“So he didn’t go after her to somehow protect himself. He went after her for revenge.” Jacob shook his head. “That’s a nasty motive for an attack. I’d say whoever you’re looking for has a history of a short fuse, maybe some sort of persecution complex. You know the type, the whole world is against him and whatever troubles he has is always somebody else’s fault.”
“Not much of a profile to go on,” Benjamin said.
Jacob shrugged. “Not much information yet to go on. Tom called me last night to give me the latest on what’s been happening with the case.”
“Right now my main concern is keeping Walt and Edie safe. I’m hoping Tom can spare me so I can hang out at the house, but I’d feel better knowing you had my back.”
Jacob set his beer down and his eyes were as black as night. “I got your back,” he said simply. “Just let me know when you need me around and I’ll be there.”
“Are you ever going to tell me what brought you home?” Benjamin asked softly. Jacob broke eye contact and for a long moment said nothing. Benjamin leaned forward in his chair. “Whatever it is, Jacob, we can help you.”
His brother looked at him with a wry smile. “Nobody can help me.”
“Just tell me this. Are you hiding from somebody or are you hiding from yourself?”
Jacob’s eyes widened and then narrowed into slits. “Maybe a little bit of both.” He picked up his bottle of beer once again. “Just give me a call if you need me to keep an eye on the house.” He picked up the remote control and turned up the volume on the television in an obvious dismissal.
As Benjamin headed back to the ranch house he couldn’t help but worry about his brother. He felt as if they’d already lost Brittany and if something wasn’t done, somehow they were going to lose Jacob.
It wasn’t right for a man to wall himself off from everyone. It wasn’t right for a man to be alone with just his beer and his thoughts. Jacob needed something, but until he asked for it nobody could give it to him.
As he once again parked in front of the house and got out of the truck, his thoughts turned to the woman inside. For some reason he felt as if she and Jacob shared that common trait. He thought that Edie needed something from somebody but was afraid or refused to ask.
He only wished it was him that she needed, that she wanted. But he had resigned himself to the fact that the only thing he could do for her was to keep her safe. And when the danger passed, he would send her off to live her life without him.
Chapter 8
Edgy.
That was the only word to describe what Edie felt as she sat in the kitchen. It had been two days since the attack on her, two days of confinement with Benjamin. He hadn’t left the house or her side for the past forty-eight hours.
She’d been in bed, but had gotten up a few minutes ago and decided to make herself a cup of hot tea.
She sat at the table with the hot brew in front of her with only the oven light on. This was the first time she felt as if she could breathe, without his overwhelming presence by her side.
Familiarity was supposed to breed contempt, but in this case that old adage was wrong. The sexual tension between them had grown to mammoth proportions. She felt his hot, simmering gaze on her like a hand on her thigh, a palm on her breast, and with each moment that passed she wanted it, wanted him.
And in the past two days Margaret and Poppy had become best buddies, sharing the kitchen like two top chefs, playing card games and giggling like teenagers.
She felt a desperate need to get out of town, but each time she thought about leaving all she could think about was that man hunting her down and making her pay.
There was no question that being here in this house with Benjamin made her feel safe. He’d even insisted Margaret move into the bedroom across the hall from Walt’s for the time being rather than stay in her little cottage behind the house. He didn’t want anyone to somehow use her to get to Poppy and Edie.
She leaned forward in the chair and took a sip of her tea that warmed her all the way down to her toes. No matter how she tried to keep thoughts of Benjamin at bay, he continued to intrude into her brain.
As if summoned by her thoughts alone, he appeared in the doorway of the kitchen, Tiny at his feet. “I thought you were asleep,” she said.
He moved from the doorway to the table and sat next to her. Tiny curled up on the rug between them. “I was on the phone with Tom getting updates.”
“So what’s new?”
“Not enough to solve the case,” he said with frustration. “We know now that the arm definitely belonged to Jim Taylor, the old man I told you about who died of cancer. The other two body parts still haven’t been identified. We haven’t heard anything from the FBI lab on what chemicals might have been involved.”
“Then there’s really no news,” she said and lifted her cup for another sip of tea.
He forced a smile. “Nothing concrete but they’re all gathering information that hopefully will eventually crack the case.”
“You should be back in the office instead of hanging around here with me,” she said.
“Right now you and Walt are our best clues to what might be happening. If somebody comes after you here, I’ll be ready for them. I’m doing my job by making sure you and Walt are safe.”
“How come you don’t have any workers around here?” she asked curiously. She’d noticed that she never saw anyone in the yard or in the pastures or corral.
“I’m a small operation. I’ve been able to handle things myself for the past couple of years.”
“Tell me about your sister.” She’d been curious about the woman who had gone missing, a woman he barely mentioned. “What’s she like?”
For just a brief moment a smile curved his lips and his eyes warmed. “Beautiful, impulsive and headstrong. We all spoiled her terribly. But she’s also bright and tough and has a great sense of humor.”
His smile fell and his eyes darkened. He placed a hand on the table, his long fingers splayed on the top and stared down. “She was working as a deputy like the rest of us. Initially when she missed work none of us panicked. She’d occasionally oversleep or get screwed up with her schedule and forget to come in until we called her. It wasn’t until a full day went by with no word from her that we all started to get a little concerned.”
He leaned forward and his fingers curled into a tight fist. “By the time two days had gone by with no word from her, we knew she was in trouble. There had been no activity in her bank account, her cell phone wasn’t picking up and that’s when true panic set in.”
She was sorry she’d asked, saw the pain that radiated from his features and compressed his lips tightly together. Her heart ached with his pain but before she could find words to comfort him, he continued speaking.
“I can’t explain to you what it felt like when the realization struck that she had met with foul play. Suddenly every minute that passed was sheer torture. It was impossible to eat, impossible to sleep. I tried making deals with fate. You know, if she’d just show up safe and sound then I could be struck dead. If she would just be returned to us then fate could take this ranch from me and I’d happily live in a hovel for the rest of my life.” He released a short, strained laugh. “God, I’ve never told anyone this stuff.”
She reached across the table and covered his fisted hand with her own. “I’m sorry, Benjamin. I can’t imagine what it must be like to not know what happened to somebody you love.”
He uncurled his hand and instead entwined his fingers with hers. “Eventually the gut-ripping desperation passes and you find that you have to eat, you have to sleep, that life goes on no matter what.” He gazed at her with sad eyes. “My brothers all hold on to the hope that she’ll eventually be found alive, but not me. The day we found her car hidden in an old abandoned barn, my gut told me she’s dead.”
For a moment Edie didn’t know what to say to comfort him, but her need to take the pain from his eyes was visceral. She understood his grief,
awakened with her own each morning and went to bed with it each night. “I’m sorry, Benjamin. I’m so sorry that you’re going through this.”
He tightened his grip on her hand. “Thanks. It actually helped to talk about it. Now, why don’t you tell me what puts the sadness in your eyes?”
She forced a laugh and gently pulled her hand from his. “Life,” she said. “My life really started to crumble when my mother died.” Edie once again wrapped her hands around her teacup. “We were very best friends. My father walked out on us when I was just a baby and it was always just her and me.”
“She never thought about remarrying?” he asked.
“Not that I know of. I don’t think she ever dated. She had a circle of girlfriends and when she wasn’t with them, she seemed content alone. I met Greg in a bar two weeks after Mom’s death.”
She paused to take a sip of the tea that was now lukewarm. There was something intensely intimate about sitting at the table with everyone else in bed. In the semidarkness of the kitchen it seemed easier to let her guard down, to open herself up to him.
“I was grieving and vulnerable and ripe for the picking. He moved in and I became one of those too-stupid-to-live women I abhor. I made every mistake a woman can make. I believed whatever he told me about his money being tied up in some high dollar business. He fed me what I needed to hear but it was nothing but lies.” She shrugged and offered him a crooked smile. “It felt tragic at the time he left me, but now I realize he did me a big favor by getting out of my life. I’m like my mother. I’m good alone.”
Benjamin’s gaze lingered for a long moment on her face. “I wish I’d met you first,” he finally said softly. “I wish I’d been the man in your life before Greg ever entered it.”
There it was, that deep yearning to fall into his gaze, to feel his strong arms wrapped around her, his heartbeat against her own. It was a palpable want, melting something inside her she didn’t want melted.
“It wouldn’t have made a difference,” she said, surprised that her voice didn’t sound strong and sure, but rather breathy and faint.
He leaned back in his chair and released a sigh. “Tell me what gives you nightmares.”
She looked at him in surprise and gave an uneasy laugh. “What makes you think I have nightmares?”
“I don’t know, I’ve just had the impression that you do.”
“Staying up too late and drinking tea gives me nightmares about tea bags,” she said as she got up from the table. She carried her cup to the sink, aware of his gaze remaining on her.
She rinsed the cup and placed it in the dishwasher and hen turned to face him once again. “Don’t, Benjamin. Don’t pry to find out any secrets I might have, the kind of woman I am. Trust me when I tell you that you wouldn’t like what you uncovered.”
“I find that hard to believe,” he replied as she walked toward the kitchen door.
“Good night, Benjamin,” she said and then left the kitchen. As she went through the living room toward the hallway she fought against the sudden sear of hot tears at her eyes.
The charm around her neck seemed to burn her skin, a painful reminder of loss and grief. It had been her fault. She should have never gotten pregnant. She obviously wasn’t meant to be a mother.
Even though the doctor had told her that sometimes these things happened for no discernible reason, when the baby died Edie had known the truth, that somehow she was responsible, that it had been her fault that her baby had been born dead.
Benjamin deserved better. He deserved more than she’d ever be able to give him. She had no intention of having children. She had no intention of ever loving again.
She would admit it, she was a coward. She didn’t want to risk the chance of loss once again. Even with a man like Benjamin. Especially with a man like Benjamin.
As much as it pained her, she had to keep him out of her heart.
It had been another long day. After the discussion with Edie the night before, Benjamin had gone to bed with a heavy heart.
He felt that over the past several days he’d gotten to know her as well as he’d ever known any woman. She was kind and warm and giving. She had a wonderful sense of humor and was bright and so achingly beautiful. And yet, he sensed a darkness in her that he couldn’t pierce.
She’d been distant with him all day, as if punishing him for getting too close the night before. Tension had sparked in the air between them until he’d felt he might explode.
The tension had eased when after dinner the four of them had sat at the table and played poker. The laughter the games created was a welcome relief.
There was no doubt that there were sparks between Walt and Margaret. They had begun to act like a couple who had been married for fifty years, finishing each other’s sentences and exchanging warm gazes. He had a feeling when this was all over and done he might just lose his housekeeper, but he couldn’t feel bad about it. He was only glad that Walt and Margaret had found each other to share companionship in the golden years of their lives.
He now sat in his recliner, Tiny on his lap. Edie had gone into Walt’s bedroom to check the wrap around his ribs and Margaret had gone to bed.
A man needed companionship. Men weren’t wired to be alone and he believed Edie wasn’t wired to be alone, either. There was no question in his mind that she was attracted to him, that she had feelings for him. He knew it in her gaze, felt it in her touch, sensed it radiating from her as they warily circled one another.
But he didn’t know how to get beneath her defenses. He didn’t have the tools to know how to get to her heart. Tiny whined, as if sensing Benjamin’s growing despondency.
“Shhh.” He scrubbed the dog beneath his ear, which instantly halted the whine. Too bad a scratch behind Benjamin’s ear wouldn’t solve the depression he felt settling around his shoulders like an old, heavy shawl.
Maybe the problem was a lack of sleep, he told himself. He felt as if he needed to be on duty twenty-four hours a day and he’d only been catching catnaps throughout the long nights.
Most of the hours of the night he wandered from window to window, looking outside, wondering if danger lurked anywhere near.
For the moment the investigation was proceeding without him, although he’d kept in close contact with both Tom and Caleb. It was impossible to trace ATVs through motor vehicle records because they were for off-road use. But Sam McCain had come up with a list of people they all knew had the vehicles in town.
Jim Ramsey, another deputy, was checking gun records and collecting the names of everyone who owned a .38 caliber gun. They were still waiting on results from the FBI lab that would hopefully tell them more about what they were dealing with.
The explosion of gunshots and the shatter of glass lifted him from his chair. Edie’s scream ripped into his very heart as he raced down the hallway, Tiny barking wildly at his heels.
He ran into the bedroom where Walt had been staying to see the old man on the floor, his upper arm covered with blood and Edie on the floor at his side. The window was shattered into a hundred sparkling shards on the floor.
“Stay down,” he yelled. “Margaret, call 9-1-1.” He didn’t wait for her response but instead raced out the front door, determined to find the shooter.
Edie would do what she could for Walt until the ambulance came, but this might be Benjamin’s only chance to catch the person who seemed intent on destroying Edie and Walt.
Thank God he’d still had on his holster. He drew his gun as he left the house. The night was cold and dark and he ran around the side of the house where the shooter would have had a view of Walt’s bedroom window.
He tried not to think about Walt and the blood and prayed that the old man wouldn’t die before the ambulance could get here.
On this side of the house there were two structures in the distance, a shed and the barn, both perfect cover for a shooter aiming at the bedroom window.
Benjamin stayed low to the ground, grateful for the cloudy conditions as he r
aced toward the shed. But before he was halfway there, he heard the sound of an engine, the tinny whine of an ATV.
He flew around the side of the shed and nearly collided with another figure. “Halt!” he yelled, his finger itching to fire his gun.
“Benjamin, it’s me,” Jacob said. “I heard the gunshots. He had the ATV waiting. He’s gone.”
Benjamin cursed soundly. “Did you see who it was?”
“No, he was too far away when I spotted him, but he was a heavyset guy.”
“I’ve got to get back inside. He hit Walt.” Benjamin was grateful to hear the sound of a siren in the distance.
“I’m going to check around out here,” Jacob said as Benjamin nodded and hurried toward the house.
Dammit. Benjamin’s heart raced as he went back inside. He found Edie and Walt and Margaret in the hallway. Apparently the two women had managed to drag Walt out of the bedroom.
“He got me right in the shoulder,” Walt said as he saw Benjamin. The old man’s face was pale as Edie pressed a towel to the wound.
“He’s losing a lot of blood.” She looked up at Benjamin with wild eyes.
“The ambulance is on its way.” Benjamin felt helpless, filled with a rage barely contained as he crouched down next to Walt. “Hang in there, Walt. I still need to beat your ass at chess.”
Walt offered him a weak grin. “Don’t worry, I’m not planning on going anywhere.”
At that moment the ambulance arrived along with Tom and Caleb. Caleb followed the ambulance with Edie and Margaret in tow while Benjamin remained at the house to explain the events to Tom.
He’d just finished when Jacob came in the door. Tom raised an eyebrow at the sight of his reclusive brother. “First time I’ve seen you out of the cabin,” he said.
Jacob shrugged. “Heard the shots and knew Benjamin might be in trouble. The perp parked the ATV behind the barn. He must have walked closer to the house to fire the shots. When I was running up, I saw him heading for the ATV. But before I could get close enough to get a shot or see who it was, he was gone.”
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