What Lies Between (35 page)

Ben looked and acted less like an enemy than any I’d known, but seeing him as an enemy was easier than any other option. And right now I needed easy options. What would have happened if I’d asked for his help instead of Jason’s? I would never know.

Jason’s help always arrived with a hidden cost that snuck up and bit hard. Although I didn’t know yet exactly what he would try to extract from me in return for his help or how far he would push me, I did know he would do all he could to ensure I paid in full.

19

“Not as good as the salmon I grilled up for you yesterday at the river, huh?” Jason asked, leveling an intense gaze across the inn’s candlelit table, attempting to divine my thoughts.

My appetite couldn’t do justice to Pete’s salmon and roasted vegetables. Jason had no trouble clearing away his food and throwing back a couple more pints, making it at least four he’d downed. I questioned my judgment in spending the day driving around the area with him and now having dinner.

Buck up, girl, you need his help and you can manage any garbage he pulls.

“It’s pretty nice, what you’ve got here. Glenbroch is worth a decent chunk of change. You did good.” He leaned forward. “You know, I’m having a good time with you, but it could be better.”

Picking up my wine glass and holding it in front of me in a feeble attempt to physically block Jason’s innuendo, I kept my voice level. “My birth father died. There’s no
doing good
about it.”

“You barely knew him. You couldn’t have felt much about his death. He didn’t even own up to paternity when you found him, right?”

I didn’t answer, regretting the personal things I’d told him that drunken night at the conference.

He finished off his beer in one long swallow. “What are you doing going fishing with the man who is trying to take your business? That MacIver has a temper. I don’t think you can trust him.”

I couldn’t stifle a snort—talk about lack of self-awareness. “I’ll give you a year, but that’s all.”

Jason reached across, laid his hand on mine. “Why do you push me away? Why not let something good into your life?”

How could I answer honestly? “We both signed an agreement that states precisely what I want from you.”

Flopping back against the booth and stretching his body along its length, he said, “You had other people, other options, but you asked me for help. There is more on the table here than just business, always has been.”

If he thought I had other options, I didn’t want to let on I didn’t. “Just business is all I’m interested in, Jason.”

“Whatever you want to call what’s happening between us is your choice.” He lifted his glass. “To the future.”

I could feel Maggie’s glare, lifted my glass more in defense of my decision than in a toast, and repeated, “To the future.”

“That’s my girl.”

I closed my eyes, trying to talk myself out of blowing up at him. I opened them and smiled sweetly. “Could you get me a whisky? They’ll know which one at the bar.”

“Of course. Good idea. Let’s take the edge off.” He slid out of the booth and leaned close to my face. “It will be better than you’ve even dreamed.”

He brushed my face with his fingers, gave me a wink, and I nearly threw up in my mouth. Oblivious to anything but his own desires, he thought that I wanted the drink to get in the mood. I needed it to forget why I was I sitting here with him, listening to his come-ons. He was far more cocky and nasty than he’d been at that conference. I had gotten myself into a real mess.

Whatever it takes.

The door of the pub opened and Ben appeared, with Jim right behind him. They spotted me and headed over to our table.

Jason’s expression darkened when he caught sight of them as he returned to the table, but I was elated at their arrival.

“Thanks for taking care of things for me so I could spend the day out with Jason and show him around,” I said to Ben.

“If I’d known that was what you were needing the time for, I would have been looking after the to-do list on my own land.”

Jim put his hand on Ben’s arm. “Let’s get a pint, lad, and some food.” He turned to me and Jason, nodded. “Mr. Marks, Ms. Jameson.”

“See you later, Jim,” I said, not wanting them to go.

Jason slid into the booth and watched them walk away, disdain settled on his face. “You need someone over here who knows business, not some old-fashioned geezer who calls someone a lad. You’ll never make Glenbroch into a success hanging around with these types,” he said, jerking his thumb in the direction of Jim and Ben.

Teeth grinding in anger, I pressed my lips together to keep from yelling exactly what I thought of Jason at the top of my lungs. The night went downhill from there. With every pint, his talk grew more inappropriate and his hands were on some part of me more often than not. I downed another double whisky, but it wasn’t strong enough to numb the churn in my gut at the thought of Jason’s body on mine. I couldn’t take his disgusting fantasy any longer, but I needed to be diplomatic.

“I’m going now, Jason.” I stood and grabbed my handbag from the peg at the end of the booth. “I need to get some rest.”

I dug in the bottom of the purse for my keys, searched my coat pockets. Ben’s head swung in my direction and our eyes met. The clink of metal drew my attention away from his gaze. Jason held up my keys, swinging them back and forth.

“You’re too drunk to drive. You’ll have to stay with me.”

“I will do no such thing. Hand me the keys.”

“No can do, Ell. It would be highly irresponsible of me, don’t you think?” He stood up and threw on his coat. “You can come back to the place I rented. I’ll bring you to your car in the morning.”

“Absolutely not,” I said, turning toward the bar.

Having bumped into two tables on my way to talk to Maggie, even I could see my reactions were too far gone to drive.

“Maggie, I need a room for tonight.”

“I don’t have a room open, hen,” she said. “Your man there looks right pished. You be careful.”

There was an edge to her voice. I didn’t believe her about there being no vacancies. She was angry; it was all over her face. Glancing around at the standing room only crowd, I conceded a large group of travelers had indeed arrived in town. Regardless, Maggie wasn’t going to rescue me, having decided to let me lie in the bed I’d made. I looked down the bar, at Jim and Ben, who had their backs to me. I’d have to take care of myself.

Jason pulled on my arm, led me out of the pub.

“I need you to take me home.”

“Your home is uninhabitable right now. Did you forget?”

For some reason I wanted to hide the fact that I was staying in Ben’s cottage and didn’t reply.

I climbed into the passenger’s seat as if going to my execution.

Jason leaned over and pulled my seatbelt around me. “Ell, it will be okay. Relax.”

“No, Jason, to everything about whatever you’re thinking. Take me to Glenbroch. I’m staying in the steading.”

“There’s not a chance I’m taking you to an old stable. Besides, you know you want to come home with me.”

“Take me to Glenbroch. I mean it.”

The icy air mixed with fear, and the concoction woke up my adrenaline. The tone of his voice, his insistence, his calling me Ell. He wasn’t listening.

I reached for the door handle. Locked. Before I could make a move to unlock it, he tore out of the parking lot into the pitch black Highland night. Maybe he was taking me to Glenbroch. He soon turned off on a lane that didn’t lead to my house.

“Stop the car,” I demanded.

“You’re going to stay with me tonight.”

“Jason, stop the car or take me to Glenbroch.”

“I said that’s not going to happen. You need to quit fighting me, Ell, stop fighting what is between us.”

“No, I am not staying with you. This is your last warning. Stop the car and let me out.”

“Warning?” He laughed, his lips curling back over his perfectly shaped, huge mouth of white teeth shining in the light thrown back by the headlights.

I was in trouble. My hand found the lock and pushed it without him noticing. The twisting, single track road was keeping the car’s speed relatively low. I had jeans and a long-sleeved shirt on. I would be all right. Praying the whisky would ease my fall, I opened the door.

My body hit the ground with a jarring thud, knocking the wind from my chest. My body turned over and over, the road digging into my exposed skin. When I stopped moving, I lay still, swirling and disoriented. Where was I?

The brake lights of Jason’s car came into view, casting an eerie red glow over the road. I was half-way in the ditch, and he was walking in my direction. 

Get up.

“You always fight me, Ell. Never will give in to what you want. You’re crazy, but it kind of turns me on, if you want to know.”

This wasn’t going to end well. Any thought of his help with Glenbroch was gone. My hand gripped the handle of my bag. Glad for once it held too much stuff, I scrambled to my feet, willing my head to clear its lingering dizziness. Lifting my bag to get a feel for its weight, I was grateful I’d procrastinated about cleaning it out.

“Foreplay is great, Ell, but let’s get back in the car and get to my place. You’re making me hot, but you’re being a drama queen.”

Right now, I needed to stand my ground and fight back. I was stunned for a moment at the clarity: I would rather fight the MacIvers and lose controlling ownership of Glenbroch than lose myself in Jason’s twisted idea of business. The thought of being with him racked my body in a shudder of disgust.

“Ell, sweetheart, let’s go.” He was nearly to me now. “It’s freezing out here, and it’s gonna ruin my mood.”

He reached out to stroke my hair. I tightened my hands around the handle and swung my purse, catching him on the side of the face and knocking him sideways. He tripped over a tree branch, fell onto the road, and rolled over to get up. I picked up the branch, more deadly than the purse, and swung it into his back before he could stand.

“No! I’m not going with you. Get away from me!” I screamed. In spite of the icy air, sweat poured into my eyes.

He jumped up faster than I thought a human could, grabbed my arm, and dug his nails into my wrist until the branch fell to the ground. “It’s about time I give you what you have coming.” Foam from his spluttering, beer-stagnant mouth landed on my face.

I wiped my face with my free arm. “Don’t threaten me.”

He tried to kiss me, but I jerked away before he could get his mouth on mine. My hand hit him in the throat but not fast enough. He held both my arms, yanked me close. “Ell, you know I don’t threaten.”

He pressed his lips so hard on mine I could taste blood seeping across my tongue. With my arms pinned by his, I couldn’t fend him off.

“Don’t touch me,” I managed to mumble.

He lifted his mouth from mine. “It will be the best you’ve ever had, and you can have it all the time.”

The stale stench of his breath in my face sent waves of nausea through my stomach. “You are the last thing I want. I will tell you one more time: No! Do you hear me? No! Get your hands off me!”

When I didn’t move, he tightened his grip, his fingers digging into my skin. I cursed the cry that ripped itself from my mouth. But my instincts responded, rushed into the fray, whiting out sound, fear, cold, and firing old survival nerves—the gifts of my past. Jason was going to find out what
No!
meant.

The thick heel of my boot smashed the top of his foot. Surprised, he released my arms. I shoved him, turned to run. He caught my arm, spun me around, his fist glancing off the side of my face, his ring catching above my eye. He pulled me back against him and pressed his lips into mine again, his body hard against my stomach. He was turned on. This wasn’t simply a guy with a big ego. Jason was the worst kind of man. I let my body go limp in hopes he would relax his grip. It worked.

I shoved my knee into his groin and he bent forward. Swinging my shoulder into his chin and ramming him with my body, I sent him hard into the stone wall lining the road. His back smacked against it with a thud and he sank to the ground.

“
No
means don’t touch me. Ever again. And don’t call me Ell!”

Jason staggered to his feet, but instead of lunging toward me, stormed to his car and swung his body into the driver’s seat. As he accelerated away, he yelled out the window, “You just made the biggest mistake of your life!”

Maybe, but it was the kind of mistake I could live with.

Moonlight fell over the road in the distance, its glow beckoning me forward. I hurried my steps to get out from under the clouds clustered over the spot where I had fought him off.

I had never thought much of Jason, but I’d believed he had more pride than to want someone who had outright rejected him. Yet I knew that wasn’t what this was about. Images darted through my brain of the eagle picking off the lamb, the salmon hanging on Jason’s fingers. Jason always got what he wanted, and what he wanted was to take, dominate, use, and discard whatever was left when he was done. Why would I think for a second this wouldn’t apply to me?

Between him and John, I had managed to end up with two formidable enemies when all I wanted was to claim my inheritance and live a reasonably simple life.

My head told me Ben could not be entirely on my side, but he would never physically hurt me like Jason intended to. Ben would merely do as his father expected; this threatened my home and way of life all the same.

What exactly
did
his father expect of him? I needed to step back and look at everything with a fresh perspective. More than being driven by his inability to stand up to his father, from what I’d seen Ben was driven by trying not to be like John. A damaging weakness, but it supported my gut feeling that Ben would be the least likely co-conspirator with John. Who would be the most likely? That was easy.

I took my gloves out of my purse, the frigid night air reminding me I had forgotten to put them on. My stomach growled, the only sound other than the scuff of my feet on the dirt road. At least I wanted food after what happened, a good sign. The roll from the car had scraped my skin in various places, but my injuries were minor compared to what could have happened.