“I see.”
“So don’t blame him,” she said softly. “I know he feels terrible, like he let me down. But it could have happened anytime. This man seems to know very well how to get to people,” she added quietly. “He’s like a snake. He can get in anywhere, without being noticed.”
“We’ll find him.”
She turned her head on the pillow. “You have to be very careful,” she said. “If you have medicines that you take, check them.”
“I’m way ahead of you there,” he assured her. “But there’s no way anyone could get into my house without being noticed.”
“Don’t assume that,” she said. “It’s what we assumed, too. And here I am.”
He grimaced. “You could have died.”
“Yes. But he miscalculated,” she said. “That will hurt his confidence. It will make him pause and rethink his methods. It will give you an opportunity to find out who he is.” She squeezed his hand. “Dalton, he’s done this before. Not exactly like this, but he’s killed someone. Someone important. That’s your key. That’s what you have to look for...” She swallowed, hard. She let go of his hand. “Sorry. I’m so...sleepy.”
“It’s all right. You rest. I’ll be back to see you tomorrow.”
She nodded. “Thanks.”
He smiled, when he’d never felt less like smiling. “Hey, what are friends for?” he asked her softly.
She opened her eyes and looked at him. Something flashed there, something odd. But she only smiled back and said, “That’s right.” Then she closed her eyes again.
HE LEFT HER. His mind was working overtime. He wanted to throw Carson through a wall. The man was the devil himself. He remembered Carson charming the beautiful flight attendant, all smooth talk and smiles. It hadn’t mattered about that woman, who was a stranger. But this was Merissa. And Merissa was his.
If only he hadn’t botched it when he’d blurted out that proposal. He’d even had the rings in his pocket. He was going to press them into her hand and ask her right then. That wasn’t really how he’d meant to do it. He wanted to do the whole courtship thing. Send her flowers, buy her presents; take her on moonlight rides. But he’d lost it when he had her so warm and soft in his arms.
She loved kissing him, he could tell that. But she was backing away and just when he wanted to get closer, much closer.
So was it Carson pulling them apart? Was he a rival? And if he was, how could Dalton, who was no rounder, compete with him? The thought tormented him.
“WHAT DO YOU know about Carson?” he asked Rourke later, when they were going over new safety precautions for the ranch.
Rourke lifted both eyebrows. “Not a lot. Why?”
“He told Merissa things.”
“Oh?” Rourke’s one brown eye was twinkling. “What sort of things?”
“Hell, I don’t know,” he muttered. He ran a hand through his thick hair. “He’s one smooth operator. He turns on the charm and women fall at his feet.”
“Well, yes, they do. But he’s a one-nighter, if that helps.”
“What do you mean?” Tank asked.
“I mean, he doesn’t date the same woman twice. He has no staying power. In fact, if you want my honest opinion,” he added, “he hates women.”
Tank gave him a disbelieving look.
“No, I’m not joking,” Rourke continued. He finished connecting two wires on a monitor. “He even said something about it once, to the effect that women are no damned good. He said they’ll crawl to a man who treats them like dirt, but turn their backs on one who’d die for them.”
“The reverse of that is often true,” Tank commented.
“I know.”
“I’ve seen him in action, too,” Rourke added. “I can’t say I wasn’t a bit envious. Never had that sort of luck with the ladies.”
“And that’s not what I’ve heard about you,” Tank mused.
Rourke shrugged. “I’m like Carson. I like variety.”
Tank pursed his lips. “I believe you helped Carson feed a man to a crocodile over a woman...?”
Rourke’s face hardened like steel. He averted his eye and didn’t say another word.
“Sorry,” Tank said.
Rourke didn’t look at him. “There are things I never discuss. Tat’s one of them.” He turned his head, and his one good eye was blazing. “K.C. Kantor’s another.”
Tank held up both hands. “I didn’t say a word.”
Rourke shrugged. “Sorry.” He tuned the device he was working on. “I used to have a higher boiling point.”
“We all have weaknesses.” Tank leaned back. “Mine’s lying in a hospital bed, mooning over your damned womanizing comrade.”
Rourke’s eyebrows almost blended into the blond hair at his forehead. “She’s what?”
TANK FELT EMBARRASSED. He shifted his posture. “He tells her things.”
He chuckled softly. “She’s that sort of woman. It doesn’t mean she’s got eyes for him,” he pointed out.
“Well, I think...”
His cell phone rang. He pulled it off his belt and answered it. “Kirk.”
“Can you bring Rourke and meet me in the parking lot of the Custom Kitchen?” Carson asked.
“What in hell for? Are you hungry?” Tank asked sarcastically.
“I’ll tell you when you get here.” He hung up.
Tank relayed the message.
“He’s found something and he isn’t willing to talk at the house,” Rourke said grimly.
“Surely he didn’t leave Clara at the house by herself?” Tank asked worriedly.
“I can almost assure you that he’s got her with him. He may be a womanizer, but there isn’t anybody better at the job than he is.”
“He wasn’t there when Merissa was almost poisoned,” Tank pointed out coldly.
“None of us would have expected the SOB to walk into the house and poison her meds,” Rourke retorted. He stopped and frowned. “You said he left tracks?”
“Yes.”
Rourke cocked his head. “Now, isn’t that interesting? He’s sneaky enough to poison prescription meds so that they’re undetectable, and yet he leaves footprints?”
“We need answers.” Tank moved ahead of him to a nearby ranch pickup.
“I think we’re about to get them, too,” Rourke predicted.
CLARA WAS WITH CARSON. He sent her inside, with a gentle smile, to have coffee while he talked over some things with his colleagues.
Tank was somber and cold. Carson either didn’t notice or didn’t care. He was intent on what he and the sheriff’s investigator had uncovered.
“The tracks led to the highway about a mile behind the house,” Carson told them, leaning casually back against the bed of the truck with his arms crossed. “They vanished. We assume a car or another vehicle was parked there. We found a partial tire track in the snow on the side of the road. We couldn’t track any farther on foot, but the sheriff’s department has dogs. They marked the spot with GPS and they’re bringing out bloodhounds
