AlmostHome (15 page)

“It’s okay, baby, whatever it is, we’ll get through it. You
hear me? No matter what, honey.” She nodded as he rocked her. “You want me to
fix you a cup of tea? Your Aunt Jack used to say there wasn’t anything you
couldn’t fix with a cup of hot tea.”

“That would be nice.”

He swiped at her tears with his thumbs, brushed a soft kiss
on her swollen mouth. “One hot tea coming up.” He rose, looking down at her.
“And then you’re gonna tell me what happened.”

“Yes.” She shuddered and Wyatt’s jaw tightened. Someone had
hurt his woman and she knew he had it in his mind that someone would pay, was
probably trying to figure a way to keep him from going after the bastard.

He took his time brewing the tea just the way Jack had
taught him, then sweetened it with a dollop of honey. His hands shook as he
carried it into the great room and sat it on the table.

“Give it a minute to cool.” His gaze moved up and down her
body, assessing the damage, real and imagined. “Can you tell me what happened?”

There was no getting around it, she had to tell Wyatt everything.
Lloyd Mattson would undoubtedly be in touch with the Travis County Sheriff’s
Department and Lloyd wouldn’t keep anything from Wyatt.

“I’ll kill him!” Wyatt exploded off the couch, heading for
the door.

“No, please,” Haley wailed. “Please don’t leave me. Don’t
leave me here alone.”

His hand froze on the doorknob. He was torn. Every instinct
in his body told him to drive to that dirt ranch outside Austin and kill that
son of a bitch, Rafe Winslow. But one look in Haley’s pleading eyes changed his
mind. She needed him more than he needed revenge tonight. He released the
doorknob and went to her, guiding her to her feet. “Come on, sweet pea, let’s
get you upstairs and into a nice, hot shower.” She followed like a lamb,
holding on to him for dear life. “You are not to leave this ranch without
somebody with you, Haley. If the police don’t find Winslow, you won’t be safe
alone. I need your word on that.”

He spotted her bruised breast and his jaw clenched. Rafe
Winslow was a dead man.

* * * * *

“Well boy, what’d she say?”

Conner leaned back in his chair, trying to gauge his
father’s mood. “Said she’d have to see if her foreman needed any more hands.
And that she’d have to discuss it with Wyatt.” His father scowled. “Of course,
since Rafe had the bright idea to break in to her house and steal her emergency
money, I don’t reckon she’ll look kindly on the idea.”

Kent waved off his words. “Who the hell is Wyatt?”

“He’s the neighbor I told you about. Him and Haley’s getting
married.”

Kent Kilpatrick sat still as stone for a good two minutes
before he spoke. “Ain’t no way we’re letting that happen, boy. And what the
hell happened to your face?”

Conner shrugged. He knew his pa hated it when he did that
but there wasn’t much he could do about it, locked up like he was. If he
reached across the table and smacked Conner, his parole would be revoked before
he stepped a foot outside the walls of the prison.

“Your buddy, Rafe, happened to my face. Haley was at my
place when I got home yesterday afternoon. Rafe had her up against the wall,
fixing to rape her. I couldn’t let him do that. And as for her getting married,
don’t see how we can stop it.” Conner met his father’s piercing gaze. “Besides,
she’s in love. Ain’t never seen her this happy. Not ever. I figure she deserves
it.”

Kent bared his teeth and Conner slouched in his seat. “I
don’t give a fuck if she’s happy and I don’t give a fuck what you figure she
deserves. She inherited all that money and property and I aim to have some of
it for myself. She owes me.”

Conner got up the nerve to shake his head. “She figures
she’s done enough. I reckon she has.”

Kent balled his hand into a fist and pounded the table.
“Good thing I never left the figuring up to you, you damn pup. Elsewise we’d
have nothing. I gave that little gal life and I can damn sure take it away if
she don’t do right by us. I reckon Rafe will know what to do. You tell him I
said the time for being subtle is over. Send a message she’ll hear loud and
clear. He pointed a finger at Conner. “You’ll keep out of it boy, if you know
what’s good for ya. Your sister’s gettin’ too big for her britches. She needs a
lesson she’ll remember. And if she don’t, I’ll deliver one she’s sure to
understand when I get out.”

* * * * *

Conner brooded all the way back to the run-down ranch he’d
called home since his pa went to prison. Over the weeks Rafe Winslow had been
living with him, Conner had become increasingly uneasy, if not outright
fearful, about the man. Winslow didn’t work but he always had money. The women
in the surrounding area sure seemed to like him, even though he was rough on
them. Night after night, Winslow would come home, a new woman on his arm.
Always pretty but never too bright. And night after night he’d hear the noises
coming from Rafe’s room. Sometimes, he couldn’t tell if the screams were
pleasurable or painful but Conner could hear the sounds of flesh striking
flesh, then loud moans followed by the headboard banging against the wall at a
frantic pace.

Last night, after the visit with his pa, Conner had gone out
drinking and when he got home had walked in on Rafe slapping around a petite
blonde. The look he’d given Conner when he’d attempted to intervene had chilled
the younger man’s bones. Worse, Rafe pulled a wicked looking pistol out the
waist of his jeans and pointed it at Conner. When Conner raised his hands in
defeat, Rafe had simply grinned, tightened his hand in the girl’s hair and
guided her to where Conner stood.

“Now,” Rafe had growled to the girl. “You get on your knees
and open my roommate’s pants. You’re gonna suck his dick.”

Shocked, Conner had protested. “Now hold on there, Rafe, I
don’t want—”

Rafe had cocked the gun and pointed it at Conner’s face.
“Don’t give a fuck what you want, pretty boy. Rebecca here’s gonna suck you
off, ain’t that right honey?”

“Yes, Rafe, whatever you want.”

Winslow had looked down at the top of girl’s head and
smiled. “That’s right, whatever I want. See, this here’s a woman that knows her
place. Not like that wildcat sister of yours. It’ll be a shit load of fun
teachin’ her how to treat a man. But as for this one, I met little Rebecca
hitchhiking. We took to each other right off.” Then he’d narrowed his deadly
gaze on Conner. “She sucks your dick, that makes you an accessory to anything
that might happen later, best lock your knees boy.”

“No siree.” Conner took a step back. “Go on and shoot me if
you want because I ain’t havin’ none of it.”

Rafe’s laugh sounded so evil it nearly penetrated to the
bone. “Well, looks like you got some balls after all, Kilpatrick.” He motioned
to the hallway with his pistol. “Go hide in your room and listen. We’ll talk
later.” He hoisted the girl to her feet by her hair. “Come on, sugarplum, let’s
me and you go have ourselves a little party.”

Later, he’d laid in bed, listening to the girl’s feeble
pleas for mercy and thought himself seven kinds of coward for not helping her.
But he knew, in the deepest, darkest part of him, that Rafe had gone over the
edge into something so horrible, he’d have shot him dead if he’d tried to
interfere. Somewhere before dawn, he heard Rafe’s truck roar to life. When he
got back, he was alone and Conner knew he’d never see the girl named Rebecca
again. Conner knew he wasn’t the brightest bulb in the lot but he knew one
thing for sure. He had to get away from Rafe Winslow and he had to warn his
sister that serious trouble was heading her way.

Chapter Ten

Haley yawned and stretched, coming awake slowly after a
night of completely mind-blowing sex. She’d practically had to beg Wyatt to
make love to her, he’d been that worried about her mental condition after what
she’d been through with Rafe Winslow. But she’d used all her newly acquired
womanly wiles on him and gotten him so worked up, he’d sworn he was going to
show her every trick in the book. She sat up, sniffing the air. Coffee. And was
that bacon? How great was it to have a man who didn’t think it was beneath him
to cook his woman breakfast? She stretched again and pulled on Wyatt’s shirt
before padding to the bathroom. She was just washing her hands when the pounding
on the front door started and she heard the panicked voice of her brother. She
scurried back to her room and dressed quickly.

“Conner? What’s going on? Oh my god, your poor face.”

Her brother’s frame practically sagged with relief. “Thank
god you’re okay. I was afraid he might’ve got to you.”

“Winslow?” She rushed to him. His face was white as a sheet,
one eye was almost swollen closed and there was a cut on one of his protruding
cheekbones. She swiveled toward Wyatt. “Could you fix something for Conner?”

Wyatt’s brow puckered with worry. “Sure darlin’. You like
scrambled eggs, Conner?”

Conner visibly shuddered and went even paler than he already
was. “Maybe some toast.” Haley gently guided her brother to the kitchen island
and eased him down onto a barstool. “Tell me what’s happened, sugar.”

Tears leaked from his eyes and shook his head. “He…I think
he killed her.”

Haley looked up, briefly meeting Wyatt’s eyes. “Who, sugar?
You think Winslow hurt someone?” Conner sniffled loudly and Wyatt yanked a
paper towel from the role and gave it to Haley, who stuffed it in Conner’s
hand. “Honey, I can’t help you if you don’t tell me what’s wrong.”

Conner nodded. “Wouldn’t put nothing past him,” he babbled.
“The son of a bitch. Not after what he tried to do to you. I know I ain’t been
the best brother to you, Hales, but…” Haley shushed him and brushed the hair
back from his forehead and let him continue. “I swear, his soul’s blacker than
a midnight skillet. You just don’t know what he might do. He…uh…he brung this
little gal home last night. I walked in on him while he was smacking her
around. I went to step in and he pulled a gun on me. Then he grabbed her by the
hair and shoved her on her knees in front of me. Said she was gonna,” his
cheeks turned crimson, “you know. Said that made me an accessory.” He held up
his hands as though warding off the memory. “I told him he’d best go on and
shoot me right then and there because I wanted no part of it. Thought he might
actually do it but he just laughed and told me to go stay in my room.”

Haley’s heart broke for her brother and the poor woman. Dear
lord, what had her father brought down on them? How could he do such horrible
things to his own flesh and blood? To plan on marrying her off to that animal,
Rafe Winslow? To send a hardened criminal to ride herd on his only son. He was
a soulless bastard and Haley found herself wishing he’d just up and die in
prison. Sinful as such thoughts were, Kent Kilpatrick’s demise would allow her
and Conner to heal. Maybe allow them to become close again.

“Shhh…hush that crying now and get on with the story so we
can figure out what to do.”

Conner sobbed again. “I didn’t want to, Haley. I wanted to
help her but he had that gun and I think he would’ve shot me if I’d tried to
stop him.”

Haley looked at Wyatt and shook her head in disbelief. “Then
what happened?”

“I went to my room and I listened to him abuse that poor
girl all night long, feelin’ like an asshole. Sometime before dawn, he left.
When he come back, she wasn’t with him.” The gaze he turned on his sister
filled her with pain. Tears leaked from Conner’s eyes and he hung his head. “I
think he might have killed her, Haley. After he went to sleep, I hightailed it
here to warn you. Something bad’s fixin’ to happen.”

Haley got up and poured her brother a glass of milk to go
with the toast and scrambled eggs Wyatt had made for him. Conner was a pitiful
mess. Half starved, scared to death and looking for his sister to protect him
from a maniac. It was typical Conner but she couldn’t bring herself to turn her
back on him. Not when he’d intervened on her behalf and taken such a horrible
beating for his trouble. Conner hadn’t tried to step up and protect her since
he was a boy and it meant something to her that he was willing to do so now.
Maybe he was finally growing up.

“Come on, now, you need to get some food in your belly. I
swear, you look like the dog’s been keeping you under the porch.” She could
tell he wanted to deny his hunger but that ended when Wyatt put three slices of
bacon on his plate. She patted his back. “There’s more eggs in the skillet,
sugar. Me and Wyatt’s gonna go out to the porch and talk about what we need to
do. When you’re done, you come on out.”

“We got to call the sheriff,” Wyatt told her. Fearful as she
was over what might become of Conner, she nodded her agreement.

“Do you think he’ll say Conner’s an accessory to whatever
happened?”

Wyatt shrugged and sat down in a sturdy rocker, pulling her
onto his lap. “Don’t think so, especially since Conner’s coming forward to
report it. And he didn’t let the girl touch him. Besides, we don’t know that
this Rafe Winslow actually killed the girl. He could have done all that just to
intimidate your brother, keep him in line.”

Haley snuggled against Wyatt’s chest. Her favorite place to be
in the whole world was curled up against the man she loved. Somehow, no matter
how bad things got, all Wyatt had to do was put his arms around her and she
instantly felt safe. “We need to call Dooley and gather the hands together.
Conner and I are both a threat to Winslow. My pa, too. If he can’t get his way
by scaring us into doing what he wants, he won’t think twice about sending
Winslow after us.”

“So you think this guy will follow your pa’s orders?”

A shiver ran down Haley’s spine. “Yeah, I think he will. He
all but admitted he killed Snoop. And my daddy promised him something big. Me.
If that plan don’t work out, you can bet he has a backup.” The front door
opened and Haley smiled up at her brother as he stepped onto the porch. She
wriggled off Wyatt’s lap and sat on the bench, patting a spot beside her. “You
get enough to eat?”

“Yeah. Thanks.” Haley could see it took all he had to do it
but he looked Wyatt in the eye. “And thank you. For the food and for not
throwing me out when you seen me at the door.” He took a deep breath, blew it
out. “So, I reckon we ought to call the sheriff. See if anyone’s missing that
girl. Boy, I sure do hate thinking he might have killed her.”

Haley raised her eyebrows. The last thing she’d expected was
for Conner to volunteer to call the authorities.

“Me too and hopefully she’s okay.” She reached for her
brother’s hand. “Come on inside and get yourself cleaned up, sugar.”

Wyatt followed them in. “Give him a pair of my jeans. They
might be a little loose but I reckon they’ll do. I’ll call Lloyd while Conner’s
getting cleaned up. Then we need to gather the men together.”

* * * * *

Haley shook hands with sheriff Lloyd Mattson, and Clay
Sparrow of the Texas Rangers. Never in her life would she have imagined having
a real Texas Ranger in her living room.

“Y’all come on in. Can I get ya a glass of tea or
something?”

“Tea would be nice, Ms. Kilpatrick,” Mattson said. “I want
you to know, we’re gonna do whatever it takes to make sure you’re safe here.
And since this case crosses jurisdictions, we went on ahead and got the Rangers
involved.”

Haley smiled. “Well, I appreciate you thinking about my
safety, Sheriff, I surely do but right now I’m more worried about my brother.
This Rafe Winslow, Conner’s crossed him by coming to me and we’re worried
Winslow might try and hurt him.” She brought two glasses of sweet tea into the
living room and handed them off to Mattson and Sparrow. “Please, make
yourselves comfortable. Conner’s talking with Wyatt and Dooley but he’ll be
right in.”

As if on cue, her brother entered the room and took a seat
beside her on the couch. Wyatt and Dooley joined the group and Conner began to
explain what had gone on at his house the previous night.

Haley quickly poured three more glasses of tea, putting them
on a tray. Her worst nightmares were coming true. Hadn’t she always known that
Pa’s lifestyle would put her and Conner in terrible danger? Of course, she
hadn’t expected something like this…murder. She’d always been afraid of Kent,
for good reason, but she’d always figured he had some spark of love for his
children. How could he not? A shiver ran through her and she tightened her grip
on her emotions before she cried in front of the men like some little kid.
Would it never end, this constant fear of what her pa would do? Would she ever
have a normal life? Peace? She was beginning to doubt such a thing was
possible.

“All I know,” Conner was explaining, “is when he come back,
she wasn’t with him. He could have dropped her off somewhere. He told me she
was a hitchhiker. Maybe he figured nobody would be looking for her.” He
shrugged, looked at his sister, then back to the two cops. “Add that to Haley’s
dog being beat to death, and how mad my pa was, I got to think maybe Rafe
killed that girl.”

Clay Sparrow spoke up. “Mr. Kilpatrick, do you have any
problem with us searching your place?”

Conner shook his head. “I got no problem, sir, but if Rafe
is there I don’t reckon he’ll like it much. But if you got something I can sign
to say it’s okay, I’ll sign it.”

Sparrow scratched his goatee. “Well, we’ll be wanting to
check his room, so I expect we should go on and get a warrant. Considering what
you’ve told us, I think we got probable cause to think a crime was committed in
that house but we’ll keep it legal.”

Conner bowed his head. “Yessir. Lord, I hope he didn’t hurt
that girl. I shoulda done something. I shoulda made him stop.”

The sheriff spoke up. “Son, from what you’ve told us, if
you’d done that, you’d be laying on an autopsy table right now. Bare knuckles
ain’t gonna stop a bullet.” He turned to Wyatt and Haley. “Y’all had best
gather your hands and let them know there could be more trouble heading your
way. We’ll do what we can to get you some protection but the budget ain’t gonna
allow for much.”

“We understand,” Wyatt said, taking Haley’s hand in his.
Haley knew if they had any good sense at all, they’d get out while the getting
was good. Before her pa decided to send Winslow after them. But Wyatt just
squeezed her hand reassuringly and kept on talking. If he wasn’t ready to give
in, neither was she. “We’ll keep her safe. Just—is there anything that can done
to keep Kent Kilpatrick in prison?”

Mattson sighed. “I don’t see what, son. I don’t doubt y’all
when you say he’s behind all this, I ran a check on him and he’s a bad one, but
we got no proof he done anything wrong. Best we can do is monitor his phone
calls and see who visits him.” He turned back to Conner. “In the meantime, you
need to go on back to your place. Tell Winslow you came to see your sister
about a job. Your daddy wanted you on the inside, so if you can let them think
you’re working here that’ll give us a line on what his plans are. That
something you’re prepared to do, Ms. Kilpatrick?”

Haley looked from Wyatt to Dooley, both of whom gave her
terse nods. Her first instinct was to shout “No”, tell them it was the worst
idea she could think of but how else could they get Conner out of there safely?
Winslow was probably already fuming that the law had been out to the house.
After all, the man was a known criminal who now had an attempted rape charge
pending—if the cops ever caught him. Problem was, as far off the road as that
dirt ranch was, Winslow would have no trouble spotting someone coming. He could
easily hightail it and become part of the surrounding landscape until they gave
up and went away. She tuned back into the conversation. “Sure. Conner can go on
back and collect his gear. He can go visit Pa and let him know he’s got a foot
in the door.” Her voice gentled. “You can do that, can’t you little brother?”

Conner nodded. “I’ll see what I can find out what happened
to that girl too.”

“Okay, but you be careful. Don’t make Winslow suspicious. I
don’t want you getting hurt again…or worse.” She gave her brother a hug and
kissed his cheek. “Go on then. I’ll see ya back here in a day or two.” She
handed him a hundred dollars, knowing it would probably go to her father.
Embarrassed, Conner took it, nodding his thanks.

Haley and Wyatt stood on the porch and watched a dejected
Conner drive away. Wyatt gave her a shoulder squeeze.

“Lord, I hope he’ll be all right,” she said worriedly. “He
ain’t exactly the sharpest tool in the shed.” Wyatt kissed her cheek and she
smiled.

“First thing we need to do is make sure the hands understand
they need to stay alert and well armed at all times,” Wyatt said.

Haley looked around. There was no place on earth prettier
than the Texas hill country with its rolling green pastures, sparkling streams
and strong trees. There were also so many places a man could hunker down and
not be seen as he sniped at innocent cowboys doing their jobs. The danger of
their situation didn’t escape her and she felt cold, despite the rapid heating
of the day. Her eyes skipped from hillock to hillock. Was Winslow out there
now? Had she and Wyatt been in his sights while they spoke to the sheriff and
the Texas Ranger? If so, would Conner be safe when he went to collect his
belongings? So many questions and too few answers.

“I swear. Never thought I’d see the day when I was living in
an armed camp.”

* * * * *

The first thing Conner saw when he pulled into the dusty
yard was Rafe Winslow’s old truck. He resisted the temptation to lift up the
worn tarp in the bed, fearful of what he might find.