High Desert Hideaway. Jenna Night
kind of lawman are you?” she demanded. “Don’t you know it’s your job to make me feel safe?” She turned to glare at him. In the amber glow from the dashboard she saw the outline of his strong profile, despite the beard. The warm light softened the lines that time and Arizona sunlight had etched around his eyes and he didn’t look nearly as harsh as he had in the Starlight Mart.
“Are you absolutely certain you never saw either of those two thugs before? Hanging around work or maybe somewhere else?”
Lily looked out the window. How many times would he ask her that? Didn’t he believe her?
“You heard me tell my story to the authorities. Twice.” Lily turned toward him and tucked the hair that had fallen loose from her ponytail back behind her ear. He might be trying to help her, but she was tired of being interrogated. She hadn’t done anything wrong. “Why do you keep asking me?”
“Sometimes it takes people a while to remember things.” His tone was neutral, almost to the point of sounding cold. He’d started to feel like a friend as the evening wore on, but now he was slipping back into cop mode and she was stung by the realization he was still suspicious of her.
“How could you possibly think I’ve got some kind of connection with those two idiots?”
He glanced over at her. “People get dragged into situations and do things they didn’t mean to. Or they agree to do something just once, because they’re desperate, and before they know it they’re in over their head.”
“Yeah, well, some people are minding their own business when the next thing they know some jerk is trying to kill them.” If he kept up these calm insinuations she just might jump out of the truck and walk the rest of the way to the ranch.
He loosened his grip on the steering wheel and leaned back a little. “If you’re in some kind of trouble, I want you to know you can tell me. I’ll help you.”
“Oh, please. If you really believe I’m part of some criminal enterprise, why are you taking me to your aunt and uncle’s ranch?”
He hesitated a few seconds before answering. “They’re used to people with issues.”
People with issues? Okay, that was it. She turned so she was rigidly facing forward. “Take me back to town. I can find someplace safe to stay on my own.”
“Oh, lighten up. Everybody’s got issues.” He glanced over at her, this time with a slight smile that made her want to punch him. But he looked rock-solid and she’d probably just hurt her fist. “I’ve made some bad decisions in my life,” he added, sounding a little more serious. “Needed help getting straightened out.”
“Well, I don’t have time to make any bad decisions. I work three jobs and sleep, and that’s about it.”
“Sounds exhausting. How long have you been doing that?”
Was he asking as a friend, or was he still in cop mode and fishing for information he could pass along to Sheriff Wolfsinger? Oh, she might as well tell him everything. It would come out sooner or later.
The truck hit a rut and bounced, and the springs squeaked.
After the truck settled, Lily took a deep breath. “I went to college in Flagstaff.” She hesitated, trying to think of the moment when her life started to unravel.
“What did you get your degree in?” he prompted.
“I didn’t finish my degree.”
“What were you majoring in?”
“Accounting.”
“So you like working with numbers?”
“No. But I thought the degree would help me earn a good living.”
“That kind of thinking hardly ever works out.”
“Yeah...well.” It was tempting to let him think bad grades were the only issue. It was less humiliating than the truth.
“I didn’t date much in high school or after,” she said flatly. “I was too busy.” And not burdened with an abundance of social skills. She turned her attention to the seat belt stretched across her shoulder and picked at a frayed thread. “I met someone in college. Kevin.”
It was so easy now to see how stupid she’d been. Why hadn’t she seen it then?
“We dated. We got engaged. My mind was on him instead of my studies. Then my thoughts were focused on our wedding, where we’d live, how I wanted to decorate our first home.” She shook her head. “Stupid, stupid stuff.” It was a dream come true. And at the end, as with a dream, there was nothing of substance left.
She was grateful Nate didn’t say anything.
“I started working to earn money to help pay for everything. My grades suffered. I quit college. I told myself I’d go back after I got married and my life settled down. A few weeks later Kevin broke up with me. He’d found someone else.”
She’d been heartbroken and bitterly disappointed in herself. Eventually she realized she’d been trying to create an oasis of certainty in her life when she got engaged to Kevin. Being away from home was scary. Life was scary. But a plan like that could never work.
“The guy was an idiot,” Nate said.
Lily smiled. It was the perfect guy-friend thing to say. Not a suspicious-cop comment.
“I had to move back in with my mom in Copper Mesa. I’ve been working three part-time jobs. Torrent Trucking seemed like my best chance to move upward, maybe get on full-time. I thought if I got there a little early, stayed a little late and did a little extra work, my efforts might pay off.”
And look where that had gotten her. Nearly killed. Twice.
Nate turned onto a narrow, unpaved road. The tires rumbled as the truck crossed a cattle guard. Shortly after that, he turned again. They passed by two sandstone pillars inset with bronze plaques identifying this as the Blue Spruce Ranch, and headed up a winding drive to the main house.
“So, am I still a suspect or do you finally believe my story?”
He glanced at her and then turned back to face the road. “I believe you.”
“Good.”
Lily had never seen the Blue Spruce Ranch in person, but she’d seen plenty of pictures. Ellen Stuart had inherited it from her parents and she was the fifth generation of Stuarts to run the land. Her marriage to Nate’s uncle Bud, a “nobody” in county social circles, had caused quite a stir. They’d never had biological children of their own, but they’d opened their ranch to friends and various charity group events and created their own version of a family.
Nate drove along the wide, graceful driveway that followed the edge of a grassy field until the house came into view. It was a long, low ranch house with a covered porch running along the front of it. Lights blazed inside even though it was close to midnight. Nate pulled the truck around the circular drive and stopped. The front door flew open and Lily saw the silhouette of a short, round, bowlegged man with a bald head.
Nate came around and opened the door for her, a surprising bit of chivalry from a deputy just doing his job.
“Welcome to the Blue Spruce,” Bud Wells called out to Lily. He walked up to her, reached for her hands and gave them a reassuring squeeze. “I’m Nate’s uncle Bud. He told us what happened to you tonight and I’m as sorry as I can be about that.”
“Lily Doyle.” Lily barely trusted herself to speak. For the last few hours she’d held fear and dread at bay by indulging in frustration and denial. Being annoyed with Nate had helped. But now the gentle concern in Bud Wells’s voice threatened to knock down a few bricks in the emotional wall she’d built and she couldn’t let that happen. Not yet. The wall was the only thing keeping her from falling completely apart.
“Thank you for letting me come