Tyler lowered his head to his hands and began to weep, something he hadn’t done since the day he’d buried his parents. The loss was as deep, as profound, as any he’d ever experienced and he wasn’t sure how he would go on living without her in his life.
Chapter 16
Greta’s eyes snapped open. She had no idea if she’d fallen asleep or had become unconscious. Despite the fact that it was a late-November day, the interior of the box had become hot...too hot.
Between the stifling heat and the lack of fresh air, she didn’t have the strength to make any more holes in the wood with her knife. She didn’t have the strength left to do anything but wait for death and she knew it was coming soon.
She closed her eyes once again. She was tired...so tired. Each breath was labored and the heat made her want to just go back to sleep and maybe she just wouldn’t wake up and that would be the end of it.
She’d been a fighter all of her life, but now she had no fight left inside her. She’d tried everything she could think of to survive, but it hadn’t been enough.
Taking slow, shallow breaths, she felt the darkness rising around to claim her once again. Wait...did she hear something? She opened her eyes and held her breath. Every muscle in her body tensed.
There...she heard it again. It was definitely the noise of somebody in the barn and it sounded like somebody crying. “Help,” she cried, her voice strained and weak from the screaming she’d done earlier.
She hit her fists on the top of the box. “Help me—I’m in here.”
Silence.
Had she only imagined the noise? Had she become delusional and didn’t recognize it? A sob escaped her as she pounded on the top of the box again. Was she making noise that could be heard anywhere besides inside the coffin? Inside her own head?
“Greta? Oh my God, Greta.” The deep familiar male voice ended on a sob. “I’m here. Just hang on—I’m going to get you out of there.”
Tyler. He’d found her. He was going to get her out. He was here to save her. As she heard the sound of nails being pulled out of the wood, she began to cry.
She was going to survive. This ordeal was over. Had they caught Alice? Or was she still running loose, only to be faced yet again?
Greta couldn’t think anymore. Tyler ripped off the lid and she rose up, gasping for the fresh air even as she continued to cry.
He reached down and lifted her into his arms. “Thank God.” He said the words over and over again as he carried her from the back corner of the dark barn and into the light of late afternoon.
“I’ve got her,” he yelled. “I found her.”
Greta was limp and sweaty, and Tyler held her tight as he headed for the house and men came running from all points of the ranch.
He carried her around the pool area and into the basement, where her mother immediately rushed to their side and her brothers appeared one after the other, along with their wives.
“Are you all right?” Abra asked, and Big J placed an arm around his wife, his face pale as he gazed at his daughter.
Greta nodded, her arms still around Tyler’s neck as he continued to hold her tight in his arms. “Where is she?”
Nobody had to ask twice who the “she” was to whom Greta referred. “She’s in a jail cell,” Ryan replied. “She’ll never see the light of day again.”
Greta motioned for Tyler to set her down on her feet. “It was my fault. I did something so stupid.” She told them all about her early-morning visit to see Sugar and the confrontation with Alice.
“Thank goodness I had my knife in my boot,” she said and smiled at her father. Her smile faltered as she shuddered with the memory of those moments in the dark, in a box she’d truly believed would be her coffin. “With the knife I managed to make a few holes. I think without them I would have suffocated within the first hour.”
She shivered and looked at Tyler. “The knife is still in the box. When you lifted me out, I dropped it.”
“We’ll see that you get it back,” Jack said.
Abra placed an arm around her. “Why don’t we go upstairs and get you into a nice hot shower.”
Greta looked at the beautiful tables with plates half-filled with food. “I’ve ruined your Thanksgiving Day meal,” she said miserably.
“Nonsense,” Abra replied briskly. “It wasn’t right before. You weren’t here. Now, we’ll get you cleaned up and changed and then we have a real reason for giving thanks.”
Greta leaned into her mother, finding it astonishing that for now Abra was her strength. She allowed herself to be led upstairs by both Abra and Edith.
“It was Tyler who knew she wasn’t you,” Abra said once they were in Greta’s bathroom and Edith was setting the temperature in the shower. Abra frowned. “I should have known it wasn’t you when you appeared wearing the pink Versace dress that you hated and I forced you to buy because I thought it was so lovely.”
“I would have worn it to please you. She was good, right? She fooled everyone for a while. Thank goodness Tyler figured out the truth.”
“She was good.” Abra’s eyes grew dark. “She was quiet, but we just assumed it was because of everything you’d been through.” Her eyes lightened. “At least it’s all over now for good. She’s in jail and will never be a threat to you again,” Abra said.
By that time the shower was ready and Greta was more than willing to shed the clothes her twin had worn before stealing Greta’s.
Greta stepped into the shower and allowed the water to wash away the dirt and sweat of her near-death experience. It was over. It was truly, finally over. Alice would never be a danger to her again.
She cried, her tears mingling with the shower water. They weren’t tears of residual fear but rather the tears of relief that she would never have to look over her shoulder again. She was finally safe from the twin who had wanted her life, who had wanted her dead.
Knowing that the family awaited, she cut her shower short and found that her mother had laid out a pair of tailored black slacks and Greta’s favorite brown-and-black sweater on the bed.
No pink fluff, no flounces or ruffles. Abra had known her daughter would find comfort in the kinds of clothes she’d chosen. Greta’s heart constricted with a renewed burst of love for her mother.
She dressed quickly and then went back into the bathroom and blew her hair partially dry. She stared in the mirror and saw only her own reflection, not a shadow of a look-alike twin she had to fear.
As she turned away from the mirror to leave the room and rejoin her family, she remembered why she had ventured out so early that morning.
Tyler and Michelle.
Mark and Michelle.
She shoved the thoughts away. She refused to allow anything to ruin her dinner with her family. She’d been through enough that morning. She’d get a chance to talk to Tyler later.
Besides, with the danger now gone, everything between them had changed. He no longer had to be her bodyguard. He could return to his home in Oklahoma City and together they could figure out what was best for Sugar.
In the meantime, she had a Thanksgiving family dinner to attend and she was starving for both the love she knew would be in the room and the food that would grace her plate.
* * *
While Greta was upstairs, Edith, Maria and the rest of the women flew into action, removing everyone’s plates and replacing them with another set of china.
Food platters were refilled, dishes warmed up, and by the time Greta entered the basement, it was as if the previous meal had never taken place.
A shudder shot through Tyler as he saw her in her slacks and sweater and without any fear lingering in her eyes. Fear still lingered inside him...the fear of loss that had overwhelmed him when he believed they wouldn’t find her alive.
As she sat down next to him at the table, he wanted to touch her, wanted the softness of her sweater beneath his fingers. He needed some physical connection with her to assure himself she was really okay.
He
reached his hand beneath the table and grabbed one of hers. Her slender fingers entwined with his and she smiled at him. How could he have ever mistaken Alice’s smiles for Greta’s?
She let go of his hand as everyone took their seats and Abra stood. “We’ve already blessed the food and I’ve told you all how much I love you, but I want to say a special thanks that we have our Greta back where she belongs, and hopefully, she’ll never have to be afraid again.” Tears filled her eyes as she sat once again.
Greta got out of her chair and stood. “And I bless the day that I was brought into this family.” She smiled fondly at her father and then gazed around the tables to everyone. “I can’t imagine my life not being here with you all. I can’t imagine not having the love that has given me such strength for my entire life.”
Tears glistened in her eyes. “You never truly appreciate what you have until you think it’s going to be taken away.”
“Enough toasting,” Big J boomed, his eyes misty with emotion. “Let’s get the food going again. I still have room for more turkey and stuffing before I have my apple pie.”
Greta sat back down as everyone laughed. The food flowed around the tables again and finally a peace settled inside Tyler’s heart. The danger had passed and Greta sat next to him, safe and sound.
Without the tension that had tightened his gut for what had felt like an eternity, the food had never tasted so good, the company had never been so entertaining and Greta had never looked so beautiful.
Tyler never wanted the festivities to end, because he knew his place here now was moot. There was no more reason for him to remain on the Colton ranch. It was time for him to go home. The only question was if Greta would be with him.
It was after seven when the extended family members began to leave. Ryan and Susie were the first to go and Tyler knew Ryan probably couldn’t wait to interrogate more completely his new arrestee. He could close the book on Kurt’s murder and a variety of other crimes in the area.
Daniel and Megan were the second couple to leave, and soon after, Eric and Kara left, as well.
Jack, Tracy and Seth were the last to leave, with Seth making a final round of fist bumps to his grandpa, his uncle Brett and Tyler.
As Brett and Hannah headed up the stairs and Abra and Big J retired to their room, Tyler followed Greta up the stairs to her room to talk.
The minute he sat down across from her in the chairs in front of the marble fireplace, he was overtaken by a sense of anxiety. What if she didn’t want to come back to his place? What if she wanted to stay here and have him find another trainer for Sugar?
“I left the house early this morning because I needed to get my thoughts together and I wasn’t ready to speak to you,” she said.
He looked at her in surprise. “Why didn’t you want to speak to me?”
His stomach twisted in knots as she gazed away from him. Whatever she was about to say, she didn’t want eye contact with him and that wasn’t a good sign.
His heart tumbled inside his chest, aching in a way he’d never known. Had she decided now that she had her life back, she didn’t need him in it?
“Greta?”
She finally looked at him, her eyes troubled as she held his gaze intently. “Tell me again why you and Michelle broke up.”
Of all the things she might have said to him, this wasn’t even on his long list. Once again he stared at her in surprise. “We broke up because we both realized marrying each other would be a mistake. She wasn’t really ready to settle down and be a wife and mother. We’d both acknowledged that we’d gotten caught up in a whirlwind, and when it stopped blowing and reality set in, we knew we weren’t right for each other.” He shifted positions on the chair. “Why are you asking me about this now?”
“Because when I couldn’t sleep last night, I decided to do a little internet surfing, and eventually, I did a search on you.” Her eyes had gone nearly straight-up green and her beautiful lips pressed together in a tightness he recognized as suppressed anger.
He frowned and searched his brain, trying to figure out what she might have seen that would make her angry with him. “What’s going on, Greta? Tell me what you found that has you angry.”
She hesitated a moment. “A photo of Michelle and Mark kissing outside a nightclub with the headline something like One Brother Jilted for Another.” She leaned back in the chair, as if needing to distance herself from him. “Did Mark steal Michelle away from you? Is that why you pursued me? To get revenge on your brother for stealing Michelle?”
He stared at her in disbelief. “Is that what you really think of me after all the time we’ve spent together? That photo of Mark and Michelle was taken after she and I had broken up.”
Her long-lashed eyes gazed at him dubiously.
“It’s true, Greta. Michelle didn’t jilt me for Mark. I’ve never lied to you about anything. I wanted you long before Mark even met you. Mark stole nothing of value from me when he started dating Michelle. Besides, I don’t play any revenge games. I’m here because I care about you. Now what we have to figure out is where we go from here.”
Once again her gaze left his and she stared at some point in the distance. “I thought I was going to die today,” she said softly. “I will always be grateful to you for finding me, for saving my life. But now the danger is over and everything has changed.”
His heart thundered. He didn’t want things to change, especially not between them. “Nothing has really changed at all,” he countered. “Except for finally, you don’t have to be afraid.”
She tucked a strand of her hair behind her ear and released a deep sigh. The sound was not so much one of relief but rather one of deep sadness and his heart beat even faster with tension.
She looked at him again. “But I am still afraid. As much as it breaks my heart, I can’t work with Sugar anymore, because I can’t be with you anymore.”
The entire world crashed down on Tyler’s head. “Why?” The single word ripped from his throat. This wasn’t what he wanted. This wasn’t the way he’d thought things would go when Alice was no longer a threat to her life.
“I know you enjoy my company and you like the sound of my laughter. I know you love to make love with me and like being around my family. But the problem is I’ve fallen completely in love with you, Tyler. And I’ll never be satisfied with the status quo between us.”
“But I...I don’t want it to end like this,” he said.
She smiled at him softly. “Wrong answer, Tyler. And now I’d like to rest, so if you’d shut the door behind you, I’d appreciate it.”
He stared at her, unable to process the happiness of finding her alive to her now shoving him away. He needed to say something, to do something to change what was happening, but he was at a loss as to what, exactly, she needed from him.
“Just go, Tyler,” she said wearily.
He got up and stumbled from the room like a zombie, his brain frozen by what had just occurred. There would be no more sounds of her laughter, no more nights snuggled together beneath the blankets.
He wouldn’t see her smile at him from across a table, watch her graceful elegance as she worked with Sugar in the corral. He wouldn’t share long talks about their futures, their dreams or anything else ever again.
She loved him and she obviously wanted more from him than he offered. She probably wanted him gone sooner rather than later. He headed downstairs and slipped out the side door and headed toward the corral.
Sugar pricked up her ears at his approach but didn’t run from his presence as he threw an arm across the fence post and fought back the rise of emotion inside him.
First thing in the morning he’d grab a couple of ranch hands to help him load up Sugar in the trailer. It was time for him to get back to his real life, time to return home and to his position at Stanton Oil.
He just didn’t understand why the idea of going home shot a hollowness through him that pierced clear through to his ribs.
* * *
He was gone before breakfast.
Greta got up and dressed, and as she passed the bedroom where he’d stayed, she saw none of his items left behind. She knew then that he was already gone.
It was better this way. She headed downstairs for breakfast. No last-minute goodbyes, no false promises to stay in touch. It was a clean cut that only bloodied her heart.
Breakfast was unusually quiet without Tyler’s endless questions and quick wit. Greta was aware of her mother and Hannah watching her closely...too closely, as if they were seeking an outward sign of her ravaged heart. Even Edith eyed her with a narrowed gaze, as if seeking to peer into Greta’s very soul.
She refused to give them anything. She smiled easily and put on an impenetrable facade to let everyone know she was okay. She had survived a killer twin sister. She would survive Tyler Stanton.
It was only later in the day when she stood by the empty corral that she allowed her true heartbreak to surface. She’d known to be wary of Tyler from the first minute she’d stepped into his home, but somewhere over the past weeks her defenses had dropped and he’d crawled directly into her heart.
She loved him with all her heart and soul, and now that she knew her feelings weren’t reciprocated, she didn’t know what to do with the love that still burned inside her.
She hoped he found a good trainer to work with Sugar. The fact that the trainer wouldn’t be Greta only added to her heartbreak. She had fallen in love with the horse and would have liked to see her transformation to completion.
But she’d made the right decision. She couldn’t continue to train Sugar and work at Tyler’s house. She couldn’t continue to make love with him and sleep in his arms and still respect herself knowing that he wasn’t in love with her.
She’d hoped when they’d spoken last night... It didn’t matter what she’d hoped, because it hadn’t happened. He hadn’t suddenly pulled her to her feet, wrapped her in his arms and proclaimed himself hopelessly in love with her.
In fact, he’d stared at her as if horrified to discover her true feelings about him. The look on his face when she’d declared her love for him would haunt her for a long time to come.
The Colton Bodyguard Page 20