Season of Fear (23 page)

He was looking at her seriously, intent on her response, and she could see that it mattered to him very much that she be happy, forgiving, and content with her life. She felt extremely close to him at the moment. She put a fond hand on his shoulder and smiled deeply into his eyes.

"Cousin Herman, you know how much I care about you. I know you did what you thought was best, and in truth, I think I am glad that I am no longer in that house in Chicago, surrounded constantly by the pain and memories of Father. This has given me breathing time... time to adjust."

She felt an aching little tug at her heart. Time to fall foolishly in love, it said, but she pushed the thought aside. Would she have rather stayed buried in the past forever, than to feel this pain? She knew that she would have done just the same again. She would have risked the pain just to have met and been close to Alexander Ridley. It's better to have loved and lost than never to have loved at all.

"I suppose I'll be leaving here soon."

Herman looked at her questioningly. "Do you think so?" he asked.

"There's no point in staying forever, Herman. The arrangements for this party have quickly shown me how little a housekeeper is going to be needed around here in the near future. No, it's time for me to make plans to move on."

Herman smiled a knowing little smile that she couldn't decipher.

"I know a place that could use your assistance, Robin. And this time, you can be proud of your college degree and organizational abilities. Interested?"

She nodded and he went on.

"My resort is in sore need of a competent assistant, Robin. My right-hand gal, who has been holding the fort since I've been away, has informed me that she will be leaving in the late fall. She's expecting her first child. I have her shoes to fill, to begin with, along with some added responsibility in the management of the resort. I have seen how much Lisa and I have benefitted from the rest that we have had, and I have intentions of taking things a little easier from here on out. I could really use someone that I could depend on, someone I could trust to help me. Care to give it a try? Of course the job won't be available until late fall, but there would be time to get things in order before the Christmas rush...and I'm sure that Alex and the children can use help here for a while until things settle down. What do you say?"

Many emotions passed through her mind. First of all, guilt, for her earlier thoughts of doubt and mistrust about her cousin's motives. Surely anyone who was as wonderful as Herman could have had no bad intent. She was more than a bit ashamed of herself.

Secondly, his offer was wonderful. She could do a good job for Herman, she was sure.

But thirdly, Alex's face flashed across her mind. One side of her was pushing her to leave the ranch immediately, to remove herself from the pain that stabbed at her heart at the sight of his apparent happiness with Deborah. The other side was clinging to the idea that she could realistically stay for at least a little while longer, helping the children, at least seeing his face...

The emotion clouded her face for a moment, and Herman looked hurt.

"I'm sorry if you don't like the idea, Robin. You look a little upset. I'm not offering charity, you know. I seriously could use your help. Of course, with your inheritance, perhaps you didn't plan to work right away."

"Oh, Herman," she said, "It's nothing like that. I just thought of something that made me feel a little sad. But I would love to have the job. And I promise that I will make you proud of me. Of course, I want to work. You know how like my father I am. I want to do something with my life, and the Robinson Resort is a challenge. Thank you. As usual, you have straightened out my troubled life."

Herman smiled and took her hand in his. "It's a deal. Though I must say I have never seen anyone who was more capable of straightening out their own life, Robin. Just give things time."

Lisa was motioning to her husband from the other side of the pool.

"I've got to go now, but we'll talk more later. Have fun. I love to see you enjoying yourself."

He was gone, leaving Robin alone for a moment to collect her thoughts. A few hours before, she had wondered what on earth she was to do with her life, and now, suddenly, the answers seemed to be right in front of her. She could stay a little longer, and make her heart adjust to the facts that she must face. And then, she would go back to Chicago and assist Herman at the Robinson Resort. She would put all of her energy into her work and keep herself busy, her thoughts constantly occupied, and keep Alex's face from appearing in her mind.

A burden seemed lifted from her shoulders, and she took a deep breath. By Christmas she would have started her new life.

She slipped quietly away from the crowds to find a quiet bathroom to freshen up her face. Not finding an available spot in the main part of the house, she decided to travel back to her own room. Coming around the corner in the dim hallway, she ran right into Deborah, her eyes brightly flashing. It was obvious that she had been drinking, and it was also obvious that she was not happy.

"If it's not the little gold digger from Chicago," Deborah purred like a cat. Robin got the impression of vicious claws, only waiting to be unfurled on a chosen victim.

"Excuse me, Deborah. I've got to get back to the party." She tried to make a polite exit without making a scene.

"Not so fast, my dear." The dark eyes looked into hers. "I just wanted to check with you about your plans for the future... more precisely, I wanted to make sure you know just how unwelcome you are here at the ranch, at this point."

Robin could feel herself blushing from the tips of her toes to the top of her head. Deborah had a grip on her arm, and her first impulse was to pull away, violently, if possible, and get away from the angry eyes before her. But she quelled the thought.

The woman is drunk, she told herself. She had no desire to stir up a ruckus that could upset the party outside and ruin what was a happy evening for the family and their guests.

"I'm sorry you feel that way, Deborah. If it will ease your mind, let me tell you that I'll be leaving in the near future. I have no desire to make problems here. Only please, please, don't make a scene. The family has had enough drama here, and I don't want to add to it."

"Just who made you an authority on this family, Robin North?" The woman looked pale suddenly, and she released her grip on Robin's arm.

Deborah turned to walk away, but stopped for one more instant and looked back at Robin.

"Just remember Alex is mine, Robin. Leave him alone." And then she was gone, leaving Robin with a heavy heart.

As she was returning to the party, Robin passed through the front foyer of the house. The light was dim, casting gray shadows on the walls. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw that two figures stood together in the dimness. She planned to quietly slip away, so as not to disturb the romantic couple.

But as she slipped by unnoticed, a quiet voice preyed on her ears, and her skin prickled as she recognized it. It was Sara. And she was speaking to Mac. In a flash, she realized that it was far from a romantic interlude, as far as Sara was concerned.

"I'm not kidding, Mac," she said evenly. "There is absolutely nothing between us, and I have no intention of changing that fact. I had a schoolgirl crush on you, and you hurt me badly. But I'm over it and it's made me learn quite a bit about myself. Now, if you'll excuse me, I'd like to get back to my friends." She pulled away from his touch.

With an angry, growl-like noise, Mac turned abruptly on his heel and disappeared out the front door without saying a word, or giving her another glance. He left the door open, mounting his waiting horse, tethered outside, and applied the spurs. The animal took off toward town, the echoing hoofbeats clamoring through the night.

Robin heard Sara give a relieved sigh, and then called out to her. She felt embarrassed at having been in a position to witness Sara's personal scene, and she was not about to compound the fact by slinking falsely away.

"I'm sorry, Sara, I did not mean to spy on you. I was just passing by."

Sara gave her a thankful grin.

"It doesn't matter, Robin. I'm glad I got it over with, and I'm even glad you were around. I'm not used to dealing with this kind of thing, and it makes me feel very uneasy."

Robin laughed and put a comforting arm around her slim shoulders.

"I must say, young lady, you handled the whole thing very well. I'm very proud of you. Now, go on out and see your friends. I'm sure they're wondering where you have been hiding!"

Sara went happily to rejoin the party.

The meeting with Deborah, coupled with Sara's episode, had made Robin thoughtful and the idea of immediately engaging in social conversation was not one that she enjoyed.

Instead, she decided to hunt for Gregory, who, by this hour of the night, was probably tired of adult conversation. Cook and Mrs. Manchester had not seen him, Robin discovered with a quick stop in the kitchen.

At pool-side, she found the teenagers were deciding that a late night swim was in order, making plans to change into their suits. Gregory was not with them.

She saw Alex, sitting with a small group of guests, looking relaxed and happy, with Deborah perched attractively on the arm of his chair. She had no desire to disrupt the conversation and risk a further confrontation with Deborah, and so she decided to hunt for Gregory on her own. Surely someone had seen the direction he had taken. Most probably, with the day's excitement and late hour of the evening, she would find him curled up asleep on a comfortable chair.

Chapter 21

Robin's casual search for Gregory slowly became a matter of greater concern. She searched the library, the family room, the living room, the entire main section of the house. She continued on in the bedroom wings, knocking carefully at each door, constantly expecting to find the young boy at each place she stopped. He was not in any of the bedrooms, in the kitchen, in the hallways. A fearful realization began to creep over her. Gregory was not in the house.

She checked once more at the party itself, hoping to find that he had rejoined the group and that her mounting apprehension was unnecessary. But he was not to be found. She walked quickly around the outskirts of the house, calling him softly, but receiving no response.

It was time, she decided, to find Alex and to enlist his help in locating his son. She tried to push away the wary feelings that made her skin prickle, calling herself foolish and dramatic and paranoid. But as the minutes ticked by, and she was running out of places to look, her doubts were taking over.

She turned the last corner of the house, and decided to head immediately back to find Alex. But as she looked out over the dark expanse of ground, toward the barns and bunkhouses, she caught sight of a dim light in the distance. The night overhead was very black, the moon was new, and a cloud cover shielded the light of the stars.

Robin couldn't pinpoint the location of the light immediately. She stood, rooted to the spot, trying to get her bearings in the dark. It was too far to the left to be one of the big barns, she decided, and too close to be one of the storehouses. Her reasoning led her to believe that the light was coming from the bunkhouses.

To the best of her knowledge, the hands had all traveled into town for the evening. Mac had been around to see Sara, but she had seen him ride off the place with her own eyes.

The light could very well be a lamp left on by accident, she knew, or illumination for someone who had decided not to go to town. But there was the slim chance that Gregory was there, bored with the party and exploring the ranch that he was becoming more and more interested in. Anything was possible.

Be careful, an inner voice warned her. There is still a dangerous person around.

She thought about Gregory, who she was sure was not in the house. If it were he who was wandering around in the dark, he must be brought back to the house, if only for her own peace of mind.

She headed for the bunkhouses, carefully feeling her way over the dry ground in the dark.

The light was like a beacon to her, compared to the blackness of the surrounding sky, and she headed right for it. When she was within a few hundred feet of the big bunkhouse, she could identify the window from which the light escaped. It was a lamp, left on the windowsill, burning steadily and casting its glow over the interior of the room.