The woman spoke up. “We heard you were having some trouble out here and decided to come help.” She glanced at Jennie, her expression full of curiosity.
“How would you know that?” Max sounded pissed. “Our news doesn’t reach Spokane.”
Jennie eyed him covertly. Why was he so upset?
“Ian told us.” The woman smiled at Jennie.
Max’s jaw clenched. “I haven’t spoken with Ian.” He looked even angrier. “How the hell would he know?”
The redhead shrugged. “He gave the impression he’d talked to you. Oh well. Maybe I misunderstood.”
“You must have,” Max said, his voice hardening. “As you can see, I’m fine. I don’t want you guys here. You wasted your time coming here. You should leave.”
“Now Max.” The woman made a tsking sound. “We can’t abandon you in your time of need.”
Max looked like he was about to burst a blood vein, he was clenching his jaw so tightly. “Why not?” he nearly snarled. “You abandoned me before when I actually needed you.”
A tense silence followed. The man and woman exchanged glances. Jennie watched with a mixture of horror and fascination. What had happened between them? Why had they abandoned Max? What had he done?
The woman sent the man an “I-told-you-so” look. She touched Max’s arm. He flinched, pulling back.
“Come on, Max. That’s not fair. You know you sent us away.”
Max’s gaze darted to Jennie for the first time. His cheeks reddened. He glanced back at the woman. “Don’t scare Jennie with tales of my sordid past.” He turned on his heel and stalked out of the room.
The man Jennie guessed was Max’s father cleared his throat. He held his hand out to Jennie. “I’m Max’s father, Maxwell Montgomery the Second.”
Jennie’s lips twitched. She shook the older man’s hand. “I’m Jennie. And is Maxwell Montgomery the First still living?”
He smiled. “No, he passed away a few years back. It’s a little less confusing now when someone calls out ‘Max’ since there’s only two of us who respond.” He winked.
Jennie smiled. She liked Max’s dad. She was dying with curiosity about what had happened between this family.
“And I’m Glenda Montgomery,” the redhead introduced, gently taking Jennie’s hand in hers. “Max’s stepmother.”
“Nice to meet you,” Jennie said. “I really don’t know why Max is behaving so rudely, but won’t you come in and take off your coats?”
“Thank you.” Glenda handed Jennie her coat. “It’s nice to see a woman in Max’s life after so many years. That boy has been alone for too long.”
Max the Second cleared his throat. “That boy is thirty-seven-years old, my dear. He’s perfectly capable of taking care of himself.”
Glenda harrumphed. “He did a pretty poor job of it after Laura died. I always thought he could do better than her.” She turned down the hallway where Max had disappeared. “It’s time I had a long-awaited chat with him.” Her wet boots squeaked across the floor as she walked away.
Jennie glanced up at Max’s father.
“So, Max the Second,” she said with a grin. “What do you do?”
A gray brow shot up. “I take it Max hasn’t told you about his family?”
Jennie shook her head. “Max hasn’t told me hardly anything about himself.”
His father nodded. “Typical Max. I’m a cardiologist at Sacred Heart in Spokane, and my wife Glenda is an OB/GYN.”
“Really? An entire family of doctors?” Jennie’s smile widened. “That’s impressive. What did his mother do? Was she a doctor too?”
A shadow came over his father’s face. He lowered his gaze. “Did Max tell you she passed away when he was just a small child?” When she shook her head, he went on, “Brain tumor. But yes, she was a doctor too. A pediatrician. We all thought Max would follow in our footsteps, but he stubbornly refused and instead decided to become a veterinarian. Max always had a certain affinity with animals that none of us could quite understand.”
Jennie detected the disappointment in his words. Why would he be disappointed in his son? She was overcome with a sudden urge to defend Max. “Max is a wonderful vet,” she murmured. “He’s very caring and gentle with the animals. He’s an excellent surgeon.”
“Was,” his father said with a soft grunt. “Not anymore. He hasn’t practiced in years. I don’t understand how he had any clients living clear out here so far from civilization anyway. It’s not healthy being so alone.”
Jennie agreed that it wasn’t healthy to be so alone, but she knew the rest of what his father said was untrue. Max had saved Gray by amputating her damaged leg and repairing her neck by surgically removing the imbedded collar and sewing her back up. That took considerable knowledge, skill, and talent. Max wasn’t the has-been his father seemed to think he was.
Where was Gray? She glanced around uneasily. She wasn’t sure how the wolf would react to strangers in the house. She didn’t want the wolf to attack Max’s parents. She hadn’t seen Gray since before Max had gone out to feed the horses. She needed to find the wolf and make sure she was in a secure place before the cops arrived. A houseful of people might frighten Gray. And a trigger-happy cop could quickly take out a snarling wolf.
“Come on. Let’s go find Max and Glenda.”
And Gray.
Jennie headed down the hallway toward the back of the house where Max and his stepmother had gone. His father followed.
Raised voices greeted her ears as she neared the living room. She hesitated, her steps faltering. She didn’t want to eavesdrop, but it was impossible not to hear when they were nearly shouting. She paused in the doorway to the living room. Max’s father stopped behind her. He touched her arm. When she glanced back at him, he lifted a finger to his lips.
“I told you I didn’t talk to Ian,” Max ground the words out. His back was to the hallway where Jennie and his father stood silently. He gestured with his arm, flinging it out. “You know we don’t talk. You’re the reason we don’t talk.”
Glenda sighed. “I was hoping that you two had finally made amends.” Her gaze settled on Jennie and Max’s father. She paused. She looked up at Max. “Why else would he call us and tell us you were having troubles out here?”
“I don’t know,” Max said sarcastically. “Maybe he wanted to stir up some shit. I’d like to know how the hell he even knew what was going on out here. And since when has he ever given a damn about me?”
Jennie wondered who Ian was. Max had not mentioned any siblings. She had no idea if he was an only child or part of a large brood.
Glenda grabbed Max’s forearm as he started to turn away from her. “Alissa may have told him. She knows everything about anyone around here. Is it so hard to believe he might actually care about you?”
“Yeah,” Max sneered.
Glenda sighed again. “You need to stop pushing everyone away, Max. We’re your family and we care about you.”
As if he’d sensed Jennie, Max jerked his head to where she stood, his gaze locking on hers. His jaw hardened. But beneath the anger she witnessed the pain. Her heart lurched. Max was hurting and she didn’t know why or how to help him.
“You haven’t left yet?” he asked sarcastically. “I guarantee that when you learn the truth about me, you’ll run like the wind. I warned you not to care about me, Jennie. I’m not worth it.”
He yanked his arm from Glenda’s grasp and marched toward the back door. He disappeared around the corner. Moments later he reappeared, dressed in his winter clothes.
His gaze speared Jennie where she was still rooted to the spot.
“When the sheriff gets here, send him out to the river and show him the car. I’ve got to get out of here.”
He opened the door and stomped out, slamming it behind him.
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
Jennie forced her stiff legs into action. She raced across the room, yanked open the coat closest. She quickly donned the winter clothes Max had loaned
her. His parents stared at her, wide-eyed.
“What is he talking about?” Jennie asked, directing the question at Glenda. “What truth? Why would I run away?”
“I have no idea,” Glenda murmured, her eyes filling with sadness. She glanced at her husband, then looked at Jennie again. “You know he drinks, right?”
“No, he doesn’t,” Jennie said, refusing to believe that. “Not anymore. He dumped out the last bottle yesterday and I’ve never seen him with a drink the whole time I’ve been here. He’s not an alcoholic.”
His parents exchanged a long glance. “Maybe we shouldn’t have stayed away so long,” Glenda whispered.
“I have to go after him,” Jennie told them as she paused at the back door. “He’s hurting. When we get back, can you two please promise not to do or say anything to upset him?”
Jennie didn’t wait for them to respond. She yanked open the back door and stepped out.
Jennie stood on the back porch for a moment and glanced around. Lucky was bouncing around in the snow near the barn. He reared up on his hind legs, then pounced on something, burying his nose in the snow. Jennie’s lips twitched.
A movement behind Lucky caught her eye. Max came out of the barn with Smokey. He’d haltered the stallion and the animal followed him into the corral.
Jennie hesitated. He’d seen her in action earlier when she’d worked with the stallion. Here was her chance to watch him. She descended the porch steps and headed down the path Max had shoveled to the barn. When she reached the corral, she leaned up against the fence to watch.
Max’s gaze flicked to her, then away. After that, he ignored her. Not that Jennie minded. He was truly a sight to behold. She loved watching him. No matter what he was doing.
He sent the stallion off with a point and a cluck. The horse obeyed him more readily than he’d obeyed Jennie, but he was Max’s horse, so that was to be expected. Jennie was more interested in watching Max than she was in looking at the horse. Max’s cheeks were ruddy from the cold. He squinted against the sun’s rays glaring off the snow as he turned with the horse. Jennie too, was squinting, but she had eyes only for Max. She tracked him with her gaze, following his movements. He obviously knew what he was doing. The horse responded to every command without hesitation.
After about ten minutes of doing groundwork with the horse, the tension drained from Max’s jaw, his stance became more relaxed, his movements more fluid and graceful. Working with the horse helped to calm him. Max tossed his hat aside. It landed near the fence where Jennie stood. His dark hair stuck out in disarray. Again she marveled at how handsome he was. Jennie ached to run her fingers through his soft hair, to pull his head close, to snuggle against him and tell him she cared. But Max had distanced himself from her. She had no idea how to get him back to that happy place where they’d been this morning.
Max patted the horse on the neck, talking softly to him. Jennie hesitated, then climbed through the fence rails and approached him. He didn’t look at her.
“He listens to you.” Jennie glanced up at him. “He trusts you.”
Max lifted his head, piercing her with his stare. Jennie held his gaze. Held her breath, while she waited for him to say something.
He looked away. “You should go, Jennie. Leave today when your father gets here.”
Her heart clenched. The hell she was. She would not abandon him now. Whether he wanted to admit it or not, he needed her. She was the only link to Emily at this point.
“I thought you weren’t the love ‘em and leave ‘em type.” She stepped closer to him, reached out to pat the stallion’s neck.
He didn’t respond, just stared at something off in the trees.
“What happened between you and your parents?” she asked softly.
His gaze bounced back to hers. His jaw hardened. “Why don’t you ask them? They’re just full of information.”
She touched his arm. “Because I don’t want to hear it from them. I want to hear it from you.”
He pulled away from her, leading the stallion back toward the barn. “Trust me, you don’t want to know the truth about me,” he said over his shoulder. “How badly I screwed up.”
What did that mean? What truth? What hadn’t he told her?
Jennie followed. “I want to know everything about you, Max. Everything. Good or bad. I care about you.”
He paused, turning to face her. His eyes swam with tears. And a pain so deep Jennie’s heart pinched in response. He closed his eyes, swallowed hard. “You think you know me, Jennie, but you don’t. You’re living in a fantasy land.”
“Then who was the man who loved me last night, showing me such tenderness and caring? Who was the man who gently braided my hair this morning?” Her voice cracked. Her heart ached. “If not you, then who was that?”
He closed his eyes, his face full of anguish. “I’m not who you think I am,” he choked out. “I don’t deserve you. I can’t…love you.”
Her breath caught. “Can’t or won’t?”
He didn’t answer.
Jennie ran to him, fearing that if she didn’t, if she let him walk away, she’d lose him forever.
She flung her arms around his neck, pulling his face down to hers. “Then show me the real you. Don’t push me away, Max. Please.”
His arms slowly, hesitantly came around her. Then he crushed her to him, burying his face in her hair. He let out a shuddering breath against her neck.
The horse’s lead rope dropped from his hand. The stallion slowly wandered away.
“I’m not giving up on you, Max, and I’m not leaving.” She tilted her head back and looked into his eyes. “Ever.”
“You should,” he said hoarsely. “You should run far and fast. When you learn what I really am, it will scare you.”
Jennie held his gaze. “I doubt that. Nothing will scare me away. Nothing.”
Max groaned.
“Talk to me,” she whispered. “Please. Tell me what happened.”
Something that looked like shame washed over his face. Jennie tightened her arms around him, wanting him to feel how much she cared.
A forlorn howl pierced the silence of the forest. Max pulled away from her.
Jennie slowly stepped back and looked around. “Was that Gray?”
“Probably.” Max headed for the barn. “I couldn’t find her when I came in for breakfast this morning.”
That explained why Jennie hadn’t been able to find the wolf in the house earlier.
She watched as Max walked up to Smokey, patted the horse’s neck. He removed the stallion’s halter. He continued on into the barn, she assumed to hang the halter up. She knew Max had been relieved by the interruption. Would she have an opportunity to talk to him later? Would he talk to her?
Jennie climbed through the rails of the corral just as Gray hobbled around the corner with Lucky. The wolf was actually playing with the Border collie. Jennie smiled. It was nice to see Gray happy. She sensed the wolf hadn’t been happy for a very long time.
Gray was learning to get around quite well on three legs. She wasn’t as quick as Lucky, but she still jumped and ran with the dog, her tongue lolling from her mouth. She looked like she was grinning.
Max came out of the barn. He glanced her way. Hesitated.
Jennie’s heart squeezed. What would she do if he made her leave? If he didn’t want her to stay?
A car horn honked. Max turned toward the front of the house. Jennie followed his gaze as three vehicles pulled into the recently-plowed drive. Two black and white sheriff’s SUVs and a solid black SUV that Jennie guessed belonged to the FBI.
Jennie took a deep breath, slowly let it out.
It was time to “meet” her father.
* * *
When Jennie and Max entered the house moments later, his parents had already let the cops inside and everyone was standing around making introductions. Lucky and Gray were still playing out in the yard.
Jennie and Max hung up their coats in the closet. Jennie f
ollowed Max around the corner. He paused in the kitchen where everyone had gathered. Jennie hesitated next to him as several pairs of eyes settled on her. She must have looked nervous, because Max reached over and squeezed her hand. His touch comforted her.
Max cleared his throat. He stepped forward, dropping her hand.
Jennie slowly inspected the five newcomers as they all introduced themselves and shook Max’s hand. She stood back, watching. The first man, Sheriff Sullivan, obviously knew Max.
“Hey Max, you’re looking good.” He shook Max’s hand. “Sorry it took us so long to get out here. That was quite the storm, wasn’t it?”
Max nodded. Jennie discreetly studied the sheriff while he and Max made small talk. Sheriff Sullivan was tall and broad-shouldered, with dark hair and slate-gray eyes that assessed Jennie shrewdly, making her even more nervous. He looked like what she expected a sheriff to look like, imposing, intimidating, except he was only about Max’s age, which Jennie thought a bit young for a sheriff. He was good looking in a rugged, outdoorsy sort of way.
Jennie glanced at the second man. Leaner than the sheriff, shorter, with curly brown hair and amber eyes, he was handsome in a sleek, polished kind of way. Jennie immediately pegged him as FBI. When the sheriff introduced him as Special Agent Nick Miller, she knew she’d guessed correctly. He looked to be in his late twenties. His watchful gaze was filled with a keen intelligence that belied his young age.
The third man was taller than the first two, broader, dark haired, dark skinned, and dark eyed. He eyed Jennie with what could only be described as pure joy. She knew immediately he was Steve Jones. Her father. He looked like the man she’d seen pictures of on the internet.
When she looked at him, not even a spark of recognition registered, which frustrated her. Would she ever remember anything?
The other two men were younger and dressed in black police uniforms. The sheriff introduced them as his deputies, but Jennie didn’t pay any attention to their names.
She could see her father was anxious to see her, so she stepped forward into his outstretched arms. He dragged her against him, pressing her against his thick chest, and murmured against her hair.
Abducted (Unlikely Heroes Book 2) Page 17
