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Bobby had never once called her after that night. The Maxwell lawyer had, though. He’d offered payment of expenses and some child supportifthe Wheelers proved Bobby was the father.
The humiliation of it all was overwhelming. But worse—how could she ever stop the richest man in all of Montana if he decided to take away her baby?
Mandy cut across the pasture and dropped to her knees on a grassy hill overlooking her family’s ranch. Or what was left of it. All but three acres had been auctioned after her dad went bankrupt when she was little.
Tumbledown outbuildings straggled haphazardly throughout the overgrown barnyard. Half-hidden in the trees sat the house—paint curling from its siding, the roof a patchwork of shingle colors left over from her dad’s odd jobs over the years.
For years the family had scraped by on what was left after he closed down the local bars on Friday and Saturday nights.No wonder Bobby doesn’t want me anymore,she thought bitterly.What did I ever have to offer except love?
And no one knew better than Mandy Wheeler how little that meant.
She’d seen her parents’ endless fights over money, had seen the light in her mother’s eyes die a little more each year.
Mom had grabbed Mandy and fled to Aunt Leena’s house in Big Timber too many times to count, often staying for weeks ata time. Mandy’s grades had suffered and the school officials had been irate, but at least they’d both been safe for a while...
Until Dad wheedled and cajoled and made promises he never intended to keep, to lure his wife home.
Mom had finally disappeared. Mandy still prayed she was alive somewhere. Staying safe far from her abusive husband.
As soon as her baby came, Mandy would leave and take any job that was far away from her father and from the Maxwells.
Laying a protective hand over her belly, she closed her eyes. “I promise you, little one, that you’ll have a better life than I had,” she whispered.
An image of her baby’s father slid into her thoughts. Handsome, reckless, daring. She’d loved Bobby since third grade, but that didn’t matter. His wealthy family was so far above her own that she’d always known there’d never been a chance.
She didn’t hear Dad’s approach until he came up behind her.
“Where have you been?” Grabbing her upper arm he hauled her to her feet and started dragging her down the hill. “You and me have a lot to talk about, girly.”
She could smell the whiskey on his breath. She tried to pull away but he moved ahead, as relentless and unstoppable as a bull, even when she stumbled and fell to her knees. “Please—don’t,” she cried out. “My arm—”
When he stopped and turned on her, she fell into him and nearly went down. He grabbed both her arms and shook her as if she weighed nothing at all. Nausea rose in her throat.
“You better not try runnin’ off again. We’re gonna make Maxwell pay and pay good for what that no-account son of his did to you.” An eerie, self-satisfied gleam filled his eyes. “You and I both know the Maxwells can afford it.”
He turned and started down the hill, one meaty hand clenched tight as a tourniquet around her arm.
She tried to escape into that secret place where she didn’t feel the pain, didn’t hear his voice any longer. She knew all too well what awaited her in that house.
But now there was far too much at stake. Herbaby.Gathering up every bit of her strength, she charged forward and rammed into her father’s back just as he started down the boulder-strewn trail at the bottom of the hill.
With a bellow of surprise, he released her arm and flailed his arms for balance, then pitched forward into the rocks.
He wasn’t dead—she could see the rise and fall of his chest—but he wasn’t moving.
Caught between terror and guilt, she hesitated only a moment. Nothing ever stopped Abe Wheeler for long. She spared one last glance at the only home she’d ever known.
And then she ran for her life.
CHAPTER FOUR
“SHE HIRED YOUto do this?” Ed gave Matt a dubious look as they lifted the cardboard-encased steel door onto the bed of the pickup. “You gave her a quote and set this up?”
“Not exactly. This is a favor. At cost.” Matt eyed the streaks of purple and rose sunset over the mountains to the west. “The lights are always on at her clinic late at night, so I figured I’d just go get this done.”
They settled the door on the tailgate of the truck and both pushed it forward. “As if she needs a deal. I told you about her family. She sure doesn’t need a handout from us.”
“My kids like her. They stop in at her clinic a lot, and she’s a neighbor.”
