A County Girl's Heart

by Dena Blake

  Rebecca slid down onto the couch, breaking the trance they both seemed to be in. “How did you find out about all this?”

  “I went to see Mark this morning, and he told me the whole story.”

  Kat was silent as she stood staring out the window onto the city. She hated this place—the people, the politics, and everything else that came with it.

  DJ grasped Kat’s shoulders tenderly and pressed her lips to her head. “I’m sorry, Kat.”

  “Please don’t.” Kat shrugged out of her grasp. The warmth of DJ’s touch reminded her that everything that existed here was a complete fabrication, including the hurtful words she’d spoken to DJ earlier. Kat wanted her. No, she needed her more than she would admit.

  DJ slid her briefcase from the desk. “I’ll leave you two alone for a while. Kat, I’ll be in my office. I’d like to see you before you leave.”

  Kat nodded. She knew what she had to do now. The only thing she could do. She had to go to the ranch, away from this madness…Now. She raced to the couch, picked up her coat, and headed for the door.

  “Where are you going?” Rebecca’s voice rose in what sounded like desperation, and it hit Kat somewhere deep in her heart, in a place she hadn’t felt anything in a very long time.

  Kat stopped in the doorway. “I’m going to the ranch. I have to check the stable and see what kind of damage the fire caused.”

  “What about Virgil?”

  “He’s doing fine. I checked on him this morning.”

  “What about me?” Rebecca’s voice faltered. “You can’t just abandon me. Not again. You aren’t the only one who’s been deceived.”

  Kat turned to see tears streaming from Rebecca’s eyes. Damn! How selfish can I be? Thinking about only myself when the blow Rebecca received has been just as devastating. She threw her coat onto the couch and slid down next to her.

  “Come here.” She pulled Rebecca to her and held her close.

  “I don’t know why I’m crying.” Rebecca sniffed, trying to stop the tears continuing to spill out. “I’m not even in love with him.”

  “You trusted him, and he lied. That’s what hurts.” Kat wiped the black streaks of mascara from Rebecca’s cheeks with her thumbs.

  “One thing you never did was lie to me.”

  Kat drew in a deep breath and shifted to tuck her foot up under herself. Rebecca was right. Kat had never lied to her before, and she wasn’t about to start doing so now. She didn’t want to tell Rebecca that Virgil had fathered them both. In all fairness, she should let her mother do it, let Elizabeth experience Rebecca’s disappointment as well as her wrath. But Elizabeth wasn’t here, and Rebecca was looking at her with the pleading eyes of not a ruthless businesswoman, but a little sister. She had to tell her now.

  “There’s something else, isn’t there?” Rebecca asked.

  “Listen, Bec.” Kat closed her eyes and pressed her fingers to her temple. Her head was throbbing, and the pain was about to become ten times worse. “Mother has told me some details about her relationship with Daddy that aren’t very pleasant.”

  Rebecca tilted her head. “Like what?”

  Kat hesitated, gathering her thoughts. “Did you know they never shared the same bed?”

  “I know they had separate rooms as I grew older, but they must have shared one at some point or another. After all, they conceived me.”

  It has to be done. Stop beating around the bush and just say it. “No, they didn’t,” Kat said tentatively, tossing her arm up on the top of the couch.

  “What are you talking about?” Rebecca’s brows drew together. She wasn’t fully understanding what Kat was saying. “Oh my God.” She sank into the couch. “He’s not my father either.”

  Kat shook her head. “No. He’s not.”

  “I didn’t think my life could get any worse. Now the very essence of my existence is being stripped away.” She choked as if suddenly remembering to breathe. “How many men were there?”

  Kat took her hand and held it tight. “Mother said she had only one love in her lifetime.”

  “And that was…” Her eyes flew wide and her face twisted. “Virgil Jackson?”

  Kat fought to stifle a laugh when she saw the look on Rebecca’s face. “Apparently so.”

  “That can’t be true,” she said, and jumped to her feet. “The man’s a stable hand, for God’s sake.”

  Kat stiffened, instinctively offended. She might be upset with Virgil for keeping the truth from her, but to Kat, Virgil was much more than just a stable hand. He’d been there since she was a little girl, teaching her everything she knew about horses, from stowing tack to breaking the toughest filly. He’d been a kind, gentle man who always took time for her. More time than her father ever had. Virgil Jackson was twice the man Charles Belmont ever was. She had no doubt in her mind now that he was her father in every way.

  She watched Rebecca pace the office, rambling on about what people were going to say. Kat let out a slight chuckle and stood up. Only Rebecca would be more concerned about Virgil’s status in the community than what kind of man he was.

  Kat took her coat from the couch. “Listen, Bec. I really do have to go to the ranch and watch over things.”

  “Oh, right,” Rebecca mumbled, obviously preoccupied.

  Kat touched her shoulder lightly. “Why don’t you come with me?”

  Rebecca closed her eyes briefly and smiled. “Go ahead. I’ll be fine.”

  Kat skimmed the back of her fingers across Rebecca’s cheek. “You know who you are, Bec. Don’t let what other people say change that.” She wrapped her arms around her and kissed her temple. “I’ll give you a call tomorrow.”

  Chapter Twenty-Six

  As Kat drove the gravel road to the house, she felt the impact of the destruction deep in her heart. The damage wasn’t quite as bad as she’d imagined, but seeing the huge, gaping hole in the side of the stable was a little more reality than she needed right now. She parked the truck and waded through the thick, black muck covering the ground. The stale smell of soggy, burnt embers filled her nose as she stood in the remains of Minow’s stall. Terrifying visions of the fire filled her head, and she rushed to the barn. Relief washed through her when she saw the horses in the makeshift stable. Not spotting Minow, she hastened her pace as she made her way to the end stall, where she lay sprawled out on the ground in the corner.

  “Oh, baby.” Kat slid the gate open and entered the stall. “I’m so sorry I wasn’t here to take care of you.” She fell to her knees and rubbed the horse’s neck gently. Minow let out a grunt. An overwhelming feeling of guilt came over her when she saw the burns on Minow’s back, burns probably caused by the falling roof as she stood over an unconscious Virgil protecting him.

  Kat sat and stroked her softly, thinking about the day she and Arizona had found her. There were so many horses at the auction that day. Kat had fallen in love with a beautiful palomino, but the bidding went much higher than she’d anticipated. She couldn’t justify spending thousands of dollars on a horse she wanted just for her own pleasure.

  Disappointed, she wasn’t at all interested when they brought Minow out. She was a sad sight compared to the horse Kat had planned to take home. Minow was a two-year-old black Arabian with a tattered mane. Kat could tell Minow hadn’t been cared for well. Her ribs were visible through her coat. She wasn’t Kat’s first choice, and probably not her second either, but Arizona insisted she bid. Arizona had a natural eye for horses and was right about this one. With a little food and special attention, Minow had quickly blossomed into a wonderful companion for Kat.

  Kat closed her eyes and thought about Arizona, trying to envision her as she always had in the past. She couldn’t see her. The only woman appearing in front of her now was DJ. Fuck. How could she forget her one true love for a woman who’d lied to her, a woman who’d joined forces with her mother to fuck up her life?

  What the hell was I doing, telling my whole life story to a complete stranger? She let out a sigh and le
aned against the wall. A stranger who’d forced Arizona’s memory to sink into the shadows of her mind. Kat had known her less than a week, yet she’d invited her into her bed, and DJ had fulfilled her every need, filling her heart, loving her in a way no one else had been able to since Arizona. She’d made her feel as though nothing else mattered. But other things did matter, things between them that hadn’t been resolved, possibly couldn’t be resolved.

  Kat heard the creak of the door opening and jumped to her feet. She wasn’t surprised to see Victoria Maxwell strut across the barn.

  “Victoria, I don’t have time for your crap today.”

  “I knew if I waited long enough, you’d come home.” Victoria crept slowly into the stall. Minow scrambled to her feet at the sound of her voice.

  “I didn’t think you’d show your face around here again after what you did to Virgil.”

  Victoria’s lips spread into a wide smile. “Isn’t there a chance we can work something out together? Form some sort of partnership?”

  “You’re completely delusional.” Kat shielded herself behind Minow. “They’re going to put you away for a long time, and I can’t wait for the day they do.”

  “Feisty as ever.” Victoria smiled. Her interest in Kat seemed to grow with each insult she threw at her. “You and I were good together.” She shook her head. “We could’ve merged our land and had something really nice here.”

  “I already have something really nice here without you, Victoria.” Kat held her voice steady as she noted the gasoline can just outside the stall. Jesus. She’s going to burn it again. “You can’t possibly be thinking about starting another fire.”

  Victoria raised an eyebrow. “What makes you think I started the last one?”

  “I know it wasn’t an accident.” Kat didn’t dare tell her Virgil had lived to tell her what happened.

  “Well, this one won’t be either.” Victoria slapped the horse on its hip, and Minow bolted out of the stall and through the barn. “Boys, I’ve got this. Move all the horses and scram. I don’t want any of them hurt.”

  “No one’s going to let them take all the horses.” There were at least ten ranch hands on the grounds at any given moment.

  “I guess they wouldn’t if they weren’t all off trying to round up the cattle that broke through the range fence this morning.”

  “You’re not going to get away with this.” Kat tried to move past her, but Victoria blocked her way.

  Victoria moved to her quickly and popped her in the nose with the palm of her hand. “I really wish we could’ve done this the easy way.”

  Kat tried to blink away the dizziness as pain wracked her and the taste of metal coated the back of her throat. Adrenaline raced through her system. She refused to die this way. Not now, not after everything she’d worked for. She swung her fists at Victoria as she pushed her, but she absorbed them without flinching. Kat tripped and fell backward, and Victoria was on her instantly. She closed her eyes tight as Victoria pelted her with her fists. The pain in her face became overwhelming. Her vision began to fade as Victoria’s fingers wrapped around her throat. She struggled beneath her, scratching at Victoria’s face, but she was too powerful.

  * * *

  When DJ came around the corner to Rebecca’s office, Jenny wasn’t at her desk. She looked at her watch. It was too early for her to have gone to lunch. The door was slightly open, so DJ continued in to find Rebecca, sitting in her chair, turned away from her desk. She was staring out the window just as Kat had been earlier. DJ had wanted to flip Kat around and shake some sense into her, but she hadn’t pushed. Kat had a lot to deal with right now, but sooner or later she would have to deal with DJ, whether she wanted to or not.

  “Well, this is a first.” DJ’s voice stung with a mixture of surprise and amusement.

  “What?” Rebecca rotated around in her chair with her perfectly arched brows raised inquisitively.

  “I rarely catch you taking a moment to relax.”

  “Relax isn’t exactly the word I would use.” She tossed the pen she’d been rotating through her fingers onto the desk. “To say the least, it’s been a very enlightening day.” She leaned forward and let her head drop from side to side. “What’s going to happen to Mark?”

  “That depends on how much he cooperates.”

  “Isn’t it just my luck?” She twisted in her chair. “At least with you, I knew where I stood.”

  “Sometimes you have to take chances in life to get what you want.” DJ kept her expression still. “Even then, it doesn’t always work out.”

  “Like you and Kat?” Rebecca said.

  “Something like that.” DJ curved her mouth into a thoughtful smile as she looked around the office. “By the way, where is she?”

  “She went to the ranch.”

  The lump that had remained steady in DJ’s stomach for the past few days catapulted to her chest, and her heart rate soared. “Damn!” She spun around and took off for the door. “When did she leave?”

  Rebecca focused on the crystal clock on her desk. “About thirty minutes ago. I thought you knew.” She shot out of her seat to head her off. “Didn’t she come by to see you before she left?”

  “No.”

  “You need to give her a little time, Dani.”

  DJ stopped just short of her. “Victoria Maxwell’s still out there, Rebecca.”

  Rebecca’s eyes widened. “I hadn’t thought about that.” She reached for her cell phone. “I’ll call her.”

  DJ pushed by her, moving frantically toward the elevator. “I have to get there before Victoria finds her.”

  “Dani, wait. I’m coming with you,” Rebecca shouted as she followed her down the hallway with the phone pressed to her ear. “She’s not answering.”

  * * *

  DJ slammed on the brakes, and the car slid across the gravel. She rolled out of the car, ran to the house, and threw open the door. She searched the entire house before joining Rebecca on the porch.

  “She’s not in there,” DJ said as she spied Minow wandering around to the side of the barn. “Where’d the horse come from?”

  “I don’t know. Wasn’t it there when we drove up?”

  “No, it wasn’t.” DJ scrambled down the steps and across the yard. “Find some help.” She made her way quickly through the makeshift stable, glancing in each stall she passed until she saw the gas can outside Minow’s stall. She raced straight there and found Victoria hovering over Kat.

  DJ grabbed Victoria by the collar and threw her up against the wall. Victoria threw a fist to DJ’s face, and she knocked Victoria to the ground. She turned to tend to Kat, and when she saw the redness surrounding her dull-blue eyes as they fluttered open, DJ’s anger exploded. She turned to Victoria and flew into a brutal frenzy, punching her relentlessly.

  “DJ, stop. Please!” Kat’s voice cracked through the haze of rage clouding DJ’s head. “That’s enough!” The sound of Kat’s voice echoed through the ringing in her ears, and DJ backed away. She’d lost it.

  She heard someone shout, “Call an ambulance.” Two of the ranch hands pushed by DJ into the stall, one running to Kat and the other to Victoria.

  DJ turned to Kat, who lay curled into the corner of the stall. DJ couldn’t tell if Victoria or her own rage had forced her there. The frightened look in her eyes sliced through DJ’s heart. The pulsing pressure in her veins made her head throb. She took in a breath to calm herself before she turned and gathered Kat into her arms, carrying her out of the barn to the porch for Rebecca to tend to her.

  “Don’t let your mother take you away from this place. No matter what she tells you,” DJ said, staring into Kat’s confused eyes. She left her with Rebecca, walked across the yard to the water spigot, and washed the blood from her bruised knuckles. When she heard the sound of sirens increasing in the distance, she dropped to the ground and propped herself up against the fence post, watching the police car and ambulance travel up the gravel road. Her mind was cluttered with emotions and guilt
. She wouldn’t use Kat’s feelings for her to take her to Austin as Elizabeth wanted. The deal she’d struck with Elizabeth to pay off her family’s farm would be breached. They would lose the farm unless she found another way to raise the money and save it from foreclosure.

  Victoria had already been loaded into the ambulance when Kat spotted Mike, the emergency tech, as he stopped to check on DJ. She saw her shake her head when Mike tried to treat her lip and her hands. DJ pointed to the porch. Mike flipped his case closed before he came across to see Kat, where she was rejecting Rebecca’s attempts to clean the blood from her face.

  “How is she?” Kat asked as Mike approached.

  “She has a few broken ribs, but she’ll live.” He knelt down in front of her and opened his kit.

  “Not the one in the ambulance.” She looked around him to catch another glimpse of DJ. If she hadn’t shown up when she did, Kat might very well have been dead right now.

  Mike gave her a curious look as she stared over his shoulder. “She’s got a fat lip and her hands are bruised pretty badly, but nothing’s broken.” He opened a sealed package containing gauze and doused it with something. “Other than the nose, are you hurt anywhere?” He gently wiped the blood from the gaping cut running down the bridge of her nose.

  “No. Nowhere else,” she said, looking at him directly.

  “Does it hurt?” Rebecca asked, watching Mike put a butterfly bandage across the wound.

  “Like a mother…” Kat winced when he pressed the bandage down lightly.

  “The medication will kick in soon, and she won’t feel much of anything.” Mike handed her a pill and a small bottle of water. “She’s going to have a pretty pair of black eyes, though,” he added, closing his case and standing up. “I don’t think her nose is broken, but you need to take her to the doctor as soon as possible and have the rest of her checked out.”

  “Shouldn’t you take her now?” Rebecca asked.

  “I don’t want to go now,” Kat said firmly. “We’ll go in the morning.” She softened her tone. Her sister was only trying to help.