by Lori Ryan
Gina pursed her lips and shook her head. “Never heard of him. And, I usually know most people that come to town. Everyone passes under this coffee pot at one time or another. If anyone’d know him, it’d be me.”
She was working too hard at the denial. Paul thought about asking about Laura, but a slight shake of Mark’s head warned him not to. Mark was right. If they let the waitress think they were leaving right away, she might not raise any alarms. If they pressed by asking about Laura, she might just run right on out and tell Josh and Laura they were searching for them. The last thing they wanted to do was push Laura further underground at this point.
“Well, it was worth a shot,” Mark said and pulled two tens out of his wallet and tossed them on the table. “We’ve got to get moving anyway. We’re due in Austin this evening.”
“Well now, you boys have a good visit in Austin,” she said, all smiles again as they headed for the door.
Mark and Paul walked out of the diner and crossed the road to where they’d parked their car.
“I don’t think I’ve ever seen anyone downshift so fast in my life,” Mark said.
“Yup. She knows exactly who the doctor is and probably knows who Laura is, too. We can lay low for a few days, see if we can find out anything. Maybe check into a hotel and see if we can get anything out of the staff?”
Mark didn’t seem to be paying any attention to Paul. He was staring at a large truck idling in front of Jansen’s Feed and Grain. There were sheets of glass strapped onto special racks, and the side of the truck read Barrett’s Commercial Greenhouses in big lettering.
“Thinking of buying yourself a greenhouse?” Paul asked, the sarcastic edge in his tone plain.
Mark cocked his head as they watched a man from Jansen’s talk to the driver of the truck, gesturing down the road as if giving directions.
“Didn’t Alec say Laura had a huge greenhouse in her backyard? That she spent a lot of her time in it?” Mark asked.
Paul shrugged. “Yeah, but could it really be this easy?”
“Got nothing better to do than follow a greenhouse. We don’t have any other leads, and we have to get something before Alec Hall decides we’re not worth paying anymore.”
Paul dropped the keys to the rental car into Mark’s hand. “Lead the way.”
Chapter Twenty-Nine
Laura stayed back far enough behind the curtain of the living room window that she wouldn’t be in plain sight as the car pulled up the drive. The truck carrying the greenhouse Cade had ordered arrived moments before, and there were two men setting it up at Cade’s direction in one of the fields. After telling Cade she didn’t want a relationship with him, watching him take delivery of the greenhouse and oversee its setup made Laura feel like a complete jerk.
But, she reminded herself, she hadn’t told him to order the greenhouse. In fact, he hadn’t even asked her. He’d just gone ahead doing what he thought was best for her at the time. And hadn’t she had enough of that from the men in her life?
Laura watched the car until she recognized the jet-black hair of the woman she’d met the day before. Ashley something-or-other. The one with all the adopted siblings and no apparent desire to screen anything that came out of her mouth. Laura surprised herself with a genuine smile. She was happy to see the woman who didn’t seem to feel the need to walk on tiptoes around Laura.
She walked through the kitchen and stepped out onto the front porch just as Ashley opened her car door.
“Christmas come a little early this year?” Ashley asked, tilting her head to the monstrosity being assembled in the field.
Laura rolled her eyes. “You could say that, I guess.”
Ashley reached back into her car and pulled out two to-go cups of coffee and passed one to Laura when she walked down the steps of the house to greet Ashley.
“Yours is decaf.”
“Thanks,” Laura said and took the coffee from Ashley, giving her a quizzical look.
Ashley rolled her eyes. “I know. You’re wondering what I’m doing here. My sister said I needed to come out and make sure we didn’t do too much damage yesterday. She’s picturing you shaken and shell-shocked from the encounter with the women of Evers,” she said, exaggerating the emphasis on the women of Evers as if naming a mythical creature or feared monster.
“But she didn’t feel the need to come check on me herself? Maybe she thought you’d handle things with more tact and grace than she could?” Laura asked, getting a laugh from Ashley. It felt really good to chat with another woman as if she were a friend. Laura hadn’t had this kind of friendship in so long, she’d forgotten how powerful it could be.
“Yes, that’s exactly it. That and the fact that she had to work all day.”
“I was just headed to the barn to check on the kittens. Do you want to come? They’re adorable,” Laura said with a grin that said she knew kittens might not be up Ashley’s alley.
“Oh yeah. How can I pass up kittens?” Ashley’s tone said “no,” but she started walking with Laura toward the barn.
“So, any fallout from your day making pies with the women?” Ashley asked as they walked.
Laura clamped down on her lips and didn’t answer. How do you answer that when the fallout had been, well…pretty big.
“Oh, no. That good, huh? What happened?” Ashley asked.
Laura lifted a shoulder. “I just realized I wasn’t really ready to jump into anything right now. Any relationship, I mean—”
Ashley stopped walking and looked at her but didn’t say anything. Laura tried to ignore the look and continue walking, but it was clear her new friend wasn’t going to move on. What was it with the people in this town? It was as if they just expected you to share everything with them right off the bat. And, for some insane reason, Laura seemed powerless to resist them.
“I just realized he was trying to save me, you know? It’s what he does. He saves and rescues, but I don’t want to be rescued. I want to be with him because he wants to be with me, not because he thinks I need him,” she said, and they began walking again.
They reached the barn where Laura pushed open one of the double doors. Red hung back in the shadows, watching Ashley warily.
“It’s all right, girl. She’s rude and obnoxious, but she won’t hurt you,” Laura said to Red, smiling at Ashley as she said that.
“That’s not true at all. I fry dogs and eat them with biscuits and gravy for breakfast,” Ashley said, addressing Red but smiling too. Red’s tail wagged a little.
“Gross!” Laura laughed at Ashley’s breakfast joke and walked to the tack room to look over the half door at Hope and her kittens.
“Oh look. Snacks!” Ashley said, looking over the door.
“You’re terrible.”
“I know.” Ashley looked completely unrepentant. “So, are you sticking around for a while, or are you going to run again?”
Laura turned to look at her new friend, and she felt certain Ashley also knew about running.
“Yeah, yeah,” Ashley said, reading her thoughts. “I’ve been a runner, too. When I got to Evers, my mom—who was my sixth foster mom at the time—told me she thought it might be a good idea to just sit tight for a bit and see what happened. She said it so simply, like that was all there was to it. If I just sat tight, things would be fine. I thought she was bat-guts crazy at the time, but she was right. She and my dad were the first people to love me just for me, to take care of me because they wanted to, not because they had to. It turned out, Evers is a pretty good place to be.”
Laura unlatched the door to the tack room and refilled Hope’s food bowl. The kittens’ eyes weren’t open yet, and their ears were still tucked tightly against their heads, but they knew she was there. They mewed and turned tiny heads toward her. Laura rubbed their soft heads with one finger at a time, taking turns from kitten to kitten as their protective mom, newly named “Hope,” looked on with great suspicion in her gaze.
“Shane is helping me get ready for a court batt
le with the Kensingtons, so there’s no reason to keep running.” Laura stood and left the room, latching the door behind her. Red fell into step behind the women as they left the barn and walked back toward the house. “And Cade is, well, he’s building great big greenhouses for me.”
“Do you want to know what I think? Wait, of course you do. I’m brilliant and I know what I’m talking about. Of course you want to hear what I have to say.”
Laura smiled at Ashley. “Of course I do. You’re brilliant and you know what you’re talking about.”
“If you’re staying, just wait awhile on Cade. He may really want to be with you, not just save you. And, if that’s the case, he’ll still want that in a month or two when you’re a little more sure about what you’re doing, and you’re feeling less like a woman everyone wants to save and more like a woman who’s in charge of her own destiny, for once.”
“Destiny, huh?” Laura asked. They stopped and watched the progress of the greenhouse as the panels of glass were placed along one wall.
“I might not be sensitive and lovey dovey and all that good stuff, but I’m spiritual. People find Evers just when they need it. And Cade’s not going anywhere. Besides,” Ashley said, looking out where Cade stood, “I have a feeling that man’s worth waiting for. Tell me, did his kisses make you want to drag him off to the nearest bed, or did you just faint right smack where you stood?”
Laura gaped, but that didn’t seem to faze Ashley one bit.
“Oh please, don’t tell me you weren’t tempted to tear the shirt off his back a time or two. That boy can melt panties with a single glance,” Ashley said.
Cade turned and looked at Ashley and Laura as if he’d heard every word, even though he was twenty yards away. Laura felt the heat rush to her cheeks and Ashley only laughed harder at that.
When the laughter stopped though, Laura had one more question for her unlikely friend. “How do you know that this time wouldn’t be like before? Did you know your parents were different when you stopped running?”
Ashley held her gaze with those impossibly blue eyes. “Did I know they wouldn’t hit me this time? That no one would show up in my bedroom? No. I didn’t. But sometimes you just have to take that chance. Sometimes, you just can’t let the past rule you. Sometimes, you just have to let it go.”
*
Mark cut back through the field and out to the road where Paul was waiting for him. They’d followed the greenhouse delivery truck to a ranch twenty minutes outside of town, and then driven past it a ways before Mark got out and cut across fields and through sparse trees to see if he could spot Laura or the doctor.
Mark placed the high-powered binoculars he was carrying on the floor of the car as he climbed in the passenger seat.
“We got her.” He described the two women he’d seen walking from the house to the barn. “She cut her hair and it’s darker now, but it’s definitely her.”
Paul headed down the road a bit while Mark called Alec and reported in. The hunt for Laura Kensington was over.
Chapter Thirty
Alec watched Justin out of the corner of his eye. They were on a private jet Justin had chartered as soon as the private detectives had called to report they’d found Laura. It had been crap luck that Justin was with Alec when the PIs called and he’d picked up on the fact that they’d tracked down Laura. Well, no, not crap luck. Justin had been haunting Alec almost day and night on his new quest to find Laura and liberate her, to tell her she was free to raise the baby without any interference from his mother.
Alec had tried to convince Justin that Alec should go get her alone, but Justin couldn’t be dissuaded.
Justin sipped bourbon on the rocks as the jet carried them to some small Texas town with a landing strip in the Hill Country. Mark and Paul were staked out watching the ranch to be sure Laura didn’t slip away before Justin and Alec arrived. Alec knew he’d need to find a way to convince Justin to let him talk to Laura alone first. Then, he needed to find a way to keep her quiet for good without anyone being the wiser about his true motives. He didn’t have a clue how he’d do either of those things, but he’d come up with a way. He hadn’t gotten where he was in life without being damned resourceful.
The attendant stepped into the cabin. “Gentlemen, we’ll be landing shortly. Can I get you anything else before we arrive?” she asked, her smile polite and solicitous.
“No, thank you,” Alec said. When she left the cabin, he turned to Justin. “It’s an hours’ drive from the private airport to Evers. I’ve got a car waiting for us.”
Justin only nodded as he drained the rest of his drink and then sat back and closed his eyes. He was just as quiet on the drive to Evers, but as soon as they met up with the private investigators, it was clear Justin intended to take over the show. He grilled the investigators about what they’d seen, who Laura was with, where she was. The group stood down the road from the ranch that sheltered Laura, and Justin was ready to drive right up her driveway and try to talk to her. Alec had only minutes to try to see Laura alone so he could get what he needed and take care of her.
“Listen, Justin, I think it might be better for you to let me go in first. If she sees you, she might just think you’re here to take your mother’s side in this, or worse yet, that you might hit her like Patrick did.” Alec knew he’d hit a weak spot with that suggestion. Justin visibly winced at the mention of Patrick hitting Laura, so Alec took advantage and pushed on. “We don’t want to frighten her into running again. If I go in alone, maybe I can let her know you’re here to help, that you know what happened with Patrick, and you want to make sure your mom can’t hurt her. She’s less likely to be frightened by me.”
Justin looked from Alec to the ranch and back again. “All right. I’ll hang back and let you go in first.”
“Good. Mark, Paul, you guys drive us up to the bottom of the driveway and then wait there. I’ll walk up and see her then wave to you guys when she’s ready to see you, Justin. If she does run, be prepared to trail her.” He leveled a look at Mark that he hoped he would interpret correctly since Alec couldn’t be as blunt as he’d like to be with Justin listening in. “Don’t lose her.”
*
Cade slowed Cayenne’s Pride to a walk. He rode the fence line along the western edge of their property helping José check for spots that might need repair. It was something he did from time to time to help their friend and just to get out on his horse more often. Cayenne’s rehab was going so well Cade was having a hard time holding him back, making sure he didn’t hurt himself in his eagerness to run again. But this week he’d started letting the horse run, and it felt great to be out on the powerful creature’s back as he worked.
The landscape on the ranch never ceased to calm him, and after Laura’s decision to end what had barely begun between them, he needed something to settle him. But this wasn’t settling him in the least today. In fact, the further away from the barn and house he rode, the tenser he became. Something wasn’t sitting right for him today and the urge to turn back toward Laura, to stay close to her, seemed ever-present.
Cade’s phone rang—the ringtone indicated Shane was calling him. He dropped the reins over the horn of his saddle and let Cayenne amble at a slower pace.
“Hey, Shane, what’s up?”
“Are you with Laura?” Shane asked without saying hello.
The hair on Cade’s neck stood up and he turned Cayenne back toward the barn. “No. I’m riding the fence line. She’s at the barn.”
“It’s probably nothing, but I just saw Tina and Gina. Two men were asking about Doc in the diner yesterday. They said they were old friends of his who wanted to visit, but the girls pretended not to know who he was. The guys said they were leaving town, on their way to Austin, so they could already be gone, but I just thought you should stick closer to her for a few days to be safe.”
Cade grunted a response and disconnected the call before urging Cayenne into a gallop. He prayed he wasn’t pushing the horse too hard, too f
ast, but he needed to get back to Laura. He shouldn’t have ignored the feelings of unease he’d had since yesterday. Even if Laura didn’t want to be with him, he had to be close enough to watch her and make sure no one came onto the property without him knowing about it. He should have done what he’d promised and taken care of her, watched over her. If he’d just screwed up and put Laura at risk he’d never forgive himself. He lowered himself over Cayenne’s neck and urged the horse toward home.
Chapter Thirty-One
Laura filled the water bowl for Hope and placed it on the floor next to the cat’s bed. She held her hand still for a minute below Hope’s chin, and waited to see if Hope might let her get in a little scratch. The cat lowered her nose and sniffed for a second and Laura used the edge of her hand to rub at the side of Hope’s face. The cat held still for the petting but appeared torn about the interaction.
Laura remembered Cade telling her he always backed off if he wasn’t sure an animal wanted to engage with him. She dropped her hand and whispered goodbye, then stood and slipped from the room.
Red stood outside the tack room door and whimpered.
“All right, just for a bit,” Laura said and opened the door to let Red into the room with the kittens. Red had started checking on the kittens several times a day, despite Hope’s yowling objections. It was pretty adorable how the fearful dog seemed to have taken on the job of protecting the kittens as though she somehow thought they were hers. Laura watched over the half door as Red lay quietly near the litter. She couldn’t help but wonder how Red would be with her baby when it arrived. She had a feeling she would be gentle and protective, and as dedicated to a human baby as she appeared to be to the kittens.
As Laura watched, Red suddenly rose to her feet, tension radiating through every muscle of her tough little body. She spun toward Laura, hair prickled along her spine, a low growl coming from deep within her throat.