Rancher's Refuge (Whisper Falls) (15 page)

God help me. Help me be strong for her. Show me what to do.

Drawing on every fiber of self-control he had, Austin stepped away and let James win.

The thunder rumbled closer, clouds darkening with each passing minute.

James smiled his cocky, mirthless smile. “You’re not dealing with Annalisa anymore, cowboy. You’re dealing with a man with the power to make you crawl. So let me give you fair warning. If you like your freedom, stay out of my way.”

Executing a mock salute, Annalisa’s tormentor—and now Austin’s—got into his sports car and roared away.

A chill ran down Austin’s spine. He knew exactly where James Winchell was headed.

Chapter Fifteen

H
umming softly, Annalisa slid four of Miss Evelyn’s frozen pies into the oven and set the timer.

“Do you think four is enough for the rest of the day?” she asked Uncle Digger.

In his usual blue-and-gold hat and striped overalls, Uncle Digger motioned toward the store room. “If not, Evelyn has more in the freezer.”

She knew that, but she didn’t like to keep customers waiting. Or worse, have them leave without buying anything. The Iron Horse did all right, but according to the owners, business had improved with Annalisa at the counter. Even though suspecting they were being kind, she nonetheless wanted to prove her worth.

This little snack shop in Whisper Falls was a far cry from her former life, but she loved it. She loved the people, the work, her new car and most of all, she loved Austin Blackwell. If she wasn’t mistaken, he loved her, too, though something held him back.

But she was in no rush. Not this time, not after the mistakes she’d made. As her arm had healed, so had her heart and soul. This time, she’d take her time, let love grow and learn who God intended her to be along the way.

She prayed that Austin’s wounds, whatever they might be, would also heal. She touched her lips, remembered the sweet way he’d kissed her goodbye and thought of the old adage that love heals all wounds.

“Where is everyone today?” she asked. A handful of customers lined the counter, but the shop was quieter than normal.

“I think we’re in for a storm this evening,” Uncle Digger said, “but business is always slow after the Pumpkin Fest.”

She could tell the situation worried him. It worried her, too. Without business, the Iron Horse had no need of her.

“When will it pick up again?”

He rubbed his mustache, his white eyebrows dipping. “Generally lasts until Christmas, but Evelyn’s steaming up new ways to get folks here through Thanksgiving. Chamber’s kind of lagging, but she’ll stoke a fire in their coal bin.”

Salt shakers clattered as she grouped them for refills. “Any ideas yet?”

“Some silly notion about getting play actors to hold up the train. Something like Jesse James.” He shook his head. “I can’t get on board with that one.”

Annalisa unscrewed shaker lids and hid a smile. She was coming to love this odd little man with his train comments. “There has to be something that would attract visitors in the off season.”

“Speaking of attracting things.” Uncle Digger hitched the straps of his overalls. “I noticed a few sparks between you and Austin. How’s that working out?”

“He’s a good man.”

Austin was more than a good man. He was the man she wanted in her future. For the first time in a long time, life was good. Eventually, she might even stop looking over her shoulder expecting James to burst in and ruin everything.

“Uncle Digger, could I ask you something?”

“Anything at all. Even if I don’t know the answer, I know Him who does.” They were interrupted when several customers came to the cash register. Uncle Digger, in his usual half-speed mode, rang them up.

Annalisa topped off the salt shakers. The timer on the heating unit tinged. Grabbing a hot pad, she removed a sub sandwich and wrapped the Philly cheese for the local barber. “Anything else for you, Sid?”

The barber, whose head was as clean as a cue ball, answered, “This will do for now. Got to get back to the shop.”

“Clipping a lot of ears, are you, Sid?” Uncle Digger asked as he took the man’s money.

“Not near enough.”

Uncle Digger nodded sagely. “Hold tight to the rails, son, and keep looking up. Whisper Falls is on the rise. This time next spring we’ll be on the gravy train. Just you wait and see.”

With a wave, Sid exited the Iron Horse, and several other customers soon followed. She was left with only the two coffee drinkers at the counter. Annalisa topped off their cups and put the carafe back on the heater.

With her customers taken care of for the moment, Annalisa returned to Uncle Digger. Idly, he took a wet cloth and began wiping down the work station. Uncle Digger had one speed. But Annalisa knew his thinking was anything but slow.

“Now, what’s on your mind, missy? Wouldn’t be that cowboy, would it?”

She fought a blush, gave up and let it heat her face. Was she that obvious?

* * *

Austin pulled into the parking area outside the train depot with his heart on his sleeve and a vise around his heart. One quick look around allayed his first concern. No fancy red sports car. With his knowledge of back roads, he’d easily beaten James into town, but he didn’t have long. Winchell was the kind of man who would stop at nothing to get what he wanted. And he wanted to make Annalisa pay for leaving him.

Austin was certain, from the dark look in the man’s eyes that he hadn’t come to Whisper Falls out of love. He’d come for revenge.

Annalisa was in danger, both from James and from the truth Austin carried inside him like a rattlesnake.

He had no choice. He had to tell her about Blair and about the charges before James did. She would hate him for the lie, she might even fear him, but he would not allow James the pleasure of throwing that ugly surprise in her face.

He nodded to the town barber as he hurried inside the Iron Horse. His heart skipped a beat when he saw her behind the counter, talking with Uncle Digger. She looked up when the door snapped shut behind him.

“Austin!” Pleasure sparkled in her eyes. Her lips curved.

An answering joy touched Austin for a moment, but he didn’t smile. He couldn’t, knowing he was about to erase that look from her face forever.

Worried that James could burst through the door any minute, he hurried around behind the counter with grim determination. Both Annalisa and Uncle Digger stared at him curiously. A coffee drinker tossed some change on the counter and left.

“James is in town,” he blurted.

Annalisa choked out a small, distressed noise and turned as white as the shop’s coffee mugs. She clapped her hands over her mouth, eyes wide with shock.

Uncle Digger frowned, looking from Austin to Annalisa and back. “Who is James, and why is Annalisa afraid of him?”

Austin gave him a quick overview.

Digger’s reply came fast. “Take her and go home. I’ll send that feller flying.”

Austin softened at the older man’s determined look. Uncle Digger cared for Annalisa. He’d protect her if he could, but sooner or later, James would get to her.

With a strength that surprised him, Austin said, “Running won’t solve the problem.”

The truth of his own statement hit him between the eyes. Hadn’t his family said the same thing to him? Yet, he’d run away from Texas, and look what good that had done him. Six years of hiding on his ranch as if he was guilty. Six years of being alone, of refusing to face the past. Six years of barely living.

He didn’t want Annalisa to live that way. If there was to be a showdown with James, better to get it over with now. Then, and only then, could she hope to move on.

Austin hurt to know that she would likely move on without him.

Gently, lovingly, with his stomach tied in knots, he gripped Annalisa’s shoulders and stared into her beautiful sweet eyes, willing her to hear his heart and understand.

“Maybe James will come here and maybe he won’t,” he said. “I figure he will. But either way, you and I have to talk. Now.”

Uncle Digger picked up the urgency. He clapped Austin’s shoulder once. “You two talk. I got things to do.” And then he shuffled through the door leading into the museum.

He was no more than out of sight when Annalisa gripped Austin’s forearms and said, “I don’t want to see him. Where is he? Did you talk to him?”

Her voice shook, and Austin thought he’d break in two.

“He came to the ranch. I don’t know how he found it, but he did.” Cops have ways. They even know things that aren’t true. “He said you owed him and that he’d find you.”

She sucked in a nervous breath. “Does he know I work here?”

As much as he despised adding to her fear, the truth was all that mattered now. She had to know. “He seemed to.”

“Of course he knows. He always knows. He’s a cop, a relentless investigator.” She twisted her fingers together. “I should have left. I should have gone far, far away when he first called, but I...”

Austin’s pulse thundered. Hope flared, then sputtered and died. She’d stayed because of him. And now he was about to destroy the fledgling love growing between them.

Hearing the crack and splinter of his own heart, he took her hands in his. Swallowing hard, he said, “I have to tell you something about myself. Something bad. James knows, and he’ll use it to hurt us both.”

Annalisa stilled, blue eyes raking his face. “This is about Blair, isn’t it?”

He blanched, eyes dropping shut. The blinding pain of yesterday’s mistakes tore at him like tiger’s teeth “Yes. My...wife.”

She slid her hands into his and squeezed, willing him to look at her. “I know she died. What happened? Was she ill?”

He heard the terrible hope in her voice. She was smart. She suspected the truth would be too much to bear.

But love without truth was doomed to die. Better now than later.

“Yes, she was sick, but not in the way you mean. She had emotional problems.”

Again, that stillness before she murmured, “Did you love her?”

He gazed down at Annalisa’s fine-boned hands in his, remembering Blair. Remembering the love-hate relationship they’d shared. “I tried. I thought love could fix her, and most of the time she was fine. But not always.”

How did he explain the confused, mistrusting woman he’d married?

“She was abused as a child.” His throat tightened with the horror. “In ways I can’t even think about. She never resolved those issues. Sometimes she hated me. Sometimes she loved me. Sometimes she’d disappear for days, saying she needed space.”

“I’m sorry.”

He blew out a soft sigh. “I didn’t know what to do. I was young and embarrassed. I lied to people, told them she’d gone to visit friends or made other excuses. Those lies came back to haunt me.”

“Did you know where she went?”

“No. Never.” But there were those who didn’t believe him. Would she? “People gossiped. They said she cheated on me.”

“Did she?”

He shrugged, although he was feeling anything but casual. The old emasculating pain rose up in his chest, hot and tight. He hadn’t been enough to keep his bride at home. “I didn’t want to know. But sometimes I was so angry at her. We fought a lot.”

“What happened? How did she...die?” The last word was whispered, as if she knew Blair’s death was out of the ordinary.

A swirl of images invaded Austin’s head. Bile rose in his throat at the memories. He swallowed, fought to tell her everything. “Police found her in a motel room over a hundred miles from home. She’d been...murdered.”

Annalisa’s body sagged in shock. “Oh, Austin. What you must have gone through.”

He’d gone through more than she could ever know. Regardless of Blair’s behavior, he’d cared for her. Maybe in the end the love had died, but once upon a time when he’d believed in happy ever after, he had loved his wife.

“I’ll never forget that knock on my door. The police cars in the driveway.” The scene was imprinted on his brain, branding him a failure. Two black-and-whites and an unmarked car. The group of officers whose compassion was hidden behind a veil of suspicion. The ham sandwich he had left on the counter. “She’d been gone for ten days that time. The police wanted to know why I hadn’t reported her missing.”

“Why hadn’t you?”

“She always came back. I just thought...” He lifted one shoulder, as helpless now as he was then. In truth, he hadn’t wanted to know where Blair disappeared to. He’d been afraid of what he might discover.

“I’d lied. Told everyone she’d gone to visit friends. The police found that suspicious.”

He loosened his hold on Annalisa to run a weary hand down his face. Anything to wipe away the nightmare. “They wouldn’t let me bury her. Not for a long time. By the time they released her, I couldn’t go to her funeral.”

“Why?”

The horror of those days filled his head and heart. If not for his family, for Cassie and his mother and dad, he might have done something crazy.

“They found bruises and evidence of past abuse. With no other suspects, the trail led straight to the unhappy husband.” He blew out a nervous breath and blurted the rest. “I was in jail, arrested...and charged with murder.”

Chapter Sixteen

A
nnalisa sucked in a gasp, stunned by the revelation. Austin? Accused of murder?

For a long moment, she stared at him, stomach churning. Was Austin capable of hurting the woman he was supposed to love and cherish forever? Had she fallen in love with another violent man?

The notion chilled her to the soul.

How did she reconcile the tender cowboy with a man accused of murder?

Her head spun. Blood roared through her temples. Nothing made sense. She needed to think.

After a few agonizing seconds while she said nothing, Austin dropped his head and turned away.

She opened her mouth. Closed it. She had no idea what to say, but she couldn’t let him just walk out of her life. There had to be an explanation. There had to be.

She reached out to call him back so he could explain and help her understand.

But at that moment, the Iron Horse door slammed open, reverberating on its hinges. Words froze on Annalisa’s tongue.

James Winchell strode into the room.

He brushed past Austin, slanting an arrogant smirk in the cowboy’s direction. Annalisa wasn’t sure whether to run or fight, but one thing she knew for certain, she needed Austin.

“Austin.” She heard the tremble in her voice.

“Forget him.” James strutted toward her, a confident smile on his face, a face as cold as it was charming. “Hello, doll. Miss me?”

Her knees began to shake, stomach threatening to reject the sandwich she’d had for lunch. She licked lips gone dry as sand. He was as handsome as ever, slick and polished and confident. And he scared her senseless.

“Lord Jesus,”
she prayed silently.
“Help me be strong.”

Until now, until Austin and Whisper Falls, she’d not had the strength to stand against him. Somehow, with God’s help, this time she would.

“James.” The name came out in a nervous whisper as if she was a child caught in misbehaving.

“I missed you, doll. Get your stuff and let’s roll out of this dump.”

She shook her head, clenching her hands behind her back to hide the shakes. She would not let him do this to her again. She would not. Stiffening her spine, she said, “Go back to California, James.”

“Not without you.” He smiled, but no pleasure lit his eyes. She’d never realized that before. For all his charm, his smiles, his wily words, his eyes had always been hard and empty when they looked at her. Not tender like Austin’s.

She flashed a look at the cowboy, his name on her lips. “Austin, don’t go. Please.”

He never hesitated. Even though she knew she’d hurt him with her silence, he was beside her in an instant, solid, stalwart, a refuge of strength that made her more determined than ever to break free of James Winchell.

“So it’s you again. The cowboy,” James sneered. “If you know what’s good for you, you’ll get lost and stay lost.”

Annalisa eyed the vein in James’s neck—the one that pulsed when he was upset. It pulsed now, bulging with contained rage. For a split second, she relived the snap and pain of a broken arm and shuddered to know what he could do if he chose.

“Leave us alone, James.”

“Not a chance, babe. You’re mine.” He lifted his palms in a gesture of placation. She’d seen him use it with suspects, a false manipulative gesture to get his way. Voice soft and deceptively sweet, he said, “I’ve come all this way to tell you you’re forgiven. Come home now and everything will be just like it was before.”

He flashed the cold, chilling smile again. Annalisa’s blood curdled the way it had that awful day at Whisper Falls.

“I can’t. I don’t want to.” She backed away from him, a mistake that revealed her anxiety.

His face hardened. “I think you’ll want to reconsider.” Viselike fingers snaked out and manacled her wrist. “Now, let’s go before I get angry.”

“Get your hands off the lady.” The words were spoken quietly, but the underlying steel in Austin’s tone left no doubt he meant what he said. His gaze was locked on James. Like two tigers engaged in mortal battle, the men glared.

James’s fingers tightened until her wrist bones ached. A flash of his furious strength had her knees knocking and her mouth too dry to swallow.

Surely, he wouldn’t hurt her here in front of anyone. His abuse had always been subtle and private and easily covered up. The broken arm had been a terrible loss of his usual control and even then, he’d done the deed in private, on a deserted road far off the beaten path. He hadn’t expected her to bolt. He’d thought she’d come whimpering back the way she’d always done and he would have told everyone that she, clumsy thing, had fallen.

“I warned you, cowboy, don’t interfere between a man and his fiancée.”

“I’m not your fiancée.” Teeth gritted, she jerked hard against him but couldn’t break his grip. “Let me go.”

James narrowed his eyes, nostrils flared. “You’ve developed some spunk. I don’t think I like it.”

Adrenaline pumping, Annalisa surveyed the snack shop and found the room empty. Her heart sank. At the first sign of trouble the Iron Horse occupants had disappeared. Like everyone else in her life, friends faded away when times got hard.

No, not everyone. She flashed a look at the one person still in the room.

Austin, her Austin. He hadn’t moved. He stood quietly, boots planted wide, arms loose at his sides. Only the grim line of his mouth—that wonderful mouth that kissed with such tenderness—indicated the depth of his emotion.

Austin hadn’t abandoned her. She stared into his beloved face, willing him to meet her gaze.

He couldn’t have killed his wife. He couldn’t have.

Finally, his eyes flicked to hers, caught and held on for a long, meaningful second as if he had opened his soul and let her in. In those green depths she read sorrow laced with love.

Austin loved her.

He blinked, and the moment evaporated, a wisp of smoke on the wind.

And just as quickly, Austin sprang like a coiled snake, shoving between her and James. Caught off guard, James stumbled backward. Annalisa tore her wrist from his grasp. The bones ached but she paid them no mind. She’d suffered worse.

She braced herself, waiting for his cold rage to burn red-hot. She took three steps back, bumped the counter with her hip, thankful to God for Austin’s broad shoulders between her and the abuser who claimed to love her.

What a sick, sick view of love.

James’s face had grown purple with anger. Austin’s was simply determined.

Fright and faith warred inside her. Fear of James. Faith in Austin. And in God to protect them both as he’d done that day behind Whisper Falls.

But Austin was outmatched against James’s superior training. He was in danger, too.

Annalisa stiffened her resolve. Making a clean break from the past was her responsibility, not Austin’s. No matter what James said or what he did, this time she would stand her ground.

She moved in beside the cowboy and touched his hand. His fingers twitched, but he never took his eyes off James.

Gathering her nerve, she said, “You should leave now, James. It’s over between us.”

“It’s not over until I say it is.”

“You heard the lady. She’d not interested.”

James took a step forward, his icy glare confident. “You should come with me before your boyfriend gets hurt.”

“That’s not happening.” The voice came from behind her.

Annalisa swiveled her head as Uncle Digger appeared through the door of the museum, hefting a coal shovel.

James sneered. “No old man scares me.”

“What about the rest of us?” Davis Turner entered the room, a hammer in one hand. Behind him came Sid, the barber, with his shears. And behind him were Cassie and Louise, each hairdresser wielding a heavy iron straightener. Pudge Loggins from the bait and tackle shop was next, toting an oar over one shoulder. Next came Creed Carter and Mayor Fairchild, armed with nothing but determination.

“Chief Farnsworth’s been notified,” Rusty said.

As she watched, astonished and humbled, the small snack shop filled with townspeople who lined up beside Austin with the tools of their trade in hand, ready to protect and defend.

Tears sprang to Annalisa’s eyes. This town cared about her.
Her
. The woman who’d stumbled and fallen too many times. They’d accepted her anyway. And Austin, too. This funny little town of quirky mountain folks were the family and love she’d been looking for since Grandpa died. At the warmth of that love, every fear melted away like snowflakes in June.

But even when he was outnumbered James was not the kind of man to back down.

“Do you people know what kind of man you’re standing alongside?”

“Leave it, Winchell.” Austin’s voice carried a threat.

“Oh, you’d like that, wouldn’t you? Then you could go right on fooling these people the way you fooled the Texas justice system.”

All the strength went out of Annalisa’s legs. She grabbed for the back of a nearby chair. James knew about Austin’s past. The secret he’d hidden from everyone in this room, even her.

She understood now. Blair’s death had broken him, and the accusation of murder had forced him to leave everything he knew and loved to come to the remote Ozarks where no one knew. She of all people understood how much that anonymity meant.

To have his past revealed again would shatter him.

“James, please.” Desperate to spare Austin the humiliation, she forced her legs to move the six steps toward James. “I’ll go with you. Just don’t say any more.”

“No!” Austin’s cry splintered through her. He caught her elbow but she shook him off and continued forward like a programmed robot.

“Let’s go home, James.” Her lips were tight, her face frozen, her insides dead. “Take me home. I want to go home. With you.”

The last phrase choked her, but she’d do anything to protect Austin. None of this was his fault. He shouldn’t bear the brunt of James’s wrath.

She reached out to James, but his lip curled in disgust. He pushed her hands away as if her touch dirtied him.

“Too late, doll. I don’t want you anymore. You’ve made your bed with scum, now sleep in it. But before I shake the dust off this dump, these folks are going to hear the truth about your cowboy.”

And with more sadistic pleasure than she’d thought possible, he told them.

* * *

Austin felt the world tilt and knew the quiet life he’d built in Whisper Falls was coming to an end. James spewed his vitriol for everyone to hear, twisting the facts for the worst presentation. By the time he finished, a satisfied smirk on his lips, Austin had not only murdered his wife, he’d abused her for years and hidden her away for days so his crimes wouldn’t be suspected. James left nothing out. Not the fights with police officers, not the condition of Blair’s battered body, not the sensational trial full of circumstantial evidence, nor the controversial verdict when Austin had walked away a free man.

It made him sick to his stomach.

In defeat, Austin gazed around the room at the shocked faces of his neighbors and the people he’d almost thought of as friends.

“That’s not true,” Cassie cried. “Austin loved his wife. She was mentally ill. She did irrational things—”

James interrupted. “You’re his sister. Naturally, you’d take his side. You were probably an accomplice. I hear you were widowed on your honeymoon and the unfortunate groom had nice life insurance. Just like your brother’s wife.”

Cassie’s wounded gasp ripped through Austin. His blood boiled. She didn’t deserve the brunt of Winchell’s venom. “Shut up, Winchell. Leave her out of this. Everyone in this room knows Cassie’s story.”

“But they didn’t know yours, did they?”

What could he say? They hadn’t. He hung his head like a bronc rider knocked in the dirt, breathless.

By day’s end, everyone in Whisper Falls would know his ugliest secret. He’d be an outcast again, a man under suspicion of murdering his wife, a man who couldn’t even go to the grocery store without stares and whispers burning his ears.

Gut tight with shame, he did the only thing he could, the thing he’d come to do. Protect Annalisa once and for all.

“Annalisa is the important one here. And no matter what you say or do to me, I won’t let you hurt her again. Get out of this town and don’t come back. Don’t call, don’t write, don’t visit.”

“Or what, Blackwell? You gonna kill me?”

James had him at a disadvantage and he knew it. Truth was Austin couldn’t stop a man who didn’t want to be stopped. But he could try.

Fists tight, he took a step toward James. To his amazement, a dozen feet shuffled on tile as everyone in the room stepped up with him.

He glanced to his left and then to his right. Uncle Digger nodded once. His mustache quivered indignantly. “We stand by our own.”

A mumble of agreement passed down the line of townspeople.

James, who’d clearly expected the opposite results, narrowed his eyes into slits. The pleased smirk changed to incredulity. “Are you people crazy? You have a murderer in your midst.”

“Folks around here
are
a little crazy, mister,” Uncle Digger said, tapping the handle of his shovel. “Mostly, we’re crazy about each other. We’re a peace-loving town, but you ain’t proved to appreciate that. So I guess you’d better git.”

James’s face darkened to a livid red, fists bunched, but he was clearly outnumbered. Suddenly, he whirled toward Annalisa. She flinched but stood her ground, staring him down. Pride shot through Austin. She wasn’t afraid anymore.

James gave her a sour look and wiped his hands together as if brushing her off. “I don’t know why I bothered. If you choose this bunch of redneck losers over all I’ve done for you, you can all rot.”

Sputtering invectives, James spun on his shiny loafers and stormed out of the Iron Horse.

Sweet relief rushed over Austin. His shoulders sagged. He closed his eyes as emotion surged through his bloodstream faster than white water rapids. Finally, Annalisa was rid of James Winchell, and he doubted she’d ever hear from the man again. Regardless of his own future in Whisper Falls, Austin had followed his conscience and kept her safe. No matter what it cost him, she was worth the price.