Hearts On Fire

by Childs, Penny

  “Can you talk?”

  His voice soothed her frazzled nerves when she knew it should do no such thing. “I can now,” she said as her mother shut the tall double doors behind herself as she left the room.

  “Are you okay?”

  The gentleness in his voice filled her with longing. She wished she could be in his arms. Oh how she wished. She’d wanted nothing more than to stay in his warm embrace at the funeral. But it wouldn’t have been proper, so she’d had to step away from him. Now all she wanted was to listen to his voice, no matter how wrong it was. He would make everything okay. He would quiet all her pains. “I’m okay.” But he shouldn’t be calling her anymore. She shouldn’t want him to call her anymore. She’d told him it was over. Her guilt was just too great to go on with him. What kind of woman carried on an affair after her husband had been killed in an accident?

  “You looked so hurt yesterday. I wanted to keep hold of you.”

  She felt her knees go weak and her insides turn to jelly. She also felt that spike of guilt. For it was this which had caused her husband’s death a week ago. Ken had been so very angry with her he’d driven when he shouldn’t have.

  “Jules, I want to see you again. Soon. I want to make sure you’re okay.”

  “I… I can’t do that. I just can’t.” Tears threatened. For the husband she’d betrayed and lost and for the man she must now turn away. The man she truly loved.

  “Don’t say that. Please.”

  But so much had happened. So much. “It’s too much right now. If anyone were to find out about us… it would look bad.” The big house was silent as a tomb. The ticking of the grandfather clock in the corner the only sound. A reminder her mother was waiting for her. And Arlene did not like to be kept waiting. “I have to go. My mother is waiting for me.”

  “No one will find out, Jules. I swear. Just please, let me see you.”

  She thought of him, so strong, so tall and rugged. She thought of his eyes, how alive they were as they made love. How his hands would race over her as though he couldn’t get enough. And the way he took complete command, demanding yet patient. The fact he was begging to see her did her in. “Yes. Okay. But you have to be very careful.”

  He chuckled then. “Oh, I know I do. But it will be worth it, you’ll see.”

  Chapter 3

  “She should have been here by now or at least called.” Lizzie walked to the window and stared out. The neighborhood was quiet, the weather keeping everyone in. Well, most everyone. She turned back to Brian, her ex-husband, wringing her hands in front of her. “I’ll just be gone until tomorrow night.”

  Naturally laid back, Brian shifted on the arm of the couch, stretching out long legs and crossing them at the ankles. “You’re really that worried about her?” he asked, mildly surprised.

  “I really am. I’ve called her cell phone several times and I get dropped right into voice mail. Like the phone is off or something.”

  “She’s been known to shut it off,” he told her.

  “She told me she was on her way here.”

  “She’s said that before too and then bailed.”

  She stared into Brian’s soft hazel eyes. So kind. So calm. He’d been her rock, her port in the storm, more times than she could count. They’d been best friends since high school, then through college. And marriage. She sighed. He was handsome, witty and charming. Everything a woman should want in a man. But between them there had never been that fire either of them had been looking for. And the day she’d told him so he’d smiled that patient smile of his and told her he’d wondered how long it was going to take her to come to him and tell him. But they hadn’t married for fire, had they? No, they had married for much different reasons. “I’ll just feel better if I go check up on her.”

  “This weather is terrible, Lizzie. The roads suck, trust me.”

  “I have four wheel drive and brand new winter tires. I’ll make it.” She gave him a lopsided grin. “I’ve driven in worse.”

  He knew that. “You know, Lizzie, JD is in town.”

  Her heart nearly stopped. As it was she knew all the color drained from her face. Still, she said, “So what? I won’t be going anywhere near his family’s place or into town.” Unless, she told herself, I can’t find Katy. “I’m sure he’ll be going back to Denver at the end of the weekend anyway.” She could only hope.

  Brain shrugged a big shoulder, his usually calm gaze intense. “You should talk to him, Lizzie. You should tell him about—”

  She cut him off with a wave of her hand and a sharp glance toward the ceiling. Toward Sean’s room. “Don’t lecture me, Brian.”

  “The guy has a right to know.” He sighed when she shook her head. “And so does Sean.”

  “Leave it alone,” she warned.

  He knew when she would not budge. “Fine.” Getting off the arm of the couch he crossed the carpet, stopping a foot from her. “Sean and I will have fun. I’ll take him ice skating tomorrow.”

  “He’ll like that.” Though Sean knew Brian wasn’t his father he loved all the time he got to spend with the man who had helped raise him and he loved him like a father.

  “I wish you’d reconsider going up there until the weather clears.” He frowned a little. “Look, I don’t like saying this but I’m gonna say it. Your sister is a flake, Lizzie.”

  “A flake who might have gotten herself into some kind of trouble. She told me she’d hit the jackpot this time, Brian. You know just as well as I do what that probably means.”

  He did. God, how he wished Lizzie could just separate herself from her sister. Drop her before she got burned too badly. “You can’t keep bailing her out of trouble.” At those words, his eyes brightened. “Hey, maybe that’s all this is. Maybe she’s warming a cot in jail.”

  “She would have called me to bail her out.” She had numerous times in the past.

  “Just do yourself a favor and give Matt a call before you risk life and limb driving up there tonight.”

  Matt. She hadn’t seen him since… “I’m not going to call him. If he doesn’t have her sitting in his jail I might just arouse his suspicion and get her in trouble. No. I’m just going to drive there. Maybe her phone is broken.”

  “Lizzie…” He shoved his fingers through his thick blonde hair in a move that said he knew he was not going to win the argument.

  “Or maybe she’s in trouble and needs my help.”

  “If she’s gotten herself into the kind of trouble she has in the past you should run the other way, Lizzie. Some of those people have been dangerous.”

  Didn’t she know it. Still… “She’s my little sister, Brian.”

  He put his hands on her shoulders and put his forehead to hers, looking her in the eyes. “You can stop punishing yourself for leaving her, Lizzie. It’s not your fault she turned out the way she did.”

  But it was, damnit. It was.

  He felt good. Damn good. Wearing blue jeans, worn leather boots and chaps, a long Duster and a cowboy hat atop his head, he sat high in the saddle, looking out over the cattle they’d just rounded up and penned in the feed lot. He was grinning like a fool and he knew it. He also couldn’t help it.

  Josh grinned back at him. “I’d still hire you on as a hand in a minute, big brother.” It was good to see his brother relaxed and happy. It was good to see him on a horse instead of on television in a tailored suit with a fake smile plastered on his face.

  “You know, it’s days like this when I just might take you up on that offer,” he told him, steadying his mount as the mare fidgeted under him. He’d grown up here, on this part of the ranch. This was the original working ranch. The house his brother occupied was the original ranch house. Smaller than the house his mother now lived in, he still preferred it. The house she’d had built after their father had died was at the back corner of the eight thousand acres. And it was a monstrosity, as far as he was concerned. But Arlene MacGreggor got what Arlene MacGreggor wanted. And at the time she’d wanted everyone to
know she was one of the richest women in the state. “Maybe I should have stayed on and run the ranch and let you go off to law school.”

  Josh laughed. Hard. “Yeah. Right. Mom had her vision for you.”

  “She had her vision for you too,” JD reminded.

  “Yeah, well, her vision was blurry at the time.”

  That wasn’t it and JD knew it. Josh had just had the balls to tell their mother to stuff it. Something he wished like hell he’d done once upon a time too. But that was water under the bridge, wasn’t it? He’d done her bidding. And it really wasn’t all bad. He made a good living. And he really did enjoy his job, for the most part.

  “If dad hadn’t died she would have disowned me and I’d be living out of a box on a street corner somewhere,” Josh said in monotone, reciting what his mother loved to tell him every chance she got. But their father had died. And someone had to step up and run the ranch. Since their mother had no interest in what she considered to be a man’s job, she had allowed Josh to become the head of the ranch. Or, as Josh knew, she’d decided of her two boys, Josh could be sacrificed to the life of a rancher. JD, she’d always said, had a calling. He was going to be an important man someday.

  “Dad wanted this for us,” JD said. He remembered how his father had loved to work the ranch. But he’d stopped and left it to hired hands. Because Arlene had browbeat him into it, telling him he was too good for the physical labor. Telling him he must keep up his appearances. At last she’d worn him down until he rarely even left the house. He’d died shortly after, at the age of sixty-three.

  “You still own half,” Josh said. “You’re welcome back any time and you know it.”

  He did know it. He also knew he would not come back. Too many people had expectations.

  Chapter 4

  The drive had been pure white-knuckle. And though she would never admit it to Brian, she should have listened to him and waited for the road crews to catch up and get things back under control. But the nagging feeling she had in her gut had driven her to come here tonight, risking her own safety. Now she sat in her Explorer, headlights shining on the front of her sister’s house, trying to get a grip on herself. She was still shaking. God, she’d almost lost control of the car a few miles back. And that would have spelled disaster for sure. The drop there was no laughing matter. She thought of Julie MacGreggor’s husband, who’d lost his own life a little more than a week ago, and shuddered. What if she’d gone over the edge? Sean would have been left without a mother. Okay, so no going back down the mountain tonight, she told herself.

  Chewing the inside of her cheek a bit nervously she looked to the little ranch style house. Not a light was on. Not a footprint marred the wind kissed snow going up to the front door. On her way up the mountain, once she’d broken off the part of the road the MacGreggor’s used to get to Josh’s place there had not been one single tire track. So, either Katy wasn’t here or she was asleep and her car was in the garage.

  Lizzie glanced at the clock on the dash. Fat chance of Katy being asleep, it was just past eight o’clock. So had she left as planned only to not make it? Had she gone off the road somewhere? Or was she sitting in a bar somewhere casing out her next big mark? “God damnit, Katy. You are such a pain in the ass.” She flinched at the grumbled words. What if Katy really was in trouble? Or worse, what if she was dead?

  Shivering again she shut off the ignition to the SUV. There was only one way to find out. Leaving the headlights on she shoved the driver’s door open and climbed out, slogging through knee deep snow all the way to the front door while searching her key ring for the key. Since she still owned a majority of the property and home she kept a spare key. She could only hope Katy hadn’t changed the locks since she’d last been to the house thirteen years ago.

  The key slid into the lock easily and turned it without a hitch. She shoved the door open and practically stumbled into the darkened front room, automatically searching for the light switch on the wall by the door. As her palm skimmed over the switch and swept it up she prayed there was still electrical service. Prayed her sister had used the last check she’d sent for the bills.

  Light flooded the room and she sighed relief as she turned on the front porch light too. “Katy,” she called even though she knew no one was there. “Katy! It’s me! Lizzie!”

  Only the howling wind at her back answered her calls.

  “Well shit,” she groaned, watching as her breath plumed out in front of her. The house was cooling down quickly with her standing there like a dummy with the door hanging wide open. “Kathleen Marie!” she shouted one more time as she slammed the door at her back.

  The furnace kicked on with a loud thump. A faucet dripped in the tiny kitchen.

  Walking through the small house she scanned the living room. Empty. At the back of this room she entered a smaller room which had always and still was used as a utility room/laundry room. The top of the dryer was littered with her sister’s socks and underwear. A couple shirts hung on a rod. A few jars lined the shelves. Spaghetti sauce, pickles, olives, corn and more. But it was none of this she was interested in. The door at the back of this room led to an attached garage. She shoved the door open and flicked on the light.

  Empty. No sign of Katy’s ancient Honda 4x4. So she really wasn’t here and obviously she’d left under her own steam. “Damnit,” Lizzie swore under her breath. “Katy, where the hell are you?” Wouldn’t it be just perfect if her sister showed up at her place tonight and got to stay in the nice cozy guest room? Brian would call her if that happened since she’d talked him into staying at her place until she came back.

  So… She shut off the garage light and closed the door. Whether she liked it or not, a call to the police was in order.

  Morning brought sunshine and a stop to the snow. It also brought on a whole new set of worries. Still no word from her sister. The police department had not wanted to file an official missing person report since Lizzie actually had no idea how long her sister had officially been “missing”. They told her to come to the station after twenty-four hours and then they’d consider her request.

  Brian had told her to settle down. He’d reminded her just how flighty Katy could be. How downright inconsiderate she could be. The way he figured it she was holed up in some warm and cozy hotel room with the next guy she was setting up to fleece. She’d either come sauntering back to her own house or to Lizzie’s place soon. End of story.

  But something still nagged at Lizzie. Her sister had sounded so confident. So overjoyed with herself. If she’d scored as big as she’d indicated she wouldn’t need to “fleece” someone else. Or would she? Lizzie considered this as she sipped her coffee and looked out the kitchen window.

  Katy was a self-admitted player. She had never held a steady paying job and she never would. Too boring, she said. Too… normal. No, Katy needed the thrill of the chase. She needed the danger. Perhaps this time it had finally caught up to her. Perhaps she’d finally taken the wrong person on and they’d gotten the better of her. The thought pained her. Filled her with fear. God, how many times over the years had she sat up worrying about Katy? How many sleepless nights only to find out it was just as Brian had said? Katy was fine. Laughing it up somewhere while she counted her money.

  Brian didn’t understand her relationship with Katy. He didn’t understand why Lizzie cared. Why she lost sleep. And in truth, Katy didn’t understand it either. Not completely. She loved her sister. That went without saying. But there were some deeper psychological reasons too. Guilt, she was sure, stood at the forefront of that particular line. She’d run off to Seattle to marry Brian and had left her teenage sister here alone with a drunk for a mother. “I did what I had to do,” she whispered. “I did what I had to for my baby.” And because Katy had refused to come with her, she’d felt she’d had no choice but to leave her. And unknowingly, had left her to Grady Summers as well.

  Turning from the sink she surveyed the tiny kitchen. She’d been keeping her emotional dist
ance from the house she’d grown up in since walking in last night. And she intended to keep right on doing that. It was much the same as she remembered. The wallpaper was the same, though it was peeling off the wall over the old gas range and behind the chipped avocado green sink. This house had been her mother’s pride and joy. As had been her two daughters. Until a logging accident had claimed George Waring’s life and alcohol had claimed Tricia Waring’s soul. And Grady Summers had walked into their lives. More like slithered, she thought.

  Lizzie scowled, remembering how her mother would sit at the little kitchen table in the corner, teetering in her chair, a glass of amber liquid in her hand, ice cubes clinking. How the tears would run down her face as she talked of her first husband. And she remembered the marks her second husband would put on her face and arms. And she was sure places no one else could see. Grady had been a piece of trash. He’d floated into their lives by making promises to Tricia which he’d never intended to keep. And before he’d left their lives he’d damn near ruined them.

  Mentally shaking herself, Lizzie set her coffee cup in the sink. What had she told herself? She wasn’t going to fall victim to these damn memories. All the more reason to find her sister and get the hell home. Stalking through the kitchen and into the living room she grabbed her keys and started the Explorer’s engine with the remote start. She’d put it in the garage last night to keep the snow from piling up on it so just needed to let it warm up a minute while she gathered her things. Her plan was to go into town and make a stop at the police station. Like it or not, they were going to file that damn report. Something had happened to Katy, she just knew it. And the sooner a search was made for her, the better.

  Chapter 5