The Payback Man

He was tall and well built, but didn’t walk with that muscle-bound swing several of the others had. He didn’t have any visible tattoos and he carried himself easily. His gaze moved from side to side as if he was drawing his new surroundings in his head for future reference.

He looked straight at Eleanor. She caught her breath. So much anger, so much bitterness, so much grief. It was as though in that one glance she’d been able to see inside him.

“Move.” The CO dug the man in the kidneys with his baton.

A second later he dropped his eyes and became simply another con, shuffling along with the others.

Eleanor didn’t like that moment of recognition. She hoped he wouldn’t wind up on her team.

In fact, she hoped she’d never see him again!

Dear Reader,

Most of us believe that if we are honest, hardworking and treat others with compassion and dignity, we’ll get the same treatment in return.

This is the story of two people who found out the hard way that’s not always true. Dr. Eleanor Grayson, large-animal veterinarian and part-time employee of Creature Comfort Veterinary Clinic, lost her husband, her practice and her self-confidence. After two years she’s finally back up to speed, professionally and emotionally. Steve Chadwick lost his wife, his business, his freedom and his good name. For the past three years he’s known only bitterness and grief.

Now Eleanor has taken a job building a prize cattle herd for the newly reopened prison farm. She wants to save the money to buy a partnership at Creature Comfort, but she also wants to teach her “team” a skill they can use on the outside. She’s been warned against prisoners who prey on gullible women. She knows that almost all convicted criminals swear they’re innocent. But Steve seems different. When he says he’s innocent, she wants to believe him.

Until now, Steve hasn’t cared whether anyone believed him or not. He’s spent his time planning the perfect murder, and refuses to allow his growing attraction to Eleanor to deter him from his goal. He can’t become a part of her life. She must not become a part of his. Yet neither feels alive except when they’re together.

I hope you enjoy reading Steve and Eleanor’s story.

Carolyn McSparren

To all the veterinarians, their families and their staffs who lent me books, let me watch procedures and answered a million questions. And to all the cowmen who regaled me with tales of cows, bulls, buffalo and their idiosyncrasies.

Especially for everyone at the Bowling Animal Clinic, for Bobby Billingsley who warned me I wouldn’t be able to stay on a cutting horse thirty seconds (he was right) and for Sam Garner, who gave me chapter and verse on buffalo and beefalos alike.

If I’ve gotten anything wrong, it’s my fault. Whatever is right is because of the good people who helped me.

PROLOGUE

CHAPTER ONE

CHAPTER TWO

CHAPTER THREE

CHAPTER FOUR

CHAPTER FIVE

CHAPTER SIX

CHAPTER SEVEN

CHAPTER EIGHT

CHAPTER NINE

CHAPTER TEN

CHAPTER ELEVEN

CHAPTER TWELVE

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

CHAPTER FIFTEEN

CHAPTER SIXTEEN

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

EPILOGUE

“GUILTY.”

Stephen Chadwick stood at attention behind the defense table. He was too stunned to react. Behind him, the spectators erupted into noise. He heard doors open and close as reporters ran to report to their editors. He thought he heard his sister wail.

This couldn’t be happening. His lawyer, Leslie Vickers, leaned over to whisper to him, “Don’t worry, boy, we’ll get you out on appeal.”

Appeal? How long would that take? Months? Years? Meanwhile, what would happen to him?

The hollow thud of the judge’s gavel struck through his consciousness. He gripped the edge of the table and willed himself to keep standing straight. Until this moment, he’d believed Vickers. An innocent man is never convicted. There was no real evidence against him. “Piece of cake,” Vickers had told him.

Most of all he’d believed in the system.

“Stephen Chadwick.” How could the judge’s baritone sound so casual? This was Stephen’s life he was talking about! “You have been found guilty of manslaughter by a jury of your peers. The penalty phase of this trial will commence after lunch.”

Now Stephen knew why all those prisoners he’d watched being sentenced on television never showed emotion. None of this felt real, but it was nothing like a nightmare. He knew he was awake. He knew this was the end of his life as he’d known it. He simply couldn’t take it in. He wanted to scream, but that would do no good. At this point, why should his precious dignity mean anything?

It was all he had.

How could the jury believe he’d killed his beautiful, clever, funny wife? His Chelsea, his friend, companion and support in all his crazy schemes?

As he was led away to the holding area and the bologna sandwich, already curling at the corners, that awaited him as it had every day from the start of the trial a week earlier, he kept his eyes straight ahead.