Lone Star Lonely (5 page)

“I’ll bring you a copy of Joseph’s will this
afternoon, Ranger Evans,” Hawkins was saying. “I only wish my
memory was better, so I could have simply told you what was in it.
But it has been some time since I’ve examined that particular
document.”

The ranger looked skeptical. “Don’t leave
town, Miz Cowan,” he said. “We’ll be wanting to talk to you again
real soon.”

“I can hardly wait,” she said, her words
cool, icy, despite the heat in the room. Surprising, that sharp
tone, coming from a woman who looked as wrung out as she did. Maybe
she didn’t realize that her disguise had melted away. Maybe she
thought she still looked the part. But she didn’t. And the bite to
her words got lost in the vulnerability of her face.

Adam moved toward her, responding to that
vulnerability the way he always had.

She held up a hand and stopped him cold. “No.
Madden is driving me home. Thank you both for coming and waiting
and…everything. But I’ll be fine.”

Right. And pigs would fly. Adam spoke without
forethought. “You can’t seriously think I’m going to…we’re going to
let you go back to that mausoleum alone,” he said.

She turned her frosty gaze on him—or tried
to. But it wasn’t quite all snow and ice anymore. It was
exhaustion, emotional and physical. And fear and uncertainty. Maybe
even a hint of desperation. And for the first time, Adam thought
maybe the rest of it was all just one big act. What if it was? Not
just now, but all the time? What if she hadn’t really changed at
all deep down inside, underneath the polish and the ice?

“That’s exactly what I think,” she said in
answer to his question. “I haven’t been charged with anything, and
I have every right to go home if I want to.”

“Not alone.”

She met his gaze, held it. Hers wavered
first, and she lowered her head. “Alone is something I need right
now. Try to understand that, would you, Adam? I’ve just lost my
husband.”

The barb sank deep. Like a hot brand in his
chest. He didn’t think he flinched, but he might have. Just for a
moment he let those words hurt. But the hurt didn’t stop him from
replying, logically, calmly. “The killer could come back.”

“He’s right, Kirsten,” Garrett interjected.
“You’re the only one who saw him.”

“I couldn’t identify him if he was standing
in front of me,” she said. “I told you, he had a mask…and the
police have his gun. I’ll be perfectly safe.”

“You’re right,” Adam said. “You will.”

Garrett searched his face. So did Kirsten.
But he said no more. He just tipped his hat her way and headed out
of the place.

Kirsten didn’t like it. She mulled over
Adam’s strange behavior all the way back to Quinn. But as she rode
beside Madden Hawkins in the comfortable leather seat of his car,
she had no idea what to make of it. She only knew Adam was up to
something, and she didn’t like it. She’d ripped the man’s life to
shreds twice now. For crying out loud, hadn’t he had enough? Well,
he wasn’t going to get dragged into this mess. He wasn’t. She
wouldn’t let him. Not this time.

“I have something to tell you,” the aging
attorney said softly. “And I’m afraid it isn’t good news,
Kirsten.”

Hawkins drove too slowly. Then again, driving
fast had been one bad habit she’d broken long ago. Not in time,
though. Maybe creeping home at a snail’s pace was some
not-so-subtle reminder from the great beyond of what had gotten her
into this nightmare to begin with. A reminder that if she did wind
up serving a life sentence for murder, it would be no more than she
deserved.

God, the irony was almost laughable.

“Kirsten?”

“Yes.” She turned in her seat to face the
older man. “I heard you. What is it?”

“It’s about…Joseph’s will.”

She almost sighed in relief. “Don’t worry,
Madden. I know he didn’t leave me anything. I honestly never
expected him to.”

His Adam’s apple swelled when he swallowed.
“I wish…that was true. Kirsten, I lied to the rangers back there. I
thought…well, I thought you might need some time. And that maybe
within a day or two, other clues might surface, clues pointing to
someone else. But I’m going to have to let them see Joseph’s will,
and I’m afraid that when they do….” His voice trailed off. He
focused on the road and shook his head slowly.

“When they do…what?”

“Joseph came to me a month ago…to change his
will.”

She blinked. “Change it…in what way?”

“He named you his sole heir. You get
everything, Kirsten. The estate. The holdings. All told, around
twenty-three million in assets, give or take—”

“That’s not possible.” She stared at Hawkins’
profile, the sagging skin under his jaw, the honest blue eyes.
“Madden, he wouldn’t…why the hell would he? He detested me!”

“He was a fool,” the lawyer said. “Maybe he
realized that, decided to try to make up for—”

“Bull! My God, it’s as if that bastard is
reaching out from beyond the grave. As if he’s trying to pull me
down with him.” She pressed her hands to her temples as tears stung
at her eyes. “When they see the will, they’ll have their motive,
won’t they, Madden? They’ll arrest me, charge me with murder. Won’t
they?”

He licked his lips nervously.
“Not…necessarily. The gun might provide evidence that someone else
was responsible for Joseph’s death. And the forensics team will
have gone over the house by now. They may have found something
there.” His words held little conviction.

Kirsten watched the mansion come into view
long before they neared the driveway, rising up on the horizon like
a dragon. And the gate, tall and iron and so pretentious with its
gothic
J
on one side and the matching C on the other. The
black gate was like a set of prison bars to her. The paved private
lane that wound through it and up to the house, a path of despair.
Even the tall, steep-roofed garage beside the place looked grim to
her embittered eyes. Room enough for Joseph’s small fleet of cars
in the bottom, and a huge, luxurious apartment for his driver on
the second floor. She ought to burn it all to the ground. She hated
this house. It had been no more than a glittering, gleaming prison
to her. She glanced again at Madden. “What do you think?” she
asked, for some reason driven to know. “Do you think I did
this—shot Joseph?”

“Of course not.”

But he said it too quickly. And she didn’t
think she believed him. Then she knew she didn’t when he added,
“But to tell you the truth, Kirsten, if you had, I wouldn’t blame
you for it.”

She closed her eyes. He thought she’d done
it. Not for the money, but because he knew what a bastard Joseph
had been. Most people knew that about him. So who the hell was
going to believe her?

Only one person that she could think of. And
she couldn’t depend on Adam Brand to help her through this.

Adam and Garrett crossed the wide front
porch, walked through the creaking screen door and were promptly
met by three pairs of curious eyes and a barrage of questions. Ben,
as big as Garrett, was typically quiet. His eyes spoke his concern
for his brother, and a big hand on Adam’s shoulder said he would
help if he could.

A long time ago, Ben and Penny, and Adam and
Kirsten had been a foursome. Inseparable. Things had changed. Adam
was still as close to his brother as ever, and he loved Ben’s wife,
Penny, like a sister. But Kirsten had become his worst enemy. Penny
still loved her, though. Ben, too, in his big, gentle way. Penny’s
eyes were red rimmed now, her voice soft.

“Is it true, Adam?” she asked. “Where is
Kirsten? I’ve been calling all day, but she’s not answering. Is she
okay?”

Adam looked at Garrett, sent him an unspoken
plea. He didn’t want to go over all this again. Not now.

“I’ll fill you all in,” Garrett said, not
letting him down. None of his brothers would ever let him down. If
there was one thing he could depend on, it was that simple fact.
Garrett sent Adam a nod, telling him to go on, do what he had to.
Adam had a feeling his brother already knew what that was.

Adam started across the room, heading for the
stairs as Garrett spoke. “Kirsten’s fine. Shaken, but fine. For
now. She might be a suspect in Cowan’s murder, though. She’s been
at the rangers’ station in El Paso most of the day, but she’s home
now and—”

“I’m going over there,” Penny
interrupted.

That stopped Adam in his tracks. He spun
around even before Garrett could speak. “I don’t want you going
anywhere near that place, Penny.”

“She’s my best friend, and she needs me.”

“And there’s a killer on the loose. Ben,
don’t let her go over there.”

Ben frowned at his brother but knew better
than to mistrust him. “Honey, if Adam thinks it’s dangerous….” he
began.

“Well, if it’s dangerous for me, then what
about Kirsten? Somebody ought to be over there watching out for
her. She shouldn’t even be there, for the love of heaven! I have to
go. She’ll listen to me.”

Ben stroked his wife’s hair. “Hey, slow it
down, will you? I lost you once, honey, and I’m damned well not
going to risk losing you again.” He pressed one hand to her
slightly expanded belly. “And you have the baby to think about now,
too.”

She pressed her lips together as Garrett and
Chelsea both chimed in, backing Ben up one hundred percent. “But
what about Kirsten?” she asked.

Adam sighed heavily. “I’ve got that covered,
hon.”

All three of them stared at him as if he’d
grown another head, while Garrett just sighed as if he’d been
expecting this.

“Adam, do you really think that’s the best
idea?” Ben asked. “One of us could probably handle watching out for
Kirsten for a few days while all this sorts itself out. I could go
over right now, and—”

“Right. Look, Ben, you have the martial arts
school and a pregnant wife. Garrett’s got the ranch to run, and
with just him and Elliot to do it, he can’t spare the time. Not to
mention his duties as sheriff. Wes is busy with the mares about to
foal, and Jessi and Lash are whooping it up with the big mouse in
Orlando. I’ll handle it.”

He turned again.

As he headed up the stairs, he heard Ben very
softly asking Garrett, “What the hell is up with him?”

“Your guess is as good as mine,” was
Garrett’s soft-spoken reply.

Then Chelsea sighed and whispered, “I
sometimes think you Brand men are awfully slow on the uptake. I’ve
gotta go call Jessi and tell her she was right all along. That
chapter really wasn’t over.”

Oh, but she was wrong, Adam thought. If she
was talking about the chapter in Adam’s life that involved a
relationship between him and Kirsten, she was dead wrong. He would
go over there, and he would watch over her whether she liked it or
not. Because he felt he ought to. Because if he got a phone call
tomorrow saying she’d been murdered in her sleep, he would have to
live with it, knowing he could have prevented it and hadn’t. And
because maybe this was the only way he would ever prove to himself
and to everyone else in this family—in this entire town—that he was
over her. Over her. Once and for all.

He’d finally figured out what his sorry mind
had been lacking all this time where Kirsten was concerned.
Closure. Maybe this was his chance to have it. Maybe in the process
of getting her out of this mess, he would have time to make her
answer the questions he’d never asked her. The questions he’d been
avoiding all this time. And to get that finality he needed to close
her out of his soul for good. And she would give him the answers,
too. Hell, she owed him that much. Yes, he thought. She owed
him.

Kirsten’s shaky grip on control broke down as
soon as she closed the door of the mansion on Madden and watched
him walking back to his car. The shaking came first. Then the
chills, and, finally, the tears. They were loud, and they were
ugly. But for once it didn’t matter. There was no one here to
witness her falling apart.