by Linda Turner
Suddenly noting his distraction, she broke off abruptly. “Where did I lose you, honey? You look a million miles away.”
Another man might have tried to blame his forgetfulness on stress or his job or problem with a woman, but his mother would have seen through that in a heartbeat. So he gave her the truth. “I forgot all about the party.”
“Is that all?” she said, laughing. “It’s no big deal, sweetheart. You have plenty of time to change.”
“No, changing isn’t what I’m worried about, Mom,” he replied somberly. “Sit down. We need to talk.”
Pulling out a chair for her at the old oak kitchen table that had been in the family for as long as anyone could remember, he sat across from her and told her about the messages left on Elizabeth’s answering machine, the threats, the bloody radio collar left on her front porch. “It’s not safe for her to live there by herself any longer, but there’s no other rental property available. So the only other option is a motel—”
“A motel!” she gasped. “But the closest one is in Gunnison! Zeke, don’t you dare let that girl do that. She’d spend half her time on the road commuting. She can stay here, of course. I hope you told her that.”
Smiling, he reached over and squeezed his mother’s hand. She really was the best “Actually, she’s packing nght now and should be here in about fifteen minutes But she’s afraid of imposing, and I had to promise to clear everything with you in person first.” Glancing pointedly at the cake, he grimaced wryly. “That brings up another problem. Since I forgot all about the party, I never actually invited her. She’s going to walk in right in the middle of it and feel like she’s crashing.
“I know,” he said when she started to grin, “we don’t stand on ceremony around here, and anyone who wants to come is welcome. But Elizabeth’s going to feel like she’s imposing.”
“I’ll talk to her,” Sara said, and saw more than Zeke realized. “I’ve heard so much about her that I feel as if I know her already. But she doesn’t have to join the party if she doesn’t feel comfortable. She can go on up to her room and no one will think a thing of it. We’ll have plenty of time to visit later. Okay?”
Satisfied, he rose and drew her up for a bear hug. “I don’t care what people say about you,” he teased, “you’re a pretty darn good mom.”
“Scamp!” Laughing, she hugged him back, then pushed him toward the door. “Go on and get out of here and help your brother get those lights up. We’ve got a party to get ready for!”
Elizabeth pulled up before her house and braked to a stop, her heart knocking loudly against her ribs. Complete darkness had fallen since she’d left Zeke, but in the glare of her headlights, nothing appeared to have been touched since she’d left that morning. The windows were locked and shut, the front door bolted. There were no tracks in the snow except hers and Zeke’s, nothing to show that anyone had been anywhere near the place all morning.
Relieved, she glanced at the clock on the dash and grabbed her keys. If she was going to make it to the Twin Pines Ranch in fifteen minutes as she’d promised, she was going to have to hustle.
Hurrying inside, she locked the front door after her and flipped on lights as she rushed into her bedroom, shivering slightly as silence engulfed her. Next to her bed, the answering machine blinked, but she ignored it and turned to her closet for her overnight bag.
Grabbing whatever was at hand, she took all of two minutes to throw things in the bag, stuff her makeup in and head for the door. She fumbled with the lock and cursed fingers that were anything but steady. There was, she tried to tell herself as the lock finally gave, no reason to be afraid—she was completely alone. But by the time she hit the porch, she was running It wasn’t until she was back in her car, the doors all locked, that she could finally draw a calming breath. Even then, her heart didn’t return to a halfway normal rhythm until she pulled onto the highway and turned toward town.
Darkness engulfed her, and with a sigh of relief she noted that there wasn’t another soul on the road. Settling back, she increased her speed and switched on the radio for noise. Fiddling with the channel selector, she never saw the car come flying out of the dark behind her until he was bearing down on her, his lights blinding.
Suddenly he was right on her rear bumper, shadowing every move she made, the sharp glare of his headlights pinning her in front of him. Startled, her heart thundering, she hit the accelerator, sending her car rocketing down the road, but he stayed right behind her with alarming ease. It was just a stupid kid trying to intimidate her with his fast car, she told herself. As soon as she reached the double lane at the climb ahead, he could get around her and gladly leave her in his dust.
But when she flew around a curve and swung over into the right-hand lane provided for slower traffic, he mimicked her every move and followed her. Fear crawled into her stomach, and it was then she knew she was in trouble.
Her fingers curling tightly around the steering wheel, she didn’t dare take her eyes from the road as the dark countryside flew past her window in a blur. Liberty Hill was just a mile down the road. All she had to do was call Nick, and he’d grab this jerk as he chased her through town.
She reached for her phone, but before she could dial the number to the sheriff’s office, the driver behind her suddenly backed off. Surprised, she lifted her eyes to her rearview mirror...just as what sounded like a gunshot exploded behind her. A split second later, her right front tire blew.
She screamed—there was no time to do anything else as the car swerved sharply to the right. The wheel jerked in her hands, and suddenly she was careening off the road. Trees danced in front of her. Gasping, she wrenched the wheel to the right... and sent the car crashing down into a ravine.
“Oh, God. Oh, God.” That was all she had time to whisper before she slammed sideways into what looked like the Rock of Gibraltar. The air bag exploded—and her head slammed into the window of the driver’s door. The pain was immediate and sharp. She moaned and tried to lift her hand to what felt like blood at her temple, but it was too late. Darkness hit her like a ton of bricks, and without another sound, she collapsed in a boneless heap.
Chapter 11
She was late.
Guests—invited and uninvited—milled about, talking and laughing and enjoying themselves, and there was no sign of Lizzie. Checking his watch for the tenth time in as many minutes, Zeke told himself there was no reason to worry just because she was twenty minutes late. She’d said she was just going to grab a few things, but he didn’t know a woman alive who could pack that fast. She’d have to make sure things matched, find her best underwear, collect her makeup and shampoo and a hundred other things that women needed to make themselves beautiful. She didn’t need all that stuff, of course—she was gorgeous just the way she was—and he’d tell her so just as soon as she got there. Which would, he assured himself, be any second now.
But when the doorbell rang a few minutes later, and he rushed to open the door to a horde of more party-goers, Elizabeth wasn’t among them. Or in the next group that came streaming inside a few minutes after that, shedding coats and bearing gifts. And with every tick of the clock, the knot of worry in his gut tightened. Something was wrong.
To hell with it, he thought. He was calling her, and if he didn’t get her, he was going looking for her.
Fighting his way through the crowd that had logjammed in the hall outside the kitchen, he was trying to make his way to the phone in the study when Joe struggled to his side. Zeke took one look at his grim face and braced for bad news. “Something’s happened to Elizabeth.”
He nodded somberly. “Nick just called. She had an accident. The paramedics are rushing her to the hospital right now.”
The news hit him like a blow from a sledgehammer, stopping his heart dead in his chest. “How bad is she?” he asked hoarsely.
He shrugged. “Nick just said she was unconscious at the scene.” Digging in his pocket, he pulled out his keys. “Take my truck—it’s out back by th
e barn. Yours is blocked in. I’ll tell Mom and the girls.”
Zeke didn’t wait to hear more. Shouldering his way through the crowd, he made his way into the kitchen and rushed out the back door without bothering to grab a coat. The cold night air slapped him in the face, but he didn’t notice. All he could think of was Elizabeth. All this time he’d been waiting for her, she’d needed him. His blood cold with fear, he ran for Joe’s truck.
She was lucky to be alive. If the young intern who patched her up in the emergency room of the Falls County Hospital told Elizabeth once, he told her a dozen times she had to be living under a lucky star. There was, he felt sure, no other explanation for her continued good health. Not that she’d come out of the accident scot-free, he acknowledged—she had a concussion, sprained wrist and bruised back muscles that were already starting to tighten up. Tomorrow she was going to feel as though she’d been flattened by a Mack truck, but considering the severity of the crash, she’d gotten off lightly. If her personal angels hadn’t been quite so diligent, she could have been as totaled as her Jeep.
Elizabeth knew he was just trying to make her feel better, but he was wasting his time. All she could hear was the sound of a gunshot just seconds before her front tire exploded.
He’d tried to kill her, she thought in horror. Did he know he hadn’t succeeded? Was he plotting even now a way to get to her to finish the job?
Terror clawed its way up her throat, threatening to choke her, even as she assured herself there was no reason to panic. She was safe. Nick was right outside in the hall, and he had deputies stationed all around the hospital. No one was going to get her here.
She knew that, and tried to take comfort from it, but her fear cared nothing for logic. Feeling like she was going to fly apart any second, she told herself to focus. If she could just think about the pain and nothing else, she’d be fine.
For a while it worked. But then a commotion in the hall had every muscle in her body tightening in panic. Alarmed, she struggled to sit up just as the door to her room burst open and Zeke came striding in, looking furious, with Nick right behind him, trying to soothe the ruffled feathers of the nurse who insisted that both men wait outside until the doctor had cleared the patient for visitors.
“We’ll just be a moment,” Nick told the older woman.
“Speak for yourself,” Zeke retorted, heading straight for Elizabeth. His eyes, dark with concern and hot with temper, met hers from across the room. “I’m staying right here.”
“Sir, you can’t!” Indignant, the nurse scurried around him to plant herself right in front of him. As lean and tough as a drill sergeant, she shot him a look that just dared him. to take one more step. “Am I going to have to call security?”
Nick choked on a laugh. “Ma’am, that’s not necessary.”
“You’re darn right it’s not necessary,” Zeke retorted, scowling. With a muttered curse, he pulled out his badge and flashed it at her. “You want security, you got it, lady. I’m a special agent with the U.S. Government, and the gentleman choking on his own amusement is the sheriff. Now if you’ll excuse us, we got business to discuss with Ms. Davis.”
Far from beaten, the nurse sniffed and sailed toward the door with her nose in the air. “We’ll just see what the doctor has to say about this.”
Not the least bit concerned, Zeke turned back to Elizabeth, his scowl deepening as he took in her colorless face, pain-darkened eyes, and the bandage at her temple. Ten seconds, he raged. That was all he needed with Chester Grant to take the miserable worm apart.
Aching to sweep her into his arms and hold her until the color returned to her cheeks and he was sure she really was all right, he had to content himself with taking her hand instead. “Nick told me what happened,” he said huskily. “Are you all right?”
She’d never been less all right in her life, but the second his fingers closed around hers, the fear that tore at her eased. Clinging to his hand, fighting sudden, foolish tears, she gave him a watery smile. “Yeah. I guess I’m running a little late getting to your mother’s, huh?”
“Just a little,” he said with a half smile that wasn’t any steadier than hers. “Next time you decide to take a little detour down a ravine, try to avoid the rocks, sweetheart. They’re hell on a car’s body work.”
“Mine, too,” she replied with a chuckle, only to wince as the pounding in her head intensified. Sucking in a sharp breath, she went perfectly still and rode out the pain, waiting for it to ease. Even when it did, though, her head throbbed dully.
Her hand clutched his tightly as she asked weakly, “Do you think you could see about getting me out of here? I’m sure I’ll feel much better at your mother’s.”
Zeke thought of the crowd, the noise and laughter of the party, and swallowed a silent groan. She needed peace and quiet, and it would be hours before all the guests left, but there was no way in hell he was taking her anywhere else. Not when he’d come so close to losing her. She could rest upstairs—no one would bother her there—and he could leave her there and know that she was safe with his family while he went to hunt down Chester.
“I’ll go check it out right now, sweetheart,” he assured her. “I’ll be right back.”
Motioning for Nick to join him in the hall, he waited until the door shut behind them before he said coldly, “I’m going after Chester, Nick. Don’t try to stop me. The bastard almost killed her, and this time he’s going to pay.”
Nick took one look at the rigid set of his jaw and didn’t - even try to discourage him. “I’m going with you. I called Judge Fischer from the scene of the accident and got him to agree to the warrant to search Chester’s house and garage before he has a chance to destroy any evidence. As soon as you get Elizabeth discharged, I’ll run by Fischer’s place and pick up the paperwork while you take her out to your mother’s. We can meet back at the office and leave for Grant’s from there.”
A muscle jumping in his jaw, Zeke nodded. “Stay with her while I hunt down her doctor.”
Not surprisingly he ran into Lizzie’s battle-ax of a nurse in the hall. “Since you won’t listen to me, I talked to Dr. Wells,” she said smugly. “He’ll be here any, second to discuss Ms. Davis’s condition with you.”
“Good,” Zeke retorted. “Then he can release her. I’m taking her home.”
“Oh, but you can’t!” the older woman said, shocked “She’s concussed. She can’t go home!”
The doctor tended to agree with the nurse when he put in an appearance a few minutes later, but Zeke had no intention of taking no for an answer. “If you want to keep her an hour or two to make sure she’s okay, that’s fine,” he told the younger man. He’d just get one of Nick’s deputies to watch over her while he and Nick went to Chester’s. “But she’s in a great deal of danger, and she’ll be safer at my family’s ranch. If you’re concerned that she’ll need medical attention during the night, I’m sure my sister will be happy to look in on her as often as you like. She’s an R.N. at the nursing home and will see that Elizabeth gets the same care at home that she would here ”
Put that way, the doctor didn’t have much of an argument for keeping her. “There’s no doubt that she’ll rest better at home,” he admitted, “but she does need to be watched carefully. If her headache worsens or she experiences any vision problems or nausea, she needs to be brought back here immediately.”
Zeke assured him he would never take any chances with her health, and within fifteen minutes he was carefully wheeling Elizabeth outside in a wheelchair to Joe’s ’58 Chevy truck.
“I can walk,” she protested, frowning as he scooped her up to deposit her in the pickup. “Where’s your Suburban?”
“Back at the ranch,” he said easily as he gently pushed her hands aside when she reached for the seat belt and buckled her in himself. “It was blocked in, so Joe let me use his truck.”
He knew he would have to tell her about the party and wasn’t looking forward to it. Not only would she shrink from the idea of intr
uding on a family gathering, she was going to hate walking into a houseful of people in her present condition. But he didn’t want her to worry about that until she had to.
“You should feel honored,” he said with a grin as he shut her door, then walked around the cab to climb in under the wheel. “He doesn’t let just anybody ride in this thing, you know. He must like you. I’ll have to watch him, tell him to get his own girl. You’re taken.”
He said it to tease her, to get her mind off his truck and her injuries, and he succeeded. Color bloomed in her pale cheeks, and for a startled moment, her eyes locked with his searchingly. He could have told her then he meant every word. She was taken. She was his. He didn’t know when or how it had happened, he just knew he wasn’t letting her go, now that he’d found her. One day soon they would have to discuss it, but not now. Not when she was weak as a kitten and he couldn’t take her in his arms and show her just how he felt about her.
So he reached for her hand instead, pressed a kiss to the back of it and said huskily, “Close your eyes, honey, and rest. I’ll get you home as fast as I can.”
Her heart thumping, she did as he said because she was tired and when she closed her eyes the pounding in her head wasn’t quite as bad. And, she silently acknowledged, because she was a coward and didn’t have the nerve to ask him if he was serious.
It had been a roller coaster of an evening, and she would have sworn her senses were in too much of a spin for her to sleep, but when she laid her aching head against the passenger window and sighed, exhaustion just slipped up on her in the dark and dragged her under. She never noticed how carefully Zeke drove, avoiding potholes so he wouldn’t jar her awake, or the worried glances he kept throwing her. The next thing she knew, he’d parked in front of his mother’s house and was easing open the passenger door to help her unbuckle.
