Up in Flames (28 page)

She stared at him long enough that he began to fidget. What he’d said should have been more than enough to set her off, and the tension of waiting was killing him.

Her gaze drifted downward, and he knew she was organizing her thoughts. Constructing her argument into her typical A-plus composition. Sophie excelled at everything, and she wouldn’t give him a less-than-perfect reaming out. Too bad no one else was around to appreciate it, because it promised to be a good one.

Her eyes finally lifted and fastened on his. Here it came.

“So this is like ten years ago. We have one great night together, then go our separate ways.”

“Exactly. Seems to be a pattern with us, doesn’t it? Maybe we’ll do it again in another ten years.”

“I don’t think so.”

She was remarkably calm. So calm it raised the hairs on the back of his neck. She had to be leading up to one zinger of an opening line. Tiny waves of static electricity raced down his arms, anticipating the shattering crash of the first lightning strike.

“No more ten-year plans, Zane.”

No more nights with Sophie in his arms, ever. The finality shook him, but he’d known it had to be that way, and he kept his expression bland. “Then I guess it ends now.”

“No, it doesn’t.”

“Uh . . . what?”

“It doesn’t end, Zane. It’s not going to work that way again, and I’m not going to pretend it will.”

He opened his mouth, but knew he would only say “What?” again and sound like an idiot, so he just blinked stupidly.

Sophie, on the other hand, showed no trace of confusion. She stepped closer. Too close, so she had to lift her chin to meet his eyes. “You seem to be in the mood for true confessions, so let’s get this out of the way up front. I love you, Zane. I love you now, I probably loved you for the past ten years, and I will love you for as many years as I live.”

He felt dizzy, swept up by a sense of unreality. The gathering storm had fizzled like a dud, shredding into wispy clouds that blew away. He stood in warm sunlight with Sophie’s clear brown eyes facing him down. Words seemed to have left him.

She tilted her head thoughtfully. “Let’s get something else out of the way, just to make things perfectly clear. You love me, too.”

“I . . . huh?”

“You may not recognize that squirmy feeling in the back of your mind for what it is, or you’re trying not to. But I don’t think you’re half as dumb about it as you pretend to be, you just aren’t used to saying it to anyone. So I’ll say it for you. You love me. Probably always have and always will, but I’ll leave that part for you to say.”

His throat tightened as if someone was choking him. “Big assumption,” he managed to croak.

Her smile was serene. “I don’t think so.”

This was nuts. He was standing there, frozen in place, staring like a moron. And she loved him. He swallowed. “You’re crazy.”

She smiled. “Nope. Completely sane and sure of myself. But I know you don’t have it all worked out yet, so I’ll tell you what I’m going to do. I’m going to drive back to the commune, because I know you’re right about Emmett. I can’t promise I’ll stay long, though. Maybe a few days, maybe a week. Not longer, because no matter how dangerous your brother might be, I can’t hide out for the rest of my life. Plus, you need the support of the people who love you right now, and I’m first on that list.” She smiled. “Oh, yeah. That stuff about my career? I
will
find a job around here, and I
will
find a way to use my degree. It might not be exactly what I expected, but neither will the rest of my life, because I never thought I would be spending it with you, and look how that worked out.”

How
what
worked out?
Nothing
had been worked out! Zane shook his head to dispel the ringing that had started in his ears. He’d tried to drop her like a stone, and before he knew it, she had him trussed up and standing at the altar. He had to change her mind!

He had only one card left to play. He’d never wanted her to know because it still embarrassed him, but it was probably the one thing that would damn him in her eyes. He had no choice.

Steeling himself against the inevitable humiliation, he blurted out, “Sophie, I’m a high school dropout.”

Her forehead creased and she blinked with surprise. “What?”

“I only went through the eleventh grade. I didn’t even bother to go back for a GED. What do you think of that, Dr. Larkin?”

She stared, and he imagined her hearts-and-flowers romance crumbling to dust at her feet. “Wow,” she breathed softly.

“Yeah, I’m not who you thought I was. Sorry to disappoint you.”

She shook her head. “I’m not disappointed.”

He nodded. “I understand if you’re mad.”

“I’m not mad.” She smiled with something like wonder. “God, Zane, you should be so proud of yourself. I can’t believe you’ve accomplished so much, with so little help and formal education. It’s amazing!”

No! It was shameful and embarrassing, not amazing! What was wrong with him that he couldn’t seem to get anything across to the Larkin women? He’d thought Maggie and Zoe had been good at twisting a conversation to their own way of thinking, but Sophie’s mental gymnastics left them in the dust.

She pulled keys from her pocket while his mind was still seeking traction. “If you want to talk, you have my number. I’m stopping for gas, then heading straight up to the commune.” Standing on tiptoe, she pressed a quick kiss to his lips then turned away, casually twirling her keys on her finger. He watched her get into her Jeep, back around his truck, then throw a casual wave out the window as she drove off.

He continued to stare long after her Jeep had disappeared behind the trees, still waiting for his stunned brain to kick back into gear. Not that it would do him much good. He could tell her all the reasons she should avoid him—that his life was a train wreck, that the hated Thorson name would rub its stench onto her, and that he didn’t love her. But it wouldn’t work because, damn it, she was right. He
did
love her.

She was right, too, that he didn’t want to admit it. But once he’d heard her say it, the truth of it wrapped around his heart, snuggled in, and made itself at home. He loved her. Maybe he always had, since that summer ten years ago. For sure he always would.

And for that, his brother would kill her.

It tore at his insides. Did she think he’d be happy to hear that she’d never leave him? He was terrified. She’d just signed her own death warrant.

Once Sophie passed the state park with its groomed hiking trails and campsites, traffic was sparse. One car followed a few hundred feet behind her, keeping a polite distance as they wound their way up the higher elevations of Two Bears Mountain. Most likely someone who lived up here.

She was only halfway to the commune when a red light popped to life on the dash. She frowned at the gauges and dials, then swore under her breath. The needle on the temperature gauge had swung into the red zone and flattened itself there, as high as it could go. Spotting a turnout ahead, she pulled over and turned the engine off.

She had the hood up when a car came from the other direction and slowed. The man behind the wheel glanced at her, then did a U-turn, pulling in behind her Jeep.

Sophie felt a stab of caution. She wasn’t usually suspicious of strangers, but she didn’t usually have a known rapist looking for her, either. There were no casual witnesses up here, people whose mere presence might keep her safe. Her hand tightened on the hood as her mind raced over possible weapons, none of which was at hand.

Both car doors opened and a man and a woman got out. She relaxed at the sight of their concerned faces, then let the last of her tension fade away as a teenage boy climbed from the backseat. Tourists. The woman shaded her eyes and waved as her husband walked toward her.

“What’s the problem?” he asked.

“I don’t know. It was overheating, so I pulled over.”

“Smart.” He held a hand out to shake hers. “Tom Snelling.”

“Sophie Larkin. Thanks for stopping.”

“Can’t leave someone stranded way out here. Let me take a look.” He had his head under the hood before she could object. She wouldn’t have, anyway. If Tom Snelling knew anything beyond how to lift the hood, he was ahead of Sophie.

“Are you on vacation?” she asked.

“Yup. Drove here from Arkansas. We love the mountains, come every year.” It was apparently all he needed to start talking. Tom chatted on about his family and his home in Arkansas as he poked and peered around the engine compartment.

Sophie stood by the front wheel, feeling useless. It didn’t seem polite to leave, and besides, Tom’s wife and son were doing something with a cooler in the backseat of their car, paying no attention to her. The blue van that had been behind her for miles caught up, the panel proclaiming
AL’S CARPET CLEANING
. It slowed to a crawl as the driver looked them over. Sophie waved to let him know everything was all right, and he kept going. After that there was nothing but birdsong and Tom’s narrative.

Two minutes later, Tom’s voice came from beneath the engine compartment. “Found your problem.” He climbed to his feet, dusting off his hands as he spoke. “You’ve got a hole in your radiator. It must have been dripping for a while, and it’s dry now. Good thing you pulled over when you did, or you’d have blown your head gasket and fused your cylinders.”

The shop must have replaced her damaged one with a used one, which pissed her off. “How bad is the hole? I’ve got family another twenty or thirty minutes up the road. If I have someone bring a few gallons of water, could I make it up there?”

“Oh, sure. It’s probably taken a whole day for the water to leak out. Just make sure everything’s cooled down before you put the water in.”

She smiled with relief, but Tom looked concerned. “You want me to give you a ride to their place?”

“No thanks, don’t bother. You’ve already been a big help. They’ll have to come anyway to bring water. I don’t mind waiting.”

He hesitated. “I don’t know, I don’t like leaving you here alone. I wouldn’t want my wife stranded on the side of the road in the middle of nowhere.”

“It’s not the middle of nowhere to me. I grew up around here. I’m fine, really.”

At the sound of another car, they both looked up. The Al’s Carpet Cleaning van stopped in the road and the driver rolled his window down. A man in a Rockies ball cap leaned an arm on the window ledge. “You folks need help?”

“No thanks,” Sophie told him.

“She’s got a dry radiator,” Tom told him, as if she hadn’t spoken. “Says she has family up the road a ways.”

“Really? Not much up there except a commune.”

Sophie smiled. “That’s my family.”

“Yeah?” The man looked at her as if he should recognize her. “You know Pete?”

She beamed. “Of course. He’s practically a father to me and my sisters. You know him?”

“Sure do. He loaned me tools a few times. Hop in, I’ll be glad to take you there.”

She chuckled at all the offers of help. “Really, I could just call—”

“You shouldn’t be standing out here alone, waiting for them,” Tom told her firmly.

“I agree,” the other man said. “Plus, it’ll help me return the favor of Pete lending me tools. Come on, you and I can swap stories about Pete, and this gentleman can get back to his family.”

She glanced at the woman and boy who were now leaning against their car, kicking at pebbles and looking bored, and gave in with a smile. “Fine, you both win.”

Both men looked relieved. She thanked Tom again, then waved as he made another U-turn onto the road, continuing down toward Barringer’s Pass. With his car out of the way, the other driver swung his van around and reached across to open the passenger door. Sophie got in and shut it behind her, returning the man’s smile.

“I’m sorry, I didn’t get your name,” she said as the van started moving. “I’m Sophie Larkin.”

His smile grew wider, giving his pleasant features even more appeal. Sex appeal, she realized, and even though it didn’t work any magic on her she knew he must have no shortage of women vying for his attention. “Oh, I know who you are, Sophie Larkin,” he said, throwing in a confidential wink.

“You do?” Despite the wink, his amusement at knowing something she didn’t gave her an uncomfortable feeling.

“I’ll bet you can guess who I am, too.”

“Al?”

He tossed his ball cap aside, running a hand through his dark, wavy hair. A wayward strand fell onto his forehead, giving him a rakish devil-may-care look. It added a hint of danger to his attractive face, similar to the way Zane’s rough look had attracted her as a seventeen-year-old.

She froze. Too similar.

Her uncomfortable feeling soared into the red zone, hitting a whole new level of fear. She sucked in a shaky breath that did nothing to still the trembling inside her. “Emmett?” she asked.

He beamed. “Got it first try. My brother must have prepared you for our meeting. How nice. I guess we can stop pretending to visit Pete.” Before she knew what he meant, he swung the van into a dangerously sharp turn, nearly scraping the rocky side of the mountain as he headed back the way they’d come.