Audrey hit the ground, her phone flying several feet in front of her. Her stomach roiled at the pain, and her head spun.
She could hear footsteps behind her, and she fought her own body to turn over. Then just as she managed to, her vision blurred from the hit she had taken, someone grabbed her feet and began to pull her.
The rocks scraped her back and her head, and she tried to will herself to break free, but the man who had hold of her was simply stronger.
He dragged her into the nearest stall and let her feet fall right near the battered body of Pepper Dawson.
Audrey could smell the blood and sweat from the woman next to her. She wasn’t sure Pepper was alive, but she had to hope that she was. Because if she was, it meant Audrey might be able to talk her way out of whatever might happen next.
She blinked her eyes to try and focus as she felt the kick to her side. Realizing she was too weak even to scream, she tried to breathe in through her nose and clear her mind. She needed to try and focus on the man who stood before her.
“Who are you?” she managed weakly.
“Shut up.”
She saw that he had something in his hand. It was small, but it wasn’t a gun. That had been what she was most fearful of, being shot.
Blinking again, she realized it was a camera.
He was taking pictures of the two of them slumped in the hay. This had to be the man who had blackmailed Gregory.
She lifted her focus from the camera to the man’s face, and she recognized him.
“I’ve met you before. You came into my salon.”
He continued to take pictures and ignore her. “You said you were a photographer on the set.” She swallowed hard as her throat began to burn. “Nobody knew who you were.”
He moved closer to both of them, moving the hair from Pepper’s battered face. Audrey noticed the slightest bit of movement from her and realized she was indeed alive.
The man focused the camera on Audrey, who managed her hand to her face. It was then she felt his fist at her jaw, and she fell over on her side.
“Move again, and I’ll kill you,” the man growled as he took more pictures.
Audrey could feel her consciousness begin to slip from her. The world spun and her vision grew dark. She tried to return her gaze to him, willing herself not to blackout. She had to make a move on the man. Her back burned from where he’d hit her, her legs ached from where he had dragged her, her jaw throbbed with immense pain. But she wasn’t going to let him kill her. Whoever this man was, he was going to pay for what he had done.
She tried to map out the barn in her head. Then she realized she could hear movement next to them. Sam’s stall was right there. Could she somehow get the horse to distract the man?
She thought about the day she’d met the horse. When she rubbed him down, she had whistled, and he had whinnied along with her. At the time she thought it was quite a clever trick, now she wondered if he could save her life.
As the man fidgeted with his camera, Audrey licked her lips and tried to make her mouth as moist as she could. There would be only one shot to make a noise.
She sucked in a breath, and whistled as loudly as she could. The horse replied just as she hoped he would, and the man looked to his side.
With every ounce of energy she possibly could find, and from her seated position, she charged at the man’s legs knocking him backward.
37
Gregory stared down at his phone. Nobody was on the other end of the line, but he could hear a noise.
“Audrey? Honey pick up your phone,” he called out to her.
“What’s going on,” his father asked.
“I don’t know. I can hear her moving around, but it’s muffled. I thought I could hear people talking, but she’s not there.”
His father dropped the tools in the back of the truck and opened the door. “Maybe she’s talking to that person that came up the road a bit ago. I thought they went the other way but…”
Gregory pulled open the door to the truck and started the engine. “Get in,” he instructed his father. “What did the vehicle look like, that came up the road?”
“Red pickup truck. Million of them out this way,” his father said as he slammed the door and Gregory quickly took off. “You think she’s in trouble?”
“I bought a red pickup truck off her cousins. Whoever took that woman, stole it. I do think she’s in trouble.”
Gregory drove out of the field as quickly as he could, his father’s old pickup truck barely holding together as he maneuvered over ruts and rocks. As he came up to the road to the house, he gunned it a little faster.
It was then that he saw the pickup parked at the back of the barn. “Son-of-a-bitch!” He hollered as he came to a stop only feet behind his pickup. Shifting the truck into park, he jumped out and without another thought ran inside the barn.
In the closest stall to the back door, a man lay on the ground, and Audrey, also on the ground, kicked him. She was bloody, and her hair matted to her skin. He noticed another woman in the stall. It was Pepper.
The man gained enough momentum to launch himself forward at Audrey. He landed on top of her and managed a punch right to the face before Gregory grabbed him and pulled him from her. When he did so, the man fell on top of Gregory.
Gregory rolled and knocked the man off of him, and was just about to start his assault when the sound of a shotgun ripped through the air.
There, he saw his father lowering his rifle toward the man. “The next shot goes right to your chest if you move,” his father growled.
Gregory scrambled toward Audrey and kissed her softly. “Are you okay? Did he hurt you?”
“I’ll be fine. I hurt like hell. But I’ll be fine. But Pepper…”
Gregory looked up at his father who moved in closer to the man on the ground, and then Gregory got a look at the man.
Temper rose, and heat from his body moved to his head. He could feel the throbbing in his temple as he fisted his hand to his side. “You son-of-a-bitch!” Gregory moved to him and picked him up by his collar. Because his father was standing behind him with a shotgun, he was sure that Leo Frost wasn’t about to move.
“Gregory, now let’s…”
Gregory didn’t hear anything else. He pulled back and punched Leo right in the face, knocking him back to the ground.
He watched as Audrey crawled to Pepper. “She needs help. She needs it quickly.”
George Bishop pulled his phone from his pocket and threw it to her, never letting go of the rifle. Gregory listened as she called 911 and requested help.
“Tell me why you did this. Tell me why you hurt her and Audrey.”
Leo’s eyes, swelling from the punch that Gregory had landed, narrowed. “Actors are a dime a dozen. You happen to be worth more. But your damned goodness hinders everything. The only way I can get anything more from you is to sell your mistakes to the tabloids.”
“Did you set that up? Did you have her be there in Las Vegas?”
Leo shook his head. “I didn’t set that one. It just worked out to my benefit. Luckily you are stupid. And I wouldn’t have gone after that new bimbo you hooked up with either, had Pepper not set her sights on her first.”
His father moved in closer, this time resting the barrel of the gun on Leo’s chest. “What did she do?”
“She planned to break into her house, even tried one night when you were there.” He narrowed his eyes more. “I’m sure you remember what you were doing. She’s the one that threw the brick through the front window. She wanted in on my plan.”
Gregory knelt down next to the man he once called a friend. “And exactly what was your plan?”
He could have sworn Leo grinned. “I wanted more. Why the hell do you get all the glory? I’m the one who gets you the jobs. I’m the one that sets up everything. And I get a measly percent? Screw that. Do you know how much money I made selling the pictures of you and your ex with that stupid dog? Hell, all I had to do was throw her a new p
iece of meat, and she was all over it.”
That stung, he thought, as he realized why his ex had disappeared. He didn’t love that woman, and obviously, she was easily distracted from him. What kind of man did that to another man? One that devoted everything to him? It made Gregory sick.
“I’m pretty sure you’re the stupid one here. Did you think you wouldn’t get caught? Did you think I would really pay you to keep quiet? You both can go to jail. Your career is over.”
Gregory could hear the sounds of the distant sirens. He looked toward Audrey, who tended to Pepper. Would any other woman tend to the woman who’d tried to destroy her life? He wasn’t sure. All he knew was that Audrey was his perfect match. There was no question about it.
* * *
The sheriff had driven away with Leo Frost. If there was a charge Gregory could press against him, he would do it. Greed was such a horrible monster he thought as he walked into the house.
Audrey sat at the kitchen table, an ice pack pressed to her jaw.
“They want me to take you to the hospital,” he said as he moved toward her. “They said that mark across your back needs to be tended to. They want to x-ray your jaw too.”
Audrey groaned. “This isn’t the first time I’ve been knocked to the ground. I’ll be just fine.”
“This was malice. No beating you ever took from brothers or cousins has been this bad. Or any fall from a tree for that matter,” he teased.
Audrey smiled, then winced. “Fine. Take me to the hospital, but then can we head home?”
“Of course. I’ll take you anywhere you want to go.”
“You have a job to do. There will be nobody back home to get in my way anymore.”
“I suppose I’m going to be out to get a new manager. It’s hard to find someone you can trust,” he quipped with a wink.
Audrey lowered the ice bag from her jaw and moved her head from side to side as if to loosen her muscles. “You should talk to Bethany. I’ll bet she has some connections.”
Gregory gave that some thought for a moment. He would talk to Bethany. He figured she’d make a fine manager, and he trusted any Walker implicitly.
Epilogue
Gregory sipped the champagne he’d been served, as he sat at the back of the reception hall. He wasn’t sure why he was surprised at the grandeur of one of Lydia’s receptions.
He’d enjoyed the party that she, Audrey, and Nichole had put together. Who knew a grand opening to a salon could have been so extravagant? That almost seemed like a lifetime ago now.
He didn’t know he would miss Georgia quite as much as he had. Hawaii had been nice, but it had been nicer when Audrey was with him. She was much too busy to travel with him all the time though. After all, she now had three other stylists in her booming salon.
Until the premiere of the movie he filmed in Georgia, he was a free man between projects. That was until his new manager, Bethany, finished the deal she was working on for another film adaptation for one of Kent’s books.
For the time being, Gregory was happy shacking up with Audrey in her little condo.
Black Sabbath stirred at his feet. It certainly wasn’t usual to take a dog to a wedding, but a Walker wedding was a different story.
In the past six months, Gregory had been privy to a birthday party for Nichole’s twins, two bachelor parties—one for Audrey’s brother Jake, and the other for her cousin Dane— and now he sat in the back at the second of the weddings. Dane and Gia had opted for a small wedding, and then another in Lucca, Italy where Gia was from. Now he drank champagne at Jake and Missy’s wedding. He’d never seen a wedding cake in the shape of racing tires, he marveled.
Though the dress that he had originally bought for Audrey hadn’t gotten much more use, the Jimmy Choo shoes sure had.
As he finished the glass of champagne and absent-mindedly rubbed a hand over the back of the dog, he looked across the room at Audrey’s aunt who expertly held both of her grandchildren. Chelsea and Susan had gone into labor only hours apart. Their daughters had been born only one day apart.
It made him miss his brother Scott’s kids, but they had plans to visit. Even his sister had invited them to Japan to visit as well.
Audrey made her way across the dance floor in her shimmering bridesmaid’s dress. The Jimmy Choo shoes were dangling from her fingers. She plopped down on Gregory’s lap and pressed a warm kiss to his lips.
“Are you hiding back here?”
“Black Sabbath danced too much. He needed a break.”
Audrey laughed as she laid her head on his shoulder. “This is a perfect life, isn’t it? Family all around. Business is good. Your movies are wrapped up. Well, until your manager gets you a new one. Who knew everything would change that night you came through my door?”
“Are you needed for a few moments?” He asked as he rubbed a hand down her back. “I think Black Sabbath would like a little walk outside.”
“I could use some fresh air.”
They stood, and Black Sabbath got to his feet. Hand in hand they slid through the back door and walked down the sidewalk. The windows of the Bridal Mecca sparkled in the moonlight.
When they came to her salon, Gregory stopped. He looked through the window and then stepped back. “I think somebody left something in there.”
“Oh dear,” she said as she held out her hand and waited for him to hand her the keys to her salon, of which he now had a set. “Chances are it was somebody from the wedding party. If I hurry, I can get it back to them.”
* * *
Audrey pushed open the door and Gregory and Black Sabbath followed. She moved to the bag that was on the table in the reception area and picked it up.
The bag was filled with tissue paper and a tag with her name on it. She pulled at the paper and underneath was a shoebox with the name Jimmy Choo across the side. Audrey pressed her lips together to keep her calm. Gregory was full of surprises.
She opened the box, and inside was a sparkly pair of white pearl shoes. When she turned to ask him why he had given her such a gift, she saw him down on one knee, the dog seated next to him. She pressed her fingers to her lips, and as her eyes began to well with tears, she noticed her sisters and her brothers all standing at the door.
“Gregory?" The name came out nearly inaudible.
In his hand, he held a ring box and the most beautiful diamond ring she had ever seen sparkled inside of it.
“I thought I’d better have them block the door. I didn’t want you to run out,” he said grinning widely. “The shoes will go with the ring, and the dress I will buy you. I thought this was the most appropriate place to do this. The very place I happened upon, and when I did, I found you. Audrey Walker, will you do me the honor of marrying me?” he asked as he nodded to the dog. “And Black Sabbath too, of course.”
Audrey laughed through the tears. “Are you sure you want me? That’s a lot of family to adopt when you marry someone,” she informed him as she sniffed back tears and looked up to see her sisters doing the same.
“That’s why I asked them first. I thought it would give me a fighting chance. So what do you say? Will you conquer this crazy world with me? Share your spirit with me, and the children that we will someday have? Oh, and the new dog. This one’s going to want a friend.”
Audrey moved to him as he stood. She wrapped her arms around his neck and pulled him in for a kiss that shook her to the core even more than the first one had. “I’m not sure you can handle the spirit that runs through this family. So, I will marry you so that you can try.”
Gregory laughed as he stepped back, and took the ring from the box. He slid it on her finger, and then placed a kiss on her hand. “I promise you a lifetime of adventure. You will never regret this decision.”
As Audrey looked down at the diamond that shimmered in the dark, she knew that she never would regret it. Her only regret was not having met him long before he’d come to Georgia and changed her life.
We hope you’ve enjoyed WALKER SPIRIT,
book seven in the Walker Family series. Here is an excerpt from the next book, BEGINNINGS by Bernadette Marie.
Beginnings
The Walker Family Series ~ Book Eight
It wasn't as if the wedding of his cousin to the movie star had been a surprise. The invitation had been sitting on Ben's kitchen counter for nearly a month. Then again, everything had been on the counter since he was taking his sweet time unpacking, since his move into the modular home he'd literally had dropped on his piece of the Walker Ranch land.
He’d have liked to have built his own home from the ground up, but where would he get the time?
A lot more responsibility had fallen on him since his brother, Eric, had become a father. It wasn't as if Eric completely blew off his responsibilities, but he’d sure rather spend time with his daughter.
Ben understood that. After all, one day he would like to have children too. He didn't see that happening anytime soon, though. It was hard to meet women when you lived 45 minutes away from the nearest city. Besides, he had never been good with women.
His mother had been trying to persuade him to take a date to his cousin's wedding, he thought, as he drove towards town. In his head, he made a list of five or six women he could ask, but when it came down to it, he knew he'd show up single.
His own reflection in the mirror caught his attention as he checked traffic behind him. His hair was a mess, and one more thing for his mother to harp on. He could hear her voice rattling his head. "You need a haircut before Audrey takes time off for her wedding."
Ben blew out a long, ragged breath. She'd been saying that for two weeks. Now, he was enroute to Audrey's new salon with the hopes that one of her employees could sneak him in for a necessary haircut.
He pulled up in front of the Bridal Mecca, the strip-mall his cousin Pearl and her sister-in-law Lydia owned. Nearly all the businesses were bridal related, except for his sister-in-law, Gia's, Italian gift shop. There was no denying that he was extremely proud of his family for what they had built. Sometimes he wished he had it in him to do something as big, but the truth was he much rather be around his family and the animals.
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