Home To Copper Mountain

by Rebecca Winters

  She swung herself down the hall and found Rick lying on top of his bed talking to someone on the phone. The second he saw her appear in the doorway he hung up and subjected her to an intimate appraisal. At least it felt intimate to her.

  Since that kiss in the kitchen, she’d sensed a heightened tension between them. It shouldn’t have happened, but she supposed it was inevitable with them living in such close quarters. He was a normal male with normal desires.

  Audra wished she could blame her ardent response on the fact that she was a typical female who played around when opportunity knocked and didn’t take one little kiss seriously.

  “You’ve been a busy bee, even without your nightshirt.”

  She looked down at her shorts and T-shirt. “I would have put it on, but I didn’t want you to think you were hallucinating again.”

  “No chance of that happening. I haven’t had a pain pill all day.”

  “You’re healing fast. That’s good news for the people at Mayada waiting for you to get back on the team.”

  “Sounds like my nurse is growing weary of taking care of her patient.”

  “I didn’t say that and you know it. In fact, I came in here to tell you it’s time I took care of you properly.”

  He got that excited look on his face again. “I’m all yours. What did you have in mind for starters?”

  “Meet me in your bathroom and you’ll find out.”

  “Now?”

  “There’s no better time. Come on.”

  On her way to the master bath, she grabbed a clean pair of navy sweats from the drawer. He was right behind her.

  “Do you know how to do CPR in case I have a heart attack?”

  “Is that what happens when you get your hair washed? I know you want to feel your best self when Mr. Cutler arrives in the morning.”

  A strange quiet filled the bathroom.

  “Except for my mother when I was a little kid, I’ve never let a woman do that for me.”

  “Pretend I’m your nurse,” she said, pulling his shampoo and deodorant from the cabinet.

  “That would be impossible.”

  Ignoring his comment, she rested one of her crutches against the wall and leaned on the other to start the shower. When she’d adjusted it to the right temperature on low pressure, she said, “Okay, here’s what we’re going to do.

  “After you get in the tub at the dry end, I want you to lean over so I can get your head wet and nothing else. Then I’ll turn off the water and ask you to sit on the side of the tub while I shampoo you. When we’re ready, you stand up and away while I turn the water back on. Then lean over again so I can rinse you.”

  “I’ve dreamed about moments like this.”

  “Let’s hope the experience lives up to your expectations.”

  He placed his right hand on her shoulder to support him while he stepped inside. A few minutes later her fingers were scrubbing his scalp. He kept letting out groans of pleasure.

  “I’ll pay you a thousand dollars to do that for five more minutes.”

  She’d pay him double that to be able to perform these kinds of tasks for him for the rest of her life. “Make that a thousand a minute and I’ll oblige you.”

  “Agreed.”

  Before long she’d rinsed him off and dried his vibrant black hair as best she could. He was a beautiful man—by anyone’s standards, but especially by her own.

  “Where’d you get that tiny scar at the edge of your eyebrow?”

  “Skiing. Nate crashed in front of me while we were shushing down Eagle’s Nest. The tip of his ski pole nicked me.”

  “How old were you?”

  “Eight.”

  She had an idea he and his brother were inseparable growing up.

  “I see another small scar on the back of your neck.”

  “A pellet from Chip Warner’s beebee gun got lodged in there. If you’re looking for signs of race-car injuries, I don’t have any.”

  Not yet.

  No wonder Clint was terrified.

  “Stay where you are.” She filled the sink with warm water, then took a cloth and soap to wash the part of his body he couldn’t reach. After rinsing him off, she dried him and applied the deodorant for him.

  “All done. I’ll leave you alone now to finish up.”

  Fitting her other crutch under her arm, she turned toward the doorway in time to hear, “When your cast comes off, it’ll be my pleasure to wash that leg and give it a good massage.”

  The thought of his hands on her body took her breath away.

  She hurried into the kitchen to fill a pitcher of ice water for him. Once she’d returned to his room with a clean glass, she put both items on the nightstand.

  While she was plumping his pillows, he emerged from the bathroom clean shaven, hair brushed. He wore the sweats she’d provided for him. Besides his own wonderful male scent, he smelled of toothpaste and shaving cream.

  “How about a game of cards before we go to bed?”

  “Maybe tomorrow night before my show? It’s getting late. I need to call Uncle David.”

  “In that case, I’m going to take a walk outside and stretch my legs. I’ll lock up when I come back in so you don’t have to.”

  “Thank you.”

  “Audra?”

  She didn’t dare look at him. “Yes?”

  “You’ve made a new man of me.”

  “Washing your hair always makes you feel better. Good night.”

  RICK WATCHED her disappear from his room.

  I have news for you, Audra Jarrett. I’m talking about a lot more than the personal attention in the bath, an experience I intend to return one day soon.

  He found his sandals and started for the front of the house with his phone in hand. Audra had shut her bedroom door. Resisting the temptation to join her, he headed out of the house into a warm night. Earlier in the day the temperature had climbed to the high eighties. It felt much more humid than usual.

  A tour around the bungalow revealed nothing amiss. He couldn’t see anyone on horseback. Since Sunday, when Tom had left the house in a rage, Rick had kept an eye on the road when he could. So far he hadn’t seen any of the cousins drive by, but something had to be brewing.

  Tonight he’d sit on the porch and keep a vigil until dawn. Right now he felt too alive from Audra’s ministrations to go to bed.

  No doubt his father was on the lookout at the main house, trying to gauge the form of retaliation he could expect. Amy Tilson’s input had only verified what was common knowledge to the rest of them.

  To pass the time, Rick phoned Chip Warner and told him about his accident. Since Rick had been on the phone earlier with Wally to let him know why he’d never made it to Arizona, they talked track stuff for a good half hour.

  Then he listened while his buddy broke down and wept over his marital problems. He and Jackie were separated. She’d gone to Denver with their daughter, Angie, and son, Devlin. She had a job in a hospital as a nurse. He was still in Colorado Springs working odd jobs at the track.

  “What does Jackie want, Chip? What’s the bottom line if you’re going to make this marriage work?”

  “She says I’m a pathetic has-been. I’m like the guy who was replaced by new management, but who still hangs around the office trying to pretend he’s important.”

  Rick winced.

  “Bottom line? I’ve been given three months to find real work. ‘Go to an employment agency,’ she said. ‘Find something full-time that brings in a steady income to send the kids to college and gives us a pension.’ Maybe then she’ll talk to me. Hell, Rick—I don’t know where to start. I don’t know how to do anything else!”

  Rick lowered his head.

  Chip lived and breathed racing, but he was a guy who’d stressed too much to be a top racer. Now he was too old. There were younger, better racers on their way up who didn’t let anything get to them.

  Rick had always believed that his buddy’s expertise lay in his ability to come up with brill
iant strategies to win races. He was like an offense coordinator in football. Rick had won many a race by applying some of Chip’s techniques, and he would always give his friend credit.

  When he thought about it, he decided that Chip ought to be a teacher for someone who owned a racing school. Nobody would do a better job. He’d be happy.

  The only problem was, that kind of job was almost impossible to come by unless you’d had a brilliant racing career first and knew powerful people in high places. It helped to be married to the owner’s daughter.

  Jackie would take him back if Chip could wangle a job like that.

  She only despised racing because she knew Chip had never achieved his dream. His wife was exhausted from living with an unhappy man.

  It all boiled down to that…being happy with yourself.

  His thoughts returned to Audra, who’d taken up permanent residence in his psyche. She was different than Jackie. She despised racing because it killed. Her last nightmare had convinced him of that.

  There was a time when Rick had lived and breathed racing, but something had changed for him in the last year.

  A lot had changed since he’d stopped off in Texas.

  “Listen, Chip, I’m going to call you again next week. In the meantime, I’ll think about your situation and see what I can come up with to help you.”

  “Thanks, Rick, but it’s not your problem. Jackie was wrong. I’m not even a has-been, because I never made it to the big leagues in the first place. What I’ve done doesn’t count for anything. The kids don’t deserve a dad like me. I’m scared silly.”

  His buddy was drowning. At thirty years of age, Chip was drowning. Rick understood. On the drive down to Texas, he’d felt as if he, too, was going under for the third time.

  But since his arrival, something had happened. He could see light shimmering overhead. He could feel himself rising toward it. A short distance more and he’d break the surface to fill his lungs with life-giving air.

  “Hang in there, buddy. I swear things are going to get better.”

  I’ve got an idea. One I can’t talk about yet. When I’m ready I’ll tell you all about it.

  “Thanks for listening, Rick.”

  “Anytime.”

  When they’d clicked off, Rick was too energized by his thoughts, flying hard and fast, to sit there any longer. He found himself walking along the road to the main house, keeping an eye out for anything that moved.

  Halfway there he worried Audra might be in the middle of one of her nightmares. He started back, noting that only one truck had driven by so far. Rick had heard the rock music blaring before he’d seen the teenager with his arm around his girlfriend.

  Four o’clock in the morning.

  Rick and Nate had never come in the house that late after a date. They knew their father would be up to say good-night to them. The thought of having to face the excruciating look of disappointment in his eyes was enough of a deterrent to prevent that from happening.

  Funny how circumstances had changed.

  His dad seemed fine about Rick keeping an eye on Audra for the next few weeks. When he was a teen, he couldn’t have imagined the day dawning when his father would condone a son of his living alone with a woman for days and nights on end.

  Audra’s a sweetheart.

  Those were his dad’s words, said with an affection that ran deep.

  In the last week, Rick had come to believe the same thing about her.

  With as much stealth as he could muster, he let himself back in the house, locked up and tiptoed down the hall. All was quiet. There was no light under her door.

  If she’d had a nightmare, he imagined she’d be up composing another song to calm herself. He fought not to open the door and look in on her just to be sure she was all right.

  His thoughts flew back to the first time he’d laid eyes on her staring up at him from the bed in fright and confusion. He didn’t have the words then to describe what he was seeing.

  He had them now.

  She was a beautiful Texas bluebonnet, broken off in the wind and carried a long distance from home.

  Rick needed to capture her before she was lost forever. His whole desire was to plant her in his heart where no wind could find her. Where she would be safe and adored.

  AUDRA WAS AWARE of the muggy heat as she pulled two letters from the mailbox. Bills.

  Yesterday had been warm, but this afternoon the temperature had to be in the nineties and climbing. The air felt unusually heavy.

  She looked up at the sky. The fair cumulus clouds she’d seen this morning when she and Rick had walked out to Mr. Cutler’s car to say goodbye were gone. In their place, fast-moving cirrus clouds from the west filled the sky.

  Had Pam noticed? The hairs stood up on her arms.

  She grabbed hold of her crutches and hurried into the house as fast as she could go.

  “Rick?” she cried from the hallway. “Turn on the television to the weather station, quick!”

  When she reached his bedroom, he was on his feet with the remote in hand, but he hadn’t found the right channel yet. His eyes pierced hers. “What’s wrong? You look like you’re going to pass out.”

  “Here. Let me.”

  “…storm system has moved in from the west. The National Weather Service reports a strong south wind blowing in moisture from the Gulf of Mexico. There’s a dry line moving across the state from West Texas.

  “Heavy amounts of rainfall have been reported east of Fort Davis. Hail is coming down the size of golf balls in Fredericksburg and Kerrville, where a storm cell has formed. A severe thunderstorm warning and tornado alert is now in effect for all areas of Austin County.”

  Sickness welled up in her throat. “Call your dad, Rick. Find out if he and Pam know about the storm. I’ll phone Uncle David. He’ll get hold of the boys.” She hurried into the kitchen for her cell phone, lying on the counter.

  It rang until she got his voice mail.

  By now Rick had joined her. He put his hand on her shoulder. “They’re in Austin. While they were talking to some people about obtaining a food handler’s permit, the alert went out. They’re on their way to the Cattlemen’s Club to find your uncle.”

  “Thank God.”

  “I’m going to run to the ranch house and get my car. I’ll be back for you as soon as I can and we’ll get out of here.”

  “There isn’t time for that, Rick.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “I’ve seen the sky.” Her voice shook. “Listen to the wind. The storm’s here.”

  “Then we’ll get in the bathtub and cover up.”

  “No. If the house were made of bricks, we could take our chances here. But it’s a postwar wooden bungalow. We’ve got to get away from it and into the creek bed now!”

  After helping her down the steps of the back porch, they both looked up. She felt the splash of a gentle raindrop on her face.

  Rain, hail, then the tornado. This was how it began.

  He took her left crutch away and laid it on the ground. “Come on, Audra. The creek’s not that far.”

  Using his right arm, he told her to use him for a crutch. Together they made faster progress than she would have believed possible. She was too out of breath to talk. Rick didn’t seem at all winded.

  They stuck to the access road until they came to the culvert. By now the rain was coming down in sheets driven by the wind. “Here. Let me help you lie down so you can crawl underneath the crossbridge.

  “Just use your left leg and drag your right one. That’s it. Now stay close to the side of the culvert and you won’t get wet from the creek.”

  Audra was so terrified, she wouldn’t have been able to do this without him. Once she’d inched her way inside and was out of the rain, she felt his body cover hers so she was protected from the water.

  “You’re going to be soaking wet, Rick.”

  “I couldn’t care less.”

  “But your sling and bandages—”

 
; He kissed the tip of her ear. “They’ll dry out.”

  “Rick—” She cried his name before she broke down sobbing. “I should never have invited you to come here to recuperate. This is my fault.”

  “What are you talking about? If I’d been at the main house instead of here, I would have jumped in my car to come for you.”

  “But if anything happens to you, your father will never get over it. Pam won’t be able to console him. He loves you so much. Your brother loves you so much.

  “All these years you’ve been safe racing cars. Then you come to Texas for an overnight visit and meet up with three men I’m ashamed to call members of my family.

  “You go for a ride on Pam’s horse and end up dueling with a water moccasin. Then Marshmallow falls on you and breaks your collarbone.

  “B-because you’re the gentleman you are, you accept my offer to take care of you in a house that doesn’t have any air-conditioning or a basement,” she stammered.

  “I should have acted on my instincts this morning. There was a different feel in the air when I got up. I didn’t want to admit I was nervous, especially not in front of Mr. Cut—

  “Oh no— The hail’s starting!”

  He’d never seen golf ball–size hail before. “It’s all right, Audra. We’re going to be all right. I swear it.”

  “What if I never see you again?”

  “I’m not going anyplace without you.”

  “If—if we wake up on the other side, will you come and find me?”

  CHAPTER ELEVEN

  AUDRA, AUDRA.

  “I won’t have to look for you because we’re staying right here.” He kissed her temple.

  I’ve got you in my arms. I’m never letting you go.

  “L-look at the size of the hailstones now!” She burrowed against him, totally traumatized.

  He was looking, but he didn’t believe what he was seeing. They might as well have been baseballs falling like bombs from his brother’s F-16. They filled the creek. It surprised him that their impact didn’t dent the crossbridge.