Courting the Enemy

by Sherryl Woods

  Chapter Fifteen

  The minute Grady saw Jesse Oldham’s car parked behind his barn, instinct told him that it was the same car he’d spotted earlier leaving Karen’s. Even though it was cold enough to cool an engine quickly, he touched the hood. Was there a lingering trace of heat? Or was that merely wishful thinking after all this time?

  “What do you think?” Dooley asked.

  “Nothing yet. I’m keeping an open mind,” Grady insisted as he opened the unlocked car and sniffed the air. This time he knew it wasn’t his imagination playing tricks when he caught a whiff of gasoline. Just in case, he called Dooley closer, then stepped aside. “Lean in there. What do you smell?”

  “Gasoline, plain as day,” Dooley said, his blue eyes snapping with indignation. “I’m gonna murder that man with my bare hands.”

  “Not without my help,” Grady said grimly.

  They stalked across the yard. When Dooley would have politely knocked on the fancy oak door, Grady shouldered it open, shouting for Jesse as he entered the dimly lit foyer.

  “What the hell’s the ruckus?” Jesse demanded sleepily, all but stumbling from a room on the left where the flickering of pale light suggested he’d been comfortably watching TV. For just an instant, alarm flared in his eyes when he spotted Grady.

  “What are you doing here?” he asked.

  “Can’t a neighbor pay a friendly visit?” Grady asked.

  “You just about broke my front door down. What’s friendly about that? Besides, you’re not my neighbor. If there’s any justice in this world, you never will be.”

  Grady regarded him silently for a full minute, watching his nervousness increase. “Oh?” he said finally. “Why is that? Surely you don’t think I care whether there’s a burned out house on the land I’ve had my eye on.”

  Just as Grady had expected, Jesse didn’t show so much as a hint of surprise at the announcement. “You don’t seem shocked,” Grady noted.

  “About the fire?” Jesse said with a shrug. “Why would I be? The police scanner’s been blaring the news for the past couple of hours now. Never heard such a commotion.”

  That was one explanation, Grady thought, impressed by the man’s quick thinking. “I imagine it has,” he agreed. “But I’m thinking there might be another reason you know all about Karen losing her home tonight.”

  Jesse regarded him defiantly. “Such as?”

  “Being there when it started,” Grady suggested. “That was you who almost ran me off the road tonight, wasn’t it?”

  Jesse’s expression faltered just a bit at the accusation. “I wasn’t anywhere near the place. I’ve been in there right smack in front of the TV all night long.”

  “And your wife can vouch for that?”

  “She went to bed early. Had one of her migraines. Started round about supper time.”

  “What about Kenny?” Dooley asked. “Where’s he been tonight?”

  “I don’t keep track of my son’s comings and goings. He’s a teenager. They roam all over the place. I know for certain that he’s in his room right now. Heard him come in.”

  “When was that?” Grady asked. If Kenny Oldham had returned at any time in the past two hours, that would leave him wide-open as a suspect. Jesse seemed to be struggling to do the math.

  “Beats me,” he said at last. “I fell asleep.” His smile suggested he was proud of his ingenuity.

  “Really? Yet you heard all about the fire on your scanner?”

  Jesse nodded, that smile fading into feigned sympathy. “Felt real bad about it, too.”

  “But not bad enough to get your son and go over there to help out. You are a volunteer firefighter, aren’t you?” Grady guessed, knowing that most of the men around here were. At the very least, they pitched in to help save a neighbor’s property when a tragedy like this struck.

  “Nope,” Jesse said, tapping his chest. “Bad ticker. Used to help out, but no more.”

  Grady was about to demand that Jesse call his son down to be questioned, when the front door burst open again and Karen came in, trailed by an apologetic-looking Hank.

  “Sorry,” Hank said. “There’s a real good reason we’re here.”

  Grady scowled at the pair of them, but his gaze rested longest on Karen. There were dark smudges under her too-bright eyes and her complexion was still very pale.

  “What might that be?” he asked.

  Karen looked from him to Jesse and back again. Whatever had brought her running over here seemed to have been forgotten. She faced her longtime neighbor.

  “Did you do it?” she asked bluntly.

  Jesse returned her gaze uneasily. “Like I told your friends here, I haven’t left the house all night.”

  “Unfortunately, he’s not quite as capable of accounting for his son’s whereabouts,” Grady said.

  Karen looked shocked. “Kenny? He used to sit in my kitchen and eat cookies while I visited with his mother. Surely he wouldn’t set my house on fire.”

  “He would if he was real anxious to get his daddy’s approval,” Dooley said, speaking up for the first time since Grady’s interrogation had begun in earnest. “That boy’s always been crying out for some man to look at him like he’s worth something. Jesse here’s been too busy to give him the time of day, since he’s not big enough or strong enough to play football, isn’t that right, Jesse?”

  Even as Dooley made the accusation, Grady thought he saw movement on the stairs. He glanced up and caught sight of Kenny, hovering on the landing. Given what Dooley had just said about the teen’s relationship with his father, he felt a stirring of pity for him.

  “Come on down here, son,” Grady said.

  Kenny crept down the stairs, his terrified gaze locked on his father. As Dooley had said, he was slight for sixteen, his body not yet filled out. At the foot of the steps, he instinctively edged closer to Karen. She reached out and took his hand, then gave it a squeeze.

  “Kenny, did you start that fire?” she asked, her voice filled with hurt.

  Tears welled up in the boy’s eyes, but he nodded, his gaze never leaving her face. “I’m sorry,” he whispered. “I didn’t know it would be so bad. I swear I didn’t. I just thought it would scare you, the way Daddy said. He said we had to have that land or we’d never be certain whether our herd would have water. Mama argued with him. She told him you would never cut us off, but he said you’d be selling out soon enough and the new owner might not be nearly so concerned with an old piece of paper drawn up between friends. It wasn’t even notarized.”

  Even as she held the boy’s hand, Karen scowled at his father. “You coward,” she accused. “You didn’t even have the guts to do the job yourself. You counted on Kenny’s need to please you. What kind of father are you? You’re not even a man. You’re scum. And if you were worried about those water rights before, you’d better be on your knees praying now, because I’ll see you in hell before I ever let your herd near that creek again, paper or no paper. I’ll find some way to see that it’s voided.”

  When she swayed on her feet, Grady stepped closer, but she steadied herself, then took one last, scathing look at Jesse Oldham and turned to leave.

  “Let’s get out of here before I’m sick to my stomach,” she said. She touched Kenny’s tearstained cheek. “Thank you for having the courage to tell us what really happened tonight.”

  “Hank, how about sticking around here till we can get the sheriff over here?” Grady asked. “Somebody ought to keep an eye on things.” He lowered his voice. “Make sure Oldham doesn’t do anything to that boy, all right?”

  “I’ll stay with him,” Dooley said. “He’ll need a way home.”

  Grady nodded. “I’ll call the sheriff. Then I’m taking Karen home with me.” He glanced at her for a reaction, but her face was expressionless. He took that for agreement, or maybe she was simply too wiped out to object.

  “We’ll see you in the morning,” he told the two men. “And Dooley, thanks for helping me out tonight. You be sur
e and tell the sheriff how helpful Kenny was.”

  “No problem. I just hope a court can distinguish between a mixed-up boy who set that fire and the man who put the notion into his head.”

  Grady nodded. “We’ll see that they do.”

  He led Karen to the car and settled her inside, then felt his heart clutch at the despair on her face. He couldn’t help feeling he’d set all of this into motion by making it so plain to one and all that he intended to buy her ranch. Maybe that was what had set off Jesse Oldham’s paranoia about those water rights.

  “I’m sorry,” he said.

  She glanced up, clearly startled. “Why? You didn’t have anything to do with this.”

  “Jesse might not have tried anything if he’d thought his water rights were safe,” he said.

  She shook her head. “This started long before you came into the picture. He didn’t trust Caleb to honor them either, remember?”

  That was true enough, Grady supposed, but it didn’t seem to lessen his own sense of guilt. He was silent for the entire drive to his ranch, though he couldn’t help sneaking a glance at Karen from time to time. He’d never seen her looking quite so lost.

  At his house, he led her inside, then pointed out the master bathroom. “Take a warm bath, why don’t you? I’ll call your friends and let them know what happened and that you’ll be staying here for a bit. There’s a robe on the back of the door. It’ll be too big, but it’ll keep you warm enough.”

  She nodded, then retreated into the bathroom and closed the door. Feeling unbearably tired, he stood there listening to the sound of water running. Only when it had cut off and he heard the subtle splash suggesting that she’d climbed into the deep tub did he go back to the kitchen and put a pan of milk on the stove. Maybe a cup of warm milk would help both of them get some sleep.

  Then he called Cassie’s house. He was relieved when Cole answered. He explained what had happened.

  “We can be over there in an hour if she needs us,” Cole said.

  “I think she needs a good night’s sleep more. Come in the morning, why don’t you?”

  “We’ll be there,” Cole promised. “Cassie and I will call the others.”

  “I’d appreciate it,” Grady said, relieved not to have to go through the explanation of the night’s events again and again.

  “Grady?”

  “Yes?”

  “I’m glad you’re there for her. She’s going to need you.”

  “I’m not so sure about that,” Grady said. “I can’t help thinking that when she thinks it through, she’ll blame me for setting it all into motion.”

  “No,” Cole said. “She’s going to blame herself for not protecting Caleb’s legacy. It’s up to all of us, you included, to make sure she understands how wrong that is, that this was out of her control.”

  With Cole’s words still echoing in his head, Grady was less surprised when Karen walked into the kitchen, her face drawn, her eyes dull. She accepted a mug of warm milk, then sank wearily onto a chair.

  “I’ve been thinking,” she said dully. “I have to rebuild. It’s what Caleb would want.”

  Grady wanted to shout that Caleb was dead, that his wishes no longer mattered, but he couldn’t. She wasn’t ready to hear that.

  Instead, he simply asked, “What do you want?”

  She blinked in surprise at the question. “To rebuild,” she said a little too readily.

  “Really?”

  “Of course.”

  He started to point out that the ranch was draining the life out of her, just as it had from Caleb, but he kept silent. She wasn’t ready to hear that, either. To his deep regret, he realized that maybe she never would be.

  Karen spent the night wrapped in Grady’s arms. He didn’t make love to her, as if he understood that her emotions were too fragile right now to bear it. She loved him for understanding that much about her. In fact, she loved him for being beside her all during the long ordeal of the fire and its aftermath. The truth was, she would probably go on loving him forever.

  Unfortunately, she couldn’t tell him that, or be with him. She had a duty to Caleb to honor first. It seemed she might never be free of that terrible sense of obligation.

  In the morning, when Cassie, Cole, Gina and Emma arrived together on Grady’s doorstep, she was passed from embrace to embrace. She felt as limp as a rag doll, but she forced a smile to reassure them all that she was okay.

  “Okay, then, what are your plans?” Emma asked briskly as they sat around the table, while Gina instinctively moved to the stove to whip up a hearty breakfast.

  Grady looked at her across the table. “You can stay here for as long as you like,” he said.

  She was tempted. Oh, how she was tempted, but she shook her head. “There’s another room in the bunkhouse. I’ll move in there while the house is being rebuilt.”

  When everyone stared at her incredulously, she returned their gazes with a touch of defiance. “What?” she demanded.

  “Why are you doing that?” Cassie demanded. “You know you don’t want to.”

  “Of course, I do. Caleb-”

  “Is dead,” Cassie snapped, then cast a belligerent look at the others. “I’m sorry, but it’s true and it’s what the rest of you are thinking.”

  “Still, I owe it to him,” Karen insisted. A glance at Grady made her sigh. He looked resigned. No, worse than that, he looked unbearably sad.

  “I’m sorry,” she added in a whisper meant for him alone.

  He gave a curt nod. “I know.”

  No one seemed to know what to say after that. Gina’s breakfast cooled on the plates in front of them, until she finally stood impatiently, gathered up the plates and scraped the leftovers into the trash.

  “Leave the dishes,” Grady said. “I’ll do them later.”

  “Then I guess we should be on our way,” Cole said, casting a sympathetic look at Grady and a worried one toward Karen.

  “Can you give me a lift home?” Karen asked him.

  “I’ll take you home,” Grady said tersely.

  “But-”

  “I’ll take you,” he repeated.

  She nodded, then hugged the others. “Thanks for coming over.”

  “If you need anything, anything at all, call us,” Emma said fiercely. “And I expect you in town later today to go shopping. You’ll need some clothes.”

  Karen realized that hadn’t even occurred to her. She didn’t own so much as a toothbrush. Suddenly it was all too much for her. The last bit of stoic resolve collapsed. The tears she’d been battling since last night poured down her cheeks. Great, gulping sobs welled up deep inside.

  It was Grady who gathered her in his arms. Grady who murmured soothing reassurances when the others reluctantly left. Karen cried until there were no tears left, until Grady’s shirt was soaked and her face was swollen.

  “Oh, God, I must look awful,” she said with a hitch in her voice.

  “You look beautiful,” he said.

  “Liar.”

  “Not about that,” he insisted. “You will always be beautiful to me.”

  She lifted her gaze to his, saw his heart in his eyes. “I love you,” she said. “But I have to do this. Please tell me that you understand.”

  “I don’t,” he said, wiping the tears from her cheeks. “Not really. But it doesn’t matter. It’s enough that you believe this is what you have to do.”

  “I don’t know what will happen,” she told him honestly. “I can’t ask you to wait. In fact, you should probably give up on me.”

  He smiled at that. “Never.” His caress lingered on her cheek. “When the house is built and you’re ready to move on with your life, I’ll be waiting.”

  The promise gave her strength. Maybe what she was about to do was sheer folly, but she knew that she wouldn’t be free until she had done it. A new house, a thriving ranch, would be her gift to Caleb’s memory. Maybe then she would finally be able to walk away and into the life with Grady that she so desp
erately wanted.

  Grady was bombarded by information on the progress of the new ranch house. What Dooley and Hank didn’t report, one of Karen’s friends did. They kept him so completely in the loop that he knew the instant the paint had dried on the new kitchen walls. He knew within seconds when the last workman had left.

  “Go over there,” Cassie pleaded, not for the first time.

  “No,” he said flatly, regretting his impulse to have dinner at Stella’s.

  Cassie ignored his scowl and slid into the booth opposite him. “She loves you. I know she does.”

  “I know it, too,” he agreed.

  “Then why won’t you go to see her?”

  “She has to want what I’m offering bad enough to come to me.”

  “What exactly are you offering?” Cassie demanded.

  “A future,” he said.

  “Does she know that?”

  “Of course she does.”

  “Really? Did you propose to her? If so, I must have missed it.”

  He frowned again. “Not in so many words,” he mumbled.

  “What was that?”

  “I said I didn’t propose in so many words.”

  “Well, then, is it any wonder she hasn’t come to you? You’ve ignored her for four months. She probably-no, make that definitely-assumes you’ve lost interest. Not that she’d ever blame you. Isn’t that precisely what she told you to do, to forget about her?”

  “She told you that?”

  Cassie sighed. “No, she doesn’t say much of anything. She just works day and night. She’s going to keel over if somebody doesn’t stop her.”

  “And you think I ought to be that somebody,” he guessed.

  “If you love her the way you claim to,” she challenged. “None of the rest of us are getting through to her.”

  He scowled at her, but she didn’t back down. “Okay, okay,” he said, tossing his napkin on the table. “I’ll go to see her.”

  “With an engagement ring,” she called after him.

  “No, something even more convincing,” he retorted, and let the door of Stella’s slam behind him before Cassie could demand details.