Saved by the Rancher (3 page)

“I don’t know what happened this time. He worked himself into a rage before he even got me in the door. I can feel the gash on my leg oozing blood, and I can barely sit down in the seat to drive this car for the strapping marks across my backside.” Her whole body shook and she sucked back a wracking sob.

“Rabbit, I’m so sorry. Tell me where you are. I’ll come get you. Protect you. I promise.” His voice pleaded and the sadness overwhelmed her.

“Please no. So far, we’ve been lucky he hasn’t discovered you’re helping me. You know what he did to my bodyguard. I couldn’t stand it if he came after you, or hurt you too. All I can do is give you the evidence and wait for the right time to end this.”

“Please, Rabbit, he’s going to kill you.”

She swiped the tears away with the back of her hand and took a deep calming breath. “I need to do this my way. It’s the only way. Have you started making arrangements?”

Resigned to the fact she refused to let him come and get her, he resumed with their business arrangement.

“I contacted the Berringers. They told me about the cottage and the police. They’ll total the damages and send me the bill. They’ve agreed to throw out your belongings. Most were destroyed anyway. They’re worried about you.”

“I hope you told them how truly sorry I am for what happened. The rest, well, it was only clothes. Oh, if he didn’t destroy my computer, try to get that back.” Her mind shut out the pain and terror and shifted to more practical matters. Easier to think about the mundane than her crazy, evil ex. Time to put the attack on the back burner and get on with hiding again.

“I spoke to the police. They’re not happy you left. If you refuse to identify him as your attacker, they can’t move forward. Let’s file charges, fight him in court, and let people see what a monster he is.”

“He wore a mask and gloves. No prints. No other witnesses. My word against his. Play that scenario out in court and I lose.”

“We can build a case based on past behavior and the evidence we’ve collected.”

“It’s not enough.” She sighed, the weight of the last few years too much to bear right now. “Ben, I’m tired. Get me to a safe place.”

“Actually, I thought ahead this time and already have a place ready.” His voice was filled with how much he hated anticipating another attack and the need for a new place to run to. All he could do for her, all she’d let him do.

“Just so happens, a friend recently moved back to his family ranch in Hidden Springs, Colorado. A huge spread, about three hundred and forty acres. I’ve secured a cabin for you on the property. Jack says it’s away from the other buildings, across one of the pastures. He’s a friend, but he doesn’t know anything about you.”

“If he’s your friend, I don’t want to put him in jeopardy.”

“He’s an old college buddy. I haven’t seen him in years. When we ran into each other, I asked about his place and thought it would make a great hiding spot for you if you needed to run. I paid the rent for the next year. I’ll call Jack and tell him you’re coming. Don’t worry. You’ll be safe there. Jack is ex-military. He’ll protect you, Rabbit.”

“No one can protect against his kind of madness.” A chill ran up her spine. What she wouldn’t give to have someone in her life to protect and love her, instead of hurting her all the time.

“Either way, it sounds nice. Thanks for working so fast. I’ll spend the next few days driving around a few of the southern states. You know, the usual misdirection and roaming should get him, or anyone watching me, off my trail, so I can safely get to Colorado.”

“I’ll send your usual stuff to the ranch. You’ll have plenty of money and your accumulated mail. There’s a card from your mother. You should call her.”

“No. If she doesn’t know where I am, he can’t hurt her and get information from her. You’ve been checking on her? She’s okay?”

“All is well. I make sure she has enough money. She’s getting along fine. She has her friends and her Thursday night poker parties.”

Jenna thought fondly of her mother. She hadn’t seen her since all of this began. The thought of her sitting around playing poker with a bunch of rowdy men and women from work made her smile. Her mother, always the life of the party, loved with her whole heart and treated everyone as a dear friend. She missed their long talks and confiding in her. After her father died, they’d grown very close. Now, she didn’t let anyone close to her, not even her mother. He destroyed everything in her life, and she wouldn’t let him destroy her mother’s, too. “I miss her.”

“I know. I’ll let her know you’re okay.”

“Tell her . . . I’m sorry. I should have listened when she said he was no good for me.”

“He’s one of the wealthiest men in the country, who knew he’s such a bastard?”

“Money can’t buy you happiness, or sanity. Look at me. I got one of the largest divorce settlements ever awarded, and I’m on the run, hunted by my ex-husband. What I wouldn’t pay for peace and safety. But money can’t buy my way out of this. Nothing can.” She rested her forehead on the steering wheel. “Sorry, the past is haunting me. Thanks, Ben, for everything.”

“You know, Rabbit, Jack might be able to help you. Trust him.”

“I don’t trust anyone. Except you. I’ll call if I need anything, or if the hunt begins again.”

“I hate it when you say that. You don’t deserve this.”

“To him, I’m only the prey. Unless or until he kills me, I don’t think this will ever end.”

“Then let me do more than just find you a new place to hide.” His words came out tight with frustration.

“How is my project coming along?” she asked, reminding him he was doing more.

“Slowly.”

“Then all I can do is run. For now,” she said, hoping to placate him.

“Stay safe, Rabbit.”

“I’ll try, Ben.”

She disconnected the call and turned off the phone. Staring out the windshield for a moment, she tried to gather her strength for the long drive ahead.

Birds chirped in the trees outside. The neighborhood was quiet with charming houses that probably had loving families living in them. Just like the one she grew up in. Sad, she’d probably never have a home and a family of her own. He would never allow it.

Unless she stopped him.

Chapter Two

“T
HE POLICE DON’T
have a thing on you. They will not pursue the matter further,” David’s lawyer guaranteed.

David hit the END button on his cell phone. Attacked by a masked man, Jenna had survived, but couldn’t positively identify him . . . without lying, or making herself look the fool. The airtight alibi his lawyer supplied the cops ensured he wasn’t a suspect.

“They can’t touch me. I win again, Jenna.”

He smiled at his reflection in the shabby motel’s cracked mirror over the rust-stained sink, not far from Jenna’s most recent hiding place. He wrinkled his nose against the smell of stale beer, sweat, and moldy carpet. She’d brought him to this dilapidated place and it pissed him off. Already shaking from the adrenaline wearing off, he fisted his hands, blood dripping into the sink from the cut on his palm.

He moved his hand through the air, imagined cutting Jenna’s thigh again, and felt the rush of power and satisfaction that line of blood down her pale skin had invoked.

David inhaled deeply to settle the charge of energy memories of making Jenna pay unleashed in him. He smelled the blood, tasted its coppery scent on his tongue, and smiled at himself in the mirror.

No doubt Jenna was on the run again. Good. He so enjoyed finding her.

Chapter Three

J
ENNA SAT IN
her car outside a diner in Hidden Springs, Colorado. The last four days a haze of highways and back roads. She exhausted herself zigzagging all over the south before heading west toward Colorado. She changed rental cars three times, finally buying a new SUV in Kentucky. Ben arranged for the vehicle using one of her many trusts.

The trusts hid her name behind company after company. At this point, she didn’t know which were real companies, or just on paper. Ben hid her name and whereabouts, using the millions from her divorce settlement. Funny how the money she used to hide came from the very man who hunted her. The irony wasn’t lost on her.

In the last four days, she’d slept about ten hours. When she had to, she slept an hour or two in the car at truck stops, having stopped at only one fleabag no-tell-motel the first night to tend her wounds as best she could with her limited first aid kit. She would buy fresh bandages in town before heading to the cabin. She longed to be at the ranch, relatively safe, able to relax and rest.

The welts on her back and legs throbbed after sitting in car after car. The cut on her thigh pulsed with heat and pain, probably infected; no amount of ibuprofen took the edge off. She’d been eating it like candy. To top it off, she had a fever.

Jenna eased out of the car, careful not to move too quickly and send her back muscles into spasm again. Stiff, she limped on her right leg because of the cut. She slid on her sunglasses to hide the dark circles and bruises. She didn’t have anything to cover the cut above her temple, or hide the dark bruise along her jaw where he slugged her. She made her way across the street to the local grocery store. For the first time, she noticed the quiet street and picturesque town. She inhaled deeply the crisp clean air, hoping to revive her tired body and mind.

Surrounded by beautiful mountains, the town had an old west quality. The buildings weren’t large, but small storefronts lining the main street. In addition to the diner, the quaint storefronts offered a jewelry store, bank, ice cream parlor, hair salon, clothing stores, and antique shops. Just what you’d expect to find on Main Street in a small town. Benches and pots of red and white flowers sat in front of some of the stores and several people window-shopped.

The grocery store was the largest, most modern building with a big parking lot on the side. She shopped for bandages, medicine, and a few essential food items for the cabin. In a few days, she would come back and stock up. For now, the most important thing on her mind was mending her leg and getting some sleep.

The teenage checkout girl stared at her face, unable to hide her curiosity. She knew the picture she made; everyone she passed gawked. After all the times she had been bloodied and bruised, she expected the stares. In a small town like this, people would talk about the battered woman who came into the store, but they wouldn’t get involved.

She just didn’t care anymore. Not today. Her nerves were shot, and she wanted to get to the cabin before she really lost it. She paid the girl with shaking hands, grabbed her bags of groceries, and headed back to her car aware that people watched her every step.

J
ACK WALKED DOWN
Main Street with Sally to the diner and noticed the new SUV parked out front. Not many new cars in a small town like Hidden Springs. The woman sitting in the driver’s seat had her head back, eyes closed. At first, he thought maybe she fell asleep, until she shifted awkwardly and opened the car door. Moving more like an eighty-year-old woman, she eased out and limped toward the grocery store. About five-six, skinny as a beanpole and pale as a ghost. Though he missed getting a good look at her face, especially after she put on her shades, he did notice her nicely rounded curves. Her hair, knotted on top of her head, deep brown, until the sun shone on it, flashed red, like bark catching fire. He’d like to see it by firelight and watch it come to life. He shook his head to dislodge the thoughts taking root and shoved them away. He didn’t need complications in his life. Women were usually a complication—at least the ones he’d dated.

Still, he watched her walk, unable to help himself. Something about her drew him. Pale, but probably beautiful on a good day. Maybe she had the flu. It had been going around town for the last few weeks.

Jack entered the diner and took his usual back corner booth. Sally, his golden retriever, took up residence on his boots under the table and settled in for a late afternoon nap.

“Hey, Mary. How’s business today?”

“Not bad. A little slow right now, but the dinner crowd should be coming in soon. Do you want the usual?”

“Yeah. Thanks.”

Mary brought him his cup of coffee, saying his burger and fries would be out shortly. Jack read the paper, drank the strong brew, and waited for his lunch.

The bell over the front door rang and the young woman from the SUV came into the diner. Careful of her movements, she lowered herself onto a stool at the counter. Very pretty at a distance, up close, she made some ember spark to life inside him.

“I’d like a cup of coffee and a turkey sandwich, please.” Her hoarse voice reinforced his earlier assumption she suffered some ailment.

“Are you okay?” Mary asked.

“I’m fine.” She lowered her head and took off her glasses, laid them on the counter with her purse. Mary poured her coffee and put in her order with her customary efficiency.

Jenna put her shaking hands around the hot mug and drank deeply, hoping the coffee would breathe a little life and warmth back into her. Not many customers in the diner at this hour. The fewer people around her, the safer she felt. The other customers, including the nice-looking man in the corner, didn’t seem to notice her. Sandy blond hair, a day’s growth of beard, and the bluest eyes she had ever seen fixed on the paper he was reading. Relaxed in the room and with himself, he conveyed strength and confidence. Nothing bothered him. It was in the way he took up the space in the booth. She envied people like him. She used to be like him. Once.

Jack couldn’t stop staring at her over his paper. She turned her head his way and he stopped breathing. Dark circles under her eyes marred her sickly pale skin. A dark bruise bloomed along her jaw, and a bad cut ran up her temple to her forehead. He took a closer inspection. Bruises speckled her arms, several more on the part of her legs revealed beneath the hem of her skirt. Her green eyes and face remained blank.
What the hell happened to her?

Mary asked after her. She replied with an automatic
fine
, but Jack saw a lot during his life in the military and knew she was far from okay. She tried to hide it, but not very well. He wondered if he shouldn’t take her to the hospital. He checked the impulse to go to her and at least try to make her smile. She looked lonelier than he’d felt the last several months.