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Luke squeezed her hand until she turned. “Want to talk about it? I’m a good listener.” He smiled, hoping to coax a reciprocating grin from her. What he got was more of a grimace.
“It’s all so overwhelming…I don’t know where to start. Finding a place to live…and a new job. Who’s going to rent to me if I don’t have a job? Jen and I don’t even have a change of clothes…or a car. The Explorer was in the garage. I just got it out of the shop.” Sally pulled her hand from his and combed both of hers through her hair, her frustration clear in the clenching of her jaw.
“Take it easy. All that stuff can be replaced, Sally. Do you have insurance?”
She moaned and covered her face. “Renter’s insurance is a luxury I can’t afford. If I could have hung on to my job for a couple of months, I might have gotten caught up. Maybe then—”
“Okay, we’ll worry about the money later. You and Jen weren’t injured and you’re together. That’s the important thing. I’m not saying it’s going to be simple, but you’re not alone. My family already considers you one of the clan. You don’t have to do this by yourself.”
She dropped her head into her hands and her muffled words were barely audible. “You don’t understand.” Those three words were laced with resignation, sadness and a bone-deep weariness.
What the hell was she not telling him? Luke let the silence stretch for a few seconds while dread formed a black hole in his gut. “I’d like to.” He tried to keep his sudden suspicions from influencing his voice.
She jerked her head up and, for a moment, it appeared she might confide in him. Then she shook her head and turned her face away, resuming her perusal of the darkness beyond the glass.
Luke allowed a few minutes to pass before he couldn’t stand it any longer. “Something’s bothering you that goes much deeper than your house burning down. I didn’t mean to eavesdrop on your phone conversation earlier, but I know there’s more you’re not telling me. I want to help you, Sally, but, if you don’t level with me, you’re tying my hands. What are you afraid of? Let me in, sunshine.”
Her hands stilled in Jen’s hair while she regarded him for several seconds, but she turned back to the side window without a word. For a long time, she remained quiet while they sped along the deserted country road. When she finally looked over her shoulder at him, it was with a forced smile before her gaze darted quickly away. “You’re wrong. There’s nothing bothering me but the fire, and the explosion and almost dying tonight. I think that’s enough. Don’t you?”
Luke recognized her question as the distraction she no doubt intended it to be. She wasn’t ready to confide in him yet. Every sense he possessed told him whatever she was withholding from him was of paramount importance. Her behavior was uncharacteristically veiled, and she was a lousy liar. He’d drop the subject for now, but he wasn’t going to engage in the argument she obviously wanted. Sighing, he raised his eyes to the rearview mirror just as dual sets of headlights came into view.
The two vehicles appeared to gain on his truck in the time it took Luke to check the road in front and glance in the mirror again. It was nearly three in the morning. To encounter one vehicle on this deserted stretch of road would be unusual. Two was clearly improbable. Especially when they were hauling ass up behind them.
Chapter Five
Damn it! Why had she called Marshal Lambert? Sally’s skin prickled with a case of nerves, making it nearly impossible to sit still. She was scared and confused…and irritated with herself for being that way. Luke knew she was lying. What must he think? Lying was so unlike her, and she hated the person she’d become to protect herself and Jen. Luke was trying to help. What if he decided to dump her at the lodge and get as far away as he could? She wouldn’t blame him. Sally caught herself biting on one of her fingernails and quickly brought her hand down, slipping it beneath her leg. She had to get a grip. Anxiety had made a mess of her calm-cool-collected veneer…and that only made her angrier.
Hell, she deserved to be angry. Her house and everything she’d owned was gone. Her security was shattered, and if Marshal Greg Lambert had anything to say about it, what was left of Jen’s peaceful existence would soon be a thing of the past as well. Even thinking about what that would do to her baby sent shards of pain through her chest. But she couldn’t lose it now. She had to hold it together for Jen. Drawing on the inner strength she’d developed out of necessity over the past ten years, Sally went back to chewing her fingernail and forced her thoughts elsewhere.
Luke. That subject was no better. Why had he picked now to reappear? Was it too much of a coincidence that he’d walked back into her life and saved her twice in one night? She glanced from beneath lowered lashes at the daunting figure behind the steering wheel. He’d cooled his questions—the ones she couldn’t answer—and wasn’t paying any attention to her, so she took the opportunity to study his profile.
He was a couple of inches taller than his brother, which made him somewhere around six foot three. Still a strong man, despite his months of captivity, his chest was broad and muscular, his arms and thighs thick and powerful. His size dwarfed her decidedlyunmuscular five-foot-four-inch frame. Light brown hair, considerably longer than it had been a year ago, scraped his collar. His square jaw gave him the appearance of stubbornness, but if Sally were able to see his face, she had no doubt there’d be kindness in his rich brown eyes…and mischief. He’d always been smiling or laughing, saying something silly to get her to laugh too. Apparently, his sense of humor had failed him this time.
As Sally watched, Luke reached to adjust the rearview mirror, then glanced toward her side of the truck. Her eyes flew wide as she took in the rock-hard line of his jaw, his furrowed brow and the intensity in his gaze that clearly said he wasn’t happy about something.
She tensed, instantly on guard. Twisting around as far as she could without disturbing Jen, she barely caught the lights of a vehicle behind them. “What is it? Who is that?”
Luke gazed at her expectantly. “There are two of them. I was hoping you’d tell me who they were. In fact, now would be an excellent time.”
Jen stirred and tried to sit up, but Luke pressed her down gently. They turned a corner and the road straightened in front of them.
He stepped on the gas, and the pickup accelerated smoothly. “Hold on.” Luke placed one hand on Jen, and Sally wrapped her arms around her tightly—just in time.
She heard the roar of a vehicle behind and to the left of them a heartbeat before something slammed into the side panel of Luke’s truck bed. Jen whimpered as the pickup swerved one way and then the other, and they were tossed side-to-side in the cab. Regaining control, he floored the gas pedal, and the vehicle on their tail hit them again.
Luke must have been ready for it this time and brought the pickup out of its swerve effortlessly, accelerated and momentarily left the pursuing vehicles behind. His familiarity with this stretch of road, a result of the many trips he’d made from his family’s lodge to see her, no doubt gave him the edge. In her side mirror, Sally could now see the two sets of headlights, and it was apparent, whoever the drivers were, they weren’t giving up.
Was it Clive? Who elsecouldit be? She turned toward Luke, ready to tell him her sordid life’s story if it would save Jen’s life, but the regret in his eyes as he met her gaze stopped her cold.
“We can’t outrun them. This old truck wasn’t built for mountain races.” His eyes darted to the mirror.
Reeling from his words and what they meant, Sally pushed her daughter toward Luke. “This is my fault. Stop the truck—let me out.”Luke will keep Jen safe. She reached for the door handle as Luke maneuvered through the next set of turns. Her whole body shook with the adrenaline that pumped through her veins.
Luke grabbed her arm. “No one’s getting out yet. I’m not giving up either one of you. Just tell me one thing: Are these the scumbags that blew up your house?”
Sally nodded unevenly. “I…I think so.”
Jen threw her arms around Sally’s neck, and the girl’s heart drummed against her. “It’s okay, sweetheart,” Sally whispered in her ear, knowing it wasn’t.
