The Nymph's Curse: The Collection (28 page)

“Aura. Aura Montgarten. You?”

“The name’s Zeb Burke. I own the Diamond.”

“Burke? As in
Dane
Burke?”

The rancher’s face went tight and he eyed her suspiciously, his slightly playful demeanor disappeared. “He’s my brother. You a friend of his?”

Bringing up the fact that she had met Dane at a crime scene didn’t seem like the best idea if she wanted the chance to investigate the land behind the ranch. “We’ve met.”

“And?” He pressed as if he expected her to say she rolled on her back for the man.

“And nothing,” she answered, striking down any possible thoughts the man could have about her relationship with Burke.

“You had to think something of him.”

She stared at Zeb, trying to find what answer he wanted from the look in his eyes. But he wasn’t a horse; she couldn’t hear his thoughts or send him hers.

Vague was her best bet to get what she needed.

“I guess he’s alright.”

“Alright, eh?” His face soured and he motioned toward her truck. “I don’t know what my brother told you, lady, but you don’t belong here. I don’t care what you can do with horses. You need to get off my land.”

The ride back to the campsite seemed a lot farther than it had that morning as she chastised herself for her stupid mistake.

At least she’d helped the horse as much as she could — hopefully the jerk, Pat, would let Dancer be. He had great potential if he had only the right training. She forced her mind from the horse.

What was she going to do about Natalie? There was no possibility of her gaining access to the wild lands without getting through that ranch — unless she shifted. And shifting into her Mustang form was out of the question — there were too many people, too many prying eyes, and far too much danger.

There had to be another way.

The road veered to the left and she eased the truck around the bend, where a dirt road connected with the main road. Instinctively she glanced down the road, looking for traffic. She slammed on the brakes and threw the wheel to the left. A quarter mile down the road a white Ranger sat parked along the side, almost hidden in the overhanging timber.

Aura stopped her truck and got out to inspect the vehicle. A fresh indentation marred the left back panel where red paint streaked the inside of the concave dent. But it was still Natalie’s truck.

What was it doing parked there, on the side of an almost deserted back road?

Inside the cab was a black purse, its contents overflowing out onto the seat: lipstick, eyeliner, wallet, keys. The only thing missing was her sister’s purple cell phone. Is this where she had parked to access the Forest Service lands? Or had someone else parked the truck here in an attempt to hide it?

The seat was moved all the way back as if someone much taller than her petite sister had been driving. A knot formed in the pit of her stomach. Natalie wasn’t the type of girl to let anyone drive her truck.

Aura moved around to the bed of the truck and looked inside. Something caught her eye. Stuffed deep into the front corner of the bed was a white cloth. She reached down and picked up the mysterious cloth. As it unfurled a scream rippled from her throat and echoed out into the still timber.

Smoke curled up from the embers of the campfire which sat in the middle of the fire pit at the campground. The woman, Aura, must have been there that morning — the ashes were still hot. She couldn’t have gone far, but where had she gone? Dane had made it more than clear she wasn’t to leave the area until he had gotten a chance to ask her a few more questions.

It wasn’t likely she knew anything about the hand, but something inside of him told him there was more to her than met the eye.

He stood up and dusted off his black polyester pants and readjusted the gun that sat on his hip. The little piece of plastic in his ear came to life. “We have report of a trespasser on 19494 Frontage Road, near the Diamond Bar Ranch. Land owner reports seeing a small white female, about twenty-five years old, walking along the fence line … ” The dispatcher continued.

There had to be some mistake. A trespasser near Diamond Bar? He walked back to his car and flopped into the driver’s seat. There were only four other deputies on today, the closest one was near Creston — too far for him to avoid the assignment. He choked down the bitter taste that filled his mouth as he thought of going near the ranch. He had a job to do. If he was lucky he wouldn’t run into anyone from the ranch.

Dane pushed the button on his pager that connected him to dispatch. “Two-nine-seven, two-six-five. I’ll take the call.”

Who would be so stupid to trespass around the ranch? Everyone that lived in the area lived by a strict code of ethics — a “you got my back and I got yours” mentality. If the cattle broke loose and onto the road, the neighbors would be out there to help in a moment’s notice. It was the one thing that kept everyone working and safe in the long, harsh Montana winters and hot, dust-filled, and monotonous summers.

He pulled the car onto the highway with a smattering of gravel and raced toward the ranch. With any amount of luck at all he could take care of this call with a little verbal resolution — in and out, simple.

The wheel automatically turned down the road that had led to his home for two decades, but now took him to a place he didn’t belong. His hand gripped the wheel so hard his fingers tingled.

Just short of the ranch’s long driveway sat the little white house that matched the address the dispatcher had given him. The petite woman had wispy, silvery hair that sat high on her head and bobbed like a little hat as she waved him down. He had known the woman, like most of the year-round residents, his entire life. His lips cracked as he forced a smile.

The woman made her way to the driver’s side window as he pulled to a stop.

“Little Danish, I was hoping you would be the one I got. I heard about the hand. I hope they find whoever it belonged to. Nasty bit of business if you ask me.”

He cringed as she said his childhood nickname. She was lucky she was pushing eighty or he would have had to remind her that he was almost thirty and nowhere near the appropriate age to be called “little Danish.”

Dane forced a smile. “It’s nice to see you, Mrs. Mullen. Can you tell me about the woman you saw?”

“I’m telling you, this is just strange. There was a little lady out here this morning walking down the fence line. It was about 7:30. I think she was thinking she could get away without being noticed. But she didn’t know this lady.” Mrs. Mullen pointed at her chest proudly. “There ain’t no way I’m gonna let the day pass me by. I had bread to bake this morning.”

The woman continued babbling as Dane pretended to listen about the details of her morning and what she thought the young woman was up to.

“Which way did she go?”

“I watched her for a while. She was headed toward the back forty of the Diamond. Ain’t nothing back there but a few horses.”

The chatter continued until he could politely pull away from the woman and head down the fence line and away from the assault to his ears. Surely by the end of the day the news of a trespasser would be circulating around Somers and he would be fielding calls and texts from people wondering what was going on.

There was a thin layer of crispy white frost on the grass and the barbed wire which stretched up the hill as far as he could see. After a couple of miles, he came over the crest of a pine-covered hill. A bare patch of barbed wire caught his attention where the woman must have gone through the fence. Of course he had put on his nice work shoes this morning; his feet would be soaked almost as soon as he stepped into the ranch’s deep grass. The call was getting better and better as the minutes ticked by. Not only did he have to be on the ranch, he had to do it without seeing his brother; if he didn’t get shot at, he would have to consider himself lucky.

The wire creaked as he pushed through it, careful not to get his uniform stuck on the rusty barbs. A head stuck up from over the ridge line. Instinctively, he reached for his gun.

“Stop!”

The blonde head disappeared before he could get a good look at her face.

Dane’s footfalls were muted by the thick grass as he rushed up the hill. He tried to control his breath as he pushed his legs up the steep ascent. The woman’s long hair flowed behind her as she sprinted down the ravine toward a dry creek bed. “I said stop!” His voice echoed off the empty hillsides and down toward the woman.

• • •

How had Deputy Burke found her?

An animalistic instinct to run, to get away from the man chasing her, poured through Aura like liquid flames. Aura’s human feet caught in the long, frost-covered grass as she tore her way toward the end of the ridge. If she could just get down to the bottom, then slip around the bend of the hill, she could get away.

If she could just get away, she wouldn’t have to answer any more questions or tell him about the macabre find she’d made in the back of Natalie’s pickup. She was already likely a suspect from the wayward hand — the last thing she needed to do was tell the police that she’d found a bloody camisole in her sister’s deserted pickup. They’d lock her away in a second and she didn’t have time to waste playing some small town cop’s stupid game.

The thought to shift into her palomino form passed through her mind, but she pushed it away. He couldn’t see what or who she was. He would never stop chasing her — it had happened before and it could never happen again. She was safer as a human, regardless of what Natalie thought. A horse was far more vulnerable.

She turned and glanced back over her shoulder at the muscular man. His jaw was set like it had been forged in iron. His hand was at his hip, gun at the ready. “Aura Montgarten, I said stop!”

The crash of his feet followed her down the hillside. He wouldn’t shoot her, would he? Over the decades so much had changed, but the new law wouldn’t allow for him to shoot her, would it? She picked up speed. Let him shoot. There was only one way to kill her and if he never got close, he would never get the chance.

“If you don’t stop, I will be forced to taze you!”

The sounds of his heavy breaths grew closer. He knew who she was. She had nowhere to run. She had to find Natalie, and she would stay in Somers until she did, so fighting with the local law enforcement didn’t seem like the smartest move.

Her feet refused to stop, but her mind forced them to slow.

There was a footstep behind her. His arm wrapped around her waist and his shoulder drove into the middle of her back, throwing her off balance. Her face smacked against the cold wet grass and her mouth filled with dirt as his body pinned her to the ground. Before she could stop him, he had her arms pulled behind her back.

She thrashed on the ground, fighting the sexy predator. His face was close to hers and the minty scent of his breath mixed with the masculine spice of his cologne.

It surprised her, but beneath her need to escape something else welled within her, something more primal, more voracious — was it desire? Was it a need for him to push her down in another way? How would it have felt if he was coming after her to make love? To press her against the ground and steal the kisses from her wanting lips?

“What the hell do you think you are doing?” Dane growled.

Aura pulled at her arms, trying to pull them free from his vise-like grip, but his fingers refused to budge. He sat up on top of her, his muscular thighs wrapped around her middle. The heat of his body crept into the chilled skin of her back, making the desire that nibbled at her grow more ravenous.

She turned so she could see him. His face had the same forged look. His eyes drilled into her with an adrenaline-laced fury; as if she was a beast he was hell-bent on destroying. With the strength of his features and the ferocity of his gaze she was under his control and a strange need sprang up from her core. She liked this. She liked his body pressing against hers, holding her down, and for a moment, controlling her. She couldn’t feel this way. Not about this man or any man. Not now. Not here. No one could control her.

“Why in the hell did you run?”

The course dirt at the corner of her lips fell into her mouth as she moved to talk. “Why did you chase me?”

Dane sat back a little, shifting his weight from her back to her ass. “I’m trained to run.”

Well, so am I …

“You were reported for trespassing on the Diamond Bar Ranch. Are you aware that what you are doing is against the law?”

She had seen the red
No Trespassing
signs, but admission was tantamount to guilt. She wasn’t about to be sent to jail for some stupid law — not when her sister’s life could be at stake.

“Get off of me,” she grunted.

“You gonna run?”

The muscles of Aura’s legs tensed as she thought about running, but she shook her head. She couldn’t act like a fool. If she went to jail there would be no one to help Natalie.

Dane’s fingers uncurled from her wrist and her arms freed. She wiggled and Dane sat up, slightly allowing her just enough room to roll over and face him.

The anger in his eyes melted away as he looked down at her. The warmth of his body seeped into her like a warm cup of tea after a long day, and she basked in his inadvertently calming touch. Without thinking, her hands dropped to the tops of his thighs. A spark jumped between them, through the thin cloth of his pants and through her body, straight to her heart. His eyes softened and his body relaxed under her touch.

He seemed to shake his head slightly as if he was fighting the voices in his head. “What were you doing here, Aura?”

Something about the way he looked at her, like she was the woman in his life instead of a stranger pinned beneath the legs of an officer, made her want to tell him the truth — that she was in Somers to find her sister. She didn’t want to be alone in carrying the weight of Natalie’s disappearance anymore. Maybe Dane could be just the man to help her.

“I need to get back into the timber.” She thought about the shirt that she had stuffed in her back pocket, but hesitated in telling him anything about her sister. She was already likely under arrest for trespassing; things would only grow worse if she showed him the blood-covered shirt.