An owl hooted, disturbing the silence. She stopped at the driver’s side of her car and turned toward Wyatt. He was closer than she’d realized. Only inches separated them. His male scent vied with the earthy aromas lacing the air. In the light from the porch, she could barely make out the slight uplift to his lips, the intensity in his eyes. Or was that imagined? She just knew that she couldn’t move. Didn’t want to.
He brushed her hair behind her ear, then cradled her face between his large hands. The touch seared his palms into her cheeks as if he’d branded her. “Thanks for helping Mom cook this evening. That was a sweet thing to do.” His mouth tilted up another notch. “I’m not much of a cook either. I enjoyed the pot roast.”
“I seem to remember you telling me you’re a meat and potatoes kind of guy.” She wasn’t even sure how she could string a coherent sentence together. Her heart hammered an increasingly fast tempo against her ribcage. Her skin felt on fire from the slow caress of his thumbs on her face.
“Yeah, I liked it very much.” He bent his head nearer.
“I’m—glad.”
Their breaths tangled. Everything else fell away, leaving only him and her. Her mind ceased trying to put her thoughts together. All she could concentrate on was the feel of his fingers on her, the warmth of his breath flowing over her lips— tingling in anticipation. She slid her eyelids close and hoped he ended her torture soon.
When his mouth settled over hers, she melted against him. His arms clasped her to him. His chest rose and fell in a deep breath as though he was finally content to be where he was. All Kate knew was she didn’t want the kiss to end.
But all too soon it did. He pulled back, his embrace loosening about her. Then he stepped away, ending their connection.
“I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have done that.”
His words hurt. “Why did you?”
“Because I’ve been wanting to all day.” He opened her car door. “I’ll be in touch. Drive safely.”
She climbed into her Mustang. His declaration still rumbled around in her mind, leaving her frustrated and confused.
Wyatt backed away from her vehicle but stood at the bottom of his stairs waiting for her to leave. She fumbled inside her purse until she found her car key then tried to put it in her ignition. It didn’t go in. She lifted it and in the light from the porch saw it was the key to her apartment.
“Okay, Kate. It was just a kiss. Pull yourself together.”
This time she used the right one and started her Mustang. She had a long way to go and she needed her mind focused on driving—not the kiss that rocked her clear down to her toes.
A minute later she turned onto the road in front of Wyatt’s ranch and headed toward home. She had wanted the kiss to continue; he had ended it abruptly with regrets. No matter how much she tried not to think about what happened, she couldn’t banish it from her thoughts.
Until two miles away from Wyatt’s ranch. A car came flying up behind her with its bright lights on. The glare blinded her. She slowed to allow the vehicle to pass her. It decreased its speed, too.
Then it surged forward. Its bumper connected with her back one, jolting Kate. Panic flooded her.
10
Kate floored the gas pedal, gripped the wheel with one hand and reached for her purse on the seat next to her. Her fingers clamped around her phone, and she pulled it out.
Another bump against her car raced her heartbeat as fast as the Mustang was going. The brightness of the headlights behind her allowed her to see the keypad enough to punch in 9-1-1.
When the 9-1-1 operator came on, Kate rattled off, “Someone is trying to run me off Front Road about four miles outside of Bluebonnet Creek.”
The vehicle thumped her again, jarring the cell from her grasp. On the straightaway, she swerved her Mustang from side to side, trying to shake the car off her bumper.
When her gaze skimmed over a sign along the road, for a few precious seconds the implication of its warning didn’t register, then the fact that a dangerous curve was up ahead slammed into her. Little droplets of sweat coated her forehead and hands gripping the steering wheel. She had no choice. She slowed her speed, hoping it was enough to make the S curve. She took the first part of it, her car veering off into the other lane but still on the highway.
Please don’t let anyone be coming.
Perspiration rolled into her eyes and stung them. She blinked and kept her gaze glued on the pavement in front of her. As she went into the second part of the curve, the vehicle smashed into her with more force than before, clipping the back part of her right side. The impact sent her flying across the road toward the other side and a drop-off. Her damp palms slipped on the wheel. She managed to grip the plastic tighter as she went over the edge. Her Mustang bounced down the small incline and across a flat piece of land.
The thudding of her heart, as though it banged against her skull, drowned out all other noise. Looming before her was a fence. Before she could do anything, she plowed right through it. The sound of her Mustang pulverizing the wooden structure competed with the thundering beat in her head.
The glow from her headlights illuminated the field before her. With a pond only yards away. She wrenched the wheel to the right.
Too late.
Her Mustang came to a stop with its front end submerged in water and tilted at a left angle. Everything went pitch dark.
Leaning over, she fumbled for her bag and cell. She clasped the leather strap and pulled her purse toward her then continued the search for her phone. She couldn’t find it. When she felt the first cool rush of water over her feet, she gave up looking for it and hoped she didn’t need it, that help was on its way.
As the liquid quickly covered her shoes and moved up her legs, she pushed at her door. She couldn’t open it. Panic clawed its way up her chest into her throat—quickly, like the water rising. She couldn’t let it take over.
Lord, help.
She tried the driver side door again. Nothing. It didn’t even budge an inch. The water was up to right below her knees. She unbuckled her seatbelt and crawled upward toward the passenger’s seat. She pushed hard on the handle. It gave way, swinging outward as more water tumbled into the interior.
After looping her handbag on her shoulder, she pushed past the rushing water filling the Mustang and away from the quickly sinking vehicle. She swam a few feet until she felt the muddy bottom. Dragging herself from the pond, she collapsed against the soft cushion of the grass and wanted to surrender to the exhaustion that was replacing the surge of adrenaline.
But a hundred yards away lights announced she wasn’t alone. She rolled over and saw a large man silhouetted in the glow of a car’s headlights. The one who ran her off the road? Or help?
His mother and Jack’s voices coming from the kitchen drifted to Wyatt. He stuffed his hands into his jeans’ pockets and stared out the front window at the dark landscape. His mom’s laugh sounded, light, full of joy. And sad. Most of his life she had been looking for love and had never found it for long. At least he’d had it for a short time before his wife was snatched from him. He knew what it was like to be totally in love.
A picture of Kate invaded his thinking. Her full lips taunting him to kiss her. Her scent drove all other thoughts away. Holding her deluged him with sensations he wanted to deny. How could any woman replace Rebecca in his life?
He pulled the blinds, shutting the black night out. He shouldn’t have kissed Kate. That was a mistake. He had thought by kissing her, his curiosity would be sated, and he could totally focus on the case when he was with her. Now he couldn’t get the kiss out of his mind.
As he turned away from the window, his phone rang. He hastened across the room to answer it. “Sheridan here.”
“This is Deputy Olson. We got a call from a woman between you and town who said someone was trying to run her off Front Road.”
Wyatt stiffened. Kate?
“I’m fifteen minutes away, on the other side of Bluebonnet Creek. Is it
possible—”
“I’m on my way.” Wyatt slammed down the receiver and headed for the door.
As he jogged toward his truck, his mom and Jack came out onto the porch.
“Where are you going?” his mom shouted.
“Someone’s in trouble on the highway.” He jumped into the cab and switched on his truck.
Please, Lord, let me get to her in time.
The large man on the road started down the incline.
Friend or foe?
Not sure what to do, Kate scrambled to her knees, the effort sapping what strength she had left after the terror of the chase. She could stay where she was and hope he came to help or— she scanned the area. Where could she hide? Did he see her?
In the distance, the blare of a siren sliced through the night.
Halfway down the slope, the man above her spun around and hurried back up to the road. He disappeared from view— a few seconds later the sound of his vehicle cranking up and the crunch of tires as they spun on the shoulder of the highway blended with the siren.
Foe.
Kate closed her eyes, her wet clothes weighing her down, and sank back to the edge of the pond. She couldn’t stay here. She needed to get to the road so the police would see her.
She struggled to her feet, the darkness spinning around her for a moment. She planted one foot in front of her, then the other. Slowly she made her way through the pasture and through the busted fence, stumbling over a slat of wood in her path. When she went down on her hands and knees, a piece of the fence pierced her palm. Pain radiated up her arm.
After clambering to her feet again, she cradled her injured hand against her and continued scaling the incline. A few hundred yards away bright lights glowed, coming toward her from the right. Had the man returned in spite of the police coming? Which way had he gone? Right or left?
Right. She was sure of it.
She searched the side of the road for a place to hide.
A dark car sped past Wyatt. He couldn’t tell the make or see a license number. The urge to swing around and give chase overwhelmed him until he shoved it down. First and foremost, he had to find Kate or whoever was being pursued. As much as his cop instinct was screaming the person in that vehicle was involved, he couldn’t follow through.
Wyatt fumbled for his cell, called 9-1-1, and reported the little information he had on the vehicle speeding away then returned his full attention to finding the person in trouble. Driving along the highway, he searched both sides of the road.
He tried Kate’s cell number a couple of times. Nothing. His gut solidified into a rock.
He headed into the S curve, slowing as he rounded the first part of it, half expecting to come upon her crashed car. When he hit the second part of the dangerous curve, his lights illuminated tire tracks heading off the side of the highway into the darkness. He stomped on the brake, his tires screeching, and pulled off the road. He got out of his truck with his high-powered flashlight and walked to the top of the incline. Shining his light down into the pasture, he saw the downed fence and the pond forty feet from it. A couple of yards out in the water, the back end of a car stuck up. The rock in his gut plummeted.
He started to charge down the slope when he heard a voice to the side of him say, “Wyatt.”
He whirled around and spied Kate coming toward him, wet, muddy, and alive. In three strides, he gathered her to him. “You okay?”
“No, someone ran me off the road,” she murmured against his chest then shuddered, “intentionally.”
He comforted her for a moment, then pulled back to check if she was physically all right. That was when he saw the wound on her palm and clasped her hand. “What happened? Anything else wrong? I need to get you to a hospital to be checked out.”
Over the din of the siren nearing the scene, she said, “It’s nothing. I had a run-in with a piece of that fence. Otherwise, I’m fine. Wet, angry, scared, but fine.”
“That’s Deputy Olson. He called me to help. After I talk with him, I still think you should be checked out.”
“No.”
“Then I’ll take you back to my house—”
“No, I need to get to Beacon of Hope.”
He opened his mouth to protest.
She laid two fingers over his lips. “If anything is wrong, the nurse there can help me. The girls are my responsibility, and I’ve got to make sure they’re all right. As I said, someone deliberately ran me off the road. Why?”
“Are you sure she’s going to be okay?” Wyatt paced in Kate’s living room while Susan tended to her.
“Yes. I got the piece of wood out of her palm. I promise I’ll make her see a doctor if something shows up later.” Susan finished winding white gauze around Kate’s hand and taped it.
“You two, I am sitting right here, and I can assure you I’m fine. A few bumps and bruises. That’s all.”
Wyatt stopped and pivoted. “That’s all? You could have been killed.”
Images of the wreck paraded across her mind. She shut the door on them. It was wasted energy to relive it. “But I wasn’t. I’m fine, and that’s all that is important. That, and who was the person who tried to run me off the road? And why?”
“Yes, we need to talk about that.” He looked pointedly at Susan.
“That’s my cue to leave.”
“Susan, are the girls all right?”
“You saw for yourself. Nothing new has happened. We’re locked up tight.”
“Thanks.” Kate gave her friend a smile then collapsed against the back cushion of the couch as Susan let herself out of the apartment.
“I’m staying tonight.” Wyatt towered over Kate, determination on his face.
“We’re fine. I have our private security patrol we use coming by more frequently to check on us and there’s a night attendant on duty.”
“But—”
“Wyatt, it’s important you find out where Rose is. You can’t do that guarding me. I won’t take unnecessary risks. But I can’t go into hiding either.” Kate sighed. “I have underestimated the people involved in child prostitution. I can’t have them coming to get their girls back. The first thing I’m going to do when I get new funding is to get an even better security system with cameras on the parking lot in back and on the entrances. ”
Wyatt folded his long length into the chair across from her. “Which makes me wonder why did someone go to such lengths to take Rose back? What did Rose know that had someone concerned?”
“I don’t know. She never said anything to me. I kept hoping she would. I thought she’d blocked a lot of what happened and couldn’t remember.”
“Maybe but what about that girl she was talking to at the park? Cal thought Rose knew her and then the call from Lily. It’s clear she remembered parts of her past at least. So you don’t know anything about where she lived before she got caught up in the prostitution ring?”
“Noth—” Something nibbled at the edges of her mind. A conversation she and Rose had a month ago.
“Do you remember something?”
She closed her eyes and tried to visualize them talking in the rec room. About one of the field trips? No matter how hard she tried she couldn’t grasp the thread dangling in front of her—just out of reach. Frustration knotted her stomach. She rubbed her fingertips over her face.
Still nothing.
She shook her head. “Maybe it’ll come to me when I’m not trying so hard.”
“It’s not like you haven’t been through an ordeal. Everything leads back to Rose. I need to find out about her. I’ll put a man on it. Maybe we’ll get lucky and discover something.”
“The courts and police couldn’t locate any information when Rose was found. That’s why she ended up here.” Exhaustion battered her. She rested her head back against the cushion and stared at the ceiling. “Too many people depend on Beacon of Hope. I’ve got to find out what’s going on.”
“No, you don’t.”
“Yes, I do.” She leaned forward. T
heir gazes clashed over the expanse of a few feet.
“I’ll look into it. Not you. Look what almost happened to you tonight. You could have been killed.”
“I think you pointed that out to me already. I get it. Even if I don’t do another thing, I don’t know if my girls or I are safe until we figure out what’s really going on and catch the guy responsible for all of this.”
“It’s my job.” His tightly controlled voice didn’t mask his anger.
“It’s my job,” she thumped her chest, “to protect these girls.”
His glare burned into her.
She rose and strode toward the front door. “Let’s agree to disagree. Now before I fall asleep sitting on that couch, I’d better go to bed. Thanks for helping me tonight.”
His eyes still locked on her, he covered the few yards to her and stopped. “I think you should get some sleep. I’m sure when you’re rested you will think more reasonably.”
Her mouth fell open. “I’m not unreasonable.”
He raised an eyebrow.
“If you don’t want me to go off on my own, then you’d better keep me in the loop. I know this world you’re investigating. I can help.”
His mouth twisted into a scowl, and he mumbled something under his breath about stubborn women.
She opened her door. “Good night. We’ll talk tomorrow.”
After he left, she sank back against the wood and nearly slid to the floor in her weariness. So much of what he’d said was right, and yet she couldn’t walk away from the situation and not try to do something to find Rose, to keep the rest of the girls safe.
As she trudged toward her bedroom, she decided to turn the problem over to the Lord. He would direct her with what He wanted her to do.
Standing in the middle of a pasture with sunlight showcasing the beauty surrounding her, Kate drew in the aroma of wildflowers, grass—horses. Lots of them. All racing toward her.
Saving Hope: Men of the Texas Rangers Book 1 Page 14