Perfecting For Love - A Standalone Novel (A Doctors Romance Love Story) (Burbank Brothers, Book #3)

by Naomi Niles

  Colton was the thing I'd miss the most.

  "It won't take long. I want to show you something in the forest before you go. Please, it means a lot to me." Frank refused to let go of my hand and there was a desperation in his eyes I'd never seen before.

  "Okay, but I don't want to miss dinner with the Hutchinsons. It's my one chance to say goodbye to them when they're all together."

  "You'll be back in plenty of time, I promise." He put his hand over his heart in a solemn vow. Reluctantly, I followed him out of the cabin and we strolled into the forest. I didn't really want to, but I hated to jeopardize the relationship we'd just begun by hurting his feelings, and so I went. After all, isn't this why I came here? To spend time with my dad?

  We walked along the forest, and I recognized the path that led up to the apple tree that was Colton's favorite. Frank took me down the other trail of the path, leading down to the river. The water bubbled and flowed, and I wondered what he would possibly want to show me way out here.

  We'd been walking for quite a while, and I worried that it was getting late. No doubt I'd missed most of dinner. I was about to say something when Frank said casually, "I sure do like that drawing you made of me. What did the others thing of it?"

  "I already told you, I haven't shown it to anyone else. I like to keep my sketches private."

  "What made you draw that particular one?" he wanted to know.

  "I don't know," I said thoughtfully. "I liked the way that moment in time captured your essence, I guess. The first time I saw you, you were lighting a cigarette, and all the times we've spent together since, talking and getting to know each other, you always pause to take a smoke."

  "You drew my lighter pretty damn good."

  "Thanks. I hope I got the details on the bird right." The unique design had stuck in my mind, and I tried really hard to copy it exactly.

  "Oh, you got it right. You have a picture of me using it that you copied?"

  "No. I just drew that from memory." I swelled with pride. It hadn't been easy, and I was relieved to know I'd gotten it right.

  "Did you find it somewhere and draw it from life? Maybe on the floor of the barn?" Frank sounded strangely accusatory, and some instinct in the back of my mind went on alert.

  "No. I told you, I just drew it from memory," I insisted.

  "That's a damn good memory you got there."

  "Thanks," I said, but his words didn't sound like a compliment. He suspected me of something, but I couldn't imagine what. Maybe I drew it completely wrong after all, and it had hurt his feelings. Trying to resolve the matter, I said gently, "Let me see your lighter."

  "I lost it," he snapped. So that was it! He thought I had taken it, or perhaps he was just upset that a beloved family keepsake was forever gone. After all, he had told me it was the only thing he had left that belonged to his father, and now it was missing.

  "I'm sorry," I sympathized. I put a hand on his arm, but he jerked it away.

  "Why'd you do it?" I didn't understand why he sounded so angry. Perhaps this was the side of him my mother had warned me to stay away from.

  "Why'd I do what? Draw you?"

  "Why'd you sketch me with that lighter? What are you getting at?"

  Now I really didn't understand, and I was beginning to feel concerned. He wasn't acting rational and it was a little scary. If he wasn't my father, I'd be worried about being alone in the forest, but since he was, I spoke patiently and with love, "I told you, I thought it was a nice way to remember you."

  "So why are you giving it to me?"

  "I just thought you might like to have one of my drawings to remember me by."

  "Is this a threat? Are you trying to blackmail me?"

  "Of course not. What's wrong with you?" I was getting fed up with his nonsense.

  "You're what's wrong with me." Frank glared at me. He was really beginning to scare me now with his odd behavior and crazy accusations. It was time to get away from him and back to where other people were around.

  "Goodbye, Dad." I started to back away from him, but he grabbed me by the arm.

  "Not so fast. Just where do you think you're going?"

  "Back to ranch and away from you." I tried to wrench my arm free of his grip, but he dug his fingers into my flesh, making me cry out.

  "You're not going anywhere," he shouted. I cried out with fear and surprise as he reached into his pocket and pulled out a gun, aiming it right at my head.

  Chapter Twenty-eight: Colton

  "Come on, girl; help me find her," I said encouragingly to Whiskey.

  The quarter horse whinnied in response, as if to say, "I'm trying."

  We'd been riding all around the grounds of the ranch, searching for Bethany, but she was nowhere to be found. The engagement ring was in my pocket, and I couldn't wait to offer it to her and ask her to be my wife.

  If she said yes, like I hoped she would, I would be the happiest man on earth. It wouldn't matter if we ended up losing the ranch because I would have the most important thing in the world: her love.

  Of course, I would have to find her first and that was proving surprisingly difficult. I knew the grounds of this ranch better than anybody, but I couldn't find the blonde city girl no matter how hard I looked.

  "Have you seen Bethany?" I called out to Mack as he returned from the fields on the back of his horse. It was end of the work day and he was ready to go home, or more likely the bar.

  "Yeah. She was walking with Frank Hill on the path in the forest, headed out towards the river a little while ago," he answered back.

  "Thanks," I shouted as I urged Whiskey into a gallop. We found the path and traveled along it, with Whiskey's hooves kicking up a faint trail of dust in her wake. After a while, the well-worn path came to fork, with the left side leading downhill to the river, and the right leading uphill to my favorite resting place.

  I steered to the right, certain I knew exactly where Bethany was going. I pulled Whiskey to a stop under my favorite apple tree, but to my great disappointment, she wasn't there. I'd been sure she would be, and I wondered if maybe I didn't know her as well as I thought I did, after all.

  Suddenly, I heard a scream in the distance. I knew that voice – it was Bethany!

  "Come on!" I called to Whiskey and held on tightly to the reins as the horse galloped towards the sound. A million scenarios of what could have caused Bethany to scream like that flashed through my mind, each one worse than the one before.

  Whiskey came to a halt at the edge of the grass where the ground ended abruptly. Her hooves skidded to a stop and I looked down over the edge at the treacherously steep hill that could easily be classified as a short cliff.

  I looked down below and my heart leapt into my throat, nearly choking me. There was Bethany, standing by the river's edge with Frank Hill. He was clutching her arm with one hand and brandishing a gun with the other.

  Anxious to help her, I urged Whiskey forward down the steep hill, but the stubborn horse refused to go. The hill was way too steep for her spindly legs, and she knew it. Damn it! How the hell was I going to get down there?

  Frustrated, I knew I had to do something to rescue Bethany before Frank pulled that trigger and it was too late. In a loud voice, I shouted down the hill, "Let her go, Frank!"

  Startled, Frank looked up at me and we made eye contact. I could see fear in his cold, blue eyes, but then they narrowed and I knew he was willing to hurt her if it meant he could save himself.

  Bethany saw me, too, and a smile of relief curved her lips. Then I saw her look over at Frank, and she made a split-second decision that surprised and terrified me. She may be small, but she was tough and more courageous than anyone I knew.

  While Frank was distracted by looking up at me, Bethany took the opportunity and stomped down her foot on top of his with all her might. At the same moment, she balled up her fist and punched him as hard as she could right in throat.

  Frank's scream of pain was abruptly silenced as he gasped for breath and
clutched at his throat, dropping his gun as he did so. The gun fell into the flowing river, and Bethany took off running into the cover of the forest.

  I knew it wouldn't be long before Frank recovered. And when he did, he would go after her, bent on revenge. More desperate to help her than ever before, I turned Whiskey onto the trail leading down the hill, where I would eventually meet them by the river.

  I urged Whiskey to gallop faster than she had ever gone before. I could feel her sides heaving as her hooves thundered against the ground. She wouldn't be able to keep up this pace for long, but I didn't care. I had to get to Bethany before Frank did, or he would kill her. I'd witnessed my father dead of a gunshot wound two years ago, and I was determined not to let the same thing happen to Bethany. Even if I had to sacrifice my own life, I would find a way to save her.

  Chapter Twenty-nine: Bethany

  My pulse was pounding in my ears and my lungs were gasping, but I couldn't stop running. I could hear Frank coming through the woods behind me, crashing through shrubs and breaking branches as he came. When he found me, he would surely kill me.

  I couldn't understand why my own father would turn a gun on me, but he had. The look in his eyes had been cold and dead, like a shark's, and I knew he had no love for me. He wouldn't hesitate to pull the trigger, so I had to do whatever was necessary to escape.

  I was going to try to reason with Frank not to kill me, or even beg him for my life if I had to, when Colton had appeared out of nowhere at the top of the hill. My heart leapt with joy at the sight of him, looking handsome as hell on Whiskey's back in his suit with his black Stetson on. Best of all, he distracted Frank and gave me the chance I needed to fight for my life.

  I didn't even think about it; I just acted on instinct as all the training classes I'd taken on women's self-defense took over my mind and body.

  His throat felt surprisingly hard and yet squishy when I punched him, and the impact hurt my hand, but I didn't hold back. I followed through with all my strength. I saw him drop the gun into the river and clasp his throat, and then I just took off running.

  The branches and leaves from the shrubs were scratching my tender flesh, but I just kept pushing onward. The sun was setting on the horizon, and if I could just evade him until dark, I could use the night to shield me until I could find my way back to the ranch.

  "Bethany! You can't run from me!" It was Frank. He was calling out to me through the woods, taunting me to surrender myself to him. No doubt he knew he had a limited amount of time to find me, too.

  I circled wide through the trees back towards the place where it had all begun by the river. I looked up the hill to see if Colton was still there, but he was gone, and I felt my heart sink with despair.

  My lungs hurt so badly from running, I thought they were going to explode. I had to stop for a moment to catch my breath. Crouched behind a thick shrub, I bent forward with my hands on my knees and focused on taking slow even breaths.

  Suddenly, I saw Frank in the distance through the leaves. He was in much worse shape than I was and struggling to breathe, too. He bent forward, and I thought it was to rest, but then I saw him pull a knife out his boot. The stainless steel blade glimmered in the sunlight, sending chills down my spine.

  "Come out, Bethany!" he called into the trees. "Come out and I'll make it painless. If I have to hunt you down, I promise I'll make you pay for it."

  No way was I going to make it easy for him to kill me. If he wanted to stab me, he was going to have to work for it, and I was going to fight him with every ounce of strength I had left.

  Out of the corner of my eye, I saw footprints in the ground. Crap! They were my footprints – and it was only a matter of time before Frank saw them and realized I had circled around him.

  Moving as silently as possible, I stepped into the river. Walking in the water was the way to avoid leaving any prints. It was cold and moving swiftly, but it wasn't deep. The water only went up to my knees, and if I moved quickly, it might just my road of escape.

  As I waded up the river, I could hear Frank behind the trees. "Footprints. I've got you now, you little bitch," he shouted.

  Crap! I had to hurry. There was a bend in the river up ahead. If I could make it to the bend, I could effectively disappear. He wouldn't know where I had gone, and by the time he figured it out, I would be halfway back to the ranch.

  Running against the current was tough, and the uneven river bottom made it even more difficult. I was almost to the bend when my leg wrenched as my foot got stuck. I looked down to see it had gotten trapped in a tangle of debris and rocks.

  Just then, Frank appeared out of the woods further down the river. Submerged in the river up to my knees, with my foot caught in the debris, there was no place for me to hide and no way for me to run. He caught sight of me instantly and started advancing with the large knife in his hand.

  "Aren't you going to run?" he taunted me, as I pulled on my foot, desperate to get free. Laughing cruelly, Frank said, "This is almost going to be too easy. The only problem is I'll have to be creative to frame someone else for your murder."

  Realizing it was futile to try to pull my foot free, I crouched down in the river and yanked at the rocks and weeds that held me captive, trying to release my foot that way.

  Frank was taking his time as he approached me, knowing I couldn't escape. He took pride in his victory and bragged about his past crimes. "Don't worry, I'll find a way to get off free. Just like I framed Jackson and Floyd for stealing the Hutchinsons’ cattle.

  “Those two morons were easy to manipulate. I got them to do all the work, slipping the cattle through the gate I'd made in the fence. Then I'd drive away with the truck to meet my buyer. I told them we'd get paid when the summer was over, but I got paid with every load and kept all the money. I told Jackson and Floyd that if they talked, I'd kill their families. They must have believed me, because they haven't said a word to the sheriff."

  "You stole the Hutchinsons’ cattle?" I gasped. "I can't believe it."

  "Yeah, you think I'm this wonderful dad you want to move in with so we can play happy family," Frank snarled sarcastically.

  "Well, I can't have that. You'd find the cash I kept stashed and ruin everything. I had to get rid of you. I thought burning up your paintings would be enough to drive you away, but you’re too stubborn, just like your damn mother."

  "You started the barn fire?" He within striking distance now, and my time was about up.

  "Don't play dumb with me. I dropped my lighter during the fire and the damn Marshal found it. Luckily, most people are still thinking your boyfriend did it and aren't looking for me. Maybe I can find a way to frame him for killing you, too. That would be perfect. Only now you have a sketch proving that the lighter is mine."

  "I didn't know," I pleaded. "You don't have to kill me."

  "I don't have to, but it's going to be fun." He gleamed and lunged towards me with the knife in his hand.

  Suddenly, I spotted a glint of metal in the water. I looked down in the shimmering water to see the gun Frank had dropped laying just a few feet away downstream on the bottom of the river. Could I reach it in time to shoot him before he reached me? As he tightened his grip on the knife, I prayed to God that I could.

  Chapter Thirty: Colton

  I was riding Whiskey hard when I rounded the bend in the path. Up ahead, standing in the river, I saw Bethany. Frank was right upon her with a large buck knife, preparing to kill her. Even though Whiskey's breathing was labored, she rushed forward with a burst of speed, cutting right between them and making Frank stagger backward.

  I jumped off Whiskey's back and punched the son-of-a-bitch across the jaw with my right fist. Frank fell back into the water with a huge splash. When he climbed up out the river, he knocked my feet out from under me, sending me crashing down onto my back. Instantly soaked, I staggered back onto my feet and squared off to him.

  Frank circled around me with the knife still in his right hand. He swiped at me, and I na
rrowly dodged the blade. He sliced my shirt instead and swore angrily. Frank tried to cut me again, and I managed to grab his arm, twisting it painfully until he dropped the knife. He punched at me, and I hit him back hard with my fists.

  In a dirty move, he kicked me in the groin. I doubled over, falling down into the river on my hands and knees, gasping.

  The knife was resting on the bottom of the riverbed just a few feet away, and when my eyes fell upon it, I crawled swiftly through the water towards it. The rocks dug into my knees and palms, but I had to get to the knife in order to save Bethany.

  Frank kicked me in the gut again, making me fall face first into the cold water. When I came up, the handle of the knife was firmly in my grip and I sliced at him, catching his leg.

  Frank staggered back, clutching his wound, and I managed to scramble to my feet. My fingers flexed around the handle of the knife, and I tried to strategize what to do next.

  I certainly didn't want to stab anyone to death, but Frank had tried to kill Bethany and he was a threat to the safety of my family, our ranch, and the woman I loved. I had to do whatever was necessary to apprehend him – even it meant getting blood on my hands.

  As I advanced on him, Frank picked up a waterlogged branch that had been drifting in the river and swung, making contact with my shoulder.

  It hurt like hell, and I dropped the knife. We both dove for it, scrambling in the water, wrestling for the upper hand.

  Frank's hand grabbed the blade first, and he stood over me where I knelt in the river. With a gloating grin, he said, "It's going to be easy to frame you for the murder of my stupid kid now that your fingerprints are on the knife."

  "Over my dead body." I glared up at him. There was no way I was going to let him hurt her.

  Frank just grinned down me with an evil glint in his eye. "That's exactly what I had in mind."