Whisper In The Dark (The McKinnon Legends-- The American Men Book One) (17 page)

Alright, so Robert did not follow her advice to vacate her property. She would just take it up with him in the morning, maybe over coffee if he promised to make her pancakes. It sounded like a good way to strike a truce.

Picking up the phone, she dialed his number figuring if she could not sleep, then he should be awake too. His men were the reason her heart was still pounding.

After several rings he answered, and she could see his sleeping was no issue. It was obvious she woke him.

“Hey, it’s me. Sorry to wake you. I forget some people sleep.”

Robert rolled over reaching for his watch resting on the nightstand to look at the time. He wondered if she ever slept. It was apparent to him that if she did it wasn’t much.

“Not a problem. Anytime. Why are you still up?” he asked rubbing his eyes. He had just drifted off after being relieved from his turn at watch.

“Working. Just like your guy in the barn. Cook me breakfast in the morning and I’ll forgive you,” she smiled through the phone.

“Done.” He never hesitated.

“Blueberry pancakes and bacon. I’ll do the coffee.”

“Did you say a guy was in the barn? That’s not one of mine. I pulled my men.” He was careful not to say that he was one of them.

“Oh,” she paused. “So do I still get my pancakes?”

Robert went dead still.

“Kate, did you leave the house and go outside? Shoot straight with me. Did you?” By now, he knew her well enough to know what she was capable of doing in the heat of the moment. It would be just like her to rush headlong out the door to deliver a royal tongue-lashing completely heedless of the danger to herself.

“No.” The lie slipped smoothly off her tongue, and for good measure she crossed her fingers behind her back.

That was her story for the moment and she would stick to it. So unless he absolutely backed her into a corner, she decided the lie was better than the lecture. Besides, she had the forethought to lock the kitchen door before venturing into the barn, so no one was in the house with her.

“I’m on my way, just hang tight,” he said tossing back the covers. “I’ll be there in less than ten.”

“No need, I’m fine, Robert. I guess it was just a shadow. Now that I think about it I did see a raccoon. That was most likely the shadows I saw.” That much was true.

Robert hesitated, not fully convinced, but he knew pushing her at the moment was not a good idea. He let it drop. The surveillance equipment had not alerted him to any movement outside normal perimeters. If she had left the house or someone was in the vicinity of the house, the perimeter alarms would have sounded. Everything was as it should be.

He pulled his men off her land. However, he was not a total fool. They were standing at ready just this side of the property line ready to roll at a moment’s notice if the alarms were to activate. He would do the best he could with the latitude she would allow him, which was not much.

He on the other hand had stayed hanging back in the deeper shadows until exhaustion forced him back to his ranch.

“Are you sure you do not need me to come? I’m more than happy to accommodate. I could slip into my jeans and be there in a snap.” Sitting on the edge of his bed and slipping into jeans and his boots he tried one last time.

She thought about those fringe benefits he offered and envisioned him standing there in his jeans with the top button of his fly undone.

“Oh, yeah,” she said softly, then groaned, inwardly wondering if she had said that out loud. “I mean, no. I’m calling it a night. I’ll see you in the morning.”

Robert listened as the phone went dead. He was still sitting on the edge of the bed feet firmly planted. His mind was another story as he vacillated on whether to stay or go to her. Lying back on the bed, he knew if he slept now it would be a miracle.

Deciding she had had enough for the day, Kate made her way up the stairs to take a shower and call it a night. Turning on the radio in the bathroom, she listened as the country music filled the air as the steam began to rise.

Throwing her clothes into the hamper and stepping into the spray, she closed her eyes against the heat of the hot water. It felt good against her skin. The lights flickered for the second time that evening making her jump, dropping the soap in the process. Lots of things no longer worked as they should in this old house. Thank goodness the hot water heater did.

Too bad the lights didn’t, she thought as she stood in the spray.

“Mental note to self,” she said rinsing the soap from her hair. “Add to the ever growing list of summer projects once we find the gold: new electrical wiring for the house, new roof, and paint.”

After relaxing tired muscles in the shower, she crawled into bed and sighed at the wonderful feel of the clean, crisp sheets. Closing her eyes and begging for sleep, she could not get the image out of her mind of Candice in Robert’s arms. Kate pondered her feelings toward the heiress, and if she were truthful what she felt was not envy or jealousy. She felt sorry for her, being unable to relate to such helplessness. However, she could see where she too might do almost anything to have a man like Robert, a man so dedicated he would travel the world and drop everything with just a single call. She wondered what it would feel like to make love with him.

Only in her dreams. And it never hurt to dream.

Robert walked out onto his balcony and watched the dry lightning as it veined cross the hazy night sky. Just like the spring night there was a storm brewing inside his mind and heart. He just had a startling dream leaving him restless and more than a little unsettled.

He had lost Kate, and for that brief second upon waking, he felt how empty life would be without her.

His heart was still pounding. Running his hands over his face and through his hair, he looked off into the distance toward the woman who he knew unequivocally was preordained to be his bride. It was in that moment of certainty that he saw the faint glow just at the horizon.

That is not the morning sunrise, he thought as it dawned on him exactly what was generating those warm hues on the horizon.

“Oh, Christ! Fire!”

He bounded down the stairs yelling for George to stay put. He was going for Katherine knowing it might already be too late. In his dream she had perished. The fire was already bright enough for him to see pillars of smoke rising hundreds of feet into the night sky.

Two members of the security detail burst into the house just as Robert was reaching for the door.

"Call 911!" Robert barked.

"I did as soon as I realized what was happening. Donnie is already on his way to the ranch to see if we can find Kate. We were just coming to get you."

"Follow me!"

By the time the fire department managed to collect the volunteers and make it to the ranch, it would be way past gone. Maybe he and his men could help keep it from spreading to the fields or out buildings. If they were lucky something might be salvaged.

Not even bothering to pull on a shirt, he jumped on his ATV and took off across the pasture, taking the shortcut he and Kyle used on a routine basis.

The heat from the fire was so intense that he could feel it yards away, satisfying its ravenous hunger by sucking the oxygen from the very air around him. It was worse than his worst nightmare. The old buildings were dry kindling with nothing to stop the hungry destruction. Fueled by the approaching storm with its prevailing southeasterly winds, the flames raged on. Embers the size of soda cans rained down singeing and igniting anything they touched. From his vantage point he could see the roof of the house was already engulfed, as ribbons of fire shot high into the night sky licking at the top branches of the live oaks shading the once stately home.

The Golden Circle was a living hell of fire and flame bent on total destruction of any living organism in its path. Already the house and several closer structures were without a doubt a complete and total loss.

He watched as flames bridged to the barn. Hungry and merciless the fire encroached at alarming speeds. He could hear the horses and milk cows screaming in terror. The blue healers barked frantically pacing the corrals herding the loose animals into a tight ball, keeping them from jumping the railings. They were safe for now, so he did not open the pens to let the animals run free.

He was thrown off the ATV and onto the ground as the tractor’s gas tank exploded from the sheer heat of the fire and igniting the explosive fuel. Searing pain shot through him as a piece of shrapnel hit him on his side. He did not have time to stop.

“Kate! Kate where are you?” he yelled knowing the deafening roar of the flames drowned any hope of his voice reaching her. If she had been trapped in the house she was already dead. It was a thought that sickened him. There was no chance of survival given the intensity of those flames. Windows melted and blew out from the heat, forcing him to hit the ground to avoid the shards of flying glass. The rupturing of old gas lines continued to ignite and provide food for the living creature that had taken the ranch into its jaws of molten death. The roof collapsed in a mighty crash as ten tons of burning rafter beams fell to the earth, giving in to the forces of gravity. The third and second floors now lay firmly at ground-level sending debris and embers soaring heavenward, billowing outward and spreading the fire even farther afield. The corn field was a blaze of orange and fiery red, with flames eating away at tender vegetation planted in hopes of salvaging the dying ranch and blocking any hope of his retreat.

Horses burst through the barnyard, running in terror as the fiery doors of the century-old building flung wide. Kate stumbled out not far behind coughing, covered in soot, carrying three squirming puppies in her arms.

His relief was total until she dropped them safely away from the flames and, to his horror, turned to go back inside the inferno. Seconds later another explosion rocked his world. The annex barn where the rest of the farm equipment was housed ignited sending the sides flying out in all directions. Thrown at terminal velocity, a massive storage container was hurled skyward, crashing back to earth, collapsing the north side of the barn where Kate had just retreated. The building leaned, groaning as if it were a living thing in pain. Its rafters and stalls held firm, but not for much longer. One hundred and fifty years of existence were being reduced to cinders in the blink of an eye, and he knew precious seconds were wasting. He had to get to Kate. The drive within him to reach her was as alive as the fires of the hell where he now found himself.

Sirens could now be heard off in the distance as the Johnson County Volunteer Fire Department answered the call. He had no idea how much time had passed since he saw the first tongue of flames lick the night sky. It did not matter. Time was of no consequence, and yet it was the most important thing of all. He needed time to get to her before the flames took them both.

“Kate? Kate where are you?” he called frantically, covering his face then dashing into the barn.

“I’m back here. Oh God, Robert, I can’t get this latch open!”

“For God’s sake, Kate, we don’t have time for this! We have to get out of here now! Leave them!”

“Please, please help me. You have to help me save her. She’s pregnant, and I cannot let her die. Not like this.”

Through the smoke he could see her at the end of the row of stalls trying to get the last of the stall doors open.

He knew from the direction and speed the flames were spreading she would be trapped in the conflagration at any second. The timbers of the rafters were giving way in a deadly rain of fire and ash. Dodging the gauntlet of falling objects, he kept his sights on her. Keeping as low to the floor as he could, he tried to keep his footing.

The horse wild with terror reared. The horse's right front hoof caught her, grazed off the side of her head, and sent her dazed to the dirt floor. He saw her falling in slow motion as time began to stop. Running, headless of the danger, he finally reached her. Freeing the latches holding the last of the stalls, the red-hot iron scalded the tender flesh of his palms as he swung the stall wide. Slapping the mare on the haunches and sending it flying to freedom, she was now on her own.

If she made it then she made it.

Kate was his future, and he would protect and save her even at the cost of his own life if necessary. Scooping her up, he dashed for the only way left to them now. Kyle once swore he needed to repair a section of this old barn which had rotted over the decades; Robert prayed he had not gotten around to doing those repairs to the back wall. It was their only hope of escape and survival.

Kicking through the rotten section of wall, he said a prayer of thanks for Kyle’s procrastinating nature as he pushed Kate, none too gently, out of the opening vowing to give his apologies later. The barn was going to collapse any second, and he was surprised it had lasted as long as it had. He carried his precious bundle as far as he could before the crash rocked the ground beneath his feet. Dropping to the ground and covering her body with his own, he protected her from the last of the falling debris grateful the angle of the collapse had been away from their retreat. They had escaped out the east side just a blink of an eye before the building gave way to the west.

Along with the last of the falling ashes of the old barn came the first drop of the rain.

Timing was everything.

Within moments the worst of the fire was extinguished, hardly before the fire department had unfurled their hoses from the pump trucks. Overpowered by the quenching waters of the heavy spring rains, the roaring inferno fizzled into nothingness and disappeared back down into the hell from which it came.

Kate took in a deep breath. The air was clean and crisp, a total contrast to the charred and blackened scene that had unfolded just a little earlier. She looked at the cinders and smoldering remains of the house while sitting on the steps of the bunkhouse wrapped in the silver thermal blanket the young paramedic had given her.