Rancher's Refuge (Whisper Falls) (4 page)

Still, it had been a wasted three hours.

Dogs circling his legs, Austin led the horse from the barn into the corralled lot and turned him loose. The other horses lifted their muzzles, winding their friend. Cisco moseyed away to stick his regal head in the feeder and have breakfast.

Austin’s belly rumbled in response. He was ready for breakfast, too, his single cup of coffee a distant memory.

He crossed the backyard and stepped on the porch. A bacon scent greeted him as he opened the door into the kitchen. He paused, confused for a second. Cassie left for work at eight and besides, she never cooked breakfast—or anything else for that matter.

Annalisa, a spatula in her good hand, stood at the cook stove frying bacon. Tootsie sat at her feet, fuzzy peach face upturned in eager anticipation. At his entrance, Annalisa glanced over one shoulder. Austin’s stomach went south.

Hunger could do that to a man, he thought, annoyed that the reaction might be anything else.

“What are you doing?” She was a guest. A hurt guest. She shouldn’t be cooking.

Her smile was tentative—pretty, though, in the way it lifted beneath her cheekbones and pushed up the corners of her long, mysterious eyes. She’d carefully draped her hair around the edge of her face, but he still saw the shadow of a bruise from temple to cheek. Saw it and tensed.

“I noticed the bacon on the counter and thought...” The blue eyes skittered from him to the frying pan. “I don’t know. Maybe Cassie put it there.”

“Cassie doesn’t cook.” He’d laid the meat out to thaw, expecting to fry his own breakfast.

Her gaze snapped back to his. “I figured out that much for myself. Are you hungry? This is almost done.”

Austin shifted on his boots. The situation was awkward to say the least. He wasn’t accustomed to seeing anyone all day and that’s the way he liked it. Conversation at nine in the morning was not welcome, and he was lousy at it anyway.

More than that, Annalisa made him uncomfortable, made him fight some irrational inner desire to go out on a limb. To do something stupid.

He considered denying his hunger and going back to the barn, but his belly wouldn’t let him. The smell of bacon was a siren song he never refused. Tootsie, the little beggar, agreed. He always fried an extra slice or two for her, although he’d never admit such weakness to Cassie.

“I’ll make fresh coffee.”

“Already did.” She hitched her chin toward the pot, dark with fresh brew.

Shucking his coat and hat, Austin poured a cup and sipped. “Good coffee.”

You would have thought he’d given her a ribbon at the state fair. She beamed at him over the popping bacon. “I wasn’t sure...”

She didn’t seem sure of anything much. Just like him, he thought wryly.

He set his cup aside to pull a carton from the fridge. Tootsie trotted over for a look.

“Eggs?”

She nodded. “How do you like yours?”

“Cooked. However you take yours is fine.” He popped four pieces of bread into the toaster.

They moved around the kitchen in tandem, a surprise to Austin because he was accustomed to being alone and doing everything for himself. The poodle frittered around their feet, staying out of the way but making sure they didn’t forget her.

In minutes, Annalisa set two filled plates on the table.

“Milk or juice?” she asked, sounding like a waitress. Her eagerness provoked a sympathetic response he didn’t want.

“Sit down and eat.” He dragged a lattice-backed chair away from the table and pointed. Annalisa sat. So did he. Tootsie plopped at their guest’s feet. Not his as usual, hers. Like Cassie, the dog had already turned traitor on him.

Fork in hand, he stared at Annalisa across the round table. “You look...better.”

She looked more than better. She looked good. Too good. Other than the shadowy bruise and the arm cast. The swelling was gone from her lip and only a small dark spot remained where her lip had bled. In a set of Cassie’s yellow salon scrubs, she looked like a flower in a sunny field, and her golden hair curved this way and that around her face just begging a man to touch.

“I slept pretty well all things considered.”

He certainly hadn’t. “How’s the arm?”

“Heavy, but not hurting.”

“You didn’t have to do this.” He waved his fork around the table. “Cook, I mean. I fend for myself.”

He leaned down with a piece of bacon to lure Tootsie to his side. She trotted over, plopped on her curly bottom and took the bacon with dainty teeth. Cassie had stuck a red bow next to the dog’s ear, a ridiculous thing that made Tootsie look sillier than usual.

“Breakfast was the least I could do to repay you. You and your sister... I don’t know what I would have done...” She clammed up, focused on her filled plate.

Austin plowed into his breakfast, watching her, thinking. Why didn’t she just come clean?

Finally, she lifted her fork and ate, too.

After a long silence, she put her toast aside and did the trifold napkin trick before dabbing her lips. He tried not to notice those lips, shiny with bacon grease and just the right shade of pink.

“I’ve been thinking about my dilemma,” she started.

He was thinking about the same thing. Only problem, he didn’t know exactly what her dilemma was.

“I looked for your purse.”

She blinked in surprise. “Oh.”

“I didn’t find anything. But you know that, don’t you? I didn’t find the bag because it’s not out there.”

A pink flush crested her cheeks. Her gaze dropped to her plate, but she didn’t respond.

“Look, lady, I don’t know you. I don’t know what your problem is, but lying isn’t the answer.” Tempted to demand she shoot straight or hit the road, he poked a strip of bacon in his mouth. Cassie would have his head if he kicked Annalisa out today. He’d promised three days, and even though he chafed with that knowledge, he’d stick by his word. Three days and no more.

“I could have looked for a month, and I wouldn’t have found your purse, would I?”

When she just sat there, eyes down and silent like a condemned prisoner, Austin got mad. Jaw tight, he raised his voice and growled, “Would I?”

She jerked and pulled her arms in tight against her body. Oversize eyes stood out against a pale face. Tootsie abandoned Austin and rose up to rub her nose against Annalisa’s thigh.

Even a dog was better with women than he was.

In a whisper, Annalisa admitted. “No. I’m sorry.”

Her reaction made Austin angrier. She acted like a kicked dog. She was here on his ranch, eating his breakfast. The least she could do was talk to him.

“Just spit it out. Why were you hiding under Whisper Falls? Why are you alone in a strange place without a car or money or a phone number to call?”

Annalisa sucked in her bottom lip. Her chest rose and fell and Austin had the awful feeling she might tear up. He tightened his grip on the fork. Give him a bucking horse and a kicking cow any day over a crying woman. He shouldn’t have yelled. She was already scared of something.

Reining in his frustration, he lifted a hand in a plea of peace. “I had no right to yell at you. Your business is yours. You don’t have to tell me anything.”

But that awful nagging voice in his head said he couldn’t keep her safe if he didn’t know the enemy. Visions of Blair circled in his brain like vultures waiting to pick at his wounds. Enemies come in all shapes and sizes, some of them within.

A pulse of tension throbbed in the space between Austin and his houseguest. He watched a dozen emotions move over her face and didn’t understand any of them.

As if she needed the contact, Annalisa absently stroked Tootsie’s fuzzy head.

Austin’s arms itched with the need to hold her, to send her demons fleeing. The thought shocked him to the core. He’d vowed never to get that close to a woman again. In less than a day, Annalisa had him thinking insane thoughts.

Yet, the yearning did not subside.

In a voice so low, Austin had to lean in to hear her over the hum of the fridge, she said, “I’ll find another place to stay. Don’t worry about me.”

Too late.

“I said you could stay here for a day or two.”

“But you don’t want me.”

Oh, yes, he did. The notion came out of nowhere, a notion so bizarre and undesirable that Austin was tempted to run out the door, mount Cisco and ride as far and fast as he could. Right behind the idea came another. Give her money. Send her away.

Yes, that’s exactly what he’d do.

“There are a few bed-and-breakfast places in town. I’ll give you the money. You can pay me later.”

“I couldn’t.”

“Do you have a choice?”

Blue eyes flashed up to meet his. He saw defiance and defeat in the same glance. “Not at the moment.”

“All right, then. It’s settled.” He leaned back, almost sighing with relief. After breakfast she would be out of his life, out of his house. Gone.

Cassie would have a fit.

Annalisa rose and began gathering up the dirty dishes. The poodle followed her.

“Leave those.”

“I want to do them.”

She went to the sink and he followed, noticing then what he hadn’t before. She’d been up a while and she’d been busy. The vacuum cleaner sat next to the broom on one wall. How she’d managed to use either with one arm befuddled him, but she had. The clothes drier buzzed from the utility room, and he realized she’d done laundry, too. That explained the yellow scrubs.

As he put away the butter and jelly, she ran water to wash the dishes. One thing he’d say for her, she might wear sissy shoes, but she wasn’t lazy. Even with one hand, she was willing to earn her keep.

He bumped her out of the way. Dishes with one hand would take too long. He had work to do. “I wash. You dry.”

She didn’t argue but took up a dish towel and waited, leaning her cast on the counter—a splash of lime green against black-and-brown granite. “Do you know any place in town I might find a job?”

Austin frowned. “You’re planning to stay in Whisper Falls?”

“Maybe. It seems to be a nice, quiet town.”

“You have family here?”

She pressed her lips, looked away, moody. “No. No family.”

Odd, he thought, to relocate with no family, no job, no personal belongings. “I can ask around.”

“Thank you.”

He held out a cup and when she reached to take it, he didn’t let go. Her gaze fluttered up, startled, and he saw panic rising.

“What are you afraid of, Annalisa? No one here will hurt you.” He knew as sure as he knew her eyes were the purest blue he’d ever seen, someone
had
hurt her. “Who did this? Who hurts you? Your husband? Is that it? Are you running from your husband?”

The last part stuck in his craw, a wad thick enough to choke him.

She stared at him across the cup that joined their hands. A tiny muscle twitched beneath her cheekbone. Finally, she licked her lips and whispered, “Boyfriend.”

Austin released the cup along with the breath he hadn’t known he was holding. He vacillated between relief that she wasn’t tangled up with an abusive husband and fury at her jerk of a boyfriend.

“He broke your arm and dumped you out at the waterfall?”

“I ran. He pushed me out of the car and tried to...” She bit down on her lip, eyes wide with the painful memory. “I ran into the woods, praying he wouldn’t follow me.”

“Did he?”

“I don’t think so. I think he’ll go back to San Diego without me.”

“San Diego?” That explained a few things. His mystery lady was a long way from home.

“We were on our way to a conference in Nashville. James likes to drive, to make a vacation out of business trips.” Her lips twisted. “To rip off the big bosses anytime he can, although he has all of them fooled. I saw the sign about the waterfall and wanted to see it.”

“What happened?”

She lifted one shoulder as if the load she carried was too heavy. “James doesn’t need much to lose his temper. Hopefully, he went on to the conference.”

“But you aren’t sure? He could still be around, maybe in town waiting for you to show up again?”

“Possibly.” Her lip trembled.

Great. Just terrific. “Was this the first time he hurt you?”

“No.” Her face darkened with a fierce determination. “But it’s the last. I won’t go back. I won’t see him again. No matter what he does.”

Rage boiled in Austin’s gut. If he could get his hands on that jerk... “Maybe you should call the cops.”

Not that he wanted anything to do with cops.

Hands raised in a defensive gesture, she jerked back in panic. “No! Please. I can’t. Don’t say anything. I’ll leave here today and won’t bother you again. Only promise you won’t tell anyone, especially the police.”

“A scum like that shouldn’t get away with hurting a woman.”

“The police won’t help. Trust me. I’ve tried.”

In a way, he understood her reluctance. The police weren’t always helpful. Sometimes they were dead wrong.

Austin gazed into her pretty face and saw fear. He heard the tremor in her voice and the desperation.

A heaviness came down around him, a cloak of responsibility and dread. He knew what he was about to do and he didn’t like it one bit.

No matter how much he wanted Annalisa Keller to leave, he couldn’t send her away.

For the next few days or weeks or months, until his conscience would let her go, Annalisa was here to stay.

Chapter Four

A
nnalisa braced the broom beneath her cast and swept the porch with her good arm. Tootsie, the funny little poodle, darted back and forth, growling and nipping at the broom straw.

Three days had passed. Three days that would have been pleasant if not for the ax hanging over her head. Her time at the Blackwell ranch was up and she had nowhere to go.

Each morning, Cassie went off to work at the Tress and Tan Salon and didn’t return until dinnertime, usually with a pizza or other fast food. Last night, after a meal of takeout tacos, she’d painted Annalisa’s toenails. Annalisa glanced down at her bare feet, smiling a little at the orange-and-black tiger stripes. She’d forgotten how much fun a friend, or a sister, could be. She and Olivia had done that kind of thing. A long time ago.

With a sad ache beneath her rib cage, she paused to look out over the peaceful yard, thinking about the strangeness of life. She missed Olivia with a depth as raw as her emotions. How had she let anything or anyone come between her and her only blood kin?

She had a plethora of questions, most of them for herself. How had she ever come to be here, in this place, at this moment? If she hadn’t asked to see the waterfalls, James wouldn’t have gotten angry, and she would have gone right on to Tennessee and then back to California. Maybe. Or maybe he would have become angry about something else. Sooner or later, he always did.

Yet in some twisted way or for some twisted reason, she’d thought herself in love with him. What was wrong with her? Where had her life gotten off course?

“God, I am so broken,” she whispered to the wispy clouds. “How can I ever put myself back together when half the pieces are missing?”

The sky didn’t answer and the gnawing emptiness in her chest spread. Fear and yearning had been her companions for such a long time that they’d supplanted more positive emotions. She’d become a black hole, devoid of joy.

Yet, two strangers had thrown out a life preserver. Reluctant though he may have been, Austin Blackwell and his sister had done more for her in three days than the man to whom she’d given her love and her life.

But her time was up. Somehow she had to find a way to make it on her own without help, without James.

At the memory of her ex-boyfriend, dread, like an iron weight, pressed down on her shoulders. Tension tightened the muscles of her neck.

She glanced to the right and then the left, irrationally afraid that James would come crashing through the brush and find her.

A slight breeze ruffled the leaves of a nearby chinquapin oak, bringing with it the scent of moist, fertile earth and gathering autumn. Peace and quiet reigned here in the remote Ozarks, but she struggled to relax for more than a moment at a time.

If she was jumpy here, how would she feel once she left this ranch and the people who’d given her a modicum of safety?

Acorns thudded to the ground and a pair of squirrels raced down the shingled bark after the feast.

Tootsie gave them little more than a glance.

By sheer force of will, she focused on the poodle and closed the mental door on James.

“Lazy,” she murmured, gently touching the dog’s paw with her toe. Tootsie rewarded her with a doggy smile and bright button eyes. “Nothing like your master.”

Each morning after a shared breakfast, Austin made himself scarce. She wondered if he always worked without stopping, or if he was avoiding contact with her. She felt guilty to think she might be keeping him from his usual routine. This was, after all, his home, his solitude, which he apparently preferred to her company.

Who could blame him for that? She was the interloper. No doubt, Austin Blackwell considered her a pathetic excuse for a woman and couldn’t wait to get her out of his house. She’d talked to him about James which was probably a mistake. She still didn’t know why she’d opened up, considering she’d never told anyone.

“Desperate measures,” she murmured and earned a cocked ear from the comical dog. She’d needed the Blackwells. She needed them still, but the fact remained, Austin had given her three days.

To repay their kindness, she’d cleaned and cooked and done laundry. None of that was enough, of course. She had to move on. Even though Austin hadn’t mentioned the three-day limit again, self-preservation dictated finding a job before he showed her the door.

Rubbing at the itchy juncture of cast and upper arm, she wondered who would hire a one-armed employee with no references or identification?

If she wasn’t such a coward she’d call James and demand he send her belongings.

Not that he’d ever responded to any of her demands. The more she wanted something, the more stubbornly James held back.

She wondered where he was now and what he was doing. Would he look for her? What would he say to their friends and colleagues when she didn’t return? She’d put him in a difficult situation and she knew very well he wouldn’t take her betrayal lightly. That’s the way James thought. This was her fault. Sometimes she wondered if he was right.

With a soul-heavy sigh, she looked out at the quiet acreage flowing away from Blackwell Ranch in shades of green and gold. Black cows dotted green fields. A pair of calves bucked and played, tails twitching over their backs. Miles of fence disappeared into the woods that led to Whisper Falls, the falls where she’d hidden from James and prayed.

She thought about that prayer, had thought about it a lot. Just as she pondered the man who claimed to love her and the cowboy who’d rescued her that day.

Tootsie suddenly yipped and spun to face the tree-covered mountain, floppy ears lifting out to each side. Annalisa reached behind her to the door handle, ready to escape inside. She’d heard nothing from James, but she was not brave enough to believe he would let her go without retribution.

The two big dogs, Hoss and Jet, broke through the distant woods and raced across the pasture pink tongues flapping, toward the quivering, prancing Tootsie.

Some of her tension drained away.

When Austin and his horse appeared directly behind the dogs, Annalisa’s scalp prickled. Her grip tightened on the door knob. Too much thinking about James had made her unduly jittery. She had no reason to fear the cowboy. He might be abrupt but he’d also been kind. So far.

Loose and easy in the saddle, Austin rode the horse directly to the edge of the porch, bringing with him the smells of deep woods and heated horseflesh. Annalisa propped the broom in the crook of her cast to stroke Cisco’s velvety nose.

“You all right?” Austin leaned forward in the saddle, leather shifting as he patted the horse’s neck.

A funny little hitch caught in Annalisa’s throat. That was always the first thing he asked and somehow, the thoughtful question made her feel something she hadn’t experienced in a long time. She felt cared about and protected—by a man she barely knew. “Except for this awful itching on my arm, I’m fine. Are you hungry?”

Offering to feed him was her defense against the rush of emotions welling up inside her. For the past three days she’d wondered if she was having some kind of nervous breakdown. At the smallest kindness, tears came unbidden. Yet, she felt pathetically starved for kind words.

“Thanks, but I’m good.” Stirrups groaned as he grasped the saddle horn with one gloved hand and swung easily to the ground. “I’ll grab something in town.”

The pair of big dogs flopped onto the porch with a groan. Tootsie danced around their noses only to be sniffed once or twice and then ignored.

“You’re going into town?” Stupid question. He’d just said as much.

“In a bit.” He removed his hat and gloves and tossed them onto a wooden Adirondack chair next to the back door. His black hair curled around his ears and stuck up in one spot where his hat had pulled. Annalisa found that one stray curl immeasurably and uncomfortably appealing.

“Shouldn’t you tie the horse?”

“He won’t go anywhere.” But he turned back long enough to drop the reins to the grass. “See? Ground tied.”

“Good horse.”

“You know the old saying. A cowboy is entitled to one good horse, one good dog and one good woman. Cisco’s my one good horse.”

She didn’t recognize the adage, but for the sake of conversation, Annalisa glanced at the pair of dogs spread like rugs next to the door. “If you can only choose one...”

Austin grinned and shook his head. “Don’t ask.”

Annalisa marveled at the change in Austin when he smiled. The simple act of upturned lips, of a softened face wielded such power. Attractive power.

By this time, Tootsie had given up on playing with Hoss and Jet to dance a circle around Austin on her hind legs. He scooped her up and rubbed her ears. “It’s sure not you, old girl. You’re not even a real dog.”

“I won’t tell Cassie you said that.” Annalisa opened the back door and stepped inside the kitchen, acutely aware of the handsome cowboy at her back. Her pulse fluttered, but this time the reason had nothing to do with fear. His comment about “one good woman” rattled around in her head. Was there a woman in Austin’s life?

“Cassie and Darrell wanted kids, but when that didn’t work out, she bought this dog.” Austin stooped to release the poodle, looking chagrinned. “Sorry. My mouth runs away sometimes.”

Annalisa almost laughed. The man was as tight-lipped with personal conversation as an undercover cop. “Cassie told me.”

“She did?” He scratched at one ear. “Darrell’s accident hit her hard. She doesn’t usually talk about it.”

From Cassie, she’d learned about her new husband’s death in a boating accident. She’d also learned that Cassie didn’t discuss the tragedy with Austin because she thought her grief upset her brother. “Understandable, don’t you think? They’d been married what? Four days?”

“Yeah.” Shoulders tense, Austin went to the refrigerator and took out a container of juice.

Annalisa could tell he was every bit as uncomfortable discussing Darrell with her as with Cassie. She changed the subject.

Even though worried he’d refuse, she had to ask, “Would you mind a hitchhiker when you go into town?”

He poured a tall glass of OJ. “You sure it’s safe for you to be seen in public?”

“I can’t hide in your house forever, Austin. Nor can I continue to impose on your hospitality indefinitely.”

He scowled and those black eyebrows came together in a forbidding vee. “You’re not imposing.”

“My three-day limit is up today.”

The scowl deepened. “Did Cassie tell you that?”

“No, you told me.”

He rocked back on his bootheels. “Me? I never said any such thing. I said...”

She let him off the hook. “Look, Austin, I know you didn’t want me to stay here. I understand.” Sort of. “That’s why it’s imperative I either find a job in Whisper Falls or...”

“Or what, Annalisa?” His voice was soft, and the ever-ready tears pushed up behind her eyes again. Even though Austin didn’t know it, he’d tapped into one of her deepest worries. Her choices were few. She had nowhere else to go, no one to turn to other than to a man who abused her, and no accessible money.

She’d called her bank in California, only to discover she could not retrieve her account without the number—a number found on her checks and bank cards, all of which were in James’s possession.

“I have money in the bank. I just can’t get it out without going back to my apartment or calling James.” Her stomach churned to think of having a conversation with James at this juncture.

“James.” Austin’s lips parted, teeth bared like a wolf warning off a predator. “The boyfriend?”

“Yes, James. He has my purse, remember?” All her other belongings, too, but she wasn’t ready to share every detail of her misspent life with a man on whose charity she depended.
Charity
. The word stuck in her throat like a swallowed bug. “That’s why I have to find work. I can’t even buy another set of clothes, and I can’t keep borrowing from Cassie.”

“We’ll figure out something.”

“It’s not your problem.”

“You made it my problem when you whacked me with that rock.” He tossed back the juice glass for a long swallow. His throat, strong and sun-browned above the open neck of his button-up, flexed as he drained the glass.

Attraction fluttered, an unwelcome moth in her belly. Annalisa forced her attention away from the masculine sight. “I’m sorry.”

“You should be.”

Annalisa’s gaze flew back to his. Was he angry? Would he— The thoughts skittered to a halt. She drew in a deep breath to calm her jittery nerves. Austin Blackwell was nothing like James.

Austin gave her a long, appraising look before saying, “I’m leaving in thirty minutes. Be ready.”

* * *

At Cassie’s request, Austin dropped Annalisa at the beauty salon first. Then he’d stopped at the feed store before heading over to the Iron Horse Snack Shop. He strode inside, drawn by the smell of owner Evelyn Parsons’s homemade apple pie and the need to ask a few questions. If anyone in town knew where a woman with a broken arm could find work, Evelyn or her husband, Digger, would know.

Austin suffered a twinge of guilt over his eagerness to be rid of his troubling visitor. The guilt was followed quickly by the more confounding worry that nagged him like a toothache. James the jerk was out there somewhere and by now he could be heading back this way from Tennessee. The question remained: If Annalisa’s boyfriend showed his face in Whisper Falls, what then? Would Austin’s conscience, the squealing troublemaker, allow him to throw Annalisa to the wolves?

Probably not.

She’d been nervous when he’d ridden in on Cisco this morning. He’d spotted the white-knuckled hand on the doorknob and the way she’d stood, hyper-alert.

The man he had once been wanted to protect her. The coward he’d become wanted her gone.

“Austin, how are you doin’, boy?” a chipper voice called. “Hadn’t seen you in a coon’s age.”

Uncle Digger Parsons manned the snack bar today, a white dish towel slung over one ample shoulder. As far as Austin could ascertain, Uncle Digger was no one’s uncle but everyone called him that. The sixtysomething man ran the town’s tourist train, a daily three-hour excursion through the Ozark Mountains that had grown in popularity since the Whisper Falls marketing ploy. People came from miles around to board the train and spend their money while Uncle Digger spouted railroad sayings with the same gusto as the bright red engine spouted smoke.