by Sharon Dunn
Moonlight illuminated part of her face as she turned toward him.
He stepped closer to where she stood running her hands along a horse’s back. Her long hair cascaded around her face.
“Craig has really had a turnaround. I don’t think we’ll have any more trouble with him,” she said.
“That’s good to hear.” Regret ate at his insides. “I’m sorry for that crack I made about kindness not working this morning.”
“But in my case, it didn’t. Is that what you were thinking?” A tinge of bitterness came into her voice.
He stopped and turned to face her, bracing himself for what he had to say. “I’ll be straight with you. I think you’re hiding something from me. The one thing I can’t deal with is deception.” He shifted his weight and stared off into the distance. “My wife cheated on me with my best friend. I had my suspicions, but when she said nothing was going on, I believed her.”
“Oh, Alex, I had no idea.” She reached out and cupped his arm just above the elbow.
Her touch made his knees wobbly. He pulled away. “So are you going to tell me why you’ve closed off a whole part of yourself?”
She tilted her head sideways. Her response was slow in coming. “I...I can’t.” He heard the anguish in her voice.
He started walking, and she followed alongside him. Both of them knew they had more to work out.
Old suspicions rose to the surface. He’d been straight with her. It hadn’t been easy to share why trust was such a huge issue with him. And she’d given him nothing in return. Maybe she was hiding from the law and that’s why she’d never open up to him. He hated himself for thinking it, but he was running out of plausible explanations and excuses. “Can you tell me one thing?”
“I’ll try.” The soft ringing tones of her voice were like music to him.
“Are you in some sort of criminal trouble?”
She shook her head. “No,” she said.
In his gut, he knew she was telling him the truth.
They walked for a while longer without saying anything. She crossed her arms over her body. “I should’ve grabbed a jacket.”
“Here, take mine.” He slipped out of his jean jacket and put it on her shoulders.
“Thank you.” She stopped walking and turned to face him. “I’m so grateful for all your kindness. Please don’t think I’m not.”
Without thinking, his hand went up to her cheek. She was afraid of something, and she wouldn’t or couldn’t tell him why. He pulled his hand away. “Sorry, I shouldn’t have done that.”
She grabbed his hand, the warmth of her touch sinking through his skin. “There can’t be anything between us.” She held on to his hand, squeezing it tight.
“We have to at least find a way to work together. Can we be friends?” He wanted so much more, but he’d take what he could get.
She tilted her head, eyes searching. He could feel the force of her gaze. He leaned in closer but caught himself. His hand fluttered over her face. She’d just said there couldn’t be anything between them. He needed to listen with his head and not his heart.
She put her hand over his where it rested on her cheek. “You know what I wish?”
“What?”
“I wish I’d met you at a different time and place.” Her voice filled with pain.
He shook his head, not understanding. “What would it matter?”
“I think your ex-wife was a fool to let you go. You’re a good man, Alex.” She pulled her hand away. “I want you to know that.” She turned and walked back to the camp.
Alex shook his head as confusion filled his mind. She’d said there couldn’t be anything between them and yet her body language told him the exact opposite. He had heard pain in her voice, not defensiveness. If he could unlock who she was and what she was running from, maybe things could be different.
* * *
Morgan stirred from a restless sleep in her tent. Her talk with Alex had her completely bent out of shape. She loved the stables, she loved working with the horses and the children, but there was no way she could keep from hurting Alex. He was relentless in his kindness and care for her and that only made it worse. Why couldn’t she have some crabby old curmudgeon for a boss?
She stared at the ceiling of her tent. Alex was the kind of man she would love for her father to meet. They would get along so well. Truth be told, if the circumstances were different, he was the kind of man she’d marry. The timing of meeting Alex was so wrong. None of this made sense. A warm tear drifted down her cheek.
She rolled over on her side and drifted off to sleep still in turmoil. She awoke to the sound of footsteps outside her tent. Someone could be getting up to go to the bathroom, but something about the way the footsteps had circled her tent put her on edge.
Her heartbeat sped up and she lay listening, tuned in to every little sound, the wind rushing through the brush and the horses whinnying in the distance. More footsteps, this time fainter and farther away, reached her ears. She pulled the sleeping bag tighter around her. As the camp fell silent again, she slowly relaxed and felt the heaviness of sleep return. Her last thoughts as she drifted off were of Alex and the risk connected with caring about him.
FOURTEEN
Morgan stared out the window of her cottage as Alex helped an owner load his horse into a trailer. They’d only been home from the trail ride a couple of days and several of the boarders had pulled out. Business must be down because of the competition.
She watched Alex make his way across the grounds, a look of raw determination on his face. She couldn’t help but think that the slump in his shoulders was because of the downturn in the business.
She stared down at the phone she held in her hand. Her telling him she was leaving wouldn’t make him any happier, but in the long run, it would keep his life and his heart safe. She dialed the Des Moines marshals’ office.
Brendan O’Toole’s voice came across the line. “Hi, Morgan. Is everything all right there?”
“Well, I’m not sure. I think someone was creeping around my tent when I was on the trail ride.” Morgan swallowed the lump in her throat. “Also, the situation here with Alex, my boss, has become complicated.”
“You haven’t said anything about being in witness protection, have you?”
“No, I just think it would be better if I got out of here. You said not to form attachments.” She turned again to look out the window. Alex was leading a horse toward the stable. “And I’ve...” And she had what? Fallen in love in Alex?
“We have that rule for a good reason. When you care about someone, you start to trust them.”
She found herself backpedaling, wondering if she had made the right choice. “Alex is trustworthy.”
“I’m sure he is, but all he has to do is say something about you to the wrong person. I’ve seen it happen before,” Brendan said. “Trust me, these people may not have found you yet, but they are looking. And we can’t dismiss what happened to you on the trail ride. I think relocation would be prudent.”
She pressed the phone harder against her ear. “I guess you’re right.” Her throat tightened even more as she remembered Serena’s warning. Caring about people meant they were in the line of fire.
“If this was an emergency situation, we’d take you in right away to a safe house. But because it isn’t, it will take us a week or so to set up the new identity and find a location for you.”
“I understand.” Her heart squeezed tight. This was not going to be easy. “I need time to say goodbye anyway.”
“I’ll be in touch with you as soon as we can set things up. I’ll let the St. Louis office know what’s going on, but I’ll be the one to do the transport.”
She hung up the phone. She pressed her hand against the glass of the window and closed her eyes.
&
nbsp; God, please don’t let Alex be too hurt by this.
It was the first prayer she had uttered since leaving Mexico. It didn’t make sense that she would find a place where she was happy and loved her work only to have it taken from her again. She’d grown attached to the children and Craig. But it was Alex that she truly would miss.
She opened her eyes at a gentle knock on her door. She strode across the floor and opened the door. Alex stood on her porch.
“Stephanie Bliss, Bluebell’s owner, has shown up unexpectedly.” Alex’s words were wrought with tension.
“Oh, yes, I remember her.” He could handle getting one person out on the trail, so she had a feeling he’d knocked on her door for moral support. “Why don’t I give you a hand?” The look of helplessness in Alex’s eyes told her this was not the time to tell him she was leaving.
She kept up with Alex as they strode across the grounds toward the stable. Morgan could hear Bluebell banging against her stall even before she saw her.
Stephanie stood with her hands on her hips. “Good. You’re here. I purchased this new saddle and I wanted to try it out.” She pointed toward the English-style saddle resting on a hay bale.
Oh, great. Stephanie wanted to play dress-up with Bluebell. Morgan stepped into the horse’s stall and stood off to one side. Gradually, Bluebell’s antics slowed. She stopped tossing her head and stomping the ground. Bluebell snorted and then nudged Morgan with her snout.
“My, you’ve got the touch with her,” said Stephanie. “Alex, help me get this saddle on her.”
Morgan ran her hand along the animal’s neck. She combed through the mane. “Can we give her a second longer? She was pretty stirred up.”
Stephanie let out a huff of air and rolled her eyes. “I drove all the way out here on a weekday. I want to get the ride in as quickly as possible.”
Morgan stared into the horse’s dark eyes. Then she looked directly at Stephanie. “If you want to have a pleasant ride, you’ll need to wait.”
Stephanie’s mouth dropped open. “You can’t talk to me like that.” She pivoted. “Alex, she can’t talk to me like this.”
Alex rested his hand on the stall railing. “Whatever Morgan says about the horse goes.”
Stephanie’s mouth dropped open. “Well, I...”
Morgan nodded toward Alex, admiration and gratitude filling her heart for him coming to her defense. Morgan leaned close to Bluebell, resting her face against the horse’s warm neck.
“It’s almost as if the horse likes you more than she likes me.” Stephanie pouted.
“Bluebell is a good horse. All you need to do is spend time with her. I’d be glad to go with you on a trail ride. I could show you some techniques for calming her.”
“You should give it a shot,” Alex nudged.
Stephanie tugged at her collar and nodded in agreement. “I suppose it’s worth a try.”
Morgan saddled up George and met Stephanie outside. After a few hours on the trail, she started to see a change in both horse and rider. They headed back toward the stables. After getting George and Bluebell settled in their stalls, she said goodbye to Stephanie and headed across the grounds. Alex came out of the storage shed holding a clipboard. Sadness welled up inside her.
Alex tilted his head. “Everything okay?”
Every time she looked into his brown eyes, she remembered the kiss. “Yes, it’s fine.” Her words fell flat. She had to tell him sooner or later.
“Good. Thanks for the help with Stephanie.”
“No problem. It seems quiet around here lately,” she said.
He kicked the ground with his boot. “Business has dropped off a little.”
She couldn’t kick a man when he was down. The timing was not right yet to tell him she was leaving.
He turned to go, his boots pounding on the hard-packed ground. He pivoted and gazed at her. “One of our clients gave me tickets to tonight’s Iowa Cubs game. I don’t suppose you’d want to go.”
She stepped toward him. His eyes filled with vulnerability. How many times had she hurt him without intending to? “That sounds like fun. We would be going as...friends.” She didn’t want to mislead him any more than she had to. This would be the last time they were together, and she wanted to cherish every moment.
He nodded. “Yes, as friends.” He walked backward so he was still looking at her. “Great. We’ll head out in a couple hours.”
She smiled. “Looking forward to it.”
* * *
They drove into Des Moines underneath a cloudless sky. Alex could feel the building excitement of the crowd as they entered Principal Park and made their way toward their seats.
Morgan agreeing to go with him had fanned the embers of hope that maybe there could still be something between them. Sometimes friendship could become something more. He held her hand as they squeezed past people to settle into their seats.
The softness of Morgan’s hand in his and the sun warming his skin lifted his spirits. He felt lighter and more positive than he had felt in days. His worries over losing clients at The Stables lightened when he was with Morgan.
When they sat down, she leaned close to him, their shoulders touching. “My dad used to take me to games here when I was a kid,” he told her. He went on to describe some of the more memorable moments in the games from his boyhood.
She nodded, listening. Her expression was bright and her posture relaxed, but she seemed distracted.
“Are you hungry? I can get us something to eat before the game starts.”
She nodded. “A hot dog sounds great.”
Alex eased past the other spectators to the aisle. As he took the stairs that led to the concession area, he noticed a man four rows back from where Morgan sat. He was a broad-shouldered man in a beige baseball cap. Judging from where the man aimed his binoculars, he seemed more interested in the spectators than the game.
Alex shook his head. Some people.
* * *
Morgan watched Alex disappear into the tunnel that led to the concession area. She stared around at the other spectators. Her attention was drawn to a man in the stands above her. He had aimed his binoculars right at her. The man wore a beige baseball cap. She turned back toward the field, feeling suddenly uncomfortable and wishing Alex was beside her. Lots of people had beige baseball caps she rationalized.
The team mascot, a man in a bear suit wearing the blue Cubs jersey, ran out onto the field as the announcer started with his pregame chatter. Plenty of fans were still milling through the stands. She craned her neck to see if the man with the binoculars was still watching her. A spectator pushed past where the man was sitting. When the spectator settled into his seat, she had a clear view of the man as he pulled his binoculars away from his face.
Her heart skipped a beat. He looked like the man who had followed her at the horse sale. She hadn’t been able to ID him, but she knew him when she saw him.
Her mind raced as she tried to remain calm. If it was him, he wouldn’t try anything in a crowd in broad daylight, would he? She gripped the arm of the seat a little tighter. When she looked again, the man had risen to his feet and was making his way through the same exit where Alex had gone.
Now she was concerned for Alex. She made her way up the stands toward where the man had exited. She followed him, checking the little pocket on the outside of her purse for her cell phone. She needed to call Brendan and get this guy picked up. Her phone was gone. Her hands trembled with fear. When they had gone through the ticket area, the crowd had been compressed into a small space. Her phone could have fallen out or someone could have lifted it.
She scanned the area, hoping to see Alex. Quite a few people were around.
She tried to keep the man in the baseball cap in sight and still maintain a safe distance. All her hopes that she hadn’t
been found were shattered. If her phone had been stolen, some planning had gone into this. She tried to recall the faces of the people who squeezed in around her as they entered the gate. Not the man in the baseball cap. She would have recognized him. That meant there was at least one other person in this stadium who was after her. She struggled to ignore the rising panic that made her knees feel like jelly.
She wasn’t sure how it had happened or how many of the accidents were not accidents at all. Clearly, they had been watching her since the horse sale and looking for an opportunity to kill her and make it look like an accident.
They must have been watching The Stables and followed them.
She navigated through the concourse, trying to stay with the crowd. She stared at the sea of faces around her. One of these people could be working with the man in the baseball hat.
* * *
Alex made his way to his seat carrying a paper tray with two hot dogs and drinks. Morgan’s seat was empty. Maybe she’d gone to the bathroom or something. He glanced around. He could sit and wait for her.
“She went up,” said the man in the seat next to him.
“Up?”
The man turned and pointed. “Yeah, like she saw somebody in the stands she knew.”
“Really. Thanks.” Niggling suspicions danced at the corners of his mind. He scanned the seats above him and then moved to sit down. If that was the case, she’d come back when she was done visiting.
The man in the seat next to him leaned closer. “Maybe it’s none of my business, but she had kind of a scared look on her face.”
“She was afraid?” Still holding the food, Alex stood back up. Maybe waiting for her to return wasn’t such a good idea. Alex could hear the National Anthem being sung behind him as he took the stairs two at a time. He scanned the rows and spotted the only empty seat.
Alex bent toward the man next to the empty seat in order to be heard above the roar of the crowd. “Did a dark-haired woman go by here?”
The man cupped his ear.
Alex leaned closer and repeated his question even louder. The man stood up halfway and pointed toward an exit.
