The Cowboy Rescues a Bride (Cowboys of Chance Creek) (21 page)

If it has fur it will follow Fila home
, her father used to say, and he was right. She’d rescued several stray cats. She often wondered what became of them when her family disappeared. In the village, pets had a purpose, and none of them belonged to her. She had no food to give them. Nothing to call her own.

The old Fila loved animals. The new Fila…

She dug her fingers into the folds of the comforter she was smoothing over Ned. The puppy lifted its head from where it had rested it on Ned’s shoulder. She reached over to pet him, shyly. She still loved animals. That hadn’t changed just because she’d been stolen by the Taliban.

She still loved color, too. Even if she didn’t have the courage to wear it. Yet.

She still loved music. Singing. Even if she didn’t dare to open her mouth and sing along. The Taliban had made her afraid, but they hadn’t changed her. Not at the core.

Not where it counted.

She straightened, taking in Ned’s prone form and that of his assailant on the other side of the room. She would have fought to protect a friend like Ned just as hard before she’d ever boarded a plane to Afghanistan. The Taliban hadn’t made her into a monster. She’d always come to the defense of those she loved.

No one had changed her. She was still Fila Sahar. Singer. Lover of beauty. Lover of life. Protector of her friends.

A tear leaked down her cheek. Then another. And another until she couldn’t staunch the flood. But these weren’t the hysterical tears she’d cried when she’d first come home, still overwhelmed with terror. These were tears of letting go—of the pain, of the fear, of the years she lost, of the family that was gone forever.

As she cried herself empty, she realized that starting over might be as painful as leaving it all behind had been. She knew what she loved, she knew what was important to her, but she had no idea how to take up the threads she had dropped a decade ago and weave them into a brand new life.

The only thing she did know was that she couldn’t stop trying—not when she’d come this far.

‡
Chapter 25

A
noise at once
familiar and wholly out of place woke Ned. Opening his eyes he saw light spilling into the cabin. The fire in the stove was low and the air around his face was cold. The rest of him was heaped with blankets.

He took a breath and winced at the rattle his lungs made. The air seared his throat and he fought against the urge to cough, knowing he’d only jostle his leg and bring himself more pain. Still, the noise held him awake. Tense. He tried to sit up.

Failed.

Fila lay beside him curled in a ball, only a single woolen blanket pulled around her. He cursed the stubbornness that must have kept her from joining him under the covers. He frowned. What was that bruising on her forehead?

The rest of the night’s events flooded his mind.

Ned sat up this time, groaning with the pain in his thigh and his throat. He was dizzy from lack of food and water. His head felt too big and his throat too thick.

Across the room, a man stared back at him, his gaze so full of hatred Ned blinked. The would-be rapist was awake too, but trussed up so tightly he couldn’t move. Fila had gagged him. Ned applauded her inwardly for that choice.

Finally, he placed the sound and his heart leapt. “Fila!” He reached out and touched her arm. She jolted awake, on her knees in an instant. “It’s okay. You’re safe. I think someone’s here.”

She hesitated, cocked her head, then sprang to her feet and crossed the room, her step stuttering when she took in the venomous glare of the killer she’d defeated the night before.

She continued her path until she reached the front window. “It is someone! They’re plowing the road! It’s Jake!”

Ned let out a long breath. He met the gaze of the trussed up man across the room as Fila nearly danced to the front door. “Looks like the cavalry’s arrived.”

The man grunted and struggled against the ropes.

Several minutes later, Jake was inside, stamping off the snow from his boots and pulling Fila into a rough hug. “Am I glad to see you two! When I got to the cabin and saw your truck and the state of the place—I thought you were dead for sure. I couldn’t see hide nor hair of either of you in the wreckage, though… what the hell?” Jake took in the man bound to the post and looked from Ned to Fila. His eyebrows rose as he took in Fila’s bruised and scraped forehead and Ned shivering on the floor near the stove. “I finally noticed your footsteps,” he continued in a more subdued tone. “They led me here.” He turned back to the man on the floor. “I’ve already got an ambulance coming. Should I call the police?”

“If you can get reception.”

“I borrowed a satellite phone from Ethan to bring along. It’s out in the truck.”

“Go get it. He’s not going anywhere.”

Jake faced the man. “I guess you’re Oliver Handel.” At Ned’s surprised look, he added, “He’s why I’m here. We heard about the jailbreak on the news. Heard he was heading this way. Figured someone better give you a head’s up, just in case. To tell you the truth I thought it was a fool’s errand Dad made up to interfere with you and Fila.”

“I’m damn glad you came.”

Fila heated up
soup for all of them while they waited for the ambulance to arrive. Ned filled Jake in on the details in a voice too low for her to make out. She was glad she couldn’t hear. The last thing she wanted was to relive the last three days. Her hands shook as she opened the can and spooned out its contents into a pot, but she felt more peaceful than she had in weeks. Months.

Years, maybe.

She had decided that when she returned home she would think more about the girl she once was and the woman she now wanted to be. Ned was right; she couldn’t let the Taliban win by remaining caught in their web of fear. They couldn’t touch her now. That time was past.

Now she needed to create a new life. A life in which she stood on her own two feet. A life which included a restaurant, a lot of friends, and a man she loved.

She looked up when Jake entered the room and got out three bowls and spoons.

“Thank you,” he said, coming to lean against the kitchen counter. “For saving my brother’s life. Several times.”

She shrugged, not knowing what to say. She spooned out the soup and passed him two of the bowls. The puppy trailed in and sniffed around its food bowl. Fila moved to refill it automatically. She wondered where Handel had found Dell. Had he stolen him along the way? Would they have to give him back? She hoped not.

“Ned says you’re a hell of a lot braver than we’ve given you credit for. He says we have to stop babying you and start treating you like the woman you are. I think he’s right.” He leaned closer. “And for what it’s worth, I think my brother’s in love with you. I hope you don’t throw that away because of what those people did to you, or because of my father.”

Fila felt a blush creeping up her cheeks as she put the bag of dog food away. Ned was in love with her? Good. Because she was in love with him, too.

Jake waited for her to answer, and when she didn’t he chuckled. “Well, I guess things won’t change overnight, but I think you’ll find they’re different now. People will know how strong you are. There’s a place for you in Chance Creek, you know. You just have to find it.”

She nodded, thinking of the restaurant, and a smile lifted the corner of her mouth. Maybe she already had.

‡
Chapter 26

O
nce the ambulance
and police arrived, there was a hustle and bustle of questions and logistics. In the end, Jake accompanied Fila to the police station in Libby to give her statement, taking the puppy along in the truck. Several hours later they were able to meet up with Ned again at the hospital, where his leg had been properly cared for and a brand new cast put on.

“The doctor commended you on your handiwork,” Ned told her. His voice was still rough and his breathing labored, but he’d started an antibiotic drip. “He said my leg will knit up fine since you did a good job setting it.”

“What about the pneumonia?”

“A few days on antibiotics will do the trick. I’m supposed to take it easy for a little while.” He made a face. “Guess Luke will get his shot at running things.”

Jake snorted. “Like anyone other than Dad ever runs things.”

Fila held her tongue. She’d seen the way Holt consulted Ned when he was supposed to be in charge. She wondered if he’d do the same with Luke. “You should follow your doctor’s orders so you get well as fast as you can.”

“I’ll be back on horseback before the snow melts. Or so he says. We’ll start those riding lessons then.”

Fila smiled at the thought, but a pang of sadness filled her. Where would she be when the snow melted? Now that the danger was over, she remembered Holt’s dislike of her. Was there some way to change that, or would she have to leave the Double-Bar-K? The thought of not living with Ned anymore made her chest hurt.

She and Jake stayed several nights in town in a motel that accepted pets, until Ned was released with strict instructions to take his antibiotics religiously and stay off his leg. The long ride home in Jake’s truck wasn’t comfortable for him, especially with Buck, as Ned had renamed the puppy, making a nuisance of himself, but they made it in the end and found the whole family gathered to greet them at the main house at the Double-Bar-K.

Once inside, Lisa gathered Ned into her arms with tears in her eyes as Buck raced around the living room, delighted to have a whole new house to explore. She hugged him fiercely, then came for Fila. “I can never repay you for saving my son. Never.”

Holt helped Ned to an easy chair near the fire, and propped his leg up on an ottoman. As Lisa bundled him under comforters, all the Mathesons piled into the living room to hear their story.

“I hope I never see anything like that again,” Jake said, his voice thickening with emotion. “When I pulled into the driveway and saw Ned’s truck on its roof—all busted up. And then the cabin demolished…” He trailed off and Fila saw it wasn’t only Lisa who had tears in her eyes.

“Fila saved my ass.” Ned shifted under the pile of comforters. “More times than I’d like to admit. She pulled me out of the truck, set my leg, kept me warm and fed while she shoveled off half the roof.”

“You were lucky to get out of there alive,” Jake interrupted. He turned to their parents. “There’s nothing left standing. Nothing.”

“Fila got me out. Just in time.”

Holt was uncharacteristically quiet, Fila noticed. He looked old, his face nearly as drawn as Ned’s was.

“What I can’t figure out is how you made it to Fitzgerald’s on that leg.” Jake leaned forward on the couch, bracing his elbows on his knees. The others waited for Ned’s answer.

“The worst of it was not having any coats. Or shoes.” Ned shook his head. “Fila wrapped baggies around my feet with her hair ties. We didn’t have enough, though. One of her feet was only wrapped in a shirt. In the end she went ahead to Fitzgerald’s and found a sled. She came back and dragged me the rest of the way. Good thing, too. I’d fallen and passed out.”

“And then Oliver Handel found you.” Luke chuckled without humor. “You’re like a bad-luck magnet.”

“Luke,” their mother chided.

“A man with a rap sheet like Handel breaks out of jail and makes a beeline for the remote cabin where Ned’s lying at death’s door? That’s more than your average misfortune,” Luke drawled.

Fila smiled a little as the others laughed.

“How the hell did you knock him out if your leg was broken?” Morgan asked. She was perched on the arm of the chair Rob sat in.

“Didn’t. Fila did that, too.”

Fila drew back in her chair, wishing she could hide from the curious glances all the others were sending her way. She was not proud of the way she’d nearly lost control and cost that man his life—even if he was planning to hurt them. That wasn’t the person she wanted to be.

“So Fila dragged you from a car, set your leg—”

“Twice,” Ned interrupted Luke.

“Shoveled the roof, dragged you from a collapsing building, got your sorry ass seven miles down the road to safety, fixed you up again, and beat off a would-be killer?” Luke sat back. “That’s a hell of a weekend, Fila.”