“Mmm,” her mother hummed in acknowledgment then gave Piper’s hand a pat before releasing her. “Good to know.”
Sidestepping Zeke, who wound around her legs and meowed for attention, Piper turned to leave, but after two steps, pivoted back to face her mother. “The other night at the party...” She hesitated, stooping to scratch Zeke’s head and debating whether to press the topic. “Do you know what Roy was talking about?”
Her mother paused in the middle of tugging off her second boot. Worry dimmed her mother’s eyes, and Piper hurried to add, “I’m not saying I think you’ve kept big secrets from us or anything. I’m just—”
Her mother finished shucking her boot and raised a level look to Piper. “Roy’s been with us a lot of years, Piper. I’m sure in all the time he’s been here he’s found more than one thing to be upset about. All I can say about the other night for sure is that he was drunk, and drunks don’t always make sense.” Her brow furrowed. “It’s no secret he drinks too much, but your father and I decided years ago that as long as it doesn’t interfere with his work around the ranch, we’ll look the other way.”
“Sweeping it under the rug doesn’t help anything.”
“True.” Her mother shrugged out of her coat and hung it on a peg over the boot rack. She, too, gave the persistent cat a belly rub when Zeke flopped at her feet. “Roy has to want help before we can do anything for him.”
“Maybe so. I just hate what his drinking is doing to Brady. And now Connor.”
“Brady’s a smart man.” Melissa lifted Zeke, draping the large fuzzy cat over her shoulder like a baby and giving him a thorough head scratch. “He knows his dad needs help, and when Roy’s ready to do the hard work to get sober, I know he’ll see that his dad gets help.”
Stewing over the rough road Brady had ahead of him, Piper slid her hands in her back pockets as she turned on her toe. Growing up, she’d taken for granted the unconditional love and support her parents gave her, and she missed her family while in Boston. She wanted Connor to grow up with the kind of love and support her own mother gave her.
She retrieved the extra set of keys to her mother’s Camry, and from the mudroom she heard her mother talking to her cat in a higher-pitched voice. “Who’s a good kitty? You’re just a big baby, aren’t you? Good boy, Zeke.”
Her mother’s coddling of the cat made her smile. She would be a great grandmother to Connor. No doubt about that. Yet on the heels of that reassuring thought, Brady’s remonstrations from the night before echoed in her head.
I won’t let you break his heart, Piper. He’s already lost one mother. He needs someone he can depend on, and your track record says that person is not you.
Brady’s assertion twisted a knot in her chest. Would she ever live down the mistakes of her past? She had a second chance to have her son in her life. She had to prove to Brady that he could trust her to be a constant and trustworthy mother to Connor. But what did that mean for her relationship with Brady? Could she risk a second chance with her child’s father, the only man she’d ever given her heart to? Would he dare to trust her with his heart again after the way she’d hurt him before?
She shook her head to clear the troubling thoughts. One thing at a time. Get the guys home from the hospital, get the adventure ranch up and running and begin building her relationship with Connor. Her future with Brady... Time would tell.
“Back in an hour or so,” she called to her mother as she headed out to the driveway, weaving through the wiggling dogs that followed her to the car. She gave the dreary gray sky a considering glance, hoping the predicted rain-and-sleet mixture would hold off until she got Brady and Connor back home. The twisty mountain roads were dangerous enough without adding inclement weather to the mix.
As she bumped down the gravel lane that led from the ranch property out to the highway, Piper reflected on the conversation with her mother. Brady had a lot to handle between his father’s drinking and raising Connor.
Piper flicked on the windshield wipers as the sky began to spit a light mist. She gripped the steering wheel tighter and shoved thoughts of Connor and Roy aside to concentrate on her driving. And how she wanted to approach Brady and the issue of joint custody. She didn’t want to be a part-time mother to Connor. That was exactly the kind of thing Brady was adamant about avoiding. All or nothing.
She flicked a distracted glance to the car behind her. The blue coupe had its bright lights on and was following too closely. With an irritated shake of her head, she dismissed the coupe and returned her attention to the oncoming traffic on the narrow mountain road and her dilemma with Brady.
She wanted to commit her all. To Connor. To her family. To...Brady?
Her heart gave a hard thump. She’d long ago given up the idea of a future with Brady. How could she be considering such a significant commitment again? She bit her bottom lip. She’d given up Brady knowing the gross injustice she’d done him. She’d felt sure he’d never forgive her, and yet now that everything was on the table between them...
The glare of light reflecting from her driver-side mirror called her attention to the car behind her as it made a move to pass her. She frowned, noting the double yellow line indicating a no-passing zone. “What the hell are you doing, idiot?”
She backed off her speed, giving the dangerous driver better opportunity to get past her. If he insisted on illegally passing, she’d yield to him in order to minimize the risk.
But rather than pass her, the blue coupe pulled even with her in the oncoming traffic lane and stayed there. Piper’s pulse spiked. And she thought Boston had crazy drivers! This guy took the ca—
The coupe swerved into her, scraping the side of her mother’s Camry and nudging her off course, her right tires going onto the shoulder.
“Hey!” she shouted and battled down the urge to swipe him back. These were, after all, one-ton vehicles driving at highway speeds, not bumper cars at the carnival.
The coupe finally sped up and passed her—narrowly avoiding a head-on crash with a truck that blasted a long, loud honk as it passed.
Piper growled an ugly epithet under her breath. She braked again, wanting to give the other driver a wide berth. His erratic and dangerous driving had her full attention now. The car was a rental, she noted, seeing the bumper sticker advertising the rental company. She made a mental note that the coupe was a Ford Fusion with tinted windows. She read and repeated the license-plate number, fully intending to call the rental company—or the police—and report the driver.
Keeping her eyes locked on the road and car ahead and a firm grip on the steering wheel with one hand, Piper reached for her purse on the passenger seat. She felt for her phone, then remembering there’d be no service on this stretch of road, she abandoned her search. She repeated the license plate number aloud to reinforce it in her brain.
The brake lights ahead of her flashed on, and she gasped, realizing how quickly she was coming up on the blue car’s back bumper. She stomped on her brakes. The car skidded on the freshly wet road and crashed into the back of the coupe. As the Camry lurched to an abrupt halt, Piper bit her tongue and tasted blood. Her seat belt jerked taut across her chest, and her head whipped forward and then back. The airbag smacked her face and chest as it deployed.
Shock rendered her motionless for a few stumbling heartbeats. She released a shaky breath as she took a quick assessment. She shook with the aftereffects of adrenaline but counted herself lucky she hadn’t been driving any faster, hadn’t spun off the edge of the highway. Piper coughed on the powder released by the airbag.
Her mother’s car had a considerable amount of damage thanks to the jerk in the blue Fusion. Even as she squeezed the steering wheel, seething at the driver’s recklessness, which had caused the accident, the driver’s door of the Ford opened, and a man in a heavy black coat with the hood up stepped out.
Piper gave an involuntary shiver as the man a
pproached her, his shoulders hunched against the cold and drizzle. She was all too aware that she was alone, isolated on this stretch of the highway, and without access to cell phone service.
She locked the doors on her mother’s car, then rolled her window down a mere inch to talk to the man who stalked to her driver-side door. A throb of irritation battled the swirl of apprehension for priority. She had no way of knowing what she’d encounter with the erratic driver. He could be high on meth, or vindictive or a scam artist looking to cash in on her insurance. Flexing her hands on the steering wheel, she exhaled a slow breath, trying to relax, even as her stomach bunched in dread.
A sixth sense told her something was off about the situation, but before she could fully work through her options, he was at her door. Only when the man got right up to her window was she able to see past the shielding hood of his coat and get a glimpse of his face. She sucked in a sharp breath of surprise. “Ken?”
The familiar face filled her with equal parts relief and confusion. She rolled her window down farther to talk to her coworker from the Boston accounting office. “What in the world? What are you doing in Colorado?”
“A guy can’t go on vacation?” the husky accountant returned.
She chuffed a laugh. “What are the odds that we’d run into each other out here?” She waved a hand toward the crumpled fenders. “Literally.”
He shrugged. “Yeah. What are the odds?”
His blithe attitude and the reminder of the way he’d been driving spiked her blood pressure. “What did you think you were doing, driving like that? Passing in a no-passing zone? You nearly hit that truck! And then slamming on your brakes in front of me?”
He straightened. “Are you saying this is my fault? You rear-ended me!”
“I—” She blinked her shock. He was not blaming her for this mess! “Seriously?”
“Oh, yeah. I’m serious.” He narrowed a squinty-eyed stare on her.
Fed up, Piper opened her door and shoved up from the driver’s seat. She pushed past him and stomped to the front bumper of her mother’s Camry. “Look at this! You passed me, then stomped your brakes. On a wet road, how was I supposed—”
Ken seized her arm with a viselike grip, and Piper whipped her head to gape at him. “What are you—? Let go of me!”
“Not a chance.” He yanked hard on her arm, and she stumbled into his chest. “I’ve worked too hard to get to this point.” He grabbed her other arm now, and even through her coat his fingers dug into her arm in a painful grip.
“Ow! Stop it!” She struggled to free herself, a bud of panic growing in her chest. “What are you talking about? Worked too hard to get where?”
A car whizzed past them, the driver giving them a curious look as he drove by. Piper realized too late that she needed to signal a passing car. Her coworker was acting oddly, and the clutch of fear was strangling her breath.
“I’ve been trying to get your attention for months, but you’ve ignored me.” Ken started toward his rental car, dragging her in his wake.
“Let go. Now!” She infused her tone with as much authority and determination as she could muster, but he seemed not to even hear her. Piper’s survival instinct flared, hot sparks of panic flooding her veins. She tried to dig in her heels, to pull out of his grip, to strike him hard enough to win her release. “Stop it!”
She landed a flailing blow to his eye, and he paused long enough to narrow a glare on her. “You’ll pay for that.”
With a swift, twisting motion, he bent her arms behind her back and lowered his shoulder into her belly. Air rushed from her lungs as he lifted her over his shoulder in a fireman’s carry.
She screamed, squirmed and kicked—anything to win her release. A punch of adrenaline fueled her muscles and fired her pulse. But even that boost was no match for his strength. He dumped her facedown on the driver’s seat of his rental car and planted his knee in her back, pinning her down. Piper struggled against his hold, trying to wrest even one hand free, but his large hands caught her wrists and held them securely behind her back.
“You belong with me, Piper. One way or another, you will be mine!” he said in a low growl. His grip shifted, and the screech of tape ripping from a roll sent a shiver through her. He clutched her hands together and wrapped the tape around her wrists, binding them tightly.
Bile surged into her throat. If she’d had any doubt before of his intent, she didn’t now. She was his hostage. “Ken, don’t do this. Please!”
“I’ve seen you with that sorry-assed cowboy. Kissing and groping each other like a couple wild animals. You’re better than that, Piper. I’m better than that. We belong together.”
She cast her glance around her limited view of the front seat, searching for a weapon. She saw nothing but clutter and trash. The floor was littered with fast food cups and cinnamon gum wrappers. Gum wrappers. Like the one she’d found under her cottonwood. She trembled to her core, realizing that he’d been on the ranch, watching her. Stalking her. The thought of him following her here to Colorado sickened her. Terrified her. But she refused to go quietly. She was no stranger to fighting and self-defense. She tried rearing her head back, hoping to smash his nose. To no avail.
“You’re insane!” she shouted. “Get your hands off me! You’ll never be half the man Brady is!”
“Brady, huh? That’s the punk’s name?” Ken leaned close to her ear and spittle sprayed her cheek as he snarled, “Brady’s gonna die. No one touches my woman and lives to talk about it. Ask Ron Sandburg.”
Piper froze. A chill crept through her as his meaning became clear. “Y-you killed Ron?”
“Ya huh,” he replied, his Boston accent thick. “He got in our way. You and me...we have a destiny together.” His breath was hot and smelled of cinnamon gum.
Her shock and fear rendered her weak for the precious seconds it took Ken to shove her deeper into the car. She collapsed, half on the floorboard and half on the passenger seat, the impact of the rough landing stealing her breath.
Her captor shouldered his way into the rental car and slammed the door. Digging under the driver’s seat, he extracted a handgun and aimed it at her.
“The choice is yours, Piper. Will we be together in life...or in death?”
Chapter 14
“When is Piper gonna be here?” Connor asked, voicing the question that had been rolling through Brady’s mind repeatedly in the last hour.
“Soon.” Brady checked his watch for the third time in five minutes, his impatience and concern growing. Piper had said she was leaving right away to pick up him and Connor and drive them back to the ranch. Even allowing a generous extra half hour for delays, Piper was ninety minutes late.
Connor was growing increasingly restless and hungry, but Brady had been holding out for Piper to arrive before taking him to get some lunch. He’d have much preferred a meal at the diner in Boyd Valley—heck, even fast food—over the hospital fare they’d had the last twelve hours.
Brady resisted the urge to call Piper’s cell phone again. He’d done that twenty minutes ago, and it had gone to voice mail, indicating she was driving and didn’t want to be distracted. A good habit, he acknowledged, but one that didn’t give him any answers about her ETA.
Instead, he called the phone in the main house, and Melissa answered on the third ring with a bright “Hello?”
“Hi, it’s Brady. I was just wondering if you’d heard anything from Piper. She hasn’t arrived yet, and I was trying to get an idea of how much longer it might be.”
“Piper is on her way. She left, oh...” Melissa paused, presumably checking the clock “...about...hmm. Well, more than two hours ago. Almost three hours. Do you mean to say she’s not there yet?”
“No, she’s not. So...” he scrubbed a hand through his hair, an uneasiness nipping the back of his neck “...she hasn’t called to say she was delayed or had a flat tire or
anything?”
“Not that I know of. Let me ask the boys.”
Brady heard a muted “Joshua! Zane!” and then a thump followed by silence as Piper’s mother apparently went in search of her sons.
“I’m sooo hungry!” Connor complained. “When is lunch?”
Brady sighed in resignation. “When I get off the phone, we’ll get something from the lunchroom downstairs.”
Connor flopped on the foot of Roy’s hospital bed and groaned. Roy lifted the plastic cover over his lunch and waved a hand at it. “You want my pork chop and yams? They’re extra dried out and chewy, just the way you like ’em!”
Connor pulled a face. “Yams? Blech!”
“Sorry to keep you waiting, Brady. I can’t find Zane, but Josh said he hasn’t heard from Piper. He’s willing to come get you if you want. And he can check the roads on the way to see if Piper is stranded with car trouble or something.”
“Well—” Brady scratched the side of his nose, undecided “—I hate to have him drive all this way if Piper is coming already. But then again, if she’s this late...”
“I’m sending him,” Mrs. McCall said. “If for no other reason than I’m concerned about what is holding Piper up. Call if Josh doesn’t get there in an hour. Okay?”
Another hour. More than enough time to get Connor something to eat in the cafeteria downstairs. “Right. Will do. Thanks, Mrs. Mac.”
He should have felt relief that a backup driver was on the way, but Brady couldn’t shake the prickling sense that something had gone very wrong. He’d had the same precognition the night Scott and Pam were killed.
“All right. Let’s go get our grub on!” He pasted on a strained smile for Connor, not wanting to alarm his son, but he could see on Roy’s face that his father saw through his charade. He herded Connor to the elevator, listening to his little boy chatter about what he wanted to order. But eating was the last thing on Brady’s mind at the moment.
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