“My other passion was nature. My father always told us to follow our passions, and I was always drawn to farm life. My best time as a child was spent on my grandparents’ farm in Montana.” He laughed. “Although I couldn’t imagine myself being a farmer—not full-time, at least—I decided I didn’t want to give it up completely. So I bought the ranch.”
Knowing he was comfortable and successful both in an office and on the farm made him even more attractive in my eyes.
“What else did you study?” I asked, looking at out at a herd of cattle grazing in the distance.
“Agricultural science, and I did some courses in animal husbandry.”
I nodded. I was really impressed. “So when you come here you actually get your hands dirty?” I studied his profile—his strong neck, his carved jaw. I wanted to reach out and touch his stubble.
“Even though I don’t come to the ranch often, I make sure to be here for harvesting season.” He veered down another road. We drove past a large house, which he said was Grace and Travis’s cottage, a number of grazing animals, and more waving ranch hands. “I enjoy doing everything my people do. When I’m here I’m as much an employee as they are.”
He turned another corner and the barn I saw yesterday came into view, sunlight spilling over it. He drove toward it and as we approached, men started emerging, both young and old. There were at least six of them.
“I hope you don’t mind,” Dustin said, slowing down, “but I need to talk to these guys and then we can continue.”
“Sure, no problem.” Dustin was so different from Jude. He cared about people and animals. In the first weeks after I married Jude I told him I wanted to have a dog, and he said point blank that he hated animals. That night we had our first marital row.
Dustin hopped out of the truck and walked over to the men. He hugged them, clapping them on the back.
Catching snippets of words carried on the fresh country air, I listened as he exchanged jokes with them and asked about their families.
Then I held my breath when he suddenly pointed to the truck, to me. The men followed him.
“Haley, come and meet my friends.” I gripped his hand as he helped me out, wrapping my fingers tightly around his.
He wrapped an arm around me and pulled me close. “Boys, meet the one who got away. This is Haley.” He chuckled. Somewhere in the sound of his laughter, I heard the bitterness left behind by my rejection.
“Hi,” I said in a choked voice, and they all shook my hand. Their hands were calloused, but warm.
“Nice to meet you, Haley. We’ve heard a lot about you,” said a man missing the two front teeth from his otherwise bright smile. He introduced himself as Johnathan.
A warm blush crept up my neck. What did Dustin tell them about me?
“It’s nice to finally meet you,” added another man with a snow-white beard and hair that made him look like Santa Claus.
Dustin made a bit more small talk with the men, and then they filled him in on what had been happening on the ranch—stolen chickens, a pregnant cow, broken fences, machine operations, weed control, and more.
“I’ll take care of the chicken coop fence once I oversee the delivery of the calf,” said Johnathan. “It should happen any day now.”
Dustin shook his head. “Don’t worry about the birth. Tim already told me about it last night. I’ll take care of it. You go mend the fence. Where can I find the mother-to-be?”
Johnathan gave Dustin some vague directions and we said our goodbyes.
Back in the truck, I could hardly contain my excitement. “You’re going to deliver a calf?”
He smiled. “Not really. I just want to be there in case something goes wrong. A chance to show you that life is not all bad. There are opportunities for new beginnings everywhere you look.”
Chapter Eleven
Jude
Jude tossed a match into the fireplace and flames exploded to life. He watched for a long time as the evidence of the life he had lived for ten years burned to ashes.
Damn Haley. They’d had a great life and now they would never get it back. Once she returned to him, they’d have to start a new one. It had been two days since she’d left. Where the fuck was she?
He had been so pissed to find her gone that when the guards searched the grounds and came back without her, he hadn’t thought twice about putting a bullet in each of their heads. They had made mistakes, and Jude didn’t tolerate mistakes. Especially not ones that messed with his life.
On some level, he admired Haley for her guts. The day she fled, he had left the door to the house open intentionally. He had thought with guards outside and his warning hovering over her head, she would abandon her plans of abandoning him.
She must have been a fool to believe he would give up on her. He was not the kind of man to take “till death do us part” lightly.
His phone rang and he picked up on the second ring. Nolan. Jude had been waiting for his call all day. “Plans have changed. We have to part ways.”
“What do you mean?” Nolan sounded as if he were on a treadmill.
“I’m saying we’ve reached the end of the road… in this life at least. I did a lot of thinking. In two days, Macknight Inc. will be history. I’m selling all my assets, and I’ve put all my houses on the market.”
“But you love your business. You’ve worked hard for it.”
“Yes,” Jude said, irritation building up in him. “But it’s not my life. My life is Haley. After I find her, we’re starting a new life. This one will only be a memory.” He rubbed the side of his face. Fuck, he hadn’t shaved for two days. There was a long silence on the other end. Jude knew what Nolan was thinking. “Don’t worry. Everything will be fine. I promise you that.”
“I worry, Jude. That’s what brothers do. I think you should give up on her and move on. She’s gone. If you want to, start over. But you have to let her go.”
Fury burst out of Jude. “That’s not an option. Don’t you fuckin’ understand—”
“No need to bring the temper out, Jude. I’m your brother. It’s my duty to look out for you. I just think this obsession is bringing out the worst in you.”
Jude laughed and then suddenly hit the wall with a balled fist. He ignored the pain. When he spoke again, his voice was low, dangerous. “You have no fuckin’ idea who I am.”
“Wrong. I know what Dad did to us, and I also know you’re like this because of the abuse at the orphanage. But you have to move on, Jude. You have to move on from the past before you end up in jail. I’m tired of watching you destroy your life. I can’t shield you from the law anymore.”
“I never asked you to. In fact, if I remember correctly, I asked you to leave me the hell alone. You just don’t listen, do you?”
“I’m the only family you have.”
“Be my family from a distance then. I’ve given you enough money to live a great life anywhere in the world. I’ll send you more tonight. If you’re not with me, go and live your own life, and get off my ass. As soon as Haley is back where she belongs, I’ll be out of here. We’ll never have to see each other again.”
He hung up and threw the phone across the floor.
Chapter Twelve
Haley
It was still dark when I woke up. For the first time since arriving at the ranch three days ago, I hadn’t woken up in the middle of the night with a racing heart. This time the darkness was thick and comforting, like a warm blanket wrapped tightly around my body, and I allowed its warmth to sink deep into my skin. The rush of euphoria left behind by my dream trickled into my veins. The last time I’d dreamed of my sister, Liz, had been on my wedding night. She looked the way she had the last time I’d seen her, wearing her pink swim suit with frills around the waist. Tonight I recognized her, though she was older, with long, flowing blonde hair and a soft oval face. She resembled my mother so much, for a moment I thought I had mixed them up. But a strong nudge within told me it was Liz. Her presence completely enveloped me.
It had happened so fast. One moment I was sitting on the beach, gazing out at sea with my arms wrapped around me, listening to the waves crashing against the sand. Then I blinked and there she was, wearing a bright white dress that glowed in the night. A lamp in the darkness. I leapt to my feet and stumbled toward the water, wanting desperately to get near her. But each time I got close, she disappeared as if into thin air and then reappeared again out of my reach, riding the waves.
I waded into the icy, inky water until it reached my waist. I swam and swam until the muscles in my arms screamed with pain. I finally stopped, gasping for air, spitting salty water out of my mouth. I watched her watching me, wishing she would come to me. But she just stared at me. She was so far and at the same time so near, her face as clear as if she were only a breath away. I watched a glistening tear roll down her cheek. Then she smiled suddenly, her face erased of its earlier sadness. I felt her reach out and touch my heart. Comfort reaching out to me from a distance.
My lips curled into a smile that radiated warmth from my lips to my heart.
Liz’s lips parted and moved. She was saying something, but I couldn’t hear the words. I strained my ears but only the sounds of the waves reached them.
“What are you saying?” I asked over the sound of the water swirling around me.
Her lips kept on moving, but still the words didn’t reach me. I lunged forward into the water again to swim to her, but she lifted her hand, waved, and faded into nothingness.
The feeling she left with me, of being loved and protected, accompanied me into the waking world.
It was 3 a.m.—still a bit too early to get up—so I decided to read one of the romance novels Grace had brought me yesterday. A few pages in I decided it was a bit too racy for me. Plus, romance was really the last thing on my mind. Unable to go back to sleep, I went downstairs for a glass of water.
I plopped down at the kitchen table and sipped my water, thinking of my sister. I allowed myself to believe she was my guardian angel, watching over me in the darkest moments of my life. I placed the glass on the table. “I’ll be fine,” I said aloud. “Jude will not win. I’ll get through this.”
A sudden prickling burned my skin, and I could have sworn there was a chill in the room, even though both the back door and the windows were closed. My paranoia had caused me to check them as soon as I got into the kitchen.
I wrapped both my hands around the cool glass of water and started to relax, and then I saw movement on the other side of the window. I told myself it was just the branches on the nearby trees. Only it wasn’t. My heart clenched and I clutched my throat, struggling to breathe. I couldn’t breathe.
The image became clearer and I gazed into his eyes. Jude’s eyes. He gave me that barely there smile and I tried to move, to stand, to run, but fear paralyzed me.
His grin widened and a scream rose up in my throat. I opened my mouth and it exploded out.
Before I could do anything else, Jude’s face disappeared, and Dustin was suddenly at my side.
***
“Are you sure it was him?” Dustin asked for the third time in five minutes. He had brought me into the living room. My body wouldn’t stop trembling as he held me tight, trying to calm me down. When he first touched me, I’d panicked. If Jude was really here, if he was watching me from the shadows, seeing me in another man’s arms would infuriate him. Even with the dim lighting, we could still be visible through the thin living room curtains. Dustin had refused to back off and had pulled me into his arms.
“His face was so clear, Dustin.” Even with the slight smile on his face, his eyes were filled with evil. Another chill ran down my spine.
“I just think… You could have imagined it. It’s completely possible, since it’s the middle of the night and this man is your worst nightmare.”
I rubbed my forehead and tried to get my breathing back to normal. “It was just so clear.” The longer I thought about it, the more I started to think Dustin had a point. Why would Jude see me through a window and not come to me? I gazed at the living room windows, at the darkness beyond the sheer curtains. “Maybe you’re right.”
Dustin tightened his arms around me and I leaned my head against his hard chest, allowing the sound of his heartbeat to carry me back to the sense of safety I’d enjoyed over the last three days. I prayed he was right, that my mind was just playing tricks on me.
Although nothing else happened after that night, the incident had reminded me that I had to make plans, and fast, before my fears became my reality.
Chapter Thirteen
Travis stood in the field with his hands on his hips, wearing a torn cowboy hat. When he heard our truck approach, he turned to look in our direction, a hand shading his eyes from the blinding sunlight.
The pregnant cow was finally in labor after days of waiting. I had been looking forward to the welcome distraction.
Dustin stopped the truck, hopped out, and helped me out. I was grateful for the comfortable clothes Grace had bought me. She had gone for the smallest sizes she could find at Lucy’s Scraps. The clothes still looked baggy on me, but I didn’t mind. I had no reason to look fancy, and I wanted to be able to move around freely on the ranch. It had kept me busy to help her around the house, feed the chickens and pigs, and do some gardening. She never again brought up the topic of my abusive husband. Instead she told me about her niece’s adorable daughter.
Travis greeted me with a warm smile and filled Dustin in on the condition of the animal.
“Great,” Dustin said, removing his cap. He wiped his brow before putting the cap back on his head. “I’m glad everything is right on track.” He bent down on one knee and touched the cow’s head. It blinked, then struggled to its feet. Dustin and Travis didn’t try to stop it. Dustin herded it to the nearby barn. Instead of entering, it walked around once and then leaned against the wooden wall before lowering itself back to the ground under the wide tin-roof shelter that extended out of the barn.
Then, before our eyes, it started happening. Dustin and Travis sprang into action. Travis ran into the barn and emerged with a bucket filled with clean cloths. Dustin sprinted back to the truck and returned with some chains. I asked them what they were doing and they said they were only getting things ready in case they needed to help the calf out.
As they got the cow comfortable, I backed away and went to sit on a bed of straw close to the entrance of the barn. From there, I watched in awe. I was so entranced that I didn’t even mind the smell of manure that permeated the air.
After what felt like an hour of the cow straining to get her young out into the world, she finally succeeded. The calf was sleek and new, delicate and beautiful.
Travis and Dustin’s assistance hadn’t been required after all. Once the calf was lying comfortably next to its mother, Dustin took a cloth from the bucket and wiped its nose.
I bent down next to Dustin and watched the new addition to the world. It was beautiful—brown with a few white spots and big brown eyes.
Dustin laid a hand on my shoulder and together we watched the new mother feed her baby. Travis, who was beaming from ear to ear, left us to move on to other tasks that required his attention.
“This is one of the reasons I keep coming back here,” Dustin said. “I can never get enough of seeing things like this.”
“I can see why.” I, for one, would never forget the miracle I had just witnessed—the miracle that had caused my problems to fade away for a moment.
Suddenly, the light of the world dimmed as the sky filled with a blanket of clouds and drops began to fall. I inhaled the refreshing smell of rain.
“We better head back to the house.” Dustin helped me to my feet. “It will start pouring soon.”
As soon as he said the words, thunder split the silence, and just like that, the sky opened. We ran into the barn.
“Well,” Dustin said, peering out the door at the downpour. “I take that back. Looks like we might be here for a while. We better make o
urselves comfortable.”
I hugged my arms across my chest as the air cooled.
Dustin approached me and took my hand. “Come on.” He led me to a far corner of the barn that was packed with several crates and boxes. There were folded blankets on top of them. He reached for one of the blankets, shook it out, and draped it over my shoulders.
For the next thirty minutes, we both perched on a crate next to some containers filled with oil, and listened to the raindrops hitting the panes of the tiny windows.
“Have you thought yet about talking to Cole?” Dustin finally asked, shattering the peace I’d just been enjoying.
“I did.” It was all I’d thought about over the last few days. “I still haven’t decided. Can I tell you my decision by tonight?” For now, I wanted to wrap myself in a cocoon of the peace I’d found, to enjoy the moment a little longer before being forced to face reality. Once I made a decision, a lot of things would have to change. For better or for worse.
“Take your time.” Dustin laid his hands on his knees and gripped them. “But you have to do something, Haley. You can’t let him get away with what he did to you, what he did to your friend.”
Chapter Fourteen
Once the rain subsided, we returned to the ranch house. I still trembled, even with the blanket around my shoulders. The weather wasn’t entirely to blame. It had a lot to do with being in such close proximity to Dustin. The warmth of his closeness mixed with the chill that hovered over my life and made it almost impossible to turn back the clock to what we used to be.
It was both painful and flattering that Dustin still cared so much about me. I couldn’t help but make comparisons between Jude and Dustin—two men who had changed my life in different ways. Jude had once promised to protect me, to shield me from hurt. But from the moment I’d entered Jude’s life, he had managed mine. He’d ordered me, albeit with the illusion of gentleness at first, to do what he wanted. He’d molded me into the kind of woman that fit into his life. I had offered him my freedom in exchange for security, and then love. Freedom was a high price to pay, but I found that out too late.
Dangerous Intentions (His Agenda 2) Page 4
