Star Bright

by Catherine Anderson

  “She’s so tiny. It’s hard to believe.”

  “Size isn’t important.” He winked at her. “Ask Sam yourself if you don’t believe me. It’s quite a story. It happened the afternoon she met her husband, Tucker. Some drunk out at the fairgrounds was mistreatin’ a horse, and Sam intervened. The jerk smacked her, and Tucker jumped in to defend her. Unfortunately for Tucker, the drunk had a lunge whip in his hand and whopped Tucker in the face with the handle. Busted Tucker’s nose and temporarily blinded him. The drunk took advantage, kickin’ Tucker while he was down. Sam stepped in at that point and took the bastard to task. He was down for the count by the time Tucker recovered his senses. Unfortunately, he didn’t stay down. In the end, Tucker backed the guy up against a horse trailer and finished him, but the fact remains that Tucker would have been badly hurt if Sam hadn’t come to his rescue.”

  “That’s amazing. How on earth did she do it?”

  “Training, plain and simple. Don’t ever tell her I said so, but I’d hesitate to take her on. The girl is hell on greased runners when she gets her dander up.”

  “Really?” A thrill of excitement danced up Rainie’s spine. “She’s not exactly the Amazon type.”

  “Like I said, it’s not about size. It’s about knowin’ a few moves and havin’ the physical strength to execute ’em effectively.”

  “I’ve never been very strong.”

  “It’s not about strength either, actually, only about bein’ toned enough to do the dirty. Trust me, honey. I’ll teach you how to take the bastard to his knees and keep him there.”

  Rainie stared dubiously at the mountain of food on her plate. “If I eat this, all I’ll have to do is sit on him.”

  Two hours later, after consuming the largest breakfast of her life and speaking at length with Loni on the phone, Rainie found herself in the riding arena, wearing a pair of Parker’s sweatpants that were huge on her, an oversize T-shirt, and a pair of old sneakers she’d brought from home. From a stall, Tina Stroud, one of the female stable hands, called hello.

  “Change in dress code?” she asked, eyeing Rainie’s attire.

  “No, we’re just going to work out for a while,” Rainie replied.

  Her short, frizzy brown hair ignited to gold by the sunlight pouring in through the open paddock doors behind her, the older woman held up a pitchfork. “Don’t waste valuable sweat on calisthenics. I can put you to work in here and get you in shape, no problem.”

  “I’ll second that,” Jericho yelled from the rear of the building. “My gimp leg is hurting me today. I could use a helper.”

  “Ignore ’em,” Parker told Rainie. He pointed at her and then thumped himself on the chest. “It’s just you and me durin’ these sessions. I want your total concentration.”

  He, too, was dressed in workout clothing, but his garments fit him a lot better, the T-shirt displaying a wealth of muscle that his regular work shirts didn’t reveal. Since first meeting him, Rainie had consoled herself with the thought that maybe, just maybe, she harbored an unacknowledged weakness for cowboys in jeans and riding boots, which might explain her attraction to him. But, no, he just looked better than most men, no matter how he happened to be dressed. On a California beach in nothing but brief swimming apparel, he would still make her heart skip a beat.

  With a start she realized he was studying her body as closely as she was studying his, not in a sexual way, but more as if he were looking for physical strengths and needed a magnifying glass to find any. Scowling, he grasped her upper arm and gave it a squeeze, much as he might have tested an avocado for ripeness.

  “What?” she said.

  He shook his head. “Nothin’,” he assured her. “Nothin’ that can’t be fixed, anyhow. But it’s gonna take some work.”

  Rainie’s cheeks went hot. “What are you saying, that my body is a mess?”

  “You’ve got a beautiful body,” he replied. “But your muscle tone sucks.”

  “Maybe I should just take classes somewhere,” she suggested. “They probably have gym equipment. Besides, if I’m going to learn judo, why not go for the real thing?”

  “For starters, the minute you resurface, Danning will know where you are, and it’s always better to have the element of surprise in your favor. If he starts tailin’ you and finds out you’re studyin’ martial arts, he’ll know you’re gearin’ up for a fight. Secondly, the real kind of judo can take years to master.”

  “And this won’t?”

  “Nope.” He had her walk at a fast pace around the arena to warm up, and then he began demonstrating how to do a stretch exercise. “Come on. Loosen up those hamstrings.”

  “Are you sure I have some?”

  “Oh, you’ve got some, darlin’. They’ll be screamin’ hello at you tonight.”

  Rainie didn’t like the sound of that. “I may not be a quick study, you know. I’ve never been very athletic.”

  “That’s why I’m gettin’ you started now, so you can build up your strength. Before you know it, you’ll be a lean, mean killing machine.”

  Bent at the waist with one leg thrust out behind her, Rainie giggled. “A killing machine?”

  He chuckled with her. “A slight exaggeration, but you get the picture. Every woman should know how to defend herself. Stretch it out, honey. I don’t want you tearin’ a tendon.”

  After doing stretches, they started off with jumping jacks. Rainie walked a lot, her idea of staying in shape, so her leg muscles and cardiovascular system were in pretty good condition. Jumping up and down and swinging her arms wasn’t that difficult. She actually had fun. Next, Parker introduced her to lunges, and those were fun, too.

  “I thought this would be hard!” she told him between quick breaths. “No problem. I can do this.” She lunged her way across the arena and back, proud that she could cover such a distance without getting short of breath. “What’s next?”

  “Wall presses.”

  “Wall what?”

  He escorted her to a planked wall and helped place her flattened palms against the boards, just so. “Feet lined up with your shoulders and well back from the wall,” he told her.

  Rainie scooted her feet back.

  “Farther,” he instructed. When she obliged him, he said, “Farther.”

  Pretty soon, Rainie’s body was angled toward the wall with only her arms to support her weight. Uh-oh. “This isn’t very comfortable.”

  “It’s not supposed to be. Now, keepin’ your back straight and your head up, lean in and touch your nose to the board.”

  Rainie tried to do as he said.

  “Elbows tucked in at your sides,” he reminded her. “You’ve got your arms poked out like chicken wings. That’s a surefire way to pull a muscle.”

  Rainie tucked in her elbows and touched her nose to the wall. “That wasn’t so hard,” she said as she straightened her arms. “Wall presses. Hmm. You learn something new every day.”

  “Again. Nice and fluid, no stoppin’ in between presses. Keep touchin’ that pretty little nose to the board. I’ll count for you.”

  By the time Rainie had executed five repetitions, her arms had started to tremble.

  “Again,” Parker said. “Give me fifty. Not so fast. Do ’em nice and slow. The idea is to put a real strain on those arm muscles.”

  “Will you settle for twenty-five? My arms aren’t used to this.”

  “Fifty,” he insisted. “Go for the burn.”

  After thirty-two presses, Rainie’s nose was flattened against the wall, and she couldn’t for the life of her straighten her arms again. “I’m done.”

  “One more, sweetheart. Feel that burn?”

  She felt it, all right. She strained to do one more repetition. Her arms quivered like blobs of jelly on a vibrating machine, but no matter how hard she strained, she couldn’t straighten them again.

  “Okay,” Parker finally conceded. “Your arms are tired. Let’s move on to somethin’ else.”

  Something else? Rainie was ready for
a break.

  “Let’s work on those thighs next,” he said.

  “I don’t do squats,” she informed him.

  He gave her an odd look. “Why is that?”

  “Some people don’t do ovens or windows. I don’t do squats. They make my legs ache.”

  “They’re supposed to make your legs ache, and your butt, too, if you do enough of ’em.”

  “That’s exactly why I don’t do them. If it hurts, I avoid it.”

  He laughed. “It won’t kill you to do squats. Strength in the thighs is extremely important. They’re the powerhouse of the legs.”

  Rainie truly did want to learn how to kick Peter’s butt, so she zipped her lip and did squats. After that torture ended, Parker introduced her to the joys of calf raises, which involved standing with the balls of her feet on a two-by-four and her heels touching the ground, and then pushing up onto her toes. The first ten repetitions weren’t so bad, but by the time she reached fifty, her calf muscles were bunching into painful knots.

  When she’d finally exercised what felt like every muscle in her body until it ached, Parker had her repeat the entire process, with no rest period in between. Doing circuits, he called it: jumping jacks, lunges, wall presses, squats, abdominal curls, leg lifts, kicks, and stretches. Rainie’s body felt like a huge overcooked noodle by the time she was finished.

  “Good job,” Parker praised, making her feel proud of herself. But then he ruined it by adding, “Now that the warm-up’s over, we can get down to some nuts and bolts.”

  “Warm-up?” She gaped at him, scarcely able to believe her ears. He’d been torturing her for almost an hour. “I need to rest, Parker. My muscles are quivering.”

  “You can’t rest now. You’ll cool down, and then we’ll have to do the warm-up exercises all over again.”

  “We?” She knew she was glaring at him, but somehow she couldn’t stop herself. “It seems to me that you’re using that word rather loosely. You didn’t do any exercises.”

  He ran a hand over his chest, a curious glint entering his eyes as he studied her. “I’m the trainer. Normally a trainer only watches a person’s form and makes sure the exercises are done properly. Would it make it easier if I did everything with you?”

  “No. I’m only trying to point out that you did nothing but watch while I worked. Now I’m exhausted, and I can’t do anything more right now.”

  “Sure you can.” He chucked her under the chin. “The hard part’s over for now. We’re gettin’ to the fun stuff.”

  Rainie reluctantly acquiesced, only to regret it a second later when he suddenly grabbed her from behind, one hard forearm at her throat, the other clamped like a vise at her waist.

  “Okay, Peter just sneaked up on you from behind. What do you do to get away from him?”

  Rainie angled her chin up. “You’re choking me.”

  “Oh, sorry.” He loosened his hold. “Better?”

  Only marginally. Her backside was pressed against him, and that unnerved her. His body felt like a steel wall, with all of her soft, round places giving way to his hardness. How was she supposed to think clearly while he held her like this?

  “Okay,” he said again. Then, after a brief silence, “Where were we?”

  The fact that he couldn’t remember told her that he was as aware of her body as she was of his. “You’re Peter, and I’m supposed to get away from you.”

  “Right.” She heard him swallow—a hollow plunk near her right ear. “I’ve come up behind you, caught you by surprise. Reaction time is very important in situations like this. He’s stronger than you are. He’s taller. He outweighs you. If you give him time to maximize his hold on you or allow him to anticipate your countermove, your ass will be grass. So we’re gonna work on automatic responses to attack, practicin’ the moves over and over so you can do ’em without thinkin’. Understand?”

  What Rainie understood was that Parker was stronger than she was, taller than she was, and outweighed her by a good margin. Did he really believe that he could teach her how to get away when he had such a huge physical advantage?

  “What do you do to break his hold?” he asked again.

  Rainie grabbed his wrist and tried to pull his arm from her throat. He braced against her, and all she accomplished was to tremble with the strain. His arm didn’t budge.

  “First lesson. Your strength is no match for his. You’re not gonna outmuscle the guy. You have to think mean.”

  “I should stomp on his toes?” she tried.

  “Nope.”

  “Elbow him in the ribs?”

  “Nope.”

  “Kick him in the shin?”

  “Shin kicks seldom work when you’re backed up against your assailant. If you’re wearin’ hard-soled shoes, and you get lucky, you might get away by barkin’ his shin with the heel, but chances are it’ll only sting and piss him off.”

  “What, then?”

  “Dip your head forward.”

  She did as instructed.

  “Now snap it back as hard as you can.”

  Rainie flung her head back, but at the last second, she was afraid of hurting him and lost her momentum.

  “Don’t worry about me. I’m expectin’ it. I’ll turn my head. When I take the blow on my jaw and you can make me see stars, you’ll be hittin’ with enough force to make any man turn loose of you if he takes the blow on his mouth and nose.”

  Rainie repeated the motion. The back of her head thumped his jaw. “Ow!”

  “You okay?”

  “That hurt. Do you have a steel plate in there or something?”

  He huffed with laughter. “When your adrenaline is up, you won’t even feel it, honey. The skull is thick. You can knock his teeth loose with a good, solid head butt, and chances are, you won’t be hurt at all. That’s our aim, to get you to a point that you can do it that hard the instant he grabs you.”

  Rainie tried to picture Peter with bloody lips and loosened teeth, but the image wouldn’t take shape in her mind. “That’d only make him mad. What’ll I do then, run?”

  “If the opportunity presents itself, hell, yes, run for all you’re worth. But chances are, head-butting him in the mouth and nose will only make him turn loose of you for a couple of seconds. I’ll teach you what to do next, but first we need to get this move down pat.”

  Rainie practiced butting his jaw until she had a slight headache. She was just starting to get the hang of it when Zach entered through the personnel door of the arena, distracting Parker with, “Hey, bro, have you seen Dad?”

  Parker turned to reply to his brother just as Rainie snapped her head back. Instead of butting his jaw, she nailed him right in the face. He grunted and dropped his arms from around her. Horrified, she whirled around. He was bent over at the waist, hands cupped over his nose and mouth.

  “Parker?” she cried. To her horror, she saw blood dripping through his clenched fingers. “Oh, my God, are you all right?”

  His muffled response was unintelligible. Rainie grasped his wrist, hoping to draw his hands down so she might assess the damage. He braced against her.

  “Well, well, well,” Zach drawled as he strode across the arena toward them. “It looks to me like Rainie is getting a crash course in how to kick ass and take names from a teacher with an attention deficit disorder.”

  Over the top of his bloody fingers, Parker sent his younger brother a smoldering glare. Tears ran from the corners of his eyes to trickle in silvery trails down his lean cheeks. “Nosebleed, no big deal.”

  “Oh, Parker, I’m sorry,” Rainie cried. “I never meant to hurt you.” She knew it was terrible of her, but despite her regret about causing him pain, she also felt a thrill of excitement. Head-butting actually worked. “You said you’d turn your head.”

  Zach snorted with laughter. “Be a little more careful with him next time, Rainie. He’s delicate.”

  Chapter Thirteen

  Over the next two weeks, communication between the Harrigans and law enforceme
nt agencies began. Working in tandem with Frank Harrigan’s high-priced attorney, Loni made all the initial contacts. According to her, the law enforcement officials she’d spoken with believed Rainie’s story and were now delving into Peter Danning’s background, hoping to corroborate Loni’s claim that Danning’s first two wives had died mysteriously and that Danning had benefited financially from their deaths.

  Eventually Rainie knew she would have to be interrogated, perhaps more than once. The thought unnerved her. Even with Parker, she found it extremely difficult to talk about her life with Peter. How much worse would it be when she had to answer the questions of total strangers who might put her in jail if they didn’t like her responses? Because she found that possibility so upsetting, she chose not to cross that bridge until she came to it. Parker maintained that worrying accomplished nothing, and she was inclined to agree with him. Better to take each day as it came.

  And the days brought many events for Rainie to be glad about. Thomas settled in at the ranch and was soon roaming the property to hunt for mice and ground squirrels, as relaxed in his new surroundings as if he’d lived there all his life. Mojo grew like a weed, seeming to get taller, plumper, and ornerier on a daily basis. Teething, as all babies did, he developed an insatiable need to chew, which could no longer be controlled with toys. After calling Tucker’s brother, Isaiah Coulter, who owned rottweilers and had raised a couple of litters, Parker went to a butcher shop for a supply of beef knucklebones, cut into quarters. Each morning when Rainie and the puppy got to the office, Mojo received a frozen bone to chew on. While working, Rainie grew accustomed to a vibrant grating sound that seldom ceased—Mojo, gnawing away on his bone.

  During this lull before the storm, Parker endeavored to keep Rainie busy. Her days began with a huge breakfast, which she helped cook, and after kitchen cleanup, they went to the arena for a training session. Once Rainie was physically spent, she went back to the house for a shower and then to the office, where she attempted to keep up with her regular workload, even though she now had less time to devote to it.