The Detective’s Undoing Read online

  Zoe hadn’t been nearly as kind. She’d come right out and told Delia she’d made a huge mistake to let her pride ruin everything.

  But to imagine swallowing her pride and telling Cade she was wrong, that she did need him, she did want him, more than anything in the entire world…she didn’t know where to begin.

  And yet, lying there alone and chilled to the bone because she didn’t have his warm loving arms around her was far worse, and she thought maybe if he walked into the room right now, she would be able to find the right words.

  The same thoughts still haunted her the next morning at the crack of dawn. Staggering into the kitchen, desperate for caffeine, Delia whimpered pathetically at the smell of coffee already on the counter.

  “God bless you, Maddie,” she muttered, pouring herself a cup.

  “Morning, Delia.”

  She nearly dropped her cup, then whirled around. Cade stood by the far wall, his own mug in hand, casual as you please. He was even smiling, though it didn’t quite meet his eyes.

  “What are you doing here?” she asked, when what she really wanted to do was throw herself at him, feel his arms come around her and haul her close. She wanted him to kiss away all her fears and doubts so that there was nothing left but the heart-and-soul connection she’d had only with him.

  But she didn’t make a move toward him, nor did he toward her. “I have a job here, at least for the moment, remember?”

  Yes, she remembered. She didn’t know why she’d expected him to walk away from it. She should have known that Cade, like her, had changed. Just as she’d learned to let people inside, he’d learned to not blame himself for his family’s death. As a result, he would never walk away from something he started, especially not at the Triple M, not when he cared so much about her sisters and Ty.

  “I’m taking two of the guests on a snowmobile trip today,” he said. “We’re cruising the back country, going to tear up some of this new snow.”

  He looked so good standing there, in his snowmobile gear and boots, with attitude written all over him. Tell him, the voice inside her head urged. Tell him all the things you promised yourself you would tell him if only you could have the chance.

  But before she could open her mouth, he crossed to the counter, set down his coffee and headed for the door, almost as if being with her was too much to bear.

  “Cade?”

  He didn’t even look at her. “Have a good day, Delia.” Then he was gone.

  Four hours later, with no warning whatsoever, a rogue storm hit.

  At the ranch house, the windows rattled and the lights flickered.

  Radio contact with Cade was abruptly lost, which at first was no cause of concern. Everyone knew they were fully equipped to spend the night out in the wilderness, if they needed to.

  The storm took a turn for the worse, and unforgiving and fierce, it raged on. Everyone in the house, including the two guests’ wives, bit their nails as the wind and snow pelted the house.

  They lost power, and the opaque darkness felt all-consuming, even more so because everyone knew there were three people out in that storm, people they cared deeply about.

  Ty had the generator up and running in no time, but nerves were strung tight as everyone worried.

  Actually “worry” didn’t come close to describing what Delia felt—“terror” was more like it—and she didn’t draw a single breath without thinking about Cade, out in this dangerous storm.

  To help occupy their thoughts, Delia dragged out her old beauty supplies and gave the wives manicures, but it didn’t help ease her own fear one bit. Still, the women were suitably distracted with the service. So were two of the other guests.

  Zoe and Maddie jumped on the opportunity, showing off some of Delia’s designs and handmade clothes. Every single female guest ordered something.

  Ironic, Delia thought, with more than a little bitterness, that she’d found her niche on the ranch, that she finally had worth, that she actually felt as if she belonged—and none of it mattered. Not without Cade.

  She made her way down the hallway to the kitchen, where she stared out the window into the wicked storm.

  Please be okay, she prayed silently. Please come back to me, safe and sound. I’ll never push you away again. I’ll even tell you how I feel, without hesitation.

  “Delia, honey, you okay?”

  Delia didn’t have to turn to see Maddie’s face to know that she was deeply worried, too.

  “I want him back, Maddie. I want him home and dry and warm and not hurt.”

  “You love him.”

  She felt Maddie’s arm slip around her waist, and because she could, she leaned on her sister’s shoulder. It felt good to be able to do that. “I let him leave angry and hurt,” she whispered, her throat tight. “I can’t believe I did that.”

  “You can tell him when he comes back. He is going to come back, Delia. You won’t lose him, not now that you’ve learned to let him love you.”

  Delia’s vision blurred as tears gathered. “I…I didn’t tell him.”

  “He knows.”

  But Delia was sure he didn’t; she’d been too stingy with her affections for him to know. And as the long day continued, she did her best to keep the guests and her brother busy. For Jacob, that wasn’t too difficult, this ranch living was new enough that everything was an adventure. When she ran out of fingernails to paint, she switched to toenails. Her sisters enjoyed it, too; she could see the approval in their eyes. Even Jacob thought she was cool.

  But she wanted Cade.

  The truth was, she loved him with all her heart, and she was pretty sure she had since he’d first flashed his killer smile. No, she would never have control over him—or the elements, she thought with another wry glance out the window. She wouldn’t be able to control her future, either, but she thought that was okay, maybe even good, because wasn’t risk-taking a part of life?

  Of course it was, and that it’d taken until now to see it made her angry at all the time she’d wasted. And as the day dragged on into night, and the night dragged on, too, tearing at her nerves, she used every excuse possible to stay glued to a window, torn between fear and anticipation, because she couldn’t wait to have Cade back at the ranch and have the chance to tell him what she should have told him long ago.

  Chapter 16

  It was a morning of new beginnings, Cade told himself, as he and the two guests he’d taken out the day before rode their snowmobiles toward the ranch.

  The day was glorious, the sun on the newly fallen snow making it shimmer like a sea of crystal.

  It was almost as if the raging storm had never happened. But yesterday, Cade had found himself many miles from anywhere, completely responsible for Mike and Tim, two winter novices. They couldn’t ride back, not in the whiteout, it was far too dangerous.

  Thank God he hadn’t caved in and taken Jacob as the boy had wanted. Cade broke out into a sweat just thinking about it.

  In the end, they’d done all right, thanks to the emergency kit Cade always carried in his backpack and his ability to dig them a warm cave beneath a clump of trees.

  But they were hungry, wet, cold and exhausted as they rode within sight of the Triple M. It was early—they’d headed out before dawn, as soon as the storm had broken—but every light in the ranch house was on and blazing a bright welcome.

  When they were close enough to see clearly, Cade saw everyone standing in the yard, waiting anxiously. And when they came to a stop, Mike and Tim were mobbed by their wives, who’d no doubt been terrified by the experience.

  Cade regretted that, just as he regretted his radio failure. But he couldn’t regret the experience, he thought, as he looked at Delia, standing on the porch, apart from her sisters and Ty, watching him as though if she blinked he might disappear.

  Maddie and Zoe flung themselves at him, hugging and crying and laughing and talking all at the same time. Even Ty gave him a hug, and Cade knew a barrier had been crossed in his own mind.