Hearts On Fire (8 page)

     She wanted to tell him
she’d missed him too. She almost did. But she saw Arlene come around the
corner, her gaze impaling her. Suddenly she got her bearings and jerked away
from him. “This can’t happen,” she told him. With one last frantic glance at
Arlene, she took off down the hallway, this time not stopping when he called
after her.

Chapter 14

    
What the hell
had
she been thinking, letting him touch her? Jesus Christ! With shaking hands
Lizzie splashed cold water on her face. He still wanted her, she knew that much
for sure. And what JD MacGreggor wanted, JD MacGreggor usually got. Just like
his mama. And she had no intentions of getting herself stuck between the two of
them again. Besides, JD was bad news. He’d just wind up breaking her heart
again. And once in a lifetime, no, make that twice, was enough. She didn’t
think she’d survive it again.

     The door squeaked open
behind her and she looked in the mirror. And realized she’d made a huge
tactical error in coming to the ladies room. She’d allowed herself to be
cornered. Snatching some paper towel from the dispenser, she blotted her face
dry.

     “Well, you were in my
son’s sights all of five minutes and you already had him wanting to crawl back
into your bed. Although women like you know how to make a man think with his
crotch, don’t you?” Arlene set her purse on the sink and slid the zipper open.
Plucking out a tube of lipstick, she leaned toward the mirror, meeting Lizzie’s
gaze there. “I thought we were clear, Elizabeth. You were to stay away from my
son.”

     “He chased after me.” Her
hands were shaking, and damnit, so was her voice. It wasn’t fear of anything
physical, not from this old woman. No, Arlene could hurt her so much worse if
she chose to.

     “You came back to town.”
She closed the lipstick and put it back into her bag. “Another part of our deal
you’ve defaulted on.”

     “My sister—”

     “Is a white trash whore,”
Arlene snapped.

     She met Arlene’s gaze
unwaveringly when she said, “Like me.”

     “Precisely.” Taking a
tissue, Arlene dabbed at her freshly painted lips. “You may have married well
and gotten yourself a fancy degree, but I haven’t forgotten where you came
from. And I haven’t forgotten you almost managed to trap my son, the senator,
into a fruitless marriage by getting yourself pregnant with his child.” Turning
from the mirror she met Lizzie’s gaze directly. “And if I haven’t forgotten all
of that, surely you haven’t forgotten what I can and will do if you cross me.”

     “I haven’t forgotten.”
Lizzie lifted her chin.

     “Now don’t let your pride
get the better of your sense, Elizabeth. Think of the boy.”

     “I am thinking of Sean.
Perhaps it’s time I told JD he has a son.”

     Arlene smiled but her
eyes remained cold. “You certainly could do that. It would end my hold over
you. But you’d better think long and hard before you come to any decision.”
Stepping closer, Arlene leaned in. “If you do you’ll lose the boy. I’ll see to
it you lose custody of him.”

     “You can’t do that. I’ve
raised him.”

     “Because you never told
JD he had a son. A judge would not look kindly on that. And neither will JD.
He’ll come after his boy. And he’ll get him. Do you think a judge would keep a
US senator away from his long lost son? The story would be all over the news.
You would be portrayed as the vile witch who kept a man’s son from him. The
public would side with JD and so would a judge.”

     The threat was a real one
and she knew it. “JD has asked me for help.”

     “Tell him no.”

     Now Lizzie snorted. “He’s
your son. What do you think he’ll do when I tell him that I won’t help him?”

     This gave Arlene pause.
The girl was right. “Go back to Seattle where you belong.”

     “He’d follow me. You know
he would. He’s convinced I must help him find Julie’s lover.” She rolled her
eyes. “Here he is trying to protect your precious family name by doing your bidding
once again. And look how you repay him. By treating him as though he’s a puppet
while you pull the strings from above.”

     “I’m protecting him,” she
hissed.

     “Well, you don’t have to
worry about that,” Lizzie promised her. “If it’s one thing I can guarantee you,
I won’t make the same mistake with JD again. I won’t let him use me and throw
me away.” She tossed her paper towel into the garbage and straightened her
back. “I’ve no intention of being his fling again.”

     “That would be all you
could be to him.”

    
Blue-blooded bitch,
Lizzie thought, storming out of the restroom.

    
“You should let that
girl alone,
JD. She was nothing but trouble way back when and she’s nothing
but trouble now.”

     JD glanced over at his
mother in the passenger seat. “She’s not a girl anymore. And she’s far from
trouble. She’s a doctor.”

     “Be that as it may, she’s
not suitable for you.”

     “Is she suitable for
me
?”
Josh asked from the back seat. He grinned at his bother in the rearview mirror.

     “I must admit she’s
better than some of the women I’ve seen you with over the years,” Arlene told
him, not rising to the bait.

     “She sure has held up
good all these years.”

     JD scowled at him. “When
did you see her?”

     “Jealous, big brother?”

     “Not.”

     “I went down the hall to
see how Katy is holding up.”

     “Oh Lord,” Arlene
grumbled. “That’s just what we need. You went to visit the woman who is
blackmailing your sister?” She put a hand to her forehead.

     “Don’t get riled up,
mom,” Josh told her. “Nobody saw me but Lizzie. And Deputy Danson. But he won’t
say anything.”

     “Oh, I feel so much
better.”

     “I’m not going to stay
away from Lizzie, mother. Not this time.”

     Arlene’s wrath shifted to
her oldest son. “You have a career to think of.”

     “These aren’t medieval
times. Arranged marriages are frowned upon. So is looking down on others
because they aren’t in the same tax bracket.”

     “He means nobody likes a
snob, mom,” Josh supplied.

     “I understood him
perfectly, Joshua.” Turning her attention back to JD she said, “It’s not her
money which concerns me. It’s her… well… Her breeding. Her lack of
sophistication. She wasn’t raised with it. She was raised by a criminal and an
alcoholic.”

     “Yes, which only speaks
of her incredible character.”

     “Character? She wed the
first man with money she could find after you left her and she had his child to
shackle him.”

     JD cringed. Because his
mother’s words paralleled thoughts he’d had himself. Until he’d looked into
Lizzie’s eyes again. Until he’d heard her voice and touched her again. He’d
called her a witch once because he’d always felt as though he were under her
spell. That, he realized, hadn’t changed one damn bit.

     “You move in much
different circles, son. You always have. She’s common. She wouldn’t know how to
behave.”

     “Maybe I’m tired of women
who know how to behave,” he countered.

     “You’d better not be. Not
if you want to maintain your position in the Senate. Not if you ever dream to
aspire to a higher calling.”

     He’d never win. Not with
Arlene. So he shut his mouth and drove them home knowing he’d just do whatever
he damn well pleased and let her fret about it later.

Chapter 15

    
He sat astride one
horse
and led the other along behind. He smiled, relaxed. Julie had woke in
the night. To their mother’s horror they had Julie on suicide watch in the
psychiatric wing and would not let anyone see her. Not even family. A fact
Arlene could not fathom. So she’d left first thing this morning for the
hospital to argue with them. The way JD saw it the doctors probably knew best
and Julie probably needed to be away from anyone who would pressure her. Like
her mother. But he’d wished Arlene luck before she’d left anyway.

     “Where the hell are you
off to?” Josh asked, watching his brother ride across the barnyard.

     “As if you don’t know.”
JD didn’t stop his horse.

     “Mom will have a cow. No.
Two cows. This would definitely qualify as a two cow moment.”

     “It’s good for her once
in a while,” JD told him with a grin. “Besides, she’s busy trying to rewrite
hospital policy today.”

     “She probably will too.
They’ll do it just to get rid of her.” Josh leaned on the fence rail. “Do you
think Lizzie came back to Katy’s last night?”

     “She did,” was all JD
said before giving his gelding some heel and taking off at a slow lope down the
driveway.

     “Not gonna ask how you
know that,” Josh muttered to his brother’s receding form.

     JD knew a lot about
Lizzie and one thing he remembered with utter clarity was how much she loved to
ride horses. Offering to take her for a ride, he knew, would set the stage for
getting her to warm back up to him. If he could just get her alone, just get
her to listen to him, he was sure he could get her to trust him again. At least
enough to help him. The rest would come later.

     And he wanted more. He
already knew he wanted more from her. He wanted what he should have had so long
ago.

     Fat flakes of snow fell
from the sky, lazy without any wind. It was cool out, but not cold. Pleasant
enough for a ride through the woods, he thought with a smile as a memory snuck
up on him. He vividly recalled sneaking off the ranch with a horse in tow just
like this so many times. But one time in particular stuck with him. The hot
summer day he’d finally convinced Lizzie to let him show her just how much he
wanted her. It was with images of her tangled up with him on the bank of the
river that he approached the tiny house on the hill.

    
Something had told her
he would come to her this morning. Maybe a premonition. Or maybe it was just
the fact she knew how tenacious he could be. So she wasn’t surprised when she
heard the snort of a horse coming up the driveway. Nor was she surprised when
she saw him round the last bend astride a big palomino with a chestnut mare in
tow. She knew him. Or had. And he knew her. The horse, she knew he figured,
would be his way in. Fear traced up her spine. Because she knew she would let
him in. And she knew she would have to tell him something she’d kept from him
for over twelve years. It was unavoidable. And looking at him now, looking into
his eyes, she knew Brian was right. The man had a right to know his son. And
his son had a right to know the man who was his father. What JD would do once
she told him was anyone’s guess.

     She’d cried last night
when she’d told Brian what had happened at the hospital. When she’d told Brian
of Arlene’s threats he’d sworn vehemently and assured her the woman could not
swoop in and take Sean away from her. Shared custody with JD… probably. Even
likely. But not permanent. Lizzie didn’t know what to believe right now. Because
JD was not the young college boy she’d made a child with. He’d grown. Into
what, she still had to determine. She had to know what he would do before she
could tell him he had a son.
If you’re waiting for the time to be right
you’re copping out,
she told herself.

     “Got a cup of coffee for
me?” he asked, stopping his horse at the bottom step and looking over at her
with a twinkle in his eyes.

     She knew that twinkle
well. Just like she knew what his body felt like pressed up against her own.
Just like she knew what his hands felt like when they ran possessively over her
skin.
Stop it!
She commanded herself.
Don’t go there. Just don’t.
“What? Josh doesn’t stock coffee at his place?”

     “He does, but he’s not
very good company this morning. He needs his beauty rest and he didn’t get it
last night.”

     She watched him climb
down from the horse all lean muscles and smiles and felt her stomach tremble.
Dear
God,
she thought,
you idiot! You can’t love him. You can’t love a man
you can’t trust!
And trusting him again was out of the question.
Especially, she thought grimly, considering his chosen profession as a
politician. “I suppose I could spare a cup.” She looked to the horse he’d had
in tow. “You have something else in mind, senator?”

     “Actually, I do,” he told
her as he tied the reins of both horses off to the porch railing. His gaze
locked with hers and a corner of his mouth lifted. “The moment I laid eyes on
you last night all kinds of things came to mind.”

     She didn’t miss his
meaning but decided to shove it to the side. “About my sister,” she guessed.

     “For starts,” he answered,
coming up the steps.

     “There can’t be any more
than that.”

     Again, with that same
crooked smile he told her, “We’ll see about that.”

     There he went again,
making her stomach flutter. In the interest of her own safety she turned and
headed into the house, leaving him to follow along behind. When she heard the
door shut softly behind him she turned back to him. “I was going to catch up to
you today anyway. I forgot to tell you something important last night.”

     He shoved his gloves into
his coat pockets and hung the coat on a peg by the front door. “You didn’t
stick around long enough to tell me much last night. You ran like a rabbit the
minute my mother walked up to us.” Again, his gaze delved into hers, probing
for answers. “What was that all about?”

     “Nothing. I… I was just
overwhelmed, seeing you so unexpectedly.”

     He frowned, not really
buying her reply, but he decided to let it go for the moment.

     “C’mon, I’ll get you some
coffee.”

     He followed her through
the small living room, his eyes traveling the place. He’d not stepped foot in
it in thirteen or so years. Not since the last day he’d seen Lizzie. The memory
of that day was etched into his mind. As was the pain.

     “In an effort to help
find whoever tried to kill my sister I told Matt I felt she’d been up to
something shady the day she disappeared,” Lizzie told him, reaching into the
cupboard for another coffee mug. She inspected it carefully before pouring
coffee into it. Katy, she’d discovered, was not the best at washing her dishes.

     JD pulled a chair out
from under the tiny kitchen table and turned it around to straddle it. “When
did you tell him this?”

     “The day she showed up on
the back porch.” She turned to bring him his coffee and hesitated ever so
briefly, seeing him sitting there that way, his eyes on her every move. “He was
pretty pissed I hadn’t told him sooner.” She handed over the mug, making sure
not to let her fingers brush his. “He’ll be even more pissed when he finds out
we’re hiding more information from him.”

     “You worried about upsetting
Matt?”

     She detected the
jealously and it elated her.
Stupid!
She chastised herself.
Stupid!
“Not as long as I’m not breaking any laws and will get thrown in jail. I’ve no
intention of keeping a cot in a jail cell warm. Katy did enough of that for the
both of us.”

     The law thing was iffy
and he knew it. “As far as he’s concerned you don’t know about the blackmail.”

     “Blackmail,” she repeated
quietly. “Such an ugly word.”

     “An even uglier deed,” JD
told her, sipping his coffee. He sighed. “That’s not what you wanted to tell me
though, is it?”

     “No.” Leaning back
against the counter she held her own coffee mug between the two of them like a
shield. “Matt told me something last night which honestly has me a little
worried. He told me that Grady Summers has disappeared.”

     JD’s hand froze with the
mug partway to the table. A coldness settled over his features and his lips
thinned. “Grady,” he ground out between clenched teeth. “What could he have to
do with any of this?”

     “That’s what I’m
wondering.”

     “If he’s back, if he has
anything to do with this, he has more balls than he has brains.”

     “I think we established
that fact a lot of years ago. Matt seems to think maybe Grady and Katy were
working together.”

     “What do you think,
Lizzie?”

     She shook her head and
shrugged helplessly. “I wouldn’t think Katy would have anything to do with him.
But I can’t swear to it. I mean, she did some pretty stupid things when it came
to making a few bucks. And she made this sound like a big score for her. She
might have worked with Grady if the price was right.”

     “Would a quarter of a
million dollars make her lower her already slithering standards?” Suddenly the
coffee tasted bitter. He set the cup down carefully.

     “A quarter… Oh. God.”

     He nodded. “Is she still
out of it?”

     “Yes. I called this
morning. There’s been no change.”

     “And Matt hasn’t found
any trace of where she might have been left after she was attacked?”

     “None that he’s told me
about.”

     JD rose. “Then our ride
today will serve a dual purpose.”

     “If the police couldn’t
find where she came from what makes you think we can?”

     He shrugged. “Maybe dumb
luck will prevail. In any event, I want to look around.”

     “And if we find
something?” she wanted to know.

     “If we find something
we’ll figure out our next move from there.”