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She knew exactly where he’d gone, what he was going to do. And she’d be damned if she was going to let him. He couldn’t have made it that far.
She thrust the door open and strode through the house, outside, and toward the barn. Barnaby was gone, and she cursed again. Her horse, Teddy, thrashed his head and stamped his feet, and she tried to calm herself, not wanting to pass her panic to the poor horse.
She reached gently up to him. Heard the footstep a moment too late.
Blinding pain shot through the back of her head, and blackness claimed her vision as she fell.
Chapter Thirty-Two
Adam had put several miles between him and the town when he spotted something in the road.
He frowned. He wasn’t lucky enough for it to be Spurlock. Hewaslucky enough, however, for it to be a trap set for him. As far as he could tell, it was a person, though there was no sign of a horse, unless it had wandered into the small copse of trees lining the road. Which was a possibility, since there was also nice, sweet grass in there.
Adam took a deep breath and blew it out, his eyes scanning his surroundings, looking for anything out of the ordinary. Minus the body in the road, of course.
Finally, he nudged Barnaby closer, then kicked him into a trot when he realized what, or who, he was looking at. He dismounted and dropped down next to Nora’s father.
“Mr. Schumacher?” he asked, leaning farther to make sure the man still breathed.
He did, thank God. Nora had her issues with her father, but Adam wouldn’t want to have to tell her that he’d died. He ignored the spike of pain that pierced his thoughts at the reminder that he wouldn’t be telling Nora anything anymore and tried to focus on her father.
Then again, maybe he would. Because he could hardly leave her father lying in a ditch.
He didn’t seem to be injured, though the fumes coming off him left little mystery as to what had started his little adventure. Adam patted at his cheeks, rousing him.
“Mr. Schumacher?”
The man groaned and blinked up at him. “Brady?”
Adam’s eyes widened, more than a little surprised that Schumacher knew his name.
“Are you all right?” Adam asked.
“Aside from the fact that I apparently drank myself into a ditch? I’m fine.” Schumacher grunted and rubbed at the back of his head. “What do you care?”
Adam grasped one of Schumacher’s arms and helped him sit up. “Your daughter cares about you, and I care about her.”
Schumacher frowned and glanced down at himself, his face twisting in disgust. “I’m not worth caring about. Just…leave me here. At least out here I can’t drink.” He pulled a flask from his pocket, shook it until it rattled, and tossed it aside. “I’ll be better off if I stay out here. So will my daughter.”
Adam just stared at him. If Schumacher was finally starting to gain a little clarity about his life, well…it was about time. However, time was something they really didn’t have just then.
He leaned down and ducked under Schumacher’s arm to help him to his feet. “Worth it or not, your daughter loves you. And she’s going to need you, so get up.”
Schumacher raised red-rimmed eyes to Adam’s. “What do you mean, she’s going to need me? She doesn’t need anyone.”
Adam snorted. “Nora is the most capable woman I’ve ever met in my life. But everyone needs someone, Mr. Schumacher.”
“I’m no good to anyone like this.”
“Are you sober?”
Mr. Schumacher took a deep breath and let it out slowly. “At the moment.”
“Good. If you care about your daughter at all, try and stay that way for at least a few hours.”
Schumacher glared at him. “My issues got nothin’ to do with my daughter.”
Adam looked at him for a hard moment before answering. “We both know that’s not true.”
