Ladd Springs

by Dianne Venetta

  Chapter Fifteen

  Delaney breezed out onto the porch, closing the door in a whoosh of movement. Seated off to the side, she acknowledged Nick’s presence. “I’m heading over to Ernie’s,” she announced and bent over to pull on her boots, her knot of hair falling to the side.

  Nick approved of the thigh-length knitted sweater cardigan she wore. Best she didn’t alert anyone to the mark on her shoulder. It would only invite question. And the off-white colored fabric would aid in keeping track of her in the dark.

  “Are you really going to follow me all the way down?” she asked.

  Nick stood, the muscles in his lower back tight against his gun. “I am.”

  She gave a flippant shake to her head and stood. “If you insist.”

  “Now you’re getting the hang of it,” he said, inflecting a carnal tone he couldn’t resist.

  Delaney rolled her eyes to the ceiling and said flatly, “Listen. I didn’t tell Felicity you’d be here, so keep out of sight, will you? I don’t want her getting the wrong idea.”

  Nick cocked a brow. “So long as circumstance doesn’t prevent it.”

  She held him in her gaze for a long moment, but seemed to drop whatever follow-up swirled behind her eyes, and headed for the screen door. Crossing the porch in long-legged strides, she pushed outside and clamored down the steps, hitting the gravelly ground with a thud.

  Nick kept his distance, but matched her pace. No moon to speak of tonight, he had to stay close. Delaney disappeared into the darkness, the thick chirp of crickets enshrouding her passage. In the dense foliage, the flicker of her flashlight as she bounded down the narrow path to Ernie’s, her light moving in fits and starts, allowed him to follow her down with relative ease. She hit the clearing and crossed the small bridge, but he paused at the tree line. Scanning the black woods around them her for signs of light, movement, noise. Edging his way along, he was careful to stay out of the clearing as he tracked Delaney’s progress to the front door. She entered, and he hung back, concealing himself within the tree line. Less than five minutes later, Delaney and Felicity emerged.

  Nick wondered at the black box in Felicity’s arms, but instantly realized it was her instrument. The women hurried down the porch steps until Delaney froze, Felicity nearly careening into the back of her. His antennae shot up, his body tensed. The man named Clem rounded the corner of Ernie’s cabin. What the hell was he doing here?

  Felicity hung back as Delaney’s posture turned ramrod straight. In the yellow wash of light emanating from Ernie’s porch lamp, a spray of insects swarmed above them as the confrontation unfolded before him. Nick couldn’t decipher a word of the angry whispers, but when Felicity’s body jumped, he moved toward them. Delaney flagged a protective arm over her child and shoved a finger in Clem’s face.

  Anger fanned out in Nick’s chest. What are you doing, Delaney?

  The only reason Nick wasn’t standing between Clem and Delaney at the moment was Felicity. More specifically, her mother’s request he remain anonymous.

  Suddenly it was Clem’s turn to play statue. Foreboding mingled in Nick’s gut. Nick reached for his gun. Didn’t the woman understand she was playing with fire?

  Clem stomped off. Nick relaxed his grip on the cold metal handle. As Delaney stormed off in the direction of her cabin with Felicity trailing behind, Nick backed up, inserting himself into the landscape. To her credit, Delaney didn’t look right or left as she passed him by. Instead, she made a bee line straight up the trail.

  Good girl. Nick glanced back at Ernie’s cabin before whispering his goodbye. See you soon. First, I have a spot of unfinished business to take care of.

  You’re gonna be sorry.

  Clem’s words reverberated in Delaney’s skull. Seated alone on the porch, folded into her rocker, she pulled the cable sweater more tightly around her body. Where was Nick? He said he was going to be here tonight. Had he changed his mind, leaving her mind to run through the scene again and again? Telling Clem that he was a loser getting cheated by his own men had not been smart, but she couldn’t help herself. He, of course, reacted with threats. But he couldn’t seriously think he could have her killed, could he?

  Her thoughts swerved back to the man with the gun in the forest. His intent seemed clear. The shots that whizzed by her head were real. Did Clem really believe removing her would solve his problem? Apprehension sank into her bones.

  It would, wouldn’t it?

  With every noise, Delaney jumped. The light wind sounded eerie as it fluttered through the trees. The katydids drummed in a steady racket, their rhythmic song mind-numbing and ominously sound-neutralizing. They were so loud, the creek below was nearly drowned out of existence. At this rate, she wouldn’t be able to hear Clem coming!

  Her gaze drifted toward the porch door. Not a sign of Nick. And if the unseasonably cool temperature continued to fall, she’d be forced indoors, the soft knit insufficient to keep her comfortably seated outside. But she had to remain out here. She wanted to talk to Nick.

  Rubbing the soft threads of material on her arms, she squeezed them close to her body. She needed to talk to him. Tonight she had made an error with Clem and she could only hope it wasn’t a fatal one.

  A sound cracked in the dark. Delaney whipped her head toward the doorway and into shaft of light outside. Her pulse hammered. It sounded like someone threw a rock. What if they threw a rock at her floodlight? She’d be left in complete darkness. She craned her head to peer down the trail but could see nothing, nothing but the white-gray rocks of the trail disappearing into the black canopy of forest. She saw no one, nothing out of the ordinary. An owl’s screech punctuated the night.

  Normally she loved sitting outside alone, relaxing into the calm of night. But tonight was no ordinary night. Tonight held uncertainty. She fingered the pistol concealed in her sweat pants pocket, the hard lines against her thigh reassuring. Where was Nick? He should be here by now. Was he waiting for Felicity’s light to go out? Delaney drove her hands under her arms and pressed hard against her rib cage. Was he watching her?

  It was eleven o’clock. Once again, Delaney involuntarily searched the trail, willing Nick’s figure to appear, headed up toward her cabin as her protector. But he was nowhere to be seen.

  Pulling her gaze back inside the screened confines, she relaxed into a soft focus on the porch floor, grown uneven from weather and age, the splinters numerous and perilous to the naked foot. She and Felicity kept the floor swept clean, but even so, they both wore thick socks to protect their skin. Tonight the socks also served to keep Delaney’s toes warm.

  She inhaled deep and full, then blew the air free in an anxious stream. Yet as her temper cooled, the air chilled and her heart filled with regret. She had allowed her tongue too much freedom and now it might cost her.

  But what was she supposed to do? Clem’s threat against Felicity could not go unanswered. Just hearing her daughter’s name on his lips made Delaney cringe. But the mere thought that he might follow through was unthinkable. Little old Felicity might just have an unfortunate accident. Delaney shivered. If Clem laid the first hand on Felicity, Delaney would kill him.

  “Hey.”

  Delaney jumped. At the sight of Nick, she balled the sweater into fists and burrowed into her seat cushion. “I didn’t hear you come up.”

  “I’m a quiet guy,” he said and let himself in. “The lights went off upstairs. Coast clear?”

  “Yes,” she replied, a shred of nerves still flapping within. “How long have you been out there?”

  “Long enough to know you’re the only one here.”

  She exhaled a sigh of relief. Nick was here.

  He took his seat in the opposite chair, the transition silent as the night. “Quiet man” was an understatement. Three feet away from her, yet the rocker didn’t make a peep as he lowered into it. No wonder she hadn’t seen him. He was wearing a black button down and dark blue jeans. Add his dark hair and stealthy movements and the man blended seamlessly i
nto the night.

  “Aren’t you cold?” she asked.

  “Not a bit. Feels good.” He smiled, his eyes penetrating the darkness. “Nothing like crisp mountain air to get the juices flowing.”

  Montana air. Home of the Rocky Mountains and one Nick Harris. She hadn’t noticed earlier, but the black of his shirt enhanced his masculine features, deepened the tan of his skin, the depth of lines around his eyes, mere shadows beneath his heavy brow. She could feel him reading her.

  “How’s the shoulder?” he asked.

  “Good,” she said. “Tender to touch, but tolerable.”

  “What happened down there with Clem?”

  Delaney spewed out her breath. So he had witnessed the incident. “I lost my temper.”

  “I saw that. Any particular reason?”

  Delaney glanced away. How could she reveal what transpired without divulging her discovery? How could she let him know the extent of her concern without laying it all on the line, revealing everything?

  “He’s connected to those men, you know.”

  She turned and snaked her gaze around him. Oh, she knew. All too well.

  “Wanna talk about it?”

  The tenderness in his voice startled her. “Talk about it?”

  Nick’s eyes dashed to her shoulder. “You’ve had a rough couple of days. It could get worse.” He paused, then added ever so gently, “I can help you.”

  She held onto the tender note in his voice, the fluid sway of his gaze. “You can’t.”

  “I can.”

  You can’t, she cried silently. Not without taking advantage of the situation. Not without taking the property from me, from Felicity. Once Nick learned there was gold on the property, he’d want the land all the more. Anyone would. Delaney shook her head and reverted her gaze back to the floor, taking refuge in the wood plank curving at the porch’s edge.

  “I followed Clem tonight.” Like a fish on the line, Delaney jerked her face to him. “He met with those men.”

  “He did?”

  “Shared some heated words with them, too.”

  Angst splintered her chest. “Did you hear what they said?”

  “Some of it. I heard enough to know he’s coming back.”

  “Tonight?”

  Nick shrugged.

  Delaney’s heart fired with fear. He leaned forward and set a hand to her chair. She eyed the move with disquiet. The faint rise of his cologne caused her mind to sputter. Drawn into his black eyes, eyes that entrapped her, her insides trembled.

  “You need to trust me.”

  She wanted to. It would make things easier. With his help, she could fight Clem and his cohorts and keep Felicity out of danger. Suddenly, Delaney wanted to trust him very much. But trusting him could jeopardize everything. And where did she start?

  When she said nothing, Nick withdrew his hand.

  “It’s complicated,” she said.

  “What’s complicated?”

  “Clem, those men...” She dodged his questioning gaze. “Tonight.”

  “What happened down there, Delaney?”

  She glanced askance and said, “Clem made threatening remarks about Felicity and I reacted.” Nick remained mute, but Delaney could sense him harden. She turned to him. “Clem is trying to steal this property from Felicity and me, and I won’t let him.”

  “That much, I gather.”

  “It rightfully belongs to us and I won’t let him and his hoodlum friends con Ernie into giving it to them. I won’t.”

  Nick eased back into his chair. He cast an appreciative glance around the porch, down the trail, and calmly proposed, “Why don’t we start from the beginning?”

  Delaney stared at him. Did she have a choice? She rubbed the chill from her arms and blew out her tension in one long, ragged breath.

  Being alone on the porch with Nick held mixed emotion for her. Peaceful, serene—this was where she came to think, to “be.” This was where she took her private time, her release from the stress of life. Last night had begun awkwardly, but grew easy. Nick was easy to talk to, easy to have around. She stole a glance at him, his expectant expression patient, knowing. He was easy on the eyes, too. Having him by her side felt cozy, like they were old friends. In fact, he was beginning to feel like someone she wanted to see more of, to lean on, to need.

  But Nick was not a man to mess with lightly, that much she had seen. He worked hard to get what he wanted, and when trouble arose, he wasted no time in managing it. The man responded first, asked questions second. And he was asking them now.

  Night pushed in around them, the katydids rampant in their song, their tempo urgent, pressing. Delaney felt compelled to talk, to share. Truth was, she wanted to talk. And she wanted to talk with him. Stealing a peek at Nick, a squiggle of nerves raced through her breast. “It happened just before my mother died,” she began quietly. “Ernie and Ashley were with her, here.” She tipped her head back toward the cabin. “They knew it was time and both wanted to be with her.” There was no love lost between Ernie and Ashley, no emotional connection stemming from their commitment to Susannah. Only the fact that they alone shared her confidence. “My mother asked Ernie to will her share of the property to me and Felicity. He agreed, even wrote it down on a piece of paper.” Delaney appealed to the business man in Nick as she added, “Ashley was witness to the event. She’ll testify in a court of law.”

  “What happened to the document?”

  “Ernie burned it.”

  Hope drained from his expression. “I see.”

  Delaney twisted the hem of her sweater in her hands. She refused to accept defeat. Not from Nick and not from Ernie. “My lawyer says an eyewitness to a deathbed promise will help in court.”

  “It can.” Nick held her in his gaze, steady, confident. He didn’t waver. He simply listened.

  “It has to.” Talking sense into the old man certainly wasn’t working. “But Clem has been hanging around over the last months, like a shark that senses blood in the water. He’s been working around Ernie’s house, mowing the fields, trying to get into my uncle’s good graces. He thinks Ernie will leave him something when he dies.”

  Nick angled away from her as he asked, “And apparently he thinks that time is coming?”

  “Ernie’s health isn’t good. Hasn’t been for years.”

  “Yet he’s still kicking and screaming.”

  A smile pulled at her mouth. “You know the man well.”

  “Seems to me he operates on one channel and one channel only.”

  “He wasn’t always this way. I mean, don’t get me wrong, he’s never been sugar and honey, but when my mom was alive, he was tolerable.”

  “She was his rock,” Nick offered.

  “My mother loved him. She took care of both Ernie and Albert when she was alive, but it was Ernie who held her affection. He was the oldest of the three and I think she looked up to him.”

  “Doesn’t appear there’s a whole lot to Albert.”

  Pity stirred in Delaney’s heart. “There isn’t. And what there is, isn’t pretty. He has a couple of sons, but both are worthless. Albert never paid them any attention and they got into trouble.”

  “What about Ernie’s son?” he asked, as though logging the information away.

  “Jeremiah?” Delaney was surprised that Nick knew about him. “He and Ernie don’t get along. He left town almost twenty years ago and hasn’t been heard from since.”

  “Any chance the son might return to contest a will?”

  “Not hardly. No one around here would bother to tell him. They know he couldn’t care less if his father died.”

  “Until it comes to money,” Nick said.

  Struck by the comment, Delaney turned it over in her mind. “Would it matter if Ernie signed it over as a trust for Felicity before he died?”

  “Anything can matter when it comes to the legal system.” Nick picked at the denim on his knee and outstretched his leg. “One lawyer says it’s settled, another disagrees, and
the next thing you know, you have a court battle on your hands.”

  “You sound as though you’re talking from experience.”

  He nodded. “Too much experience.”

  “Anyway,” Delaney continued, finding the disclosure of information surprisingly freeing. “I’ve been trying to convince Ernie to stand by his promise so that it doesn’t get to the courts, but he’s resisting. Now Clem has reason to want this property for himself and will stop at nothing, pitting my uncle against Felicity and me.”

  “I doubt very much anyone could pit the old man against Felicity.”

  “True.” Her angst slackened. “But she’s tied to me and he detests me.”

  “Why?” Nick asked. “What have you ever done to him?”

  She bit off a short laugh. “Where do I start?” At his confusion, Delaney said, “Well, let’s see... I married his arch enemy’s son, which lumps me into the enemy camp. I called him on his role in allowing my mother to die, which he can’t face. I moved back into her cabin against his wishes—because Ashley forced his hand after my mother died. Guess she felt entitled, as she became a mother of sorts to me after my mom passed. Then of course there’s Felicity. She resembles my mother, which aggravates him to no end.”

  Nick held up a hand. “I think I get the picture.”

  Really? Because she was on a roll and it felt good. It felt really good to get a decade of pain and suffering off her chest, even if it was with a stranger. A handsome stranger.

  A stranger who stood to gain from her misery, she reminded herself shortly.

  “But that doesn’t explain the men with the guns or how Clem knows them,” he said. “What do they have to do with the property and Ernie?”

  She drew the sweater snug. “I told you.” She glanced away. “They want the property for themselves.

  “They seem pretty intent on a place they don’t appear to be able to afford. Why take on the burden?”

  “Greed.”

  “Greed?”

  She nodded.

  Leaning back into his rocker, Nick extended his second leg and crossed them at the ankles. Interlacing his fingers, he rested them low on his abdomen. “I guess I’ll have to take you at your word.”

  Relieved that Nick had ceased his inquisition, Delaney eased back in her rocker. She took pleasure in the intimate conversation between man and woman. With Nick by her side, the black night had lost its power to scare. She no longer jumped at every little sound. With his imposing presence by her side, she felt safe, taken care of. It had been a long time since she felt this way. She sighed. Too long.

  “Can I ask you something?”

  She nodded, relishing the quiet strength in his voice. Nick was solid, formidable. An aspect to him she found particularly pleasing.

  “Do you mind me asking why you left your husband?”

  The memory sliced her heart in two. Ten years and more than a few nasty words later, Jack Foster still had the power to hurt. For better or worse, he remained a part of her life and would always be so. They shared a daughter. “My husband was abusive, Nick.” Shadows of anger entered his eyes. “Mentally, emotionally and one day physically.” She tightened her hands around the sweater ends. “He hit me and I moved out.”

  “You made the right decision.”

  The validation pulled at her. Delaney believed Nick could kill a man with his bare hands, but she doubted he would ever strike a woman. Although she had witnessed sparks of anger in him, Delany sensed his had more to do with self-defense than the intention to harm. “Most people said I should have stayed and tried to work it out, for Felicity’s sake.”

  Nick shook his head. “A man willing to hit a woman once will usually hit her again.”

  She smiled. It was heartening to meet a man as intolerant as she on the subject. “That’s what I said.”

  But the pleasurable feelings faded. While it sounded simple, leaving Jack was one of the hardest things she had ever done. It hurt. More emotionally than physically. To think the man she loved cared so little about her, about their child, had been heart-wrenching for her to accept. Jack was her first love, her only love. She had believed him a man of honor. He came from a good family. He performed well in school, in athletics. And he courted her with more romance than anyone she knew at the time. No one enjoyed the level of attention Jack showered on her. The first years of their marriage had been good. Until the drinking began. That’s when life grew sour.

  “He’s an alcoholic,” Delaney stated. “It was the drinking that made him lose control.” She leveled her gaze with Nick’s, relishing the tenderness she found in his dark eyes. “But he refused to give it up.”

  “He made his choice.”

  “He did.”

  “Why haven’t you remarried?” Nick smiled, a smile that turned boyish. “I mean, it’s been a long time since your split with your ex.”

  Delaney rolled her head side-to-side as she pondered the question. Because she had never met a man she deemed worthy? Never met a man she fully trusted? “Oh, I don’t know.” She settled her gaze on Nick and posed, “Will the proverbial ‘haven’t found the right one, yet’ work?”

  “If it’s the truth, sure.”

  “Pretty slim pickings around these parts, or haven’t you noticed?”

  “I noticed you.”

  New emotions wound around her belly, her heart. “How about you? Ever been married, Mr. Harris?”

  “Never been interested in settling down.”

  “Never?”

  “Never.”

  “Doesn’t that make for a lonely existence?”

  He laughed softly. “I didn’t say I spent my time alone.”

  “Oh—” Embarrassment flushed her cheeks with warmth.

  “But like you, I’ve never met the right one.” He grinned. “But Tennessee may change that.”

  “Tennessee?”

  “Tennessee. You, in particular.” Nick reached his hand over and sought hers. Delaney tried to appear unaffected by his touch, but the gesture felt like a zip-line tearing through her nervous system. “I like you, Delaney.”

  “You do?” she asked, and immediately felt foolish for asking, foolish for delighting in the feel of his hand around hers. It was big, strong and covered hers completely.

  “I do. I like your combination of female and fortitude.”

  She suppressed a swell of satisfaction. She’d always prided herself on being independent. It was nice when a man noticed.

  “I’ve never met a woman who’s both tough and tender, silver and steel. I’ve run across a host of women who are hard as steel, pretty as silver, tough as nails, tender as a baby’s breath, but never all rolled up into one. You’re quite a find, Ms. Wilkins.”

  “Delaney,” she said reflexively.

  “Delaney,” he repeated softly, his thumb caressing her hand. “You’re coming to mean something to me.”

  Shivers of desire heated her, woke the woman inside her, as she hung on the edge of his sultry gaze. “I am?”

  He nodded. “Is that okay?”

  Delaney nodded before the first thought could enter her mind. At the moment, she could only feel.

  Nick pulled his legs in, leaned over and brushed the hair from her brow, gazing at her cheek, her neck. “And I’ll be honest. I’m worried about these men after you.”

  She wasn’t. She wasn’t worried about anything at the moment—except that he might make a move. A move she would have to answer.

  “Clem is coming back tomorrow to check for himself about something.”

  Delaney gulped, her building desire stalled. “He is?”

  “His exact words were, ‘you’d better be right.’” Nick tipped her chin to face him more fully, the presumptive touch shocking to her skin. “Any possible idea what he could be referring to?”

  She shook her head.

  Nick nodded and pursed his lips. He allowed his hand to fall away, pulling it back to his armrest. Reclining in his seat, he tapped the chair. “Guess I’ll have
to figure this one out on my own.”