Star Bright

by Catherine Anderson

  “Sweetheart, this is a stressful time in your life. You don’t have to take the pills if you don’t need them. I just think it might be helpful to have somethin’ on hand when you have trouble restin’.”

  Rainie finally acquiesced and made an appointment with a physician who wrote her a script for Ambien, a fast-acting sleep aid. Most nights, she didn’t need to take it, but as Parker had predicted, the medication did come in handy when she felt nervy and got a bad case of the wide-awakes.

  As the court date for the divorce drew near, Rainie conferred with Raymond Quinn and once again opted out of being at the hearing. Though she did hope to get the original amount of her inheritance money returned to her and had asked her lawyer to get her personal effects from Peter as part of the divorce settlement, she didn’t care a whit about how the judge ruled on the rest of Peter’s assets.

  “I feel as if it’s blood money,” she confided to Parker. “If I appeared in court and fought for it, I’m certain the judge would award me my fair half of everything he has, but I just—” She broke off and searched Parker’s gaze. “Will it bother you if I simply let it go, Parker? I won’t come into our marriage with nearly as much, bottom line, but I’ll feel better about it.”

  He hooked an arm around her neck and drew her firmly against him. “Sweetheart, you can come into our marriage in the buff and without a penny to your name. All I want is you, all I care about is you, and I’ll be a happy man whether you’re wealthy or as poor as a church mouse. As for Peter’s money? I honestly don’t want any part of him, and that includes his assets. Trust me when I say we’ll be well set financially without a dime from him.”

  Rainie pressed her face against the hollow of his neck and breathed deeply of his scent, which always worked on her senses like an intoxicant. “Oh, Parker, I love you so much.”

  “I love you, too, Rainie mine, I love you, too.”

  When the day finally arrived that Raymond Quinn called to tell Rainie that the dissolution of her marriage was a fait accompli, she and Parker celebrated with a bottle of champagne and soft, romantic music via a satellite station on her television. As they danced slowly to the lazy lilt of a song, they whispered dreamily of their future together. The first decision they needed to make was in regard to the money Rainie had been awarded by the judge, an even half of everything Peter had. On the one hand, imagining her ex-husband’s rage, Rainie felt a long overdue satisfaction, but the flip side was receiving a great deal of money she didn’t really want.

  “Whoever once said that revenge isn’t sweet was never married to a monster like Peter,” she murmured to Parker.

  “What’re you gonna do with all the cash?” he asked softly.

  Rainie thought about it for a moment. “Would you care if I donated it to a foundation for abused women?”

  Parker snorted and then barked with laughter. “That’s perfect. I love it! Hell, I’ll make a donation myself. Talk about sweet irony.”

  Rainie hugged his neck. “You know one of the things I love most about you?”

  He bent his dark head to nibble on her ear. “No, what’s that?”

  “You not only respect my right to make my own choices, but you also support me in whatever I decide, even when it’s a little crazy. It’s no small amount of money that I’m thinking about giving away, you know. Will I ever make a decision that you buck me on?”

  She felt his mouth tip into a grin. “If you decide to leave me, I’ll chain you to my bedpost. Other than that, probably not. You’ve got a good head on your shoulders. Why wouldn’t I trust you to make your own choices?”

  It was a question that required no answer, so Rainie seduced him instead.

  That night a phone call from Special Agent Slaughter marked the end of Rainie’s ’round-the-clock protection. When she and Parker retired, she felt the tension in his body as he gathered her close in his arms.

  “Penny for them,” she murmured.

  He sighed and rubbed his cheek against her hair. “Promise not to get mad?”

  She couldn’t imagine growing angry with him for expressing his thoughts. “Of course I won’t.”

  “I’m scared to death for you,” he confessed. “I’m afraid he’ll come after you now, and I know that no matter how diligent I am or how hard I try, I can’t be with you twenty-four hours a day. I think you should come live with me at the ranch. I don’t give a shit how it looks. I want you there, where I know you’re safe.”

  Rainie had circled the same thought many times. “It’s over, Parker. I have to move on with my life. I can’t allow Peter to control me anymore or influence my decisions.” She rolled over onto her stomach, propped herself up on her elbows, and searched his dark eyes. “I want to be me now. I need to be me now. The real Rainie Hall would never live with a man prior to marriage. Call me hopelessly archaic, but that’s a part of who I am. If I allow fear of Peter to change that about me, where does it stop? When I look in a mirror, I have to know who’s looking back at me.”

  He reached up to smooth her hair. “What’s so different about you stayin’ nights there from me stayin’ nights here?”

  “Appearances. Here, we’re sneaking. There, we’d be shoving everyone’s nose in it. It matters to me what your family thinks of me. Can you tell me that your father approves of people living together prior to marriage?”

  “No,” he said stiffly. “But he’d make an exception in this instance because of Peter.”

  “And then Peter is still controlling my life!” Rainie rolled away and stood up. Scooping her hands through her hair, she stared down at him with burning eyes. “Try to understand, Parker. I can’t let him control me anymore. I just can’t.” She pressed the center of her chest. “He took everything from me, everything. And I let him. I crawled for him. I performed for him like a . . . like a circus poodle. I can’t go back to that. I won’t go back to that. I’m finished with dancing to his tune. I’d rather die.”

  “Don’t talk that way.”

  “It’s true. I’d rather let him kill me than allow him to control me.”

  “Rainie, honey, calm down.”

  “I can’t calm down until I’m convinced you understand,” she pushed out around a sob. “I have to know who I am when I look in the mirror, Parker.”

  “I know. I know, sweetheart.” He sat up and stretched out a hand to her. “I’m sorry. Okay? I’m not thinkin’ straight. Of course you need to stay here.”

  When she took his hand, he drew her back to lie beside him and wrapped her firmly in his arms. “Just understand this. Okay? I can’t let you stay here alone. If that bugs you, think of it as Peter controllin’ me. I have no problem with knowin’ who’s in the mirror when I look at myself. My nose is unmistakable.”

  Rainie burst into tearful giggles and punched him playfully in the ribs. “Idiot. I love your nose.”

  He nuzzled her with the appendage under discussion. “I’m considerin’ a nose job.”

  “Touch that nose, and I’ll make you pay.”

  They fell silent for a moment, and then Rainie steered them back to the original topic. “I’m still working out every day. I’m as ready as I’ll ever be to take him on, if it comes down to that.”

  “I know. It’s just—” He broke off and said nothing for several seconds. “I don’t want to shake your confidence. You’ll be able to put up one hell of a fight, and chances are, you’ll kick his sorry ass. I just worry about him catchin’ you off guard or bein’ armed with a deadly weapon. All the self-defense trainin’ in the world doesn’t make a person impervious to a bullet.”

  Loving him as she’d never loved anyone, Rainie threaded her fingers through his hair. Though she was as frightened as he was, she pretended otherwise for his sake. “I’m going to be fine. Peter isn’t the type to use a gun. It’ll be okay. You’ll see.”

  “Maybe so, but if you don’t mind, I’d like to call in my family for backup.”

  “How so?”

  “I can be here with you at night, and you
’re safe at the ranch durin’ the day, but what about when you’re drivin’ back and forth? You won’t have a tail anymore. I’ll feel better if one of us is always behind you. If everyone in the family helps out, it’ll be a different vehicle every day, so he doesn’t get suspicious, and we can all hang back, like the agents did.” When he felt her stiffen, he said, “Please, Rainie, at least consider it. We won’t have to do it forever, just a couple of months or so. I need to know for sure in my own mind that the crazy bastard has decided to back off.”

  Rainie felt a suffocating sensation center itself in her chest, but she pushed it away. Parker had given way to her about allowing her to stay at her house until they could be married. She needed to make a concession, too. “All right,” she agreed. “If your family doesn’t mind doing it, I’m fine with it, too.”

  Over the days that followed, Rainie relaxed more and more. Peter didn’t show up. The chilly October temperatures heralded the beginning of her life with Parker. Halloween decorations began to appear in store windows and on her neighbors’ porches. She began to think less and less about Peter and focused instead on the coming holidays and her future with the man she loved.

  During that time, the Harrigans joined ranks to tail Rainie back and forth when she traveled to and from work. One day it was Sam and Tucker who acted as her watchdogs. The next, it was Frank and Dee Dee, then Hank, and then Clint and Loni. They weren’t quite as adept at staying completely out of sight as the agents had been, but Rainie felt that they did an awesome job for amateurs. Their dedication was also a reminder of the wonderful family she would soon call her own. Through her marriage to Parker, she was inheriting a devoted mother and father, brothers and sisters, plus a niece and nephew. It was a fabulous feeling to know that all of them would love her and stand behind her as if she were related to them by blood.

  Immediately after the dissolution of her marriage, Rainie and Parker started meeting with Father Mike, the parish pastor at Parker’s church, for marriage preparation classes, which Parker insisted had to be rushed in case Rainie was pregnant and also because of the danger to her while living alone. Because both of Rainie’s unions with Peter had been officiated by a JP and not a man of the cloth, getting the marriages dissolved in the eyes of the Church was a simple and fairly quick process. Once that procedure was under way, Parker made their engagement official by taking Rainie to shop for rings. She picked a small but gorgeous diamond solitaire.

  Father Mike disapproved of cohabiting and encouraged Rainie and Parker to maintain separate households until their nuptials. Parker didn’t protest, but he was up front with Father Mike about staying every night with Rainie at her residence. The priest listened thoughtfully to the story about Peter, considered the problem, and then finally conceded that it would be best if Parker continued his nightly sojourns to Rainie’s house.

  “No more hanky-panky, though,” the priest said, wagging a finger at them. “The two of you can abstain until the marriage takes place. Holy matrimony is a serious undertaking, and you need to do it right.”

  After that discussion, Rainie concurred with the priest. “We do need to do this right, Parker. Father Mike is hurrying us through the prep work because of the extenuating circumstances. It’ll only be for a few weeks. We can survive almost anything short-term.”

  Rainie was glad of Parker’s company at night, but she was also determined to honor their agreement with Father Mike to abstain from sex until their marriage. Her willpower lasted for almost a week, and then Parker kissed her. Big mistake. She finally learned, firsthand, how physical desire could make two levelheaded, mature individuals temporarily insane. Their encounter began in the kitchen, and the trail of their discarded clothing marked their path to her bedroom door, where Parker lifted her against the wall and made love to her standing up.

  It was the best sex Rainie had ever had, made all the sweeter because it wasn’t merely a physical joining, but also a melding of their hearts.

  Afterward they collapsed on the bed, wrapped in each other’s arms. Parker laughed weakly. “Well, there went abstinence out the window. On a bright note, if I’m gonna burn in hell for it, I can’t think of anybody I’d rather sizzle with.”

  Rainie twisted away, flipped up onto her knees, and straddled him, her blond-streaked curls forming a curtain around their faces as she leaned down to kiss him. “If I’m going to hell, I want to enjoy you as much as I can before I get there.”

  He chuckled and rolled with her in his arms to be on top. “I like the way you’re thinkin’, lady,” he whispered huskily. “I’ll also add that I can’t believe anything so beautiful can possibly be wrong.”

  What they felt for each other was beautiful, and Rainie didn’t believe anything that happened between them could be wrong, either. She decided that it was a matter of conscience and returned Parker’s sultry kisses without a trace of guilt.

  Chapter Seventeen

  Halloween fell on a Friday, and Rainie was excited about celebrating the occasion with Parker. For several days in advance, she spent her alone time decorating her house before he arrived in the evening. She carved three pumpkins: one for her front porch, one for the table, and one for the bedroom. She draped orange and black streamers adorned with dangling witches and goblins from the ceiling. Her windows were covered with ghoulish cutouts and silhouettes.

  Right after lunch on Halloween day, she went to find Parker in the stables. She located him in Montana’s stall and slipped inside to hug his waist. After giving him a long, languorous kiss, she leaned back to smile up at him. “I’m leaving early. I want tonight to be special. It is our first Halloween together, you know.”

  Parker tugged his cell phone from his belt, punched a button, and waited a moment before saying, “Hey, Clint. Rainie’s leavin’ here in a couple. Can you tail her early today, or would you rather opt out and let me do it?” He listened for a moment and then smiled. “Thanks, bro. I really appreciate it. I’m still babyin’ Montana’s leg and need to apply salve and a wrap. I could have Toby take care of it, though.”

  After listening for a moment and then saying good-bye, he snapped the phone closed. “Clint has nothin’ goin’ on, so he’ll follow you into town.”

  Rainie wanted this day to be carefree and special, and she wished with all her heart that Peter no longer cast a shadow over her life. Unfortunately, that wasn’t a reasonable expectation and probably wouldn’t be for a few more months. “I hate that I’m putting you and everyone in your family to so much trouble.”

  “It’s no trouble, honey. Clint needed to go into town to run some errands anyway, so your leavin’ early will save him the extra trip. Once he sees you home, it’ll still be early enough for him to take care of his own stuff.”

  “He’ll be on duty a little longer than usual today. I have to stop by the store for the ingredients for mulled wine and cookies.”

  He narrowed an eye at her. “What all are you plannin’ for tonight, anyway?”

  “Lots of fun stuff. I need to mull our wine, and I want to bake and decorate cookies, and I have to get the candy set out so we’ll be ready for all the trick-or-treaters when they start coming around five. After all that’s done, I need to get into my costume. I’m going to wear a black caftan, my Elvira wig, and a witch’s hat.”

  “How old did you say you are?” he asked as he released her from his embrace.

  “Old enough to know better, but still young enough not to care,” she replied flippantly. Grabbing the front of his shirt and hauling him toward her, she added in a sultry voice, “And don’t pretend you don’t like me this way. I’ll know you’re lying.”

  He laughed and adjusted his Stetson. Without fail, she always knocked it askew when she kissed him. “Don’t get so wrapped up in Halloween that you forget to lock up tight as soon as you get in the house, and be sure to keep the phone close at hand until I get there.”

  Over the last few days, Rainie had so seldom thought about Peter that this second reminder made her frown.
“Don’t spoil the fun of Halloween. I want to pretend, just for today, that Peter doesn’t exist. I don’t want to think about him. I don’t want to talk about him.”

  “Fine by me. Just be careful. Okay?”

  “I’m always careful. It’s becoming second nature for me.” She touched a fingertip to the dimple that slashed his cheek. “I want tonight to be perfect,” she whispered. “Absolutely perfect.”

  “Sweetheart, if I’m with you, it can’t be anything but perfect. Make plenty of mulled wine, okay? And don’t drink it all before I get there. We’ll get tipsy together, and when the kids stop coming, I’ll show you the cowboy version of bobbin’ for apples.”

  The husky timbre of his voice told Rainie that Parker’s version of apple bobbing would probably make her shiver with delight. She went up on her tiptoes to graze his lips with hers. “One more for the road?” she whispered.

  Angling his head to possess her mouth, he delivered on the request. She laughed when she saw that his hat had been bumped off center again. Reaching up to straighten it, she said, “Try to come early. You can help me frost cookies.”

  One hard arm still locked around her waist, he said, “I’d rather frost you.”

  Just at the thought, Rainie’s skin tingled. “Hmm. Which parts of me would you frost?”

  “Use your imagination.”

  Rainie did just that all during the drive into town.

  Clint was executing a curve in the country road when his truck engine suddenly sputtered, hiccoughed loudly, and then died. The vehicle shuddered to a slow stop. The Dodge had been running perfectly yesterday when he went into town, so what the hell was wrong with it now? Sometimes diesel rigs burped and coughed when the fuel filters got dirty, but Clint’s mechanic changed them regularly.

  He glanced through the dusty windshield at the back of Rainie’s Mazda, which was quickly getting so far ahead of him that he could barely see it. He keyed the ignition, hoping the vehicle might roar back to life. Instead, it only hacked, shuddered, and died again. Fuel injector pump? It was the only thing Clint could think of besides a clogged filter that might cause the vehicle to behave this way.