Embattled Home

by J. M. Madden

  Lora shrank back in the seat, cringing. She didn’t want to belong to any man. Did he actually think she would go for that idea? Her gaze furious, she opened her mouth to respond, but he held up a hand.

  “I’m sorry, Lora. We’ll come up with another story. No big deal.”

  She looked at his clamped jaw and realized he was offended. Why the hell would he…her eyes fell to his left hand, hidden at his side. Ah. He had scars on that side of his neck, too, and she wondered for the first time how far down they reached. It had to have been incredibly painful, what he’d gone through.

  Chad had put himself out there to help her, help them both actually, and she’d cut him off at the knees. Shame fought with her instinct to protect herself at all cost. “I can’t…I don’t know that I would be able to fake being with you. Physically, I mean.”

  If anything, his jaw hardened even more. “No problem,” he snapped.

  She clenched her fists and gave a sharp cry, frustrated that she’d hurt him even more. “I can’t do physical. Me. I can’t do that.”

  Some of the tension went out of the fist clutching the steering wheel and he glanced at her. “Okay. I can understand that. We’ll come up with something else then.”

  Lora wanted to cry, and scream, and most of all she wanted to punch Derek Malone. The man had ruined her life and Mercy’s life, and she didn’t know if they would ever be the same. She missed being a woman, letting a man touch her without shrinking in fear. Dinner out, dessert in. Sharing every day with someone important. For a few precious months, she’d had that.

  Chad turned on the radio and concentrated on the road, letting her off the conversational hook. Mercy slept quietly in the back seat, worn out from all that had happened in the night and morning.

  Looking out the window, she tried to imagine the life she had before, but it was so shrouded in all the crap that came after. A tear slipped down her cheek and she was glad she had her head turned away.

  They arrived in Honeywell, Texas a little before noon that day. As Chad idled through town, he looked for changes. There was a new green awning on the restaurant. One of the gas stations had closed down, but there were two new ones on the other end. One of those pharmacies that landed on every corner of the big cities had popped up and he wondered how it had enough business to warrant its existence. Other than that, everything looked the same. The sun shone down harshly, glaring off the hood of the truck and into his eyes. As he drove out the other end of town, he started to accelerate.

  “Just a little bit more.”

  Mercy was chomping at the bit to be out of the truck. She’d done really well for the most part, but for the past two hours she’d been wide awake and ready to get out. On their last gas break he’d found her a coloring book and crayons. That had kept her occupied for about thirty minutes. I Spy had only lasted ten minutes with the boring landscape. Knock-knock jokes had lasted a few minutes before his repertoire was exhausted. When he started making them up, she knew, and gave him such a disgusted look. Finally he told her to count cows.

  When she complained that there were more cows than stars in the sky, Lora had grinned for the first time since they’d started out. Chad hoped that the mess he’d created hours before could be forgotten. How humiliating.

  But it only got better when he rolled onto the Blue Star Ranch. His mother came down the porch steps and embraced him the way she always did, then turned to Lora, huddled in her sweater. “Oh, honey, Chad told me you had issues with your ex, but I guarantee you he will treat you so much better.”

  “Mama,” he growled. “We’re not together like that. We came down to get away from a situation for a while.”

  But she wrapped Lora in her arms and completely ignored his words, treating her like a long-lost daughter.

  Dad gave him a look as he stepped forward, pulling him into a hug. “You know how she is, son. You should have known she’d react like this.”

  Chad shook his head. “I know, but damn. It’s good to see you, Dad.”

  His father looked trim and healthy, buff colored cowboy hat cocked at an angle to shield his face. Garrett Lowell wore a hat like he’d been born in one. Hell, maybe he had.

  Car doors slammed behind him and Chad turned to introduce the group. “Dad, this is Harper, Flynn, and Rachel. They’ll be staying with us for a while.”

  Dad’s face creased as he smiled and bright blue eyes, so like his own, twinkled with welcome. “Glad to have you here, all of you. Please, consider this your home for as long as you need.”

  Harper turned to survey the area, wraparound sunglasses completely concealing his eyes. Flynn walked to the corner of one of the outbuildings and stared out. Only Rachel stepped forward to shake Dad’s hand. Chad appreciated that at least one of them could be fairly normal.

  “Well, grab your bags and come on in.”

  “Dad, I think we’re going to stay on that piece you gave me. In the old foreman’s house. Sorry, I should have told you when I called last night, but I didn’t think of it.”

  His face fell and Chad hated to disappoint him, but his father rallied. “That’s perfectly fine. At least you’re here. We’ll still get time to visit.”

  Chad nodded, determined that they would. Once they got settled and onto a routine, they would talk.

  Mercy and Lora had disappeared into the house with his mother. He heard Mercy’s little giggle and turned for the kitchen. Of course that’s where they’d be.

  His mother had already poured glasses of milk and unwrapped a plate of cookies. Mercy chewed like she hadn’t eaten in forever, though they’d stopped for breakfast not long ago. She seemed fascinated by his mother.

  Francine Lowell was known far and wide for her cooking, and wasn’t ashamed of her enjoyment. Nicely rounded, she was the perfect stereotypical rancher’s wife. She could get up at five to feed twenty men, then ride the range looking for cattle, her perfectly done up gray-streaked brown hair never moving. Chad considered her one of the most competent women he knew and he loved her to pieces.

  Though she did tend to steamroll. Even now she was asking Lora about her history. Lora, wide-eyed and cornered against the counter, looked overwhelmed.

  “Mama, really? Let the poor woman chill out a bit before you interrogate her. She came here to relax, not be attacked by a nosy busybody.”

  Francine’s mouth dropped open and she swatted Chad with a towel. “You haven’t had anyone around to remind you of your manners, Chadwick. How dare you talk to your mama like that?”

  She grinned then, taking the sting from her scolding. “Oh, I’ve missed you, son. I’m so glad you came down.”

  He pressed a kiss to his mother’s hair. “Me too, Mama. Just be nice to Lora, okay? Try to rein in your natural steam-roller personality.”

  “I will, dear.” She turned to Lora. “I’m sorry if I overwhelmed you. That wasn’t my intention. You’re welcome in my home no matter what. If Chad says you need to relax, this is a good place to do it. There’s not a thing you need to do here.”

  She turned to the refrigerator and started to pull platters from the shelves. “Chad, I thought you all might like some lunch. Go get your friends and bring them in.”

  Chad didn’t know whether to be humiliated by his mother’s antics or laugh his ass off at the interaction between her and the guards. Rachel was easy. She seemed to fit into any situation. As soon as she entered the kitchen she started to help with the meal. Harper moved to the bay window in the dining room and stayed there, a hulking, intimidating figure watching the landscape. Flynn gave the most curious reaction. Considering the attitude he’d shown Chad for the past eight hours, he’d expected the same when confronted with his mother. But he dipped his head and started ‘yes, ma’am’-ing everything. Okay, seriously? The Atlanta boy had manners? So not right.

  Mama parked Lora in a chair in the corner and clucked over her, making sure she was comfortable and had a glass of iced tea at hand. Then continued to fill the table with what he realized wer
e all of his favorites. Fried chicken, homemade noodles, cinnamon apples, green beans. He grinned as Dad sat at the head of the table, his normal seat.

  It was one of the strangest meals he’d ever participated in. Mama wanted to put everyone at ease, but to people like them who didn’t talk nearly as much as she did, it merely made things awkward. Mercy chatted with her best, going on and on about the cattle she’d seen.

  They made it through lunch quickly. When he told her they wouldn’t actually be staying in the house, her crestfallen expression made him feel bad. The relief on Lora’s face, though, was unmistakable. A bit faster than was polite, he hustled them all out of the house to the vehicles. Flynn hoisted bags of leftovers into Harper’s Hummer and waved goodbye to her. Chad pressed a kiss to his mother’s forehead, promising to be back the next day to talk for a while. Shaking Dad’s hand, he hopped into the truck and took off down the driveway.

  “Are we leaving, Chad?”

  He looked into the rearview mirror at Mercy’s disappointed face. “No, darlin’, we’re just going to a different part of the ranch. We’ll still be able to see the main house, but it will be a little more private for us.”

  She frowned, looking out the window.

  Chad turned down the lane near the front gate, a little overgrown now that it wasn’t used as much. They drove for the better part of a mile, the incline steadily climbing until they reached a rocky slope. A long, low ranch house was nestled into the mountain, the stone front partially camouflaging it. A good-sized barn, big enough for a few horses if they wanted, sat back in the pine woods off to the right, as well as a good-sized paddock for grazing.

  The foreman that used to live here had had several kids. There was a wood-framed swing set in the dry front yard, surrounded by mulch. Mercy leaned up to get a closer look as he parked the truck.

  “Mommy, can I go swing?”

  Lora glanced at him to see what he thought and he nodded to her. “I think she’ll be fine up here. We can see people coming from miles away, literally. The back of the mountain is pretty much impassible. Let her run.”

  “Okay, Mercy. But just stay on the swing set, okay?”

  Her little blond head bobbed. “I will Mommy, promise.”

  Chad let himself into the house. It didn’t look like anyone had been here since he last had, more than a year ago. Dust coated the surfaces of the furniture. Heading to the back of the house, he flipped the master switch on the power box and turned the water valve to ‘open’. The hot water heater started to hum.

  Moving from room to room, he made sure no critters had gotten in. Lora explored as well, removing dust covers here and there. There were three bedrooms. Lora and Mercy could share one, and the four guards could share the other two. They would be working alternate shifts, so it would work out.

  When he left the bedroom, Harper had just ducked through the front door. Chad motioned to the bedroom behind him and told him the schedule. The big man nodded and moved to drop his bag inside the bedroom door, then moved through the rest of the house, obviously memorizing the layout.

  “I’m going to hike out back,” Harper told him.

  Chad nodded, understanding that he would be a while. The former SEAL sniper preferred the outdoors and it suited him. He would only come indoors when he absolutely had to. Harper’s first priority on any new op was to find the most advantageous, defensible position.

  Flynn sat in a chair on the front porch. “Just what exactly are we supposed to do out here?” he grumbled.

  “Protect Lora and her daughter at all costs until we find a way to get the ex off her tail.”

  Flynn scowled at him. “I know that. I mean out here.” He motioned to the broad expanse of open land surrounding them.

  To Chad, the open land around the house presented all kinds of opportunities. “Sorry, Frogman. I’ll find work for you to do, if that’s what you’re worried about. You won’t be bored. Sorry there’s no water around.”

  Flynn snorted, pulling his cell phone from his pocket. “I’ll be damned. At least there’s service.”

  Chad left him scrolling through the screens of his phone.

  Their biggest priority was to give Duncan time to dig into Derek’s business to look for dirt. He needed to talk to Lora and see if she had any further insights. Any information they could gather would be better than what they had now, which was very little.

  Chad found Lora hanging clothes in the closet of her bedroom, next to a few of Mercy’s little things. She was staring off into space, holding a hanger when he stepped into the room, so he made a little extra noise so that she wouldn’t be startled. She looked up with a faint smile tugging the corners of her lips and Chad ground to a halt. The old yellow light above her head softened the bruises on her face and he could see the attractiveness she tried to hide with her bulky sweaters and crossed arms. That one small smile gave him an insight into her personality he didn’t think she would want him to know.

  That she played her looks down deliberately.

  It didn’t hit him until just that moment, but he had never seen her dress to be seen. Everything item of clothing she wore tended to be tan, pale green or cream. No glaring colors or fabrics. Nothing to draw the eye. She wanted to fly under the radar of attention and she made choices to do that.

  She looked up when he stepped into the room, her green eyes soft. Within a split second, they had chilled to a frosty green.

  He hated to see that look settle into her eyes. For the first time in a long time, he wished a woman would look at him and smile, just because he belonged to her. Chad swallowed, his throat working, as the realization took root in his gut.

  No, he didn’t want ‘a woman’ to look at him that way; he wanted Lora to look at him that way.

  She tilted her head at him, fine brows raised in question. “Are you okay?”

  Blinking, he gave a sharp nod. “Just…thinking about something. Sorry.”

  She shrugged. “I was hanging clothes. And wondering how long we’ll be here.”

  Chad sighed and moved in a bit closer. “I’m not sure. Flynn just asked the same thing and I guess it depends upon how quickly Duncan can investigate your ex. People with money have things to hide. We just have to find his dirty secrets. I came in to ask if there’s anything else you could think of that would help us do that. I need to call Duncan to check in.”

  Lora blinked and shifted around him to stand at the window. Outside, pine trees swayed in the breeze. The wind gusted a little, sending dust skittering across the yard. She seemed fascinated, eyes darting back and forth. “I don’t know what would help. He’s an egomaniac. I think you’ve realized that. Thinks he’s better than everyone else. Believes he’s God’s gift to womankind, whether they want him or not. Derek Malone grew up privileged. And he had no problem taking what was denied him.”

  Anger built in his gut. It was obvious to him that Lora had fought against Derek for a long time.

  “Do you know if he was involved with anyone else?”

  She shook her head. “I was the only one he married; I know that. I’m sure he had affairs, though. There was a long stretch during my pregnancy, most of it actually, when he wouldn’t touch me. I’m sure he had something on the side. Maybe a couple of somethings.”

  Chad smiled at the tone of her voice. “I don’t think you cared, though, did you?”

  She graced him with a small smile. “No, I didn’t. Derek Malone lost his appeal within a few weeks of marrying him.”

  That one sentence reassured Chad as nothing else had. If she had lingering feelings for the scum, it would be difficult to pursue charges against him.

  “And tell me about the business. Were you involved with it at all? What was his regular schedule like? Did he go to work every day nine to five?”

  She snorted. “Never. He had an office at the company but he only went in sporadically. Rosalind wanted him to take a larger, more active part in the company at first, but I think even she has begun to realize what a fuck-u
p he is. As far as I know, he still goes into work but he doesn’t get the same projects he used to.”

  Chad laughed out loud at her words. She’d cussed. He raised his brows at her in surprise and she turned a little pink. Then she managed to laugh a little as well.

  The change in her face was truly something to behold. The plain clothes and the bruises on her face faded away, and the beauty beneath peeked out, dazing him for a long moment.

  “Rosalind is the driving force behind all of this. As crazy as it seems I think she may actually care about Mercy. I know Derek has a vague need to be with his daughter, but he doesn’t realize the kind of engagement and support a child needs. He’s too much of a child himself.”

  Chad knew men like that. Several of them, in fact.

  “I’ll pass this info on to Duncan and see if there’s anything he can use.”

  She nodded, turning back to the window.

  Chad hated to interrupt her again, because she seemed content just looking out the window. “I’m going to run down to the house for an hour or so and talk to my parents. I’ll be back as soon as I can. I, uh,” he cleared his throat as she turned to look at him again. “Do you mind if I bring a pony back for Mercy? We have an old guy by the name of Taco that lives for little kids. I thought it might be fun for her.”

  Lora blinked, obviously startled. “I think she would absolutely love that. Thank you so much.”

  Chad nodded once and headed toward the kitchen, glad that she’d gone along with the fun surprise. Flynn sat at the kitchen table, dismantling his sidearm. There were pieces scattered everywhere and music played softly from his phone, but he looked up when Chad entered the room.

  “I’m going to run down to the house and talk to my dad. Do you need anything?”

  The SEAL shook his head. “Nah. I’m good here. Rachel’s on the girl. I think Harper went walkabout.”

  “He did. I suggest you do the same when you’re exterior.”