Leaving Liberty, a Western Romance (Book 5) (Texas Hearts)

by Lisa Mondello

“It’s not going to change the outcome,” she said quietly. “Maybe today you think it won’t matter. But one day it will. One day you’ll be really thinking of more than just lust and desire. You’ll be thinking seriously about that future you always envisioned for yourself. You’ll see your brothers and what they have. You’re going to want that too and there is a very real possibility that I won’t be able to give it to you. I’m it.”

  “This isn’t just lust and desire, Libby. This kind of thing between us doesn’t just happen every day. At least not to me. I’ve never felt this way about a woman before.” Her eyes met his and their gazes locked. “You know it’s true. Yes, I wanted you last night. But not for some quick fling.”

  “You never planned on staying here, Jackson. So what does it make this?”

  Anger coiled inside of him. Did Libby really think that?

  “I want you to leave, Jackson. My focus needs to be on Cole right now. If it were any one of your brothers you’d do the same.”

  He knew that was true. He’d move heaven and earth for his kin.

  She got up from the table and said quietly, “Just go. Can you please just do that for me?”

  Jackson had never felt emptier than he did when Libby walked down the hall to the office, closed the door, and shut him out of her life.

  #

  Chapter Twelve

  Jackson cleared the desk he’d been using down at the police station. There wasn’t much to clear. Most of the files he had he’d kept at the hotel. There was only one thing left he needed to do before he left town.

  He said his goodbyes to Dane and the sheriff, and then carried his belongings out to his truck. He was surprised to see Cole standing by his truck. He dropped the box he’d been carrying into the bed of the truck.

  “You’re really leaving her?”

  “Just in time for you to come back.”

  Cole looked at him hard. “I’m not the bastard you seem to think I am. I made a promise to her father that I’d look after her. I intend to do that for as long as she needs me. What’s your excuse?”

  It was exactly as Libby said. Jackson was jealous of Cole. That jealousy threatened to choke him. Not because he thought Libby was in love with him. He knew better now. But he did have her love. She had a deep affection for Cole, even though he wasn’t her kin. They had a history and shared a love of the Bucking Hills Ranch. She wanted Cole to come back. And she’d asked Jackson to leave. “A man’s word is everything,” Jackson said, taking his hat off his head and tossing it into the cab of the truck. “That’s it? You’re just going to leave her like that?” Jackson stopped with his hand on the door. “Libby doesn’t want me here. She made that perfectly clear. Now that I’ve filed my report on her father’s death, there’s no reason for me stay.” Cole swore under his breath. “She’s not good enough for you Ranger? Is that it? Libby is not damaged goods.” Anger surged through Jackson, making him jump up from the driver’s seat to face Cole head on. Cole didn’t back away. “And I never treated her that way. She asked me to leave. She doesn’t want me here.” Cole glared at him. “If that’s all it takes for you to give up on Libby then you don’t deserve her.” Jackson wasn’t so sure he disagreed.

  * * *

  Libby dropped into the tub and let the hot water seep into her bones. She remembered her mother doing this years ago, before she’d gotten sick. And even after when the pain had become harder to take. She was getting stronger every day. Today was the last day that Dane’s nephews would be working on the ranch. They’d been a Godsend, and if all went well at Cole’s INS hearing, he’d be coming home soon.

  As much as having Cole back home was a blessing, Libby couldn’t help but think about Jackson. He’d been there when Cole had left. He’d been a big help, much as she’d hated to admit it in the beginning. Despite his work as a Texas Ranger, he was a ranch working man and she could tell he had a deep love of the land in him.

  It was just one more thing they had in common. And she’d told him to leave. She hadn’t been fair to him. Libby knew that. He’d been nothing but wonderful to her. But she couldn’t help that the limitations she had on her life would rob him of the life he’d wanted for himself. She loved him and she was pretty sure he loved her too. He deserved more than she could give him. She sighed as she sank deeper into the hot water. Soaping a face cloth until it was sudsy and then ran the soapy facecloth over her body, letting it linger over her breast. She closed her eyes imagined it was Jackson’s hand moving over her skin again, awakening senses she’d long forgotten even existed. He’d wanted to make love to her. They would have been wonderful together.

  A noise downstairs startled her until she heard the familiar slam of the screen door. Her heart lifted a notch.

  Cole was home.

  * * *

  The phone continued to ring, piercing the quiet of the motel room. Moving too quickly to finish the job he’d started, Jackson nicked his chin shaving, causing his skin to bleed. He bit back a curse, dropped the razor into the sink, and quickly went to phone.

  His mood wasn’t any better when he picked up the phone. “Yeah?”

  “It’s me.” His brother’s voice took him off guard for a moment. He’d hoped it was Libby. Disappointment that it wasn’t, had his mood sinking further.

  “Cody.”

  “You don’t sound so good. Are you okay?”

  “Why wouldn’t I be okay?”

  “When you didn’t answer your cell, I got worried. I was just checking to make sure you were still alive.”

  He used his finger to dab at the trail of blood dripping on his chin. “I’m fine. The battery died on the cell. And I just cut myself shaving when you called.”

  Cody laughed, irritating him again. “Haven’t quite mastered that yet?”

  “At least I have facial hair.”

  “Hey, what’s with the bad mood? I thought you were ready to be done with Liberty. We haven’t seen you in a while.”

  Done with the town or the woman? Jackson wasn’t done with either.

  “I hear congratulations are in order. How’s Lyssa?”

  Jackson could hear his brother’s happiness through the phone. “She’s not throwing up at the moment so that’s a good thing.”

  “I’m happy for you.” And he was. But it had Jackson thinking about what Libby had said. Yeah, he wanted a family. He’d grown up in a house full of activity. But didn’t a family start with two people? She thought she was holding him back. But Jackson knew she was scared.

  “So what’s her name?”

  “Who?”

  Cody laughed. It actually felt good to hear his brother laughing for a change. The success of Cody’s eye surgery that gave him his eyesight back after months of being blind was only part of his brother’s happiness these days. His brother had fallen in love, something he never thought would happen to Cody in a million years due to his normally ornery disposition and his dedication to training cutting horses. A twinge of envy stabbed him.

  “Come on. I know it’s not the air in Liberty, Texas that had you staying so long. So what’s her name?”

  “Liberty,” he finally admitted.

  “Fine. Don’t tell me,” Cody said, frustrated with him.

  “I’m telling you. Her name is Liberty. She’s named after the town. People who know her call her Libby.”

  “What do you call her?”

  That one was a tough call. Libby was more than just a reason he’d been here in Liberty all these weeks. She was something…special. She was like a drug and his need to be with her was something he couldn’t kick. He loved her.

  “Jack? So when do we meet her?”

  If Libby had her way, the answer would be never. She didn’t want him in her life.

  “Let me get back to you on that.”

  * * *

  Leaving Liberty, Texas was going to be a hard task. For a broken town that Jackson hadn’t even wanted to drive his pickup through, let alone stay for six weeks to investigate a murder, it had dug unde
r his skin more than any other place he’d lived.

  Scratch that, he thought as he drove down Main Street toward Bucking Hills Ranch. It wasn’t Liberty, Texas that would be hard to leave. It was Liberty Calvert and her sass and wild socks that he was going to have a hard time shaking out of his system.

  He turned his pickup onto the dusty driveway and drove under the sign with the initials B H R made out of logs. With every roll of the tires his stomach burned. Last night had been the pits after hearing the happiness in his brother’s voice and then replaying Libby’s words telling him to leave over in his mind. Today wasn’t likely to be any better. But he wasn’t going to leave Liberty Calvert until he at least gave it one more shot to win her back.

  * * *

  Libby got down on her hands and knees and planted the tiny vegetable seedlings she’d started in the small greenhouse out back. She loved her little garden and looked forward to when these little seedlings would grow big and strong. She only hoped she’d get them all planted before the rain came. The sky was getting darker by the moment.

  The sound of a truck coming into the driveway had her getting to her feet. She wiped her hands on the back of her jeans as she focused on Jackson’s truck coming toward her. What the hell was he doing here? Hadn’t they said their goodbyes—such as they were—the night before?

  Cole was out counting the cattle in the high pasture to see if any were missing. She didn’t really want an altercation between the two of them today. Seeing Jackson alone was hard enough.

  He parked the truck and then got out, slowly walking toward her.

  “I thought you’d be long gone by now,” she said.

  “Then you don’t know me very well at all.”

  “Cole’s back home.”

  His mouth twisted just a little to show his irritation. “I know.”

  “Why did you come back?”

  “I…”

  Jackson started to answer, but the air had changed around them. He glanced up at the sky and saw the clouds had a greenish hue to them.

  “What’s wrong?” Libby asked, lifting her head to look in the direction Jackson was looking.

  “The clouds look strange.” Orange had blended in with the green hue and black of the clouds. The wind was moving the clouds fast and the air pressure had suddenly dropped.

  He listened, but heard no siren. They were just far enough outside of town that they wouldn’t be able to hear a tornado siren at the ranch.

  “Where is your storm cellar?”

  “Behind the house. Why?”

  “Those aren’t just storm clouds. Could be a tornado.”

  “But that’s not possible,” she said. “We’re too far south for a tornado.”

  “Don’t bet on it. We’d better get to cover just to be safe.”

  Libby looked around the ranch and saw two of her horses that had been grazing in the lower pasture were now running. “I need to get the animals inside.”

  He looked over his shoulder at the sky in the distance as he moved toward the barn. “We don’t have time.”

  “What? We can’t leave them to the elements.”

  “They’re safer out there than they would be in the barn. If it really is a tornado they have a better chance out in the open where they can outrun the storm than if they’re trapped in a paddock or in the barn. Leave them.”

  Terror filled her. “But Spirit and Skittish are still in the barn. We need to get them out of there.”

  Libby took off on a sprint toward the barn. In just those few seconds the sky had changed dramatically. The air pressure had dropped and the sound of objects hitting something grew louder.

  “Hail! Libby, we don’t have time!” he called out to her.

  “I’m not leaving the horses in the barn to die. I have to give them a chance!” Libby ran inside the barn and was out of sight.

  Jackson ran into the barn and found Libby struggling with the gate to Skittish’s stall.

  “Help me, please! Get Spirit out. I have to calm Skittish.”

  They each went to their task. The animals were already spooked, making them jumpy inside the confines of the stall. As experienced as Libby was with animals, Skittish was giving her a hard time, rearing up and then backing against the wall.

  “Watch out. He might run right over you to get out.”

  “I know what I’m doing!”

  She opened the gate to the stall and took a wide step back against the gate opposite Skittish’s stall. Jackson did the same a few stalls down. Spirit wasted no time at all freeing herself from confines of the barn, and took off on a run into the pasture.

  “Come on, Skittish,” Libby urged. “Don’t be scared. Go!” She smacked the horse on the back to get him to move, but Skittish’s eyes rolled in his head, clearly terrified by what was happening outside.

  Jackson ran to the entrance to the barn and looked at the sky. “Libby, we have to go. Leave him.”

  “I can’t just leave him.”

  “It’s you or the horse. We need to get to the storm shelter.”

  Not waiting for her any longer, Jackson grabbed her by both arms and shook her lightly, just enough to startle her. “Let’s go!” Then he dragged her out the door of the barn. Holding her by the hand, they ran through the field to the back of the house. A lawn chair nearly hit them as the wind lifted it and launched it across the yard.

  His heart hammered in his chest. Feeling his body react to the fierce wind was hard enough. But thoughts of Libby’s hand escaping his as they ran consumed him. She was so tiny. The wind could easily claim her.

  The door to the storm shelter was in view. But the roar of the tornado was at their back. Hail started pelting them just as they reached the door to the storm cellar. Jackson quickly yanked the door open. The wind lifting it hard, causing it to crash against the foundation. Then it lifted back up, smashing against his arm.

  Jackson let out a guttural grunt as he pulled Libby to the door and pushed her inside. Libby quickly raced down the dark steps as he turned to pulled the door closed. As Jackson closed the latch on the door, a light below him flicked on.

  Libby stood at the bottom of the steep stairway, peering up at him. The light above her drowned out the color of her face and made her fear stark.

  “Cole’s out there, Jackson.”

  #

  Chapter Thirteen

  “I know. But there’s nothing we can do about that right now,” he said as he made his way down to her, trying to catch his breath. “Are you hurt?”

  She shook her head. “Listen to that. It must be right over us by now. All the cattle are out in the upper pasture. Do you think they can outrun it?” Something crashed on top of the door of the shelter. Libby covered her ears and crouched down. But Jackson pulled her hands away and crushed her against his chest, as if holding her close like this would somehow make her safer.

  “We won’t know for sure until this is over. But livestock have a sense about storms, many times knowing they’re coming before humans do. As long as there is room for them to escape, they’ll make a run for it.”

  “You’re right. I know you’re right. But Skittish…”

  “He got out. I saw him running through the field before I closed the door. Instinct takes over for animals.”

  “Then he has a chance. But Cole…”

  Jackson relived the last few moments of them outside in his mind. The tornado was still a distance away, but the wind and the vacuum it had created was nothing he’d ever felt before. He’d been to tornado ravished areas before. But it had always been after the storm had ripped through and left the crumbled debris in its wake.

  In those last moments, Jackson had known a fear he’d never felt before. The memory of Libby being pulled by the wind against the hold of his hand still felt as real as if it were happening now.

  She lifted her hand from his shoulder and looked horrified when she saw the red staining her skin.

  “You’re hurt!”

  “The door came crashing
back up with the wind.” He glanced down at his upper arm and saw that his shirt was covered in blood. “I felt the door, but I didn’t realize it was this bad.”

  “It’s the adrenaline rush. You will feel this later. You may need stitches. Sit down.”

  “I’m fine.”

  “Sit down before you pass out. This is a lot of blood.”

  She looked around the tight quarters and fixed her eyes on a small box beneath the stairs. With a quick yank, she lifted the lid off and exposed supplies.

  “My father told me there was a first aid kit in here.”

  “It’s not bad.”

  “Let me be the judge of that.”

  A crash above them had Libby crouching down quickly as they both looked up.

  Her eyes filled with tears, but she quickly went back to the task of rummaging through the supply box until she pulled out a first aid kit.

  She opened the box and spilled the contents on the seat next to Jackson. She selected a roll of gauze and quickly ripped open the packaging.

  “You said you were leaving,” she said quietly as she rolled the gauze over the slice in his arm.

  “No, I didn’t. You told me to leave. I never said I was going to do it.”

  She shook her head. “Why are you making this so hard? I can’t give you the life you want.”

  “You couldn’t be more wrong about that, Libby. If I left Liberty now I’d be battered and bruised inside just as bad as what that tornado is doing to the ground outside. That is unless you were leaving here with me.”

  “But your job here is done.”

  “Lord, woman, are you really so stupid that you think my job is the only reason I’m still here in Liberty?”

  She straightened her back. “I am not stupid.”

  “No, you’re not. So why are you asking me why I’m still here when you damn well know the reason is because I love you.”

  * * *

  Tears filled Libby’s eyes. She hated girly reactions and there she was having one right in front of Jackson. She was melting like a damned fool, turning into a puddle at his feet.