Lisa slowed Roger down as much as she could, telling him that she wasn’t sure where the turnoff was and that passing it and having to turn around would waste time. Less than a half mile from the house there was no need for her to slow him down. The road did that for her.
It had been plowed days ago, but with all the snow melting and running across it, the unpaved dirt road was as muddy as a bog and full of deep ruts left by the ranch vehicles. Roger had to drive at a creep. If he didn’t, the car slid on the slick mud. If he fell into the ruts, the BMW, much closer to the ground than the four-wheel-drive rigs that used this road, would bottom out.
But her heart was racing and her mouth was dry. A hundred yards ahead the road dipped, and there they would find the turnoff that led to the cemetery. What then? What then?
She had no idea.
“You knew this road was impassable. You told me to come this way on purpose.”
“I haven’t been out of the house in days. How would I know what shape the road is in? All I did was keep you from running into the rest of the ranch hands.”
“And I have to ask myself why you did that. For someone who had to be coerced into coming with me, you’re being awfully helpful.”
Coerced? It was all she could do not to scream at him. She hadn’t been coerced. Her life and that of her baby had been threatened. “I just want to get back to Denver and get this wedding over with.”
“You’re going to do it?” When he looked at her, the car swerved toward the two-foot pile of snow alongside the road, left there by the plow and not yet melted.
“Look out!” she cried.
Roger jerked the steering wheel and the car went into a skid and fishtailed on the slick mud. He slammed on the brakes, but by then the car was going sideways, so the antilock brakes didn’t help. The rear end of the car slid and took out a ten-foot strip from the snow piled alongside the road before the back tires sank into the thick mud and the car refused to budge.
Roger swore viciously. Sweat beaded his brow as he gunned the engine. The tires spun. The car only rocked slightly forward and back, forward and back, while the tires turned uselessly in the mud.
“You stupid bitch,” he snarled. “This all your fault.”
“What?” Inside she was trembling, but she clenched her fists in her lap and played it cool. “I was minding my own business, cleaning house. This little trip was your idea.”
“Your advice to come this way may end up costing you more than you can afford, darling.”
She didn’t mistake his meaning. He had long since gone over the edge. He would kill her if he had to. She couldn’t just sit there and wait for him to do it. But her chances were next to zero even if she got out of the car. There was no way she could outrun him, let alone a bullet.
Dear God, what was she going to do? Jack! Help me, Jack!
Roger looked back down the road they had traveled and started swearing again.
Lisa followed his gaze and nearly cried in relief. It was Jack! As if she had conjured him up, there he was, driving his mud-spattered rig so fast it seemed to barely touch the surface of the road.
She reached for the door handle to get out.
Roger grabbed her. She knew, without looking, but she turned her head slowly and looked anyway—straight into the barrel of that nasty little pistol. He held it low, so it couldn’t be seen unless someone was right at the window looking in, but it was nonetheless deadly in its aim at her abdomen.
“Here’s how it’s going to be, Lisa.” His breath was coming fast. Sweat glistened across his face. Panic danced a jitterbug in his eyes. “You’re going to convince him that you’re coming with me by choice. I don’t care how you do it, just make him pull us out of this mud so we can get out of here. If you do a good job, I promise I’ll divorce you within the next five years and you can keep the kid. If you screw this up…”
“If I screw this up, what?” she hissed. “Are you going to kill me in front of a witness?”
“No. I’m going to kill him.”
A deep shudder ripped through her as ice formed in the pit of her stomach. She swallowed and glanced down the road again. Jack was slowing to a stop only yards away.
“It’s going to be hard to convince him if he sees that gun,” she warned shakily.
“He won’t see it, but I’ll have my hand on it every second until we’re out of here. And don’t mistake its small size. It kills just as well as a bigger gun.”
He dragged her across the leather seat and out the driver’s-side door with him. They sank almost ankle-deep in mud. Roger kept a hold on her arm and stood slightly behind her. His right hand was in his pants pocket. On the gun.
Jack climbed out of his rig.
Never had anything looked so good to Lisa as Jack did just then. God, how she loved him! She wanted to shout at him to get back in, to leave, fast, so he wouldn’t get hurt. But the tightening of Roger’s fingers around her upper arm silenced her.
Only now did she realize how cold it was. Roger hadn’t even let her get her coat, and suddenly she was shivering.
“Looks like you folks have a little problem here,” Jack said lazily as he approached. “Is everybody all right?”
“We’re fine,” Roger told him. “I’m sorry we couldn’t wait and explain things to you, but we’re in a bit of a hurry to get back to Denver.”
Jack’s gaze shifted to Lisa. She was so pale, her eyes dark with fear. It was all Jack could do to keep from yanking Hampton up by his collar and beating him bloody. But the way the man held on to Lisa with one hand and kept the other in his pocket had Jack worried. He could have a gun or knife in that pocket—Lord knows, Jack had his own .38 tucked into the back of his belt. But Lisa was much too close to chance any sudden moves.
“I got your note,” he said, trying to tell her with his eyes that he understood she hadn’t left on her own. “And your message. Not that I mind leftover shrimp, but this was kinda sudden, wasn’t it?”
“Jack—”
“Yes, well,” Roger said. “Do you think you could help us out of this mud? We really do need to be on our way.”
Jack scratched his chin and studied the back end of the car. “You got yourself stuck in there pretty good, didn’t you? Not to worry. We’ll have more help here any minute. Meanwhile, Lisa’s getting cold.” He took a step toward her and held out his hand. “Come get in my rig where it’s warm.”
“She’s fine,” Roger said quickly. “Aren’t you, darling?”
“She’s shivering. Where’s your coat, Lisa?”
“I…I’m afraid we left in such a hurry that I didn’t bring it.”
“I noticed your purse was still there, too. Come on. I’ll take you back to the house to get them.”
“She’s not going anywhere.”
Jack’s jaw hardened. “Not with you, she’s not. Let her go, Hampton.”
“Jack, no, he’s—”
“Shut up.” Roger jerked on her arm.
Lisa stumbled into Roger, then righted herself. “It’s no use, Roger. It isn’t going to work.”
Roger very much feared she was right. This lazytalking cowboy wasn’t going to help them out of the ditch. Roger could tell by the look in the man’s eyes that he wasn’t buying any of their story.
But Roger was too desperate to simply give up. “She’s right,” Jack said. “It’s not going to work. You’re not taking her anywhere, Hampton. You might as well let her go.”
“She wants to go with me. Don’t you, Lisa? Tell him.” He squeezed her arm so hard she winced. “Tell him how badly you want to go home with me.”
“I won’t—”
“Remember our agreement, dear.”
“I’ve heard enough,” Jack said. He stepped forward and broke Roger’s hold on Lisa’s arm.
Livid and panicked, Roger pulled the gun from his pocket, but Jack was so close, almost on top of him, that Roger couldn’t bring the gun up to fire. He swung with his right fist and took Jack by surprise.
Jack staggered back, swearing at himself for underestimating his opponent. Then he saw the gun and his blood chilled.
Lisa saw it, too. Saw Roger raise it and aim at Jack’s chest. She screamed. “No!” She swung both her arms upward and knocked his aim skyward just as the gun went off.
With a snarl, Roger backhanded her. The blow stunned her and knocked her off balance. She fell into the dirty mound of snow at the side of the road.
Before Roger could take aim at Jack again, Jack roared in rage and dived, catching him around the waist and taking them both to the ground. To hell with the gun in his belt, Jack thought through a red haze. He wanted to pummel the bastard with his bare hands.
Roger rolled and came up on his knees. Once again he swung hard with his right fist.
Jack dodged, taking only a glancing blow to the shoulder. While the man’s guard was down, Jack threw a solid punch to his gut and followed with a quick series to the head and face. Just as he took him by the collar and reared back to hit him again, someone caught his fist in midair.
“He’s done for,” Trey said.
Jack blinked to clear the fury and sweat from his eyes and saw that Trey was right. Hampton’s eyes rolled back and he went limp. Jack let go of his collar and let the bastard fall facedown in the mud.
“Here.” He pulled the gun from the back of his belt and handed it to Trey. “Keep an eye on him.”
Stoney was helping Lisa to her feet.
Jack was at her side in an instant. “Lisa, honey, are you all right? Are you hurt?”
“Jack.” With a glad cry, she threw herself into his arms and peppered his face with kisses. “Oh, Jack, I prayed you’d come. I was so scared. He had a gun and he threatened to hurt the baby and I didn’t know what else to do but hope Stoney realized I was trying to tell him something was wrong. I couldn’t put anything in the note because Roger dictated it. Oh, God, he said he’d kill you.”
“It’s all right now. I’m fine.” At least he would be just as soon as his heart left his throat. And as soon as his hands quit shaking. And just as soon as he got a good solid taste of her, which he did right then. He tasted cold and fear, but also, incredibly, along with the sweet honeyed taste that was Lisa, he tasted…joy. “And you’re fine.” He stopped and kissed her again, just to reassure himself. “You are fine, aren’t you?”
She nodded. “I’m cold and wet from the snow, but—”
“Here.” Jack stripped off his sheepskin jacket and placed it around her shoulders. “Let’s get you to the house so you can get out of those wet clothes.”
He carried her to his rig and started the engine to warm up the interior. By then County Sheriff Dane Powell had pulled up. While Jack rolled down his window and spoke with him, Lisa huddled gratefully beneath Jack’s coat and relished the warm air blasting from the heater.
The sheriff had been only a few miles away when Stoney’s call had come in, she learned. Jack told the sheriff what had happened.
“Ms. Hampton.” Sheriff Powell tugged on the brim of his hat. “I’ll need to take your statement. The sooner we do it, the fresher everything will be in your mind.”
Before Lisa could answer, Jack spoke. “I’m going to take her to the hospital to get checked over.”
“Oh, Jack,” Lisa protested. “That’s not necessary.”
“He hit you,” Jack said, practically growling.
“Yes, he hit me, and I’ll have a bruise on my cheek. That’s not worth a trip to the hospital.”
“You fell.”
“I landed in deep snow on my hands and knees. If you want the truth,” she said, smiling, “that’s the first time I’ve been able to lie on my stomach in months. If it hadn’t been so cold and wet, it would have felt good. My back actually quit aching for a minute. I don’t need a doctor, Jack.”
“But—”
“This baby is important to me. If I thought for a minute either one of us was injured, I’d be begging for a doctor.”
Jack heaved a sigh. “All right. If you’re sure.”
“I’m sure. All I really want right now is a hot shower.”
Jack and the sheriff spoke for a few more minutes.
The sheriff said, “Let me get this fellow into a cell, then I’ll either send one of my deputies out to get Ms. Hampton’s statement or I’ll come myself.”
“Thanks, Dane.” Jack shook his hand.
The sheriff placed Roger under arrest, handcuffed him and read him his rights.
“I never thought I was a vindictive person,” Lisa said as she watched the sheriff stuff Roger into the back seat of his patrol car, “but that’s one of the sweetest sights I’ve ever seen.”
Jack merely grunted in response. He would have preferred a hearse. “Let’s go home and get you into a hot shower.”
“And those are the sweetest words I’ve ever heard.”
“Then come here. You’re too far away.” He helped her slide across the seat until he had her pressed up against his side with his arm around her. “That’s better. Now we can go home.”
Home, Lisa thought with relief and longing. But it wasn’t her home. A huge wave of sadness swamped her. Her troubles with Roger seemed to be over now. The thought of returning to Denver, to her house there, left her feeling empty inside. How was she supposed to leave Jack? Yet what excuse could she use to stay?
He pulled up at the back door and carried her into the house.
“This is really getting to be a habit, you carrying me. Don’t get me wrong,” she told him, wrapping her arms around his neck. “I like it. But I can walk, Jack.”
“Humor me, okay? When I realized he’d made you leave with him…” Jack stopped just inside the back door and rested his forehead against hers. “I don’t ever want to be that scared again.”
Lisa pressed her lips to his. “Neither do I.”
“Feel better?” Jack had hovered outside the bathroom door while Lisa showered. Not because he thought she might need him, but because he needed to be close to her.
Wrapped in her long terry-cloth robe and toweling her hair dry, Lisa halted in her bedroom doorway. At the sight of Jack sitting on the edge of her bed, obviously waiting for her, her heart skipped a beat. “Much,” she said in answer to his question.
Jack rose and stood before her, devouring her with his eyes. “I’ve got lunch, if you’re interested.”
Her stomach chose that moment to growl. She smiled. “I guess I’m interested.”
He cupped her face in both hands and kissed her, his tongue sliding in to dance along hers. “Are you sure you’re all right?”
Lisa leaned against him and rested her head on his shoulder. “I am now.”
Tell her, Jack thought. Tell her you’re in love with her. But when he opened his mouth to say the words, what came out was, “I’ll be downstairs.” Coward.
As he went downstairs and left her alone to get dressed, he knew that, yes, it was pure cowardice that kept him from telling her he loved her. What if she hadn’t meant what she’d said last night when she thought he was asleep? Maybe it was just one of those things women said when the sex was good. Maybe she was just grateful for the help he’d given her. Wasn’t she always thanking him for something? Maybe that was all it was. Gratitude.
So ask her if she meant it.
Oh, yeah, sure. Hell, if he had the nerve to do that, he’d just up and tell her how he felt.
Okay. He would take the rest of the day to work out the words. After Dane came, took her statement and left, Jack would carry her up to bed—No. He would take her home with him. He wanted her in his bed, where she belonged. He would tell her there. That would be better.
When she came downstairs a half hour later, she looked refreshed, but she was still a little pale. Jack didn’t like it. He’d made soup and sandwiches, and watched her eat.
“I could have lost you today,” he said.
At his words Lisa’s breath eased out and she couldn’t get it back for a long moment. “I didn’t know you wanted to keep me.”
“I’m sorry. Maybe that didn’t sound right. But I’m not ready to see the last of you.”
Her heart thudded. “You’re not?”
“After last night, you have to ask?”
She swallowed. Her face grew hot. “Last night was…”
“Yeah.” He reached across the table and clasped her hand. “It was.”
Suddenly the dull ache in her back sharpened.
“What’s wrong?” Jack asked instantly.
She rubbed at the pain. “My back. Whew. It hurts.”
Jack stood so fast his chair nearly toppled over. “That’s it. We’re getting you to the doctor. Now.”
The ache was growing stronger. “I don’t think I’m going to argue with you.”
Within minutes they’d put on their coats, grabbed Lisa’s purse and medical file and were on their way.
They didn’t make it.