Hearts On Fire (14 page)

Chapter 26

    
For good or bad,
he had set things into motion today. He had contacted a friend of his who
specialized as a family lawyer. Though he’d filed nothing yet, he’d paid a
hefty retainer and he’d gotten his first consultation.

     “Jeramiah, quit fiddling
with your food and eat it.”

     JD looked from his plate
of food to his mother. He still wanted to throttle her as well. Dropping his
fork to the fine china with a clatter, he leaned back in his chair and crossed
his arms over his broad chest, settling in. He was spoiling for a fight. “Perhaps
you’d like to have some pleasant dinner conversation?” he suggested, curling
his upper lip and showing teeth. “Would you like to discuss how you paid off
the woman I loved to run away with my son?”

     Josh choked on a piece of
chicken. Snatching up his water glass he gulped it down, thanking all that was
holy he was not sitting between the two of them.

     Arlene’s smile remained,
though it faltered briefly. She knew her son had a fiery temper. She also knew
how to quell it. Lifting her wine glass she met his gaze over the rim of it.
“The dinner table is not the place to bring
her
up.”

     “No? Maybe you’d like to
tell me again how what you did was for my benefit. How you did it because you
love me so fucking much.” He yanked the linen napkin from his lap, snapping it
sharply, and tossed it on the table.

     “That sort of language is
not tolerated at this table and you know it, Jeramiah. This is not a bar room
or a third rate restaurant. A lot of time and money was put into teaching you
respectable manners.” She eyed Josh with some disdain. “The money was better
spent on some than others.”

     Josh blinked at her and
sank down in his chair. “What’d I do?”

     JD looked around the
dining room with all its fine china and silver set for a normal nightly dinner.
The table, he knew, was worth more than some people made in months of hard
work. He didn’t even want to think of what she’d spent on the carpet and
drapery. Or the china cabinet sitting in the corner. Or the art work on the
walls. This wasn’t even where he’d grown up. This, he realized, was his mother.
Fake. The whole house and everything in it were for everyone else’s benefit. To
be seen so that visitors would know Arlene MacGreggor was superior to them.
“You maneuvered me like it was some kind of game to you. I don’t appreciate it
one bit. As a matter of fact, I despise you for it.”

     Her eyes became sharp.
“Oh, it was never a game to me. You are where you are today in part because of
me. If I hadn’t fixed what you’d done with that girl you’d be working in a
factory to support your white trash wife and the children she would have
continued to pop out. You certainly never would have commanded enough respect
to become a senator.”

     He cocked a brow. “So…
what? You want me to thank you for playing puppet master with my life? You want
me to thank you for denying me the opportunity to raise my son?”

     “That girl would have ruined
you,” Arlene hissed. “All she ever wanted was your money. I think that’s been
proven.”

     “Oh, I don’t intend to
let her off the hook, mother. But I can’t seem to let you off either. See,
you’re the one who actually paid her to keep my son from me. You orchestrated
the whole damn thing. She would have come to me had it not been for you. You
threatened her and then you paid her off, god damnit.”

     Josh looked between the
two of them uncertainly. He’d seen his brother upset with their mother before,
he’d seen him go against her wishes on occasion, but he’d never heard JD speak
to her this way.

     Arlene’s lips pressed
together to form a thin red line. “I’ve warned you about the language,
Jeramiah.”

     JD snorted. Getting any
kind of empathy from her would be akin to squeezing blood from a stone. “I’m
not sixteen years old anymore. I don’t give a flying
fuck
about your
warning, mother.” Standing abruptly, he looked down to his younger brother. “Suddenly
I’ve lost my appetite. I’m going back to the ranch.”

     Josh gave him a cocky two
fingered salute and a grin, proud of his brother for sticking to his guns.
“Make me a drink too, will ya?” he asked, feeling his mother’s gaze searing
into the side of his head.

     The temperature outside
had dropped and it was damn cold. But not nearly as cold as JD felt his heart
had become. Betrayed by the two women he’d loved the most, he felt empty
inside. But that would change, he promised himself, once he met his son. The
emptiness would be filled with the love for a child, love he could already feel
brimming inside himself.

     He drove back to Josh’s
place slowly, deliberately. The driveway needed plowing again and he thought
maybe he would take on that task. It would be a welcome distraction. Maybe it
would calm him enough to confront Lizzie again. And confront her he would. He
wanted to see his son. Soon. This demand he would make without qualm, without a
care to what Lizzie wanted or needed. And when he took the boy from her for
good…

     On a muttered oath he
turned his SUV for the barns. The plow truck was kept in a shed next to the
horse barn. Another vehicle was parked in front of the barn and he slid in next
to it, barely giving it a glance. As he left the warmth of his SUV he looked to
the sky. Thick, dark clouds raced across the sky promising more snow before the
night was through. If the predictions were correct they were in for a hell of a
storm. That was okay, it would keep him busy.

     Passing the other snow
covered vehicle he slipped on a small patch of ice and cursing, his hand shot
out, grabbing hold of the front fender. Sucking in a breath, he managed to
right himself before going down on his ass. It was then, as he looked to his
hand he noticed the color of the vehicle. What he thought of as a chocolate
brown. Like Lizzie’s rig. He gave it a closer look and recognized the make from
the shape under the snow. It was her car. His eyes went to the barn. But what
the hell was she doing here?

     His teeth ground
together. Perhaps she’d decided to bring the confrontation to him instead of
waiting. Well, she’d be sorry about it if that was the case. Stalking across
the lot he yanked open the man-door and entered the barn. The only sound which
greeted him were the rustling of horses as they finished off their dinners of
hay and grain.

     He looked down the aisle
and didn’t see anyone. He knew her love of horses and imagined her in one of
the stalls brushing one or petting it as she cooed softly to it. The thought
made him growl an obscenity under his breath before taking off down the aisle.

     He didn’t see her in any
of the stalls, however, one stall was empty. A full bucket of grain hung in the
corner and a similarly full hay bag hung in the other. On the small chalkboard
which hung on every stall door, under the horse’s name, was scrawled: OUT FOR
RIDE.

     He felt his heart begin
to knock on his rib cage. No one else was here. No other cars. The hands had
all gone home for the evening, their jobs in this barn done. Only Lizzie’s car
sat out in the parking area. But what in the hell would she be doing out on a
horse right now? He shoved a gloved hand through his hair and spun in a small
circle, looking around. Christ, what the hell had gotten into that damn woman?

     Surely she’d stick to the
ranch. Without thinking he walked to another stall and pulled out a young mare
to saddle. He’d ride out and have a look for her. Though he was furious with her
he felt his stomach churn at the thought of anything happening to her. Along
with the fact there was a storm rolling in there was still one man whose whereabouts
were unaccounted for who had tried to hurt her. There was also the possibility
Julie’s unnamed lover might want to get his hands on her as well. And if one of
them did again… “She’s fine, you dummy,” he chastised himself. “Matter of fact
this is probably just some stunt to get to you. To make you worry about her.”
But he didn’t think so. Lizzy might have lied to him, but he’d never known her
to play games. No, something in his gut told him she’d gone off on some
half-baked scheme and was going to get herself into more trouble than she could
handle. She knew how to ride, sure. But she didn’t know these mountains anymore.
She didn’t know how the weather could be an unseen enemy which would sneak up
on you and corner you.

     With the mare saddled and
bridled he took the time to tie a rifle off to the saddle. He probably wouldn’t
need it, but it made him feel better just the same. If he ran into Summers he
wanted to be prepared.

Chapter 27

    
The little gelding
shied
and snorted. Lizzie tried to see what might have set him off but
could detect nothing through the heavily falling snow. Perhaps it had been a
coyote, or even something as lowly as a rabbit. The gelding had been getting
more and more skittish the harder the snow fell. “Don’t worry, buddy, I know
where we’re going,” she told him, leaning forward to pat him on the neck. “It’s
just further than I remember is all.” She was in a small clearing now, headed
for the dense cover of woods again. If memory served she would reach the
hunting shack in about twenty minutes. And then she would know if she was right
or not.

     A movement to her left
had both her and the gelding turning. The deer burst from the tree line and
made a mad dash across the clearing. Lizzie drew up on the reins, instinctively
knowing the gelding would shy again. He did. Hard. With cold hands and legs so
cold they were stiff, Lizzie tried to hang on. She had to hang on.

     She didn’t. With a
panicked yelp she slid off the side of the horse and down into the soft snow.
As she watched, the gelding tossed his head to free her grip on the reins and
then sidestepped away from her, his eyes wide, his nostrils flared.

     “No!” she cried out to
him as she saw him take his first steps away from her and back the way they had
come. “Whoa, boy! Whoa!”

     Whether he understood the
command or not, the gelding flipped his tail into the air, snorted once and
took off for home as though jumping from the starting gate.

     In disbelief, Lizzie
watched him run off.
Assholes and elbows,
her mother would have said. She
didn’t move for a long time as a deep fear started to settle upon her. The walk
back would take hours. Her gaze strayed to the flat grey clouds which were at
that very moment dumping copious amounts of snow. She felt the stirrings of
wind, which had gradually been picking up as well.

     Standing, she looked all
around her. Home was hours away. The tiny hunting shack, assuming it even still
stood, was a forty minute walk on human foot, give or take. She remembered it
had both a fireplace and an old potbellied stove used for cooking. She could
warm it up enough to survive the night if she had to. Assuming it was still
there.
Please be there. Please be there.
She chanted the plea over and
over in her head.

     With freezing fingers she
reached into her coat pocket and pulled out her cell phone. Peeling a glove off
she woke the phone and saw just what she’d feared. No signal. Not even roaming.
“Oh, crap,” she whispered. What the hell had she been thinking?

    
Her trail had been
easy
enough to pick up. Though snow was falling heavily her tracks had not
filled in completely and the wind had been merciful. So far. It was picking up
now. “What’re you up to, Lizzie?” JD asked the sky. “Did you figure something
out?” That had to be it and he knew it. But where she was heading was still a
mystery to him.

     He rode the mare a little
harder than he liked to, but he could feel his fear mounting with every passing
second. This was no place for an inexperienced trail rider to be. And though
Lizzie could ride a horse, she was inexperienced when it came to being out on
the mountain in weather like this on her own. It would be dark in a matter of
an hour or less now. And with darkness the temperature would plummet into the
single digits. The wind would make those single digits dive into the negative.

     Hoof beat by hoof beat he
rode along. “Just where are you heading, Lizzie?” he wondered, pushing the mare
around a thicket of brush and scaring up a rabbit. At one time of his life he’d
known these woods as intimately as he knew his own bedroom. But memories faded
and things changed. So when he broke into the clearing he stopped the mare
short, trying like hell to get his bearings. It took a moment, but slowly a
memory came back to him. Tall meadow grass, a blanket, a girl and a bottle of
strawberry wine. But not just any girl. A slow grin crept to his face. They’d
stopped in this very meadow and had a picnic lunch before heading back into the
woods on the other side. To his uncle’s old hunting shack.

     Urging the mare forward
again his eyes scanned the surface of the snow. Not far ahead he could see a
riot of prints. Had she stopped and turned the horse? As he drew closer what he
saw confused him. But only for a moment. The imprint where she had landed when
she’d fallen from the horse was clear as a snow angel made by a kid. With
sudden dread he knew exactly what had happened. The horse had gone one way and
Lizzie the other. “Damnit, woman,” he growled under his breath. The snow was
coming down hard now. Not the big fat flakes but smaller, harder pellet-like
flakes which hurt his face when he turned it skyward. And the light from the
sun, what little there had been to begin with, was fading fast as it sank
toward the horizon.

     She’d decided to head for
the shack, a smart move on her part. But with knee deep snow and temperatures
in the low teens she’d play hell making it there on foot. His anger with her
was overridden by a deep set fear now. “Lizzie!” he bellowed into the driving
snow and wind.

     Nothing.

     Heart pounding in his
chest he urged the mare into a brisk trot and entered the cover of the woods.
Here the snow wasn’t as deep and the wind not as sharp, but it still felt
colder to him, nonetheless. The darkness seemed to be closing in with each tick
of the second hand. God, if anything happened to her… He shoved the thought
aside. For several reasons. His anger with her was still hot and raw. But damnit,
so was his love for her. “Lizzie!”

     Her footprints dragged
through the snow, marching steadily forward. Urgently he called out to her
again only to be answered by the wind whistling through the pines. Fighting for
calmness he reminded himself Lizzie had grown up on this mountain. The extreme
weather was nothing new to her and was something she understood. But obviously
had lost respect for, he thought hotly. To ride out, alone, with a storm
brewing had been nothing short of foolhardy. “How the hell did you manage to
become a doctor with no more sense than this?” he muttered.

    
She’s at the shack
,
he told himself. She’ll have a fire going and be pissed as hell to see you come
knocking. Right now he knew he’d pay anything he had to see an angry fire in
her eyes. He nearly yelled again when in the deepening shadows he saw a darker
shape in the snow. Unmoving it could have passed for a rock or pile of brush.
But the moment JD’s gaze fell upon it he knew it was her. Could be nothing but
her. His heart lurched and his stomach tightened as he launched himself from
the mare’s back and into the deep snow. Reins firmly in hand he pushed his way
toward her. “Oh, God. Lizzie.” Even before he got to her he could see well
enough what had happened. A deep hole was next to one of her booted feet. The
trunk of a large pine stood near her head, strands of her dark hair hanging in
the bark.

     Wrapping the reins around
a low branch JD kneeled in the snow next to Lizzie, his eyes on her face as he
took the tip of a gloved finger between his teeth and ripped the glove off his
hand. “Oh, damnit, Lizzie.” Gently he touched her face, just under her nose. At
first he felt nothing. But then just the tiniest puff of warmth. He sagged a
little in relief, but only for a moment. Her lips were blue with cold and her
face was nearly as white as the snow she lay on. Taking her in his arms he drew
her into his lap. “C’mon, Lizzie. C’mon. Be okay.”

     She hung limp in his
embrace.

     “Look, woman, I have
plenty I still need to say to you after that bombshell you dropped on me. And
damn you, you’re going to hear me out. Don’t you dare think you won’t.” This
time he shook her. “Damnit, Lizzie, c’mon!”

     Eyelashes encrusted with
snow and ice fluttered before her eyes opened and she stared up at him through
dark blue eyes. “Senator?” she asked, thoroughly confused. “You show up in the
damnedest places.”

     His breath caught when he
locked gazes with her. But her words and the seriousness in her eyes made him
chuckle. She was alive. And at the moment it was all that mattered to him. Now,
to keep her that way.

     The bump to her head and
what he was sure was the beginning of hypothermia made her weak and groggy but
he managed, with her limited help, to get Lizzie up in the saddle and himself
positioned behind her. As he gathered the reins in his gloved hands she sagged
against him. He entertained the thought of taking her back to the ranch but
knew it was too far. Darkness was nearly upon them. In a matter of a half-hour
it would be complete. He’d just make it to the shack in that amount of time. If
he remembered right he’d heard his brother mention some renovations he’d been
doing. He’d said it wasn’t much, but he’d still liked to use the place for
hunting in the fall. “I hope you’re better at home repair than I think you are,
Josh,” JD muttered as the mare tromped through the snow.

     Pulling Lizzie’s limp
form to his chest, he gazed down at her, a frown coming to his features. “And
just what the hell were you doing coming out here?”