CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX

C AIN HEARD J ENNY'S SOFT GASP . T EARS SPRANG INTO HER EYES . "Oh, my God, poor King. What a terrible thing to do."

Cain's jaw went tight. "I need to handle this. I've got to call the sheriff. I need to get the vet over here to look at King. Why don't you go inside and get warmed up? I'll be in when we're finished. It may take a while."

"I'm all right. I'd rather stay with you."

Cain just shook his head. Jenny seemed to understand what he was feeling, the helpless rage, how this had gutted him, but Cain didn't want her sympathy. He wanted to vent his fury on whoever had hurt his stallion. He wanted to pound them into the dirt, end their miserable time on earth.

"I need you to go," he said, his voice harder than he intended. "Please."

Jenny's gaze searched his face; then she nodded. Rising on her toes, she brushed a kiss over his cheek. "I'll see you when you finish up."

The hours slipped past. He spent time with Dave Petersen, the local veterinarian. Denver, Sanchez, and Quinn had to physically restrain King so the vet could examine him. Cain hated to do it after the trauma the horse had suffered, but the doc wanted to look at the area where the crude surgery had been performed and give King antibiotics to prevent infection.

At eight years old, the stallion was too mature to be gelded. The healing process would take far longer and be much more painful, the risks far greater. In addition, gelding the stallion so late wouldn't alter the horse's biological urges. King would still want to breed the mares, though he could no longer reproduce.

Any plans for a foal out of Kitty Cat by Sun King had been sabotaged completely.

Cain's hand fisted. He thought of his enemies list and mentally went over each name. What kind of man would make an animal suffer as revenge for some imagined misdeed? It was cruel and twisted.

He couldn't think of anyone who would stoop that low, but someone was responsible. Cain vowed to find out who it was and make them pay.

It was early evening when deputy Hank Landry arrived. He took cell-phone pictures of King and drove out to the east pasture, where the horse had been returned. Landry took statements from Denver and the rest of the hands, as well as a statement from Cain, but Cain had purposely left Jenny out of it.

This was bad business. He had no idea where it was heading or when it would end.

It was dark by the time he returned to the house. Not in the mood for conversation, he spent a couple of hours in his study. It was almost eleven o'clock when he finally gave in to the rumbling in his stomach and went into the kitchen, where a plate of roast chicken and mashed potatoes waited for him in the oven.

Cain picked at the meal, put the dishes in the dishwasher, then headed down the hall to the guest room. He wanted Jenny with a deep, fierce urgency, but he wasn't ready to chance a repeat of what had happened to him at the Copper Star.

He figured Jenny would be asleep by now, but when he reached the end of the hall, a light burned under the door to his room. Maybe she had fallen asleep and forgotten to turn off the lamp.

Quietly, he opened the door, saw Jenny sitting up in bed reading. She'd been waiting for him. The knowledge tightened something in his chest.

"Cain," she said, tossing back the covers. Her bare feet hit the floor, and she walked toward him. She was wearing a short, white silk nightgown, the sheer lace bodice barely covering her high, full breasts. He could see the dark areolas at the crest, see the womanly shadow at the juncture of her thighs, and his body hardened.

"Are you okay?" she asked. "How is King doing?"

He forced himself not to move toward her. "He's having a rough time of it. Denver is spending the night in the barn, doing his best to reassure King that he's home and safe, but he's been badly mistreated. It's going to be an uphill battle."

She took a few more steps, rested her palms on his chest. "Cain, I'm so sorry."

"Get some sleep," he said, easing away from her. "I'll see you in the morning."

"I don't want you to go. I want you to stay here with me."

He wanted her tonight. Wanted the comfort of her body after such a difficult day, wanted the softness he knew he would find afterward when he held her.

His mind shot back to the sinister thoughts he'd had last night. "It's late," he said gruffly. "You need to get some sleep."

She moved closer, pressing herself against him, went up on her toes, and settled her mouth over his. Her arms went around his neck. Unable to stop himself, Cain kissed her back, his hands circling her waist to pull her even closer. The kiss turned rough and hungry, his mouth moving hotly over hers. God, he needed her tonight. Everything inside him craved her, craved the release she could give him, the gift of her sweetness wrapping around him.

But what if the lust he'd felt last night overcame him? What if he snapped and hurt her? Or worse?

Cain broke the kiss. Gently, he caught her wrists, dragged them away from the back of his neck, and eased her away.

"Not tonight," he said. "We'll talk about it in the morning."

Jenny's chin firmed. "Talking is the last thing we need to do." She slid her hand over the front of his jeans. He was thick and hard beneath the zipper. Cain hissed in a breath.

"I feel bad about what happened to your horse," Jenny said, "but you're still a stallion, Cain. Don't tell me you don't want me. We both know it wouldn't be true."

"Jenny . . . honey, please. I'll make it up to you another time."

Her green eyes found his darker ones. "I know what's going on here. I know you're afraid of becoming the person you were in that room, but you aren't him, Cain. You're nothing like him, and I'm going to prove it."

Unzipping his jeans, she freed him. His eyes closed as he felt her small hand wrap around him, then the warm wetness of her mouth. It took every ounce of his will to stay in control, but somehow he managed.

He wanted to be inside her, needed to feel the snug, welcoming heat of her body. He couldn't resist any longer. Drawing her to her feet, he swept her up in his arms, carried her over to the bed, and settled her on the mattress.

He was hard as steel, aching with every heartbeat, but so far he hadn't turned into a raving lunatic. Vaguely, it occurred to him that the last thing he wanted to do was hurt her.

In minutes, he had stripped off his clothes and joined her on the bed. When he lifted her astride him, Jenny pulled the nightgown over her head and tossed it away, leaving her naked and making him harder still.

She had the prettiest dark-tipped breasts, full and tilted slightly upward. He cupped them, gently caressed them. When she leaned over to take him inside, her silky brown curls cocooned them. Jenny started to move, and Cain clamped down hard on his control.

He needed to make love to her gently, prove he wasn't the animal who had taken over his mind last night, but the faster she moved, the deeper she took him, the more she tested his will.

"I want you," she said, and Cain groaned.

Finding himself nearing the edge, he gripped her hips to hold her in place and drove himself deep, took her and took her until Jenny's head fell back, sending her curls tumbling around her shoulders, and she moaned.

Cain didn't stop, not even when she cried out in release, not until his own release burned through him. In seconds, he was hard again, aching for more. Rolling her beneath him, he drove her up again, pushing her to a second powerful climax, pushing himself to the very brink, then over.

For long seconds, they drifted, trapped in the sweet pleasure, enjoying the moments of pure contentment.

Time passed, and little by little, reality began to seep in, but the sense of peace remained. Cain lifted himself away and lay beside her, eased her into his arms. Jenny rested her head on his shoulder.

She ran the tip of her finger over his pecs down his abs and tilted her head back to look at him. "Are you okay?"

Cain smiled. "I didn't turn into a demon, so the answer is yes." He stroked a hand over her silky curls. "Thanks for what you did."

"It wasn't just for you. I wanted you. I did it for both of us."

It went unspoken that, in giving herself to him, she had shown him how deeply she trusted him. Cain kissed her temple. He thought of King and what the horse had suffered. He thought of the unknown enemy he had made and Nick Faraday's warning.

What if his enemy came after Jenny?

His chest clamped down. No one, he vowed, was going to hurt her.

No one.

* * *

It was early when Jenny returned with Cain to Jerome the next morning. Cain dropped her off at the Copper Star; then the Jag continued up Hill Street to the Grandview.

When Jenny walked into the lobby of the Star, ringing the bell above the door, Heather was checking out two hotel guests. While the husband loaded their luggage into the trunk of their compact SUV, Jenny noticed the wife, a saucy little blonde with short, spiky hair, writing something in the journal. Her husband honked, and she raced out the door toward the car.

"The woman who just left?" Heather said, drawing Jenny's attention. "They stayed in room nine last night. She told me she thought there was a ghost in the room. She said she was sitting at the table by the window when her hairbrush lifted off the dresser, flew across the room, and slammed into the wall. She said it barely missed hitting her in the head. You don't think it could be true, do you?"

Jenny hoped to God it wasn't. "I have no idea. Let's go up and take a look."

Heather grinned and nodded, more intrigued than afraid of spirits.

The bed in room 9 was unmade. Damp white towels sat in a pile on the bathroom floor. There was a soda-can ring on the nightstand, but the tops were covered with a plastic coating, so nothing sank into the wood. It looked the way rooms usually did when people checked out.

"Mrs. Grogen told me the hairbrush hit the wall," Heather said, surveying the interior. "But the room looks okay to me."

The room was done in shades of rose and cream, with pink-rose wallpaper behind the table near the four-poster bed. Jenny took a close look at the walls, but didn't see anything.

"This might be something," Heather said, pointing toward a spot next to the chair beside the table where the woman had been sitting.

Jenny moved closer. It was hard to see the spot in the pink-rose paper, but there was definitely an indentation. She ran her finger over the place where the plaster had been dented. Something had caused it, and from the fresh tear in the paper, it was recent.

Her stomach knotted. "Do we have guests in this room tonight?"

"I checked. Unless we get a call, there's no one coming in until next week."

"Okay, let's get it cleaned and leave it empty, at least for now."

"I'll take care of it."

Jenny nodded, distracted by the possibility there could be more trouble in the new wing of the hotel. Back downstairs, she checked in with the kitchen staff to make sure they didn't need anything before the saloon opened for the day, then walked out the front door.

She was on her way to the library to see if she could find something to validate Cleo's story about the miner who had been shot. Glancing up, she saw Dylan step onto the sidewalk in front of her.

"Hey, sis."

"Dylan!" She smiled as he bent and kissed her cheek.

"Last day off before I'm back on duty," he said. "I thought I'd come up and say hello."

"It's always great to see you."

"You, too. No more ghosts, I hope." He kept his tone light, but she had called him after the murder, so he knew something terrible had happened. He'd wanted to come up then, but she had told him the police were handling the investigation and there was nothing he could do.

"No more than usual," she said evasively.

"So nobody else is dead."

Jenny made no reply.

Dylan glanced up the hill. "How's your job at the Grandview working out?"

Jenny thought of Cain and the way he had made love to her last night at the ranch, with a desperate need and vulnerability that touched her as nothing he had done before.

"It's going great. I like my job. If you want to know whether I'm still seeing Cain, the answer is yes."

His lips thinned. "I can't tell you what to do. Just be careful."

She managed to smile. "The Grandview's almost finished. We're gearing up for the grand-opening party. Your invitation's in the mail."

Dylan just nodded. "I got the email." He was looking over her shoulder at something on the boardwalk and smiling. Jenny turned to see Summer walking out of the Butterfly Boutique, headed in their direction. A light breeze ruffled her long, pale-blond hair and the fringe on the knit shawl around her shoulders.

"We're, umm . . . going to lunch at the Haunted Hamburger," Dylan said.

One of Jenny's eyebrows went up. "How did that happen?"

"Summer called me. She told me she was invited to the grand-opening party at the Grandview. She figured I would be going and asked if I might be interested in the two of us going together."

"And you said yes?"

He shrugged his broad shoulders. "Why not? After she called, we started Face-Timing each other. I thought I'd stay here the night of the party and go back in the morning."

"That's great." Jenny knew how her friend felt about Dylan. "I'll book you a room." Her gaze shifted between Summer and her good-looking brother. "A double."

Summer walked up just then. "Hi, guys."

"Hey, Summer." Dylan bent and kissed her cheek. "You hungry?"

Summer smiled. "Starving."

"Me, too." He cast Jenny a glance. "We'll see you after lunch." Dylan took Summer's hand, and they headed across the street to the stairs leading up the hill to the restaurant on Clark Street. Summer looked back at Jenny and mouthed, Talk later.

Jenny waved, glad Summer had taken the initiative, proud of her brother for taking a chance. She hoped it worked out for the two of them.