Hearts On Fire

by Childs, Penny

  “You think he’ll do it? I mean she did try to screw over his little sister and all.”

  “He thinks with his dick and she knows how to play him.”

  “She is good at that,” Grady agreed. “She knows just what to do to a man.”

  Matt didn’t want to contemplate how Grady might know that. Though he’d been with Katy himself on numerous occasions the thought of Grady touching her sickened him. The thought of Grady touching any woman sickened him. He pulled a heavily lined hat over his head then began wrapping a scarf around his neck. “You just do what I asked you to do. I’ll take care of getting the money. Meet me where I told you at exactly seven and everything will be fine.”

  Grady huffed out a breath. He still didn’t trust Matt.

  “Look, man, I know it goes against your nature to trust a cop, but in this case there isn’t much choice. I don’t exactly trust you either. But the fact is right now we need each other. I’m not going to fuck you over. I won’t make it off this mountain without you. Once it’s full light they’ll start searching for Lizzie and JD.”

  “Can I kill them?” Grady asked suddenly.

  Matt inclined his head curiously. “You want to?”

  “I want to kill that little bitch Katy. She was gonna leave me high and dry.” He thought giving her her just deserts after he was done making her do whatever he wanted her to do to him. “Yeah. I think I wanna kill her.”

  Matt shrugged. “Do whatever you want.” He stopped himself and gave Grady a good long look. “Except what you’ve got on your pea brain right now. You keep your hands to yourself and your dick in your pants, Summers.” He could see Grady was about to protest and held up a hand. “I mean it. You get close enough to her to do that and she just might knee you in the balls and scratch your eyes out. She’s a tricky little bitch, which I’m sure you know. Just make damn sure you’re at our meet point at seven or the whole thing falls apart.”

  Grady stared him down. “You make sure you’re there.”

  Matt grinned behind the scarf. Stupid fucker, he thought to himself. “Oh, I’ll be there,” he assured him as he threw open the door and jumped out onto the snow. Pushing off with his poles, he was gone.

  “You know how to ski too. I watched you guys when we were kids.” She thought back a moment. “You were on the ski team in high school.”

  “Katy, we should be calling the state police right now. Let them handle this.”

  “How are they gonna handle it? You think they’ll buy the sheriff of our fair town is a killer based on my word? They’ll laugh me off after they haul my ass in and throw me in a cell.”

  He knew she had a point. But he didn’t like it. Not one bit.

  “C’mon, you know it’s true. They’ll arrest me and pat themselves on the back. As far as the official word goes, I’m the one who broke the law. It’ll take days for them to sort this shit out. And my sister and your brother don’t have days. They have till morning, I’m betting. Matt wants that money in a bad way, trust me,” she told him, her fingers unconsciously going to her throat.

  “God damnit.” Josh wanted to punch something. Someone. “You sure fucked up this time, Katy Lee. If anything happens to my brother because of this…” He stopped when she sauntered to him one hip at a time in her tight blue jeans and put her arms around his neck. She looked up at him with those big baby blues and batted her lashes at him, a slow smile touching her lips.

  “We’re not gonna let anything happen to them, Josh.” She brushed against him, knowing the effect she had on him and using it.

  “Katy…” Reaching up he grabbed her wrists and removed her arms from his neck.

  “Get your skis, cowboy.”

  “And you?”

  “Julie skis too, right?”

  “Yeah.”

  “Then I’ll be right behind you. I spent a winter in the Alps. A very wealthy Swiss gentlemen taught me how to ski. Among other things.”

  He scowled at her, ignoring her little sidebar. He didn’t like the idea of going out after Matt. But worse than that he didn’t like the idea of her coming along. He didn’t trust her, for one thing. Not one bit. “Maybe you should stay here.”

  Her eyes iced over. “Like hell. I’m in this up to my chin. You go, I go.”

  “Fine,” he snarled, knowing arguing with her would be both a waste of his time and his breath. He headed for the front door. “All the equipment is in the shed. I’ll just go get it.” He eyed her carefully. “Don’t even think about getting up to no good in here while I’m gone.”

  She chuckled at him. “What, Josh? You don’t trust me?”

  “Not as far as I could throw Fat Macy,” he told her, grabbing his coat off the peg by the door.

  “Look, after this, I’m out of it. No more shady deals. No more swindles.” She held a pinkie up and then made the sign of the cross. “Swear to it.”

  He frowned as his zipped his coat. Who the hell did she think she was fooling? “Yeah. Right.” Grabbing the doorknob, he twisted it, still looking back at her. Still wishing the circumstances were different and he could just carry her up to his bed and make love with her all night long. But that was over. Long over. What she’d done this time went way too far. People could have been killed. People still could be killed. And she was standing there with that damn smirk on her lips and that twinkle in her eyes because she loved the rush. When he pulled the door open he saw her eyes widen in fear. He saw her mouth open to scream a warning. He turned to the open door to fight. Too late.

  Chapter 31

  The smell of coffee woke Lizzie. It was a welcome aroma, considering just how wonderful she felt at the moment. Still dazed and sated from the attention JD had given her just hours ago she stretched under the blankets and blinked her eyes open slowly. She wished he were still under the covers with her but the coffee smelled almost good enough for her to forgive him. She sighed as she stared into the fire. Forgiveness. So JD had decided to forgive her. Gathering the blankets around herself she sat up on the couch, looking around for him. They still had a lot…

  Her gaze landed on him as he stood by the little wood burning cook stove sipping a cup of coffee. And looking at her as though he’d like to kill her with his bare hands. Swallowing the sudden lump in her throat she shrank back from him reflexively.

  “Coffee’s ready,” he told her, his voice just as cold as his gaze. “Just hot water and instant, but it’s better than nothing.” He grabbed a second mug and poured water into it. “Your clothes are dry too.” He crossed the room and stopped before her, holding out the steaming mug. “Get this in you while I get the horse ready to go. I want to head back down the mountain as soon as we have light.”

  Taking the mug from him she looked into his eyes. They were full of cold fury. When he turned from her she had to think twice about trying to stop him. “JD?”

  He retrieved his coffee mug from the surface of the wood stove before turning back to her, one dark brow lifted in question.

  “Are you angry with me?”

  He stared at her for a few beats then snorted, shaking his head. “I’m downright furious with you, lady.”

  Confused, baffled, she could only stare at him through the steam rising from her coffee. How could he stand there and say he was furious with her after the way he’d touched her so recently? “But we… the way you made love to me…” She drew her knees up to her chest and shivered under the coldness of his stare.

  A corner of his mouth lifted insolently. “Don’t go reading too much into what happened between us. I woke up with an itch to scratch and there you were laying warm and naked next to me.” His eyes glinted maliciously. “And you were more than willing to accommodate me.”

  She deflated for a second, her shoulders slumping, stricken by his callous words. So he had just used her for the sex. Tears threatened, burning the backs of her eyes. She stiffened her spine and raised her chin proudly. She’d be damned if she’d give him the satisfaction of crying in front of him. “You sanctimon
ious prick,” She hissed between clenched teeth. She let her pride take over. “You think you’re so much better than everyone else. You think you have all the answers because you’re a fucking MacGreggor. Well you don’t!”

  He gave her a lazy grin. “You think you have a patent on using people, Lizzie? That it?”

  “I think you have things a little backward. I never used you, you bastard. Never.”

  “No?” He glared at her as he reached for his hat and crammed it down on his head. To hell with her. “You used me. And my son.”

  She tilted her head, waiting for the rest, knowing that look in his eyes. He was on the warpath now and would steamroll anyone in his way.

  “How much did my mother give you? Or should I be asking how much did it take for you to agree to leave town with my child? How much to never let me know I had a son?”

  So that’s what this was about. Money. It always come down to money with the MacGreggors. Finally they were getting down to the bare bones of it. “So, you and dear sweet mommy had a heart to heart, I see. Did she let you know just what a money grubbing tramp I was? Did she tell you how eager I was to leave town with my tail between my legs and my pride shattered? Or maybe she told you how devious I was, getting pregnant with a married man’s child and extorting money from his family.”

  He ground his teeth. “She filled in the gaps you left.”

  “I’ll just bet she did.” She slammed her coffee mug down on the little table by the couch. Hard. Hot coffee slopped out over her fingers but she didn’t care. “Two things, senator. Firstly, you never gave me another chance to expound on my version of what happened. Secondly, I never left with Sean because of the money. I left with him because his father was married to another woman and his evil grandmother had threatened to take him away from me!” She was shouting at him now but didn’t give a damn.

  “If it wasn’t about the money then why’d you take it?”

  “You’re fucking right I took her money! I had no job, no education, no health insurance and no prospects! My mother was a drunk and my step-father had to split because he’d tried to rape me! To top it off I was going to have a baby. A married man’s baby! Your baby. All the very reasons your mother was so desperate to keep me away from you. She let me know just how devastated she would be if I ‘interrupted’ your life and your marriage. And she let me know just what kind of vengeance she would take upon me. So I took her money. I had to. That money bought me an education so that I could provide a life for my son. A better life than I’d had. A life he deserved.”

  “Damnit, Lizzie, don’t you see? You should have come to me! To me!” he bellowed, thumping his chest with his thumb. “Not run to fucking Seattle with Brian Castellanos so he could sleep with you every night and raise my son as his own!”

  “We’ve covered that ground, senator. I did what I did because I was afraid of what would happen if I didn’t do as I was told.” She waved a hand at him. “It’s water under the bridge now.”

  Afraid he’d break his damn teeth off he forced himself to relax his jaw. “Well, you’re about to live your worst nightmare.”

  Huddled there under the covers she felt her heart begin to knock in her chest. There was a satisfied glimmer in those cold eyes of his now. “What do you mean?”

  “I’ve retained a lawyer, Lizzie.”

  “A lawyer? What for?” But she knew. Deep down in her soul she knew.

  “Don’t be coy. You suck at it. I want my son. It’s that simple.” He set down his empty mug. “I want him and you’re not going to keep him from me any longer.”

  “JD, you don’t need to do that,” she whispered, her fear so great drawing breath was a task. “I’ve told you—”

  “You’re a lying bitch,” he stated calmly.

  “JD, I want you and Sean to get to know each other. I want you to spend time with him. I do. But taking him from me isn’t the right thing to do.”

  “For whom? You?” He yanked on his winter coat. “I think you’ve had enough time with him. It’s my turn now.”

  “He’s my son, JD. He’s lived with me for all of his twelve years. If you just swoop in and take him from me you’ll only wind up hurting him. He’ll be frightened and confused.”

  “He’ll get over it.”

  He was angry. She got it. But to use Sean… “JD, you better think this through before you do something you can’t take back.”

  “I have thought it through. He’s my son and you stole him from me. I want him back. My lawyer seems to think I have a very good chance of getting sole custody. Based on the fact you took money from my family to hide him from me. As you stated earlier, that’s called extortion.”

  “Are you insane? You mother… Oh forget it. I told you—”

  “I know what you told me! I’m done listening. You’re no better than Katy, you know that? You lie, steal and manipulate just like she does in order to get what you want. Well, I hope that medical degree was worth it, lady, I really do.” He pulled on his gloves and shoved his feet into his boots.

  “You’re making a mistake, JD. A huge mistake.”

  He slammed the front door as he stomped out.

  The old shack shook when he slammed the door. Shuttered windows rattled. He didn’t care. Clicking on the flashlight he walked to the little barn. As the door squeaked open the mare snorted at him. She was curled up in the straw but got quickly to her feet. “Sorry to wake you so early, girl, but it’s almost time to head out.” He stroked her thick coat gently, trying to get a rein on his flaring temper. God, he didn’t think he’d ever been so angry with anyone in his entire life. And to have to stand there and listen to her damn excuses… Leaning toward the mare he rested his forehead on hers for a moment. Were they excuses? Were they? Or was he just not allowing himself to listen to her?

  “Fuck it,” he grumbled. The saddle sat up-ended in the corner of the stall with the blanket lying on top of it. He grabbed the saddle blanket and placed it on the mare’s back. He wanted desperately to shut his damn mind off, but it would not shut off.

  He’d gone and lost his damn mind in the early hours this morning and he’d made love to Lizzie. He’d allowed everything else to fade away. There had been no hard feelings, no anger. Only desire. “Lust,” he told himself now. “It was just lust. I mean who could have resisted that? She was warm and willing and I was horny as hell.” But that wasn’t all of it and he knew it. God damnit but that woman tangled him up. And that, he knew, was the real reason he was so furious this morning. He was angriest not with her, but himself. Because after all she’d done he still wanted her like he always had. He kept going back to her. He felt an ache in his chest now, a dull, hollow ache. And he knew what it was. He needed her.

  “Damned if I do,” he told himself, lifting the saddle from the straw. “Damned if I will.” What she had done was unforgivable. She’d taken his son from him and let another man raise the boy. With practiced ease he placed the saddle on the mare’s back and adjusted it near her withers and then just stood there in the semi-darkness staring at the wall. Had what he’d done really been any better? Christ, he’d slept with her how many times that summer without telling her he was married? He’d lied to her too. Big time. And she’d found out in the worst way possible. She’d found out from her would-be rapist.

  JD got moving again and with shaking hands secured the girth. How close she’d come to being raped by that pig Summers. If he hadn’t decided that night to come clean with her… And that had been the only reason he’d snuck off to see her that night. He’d been ready to confess to her his marriage to Darla. And he’d been ready to tell her he was leaving his wife. For her. He’d had it all planned out. He would divorce Darla and marry Lizzie. They would start a family… Little had he known that part of the plan had already been underway. “But you were a fucking coward, weren’t you? You strung her along all summer long and then Summers dropped the bomb on her.”

  Removing one of his gloves with his teeth he grabbed the bridle off a hook
by the stall door and placed the steel bit in his hand to warm it before putting it in the horse’s mouth. “It’s no damn wonder she ran off.” He closed his eyes, fresh pain flaring. She’d taken money from his mother instead of coming to him. Yes she had. But he’d also turned his back on her after that night with Grady, hadn’t he? Damn right he had. He’d tried once to reach her and she’d hung up on him. So after his mother had been given a clean bill of health he’d left. Gone back to Denver and his wife. He’d given Lizzie no reason whatsoever to trust him with her love, much less with the baby growing inside her.

  “Crap,” he moaned. “What’ve I done now?” He’d said things to her in there this morning he could never take back. Things he was sure she would never forgive him for. He’d been hard on her. Hell, he’d been downright vicious with her. Like he would a criminal on the witness stand. And her only crime had been loving him and the child she’d carried.

  He put the bridle over the mare’s head and slid the warmed bit into her mouth, wondering all the while if he begged her hard enough, would Lizzie ever be able to forgive him?

  Chapter 32

  Lizzie had just finished yanking the sweatshirt over her head when she heard the front door to the shack open. Expecting JD, she whirled around, pointing a finger at him. “And another thing, you son of a bitch…” The words died on her lips. “Matt?”

  He grinned at her, his eyes roving around the shack restlessly. “Hey, Lizzie. Ready for a rescue?”

  Despite her anger with JD, she managed a smile of her own. Why, oh why, she wondered, couldn’t she have fallen in love with Matt instead of JD all those years ago? Her life sure in the hell would have been simpler. But, she reminded herself, there would have been no Sean. And without Sean life would not be worth living. He was her reason for everything. “We were just getting ready to leave, I guess.” Crossing the small room, she took him in her arms and hugged him fiercely. “But a rescue is greatly appreciated.”