Heart of Texas Series Volume 1: Lonesome Cowboy\Texas Two-Step\Caroline's Child (25 page)

Ellie intended on doing exactly that.

“When were you last there?” she asked, still feeling suspicious.

“Recently.”

“How recently?”

“This week.”

Ellie's curiosity went into overdrive. “You'd better not be razzing me, Richard.”

“I swear it's the truth.”

“Will you take me there?”

He hesitated.

“Richard, you can't tell me about Bitter End and then refuse to show it to me! What's it like? Where is it? Are any of the old buildings still standing? And how in heaven's name did you find it?”

Chuckling, he held up his hand to stop her. “Whoa! One question at a time.”

“All right,” she said, her heart pounding with excitement. She wanted to see this place. Her father's great-grandparents had settled there. It was in Bitter End that they'd buried their five-year-old son, the child whose name was in the old Bible.

“How'd you ever find it?” she asked again.

“It wasn't easy,” he said, licking his fingertips and seeming to savor her attention as much as he did Nell's fried chicken. “I knew it was real because I'd heard...the others talk about it years ago, but they refused to tell me where it was. So I started looking on my own a few weeks ago—and I found it.”

“Why wouldn't they tell you?”

“For the same reason I'm not telling you.”

“Oh, no, you don't!” She wasn't going to let him pull that on her.

“Ellie,” he murmured, his gaze pinning hers, “it's haunted.”

“I ain't afraid of no ghosts,” she teased, quoting the popular movie
Ghostbusters.

Always quick with a laugh or a smile, Richard revealed neither. “I'm not joking.”

“I'm not, either. I want you to take me there.”

He shook his head, obviously regretting that he'd ever brought up the subject. “That's not a good idea.”

“Then I'll have Glen take me.”

Richard's face hardened. “It's dangerous there, Ellie. Anything can happen. I wouldn't feel right about taking you to someplace like Bitter End.”

“I don't care. I want to see it. Just once,” she pleaded.

Again he hesitated.

“Please?” she asked softly.

Richard sighed, and Ellie's gaze drifted to Glen, partly because she was curious about what he was doing, but also as a subtle message. If Richard wouldn't take her, odds were she could convince Glen to.

“All right, all right,” he muttered irritably.

“When?”

“Soon.”

“Tomorrow?”

Richard looked decidedly uncomfortable. “I...I don't know.”

“We'll make a day of it,” she coaxed, eager to explore the old town. Besides, Richard might change his mind if she didn't act quickly.

“You can't tell
anyone.
”

“Why not?”

“Ellie, you don't seem to understand how serious this is. It was a mistake to mention it in the first place.”

“Okay,” she said, knowing that if she didn't agree he'd never take her there. “I won't tell anyone else.”

“I want your word of honor,” Richard insisted. “I'm not kidding, Ellie. The place is dangerous, and I don't want some fool kid to break his neck because you let word out. The minute kids around here know about it, you can bet someone's going to get hurt. I don't want that on my conscience.”

Ellie didn't want it on hers, either. “You have my word, Richard.”

He nodded, apparently accepting her promise. “I'll take you tomorrow afternoon, then. Be ready by two.”

***

Despite his best intentions, Glen couldn't keep his eyes off Ellie and Richard. They sat huddled together, their heads close, deep in conversation. He would've sworn Ellie was too smart to be taken in by a charlatan like Richard Weston. Okay, so maybe Richard was on the level—Glen didn't really know, for Grady was as reluctant to talk about his brother as he was about everything else.

“Looks like Ellie and Richard might have more in common than I realized,” Glen muttered. He noted the concerned expression on Grady's face.

“I'd say she's pretty vulnerable right now,” Grady commented. He seemed to be asking Glen to keep an eye on Ellie. “Someone needs to watch out for her.”

Glen's own concerns mounted. He didn't like the way those two were gazing at each other—as though nobody else was around. In fact, it bothered him.
Really
bothered him.

“How good a friend are you?” Grady asked.

“Good.” Good enough for him to kiss her, Glen mused. Not just any kiss, either, but one that had damn near knocked his socks off. He'd thought of little else for three days and three sleepless nights. Every time he closed his eyes she was there in his mind, and damn it all, he found himself wanting to kiss her again.

He worried that he'd ruined their friendship, and from her reaction when she arrived at the party, that looked all too likely. As for the way things were developing between her and Richard—well, he didn't trust Grady's younger brother, not one bit. The guy was too glib, too smooth. And that was only the half of it.

Glen had heard from Cal how Grady got stuck with the bill for Richard's welcome-home party. It was all a misunderstanding, Richard claimed, but Glen would bet his last dollar Grady'd never see that money again.

Some time later, when the opportunity presented itself, Glen made his way over to Ellie. Richard was preoccupied singing a jazzed-up version of “Happy Birthday” to Ruth. Glen never did trust a man who craved being the center of attention. Anyone else would have asked Ruth to stand up, would have made
her
the focus. Not Richard. He had everyone gather around him, and it seemed to Glen he treated Ruth's birthday like an afterthought, like a mere pretext for his own performance. Typical. Richard sure hadn't changed.

“Nice party,” he said, strolling casually to Ellie's side.

She stood at the edge of the group and Glen was grateful she hadn't taken a front-row seat to Richard's antics. Grady's brother had plenty of other admirers at the moment and seemed to have forgotten his date. Glen, however, resisted pointing this out to Ellie. “Good news about Nell and her dude ranch,” he said, instead.

“Sure is,” Ellie responded. “I really think she can make it work.”

“Yeah. Nell can do it if anyone can.”

Ellie nodded. “I haven't seen you in a few days.”

“I've been busy.”

“Me, too.”

“I noticed,” he said, thinking about the way she'd cozied up to Richard.

Ellie laughed. “You sound jealous.”

“Not me.” He raised both hands in a dismissive gesture, then realized she was making an effort to put their relationship back on its previous footing. “But I could be,” he said, falling into the easy banter they'd so often exchanged.

“I'm glad to hear it.” Her smile was like a splash of sunshine, and Glen felt a rush of relief. She was as determined as he was to forget that stupid kiss. “You're a good friend, Ellie.”

“Not as good as I'd hoped.”

His heart went still. “What do you mean?”

“You didn't tell me about Bitter End,” she accused him, turning to meet his eyes.

“What?”
He hadn't been to the ghost town since he was a teenager, and once was enough. There was something dangerous about that place—and he wasn't thinking about the abandoned wells, either.

“Who told you?” he demanded, although the answer was obvious.

“Richard.”

“Listen, Ellie,” he said, gripping her elbow. He longed to take her by the shoulders and shake some sense into her, but he knew she wouldn't listen and he'd hurt his cause more than help it. “I'd forget about Bitter End if I were you.”

“Why should I? This is the most exciting thing I've heard in ages. My father's great-grandparents belonged to the first group of settlers, you know.” She paused and studied him. “Glen, what's so bad about this town? Why doesn't anyone talk about it? If you know where it is and other people do, too, why is it a deep dark secret?”

Glen wasn't sure how to explain it to her, especially since he didn't fully understand it himself. All he could remember was the eerie sense of danger and oppressiveness he'd experienced the one and only time he'd been there. He couldn't have been more than fourteen at the time. Cal, Grady and he had inadvertently overheard their parents discussing the old town and decided to locate it on their own. It'd taken them weeks to find it, but instead of feeling a sense of triumph and elation after their first visit, they'd been terrified. They'd hardly spoken of it since.

“I don't want you going there,” he ordered, rather than answer her questions. The second those words left his lips, Glen recognized his mistake. Ellie wasn't going to take kindly to anyone telling her what she could or couldn't do.

“Too late. Richard's driving me there tomorrow afternoon.”

“No, he's not.” Even knowing he was digging himself in deeper didn't prevent Glen from blurting it out.

“You don't have any right to tell me that.”

“Ellie, listen to me—”

“I've heard everything I care to hear. I thought we were friends.”

“We are,” he said, his mind spinning. He realized that the thought of Ellie in that deserted town frightened him. All his protective instincts snapped into place—instincts he'd never associated with Ellie. “I don't want you going there.”

“You're being ridiculous. You found it, and now I want to see it, too. It was okay for you, but not for me? I don't accept that, Glen.”

“If you value our friendship, you won't go.”

Ellie looked at him as though she'd never seen him before, and once again Glen realized he'd said it all wrong. “If you value my opinion...” he altered hurriedly, but he could see it was already too late.

“I don't think I know you any longer,” she whispered. It wasn't her words as much as the way she said them, in a hurt voice that vibrated with doubts.

He'd known it was going to happen, had worried about it for days. He just hadn't thought it'd be so soon. That kiss really had ruined everything. Every shred of closeness they'd once shared was gone. They seemed incapable of even the most basic communication.

“Fine,” he said, furious with himself and taking it out on her. “Go ahead and do as you like. Just don't say I didn't warn you.” Having botched the entire conversation, he whirled around and walked away. Ellie would discover everything she needed to know about Bitter End soon enough. But she wouldn't have him standing guard over her when she did.

***

“You ready?” Richard asked, entering the feed store fifteen minutes past the time they'd agreed to meet.

“As ready as I'll ever be.” The argument with Glen weighed heavily on her mind. She'd considered phoning Richard to beg off, but she refused to allow Glen to tell her what to do. She had as much right as anyone else to visit Bitter End.

Richard laughed. “Just remember you're the one who insisted on going.” He sang a few bars of the theme song from
Ghostbusters,
and Ellie laughed, too. He certainly seemed to be in high spirits, which helped to reassure her.

Glen, on the other hand, had made it sound as if going to Bitter End meant risking life and limb. While she might have been willing to listen to reason, she'd deeply resented the way he'd spoken to her. He'd given her
orders,
for heaven's sake.

Everything about their short exchange rankled. Ellie felt bad about it herself, wanting their relationship to return to the way it had been before the kiss. She should have stopped him, should have known anything physical between them would lead to problems. The only reason she'd let it happen was that she'd been so upset. Glen had regretted it, too; he'd as much as told her.

Richard helped her into the truck, which Ellie realized was Grady's. His spirits remained high as he drove out of town, down the two-lane highway.

Suddenly he veered off the road into a rocky meadow with cedar shrubs and knee-high weeds.

“So this is the way?”

“No,” he said. “I just want you to think it is.” The pickup pitched sharply right, one of the front tires slamming against a rock. Ellie was shoved into the door, hitting her shoulder hard. She yelped in pain.

“Sorry,” Richard said, slowing the vehicle. “You okay?”

“Fine. What about the truck?” She assumed he was stopping to survey any damage to the wheels, but she was wrong.

He leaned toward her and opened the glove compartment, removing a black handkerchief.

“What's that?” she asked.

“A blindfold.”

“A what?” she exploded.

“Blindfold,” he repeated calmly. “I thought about this carefully and it's the only way I'll agree to take you to Bitter End.”

“You're joking, right?”

“I'm taking you against my better judgment. If Grady ever found out, he'd have my hide.”

“Glen wasn't too pleased about it, either.”

“You told him?” Richard's eyes flared with anger.

“Yes, we...we exchanged a few words and left it at that.”

“Tell him you changed your mind.”

Ellie stared at Richard in shock. “You want me to lie?”

“Well, not lie...exactly. Just let him assume you followed his advice. Understand?”

“A lie by omission is still a lie.”

“Whatever. Just do it.” He held up the blindfold.

“I'm not wearing that.”

“Then I'm not taking you to Bitter End.” The way he said it made her realize he wasn't kidding. The facade vanished, and she viewed a side of Richard she'd never seen before. A side that wasn't cordial or friendly but, rather, dark and menacing.