The Cowgirl in Question Part 23

She nodded and rubbed her temple. "He hit me."

"Who?" Cash asked as he reached the landing, his weapon drawn.

Ca.s.sidy drew back a little from Rourke's embrace, her eyes widening. "Yvonne." The word came out on a sob as she motioned toward the open bathroom door.

Rourke exchanged a look with Cash, then Cash stepped into the bathroom, his weapon still drawn. Rourke heard a curse, then Cash checked the other rooms and called for the coroner and forensics crew out of Billings.

"Yvonne's dead," he said, then knelt down close to Ca.s.sidy and checked her pupils. "Who hit you, Ca.s.sidy?"

"A man. I think I saw his face...." She frowned, then held her head.

"I don't think you have a concussion," Cash said. "How do you feel?"

Rourke was still holding her, never wanting to let her go.

"Woozy but all right. Yvonne said she was at Wild Horse Gulch the night Forrest was killed. She said she went up there to meet him. She saw the murderer leaving on horseback, but didn't recognize him. She was scared because she thought he'd found out about her." Ca.s.sidy let out a sob. "Forrest was still alive when she found him that night. He had a medal in his hand, a Saint Christopher medal, the chain broken. He gave it to her."

"The killer's?" Rourke said on a breath.

Ca.s.sidy nodded. "That's why she was so afraid. She feared the killer would get her before you found out who he was if he knew she had the medal and had been the woman Forrest was meeting that night."

"Yvonne has been sitting on this for eleven years?" Rourke couldn't believe it.

"She was scared he'd come after her."

"It seems that's exactly what he did," Cash said. "Is anything coming back? Something you might have seen or heard or smelled...."

She shook her head.

"Do you think you can stand?" Rourke asked her. He couldn't remember ever being that frightened. He held Ca.s.sidy tightly to him as he helped her up.

"Wait a minute, there was something. I heard a jingle, like change in a pocket or a lot of keys on a ring." She shook her head. "That's all I can remember and I can't even be sure about that. I thought I saw his face, but it's gone now."

"You were hit pretty hard from the size of the knot on your head," Cash said.

"Gavin," she said suddenly. "I thought I heard Gavin's voice when Yvonne left the line before I came out to check on her."

Cash looked startled. "I pa.s.sed Holt's car as I was coming out. It looked like Gavin behind the wheel. You take Ca.s.sidy back to the cabin. I'm going to have a talk with Gavin." Cash took off.

He glanced back at the bathroom. "If only Yvonne had come forward eleven years ago."

A set of dual sirens grew louder and louder as the state boys arrived.

Rourke told them where the sheriff had gone and left word for Cash to call him when he heard something.

Ca.s.sidy was quiet on the drive to the cabin. He turned up the heater and wrapped his coat around her, but he could see that she was still shaking.

He drew her to him and she snuggled into him.

"I can't believe this is happening," she whispered against his chest. "I can't believe this."

He wished he couldn't, but he'd known for eleven years that the killer was still out there.

At the cabin, Rourke dug out his father's stash of good bourbon from where Asa kept it hidden for his fishing trips with Cash.

He poured Ca.s.sidy a little in a gla.s.s. "Here, drink this."

She downed it, coughed and looked up at him. "What was that?" she said on a single breath.

"The best bourbon money can buy. Asa's good stuff. He swears it will put hair on your chest."

"I hope not."

Ca.s.sIDY DIDN'T REALIZE how tense she was until Rourke's cell phone rang and she practically jumped out of her skin. She watched as he answered it, listening to his side of the conversation.

"Yeah? Thanks, Cash. Yeah, I'll tell her. No, she's fine. I will. Okay." He clicked off.

She watched her face. "It's bad, isn't it?"

"Gavin was driving Holt's car. Cash tried to pull him over. Gavin made a run for it and missed that corner down by the coal mine. He's dead."

Ca.s.sidy took a breath and let it out as Rourke sat down beside her.

"Gavin had a nasty scratch on his face. The forensics tech found skin and blood under Yvonne's fingernails. Cash is waiting for the results but it looks like Gavin killed Yvonne." He hesitated. "There's more. The forensics tech found a Saint Christopher medal in Gavin's car. The chain had been broken and the silver was tarnished."

Ca.s.sidy felt tears burn her eyes. "The one Yvonne told me about."

"Looks that way. It's over, Ca.s.sidy. You're safe. And I'm...I'm free."

"Oh, Rourke," she whispered, and began to cry, so filled with emotion. She had prayed for this day. She looked into his wonderful pale blue eyes and felt her heart soar.

He kissed her softly on the lips, then pulled back. "No hiccups?" he asked, smiling at her.

She shook her head, waiting for a moment, then smiled. "Not a one."

He slipped his hand around her waist and drew her to him. His mouth dropped to hers and her lips parted not in surprise but in response to his ardor. Her arms came around his neck, she sighed against his mouth, a satisfied sigh as he wrapped her in his arms.

Ca.s.sidy felt as if she'd come home. It was the oddest feeling. Especially given her response to the first kiss. Actually their second. The barn kiss had been quick, a brush of dry lips, but it had jump-started her heart.

Their second kiss had been better, no doubt about that. Her racing heart and her hiccups could attest to that.

But this kiss. Oh, this latest kiss...it was all that she'd dreamed of. Just like being wrapped in Rourke's arms.

She told herself she was dreaming as she listened to the thump-thump of his heart. This couldn't be happening. Dreams like this didn't come true.

He drew back and she thought, well that was that. He would apologize, promise never to do that again and she would hang on to the memory of the kiss for another fifteen years.

But when he looked into her eyes, she felt her heart jackhammer in her chest.

"Ca.s.sidy?" he asked in a whisper.

She nodded, not sure what the question was but darn sure of her answer.

He seemed to hesitate, but only for a moment before his mouth lowered to hers again, the kiss slow and sensual. His tongue parted her lips and, as he entered her, she couldn't stop the moan that escaped.

He drew her to him, pressing his body to hers as the kiss deepened. This kiss she could live on the rest of her life.

"Ca.s.sidy," he whispered against her mouth as if her name were a prayer.

She locked her arms around his waist as his mouth devoured hers. Her knees seemed to melt and the next thing she knew, he was sweeping her into his arms.

He kicked open the bedroom door and strode in with her. And then they were on the bed and he was kissing her senseless again.

His fingers worked the b.u.t.tons of her uniform top. She felt the cool breeze caress her skin, then his warm palm. She sucked in a breath as his fingers skimmed over the hard tip of one nipple then the other.

She'd squeezed her eyes closed tight but didn't realize it until he stopped touching her and she opened her eyes, startled to find him above her, looking intently down at her.

"Are you sure about this?" he asked.

Just as sure as she was about taking her next breath. She nodded, wanting to plead with him not to stop. Not now. Not after she'd dreamed of nothing else for years.

His gaze held hers for a long, long moment, then his mouth dropped to her left breast. She groaned, arching against the warm wetness. Don't stop. Don't ever stop.

He didn't. It was everything she had ever dreamed-and so, so much more.

IT RAINED THAT NIGHT. A soft tap, tap, tap tap, tap, tap on the metal roof that lulled them both to sleep in each other's arms. on the metal roof that lulled them both to sleep in each other's arms.

It was the first night Rourke had slept in a real bedroom since he'd gotten out of prison or without waking with a start in the middle of the night and feeling disoriented, scared and alone.

He awoke to find Ca.s.sidy's face inches from his own, her brown eyes open. Clearly she had been watching him sleep. Something about that seemed more intimate than even their lovemaking the night before.

She smiled at him shyly, tentatively. "Good morning."

"Good morning." He returned her smile. She looked dewy-eyed fresh, uninhibited. He remembered how Blaze had gotten up before him in the mornings, rushing to refresh her makeup as if afraid for him to see her without it.

Ca.s.sidy wore no makeup. She always looked fresh and clean, smelling of soap.

This morning she looked as delectable as she had last night, maybe even more so given their new intimacy.

He leaned nearer to gently kiss her. His cell phone rang. He groaned and fished through the pocket of his jacket tossed carelessly on the floor the night before.

"h.e.l.lo?"

"Rourke, it's Easton. I just heard the news. I'm so glad that your name is going to be cleared." News traveled faster than the speed of light in Antelope Flats.

"How is Blaze taking the news about Gavin?"

"You know Blaze. She and Gavin were never close. He's always been in some sort of trouble or another. She was surprised that he was capable of killing anyone, though. It's too bad but we're just glad it's over."

"Me, too."

"I don't know if you've heard but Les Thurman is throwing a party tonight at the Mello Dee to celebrate your freedom and announce Blaze's and my engagement. I hope you and Ca.s.sidy will come. It would mean a lot to me. And to Blaze. New beginnings?"

Rourke glanced over at Ca.s.sidy. They would have all day together before the party tonight. "I'll ask Ca.s.sidy." He told her what Easton had said.

"They're engaged?" she whispered. "This I have to see."

"We'll be there." He clicked off.

"It won't bother you to go back to the Mello Dee? It is Sat.u.r.day night," she said. "Or did you forget about my my plan?" plan?"

He smiled. "That was the worst plan you ever came up with," he joked. It seemed like a million years ago that he'd come up with that crazy idea.

"Rourke, I can't help but wonder why Gavin killed Forrest."

"He and Forrest were involved in something illegal, we know that much, and they had a falling out," Rourke said. "We might never know. I've wondered too how Gavin got my gun." He met Ca.s.sidy's gaze. "Blaze. You think she stole it for her stepbrother?"

"Anything is possible, I suppose," Ca.s.sidy said slowly. "But they were never close. I find it hard to believe even Blaze would do that."

"Remember this is the same woman who took potshots at us just yesterday," Rourke reminded her as he leaned down to kiss her. "I think Blaze is trying to change, though."

"Right." Men could be so naive sometimes, Ca.s.sidy thought.

"I feel like an incredible weight has been lifted from my shoulders. It's over, Ca.s.sidy. Now I can start thinking about the future. Speaking of the future..." She smiled and he drew her to him. "We have all day before the party."

"Hmm," she whispered. "All day, huh?"

THE PARKING LOT at the Mello Dee Lounge and Supper Club was packed when Rourke and Ca.s.sidy arrived. Rourke spotted his brother's patrol car in the lot. Cash wasn't much of a partygoer so it surprised him.

As they walked in the front door, Cash met them as if he'd been waiting for them. "Ca.s.sidy, could you give us a minute?" he asked.

"Ca.s.sidy!" Les called. "I heard what happened. The drinks are on the house. What will you have?"

"Go ahead," she said to Rourke. "I'll be fine." She slid onto the bar stool and ordered a light beer.

"You sure you wouldn't like something stronger?" Les asked with a smile.