Hearts On Fire

by Childs, Penny

  He drew back, his brows furrowed. “Is it? I mean…” He looked to the couch with the rumpled blankets and to the fire in the fireplace. He sighed. “You had a lot of people worried sick.”

  She blinked at him, then got his meaning. “What? Oh! No, Matt. This wasn’t some planned rendezvous with JD. I…” God, how to explain it to him? She stepped away from him and headed for the sofa to put on her socks and boots. “I’m sorry if anyone was worried. Riding out like I did, alone, was foolish.”

  “Where is JD?” he asked curiously, following her to the couch.

  “Oh, he’s out in the barn getting the horse ready to leave.”

  Matt stood, warming the backs of his legs in front of the fire. “So if this wasn’t some tryst with JD, what were you thinking taking off on a horse with a storm rolling in?”

  Getting the money to the police had been her plan all along. But she’d wanted to find it herself and hand it over. She wanted it to be her accomplishment. Oh well, in a way she was still going to be the one to put an end to it. “I came up here because I think this may be where Katy stashed the money she took from Julie.”

  Matt’s brows shot up. “Here?”

  “It’s the only place that makes sense to me.” She’d pulled on her thick wool socks and now she started putting on her boots.

  Keeping his eyes on the front door and a hand in his pocket, Matt asked, “But where around here, Lizzie? Do you know?”

  She took her lower lip between her teeth as she tied the laces of her boot. “I have a couple ideas. Katy and I used to come here to get away from mom and Grady.” She gave him a smile which said she was sharing a secret with him. “None of the MacGreggors ever knew we did that.” Only JD. Done tying the laces she looked up to him, her gaze earnest. “I just want this to be over with, Matt. All of it. And that money is the center of it. Once it’s out of the picture things will go back to normal.”

  “I think that’s what we all want, Lizzie.”

  “That damn money has made people do some pretty crazy things.” She thought of the knife Grady had held to her throat and shivered.

  “That it has,” he agreed. “But it’s a lot of money, Lizzie. A man could start a new life with that much.”

  She’d been searching the mantel for her gloves but his words stopped her. Well, not so much his words, but the inflection with which he’d uttered them.

  “I could never convince Julie to dump that putz Kenny. But I was willing to come in second place because I didn’t think I really had any choice. When I found out Katy had blackmailed her and that Julie’d actually paid it… well, suddenly I had options, you know?”

  Turning slowly, her stomach feeling as though a ball of lead had just been dropped into it, she asked, “Matt? You?”

  “Yeah.” He ran his fingers through his hair. “Why the hell not? Maybe it’s my turn at something good.” He withdrew his hand from his pocket and in it he held a gun. “Your sister is a slick bitch for a hillbilly, I’ll give her that.” He pointed the gun at her, all the while keeping an eye on the front door. “I went to the hospital last night figuring on getting rid of her in a more permanent way but she’d snuck out. How long do you figure she was faking her little coma?”

  Katy had left the hospital? There was only one reason she could think of. The damned money again.

  “Not to worry though. I sicced Grady on her and lover boy Josh.” He looked at his watch. “Matter of fact, he should be just about done there now.” He saw her pale. “Don’t worry, Lizzie, if it’s any consolation, I don’t think Grady has it in him to kill either one of them. He’s kinda wishy-washy.”

  “Unlike you,” she whispered, thinking of the ugly bruises on her sister’s throat.

  “I didn’t set out to kill anyone, Lizzie, shit just kinda happened. Your sister… let’s just say things always get heated when we’re in the same room.”

  “You haven’t killed anyone yet, Matt. You can still—”

  “What? Stop this? Do the right thing? Fuck that. I’ve been doing the right thing my whole life and it’s gotten me nowhere. Your sister on the other hand… She’s not making out this time. I am.” He let out a long breath and looked down at her empty coffee cup. “You wanna get me a cup of that coffee, Lizzie? It was a long, cold trip up here and we still have some work to do, now don’t we?”

  “It’s just a good thing for you I draw the line at murder.” Grady had found that though he wished Katy dead for trying to double-cross him he could not do the deed himself. Not with a knife, anyway. Scaring someone with a blade was one thing, but to actually put it in them or drag it across their throat with enough force to slice them open… He shuddered at the thought of all the blood. Maybe if he had a gun. But damn Matt had told him no way on that score, afraid Katy or Josh would manage to turn the tables on him with it. Bastard. “Hey. Wrap that tape like you mean it, damnit. I don’t want that son of a bitch getting loose till someone shows up here to untie him.”

  Katy glared up at him. “He’s out cold. He’s not going anywhere.” Relieved that Grady had decided not to kill Josh she was still worried about his plans for her. Was he going to leave her tied up here too? Or was he going to force her to go along with him? Or… he could kill her, she supposed.

  “He’ll come around sooner or later and I can’t have either one of you screwing this up for me again.” The way he figured it he was getting a second chance at all that money. And second chances didn’t come often for Grady Summers. Nope. It was usually a one shot deal. He looked at the sickly colored bruises around Katy’s neck and smiled. Matt, it appeared, did have a killer instinct. He’d do well to remember that himself. “It’s just too bad good old Matt didn’t squeeze just a little harder.”

  “Yeah, bite me.”

  He wished he could. He really wished he could. Though murder might not sit well in his belly he didn’t mind teaching a woman a thing or two about just what she was for. “Unfortunately, we don’t have the time for fun this morning. I have to be someplace.” He waved the big hunting knife in her direction. “Bring me that roll of tape and come here.”

  So it didn’t look like he was going to kill her. But Lizzie and JD… Matt was a killer. They just didn’t know it. Her heart hammered in her chest. Would Matt kill them or just take the money and run? She sauntered to Grady, batting long lashes at him and giving him what she hoped was her best seductive smile. She knew exactly which head the guy thought with. “Sure you don’t have some time?”

  Grady licked his lips nervously. No way could he fall for her line of shit. He yanked the roll of duct tape out of her hands, never lowering his guard or the knife. “Turn around.”

  “Oh, I get it. Matt’s pulling the strings. He warned you off me, didn’t he?”

  “He ain’t my boss. Turn the fuck around, Katy, or we’ll see just how sharp this knife is.”

  She looked into his gray-green eyes and saw in them a resolve she didn’t usually see. No, he wouldn’t fall for her this time. Matt had done his work. The money would be more important to him than a woman right now. Turning around, she said, “You know he’s going to kill you, right?”

  “Shut up.”

  “You’re going to meet him somewhere? Pick him up on a logging trail maybe?”

  “I said shut up.” But he sounded a little nervous now.

  “He’ll have you out there in the woods all alone. It’s the perfect setup and he’s got nothing to lose now. What’s a murder charge when you have that kind of money in your hands?”

  He yanked her wrists together and started winding tape around them wishing like hell he’d thought to bring some zip ties or something with him. They would have made this task a lot easier. “What’s it to you anyway?”

  “Nothing, really, as far as you’re concerned. It’s the money I’m thinking about.”

  He chuckled. “People like us always got money on the mind. Well, forget about it this time. You ain’t getting none of it.”

  “We could still work together,
Grady,” she all but cooed to him.

  His hands stilled, then he snorted. She’d almost had him thinking about it there for a minute. “Yeah. Right. You think I’m crazy or just flat stupid? We already tried that and look what it got me. You tried to screw me over.”

  “Maybe I did,” she admitted contritely. “But look at it this way. I didn’t try to kill you. Matt will and you know it. Once you show up with a way out he’ll put a bullet in your head and leave you for the coyotes to find.” He hadn’t started taping her hands again and she took it as a sign she might be getting through to him. All she needed was one shot. Just one shot at him.

  Chapter 33

  It had been so much easier to lay the blame of things at Lizzie’s feet. And that’s just what he’d done, hadn’t he? He’d blamed her for reacting to the wrongs he’d done to her. And he’d done her wrong not once in her young adult life, but twice. The first time had been when he’d gone off to college. He’d thought it would be best for both of them if they separated. Saw other people. It had been a decision he’d made without regard for her feelings on the matter and he’d made it without consulting her. Just called her up from the lobby of his dormitory and told her it was over. Just like that. Then again that summer two years later. He’d meant to stay away from her, he really had. But all it had taken had been one chance meeting in the woods one hot, lazy summer day. He still remembered the way she’d tossed her head defiantly and told him she was seeing someone else and he could go to hell. That toss of the hair, that lift of the chin, that fire in her eyes had been all it had taken. He’d wanted her so desperately he would have done anything to have her again. Including lie to her. By omission, sure, but a lie just the same.

  And God, what his mother had done… he could not even begin to comprehend her actions. Arlene had thought she was overprotective of her children. “Overbearing is more like it,” he muttered to himself as he climbed the steps to the front porch of the shack. Well, things were going to change. Starting this minute. He had every intention of marching into that shack and telling Lizzie just how sorry he was. The look in her eyes when he’d told her he’d just used her for sex… it hurt him to the very core. It was a look he would spend his whole fortune to never see again. He’d been angry and hurt himself, yes, but that had been no excuse to lay her heart open like that.

  Pushing the door open, he expected to find her sitting there in front of the fire, her glare on the door, her sharp tongue ready to go another round with him. The eyes he found resting on him were not the ones he had expected at all. “Matt?”

  A smile spread across Matt’s lips. “Well, there you are. We were just discussing you, weren’t we Lizzie?”

  JD’s eyes were momentarily locked on the gun in Matt’s hand. The gun he had pointed at Lizzie.

  “Why don’t ya close the door behind yourself, JD? It’s freezing out there and we have some talking to do before you go out again.” Matt’s smile was amiable. His eyes were cold.

  “What the hell is going on here?”

  “We’ll get to that. Shut the damn door and have a seat next to your girl there on the couch.”

  Because he thought he knew just what this was about and because of the things he’d seen people do for money, he did as Matt told him. Once he was sitting on the couch he removed his gloves and hat under Matt’s watchful gaze. “Okay, Matt, I’m sitting. Why is there a gun pointed at me?”

  “I’ve come to collect my retirement.” Feeling more at ease with both JD and Lizzie in his sight, he leaned back on the fireplace mantel.

  “The money Julie handed over to Katy,” he guessed.

  “Well, that is why Lizzie hightailed it up here in a storm all by herself.”

  He’d suspected as much, but hadn’t been certain. Looking over to her now, he asked, “You think Katy hid the money here?”

  “Yes.”

  The fear in her eyes along with the hurt he’d delivered to her earlier made him look away from her again. Back to Matt. They stared at each other for a very long moment before he said, “Why are you doing this, Matt? For the money? You’ve never given a shit for it before.”

  Matt nodded. “You’re right, I haven’t. But now I find myself in a little bit of a jam. I started something I can’t stop. And in this case, money is the only way to fix it.”

  “He’s the one who tried to kill Katy,” Lizzie whispered.

  JD let it sink in. Let the meaning of it sink in. “You?”

  “If it makes any difference, I didn’t go over to her place that night with the intention of killing her. Not at first. I went over there for Julie. To get the money back from that lying cheating whore Katy. But she wouldn’t tell me where she’d hidden it. So I figured I’d try to convince her she’d better tell me what I wanted to know.”

  “By wrapping your fingers around her throat?” Lizzie asked.

  Matt shrugged. “I got a little carried away. And I thought I’d killed her. Which set the ball rolling, so to speak. I buried her in the woods a couple miles from her place . You can’t even begin to imagine how shocked I was to find out that not only wasn’t she dead but that she’d crawled her way back home.”

  “You and Julie?” JD asked, as though just catching up. “You’re the mysterious lover?”

  “I do love your sister, JD. I do. But...” He shoved his fingers through his hair. “Once she figured out what I’d done… She just couldn’t bear it, I guess. And I couldn’t sit around waiting to find out if she was going to snap and tell everyone about me. So… Here we are.” He fixed his gaze on Lizzie. “I need the money. As I said, it’s the only way out of this jam for me.”

  “Go to hell, Matt,” JD growled.

  Matt ignored JD and smiled at Lizzie. “You gonna be as stupid as your little sister and refuse to tell me?”

  “Of course not. I just… I’m not entirely positive where it is. It might take some looking around.”

  “You said you had a couple ideas. I want to hear them. Now.”

  “You tell him where it is and he’ll kill us for sure,” JD warned her.

  “She doesn’t and I’ll kill you for sure,” Matt told him. “What’s it gonna be, Lizzie?”

  “You’ll leave with the money and let us go?” she asked, her voice quavering.

  “Yes. I told you, I never meant for things to go that far with Katy. She just pushes my fucking buttons is all.”

  “All right. I have a couple ideas.”

  “Lizzie…”

  Matt fixed a glare on JD. “Shut up and bundle up, JD. You’re going out looking while Lizzie and I stay nice and cozy in here waiting.”

  JD’s heart knocked against his ribs. “Like hell,” he told him. No way was he leaving Lizzie in here alone with that son of a bitch.

  Matt sighed. “C’mere, Lizzie.” When she only blinked at him he waved the gun. “Come here a minute.”

  JD saw her move and wanted to tackle her. Restraining himself took every ounce of his will power. But if he moved he knew there was a good chance someone would get shot.

  Matt took her by the hand and pulled her to him. Standing behind her, he put the muzzle of the gun to her side behind her ribs.

  “You’ve made your point,” JD told him, yanking on his gloves.

  “I think I have. But I don’t think I can trust you to do the right thing, JD. You’ll want to be a hero, and quite frankly we don’t have time for that shit this morning.”

  If his heart had been knocking before it began to hammer as the light of what Matt was about to do next dawned on him. “No, Matt. Don’t.” He stood, but too late.

  The sound of the small caliber handgun going off in the shack was a loud pop. The tiny thing didn’t even buck in Matt’s hand. Lizzie jerked against him, her eyes widening first in wonder, then in fear, then in pain filled knowledge.

  As Lizzie’s knees let go and she crumpled to the floor, JD, unmindful of the gun in Matt’s hand, rushed to her, knocking a table out of his way. He didn’t even feel Matt place the muzzl
e of the gun at the top of his head. “Oh, Christ. Lizzie.” His hands shook as he placed them at her side and watched her blood begin to cover his fingers.

  “All right, JD, here’s the deal. She’s going to tell you where to look and you’re going to do it. Quickly.”

  JD tore his gaze away from Lizzie, from her blood, to look up at him. The business end of the gun did not even faze him.

  “The wound won’t be fatal. If you get your ass moving. Understand?”

  “You mother—”

  “Or you can call me names while she bleeds out. The choice is yours.”

  Arlene stared out the window into the cold sunrise. She wondered now, was her son right? Was her heart as cold as the tip of the highest mountain peak? Was it as black as the darkest night? She turned to find Josh nursing a cup of strong black coffee and a headache. “The police will get there before it’s too late,” she told him.

  He’d been looking into the depths of the coffee cup dangling from his fingertips between his knees. He looked up at his mother now, his stare blank. He’d be pacing if he didn’t think he’d fall on his ass.

  “You should have let me call an ambulance for you.”

  “I’m fine,” he assured her, unwilling to leave the house until he knew for certain, one way or another, if his brother was dead or alive. “I’ve been kicked in the head by bulls harder than this.”

  “And you’re just as stubborn as one too.” She took in a long breath and stood tall. “So is your brother. He’ll be fine.”

  Josh closed his eyes as the room began to spin a little. He wondered where the hell Katy had gotten off to. Scratch that. He knew damn well where she’d gotten off to. That damn shack. The money. He’d like to think she was racing up there to rescue her sister but he knew better. She’d leave that up to the cops. While she made her move for the money.

  “At least that white trash hillbilly Grady Summers is behind bars where he belongs now,” she remarked. She crossed to a small rolling cart which contained the coffee service one of the maids had brought for them. She poured from a delicate china pot into a matching cup without allowing one tremor to pass through her hand.