Home For a Cowboy Christmas(5)

When he returned to the house, Sam was still at the top of the stairs. The minute the dog saw him, he rushed down and out the doggie door. It wasn’t long before Sam was back inside and up the stairs again, resuming his position.

“Looks like someone has a crush,” Dwight said with a chuckle.

He took off his jacket and hat by the back door, hanging them on hooks. Then he went to the kitchen and washed his hands before taking out some steaks to cook. He wasn’t sure if Emmy would be down, and since he knew she was tired, he wasn’t going to knock on her door and disturb her if she was sleeping.

After dinner, he sat before the fire in the living room with a book in hand. No matter how hard he tried, he couldn’t concentrate on the story. His mind kept going over everything Dalton had told him. Whoever Emmy was testifying against was clearly ready to do whatever was necessary to remove her as a witness.

Dwight set aside his book and rose, heading to his office. He opened the laptop and checked the motion sensor cameras he had situated around the ranch. He’d put them up a few years earlier when he had some trouble with his alpacas going missing. He not only caught the culprits, but he also found that a mountain lion had set up a den not far from one of his barns.

He lived close to wildlife that, in his opinion, had just as much right to the area as he did. Unlike some ranchers, he didn’t go out and kill the animals, but he did take steps to ensure that his livestock wasn’t harmed. Sometimes, he was successful. Other times, he wasn’t. But living where he did meant a delicate balance.

He had another five cameras in his office that he could put up, and now that Emmy was there, it was time he did just that. In fact, he wished he had better equipment. He couldn’t go into town and get upgrades without causing a stir. Field Point had a population of only six thousand, and everyone knew everyone else’s business.

The less attention he brought to himself—and therefore his ranch—was what he needed to keep in mind. A river separated his land from his neighbor’s on the right. A gorge formed the border to his neighbor on the left. The mountains made up the rear of the property. But if someone wanted onto the ranch, they’d find a way.

Dwight raised his gaze to the ceiling. He hadn’t heard any movement from above. If it weren’t for Sam, he’d be worried that she had snuck out as he worked. Dwight pulled out the other five cameras and set them on his desk to deal with in the morning.

Since he couldn’t focus on reading, he decided to take care of some administrative work for the ranch. When he looked up again, it was almost ten. He pushed back from his desk and walked from the room. He locked the doors and turned off all the lights before heading to the master bedroom on the main floor. Sam’s collar had a chip in it that allowed only him to go in and out of the doggie door, and Sam had access to that anytime he needed it.

Dwight left his door open a crack. Sam had slept with him since he was a puppy, but this might be the first night that didn’t happen. Dwight wasn’t angry, though. He found it endearing that his dog recognized that Emmy needed safeguarding.

After a hot shower to wash away the day’s grime, Dwight slipped between the covers and lay down. His eyes wouldn’t stay closed, however. He looked at the ceiling, all kinds of questions about Emmy and the people she was testifying against running through his head. He hadn’t thought to ask Dalton about that—not that it mattered. Whoever these people were, they were criminals. The fact that the US Marshals Service had been brought in as protection for Emmy said how important her testimony was to the prosecution.

His thoughts turned from the criminals to Emmy and her brush with death. He had spent four years in the military before joining the FBI, then moving to Homeland Security. He had been trained for battle in various formats, but even though he hadn’t had a gun stuck to his head, it had been traumatic. He could well imagine how it affected Emmy.

The way Dalton had spoken of the event, he had arrived mere seconds before the assassin pulled the trigger. No wonder Emmy was suspicious of everyone. Dwight was surprised she trusted Dalton. But Emmy had to rely on someone in a situation like this. It was good that she’d put her faith in Dalton.

Dwight knew what a good man he was. The lengths Dalton had gone to in order to see Emmy safe proved that his friend’s core morals hadn’t changed over the years—though the leak within the department might color his vision a bit.

Dwight cleared his mind, intent on sleep. When minutes passed, and he found it difficult to shut down his thoughts, he threw an arm over his eyes. Not even that helped. He tossed and turned for hours. Finally, around two, he got up and walked the house. It had been years since he’d had such a sleepless night.

Sam came down the stairs and sat with him in the living room. Dwight got his book and read until he couldn’t keep his eyes open anymore. As he made it back to his bed, he grinned when he heard Sam follow him in and then turn and head back upstairs.

The last thought Dwight had before falling asleep was that Emmy would be at the ranch for Christmas.





Chapter 3


The sound of birds chirping woke Emmy. She rolled over and saw that the sun was just breaking the horizon. Or was it lowering? She honestly didn’t care. She lay on her back and stared at the ceiling as she slowly came awake.

It no longer felt as if her body were weighed down. She stretched and sat up. Spotting her jeans in a wadded pile on the floor, she vaguely remembered trying to take them off when she had gotten up to go to the bathroom connected to her room. She’d gotten tangled in the legs and had nearly fallen. Not far from her pants lay her sweater, socks, and the wig.