The Sheriff Catches a Bride (18 page)

“That’s probably enough for one day,” he said a few minutes later. “Unfortunately, ammunition is expensive. Put the safety on, would you?” She did so, then handed him the pistol butt-first. “Come on, let’s see how you did.” He led the way to her target and they examined the holes her shots had made. “That’s the way you want to do it,” he said, pointing to a hole that pierced the outline of the male target right where his heart would be. “This one isn’t bad, either.” It had caught the man squarely in the forehead.

Rose shivered. “I don’t think I could do that in real life.”

“You have to be able to do anything in real life,” Cab said, his voice going hard. “There are people out there that wouldn’t think twice about doing it to you.”

“Your job must be hard sometimes.”

He nodded. “Especially lately. It’s been a tough few months.”

She reflected on that. “Because of the serial killer? You haven’t talked much about that.” Maybe he had to Ethan, Rob and Jamie. She supposed it wasn’t party conversation. But would Cab talk over the details of his job with his friends? He kept things pretty close to his vest. He pretended to be so easygoing, but there were depths to him she thought a lot of people missed.

“Yeah, because of that.”

“He’s in police custody, though.”

“I was there that day. Did you know that? When they found him.”

Rose sucked in a breath. “No. You never said anything.”

“I didn’t want to talk about what I saw. I still don’t. But I think I have to. Otherwise one of these days you’re not going to forgive me for the way I act.” He gave her a chagrined smile.

“I don’t understand.”

“Grady hacked Amanda Strassburg nearly to bits, Rose. She’s still in the hospital recovering. I got there right after they found him. And her. The investigation had been going on for months; we thought we’d tracked him down. But the FBI guys wanted to catch him in the act. They knew he had her—they let him get her in his car.” His voice had gone thick with emotion—anger and pain and frustration all mixed together. Rose held still, knowing he needed to say all of it. She was determined to hear him out, determined to be the friend he needed her to be. “They underestimated him. He got away—with her. And he cut her up like he was skinning a deer. I got there seconds after they found him—pure coincidence I was in the area. I didn’t know what it was—what I saw on the ground. I didn’t even recognize it. And then she moved.”

Rose didn’t think she’d ever move again. The picture he painted with his words was too horrific to be borne. She reached for him again but found she couldn’t touch him.

“I see her at night,” Cab went on, “when I try to sleep. I see…” He cut off and spun around, putting his back to her and she could see by the tightness of the muscles in his shoulders that he was physically struggling to get his emotions back into control. No, he hadn’t told this to Ethan, Rob or Jamie. She knew that for sure. A few moments later he let out a ragged breath. “She’s still alive, though. She’s a fighter, that one.”

“I’m sorry you had to see that,” she said softly.

“That’s my job.” He faced her. “It’s my job to keep people safe and in order to do that I have to think about what could happen—everything that could happen. I have to see shadows where they don’t exist yet.”

The tone of his voice told her he wanted her to understand and she did. At least she thought so. “That’s why you followed me home.”

“What if it had been you?”

Rose’s heart squeezed at the anguish in his tone and for the first time she really thought about what it must be like for Cab. He was surrounded by problems and chaos every day at work. She sold engagement rings. The full force of what he shouldered suddenly became real to her in a way it hadn’t ever been before. She was only responsible for herself. He felt responsible for everyone.

“I’m sorry I’ve been giving you such a hard time,” she said, understanding now he hadn’t been trying to control her, only to save her from the monsters he saw all around them. It didn’t mean she would tolerate him babying her, but at least she could understand the impulse behind his behavior. “Thanks for taking the time to show me how to shoot.”

He seemed to make an effort to shake off his heavy mood. “I can’t believe you’ve never done it before. Not even a rifle?”

He’d asked the question before. Rose shook her head, knowing he needed this trivial conversation to bring himself back into the present moment. “Not even a rifle. Mom and Dad weren’t into hunting.”

“What about you? Want to try hunting sometime?”

Rose considered this. “Maybe,” she said.

Cab chuckled and she was glad to see his sense of humor had returned. “I’ll take that as a no. That’s all right, we can find other things to do.”

Oh, yes, Rose thought with a sudden surge of feeling. She was sure they could. Especially now that she was free from any kind of obligation to Jason.

“Can I make you some lunch?” he asked.

“Yes,” she said before even thinking it through. She didn’t want to be alone and she didn’t think Cab should be alone, either. They both needed company right now. Besides, she enjoyed being near him way too much to back off now.

“Great.” Cab smiled and she forgot everything else.

An hour later they’d returned to Carl’s house, eaten soup and sandwiches and Cab was giving her a tour of the mansion. In some ways the grand home reminded her of Ethan and Autumn’s Big House, but apart from its log construction and the oversized living room with its floor-to-ceiling windows, there wasn’t a strong resemblance. Ethan and Autumn’s home was always filled with people, happy laughter and chatter. This enormous house was as empty as a cavern and about as welcoming as one. Rose knew Claire had helped to decorate it, and everything was very expensive and tasteful, but she couldn’t imagine people living in its rooms. The furniture was too pristine and decorative. There was none of the clutter one expected in someone’s home. If an interior design magazine wanted to do a photo shoot right this minute, there’d be nothing to clean up or hide away.

After they surveyed the eighth bedroom, Rose smiled at Cab. “I’m not sure I need to see any more.”

“Just one more room,” Cab promised her. He took her hand and led her down the hall to another door they hadn’t opened yet. Cab did so now as she warmed to the touch of his hand. Was he going to make a move? Did she want him to? Why was her heart beating so hard?

Because she was no longer tied to Jason and if Cab made a move she was free to respond to it. But should she? She wanted to learn to be her own woman and that was going to take time. She should be careful not to engage in any activity that led to falling straight into a new relationship.

As Cab led her forward into the room—a masculine space with heavy furniture and hunting trophies on the walls—all those rational thoughts fled her mind.

Smack in the center of the room stood a pool table.

And Cab was handing her a cue.

“We didn’t get to play
each other the other night,” Cab said, pressing the cue into Rose’s reluctant grip. He didn’t look her in the face, afraid she’d remember how he’d met her gaze when Jamie joked about strip pool.

Afraid she wouldn’t remember it at all.

Cab didn’t kid himself that Rose would agree to such a thing, but he wanted her to know that he was ready for that kind of game any time she was. If Jason was out of the picture, he was ready to step right into it. Today they’d play a friendly game just like any two old friends might, but he hoped she’d think about other games they might play in the future.

“Ladies first,” he said when she didn’t answer. He racked up the balls for her, lifted the triangle away and stood back to watch what she would do next.

She slowly moved to take her place behind the table and placed the cue ball on the green surface. She leaned forward, allowing him a peep of cleavage beneath her sweater as she considered the table, lined up her stick, and took the shot.

One ball sank right away in a pocket. A second rolled close to a pocket, but didn’t go in. Rose straightened and smiled. “Thank God I got one. I’m not very good at this.”

“That was a good shot,” Cab said. He rested his own cue against a glass side table, then unbuttoned the long-sleeved shirt he was wearing and shrugged it off, exposing the T-shirt he wore beneath it. He laid it carefully over the back of a nearby easy chair, turned and caught Rose’s look. “What?” he said as innocently as he could. He knew they weren’t playing strip pool. He was just planting the seeds, that was all.

After a long moment she said, “Nothing.” She rounded the table and lined up to take the easy shot she’d gained from her last turn. It popped into the pocket and she glanced his way. Cab, who’d been standing with his hands shoved in his pants pockets, pulled out the handkerchief he carried in one, looked at it, then laid it on top of his shirt.

“Nice shot,” he said.

Her gaze shifted from his face to the handkerchief and back again, and she moved around the table to try another shot. There were several possibilities Cab thought he could make in her position, but none of them were a sure thing. She selected one, lined up and went for it.

She missed.

Something tightened in Cab’s gut as he waited to see what she did next. He didn’t expect her to do anything but step back and allow him to take his turn, but he held his breath, hoping against hope. As the seconds ticked by, Rose fiddled with her pool cue and refused to look at him. Finally, with a sigh Cab stepped forward and surveyed the table for his best opportunity to score.

Just as he was lining up his cue, however, movement to his left distracted him. He looked up to see that Rose had skirted the table toward the easy chair. As he watched, she slipped off her heavy sweater, added it to the pile, then straightened the blouse she wore beneath it.

Heat flooded Cab.

Did she mean it? Did she understand what game they were playing? She still wouldn’t look at him, and he refused to ask her point blank.

Only one way to find out.

He picked his next shot with more care than he’d ever wasted on a game of pool before. Even as he hit the ball he knew he would sink it. When he did he couldn’t stop the grin from spreading across his face, but he knew that one wrong move could end this game before it really got started. He pretended he was engrossed by the arrangement of balls on the table, and never looked directly at Rose as she unwrapped the scarf she’d kept on after they got home and set it carefully atop her sweater.

Cab sunk the next ball and the next, and was gratified when Rose’s belt joined the pile and then her watch. He sunk two more and her barrette and earrings joined them, as well. She could have counted each earring separately, he noted. He hoped the fact she’d added them to the pile as one meant she was enjoying this as much as he was.

He wanted to get her naked as quickly as possible, but he didn’t want to scare her. Best to let her even things up a bit. He deliberately missed his next shot and took off his own belt. When she put the seven ball into the corner pocket, he shucked off his t-shirt.

Apparently the sight of his manly chest unnerved Rose—or maybe it was the way he flexed his muscles while reaching for his drink. Whatever it was, she missed the next shot and Cab felt like he’d reached the gates of heaven. He let the moment play out for a while, considering one shot and then another. When he sunk a ball, he stood up and waited to see what Rose would do.

This time she met his gaze, lifted her hands, and began to unbutton her shirt.

She was playing
a game of pool with Cab Johnson, county sheriff, and she was half-naked.

Rose couldn’t believe she was standing in her stocking feet in Carl’s billiard room, her shirt off, her hair down, watching across the table as Cab lined up his next shot. His muscles rippled as he held the cue stick, planned his movements and then took the shot. Cab was one handsome man, and today he looked better than ever. When she’d taken off her shirt he’d given her that same calm, assessing look he always did, but this time his regard raked every inch of her skin like a burning brand.

Her lips parted as she watched him straighten the cue, and she drew in a breath as he sunk the ball again. She guessed if she was going to play with a superior partner, she’d better get used to ending up naked.

She could get used to ending up naked with Cab.

While the sheriff watched again, one hand on his hip, the other steadying his cue, she unhooked the button at the waist of her jeans, slid the zipper down and shimmied them off. She paced to the chair where they’d agreed without words to lay their clothes and added it to the growing pile. Thank goodness she’d put on a fresh, pretty pair of underthings this morning even though she’d had no shower and nearly froze to death in the minute it took to change. Their silky lines accentuated her curves. She had nothing to be ashamed of.

Still, she burned all over.

Cab shifted a little,
trying to find a more comfortable position as he bent over the table to line up his next shot. Rose also looked a little uncomfortable as she stood across the table from him in her bra, panties… and socks. Interesting she’d chosen to take off her shirt and pants before the fuzzy striped things she wore on her feet. Maybe she didn’t like cold feet.

Or maybe she wanted him to see the rest of her.

Should he miss this shot and get his pants off, too? It would be the gentlemanly thing to do, but Cab didn’t feel much like a gentleman at the current moment. He lined up against the two ball and sunk it neatly. Waited to see what she’d do next.

And was rewarded when she reached behind her, undid the clasp of her bra and let it fall.

She bit her lip and straightened, still watching him. He wanted nothing more than to cross the room and take her into his arms. Hell, he could get the rest of her clothes off just fine, thank you very much. Still, this game heightened the sexual tension between them in a way he’d hate to throw away. He realized they hadn’t spoken a word in several minutes.

They didn’t need to speak, though, did they? Their actions got the message across strong and clear.