Hearts On Fire

by Childs, Penny

  “Personal experience.”

  “You could say that.” Reaching down, she picked up her coat.

  “I’m not chasing you out of here, am I?”

  She shook her head. “Not at all. I was just getting ready to run over and check into the hotel and get my things in a room.”

  Surprise registered on Matt’s face. “I thought… I guess I thought you would be staying at Josh’s place.”

  “With JD,” she finished for him. “No. I’ve decided the hotel will be better.” Because she knew JD wanted nothing to do with her. She’d seen that plainly in his wounded gaze before he’d walked out on her earlier in the day.

  “Okay. Now that I know I’ll have someone keep an eye on the place.” He started walking with her, his shoes squeaking a little on the polished tiles beneath his feet.

  “That won’t be necessary, Matt, really.”

  “But it is. We still haven’t captured Grady Summers.” His golden brown eyes fixed on her neck. “And I’m afraid he might not be done with you just yet.”

  She shivered at the thought. “I’m more concerned with Katy’s safety right now. She’s completely defenseless.”

  “The deputy will remain in place, don’t worry.” As they came to the elevators and he punched the button for the lobby, he reached out and took one of her hands in his. “Lizzie, something’s bothering you other than Katy and the rest of it. You look like you’ve been on a crying jag.”

  The softness in his voice and the concern in his eyes brought tears to her eyes again. Fighting them off, she said, “Yeah. There’s a lot going on right now.”

  “This has something to do with JD,” he guessed, getting into the empty elevator car with her. Once the doors had closed and they were alone he swore profusely. “Damn him, anyway.”

  She looked over to him.

  “I told him I’d kick his ass if he hurt you again, Lizzie. I mean, I know you and I… we could never be… I get that. But I still like to think of you as a friend.”

  Touched by his words, she touched his cheek, cupping it in her palm. “You’re very sweet, Matt. But you don’t need to worry about kicking his ass on my behalf.”

  “He’s hurt you. Again.”

  “No, not this time. This time it was me to do the hurting.” The elevator doors slid open and she dropped her hand from his face. And there, standing in the opening was JD, his jaw hardened, his eyes filled with a knowing glitter of anger.

  “Well, that didn’t take you too long, Lizzie. But then, it never does, does it?” His smile was cold. His eyes colder. “I had some more questions for you,” his gaze flickered to Matt for a moment, “but I can see the answers plainly enough for myself.”

  “JD,” she whispered, all the color draining from her face.

  “We need to talk,” he told her. “Later. Right now I’m afraid I might strangle you.” He gave her one last cold look and turned from the elevators to the stairs.

  She had the urge to go after him but knew better. He really did look like he wanted to kill her. She didn’t have to wonder why. Arlene.

  Matt took her by the arm and pulled her from the elevator as a group of doctors entered. “Christ, Lizzie, what the hell’s gotten into him?” He looked after JD, who slammed through the stairwell door without looking back once.

  God damnnit, she swore to herself. She never should have let him walk away this morning without hearing everything from her. Now that his mother had been at him the damage was more than likely irreparable.

  He’d known running into Lizzie at the hospital was a distinct possibility. He’d even mentally prepared himself to just walk by her without a word. But damnit, he hadn’t expected to encounter her in an intimate moment with Matt. The sight of her standing there with her hand on his friend’s face made his blood boil. After what they had shared last night and this morning how could she turn to another man so quickly?

  Just like Brian Castellanos, he told himself. She’d taken Arlene’s money and run off with another man. And let that other man raise his child. Well, no more, he vowed venomously. He would get to know his child, whether Lizzie liked it or not. And, he thought with bitterness, his child would come here to live with him. Yes, he decided on the spot, he would move back to the ranch so his son could grow up as he had. To hell with Lizzie Waring.

  Now, he knew, he needed to put her out of his mind, as much as that was possible. He needed to be calm when he went in to see his sister. She was still on suicide watch and he didn’t want to do anything more to upset her.

  “Mr. MacGreggor,” the desk nurse chirped. “Your sister has just had her lunch. She seems in better spirits today.”

  “Has she spoken to anyone?”

  The nurse’s smile faded. “No, I’m afraid not. But she did eat her meal on her own this time. And made eye contact with me when I took her dishes.”

  Progress, he supposed, though small. Stopping at an open door, he peeked in to see Julie sitting in a chair looking out a window at the swirling snow. “Hey, Jules,” he said softly.

  She didn’t even blink, just sat there with her hands folded in her lap.

  “Jules,” he repeated, entering the room. He wanted to close the door behind himself but knew the hospital staff would not allow it. Going to an empty chair he seated himself beside her. Gently he stroked her blonde hair. “Hey there.”

  Slowly her eye lashes fluttered and she turned her face to him. “JD,” she mouthed without making a sound.

  He smiled for her. He’d come to her with the express desire to ask her one question. Who her lover was. He’d decided to tell her about the attempt on Lizzie’s life and hope that would get her to name the man. But now… he saw such vulnerability in her eyes. Would asking her send her back into the abyss which had made her try to take her own life?

  Chapter 25

  “You went to visit Julie,” Lizzie prompted after swallowing her bite of sandwich. “Is she getting any better?”

  “No.” Matt leaned forward in his chair, putting his elbows on the table between them. “And you’re avoiding talking to me about whatever happened with JD.”

  “Yes, I am,” she admitted.

  “I get it. It’s personal. It just surprises me. Last night the guy told me he loves you. Now he wants to wrap his hands around your throat?”

  Hearing JD had admitted to Matt that he loved her was a kick to the heart. But she beared up and made a wisecrack to hide the hurt. “Being a police officer has made you nosey, Matt.”

  He chuckled. “Comes with the territory.”

  “I gave JD some news this morning which will take him a while to absorb.” Fiddling with a french fry she added, “I told him he’s the father of my twelve year old son.”

  Matt froze with his cup of coffee halfway to his mouth. “I thought… I thought Brian Castellanos was your kid’s father. You two hooked up your senior year.”

  “No.” She dipped her head and rested her forehead on the heel of her hand. After JD had left for college and dumped her she had dated Brian a couple of times, that was true enough. But they’d never really hit it off as a couple. Instead they had become fast friends. Fast friends who had married because they both needed something from one another. Lizzie had needed a plausible father for her child so no one would ask questions. Brian had been looking at an internship he’d dearly wanted. Having a family had made him appear more stable than some of the other candidates.

  “JD was here too,” Matt said, his eyes clouding over with the memory. “That’s right. He was here because of his mother’s cancer scare. He was married at the time.”

  Her eyes closed. “I didn’t know. I suppose I should have, seeing as how he didn’t want anyone to know we were seeing each other. He claimed it would have made his mother’s condition worse.”

  “I knew something happened,” Matt said mostly to himself.

  “We were only together a few times. But I guess that’s all it took, huh?”

  “He finally told you he was married and y
ou broke it off,” Matt guessed.

  The corners of her mouth turned down. “No. As it turns out Grady Summers was the one to tell me JD was married.”

  “Grady?”

  It was a long story she didn’t want to relive again. “A lot of things happened that summer, Matt. Most of them bad. Could we just forget about it for now?”

  He nodded and reached across the table to place a hand over one of hers. “I’m sorry. That was none of my business. It just bothered me to see you so torn up.” Rubbing a thumb over her hand he asked, “You’re still in love with him, aren’t you? After all he’s done you still love the guy.”

  Her gaze was miserable. “Yeah. But that doesn’t matter anymore. Whatever his mother has told him has turned him completely against me now.”

  “You don’t know that. Maybe there’s still a chance.” He laughed a little. “I know he’s a lawyer and a politician, but maybe there’s a chance you can talk sense into him. Make him see your side.”

  “I think he would have. But now… I’m afraid it’s too late.” Never before had she seen so much hate in one man’s eyes.

  Tick. Tick. Tick. The time ticked by. And as it did he became more and more frustrated. “You’re becoming more and more useless, bitch,” he growled close to her ear.

  Katy didn’t flinch. Not so much as a change in her breathing. Not an eyelash fluttered.

  “There’s only one reason you’re still alive, you know. Because you know where that fucking money is. And because I want that money.” He reached down and touched her throat. The bruises were still there but they were no longer purple. They were turning an ugly yellow and green. Slowly he let his fingers slip around her throat. Just like the first time. “I know you’re faking it, you little whore.” He watched her carefully, looking for a sign, any sign, that he was right. “Maybe I need to take it out on big sister. See if she can give me what I want.”

  Nothing. Not a damn twitch.

  He caressed the side of her face with his fingertips. “We had some fun, you and me. Maybe I’ll have some fun with little miss Lizzie too. Yeah. Maybe I will.”

  The damn money. All of this was about the damn money. Lizzie hugged herself tightly as she stepped out of the car and looked at the huge horse barn. Josh was at the hospital and JD… she had not a clue where he was. Probably best that way. Because when he did finally decide he wanted to talk to her she figured he wouldn’t hold back. He’d let his full hatred of her loose. And she wasn’t ready for that just yet.

  What she was ready for was putting an end to this whole damn thing. And the only way she figured that would happen was to find the stupid money everybody was so worried about and turn it in to the police. There. End of story. No one won. Grady Summers would slink back under whatever rock he’d crawled out from under and Julie’s lover would stay hidden. Neither one of them would have any reason to bother her anymore. And Katy could either finger the guy or not. Up to her.

  One of the ranch hands stepped out of the barn, pulling out a crumpled pack of cigarettes on his way. He looked Lizzie over, his brows raised. “Help you, miss?”

  “Possibly,” she told him. “I’m a friend of Josh’s. He told me I could come ride whenever I wanted.” A lie, but what the hell. She needed a horse if she was going to go traipsing around in the woods. Especially to the spot she was thinking of.

  Cupping a palm over the end of his cigarette he lit it and looked off to the north, his pale blue eyes squinted. “There’s a storm brewing,” he warned calmly, shoving the lighter in the front pocket of his jeans.

  So it would snow some more, big deal. That’s all it had been doing since she’d come back. “I just want to go for a little ride.” Giving him a coy smile, she asked, “Can’t you help me out?”

  He thought for a moment. “Well, I suppose I could. Josh would skin me if I turned away a pretty lady friend of his. You’re going to stick to the ranch trails, right?”

  “Sure,” she lied. “I just need to unwind. I’m a nurse at the hospital and it’s been a rough day.” When, she wondered, did it become so easy to lie? When you took money from Arlene MacGreggor and left this place with JD’s son in your womb, that’s when.

  The light seemed to click on for him. If she was a nurse at the hospital it would make sense for her to know Josh. And it would make sense for Josh to flirt with her and offer her a horseback ride. He brought pretty ladies home all the time. Crushing out the cigarette on the bottom of his boot and sticking the butt in his coat pocket, the man grinned. “I’ve got just the horse for you then. He’s got a little fire, but not too much. Just enough to make your ride interesting. You wait right inside the door here and I’ll get him ready for you.”

  She knew it was crazy, but ten minutes later she was riding off across the field heading west with a fond memory in mind.

  “It was one of my uncle’s hunting shacks,” JD had explained to her between ardent kisses. “Not much to look at but it’ll get us out of this rain.” Taking her long wet hair in his hands he’d pulled her to him, crushing his lips to hers and telegraphing to her a need so strong it had been all-consuming.

  She remembered the way the rain had sang on the tin roof of the hunting shack. The way the walls trembled with the wind. The way the ground shook with the thunder. And the way she’d given herself to him as though he had been the only man on the planet for her. “He was,” she whispered now. And he always would be, she knew that too. Knowing he hated her now and that he would never want to see her again left a hollow place inside her. It made her want to ball up on her bed under the blankets and cry.

  Well to hell with that. She was going to do something. Something which would give her control of her own future again. Too many times in her life control had been taken from her. By Arlene. By Grady. By her own mother. She closed her eyes against the stinging wind and thought, and by JD.

  The horse plodded through the snow, his proud head held high, his ears pricked forward. He seemed ready for this too.

  She had to do this. For herself if no one else. Sure it was crazy. But who would really care? Josh wouldn’t mind she’d used one of his horses. And JD… he’d probably be glad if she froze to death out in the woods somewhere. Then he could lay full claim to his son. But I won’t, she thought. I’m gonna find that money and be free.

  She hadn’t even thought of the damn place until she’d been sitting with her sister this afternoon telling her about her most recent encounter with JD. A memory had flickered in her mind of Katy mentioning the old place to her. Just a casual mention, something about nobody, even in the MacGreggor family, remembering the old place. Lizzie couldn’t even recall the context of the conversation or why her sister had brought it up. But she knew one thing. If Katy thought no one knew of the place she very likely would have used it for some of her scams. And she very well could have hidden the money there.

  She looked up to the darkening sky now and shuddered a little. She should probably turn back. Her jaw set and her brows slammed together. No. Turning back was not an option. Not until she had what she’d set out to find.

  Chapter 26

  For good or bad, he had set things into motion today. He had contacted a friend of his who specialized as a family lawyer. Though he’d filed nothing yet, he’d paid a hefty retainer and he’d gotten his first consultation.

  “Jeramiah, quit fiddling with your food and eat it.”

  JD looked from his plate of food to his mother. He still wanted to throttle her as well. Dropping his fork to the fine china with a clatter, he leaned back in his chair and crossed his arms over his broad chest, settling in. He was spoiling for a fight. “Perhaps you’d like to have some pleasant dinner conversation?” he suggested, curling his upper lip and showing teeth. “Would you like to discuss how you paid off the woman I loved to run away with my son?”

  Josh choked on a piece of chicken. Snatching up his water glass he gulped it down, thanking all that was holy he was not sitting between the two of them.

  Arl
ene’s smile remained, though it faltered briefly. She knew her son had a fiery temper. She also knew how to quell it. Lifting her wine glass she met his gaze over the rim of it. “The dinner table is not the place to bring her up.”

  “No? Maybe you’d like to tell me again how what you did was for my benefit. How you did it because you love me so fucking much.” He yanked the linen napkin from his lap, snapping it sharply, and tossed it on the table.

  “That sort of language is not tolerated at this table and you know it, Jeramiah. This is not a bar room or a third rate restaurant. A lot of time and money was put into teaching you respectable manners.” She eyed Josh with some disdain. “The money was better spent on some than others.”

  Josh blinked at her and sank down in his chair. “What’d I do?”

  JD looked around the dining room with all its fine china and silver set for a normal nightly dinner. The table, he knew, was worth more than some people made in months of hard work. He didn’t even want to think of what she’d spent on the carpet and drapery. Or the china cabinet sitting in the corner. Or the art work on the walls. This wasn’t even where he’d grown up. This, he realized, was his mother. Fake. The whole house and everything in it were for everyone else’s benefit. To be seen so that visitors would know Arlene MacGreggor was superior to them. “You maneuvered me like it was some kind of game to you. I don’t appreciate it one bit. As a matter of fact, I despise you for it.”

  Her eyes became sharp. “Oh, it was never a game to me. You are where you are today in part because of me. If I hadn’t fixed what you’d done with that girl you’d be working in a factory to support your white trash wife and the children she would have continued to pop out. You certainly never would have commanded enough respect to become a senator.”

  He cocked a brow. “So… what? You want me to thank you for playing puppet master with my life? You want me to thank you for denying me the opportunity to raise my son?”