Broken Road (2 page)

   Devil repeated the directions in her mind to make sure she got some right.

   “As for the tickets I’ll have one of the guys bring some by for you then,” she said paying for the snacks and gas with cash.

   Devil put the gas pump back away and hoped in her trusty rusty truck. She started up the road and hoped for the best. The dark clouds didn’t promise anything good.

   The best wasn’t what she got.

   Rain came in a swift down pour the moment she turned onto the country dirt road from Marlo that would take her to the ranch. She flipped on the windshield wipers with a sigh of annoyance. She winced at the first crack of lighting that striked through the dark, cloudy sky.

   Half an hour later she turned onto yet another road. She found herself following more signs like the ones from Marlo. This one was a longer road. By now there was enough water running across the dirt road to call it a flood. Soon she turned onto the final dirt road to the ranch. It wasn’t much of a road, more like a rocky trail up the side of the mountain.

   Devil looked at the muddy water running down the road and hesitated. But her stubborn streak won over her commonsense. She shifted the rust bucket to four-wheel drive and put her foot on the gas.

  
I can’t let a little flood stop me now that I’m here. Lilla needs me.

Red, Winthrop’s newest ranch hand, ran to the porch of the ranch house and came in the screen door skidding to a halt. He was soaked from head to toe and he had a look of pure amazement and panic on his face.

   “What?” Winthrop snapped at him. He had just got the kid asleep after hours of crying.

   “Someone is walking up the mountain road, but not only that but they’re covered in mud too!” Red exclaimed.

   “Why did you come to tell me this,” Winthrop asked, his eyes narrowing on the younger man.

   Red stared at him as if he was mental for a moment and Winthrop wanted to throw something at Red. To
o
bad he couldn’t because he had the sleeping baby in his arms.

   “Why? Well 'cause it looked like a woman of course, and she was heading towards the ranch,” Red said.

   “What?!” Winthrop nearly yelled.

   The baby made disgruntled snort. Winthrop looked at the baby girl in horror. Would she wake up and cry again? But the baby settled back to sleep in his arms, snuggling closer.

   “What?” he asked quieter to Red with a glare that was known to wither any man.

   Red took a step back, holding up his hands. “A woman is heading for the ranch,” he repeated.

   “And you didn’t help her?” he asked after a moment of quieting his panic.

  
A woman.
And she was heading to his ranch.

   “No, Boss. I figured with your hate of woman and my need to rush back and help, not too. Plus she was almost to the ranch anyway. She’ll be here any moment I reckon.”

   Winthrop suppressed a shiver and told Red to go and help bring the horses in for the night. Red left to do as he was told and Winthrop went upstairs to put the baby down in his brother’s old crib.

  
What is a woman doing coming up here in this weather and coming to the ranch for? Was she lost?
Then a thought cross his mind that had him frowning.
Maybe it’s the kid’s mother.

   He went back down stairs and sat in his chair before the roaring fire and waited to find out.

…

By the time Devil tried to pull the truck out of the muddy ditch she was half covered in mud and soaked to the bone. Thank God it was a warm storm. Finally she gave up and decided to walk the rest of the way up the mountain road.

   Soon she had the ranch gates within her sights and a red truck zoomed past her at a speed that sent mud flying directly for her.

   Devil spluttered indignantly and slid a hand down her face to remove some of the mud. If she was mad about her truck before, now she was completely pissed.

   “Why in the hell is Montana weather such a pain in the ass,” she grumbled wiping away more mud.

   Lighting crashed across the sky with thunder to make her point clear.

   “And thanks for the help, you jerk!” She yelled after the truck that was speeding away, retreating up the road. Giving into her impulses for a moment she took off one of her boots and threw it after the truck.

   There was a reason she was a country singer rather then a football player. She sucked at throwing.

   Trudging up the road she scooped up her boot and dumped out the mud as she passed by. With every step she took her foot squished into the ground and she gritted her teeth. Devil muttered about stupid weather and a stupid sister.

   “You better hope you’re in real danger Wylde or I’ll kill ya,” Devil threatened as her foot sank into a deep mud hole. She toppled backwards and cursed as she laid flat in the mud.

   Montana, she deiced, wasn’t for her.

   The rain changed direction and was now pouring from the east. Droplets tickled Devil’s face and she sighed closing her eyes. She had always loved the rain for it calmed her, but the mud was nothing more then a pain in the butt. She took in deep breaths and soon she slowly got to her feet and walked the rest of the way up the mountain rode.  Soon she passed through the gates of the ranch and she spotted the grand four story Victorian ranch house and its fancy wrap-around porch. She knew where she had to go.

   Devil eyed the house curiously as she walked closer.

  
So this is where Wylde would have lived with Wade and the baby. The Canters must be big ranchers.

  
Lighting flashed over head once more and thunder rolled through the dark clouds echoing a secret promise. Horses screamed in terror drawing her eyes to a carrel where men were leading them into a giant barn. Devil watched them for a moment and was taken back to her early childhood years where she would spend a few weeks on her step-uncle’s ranch.

   She shook herself and headed for the ranch house. She slipped a little going up the stairs and came to stand at the screen door. For a second she caught a glimpse of a large man folded into a chair by the fire. She took a deep breath and knocked on the door.

This was it. This is where everything new was going to start.

   The man got up from the chair and came to the screen door. He opened it, eyed her and froze. His face was casted into the shadows of the dark porch, but he looked tall, well muscled and dangerous. And he looked just like Wade Canter in the photo.

   She put her shoulders back, if he was gonna act like a stiff business man, then so would she.

   “Who the hell are you,” he drawled in a deep smoky burr, “and why in the hell are you on my ranch?”

    “Mr. Canter. I am Devil,” she told him and lighting decided it would be funny and strike right after her words, as if she were the devil and speaking her name was a curse. “And I’m here for the baby.”

There was a knock on the door and then an awkward silence.

   Winthrop unfolded himself from his chair and stocked to the door. He peered out through the screen to see a thin figure on the porch in bad lighting. Frowning he opened the door and barked, “Who the hell are you and why in the hell are you on my ranch?”

   He froze when he got a better look at his little trespasser. She was a thin little thing and looked barely old enough to be in high school. She was coated from head to toe in mud and soaked to the bone, shivering. She even had mud smeared across her face. With the lighting he couldn’t see much else. But then she set her chin, looked him in the eyes and he nearly died inside for the third time.

   Icy blue eyes glared up at him, flashing with anger and she snapped back, “I’m Devil.”

   Lighting flashed in the sky and the thunder boomed as if in agreement with her words. Then her next words sank something else in his heart.

   “And I’m here for the baby.”

  
Oh brother…you didn’t…

   His frown deepened. Had she just called him Mr. Canter? She
had
just called him Mr. Canter as if he were his father’s age!

   “Kid, listen, I don’t know why you came to my ranch looking like that. But I sure as hell don’t know why you came talking about a baby,” Winthrop said with an easy tone. “Go home kid, you’ll worry your folks.”

  
Surely this isn’t the kid’s mom. She looks so tiny and young, but those eyes! The same eyes as not only Wade, but the baby too.

   “I came for Lilla, Mr. Canter. I assure you that I will not just take her away from you, understanding you are her family too. But I will have to take her back soon and as for your other demand I must say that I can’t,” the girl told him plainly.

   He couldn’t believe his own ears. She might as well have told him plainly to his face that she was a teen mom and proud to be one.

  
Oh go
d
…brother you didn’t,
he groaned inwardly again. But he knew the answer and it made him sick. The girl barely looked old enough for high school!

   Then what she said hit him.

   “You say you can’t what,” he echoed.

   “I can’t go home. I don’t have a home,” she replied as if that didn’t matter.

   “For Christ sake,” Winthrop gritted through his teeth, “I will not let you take the child if you don’t have a place to stay.”

   She crossed her arms over her chest, raising a brow at him. “Oh really? She’s all I have and you’re going to keep her from me?”

   Of all the crazy things he could think about doing, he knew what he was thinking was going to turn around and bite him in the ass.

  
But what choice do I have? My brother left her and the baby behind without telling me a thing!

  
Winthrop rubbed the back of his neck and sighed. “No, I couldn’t do that to you, but I can’t just let you take her. You’ll stay here for the time being.”

   The girl’s eyes widened and her mouth dropped open the briefest fraction. Her amazed expression told him that he had shocked her.

   Winthrop had only known her for five minutes and he had surprised her by being kind. It’s not like he had much experience with women in the first place, but now he felt ashamed at his lacking in knowing.

   A blush crept into his cheeks and he turned toward the inside of the house. He cleared his throat and said gruffly, “Come inside. She’s upstairs.”

   The girl looked as if she wanted to bolt straight up the stairs to the baby, but she stayed where she was on the porch.

   She played with a long lock of hair with dry mud on it, picking at it in a nervous gesture. “Um, well that is kind and nice of you but you see I’m all dirty. Is there a hose around here somewhere I could use to clean off with?” She bit her lower lip and almost made him groan.

   Just to end his torture he picked her up around the waist which caused her to squeak and then he promptly set her down inside the door.

   “Up stairs on the first floor there is a shower on your right. Use that,” he said walking past her to show her the stairs.

   “Clothes? I didn’t bring any,” she said worried.

   He rubbed his face. “I’ll find some.”

   She walked up a few of the stairs and turned around.

   “Thank you for taking care of Lilla for so long, Mr. Canter,” the girl said with a small smile and went up stairs.

   Winthrop waited, tensed, until he heard the shower start and then he sat back down in his chair. “Brother what have you done, you son of a bitch,” Winthrop groaned into his hands. “She’s just a little kid!”

   Then why did he feel stirrings for the girl in his heart too?

   He slammed a lid on those thoughts. Best not go there. He had other problems to take care of. Like his niece and her young mother.

Devil scrubbed furiously at the mud caked in her long hair and sighed in frustration. She had been in the shower less then ten minutes and it hadn’t relaxed her at all. Mr. Canter wasn’t the same man he had been in the picture. He looked older, years older, more roughened then the young grinning man had. He was also bigger and taller then she would have first thought, built like a pro boxer for all the
muscle he had. He was most defiantly
over six foot five and he was Native American to boot with long black hair in a ponytail and darkly tanned skin. He looked older then the happy young man in the picture, looked like a man who hadn’t smiled or laughed in a lifetime.

   “Stop thinking about him and focus on Lilla,” she scolded herself.

   When she had lost her nerve and turned weak, his silvery blue eyes had flashed with annoyance. And damn it if she didn’t want to sock him in the face for it.