Rein in the Night

by Tressie Lockwood

  Rein in the Night

  Copyright © February 2010, Tressie Lockwood

  Cover art by Amira Press © February 2010

  Amira Press

  Baltimore, MD 21216

  www.amirapress.com

  ISBN: 978-1-936279-02-9

  No part of this e-book may be reproduced or shared by any electronic or mechanical means, including but not limited to printing, file sharing, and e-mail, without prior written permission from Amira Press.

  Dedication

  To Kelly, for an awesome title. You’re one of a kind.

  Chapter One

  Keena, preening in her wedding dress, turned this way and that before the full-length mirror. How long had she been waiting for this moment? Maybe all her life, since she was a little girl of four. Yes, that’s when she first knew that she wanted to grow up, meet and fall in love with the perfect man, have a perfect wedding, and then enjoy a life of bliss making babies with him. “Six at least,” she whispered to herself.

  Aunt Delores moved up behind her and pressed a hand to her chest, eyes wet with unshed tears. “Baby, you look just like her. Your mom would be so proud seeing you like this today. I’m proud and happy for you.”

  Keen blinked her eyes in quick succession. “Stop it, Aunt Delores. You’re going to make me smear my makeup.” She sniffed. “But you’re right. She’d want to be here. I’d give anything for her to be here, to see that our dream came true.”

  Her mother had been in the advanced stages of lymphoma when she and Keena made their pact—that Keena would not settle for anything other than to reach her dreams. Her mother had asked her what she wanted to do when she grew up, and Keena had answered without hesitation—she wanted to marry a man like her poppa and be a good wife for him like her mother. They had shared a good laugh at Keena’s announcement that she would have six children, although Keena didn’t understand why it was so funny at the time.

  However, her loving mother had hugged her to encourage Keena to strive for all she desired, that she would find the right one, and after a series of failed relationships, she had. Remembering how blessed she was, Keena grinned at her aunt’s reflected image. “I can’t believe we’re finally at this point, and Steven is the perfect man. I’m so happy.”

  Her aunt dared to squeeze her while attempting not to wrinkle her white dress. “Best of all, he’s an up-and-coming manager at his firm, so there are prospects.”

  Keena laughed. “True. He’ll need to be able to support six kids.”

  Aunt Delores shook her head. “You’re still stuck on that? Child, in this day and age, it’s too expensive, even with two parents working, to raise a couple of kids. You were a handful by yourself.”

  Keena whirled around to face her aunt, the woman who had been by her side when her mother passed and she was soon after abandoned by her father, who couldn’t move past the loss of his precious wife. Keena had thought her world had come to an end, but Aunt Delores had showered so much love on her, being unable to have kids herself since the curse of cancer had affected her health as well many years before, leaving her barren. Sometimes, Keena felt an overwhelming terror that she would develop the disease just as she was in the prime of her life and that it would snatch away the happiness she had waited so long for.

  She was thirty-four and had a master’s in humanities. The degree had landed her a teaching position at an online university, which did nothing to fulfill her. Only after she had been dating Steven for a while did contentment begin to grow within.

  Keena allowed her aunt to place her veil on her head. “Don’t worry. The fact that I work at an online university allows me to have flexible time to spend with my babies, and Steven and I are going to start on those right away.”

  Aunt Delores patted her shoulder. “That’s my girl. You have an entire month off from work. You don’t let him out of that hotel room until you’re pregnant.”

  Keena blushed. She’d had years to quit being embarrassed over the things her aunt said. Keena wasn’t a virgin, but she didn’t consider herself that experienced either. To discuss sex with her aunt was out of the question. She was about to change the subject when the music began inside the sanctuary.

  Aunt Delores clapped her hands. “Oh, it’s time, and I’m not in my seat. How can they start without the mother of the bride in place?”

  Keena’s heart warmed at her aunt’s reference to herself as Keena’s mother, and she had to blink more tears away as the flighty woman dashed out of the room with the speed of someone half her age.

  Keena dragged in a deep breath, waited a moment to collect herself, and then walked out to the lobby. Mr. Creighton, Aunt Delores’s longtime friend, wasn’t waiting to escort her down the aisle in the absence of her father. Keena began to panic. Everything needed to go without a hitch today. She’d planned and planned with her aunt until Steven took to hiding when she became grumpy about obstacles that arose.

  She stopped in the middle of the lobby and waited, but no one was around. The music inside the main area continued to play. She lifted her dress so it wouldn’t catch beneath her feet and started across to the door leading to the sanctuary, but it opened before she got there.

  Steven’s mother stepped out, the single cloud Keena found in her world at the moment. The elderly woman who’d had Steven late in life frowned in her direction. She held a cell phone, the one Steven had insisted she buy last year when he had trouble finding her after her car broke down. Keena told him at the time that cell phone wasn’t the problem—it was that his mother was too old to drive herself anymore.

  The woman stretched her arm toward Keena not saying a word. Keena sensed impending doom, but took the offering. “Who is it? Why now, when we’re about to start?” She put the phone to her ear. “Hello?”

  “Keena.”

  She gasped. “Steven? Where are you? I thought you were here at the church already. The music’s playing and—”

  “Sweetheart, listen to me,” he interrupted. “I-I don’t know how to say this, but . . . uh, I’m not coming. I can’t. You see . . .”

  “Give me the phone, silly,” someone said in the background.

  Just before she came on, Keena placed the voice. That melody-smooth, made-to-bring-men-to-their-knees voice could not be mistaken, no matter how she might wish she had never heard it before. China, her half sister, came on the line.

  “Look, Keena, I know you’re a big girl, so I’m going to tell it to you straight. Steven and I just clicked. We hit it off, so we’re running away together. You’ll move on soon enough and get over him. You’ve always been able to catch a man.”

  Was she serious? Shock and pain radiated throughout Keena’s system. She sank to the floor, disregarding her dress as she foolishly kept the phone pressed to her ear while desperate that, in another instant, one or the other of them would tell her this was some kind of cruel joke. But Keena knew it wasn’t. This man-stealing behavior had been what China was all about, all her life. Even Aunt Delores’s claim that she should invite China to her wedding, to rub her face in the fact that Keena was getting married while no man in his right mind would put a ring on China’s finger because of her cheating ways, had not made Keena give in and send her an invitation. This was why. This heartbreak. China stole or attempted to steal every man who came sniffing around Keena. She’d thought Steven was different, that he was somehow immune to her half sister’s model-quality body and beautiful face. Keena didn’t believe for a moment that love was involved on China’s part.

  “China, give me the phone. Let me tell her. You don’t know how to be gentle.” Steven sighed. “This is her wedding day after all, our wedding day. Baby?”

  “You don’t get to call me baby,” she responded, her tone cold and unf
eeling, although she was far from it inside. “You don’t get to even say my name the rest of your miserable life, you coward!”

  The music in the sanctuary grew louder when the door opened. “Stop that damn music right now,” Aunt Delores shouted, and the notes came to a rude halt.

  Keena wished she could have laughed. Her aunt rushed to her side and took her in her arms, pushing Keena’s head down to her shoulder. Keena’s eyes, so wet earlier, were dry now.

  “Give me that phone.”

  Keena’s numb fingers couldn’t hold on to the small device when her aunt snatched it away. The dark brown eyes almost black, which matched both Keena’s and her mother’s, seemed ready to shoot fire.

  “You listen to me, Steven Boyce. You get your little narrow butt to this church on the double, and you tell Keena to her face why you let her almost get to the altar rather than tell her you were a no-good cheating son of a—”

  “How dare you?” Steven’s mother shouted.

  The lobby all of a sudden filled with people, and more strained to see and hear what was happening from their positions inside the sanctuary. Keena wanted to sink through the floor to avoid all the drama. Her aunt ignored Steven’s mother and continued to yell at him at the top of her lungs. Dazed, with her heart cracking by the second, Keena wobbled to her feet and turned to walk straight out the front door. She didn’t stop until she came to the end of the block, and she only paused then because of the noisy traffic zipping along Madison Avenue.

  Horns honked, women yelled to their girlfriends in greeting, and men whistled at others in their too-short skirts as they sashayed along the sidewalk. That alone reminded her of how she had been betrayed. The ache closed her throat, yet still she couldn’t cry.

  “Oh, honey, you’ll mess up your dress.” An older woman next to her tsked. “The most important day of your life so far. I bet you’re excited.”

  Keena tried to respond but couldn’t, and the woman nodded her head in understanding.

  “Jitters. Don’t we all experience that? Well, you get back to that church, sweetie. You don’t want to keep your husband-to-be waiting. And don’t worry, I’m sure everything will work out just as it should.” With those wise-sounding but false words, she toddled off, leaving Keena standing there wondering if anyone would care should she step out against the traffic.

  Seconds later, she snapped out of such train of thought and frowned. “That jerk isn’t worth me killing myself over him. He should be the one killed, and that whore China!” With fire she knew wouldn’t last, she hoisted her dress higher and hailed a taxi. When one stopped in front of her, she opened the door, got in, and watched to be sure that she didn’t catch her dress when she closed the door after her. The single reason for that was so she could sell the dress because she would never have a need for it again.

  That beautiful dream she had of marrying and having six children was just that—a dream. On some level, she was happy she had awakened from it. The fact that she had failed on her promise to her mother hurt, but she had to believe her mother would understand. Men were worthless and deserved to be castrated the minute they hit adulthood. She would get along just fine without them if it killed her.

  Chapter Two

  Keena, curled into a tight ball, sobbed into her pillow while her aunt rubbed her back. The tears she’d been happy were absent while she was still at the church came with a vengeance once she was home. She hadn’t stopped crying for two weeks, and that damn Steven made it all the worse with his calls to see that she was okay.

  “Why doesn’t he leave me alone? Doesn’t he know how much he hurt me?” Keena cried.

  “He knows, and the guilt’s eating him alive,” Aunt Delores said with satisfaction. “My guess is he found out quick that what he thought he felt for Miss China was all lust, and when she showed her true colors, even that dried up. Hope she satisfied him for the price he paid.”

  “Aunt Delores!” Keena spared her aunt a look of disbelief through the blur of her vision.

  “What?” Her aunt waved a hand and sucked her teeth. “Well, he did pay, and he’ll pay a lot more if he comes around here because I will beat him to within an inch of his life and get Morty to handle the rest.”

  Keena sat up, clutching her pillow to her chest. “What rest? He will have just an inch left.”

  Aunt Delores nodded in all seriousness, and Keena chuckled for the first time in what felt like forever. The lightening of her mood didn’t last long. Darkness and pain crowded in. She loved Aunt Delores and Mr. Creighton. They were all the family she had as far as she was concerned, but with Aunt Delores watching her like she thought Keena would break any second, she began to feel smothered. Keena didn’t relish going back to work like many people did to get past times like this. Teaching required too much brain function. She wanted to do no more than exist until her strength returned, until her mind and heart didn’t cry out day and night for Steven. She needed to get away.

  “I’ve decided to take my vacation,” she announced.

  Aunt Delores clapped her hands. “You’ll go to Cancun without him?”

  Keena cringed. “No way. We had the honeymoon suite at the hotel.” She took a few moments to swallow in order to avoid crying again. “That would be too hard. Besides, that trip was a gift from his mother, and she was sure to snatch it back when the wedding didn’t happen. I’m sure that dragon lady was happy it went this way.”

  “Hm, probably.”

  “I’m going to . . .” Keena searched her mind for a destination. “I don’t know. I guess I’ll check online, something different. Not a beach because that will remind me of, you know. I’ll find something, but I have to get away. You understand, don’t you, Aunt Delores?”

  “Yes, baby, I understand.” She hugged Keena and kissed her cheek. “You do what you need to do, and I’ll be right here when you get back to help you pick up the pieces.”

  Tears flowed down Keena’s cheeks. “I love you so much. Having my mother’s sister raise me is just like having her. I couldn’t ask for a better mother.”

  Aunt Delores, who always seemed to have a dish towel in her hand like she’d just finished drying dishes, threw the towel over her face and muttered from behind it. “Now you’ve got me crying, silly child.”

  Keena smiled and pulled her aunt into another hug. They stayed there rocking while Keena scoured her mind for a place to hide away for the next three weeks.

  * * * *

  The airport van passed under a wide wooden archway that must have been fifteen or twenty feet high with a sign hanging from it that read Luna Mountain Ranch. Despite her heavy heart, Keena felt a tingle of excitement ignite inside. This was going to be an experience she had never dreamed of having, a city girl like her out here in the Rocky Mountains. The boldness of the decision, along with Aunt Delores’s terror that a bear would eat her, had almost made her change her mind. However, it was too late now. She was here.

  The Luna Mountain Ranch nestled amid nine hundred acres of beautiful land, elevated at eighty-one hundred feet, the brochure had said. The amount of land belonging to the ranch allowed them to run their own hunts for elk without venturing over into public park land. Whatever—she was not so much of a city girl that she didn’t know elk were deer! She’d told Mirabelle, the woman she spoke with on the phone, that no, she did not want to be a part of the guided hunts they conducted. Apparently, women liked to participate. Not this woman.

  When the van came to a stop and let the passengers disembark, Keena followed everyone else and stretched her cramped muscles as she glanced around. The layout of the ranch caught her breath and held it. Straight ahead of her was a large pond, where she knew the ranch offered fly fishing. To her left and right along a winding paved road were wooden structures of varying sizes. The biggest she guessed was the main lodge, where they would eat their inside meals, and the biggest of the housing areas. She had reserved a small cabin toward the back because she wanted the isolation, but seeing all the trees in that directi
on, each rising higher and higher the farther they were away, made her nervous. No mistakes—these were the mountains she’d decided on. Her cell phone not getting a signal attested to the fact as well.

  Keena dragged in a deep breath and let it out a little at a time. “I can do this. It will renew me.”

  A hand came down on her shoulder, and a friendly smile greeted her when she looked around. “Don’t you worry none, sweetie. You’ll have a grand time here. I promise you that. Luna Mountain Ranch is the best experience to be had anywhere.” She winked and stuck out her hand. “I’m Mirabelle. Welcome.”

  Keena perked up. “Oh, yes, I spoke to you on the phone. I’m Keena Law.”

  “Great to meet you, Keena. I came out here just to meet you since we spoke and you seemed so down. I knew I wanted to greet you myself.”

  Tears pricked Keena’s eyes. “You did? How nice. Thank you. I think I’m going to love it here already. It’s different than what I’m used to, but I like to think of myself as adventurous.”

  Mirabelle hooked an arm into hers like they were old friends and turned Keena in the direction of the rest of the ranch. They had taken a few steps when a couple vehicles rolled up and stopped alongside them. Several men jumped out with enthusiasm and began loading the luggage into the Jeeps. Mirabelle excused herself a moment to talk to one of the men, and Keena stood waiting and hugging herself.

  The report on summer weather here had said temperatures ranged from seventies to the eighties in summer, with sudden changes upon occasion, but to Keena it felt more like sixty. She tried to remember where she’d packed her sweater when her slightly blurred gaze from the long trip skittered over the man Mirabelle spoke with. Ranch hands was what Keena thought she had read they were called. This particular man wasn’t handsome in the way that the men who caught her attention were. He was more arresting in his rugged features, exuding a strength she hadn’t noticed in Steven, now that she thought about it.