Shadow Ridge

by Capri Montgomery

  Since then, he had only heard from her once and now it had been four days and he hadn’t heard from her at all. He was worried. It was L.A. and she had probably found somebody else.

  He walked into the station looking probably every bit of the sad man he felt like. His deputies were treading lightly and Hillary had been trying to make sure he ate something. He didn’t want to eat. He did increase his morning runs. He wasn’t completely out of shape despite his size. He did jog in the mornings, for at least thirty minutes but as they said, part of weight loss had to do with diet too and while he didn’t eat junk for the sake of eating it, he wasn’t the most portion conscious eater either. Maybe he should change that.

  “If she hasn’t called you then she doesn’t deserve you. Count your blessings.” Hillary stopped him on his way in the door just to tell him those words.

  He let the door close as he walked toward the front desk. “Hard to do since I like her a lot. I could fall in love with this woman. I know that doesn’t make sense to any of you but I could.”

  “Why? Because she’s thin and you had a chance with her.”

  “No; because she’s genuine and my weight didn’t matter to her.”

  “Didn’t it?” Hillary gave him a look that told him she believed Bethany hadn’t called because the weight did matter. He was starting to wonder the same thing.

  His phone rang. He started not to answer it. He didn’t recognize the area code, but he answered it anyway. “Miles,” he drawled dryly.

  “Hey,” he heard her sweet voice. He wasn’t sure if she was calling to say goodbye or what. She was supposed to spend Christmas with him. Maybe she was calling to say she changed her mind and would be spending it with somebody else.

  “I was starting to worry about you,” he said but he hadn’t bothered to walk into his office. He stood at the counter still looking at the paperwork Hillary had pushed in front of him while she lectured him on letting Bethany go and moving onward without her.

  “I won’t be back for Christmas,” she said.

  “I figured you might change your mind.”

  “Oh no, you don’t understand. Are you near a television?”

  “Yeah, I’m near one.” He could hear anger and pain in his voice.

  “Turn to any news station. It’s showing on almost all of them right now. GMA has it going for sure.”

  He gestured to Hillary and told her to turn the TV on and put it on channel fifteen. He saw a picture of Bethany with the title injured exec clinging to life at USC Medical.”

  “What happened?” He saw the worry on Hillary’s face too. Perhaps she was starting to feel guilty about the words she had started uttering about Bethany, the words she had implied when she was ready to accuse her of ditching him because of his weight. He was starting to feel guilty. He should have kept his faith and not let it waver for even a second.

  “Oh well they’re a bit overdramatic. I’m not clinging to life.I’m not an executive either, but whatever. This is Hollywood; very few things are completely factual here. It’s always over dramatized.I was out of it for a while so I couldn’t call you or my mom. Fortunately the studio picked up my mom and my nephew. You know this is hard for her because of my sister and all.”

  “Bethany what happened?” He felt fear and worry taking over.

  “Prop gun malfunction. The bullet ricocheted off a lighting stand and got me. Fortunately that stand slowed it down. The doctor told me better the stand than having it tear apart my insides. Basically, I got shot with a blank bullet that tore through my side and nearly launched into my kidney. I’m okay now…enough to call you but the doctors aren’t going to release me in time for Christmas. I’m sorry.”

  “Don’t be sorry about missing Christmas with me. That’s not important. You’re important.” He felt his heart pounding. She could have died. He wanted to know what idiot misfired the gun in the first place. Jesus! There is no way she should have even been on set if it was that dangerous. And wasn’t the movie she was working on starting filming after the holiday? “What were you doing on set? I thought the movie was filming in Boston later in the year.”

  She chuckled but he could hear the weakness in her voice. That worried him even more. “I do work more than one set you know. I’m in charge of eight right now. The others have already wrapped filming so I will be in charge of other things once the promotion time starts. I’m needed—that’s a good thing in my line of work. Anyway,” she panted and he could tell this conversation was costing her some strength. “The doctor is trying to take the phone from me so I have to go. I just wanted you to know I’m still here. I’ll miss Christmas with you, but I’ll be home as soon as I can…it might not be until February…if they ever let me out of here.” She mumbled indignantly. “I have to go. He keeps trying to steal the phone.”

  He tried to rush a quick I love you in there when he heard the doctor chastising her about rest and time limits and then the phone went dead. How could he profess love this quickly? Maybe because his heart was still racing and he was thinking about the fact that he could have lost her. She could have been dead and he was throwing himself a pity party because she hadn’t called.

  “I’m going out there. Tell Cal he’s the second in command for a reason. He needs to take over.”

  Hillary nodded. “Tell her we’re praying for her.” She had that stricken look of fear and guilt on her face. She was afraid for his girl, but she felt guilty for thinking the worst of her. He should have wallowed in guilt for suspecting it too, but right now he couldn’t focus on guilt. Right now he needed to book a flight and get to that hospital. He could find a room at a hotel once he got there. He just had to get there. He had to get to her.

  He didn’t bother to stick around to hear the reporters bash the mishandling of the set, or throw the blame game around for why this happened to her and how it could have killed her. He didn’t have time to stick around and hear them talk about Brandon Lee because he didn’t want to think about her being another blank bullet casualty. He needed to get to her—now.

  Chapter Five

  Bethany lay in the bed staring at the warm yellow walls and the ivory curtains hanging from the top of the window down to the floor. She looked at the posh seating area. Private rooms were nice. The fact that the studio was handling all the bills was better.

  They had put her mom and Donavan up in a suite at a five star upscale hotel and made sure a private car brought them to the hospital and took them back to the hotel each day. She felt guilty for not being able to get in touch with Miles for so long. The doctors kept her sedated for a while. They wouldn’t have let her use the phone if she hadn’t put up such a fight to be able to do it. She felt as if she had to beg. She didn’t want to cause trouble, but she realized she had been in and out of consciousness for a while and she hadn’t talked to Miles. She didn’t want him to have the wrong idea about why she hadn’t called. Judging from his words to her she would say he did indeed have the wrong opinion.

  She was looking forward to Christmas with him. She had never celebrated and the thought of waking up to a tree and a pancake breakfast seemed fun to her. She had bought him a pocket watch that had an eagle and a sheriff’s badge on it. She wanted to wrap it before going back so she could surprise him with it on Christmas morning. Clearly that wasn’t going to happen now.

  The knock on her door pulled her out of her contemplative thoughts just before the nurse entered the room. “There’s another officer here to see you again. I can tell him the doctor would prefer you to rest if you’d like.”

  She sighed. The word “again” was on her tongue but there wasn’t a need to voice it since the nurse seemed just as annoyed as she felt. She had already told them what she could. What else was there to tell? It was an accident. Nobody pointed the gun at her and pulled the trigger.

  “No. Send him in.” She pressed the button to elevate the bed so she could sit up a little more than she already was. She was just settling into comfort when she heard the doo
r close and the sound of heavy footsteps approaching.

  Her eyes lifted and she saw him. “Miles!” What was he doing here? “You have to work.” She knew he would be very busy in the days leading up to Christmas because he had told her as much.

  “You’re important to me. I had to come.” He walked steadily over to the bed and placed a soft kiss on her forehead before taking her hand in his.

  She smiled up at him. “Thanks for coming.” He didn’t have to abandon everything to come to her, but he had. His sacrifice warmed her heart.

  “I had to come to you.”

  She felt her eyes watering. She sniffled. “Please pull up a chair and sit with me a while.” She gestured to the plush red round sitting chair with the high back that was strategically placed against the far wall.

  “Where are you staying?” She watched him bring the chair so close to the bed that he could touch her hand freely without having a far reach.

  “I haven’t found a place yet. My focus was just on getting here.”

  “Oh gosh. Hand me the phone. I’ll call the Waverly and get you a room.”

  “Bethany—”

  “I’ll pay; don’t worry.” She tried to reach for the phone but he caught her hand and stopped her.

  “What?”

  “I um…I have plenty of money. I’m in the millionaire status, Bethany.”

  She gasped. She had no idea he had that much money—or any money for that matter. At the poker game she had started watching him after he had won some games, but he also lost it all. She had no clue he was rich.

  “And beyond that, I can book the room. You should be resting.”

  She nodded and settled back against the stacked pillows. “How long are you staying?”

  “I’m spending Christmas wherever you are.”

  Her lips turned upward and parted into a teeth exposing smile.

  “Now what’s this about February?”

  “Oh I’ll be out of here before then—I hope. But the movie in Boston starts shooting just after Christmas and I have to be on set to make sure things start right.”

  He growled. “Are there going to be shots fired in this movie?”

  “Yes.”

  He growled again.

  “This is my job. Sometimes things go wrong, but not…that is this isn’t the norm. You don’t have to worry.”

  “You can’t be talked out of going can you?”

  She shook her head no. She could not be afraid to do her job over this.

  “Okay. Then I’m buying you a vest.”

  She laughed until the pain in her side reminded her why laughing was a bad idea. When the pain hit all she could do was moan in agony. He smoothed his hand over her forehead swiping hair out of her face and trying to comfort her. When she was able to speak comfortably again she looked at him and said, “That’s a bit of overkill.”

  “If it keeps you safe I’ll procure full body armor for you.”

  “Spoken like a true alpha—protect your woman.” She heard the door open and close. Her mother and Donovan walked in. “Mom, Donovan, this is Miles—my boyfriend—man friend.” She twisted her mouth trying to figure out if boyfriend was the right word given their age. In the business most people just called the other person their partner, but partner had so many different vibes to it that she never liked the use of that word for describing her romantic relationships.

  Her mother smiled. “This is the Miles you’ve been talking about so much?”

  Bethany felt heat flush to her cheeks. Leave it to mom to embarrass her. “The doctors kept me high,” she blushed more when Miles looked at her.

  “She pitched a fit when they wouldn’t let her use the phone.”

  “Guilty,” she felt her cheeks warm even more.

  “That’s how I knew what you two were starting was serious for her. Your being here assures me it’s serious for you too. But,” she squared her shoulders; “if you hurt her I have the perfect spot of earth to burry you under.”

  “Mom!”

  Miles chuckled. “I’d deserve it. But I promise you I’ll do everything in my power to never hurt her.”

  Her mother’s shoulders relaxed. “Then I will approve of you dating my daughter—for now.”

  “And I approve of you dating my aunt. But I know how to use a shovel if Grandma needs my help.” Donovan was such a little man with spirit like his mother and father. “Well I do,” he said. “Steve said he’d move the body for you. I heard the two of you talking that night.”

  Bethany lowered her head and shook it while Miles had a hearty laugh. “You have good people looking out for you, Bethany—good people indeed.”

  She watched her family welcome Miles with open arms and that made her happy because in her mind he was long term in her life. In her mind she knew this could be forever.

  About the Author

  Capri Montgomery is an author of multicultural and interracial suspense, science fiction and contemporary romance. Her passion for writing started at a young age and for over twenty years she has been turning the movies playing in her head into written works. She is passionately exploring worlds one book at a time.

  When she’s not writing, Capri enjoys nature—unless the insects are biting her, traveling, old movies, art, photography, playing cello, and exploring emotions and worlds through music.

  Find more information on books by Capri Montgomery at:

  Blog: http://caprimontgomery.wordpress.com/

  (Print books) www.lulu.com/haremnights

  Twitter: http://twitter.com/#!/caprimontgomery

  Facebook Fan Page: https://www.facebook.com/caprimontgomerybooks