“Don’t watch.”
No sooner had he shielded her eyes than the hail stopped abruptly. He got this eerie feeling and lifted his chin from her curls to see what was happening.
Out of the end of the culvert he glimpsed a giant gray pinwheel swirling above the land. Maybe three miles away he saw a little black finger descend from the southwest end of the formation.
Dear Lord. He swallowed hard.
It wiggled its way down until it reached the ground.
Rick held his breath at the thickness of the column.
It seemed to stay there forever. Audra tried to lift her head. He wouldn’t allow it.
She’d be plagued by new nightmares imagining thirty members of her family disappearing in a funnel like that one. If he didn’t miss his guess, it was in an area close to the place that had once been the town of Hillmont.
“What’s happening?”
“Shh.” He covered her cheek with kisses. “Just hold on to me,” he whispered.
The funnel was moving their way.
He’d seen video footage of tornadoes. Now he understood why tornado watchers said the sight of one up close was beautiful and terrifying in the same instance.
If it kept coming in their direction, the tornado would sweep up the bungalow, the fencing, the main house, the trailer, his car, the barn. The horses…
He groaned when he thought about the animals.
There’d be nothing left for the boys to contest.
That was Rick’s last thought before the dark column suddenly switched directions and headed north out of his line of vision. He didn’t think his eyes were playing tricks on him. Like Nate, he had perfect vision.
“Stay where you are, Audra. I’m going to move to the edge of the culvert to look out.” He removed his arm.
“Don’t!” she begged and clung to him.
“It’s okay. I promise I won’t leave you.”
She reluctantly released him so he could creep to the end. When he looked to the right, he could see the funnel way off in the distance. It didn’t look as solid as before.
He crept out among the icy white balls and got to his feet to survey the landscape. Except for the air being cooler, everything appeared to be the same. Three or four miles away he knew massive devastation had been left in the tornado’s wake.
For Audra’s sake he would always be grateful the Jarrett Ranch had been left untouched this time.
“The danger’s over,” he assured her after scanning the sky. It would be evening before they knew it. “Stay put for a minute while I call Dad and find out what the weather service is saying.”
He pulled the phone out of his jeans pocket and punched in the number. His father picked up before the second ring.
“Rick, we’re almost to the ranch. That tornado missed you by four miles.”
“I know.” He walked around the other end of the culvert to get her crutch. “It was headed straight for us. At the last second I watched it shift north.”
“Thank heavens you’re all right. The funnel dissipated northwest of Austin. We’ve been listening to the radio. They’re saying it was an F-3. How’s Audra?”
“Tell David she’s fine.”
“I’ll phone him right now.”
“We’re leaving the creek to go back to the house.”
“How much damage have you done to your injury?”
“None.”
He could tell that his father wanted to say something else, then thought the better of it. “Pam and I should be joining you in about fifteen minutes.”
“Fine.”
Rick put his phone away and went around to the other end of the crossbridge. He got down on his haunches. “The alert is over, Audra. Crawl toward me and we’ll go home.”
“D-did you see the tornado?” Her teeth were chattering.
He couldn’t lie to her. “Yes, but the storm has passed and the funnel broke up. Come on.” He helped her to her feet and fit the crutch under her arm.
They worked as a team to walk back to the house. She faltered several times from weakness. He gripped her waist to support her. No word passed between them. Soon they reached the bungalow. He handed her the crutch by the back door and helped her inside.
“When we left this kitchen, I didn’t think we’d ever see it again.” A shudder passed through her body he could feel.
“Try not to dwell on it.”
“That’s asking too much. You must be in terrible pain.”
“I didn’t injure myself.”
“Don’t lie to me. Your bandages and sling are sopping wet,” she cried in an anxious tone. “If you’ve dislocated your shoulder again—”
“Listen to me, Audra. I swear to you nothing’s wrong.”
“We still have to call your doctor and find out what to do.”
“I will later. Right now I’m assuming the phone lines to the hospitals are jammed. Let’s clean up your cast first. Come and sit down on the chair.”
Once she was settled, he took a cloth from the drawer and got down on his haunches to brush away the dirt that clung to it. He wiped off her other leg, too. “Your skirt and blouse need to be washed.”
“So do your jeans, but I don’t really care.” Her eyes sought his. “I’m so thankful we’re both alive, nothing else matters.”
“I agree.”
“Thank you for being there for me, Rick. I don’t know what I would have done if I’d been alone. Probably fainted dead away from fright before I ever reached the creek.”
Rick was ready to take her in his arms, when his cell phone rang. He put the cloth on the counter and checked the caller ID. “It’s my brother.”
“I’m sure he’s worried sick about you. Talk to him while I change.”
“Are you sure you don’t want to sit here awhile longer?” She looked pale.
“I’m fine. Don’t keep him waiting.” She got up and made a quick exit from the kitchen on her crutches.
He put the phone to his ear. “Nate?”
“Dad already told me you and Audra are all right, but I needed to hear your voice. Laurel called me while I was on my way home from work. She happened to have been watching something on cable and heard about a tornado touching down in Texas. I don’t know the details, but Dad said you were an eyewitness.”
Rick leaned against the counter. “I’ve seen things that put the fear in me before, Nate, but this was different. The sight of nature doing something only a higher power could stop was so unbelievably awesome and terrible, I’ll never view life the same way again.”
After a long silence, “Did Audra see it, too?”
“No. I crushed her against me so she wouldn’t be able to watch. She already has nightmares from the crash she was in. I’m not sure I won’t be having some horrific dreams myself. Their family lost thirty people in a funnel just like that one.”
“I heard,” his brother murmured in a solemn voice.
“It happened almost in the same place! Can you comprehend it?”
“No.” There was a silence before Nate added, “We’re lucky none of us saw the avalanche.” Nate had just read Rick’s mind.
His eyes smarted. “As you told me after you held Becky in your arms at the hospital, life is precious. While Audra was clinging to me in the culvert, I realized it like never before. I also understood how puny man’s power is, how helpless I was to protect her. All we could do was hold on to each other and pray we weren’t going for our last ride around the track.”
“Don’t even think it. Are you guys okay now? You know what I mean.”
He did. “We’re alive. That makes us perfect.”
“And here I thought all clear and present danger was confined to the skies over the Middle East.”
Rick made a noise in his throat before wandering into the living room out of earshot.
“Welcome to Texas. It’s been a wild ride so far and getting wilder all the time.”
“Dad said he’s waiting to see what Pam’s cousins are goin
g to pull next.”
“We’re both doing reconnaissance during the night to keep an eye on things.”
“You’re getting reinforcements. Laurel and I will fly down in the morning and drive to the ranch from the airport.”
“That’s music to my ears.”
“Speaking of music, Laurel received your express package while she was watching the news. We haven’t had a chance to play any of the CDs yet, but we will tonight. I had no idea Audra was a singer.”
“She’s so many things, I don’t even know where to start.” In the next breath he found himself bragging about her radio program and her studies in France.
“When you’re listening to the country music, remember every part of what you’re hearing is one hundred percent original Audra Jarrett. She’s self-taught on the guitar. This summer she’s doing a tour with her harp ensemble. She’ll be playing with the Denver Philharmonic at Red Rock.”
Rick could hear his brother trying to absorb everything.
“How come Pam never said anything, or Dad? All we knew was that she’d been in a terrible car crash.”
“That’s a story for another day. I’ve got a ton to tell you when you get here.”
“We’ll catch up on Friday.”
Excited his brother was coming, he hung up and went in search of Audra. They met in the hallway. She’d changed into another skirt and top. He could tell she was still shaken and probably would be for a long time to come.
His eyes searched hers. “Pam and Clint will be here any minute.”
The relief on her face made him realize she needed to talk this out with her cousin. “I’ll make some sandwiches.”
“We’ll do it together.”
At this point Rick was starving and ate while he helped prepare the food. They worked in companionable silence until she said, “There they are, but they’re driving your car.”
Rick walked through the house to the front door and opened it. Audra followed. To his surprise, Pam was at the wheel. He noticed his father get out and walk toward them.
When he reached Rick, he patted his good shoulder. “Pam’s driving you over to an Instant Care clinic about five miles from here.”
“I don’t need help.”
“Do it for us?” That pleading look in his eyes got to Rick every time. “I’ll stay with Audra.”
“Please go with her, Rick,” she urged.
Not wanting Audra to worry about him on top of what had just happened, he nodded. “Okay. We won’t be long.”
Famous last words.
It was close to eleven before they returned to the bungalow. A surge of people had descended on the clinic in Marysvale, some who’d been injured by flying debris during the tornado, others with problems unrelated to the weather.
He came home taped clean and dry, with a new sling. Because he hadn’t hurt himself in the culvert, he’d opted not to wait for an X ray to be taken. All he wanted was to get back to Audra.
“Don’t let her be alone tonight after her program,” Pam murmured before they got out of the car.
Audra had been on both their minds. Rick had already planned to stay close to her, but it was nice to be given permission. “I have a plan that will help us to relax.”
“SO IF YOU’VE JUST JOINED us, you need to know the station is donating a hundred percent of the money made from the purchase of CDs to the Red Cross to help the injured.
“From what we’ve learned, the tornado took one life today. That’s one loss too many, but thanks to the alert system, hundreds were spared.
“There’s time for one more phone call before the top of the hour. If you just want to talk about the storm, that’s what we’ve been doing. My producer tells me Mark is on the line.
“Good morning, Mark.”
“I don’t think there’s much good about it.”
It was Tom.
She would know his voice anywhere.
“Frankly I’m not so certain that money will make it into the right hands. In fact, I find it downright offensive that you use this program to promote yourself in the name of the tornado survivors.”
The venom in his tone chilled Audra.
Her gaze flicked to Rick, who’d been lying on the bed watching her throughout the program. Now he was on his feet. His eyes held a dangerous glitter.
She took a deep breath. “When the town of Hillmont was struck by a tornado years ago, the remaining members of the Jarrett family were the recipients of many outpourings, financial and otherwise, from all over the state of Texas.
“I consider it a privilege to be able to pay back the community in some small way for the ground-swell of support we received. It isn’t as much as I’d like to give, but it comes straight from the heart.
“That’s all the time we have for tonight. Join me again on Friday at midnight for the Red Jarrett Show.”
Audra made her closing remarks and signed off.
By the time she’d taken off her headphones, Rick had moved behind her where she was perched on her stool. He put his free arm around her neck and buried his lips in her hair. She felt his touch radiate through her body.
“You handled Tom with such grace, I respect you more than I can say. To think after all they’ve done, you were so worried about them, you wanted them to know a tornado might be on the way. Come on. Let’s go to my room to unwind.”
Her heart began to thud. “You need your sleep. So do I.”
“Sleep can wait. Talk can’t.”
He helped her with her crutches.
“I don’t think—”
“I do.”
Audra experienced new fear as they left the room and walked down the hall. It was too easy to turn to Rick whenever she felt like it. She couldn’t comprehend the thought of him leaving for Arizona.
If this was the way Pam had felt after spending a few short days with Clint in Colorado, Audra understood why her cousin would have done anything to hang on to her newfound happiness.
But her situation and Audra’s weren’t the same. Though Clint and Rick were father and son, they were two different men with two different agendas.
Clint wanted the same joys that his first marriage had brought him.
Rick was still single. He was a world-famous sports figure. He had places to go, more records to break.
He was a wonderful, kind, gentle, intelligent, exciting, masterful, sensitive man. She would die if anything ever happened to him.
She’d fallen in love with him.
It had happened without her realizing it. She couldn’t name the moment. There were so many.
Audra had never envied Pam until tonight.
Marriage for her cousin may have come in the summertime of her life, but it had been worth the long wait to end up being loved by Clint.
The Hawkins men were exceptional.
“You need some pampering,” Rick said after he rested her crutches against the wall. She lay down on one side of his bed while he found a pillow to prop her leg.
Somehow, with the coming of the tornado, their roles had reversed. He was now the caregiver. Her eyes followed him around until he’d settled back against a couple of pillows. When he turned on his good side to face her, Audra’s breath caught.
This close to each other it was a constant struggle not to study his attractive features.
“Did I tell you I saw a teenager and his girlfriend drive by the house about four o’clock yesterday morning?”
She blinked. “No. Were you outside?”
“Yes. I couldn’t sleep. They were cuddled together listening to music. It took me back to my teens when I seemed to have a crush on a different girl every other week. I would have given anything to be out that late with one of them.”
Audra smiled. “It’s a good thing you had vigilant parents. Uncle David was just as bad. ‘Eleven o’clock, Audra.’”
“Do you know what’s so nice?”
Her heart yearned toward him. “What?”
“It’s four in the morning, and
unlike that teen out in the truck, I have my dad’s permission to be alone with you for as long as I want.”
She averted her eyes. “You didn’t have much choice, since I’m the one who invited you to stay here.”
“Do you honestly think I would have taken you up on your offer if I didn’t have an enormous crush on you?”
Careful, Audra.
“What I think is that you’ve been endowed with a strong sense of chivalry. It helps you make the most of a bizarre situation with an oddity like me.”
His dark eyebrows lifted. “You see yourself as an oddity?”
“Perhaps that’s a slight exaggeration. I’m normal enough to have a crush on you, too, but unlike the other females you’ve met, I realize that’s all it is.”
“I like the way you think,” he murmured. “Shall we pretend we’re in my dad’s truck and do what we’re dying to do?”
She eyed him through narrowed lids. “We’re not teenagers anymore.”
He flashed her a mischievous smile. “That’s right. Scared?”
“In our condition, no.”
“Sure?”
Heat spiraled up her body to her cheeks. “Take your best shot and we’ll see.”
“My best shot…”
She was dying all right, and he knew it!
“Meet me halfway.”
“It’s kind of hard with this cast.”
“Try.”
In the process of inching closer, Rick kissed the corner of her mouth. She strained toward him only to find herself being tantalized by little kisses that followed the outline of her lips from top and bottom.
Audra did the same thing to him, then went further afield to relish the rasp of his chin and jaw. His lips chased after hers in an exciting duel of the senses. Seduced by his mastery, her heart leaped when she felt his mouth close over hers.
They couldn’t wrap their arms and legs around each other the way their bodies were straining to do. Somehow it didn’t matter. Their mouths became the focal point of their existence. Each kiss grew longer, hungrier. Unable to distinguish between them, she forgot caution and let desire take over.
“I want you, Audra,” he whispered against her lips. “I want you more than anything I’ve ever wanted in my life.”
She knew he meant it for the moment. At a time like this, a man’s body, a man’s passion didn’t lie. But hearing the words brought her back to some semblance of reality.
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