The Outsider Series: The Complete Omnibus Collection

Chapter 18

Chapter 18

Several hours later, when Jed and Diana returned home, the rain had passed leaving puddles and mud everywhere. She didn’t understand what had possessed Jed, but he’d insisted on stopping at the grocery store and the hardware store, and finally on dragging her into Merle’s, where he’d demanded they have a sandwich together. Of course, Diana repeatedly told Jed that it’d be best for her to stay put while he went in, but he didn’t listen and all but dragged her, holding her hand as each of the shop owners gaped and stuttered, as he first purchased a box of nails, then a single loaf of bread, even though Diana knew there were three loaves in the freezer at home. And each time, he’d made a point of saying that Diana was with him, staying on his ranch, and that she was a good lawyer, looking for business—if anyone had an issue with her, then they had an issue with him, too.

She’d choked down her roast beef sandwich, acutely aware that everyone was whispering, gawking at what Jed had dragged in. She’d wanted to cry, and Jed must have known, because he’d reached across the table and taken her small hand in his large, calloused one until he had her full attention, and he said, “Diana, you’re stronger than this, so don’t give these people the satisfaction of knowing that they’re getting to you. Hold your head up high and believe what you know to be true: You did nothing wrong. These are their issues, the sins of your mother, the sins of Todd, and they’re not your crosses to bear. So don’t you think it’s time to give them back?”

As she watched him now, hours later, kicking through a puddle and splashing mud up the back of his jeans, she had to press her hand over her heart, which was beating too fast and too hard, as if she were an awkward, star-struck kid. Gray clouds filled the sky, and as Jed swung the gate open, she was stunned at how he was silhouetted by the brilliant opal night. He murmured to his horses, who nickered back softly. There was a splash of water and squeak of the tap as Jed watered and then fed his horses.

Diana watched for a few minutes, until exhaustion overtook her and she decided to shower and turn in early.

It was still dark when a hard knock rattled her cabin door. She blinked, glancing at the bedside clock: 5:40 a.m. She leaped from the warm bed in nothing more than a long t-shirt that draped just above her knees, and she yanked the door open. Jed filled the doorway, tall and broad-shouldered. It was dark, and he wore a heavy dark coat and his usual tattered, cowboy hat, as well as the same blue jeans he seemed to wear every single day.

“Diana, were you out with the horses last night?” There was a hard undertone to his deep voice, which told her that something had happened.

“No. I showered and went to bed as soon as we got back,” she replied, shivering as she clutched the door. He stepped past her and into her room.

“Someone was here last night, then, and opened all the gates. The horses are gone.” He said it with fury as he paced across the room. “Get dressed. I need your help.”

“Okay.” He must have realized then her state of dress, or undress, as he glanced at her bare legs and her tangled hair. His hard jaw gave nothing away except a slight twitch. He bared his teeth and turned to leave, but he stopped in the doorway.

“Dress warm. It’s damn cold out there.”

Diana wasted no time as she shut the door and pulled on her jeans, wool socks, and a sweater, before pulling on a slicker she’d bought but not yet worn. She jumped down onto the hard ground in her hiking boots and hurried toward the barn, which she could barely see, as it was still too dark and the sun wasn’t likely to appear on the horizon for another half hour. Jed had the lights on outside the barn, and he was studying something on the ground when she approached.

“Stay behind me. Look at these.” He crouched down and pointed at the muddy ground. “Tracks, probably a couple large guys, I’d say. See the difference from my boot print to these? They have ridges and grooves, like hiking boots similar to yours.”

Diana stared at what looked like several prints in the fresh mud before the open gate of the corral. They clearly weren’t Jed’s and were far too big to be hers. “You left the horses outside last night?”

“I’m redoing the roof above their stall before it collapses in on them, so I had to leave them out,” he replied, a little more sharply than was needed.

“Who would do such a thing, Jed?” But as she said it, she knew the answer, and she whispered his name: “Andy.”

Jed must have heard, because he stood and glared down at her with the same towering rage that Andy’d had when she was a child, reducing her in that instant to the same terrified kid. His cold, ruthless eyes had her taking a step back, following her step for step, a slow dance, until he backed her against the barn wall. His arms shot out before she could move sideways and slip away, and his palms flattened on both sides of her shoulders, pinning her in. He leaned down, and her heart was hammering so hard she had trouble swallowing, so she focused on the open vee of his jacket where his pulse throbbed visibly

“Don’t think I didn’t see you yesterday. My cousin had you behind your fancy SUV, kissing you in a way that could have lit the barn on fire. The way you responded to him when he touched you like this…” Jed slid his hands down and inside her coat and gripped her hips. “When he pulled you against him and let you feel him.” He ground his hips and his telltale bulge into her, and there was no mistaking his interest. When he lowered his head, his warm breath wafted over her lips, his mouth moving toward hers. Then he kissed her.

Desperately, she wedged her arms between them, bracing her hands against his chest. He inhaled, expanding his chest beneath her palms as he deepened the kiss, the pressure hard and ravaging. His calloused hands slid under her sweater to her braless breasts, and he rolled his finger and thumb around her n****e. God, how she wanted his mouth there now, and he must have sensed her need, as he moved more fully against her, shoving his long, muscular leg between hers as if making a place there for himself. He slid his hand down over her derriere and lifted her so he could fit against her, and the proof of his desire, how much he wanted her, was pressed against her. There was no mistake. He trailed kisses down her neck. He had her coat pushed back and sweater lifted.

“Is this what Andy did when you jumped in his arms? Tell me now what you liked so much, that you’d have let him take you against your truck for everyone to see, like a common whore.”

She blinked as his meaning washed over her like a bucket of frigid water. With a flurry of rage, she shoved and kicked at him until he backed away, looking half-wild.

“You jerk!” she shouted, so angry that she was shaking, and she wiped the back of her hand across her mouth as if to wipe away that steamy kiss. “Maybe you should have stuck around to see me push him away. But yes, I guess I did kiss him in my stupidity. He surprised me, and only when my common sense returned did I push him away. I loved Andy as a kid, he was my hero. And I am so angry at myself for not being furious when he kissed me. But I am angry and I could kick myself in the ass for even letting my guard down in those few seconds with him. But I’ll be damned if either one of you will have me. I am not a w***e. I am not my mother. I’ll tell you what I told your cousin: Don’t you ever touch me like that again.” She slid away, putting distance between them. “I’ve worked so hard to get what I have—to be respectable. You are just like your cousin. What is it with you Friessen men? Do you hate women so much that you’re hell bent on destroying them?”

He jerked his head up and stalked toward her again, and she knew she’d hit a nerve. “How dare you compare me to those two? I am not my uncle or cousin.”

Sadness filled her heart, and tears made her eyes glassy as she met the darkness that flared in his. “You just treated me as Andy did, and I responded because there is something about you… but I didn’t want to. So what does that make me?”

“I was jealous!” he shouted, his hands on his hips as he loomed over her and ground the words out. “Are you happy now? I had just threatened my uncle and warned him off you. Because no man has the right to ever treat a kid, an innocent like you were, the way they did. They should have helped you as a kid, instead of turning their backs like they did. Whatever it is you really want with this justice thing, and what you hope to accomplish—maybe I admire it a little bit. The way you never had the chance to be a kid but always looked after others, especially your little sister who had to have been hell to care for, you still held your head high. You didn’t deserve to be tossed out, and she didn’t deserve to die, and you didn’t deserve to have your world ripped apart the way it was. I told my uncle that, all of it, and I told them that if they insisted on making things any more difficult for you and continued to drive you out of this county, they could consider it their declaration of war with me. That was when I looked out the window, and it knocked the wind out of me as if I’d been sucker punched. Because there you were, kissing my cousin as if there was no tomorrow, and it sure didn’t look as if you were trying to get away. My uncle was right there laughing in my ear, at what a fool I was, because what you were doing is just what Faye did, moving from one guy to the next.”

“Well, that’s the thing. I did push him away, and I locked myself in the SUV. But Todd’s right about one thing only, that’s exactly what Faye did. But I’m not Faye. How can you stand there and say you were jealous? How am I supposed to believe that?” she asked, her voice shaking.

Jed stepped closer and brushed his fingers down her cheek. He nudged his hips closer. “Do you deny this? Hell, I want you more than I’ve wanted any woman,” Jed stepped back, his jaw hard as steel, “but I will not compete with my cousin. I won’t be second.” His eyes narrowed and he sighed. “I need to find the horses.”

It was lighter out, but his mood was still dark. He moved back to the corral and the open gate. “I’m going into town to have a talk with the sheriff. Are you coming?” He glanced at her over his shoulder, his body slightly turned away.

Her head was still spinning over what he’d said: He wanted her.

“No, you go.” She choked out her response and almost said she had her own ideas of where to look, but she couldn’t. She needed to think, needed room to breathe. Space from Jed.

He must have sensed this, too, as he ducked his head and left. Soon, Diana watched his taillights disappear up the road.

Diana strode back to where the footprints were around the gate, and she wondered how someone could have opened the gate and led the horses out without them having heard. She thought about it and remembered nothing unusual about the night before. They must have come in on foot, because she didn’t hear a vehicle and there were no unusual tire tracks. This whole thing was odd, but it wasn’t a coincidence. Hadn’t Jed stepped in to defend her against his own uncle and cousin? She remembered Andy’s ruthlessness all too well. And she couldn’t help wondering if Andy planned to kiss her when his uncle was with Jed. But then again, they hadn’t known they were coming. She was being paranoid, but this entire situation was driving her crazy. She was getting sidetracked on why she came. What she feared was that Jed had stepped into the middle of her war with Andy and Todd, the one she had never signed on for.

Diana couldn’t help feeling at least indirectly responsible for Jed’s horses, and the fact that they had most likely been stolen. This was her fault. She stalked into her cabin and grabbed her purse and keys. A few minutes later, she was following the same route that Jed had taken. She didn’t want to go back to Andy’s. She growled at herself—she was tired and hungry, and she needed a coffee but wasn’t going to get it anytime soon.

She parked at a roadside turnoff just past the estate and where the forest began again. She followed a trail, sheltered by heavy pine and fir that protected her from the view of the open yard and approached the stables from the north and back. The stables were a vivid red with the trim painted a vibrant white. She knew it was a thriving business, as she could see about forty stalls and servants’ quarters above the barn. Horses nickered, and a few poked their heads out of their large stall windows, seeing who was intruding on their space. She walked to the barn door, which was shut and latched. No lock. She pulled the handle up and opened the door just enough to slide in. It was dark inside the barn, her boots echoing on the concrete as she tried to step quietly.

She gazed at the long row of stalls. The barn was clean, but the pungent aroma of manure filled the air. Stopping at each stall, Diana peeked in, wandering from one side to the other, but not one of the horses in the barn was Jed’s beautiful Scarlett. A chestnut horse stuck its head over the stall door and sniffed Diana’s head, its lips flickering, showing all of its large, grainy teeth. She rested her hand on the horse’s forelock and rubbed down its nose. When she glanced over her shoulder, she caught a glimpse of a stall door swaying, and she stiffened, her heart hammering with dread as she slowly turned. An open stall door at the other end meant someone was in here. She dragged her gaze to the wooden door, where a large hand rested, a hand belonging to Andy. He stood in a dark oilskin slicker and dark blue jeans, watching her with his eyes narrowed.

For an instant, they stared at one another from across the barn. Diana began to scramble, panicked, trying to think of a reason for being here. But her quick legal mind had suddenly gone blank. She was positive she’d been alone, and it was barely past dawn. Andy started to close the stall door, and that was when Diana bolted to the barn door beside her and slid through the narrow opening. She ran through the tall grass, back toward the trees. She could hear him swing the other door open and heard his heavy footsteps pounding the dirt, coming after her. She could see the trees, almost there, but he was close she could feel his heat. Suddenly his arm wrapped around her waist and he picked her up. And she kicked back and tried to pry his arm away, but he was too strong as he pulled her against him.

“Calm down.” His warm breath fluttering her hair that had freed itself from her ponytail “Just what do you think you’re doing on my property, sneaking around in my barn?”

Diana tried to wiggle out his hold. “Let go of me.”

“No… I think maybe I’ll call the sheriff.”

Imprisoned against his hard body, she finally stopped wiggling, as panic nearly blinded her. Her mind went blank, she didn’t trust him to mention the horses. What if he did take them? Of course he would have stashed them somewhere else.

“Andy, please, let me go.” Her voice trembled.

“You were trespassing. Maybe trying to steal a horse. There’s one thing about Faye—trouble followed her everywhere. And so did sneaking around. So maybe you want to tell me again how you’re not like Faye?”

This time she squirmed until he let her down. “I was not trying to steal a horse.” But her face paled, my god, that kind of accusation could get her in whole heap of trouble. And the legal profession frowned on lawyers breaking the law. They quickly found themselves disbarred. She’d fought too hard and for too long to get where she was to have that happen. She knew how it looked, and with Andy this was going from bad to worse.

He pulled out his cell phone, and she knew he was about to call the sheriff. He’d started dialing when she reached out and grabbed his hand. “Please don’t.”

Maybe it was the fear she couldn’t hide that had him pausing, and then disconnecting. “Come on, Diana, truth time. What are you doing here?”

He stepped into her space and she imagined she could feel every hard part of him. So she stepped back, trying to think of something believable so he’d let her leave. So he wouldn’t call the sheriff.

“What are you doing up so early, anyway? I thought all of you rich playboys slept till noon?” she stuttered, still not answering his question.

“I was going to take my horse out for a ride,” he answered, narrowing his eyes.

“You still haven’t answered me on what you were doing, snooping around in my barn.” He glanced around. “And how did you get here?”

“I walked from the highway.” That was all she was going to answer. She didn’t trust Andy. If he had stolen Jed’s horses, tipping him off could have him making sure the horses were never found.

“From where?” he demanded.

“From over there, I parked just off the highway. I cut through the woods over there.” His eyes flashed with anger, and his grip tightened on her arm again.

“Are you crazy? This time of morning is prime hunting time for cougars, and there’s one that lives back in there. You could have been mauled, and it wouldn’t have taken too much to take you down.”

She gazed with disinterest at the forest. “I grew up in that forest, as a kid it was my only safety net, Andy. I felt safer there than at home.”

Something softened in the way he watched her. “It was bad with Faye wasn’t it?”

It felt odd having a conversation like this with Andy of all people. “I’ve seen a lot of things I shouldn’t, but being away from her I learned that’s not how real mothers are. Children shouldn’t have to endure, just exist. They need love, Andy. But when little kids have that for a parent they don’t know it can be better.”

The way his eyes burned down into her, she realized she exposed too much of herself, and she wanted to take it back.

He touched her cheek so gently, brushed his thumb over her lips. She pushed away, “Please don’t touch me, Andy!” She yelled.

He stepped back and ran his hands roughly through his hair. “Diana, you still haven’t told me why you’re here?”

She opened her mouth to say something—anything. But no matter what, she couldn’t lie. A tear fell, and he let her go and she turned and ran and didn’t stop until she was back at her car.