“I don’t believe she went with you willingly,” Dan said.
“Okay, listen.” Leyton plumped up his pillow. “We haven’t seen each other in a couple of weeks. She could have told a different version of the story without any threat or coercion from me. She didn’t even know that I’d ever return. So unless she gave you a different version…”
“If it wasn’t that Stryker saw the two of you kissing in the hallway, I wouldn’t have believed it myself.”
Leyton tried to hide a smile. She was one hot kisser, and he wanted to get back to that part of their relationship as soon as he could. Though he kept telling himself he needed to do the friends without benefits first. Well, maybe partial benefits. No way could he date her and give up kissing her good night. Hell, he’d only planned to wait here for Dan’s arrival so he could tell the sheriff what the deal was concerning Butch Sanders before he left the clinic again. He needed to get his place in order if he was going to be ready to have her over pronto.
Would she care if he had everything fixed up first? He didn’t think so. That meant he only had to have the patio set up—barbecue grill, patio furniture. It was kind of romantic out there, even though he loved being in the real wilderness with her. Still, it was kind of like her gardens, yet more treed, lots of birds singing away. He figured she’d like it while he grilled steaks and lobster tail.
“When are you getting married?” Dan asked.
“Don’t you think that’s something that should be decided privately between Kate and me?” Leyton knew the town was a tightknit community, mostly because they were cougars, but hell, this was not a community affair.
“She’s a professional, highly-respected by the community. She takes care of families in her practice and she has a reputation to uphold,” Dan warned, as if he was her father and was ready to pull out his shotgun and either chase Leyton off or force him to do right by his daughter, even though Dan appeared to be about the same age as they were.
Leyton suspected Kate would not appreciate the sheriff’s interference.
“Okay, not that it’s any of your damn business, but if Kate would have me, I’d marry her in a heartbeat.” Leyton really didn’t want to hurt Kate or her business in any way. “But I want to date her first, before I spring anything of the sort on her. And that’s between the two of us.”
Dan didn’t look like he was satisfied with the answer. Probably didn’t believe Leyton really intended to marry Kate, just fool around with her and then decide he wasn’t ready to settle down. “What about this damn field office you intend to open up?”
“We’ll be working on it tomorrow.” Leyton explained what it would entail. His agents would be seeking criminal cougars in the whole state, not just the county, and their jurisdiction would extend to the states bordering Colorado.
Dan narrowed his eyes at Leyton again, and fairly growled. “You get any fugitives in our county, you let me know about it before you go off trying to take them down in my jurisdiction.”
“Fair enough.”
“Got a picture of the guys you’re after?”
Leyton looked at Travis, who said, “Yeah, got a picture of them hovering over the weapons cache in the tunnel.” He pulled it up and showed it to Dan.
Dan studied the shot. “Not a very good shot.”
Travis snorted. “You try taking a shot of a bunch of criminals who would like nothing better than to put a bullet through your head, when your leg is broken, you’re in pain, shaking from the adrenaline flooding your bloodstream, and you’re trying not to let them see you take the picture in a hurry, then shove the phone away or they’ll destroy it and the evidence.”
Dan cracked a smile.
Leyton didn’t think Dan was a smiley kind of guy, the way he’d stalked in here and looked like he meant business.
“So you think this guy’s name is an alias?” Dan finally got back to what Leyton thought he should have been asking about all along.
“Yeah, I know it has to be. He had a different name in the military, Bart Smith, and one as a cop with a human police force, Butch Sanders. I think when I caught up with him, he’d left the force so he could do his business without having to report in to any job. He’s changed his hair color, and eye color by wearing contacts a time or two.”
“As a cat?” Dan asked, surprised.
“No, he’d have to remove the contacts when he shifted. I think it’s more for official photos. He gains weight, loses weight, wears different clothing styles from formal to homeless so he can fit in wherever he needs to.”
“I smelled two men there, other than the two of you,” Dan said.
“Yeah, Butch’s wearing hunter’s spray. I figure that it has to do some with me trying to track him down and he knows I’m a cougar. But I also think he’s from around the state. He knew that area well where the cabin was.”
“But he wasn’t covering his scent then, was he?” Dan asked, hopeful.
“No, he wasn’t. He didn’t know a cougar was tracking him at first.”
“What the hell are you doing in the bed still?”
Leyton smiled a little at him. “Doctor’s orders.”
“You’ve got a job to do. Get your clothes on. You’re coming with me.” Dan glanced at Travis. “You’re staying here. Then at least I’ll only get in trouble for checking one of you out of the clinic against the doctor’s orders.”
Leyton was out of the bed, well, not really fast as he hurt too much to move really fast. But he was moving and Dan watched for a moment as if making sure he wasn’t going to have a dead man on his hands, and one pissed off doctor. Then he nodded to Leyton and left the room.
“What the hell was all that about?” Travis asked.
“What? Going after Butch? I suspect Dan wants to head over to the cabin, only I know where it is and he’ll see if he smells the guy’s scent and can recognize him.”
“No, about Kate.”
“What about Kate?” Leyton asked, wishing the hell he could dress faster. He couldn’t believe how achy and sore he was, or how hard it was to move. He supposed running around earlier to buy a place had zapped more of his strength than he had imagined. What he needed was a few juicy red steaks with Kate to help build up his blood. He had his trousers on before he realized he didn’t have a T-shirt. “Okay, you stay put.” Leyton tied on his boots. “And I’ll give you a call when we learn something.”
“Wait, what about Kate?”
“What about her?”
“The marrying part?”
Leyton smiled, then frowned. “Don’t you dare say a thing to her about it. I need to do the dating stuff first. Work up to it nice and slow and…”
“You don’t ever work slow.”
“This time I will.”
“Want to place a bet on it?”
“No,” Leyton said.
Travis just smiled. “Because you know you’d lose.”
Leyton smiled back. “I don’t see how I could lose. Rest up. We have work to do when I get back.”
“Take a pillow with you. You look like you still need to rest up. You said it was a six-hour drive back there. You can sleep. Let the sheriff drive.”
Now how would that look if the new field director of the office in Yuma Town had to go on his first joint mission, but had to take a pillow and blanket and sleep on the trip there?
He headed out of the room and was surprised to see Stryker, Chase, and Hal there with Dan, waiting on him. Dan handed him a T-shirt. “If you’re going to be one of us, you need to be at least half-dressed for the job.”
Leyton tried to pull the shirt on without groaning, knowing the men were all judging him. Was he too injured to go with them? Hell no.
Stryker handed him his gun. “Surprised you didn’t use it on the bastards.” He cocked a brow.
Leyton still couldn’t believe he hadn’t heard the men sneak up behind him before they bushwhacked him.
“You’re taking the whole damn posse? Who’s staying behind to watch out for T
ravis if Butch learns he’s at the clinic unprotected?”
“I am.” Hal looked cross about it.
Then they headed out, but he was surprised Stryker would go with them. As soon as they exited the back door where several vehicles sat, Kate came out of her house. “Dan said you were going on a hunt. Which I vetoed. But he said you insisted on catching the bad guy. Did you?”
She arched a brow at him as if she didn’t believe it for a moment. That she thought he had been coerced into going along with this.
“Hell yeah, I did. I am. I’ve got to take this guy out once and for all. If Dan and the others can identify him as a local, we’ve got to do it.”
“You can’t just tell him where it is?” She gave him a look that said she knew he could, but he stubbornly was going because this was his chance to bring down the bad guy.
He move toward her to give her a hug, but she held up her hands and wouldn’t let him get near her. He knew from the irritated expression she was pissed at both of them, Dan for taking him, and Leyton for going.
“All right. Hate tearful good-byes anyway.” Leyton headed for the passenger door of the sheriff’s car.
“Back here,” Dan said, opening the back door for him. “It’s the only way Doc will go along with this, begrudgingly.”
Leyton glanced in the back seat and saw her cougar paw print sleeping bag and a pillow. He looked back at her.
She was standing there, head cocked to the side as if saying, “Try me.” Her arms were folded across her chest. And she was not smiling.
“Either you get in the back, or you can tell me where the cabin is, and we’ll take it from here,” Dan said, looking just as serious as Doc. “I don’t want to get on Doc’s bad side if I ever need patching up.”
Chase and Stryker were smirking, waiting for Leyton to decide what he was going to do.
“Ah hell, Kate.” Annoyed to the max, Leyton climbed into the back seat.
“You have a six-hour drive there. Sleep, Leyton,” she said. “If you don’t, and you come back in worse shape than you left…well, you don’t want to know what I’ll do to you.”
He smiled a little, thinking just what he’d like for her to do to him. But he climbed into the back seat and sat there.
“Down,” she said, pointing at him, like she was commanding a dog to obey her.
He growled and laid down on the back seat and said to Dan, “As soon as we can safely do so, pull over and I’ll climb up front with you.”
“Like hell you will.” Dan closed the rear door, then climbed into the driver’s seat. “I promised Kate and I’m not breaking my promise. She’s right. You need rest. You have six hours to do it and then you can earn your pay. Tell me the location of the cabin so I don’t have to disturb you if you do manage to sleep at all.”
Leyton grumbled under his breath, showed him the location on Dan’s GPS, then he frowned. “How did she know about us leaving? We only just decided to check out the scents at the cabin.”
“While you were dressing, I called her. And she laid down the rules. She didn’t want you going, but she knew you’d need a straightjacket to keep you from leaving the clinic. So she figured this was the next best solution. If you weren’t going to sleep in the clinic, you could sleep in the car on the drive out there.”
“Hell.” Leyton pulled the sleeping bag around him and realized Kate hadn’t washed it. He could smell her on the sleeping bag and the pillow too. He snuggled against the pillow, pulling the sleeping bag closer, thinking about her in the sleeping bag with him, smiling.
He thought he heard Dan talking to him about learning from Kate that he was a Ranger. Dan wanted to know everything about him. But Leyton soon drifted off and didn’t hear anything more but a chuckle from Dan.
16
Kate paced across her living room floor, understanding that Leyton had to do this. But she knew he really needed to rest more than anything. He wasn’t strong enough this time to go chasing after Butch. Dan had assured her Leyton would sleep in the back of his car. She knew he was good at his word. Not only did Dan not want to rile her, in case she had to take care of his injuries at some later date, and she had reminded him of it, just in case, but also, he didn’t want Leyton dying on them.
Even so, she didn’t trust Leyton to sleep the whole way there. When Dan stopped for gas four hours into the drive, he gave her an update. “He’s sound asleep still. I began asking him about his time in the military, but he was already out.”
Then she worried that Leyton was still sleeping! She knew he had needed the rest.
“Just like a baby all rolled up in his sleeping bag,” Dan said.
“Yeah, well that’s why he should have stayed at the hospital. Is he looking paler than normal? He is breathing, isn’t he?”
“Yes, Doctor. He’s breathing, and no, his color hasn’t changed. We should have brought you with us so you’d quit fretting. But it might not be safe.”
“Do you think Butch would return to the cabin? After Leyton would have undoubtedly told you where it was?”
“Maybe not. But we can’t trust that he wouldn’t. He might very well think he was safe in returning.”
“Is Leyton’s pulse okay?”
“Yes, he’s sleeping, Kate. He’s fine. He better be worthy of your affections when he asks you to marry him.”
She stopped pacing. “What?”
“Uhm, just that we think a lot of you, Doc, and none of us want to see you get hurt.”
“When did the marriage issue come up? You didn’t threaten him to marry me, did you?”
Dan sighed. “No. He said he was going to do this right and date you first.”
She felt her heart swell with excitement. “I want to talk to him.”
“He’s sleeping, Kate. He needs to sleep. Doctor’s orders. Besides, I don’t think he wanted me to spill the beans. Got to go. We’ll be there in two hours. You need to get some sleep. You’ve got a busy day ahead of you. I’ll call when we get there and if Sleeping Beauty wakes up by then, he can call you.”
“Don’t you need to find out from him which cabin it is?”
“He told me before we pulled out.”
“Then you could have left him behind!”
“No way. He needs to do this and find closure. Any of us would feel the same way. Talk to you later.”
“All right. Keep me updated.”
“Will do.”
Kate couldn’t help being both excited that Leyton wanted to actually date her, which she thought was cute of him and that he’d even talked it over with Dan, and worried that Leyton was too injured to be out there with the rest of the men. Sleep? No way would she get any sleep while she waited to hear word of what they learned.
* * *
Leyton woke as they pulled into the parking area of the cabin where Butch had stayed. “Hell, I slept the whole six hours?”
“Yeah,” Dan said. “Thought you wouldn’t wake up until we returned you to the hospital. Want to call Kate and let her know you’re all right before we check out the place?”
“Yeah.” Leyton pulled out his phone, expecting Dan to get out of the car and give them some privacy, but he just sat there, waiting in the car like Chase and Stryker were waiting in theirs. “Hey, Kate—“
“Are you all right?” She sounded half asleep, like he’d made love to her and was not quite awake.
Did he say he was going to spend a whole lot of time dating her? He had to be nuts. No way would he last.
“Yeah, we’re here. Just wanted to let you know that we’re safe for the moment but…”
She waited.
“Hell, can we have some privacy here?” he asked Dan. “Forget it.” He groaned and exited the car. “Hey, I want to set up our first date.”
“After you heal—“
“Tomorrow night. I’ll take you out for supper.”
“You need to rest.”
“Okay, I’ll eat at your house. I’d have you over to my place, but it’s going to take a li
ttle bit to get it fixed up. And damn it, I can’t wait that long.”
“My place. When you get back.”
“Any time, day or not?”
She laughed. “I thought it was for a date. Like supper?”
“Depending on the hour, we could make it breakfast. Or brunch. Or lunch. Let’s just wing it.”
“I’ll be working, most likely. You’ll have to wait until I get off from work.”
“We’ll talk about it when I get back. The guys are getting out of their vehicles. I have to make sure they stay safe.”
She chuckled. “They better make sure you stay safe. You’re the one who’s been injured.”
“Damn it to hell,” Dan said, gun out as Chase and Stryker both pulled their weapons.
“Got to go, honey. Call you later.” Leyton pulled his gun too and hurried after Dan and the other men, but no one was at the cabin. “I thought you heard or saw something.”
Dan was on his phone and said, “Dottie, I want you to make sure your place is locked up tight. Your ex is back in the area. Smelled him all over the place and his scent at the cabin is recent. I’m sending Hal and the Meullers over. But it’ll take them time to reach you.”
Leyton knew the bastard was from the area. Chase and Stryker were checking out the cabin. Leyton was examining the area around the cabin in case he had missed anything the last time. But nothing.
Dan was on the phone to Hal and the Meullers next, telling everyone to get to Dottie’s place pronto.
After that, he seemed torn about what to do.
“They haven’t been here since the last time I was here,” Leyton said.
“Okay, we head home, now.”
“You want me to drive? Spell you?”
“No. Come on. Let’s go.”
“You’re dating Dottie,” Leyton said, climbing into the passenger’s seat.
“Who the hell told you that?” Dan asked, tearing off down the road. “I watch out for her.”
Leyton smiled a little. “Yeah, well, I never thought I’d be falling for a she-cat either. Sometimes life just happens. I don’t know any of Butch’s past history. Want to share? I’ve told you what he’s been up to of late.”