Rancher's Refuge (Whisper Falls) (3 page)

“Wilma will have some instructions for you on cast care and problems to look out for.” He ripped a piece of paper from a pad and handed her a prescription. “Austin will take you by the pharmacy to get this pain medicine filled. Take one if you need it, every four hours for pain. Nights are usually the worst.”

“Thank you, Doctor.” Annalisa slid off the slick, paper-covered table and went to the door.

“Call if you need anything,” he said, serious eyes boring into her as if he knew everything she’d been through. “Anything at all.”

Annalisa understood his implication. With a nod, she hurried out.

In the waiting room, the cowboy sat scrunched in a chair, one boot crossed over the opposite knee and his pale green gaze glued to the hall leading to the exam rooms.

When he spotted her, he unfolded his length from the small chair and stood. An imposing man, he was tall, and dark as a thundercloud with shoulders as wide as a quarterback’s.

One look at her casted arm and his mouth curved. “Lime green?”

From somewhere she found an answering smile and lifted the cast higher. It weighed a ton. “I’m a fashion diva.”

“Yeah, we get a lot of calls for those in Whisper Falls,” he said wryly, and she wasn’t sure if he joked or not. “Where to from here?”

She held out the prescription, feeling like a bum. She’d imposed on this man enough, but what else could she do? This wasn’t exactly familiar terrain. “Do you know where a pharmacy is?”

“Not
a
pharmacy.
The
pharmacy. Jessup’s. Like Dr. Ron’s clinic, the only one in town.”

Annalisa followed broad shoulders to his truck, grateful that this man had been the one to find her in the woods. A little taciturn, he was a take-charge kind of guy who saw what needed doing and did it. Maybe she should worry about that, but right now, she had no choice except gratitude.

As she got into his truck for the second time that day, a troubling thought struck her.

“Oh, no,” she breathed, fingers pressed to her lips in dismay.

“What?” Austin hooked an arm over the steering wheel and shifted in her direction.

“I can’t fill the prescription.” She swallowed, gut fluttering with a new anxiety. Her situation had just become more dire.

Black eyebrows dipped. “Why not?”

“I—I must have lost my handbag when I fell.” A total lie. James had her purse in his car. When he’d shoved her out, she’d had no time to grab anything. Her phone, her money, her ID. Everything was in her purse. In time she could replace most of it, but that didn’t get her beyond this very awkward moment.

“You’re saying you don’t have any money?”

A flush of heat rushed up her neck and burned her cheeks. “Not at the moment. I have money back in...at home. Just not with me.”

Intelligent and already suspicious, he jumped on her slip of the tongue. “Back where, Annalisa? You’re not from Whisper Falls, so where’s your car? Where’s your hiking gear? People don’t just drop out of the sky and start hiking through miles of woods and hills to a waterfall in sissy shoes like that.” He gave her feet a scathing glare.

Acid burned in her stomach. Like the doctor, the cowboy was no fool, and her story
was
as thin as nylon.

“Forget the prescription. I’ve been too much bother already. Please, just take me to the nearest hotel.”

“How you gonna pay for
that?
”

She opened her mouth, only to shut it again. How indeed? The receptionist at the doctor’s office had taken her insurance information on nothing but faith in her promise to scan and send the card at a later date. She doubted a hotel would be as forgiving.

“I don’t know.” She pressed a hand to the dull headache drumming at her temples. “I’ll think of something. Let me think a minute.”

The cowboy apparently hadn’t a minute to spare because he started the engine and aimed the truck down the narrow, curving street. She had no idea where they were going and at the moment, didn’t care. She was stuck in the rural Ozarks without a dime or a credit card or a checkbook. And calling James to retrieve those items was out of the question.

She would rather live under that waterfall for the rest of her life and eat bugs.

Annalisa leaned her throbbing, hot head against the side window. Her whole face ached and she wondered if bruises were starting to appear. James was usually more careful. A slap here or there or cold intimidation, but not all-out battering.

She shivered and pressed closer to the door. An angry man was a powerful thing. And no matter how hard she’d tried, she’d not been always been able to pacify James.

Annalisa vowed not to make Austin Blackwell angry.

With a furtive glimpse at his dark, solemn profile, she wondered if she already had.

She’d gotten herself in this predicament. Now what? She could use her phone-a-friend option, but her friends were also James’s. They all considered him the catch of the day. Somewhere in their eight-month dating history, he’d steered her toward people in his circle and away from hers.

Unshed tears pushed at the back of her eyelids. If she had a family to rely on. If she wasn’t so terribly alone. If she hadn’t made such a mess of things.

Regrets. So very many regrets. What a fool she’d been to bend to James’s every whim, even to the point of drifting away from her church.
God, forgive me.

Shame was an ugly companion.

Holding back frustrated tears, she focused on the streets of Whisper Falls and tried to think of anything but her predicament. The town was small with only a long strip of businesses on either side of about five blocks. The buildings were old, probably turn of the last century, and many had been renovated into darling shops. In other circumstances, she would have explored Auntie’s Antiques, Sweets and Eats, the old brick train station. A spired courthouse with a long pillared porch was fronted by the statue of a soldier and a tall granite memorial to Vietnam vets. The list of names engraved on the onyx plaque both stunned and saddened her. Whisper Falls may be small, but it had given of its best.

Some of the buildings were run-down, but perky rust and yellow mums in giant pots trimmed the street corners and proclaimed an effort to spruce things up. On one small lot between the Tress and Tan Salon and the Expresso Yourself Coffee Shop was an open area made into a concrete park. In the center perched a gazebo bracketed by two cement benches and more of the giant flowerpots filled with mums, a splash of vibrant color on a sunny day.

Whisper Falls was a town torn between the old and the new, the run-down and the revitalized. And she liked it.

With a start Annalisa realized they’d reached their destination—a pharmacy recessed into the walls of an old brick building but with modern plate glass along the front.

She lifted her face from the cool window to look at the cowboy. “I told you—”

“Give me the prescription.”

“You don’t have to...”

With a warning scowl, he took the paper from her fingers, slammed out of the truck and went inside a double glass door. Fancy script proclaimed Jessup’s Pharmacy alongside a stenciled mortar and pestle in black silhouette. The old red brick was a beauty with 1884 engraved on the gingerbread top and a turquoise tiled entry from the sidewalk to the doors.

A pair of women about her age entered the pharmacy behind Austin. One pushed a baby stroller. An older couple passed by, the man treading patiently beside a bent, crippled woman using a walker. Once, the tiny gray woman grinned up at her man, a flash of flirtation that touched Annalisa.

She watched the come and go of locals, noting the ease and simplicity of friendly folks greeting one another. A teenager opened a door for a woman. A skipping girl dropped a handful of change and when the coins flew in every direction, a family of three stopped to help. Car doors slammed and voices called out greetings. No one seemed angry or stressed or too busy to say hello.

A deep yearning pulled at the empty spaces inside her. Did places like this really exist anymore? Did anyone’s family remain intact? Did a man and woman have a chance of growing old together?

She was still pondering that question when the cowboy emerged from the pharmacy and came toward her. Some bizarre emotion—relief, confusion, attraction—bubbled up.
Attraction?
Where had that come from?

Austin opened the truck door and tossed a white paper sack onto the seat. Pills inside clicked together as paper rustled.

A battle raged inside Annalisa. The need for help warred with the need to get out of the truck and stop imposing on a stranger. An attractive stranger.

“Thank you. I’ll repay you as soon as I can.”

“Forget it.” He sat there for a full minute, staring through the windshield at the pharmacy.

Struggling with the uncomfortable notion that some twisted portion of her brain found any man attractive, Annalisa clutched the pharmacy sack like a life preserver. He’d rescued her from the woods, taken her to the doctor, bought her medication. Now what? Where did she go from here?

Chapter Three

T
o her credit, his sister hadn’t beeped a word of surprise when Austin returned to the ranch with burgers, fries and Annalisa Keller in tow. He was glad. He was no mood to explain his annoying need to make sure Annalisa was all right, particularly because he had no explanation other than sympathy. The woman was in a fix, and even if she was liar, she was injured, alone and penniless.

He hoped he wasn’t harboring a fugitive.

With the scent of fresh burgers and fried apple pies tantalizing the kitchen, the three congregated around the wooden table and fell upon the food like starving cougars.

From behind his burger, Austin watched Annalisa and pondered. She was kick-in-the-gut pretty, probably late twenties like Cassie and as anxious as he was. He wished he wasn’t so intrigued.

“Still got a calf out there somewhere,” he said, more to get his mind off the mysterious woman than because he worried about the calf.

“Too dark to go after her now,” Cassie said. “Maybe her mama will bawl her home.”

“Hopefully.” At first light, he’d be out searching. He’d be on the lookout for other things, too.

“Were you hunting for the calf this afternoon,” Annalisa asked, “when you...found me instead?”

Her worried expression made Austin want to reassure her. He didn’t know why. Nothing about this day made sense. “Calves get out all the time.”

She hadn’t said much other than a thousand thank-yous that were starting to set his teeth on edge. He didn’t want thanks. He wanted her to go away so he could stop worrying about her.

But if she did, he’d worry more. What if she was in trouble? What if she was like Blair...

He put the brakes on
that
runaway train. Annalisa Keller was a stranger who would be gone as soon she finished that jumbo, everything-piled-inside burger. He didn’t know where she’d go, but she was going. End of subject.

In a dainty motion that enthralled him, the woman on his mind folded the carryout paper napkin in tidy thirds and patted her mouth. The action inadvertently drew Austin’s attention to the shape and curve of bowed lips and to the pale strain pulling the corners down. Her upper lip was still puffy but nothing like before. The red streaks on her throat had faded, as well. Whatever had happened was fresh when he’d found her at the waterfall.

She’d had a tough day. The protective male in him wanted to do something to make things better, but how could he when she wouldn’t tell the truth? He gnawed the edge of his burger, amazed at his line of thinking. Something about this woman got to him, and that was dangerous.

Her hair, wet from the waterfall, had dried and apparently Cassie had loaned her a brush because the golden blond waves curved neatly to her shoulders. Two thick, lazy curls framed her forehead and bracketed her cheekbones and eyes. Again, he noted the strain and the beginnings of bruises on her cheek and temple.

“You look pretty rough,” he said. “Exhausted, too.”

“Austin!” Cassie scolded. “No girl wants to hear that.”

“Well, look at her.”

Annalisa’s gaze moved back and forth between the brother and sister. “I am a little tired. If I could impose on you for a ride to a shelter or a hostel...”

“What are you talking about, girl?” Cassie laid aside her burger and reached out to pat Annalisa’s arm. “Tomorrow is soon enough to worry about that. You’ve been through too much for one day. You’re staying right here tonight, isn’t she, Austin?”

Austin choked on a French fry. He’d been thinking more like renting her a hotel room. “I—uh—”

“Of course she is.” Cassie threw down her napkin and rose. “Annalisa, if you’re finished eating, come with me, and I’ll show you the guest room. Once you get some rest, everything will look much better.”

As if she had no argument left in her, Annalisa took the white pharmacy bag from the table and followed Cassie.

Still sputtering, Austin watched in sheer dread as his sister ushered a total stranger down the hall and out of sight. A stereotypical hairdresser, Cassie was a people person with a real knack for listening and counseling. She probably knew more about the citizens of Whisper Falls than anyone. And if she’d decided to pry into Annalisa’s personal life, she would.

Cows and horses and hay meadows Austin could control. Like women in general, his sister was out of his league.

He could hear Cassie’s chatter, like a tour guide, talking about towels and extra blankets and one of his T-shirts. His brain skittered to a stop. Cassie was loaning Annalisa one of his T-shirts?

He squeezed his eyes shut and shook his head. That was not an image he wanted to entertain.

Stuffing the rest of the burger in his mouth, he got up to clean the kitchen. Cassie managed to get out of cooking and cleaning most nights. She might be a good listener, but she despised housework.

By the time Cassie returned, humming as if she’d done her good deed for the day, Austin was elbow-deep in soap suds.

“You should buy us a dishwasher,” she said blithely. It was an ongoing discussion between them.

“I don’t mind washing dishes. Grab a towel.”

“You are so weird.” She opened a drawer and pulled out a towel. “Guys don’t like doing dishes.”

Austin lifted a handful of suds and let them slide through his fingers. “Suds therapy. Keeps me from throttling my sister.”

She sniffed and tossed her head. “You need some kind of therapy.”

He flipped suds at her. “Is this your night to insult your big brother? Don’t forget, I brought the burgers. You’re supposed to be nice to me.”

“True.” Cassie swirled the towel around a red plate. “I like her.”

“Who?”

She rolled her eyes. “Annalisa. She seems nice.”

“She’s hiding something.”

Glass clattered as Cassie opened the cabinet and slid dishes inside. “You like her, too. I saw you watching her.”

“Don’t even go there. I was watching her because she’s a liar, and I’m a suspicious man.”

Cassie ignored him, something she did on a regular basis. “I invited her to stay with us for a few days until she gets things figured out.”

Austin’s hands clenched around a fork. Tines poked him. “You did what?”

“You heard me. And don’t act all surprised.
You’re
the one who brought her here. Twice.”

“I didn’t know what else to do.”

In a quiet tone, Cassie nailed him. “Neither does she.”

Austin wrestled with his conscience. He was as sympathetic as the next person, but having Annalisa under his roof more than one day bothered him. A lot.

“Something’s way off base with this woman, Cassie. Why won’t she explain herself?”

“Maybe she has a good reason. Maybe she’s scared. Maybe she’s not sure who she can trust.”

He’d wondered about that. “Did you notice that she’s never asked to call anyone? She has no personal effects, nowhere to go. What if she’s a criminal or worse?”

“What could be worse?”

“There’s worse, and you know it.” He shot her a meaningful look.

“Austin,” she said gently.

“Don’t want your sympathy, Cassie. I want your cooperation. For once, agree with me on something.” Taking in a troubled woman was setting himself up for a fall he couldn’t take. Not again. Irritation edging toward fear, Austin rinsed a plate and shoved it toward his nosy sister. “Something is way out of line, and I don’t want to be involved.”

He’d bought this ranch out in the middle of nowhere for a reason. He wanted peace, quiet and solitude. He’d wanted to be as far away from speculation and suspicion as humanly possible.

Adding a lying stranger with a broken arm to the mix wouldn’t work.

“You can’t hide from people forever, Austin. Life goes on.”

He jerked the plug from the drain. Water gurgled. “Don’t go there.” There were some things he didn’t talk about, even to Cassie. “This is my house and I said no. Tomorrow she goes.”

“Where?”

“That’s her business. Not yours. Not mine.”

His sister slapped a hand on the counter. “She’s staying. She’s broke and injured—a soul in need. God sent her to us.”

He scoffed in the back of his throat. “I don’t believe that garbage.”

“Your unbelief doesn’t change the truth.” Cassie stood perfectly still, an unusual phenomenon, and asked in her sweetest voice, “Come on, Austin, please. Annalisa needs a place to stay for a few days while her arm mends and she figures out...something. We have room. We can help her. It’s not a big deal.”

“It’s the something she needs to figure out that bothers me. She should be straight up with us, tell us what’s going on.”

“Maybe she will when she feels more comfortable.”

Her words chafed at him. He didn’t like when his sister was right.

He yanked the towel from the rack to dry his hands. “I don’t like it.”

“You like
her
. I think that’s the problem. It’s been so long since you’ve noticed a woman—”

Austin spun, pointing a finger. “Three days tops. And then she’s out of here. Got it?”

Cassie shot him a wounded look, lips tight and resentful. “As you said, it’s
your
house.”

She flounced out of the room as fast as her ladybug slippers could flap against hardwood. Austin watched her go, feeling both victory and defeat.

* * *

He didn’t want her here.

Annalisa leaned against the crack of the bedroom door, listening to the brother and sister conversation. Austin Blackwell wanted her gone. Truth be told, she wanted the same thing.

Whirling, she went to the extension telephone on the cherry dresser and lifted the receiver. Just as quickly she put the instrument down.

Who would she call? Olivia wouldn’t answer. And Annalisa had burned her bridges with Reverend Beaker. Her boss? She laughed a soft, bitter laugh. Her boss was James, the last man she’d ever call. James held the keys to her life. She’d handed him everything and received nothing but sorrow in return. As of today, she was alone, broke and unemployed.

Tormented with regret, she sagged on the side of the bed. Thank God the cowboy and his sister had taken her in. Otherwise, she’d be sleeping under a tree, cold and hurt and alone.

Her body ached all over, even her scalp where James had held her hair while he’d broken her arm.

She resisted the image. No use reliving the nightmare. He was gone. Hopefully, he’d never look back. He was like that. He’d blow hot and then cold, and if he decided she was too much trouble, he wouldn’t give her a second thought. He’d find another woman by tomorrow.

The painful truth shamed her further. How had she let herself get involved with a man like James Winchell? How could she have loved a man who showed so little care and respect for her?

Annalisa knew the answer and she didn’t like it—a woman who didn’t respect herself.

She pushed a hand through her hair. No use dwelling on James tonight. She roamed aimlessly around the tidy room, wondering about the owners. Friendly Cassie with the red lipstick and ebony hair who’d insisted she stay against Austin’s wishes. Austin. Rugged, handsome cowboy. Gruff and aloof, he both scared and fascinated her.

Would she never learn?

A breath of frustration and fatigue stirred the air.

Nothing fancy here in the Blackwells’ guest room, but homey and pleasant. Sage walls and white woodwork. A cherry sleigh bed covered in a beige-and-brown quilt and piled high with pillows. A red throw tossed over an easy chair next to the double windows.

Annalisa went to the window and gazed out. The night was deep and black. Except for the stars and moon, only the single floodlight near the barn shed any light. Quiet. Peaceful. Yet the silence made her jittery.

Cast pressed to her side, she tried wiggling her fingers as the doctor had ordered. Her arm hurt but not as bad as she’d expected. The pain pill she’d taken had started to make her sleepy.

From the kitchen she caught the rise and fall of voices. Male and female. Austin Blackwell didn’t like her but he’d helped her. She didn’t understand him. But then, she clearly didn’t understand men in general.

Though tempted, she didn’t listen in on their conversation again. Tomorrow she’d figure out what to do. One thing for certain, she could not go back to California. At least not for a while. She couldn’t go home to Kansas, either. Not until she was strong enough, brave enough, healthy enough to face her regrets and start over alone.

A knot of longing filled her with an ache greater than the one in her arm.

Fresh from an awkward, one-handed bath, she lay down on the fluffy pillow, remembering her conversation at the doctor’s office. Dr. Ron had said people prayed beneath the falls expecting an answer. Was that true? Did God work that way?

She thought again of the thunderous waterfall and her whispered, desperate prayer for help, for change, for some intangible she knew was missing in her life.

Had God been listening?

As she fell asleep, she prayed again, hoping with all her heart that the story was true.

* * *

The next morning, inside the warm confines of the barn and surrounded by dust motes and the welcome smell of green hay, Austin unsaddled his horse. Hoss, the shepherd, and Jet, the graying black lab, flopped in the sunshine just inside the entryway, tongues wagging. The prissy poodle was probably still curled up in her blanket on Cassie’s bed.

Austin and the two real dogs, as he called them, had been up since six riding the ridge and woods, checking fence and searching for a stray calf that didn’t want to be found. He’d also been searching for Annalisa’s missing handbag. He’d found neither.

Blue-and-rust swallows fluttered against the rafters, chattering their squeaky song like a dozen annoyed chipmunks. A feather floated down from above. Cisco snorted and jostled to one side. Austin rubbed a soothing hand down the horse’s withers and welcomed the animal warmth. Even in his jacket, he was chilled this fall morning.

He was chilled in his soul, too. Having a woman of questionable circumstance under his roof made him nervous. He’d laid awake half the night wondering about her.

The morning ride, though, had been beautiful. He’d seen deer and coyotes and turkey and a sunrise that had made him stop on the high ridge and watch as a navy blue sky gave way to pink and gold and flame.