Cowboy Who Came For Christmas (Harlequin Romance) (12 page)

Adan wondered why she wouldn’t look at him. “Anything else, Sophia?”

She finally closed the pack and hoisted it up on her back. “It’s gonna be a long, cold night, Adan. We’ve got a lot of time to talk.”

He came around the corner and put his hands on her arms then stared into her eyes. “And you will talk. Your friends have tried to protect you, but this is putting them all in danger. Unnecessary danger. Do you really want that?”

“No,” she said, guilt darkening her eyes. “That’s why I’m going to help you find Pritchard. He took David to draw me out, so he’s going to get his wish.”

Adan tugged her close. “And that’s why you’re going to tell me everything you know about the man.”

* * *

S
OPHIA
WAS
SO
bundled she could barely move. She had on a quilted parka with a fur hood and tight leather gloves, flannel-lined pants and wool socks tucked into sturdy hiking boots. Even with all that warmth and the heater blowing warm air in the car, she couldn’t stop shivering. A cold sweat popped out along her shoulder blades.

She glanced over at Adan. He’d insisted on driving. That gave her time to think about what lay ahead. She was going to find the man who’d tormented her for years before she’d taken matters into her own hands. Her ex-husband.

And she now had Adan to deal with because of that man.

In a way, she felt relief that this would soon be over. Adan was right. She’d put her friends in danger by not telling him the truth. And by letting all of those friends convince her that they wanted to help keep her safe in the first place. What would they say if they knew everything?

Now David was out there with Pritchard, and she hoped they weren’t too late to help him. David wouldn’t know what Joe probably wanted or why he’d lingered on the mountain all night and day. But she knew. She knew exactly why Joe was acting so erratic and indecisive.

“If something happens to David,” she said to Adan, “I’ll never forgive myself.”

He didn’t say anything at first. Maybe he was tired of her cowardice or maybe he’d had her pegged from the beginning. Or he could be trying to watch the icy, muddy road.

He downshifted and hit the brakes as they rounded a tricky curve. Then he stopped the SUV. “I’m gonna check for tracks and shine the light down in that ravine.”

She watched as he got out then decided she’d help him. But he worked in silence and that worried her. He looked up then held the flashlight high.

“Say something, Adan,” she finally pleaded.

Instead of responding, he grabbed her and pushed her into the woods and fell down on top of her.

CHAPTER TWELVE

“I
HEARD
SOMETHING
in the woods,” he whispered in Sophia’s ear. “Stay still.”

“I can’t move with you over me,” she said against his ear, the scent of his early morning shower merging with the smells of snow and wet earth.

“Stay quiet,” he retorted, not bothering to move away from her. His hands cupped her head, cushioning her from the cold ground, but his heartbeat bumped a warm message against all of the layers separating them.

That he was willing to throw his body over hers to protect her touched Sophia more than she could admit. But the strength of his arms around her made her feel safe...and content. Way too content. She couldn’t take being so close to him when so many secrets were still between them. She needed to remember that she’d only known this man exactly one whole day.

Besides, when he heard her story he’d turn against her completely.

But she remained still and quiet and savored his touch in spite of being scared out of her wits. Then she heard it, too. A crashing sound down in the ravine. Footsteps?

“Should we get back in the car?” she asked, hoping they could at least use the SUV as a shield. But she sure liked having him to shield her, too.

“Not if it’s David. Or Pritchard. Jacob’s SUV is held together by mostly rust.” He listened, his head up. “I don’t hear it anymore.”

“If it’s Pritchard, he’ll try to take me. And he’ll try to kill you.”

“Both great choices, but he isn’t getting either of them.”

She had to smile at his wry humor. He’d been a trouper through all of the shenanigans going on around him. The man had come here on a noble mission and all she’d done was try to thwart him at every turn. But how could she blurt out all that had happened over the last few years? Especially to such a devoted lawman?

“I think it was an animal,” he said after several blissful moments of sweet torture.

“Okay.” It was a small whisper but Sophia had to remember that she couldn’t give in to the crazy feelings coursing through her system each time she was near Adan. Her mind told her to push him away. Her heart told her to pull him closer. The war inside her blazed while she stayed there in his arms. She really didn’t want to move.

And apparently, neither did he. Moonlight played across his rugged features, shadowing a day’s worth of beard growth and coloring his eyes a rich, dark gold. His hat had come off on the way down and now his hair fringed in a rebellious sweep across his forehead. His lips parted as he stared down at her.

Sophia drank in everything about this moment. She wanted to kiss Adan, which was absolutely, positively not the thing to do.

“I want to kiss you,” he said, his mouth near hers. “It doesn’t make a bit of sense.”

“I know,” she said on a raspy protest that fizzled and faded. He somehow did feel the same way. This gave her hope and scared her silly. “I know.”

“We have to keep moving,” he replied, not moving.

“Yes.” She snuggled closer.

“Don’t do that.”

“What?”

“Look at me like that, touch me like that.”

“You’re the one holding me.”

He grunted then pulled her closer. “Let’s get this out of the way.”

His lips moved over hers in a blazing heat that would surely melt a spot in the snow. Sophia returned the kiss with a deep longing that pooled into liquid warmth with each touch of her lips to his. Had she ever really been kissed before?

No. Not like this.

Just as she was surrendering everything, Adan pulled away and rolled to the side, then grabbed his hat with one hand and tugged her to her feet with the other. “We need to keep moving.”

“You already said that.”

“Well, this time I mean it.”

She should be hurt that he’d turned grumpy after kissing her, but Sophia couldn’t, wouldn’t feel bad. Not tonight.

She’d remember that kiss when things got complicated.

She’d remember that kiss when he heard the truth and then hauled her back to Texas to face her punishment.

After he checked the area and listened again, they got back into the SUV and started back down the rut-packed road. Adan did a slow crawl along the treacherous road, stopping now and then to search the area for tracks.

“Definitely some fresh tire marks, but no sign of them sliding off the road.”

“At least this isn’t too icy,” she said to fill the awkward silence. “Not like the main road. That one has only been paved a couple of years but it does ice up during the winter months.”

He did a survey of the road behind them through the rearview mirror and then turned back, his slow progress helping them avoid puddles and potholes. “Why don’t you tell me how you wound up on this mountain?”

Sophia took in a cold breath. So this was it. This was where her future would get shaky. He’d kissed her in a way that showed he wanted her and now he’d decided he needed to know her before acting on that want. He needed a reason to walk away.

“The short version or from the beginning?”

“Where does your story start?” he asked, his tone low and muted. He glanced over at her, his eyes holding hers for the briefest of moments. “I think I need to hear everything.”

“Way back,” she admitted. “It starts way back. My parents were divorced when I was young and neither of them really wanted me in the picture.” She pulled in a breath for control and hoped she wouldn’t cry. “My mother tried to raise me, but I got passed around a lot from relative to relative and sometimes even foster homes, then back to her. It was kind of a vicious cycle.”

Adan grunted at that confession. “That’s not good for a child. Every child needs a mother.”

Sophia sensed a world of hurt in that bold statement.

“Does your ex-wife ever visit your daughter?”

He shook his head. “We’re not talking about me, but no...not that much. She’s too busy having fun with her highfalutin oil-rich boyfriend. He caters to her every whim.”

Sophia took that admission in and figured his wife’s betrayal might be behind his distrust of women. Adan would love a woman but he wouldn’t do the catering-to-every-whim thing. Only the good whims, like kissing a lot. That would be her only requirement, really. Just being with him all the time.

Telling herself to stop that kind of thinking, she went back to her story. She needed to get this out of the way, too.

“Well, my mama never found a rich boyfriend and...that kind of left her bitter. She’s had biker boyfriends, drunk cowboy boyfriends and some not so nice companions. At first, I started to follow in her stiletto and short-shorts footprints.”

“What changed for you?”

She swallowed, said a little prayer. “Everything changed for me when I was eighteen and I met Joe Pritchard.”

* * *

A
DAN
WANTED
TO
stop and sit here in the warm SUV with her, but it was too cold and too dangerous for that. Besides, she’d gotten a little too close to his own issues, so he needed to focus on getting to the bottom of her involvement with Pritchard.

Disappointed even though he wasn’t surprised, he said, “So you do know him?”

“I married him right out of high school.”

“Wow.”

Adan’s heart sank after hearing her words. She’d married that worthless piece of humanity. And she lied about the whole thing. He shouldn’t feel so betrayed since he’d suspected she was lying all along, but her confession stung all the same. One more reason to put some distance between them.

“Did you love him?”

“I thought I did.”

Adan couldn’t see that happening. He did a check of the woods and whispered low, “How did you wind up with him?”

“He hung out with one of my mom’s boyfriends. A younger guy who used her for booze and cigarette money, but he brought his friends along with him. I was lonely and I’d had one too many bad boyfriends, so I enjoyed the attention. Joe was nice to me at first. A real sweet talker. And because he was older and kind of hip and he had a steady job, I fell for him.”

Adan could understand her need for security and a new way of life, but he had to wonder what she’d seen in Pritchard. “You didn’t have enough gumption to tell him to take a hike.”

She shifted her backpack and looked down at the road. “No. No gumption, no self-esteem. No strength. I wanted a way out. I always swore when I turned eighteen, I’d leave. So I took the easiest route.”

“By marrying him?”

She bobbed her head. “Yes. I was about to turn nineteen. After a night of drinking and partying, we got hitched.” She shrugged. “I regretted it the next night when he went out partying again. Without his bride.”

The discomfort in Adan’s stomach turned to a burning rage. “He started treating you bad right away?”

“Yep.”

“So you left, right?”

She lowered her eyes. “Not exactly, no. I’m not proud of it, but I didn’t have anywhere to go. My mother didn’t approve since it meant she didn’t have me to take care of her anymore, so she told me to get lost. And when I did try to leave, he’d sweet-talk me with promises and all kinds of lofty plans.” She shrugged. “Just like my mama.”

Adan didn’t want to hear this, but he had to. He’d believed Sophia to be a strong, independent woman. And she was—no doubt about that. But what had brought her to this point?

“So what happened to your marriage?”

She watched the headlights hitting the muddy road. “It got worse. He...he became jealous and possessive. Didn’t want me to work or have friends.” She looked over at Adan. “He didn’t trust me and he didn’t want anything more than someone to wait on him and sleep with him. I felt so worthless.”

“Classic signs of an abusive person,” Adan replied, hoping this hadn’t gone that far. “He wanted you to feel worthless and useless.”

“Bingo,” she said, her gaze falling away.

“Sophia...”

“He...treated me like a punching bag,” she said, her eyes closed now. “I had to get away.”

Adan wanted to kill the man. “How long did you stay?”

“Too long. About six years.”

“Six years?”

At her sharp intake of breath, Adan glanced over and saw a shadow of fear on her face. “I’m sorry, but I don’t get why you stayed that long.”

“Neither do I,” she said. “I don’t have any excuses except fear—fear of leaving and fear that if I did leave, he’d find me and kill me.”

“Did you ever try to get away?”

“Many times. I asked my mother to help me and she just laughed and told me to grow up.” She shrugged. “So I did grow up...and I took matters into my own hands.”

Adan kept one eye on the road while he gave her a long stare. “What did you do, Sophia?”

She didn’t answer.

And he didn’t get a chance to question her again. Adan glanced back at the road just in time to see a man standing there waving his arms.

“Adan, stop!” Sophia shouted.

He slammed on the brakes and skidded, then turned toward the skid to right the vehicle. He barely kept it from plunging over into the deep ravine on the left. The SUV stopped just a foot short of hitting the man.

Adan let out a grunt of relief while Sophia took in several deep breaths. “That’s David!”

Adan grabbed her before she could open the door. “Hold on. It might be a trick.”

* * *

S
OPHIA
WAITED
WITH
her rifle as Adan opened the driver’s side door and got out, his own weapon drawn while he stayed behind the open door.

“Who’s there?” he asked. “I’m a Texas Ranger. Show me your hands.”

The man held his hands in the air, palms up. “It me. David.” He squinted toward the truck. “Sophia?”

Sophia didn’t wait this time. She hurried out of the vehicle and did as Adan had done and stayed behind the cover of her door. “David, are you all right?”

Before she could run toward her friend, Adan hurried around the back of the SUV and tugged her close then put himself between her and David.

“Are you alone?” he asked David, his weapon centered on the other man.

David glanced to the right. “Uh...yessir.”

“Are you telling the truth?” Adan asked as he advanced a step.

David nodded. “Is Karen all right?”

“She’s fine,” Adan called out. “We found her.”

David didn’t speak for a minute, then he stepped closer and dropped down. “He’s hiding in the woods. Get down! He has a gun!”

Sophia ran toward David to help him, but Adan jumped in front of her, their bodies falling together toward the ground. Then she heard another gunshot and saw Adan’s upper body jerk backward. He groaned and went still, then fell over her.

Sophia screamed as a dark liquid covered her jacket.

David crawled toward them, calling her name.

“Sophia, run,” David shouted, still crawling toward her. “He wants you. Don’t let him take you!”

“Adan?” she said, willing him to do something. But her hands were wet with his blood. “Adan?”

“Run,” Adan said, a grimace of pain on his face. “Sophia, do as he says. Take your gun and get out of here.”

Sophia sank down close to him then heard a crashing through the trees. Footsteps.

“I’m not leaving you,” she said to Adan.

David shimmied up next to her. “Is he shot?”

She bobbed her head. “Yes. Get Adan inside the car,” she shouted as she went down on her stomach.

Adan tried to stand and she saw the blood rushing down his jacket. Leaning against the vehicle, he slid up. “Sophia, don’t do this! I’m okay. Get out of here.”

David grabbed at Adan. “You’re injured. I’ll get her out of the way but you need to do as she asked.”

Another shot rang out. Adan grunted as he stood up and then turned toward where Sophia stood behind the front of the vehicle, her rifle trained on the woods across the way.

“C’mon,” he said to her on a weak breath. “Get inside the car.”

“No,” she replied, her boots planted against the front fender. “He’s after me. Well, here I am.”

David tugged at her coat. “Sophia, please. You know what he’ll do.”

Sophia refused to listen. She’d known coming down the mountain that Joe would be waiting for her. He’d done exactly what she’d predicted. And she’d brought Adan right to him.