Hard Rain (13 page)

He felt her gaze and glanced over at her as the pickup bumped along the narrow dirt road behind the ranch. “What?” he asked, forced to quickly return his attention to his driving. Ahead was a stand of cottonwood trees and a small creek they would have to ford.

“I know what you said about the man doing the chasing and all that. I had hoped that we would have all summer to get to know each other, to...” She waved a hand through the air. “But now I feel we might not have much time. I don’t want to waste any of it by being coy or waiting around for you to make the next move. So let me say it. I’ve had a crush on you for years. When Bo told me that you weren’t dating anyone...”

He slowed the pickup as they entered the stand of trees. It was cooler in here, the sun peeking through the branches. Ahead, he saw that the creek was higher than he’d hoped it would be. This felt like a bad idea—all of it, he thought as he brought the truck to a stop under the canopy of trees and looked over at Harper.

“Before you go any further, I think it’s probably better if we don’t see each other again until this all blows over,” Brody said.

Harper looked as if she couldn’t believe what she was hearing. “This is what you have to say after I told you how I feel?”

He sighed and looked out at the creek. “You know it’s for the best. Sit here. I need to take a look at the creek before we try to cross it.” He got out. Two seconds later he heard the passenger side of the pickup open.

“Because of the bad blood between our families you’re going to waste this time we have together?” Harper demanded behind him.

He picked up a branch that had fallen from one of the trees and tested the water level at the center of the road. When he turned, her blue eyes were narrowed.

“I can’t believe that the cool teenage boy I knew grew up to be a coward.”

“A coward?” he repeated, tossing the stick away.

“I call them the way I see them,” she said, hands on her hips.

Did she not realize that he’d just gone out on a limb back there at his uncle’s house and all because of her? He took a step toward her. “A coward? Those are fighting words.”

She laughed mockingly. “So far I haven’t seen much fight in you.”

He met her challenging gaze. “You really have no idea what is good for you,” he said as he caged her against the side of the pickup with a hand on each side of her.

“I used to think
you
would be good for me,” she said quietly, her voice rough with emotion.

“But now?” he asked.

She gave an almost imperceptible shrug before her gaze locked with his. “When are you going to quit pretending that you don’t want me?”

“Remember when I told you that the next time I was going to kiss you, you’d know it?”

Harper nodded.

His mouth dropped to hers, her lips parting in welcome. He stepped closer, pressing himself against her, against the truck. He’d never wanted anyone like he wanted Harper right now. He’d been waiting for years for this, he thought as he forced her mouth open with his tongue. All his senses told him to stop. Only heartbreak would come of this if he was right about her grandfather and his cousin.

But then Harper flicked the tip of her tongue across the inside of his lower lip. He let out a moan, one hand going to her full, rounded breast. His thumb found the nipple’s hard tip and flicked it. She let out a groan in answer as he deepened the kiss.

The sound of an approaching vehicle brought him out of the kiss. He cocked his head, listening as he tried to catch his breath. His hand was still on her breast. Her arms were still locked around his neck. He could hear the roar of a motor.

“Someone’s coming.” He swore as he drew back, his gaze going to hers. He could see the heat in all that blue, hear her ragged breaths, feel her trembling as he removed his hand from her breast. A few minutes longer and he would have had her clothes off and—

He turned and opened the pickup door. She slid in, him following. The vehicle was coming from the direction they had. That meant it was probably either his uncle or his father. The creek was high, but now he had no choice. They had to cross. He was in no mood for a confrontation with his uncle—not with Harper here.

Throwing the truck in Reverse, he backed up, shifted into First and tromped on the gas. The truck shot out of the trees. The front tires dropped into the creek bed, water swept down each side of the truck as they roared across and up the other side. At the top of the hill, he looked back. His uncle’s truck had stopped some distance away.

Brody knew there was no doubt that Flannigan had seen them.

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

W
HEN
JD
RODE
up to the lake, he could tell that Maggie had been waiting for him. He hoped she was all right. He worried about her.

As he dismounted, she looked excited as she rose to go to her horse. Watching her, he saw her pull something from her saddlebag. “This is for you.”

She held out the piece of heavy paper almost shyly. He frowned questioningly as he took it. His surprise was obvious as he saw that the drawing was of him.

“Did you do this?” he asked.

“It’s just something I play at.”

“You’re good, really good. You have talent. Have you thought about doing something with this talent?”

“Like becoming an artist?” She smiled at that. “They’re just doodles. They aren’t worth anything.”

“Who told you that?” he asked, angry with whoever it had been.

She shook her head. “Don’t make more of it than it is.”

He looked again at the drawing. She had captured him casting his lure toward the shimmering surface of the lake. The lines of the sketch were powerful in that she had captured the essence of not only the scene but also of him and the mood he’d been in that day. She was more than talented, he thought as he looked up to see her walk to the edge of the lake. She was perceptive. She seemed to see him more clearly than anyone ever had.

That thought shook him. She had her whole life ahead of her. He wanted to see her get out of here and make something of herself. At the same time, he hated to see her go.

“Have you thought more about college?” he asked.

She turned to look at him. “Is that what you want?”

“It isn’t about me.”

Maggie said nothing as she turned her back to him again.

“You’re young. You can make something of yourself.”

She let out a sigh. “What about you?”

“What about me?”

Maggie turned to look at him again. “You make it sound as if your life is over.”

Is that how he felt? Some days, most days lately, after resigning his senate seat to stay home with Grace. “I’ve already made choices that affect my future. You haven’t yet.”

She raised an eyebrow. “Haven’t I?”

He swallowed back the lump that rose in his throat at the look she gave him and shook his head. “Maggie—”

“What do you want, JD?” she asked as she stepped toward him. “If today was the first day of the rest of your life and you could have anything you wanted, what would you want?”

* * *

W
HEN
B
RODY
DROPPED
Harper off at home, she opened the door to find Kat waiting for her. “You and Brody McTavish?”

Harper sighed. “I’m in love with him.”

Kat shook her head. “Is that all?”

“Isn’t that enough? Look what love has done for you.” Kat had changed over this past year. There was a softness to her that hadn’t been there. Max’s doing, Harper thought. Also Kat dressed and acted differently. She wasn’t so...closed up.
This is what love does to you
, she thought, and wanted the kind of contentment she’d seen in her sister’s face.

But right now there was worry in Kat’s expression. “Harper, I thought we discussed this before. I told you why you can’t get involved in Maggie’s death, and now I suspect you’ve dragged Brody into it, as well.”

She crossed her arms. Kat had always been bossy. Harper wasn’t going to let her boss her now that they were both adults. “I’m already involved because I’m a Hamilton and JD was my grandfather.”

Kat sighed. “Then there’s something you need to know about our grandparents.” She sat down on the couch and patted the cushion next to her.

Harper quickly joined her. Kat would have been old enough that she might remember what had been going on back then.

“I was only a child, but I remember Dad and Sarah talking about our grandfather and grandmother when they thought I wasn’t listening,” Kat said. “I got the feeling there was a secret, but what was clear was that JD and Grace weren’t happy, but then again I can’t imagine anyone being happy with our grandmother. Even photographs of Grace scared me. She looked mean. I remember Sarah saying that grandmother wanted nothing to do with Ainsley when she was a baby. In the photos Grace was in a wheelchair wearing black and this look on her face...” Kat shivered.

“So you think our grandfather did have an affair with Maggie?”

Kat made an impatient face. “Let me finish. I wouldn’t have blamed JD if he had found some happiness away from that house. But I also think Sarah played a role in all this.”

Harper made a disgusted sound. “And I think you want to blame her for everything. But Maggie McTavish’s murder? Really?”

“I think she was more of a...catalyst. I know she pushed our grandfather to run for president. I heard Dad talking about it once with Angelina. He’d been drinking and he was saying how it is often the woman behind the man who makes the man. I think he meant it as a compliment. But he said his grandmother hated politics and if she’d had her way, JD would never have even run for the senate—let alone considered running for president. It was after Dad married Sarah that she talked JD into running. Apparently, like Dad, he had a good chance of winning.

“Don’t you think it’s odd that Sarah did that?” Kat asked.

Harper shrugged. “Maybe she could see that he needed to get away from his wife—if she was that awful to him.”

“Maybe. Or maybe Sarah had her reasons for wanting him to be president.”

She groaned.

“She is determined to put at least one Hamilton in the White House. She is certainly encouraging Dad and has been ever since she came back. Why would she care?”

“Because she loves him and knows it’s something he wants.”

“Does he? Or is this all tangled up with his own father and his near run for president?” Kat said with a sigh.

“And Mother is determined that Dad be president so she can...what?”

Kat shook her head. “All I know is that she encouraged our grandfather and now she is encouraging our father. I really doubt the reason is because she wants to live in the White House.”

Harper couldn’t believe what she was hearing.

Her sister had given her a look that chilled her. “I’m telling you to leave it alone. I’m serious. I think our mother is capable of just about anything. If she’s involved in this...” Kat shook her head. “Not to mention what you might find out. You won’t be able to un-ring that bell.”

Brody was certainly convinced that if she found out the truth, she would regret it. Maybe he was right. But a part of her was tired of being kept in the dark, of being protected and pampered as if she would break in a strong wind. She told herself that she would face whatever that truth was, but she wasn’t going to stop digging.

Too antsy to stay inside, Harper saddled up and rode over to her mother’s. All the way, she kept thinking about what Kat had told her. She didn’t know what to believe. The one thing that she knew, though, was that her mother had been living in the same house, the old homestead, with JD and Grace Hamilton before Maggie disappeared. They’d moved out when Buck was building the house he lived in now.

If anyone knew what had been going on back then, Harper was betting it was her mother.

“Are you all right?” Harper asked when her mother opened the door. She looked pale, almost scared. “I should have called to remind you I was coming by.” Her mother looked past her to where Harper had tied her horse.

“No, it is always wonderful to see you. You just startled me. I didn’t hear a vehicle and then when you knocked...” She hugged herself.

Now as she looked at her mother, she couldn’t help thinking what Kat had told her couldn’t possibly be true. Sarah Hamilton was a small woman with a timid bearing. Right now she looked as far from dangerous as anyone could. She looked scared of her own shadow.

“Are you afraid, living out here by yourself?” Harper asked, concerned for her mother.

“No, of course not. I was merely startled. I was reading. I must have dozed off. Come in.”

“Could we sit out on the porch? It is such a beautiful day.”

“Of course. I can get us something to drink. A cola? Or I could make some lemonade.”

Harper started to decline, but she sensed her mother needed the time to regain some control. No matter what Sarah said, she
had
been scared—not just startled. “I’d take some lemonade.”

“Go on out on the porch, I’ll be right there.” Her mother disappeared into the kitchen.

Harper walked to the front porch and took one of the chairs, her thoughts on her mother. She had no memory of what her mother used to be like since Sarah had allegedly died when Harper and her twin were only a few months old. But this small, nervous woman who scared so easily definitely seemed at odds with what Kat had told her. Unless Kat was right and her mother had something to fear from her past.

Minutes later, her mother returned with two tall glasses of lemonade.

Harper took a sip of her lemonade as her mother pulled up a chair and sat. “I was hoping you would tell me about my grandparents.”

Her mother sounded relieved when she spoke, as if she was glad they wouldn’t be talking about Maggie. “I’m sorry you never got to know my parents. They both died in a house fire the year I graduated from college. They would have adored you and your sisters.”

“And Dad’s parents?”

It was evident from Sarah’s expression that she realized these were the grandparents Harper was really interested in learning about. “I didn’t know them well since they both died shortly after your father and I married.”

“You and Dad eloped.”

“We did. He knew his parents would insist on a big wedding and with his mother ill and his father busy as a senator...we decided not to wait.”

Harper studied her for a moment, detecting something in her voice. “Were they upset with Dad for eloping?”

Sarah looked away for a moment. “Buck was their only son so, yes, they were disappointed,” she said as if carefully choosing her words.

“My grandmother was already in a wheelchair by then?”

“Not yet.” Her mother looked uncomfortable.

“How did she end up in a wheelchair anyway?”

* * *

S
ARAH
REALIZED
SHE
must have given away more than she had intended with her answers. She let out a short laugh, hoping to cover up whatever it was that Harper had sensed. Her daughter surprised her at how...insightful she was. She warned herself to be more careful around her.

“Why are you asking me all these questions?” she said, trying not to sound defensive and failing.

“Isn’t it obvious? The sheriff isn’t the only one trying to prove that my grandfather killed Maggie McTavish. Brody is determined to find proof, too.”

Brody. She let out an oath under her breath. “I didn’t think you were seeing him anymore.”

“I was never
seeing
him, as you put it.” Her daughter looked away, a slight blush creeping up her neck that made Sarah realize she had reason for concern when it came to Brody McTavish. “We’re trying to find out the truth.”

Sarah attempted to hide not only her shock, but her displeasure, and failed.
“You and Brody? Why would you do that?”

“Because someone has to.”

Sarah shot to her feet. “Harper, you have to stop this,” she said as she moved to the porch railing and looked out on the ranch. Why did history have to repeat itself? “We should go inside. A storm is coming.” She could smell rain on the warm wind.

“You didn’t answer my question about my grandmother Hamilton,” Harper said doggedly when they were inside sitting in the living room.

“Harper, I’m begging you to leave the past alone.”

“That’s what Kat said I should do.”

Sarah froze. She could feel her daughter’s intent gaze on her. “It’s good advice.”

“Don’t you want to know why Kat gave me that advice?”

Sarah could feel the noose tightening around her neck. “She told you about The Prophecy and that she thinks I was the leader, a woman called Red. I wondered how long it would be before she shared that with you. Did she also tell you that the real Red confessed?”

Harper nodded. “Kat’s afraid that more about The Prophecy is going to come out. She thinks it might have had something to do with my grandfather pulling out of the presidential race—and maybe even his death.”

“Did she say that?”

“Not in so many words. But if you weren’t involved, then you can’t help me, right? But you know more than you’re telling me. Please, Mother, help me.”

She looked at her daughter and gave up trying to shelter her. “Kat’s right. We don’t know what those people did or what they still might do. Did Kat mention that not all of the group have been found and arrested?”

“Then she’s right about them being dangerous, since apparently they tried to frame you,” Harper said. “Why would they do that unless they were trying to make Dad look bad before the election? But if they were somehow involved as far back as when my grandfather was a senator planning to run for president, isn’t it possible that one of them—not my grandfather—killed Maggie McTavish?”

Sarah saw that this had been where Harper had been headed all along. “That’s quite the stretch. It sounds more like you just don’t want it to have been your grandfather who was responsible for Maggie’s death.”

“
Don’t you?
I’m worried what it will do to Dad’s campaign if it ends up that JD Hamilton was not only an adulterer but also a murderer.”

“We might never know what really happened,” her mother said.

“Maybe. Did you know that Maggie kept a diary?”

* * *

T
HE
RAIN
CAME
on a spring squall that swept down out of the Crazies. The sky darkened an instant before droplets began to pelt the windshield.