Wrong Turn, Right Cowboy: Paintbrush, Book 2

by Denise Belinda McDonald

  “How is she?” Quint removed his hat and held in his hand.

  Tears streaked down Gillian’s face. “I don’t know yet. The doctor hasn’t come out.” She stood and walked over to him. “I can’t lose her, too.”

  Quint opened his arms. Gillian walked in to his embrace without hesitation. He stroked her back. “She’s strong, she’ll make it. And Dr. Hambert is one hell of a doctor.”

  She nodded against his chest, her tears soaking the front of his shirt.

  He glanced over the top of her head. Missy had Ryder tucked up under her arm like a momma hen protecting her chick. Soot covered the boy’s pale cheeks. “You okay, Ryder?”

  The boy met Quint’s gaze as tear hung in his eyes. “I’ll be okay.” Cade paced the floor with his cell phone at his ear. When he flipped it shut he turned to Quint. “The ambulance from Sheridan’s almost here. May be another fifteen minutes.”

  Gillian shook against him. “She was so pale.”

  “Your daughter is a fighter. She is strong like her momma.” He kissed the top of Gillian’s head. “Why’d she run into the building? It had to be burning when you got there.”

  “She left something inside.”

  “Nothing is worth risking your life over.”

  Gillian squiggled loose and looked over at the Lunsfords then she leaned up on her tip toes and whispered into Quint’s ear. “Ryder gave her his grandmother’s bracelet. She couldn’t leave it inside.”

  His heart twinged. Heidi and Ryder were so young but driven by such powerful emotions. Yet he and Gillian had danced around each other from the get go. He gave himself a mental shake. Once Heidi was out of the woods—and she would recover, he had not one ounce of doubt in his being that she would—he would find a way to make Gillian stay in Paintbrush and become his wife. He hadn’t waited all these years to find the right woman only to let her run off.

  Cade and Missy were whispering to one another as Gillian walked over to Ryder. “That was the bravest thing anyone has ever done for Heidi. I will be in your debt forever.” He stood and she took the boy into her arms despite him towering over her several inches.

  Ruby paced the length of the waiting room floor. Almost to herself, she mumbled, “No one was supposed to be inside.”

  The room quieted. Gillian released Ryder and sucked back a sob. “Excuse me?”

  “The garage was supposed to be empty. You’d left work hours before. I saw Manny lock up and leave.”

  Gillian stepped in front of Ruby, halting her pacing. “Did you do this? Did you hurt my daughter?”

  “I didn’t mean to. No one was supposed to be inside. Quint was starting to suspect that you were the one setting the fires. I figured you’d run if you thought he was going to blame you outright.”

  “Bitch.” Gillian launched herself at the woman. Cade Holstrom snagged her around the waist and kept her from pouncing on Ruby.

  Just then, the door to the doctor’s office opened. “Gillian?”

  Ryder jumped up from his seat. “How is she, Dr. Hambert?”

  “She’ll be fine, son. She’s breathing easier now. But I want them to do a thorough examination up at the hospital in Sheridan. They may want to keep her for observation for a couple of days too. She took in quite a lot of smoke.” Dr. Hambert tucked his hands into his pockets. “The hospital has a team ready for her once the ambulance gets her there.”

  “May I see her?” Gillian was already walking past the doctor. She paused before she completely crossed the threshold and turned to narrow her gaze on Ruby. Her heart beat heavily as heat flooded her cheeks. Tears stung her eyelids. “I’m not done with you. You won’t get away with putting my daughter in danger this time or any of the times.”

  Her hands shook when she turned her back on Ruby. She had to take several deep breaths and count to ten before she was composed enough to approach Heidi’s bed on the other side of the room.

  “What was that all about?” Heidi’s raspy voice clinched Gillian’s heart harder.

  “Nothing for you to worry about, hon.” Gillian stroked Heidi’s soot-covered hair away from her face. “Just so we’re clear, you’re grounded for the foreseeable future for running into a burning building. I’m thinking maybe when you turn thirty, we’ll talk and I might consider waiving your punishment.”

  The teen laughed which then turned into a coughing fit. Tears streamed down her cheeks and she fisted her hands in the blanket surrounding her.

  “You’re okay, hon. You’re okay.” Gillian tried to soothe Heidi. It was several minutes before she was calm and breathing slightly better.

  Once she could speak again, she looked up at Gillian. “Ryder?”

  “He’s out in the waiting room. Hang on.”

  Ryder stood just next to the door when Gillian went in search of him. “She’s asking to see you.”

  He rushed over to her bedside. Gillian pulled the doctor aside. “How is she, really?”

  A slight smiled curved the corner of his mouth. “She’ll be fine. Honestly. She took in a lot of smoke but there shouldn’t be any irreparable damage. Had she been in the building much longer…” He shrugged. “But no use worrying over what didn’t happen.” He patted Gillian’s shoulder.

  She understood what he was saying. Her daughter was fine and would be. She would never have been in the fire in the first place, though, if Ruby had not been a petty, vindictive bitch. Gillian scanned the waiting room. Ruby sat in the corner with Quint standing watch. “The funny thing, Ruby.” Every eye in the room turned and looked at her. “If you’d have waited maybe an hour, you’d have had Quint all to yourself. We were on our way out of town. We just stopped at the garage to pick something up.”

  Ruby blanched. Missy gasped. And Quint hung his head.

  Cade looked out the front window. “Gillian, the ambulance is here.”

  “You want me to drive you to the hospital?” Quint flashed back to his conversation with Gillian hours earlier before everyone had left for the hospital in Sheridan. He’d offered the one thing he could at the time—his support. He hadn’t known what else to say to her.

  She hadn’t quite looked him in the eyes. “No, thanks. Missy and Ryder will take me.”

  Missy and Ryder jumped to the task and in a big hustle and bustle, left just behind the paramedics. And left a void in Quint. He’d wanted to be there for Gillian, but she hadn’t wanted anything from him. At all.

  At least with him staying behind, he could explain everything to Sheriff Reese. Cade gave a quick statement and told the sheriff that Missy and Ryder promised to give their statements corroborating Ruby’s confession at Dr. Hambert’s office when they got back to town.

  He and Cade stood by the front door of the sheriff’s office waiting for the Reese to get back from the crime scene. He needed to get photos taken before it got too dark.

  “She’ll be all right.” Cade slapped him on the back.

  “Sure.” He nodded.

  “The Harwood women are made of some stern stuff. Missy can’t stop talking about them. And don’t get Ryder started.” Cade smiled.

  “That they are.”

  Cade spoke again but Quint wasn’t paying attention. So many thoughts tumbled through his head. He was confused and turned around. The only place he wanted to be was with Gillian and she didn’t want him. She’d decided to leave him and Paintbrush behind.

  Like she told Ruby, if she’d waited an hour, the Harwoods would have been long gone from their town and their lives. Ruby’d have had no cause for any of her actions. He glanced over at her. She sat in the small jail cell with her head in her hands.

  Quint’s throat constricted as he asked, “Why?”

  “I love you,” she didn’t hesitate to answer.

  “So you set fires to frame Gillian? Because you love me.” Quint scrubbed his hand through his hair. “Since she got here?”

  “Yes.”

  “And you hoped to accomplish what?”

  “To get her to leave. Or for you to stop
looking at her the way you do.” She glanced up at him. “I hated the way you looked at her.”

  “Ruby, we were only friends.”

  “We could be so much more. If it weren’t for her.”

  He walked over to the cell and gripped the bars so hard his knuckles whitened. “We would not have been anything more than friends. Before she ever got here I knew that. Now that I’ve met Gillian… I love her. So much it’s painful and she’s leaving because of those fucking fires.”

  Ruby shook her head slowly then faster and faster still until her hair swung with the momentum. “She would have left anyway. Without you.” She swiped at the tears on her cheeks. “Did you know that Heidi’s not even her child? Did you? She’s her…”

  “Niece. Yes, I know.”

  Ruby frowned in disbelief. “She told you?”

  “I know everything about her. She told me everything.” Once he’d discovered a good portion of it online, but once she’d had someone to confide in, she’d told him.

  “He said she’s a liar. Lies about everything.”

  “He who?” Heat raced up his spine. Who would be talking to Ruby about Gillian? There was only one person who came to mind. “What are you talking about?”

  “Heidi’s father. He said Gillian ran out of town with her and he’s been looking for them.”

  His stomach dropped and he waved Cade over. “When did you speak with him?”

  “This morning. He said he found out she was here in Wyoming from one of Heidi’s friends. He was coming here to get Heidi.”

  “He said that?” His hands shook and he released the bars. “Cade, I need you to go get the sheriff. Tell him it’s an emergency.”

  “What’s wrong?”

  “I’ll explain in a minute.” He turned back to Ruby. “Did the man give you his name?”

  “Rick.”

  Quint closed his eyes and his breath clogged in his lungs. “Please tell me you didn’t give him any information.”

  She nodded. “I told him where she’s staying. He had every right to know. He’s—”

  “That’s NOT Heidi’s dad.” He ran his hands through his hair. “He killed Heidi’s mom. In front of her and tried to kill her too. He’s been after them since he got out of prison.”

  Ruby blanched. “I didn’t…”

  “Of course you didn’t. She was fucking hiding.”

  The sheriff came hurrying in his office with the camera still around his neck. Hank was hot on his heels and asked, “What’s wrong, Quint?”

  Quint all but launched himself across the sheriff’s desk to the phone. “She needs to be warned.” He knocked over a coffee mug. It crashed on the floor with a deafening crackle.

  “Look at me, son.” Hank set his hand on Quint’s shoulder. “What’s going on?”

  “Gillian’s in trouble. The reason she came here was to hide from the man who killed Heidi’s mom.”

  “You’re not making any sense.” Hank’s wrinkled face pulled down in a weary frown. “Take a deep breath and start over.”

  He did as instructed then gave them a condensed version of what all he’d learned.

  “Relax. She ain’t here. The girl’s up in Sheridan at the hospital with her daughter.” Hank walked Quint over to the chair at the Sheriff’s desk. “Sit. Who else knows what’s going on? You prolly told your aunt, right?”

  He nodded. “I asked Zan and Jacob to help me protect Gillian. Manny may know. I think Gillian told him some of it.”

  “Good deal, son.” Hank squatted his wiry frame in front of Quint and held his gaze. “I got a hold of Manny fifteen minutes ago. He was headed over to the hospital to check on them. He’ll keep an eye on them.”

  Quint breathed in then out slowly, tried to calm himself. “Sheriff, he’s coming for her. Ruby told him where they were staying.”

  Everyone turned to look at her. Tears streamed down her face as she huddled in the corner.

  “He’ll probably have no clue they’re in Sheridan, but can you call the hospital and the police chief there and give them a head’s up?”

  “No problem.” Reese snapped up the phone receiver and dialed. He gave the police chief the same abbreviated story Quint had given him. Then he called the hospital and gave the staff there a description of Rick from Quint. He asked that security be put on her room until they could get someone from the police department over there. “Can you connect me to Heidi Harwood’s room please?”

  The sheriff shifted and held out the receiver to Quint. “Here, talk to Miss Gillian. You’ll feel better once you talk to her.”

  Missy answered on the third ring. “Hey, Quint.”

  “How is she?”

  “Doing real good. She’s sleeping now.”

  He breathed a sigh of relief. “Can I speak to Gillian?”

  “What? She’s not here. She left a while ago. Said she needed to pick up something at the house. Some stuffed bear Heidi forgot to grab. If you ask me, Heidi did it on purpose so they’d have to come back. But then the fire happened and everything went haywire. Manny’s here now. Did you—”

  He hung up the phone. “Gillian’s not there. She came back to Paintbrush.”

  Chapter Seventeen

  “Left that damn teddy bear.” Gillian had borrowed Missy’s truck and driven the long, lonely miles back to Paintbrush to get the bear. She couldn’t really blame Heidi for trying to thwart their leaving; she didn’t want to leave either. She just couldn’t take the chance that Rick found out where they were—her ire over the cell phone faded away when Ryder pulled Heidi’s limp body from the garage.

  She shook off her thoughts as she parked the truck in the driveway of her—no, it was Quint’s again—house. She’d left the keys Quint had given her on the kitchen table. Luckily though, the spare key was still hidden under the potted plant on the front porch.

  The phone was ringing when she let herself into the house. She debated just letting it ring, but was afraid it could be Missy calling from the hospital.

  “Hello?”

  “Thank God you’re there. Come to the sheriff’s office right now.” A slight noise echoed in the background—like a bunch of people talking.

  Gillian’s body shook. “Who is this?”

  “Cade Holstrom. You need to come to the sheriff’s office now. Is Quint there with you?”

  “Quint? No. I just walked in the door. What’s going on?”

  “Rick knows where you are.”

  Numbness leeched all her strength and she wavered on her feet. “What?” She leaned her hip against the back of the sofa and gripped the phone so tightly her fingers ached.

  “It’s a long story. Come here. To the station. The sheriff has men coming in from other towns but it’s taking time.”

  “I…” The phone went silent. “Cade? Are you still there?” When he didn’t answer, she pressed the disconnect button several times but got nothing.

  A cold sweat beaded over her face and arms.

  “Who’s Quint?”

  She closed her eyes. Rick. Behind her. The receiver fell from her hand and clattered to the floor as she turned. Rick stood at the edge of the hallway with his shoulder casually leaning against the wall like he owned the world. He looked exactly the same as he had fourteen months earlier on her front porch.

  He wasn’t a very big man, maybe five-foot-eight. But what he lacked in size he made up for in the hollow, soulless gaze in his dark brown eyes. He’d scared the crap out of her when she was sixteen and he’d just started dating her sister. Now, after spending years in prison and twelve years older, he scared the ever-loving shit out of her.

  “Is he some shit-kicking cowboy with curly hair and a pretty good right hook?” Rick stood away from the wall and rubbed his jaw.

  “What did you do to him?”

  “Left him bleeding all over the kitchen floor.”

  Every ounce of Gillian tensed. She looked toward the kitchen. A pair of boots poked out just at the edge of the doorway. “Jesus.” She darted for Quin
t. He lay motionless up against the cabinet. A dark red stain spread across his denim shirt. “Quint!”

  Before she could drop down to his side, Rick grabbed her by the hair and yanked her back. “Not so fast.” He pulled until she was standing again.

  “Ow.” She swatted at his hand but only ended up clunking herself in the head with her cast. She needed to get Quint help, but damned if she had the faintest idea how. “How did you find us?”

  “It’s easy when you know where to look. Heidi’s little friend was easily swayed in telling me what I wanted to know.”

  Images of Sierra floated before her eyes. “You didn’t hurt her, did you?”

  “Didn’t need to. Yet. Once I got here it wasn’t easy figuring out where you were. These yokels avoid new people like the plague. However, I did find one woman who seemed to know a Gillian. She thinks you are, in her words, a boyfriend-stealing hussy. I never knew you had it in you. Maybe I had the wrong sister all along.”

  “You bastard.” Gillian tried in vain to kick him but she ended up only making him tighten his grip and yank her harder. “What do you want?”

  His hot breath feathered her ear. “Where’s Heidi?”

  Gillian flinched as a trace of spit landed on her cheek. “She’s not here.”

  “I can see that.” He shook her. “Where is she?”

  “I’m not about to tell you.”

  “Really?” A gun came up beside her face, pointed right at Quint.

  “Wait, wait, wait. Please don’t shoot him.” She grabbed at his wrist but the way he held her hair, she couldn’t get any leverage to disrupt his aim.

  “Where is she?”

  She could tell him partial truths. He’d never be able to figure out where. “She’s in the hospital.”

  His grip loosened for a moment. “Why?”

  “There was a fire in town.” The less she struggled the more lax his hold became. “She got caught inside the building.”

  “When did this happen?”