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Laura knew all the ways and words to get around his objection and bolster his already sizable ego at the same time. Strangely, she had absolutely no desire to do so.
“I don’t take orders, Boone. Not from you or your father or anybody.” She took advantage of his momentary shock to shoulder her way past him.
Laura was halfway to the door before Boone managed to recover some of his former bluster. “Dammit, Laura,” he began.
But she was already walking out the door. In long, stiff strides, he crossed to the door and stepped onto the columned veranda, catching only a glimpse of Laura as she slipped into the passenger seat of Sebastian’s rental car.
A rocking chair made its slow back-and-forth movement in his side vision. Turning, Boone saw the elder Calder and vented some of his irritation.
“Why is she going off with him? She knows he’s after her money. What’s gotten into her?”
“Hard to say. When Laura gets high-headed like that, she’s hard to rein down.”
Lips thinning into a tight line, Boone made no reply and simply stared at the car reversing away from The Homestead.
Dust plumed behind the compact sedan as it sped along the main graveled road that led to the ranch’s east gate. Morning sunlight poured through the windshield. Laura flipped the visor down to block its glare and wished for her sunglasses.
“You realize the nearest motel is miles from here,” she told Sebastian somewhat caustically. “You can’t just take her there and leave her. How will she get back? You’re kidding yourself if you think she’ll even agree to leave Blue Moon.”
“I’m open to an alternative suggestion,” Sebastian replied with the lazy ease that was so typical of him. It was an attitude Laura usually found appealing, but in the mood she was in this morning, she found it annoying. She kept her gaze transfixed on the straight road ahead of them.
“I wish I had my cell phone. Then I could call Tara. Dy-Corp has several houses in town that are sitting empty. I’m sure she could arrange for Gail and the children to stay in one of them temporarily. I’ll call her when we get to Harry’s.”
“A house in town would mean the children would have to stay inside to prevent Mitchell from seeing them,” Sebastian remarked.
“It wouldn’t be any different at a motel.”
“Most that I have seen have swimming pools.”
“You’re determined to get her out of town, aren’t you?” Laura turned a challenging look on him.
“It would be better,” Sebastian replied evenly.
“Why are you doing any of this?” she demanded. “Boone thinks it’s all an attempt to impress me by showing how caring and compassionate you can be.”
“Are you impressed?” He glanced at her, eyes atwinkle.
Laura refused to give in to his considerable charm. “I am never impressed by stupidity. Trying to help a woman who’s married to a wife-beater is a waste of time. It never seems to matter how many times he pounds on her, she always believes him when he promises it won’t happen again. And it always does,” she said with exasperation. “She claims she loves him. Maybe she’s in love with the man she wants him to be, but she is definitely not in love with the man who knocks her around. So why do they keep going back? Is it guilt? Do they honestly believe they’ve done something to cause this? Is it fear? Do they think they can’t make it on their own? If the man died, they’d find a way. They wouldn’t have any choice.”
“I suspect there is always more than one factor at work.” The calm pitch of his voice never changed.
“How do you know?” Laura eyed him with sharpened interest, then said sarcastically, “Are you a champion of battered women back in England?”
A smile tugged at a corner of his mouth. “Do I detect a trace of bitterness? You and Boone must have had words last night. Naturally, you have no wish to speak sharply to the love of your life, not when I make such a handy whipping boy.”
“You’re very good at taking the conversation off in some other direction to avoid answering questions,” Laura stated. “But it isn’t going to work this time.”
“I see that.” He nodded thoughtfully and let a silence fall.
“So answer me,” she said impatiently.
“The truth?” Sebastian countered with a quick, sideways glance. “I only ask because, in the past when I’ve spoken the truth, you’ve chosen not to believe me.”
“You’re doing it again, Sebastian, and I refuse to be sidetracked.”
“The reason isn’t really mine to tell,” Sebastian replied somewhat cryptically. “Helen is the one you should ask.”
“Your sister?” Laura frowned in surprise. “Are you saying she was abused?”
