Caleb reached down to her ankle. The seat belt had tangled around her. He reached for the knife in his pocket, thankful his dad had passed on the tradition to him. Nina’s hand gripped his shoulder.
Then that grip loosened altogether.
He sawed through the belt with added ferocity. When it gave he grabbed her and pushed off the top of the car for the second time. Again, he soared through the water.
Again, the person he was holding wasn’t moving.
Stay with me, Nina.
Please.
* * *
RAIN.
Nina heard it before she saw it.
“Oh! You’re waking up!”
Nina’s eyelids felt woefully heavy. They fought her and gravity as she tried to open them. By the time she did the voice was much closer—one she didn’t recognize but was, at the same time, familiar.
“Hi there,” said the woman. She wore a floral-patterned dress with a blazer and had a braid running over her shoulder. Her hair was an exact match for Caleb’s, just as her smile was. A small but noticeable scar ran across her left cheekbone.
“You’re Madi,” Nina guessed. The woman nodded.
“The best of the siblings, in my opinion,” she joked. “But I can talk more about that later. Right now I bet my last dollar that you have some questions. First, though, how are you feeling? What’s the last thing you remember?”
Nina blinked a few times as if the movement could pull out her memories. They came slowly.
“I was in the car at the bottom of the river,” she started. “Declan told me to wait until the water got to our chins or flooded the inside to try and open the door and leave him, but I told him no.” Madi’s expression softened. “I got the door open and was going to push him out with me.” Nina remembered the seat belt then. She glanced down at her ankle. All she saw were white sheets. She realized with a start that she was in the hospital. “When I was trying to get Declan out I got caught in the seat belt. It—it startled me and I lost some of the breath I was holding. Then I saw Caleb.” Madi’s pleasant smile took on an unmistakable mask of pride. “I told him to take Declan up. Then I remember he came back. Then I couldn’t breathe.”
Madi reached out and patted Nina’s hand with reassurance.
“From what I’ve been told, Caleb pulled you out and gave you CPR on the riverbank after you surfaced. You coughed up water and started breathing again but had a hard time waking up.” Madi motioned around the room. “The doctor said it was exhaustion. From what I was told, you had quite an intense past few days.”
Nina nodded. Adrenaline and stress had been hard enough. Add in drowning and she could see how her body decided to take a sabbatical.
“How’s Declan?” Nina asked, guilt pooling in her stomach. She should have asked about him first.
Madi’s smile broke a little but she answered without pause.
“It was very touch-and-go at the beginning but he’s hanging in there,” she said. “He might not be a part of our triplet bond but I can feel it in my bones that he’ll come through this. If there was one thing he got from our father it’s an unwavering stubbornness.”
Nina felt a weight lift in relief. Then she was looking around the room for his brother. Madi seemed to pick up on it. Her smile was whole again.
“It was hard to get Caleb to leave your side,” she offered. “But he knew your father would have questions so he and Des went to go get him from the airport.”
Nina almost sat all the way up.
“My dad?”
Madi nodded.
“Let this be the first lesson you learn about life on the ranch—when one of us gets hurt, we all get hurt. We’re all family. Nothing stops us from making sure we’re all okay. That includes calling in dads when their only child gets targeted by a madman.”
Days ago Nina would have argued, would have groaned at the idea, but now she found she didn’t have the heart to do it. In fact, she realized a visit from her dad, even with the stress of what had happened attached, might do her heart some good. She’d been living so long with it locked up, it sure needed some fresh air. Though mention of a madman brought her to the next series of questions.
“What happened to Jeremy?”
This time Madi hesitated.
“I’ll give you the bare bones of what I know but the rest you should get from Caleb. I think he’s still putting it together. But what I do know is that Jeremy was killed in the firefight next to the river. Caleb and Jazz defended themselves and then immediately went into the water.”
Nina didn’t know how to feel about Jeremy’s death. Relief wasn’t the right word; sadness wasn’t either. It was something she would, no doubt, think about for a long time to come.
“Now that we got that out of the way, I have to ask you a personal question,” Madi continued. “If that’s alright with you.”
Nina found herself nodding. She liked Madi already.
“So, Mom told me in the hallway before Caleb left that she thinks you two have kissed and I am trying my hardest not to be nosy but—” Madi stopped mid-thought and busted out laughing. Nina’s cheeks were warm and she was smiling like a schoolgirl. “Just a word of advice—when this all settles down and Mom comes at you with relationship questions, you might want to work on your poker face.”
Nina couldn’t help it. She laughed.
Chapter Twenty-Two
Nina found him at the fence line closest to where his house used to be. His horse, Ax, was roaming next to him while the man sat on the posts, gaze sweeping over the debris that used to be his home. Nina felt her heart squeeze. Part of it was sympathy for the man, most of it was just because of the man in general.
“Hey there,” she called. Caleb looked over his shoulder and graced her with one of his famous smiles. He started to get down but Nina shook her head. “I’ll join you.”
She set the big bag she’d been carrying against the wooden fence as he helped her up and over the top. For a moment they were quiet. Nina took in a deep, cleansing breath and let it out. Caleb was still smiling. She still marveled over how their silence was always companionable.
“I just came back from dropping Dad off at the airport,” she said after a while. “He wanted me to thank you again for all the hospitality you’ve shown him the last week. And for the whole saving my life thing again.”
Caleb chuckled.
“I was just paying off a life-saving debt I owed you,” he teased. “It’s what any good cowboy would do.”
Nina laughed as he looped his arm around her shoulders and pulled her closer.
It had been a week since Nina had woken up in the hospital. In that time she’d seen less of Caleb than she had the week they had basically lived together. Between Declan’s condition, dealing with the investigation and Nina’s father wanting to spend every second with her, they’d only managed to snag a few minutes here and there to talk. Now things were starting to settle again, slowly but surely. Caleb had called her that morning, telling her he’d be at his house around lunch to finally talk about what had happened.
She couldn’t deny the idea had been daunting, but now, in the sunshine and the embrace of a charming man, it felt easier.
Caleb must have sensed that, too. He dove in.
“We finally talked to Jay yesterday. The doctor said he’d recover, which seemed to have made him decide he needs to cooperate with us since he’s not going anywhere anytime soon and neither are we. Turns out Jeremy approached him in a bar in town where they became fast friends and roommates. Jeremy saw the anger in Jay and exploited it.”
“About the house fire when he was younger?”
Caleb nodded.
“That fire was an accident, but when they couldn’t afford to rebuild and then had to move, Jay blamed the town for it. The only person he claimed showed them any kindness was Delores when she wrote the
article. After that he became obsessed with her. He said he believed that when her stories were above-the-fold it was her way of showing him what was most important to the town. That way he knew what to take from it to make everyone here hurt like he and his mother had. The fire at the restaurant and Gloria’s were his way of trying to find a method he enjoyed using to start the fires. But then Delores moved away and he became depressed. He found a friend in Jeremy and even found an apartment near Delores when she came back. Eventually Jay realized that kerosene was his preferred method when he tested it out on the Overlook Pass.”
“But what about the fire at your house?” Nina asked. “Fireworks started it.”
Caleb ran a hand through his hair.
“This is where it starts to get bananas. Jeremy set the fire at the Gentrys’ and the fire at my house while he tasked Jay with following you and taking pictures. Jay said Jeremy told him it would give both of them airtight alibis if the cops ever came looking. Jeremy apparently wasn’t that great at using kerosene, though, and burned his arm pretty badly. That’s why he switched it up to fireworks on my place. They were easier.”
“How does Daniel Covington fit into this, then? What was his role?”
Caleb sighed.
“I think Jeremy was using him as a patsy.” He shrugged. “It could have worked, I suppose, had Delores not spooked Daniel into going to confront Jay. He found the kerosene. He already knew about the fireworks and realized that Jeremy was actually targeting you and not just doing some elaborate, petty prank. Daniel went home to pack a bag, worried about retribution, and was ambushed by Jeremy. Jeremy figured out it was Delores who had gotten Daniel to question things and went after her. To Jay that was basically sacrilegious. He was okay with Jeremy dating Delores as a way of keeping her close, but hurting her? Jay wasn’t having any of that.”
“So that’s why he came to get me that day.” She realized the truth. Caleb nodded.
“He said he just needed to hide you and use you as leverage so Jeremy would leave Delores alone.”
“So who tried to grab me in the barn? Who took all the pictures?”
Caleb’s jaw clenched.
“Jeremy took the pictures and Jay was the one who grabbed you. But, according to Jay, it was only meant to scare you. The plan wasn’t to actually take you then. Jeremy didn’t want to be the one to do it on the off chance you saw him. He would have had a hard time denying it was him behind everything, given your past. The same with the picture taken inside your apartment. Jay freely admitted he picked the lock after Jeremy taught him how.”
“Jeremy put so much effort into everything he did,” she said. “I wished he would have used that same drive for putting good out into the world instead.”
Nina leaned into Caleb’s side and shook her head.
“This whole thing is bananas.”
Caleb chuckled. It rumbled through his body and against hers.
“It is definitely not what normally what happens here at the end of Winding Road, never mind Overlook as a whole.”
They fell into another small but comfortable silence. The smell of his cologne tickled her senses. It also made her wish they were somewhere more private. She still hadn’t properly thanked him for saving her life. Maybe later she could swing it. Despite loving the main house, he’d already complained about living under the same roof as he had growing up while his house was being rebuilt. Now that Nina’s father was out of the Retreat, she had a feeling that Caleb might be spending more time there.
Not that she minded at all.
“So, are you going to tell me what’s in that big bag you got next to your boots or am I going to have to grab it and run?”
Nina gave a genuine laugh. She’d forgotten she even had it. Leaving his embrace she jumped off the fence and handed it over.
“Desmond and Declan couldn’t agree on one color so I decided to veto both of their choices. I thought this just screamed Detective Cowboy.”
Caleb pulled out the ivory cowboy hat with a look of surprise that made Nina proud. She’d asked his brothers to keep it a secret when visiting Declan in the hospital. The eldest Nash sibling looked rough but was improving. He had enough sass in him to argue with Desmond as they suggested which hat to get Caleb. In the end she’d had to excuse herself while the two of them launched into one of their silly sibling squabbles, as Madi had affectionately called them.
Caleb ran his hand across the brim of the hat. His smile grew. He put it on.
“I love it,” he said simply.
“It definitely works for you.”
Caleb laughed and was off the fence in a second flat. He picked Nina up and spun her around. It felt undeniably cheesy and yet unimaginably perfect.
“I can wear it to the Retreat’s grand opening party,” he exclaimed, all giddy like a child. The party was the next day. After the news had gotten hold of what had forced the Nash family to keep the Wild Iris Retreat closed a little longer, guests had called left and right to rebook. None were angry, which meant Nina still had a job. Not that she wanted it for the same reason she’d had when she accepted it in the first place. “I’ve even been practicing my dance moves a little bit. I have to admit, you might be more than a little impressed by this fancy-hat-wearing date of yours.”
Nina laughed as he twirled her with enthusiasm. Then she was back in his arms. Those true-blue eyes searched her face. He must have liked what he found.
Caleb pulled Nina in for a kiss that she felt throughout her entire body and soul.
Right then and there Nina knew she’d never want that life under the radar again. Not as long as Caleb was by her side.
He helped her back over the fence and across to his horse. Nina didn’t even think to worry when he extended his hand out to her once he was in the saddle.
Instead she took it with a smile, put her foot in the stirrup and let the cowboy and momentum do the rest.
* * *
Look for the next book in Tyler Anne Snell’s
Winding Road Redemption miniseries,
Credible Alibi, next month!
Keep reading for an excerpt from Identical Stranger by Alice Sharpe.
Join Harlequin My Rewards today and earn a FREE ebook!
Click here to Join Harlequin My Rewards
http://www.harlequin.com/myrewards.html?mt=loyalty&cmpid=EBOOBPBPA201602010003
We hope you enjoyed this Harlequin Intrigue story.
You crave excitement! Harlequin Intrigue stories deal in serious romantic suspense, keeping you on the edge of your seat as resourceful, true-to-life women and strong, fearless men fight for survival.
Enjoy six new stories from Harlequin Intrigue every month!
Connect with us on Harlequin.com for info on our new releases, access to exclusive offers, free online reads and much more!
Other ways to keep in touch:
Harlequin.com/newsletters
Facebook.com/HarlequinBooks
Twitter.com/HarlequinBooks
HarlequinBlog.com
Join Harlequin My Rewards and reward the book lover in you!
Earn points for every Harlequin print and ebook you buy, wherever and whenever you shop.
Turn your points into FREE BOOKS of your choice
OR
EXCLUSIVE GIFTS from your favorite authors or series.
Click here to join for FREE
Or visit us online to register at
www.HarlequinMyRewards.com
Harlequin My Rewards is a free program (no fees) without any commitments or obligations.
Identical Stranger
by Alice Sharpe
Chapter One
Sophie Sparrow sat very still, the sound of rain hitting the window the only noise in the room. As a young girl, she’d imagined what this moment would feel like. Boy, had she been wrong.
; “What do you say?” Danny Privet asked as he knelt on bended knee by her side. A glittering diamond ring sparkled in his hand.
She gulped. When he’d asked to come by this Saturday morning, she’d assumed they would go out to brunch. She had not even imagined this. “Danny, I—”
“Go on, say yes,” Sophie’s mother prompted from her self-imposed semipermanent residence in a recliner located four feet to Sophie’s left.
Danny’s head swiveled to her mother and then back to Sophie. “If you’re worried about having to move to Seattle, don’t. I’ve secured a position here in Portland. My new job starts in two weeks.”
“You quit your job! But what’s the rush?” Sophie whispered as she tried to make an intimate moment out of a public one. Her long straight hair fell forward if she leaned her head just so, creating an impromptu curtain between her mother and herself where she could study Danny in privacy. Why had he chosen to propose now? What was going on?
For a second, his soft gray eyes held an unfamiliar edge. She’d always wondered how anyone as agreeable as he was could make it as an attorney, how he could defend a client in a court of law, but this new glimpse into his character suggested he possessed the passion a courtroom would require. “Why should we wait?” he responded. “I’ve known you were the right woman for me since the minute I saw you in that grocery store. Why not get married now?”
“Now?”
“Well, I know how important a wedding is to you ladies. Plan whatever you want, I’ll pay for it, just make sure we tie the knot by Wednesday because Thursday morning, we leave for Hawaii! I remember you mentioned wanting to go there. I’ve already bought the tickets and made all the arrangements. It’ll be a honeymoon you’ll never forget!”
Sophie would have gulped again if her throat wasn’t so dry. She felt like a contestant on a game show, different curtains lifting to reveal unexpected—and in this case, unwanted—surprises. “Oh, Danny, you shouldn’t have—”
Reining In Trouble (Winding Road Redemption Book 1) Page 19
