To Protect His Own

by Talty, Jen

  “I was up in my cabin. No internet. No television. Barely have running water and electricity. Just rolled in and stopped here on my way to the Heritage Inn.” Jake breathed deeply. Kenzie’s smell still lingered in the air. “Guess I better go talk with Kenzie.”

  “Let us know if you need anything,” Jared said.

  “Will do.” Jake pulled his sunglasses out of his shirt pocket and slid them on. The sun still hit his eyes with force as he stepped from the station into the parking lot. Kenzie leaned against a red Jeep with the top off. “So, how did you know where I was?”

  “I called the Utica Station, told them about your father and they told me you took a temporary transfer up here. I took a chance you might be in the office, or if not, at least someone might be able to get you a message. Your dad is in really bad shape and he wants to see you.”

  Jake sighed as he leaned against the Jeep and folded his arms. “I doubt that. You want me to see him.” Standing so close to her, smelling her vanilla shampoo and coconut body wash, reminded him of leisurely rides through the trails, then breaking out in a full gallop as they passed into the line of trees heading up the hill toward the main barn. The one thing he truly did miss about his past life. Her. And horses.

  “I gave that idea up when you slammed the door in my face the last time I saw you.”

  “I got my point across.”

  “Should have done that before you took me to bed,” she said softly. “That was really a dick move.”

  “We were both drunk.”

  “Not the point,” she said. “And not so drunk we didn’t know what we were doing.”

  She had him there. He had known exactly what he’d been doing, but when he woke up, and she was in his bed, it all came crashing down on him once more. “What happened to my father?” he asked.

  “He drank some coffee in the barn office. Next thing I knew he was on the ground, grabbing his throat, coughing up blood. They said it was lye poisoning.”

  “Christ, that’s bad,” Jake said. “Where was the poison?”

  “They found traces of it in the coffee machine.”

  “Doesn’t take much of that to do some serious harm.” He rubbed his unshaven face. “You occupy my old office, right?”

  “I do.” She reached out and laced her long fingers around his bicep. Her palms were callused from hard labor, but her hands were warm and tender. “Your father is stable, but the poison, its done so much damage. They don’t know if he’ll ever fully recover. Don’t let those hurtful words you both spoke years ago be the last thing you ever say to each other.”

  He had relived that day over and over again. It still haunted him, how easily his father let him go. Not once reaching out. Stubborn old mule. “Why do you care?” But what hurt more was she that she had chosen that farm over him.

  “I care about him,” she said, staring at Jake with her warm-welcoming chocolate eyes. “I once cared a great deal about you too.”

  “That was always the problem. You chose him over me.”

  “That’s not true.” She climbed into the Jeep. “I promised your father I’d talk you into coming to see him. I’m begging.”

  “I’ll come,” he said. “But before I do that, tell me something. He was poisoned a few days ago, but you called me two weeks ago saying we needed to talk. Why? What else is so important that you couldn’t just tell me over the phone or in a text?”

  “Not here. We’ll talk after you see your dad. You can came now, yes?”

  Jake nodded.

  The Jeep engine revved to life. She slammed the stick shift into reverse before backing up, while he was still leaning on the hood. He nearly fell over.

  He had to find out what else had been so important that she’d begged him to call her back. Kenzie Chorley never begged for anything her life.

  Chapter 2

  KENZIE STOOD AT THE DOOR to Ethan’s hospital room. His pale face blended in with the sheets.

  Quietly, she stepped into the room. Ethan lay on his back, IV’s hung from the metal stand next to his bed, pumping him full of all sorts of things, trying to flush out the toxins from his system.

  “Hello,” he whispered, eyes still closed. “Did you track him down?”

  “He should be here any minute.”

  Ethan turned his head, his pale blue eyes moist. “Is he coming for me or for you?”

  She looked toward the door and gasped when she saw Jake standing in the doorway. She hadn’t expected him to show up minutes after her.

  “I came for you, Dad.” Jake stood in the middle of the doorway, hands deep in his pockets. His gaze darted between his father and her.

  “Did you tell him?” Ethan whispered.

  “Your father thinks the poison was meant for me, not him.”

  “Why?” Jake didn’t move. Just stood there. Staring at her. Daring her to look away. A game he liked playing. Pushing his powerful weight around. Something he’d learned from his father. “What would anyone gain from hurting you?”

  Ethan laughed, but it came out more like a cough. “I changed my will.”

  “I figured you’d leave the farm to her.” Jake’s grave tone prickled her skin. “Still doesn’t explain why someone would want to poison her.”

  “No, she doesn’t get the farm.”

  “You can’t mean you’re still leaving it to me?” Jake asked. “I don’t want the farm. I don’t want anything from you. She does and she’s worked it harder than I ever had.”

  “I’m not blood,” she said. “It was always supposed to stay with blood, or be sold off.”

  “That’s just stupid,” Jake said. “Why don’t you just leave it to Kenzie? Wills are easily changed. No big deal.”

  “I told you. I did change it,” Ethan said, his voice so soft it was barely audible.

  “How?” Jake asked. “Be specific.”

  She looked at Ethan, focusing on his kind, soft features. “Everything goes to your heir,” she said, forcing her tone to be level and strong, though her hands told a different story.

  “I don’t have an heir and I still don’t understand why someone would want to poison Kenzie if she’s not named in the will.”

  Kenzie swallowed the sob that bubbled to her throat. She lifted her eyelids, looking up at the powerful man. The same man that three months ago seemed to enjoy the past, what they used to have together, but then just as quickly decided it wasn’t worth the trouble. “I am named in the will. Indirectly.” She placed a hand over her lower abdomen.

  He cocked his head. “Are you trying to tell me that you’re pregnant? How can that be?” His face drained of all color, looking as pale as his father.

  She held her head high. “When we were together last—”

  “I remember,” Jake muttered. “Are you sure?”

  “I know this is a lot to take in.” She thought the dense feeling she carried in the pit of her stomach would simply evaporate when she told him, but instead it grew darker.

  “You have no idea,” Jake said. He leaned against the doorjamb, rubbing his temples. “When exactly did you make these new provisions?”

  “As soon as I found out I was pregnant, about two weeks ago.” Kenzie focused on Jake’s strong profile.

  “We were together over three months ago, and you just found this out a couple of weeks ago. I find that hard to believe.”

  “I’ll explain that in private.” She expected he wouldn’t believe her, and she was fine with that. She knew who the baby’s father was, and that was all that mattered.

  “Okay,” Jake said. “But you told him before me?”

  “You didn’t answer my calls,” she said defensively.

  “I was on vacation.”

  “Good for you,” she said.

  Jake shook his head. “Let’s get back to the will. Was the wording generic when it comes to a grandchild, or did you lay it out?”

  “I laid it out,” Ethan said. “But didn’t name Kenzie.”

  “What do the police think?” Jake
continued look down, pressing his fingers against his temples, occasionally glancing in her direction.

  “They have two theories,” she said. “I tried to kill your dad, or I’m the target.”

  “They know you’re preg…with chi— are you really sure it’s mine?” His tone didn’t indicate angry, or even disbelief, just shock.

  “Positive.” She expected him to question the paternity, but he seemed too calm and that wasn’t the Jake she remembered.

  “Who else knows you’re pregnant?” he asked.

  “Just us three and my doctor,” she said. “And now a couple of detectives.”

  “You have all their contact information?” Jake asked.

  “We do. Why?”

  He tilted his head. Brow pinched. Lips drawn tight. She’d seen that look before when he’d left her ten years ago. There was no talking to that look.

  “I’m going to talk with them,” Jake said. “Find out what they have, don’t have. I noticed they have security here for Dad, but what about the farm? You shouldn’t be there alone.”

  “I’m not leaving the farm,” she said.

  “Someone tried to kill one of you at the farm. It’s not safe.”

  “We still have a business to run and I can’t do that if I’m somewhere else.”

  “One of the troopers at the station knows a private detective. I’ll call her and get someone at the farm twenty-four seven, not just for protection, but to help figure out who did this.”

  Ethan squeezed her hand then said, “Jake, you should go to the farm.”

  “I plan on it,” Jake said. It was more like a growl indicating he was more deflated by the idea than excited. “I’ll make some phone calls, talk with the detectives, go collect some of my things. Let someone know I’ll be at the house this evening and I’ll be staying with you…” He pointed to Kenzie. “…in the cabin.”

  “That place is not big enough for the both of us,” Kenzie said, heat rising to her cheeks.

  “That didn’t seem to bother you when I lived there.”

  “You really are an ass.” She mentally shot daggers at the center of his chest.

  “Stop it,” Ethan said, coughing. “Both of you.” He looked at her with the same blue-green eyes Jake had, but his showed deep concern…and sorrow. “We need his help. Don’t be a stubborn old fool like I have been. Do it his way.” He turned his head. “Thank you. You look good, son.”

  Jake moved to the side of the bed. “I wish I could say you look good too.”

  Ethan smiled.

  “Get some rest, Dad. I’ll come by tomorrow.”

  “I appreciate it,” Ethan said, wheezing between syllables.

  Jake reached out and took his father’s hand. “I’ll get whoever did this. I promise you that.” He pointed to the Kenzie. “Can I have a word with you?”

  She took in a deep breath. “I’ll be right back.” She followed Jake out the door and down the hallway. He didn’t turn and look at her, just kept walking until he found a small corner across from the elevators. He leaned against the windowsill. A long silence filled the dingy corridor.

  “It meant a lot to him that you showed up,” she said to break the silence. It had always made her nuts how Jake could sit quietly for hours when he was mad at someone. “He’s been talking a lot about you lately. He misses you.”

  “He doesn’t look good at all.”

  “He looks better than he did a few days ago, that’s for sure,” she said.

  “What does everyone at the farm know about what happened to my dad?” He looked out the window, never glancing her way.

  She leaned against the windowsill and tugged her hat off, letting her hair fall wild. Her eyes burned from sleep deprivation. Her stomached ached from lack nutrition. “No more or less than me. A lot of people are afraid. It’s made for a volatile work environment and for many of our summer programs, people just aren’t showing up.”

  “I can see how this would put a damper on some parts of the business,” he said. “Is there anything I should know? Any problems? Anything out of the ordinary?”

  “Its business as usual.” Sitting here, with him, discussing business like they still worked together, didn’t do anything to ease her growing fear he was going to fly off the handle at any minute. Another one of his flaws. His father had called him a hot head his whole life. In some cases, he’d been correct.

  “Can you think of anyone that would want to hurt you or dad?”

  “I can think of a lot of people who don’t like me,” she said. “When you left and I stepped in as COO, it pissed off more than a few people.”

  “Did he even consider anyone else for the job?” Jake asked. “Someone who might have felt passed over.”

  “Not really,” she said.

  “Any new hires that seem off?”

  “Higher level jobs we’ve only hired a few new people. One is a great breeder that came recommended from a farm in Central New York. He’s quiet. Keeps to himself, but I don’t think that constitutes odd.”

  “Does he seem happy at the farm>”

  “I’d say so.”

  “What about farm hands?”

  “Kicker deals with most of them, but we still have a very low turnover rate and into this season, everyone came back, so no new hires.”

  “What else? Tell me anything you can think of that might help us narrow down suspects.”

  She sighed. “Charlie is worried about Jordan Thatcher.”

  “Why?”

  “He’s stolen some of our business, working with trainers in Saratoga.” With all the focus on the poisoning over the fact she’d just told him he was going to be a father added to her already frazzled nerves, but no way was she going to let him see that.

  “He’s always been Dad’s biggest rival. We’ve taken their business over the years, too.”

  “Thatcher tried to buy the property on the west side of the creek. We got it. Pissed him off and it’s been a toxic fight ever since.”

  “You mentioned that once,” he said. “Has my dad pissed off anyone else lately?”

  “Ethan’s changed. He wants to make things right.”

  He sat on the windowsill next to her.

  “Because of you.” He pointed to her stomach. “Because of the baby?”

  “Might have something to do with it. I think me being pregnant made his decision to swallow his pride easier,” she admitted. She’d been prepared for a screaming match of sorts with Jake. For him to accuse her of lying. That the baby wasn’t his. She’d been prepared for anything but Mr. Calm. “He’s tired and knows he made a mistake, but he’s more stubborn than you.”

  Jake laughed. “In almost ten years, he’s not once reached out. Does he even know what I’ve done with my life?”

  “Do you know what he’s done in the last ten years?”

  “I know some.”

  “You didn’t even know he was in the hospital,” she said, wishing she could take back her accusatory tone, but one would have to live on a different planet not to know Ethan Prichard was in the hospital.

  “Until today, most people I work with didn’t know he’s my father and I spent two weeks in a cabin with no Internet or phone or anything. I would have found out today at some point, I’m sure,” he said.

  “Once you found out he was here, would you have come?”

  “Honestly?” He looked her in the eyes. “Yes. He was poisoned. My job is to protect and serve, and he’s still my father. I can’t erase that. I am human.”

  “Fair enough.” It wasn’t the answer she wanted, but it was an honest one and she valued that.

  “Your turn,” he said.

  “For what?”

  “Honesty,” he replied. “Was this what you were calling about two weeks ago?” He raised his forefinger, gently tapped her belly, then retreated.

  “Yes,” she said. “You’re taking this better than I thought you would.”

  “You’d rather I get mad. Yell at you. Storm off?” He continued to h
old her gaze. “Because I’ve thought about that and if my father wasn’t lying in a hospital bed, I just might have. And since we’re on the subject, I think it was pretty shitty to tell me in front of my father.”

  “It wasn’t ideal,” she admitted. “But if you had just answered my calls instead of sending me a nasty text message.”

  “It wasn’t nasty,” he said. “It was direct.”

  “I called you from the doctor’s office,” her voice screeched two octaves higher. “You were the first person I wanted to talk to, but you couldn’t pull your head out of your own ass.”

  “Maybe if you had done what I asked years ago and stopped coming around none of this would have happened,” he snapped.

  She shook her head. “I’m not going to do this with you.” She twisted her hair between her fingers, trying to calm her raging pulse. “I’m having this baby.”

  “I figured.”

  “You’ve made it perfectly clear, in your direct text how you feel about me, but I will only encourage a loving relationship with your—”

  “You have no idea how I feel about anything. Nine years ago, you chose the farm, my father over me.”

  “That’s not true,” she said. “The day you found out about your mother, you up and left. You didn’t say good-bye. Didn’t try to talk with me. I didn’t hear from you for months. No one knew where you were.”

  “I was at the State Police Academy.”

  “I didn’t know that until out of the blue you roll in after being away for months.” Her fluttering stomach shifted to a throbbing pulse. “You had broken my heart. I loved you and I thought you felt the same way, so when you stand in your father’s office and tell me that either I leave with you right then, or we’re done…that’s not a choice.”

  “You lied to me. Took me a while to get over that.”

  “Don’t go there,” she said. “It wasn’t my story to tell.”

  “As the man you supposedly loved, you should have told me.”

  “This conversation isn’t getting us anywhere,” she said.

  He reached out and placed a hand on her stomach. She almost batted it away, but then his tender touch settled the unease she’d been feeling deep in her core. “You’re what? Three months?”