Shine Not Burn (20 page)

The bastard was laughing.

Realization dawned. “There wasn’t a rattlesnake there, was there?”

He shook his head while he laughed at me, tears coming to his eyes.
 
“Damn, girl, you sure can scoot when you have to.”

I whacked him in the leg, making my hand sting from the slap against his leather pant covers.
 
“Help me up, jerk.
 
My ankle’s messed up and now my clothes are ruined too, thanks to you.”
 
Not even crazy drycleaner magic was going to be able to save this suit.
 
And I’d just bought it last month in my favorite store, too.
 
They should put a slogan on the sign coming into town:
 
Baker City, The Dustiest Place on Earth.

Ian bent down and grabbed me under the armpits.
 
One smooth yank and I was on my feet in front of him.
 
Damn, he was strong.
 
His shoulders were about a mile wide.

“Put your arm over my shoulder,” he ordered, dipping it down a little and reaching his hand out.

“No.” I pushed his hand away.

He had been about to step forward with me next to him, but then he stopped.
 
“Why not?” He turned to look at me.
 
Up close I could finally get a good look at his face.
 
He seemed so familiar.
 
Must be because I’d accidentally married his brother.

“Are you and Gavin twins?” I asked, before I could put the brakes on between my brain and my mouth.

“Nope, not even close.”
 
He ducked his shoulder again and forced it into my armpit.
 
“Come on, I have to get you inside before my mom skins my hide.”

“Aren’t you a little old for the Aunt Jemima treatment?” I asked, deciding not to fight his help anymore.
 
I really couldn’t walk without it.
 
It wasn’t so much the twisted ankle as the possible sun stroke.

He chuckled.
 
“You don’t know my mother, do you?”

“No, I don’t know any of you.”
 
I limped along, appreciating his support but loathe to admit it out loud.

“If you don’t know any of us, then what are you doing out here asking for Gavin?”

I battled with myself, wondering if I should tell him the truth or go with my genealogy story.
 
It made little sense that I’d be tracking just Gavin down for a family tree project, but the lie was easier to go with than reality.
 
Even standing here on his family’s land within arm’s reach of my goal, real life was just too big and scary.

“I’m doing a project researching my family tree, and his name came up.
 
I’m just following leads.”
 
I told myself it wasn’t a complete lie, hoping to assuage the guilty feelings that were making my face burn.
 
According to the records of the State of Nevada, I am officially part of the MacKenzie tree … sitting right next to Gavin on one of its branches, in fact.
 
If I really was doing a project, all of this would make complete sense.
 
Kind of.
 
Except for the marrying-someone-and-not-remembering-it part.

“Huh.
 
Sounds interesting,” said Ian, but not like he really meant it.
 
“Did you go to Utah first?”

“Why would I do that?” I inhaled sharply when my bum foot accidentally dropped down and caught the edge of the road, twisting it back.

Ian slowed down to accommodate my pain and mumbled cussing.
 
“I thought that’s where all the best genealogy records were kept.”

Since I’d been talking out of my butt this entire time, I had no idea if he was right about that or not, but I figured there was no harm in shining him on.
 
“Yeah, well, I just did it all online.
 
But you’re right about Utah.
 
I might go there next.”

“So you’re just flying around all over the country following family tree leads?”

“Yeah, something like that.”

“Don’t you have a job?”
 
We’d reached the porch and my ankle was throbbing at this point.
 
I turned to face him where he was standing one step below me.

“Yes, I have a job.
 
I’m an attorney.”

He snorted.
 
“Why does that not surprise me?”

“Do you really want an answer to that question?” I asked, ready to let him have it.
 
I’d reached the end of my patience with this idiot.

“Who’s this?” asked a male voice behind me.

I turned around and almost had a stroke over the glowing blue eyes that bore into me from under a straw-colored cowboy hat.

“Mack,” I said in a strangled whisper, memories rushing over in a giant tsunami to drown me in raw emotion.

“Andie,” he said, his face set in angry lines.

Chapter Twenty

“WHOOP, THERE SHE GOES AGAIN,” said Ian, catching me as I tilted backwards.
 
He lifted me up like a baby and carried me into the house, dropping me onto a couch from a couple feet up.

My head lolled around as my body bounced up off the cushions.
 
I was so dizzy, I feared I was going to yack in their living room.
 
When my body finally settled into a still position, I stared at the ceiling, swallowing several times to get control of my stomach and throat.
 
Do not throw up, do not throw up!

A woman who looked to be in her fifties and wearing a well-worn denim dress appeared, standing over me.
 
Her dyed brown hair was pulled loosely into a bun and a pair of sunglasses were pushed up to the top of her head.
 
In her hand was a glass of fluorescent yellow liquid.
 
“Here, sweetie, take a drink of this.”
 
She sat on a coffee table just next to me.

“What is that?
 
Antifreeze?” I asked, my voice muddy with fatigue and nausea.

She hooted loudly and then smiled.
 
“Anti-freeze?
 
Now that’s a new one.
 
I’ve been accused of a lot of things, but never poisoning a houseguest with automobile products.
 
Come on now, drink up your Gatorade.
 
You’re dehydrated.”

I smiled weakly.
 
“Oh.
 
Gatorade.
 
That’s good.”
 
I put the troll doll down on the tabletop and took the glass with a shaking hand, drinking the entire serving of watery sourness in about five swallows.

“Good,” she said, patting my arm and taking the glass back before standing.
 
“Come on, Ian.
 
Let’s let this young lady have her peace with Mack.”

“I’m not staying,” said a deep male voice from across the room near the entrance.

“Yes you are, dear,” said the lady, leaving my side and walking over to Mack.
 
I could just barely see him by tilting my head all the way back into the pillows at the end of the couch.
 
He stood there in jeans and a black t-shirt, his hat and belt buckle proclaiming to the world that he’s a country boy.
 
The beautiful cowboy I’d thought I had imagined had risen from my dreams and nightmares like a specter to stand before me, a ghost who was not only haunting my past but my present and possibly future now, too.

The older woman patted him on the upper arm as he looked down at her with an unreadable expression.
 
“She came all the way from who knows where, and from the looks of it, walked a lot of the way.
 
She deserves a couple minutes of your time, at least.”

“She’s already had a couple minutes of my time and it was more than enough, trust me.”

“Well, then, just give her a few more for me.
 
Make your momma happy.”
 
She left the room and dragged Ian with her.
 
He said nothing, just stared at his brother and then at me for some reason.
 
His eyes were still drilling holes into my head as he disappeared around the corner.

I tried to sit up but only got partway there before my brain was spinning again with the dehydration or whatever, so I laid back down.
 
“Would you mind coming a little closer?
 
I can’t really see you over there.”
 
My stomach was in knots being in the same room with him, but I’d come this far and put up with snakes, spiders, dirt, and a man-bear-pig leaving me to die.
 
It was time to woman-up, bite the bullet, and get ‘er done.
 
I had no idea where my satchel was, but it had to be close; I’d made it all the way to the front gate before dropping it.
 
Those annulment papers were all ready, and the only thing I had to do was explain so he would sign on the dotted line.

Mack took a few steps into the room, stopping about ten feet away from me in the center of the space.
 
He said nothing.

My heart ached with how handsome he was standing there.
 
I might not have been able to remember everything of the night I met him, but his face I could never completely forget. I knew that now.
 
When I’d met him I’d thought him the most gorgeous man I’d ever seen; but now I knew I’d been wrong then.
Now
he was the most gorgeous man I’d ever seen.
 
The two years had been good to him.
 
His face was a little lined and his tan deeper, his expression more severe.
 
But those eyes … those glowing eyes were as brilliantly blue as ever.
 
They drilled right into my chest and seared holes into my heart.
 
He was angry, and he was making it very clear I’d been the one to cause his pain.
 
He was probably furious that I’d put him in a position to have to explain to his family the ridiculous thing he’d done on a crazy weekend in Vegas.

I tried to smile, but I could feel it was coming out more like a grimace.
 
My face didn’t seem to want to obey my commands at this particular moment.
 
I gave up on forcing it when one side of my mouth started to twitch.
 
“I’m sorry to come out here without any notice, but I did try to call first.”

His smile was definitely of the bitter variety.
 
“That’s interesting.”

“How so?”
 
I had a feeling there was more to that response, and I wasn’t disappointed when he finally explained half a second later.

“I thought maybe you didn’t know how to use a phone.
 
That’s what I told myself, anyway.”

I frowned.
 
“What?
 
Of course I know how to use a phone.
 
The problem is
you
apparently don’t know how to
answer
one.
 
I called your house here like ten times in the last couple days.”
 
I struggled to sit up.
 
I’ll be damned if I’m going to be insulted lying down.
 
Swinging my legs over the side of the couch, I was finally able to present a more serious appearance, battling nausea but determined to win.
 
Time to get down to business.
 
“Listen, I don’t want to waste your time or cause you any problems with your family or girlfriend or whatever, but I’m about to get married and we have a problem. In the process of applying for a license, I discovered a little issue with the records in Nevada.
 
I just need to get them straightened out and I’ll be out of your hair forever, I promise.”

“A little problem.
 
With the records.”
 
He said it so coldly, it made me flinch.

I cleared my throat and continued, boldly ignoring all the body language in front of me that said I had a very angry cowboy on my hands.
 
“Yes.
 
A problem.
 
The State of Nevada seems to be under the mistaken belief that you and I are actually
married
.”
 
I tried to force a laugh, but it sounded more like a goose being strangled so I quit immediately.
 
“I just need you to sign off on the papers I brought so we can fix it.”

“Papers.”
 
He was like a parrot the way he kept repeating what I said.
 
It was highly irritating.
 
I tried not to let my annoyance show in my voice but it was pretty much impossible.

“Yes.
 
Annulment papers.
 
Or divorce papers.
 
I brought both.”
 
Thank God I knew attorneys in Nevada through my own networking who I could contact privately.
 
No way could I have used the firm’s connections without alerting every single employee there that I was married to some dude out in Oregon.
 
What a mess that would have been.
 
No … secrecy was the only way to handle this.
 
Bradley could not find out what I was doing out here.
 
He’d never understand.
 
I’d tell him after we’re married for a few years, when it wouldn’t matter anymore.
 
Not that it mattered now...

“One set of papers wasn’t enough, you needed both?”

I squirmed uncomfortably on the couch.
 
Here came the part where I felt like Andie the super-slut.
 
“Just in case … you know…”

“No, I don’t,” he said very calmly.
 
“That’s why I asked.”

My face flamed red.
 
“If we didn’t consummate the marriage, well, we can just annul it.
 
But if we did, then, a divorce is just quicker.”