Chapter 5

      By the time they reached his mobile home, Colt was reasonably sure they hadn’t been followed across Bar-C land. But he still wanted Lacie to stay over. He would gladly take any extra hours with her that he could get.

      “It’s late,” he began as they climbed out of the truck. “Will you stay?”

      She turned to him, and he would swear the answer he wanted to hear was in her eyes. “There’s no danger,” she said instead. “And it’s not really that late. I don’t think it’s such a good idea for me to stay.”

      “Stay anyway.”

      She took him by the hand and the electrical impulses between them ran up his arm. “Please, Colt. We hardly know each other anymore. And I’m pretty sure you are not the same young man who danced with me under the moonlight when we were kids.”

      He’d forgotten. And at one time, he couldn’t imagine ever forgetting that crazy night and their dance. No music. No dance floor. Just him humming some Western song, slow and easy, and holding on to her under the stars like she might disappear if he let go.

      But that was just the thing. He’d had to let her go.

      Pulling her close now, he murmured into her hair. “We haven’t changed so much. I still remember. Dance with me again, Lace.”

      Actually, he couldn’t remember which song he’d been humming back then. He thought of the slow one they’d just heard on the radio and began singing it under his breath. She slumped against him, and he wasn’t sure what that meant. But when he slipped his arm around her waist, she let him narrow the distance between them to less than a whisper of air.

      Laying her head against his shoulder when he began to sway, she followed right along as he took the first step. She smelled so good he forgot all about his game leg. He hadn’t thought of gardenias once in the whole time they’d been apart. Now that scent surrounded him and took him back.

      Back to their youth and the promise of a forever love. She’d been his best friend since the day his mother died. The one person he could confide in and count on. By the time they’d had their dance a few years later, he was sure the two of them would be together for the rest of their lives. He’d confessed as much to her that very night.

      How young he was then. How terribly young and stupid. He should’ve known better. People didn’t stay together forever. Something always happened to come between them.

      His eyes clouded over and he felt a drop of regret as it dripped down his cheek. Holding her again this way, kissing her again, might be too hard. He wasn’t sure he was up to it.

      Rearing back, he glanced down at her beautiful face in the moonlight but refused to let her go. She opened her eyes and looked up at him and he found himself gazing in amazement at tearstained cheeks. She was crying? Over a memory? Or over him?

      “Lacie...” He was too choked up to say another word.

      Instead he lowered his mouth and placed a gentle kiss against the satin of her lips. Salty kisses. Another memory to add to the rest. Whether he had the nerve or not for anything more, kissing her now was an imperative.

      But a moment later, he got lost in the feelings and deepened the kiss. When he nudged her lips open with his tongue, she seemed eager to go along. Heat began rocketing between them, a drop of sweat appeared at his temple and his skin hummed with the blood bubbling in his veins.

      When he slid his mouth along the edge of her jaw and headed for the sweet spot on her neck, she moaned and trembled in his arms. He struggled not to rush ahead, fought with the sudden and overpowering erotic urges. She’d said it was too soon.

      Too soon. Too soon?

      Dragging himself into the present and concentrating hard on the woman in his arms, he leaned back again and studied her face.

      This time when she opened her eyes, she had a glazed, unfocused expression. But her eyes cleared and the swirling questions he saw in them pushed aside the desperate hunger that had been there only moments before.

      “Um...” She cleared her throat. “Yeah, that makes it definite. I have to go home.”

      “Don’t tell me you didn’t feel the same thing I did. It would be a lie and you know it.” A war was going on inside him, but he let his arms drop to his side and stepped back.

      “I...” She coughed and started again. “You’ll be okay for tonight. And I’ll come out right after work tomorrow so we can begin our investigation. Maybe we should see old Mrs. Murphy first. She knows everything that goes on in Chance.”

      He figured she was babbling, and maybe at a loss for real words the same as him.

      So he grinned and nodded. “Sounds good. At least what I got out of all that sounded good.”

      “I was rushing my speech a little, wasn’t I?” She choked back a laugh.

      “Maybe a little.”

      Her eyes went dead serious. “Can we talk about us another time?”

      He took her hand in his. “Sure thing. As long as there will be another time.”

      “I’ll be here tomorrow.” She turned and went to her car. “Good night, Colt. Thank you for the dance.”

      Standing like some damned statue, he watched her start the car and drive away. Our time will come, my love.

      He felt her temporary loss acutely, as though someone had died.

      And that time will be coming soon. Count on it.

      * * *

      Colt came out of his nightmare soaked in sweat, once again. But the nightmare had changed. This time when he’d raced down that barrio street, it was Lacie that he’d been running