Lone Tree (35 page)

It shouldn’t come as that much of a surprise, not
really. Reed was controlling by nature, always knew best even when he didn’t.
Much like his boss in that respect. She’d planned on speaking to him tonight,
after talking to Miles, but now Miles could fill him in. They’d find out in
time what had been lost—what all three of them had lost. Slowly, she got to her
feet. She felt achy, hurting so much inside it seemed she felt pain all over.

“Lainie...”

At Miles’s voice, something snapped in her and she
whirled, wanting now to fight, to wound as badly as she’d been wounded. “You
conniving son of a bitch.”

“Lainie, I told you—”

“Told me what, you damned old fool!”

He drew himself up, using every inch. Even from all
the way across the room, it appeared he looked down his nose at her. “I told
you to keep a civil tongue in your mouth, little girl.”

“Don’t call me that.” She spat out the words, felt herself
squaring off, and knew hate and spite were in her stance. At first she’d wanted
to run, get as far from Reed and his breach of trust as possible. But taking
Miles on right now kept her emotions at bay, postponed the disillusionment and
the hurt.

“And if you can’t do that,” he continued from his
haughty height, “we’ll continue this discussion tomorrow.”

“You think? I’ll tell you what I think, old man.
We’re not going to continue this discussion. Ever. We’re through with it. And
each other. Got that?” She spun, headed for the door.

“Where do you think you’re going?”

Level with the doorway, she turned to look back.
“Why the hell do you think you’ve got a right to even ask?”

His lips tightened, but apparently he decided to let
that one pass. “It was your decision to come here, but I’ll make the decision
as to when you leave. And you’re not going anywhere until I know exactly why
you came out here in the first place.”

“Well, now. You really are full of it, aren’t you?”
She put mockery in her voice, striking a pose with her arms crossed and her
head tilted. “I do declare,” she drawled. “Never have I seen such gall.”

“You can declare all you want to, but you’re still
not going anywhere until I say so.”

She dropped her arms to her sides. “You want to
bet
on that, old man?”

He sneered. “You can’t even drive, Lainie Sue. Who
you going to ask to take you to the airport? Reed?”

“No,” she said, so much emotion in that one quiet
word that he looked taken aback. She doubled her hands into fists. Fingernails
bit into her palms. She used the pain to drive her on, to counter the hurt
inside. “No, not Reed.”

She turned away.

“Lainie!”

She didn’t turn around when he called her name, but
at the grating sound of furniture being moved, she did. His safe was located
behind the end file cabinet. He’d pulled out the tall chest and was rapidly
dialing the safe’s combination. He yanked the door open and removed a
rubber-banded bundle of bills, stomped to her desk and tossed the roll on top
of it.

He glared at her with a lofty air that told her how
sure he was that he had the upper hand. “Yes,” he hissed. “I’ll take that bet.
When I returned to the office tonight I found you helping yourself to a salary
advance. This gives me a legal right to detain you.”

“You can’t possibly believe you’d get away with a
whopper like that,” she breathed.

“Try me. You’re not going anywhere, Lainie Sue.”

“You can go straight to hell, you bastard!” She flew
out of the room. She raced to her house for car keys and purse, then sprinted
across the yard and behind the stable to the shed. Reed stepped out of his
house as she backed her car out. He motioned for her to wait, but she ignored
him, shoved the gear into drive and accelerated.

Quickly the red truck appeared in her rearview
mirror. Lainie’s mouth tightened. The engine in the truck was a good one. It
was doubtful she could outrun it, but she could try. She didn’t want to see
him, talk to him. Not now, not ever.

But when the pickup cut her off, she didn’t attempt
to reverse and go around it. She’d changed her mind that fast. Get it done now;
get it over with. She slammed on the brakes, winced at the jolt to her knee
then shook it off, shoved the gear into park and erupted from the driver’s
seat. “What the damn hell do you think you’re doing! He can’t stop me, but you
think you can?”

Reed had opened the pickup’s door and was stepping
down from the cab. When she yelled, he stopped and stared, half in and half out
of the vehicle.

She rounded the pickup and glared up at him, hands
rolled into fists. “Well? Want to try proposing again?”

“Propose...” He echoed, wrinkling his brow, then he
gave a quick shake of his head. He looked from her to the compact and back
again. “What are you doing? You’re not even supposed to drive till—”

“Mighty convenient, wasn’t it, having me confined to
the ranch? Suited you and Miles just fine, didn’t it.”

He stepped down. “What are you talking about? You
were almost killed. You think—”

“I think you need to get out of my way,” she
snapped. Suddenly she was through, her mood again changing like quicksilver.
She needed to be gone, put him, the ranch, and everything behind her.

“What’s going on, Lainie? The old man said—”

“I don’t care
what
the old man said.
I
said move the damn truck!” She smacked the hood with her open hand. She jerked
back, palm stinging, felt the vibration zing up to her shoulder.

He looked at her, the hood of the truck, back at
her. “What’s going on?” he asked quietly. “What happened?”

She had to do something with her fury, so she
stalked to the front of the vehicle. She wanted to kick the tire but that would
be more foolhardy than striking the hood. She fought back a hysterical laugh.
That’d put her back on crutches.

“Pain pill,” he said under his breath. “Sleeping
pill. Did you—”

She whirled back. “Don’t you wish? That’d make it so
simple, wouldn’t it?”

So evidently Miles hadn’t labeled her a thief after
all; he must’ve figured out that the charge wouldn’t hold water. Tossing the
threat at her just showed how far he’d stoop to get his way.

“Get out of my way, Reed,” she said quietly, but her
body held tension so tight her joints felt like stressed steel. “I told him I’m
going, and now I’m telling you. No one is going to stop me. Not him. Not you.
No
one
.”

He looked like he was wondering what had happened to
the real Lainie Johnson. When she moved to go around him, he caught her arm.
She jerked free. “Don’t you even think about it,” she said through clenched
teeth, and took another step.

“Wait a minute.” Again he got her arm.

She swung around, moved in close and brought her
knee up. She must have telegraphed her move because he sidestepped to take the
blow on his hip. His eyes flared with anger. He gripped both her arms. “What
the hell is going on here?”

She stood as rigid as a statue. As his eyes searched
her face, his fingers relaxed fractionally around her arms. “Okay. Now I asked
you what’s going on. Are you going to tell me, or what?”

“Take...your...damned...hands...off...me.”

After a brief moment, he released her and then
turned his palms up, as if signaling peace. “Okay, now we need to talk. I want
answers, Lainie. What happened between you and Miles? Whatever it was, it was
big. Now talk to me.”

“Did he come to you, or did you go to him?”

His brow furrowed, head tilted slightly. “He called
me,” he said slowly, explaining with care. “Couple of minutes ago. Said you
were running and was afraid you’d—”

“Exactly when did the idea of marriage come up?”

“Is that what this is about? What does he have to do
with you and me?”

“That’s what I’d like to know.”

He took a step back, drew in a breath and exhaled
loudly. He looked at the two streams of headlights, then off into the vast
darkness. “If you tried real hard, you think you could make some sense here?”

Lainie glared at him. “Go to hell.”

She walked around the back of the pickup to her car,
not knowing if he’d try to stop her again or not, ready to light into him if he
did. Fleetingly it occurred to her she was following in her mother’s footsteps,
falling in love and running away. Except Elizabeth had run with the man she
loved. Lainie was running from him.

Lainie wasn’t lily-white, but Miles’s deceit equaled
hers—no, bypassed it. His attempt at manipulation was inexcusable. His
collusion with his foreman, and Reed’s betrayal, stung so deeply she felt ripped
down the middle. Rage was all she had with which to combat the hurt.

When she was one step away from the car’s door,
Reed’s hand circled her arm. His grip seemed carefully loose, yet she tensed.
It felt like her body turned into wood.

“Come back with me, Lainie. Please,” he said
quietly. “Settle down. We’ll talk this out.”

She closed her eyes. Settle. Get her settled and
everything would be fine. They thought she was a child that could be led by the
hand. They had another think coming.

“No.” She jerked, his fingers tightened, and she
looked coldly at his hand. “Let go, Reed.”

“I can’t let you leave till I know what’s going on.
Come on, Lainie. We’ll talk to Miles together and straighten this out. Whatever
it is.”

She tried again to jerk away. He held tight.
“Dammit, Reed! Don’t you get it? I’m not going to tie myself to you and shackle
myself to the ranch and him. That’s
not
gonna happen. Now let go!”

“Lainie—”

He had her left arm, so she whirled and swung with
her right. Her fist caught him squarely on the cheekbone. He staggered, and she
managed to get the car door open before he grabbed her again.

Then he left all attempt at reasoning behind him. He
half-dragged and half-carried her to the pickup, fought to get the passenger
door open with one arm still around her, then he shoved her in onto the seat.
He slammed the door shut and she wrenched at the door handle. He held it closed
with his weight.

“Dammit, Lainie! Stop it!”

She glared at him and he glared right back. The door
wouldn’t budge. Neither would he. Slowly, she straightened in the seat. There
was another door, but she didn’t see how that would do her any good.

“Now I’m going around to the other side of the
truck,” he said, voice hard. “You don’t stay put, I’ll get rope out of the back
and tie you in there. Understand?”

He waited, giving her time to argue but no space.
She stared straight ahead.

When he stalked away, Lainie’s gaze rested on the
open door of her car. The engine was still quietly idling in park. All she had
to do was get inside the car, lock the door, and she was out of here. Once he
got to the other side of the pickup, he’d have twice the distance to cover that
she’d have and she could make it with time to spare. She could kick herself for
getting out of the damned car in the first place.

Then at the truck’s bumper, Reed paused. He detoured
to her car, reached inside and turned off the ignition. He pocketed the keys
and closed the door. Lainie slumped against the seat of the pickup. No options.
None.

The instant that Reed braked in front of the main
house Lainie slammed out of the pickup. She might have given up for that brief
moment in the truck, but in the short drive back she’d refound her fire.

Not knowing or caring if Reed followed or not, she
strode to the office she’d exited only minutes ago. She took hold of the office
door and pushed it so violently that it hit the wall and bounced back. Putting
her palm out to halt it, she glared at Miles.

Caught in the process of rising, her grandfather
locked stares with her. Reed walked up and stood slightly behind her. The
silence was ominous, filled with differing degrees of anger, resentment, even
hate. Reed’s attention seemed divided between Lainie and his boss.

The roll of bills no longer lay atop her desk and
the cabinet was back in place. Miles had given up on that ruse but had still
managed to drag her back. Barely moving her lips, she whispered, “You son of a
bitch.” Her voice carried venom, and she could tell Miles caught it.

He drew up, using every inch of height. “I already
told you once tonight I don’t allow language like that in my home.”

“Oh, yeah?” she said slowly, dragging out the words.
“That’s tough shit, old man, because it looks like the only thing you left me
with any control over is my language. And I’ll talk to you any damn way I
please.”

His stance stiffened. If he’d been close enough, she
believed he would’ve slapped her. Lainie wished he would. She longed to let go
at him.

When Reed pushed by, she stepped aside to give him
room. He stood level with her, but left space between them.

“I want to know what’s going on here.” The younger
man’s voice was steely and quiet. He waited, looking from one to the other.
Between the two men, Reed seemed to have more power. He wasn’t affecting a
pose, didn’t appear to be exerting influence, yet strength and will emanated
from him.