by Jenny Penn
Cindy had been close to Elton, real close. In another life they might have gotten married, might have had a chance to live happily ever after but those possibilities had died along with Elton’s son. Everybody knew that Lindsay’s mother had been the one who killed Michael Howell. While Vicky Lynn might not have put the gun to his head, she’d been the reason Michael had put it there.
True or not, it didn’t matter. Lindsay wasn’t her mother. She wasn’t accountable for Vicky Lynn’s actions. As much as Elton had suffered, so had she. After all, she’d never even had a chance to meet her father. Michael had died before she’d been born.
“That wasn’t right of Candy.” Nick offered Lindsay a sincere apology. “I’m sorry she said those things. If I had thought for a moment she’d be that kind of bitch to you, I wouldn’t have suggested you go down there.”
Lindsay sucked in a deep breath and let it go in a visible sigh that appeared to wash away all the tension and anger from her body. “Whatever. It’s all in the past anyway.”
“Then you forgive me?” Nick asked hopefully.
“Maybe if you went to your knees,” Lindsay allowed without a hint of charity.
Nick didn’t pause. He fell straight to his knees and held his hands up as he pleaded with her. “Pleeeease forgive me, Lindsay.”
“Oh, for God’s sake—get up!” Lindsay glanced around frantically, no longer appearing cold or aloof.
“My heart breaks with the knowledge of your displeasure. I can never”
“Stop that!”
“—forgive myself until you say I’m forgiven.”
“Fine. You’re forgiven,” Lindsay snapped. “Now get up!”
Stepping forward, she latched onto one of his hands and yanked back to his feet with a forward motion he followed right through the doorway. Pleased to have gotten exactly what he wanted out of the moment, Nick straightened and offered her his biggest grin.
“I’ll be glad to if you tell me we’re square, otherwise I know a man who plays a mean xylophone and I have a hell of a voice. I even know the song that makes even the coldest hearts melt. You are my sunshine, my only sunshine…”
Placing one hand his chest, Nick lifted the other toward the sky and continued singing as he danced around Lindsay and worked his way deeper into the cabin. All the while she watched him with a somber gaze and an unflinching expression that he didn’t know how to read.
Normally by the time he went down on his knee as he belted out the last verse the woman was flushed and eyeing him like he was a piece of double-chocolate cake smothered in fudge. Nick guessed Lindsay was allergic because she didn’t even blink as he actually spoke the truth for the first time in his life.
“…how much I love you, please don’t take my sunshine away.”
For a moment they just stared at each other. With Nick on one knee, Lindsay stared down at him like a bug she considered squashing. She sounded about ready to give in to the urge when she finally sighed and broke the silence.
“Are you done now?”
“Yeah, I guess.” Dropping his arms and rising back up to his feet, Nick couldn’t help but feel a little sullen over her response. “You’re a hard lady to impress.”
“Actually I’m pretty easily impressed,” Lindsay contradicted, waltzing around Nick to toss the shotgun on Elton’s old couch before slouching onto an air mattress that sat blown up in the middle of the room. “Electricity. It’s better than flowers, more delightful than chocolates, and definitely more charming than your song and dance.”
“I take it you didn’t get the generator started.” Nick commented on the obvious, out of quick retorts and not knowing what else to say.
“Nope.” Lindsay pulled the large, white-and-gray spotted cat lounging on her bed into her lap, cuddling him close as she glared back at Nick. “I didn’t find a single electrician willing to come out here to install a new one, or a contractor, plumber, carpenter. I couldn’t even rent a room down at the motel. Not that it matters. If your brother thinks that’s going to stop me, you can tell him—”
“That you don’t back down?” Nick supplied, watching the way she stroked the cat with gentle fingers despite the frustration tensing her words. “I think I’d rather just steer clear of that argument and let you and Cooper settle it directly. Nice-looking cat you got there. You know his name?”
“He didn’t exactly offer me a proper introduction. Did you?” Lindsay’s voice tipped up into a happy coo as she started scratching the cat’s neck, causing the animal to stretch his head up toward her like he was trying to offer her a kiss.
“No, you didn’t,” Lindsay answered for the cat as she dipped her chin to rub it between the feline’s ears. “No, you didn’t. Nooooooo. You just came in and helped yourself to my tuna, didn’t you? Yes, you did. Yes, you did.”
“I don’t doubt that.” Nick cleared his throat, wondering how it was he could be so damn jealous of a cat. “Sally doesn’t put nothing but hard food down for old Jack there. We’ll be lucky to get that cat back if you keep feeding him out of a can.”
That comment had Lindsay looking up as her hands fell still. The sadness returned to her gaze. “Oh, he’s yours.”
“I wouldn’t say it like that.” Not if it upset her that much. “It’s more like he works for the ranch. Him and his siblings, they keep the place free of vermin. However, if you offer him a better deal and he decides to accept, nobody’s going to send out a search party.”
“Even if it is ‘that evil bitch that castrated her own husband while he slept’?”
Nick flinched, feeling his cheeks heat with a blush for the first time in years. He didn’t need more than one guess to figure out who Lindsay was quoting.
“Candy Anne?”
“They really broke the mold when they made her, didn’t they?” Lindsay managed a rueful smile that didn’t quite reach her eyes.
“That’s for sure, but the real question is did they throw it away or are there more of them out there?” Nick actually liked Candy Anne, but wouldn’t fault Lindsay for her opinion. “I’m sorry. I didn’t know she had issues with…you.”
“At least she was honest in what she thought,” Lindsay charitably allowed. “That kind of puts her ahead of everybody else with all their looks and whispers.”
“They’re just curious.”
“And you’re not?”
“Perhaps a little,” Nick admitted after a heavy pause. He didn’t want to screw this up and offend her, but felt certain a socially polite rejection would be seen for the lie it was.
“Not about your mom, though. Whatever happened between her and—”
Too late, Nick realized he’d stumbled into an awkward turn. What had happened between Vicky Lynn and Michael Howell was never openly discussed but that didn’t mean nobody knew about it. The ‘incident,’ as it was politely termed for mixed company, had become something of a legend. Everybody knew about Vicky Lynn doing half the bar in the bar’s bathroom. Surely, Lindsay knew the story. If she didn’t than the last thing Nick wanted to do was share it with her.
“—anybody else is their own private business.”
“I’m not talking about that,” Lindsay stated quietly as a cold detachment seeped back into her tone. “I’m talking about me, and the rumors about what I did.”
“I guess I figure they’re not true.” Nick paused, holding Lindsay’s gaze for a long moment before giving in to the question lingering silent and unspoken between them. “Are they?”
“I didn’t electrocute my husband in his balls.”
“I didn’t think—”
“It was his upper thigh,” Lindsay cut Nick off, shocking him more with her tone than her words. There wasn’t an ounce of regret in her voice. “And he was definitely not asleep. As for the husband thing, to this day I do not have any memory of marrying that man nor would I have.”
Nick took that in, confused more by her explanation than the rumors that circulated about her. Then again, reality was normally more compl
icated than the narrow scope that most rumors took. In the end it came down to who he believed. That’s what it always came down to—who to trust? Nick had a bad history of picking the wrong person.
“Hey, now, don’t look so upset.” Offering him a smile that proved just how tough she really was, Lindsay looked anything but haunted by her past. “It’s not all that bad. I mean I survived and, look, I even managed to make a new friend here. Haven’t I, Mr. Jack? Yes, I have. Yes, I have.”
The cat ate up every sugarcoated word, purring and leaning into her touch as she stroked over him with a motion that had Nick’s heart swelling along with another part of his anatomy. God but he wanted to crawl up into her lap and let her touch wipe away all the guilt and sadness he carried with him every day.
Nick bet her fingers would feel soft and so gentle just the idea of their touch left a trail of goose bumps dancing down his spine. A warm, gentle ache followed along with visions of her sliding down his body. Those big eyes watching him, those full lips tasting every inch, she’d go to her knees to please him.
His balls swelled with a need that had Nick breaking out in a sweat. If he didn’t find something to distract him he might very well make a fool out of himself and come right there in his boxers. Turning away from the sight of Lindsay petting the cat, he glanced around the room, taking in everything from the small propane grill to the large coolers and piles of bags stuffed with snack food. Clearly Lindsay had found the Walmart.
“I see you went on a shopping spree,” he commented, drawing Lindsay’s attention back toward him before dropping her gaze on the pile of bags before him.
“Yeah. I might have overdone it a bit but I figured it was better to have too much than to have to run constantly back toward the store.” Eyeing the gun she’d dumped on the couch, Lindsay scowled. “Of course, I should probably have just bought myself a new gun instead of just hoping that one works.”
“You don’t think the gun works?” Turning toward the couch, he dropped down onto its musty cushions and pulled the shotgun into his lap to inspect it. “It’s got a firing pin…trigger works…there’s a little rust in the barrel but that would be easy to clean up.”
“You think so?” Lindsay eyed the gun as if it were a snake that had just bit her. “It’s just…I mean, it’s so heavy. I was really thinking I should just use it like a bat. I bet I could whack the crap out of somebody.”
“And piss them off,” Nick shot back, afraid of the situation she might land herself in. “Trust me, lil’ bit, you don’t want make anybody mad. You want to put them down.”
Otherwise they might get back up and Nick knew how that story ended. All he had to do was close his eyes and greet the nightmare waiting for him in the darkness. As hard as those memories were to bear, he wouldn’t be able stand the thought of Lindsay being the one who ended up hurt.
“Fine.” Lindsay heaved an aggrieved sigh, sounding anything but pleased with her agreement. “I guess I’ll have to figure out how to shoot the damn thing, but I swear if I take off a toe, I’m going to come after you.”
“I’d be afraid of that threat, but if all you can shoot is your toe I’m not sure what I have to worry about.” Nick threw off his painful memories and focused on the present and the pleasure he received from spending it with Lindsay.
“Then I’ll aim higher, like around the upper thigh area.”
Nick would have taken that threat seriously if it wasn’t for her smile. Real and full of both warmth and amusement, Lindsay’s grin filled him with such happiness he couldn’t help but return the gesture.
“Then I guess I better teach you how to shoot,” Nick retorted. “Trust me, you don’t want to make that kind of threat and miss.”
“Deal,” Lindsay agreed.
“Tomorrow,” Nick pressed, realizing the gift he’d just received. He’d broken through her defenses. While agreeing to accept help might not be a big commitment for most people, Nick knew it was a huge step for Lindsay.
“Tomorrow afternoon,” she qualified as she nodded toward the crap piled up all around the cabin. “I got plans for the morning.”
“Cleaning?” Nick took what he considered a pretty obvious guess but ended up striking out.
“No, actually that comes second. First, I need a truck.”
“Going all country are you?” Nick teased. “You going to get yourself a jacked up four-by-four?”
“A four by what?” Lindsay blinked in honest confusion.
“Oh, they’re going to love you down at the dealership.” Nick could already imagine what the salesmen would think of Lindsay. “A big wallet and no clue, that’s the best kind of customer.”
“I bet they’d treat you better.” Instead of taking offense at Nick’s teasing, Lindsay studied him as her hands fell still. “I bet you would know what I need. Wouldn’t you?”
“I would and I’d be glad to go with you, but my services do not come cheap.”
“Really?” Lindsay lifted a provocative brow as Jack Cat head butted her in the chest, a reminder that he still required petting. Absently her hand started to stroke back over the cat, but her focus remained firmly fixed on Nick. “And just what kind of payment are you looking for?”
“Lunch.” Ignoring all the lewd responses that popped into his mind, Nick went with the answer that he knew would lead to something more. “And I’m not talking any fast-food burgers. I want a steak cooked perfectly.”
“And I bet you know where to get that.”
“Yes, I do.”
A nice, romantic little restaurant that served up privacy along with delicious food. It was perfect place to take a lady that a man wanted to impress. Nick wanted to do more than that to Lindsay.
“So, is it a date?”
Lindsay hesitated before finally agreeing. “Okay. We’ll meet here tomorrow morning.”
“And I’ll take you out to breakfast,” Nick offered, smoothly managing to extend their plans. “Then we can go pick you out a truck, catch a hearty lunch, and then I’ll show you how handle this bad boy right here.”
“If you really want to show me something, why don’t you point out who the hell my dad is.” Lindsay eyes dropped to the pile of pictures she had spread across her sheets. “You know, I thought I might recognize him, have a sixth sense or maybe just see a face that looks like mine but…they’re all just strangers.”
The sadness crept back into her tone, touching something deep in Nick’s heart. Elton’s anger over Michael’s suicide and the fact that he’d blamed Vicky Lynn for his son’s death had denied Lindsay her right to know her father’s side of her family. Nick couldn’t let that stand. Shifting onto the mattress, he let the sweet scent of apples and cinnamon that clung to Lindsay fill him with contentment as he picked through the photographs until he found what he was looking for.
“Here.” Passing the old Polaroid over to Lindsay, he pointed to each person as named them off. “That’s your dad, there, and his dad beside him. Your grandmom is the lady in the blue dress and that’s her sister, Martha, in the yellow one. I guess that would make her your great-aunt.”
“Is she still alive?” Hope lifted Lindsay’s tone even as it lightened her gaze for just a moment. Nick hated to disappoint her but had no choice.
“I’m sorry.” He shook his head. “No.”
“It’s not your fault. It’s not anyone’s fault.” Offering him up a half smile that echoed with the same loneliness softening her tone, Lindsay shrugged. “It’s just the way life is sometimes.”
She could lie to anybody she wanted to but Nick knew the truth. He could sense it under Lindsay’s carefully composed expression. She was mad. Worse, she was hurt. She had every right to be.
That didn’t mean she didn’t deserve a break even from her own emotions. So did Nick. Tired of carrying the stress that weighed on him around, he let it go and settled deeper into the mattress to sort through the photographs.
“Oh, here, check this out.” Lifting up one of the more recent pictures, he
let Lindsay take it as he leaned into her side as he pointed to the men tall and proud in the image. “That is my daddy, here. His name is Allen and beside him is my great-uncle Oliver and that on the end is your granddaddy, Elton, and guess who that is.”
A smile blossomed over her face as she studied the small boy dressed in full clown gear with his face all done up in makeup. “You?”
“Cooper.” Nick relished correcting her, all too eager to help his brother’s reputation along. Hell, he knew every embarrassing thing that Cooper had ever done or had happen to him. By the end of the night, so would Lindsay.
Chapter 6
August 16th
Dennis Rendell pulled his truck between the patrol cars parked at the bottom of Sunny Ridge and glared up the small knoll at the men waiting for him. They were a bunch of young punks, lacking in morals or values. Not a single one of them had ever met a line they wouldn’t cross, which was just why Dennis had recruited them.
It had taken him years to channel their natural brutality and lack of empathy into something structured and useful. Now instead of being a collection of thugs, they were a finally honed machine, capable of accomplishing almost any task. Like all good machines, there could only be one brain in charge of operations. That was Dennis’s role, a fact that some in his crew seemed to have forgotten.
A different man, one quick to temper, would have been tempted to remind them of that fact with a suitably bold and violent act, but that wasn’t Dennis’s style. Instead he parked his truck and ambled out of it like he had all the time in the world. Knowing appearance was everything, he took his time, sauntering up to the top of the hill with a slow stride. It was his day off, after all, and he didn’t rush for anybody.
The cluster of men broke apart as he approached, all the men falling behind the big blond at the front. Travis Greene. Dennis never could decide if taking on the young upstart had been the best move he’d ever made or the worst.
