The Damaged Heroes Collection [Box Set #1: The Damaged Heroes Collection] (BookStrand Publishing Mainstream)

by James, Sandy

  “Is Seth Remington here with you? Can I talk to him?”

  Katie stood in the doorway, dumbfounded and overwhelmed. Cameras came at her from every direction, and the voices grew louder and louder in their quest for information. She was too frightened to even move.

  “Where is Seth Remington?”

  “Are you two planning on marrying?”

  “Can we have an exclusive interview?”

  The questions and flashes continued to assault her. When the noise of her horses reached her ears, Katie finally broke out of her mental fog. The animals were obviously terrified of the clamor. “Go away!” She grabbed the door and pulled it shut.

  Gold began to buck in his stall, and Katie hurried to the colt to soothe away the fear. “It’s okay, Baby. It’s okay.” She wasn’t sure if she was trying to convince the horse or herself. It was still hard to see well with blue spots constantly dancing before her eyes.

  A cold fear descended. The worst had happened. Seth couldn’t hide any longer. The rest of the world knew where he was now.

  He would have to leave.

  Running back to her office, Katie grabbed her cell phone from her desktop charger. She dialed the familiar Chicago number.

  “O’Connor, LaGrange, Rowland, and Associates. How may I direct your call?”

  “It’s Katie Murphy. I need to talk to Ross Kennedy. Now,” Katie replied. Please be there. I need you, Ross.

  “Just a moment, Miss Murphy, and I’ll ring his office.”

  Katie began to pace in agitation as she waited for what seemed an eternity.

  “Ross Kennedy.”

  “Ross, it’s Katie. It’s awful! There are reporters everywhere. I can’t even get out of the barn. I’m scared for Seth. We need you. Please.”

  “Stay inside,” he ordered. “I’ll send some security guards to get them off your doorstep. You’re at the barn?”

  “Yeah, the barn. I need to get to Seth at the track, but I can’t get out!” Katie knew she was practically screaming, but she just couldn’t stop herself. She tried to take some deep, steadying breaths. They didn’t help.

  “You can’t leave. You don’t even want to try to get through those reporters. But, Katie, listen to me. Even if you could make it out, you can’t see Seth now. Hang on a second.” She could hear his voice yelling for his secretary. She caught bits and pieces of a faint conversation about looking for security firms the law office employed.

  Katie wasn’t in a patient mood. “Of course, I can see—”

  “No, you can’t. The minute they discovered his identity, the no-contact clause went into effect.”

  “I don’t see how—”

  “Just listen to me. Okay?” She could hear how pissed he was, but she didn’t really care.

  “Fine,” Katie replied in as flat a voice as she could manage under the circumstances. “I’m listening.”

  “I helped write the will, remember? We put a directive in that would protect Seth if the media got to him before the season ended. The minute they found him, the five year no-contact rule began.” Katie could hear him shuffling through papers and talking to his secretary. “Sheila, call this one. Now.”

  Katie couldn’t even utter a word to show that she’d heard him. This wasn’t happening. It couldn’t be happening. What about the baby?

  “Katie? You still there?”

  “Yeah, I’m here,” she replied as she looked around the room for her truck keys. This was bullshit. She was going to the track to get Seth.

  “Do you understand what I’m telling you?”

  She stopped to think it through. “There’s got to be a loophole. I need to talk to him, Ross. Just for a minute. Please.”

  “The rule is ironclad. You can’t have any contact with him now because he can’t influence your decision about the inheritance. I’m sorry, Katie. Don’t even try to call him.”

  “He doesn’t have a phone, and you can bend the stupid rule, Ross.”

  Ross was still pissed. She could hear it plainly in his every word. “I’ve looked the other way with you two on a lot of things. That was bad enough. But if I let you violate the no contact rule, I could be disbarred. He’ll lose his inheritance and you’ll lose your horse and your bonus.”

  “I don’t give a shit about the bonus, Ross, and you damn well know it.” She didn’t know how much it was, and she really didn’t care. Her love for Seth had never carried a price tag. Even in her wildest fantasies, they’d left the inheritance behind to make their way in the world together. “Screw the damn money!”

  “I know it doesn’t matter to you, Katie. But what about Seth? You can’t honestly believe he’d walk away from all that money. You’re not being fair to him. I’m sorry, but you just can’t see him.”

  “Please,” Katie whispered.

  “No, Katie,” he replied in that stern lawyer voice she hated. “I’m sending security as soon as I can. I’ll be down to get Seth today. Stay away from him.” Ross hung up the phone.

  Katie folded her cell phone shut and then threw it across the room. “Damn it! What am I supposed to do now?”

  * * * *

  Seth awakened to a pounding on his door. In his sleep-fogged mind, he figured Katie had come to apologize for her hasty, rude exit. He figured he would make her wait a minute or two before he answered.

  The pounding didn’t cease. “Mr. Remington? You in there?” a baritone voice asked.

  He rolled out of the lumpy bed and opened the door to two tall, beefy local cops.

  “What’s up, guys?” Seth asked with a yawn as he leaned against the doorframe and tried to blink the sleep out of his eyes.

  “We have a problem.” One officer pushed his way into the room. He walked to the window and pulled the cord to hoist the dusty blinds.

  Seth squinted and shaded his eyes with his hand at the intrusion of the bright light. “What?”

  The cop pointed to the window. “Look.”

  As his eyes adjusted to the sunlight, Seth saw his biggest fear come to life—a carnival of trucks and cars were parked all along the enormous chain-link fence separating the grounds of the track from the outside world. Reporters stood at various places along the fence while cameras pointed at them, taking in their live broadcasts and recorded footage.

  The bastards had found him.

  Remington. The cop had used his real name.

  “Shit! They can’t get inside, can they?” Seth asked turning back to the officers.

  “Not without a racing license, they can’t,” the larger of the two answered. “We’ve already thrown a couple of ‘em off the grounds when we caught ‘em trying to sneak in.”

  “Good.” Seth’s mind swirled around the implications of the situation until one troubling thought pushed its way forward.

  Katie! What if the bloodhounds had found out about Katie? What if they were already at the farm, bullying her? She sure didn’t deserve an attack by the paparazzi. “Look, I need to get out of here,” Seth said as he reached for his clothes.

  “I’m sorry, Mr. Remington. You can’t leave right now. You’ll have to stay put until a...,” the smaller cop stopped to pull a paper from his shirt pocket and read it, “Mr. Kennedy arrives. He’s gonna have private security to help get you outta here.”

  Seth sat on the bed and jammed his legs into his jeans. “I’m not waiting for Ross Kennedy. I need to get to Katie Murphy’s farm. The reporters might already be there.”

  “Sorry. Chief said we can’t let you leave the grounds. We’re having a hard enough time containing those reporters. You can go to the kitchen or the barns, but that’s it,” the larger officer explained as he lowered the blinds to cover the window. Both cops left the room a moment later.

  Seth slammed the door behind them. It wasn’t going to end like this. It couldn’t end like this.

  He leaned his back against the closed door and rubbed his fingers over his forehead as it dawned on him he hadn’t had one of his tension headaches in a good long while. A monster
of one was forming now.

  “Oh, Boss. I’m so sorry,” he whispered to his empty room.

  Chapter 28

  Katie felt like an animal being kept in too small a cage. She’d spent the better part of the morning trying to get news about Seth from people in and around the track, but no one had seen him.

  The horsemen did, however, relate stories of the crowds of reporters and local townspeople gathering outside the track to try to get a glimpse of the infamous Seth Remington. Every person she talked to asked Katie how long she had known his true identity. A few of them acted like they didn’t even know the man—the same Seth who had worked alongside them for months. To a couple of ignorant people, he was now nothing more than an oddity.

  Her horses were still agitated, but Katie could do little except soothe them. She threw an extra flake of hay in every stall to give the animals something to do. Unfortunately, the clamor wouldn’t die down. Moving from stall to stall, she comforted the most disturbed of her horses with a soft word or a tender touch.

  She could overhear some of the correspondents talking as they gave their reports, and the implication seemed to be that Seth had fled his luxurious home in a deep depression over his father’s death. Katie’s name was used several times, but not in a very flattering manner. She was evidently the siren whose seductive song had lured him to her side. As if.

  In her mind’s eye, Katie could see the pictures of her taken that morning while barefoot, sleepy-eyed, and rumpled in Seth’s enormous shirt and her own ragged jeans. She knew those embarrassing images played on televisions all over the country. People tuned in and gawked at her while they ate their breakfasts and drank their coffee. In that instant, she vowed to never again watch a celebrity news show or buy a gossip magazine. “Damn vultures.”

  Just before noon, Katie was digging through what little food she had in her refrigerator when she heard a loud rumble coming from outside. She jumped on her bed to look out the small portion of the window not covered by her air conditioner. Two large black Hummers were coming up the white gravel drive followed closely by a local black and white police cruiser and Ross’s silver Lexus.

  The cars came to a stop and several muscular uniformed men jumped out of the Hummers to huddle with the two police officers who had exited their vehicle. The group then marched toward the reporters as a united front with Ross leading the way.

  Katie hurried to the barn door to listen to the hullabaloo. From the bits and pieces she could take in, the reporters were told that they were trespassing on private property and were ordered to retreat to the public road. Many of the reporters argued something about the First Amendment, but after some time passed, the barn finally grew quiet. When the door suddenly opened, Katie squealed in surprise.

  “Hi, Katie. I’m sorry about all this,” Ross said as he walked in and closed the door behind him.

  “Are they gone?”

  “Not gone, just moved. They can’t come down the drive at all, but they’ll probably hang around the road until they realize there’s no story here.”

  Katie walked over to one of the trunks lining the aisle and flipped open the lid. “What a nightmare. Was it like this all the time for Seth?”

  “Not all the time. But they were there often enough, especially when he did something stupid. Or when there was a big event like his father’s death.” Ross sat down on one of the closed trunks.

  Katie’s heart went out to Seth. “I can’t imagine how awful it would be to have those reporters following you everywhere. He must’ve felt like an animal locked in a zoo.”

  Ross gave her a sympathetic shrug. “Couldn’t have been a lot of fun.”

  “I’m really behind now. I’ve got three to jog and two to train. I need you to go get Seth for me. He always jogs Gold after a race,” Katie said as if the day was nothing but routine. She rifled through the trunk for supplies.

  “Katie, I already told you—”

  She slammed the trunk shut and whirled to face him. “You don’t understand. I need him! I don’t have any help. Sterling Remington wouldn’t want me left high and dry like this.”

  Ross folded his arms over his chest. She knew a lecture was coming, but she sure wasn’t in the mood to hear one. “Don’t even start with me, Ross.”

  “I know you’re frustrated, but you can’t see Seth anymore. I’m sorry. The estate is going to pay for a replacement groom for the rest of the season. You’ll have your pick.”

  Shaking her head, Katie tried to control her temper. None of this was Ross’s fault, but right now he was directly in the line of fire. “That’s not good enough, Ross, and you know it. Seth is my second now. Where am I supposed to find another good second this time of the year?” Her anger grew by the minute. Not only was her heart breaking into little pieces, but her business would suffer greatly once Seth left.

  Desperately trying to rein in her fury, she resisted the urge to throw something at Ross. “Why can’t you understand? Why can’t you do something to stop this?”

  “Seth isn’t coming back. Not unless he wants to give up his inheritance. How much plainer can I make it? Plus there’s Spun Gold and your bonus to think about.”

  “I told you, I don’t want the stupid—”

  “It’s a hundred-thousand dollars, Katie.”

  “A hundred... thousand... Dear God.” She could buy her own farm. She could get a top notch horse. She could... lose Seth forever. “I don’t want it, Ross. I don’t want a damn penny of it.”

  He shook his head and frowned at her. “You don’t mean that.”

  She nodded. “Damn straight, I do. If Seth can give up—”

  “Damn it, Katie. You’ve got to stop it. You know he’s not going to walk away from that much money. I’ll help you find a new second. I’ll help you—”

  Katie angrily interrupted him again. “Oh, I forgot. You’ve got a horse now, so you’re an expert in racing. You can snap your fingers and poof! A new second who also happens to be a fantastic driver will just appear like a genie from a freakin’ bottle.”

  Ross sat in silence and she hoped that he could feel her rage and frustration swirl around him, wishing that it would prod him into taking action. All he finally gave her was a resigned sigh.

  “You’ve got every right to be angry. None of us anticipated how deeply Seth would mix himself up in your life. All he was supposed to do was work for you for awhile.” He shook his head and breathed another sigh. “I’m so sorry, Katie.”

  Katie put her hands on her hips and waited for Ross to say something else, but he just looked at her with his big, brown calf eyes. As if she didn’t have enough problems, now she had to worry about hurting his feelings, too. “Oh, for God’s sake. Just go.” He didn’t move. “Go on. Just go back to Illinois.” She waved him away with her hand. “I’ll get some help on my own. You’ve caused me enough trouble.”

  “I’m sorry, Katie. I really am. I know how you feel about the guy. I do. But he’d be walking away from a fortune.” He shook his head again. “You couldn’t have expected him to give it all up and work with horses the rest of his life.”

  But that was exactly what she had expected. In her heart, Katie always dreamed that there could be a happily ever after where she and Seth would buy a small farm and raise horses and kids. Just like Brian and Sam.

  “Look, I’ve got to go get Seth at the track and take him back to Chicago. I’ll drive back down tomorrow and we’ll go shopping for some help.”

  She snorted a rueful laugh. “Don’t bother. I have friends. I’ll make do. Tell Seth...”

  Katie paused for a moment to ponder her message. She suddenly realized that Seth’s future, his fortune, rested entirely in her hands. She could easily take his money away by claiming he hadn’t worked hard enough to earn his inheritance. Surely, he’d stay with her then. But that would be a lie. Not only did Katie know that, but everyone at the track did as well. She had lost him.

  Had she ever really had him?

  “Katie? What
do you want me to tell Seth?”

  Tell him that I love him with every piece of my heart. Tell him I’ll always love him—’til the day I die. And tell him I’ll always love his baby.

  “Just... just tell him he earned his money,” Katie said as she tried to sniff back the tears forming in her eyes. “And tell him to have a nice life.”

  Ross opened his mouth as if to say something but didn’t follow through. He hopped off the trunk, turned on his heel, and walked toward the barn door. Right before he ducked outside, he called back to Katie. “I’ll be back tomorrow.”

  She didn’t even look at him as she lifted a harness bag and began to organize equipment to take Gold for a jog. Katie promised herself she wouldn’t cry until she was sure Ross was really gone.

  * * * *

  Ross sat in his car, staring at the barn and thinking about how his legal work for the Remington family had set Katie up for this gigantic fall. While he wanted desperately to offer her some type of comfort in this hour of her need, he couldn’t. Katie had to face harsh reality. The sooner, the better. He promised himself that he’d do anything he could make it up to her. But the one thing he couldn’t do was give her the one thing she wanted most.

  Seth Remington.

  Only Seth could make that choice for himself.

  Turning the key to start the Lexus, Ross jammed the car into gear and eased out onto the gravel road to begin his trip to Dan Patch Raceway. He wondered for a moment what Seth would do.

  Was it possible that he would choose to stay with Katie? Or would he want his inheritance? Had the man really changed as much as Katie claimed?

  Ross wasn’t entirely sure which choice he hoped Seth would make. Regardless, Ross promised himself he’d be there when Katie needed him.

  He’d help her pick up the pieces.

  * * * *

  “Samantha! Come here! Quick!”

  When she heard Brian shouting from the living room, Sam dropped the pan she’d been washing back into the sink and sprinted toward her husband, thinking he’d hurt himself. She stopped short when she saw him sitting on the edge of the couch with his injured leg stretched out in front of him. He stared intently at the television.