Trusting Drew: Burlap and Barbed Wire

by Shirley Penick

  Meg said, “There’s plenty of food cooked or you’re welcome to have anything in the house, nothing is off-limits. You and Drew brought lots back from what was in the rental cabin. Clearly he’d planned to keep you there for a while.”

  Lily shivered at the thought. That would have been a nightmare, sitting with a man that had put on a great act and then turned on a dime to a guy that was really quite conceited and a jerk. She’d been so surprised when they’d gotten in the door of the cabin and he’d tied her to the bed and then had taken everything else away from her.

  He’d clearly not cared if she was uncomfortable in her dress clothes and not given her the option to change, not even for bed. Which actually had been a bit of relief, since all she’d brought for the weekend trip was a sexy negligee. She’d not have wanted to run out of the cabin and through the woods in that.

  What still mystified her was the complete change in his behavior, it was like two completely different people inhabiting the same body. She had to chalk it up to some really great acting. Clearly, he’d been expecting a huge payoff. Instead he’d paid for his deception with his life.

  Lily still had trouble wrapping her head around it. Especially the dead part. But also, the plot to keep her out of the pageant. Ronald had never once indicated she should bow out of the pageant, in fact he had encouraged her. Why? She might have listened to him and stopped if he’d tried to talk her out of it. She had been attempting to mold her life to his, which hadn’t been easy.

  Had he needed to keep her in the pageant to receive the payment for stopping her from it? In other words, if she’d stopped too early would Ronald have lost the payoff from his ‘bosses’. She needed to stop thinking about this so much, it only made her head hurt and cause more questions, and even some pain. Lily did not like the idea that she had been so totally hoodwinked, how could she be that gullible? Caught between the two lives of Ronald the rat.

  She sighed and finally filled her plate and carried the tea she’d brewed during all her introspection over to the table. “Is it okay if I sit with you?”

  Meg smiled and waved to a chair. “Of course, dear. Do join us.”

  Lily’s dad cleared his throat and looked at Travis. “Let’s go out and look at your herd, the beef we had for dinner last night was delicious. I’d like to take a look at what you’re doing.”

  Lily knew her father was earnest in his request, he was always interested in how people ran their ranches, but she also had to question if he wanted to talk to Travis alone. Grandpa K followed them out of the door and into the bright sunshine.

  Elaine looked carefully at her daughter. “How are you feeling today?”

  “Stupid, actually.”

  Both ladies looked surprised by her answer. But it was the truth. “I just can’t figure out how I was so completely fooled by Ronald. Am I that gullible or stupid?”

  Elaine put her hand on her daughter’s arm. “Neither honey, he fooled all of us. We didn’t really think he fit you, personality wise, but none of us would have ever guessed what he was up to. The only thing you might be is a little too trusting. But then again, so were we.”

  Meg sighed. “It’s hard to be suspicious. Cade was in an abusive relationship for years. None of us liked the woman and we didn’t like seeing the changes Cade went through, to try to make her happy, but we never guessed she was as malicious as we discovered she’d been. Not only to Cade but to any woman he looked at. She was very clever about hiding what she was doing. Some of the girls guessed it was her but there was never any evidence.”

  Lily was shocked at this revelation. Cade was such a great guy, it was hard to picture him kowtowing to some woman. He and Summer were great together. “How’d you find out?”

  “When he didn’t grovel and try to get her back after breaking up with him, she finally flipped out and everyone saw it. Her mother had her in therapy in another town. After Cade and Summer got engaged, she tried to run Summer down in the street, so the psychologist had her put into a treatment facility. It was either that or go to jail.”

  “Wow, that’s crazy.”

  “Yes, she was, probably still is. But maybe she’ll get the help she needs and move to Boston, or France, or Singapore.” Meg grinned up at them.

  Elaine said, “One could only hope.”

  Lily laughed and the atmosphere in the room lifted. She didn’t feel nearly as ridiculous as she had been, which she supposed was the point of Meg’s tale. But she had to wonder if she’d missed some essentials in her education, like how not to believe everything she was told. Maybe learn to be more cynical.

  She finished off her breakfast and put her plate in the dishwasher. “I’m going to walk around a bit, to make sure these are truly comfortable shoes, rather than comfortable in the store and killer in real life.”

  Both women chuckled at that. Meg said, “How many pairs of shoes does that description fit? Too many to count, all lined up neatly in the closet.”

  “Exactly, and I would rather know that now, than find out halfway through a tour. Although Summer plans to bring multiple shoes with us. Which I never would have thought to do.”

  Everyone agreed that they wouldn’t have either, and Summer was a godsend. Lily realized that Meg meant that on many different levels. Lily pulled on her jacket and went out into the bright sunshine. The air was frigid, not at all what the sunshine indicated, but they were in the mountains of Colorado, so the cold bright day was a normal occurrence.

  She wandered around the yard and down to a small vegetable garden that was clearly finished producing for the year. Beyond that was the corrals and fields. She walked around to the front of the house and was surprised to see an older heifer laying in the sunny parking area.

  She walked over to the cow. “You must be Dolly.” The animal just looked at her as if to say, ‘Duh, who else would you expect in the yard?’

  Summer crouched down to give the old gal a scratch between the ears. Dolly seemed to like that.

  Drew walked up. “I see you’ve met Dolly.”

  “Not formally, but I guessed it was her.”

  He grinned. “Well let me do the introductions then. Lily Smith please let me introduce you to Dolly Kipling. Dolly, this is Lily, our guest and soon to be pageant winner.”

  “Don’t count your chickens before they’re hatched, Drew. I might come in last place.”

  “Not a chance. You’re a sure thing in my book.”

  “Well, thank you kind sir, but your book doesn’t count in the larger scheme of things.”

  Drew looked into her eyes. “My book, is the only one I care about.”

  Lily was shocked at the intensity in his eyes. What was he trying to say? She didn’t know what to say or do. She wanted to do something, but she didn’t know what and that freaked her out. She looked back at Dolly. “I’ll bring you a souvenir from New York.”

  Dolly almost seemed to roll her eyes at her as if to say, ‘Clueless human, stop being a chicken.’

  Drew chuckled and pulled her up with him. She was close, if she leaned forward just a tiny fraction he’d be within kissing distance. Lily looked into his eyes and saw speculation and desire. She decided to take Dolly’s advice and leaned toward him, into his space.

  He didn’t back off and the look in his eyes became more intense. She lifted up on her toes and pulled him in closer. He moved willingly and lowered his head, so she set her lips on his, in a soft, almost non-kiss. Then she pulled back and saw the storm raging in his eyes, so she went back on her toes for a firmer kiss, and he became an active participant.

  Drew took over the kiss and pulled her in closer, wrapping his arms around her waist. The kiss went from tentative to hot in mere seconds. When she opened her lips, his tongue swooped in and she tasted him, as he delved into the soft secret spots of her mouth.

  She could have stayed like this, locked in his embrace, his mouth devouring hers, for hours. Apparently, Dolly felt like her mission was accomplished, because she lowed, and stood to wande
r off. The movement shattered their concentration, and they broke apart, panting, trying to catch their breath.

  She touched a hand to her lips, that felt hot and swollen. “Wow.”

  Drew ran his hands through his hair as he stepped back another step. “I couldn’t agree more. But maybe this isn’t the best place.”

  Lily looked around the yard and concurred with that statement. Anyone could drive in or walk around the side of the house. She looked up at him. “As long as we examine it later, I agree.”

  A slow smile slid over Drew’s face. “I could get on board with that.”

  “Good.”

  “So, what are you doing out wandering around?”

  She pointed at her feet. “Making sure they are comfortable enough to spend a whole day of sightseeing in.”

  Drew’s demeanor changed with the mention of the pageant. “Good. I wanted to talk to you about a few ideas and ask some questions. Do you want to walk and talk?”

  She nodded and fell in beside him.

  Drew chastised himself for kissing the hell out of Lily in the front yard, not only could anyone have seen them, but he had a job to do, which did not include kissing the girl. He’d seen her from the window and had followed her out, with the intention of talking to her about some precautions he’d been pondering. And, there actually were some questions he wanted to ask.

  Then before he knew what was happening she was in his arms and her sweet mouth was on his. Every brain cell had deserted him and all he could think about was devouring that delicious mouth, and the way her warm curves felt against his body. If Dolly hadn’t moved, he might have spent the rest of the day in the front yard with his lips glued to Lily’s.

  His first priority, however, was keeping her safe and that meant he had to keep his head in the game. So, no more kissing, not until he deemed her safe. Then if they still felt the same, they could indulge in examining this… whatever it was. Attraction? Relationship?

  He shook himself internally, he had questions and that was more important than dwelling on what was, or wasn’t, happening between them. “I’m trying to figure out a motive for why these ‘bosses’ are trying to keep you out of the contest. It certainly doesn’t make sense for them to keep all fifty women out of a contest in order for their favorite to win. So why you? Maybe not only you, but let’s look at you specifically. If you didn’t show up on Tuesday or Wednesday, would they just leave your spot empty?”

  “I have a backup. If she could get there in time, she would take my place.”

  “All right, that could be a motive. If she wanted to be included, she could have hired someone to get you out.”

  Lily shook her head. “She’s really sweet. I can’t see her doing that.”

  “Maybe not, but we’ll put that in the motive possibility pile. If you win what happens next?”

  As she spoke she ticked off each statement on her fingers. “My charity wins the prize amount. I win a scholarship to use in promoting my business or cause. There are also lots of minor prizes, for the winner, and also all the contestants. The winner would go on to the international pageant. My sponsors get their names in Pageantry magazine, and wherever my picture ends up, if I’m the winner. That’s all I can think of right now.”

  “That’s good. So, a charity wanting you to win could be a motive, or maybe someone that hates your charity, and doesn’t want them to win.” She sucked in a breath, probably to argue, but he just rolled over the top of her. “Someone that wants the scholarship might have the motivation to go the extra mile to keep you out. And your sponsors getting their name plastered everywhere might also be a reason.”

  He put his hands in his back pockets. “The problem with most of those is, they would have to eliminate all the girls to know if they were going to win. Just taking you out wouldn’t accomplish any of those other things. Except maybe knocking out your non-profit.”

  “But there might be more than one of us with the same charity. I didn’t pick a very specific one.”

  “I can look into that. But if it’s not that then what would someone gain by keeping you away?”

  “Which brings it back to my runner-up. But I still can’t believe she would do something like this.”

  “All right let’s go just a little bigger, say four or five girls. Is there anything in common between you and a few of the girls? Like is there a regional prize of some type? You’re in Montana. Is there a Rocky Mountain region?”

  “Well yes there was, at the lower levels of the competition, but that was more setup as a practice pageant to get us ready for the big one.”

  Drew nodded, “And, of course the state one.”

  “Right.”

  Tell me about your sponsors. Did anyone in particular sink a big sum into you, so they would be featured more than others?”

  Lily shook her head. “No, but…”

  She trailed off and he looked over to see a frown on her forehead and a faraway look in her eyes. He decided to let her think it through before saying anything else.

  “One of the girls mentioned that four of us had direct competitors as our sponsors. Do you think one sponsor would arrange for the other three girls to lose, so they were the only one left?”

  “It’s possible, all that advertising would be amazing. But it’s still a long shot. Wouldn’t all the girls have to drop out for the advertising to be that useful?”

  Lily stopped walking, again deep in thought. “I wonder. If I left the pageant, I know my runner-up doesn’t have the same companies backing her. So, my sponsors would be knocked out of the free, nationwide advertising. If the other two or three alternatives don’t have the same sponsors either, then by eliminating three contestants the one sponsor would be the only one seen. Even without winning, the sponsors get a lot of promo during the televised event.”

  “Okay, that leaves us with three decent motives. Let the idea rest for now, sometimes the subconscious is better at this kind of speculation. If you think of anything else, let me know.”

  “I will. You said earlier that you have some strategies you wanted to talk about, what did you have in mind?”

  “Well, we could approach this in a couple of different ways. One way is to declare loud and clear that you hired me to be your bodyguard, because of Ronald, basically the truth. Which leaves it open for anyone else that got hoodwinked or threatened to tell you about it. In some ways, I like that idea.”

  Lily nodded. “But it kind of makes me look like an idiot, and also could alert whoever is behind this that you are gunning for them.”

  “Exactly. The second scenario is you threw Ronald over, when you met me, and I insisted to come as your bodyguard and boyfriend. Which would keep the bad guys from knowing we were onto them and also give us cover to be together more. I could play the jealous boyfriend card if anyone got too close.”

  Lily raised one eyebrow. “That one doesn’t make me look stupid and gullible, but it makes me look a little like a ‘ho’.”

  Oh, shit, had he insulted her with that suggestion? He hadn’t meant it to sound like she was flighty, let alone a slut. His expression must have shown his concern, because she laughed out loud.

  “I was just teasing. I definitely like that idea better. That way if something is up that I need to know about you can take my hand or whisper in my ear and everyone will think we’re in love.” She stopped speaking and blushed, then stammered, “Not that you need to… um… well…”

  This time it was his turn to laugh. “I would be more than happy to act smitten. In fact, it would be a whole lot easier than trying to maintain a professional ‘hired gun’ attitude.”

  Lily relaxed, and a shy smile covered her face. “All right let’s do that.”

  Chapter 16

  Lily and Drew arrived in New York safely, and checked into the hotel. Chase, Cade, Rachel and Summer had travelled with them. Chase and Cade were not in matching clothing and Chase was going to stay out of sight, while the rest checked into the hotel, and he would foll
ow them up as soon as they were in the room, and the bell-hop was gone. He’d put on some glasses, a bulky coat, and tourist hat pulled low, so he would not be recognized.

  Rachel, Adam, Beau and Alyssa had come in on an earlier flight and had texted that they were checked into their hotel also, which was conveniently located across the street. The two hotels had a walkway between the them on the second floor. They’d been thrilled to hear that was the case, because it made it more likely for all of them to be in both hotels, since each hotel had different restaurants, it would be a natural reason to move back and forth.

  Lily checked in with the pageant people and they got their official passes, including the ones for Rachel, Summer, and Cade. When Lily had mentioned that she’d made friends with Summer and would be bringing her along the pageant officials had been more than welcoming. It seemed they’d been great fans of ‘Bringing up Heather’ and thought the publicity of having her on board would be amazing.

  Summer had sighed at the thought of being in the public eye but had not complained or changed her mind about helping. It was what they’d talked about, using her fame to get close to the contestants. Now she would have the chance to get close to whomever she might want.

  Drew was thrilled with the idea of her maybe chatting up some of the officials or sponsors or whoever found themselves in her orbit. Since she wasn’t a competitor people might be more relaxed around her.

  Since they’d not been in town long enough to have learned anything, they did not have a group meeting. Instead they all decided to stay in their rooms and lay low. Drew was unpacking his suitcase, when there was a knock on the connecting door to Lily’s room. He unlocked it and opened it to her.

  She walked in and sat on his bed, then she got up and walked over to his window to look out of it. Finally, she turned toward him and asked, “Can we leave the doors unlocked? Or even open?”

  Drew thought Lily was looking a little nervous or uncertain. “Unlocked absolutely. I was going to finish unpacking and then unlock mine. However, since the doors are right next to the bathrooms we might want to close one for privacy.”