by James, Ranay
She closed her eyes against the feeling, but did not take the bait. She stepped away.
“I can take care of myself. You said so yourself.”
He saw his plan backfire. They were squared off again standing by the back door.
Robert straightened to his full height. “Kate, don’t toss my words back at me. I'm going to assume that your being tired is making you careless, and I cannot let you put yourself in this position of vulnerability.”
She felt trapped, unable to breathe as if he was pulling the air from her lungs. “I may need your security services, Robert, but just so we are very clear, I never, ever, required your stud services. I shall leave that to the other women in your life.”
He smiled in spite of his frustrations. She was going to have to realize she was not going anywhere and neither was he. He gently took her shoulders in his hands. “Kate, there are no other women in my life, and there certainly is nothing between me and Candice. I said I was sorry. That was an oversight on my part, and I have taken the necessary measure to correct that mistake. And hopefully it makes you feel better knowing that I have passed her over to Bill Fleming. He is now head of her security detail. I can promise there will not be a repeat of the last four days.”
She felt herself wavering. She believed him. However, she could not give into the urge to let him move in. She was fearful that she would never want him to leave.
“I believe you and I'm sorry I over-reacted, Robert. It was just a shock to see you like that on the television and I'm running on very little sleep."
That lack of sleep always made her such a grouch if Robert remembered correctly from conversations he had with Kyle.
"Then let me stay and you can go upstairs and crash," he offered.
"No. Thank you, I'll pass. I still need you to leave."
Robert eased up to her and gently kissed her lips. "It feels good to be home," he said and meant it.
"And I'm glad your home,” she said pulling the back door open wide with much more bravado than she really felt. "You just cannot stay here."
“George, maybe you talk some sense into her?” Robert beseeched the old man who was just then walking into the kitchen with his overnight bag held in his good hand.
“Best learn quickly, boy. Just do what she says. Easier on everyone that way, I can assure you. Now Katie, you stay inside after dark, lock all the doors, and call me later. Robert and I will be playing a game of poker around seven, and I’ll need the distraction to pull out the ace I just stuffed into my cast.”
George winked and kissed her on the cheek, then walked out the back door. He stood beside Robert’s truck. “Come on, boy. My night-time soap is going to be starting any minute. I cannot miss my stories.”
Chapter 26
Looking up from the code book, Kate was aware of the quiet of the house. It was not as comforting as she thought it would be when she asked Robert to take George.
Still continuing to work, there was one symbol remaining that she had yet to crack. However, her brain was a fog refusing to cooperate constantly moving to the way Robert had looked when she asked him to leave. She had hurt his feelings, and he was deeply concerned.
Rubbing her eyes and covering a yawn, she was second-guessing her decision to have him go. She kept thinking about those fringe benefits that he dangled out there in front of her like rich milk chocolate in the window of a candy store.
Maybe she had overreacted. She had said as much at the time.
What if George was not ready to make a move this soon after returning home? It was selfish of her not to think of his well-being.
Seeing Robert with Candice hurt, catching her by surprise and alarming her. Reacting as strongly as she did to seeing Robert and Candi together was not a good sign in her mind, and the fact Robert was right that she was making decisions based on an emotional response did not help much., she supposed. If the truth were told, she had no right to react that strongly, either. She had no rights to him or his time, any more than he had claim to her, right? Yet, somehow that statement just did not seem quite true. She recognized cold fear when she saw it. His fear for her staying alone in this old mansion was quite evident. She understood he cared for her safety as an individual. He was just that kind of a man with those individuals under his care. They mattered where he was concerned. He knew she had no money to pay for his services, yet he had installed a state of the art security system complete with interior and exterior monitoring devices. He posted men around to see to it she and George were as safe as humanly possible. But all those things did not mean he cared for her as a woman. More troubling was the fact she wanted him to care even when she was not sure she could surrender to the weakness long enough to return those feelings.
Getting up from the old desk in the Brandenburg office, Kate pushed the chair back and stretched placing her hands at the flat of her back. She had sat there for hours hunched over the code book, making considerable progress. The treks out onto the ranch had allowed her to put a physical space to the code book and the hours after she had forced Robert to leave had been filled with complete focus. It was her way of coping and always had been her way. She usually just ignored the issue and hoped it eventually went away. However, through the years she had discovered it really did not work that way in real life. Confronting head on like a freight train usually was not the best way either. She had been a freight train with Robert and probably owed him an apology conceding she had overreacted earlier. Such overreaction was evidence of the fatal flaw in her character. She had not banished the flaw even though she thought she had done so years ago. She guessed not by a long shot, gauging the intensity of her emotional outburst.
Wondering why Robert even put up with her, she went to the window and pulled the curtain back enough to take a peek outside. The full moon already dropping low on the horizon in the west cast long shadows across the inner yard. She smiled. A raccoon waddled off to the side of the barn. It was then she noticed the figure.
So, she thought, Robert had not heeded her warning to withdraw his ghosts after all.
Huffing she dropped the curtain. She made her way to the back door and impulsively out to the barn. Slinging the door open, she went inside hitting the overhead lights as she went.
“You are so busted,” she shouted fully expecting the ghost to acknowledge he had been caught. All she heard were restless horses and tack swinging on the hooks from the rafters.
“Robert?” Only cold silence and animal noises answered. “Chase? Ok, guys. This is not funny. Come out, admit I caught you, and I’ll let it slide.”
She knew someone was inside the barn simply because of the reaction of the horses.
“Who’s there? Crap!” she mumbled under her breath.
What the hell are you doing? had definitely crossed her mind.
Being stupid was a good answer, she supposed.
Cold sweat broke out on her lip as she felt the adrenaline dump into her bloodstream. This just did not feel right, she thought, as she began to very quickly back track. She saw a shadowy figure run, dashing between the outer stalls before disappearing into the darkness.
The dogs began to growl and bark outside as she turned to run out of the barn, hoping to get back to the safety of the house. Back in the kitchen she slammed and bolted the door before leaning back against it, letting her heart rate return to normal.
“You're an idiot,” she chastised herself for going outside in the first place, but she had made it safely back into the house and figured it was friend not foe posing no danger to her. She would have felt better if they had identified themselves, but any good self-respecting operative would never divulge or acknowledge having been seen. She smiled feeling better.
Alright, so Robert did not follow her advice to vacate her property. She would just take it up with him in the morning, maybe over coffee if he promised to make her pancakes. It sounded like a good way to strike a truce.
Picking up the phone, she dialed his number figuring if she
could not sleep, then he should be awake too. His men were the reason her heart was still pounding.
After several rings he answered, and she could see his sleeping was no issue. It was obvious she woke him.
“Hey, it’s me. Sorry to wake you. I forget some people sleep.”
Robert rolled over reaching for his watch resting on the nightstand to look at the time. He wondered if she ever slept. It was apparent to him that if she did it wasn’t much.
“Not a problem. Anytime. Why are you still up?” he asked rubbing his eyes. He had just drifted off after being relieved from his turn at watch.
“Working. Just like your guy in the barn. Cook me breakfast in the morning and I’ll forgive you,” she smiled through the phone.
“Done.” He never hesitated.
“Blueberry pancakes and bacon. I’ll do the coffee.”
“Did you say a guy was in the barn? That’s not one of mine. I pulled my men.” He was careful not to say that he was one of them.
“Oh,” she paused. “So do I still get my pancakes?”
Robert went dead still.
“Kate, did you leave the house and go outside? Shoot straight with me. Did you?” By now, he knew her well enough to know what she was capable of doing in the heat of the moment. It would be just like her to rush headlong out the door to deliver a royal tongue-lashing completely heedless of the danger to herself.
“No.” The lie slipped smoothly off her tongue, and for good measure she crossed her fingers behind her back.
That was her story for the moment and she would stick to it. So unless he absolutely backed her into a corner, she decided the lie was better than the lecture. Besides, she had the forethought to lock the kitchen door before venturing into the barn, so no one was in the house with her.
“I’m on my way, just hang tight,” he said tossing back the covers. “I’ll be there in less than ten.”
“No need, I’m fine, Robert. I guess it was just a shadow. Now that I think about it I did see a raccoon. That was most likely the shadows I saw.” That much was true.
Robert hesitated, not fully convinced, but he knew pushing her at the moment was not a good idea. He let it drop. The surveillance equipment had not alerted him to any movement outside normal perimeters. If she had left the house or someone was in the vicinity of the house, the perimeter alarms would have sounded. Everything was as it should be.
He pulled his men off her land. However, he was not a total fool. They were standing at ready just this side of the property line ready to roll at a moment’s notice if the alarms were to activate. He would do the best he could with the latitude she would allow him, which was not much.
He on the other hand had stayed hanging back in the deeper shadows until exhaustion forced him back to his ranch.
“Are you sure you do not need me to come? I’m more than happy to accommodate. I could slip into my jeans and be there in a snap.” Sitting on the edge of his bed and slipping into jeans and his boots he tried one last time.
She thought about those fringe benefits he offered and envisioned him standing there in his jeans with the top button of his fly undone.
“Oh, yeah,” she said softly, then groaned, inwardly wondering if she had said that out loud. “I mean, no. I’m calling it a night. I’ll see you in the morning.”
Robert listened as the phone went dead. He was still sitting on the edge of the bed feet firmly planted. His mind was another story as he vacillated on whether to stay or go to her. Lying back on the bed, he knew if he slept now it would be a miracle.
Deciding she had had enough for the day, Kate made her way up the stairs to take a shower and call it a night. Turning on the radio in the bathroom, she listened as the country music filled the air as the steam began to rise.
Throwing her clothes into the hamper and stepping into the spray, she closed her eyes against the heat of the hot water. It felt good against her skin. The lights flickered for the second time that evening making her jump, dropping the soap in the process. Lots of things no longer worked as they should in this old house. Thank goodness the hot water heater did.
Too bad the lights didn’t, she thought as she stood in the spray.
“Mental note to self,” she said rinsing the soap from her hair. “Add to the ever growing list of summer projects once we find the gold: new electrical wiring for the house, new roof, and paint.”
After relaxing tired muscles in the shower, she crawled into bed and sighed at the wonderful feel of the clean, crisp sheets. Closing her eyes and begging for sleep, she could not get the image out of her mind of Candice in Robert’s arms. Kate pondered her feelings toward the heiress, and if she were truthful what she felt was not envy or jealousy. She felt sorry for her, being unable to relate to such helplessness. However, she could see where she too might do almost anything to have a man like Robert, a man so dedicated he would travel the world and drop everything with just a single call. She wondered what it would feel like to make love with him.
Only in her dreams. And it never hurt to dream.
Chapter 27
Robert walked out onto his balcony and watched the dry lightning as it veined cross the hazy night sky. Just like the spring night there was a storm brewing inside his mind and heart. He just had a startling dream leaving him restless and more than a little unsettled.
He had lost Kate, and for that brief second upon waking, he felt how empty life would be without her.
His heart was still pounding. Running his hands over his face and through his hair, he looked off into the distance toward the woman who he knew unequivocally was preordained to be his bride. It was in that moment of certainty that he saw the faint glow just at the horizon.
That is not the morning sunrise, he thought as it dawned on him exactly what was generating those warm hues on the horizon.
“Oh, Christ! Fire!”
He bounded down the stairs yelling for George to stay put. He was going for Katherine knowing it might already be too late. In his dream she had perished. The fire was already bright enough for him to see pillars of smoke rising hundreds of feet into the night sky.
Two members of the security detail burst into the house just as Robert was reaching for the door.
"Call 911!" Robert barked.
"I did as soon as I realized what was happening. Donnie is already on his way to the ranch to see if we can find Kate. We were just coming to get you."
"Follow me!"
By the time the fire department managed to collect the volunteers and make it to the ranch, it would be way past gone. Maybe he and his men could help keep it from spreading to the fields or out buildings. If they were lucky something might be salvaged.
Not even bothering to pull on a shirt, he jumped on his ATV and took off across the pasture, taking the shortcut he and Kyle used on a routine basis.
The heat from the fire was so intense that he could feel it yards away, satisfying its ravenous hunger by sucking the oxygen from the very air around him. It was worse than his worst nightmare. The old buildings were dry kindling with nothing to stop the hungry destruction. Fueled by the approaching storm with its prevailing southeasterly winds, the flames raged on. Embers the size of soda cans rained down singeing and igniting anything they touched. From his vantage point he could see the roof of the house was already engulfed, as ribbons of fire shot high into the night sky licking at the top branches of the live oaks shading the once stately home.
The Golden Circle was a living hell of fire and flame bent on total destruction of any living organism in its path. Already the house and several closer structures were without a doubt a complete and total loss.
He watched as flames bridged to the barn. Hungry and merciless the fire encroached at alarming speeds. He could hear the horses and milk cows screaming in terror. The blue healers barked frantically pacing the corrals herding the loose animals into a tight ball, keeping them from jumping the railings. They were safe for now, so he did not open the pens to let the anima
ls run free.
He was thrown off the ATV and onto the ground as the tractor’s gas tank exploded from the sheer heat of the fire and igniting the explosive fuel. Searing pain shot through him as a piece of shrapnel hit him on his side. He did not have time to stop.
“Kate! Kate where are you?” he yelled knowing the deafening roar of the flames drowned any hope of his voice reaching her. If she had been trapped in the house she was already dead. It was a thought that sickened him. There was no chance of survival given the intensity of those flames. Windows melted and blew out from the heat, forcing him to hit the ground to avoid the shards of flying glass. The rupturing of old gas lines continued to ignite and provide food for the living creature that had taken the ranch into its jaws of molten death. The roof collapsed in a mighty crash as ten tons of burning rafter beams fell to the earth, giving in to the forces of gravity. The third and second floors now lay firmly at ground-level sending debris and embers soaring heavenward, billowing outward and spreading the fire even farther afield. The corn field was a blaze of orange and fiery red, with flames eating away at tender vegetation planted in hopes of salvaging the dying ranch and blocking any hope of his retreat.
Horses burst through the barnyard, running in terror as the fiery doors of the century-old building flung wide. Kate stumbled out not far behind coughing, covered in soot, carrying three squirming puppies in her arms.
His relief was total until she dropped them safely away from the flames and, to his horror, turned to go back inside the inferno. Seconds later another explosion rocked his world. The annex barn where the rest of the farm equipment was housed ignited sending the sides flying out in all directions. Thrown at terminal velocity, a massive storage container was hurled skyward, crashing back to earth, collapsing the north side of the barn where Kate had just retreated. The building leaned, groaning as if it were a living thing in pain. Its rafters and stalls held firm, but not for much longer. One hundred and fifty years of existence were being reduced to cinders in the blink of an eye, and he knew precious seconds were wasting. He had to get to Kate. The drive within him to reach her was as alive as the fires of the hell where he now found himself.
