by Debra Jupe
Katie couldn’t move. Tara grinned as she straddled Katie, removing her scarf from her shoulders, and wound it around discombobulated Katie’s neck. She yanked, squeezing Katie’s throat.
Katie’s hands flew to the wool material, fingers grasping at the roughened threads. Tara pulled tighter. She strained to reach Tara’s hands, but she held the ends too far away. She tried to roll, grappling for air. Her legs escaped Tara’s hold as she kicked wildly. She fought to breathe until her passages clogged. Oxygen ceased to flow. Her arms fell to her sides, limp. Life slowly dissipated from her body. A hazy image of Jack’s face appeared before dismal blackness overcame her.
****
Jack ran to Katie’s loft, knuckles ready to pound the door down. He stopped to listen. Strange sounds came from inside. This was all wrong. Forgoing a knock, he pushed at the door. Unlocked. He barreled in, hesitating at the sight.
Tara was bent over Katie with a muffler coiled about her neck, twisted tight. Katie’s head flopped from side to side. Her skin white, her eyes budged from their sockets.
Without thinking, he launched into the air, reaching Tara with one jump. He snatched her hair and jerked her backwards. She screamed, stilling for a moment, and then tugged the wrap more snugly. Jack released her, grabbing her hands, trying to loosen her grip from the material.
“Let me go, you son of a bitch.”
Jack didn’t bother to reply. Her clutch was firm, and he couldn’t mover her intertwined fingers from the yarn. Swiftly, he raised his forearm and slammed it into her, bumping her away from Katie and slackening her hold.
Katie’s lifeless body collapsed to the ground. Her breathing appeared to have stopped. He stooped to find her pulse.
Tara smiled. “Too late, hero. Your girlfriend’s gone.”
Anger shrouded him blind. He whirled around and punched her in the stomach. She heaved as she bowed, clutching her abdomen. He dislodged her fingers, grabbed her shoulder, and flung her diagonally across the floor with added force. Momentum smashed her into a wall and toppled her to the tiles in a fleshy heap. She didn’t move. Jack assumed he’d knocked her out, but at this point he could care less if he’d killed the bitch. He’d happily serve his time.
He knelt over Katie, placing his fingers on her wrist. Relief swept over him. Her heartbeat was weak, but she was alive. He unwound the scarf and held her close, silently vowing to never let her go.
****
The tightness in her throat eased. Air spread throughout her lungs. Was this death? She inhaled, deep, enjoying the fresh flow of oxygen. How could she be dead if she was able to breathe?
“Katie,” came a smooth, male voice. “Everything’s okay. Open your eyes.”
She gradually raised her lids. She blinked, clutching her neck. She gazed up at Jack, who cradled her in his arms. “What are you doing here?” she asked in a hoarse voice.
He grinned, and held up the scarf. “Saving your ass, as usual.”
Her eyes widened at the sight. She struggled to sit. Jack braced an arm against her back. “Easy. You need to stay put.”
She ignored his warning and continued to rise. “Where’s Tara?”
Jack bobbed his head toward the far end of the room.
Katie spun around. Her would be killer lay sprawled across the floor. She appeared to be asleep, but Katie knew better. She returned to Jack. “Is she dead?”
“I wanted to kill her.” Jack glanced to where an unconscious Tara lay. “When I found her strangling you.”
“How did you figure things out?”
“Hunch.” He dipped a hand into his pocket, producing a shiny hair clip. One like Tara wore. “This was at Hazel’s house. A cat passed it along.”
“Furrsy? A big, gray boy?”
“You’ve met, um, Furrsy?”
“He belonged to Hazel.”
“He saved your life. This,” he held up the barrette, “and a comment Tara made at the murder scene.”
“Why didn’t you say something before?”
“With everything going on, I guess it slipped past me. The hair thing triggered the memory. I’ll explain more after you’re checked out.”
Panic rushed through her. She turned frightened eyes to Jack and clutched his upper arm. “She tried to kill me.”
“You’re safe now.” He wrapped his arms around her and kissed her forehead. “The police are on their way and so is an ambulance.”
“Pops offer you more money to watch over me again?”
He pushed her away. “You’re really going there?” He grinned. “He didn’t pay me a penny. I turned the payment down.”
She stared at him. “You needed the cash. Why would you do that?”
His arms tightened as bent and brushed his lips against hers. “Think about it.”
Chapter 25
Katie stood at the opened barn door observing the afternoon sky. Rainclouds had moved in and threatened to steal the last morsel of daylight. A large, gray cat circled her ankles before it bounced atop a shaky, old stand and nudged her arm. She complied with the cat’s request, absently scratching the feline behind the ears. The animal tilted his head back with a soft purr until the noise of fresh raindrops vaulting off the tin roof triggered the tom to leap from his perch and disappear behind a mound of haystacks.
“Only a shower, Furrsy,” Katie told the feline with a grin.
A distant sound of an engine combating the muddy roads pulled her attention away from the cat. She gazed through the expected drizzle and waited for the truck’s headlights to come into view. After several minutes, Jack’s ancient pickup appeared, maneuvering in front of Nana’s house before coming to a stop. He threw opened a door and darted into the rain.
Twitches hurdled inside her stomach. He’d given her shivers since she was a little girl. She’d never get over this man. Her insides had been in a tizzy since he’d phoned her earlier, a call she’d missed. He left a message, saying he and Cruz were about to meet with Jenna’s lawyers, and he anticipated the outcome to be positive. He also stated they needed to talk and preferred to do that in private. Would she meet him at her grandmother’s house?
She hoped for the best, though tried to keep her head, and expected the worst. If this was the anticlimax for them, she prayed he would let her down nicer this time. Then she’d deal with his final rejection and move forward. He jogged through the rain, triggering Katie to release a resigned sigh.
He caught sight of her as he approached and grinned. “See you got my message.” He seized her arm to guide her back inside, brushing the dampness from his neatly trimmed hair with his other hand. “Damn, I’m tired of rain.”
“At least it’s not snow.”
“There you go with your annoying optimism again.” Furrsy darted from his hiding spot and ran to Jack, rubbing his ankles. “Hey ol’ buddy.” He bent to pick up the cat, and scratched its head.
She eyed him. “So are you going to tell me how everything went?”
He sat the feline down and grabbed her hand, directing her toward the busted bale of hay and sat, half dragging her with him. Memories of their last time here brought a heated tinge to her skin. She ducked, hoping he wouldn’t notice her embarrassment. A finger slid underneath her chin, guiding her back to study the fading marks on her neck. “These look better.”
“Yeah, but my eyes are black from where she punched me. Broken nose.”
He looked closer. “You can hardly see them.”
“The wonders of makeup.” She paused. “Are you going to tell me?”
He grinned. “Tell you what?”
“I’m guessing by the twinkle in your eye, your license is no longer suspended, and you’re free to practice law again?”
“Better.” He loosened his tie. “Jenna dropped the lawsuits against me and my firm.”
“That’s wonderful, Jack.” He’d waited so long for this moment. Katie was thrilled for him, although she realized the forthcoming implications. “Did she have a choice?”
“She co
uld’ve continued, but if she chose to go that route, we would’ve brought out she’s done this to three other lawyers and their companies, which is all we’ve discovered so far. I’m sure if we dug deeper, we’d find more.”
Katie fiddled with the bottom button at the edge of her coat. “I suppose your company is ecstatic over the outcome too.”
“More than ecstatic, if that’s possible. They’re making sure the news is spreading over the Dallas area.”
“Wonderful. Not only are you exonerated, you’ll come through this with your reputation in tact also.”
“For the most part.”
“I assume you can return to work whenever you’re ready?”
“My office is waiting for me.”
“Too bad you rented your house or you could move into your home. How much is left on the lease?”
“Six months, and month five is almost up.”
“Seems like everything has fallen into place for you, Jack.”
“For you too.”
Katie sighed.
He leaned in to examine her again. “You aren’t having second thoughts about letting Rhett keep Weddings Fantastic or turning down his offer to manage, are you?”
She shook her head. “After what he pulled, he doesn’t deserve it, but I’m letting him keep it. My goal is to start my own company, and that’s what I intend to do. As long as he released me from the five year wait, I’m happy. He even agreed to give me recommendations. If someone is needed his services on a day he’s booked, he’ll suggest my company as an alternative, which is huge for just starting out.”
“Awfully nice of him,” Jack commented wryly. “I’m still not convinced he wasn’t aware of Vanessa’s dirty dealings to get his hands on Weddings Fantastic.”
“Me either. Since she had no proof, she’s left holding the proverbial bag. I thought she’d be smarter.”
“Greed does funny things to people. Her court date is set, by the way.”
“Do you think she’ll go to jail?”
Jack shrugged. “Depends how much she can schmooze a judge.”
“Would I be considered too evil if I hoped for a female judge?”
He laughed. “After what she tried to do to you, I don’t think the too evil exists.” He paused. “You’re upset about the whole Tara thing, aren’t you?”
“How could I not be,” Katie conceded. “After all, her downfall started at my condo. I’m glad she signed a full confession explaining how she killed Hazel, and her attempts to make me look guilty before she…I thought the police took away anything a person may use to take their own life.”
“Sometimes things get missed. And I don’t believe they deemed her suicidal. Ironic she hung herself with the same scarf she tried to kill you with.” He slipped his arm around her shoulders and pulled her closer to him. “It was her decision, Katie.”
Katie inhaled and nodded. “I’m aware. I’ve known her since grade school, Jack. I hardly called her a friend, especially after she tried to set me up, but the thought of her killing herself disturbs me.”
“We should talk about happier things.”
She turned to him with raised brows. The last week had been a whirlwind. Homicide investigations, Jack’s hearing, and Katie involvement in sorting out the issues of Hazel’s wills. They hadn’t seen one another since the police and ambulances surrounded Katie’s loft the night Tara tried to kill her, much less spoken of their stolen moments here in the barn. Even with the turmoil, she couldn’t fall asleep without a ton of questions rolling through her head concerning Jack.
Jack cleared his throat and shifted, removing his arm from her shoulders. “I understand you’re not comfortable discussing,” he stopped, “certain things, but we should talk about us, Katie. Like what happened in this barn.” He grinned. “Before they hauled me off, almost commando to the police station.” His expression turned serious. “I prefer us not to have any unresolved issues between us so we can move forward.”
Katie braced herself. Fear of his next words overwhelmed, but she had to hear, to know, so to take the next step in her life. “Okay, Jack,” she said in a voice scarcely above a whisper. “I like you a lot. I have liked you since I was a little girl. Heck, I might be in love with you.” She turned to look him square in the eye.” How’s that for not discussing certain things?”
Jack held her gaze for several seconds. He spun away to stare in front of him as if taking in her words. “Jules said you were too good for me.” A pause followed. “I tend to agree.”
Katie’s heart stopped. Surly after everything they’d been through, he wasn’t going to end this with the clichéd, “it’s not you, it’s me,” line. “My family didn’t raise me to believe anyone was better than anybody else. You know them well enough to get that.”
He slightly nodded.
“Then stop trying to use that as a defense. A person can’t help how they feel, Jack. If your feelings aren’t the same, that’s fine. Just man up and tell me.”
“I don’t,” he said sharply. Katie bit her bottom lip to hold in a slew of emotions rising in her chest. “There is no “might” for me,” he continued. “I am in love with you.” She released a breath and stared at him unsure if she heard him right. “But I can’t give you the life you’re accustomed to right now. Most of my money went into this lawsuit. It’ll be a while before I recoup. I’m working in a small firm, so I won’t be making a lot just yet.”
She frowned. “I thought you worked for one of the largest firms in Dallas?”
“Nope. You’re not the only one who made some changes professionally. I resigned, and I am joining Cruz. He needs a partner, and I’m his man.”
“Which means you’re staying here, and in love with me.”
“Bout sums everything up. How do you want to proceed?”
“I want to proceed with you.”
He smiled. “Can you learn to live on what we make? And cut back on your shoe buying habit.”
She stared at him. “What about your beer drinking habit. Have you cut back?”
“I only drink socially, and I stop at one.”
She nodded and bit her bottom lip. “I don’t have to get rid of the ones I have, do I?”
“No. The seven thousand you’ve already bought are yours. You’re going to have to keep it down to a couple a hundred a paycheck for a while.”
“I can do that, Jack.” She glanced around. “I think. I hope.”
“Be aware. The withdrawals will be painful.”
“But you’ll be with me, right? How can I lose?”
“You can’t.” He pushed her to the hay as his lips hovered over hers.
She laughed. “You’re right, Jack. I can’t.”
A word about the author...
Debra was born in Waco, Texas and is a lifetime Texan, living in different areas throughout her adult life. She enjoyed creating stories growing up, though the idea of becoming an author did not occur to her until 2004. Since then, she has worked on learning to write while pursuing her Bachelor’s Degree, which she earned in 2011 in Business.
She now resides in her hometown of Waco and is an active member of the Central Texas Chapter of Romance Writers of America where she is secretary of the group.
In her spare time she loves being with her son Stephen and his wife Astrid and daughter Hannah, and her husband Ryan. Besides writing she also enjoys traveling, shopping, a relaxing pedi, and a good plate of Mexican food.
You can visit her at:
[email protected]
[email protected]
~*~
Also by Debra Jupe
and available from The Wild Rose Press, Inc.:
ECHOES IN THE WIND
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