “but a shower first. I think I have shavings in places shavings shouldn’t be.”

A short time later, as the fire burned softly with Mickey curled up in front of it, Cassie snuggled into Chad’s arms.

“Do you think we have anything to worry about?” she asked.

“I’m not sure,” he replied honestly. “Whoever it was could easily have smashed a window to get in, unless they were afraid of a barkin’ dog, and I’m sure Mick would have been makin’ a heck of a noise.”

“Maybe whoever it was didn’t want anyone to know they were here,” she remarked.

“Yep, could be too,” he sighed.

“That’s weird. It has to be one of the workers, I mean, there are no other strangers around here,” she declared, and as she spoke her mind drifted back to her encounter with Jason Lewis. “Chad, I think there’s something I should tell you.”

“There is? What might that be?”

Chad listened quietly as Cassie relayed the chance meeting with the architect at the barn earlier in the day.

“I think maybe you could have told me about this sooner,” he frowned.

“I guess, but it seemed perfectly innocent. I didn’t want to get the poor guy into trouble over nothing. There wasn’t anything threatening about him.”

“Uh-huh, but if somethin’ like this happens again you tell me,” he said firmly. “Seems kinda coincidental that he made a point to walk over there and talk to you, and tonight this happened.”

“You’re right,” she yawned, “but it could be just that, a coincidence.”

“Let’s get some sleep,” he said, switching out the light. “We don’t have to worry about a return visit from whoever it was tonight, and if he does come back Mickey will raise the alarm.”

“Freaky,” she breathed, curling closer to him.

“Yep,” he agreed, “kinda freaky.”

The following morning the Sheriff arrived just after breakfast. He listened to their story, checked out the footprints by the window, then sat with them at the kitchen table sharing his thoughts over a cup of coffee.

“I’ll have my forensic guy come up here. He can lift prints from around the lock on the door and the outside window sill and run them through the database. I doubt we’ll find anything but it’s worth a shot.”

“Wow, I feel like I’m in a TV show,” Cassie remarked. “This is surreal.”

“You’ve got a lot of strangers up here with the construction goin’ on,” the Sheriff frowned, “and I suggest you talk to the company owner and ask for background checks on the crew.”

“That’s a real good idea,” Chad nodded.

“Obviously keep your guard up, make sure everything’s secure when you go out just like you did.”

“I might not have noticed that damage to the door if it weren’t for Mickey,” Chad remarked.

Hearing his name, Mickey sat up from his bed by the door, let out a quick bark and tilted his head.

“That dog of yours, I wish we had one like him at the station,” the Sheriff grinned as he looked over at him. “You’re a hero.”

Mickey barked again and walked across to the table.

“I swear this dog speaks english,” the Sheriff chuckled as he patted the dog’s head. “Anyway, the only other thing I can suggest is a security system with cameras.”

“That’s heavy,” Chad frowned. “In all my years here I’ve never felt like I needed it.”

“Times change,” the Sheriff said soberly. “You’re famous, you’ve got real nice horses, you’re runnin’ clinics here, your clothes are makin’ a splash, maybe that kind of security is overdue.”

“Chad, he could be right,” Cassie said thoughtfully. “Maybe we should see this attempted break-in as a warning.”

“That’s the way to look at it,” the Sheriff nodded, “and talk to Marty and the boys, see if they heard or saw anything.”

“I’ll do that,” Chad nodded, “and we’ll have a powwow, make sure we all keep our eyes and ears open.”

“There is one thing,” Cassie said tentatively.

“What’s that?” the Sheriff frowned.

“I’m sure it’s nothing, and he’s perfectly fine, I mean, I don’t want to accuse anyone-”

“It’s one of the construction guys,” Chad interrupted. “He’s been a bit friendly towards Cassie.”

“That right? Hmmm, what’s his name, I’ll run a check on him.”

“Jason Lewis,” Cassie offered. “He said he’s an architect and likes to do construction now and then. He’s very well-spoken, sounds as if he’s from California maybe. No real accent, if you know what I mean.”

“I’ll see if there’s anything on him, meanwhile, just in case, you keep your distance,” the Sheriff warned.

“That goes twice for me,” Chad said firmly.

“Okay, you two, no need to gang up on me,” she declared.

“Right, that’s it,” the Sheriff announced.

“I’ll walk you out,” Chad said. “Cassie, why don’t you call Hannah and see if she heard anythin’ last night. Marty’ll be down at the barn by now.”

“Sure,” she nodded, and as Chad walked out of the kitchen with the Sheriff she reached for her phone; Hannah picked up on the first ring.

“Hi there, I’m so excited the barn is done. Can’t wait to get up there and see it,” she declared enthusiastically before Cassie even had a chance to speak.

“It’s gorgeous, you won’t believe how gorgeous,” Cassie smiled, and felt her belly flip as she recalled the hedonistic happenings the previous night, “but Hannah, someone tried to break into the house while Chad and I were gone last night.”

“What? You’re kidding?” Hannah exclaimed, shocked at the news.

“Nope. We took a picnic supper up there, to the barn I mean, to celebrate, and when we came back we found someone had tried to get in the front door. Whoever it was stood outside Chad’s office window as well, probably trying to get in there.”

“Shit, Cassie, that’s heavy.”

“I know. The Sheriff just left, but we need to know if you heard anything last night, anything unusual.”

“The only thing was someone leaving the construction site really late,” Hannah said.

“Wait, you might be thinking about us, because we left the barn late,” Cassie replied.

“No, we saw the Range Rover. It was before then, maybe half-an-hour or so, maybe longer.”

“What’s she sayin’?” Chad asked as he walked into the kitchen.

“Hold on Hannah, I’m putting you on speaker so Chad can hear this,” Cassie said urgently, and touching the speaker button she laid the phone on the table. “Okay, go ahead.”

“Hey Chad, like I was telling Cassie, we were watching TV and heard a car, but it was loud, like the muffler was bad or something, and Marty got up to have a look. All he could see were headlights, but they were coming from the road that leads down from the knoll. Then later, before we went to bed, Marty did his usual run to the barn to check on things and saw you guys driving back to the house.”

“Damn,” Chad growled. “What hell was someone doin’ up there so late?”

“Well, they’re gone for the weekend so I guess you’ll have to wait until Monday,” Cassie said.

“The hell I will,” Chad frowned. “I’m callin’ Dan right now.”

Dan Michaels was the owner of the construction company, and a longtime friend.

“Not great timing with the clinic starting on Monday, and everyone showing up here for their orientation tomorrow,” Cassie remarked.

“Maybe it’s a good thing,” Chad commented. “A week with the construction crew gone will give us some time to ferret out who this is before they come back.”

“Good point,” Hannah agreed.

“Thanks for the info, Hannah,” Chad said, already heading from the kitchen to go to his office.

“You’re welcome, I’m really sorry about all this.”

“I’m going up to the barn shortly. I’ll swing by,” Cassie said.

“Okay, bye.”

“Bye.”

Sitting alone in the kitchen with her mug of coffee, Cassie thought back to the meeting with the handsome stranger. He’d been friendly and warm, and his smile had dazzled her.

“What do you think, Mickey? He seemed so pleasant. I just can’t imagine him doing something criminal like trying to break in here.”

Mickey moved across, placed his head on her lap and looked up at her.

“You did growl at him though. I wish you could talk and tell me why you did that,” she sighed as she stroked his head. “Ah well, I guess we’ll have to see what the Sheriff comes back with. I’m sure glad you’re here. I know you’ll kick up a fuss if anyone tries to get in again.”

Downing the last of her coffee, she rose from the table and headed to Chad’s office, Mickey at her side. When she entered Chad was just putting down his phone.

“Dan had nothing negative on Jason Lewis, said he called his architecture company and he was legit, but Jason did tell Dan that yesterday would have to be his last day. Dan said he was real apologetic, but I guess Jason got word that he’d landed a big job. Some house on a lake somewhere, didn’t go into much detail.”

“So it wasn’t him then,” Cassie remarked.

“Doesn’t seem like it. We can’t rule him out, we can’t rule anyone out, and if it was him, why would he want to break in here?”

“That’s the real question,” Cassie nodded. “If we had the why, we’d have the who.”

“I guess you’re right about that,” Chad agreed. “Regardless, I’ve called the Sampson Security Company. They’ll be up here tomorrow to mosey around and get me a quote. I’m thinkin’ cameras around all the barns as well as the house. If I’m gonna do it, I might as well do it right,” he sighed.

“I think that’s really smart,” Cassie remarked. “I’m going to take the horses up to my barn if that’s okay,” she said. “I’ll lead Dominic and Rembrandt up first, then Shelby.”

“I’m gonna help you, we can ride them up and I’ll pony Shelby. May as well make it one trip.”

“Thanks, that’d be great,” she smiled.

“Hannah will be takin’ over the kitchen soon, gettin’ things set up for tomorrow afternoon,” he said as he moved from behind the desk. “You and I should go out tonight, have dinner in town, relax a bit before the craziness.”

“I’d love that,” she grinned. “Better make sure everything’s locked up tight.”

“I’m gonna do better than that,” Chad said soberly. “I’m gonna ask Jeb to stay in the house until we get back. If whoever it is comes back and somehow knows we’re gone, they’ll be in for a real surprise when Jeb pops up.”

“Ah, that’s brilliant,” she declared as they headed out of the house and down to the barn.

“I have my moments,” he chuckled, putting his arm around her and kissing her cheek.

“Yes, you do,” she laughed, “you most certainly do.”

A
fter a busy afternoon settling the horses and organizing her new barn, Cassie helped Hannah set up in the kitchen in readiness for the clinic orientation the following day. With Jeb babysitting the house, Chad took Cassie into town for a relaxing, romantic dinner, and when they returned they were both relieved to hear that there had been no intruders, and everything at the ranch had been quiet.

Once between the sheets Chad devoured Cassie with warm, lingering, leisurely kisses, eliciting soft sighs and moans of pleasure. Sliding his cock home he rode her gently and lovingly to her climax, then utterly spent and completely relaxed after their idyllic evening, they drifted into sleep.

The morning began as any other, but for the anticipation of the start of Chad’s first clinic of the season. Hannah arrived just after breakfast carrying a large box containing several Tupperware tubs, and Marty holding a stack of large china plates and stainless steel platters.

A short time later he and Chad left for the barn, and as Cassie helped Hannah set up the large dining room table, she could sense Hannah wasn’t quite herself.

“Do you want to talk about?” Cassie asked.

“I, uh, yeah, maybe,” Hannah sighed. “I snapped at Marty and got my butt burned,” she confessed.

“Uh-oh,” Cassie grunted.

“Totally my fault. I was so, I don’t know, just so wired about making sure everything was perfect for this orientation, and I’d been cooking for ages but hadn’t eaten myself, and I lost my temper.”

“Seems to me Marty should have been more understanding,” Cassie frowned.

“That’s just it, he was, he was an angel. He was even helping me, gave me hugs, told me everything was going to be perfect and how great I could cook…”

“So, what went wrong? Why did you get mad?”

“I just couldn’t seem to calm down and I was pulling a tray out of the oven and the towel slipped. Of course my hand hit the hot metal, I screamed, dropped it, and when Marty came over to help I lost it, I told him he didn’t understand crap and to just leave me alone.”

“Hannah, that’s not like you,” Cassie declared.

“I was a mess. He told me he’d been patient enough and the only thing that would calm me down was some time over his knee.”

“Ouch, I can feel it,” Cassie cringed.

“Thing is, he was right. After he spanked me I felt so much calmer, but I also felt guilty. I’d been so mean to him. If I’d known I was going to get so crazy I wouldn’t have asked Chad if I could do this job.”

“How do you feel now?”

“Well, my butt hurts,” she said sheepishly, “but I feel fine. In control again, but I still feel a bit guilty.”

“I’m sure you’ll find a way to make it up to him,” Cassie winked.

“I’m sure you’re right,” Hannah grinned.

“It’s so good for us to be able to talk to each other about this stuff,” Cassie remarked. “It’s not like we can open up to our hairdressers.”

“Oh, my, gosh, no kidding,” Hannah laughed, rolling her eyes.

“They’d call the men in the white coats,” Cassie giggled, “but other than that, it sounds like things are really good with you and Marty.”

“They are, but…”

“But what?” Cassie pressed.

“We’re really happy, but I want more,” Hannah complained.

“Oh, you want him to pop the question,” Cassie said quietly.