In the Arms of a Stranger (Entangled Ignite), page 5
“It’s all right.” She was sure she answered too sharply. “I’ll wait—”
“I’ll radio it in if I can’t figure it out. I worked for the phone company years ago. Hate to leave you out here without power or a phone.”
She gritted her teeth, hoping he couldn’t see her dismay. Panic was more like it. “Oh, yes, sure.” Lame, lame, lame! She just wasn’t any good at—what? Deception? She’d lied to Brooks so many times. She was hiding a man she knew nothing about. Good Lord, if she was no good at deception, it wasn’t from lack of practice. “Though I do have my cell phone.” He didn’t need to know she could never get a signal here.
“Still. Can’t hurt.”
She stepped aside, all the while wondering where JP would hide. She pointed to the lamp table as Ron came in. “There’s the landline.”
The lights came on suddenly. She jumped, startled.
Ron chuckled. “Storm gotcha jumpy, Abby?”
She tried to laugh, tried to breathe around the insanity of the last hour. She managed a shaky, “Yeah.”
He just shook his head. “It’s been a long night. Tornado touched down at the north end of the county. Ed Miller’s barn pretty much blew apart—”
“Mommy, I have to go,” Cole said, squirming and holding the front of his shorts. “Hurry! I don’t want the lights to go out again.”
“You go ahead with Cole, Abby. I’ll check the phone.”
As she turned, she saw a stain on the rug under the coffee table. A dark stain where JP had fallen. Mud, she guessed. She hoped Ron wouldn’t see it. Why hadn’t she thought of something to stop him from coming inside? But she’d had no choice. Ron would know something was wrong if she’d kept him from helping her.
Reluctantly, she followed Cole down the hallway.
She half expected to find JP in the bathroom, but he wasn’t there. Cole went through the entire ritual, which included lingering way too long as he washed his hands, while her nerves screamed for him to hurry. When he finished, she went back to the living room. Ron wasn’t there. She fought back panic. What if JP had passed out again? What if he’d done something to—?
No, that wasn’t possible. He hadn’t hurt her, he wouldn’t hurt the older man. “Ron?”
“I’m checking the phone in your bedroom,” he called.
Relief at hearing his voice was instantly replaced by gut-wrenching dread. What if he and JP bumped into each other? Ron was no match for a young, trained officer. She grasped Cole’s hand and rushed to her room.
Ron sat on her bed fiddling with the phone on the bedside table. “You didn’t hang it up right, Abby. That’s all.” He put the receiver back onto the cradle and stood.
“You’re kidding.” It had worked when she spoke with Sam. Cole had probably bumped it when he got her pillow. That was the only explanation, but she couldn’t say that to Ron. “I must have bumped it. Maybe when I”—when I what?—“took a nap,” she finished in a rush.
Before she said anything else totally dumb, she walked into the hallway.
Ron followed.
“Daddy takes naps,” Cole said.
Everything inside Abby screamed to stop, turn around, and try to explain what Cole was saying. She kept walking.
“Your daddy?” Ron asked from behind her.
“I’ve told Cole his daddy liked to take naps.” She turned, praying Cole would say nothing more.
Ron frowned, looking puzzled.
Desperation clawed at her thoughts. “So he’ll take a nap,” she added quickly, relieved to have a response make at least some sense.
He stared at her for a few seconds, then grinned. “Good idea. I’ll tell my daughter to try that with her boy.”
She continued down the hall toward the front door, half listening to Ron. Something ahead on the hardwood floor glistened under the hall light. She stared, mystified, and started to bend to wipe it up when she realized what it was.
Blood.
Oh, God. That had to be JP’s blood.
He was hurt. That was why he looked so bad—why he’d fainted. But where was all the blood coming from? She hadn’t seen any blood on him…but the power had been out. She wouldn’t have seen it.
Ron was saying something, but she missed it. She kept walking, desperate to get rid of him. “Thanks so much for solving my phone problem, Ron.”
“No need to thank me. Glad I could help.” He looked around the living room.
Was there more blood? Her gaze sought out the stain on the carpet. It wasn’t mud. Damn!
“Anytime,” Ron was saying. “I know how hard it’s been for you since, well, Wade…” He looked sorry, as he always did when he spoke about Wade. “Can’t be too careful, you know, livin’ out here all alone. You shouldn’t be without a phone.”
“Yes, you’re right.”
“You watch out. Keep your doors locked,” he said as he stepped onto the porch.
Was he warning her? Had he been looking for JP?
Good heavens, she was losing it. He’d been Wade’s friend; he’d cared enough to check on her. He was simply telling her to be careful. Nothing more.
“Seen anyone out this way tonight?”
Brooks. She’d seen Brooks. But if she told him, Ron would ask her questions she didn’t want to answer. “Like who?”
“Sam told me a new vet was coming around,” Ron said. “You seen him?”
“No,” she replied with a shake of her head. The truth felt wonderful.
“Hope he knows to be careful.”
“Careful?”
“Of that damn bull. Sam said you’d penned up Petunia. Don’t know why Amos keeps that animal. Making you board him when he’s hurt seems mighty selfish of Amos.”
“I don’t mind helping Amos out. Petunia doesn’t act up around me, and I’m sure Sam told the new guy to be careful.” He should know any vet worth his salt could handle the bull.
“Well, that’s good. I’d hate to see you get hurt just ’cause you helped a neighbor.” He slapped his baseball cap against his leg. “I hear Steve’s taking his boy and Cole up to the mountains to go fishing. You going?”
“No,” she replied, pasting a smile on her lips. “Just Steve, his son Stevie, and a friend of Steve’s. I’m getting together with some girlfriends for a few days.”
“Hope they have a good time.” Ron pulled on his hat. “Who’s watching out for Buck?”
“Carey’s son. He’ll feed our cat, too.”
He nodded. “I’ll be on my way then, Abby. Take care.”
“Thanks again,” she said as he got into his pickup. She stood at her front door, clutching Cole’s hand, as Ron drove slowly down her driveway. As soon as the truck’s taillights disappeared behind the trees, she tugged Cole back in and ran down the hall, checking the rooms, calling softly. When she didn’t find JP, she ran back and checked the dining room and kitchen.
“He went bye,” Cole said.
She stared at her son, fighting back a cry of dismay. Damn!
JP Blackmon had vanished. And with him, any hope of getting her answers.
Chapter 4
The next morning, Abby woke up sore and tired. She’d spent a sleepless night twisting and turning, fighting the overwhelming urge to chase after JP—if she only knew where he’d gone. But she had to deal with practicalities.
After breakfast, her brother, Steve, brought a chainsaw to cut up the fallen limb that had prevented her from getting to the highway the night before. She and Cole climbed in his truck and rode to the barn with him to meet the tow truck.
When the garage guy towed her car out of the mud, he saw JP’s car in the creek. That brought a sheriff’s deputy over, who called Ron and another man from Search and Rescue. They checked out the car before giving the okay to pull it out of the creek.
“You didn’t see this car last night?” the deputy asked. He tipped his sheriff’s hat at the driver as the tow truck headed to the impound lot, hauling JP’s car behind it.
“You’re kidding, right?” she replied, afraid he’d know the truth. “I could barely see anything.”
Where could JP be? How far could he have gotten, wounded and without transportation? If it weren’t for Cole, she would have chased after him last night. But it would have been a fool’s errand. If JP didn’t want to be found, he wouldn’t be. Certainly not by her.
“You haven’t seen it around here before?” the deputy pressed.
“No. I’m pretty sure I haven’t.”
“About all you can count on Abby to remember about a car is the color,” Steve said with a laugh. “She has to see the Ford or the Chevy logo before she knows what make it is.”
The officer chuckled. “I’ll run the plates, but I guess the owner will come back and claim it if he’s interested.”
JP wouldn’t be back. She’d never know what happened to him, just as she’d never know what had happened to Wade.
Ron, along with a younger man Abby didn’t know, walked back up from the dirt road. The young man climbed into Ron’s small pickup.
“We searched downstream in case a body washed up,” Ron said, joining them, He swiped at the sweat on his temple with his arm. “But looks to me like the driver walked away.”
“Might have been one of the men working Carey’s place,” Steve offered.
“Nah, I asked,” the deputy said. He thanked Ron, then, turning to her and her brother, he added, “I’m headed back to the office, folks. Have a good one.” He climbed into his cruiser and drove off.
“We’ll be movin’ on, too,” Ron said. “When are y’all leavin’ to go fishin’, Steve?”
“This afternoon. Storm put us behind.”
“You let Buck and Petunia out yet?”
“Steve let Buck out,” Abby replied. “But we’re waiting for Sam to check Petunia’s stitches. He tore himself up pretty badly when he ran through Amos’s fence this time.”
“Crazy bull,” Ron said. “He’s nothing but trouble.”
“Amos keeps hoping he’ll learn,” Abby said with a sigh. The animal definitely had a bad temper.
“See you folks later,” Ron said, climbing into his pickup. “Have a great time fishin’. Abby, you gonna be around?”
“No, I’m going out of town with some friends.”
“Oh, yeah. You told me. Well, drive careful,” he said, and waved.
She and her brother watched Ron’s progress down the long driveway to the road. Cole ran out of the barn, where he’d been visiting the barn cat.
“Muffin has kittens! Can I go see Petunia?”
“We’ll wait for Doc Sam to come over then we’ll all go,” she replied. “We’ve got to release Petunia once Doc checks him out.”
“’Kay,” Cole said, taking her hand and swinging it.
With her son’s small hand in hers, Abby’s frustration over not being able to follow JP last night evaporated. What had she been thinking? The most important thing in her life was Cole. Nothing else mattered.
That thought made her second-guess letting him go on the fishing trip. What would her days without Cole be like? What if he missed her? What if—“Steve, maybe I should go with you.”
“Now, Abby. We’ve been through this. He’ll be fine.”
“I know, but—”
“We’ll call. I promise.”
“But the cell connections are bad. You said so.”
“We’ll find a way.”
“But—”
“Abby, honey,” Steve said, taking her hand. “Cole’s going to be just fine.” He gave her a quick hug and pulled back, his eyes serious. “You need a break, baby sister. A girls’ getaway with your friends is just what you need.”
Gravel crunched behind them. Both turned to see Sam O’Neil drive up, a passenger beside him.
“Doc.” Steve greeted the veterinarian and the younger man with him.
“This is Pete Avery,” Sam said, and introduced them all around. “Abby and Steve’s father was the local vet for years before I took over. Pete’s here to help me out for a few weeks.”
Pete shook hands with them. He looked no older than a high school student. Very young. Blond hair, blue eyes, friendly.
“Please call me Abby,” she said when he called her Mrs. Price.
“Let me show you my prize pain in the as—behind,” Sam said, leading the younger man toward the barn. “We’ll see about those stitches.”
“I’m going to get cleaned up,” Steve told Abby, wiping the sweat from his face. “You have Cole’s things ready, right?”
She nodded, still feeling unsure.
“Then I’ll come by and get him and we’ll be off. The boys are gonna love fishing and hiking,” Steve said, ruffling her son’s hair.
“Yeah,” Cole said with a wide smile and waved as his uncle left.
Her baby. She had to let go a little. But it wouldn’t be easy. He was all she had left.
She walked through the barn and looked into the corral, which was partially covered by the barn’s overhanging roof. The Black Angus bull with the ridiculous name, standing in full sun, turned his massive neck and faced them.
“Wow! He’s beautiful,” Pete said as she joined them at the rail.
“Talk to him, Abby, before he starts having a fit,” Sam said.
Abby started her usual nonsense. She’d learned the tone from Wade, from the way he gentled a spooked horse, from the way he always treated Buck. It didn’t matter what she said, it was all in the tone she used.
“How’d he get injured?” Pete asked.
“Ran through a barbed wire fence, then dragged it a few hundred yards before he stopped. I quit counting when I reached one hundred stitches. And it’s not the first time. He’s good breeding stock, or I don’t think his owner would keep him. Abby boards him when he gets hurt since he behaves pretty well here. No cows around, so the big boy stays put.”
“How long do you keep him?”
“A week, usually. Amos Farley will be out to get him today or tomorrow,” she said.
“You can take the stitches out then,” Sam said. “You’ll need Amos’s help. Abby’s going out of town.”
Pete nodded and walked along the metal corral railings to get a better look.
“Only other continuing case I have right now is Ida White’s mare. She had a bad time foaling last night in the storm.”
The men kept up their conversation but Abby only half listened as she continued to murmur nonsense to Petunia. Cole let go of her hand and ran back into the barn. As she turned to watch, she thought she caught a movement from inside the feed trough, which stood inside the corral, in the shade.
Curious, she moved closer. Petunia stomped the ground and snorted.
Dragging her attention back to the big bull, she started talking again, struggling to think of something to say besides, “Be a good boy, now.”
There. The hay shifted slightly in the trough. Was that a touch of blue beneath the hay?
Her heart stopped. Her mumbled words faded away.
“Man, oh, man, look at those stitches,” Pete said.
The bull moved closer to the trough.
“He looks good. I’ll let him out.” Sam climbed up onto the rail next to the gate. “Y’all go on into the barn. No point in waving a red flag in front of him.”
Abby stood frozen, staring at the trough in horror. The hay shifted again. Could she really be seeing blue jeans? Suddenly, it hit her.
Oh, my God. JP!
“Abby? You okay?” Sam asked.
They had to get Petunia out of there!
“Y-yeah,” she stammered.
“He’d really charge us?” Pete asked, eyeing the bull with new respect.
“In a heartbeat,” Sam said.
“Let’s go inside,” she insisted, grabbing the young vet by the arm and tugging him into the barn.
Sam opened the gate. The bull tossed his head, turned back to the trough, and grunted.
Oh, God. Abby sucked in a terrified breath.
“Come on, boy,” she whispered.
Petunia spun abruptly and charged out into the pasture. Sam closed the gate so the bull couldn’t come back into the corral.
Pete walked back toward them, smiling at her. “Where’d you learn bull whispering?”
Who cares? She wanted to scream at them to leave. She couldn’t take her eyes off the trough.
“Abby?”
“Oh. Um…” She jerked her gaze away and turned to walk back through the barn, forcing them to follow to continue the conversation. “My late husband taught me.”
At last they reached Sam’s truck. The men climbed in. “See you when you get back,” Sam said with a wave, and they drove off.
As soon as they were gone, Abby rushed back to the pen and stopped in front of the trough. It was a miracle he’d managed to stay hidden. She didn’t want to think about how he’d gotten in there in the first place with Petunia roaming the corral.
She crossed her arms and said, “Come on out. I know you’re in there.”
A bit of straw slid away from around his eyes, but he didn’t move. Simply stared up at her.
She shook her head. “Are you completely insane?”
…
JP listened carefully. He had to be doubly sure there was no one else around.
“Will you come out? No one can see you,” she said in the tone of an irate mother.
Mothering was not what he wanted from her.
He barely had time to register the thought before she reached down and brushed aside the rest of the hay that covered his face.
“What made you think you could hide in here?” Her hands swept the straw from his chest.
He sat up, wincing at the pain in his side. “It worked, didn’t?”
“Stupid things sometimes work,” she replied, fingers grazing his thighs as she pushed aside more hay. “That was stupid and dangerous.”
She was actually scolding him. The only people who’d ever done that were his mom and his older sister. He didn’t know whether to be mad or amused.
“Are you still bleeding?”
He frowned. “How did you—”
“You dripped blood all over my house,” she said, lips compressed. “Everyone’s gone. Let me take a look at whatever’s bleeding.”
He didn’t want her looking at his wound. Didn’t want her anywhere near him. He should be long gone, on his way to following a trail that was over a year old, now that he’d learned she knew even less than he did about Wade’s actions.
