Cowboy Who Came For Christmas (Harlequin Romance) (14 page)

Bettye always said everything happened for a reason. She had reasoned that Sophia came to Crescent Mountain to heal. And they’d taken her in without question and helped her hide the evidence of her own dirty deeds for a reason. Bettye promised one day Sophia would see that reason as clear as day.

But Sophia only saw her mistakes.

She’d tried to kill her ex-husband. She’d thought she had killed him. But maybe Joe was just too mean to kill. She’d taken his car and the cash he’d stolen from some very nasty people.

He’d forced her to go to the bank where she’d saved up part of her meager earnings and the few dollars he’d toss her way. She’d opened a secret account so she could finally get away from him, but he’d found one of her statements and he’d made her get her money out from the bank. Exactly to the penny.

Joe was precise in that way.

And then he’d gone by a big house on the edge of town and he’d disconnected the security system and gone in while she waited in the car. Then he’d come out with a big bag and told her to drive away. Fast.

After that, things had happened in a way that had no rhyme or reason.

But how could any of them reason this? That Joe Pritchard had lived to return and torment all of them? That this tall, strong lawman would be here in her room, shot and feverish because of her?

Or that this wonderful, good man could be here inside her heart even when she’d tried to hide the truth from him?

Where was the reasoning in that?

“I can’t like you,” she whispered to the night. “I refuse to love you.”

She told herself she’d only known Adan a couple of days but it seemed as if she’d been waiting for him all of her life.

Is this my reason then, Bettye? Did I go through so much pain and humiliation from both my mother and then Joe just so I’d find Adan one day? So I’d appreciate him all the more?

Adan slept, quiet and still, his breathing even and almost content. Probably the painkillers kicking in. Possibly that he’d finally been forced to rest. Just rest.

Karen had warned her to watch for his fever to spike, had told her to give him pain pills and keep him still.

“We’ll have to get him down the mountain if he gets worse with fever or if his wound starts to redden and pucker,” Karen had said before leaving to be with her husband. “I’ve done everything I can for now.”

They’d all done everything they could for Sophia.

I have to leave. I have to get up and get my things and leave. Now.

She’d always known this day might come, but she didn’t want to think about that now. She’d have to leave, to somehow get away to save all of them. She’d find a way to lure Joe out into the open and then...she’d finish the job, one way or another.

Because she’d never have any peace as long as he stalked her. And she’d never forgive herself if someone else she cared about got hurt. Or worse.

She turned to stare over at Adan. She never would have met him if not for Joe. At least she could call that something positive. She would leave knowing that one amazing thing had come out of all of this—she’d fallen for a good man.

There’s a reason for everything, honey.

She could hear Bettye saying that.

But she couldn’t accept that Adan was meant to come here to catch a killer only to get shot while trying to protect her and then possibly die right here in her bed.

Where is the justice in that?
she wondered.

And why would this man show up here and steal my heart after I’ve committed crimes myself?

Sophia lay still for a while longer, debating whether to leave tonight or to wait, and then she turned and snuggled close to Adan. Just for now. Just for tonight.

Tomorrow, she’d figure out how to get away.

From Joe’s hate.

And from Adan’s love.

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

A
DAN
WOKE
WITH
a start and stared up at the unfamiliar ceiling. A ceiling that had shimmering stars painted on it.

When he heard a soft feminine sigh, he turned to see Sophia asleep on top of the colorful quilt with a light chenille blanket over her body. She still wore her clothes from yesterday.

What had happened?

He lifted up and several jackhammers went off inside his brain. Then his left arm started throbbing in a cadence that kept right up with the jackhammers. His pulse was screaming at him to settle back on the pillow.

Adan said several colorful things on a low whisper while his memory returned reel by reel. His left shoulder burned and hissed like a mad rattlesnake, and his mouth felt as parched as a West Texas prairie. He remembered jumping in front of Sophia and then a searing pain and waking up in this bed.

Her bed.

He needed to get back out there and find Pritchard. He wanted this particular criminal to see the inside of a prison cell for a long time. But mainly, Adan wanted out of this bed and away from this particular woman.

Sophia had way too many facets to suit him. Or maybe all of her facets suited him way too much. Either way, he’d been seriously distracted since arriving on Crescent Mountain. Time to get back to work so he could finish this and get home to Gaylen.

But when he tried to sit up, the room wobbled and danced like a drunken quarter horse and the woman beside him shot up out of the bed like a rusty cannonball.

“You can’t get up,” she said, one hand moving through her lush hair while the other one wiped at her bleary eyes. “Adan, you need to take it easy for at least the rest of the day.”

“And what about Pritchard?” he asked, his tone deliberately full of mean. “What about your charming ex-husband?”

“The others went down the old back road to search for him. They didn’t find anyone. They took a can of gas to get David’s truck back up here.”

“You planned this, right? Planned for him to have a way out yet again?”

Hurt shot through her eyes. “How can you even think that?”

“Because you drugged me. I could have gone after him. I’ve been wounded before.”

She put her hands on her hips. “Really, Ranger? Really? You think you could have just gotten up last night and gone out in the cold and snow to track a man who’s managed to somehow fool all of us?” She shook her head. “Maybe he’s long gone by now. I sure hope so.”

Adan still wanted to fight about it even if he was all wrong. He needed a reason to leave her once he’d captured Pritchard.

“How?” he asked. “On foot? Or did one of your well-meaning friends see to it that he’s gone for good? Or did you take matters into your own hands and finish the job this time?” He grunted as he managed to sit up against the headboard. “Which one, Sophia?”

“You need coffee.” She whirled to leave.

“Oh, no. No, ma’am.
You
need to come right back here and tell me the rest of the story between you and this man.”

Sophia held her left hand on the doorjamb then tapped against the wood. Finally, she pivoted. “I need coffee and you need breakfast. I’ll tell you everything after I get some caffeine in me.”

“I’m not hungry,” he said, gritting his teeth against his growling shoulder.

“Do you remember what really happened last night?” she asked, her tone going soft toward the end of the question.

He remembered a lot of things this morning. His daughter, Sophia’s lies and that kiss. He also remembered how David and Sophia had risked their lives to get him back to safety.

Now he felt like a real jerk. “Sophia—”

“I’ll bring toast anyway.”

With that she strutted up the short hallway and a few seconds later, he heard pots and pans slamming around in the kitchen. Good, so she was as aggravated as he was.

Adan wanted to feel triumphant about that, but he was just too worn down to care at the moment.

* * *

S
OPHIA
BRACED
HERSELF
for what might come next. She’d been hiding out from the law for years now, so she guessed she’d get her due. Adan was a man who went by the letter of the law, no room for any gray areas.

Swallowing back the sweet hurt of being by his side all night, she slapped butter to bread and toasted it, then poured two mugs of coffee and placed it all on a tray with some of Bettye’s homemade mayhaw jelly. But before she got back to the bedroom, she heard him slowly making his way into the living room.

Sophia hurried to place the tray on the coffee table, thinking he was also stubborn. Very stubborn. When she turned to face him, she saw the ashen color in his face and the grimace of pain growing with each step. She also noticed his open shirt and his bronzed skin.

Sophia hurried to help him, but he pushed her away. “I’m fine. I’ve had worse pain from a cactus thorn in my toe.”

“Right,” she said, watching him with her arms crossed while she tried to put the tempting image he presented out of her mind.

He leveled her with a glare. “You enjoying this?”

Sophia shook her head. “Not really. I could have saved you the trouble.” She pointed to the tray. “But now that you’ve made it this far, sit down and have some breakfast.”

He grunted himself down onto the old sofa. “Coffee.” Then he squinted up at her. “Please.”

She started to tell him to get it himself but decided she couldn’t really be mad at him. While he had every right to be mad at her.

“Please,” he added again, his scowl cracking a fraction. Then he said, “I’m sorry I got all ornery on you. I don’t like getting shot.”

“And you don’t like to lose, either,” she retorted. “You’d already worn yourself ragged before you ever came here.”

He didn’t bother arguing with that. “It’s my job.”

After she handed him coffee in his right hand, she placed a plate of toast next to him on the side table. But she refused to tell him how scared she’d been last night or that she didn’t want him to die. Or that he’d asked her to stay there with him last night.

Instead she said, “Let me know if you need anything else.”

He downed about half the mug of coffee and then cleared his throat and stared at her with his ever-changing gold-brown eyes. Reminding her of a big cat getting ready to tear into something.

In this case, that something was her.

“I need you to tell me the truth, Sophia. I need you to help me do my job so I can go back to Texas and check on my little girl.”

Sophia saw exactly how serious he was, so she nodded and took a sip of her own coffee. But it left a sour burning inside her stomach. “I wanted to tell you last night, but then we saw David—”

Realization colored Adan’s scowl. “David? How is he?”

“He’s fine, thankfully. He knew his truck didn’t have enough gas to make it down the mountain. He thought that would buy him some time. But Joe used that same time to wait for us to come searching, just as I figured. He thought he’d take me with him by carjacking us.”

“Almost worked, too.”

Sophia put down her coffee. “Yes, it did. He shot at me and you jumped in front of me and took that bullet.”

“I think he was trying to distract us so he could take you. Why would he kill you on the spot after all this trouble?”

“I don’t know. I never know what to expect with Joe. He has a mercurial temper and he’s impulsive.”

“And yet you stayed with him for years.”

Why did it hurt that he had to remind her of that? “Yes, I did. I’m not proud of that, but... I was broken, Adan. Beaten down and broken.”

“Men like him tend to do that to women.” He finished his coffee, his eyes softening on her. “Yet you seem to have overcome being scared of him.”

“Oh, I’m still scared,” she said, a warm glow at his compliment casting out her fears. “I’ve just learned how to deal with my fears in a more aggressive way.”

“By trying to kill him?”

“Yes. When he came after me the last time, I thought I was ready. I’d tried divorce, a restraining order, talking to the police, enlisting friends, hiding out in a women’s shelter and changing my phone number and address several times. He always found me.”

“So he came after you again and what happened?”

Sophia pushed at her disheveled hair. “He took me hostage at gunpoint, right out of my driveway, and he made me take some money out of the bank. And later that night, he robbed a house.”

“Were you with him when he robbed this house?”

Sophia dreaded telling Adan the truth. And even now, she couldn’t bring herself to tell him the whole story.

“Sophia?”

“I was driving the getaway car.”

Adan put down his coffee mug so fast it sloshed out onto the table. “You aided and abetted a criminal?”

“No. I was forced to do as he asked since he told me he’d shoot anyone inside the house and then shoot me.”

“You didn’t think to call for help?”

“I didn’t have a cell phone. No money for luxuries like that. I was terrified and I panicked. Besides, it happened so fast I didn’t know what to do. I just knew I’d go to jail with him if we got caught.”

“Where did this home robbery take place?”

“Back in Texas. Near Waco.”

He didn’t ask what all had been taken, and she didn’t volunteer that information.

“Y’all traveled around?”

“We’d settled there and I had a pretty good job at a local craft store but he didn’t like me working at night.” She put her coffee mug down on the nearby tray. “I tried to save up a little money but I put it in a secret bank account. I always cashed my check each week and gave it over to him, but I managed to skim a few twenties off the top.”

She looked down at her hands, the shame of that time making a cold sweat break out along her backbone. “He followed me home from the store one morning and told me he’d seen me go to the bank.”

“The bank where you squirreled away the money?”

“Yes. He confronted me and asked me how much money I’d hidden from him.” She shook her head, trying to find the courage to explain. “I blurted it out—close to five thousand dollars.”

“Over six years?”

She nodded. “In bits and pieces, through friends and any way I could think of. I always used a bank that had branches in several towns. I’d used this same one for years and he never knew. Never. I was careful to have my statements sent to a friend or a PO box.”

Adan gave her a look that bordered on amazed. “And let me guess? He made you give over that money?”

“Yes.” She blinked back tears and gritted her teeth. “He held a gun on me and made me go in the bank and withdraw all the money. Said he’d come in and start shooting if I tried anything.”

“Did you also take up target practice—secretly?”

She nodded. “Another friend had a husband who was a cop. He agreed to show both of us how to shoot. We told him we wanted to learn for our protection. That was true at least.”

Adan grimaced as he shifted on the sofa. “So he robbed this home and took from you what he considered his money and he forced you to help him get away?”

“Yes. We traveled the back roads at night and slept in the car during the day. He tied my hands to his wrist so if I moved he’d wake up.” She looked down at her lap. “He fancied us a modern-day Bonnie and Clyde.”

“But you wanted no part of that, right?”

She could see the distrust again in Adan’s eyes and that was her undoing. “Of course I didn’t want to be a part of it. How can you even doubt me on that?”

“Because you’ve been lying to me for days now. Because you knocked me out and held me tied up when you could have saved yourself a lot of trouble. Because you enlisted your neighbors in hiding the truth from me and now you’re telling me that you drove the car away after he robbed some big house. Let’s see, did I leave anything out?”

“My friends were trying to protect me and keep me from going to jail, Adan. I thought I’d killed him. I—” She stopped and pushed at her hair. “I wanted him dead and I don’t care that you know that now.”

“I want to kill him, too,” Adan replied. “But the law demands that I take him back to Texas to stand trial for armed robbery and murder.”

“I want that, too, but Joe will just keep coming until something bad happens.” She got up and went to stare out the window. “It’s close to Christmas, but I can’t celebrate this year. I always used to get queasy around the holidays since he always got drunk and had his own brand of celebrating. And that meant taking things out on me.”

She whirled and gave Adan a direct glare. “I want him either dead or in prison for the rest of his life. I thought I’d killed him and I knew no one would believe I did it in self-defense. So I ran away and I didn’t look back.”

Adan glanced around and then settled his gaze on her. “You found this mountain of misfits and you fit right in. An artist who likes being secluded and isolated. A woman who makes her own Christmas ornaments and helps her neighbors. You even make soup. On the surface, you seem like the real deal.”

“But to you, I’m just as guilty as Joe Pritchard, right?”

His gaze drifted to her lips. “I didn’t say that.”

“You didn’t have to. That look on your face—I’ve seen that over and over on other faces. Friends, family, even the police. You all think I brought this on myself because I stayed so long.”

“I don’t think that,” he replied. “I know what you went through was real but—”

“But I shouldn’t have taken the law into my own hands, right?”

“Right.” He leaned back, his expression full of pain. “What did you do to him that made you think you’d killed him?”

She glanced back out the window, not sure how to explain what had happened on that night so long ago. “He got really drunk one night while we were stopped in some woods. I... I had some strong pain pills in my purse from having dental work done the day before he kidnapped me.”

“You had your purse with you?”

“Yes. He took me right out of my driveway but nobody was around to see or to worry. He came up when I got out of my car and I tried to get away, but he grabbed me.”

“So Pritchard was waiting and got to you when you exited your car?”