Texas Heartthrob

by Jean Brashear

  Thoughtful. The word settled into her chest, choking off her air. She didn’t know what to make of him, for he had indeed been considerate in many ways.

  All the while aware that he was deceiving her on the most basic level.

  A game, perhaps. A part he’d played. That made sense, now that she considered it. Simple research for a role.

  It didn’t hurt any less, though.

  Behind her, Raina heard a car approach. She glanced back over her shoulder to figure out which way to dodge it.

  The car, old and battered, rumbled to a stop beside her. She searched the vicinity for a place to hide. A man emerged. Raina poised to run—

  “Are you okay, miss?”

  She swiveled her head. The preacher from the bar.

  Raina began to retreat, seeking refuge. “I’m fine.”

  He stopped as if he could sense her fear. “Listen, I don’t want you to worry. I’m not—I won’t hurt you. I saw you in the bar. I know you didn’t take that drink. I wondered if I might help you.”

  Raina backed up a step.

  “If it makes any difference, I’m married.”

  She couldn’t help a quick, derisive laugh.

  His smile was patient. “Listen, I’m a preacher. I mean you no harm. I think you’re troubled, and a lady like you shouldn’t be out here by yourself. Do you want a ride, or is there someone I could call?”

  She’d never felt so alone in her life, not even in that dingy motel room. “I’m fine. I don’t need any help.”

  Liam’s green eyes rose in her memory. Don’t say you don’t need me, Raina. I’m not buying it.

  “Begging your pardon, miss, but I’ve been in your shoes. I’m an alcoholic, too. I can’t go driving off until I’m certain you’re safe.”

  Safe? That was a laugh. She’d finally let herself feel secure in a man’s arms, only to discover that she’d been duped.

  She glanced across the intersection. “I’m not an alcoholic. And you’re mistaken. My car is parked over there.” She pointed to another café across the street.

  “No offense, but I don’t believe you. You would have gotten coffee over there if that was the case.” He exhaled. “Look, I’m not out to make your life harder or mine, either. I saw the expression on your face when the trooper came in. Are you in some kind of trouble? Someone after you?”

  She peered at him. “Why do you care?”

  “Miss, the good Lord tells us ‘Do unto others as you would have others do unto you.’ It’s my Christian duty to help out where I can.”

  He was barely her height and not much heavier, his expression solemn and kind.

  “So I’m a good deed?”

  In the headlights, she saw color rise in his cheeks. “If my wife were in your shoes, I’d sure want someone to step in and render aid.”

  Your wife would never be in my shoes, Raina thought.

  What choice did she have, though? Either throw herself at the mercy of law enforcement and risk all the questions that would be asked if she were connected with the stabbing of Liam Sullivan—something she suspected neither of them wanted—or find another ride. Or walk back sixty-odd miles to Gran’s on an empty stomach. She had no friends here.

  He seemed like a nice man. Earnest.

  Serial killers often appeared “nice” and “normal” to their neighbors and co-workers. It had been a long time since Raina dared trust her instincts, but everything within her said that this man meant her no harm.

  Of course, Liam Sullivan, too, had insisted he only wanted to help her.

  But within Raina, a fragile sense of strength was growing. She’d bested the guy in the bar, had faced down Frank—much bigger than this man and fueled by a venom this man lacked. Yes, Liam had intervened, but when he’d been wounded, she’d forced Frank to back down. She had no shotgun here, but if life had handed Raina one lesson in the past few years, it was that there was no perfect safety. She would be alone in Gran’s cabin, and she had no choice but to survive without help because no one on the mountain would care if she lived or died.

  This chance might not be ideal, but it was all she had right now.

  You’re crazy for trying to kick this on your own, her counselor had said. You need to be attending meetings and have support.

  “What’s in those papers you were handing out at the bar?”

  “The Twelve Steps of Alcoholics Anonymous.”

  She only knew the first: Admit you have a problem.

  “I’m not a criminal, I promise. I’m not an alcoholic, either, but my mother is.” She met his gaze. “I chose to set a new family trend. Started with Valium and worked my way down.”

  He smiled. “I know where there’s an early-morning meeting, starts in a couple of hours.” He gestured toward the truck stop café. “Since you’re not too keen on going back inside, how about I take you home and let my Martha cook you some breakfast while we wait? You want to call her on my cell phone to make sure she’s real? Or I could get Joanie to come out and vouch for me.”

  Raina felt something inside her warm, just a bit. “Won’t your Martha be asleep?”

  He shook his head. “She’s always ready for me to bring a lost lamb home. I’ll call her, anyway, so she can put the coffeepot on.” He opened the scraped and dented passenger door with a knightly flourish. “My name is Charlie Sellers, miss.”

  “I’m Raina Donovan.”

  “Come on, Raina Donovan. My Martha makes pancakes lighter than an angel’s wings.”

  Friendship and food, too. Her head was light, her strength waning. She was running out of choices as well as strength.

  Raina settled onto the worn, patched seat. She could eat and still keep her guard up. Be ready to run.

  “You won’t be sorry,” Charlie said.

  Could he know how much she wanted to believe the warm reassurance in his voice? Raina’s fingers clenched, but she unbent enough to give him a small, hopeful nod.

  Chapter Fourteen

  Alex pulled the SUV to a halt in sight of Raina’s cabin. “Good God.”

  “I didn’t ask you come,” Liam reminded him. “I could have made the trip by myself.”

  Alex snorted and shot a glance at Liam’s heavily bandaged side. “Oh, yeah. One, I’d never be allowed home again, even for your funeral, and two, you’d have been lucky to make it out of the parking lot.” He shook his head. “This is stupid, Liam. You should be in bed, not—” He exhaled. “Whatever the devil it is you think you’re going to do up here.”

  “I told you. I have to make sure Raina’s all right. Now, get me closer before she spots the car and takes off through the trees. I’m not up to chasing her this time.”

  Alex’s eyebrows rose. “This time?”

  “Long story. Just drive.” Liam’s side would hurt less, yes, if he’d take the pain pills the doctor had prescribed, but he hadn’t wanted a fuzzy head when he encountered Raina again.

  Nothing, he was sure, would make his stomach stop jumping. Not until he saw how she reacted to him.

  But no one came outside. Liam slid down from the seat and landed with a jarring impact. He grunted softly.

  Alex rounded the hood. “You could wait a damn minute for me to help. You had a knife slide into your gut only three days ago.”

  “Just nicked my side,” Liam grumbled.

  “They had to give you two pints of blood, peabrain.”

  Liam knew Alex was only carping because he was worried. He leaned gratefully against his brother. “Maybe you and Rafe and I can compare scars sometime.”

  “You’d lose.”

  “Yeah.” Rafe’s body was a mass of scars from the firefight that almost killed him; Alex had been shot twice and stabbed once. “I was just kidding.”

  “You’re missing the point. Rafe and I got hurt, but it was part of the job. You didn’t have to put yourself in harm’s way, but you did. I’m proud of you, little brother.”

  Alex’s praise warmed Liam, but Raina deserved it, too. “Give Raina the cred
it. She fought him both times, out manned as she was. She’s got strength, Alex. I swear she’s not Kelly.”

  Alex didn’t answer, too busy assisting Liam up the steps. All Liam could figure was to let Alex get to know Raina and make up his own mind.

  At the door, Liam lifted a hand to knock, but paused. Did he truly have the right to intervene in her life again?

  “Go on,” Alex urged. “You’ll always wonder if you don’t.” In his brother’s voice, Liam heard regrets.

  So he knocked. And waited. Knocked once more.

  The brothers traded glances. “We could come back,” Alex said.

  “There’s no lock. I meant to get one put on, but—” Liam opened the door and froze. “Oh, no—” He walked inside. “She hasn’t been back. Everything’s just the way it was the day we left.”

  Blood-soaked rags on the floor, dried stains on the bedsheets, furniture knocked askew—

  He twisted to face Alex. “I thought the reason the cops hadn’t turned her up was that she was already home.” Fear dug spurs into his gut. “Where is she, Alex? What’s happened to her?”

  Alex’s look was grim. Liam was aware that his brother had seen a wealth of horrors in his job.

  “Sit down,” Alex urged. “I’ll make some calls.”

  Liam sank to the bed where his lifeblood had poured out, the bed where he’d taught Raina about passion and discovered a new depth of it in himself… Please. He buried his head in his hands. Let her be okay.

  She’d run because of his deceptions.

  If anything happened to her, he would never forgive himself.

  The next morning, Liam rose with the sun, wincing as he climbed from the bed Alex had insisted he use. He slipped quietly past the brother sleeping on a pallet in front of the fire and moved outside.

  For a couple of bachelors, they’d managed pretty well last night. Alex had done most of the work of putting the cabin to rights, threatening Liam within an inch of his life if he didn’t rest. Between what Alex recalled of Abuelita’s woodstove cooking and Liam’s own memories of Raina, they’d put a creditable meal together.

  Liam clasped a hand over the bandage Alex had changed before bedtime. Arguing that Raina wasn’t likely to appear after dark, he’d bullied Liam into taking a pain pill along with the antibiotics.

  Mom would be proud. Nurse Ratched had nothing on Alex Sandoval when it came to barking orders.

  Where was Raina? Liam looked out over the mountains, squinted in the faint light at repairs he’d done. Perused weeds he’d cut by hand, wood he’d chopped. Felt a pride of accomplishment he hadn’t experienced in a long time. A sense of homecoming he’d only known in Texas.

  He could live here, he realized.

  Liam dropped his head in a silent laugh.

  As if she’d let him. He should probably be grateful Gran’s shotgun and .22 were still in the cabin instead of in Raina’s hands, pointed at him.

  He glanced around and cataloged the changes he’d bring about if it were up to him. Not as many as he would have expected when he’d first arrived and examined the setup with horror.

  Oddly enough, the place grew on you.

  But the point was moot. He had to go, just as soon as he knew she was safe.

  Where the hell was she?

  The cabin door creaked. “You never used to be an early bird.” Alex’s jaw cracked with a huge yawn. “Need a pain pill?”

  Liam rubbed absently over his bandage and shook his head. “Nope. Got some things I want to do today while I wait.”

  “Liam…”

  He pinned Alex with a glare. “You can leave anytime. I’m staying put.”

  Alex rubbed his eyes, then held up both palms. “I got it, I got it. I won’t ask again.” He turned. “I’m going to make coffee.”

  Liam watched his brother with regret. Alex had been there for him every step of the way. He didn’t know how much sleep his brother had missed while dealing with the furor in Asheville, and no telling how hard he’d been working before he arrived. Alex’s job was one of unrelenting tension; a hostage situation could go on for hours, even days, and once he established a bond with the hostage taker, Alex lived on adrenaline.

  His eyes held shadows deeper than usual. Alex might need to go home worse than he himself did.

  Liam headed for the door to apologize. Maybe, for his brother’s sake, he should depart, since Alex wouldn’t go without him.

  But how could he, not knowing where Raina was? He’d gladly let her blast him up one side and down the other if he could just see her safe and whole.

  He turned the knob and pushed at the door—

  And heard a sound that made his heart trip faster.

  The mountains weren’t as soothing as Raina had hoped. She sat beside Charlie, hands clasped tightly in her lap. She dreaded seeing the cabin, still turned upside down from Frank’s attack and the frantic race to get Liam to the hospital.

  But you didn’t win a fight if you gave up the field.

  Raina was determined to fight.

  The cabin was hers, by God, the only thing she had left of Gran. She’d broken Gran’s heart by leaving; maybe Gran would know somehow that she was back. Perhaps Gran could see the progress made already, even if much of it had been Liam’s doing.

  Their list was unfinished, but Raina would complete it herself.

  “I know you’re nervous,” Charlie said. “But I’ll stay until it’s set to rights, and you heard Martha say she’d welcome you back if you changed your mind.”

  “I won’t.” She turned and smiled. “I can’t, Charlie. Not and live with myself. I’ve run enough.”

  “You’ll use that cell phone I got you?”

  Raina flushed. “It’s not right for you to pay the bill. You’ve got others who need you.”

  “You’ll be covering it soon enough. I have faith.”

  “I wish I had your confidence.” She faced him again. “But I’m going to make it. I’ll never be able to thank you enough.” He’d taken her to meetings, sat with her and talked for hours. Fed her and let her sleep.

  The older man shrugged. “You’re the one who put down that drink, Raina. Don’t forget it.” He leaned forward. “I think you got company, girl.”

  Raina’s head swiveled. She saw Liam’s car and let out a small moan of distress.

  Then she spotted Liam himself.

  “Who is it? I won’t let him hurt you, I promise.”

  He already has, she thought, but couldn’t keep herself from greedily devouring him with her eyes.

  The mustache was gone, she realized. His face was drawn in lines of strain, and he wasn’t standing quite straight, one hand pressed to his side.

  The side where Frank had stabbed him as he battled to save Raina.

  Liam walked to the edge of the porch, his eyes intent on her, his expression solemn.

  Then another man came out of the cabin, tall and dark. Handsome in a different way. He asked Liam a question, which Liam answered with a sharp nod.

  Over the dark man’s face slid a glare directed at her.

  “I’ll go talk to them,” Charlie said. “Send them on their way.”

  “No—” Raina cast him a tight smile. “I have to handle this.”

  She stepped from the car.

  Something has changed about her was Liam’s first thought, but he couldn’t pin down what it was. She walked past the front of the car, then paused.

  Liam descended the steps toward her.

  “Liam—” Alex called, low and cautious. “Wait.”

  But Liam couldn’t wait anymore. He narrowed the distance between them, wishing he knew the right words to say, his gaze locked on hers.

  He’d seen those blue eyes in many different moods, but never quite like this: worried and nervous, but somehow…strong.

  “I wouldn’t blame you if you hated my guts.”

  Her head rose swiftly, her eyes rueful. “I tried. Mostly I was—” She stopped. Glanced at the ground.

  “Hurt?�
� he ventured. “Raina, I never meant that to happen. I just—after Kelly and all the reporters hounding me and then when you didn’t recognize me, I only wanted to be taken for myself.”

  Her head snapped up, eyes heating. “You’re not Hal.”

  “Actually,” he said. “I am. My middle name is Harold, after my dad.” He took a step closer. “It wasn’t all a lie, Raina. Only the name.”

  He could see in her eyes that she was remembering everything, as he was. For a second, he felt again what it was like to hold her in his arms, to press her against him—

  “It doesn’t matter,” she said. “It’s over now.”

  Liam grasped her arm. “No—”

  “Hey there—” An older man emerged from the car. Moved toward them. “I don’t know who you are, fella, but this little lady’s had a rough time. I may not be as big as you, but I won’t hesitate to defend her. You take your hand away.”

  Liam dropped his hand, seeing himself through another’s eyes. Stung to be considered a threat as if he were like Frank. “Who the hell are you?”

  “I’m her friend. I’ll ask you the same. What are you doing in Raina’s cabin?”

  Who was he to her? Lover, friend…deceiver? “We’ve been looking for her.” He met Raina’s stare. “I had to be sure she was safe.”

  Raina shifted her gaze behind him.

  Liam turned. “Raina, this is my brother Alejandro Sandoval. Alex, this is Raina Donovan and—?”

  “Charlie Sellers,” the man offered. “And your name?”

  Liam steeled himself.

  Raina saved him the effort. “This is Liam Sullivan, Charlie. The movie star.”

  “Damn it, Raina—forget that.” He lifted his eyes to the older man. “It’s not important. I’m Raina’s friend, too.” He tilted his chin. “She never told me about you.”

  Amusement skipped over the man’s features. “She never mentioned you, either. That mean neither of us is real?”

  “Where have you been, Ms. Donovan?” Alex asked then. “I’ve had this state crawling with cops, looking for you.”