The Outcast tp-3

by Beverly Barton

  "I want you to come to Newell, today, and meet us at the cottage. We have to form some sort of strategy. Reece is confused and not thinking straight or he never would have come back here. A woman at the motel recognized him and called the sheriff this morning."

  "What motel?" Sam asked.

  "The motel where Reece and I stayed last night."

  "My God, Elizabeth, tell me you're not sleeping with that man!"

  "I'm not sleeping with Reece." She grinned, remembering waking this morning in Reece's arms. "Well, I did sleep with him last night, but-"

  "I'll kill him!"

  "Calm down, Sam. We just shared the same bed. I'm still as pure as the driven snow."

  "This is no joking matter. Landry may not have killed his father, but he's no saint. As a matter of fact, he's a real bad boy and has the reputation to prove it."

  Elizabeth sighed. Sam should know better than to try to convince her to do anything she didn't want to do. "I'm not leaving him."

  "What's going on, Elizabeth? Really?"

  "I think I may be falling in love with Reece."

  Sam groaned. "Do you think he loves you?"

  "No," Elizabeth admitted. "Reece doesn't know what love is, but he will. He needs me, Sam. Even Aunt Margaret says I'm his only hope, that no one else can save him from himself."

  "Why do you need Aunt Margaret to read Landry's mind, to see into his future? Isn't your crystal ball working?"

  "Now who's trying to be funny?" Elizabeth asked. "I can't see into Reece's future. I haven't picked up any images about what's going to happen to him. And I told you I can't get inside his head, except every once in a while. When he lets me."

  "Well, I'll be damned. A mind you can't read and a future you can't predict. You really are taking him on faith, aren't you?"

  "I care so much about Reece, about what happens to him. He's lived a very hard life. He deserves some happiness."

  "Look, kiddo, you've got yourself involved in this man's problems and you're sexually attracted to him. But don't just assume you're falling in love with him." Sam cleared his throat. "Sexual attraction isn't love, and neither is caring about someone. You could easily be mistaking your desire to set things right in Landry's life with love."

  "I know." Elizabeth realized far better than Sam did that she was totally confused where her feelings for Reece Landry were concerned. "That's why I said that I think I'm failing in love with him. I've never been in love before, and I'm not sure."

  "Take things slow and easy."

  "Sam, please fly out of Atlanta as soon as you can. We really need your help. I'll give you the directions to the cottage."

  "Even if Landry is innocent, we may not be able to prove it," Sam told her. "Have you ever considered that possibility? Are you willing to stay on the run for the rest of your life?"

  "Reece is innocent, and together the three of us are going to prove it."

  "Have you told Landry that you're involving me in this, that I'm coming to Newell?"

  "No, not yet. Why?"

  "Because he may not like the idea of me trying to help him," Sam said. "I don't think Landry trusts me any more than I trust him."

  "Well, that's plain stupid. You trust me and Reece trusts me, and I trust both of you, so it stands to reason that the two of you should trust each other."

  "Yeah, sure. Now give me the directions to that summer house."

  Elizabeth gave him the details and wished him a safe trip.

  "Kiddo, you be careful."

  "I will, Sam. I promise."

  She replaced the telephone slowly, her hand lingering on the cool plastic. She'd loved Sam all her life. He was her brother, her uncle, her father figure and her friend. She wanted Sam to like Reece, to trust him. And she wanted Reece to feel the same way about Sam.

  Reece paced back and forth on the front porch of the Burtons' summer house, the February sun warming him as surely as the winter wind chilled him. Where the hell is she? he wondered. She'd had more than enough time to pick up a few supplies and get to the cottage. What if the sheriff had picked her up? What if she'd been in an accident? What if she'd changed her mind and decided not to join him?

  If she had any sense at all, she was on her way back to Sequana Falls and as far away from him as she could get. In the cold light of day she might have realized what a mistake she'd made following a fugitive, a man balanced between life and death.

  A hard knot formed in his gut. He slammed his fists down on the pristine white wooden banister surrounding the porch. Dammit, he didn't want to care whether she was on her way to him or on her way back to Sequana Falls. He didn't want it to matter, but it did. There was something addictive about Elizabeth Mallory, about the way she looked at him, the way she put her strong arms around him, the way she said his name. In less than a week she'd gotten under his skin. She'd made him want her near. No other woman had ever done that.

  Reece glanced up at the blue-gray sky, heavy white clouds floating past, the sun noonday high. In the distance he heard a car. His heartbeat accelerated. Maybe it was Elizabeth; maybe it was the sheriff. He went inside the cottage, positioning himself beside one of the huge front windows, and waited for the car's approach. Peering around the side of the window, he saw the black '65 Thunderbird round the curve in the dirt road.

  Elizabeth! She'd come to him. She hadn't deserted him. A spiral of sweet, unadulterated joy sprang up inside him and spread through his body and mind, and even invaded his heart.

  Swinging open the front door, he rushed out onto the porch, but stopped himself from running into the yard to meet her. His heartbeat roared in his ears. Excitement raced along his nerve endings.

  He wasn't alone.

  Elizabeth flung open the car door, stepped outside and waved at Reece. Dear Lord, he was so handsome, so big and virile and utterly beautiful standing there on the gingerbread-trimmed porch, Sam's old jeans clinging to his lean, muscled hips and legs. She wanted to run to him, throw her arms around him and tell him how glad she was to be with him.

  Did she love Reece Landry, a man she'd met less than a week ago, yet a man she'd known in her heart for months? Her feelings for Reece were complicated, her empathy for him, her desire to help him and the sexual attraction she felt all mixed together. She knew one thing for certain-she had never felt about another man the way she felt about Reece, and the intensity of those feelings frightened her.

  Reece headed straight for her. "I was beginning to wonder if you'd come to your senses and gone back to Sequana Falls."

  For one brief instant Elizabeth felt Reece's fear-he'd been afraid that she had left him. Swallowing down the overwhelming emotions choking her, Elizabeth smiled, secure in her knowledge that, despite how much Reece protested, he truly wanted her at his side.

  "It took a while to get the supplies. The checker was talkative. And a highway patrolman came in the store and they started discussing you and your second escape."

  Reaching inside the car, Elizabeth picked up a grocery sack and handed it to Reece. "Can you carry two?" she asked.

  Nodding, he accepted the second sack. Elizabeth took the third and they walked toward the cottage. She glanced around, taking in the two-story white frame house with dark green shutters and roof. A wraparound porch, graced with carved banisters, circled the house.

  "Why did you decide to come here instead of your father's hunting lodge?" Elizabeth asked, wondering who owned this lovely summer cottage.

  "Flossie pointed out that the sheriff might have the hunting lodge under surveillance, since Kenny would alert them that I knew how to locate the lodge."

  "You spent time with your father at his hunting lodge?"

  "Yeah. Once. B.K. liked roughing it, liked hunting. He took Kenny and me up to his lodge to do some hunting last year." Reece led Elizabeth up the porch and inside the house.

  Just as she had suspected, the interior had been perfectly decorated by someone with good taste and money. Pastel, spring colors dominated the living room. Fr
agile lace curtains had been pulled back to expose the row of French windows facing the front porch. Sturdy white wicker furniture held thick cushions and pillows covered in blue, rose and cream floral prints. A brass screen stood in front of the fireplace, which had been painted a pale cream and was adorned with a simple wooden mantel. A cheerful fire burned brightly in the fireplace.

  Elizabeth followed Reece into the kitchen, an open area adjacent to the living room. The stainless steel appliances were modern and matched the sink and countertops. White hexagonal tiles covered the floor and glass-fronted white cabinets lined the walls. "I didn't realize that you ever socialized with your father and his family."

  Reece helped Elizabeth unsack the supplies and place them in the empty cupboards, storing the beer and colas in the double-wide refrigerator.

  "I didn't socialize with the family. Not really. I was never invited to their house, but B.K. saw to it that I attended some of the same social functions." Reece retrieved one of the beer bottles, snapping the lid with a decorative metallic opener attached to the side of the refrigerator. "The hunting trip wasn't socializing. It was a contest B.K. contrived to see which one of his sons was as rough and tough and mean as he was."

  Elizabeth watched Reece put the beer bottle to his lips and pour the liquid into his mouth. "Are you saying that your father deliberately encouraged a rivalry between you and his other son?"

  After downing a third of the beer, Reece set the bottle on the counter and wiped his mouth. "I'm saying that B. K. Stanton's legitimate son was a disappointment to him. Kenny lived the good life. Never had to get his hands dirty. He's a spoiled, weak mama's boy."

  "Everything you're not."

  "Everything that B.K. and Alice Stanton's wealth and social positions made him, and yet, he wasn't what B.K. wanted." Looking toward the front of the cottage, Reece gazed out the windows. "Are your bags in the trunk of your car?"

  Elizabeth nodded. When Reece walked past her, she reached out, laying her hand on his chest. "Your father discovered that you were more of a man than his other son, is that it? He found that you possessed the qualities he admired, the qualities he couldn't find in Kenny."

  Reece glanced down at her hand. "Yeah. I'm the exact opposite of my big brother. And our father finally saw how he could use those differences to his advantage. He thought that if he threw me up in Kenny's face often enough, Kenny would eventually grow a backbone and become the son B.K. wanted." Reece walked away from Elizabeth and out onto the porch.

  A stinging warmth of pain spread through her when she realized how deeply Reece had been affected by his father's manipulation. She met him at the door when he returned with her bags.

  "There is one bedroom downstairs and two upstairs. They're all pretty much the same. I'll put your bag in here." Opening the door to the downstairs bedroom, Reece walked in, tossed the bag on the old iron bed and turned quickly, his body colliding with Elizabeth's. He grabbed her by the shoulders to steady her.

  "Looks like we won't need to share a bed tonight," she said. The memory of waking in the early-morning hours to find herself snuggled into Reece's arms warmed Elizabeth with the hope of what lay ahead for them.

  "Not unless you ask me real nice," he said.

  "Oh?"

  Reece laughed. "I'll have to hunt up some more firewood, since our only source of heat is the fireplace. There used to be some electrical heaters the Burtons kept for cool autumn nights, but since they use this place mostly in the summer, I don't think they keep the heaters around anymore. If you get cold in the night, you can always come get in bed with me."

  "I'll keep that in mind." She smiled, trying to imitate his jesting. But talking about sharing a bed with Reece reminded her just how much she had liked awakening in his arms this morning. Reece was a virile man, and if they shared a bed again, he would probably expect them to have sex. Was she ready for such an important step in their relationship? More importantly, was Reece ready?

  "Did you have any problems finding this place?" Reece asked.

  "No problems. Flossie's instructions were perfect."

  "The sheriff didn't try to stop you or question you, did he?"

  "I left before they gave up searching the motel for you."

  Reece turned toward the fireplace, warming his hands. He'd thought twice about building a fire in the fireplace, since a helicopter might spot the smoke, but he'd been listening to news on the radio and there had been no mention of a search outside Newell. Roadblocks had been set up and a manhunt begun, but the law figured Reece Landry was either on his way out of town and they'd catch him at a roadblock or that he was hiding out in one of his old haunts and a door-to-door search might reveal his whereabouts. The police had no reason to come snooping around Spruce Pine, no reason to connect him with Tracy Burton Stanton's parents or their summer house.

  "Lizzie, you shouldn't be here with me. You shouldn't be involved in this."

  "I thought we'd already settled that argument once and for all," Elizabeth said. "I'm staying and that's all there is to it."

  "I'm no good, Elizabeth." Reece kept his back to her, his focus on the fire in front of him. "If you stay with me, I could get you killed, or at the very least, break your heart."

  Elizabeth refused to acknowledge the possibility that Reece was right. Together they would prove Reece's innocence and come through this nightmare. And she would save Reece, save him from himself. If he broke her heart in the process, she would survive.

  "Are you hungry?" she asked. "I'm starving. I haven't had a bite to eat since I stopped for a hamburger on the way to Newell yesterday."

  Reece slapped his hands against his hips, then rubbed them up and down his thighs. He turned to face her. "Yeah, sure. I'm hungry."

  "Let's fix lunch. I can open a can of tomato soup and make some grilled cheese sandwiches."

  "I'll do the soup," Reece said. "You fix the sandwiches."

  Elizabeth spread out the bread, cheese and margarine on the stainless steel counter. "Whose place is this, anyway?"

  "It belongs to Albert and Edna Burton." Reece placed the can of soup under the can opener.

  "How do you know these people?"

  "What difference does it make?"

  "Just curious, I guess." Elizabeth spread margarine on the bread. "I have a feeling you're hiding something from me."

  Reece jerked a metal pot from a bottom cupboard. "I know the Burtons' daughter."

  "Is she one of your old girlfriends?"

  "No." Reece poured the soup into the pot, then filled the empty can with water and added it to the mixture.

  "Why are you being so secretive?" Elizabeth laid the sliced cheese on the bread.

  Reece set the soup pot on the stove, adjusted the heat and turned to face Elizabeth. "Albert and Edna Burton's daughter married Kenny Stanton."

  "This house belongs to your sister-in-law's parents?"

  "Yeah."

  "How did you know about this place? Did Flossie tell you about it?" Elizabeth remembered what Carolyn, the checkout clerk at the minimart, had said about Tracy Stanton accusing Reece of coming on to her hot and heavy. Had Reece had an affair with his brother's wife? Had they shared a secret rendezvous at her parents' summer house?

  "Like I told you, Flossie had entertained Albert Burton and some of his friends out here when Mrs. Burton was otherwise occupied."

  Reece handed Elizabeth a frying pan he'd pulled out of the cupboard where the cooking utensils were stored.

  "What about you? Obviously you know your way around this kitchen. You've been here before, haven't you? You've been here with Tracy Stanton."

  "I checked the kitchen out while I was waiting for you. As a matter of fact, I gave the whole house a once-over." Reece placed his hands on Elizabeth's shoulders. She laid the sandwiches in the skillet and placed the skillet on the stove.

  "What kind of relationship do you have with your brother's wife?"

  "I don't have a relationship with Tracy."

  "Then why did s
he make the statement at your trial that you were after her, and I quote, 'hot and heavy'?"

  "Because she was still angry with me for turning her down." Reece released Elizabeth's shoulders. "Tracy was after me hot and heavy. She invited me up here to her parents' summer house one weekend over a year ago."

  "You met her here?"

  "Yeah. I was curious. I knew what she wanted, and I have to admit that the idea of cuckolding Kenny tempted me."

  "What happened?"

  "We kissed." Reece closed his eyes, remembering how close he'd come to carrying his brother's wife to bed. "We both got pretty steamed up, but then I put a stop to things. Tracy Burton Stanton might have money and education and generations of blue-blooded breeding, but I realized that she wasn't any different from the girls who used to work for Flossie." Reece laughed, the sound a mirthless grunt. "The only difference was she gave it away for free."

  "You didn't make love to Tracy Stanton?"

  "I don't make love to women," Reece said. "I have sex with them. But I didn't have sex with Tracy."

  "I'm glad," Elizabeth said. "I'm very glad."

  "Yeah? Well, funny thing is, Lizzie, so am I."

  Thirty minutes later Elizabeth and Reece sat at the small kitchen table, an oak antique flanked by four Windsor chairs, and sipped on second cups of coffee and nibbled on oatmeal raisin cookies.

  "One of the reasons it took me a while to get here is that I stopped at a pay phone and called Sam." Elizabeth glanced at Reece. He stared at her, his amber eyes void of any emotion.

  "Even when you're on the run with another man, you still have to check in with Dundee?" Reece set down his cup with a resounding thud, warm coffee spilling out onto the tabletop. "What sort of hold does that guy have over you?"

  Elizabeth stared at Reece in disbelief. He was jealous. Reece was jealous of Sam. She suppressed her laughter. "Sam's family. He's been like a big brother to me most of my life." She reached across the table, placing her hand atop Reece's fist. "Sam was a DEA agent for years, then something happened that made him want out, and he formed his own private security agency in Atlanta. He knows a lot about investigating people and protecting them."