Lone Tree

by O'Keefe, Bobbie

  “I had to. I knew what he was, even though she wouldn’t listen. He wanted a rich wife and the life of ease that went with her. When he found out that wasn’t what he was getting, he left her flat. Three states away, pregnant and unmarried, and he left her to fend for herself.”

  “And you let—”

  “I didn’t let anything. That was his doing, and hers. I didn’t even know where she was for four months. By then she’d found a job, as a clerk in a cheap little company, but at least she was supporting herself.” He paused. “And you were born a month later. I hadn’t known she was pregnant when she left.”

  “Is it surprising she didn’t share that with you?”

  He studied her. Clearly he’d built up a lot of resentment of his own. “Still trying to judge me, little girl? How would you know anything of that situation and the people?”

  He had her there. She knew nothing of that time, of the people and events. Still, what she did know filled her with disgust. “So you sat here, all those years, all that time, monitoring our lives? How exactly did that make you feel?”

  “Not good, Lainie, if that’s what you’re after. But I needed to know...how your mother was faring. What was happening with her. I couldn’t just write her off.”

  “Evidently, you did just that.”

  “You’re passing judgment again, on something you know nothing about.”

  “Then enlighten me, damn you!”

  “Careful,” he warned, eyes narrowing. He didn’t like bad language; she’d always known, but that hadn’t been a problem because she didn’t use it. It occurred to her now that this was a weapon she could use against him.

  “Be careful of what,” she said, spacing her words, “you—”

  “Lainie.”

  She put her face in her hands, rubbed her forehead with the fingers of both hands. “Okay, okay,” she said. They were going nowhere fast. Slowly, giving herself time to put her thoughts together, she trailed her hands down her face, then looked up. “When I tried to talk to you, why didn’t you just let me go ahead and tell you then? Wipe the slate clean. For both of us.”

  Instead of answering, he looked at the French doors that led outside. So did she. She felt the urge to go open them, breathe the cool night air. The air in the room felt heavy, oppressive. She looked back at her grandfather. “Why?” she asked again. “Why did you put me off, not let me talk?”

  “I wanted you married to Reed first,” he said quietly, still not looking at her. “Then we’d talk.”

  She squinted, thinking she must’ve misheard. “What?”

  He spun to face her and then hurled the words at her. “I wanted you settled and married! So we wouldn’t get bogged down in this same confounded mud puddle we’re stuck in right now!”

  “Married?” she asked, as if flinching from attack. “But how did you know? Reed just—”

  Contrary to when this discussion had started, her mind was working rapidly now. Suspicion and betrayal stung her eyes, cut her words off, and took the sentiment right out of Reed’s proposal. She felt herself breaking inside.

  “Reed knew?” she whispered. She didn’t look at Miles, fearing the answer she’d find in his face. She’d been so full of guilt, felt so undeserving of Reed’s love and her grandfather’s acceptance. Yet all the while she was being manipulated. By both of them. Reed hadn’t known what the tie was, but she knew he’d guessed there was one. What else had he guessed, and when? Who had approached whom?

  “So you planned this together. To get me...” She stopped, tried to remember Miles’s phrasing. “Settled,” she said precisely. Her gaze fixed on the patio doors. She felt the same dark void inside herself that she saw outside. “Get me married and settled. So I’d be tied to the ranch. To him. And to you.”

  It shouldn’t come as that much of a surprise, not really. Reed was controlling by nature, always knew best even when he didn’t. Much like his boss in that respect. She’d planned on speaking to him tonight, after talking to Miles, but now Miles could fill him in. They’d find out in time what had been lost—what all three of them had lost. Slowly, she got to her feet. She felt achy, hurting so much inside it seemed she felt pain all over.

  “Lainie...”

  At Miles’s voice, something snapped in her and she whirled, wanting now to fight, to wound as badly as she’d been wounded. “You conniving son of a bitch.”

  “Lainie, I told you—”

  “Told me what, you damned old fool!”

  He drew himself up, using every inch. Even from all the way across the room, it appeared he looked down his nose at her. “I told you to keep a civil tongue in your mouth, little girl.”

  “Don’t call me that.” She spat out the words, felt herself squaring off, and knew hate and spite were in her stance. At first she’d wanted to run, get as far from Reed and his breach of trust as possible. But taking Miles on right now kept her emotions at bay, postponed the disillusionment and the hurt.

  “And if you can’t do that,” he continued from his haughty height, “we’ll continue this discussion tomorrow.”

  “You think? I’ll tell you what I think, old man. We’re not going to continue this discussion. Ever. We’re through with it. And each other. Got that?” She spun, headed for the door.

  “Where do you think you’re going?”

  Level with the doorway, she turned to look back. “Why the hell do you think you’ve got a right to even ask?”

  His lips tightened, but apparently he decided to let that one pass. “It was your decision to come here, but I’ll make the decision as to when you leave. And you’re not going anywhere until I know exactly why you came out here in the first place.”

  “Well, now. You really are full of it, aren’t you?” She put mockery in her voice, striking a pose with her arms crossed and her head tilted. “I do declare,” she drawled. “Never have I seen such gall.”

  “You can declare all you want to, but you’re still not going anywhere until I say so.”

  She dropped her arms to her sides. “You want to bet on that, old man?”

  He sneered. “You can’t even drive, Lainie Sue. Who you going to ask to take you to the airport? Reed?”

  “No,” she said, so much emotion in that one quiet word that he looked taken aback. She doubled her hands into fists. Fingernails bit into her palms. She used the pain to drive her on, to counter the hurt inside. “No, not Reed.”

  She turned away.

  “Lainie!”

  She didn’t turn around when he called her name, but at the grating sound of furniture being moved, she did. His safe was located behind the end file cabinet. He’d pulled out the tall chest and was rapidly dialing the safe’s combination. He yanked the door open and removed a rubber-banded bundle of bills, stomped to her desk and tossed the roll on top of it.

  He glared at her with a lofty air that told her how sure he was that he had the upper hand. “Yes,” he hissed. “I’ll take that bet. When I returned to the office tonight I found you helping yourself to a salary advance. This gives me a legal right to detain you.”

  “You can’t possibly believe you’d get away with a whopper like that,” she breathed.

  “Try me. You’re not going anywhere, Lainie Sue.”

  “You can go straight to hell, you bastard!” She flew out of the room. She raced to her house for car keys and purse, then sprinted across the yard and behind the stable to the shed. Reed stepped out of his house as she backed her car out. He motioned for her to wait, but she ignored him, shoved the gear into drive and accelerated.

  Quickly the red truck appeared in her rearview mirror. Lainie’s mouth tightened. The engine in the truck was a good one. It was doubtful she could outrun it, but she could try. She didn’t want to see him, talk to him. Not now, not ever.

  But when the pickup cut her off, she didn’t attempt to reverse and go around it. She’d changed her mind that fast. Get it done now; get it over with. She slammed on the brakes, winced at the jolt to her knee then
shook it off, shoved the gear into park and erupted from the driver’s seat. “What the damn hell do you think you’re doing! He can’t stop me, but you think you can?”

  Reed had opened the pickup’s door and was stepping down from the cab. When she yelled, he stopped and stared, half in and half out of the vehicle.

  She rounded the pickup and glared up at him, hands rolled into fists. “Well? Want to try proposing again?”

  “Propose...” He echoed, wrinkling his brow, then he gave a quick shake of his head. He looked from her to the compact and back again. “What are you doing? You’re not even supposed to drive till—”

  “Mighty convenient, wasn’t it, having me confined to the ranch? Suited you and Miles just fine, didn’t it.”

  He stepped down. “What are you talking about? You were almost killed. You think—”

  “I think you need to get out of my way,” she snapped. Suddenly she was through, her mood again changing like quicksilver. She needed to be gone, put him, the ranch, and everything behind her.

  “What’s going on, Lainie? The old man said—”

  “I don’t care what the old man said. I said move the damn truck!” She smacked the hood with her open hand. She jerked back, palm stinging, felt the vibration zing up to her shoulder.

  He looked at her, the hood of the truck, back at her. “What’s going on?” he asked quietly. “What happened?”

  She had to do something with her fury, so she stalked to the front of the vehicle. She wanted to kick the tire but that would be more foolhardy than striking the hood. She fought back a hysterical laugh. That’d put her back on crutches.

  “Pain pill,” he said under his breath. “Sleeping pill. Did you—”

  She whirled back. “Don’t you wish? That’d make it so simple, wouldn’t it?”

  So evidently Miles hadn’t labeled her a thief after all; he must’ve figured out that the charge wouldn’t hold water. Tossing the threat at her just showed how far he’d stoop to get his way.

  “Get out of my way, Reed,” she said quietly, but her body held tension so tight her joints felt like stressed steel. “I told him I’m going, and now I’m telling you. No one is going to stop me. Not him. Not you. No one.”

  He looked like he was wondering what had happened to the real Lainie Johnson. When she moved to go around him, he caught her arm. She jerked free. “Don’t you even think about it,” she said through clenched teeth, and took another step.

  “Wait a minute.” Again he got her arm.

  She swung around, moved in close and brought her knee up. She must have telegraphed her move because he sidestepped to take the blow on his hip. His eyes flared with anger. He gripped both her arms. “What the hell is going on here?”

  She stood as rigid as a statue. As his eyes searched her face, his fingers relaxed fractionally around her arms. “Okay. Now I asked you what’s going on. Are you going to tell me, or what?”

  “Take...your...damned...hands...off...me.”

  After a brief moment, he released her and then turned his palms up, as if signaling peace. “Okay, now we need to talk. I want answers, Lainie. What happened between you and Miles? Whatever it was, it was big. Now talk to me.”

  “Did he come to you, or did you go to him?”

  His brow furrowed, head tilted slightly. “He called me,” he said slowly, explaining with care. “Couple of minutes ago. Said you were running and was afraid you’d—”

  “Exactly when did the idea of marriage come up?”

  “Is that what this is about? What does he have to do with you and me?”

  “That’s what I’d like to know.”

  He took a step back, drew in a breath and exhaled loudly. He looked at the two streams of headlights, then off into the vast darkness. “If you tried real hard, you think you could make some sense here?”

  Lainie glared at him. “Go to hell.”

  She walked around the back of the pickup to her car, not knowing if he’d try to stop her again or not, ready to light into him if he did. Fleetingly it occurred to her she was following in her mother’s footsteps, falling in love and running away. Except Elizabeth had run with the man she loved. Lainie was running from him.

  Lainie wasn’t lily-white, but Miles’s deceit equaled hers—no, bypassed it. His attempt at manipulation was inexcusable. His collusion with his foreman, and Reed’s betrayal, stung so deeply she felt ripped down the middle. Rage was all she had with which to combat the hurt.

  When she was one step away from the car’s door, Reed’s hand circled her arm. His grip seemed carefully loose, yet she tensed. It felt like her body turned into wood.

  “Come back with me, Lainie. Please,” he said quietly. “Settle down. We’ll talk this out.”

  She closed her eyes. Settle. Get her settled and everything would be fine. They thought she was a child that could be led by the hand. They had another think coming.

  “No.” She jerked, his fingers tightened, and she looked coldly at his hand. “Let go, Reed.”

  “I can’t let you leave till I know what’s going on. Come on, Lainie. We’ll talk to Miles together and straighten this out. Whatever it is.”

  She tried again to jerk away. He held tight. “Dammit, Reed! Don’t you get it? I’m not going to tie myself to you and shackle myself to the ranch and him. That’s not gonna happen. Now let go!”

  “Lainie—”

  He had her left arm, so she whirled and swung with her right. Her fist caught him squarely on the cheekbone. He staggered, and she managed to get the car door open before he grabbed her again.

  Then he left all attempt at reasoning behind him. He half-dragged and half-carried her to the pickup, fought to get the passenger door open with one arm still around her, then he shoved her in onto the seat. He slammed the door shut and she wrenched at the door handle. He held it closed with his weight.

  “Dammit, Lainie! Stop it!”

  She glared at him and he glared right back. The door wouldn’t budge. Neither would he. Slowly, she straightened in the seat. There was another door, but she didn’t see how that would do her any good.

  “Now I’m going around to the other side of the truck,” he said, voice hard. “You don’t stay put, I’ll get rope out of the back and tie you in there. Understand?”

  He waited, giving her time to argue but no space. She stared straight ahead.

  When he stalked away, Lainie’s gaze rested on the open door of her car. The engine was still quietly idling in park. All she had to do was get inside the car, lock the door, and she was out of here. Once he got to the other side of the pickup, he’d have twice the distance to cover that she’d have and she could make it with time to spare. She could kick herself for getting out of the damned car in the first place.

  Then at the truck’s bumper, Reed paused. He detoured to her car, reached inside and turned off the ignition. He pocketed the keys and closed the door. Lainie slumped against the seat of the pickup. No options. None.

  Chapter Thirty-Four

  The instant that Reed braked in front of the main house Lainie slammed out of the pickup. She might have given up for that brief moment in the truck, but in the short drive back she’d refound her fire.

  Not knowing or caring if Reed followed or not, she strode to the office she’d exited only minutes ago. She took hold of the office door and pushed it so violently that it hit the wall and bounced back. Putting her palm out to halt it, she glared at Miles.

  Caught in the process of rising, her grandfather locked stares with her. Reed walked up and stood slightly behind her. The silence was ominous, filled with differing degrees of anger, resentment, even hate. Reed’s attention seemed divided between Lainie and his boss.

  The roll of bills no longer lay atop her desk and the cabinet was back in place. Miles had given up on that ruse but had still managed to drag her back. Barely moving her lips, she whispered, “You son of a bitch.” Her voice carried venom, and she could tell Miles caught it.

  He drew up,
using every inch of height. “I already told you once tonight I don’t allow language like that in my home.”

  “Oh, yeah?” she said slowly, dragging out the words. “That’s tough shit, old man, because it looks like the only thing you left me with any control over is my language. And I’ll talk to you any damn way I please.”

  His stance stiffened. If he’d been close enough, she believed he would’ve slapped her. Lainie wished he would. She longed to let go at him.

  When Reed pushed by, she stepped aside to give him room. He stood level with her, but left space between them.

  “I want to know what’s going on here.” The younger man’s voice was steely and quiet. He waited, looking from one to the other. Between the two men, Reed seemed to have more power. He wasn’t affecting a pose, didn’t appear to be exerting influence, yet strength and will emanated from him.

  Lainie swallowed hard. Knowing she’d misread him hurt like hell. That oversight was much worse than underestimating Miles.

  When he got no response, Reed said, voice holding quiet warning, “I want an explanation.”

  “So do I,” she snapped, head jerking toward him. “You asked me to marry you but ran it by him first. Explain that.”

  “Lainie,” Miles said.

  “Shut up,” she shot at him, then nailed Reed with a gaze she hoped carried her fire but not her heart. “Didn’t realize there was a hidden motive behind your proposal last night,” she said, putting contempt in her voice to mask the hurt.

  Reed’s lips tightened.

  “Lainie,” Miles said again, voice sharper.

  She flicked her hand at him, dismissing him without looking his way. Her glare remained on Reed. “You can’t run my life,” she ground out. “Decide between yourselves what you want and then set about to get me to do it.”

  “What was my hidden motive, Lainie?” Reed’s voice was quieter than she’d ever before heard it.

  “You tell me. But seems that between my husband and my grandfather, I’d have no more control over my life than a programmed doll.”