Hard Rain (20 page)

The wood floor felt icy cold as she padded soundlessly toward her open bedroom door. Reaching it, she peered cautiously down the hallway.

Another thud. With a shock, she realized the sound had come from the attic. Moving down the hallway, her heart thundering in her chest, she saw that the stairs to the attic had been dropped down.

She tried not to panic. It was entirely possible that one of her sisters was digging around in the attic at three in the morning. Though highly unlikely.

If not one of them, then who?

Backtracking, she moved down the hallway to the top of the staircase to the first floor. She wanted to take the steps three at a time but was afraid she would make too much noise. Or fall and break her neck.

At the bottom of the stairs, she stopped short when she saw that the front door was standing open. She could feel the cold breeze coming in. Past the open doorway, she half expected to see a vehicle.

But not even her own was out there.

With a shock, she realized that whoever was upstairs must have thought she wasn’t home. No car in the driveway. Whoever it was didn’t know about her accident. Didn’t know she was home.

That gave her little comfort. While someone had tried to kill her on the road, someone else was upstairs doing what? Searching for something, she thought as she heard another thud. Maggie’s missing diary? But why would they think the diary would be in
this
house? Because it wasn’t in the old Maynard House, she realized with a start.

Hurrying out, she stood in the faint moonlight and dialed 9-1-1. “There is someone in my house. I can hear them up in the attic.”

The dispatcher said she would send a deputy out. “Is there a place you will be safe until someone gets there?”

Harper looked toward the barn and stables. “Yes.”

“Don’t go back into the house.”

“I won’t.” The words were barely out of her mouth when she heard the phone begin to ring inside the house. Who would be calling at this time of the night? Brody?

The ringing suddenly stopped. Whoever was in the house had picked up the phone. She moved quickly back inside and reached for the closest landline. As she picked it up, all she heard was breathing, then the click as the person hung up.

Dropping the phone back in the cradle, she turned again for the door.

Her cell phone still clutched in her hand, she looked down at it as she stepped back out into the night. She wanted to call Brody. She knew he would come. But he was staying in a motel in Big Timber. He wouldn’t be able to get here any sooner than the sheriff.

The sound behind her didn’t register quickly enough. A black-clad figure came tearing out of the house, crashing into her and knocking her to the ground.

By the time Harper could look up all she saw was someone rounding the corner of the house. A few moments later, what sounded like a four-wheeler engine roared to life and took off into the night. The only thing that lingered was the faint hint of perfume on the breeze.

CHAPTER NINETEEN

JD
COULDN
’
T
STOP
worrying about Maggie. He’d been to the lake several times since the day they’d finally admitted how they felt about each other. The same day that she’d come to the lake with a bruise on her face after her father had found her diary.

But she hadn’t shown up since then and he couldn’t help but be concerned. Unfortunately, he couldn’t call or stop over to her house. Had she come to her senses? He hoped so. And yet he couldn’t bear the thought that he might never see her again—even if it was the best thing for them both.

So he did the only thing he could do. He rode up into the Crazies to their lake. That’s how he thought of it now. He missed their visits. He missed seeing her, hearing her voice, listening to her laugh. Mostly, he worried about her.

He’d just dismounted and was reaching for his fishing pole when he heard a horse whinny from the pines. Against his will, his heart did a little hop. He hoped it was her and not someone else. He wasn’t up to the disappointment today.

He’d had another argument with Grace. She’d become irascible. Her hatred of Sarah had reached a rabid peak. He’d left her crying, saying she feared for her life and that Sarah would be the one to kill her. How did a man deal with something like that? Sarah and Buck had suggested he take her to a psychiatrist. He supposed he would have to.

JD heard the horse break out of the pines and turned to see her. The sunlight caught her red hair and set it on fire with light. She shot a knowing smile and everything felt right in the world—even though it was far from it.

He returned her smile, unable to hide how happy he was to see her, as she reined in and slid down from her horse.

“Nice day for a swim,” he said.

She laughed at that. “Won’t I scare away your fish?”

“Probably.” He sobered. “How are you?”

Maggie looked away but not before he caught pain in her expression.

He put down his fishing rod and stepped to her, stopping within a few inches. “What is it?”

She shook her head and tried to smile as tears filled her green eyes.

“I can help you.”

“No one can help me,” she said with a bitter laugh. “I’m pregnant.”

He rocked back on his boots. “Pregnant? Do you know who—”

“That would be hard to say, huh.” She finally met his gaze. Her tears spilled over and he reached for her, drawing her to him and holding her tightly.

* * *

B
RODY
COULDN
’
T
HAVE
been more surprised when he realized his late-night call was from Collin Wilson. “You and your girlfriend have been asking a lot of questions around town.”

For a moment, he thought Collin was going to threaten him, since the man sounded drunk.

“You want to know what really happened to Maggie?” Brody realized that the man wasn’t just drunk. He was scared. “Come to my shop.”

“Now?”
Brody glanced at the clock on the wall. It was three in the morning.

“I can’t do this anymore.”

“Why not go to the sheriff?” Brody asked, wondering if he might be walking into a trap. But Collin had already hung up.

Swearing, Brody considered calling Frank. But he had a feeling that Collin would clam up if the sheriff showed up. He stood for a moment debating what to do. If there was a chance that Collin really did know something...

Grabbing his keys, he headed for his truck. Still not trusting Collin’s call, he drove past Bill’s Auto without stopping. Only a dim light burned deep inside the shop. Collin Wilson’s old Chevy was parked out front. He didn’t see anyone on the street. No other cars were parked nearby.

After driving around the block, Brody stopped and got out. The street was dark at this end of town. He could hear the train on the nearby tracks, but no other closer sounds as he walked toward the shop.

Brody told himself that Collin Wilson had no reason to set him up. But then again, the man had tried to scare Harper. Or at least someone who’d been driving his classic old Chevy.

As he neared the shop, he saw in the moonlight that the right-hand side of the old Chevy had been in an accident. He slowed, looking from the damaged car to the shop entrance. The front door stood partially open.

Wary now, Brody listened for any sound coming out of the repair shop but heard nothing. Something was wrong. He sensed it as he neared the open doorway. Was he walking into a trap just as he suspected? Were Collin and his jock buddies from high school inside there waiting to jump him?

The smell hit him first. Being a rancher, he’d found his share of dead animals. Blood had a distinctive scent. He cautiously stepped inside the doorway, afraid he already knew what he would find.

“Collin?” he called as he took another step inside the door. Groping for a light switch, he heard movement off to his side. As he turned, he felt rather than saw the cold steel connect with his temple. The dark shop swam in an array of colors. Brody remembered hitting the floor as someone rushed past him and out the door. Then everything went black.

* * *

O
N
THE
WAY
back to town from the Hamilton Ranch, the dispatcher contacted Frank to let him know he had an urgent call from Brody McTavish.

“I’m at Bill’s Auto. I think you better get down here.”

Brody was waiting for him, sitting outside on the ground, his back against the outside wall of the shop, holding a rag to his head.

“What’s going on?” Frank asked as he drove up and got out of his rig. He glanced toward the damaged Chevy. Brody was bleeding. He was thinking car accident. Hit-and-run? “What happened?”

As he listened, he tried not to ask what the hell Brody was thinking coming down here in the middle of the night to meet Collin Wilson. “Where is Collin?”

“Inside. I never got to talk to him. I smelled blood. I started to turn on a light when someone hit me.” He held his head, clearly in pain. “I woke up to find myself lying next to a dead man.”

“You didn’t see the person who hit you?”

“No. When I woke and saw him, I got out of there and called you,” Brody said.

The sheriff moved to the open doorway and, pulling his flashlight, peered in. He let out a curse and got on his two-way to order backup and a call to the coroner and paramedics.

Thirty minutes later, Bill’s Auto was wrapped in crime-scene tape. The paramedics were tending to Brody and the coroner was bent over Collin’s body.

“Can you give me an idea of how long he’s been dead,” Frank asked.

Charlie rubbed his chin for a moment. “I’d say he was killed no more than an hour ago.” Not long before Brody McTavish came on the scene, according to him.

Frank walked over to where paramedics were tending to Brody. “Did you happen to talk to Harper Hamilton in the past few hours?”

“No, why?” Brody instantly looked worried.

“She was run off the road earlier. Given the paint color on the side of Collin Wilson’s damaged Chevy, I’m betting this vehicle was involved.”

Brody tried to get up, but the paramedic pushed him back down saying he wasn’t quite done. “Is she all right?”

“Bruised up a little, but fine when I had a deputy take her home. Since then someone broke into her house. You wouldn’t know anything about that, would you?”

“No. Where is she now?”

“I took her over to her sister Bo’s place for the rest of the night,” the sheriff said. “Do you know of any reason Collin Wilson would want to run her off the road?”

“Other than the obvious?”

Frank sighed. He repeated what Brody had told him Collin said during the short phone call. “He didn’t give you any idea what he was talking about?”

“No, but the other day, Harper said she saw Will Sanders and Kyle Parker stop by to talk to Collin. According to her, the conversation looked heated.”

The sheriff nodded as the paramedic finished and Brody got up.

Brody seemed to hesitate. “Also, after Harper and I talked to you, we went by her family’s old homestead house where JD and Grace lived. We found a drawing Maggie had done of JD. But there were also tracks in the dust. Someone had been there before us. If it wasn’t you—”

“It wasn’t. You still think someone’s searching for the missing diary?”

“That’s all we can figure.”

“Where are you headed now?” the sheriff asked.

Brody considered the toes of his boots for a moment. “Thought I’d go by Jace and Bo Calder’s and see how Harper is doing.”

Frank couldn’t help but smile. “Might be a good idea for you to stay there the rest of the night. At least I’ll know where the two of you are. If you get any more calls like this one, you let me know before you go taking off on your own.”

* * *

T
HE
LIGHTS
WERE
on at the Calder house because Harper had awakened her sister and brother-in-law and then she’d had to tell them everything that had been going on. Bo had decided they should open a bottle of wine since none of them could sleep right then anyway. Harper noticed that her sister didn’t have any.

They were talking when they heard a vehicle approaching. They looked at one another for a moment, before Harper rushed to the window.

“It’s Brody,” she said, unable to keep the pleasure from her voice. Then she realized he hadn’t come out to see her. He didn’t even know she was here. He’d come to see his best friend, Jace. But at four in the morning?

She hurried to the door anyway. With a shock, she saw his head was bandaged. “What happened?” she cried in alarm.

He said hello to Jace and Bo, then said to her, “Let’s go for a walk.”

She raised a brow. He did realize it was four in the morning, right? When he took her hand, she recalled that he hadn’t been that surprised to see her at her sister’s house.

The night was dark and cold, but with her hand in his, she felt warm and excited. Just being this close to him—

He pulled her into his arms and kissed her like he meant it.

“What was that about?” she asked breathlessly. Earlier at the bar, he’d said they couldn’t be together ever.

“I’m just so glad to see you. The sheriff told me about what happened to you.”

“The sheriff?” She listened as he filled her in on what had transpired since she’d last seen him. “You could have been killed.”

“I’m realizing that. But I think whoever killed Collin didn’t want to add me their list.”

Harper let out the breath she’d been holding. “So Collin is dead and whatever he was going to tell you...”

“Is gone with him. I’m just glad you’re all right.”

Overhead, the stars seemed brighter. She could hear the sound of the creek murmuring, the water silver in the moonlit night. A faint breeze whispered in the nearby pines. Harper wanted to stay right here in Brody’s arms forever.

“The sheriff is right. We need to stay out of this. It has gotten even more dangerous than I ever imagined,” Brody said.

“We must be close to finding out the truth or the events of tonight wouldn’t have happened.”

“I can’t have you be in danger, Harper.”

She looked into his handsome face. Her heart did its rendition of a jitterbug.

“We should get back in,” he said, after another long moment.

She didn’t want to leave his arms, but she was exhausted and she knew he must be, too. “I’m just glad
you’re
all right.”

He hugged her to him. Relishing in his warmth, she breathed in the male scent of him along with the spring night as if to remember it always.

Back at the house, Bo and Jace had conspicuously disappeared and the door to the guest room was invitingly open. Brody grinned and shook his head, his gaze locking with hers a few moments before he took her hand.

* * *

B
RODY
CLOSED
THE
bedroom door behind them and stood looking at Harper. “You’re probably exhausted and need to get some sleep.”

“Actually...” She gave him that crooked smile and all his resolve evaporated on a breath.

“You realize there is no going back once—”

Harper put a finger to his lips before she pressed her lips to his. She stepped away, the challenge in her gaze saying, “Well, Brody McTavish? You wanted to do the chasing.”

He grabbed her, pressing her against the wall with his body before dropping his mouth to hers. She parted her lips, welcoming him as her arms looped around his neck.

He lost himself in the kiss, in the taste of her, the feel of her. Why had he fought this for so long? He wanted this woman. He had given up everything for her.

His hand worked its way under her shirt and bra to cup her warm breast. Her nipple responded, hardening to a peak under his palm.

He drew back from the kiss to look into her blue eyes. Desire burned there like a flame. “I don’t want to be just another one of your suitors.”

She shook her head. “It has always been you, Brody.” She grabbed the front of his shirt. The snaps sang as she jerked it open and pressed her palms to his chest.

He kissed her again, deepening the kiss as his fingers worked at the buttons on her shirt. She slipped out of it, letting it drop to the floor an instant before her bra joined it. Breathing hard, he cupped her freed breasts in his hands, kissing each hard peak before taking it in his teeth. She moaned in response and fumbled at the buttons of his jeans.

* * *

H
ARPER
HAD
NEVER
felt such urgency. She needed Brody’s naked body against her own. She needed him to hold her, to caress her, to make love to her.

She couldn’t take the chance that anything would interrupt them this time. She’d dreamed of this moment for years.

As he took her nipple in his mouth, she arched against him, the ache inside her growing with each second that passed. He trailed warm, sweet kisses up her throat. She shuddered with pleasure.