And it was only a matter of time before Parker returned to the Lazy Eight, looking for this key.
He wouldn’t find it, but he would find Becca.
All alone. Unsuspecting. Virtually defenseless.
Mitch threw his things back into his leather case and jammed his feet into his boots. He had to get to the Lazy Eight.
Before it was too late.
Becca opened the ranch office early, just as the sun was coming up.
The sky was heavy with clouds. A storm was brewing. Most likely it would rain hard and heavy starting sometime within the next few minutes and clear up before lunch.
She wished she could say the same about her own dark disposition.
She’d spent a restless night, tossing and turning in her bed, and she’d been exhausted when her alarm had gone off. But it was better to get up and get to work instead of hiding out by sleeping in. Besides, this way she’d be good and tired when tonight rolled around. And maybe she’d fall straight into a dreamless sleep without even thinking once about Mitch.
Hah. Fat chance.
But she had to stop thinking about him. It was entirely likely she would never see him again, so she’d better learn to stop thinking about him. She knew she could do it. And once she learned not to think about Mitch, well, then she’d be on her way to learning to live without him. She could do anything, if she put her mind to it.
And right now she’d stop thinking about Mitch by focusing on all the work she had to do to catch up around here.
The storm clouds were so dark, Becca had to turn on the light over her desk just to see.
She sat down, uncertain of where to start, and knowing without a doubt that such a dilemma wasn’t worth crying over. Yet here she was, on the verge of tears. Again.
Damn Mitch.
And double damn herself for being so stupid as to fall in love with him.
Work had piled up in her in-basket over the days she’d been gone. Her E-mail alone was enough to occupy her for most of the morning. She’d start with that. She scrubbed at her eyes and blew her nose soundly. She was determined to work in the office only until ten. If she could get enough done now, she’d give Belinda the morning off and take the guests on the morning trail ride herself, provided the weather complied. She could use some quality time with Silver and…
The office door squealed as it opened, and she closed her eyes, desperately hoping that whatever problem was walking into the office at 5:06 a.m. could be dealt with quickly and efficiently and…
“Becca, thank God.”
Mitch? She turned around so quickly, she nearly fell out of her chair. It was. Mitch had come back.
As she stood up, he dropped his case on the floor and moved toward her, coming right up and over the counter that separated them. And then she was in his arms.
“Are you all right?” he asked, pulling slightly back to look down into her eyes. He touched her face, her hair.
“Please tell me you’re all right.”
She nodded. Yes. Now she was very, very all right. “Thank you,” she said, kissing his neck, his ear. “Thank you, thank you for coming back.”
He caught her mouth with his, and the fire that raged to life between them ignited instantly. And as the entire world seemed to swirl and shift around them, as Becca melted against him, she wondered how she could even have thought she could learn to live without him.
And in that instant, she knew the awful truth. She’d found her true love. And he loved her, too. Given the opportunity, Mitch would stay forever.
Please, please, give them the opportunity…
He pulled away from her far sooner than she would have liked. “Becca, I remembered something.”
She could tell just from looking at him that it wasn’t something good.
“It was Casey Parker who shot me. I still don’t remember why, but he meant to kill me. And I’ve got to believe that he’ll be coming back here. He’s going to want his key.”
And Becca knew. Mitch hadn’t come back to the Lazy Eight because he wanted to. He’d come because he’d had to. If he’d thought she was safe, she would never have seen him again.
But he had come back. And she had to make the most of this opportunity to convince him to stay.
Mitch released her, and she let him go, watching as he picked up the phone on Hazel’s desk. “What’s the sheriff’s number?”
“It’s right there,” she told him. “On that list. Mitch, we’ve got to talk.”
He found it and punched in the buttons.
“What are you doing?” she asked, realizing that he was dialing the sheriff’s number.
He was listening to the phone ring, and he met her gaze only briefly. “Calling the sheriff.”
“Obviously. Mitch—”
“Yeah, hi,” Mitch said into the telephone. “I’m calling from the Lazy Eight Ranch. We’ve got a major problem here, and I was hoping the sheriff could come out as soon as possible…?”
He wanted the sheriff to come out here? If the sheriff got involved, then Mitch would…
“Well, let’s start with attempted murder,” Mitch said to whoever was on the other end of the phone. “Is that worth waking up the sheriff over?”
Mitch would have to admit to having amnesia. He would be investigated. His fingerprints would probably be run through the computer and…
And then they’d finally know who he was.
But so would the sheriff.
“We’ll be waiting for him in the ranch office,” Mitch said, and hung up the phone. He turned to face Becca, answering her before she even asked. “I’m turning myself in.”
She shook her head, unable to say anything, unable even to speak.
“I thought hard about it the entire way out here. It’s the right thing to do,” he told her. “I should’ve done this weeks ago. I still don’t remember much of anything, but that doesn’t mean I shouldn’t have to take responsibility for the things that I’ve done.”
“You’re jumping to conclusions here.” She finally found her voice. “You may not have done anything wrong at all.”
“How about possession of illegal firearms?” he asked.
“We’ll start there. Somehow I doubt we’ll end there, though.”
He went out into the main part of the office, walking around the counter this time. Becca followed. “You don’t have to do this.”
“Yes, I do.” He pulled open the screen door. “I’m going to get my .22 from the bunkhouse lockup, so I can turn it in with the weapons in my bag.”
The first crack of thunder rumbled in the distance, ominous and foreboding as Becca followed him outside into the eerie early morning light, and back toward the barn. The wind was starting to kick up, sending clouds of dust scooting across the dry yard.
“This is really the only way I can start over,” he told her. “Yes, it feels like I’ve been given a second chance, because I don’t remember my past, but it’s not real, Bec. If I really want a second chance, I’ve got to do it right. And that means facing up to whatever I’ve done, and paying the price. Lord knows I don’t want to go back to prison, but if I have to, so be it. Because when I get out—if I get out—that’s when I’ll be able to make a fresh start.” He smiled at her, that crooked half smile she’d come to know so well. “Besides, I’d face more than hard time to be sure that you were safe.”
Becca caught his arm. “That’s why you’re doing this, isn’t it? Because you don’t think I’ll be safe from this Casey Parker if you don’t.”
He gently pulled free. “It’s also the right thing to do.”
Becca watched as he disappeared into the bunkhouse. “Dammit, Mitch!” She ran to catch up with him, following him inside, lowering her voice, aware that the other ranch hands would be rising soon. “You don’t even know that Parker’s going to come back here.”
“Becca, go back to the office.”
She rounded the corner that led to the common area and the ranch hands’ private lockers, and s
topped short.
Mitch was standing absolutely still, staring down the muzzle of a very, very deadly-looking handgun. It was bigger than the one Dirty Harry used in her favorite Clint Eastwood movies, big enough to blow an extremely fatal hole in Mitch, should the man holding it pull the trigger.
And the man holding it looked as if he’d enjoy doing just that. Big and beefy, he had at least five inches and seventy pounds on Mitch. But he was older, with a beard that was graying, and eyes that seemed almost lost in the fleshy folds of his face. Casey Parker. It had to be.
“She’s not part of this,” Mitch said to the man.
“She is now,” he answered.
Becca saw Mitch’s gaze flicker toward the lockup where his handgun was stored, saw him reject the option of going for it, thank God. One gun was bad enough.
“You know why I’m here,” Parker said.
“I guess you want the key.” Mitch glanced at Becca. His eyes were filled with meaning, filled with a private message. Be ready to run.
“Good guess,” Parker said.
And she knew exactly what Mitch was planning to do. Point of vulnerability. Just as the man he’d called “the American” had done, he was going to wait for Parker’s PV and he was going to attack, giving Becca a chance to run to safety. And, like the American in his dream, it was likely that Mitch would be shot and killed.
Becca shook her head, just a tiny shake, barely discernible. No.
“Becca will have to go and get it,” Mitch told the man.
“I left it in the glove compartment of her truck.”
Parker laughed. “Maybe we should try this again.” He swung his gun so that it pointed directly at Becca’s chest. “Give me the key.”
Mitch nearly stopped breathing. He knew it didn’t take much, just the gentle pressure from a finger, to end a human life. And as long as Parker had that gun aimed at Becca, it could happen. In half a heartbeat, she could go from living to dead.
Thunder rolled, closer still.
“My pocket,” Mitch said through a throat tight with fear. “It’s in my front pocket.”
“Get it. Move slowly.”
“Point the gun away from her first.”
“Give me the key first,” Parker countered.
Mitch did, holding it out to Parker on the palm of his hand. If only he could get him to come close enough…
But Parker laughed. “Toss it to me. Gently.”
“Point the gun away from her.” Mitch knew it was futile. He knew Parker was going to keep that gun aimed at Becca until this was over. And how it was going to end, he didn’t want to try to guess. The sheriff was due to arrive any minute, and he didn’t even know if that would be a help or a hindrance. All he knew was that the next time Parker aimed that gun at him, he was going to rush him, take him down, take him out. Before the bastard had a chance to hurt Becca.
“Toss it,” Parker demanded.
Mitch did. He watched the gun while Parker caught and examined the key, but although it swerved, it swerved only slightly.
Becca had been silent all this time, but now she spoke up. “Mitch doesn’t remember you. He doesn’t remember anything from before he was shot. He doesn’t even know his last name. If you just leave, we won’t tell anyone or—”
Parker laughed. “Oh, that’s good. I suppose you’ll give me your promise, too, huh? Well, for someone who doesn’t remember, Mitch here has sure managed to screw me up big-time. No, we’re going to go for a ride in your truck, Becca dear. Come over here.”
Thunder cracked nearly overhead.
“Becca, don’t move.” Mitch knew that once Parker had Becca close enough to press the gun against her head, the man would never be vulnerable enough for Mitch to attack.
“Becca, come here,” Parker said again. “Now.”
He swung his gun toward Mitch, who knew this was it. It was now or never.
But before he could launch himself at the gun, Becca dashed forward and got in the way.
And now turned bleakly into never.
“Out the door,” Parker ordered Mitch, Becca tight against him, the gun tucked up under her arm, nearly completely concealed from anyone who might be outside in the yard. “Into the truck.”
It was starting to rain. Just a few big drops here and there from a heavy green sky that looked ready to open up. Lightning forked, making the air seem to crackle around them.
Becca’s truck was parked near the office. Mitch took his time walking toward it, staring down to the end of the long driveway, praying for a sign of the sheriff’s headlights through the unnatural early-morning darkness.
Nothing.
“Get in the truck—you’re going to drive,” Parker told him. “Keep your hands on the steering wheel where I can see ’em at all times. Take ’em off, and I’ll shoot her right here.”
Mitch got in and clung to that wheel. I’ll shoot her right here. Instead of waiting to shoot her out in the middle of nowhere, where no one could see or hear.
Parker pushed Becca into the middle of the bench seat and climbed in behind her, his gun never moving from her. If he squeezed the trigger, a bullet would go straight into her heart.
“Start the truck,” he ordered Mitch.
The keys were hanging in the ignition, where Becca had left them. Ranch rules—in case someone needed to move the truck fast. “I’ll have to take my hand off the steering wheel,” Mitch said. He had to get Parker to point the gun at him instead of Becca.
“Just one hand,” Parker warned him. “Do it.”
Mitch could feel Becca’s shoulder pressed against him, her leg against his thigh. He started the engine, flipped on the windshield wipers and headlights, put the truck into gear.
“Head away from the buildings,” Parker ordered.
Mitch pulled off the driveway, pointing the truck toward Finger Rocks, toward the dry riverbed. If it wasn’t flooding yet, it would be soon. And maybe…
They drove in silence for quite some distance, the rain starting to fall harder now against the windshield.
Mitch glanced up. He could see Becca’s eyes in the rearview mirror. She knew where he was heading, knew how deadly the arroyo could be.
“Don’t get out of the truck,” he told her.
Parker laughed at that. “You’re in no position to be giving orders.”
Mitch glanced into the rearview again, and she nodded. Her lips moved. Love you.
She thought she was going to die.
But she wasn’t. Not if he could help it. Not even if he had to die himself to keep her alive.
“Stop up here,” Parker finally said. “This is far enough.”
Lightning flashed, and Finger Rocks loomed, still too far away. Mitch hadn’t yet reached the edge of the dry riverbed. He could see up ahead that the water wasn’t running. Yet. He just had to go a little farther…
The rain was starting to fall even harder on the roof of the truck, tiny bits and pieces of hail bouncing off the hood.
“I said, stop.”
Mitch took his time hitting the brakes, slowing to a stop. Any second now the sky was going to open up in a deluge so severe, visibility was going to drop to close to zero. In the meantime, he kept his hands on the steering wheel where Parker could see them.
“Get out of the truck,” Parker ordered.
Mitch leaned forward to look at him across Becca.
“I’m going to have to take my hands off the steering wheel.”
“One hand at a time,” Parker said. “Move slowly. Open the door. And then step back from the truck—keep your hands where I can see them.”
Mitch knew what he’d do if he were Parker. He’d make Mitch back far enough away so that when he pulled his gun from Becca’s side, Mitch would be too far away to be able to attack. And he’d shoot Mitch from inside the truck, make sure he was dead before pulling Becca out, thus completely eliminating his point of vulnerability.
“I love you,” he told Becca, needing her to know.
“Lov
ely,” Parker said. “Move.”
Mitch moved very slowly as he put the truck into park, still praying that the rain would help him out. Please God… If ever he needed a little divine assistance, it was now.
He opened the door and stepped out of the cab and moved back from the truck and…
God was on his side. Lightning cracked, thunder roared, and the rain came down as if someone had turned on a giant faucet overhead. Mitch was instantly soaked.
And nearly completely hidden by the deluge.
He heard Parker swear as Mitch dropped to the ground, scrambling swiftly and silently beneath the body of the truck. “Where the hell did he go?”
“I’m not getting out,” Mitch heard Becca say, bless her. “You’re just going to have to shoot me right here—and get the truck all gross and smeared with blood. And that’ll go over really well with the state police when you’re stopped for that rear taillight that’s out.”
He heard Parker curse. “You’re getting out of this truck if I have to pull you out by the hair!”
Becca screamed as he did just that, but she knew that she was right—he wasn’t going to shoot her in the truck. He needed it to get wherever he was going. Probably only as far as to his own vehicle, parked somewhere outside of the ranch’s fences. Still, the last thing he wanted to do was get her blood on his clothes. And he was going to kill her. She had no doubt of that.
The rain drummed on the roof, and the thunder cracking directly overhead was loud enough to wake the dead.
“Where did he go?” Parker demanded. “Where did that son of a bitch disappear to?” He pulled his gun out from her side to get a better grip on her and yanked her out into the rain.
This was it.
It was Parker’s point of vulnerability. His gun waved in the air as she fought him, and Becca knew Mitch would be ready and waiting.
And he was.
He appeared with a flash of lightning, pulling Parker away from Becca, leaping on top of the man’s gun as he wrestled him down into the arroyo.
The gun went off, and Mitch jerked—oh, God, he was hit. But he’d somehow managed to grab the gun and fling it, hard, into the rocks and rubble that made up the dry riverbed.
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