THUNDER BOOMED CLOSER. The temperature dropped. Lightning splintered nearby. Before Tucker could move, the sky seemed to open. Huge droplets of rain swept down like bullets.
Only moments before, he’d been rooted to the ground, his head spinning. Of course that had been Misty on the bridge that night. The fear. The hesitation. Not Madeline. Not the woman who’d conned him for so long before getting her sister to finish it on the bridge.
Goose bumps had rippled over his skin. To think that Madeline might be alive... The duffel bag in her old house. The perfumed notes. She’d been trying to tell him all this time to back off.
The rain brought him back to earth with a jolt.
He and Kate made a run for his pickup, both getting soaked before they could slide inside and slam the doors. The storm, which had been hanging over them ominously since this morning, now roared around them. The raindrops turned to sleet and then hail before his eyes.
Gale-force winds rocked the pickup as hail pinged off the hood and cab. “I’ve heard about storms in this area,” Tucker said, having to yell to be heard over the racket. “But I’ve never seen anything like this.” He glanced over at Kate. She looked just as good soaking wet as she did dry.
“I’ve never seen anything like this, either,” she said, staring out at the storm. But he could tell she was more shocked by what they’d just learned.
“This could be a problem.” Tucker watched water run down the center of the dirt road they’d just driven in on for a moment before starting the pickup’s engine.
“What do you mean?” Kate asked, looking over at him.
“These roads turn to gumbo. We need to get out of here—if it isn’t already too late.” He backed out, but the moment he pulled onto the already-muddy road, he realized it was too late. The top layer of dust that had churned up on their way to Hell Creek was now greasy slick. The tires fought to find purchase. “I’m just hoping we can get back to that convenience store.”
The drive was less than a half mile, but the pickup was all over the road as he tried to get there. By the time he pulled into the convenience store gas station, the tires were thick with mud. It was clear they weren’t going any farther until the road dried back out.
“We’re not getting out of here until the weather changes,” he told Kate as they sat in the truck, waiting for a break in the rain to go inside. The hail had stopped. Now the rain fell in a torrent, running like a river into every low spot and pooling on the road. Low clouds scudded past on a wind that rocked the pickup.
“How long will that be?” she yelled over the noise of the pounding rain.
“Once the sun comes out, the gumbo will dry hard as concrete. Until then, though, we’re here.”
“Do you want to talk about it?” Kate asked after a few minutes of nothing but the hammer of the rain on the truck cab.
“No.” But he knew that wouldn’t stop her.
“Is it true? Is Madeline alive somewhere?”
“I don’t know. But I suspect she is.”
Kate shook her head. “She could be the one buried in Misty’s grave.” She sounded as if she was hoping that was true.
Neither of them spoke as the rain pounded the pickup with no sign of letting up.
“I think we should make a run for it,” Tucker said as he saw another vehicle fighting its way up the road. “You can stay here, but I’m going to see about getting us a couple of cabins until we can drive out of here.” He opened his door and ran, with Kate at his heels, of course.
* * *
KATE STOOD IN the center of the small cabin and shivered as she watched Tucker get a fire going in the woodstove. Not long after they’d entered the convenience store, two pickup loads of fishermen had shown up. The owner of the place had given each group one cabin of the three she had left and told them to make the best of it because, according to the weather, it would be a day or two before anyone was getting out of there.
As they were headed through the rain to their cabin, another truck had pulled up with a boat on the back covered in mud. Looked like the two fishermen would be waiting in their truck, Tucker said. “We’re lucky we got a cabin. Don’t worry, you can have the bed.”
She looked at the bed now. A double that sagged in the middle covered with a worn comforter.
“Not your usual accommodations,” Tucker said now as he caught her looking at the bed. The fire flickered in the woodstove, spitting out the promise of heat.
“I can rough it with the best of them,” she said, taking offense.
He laughed. “You roughing it with the best of them, huh? Guess we’ll see about that since we’re stranded here for a while. I’m going to run over to the store and get us something to eat before those fishermen clean the place out. You want anything in particular to eat?”
She shook her head, just imagining what the small out-of-the-way convenience store might offer. “I’m not hungry.”
It was true. The only thing she wanted was sleep. She’d been all worked up on the way here, excited about the possibility of finally putting an end to her search. Now, though, after meeting K.O. and Melody, she felt confused and simply tired. Madeline might be alive? Wasn’t that what she’d hoped, that she would get the chance to confront the woman?
But that was before she met Tucker. Before she started falling for him. Now she never wanted to hear Madeline’s name ever again.
“I believe K.O. that he wasn’t working with his sister,” she said, feeling the need to talk about it rather than think or, worse, cry. “But I got the feeling that he had some idea of who might have killed her. Killed Misty, I guess.” She looked at him.
“Kate, I don’t have any answers. I need to call my brother so he can look into it.”
“He’ll arrest you. And maybe me, too.”
Tucker said nothing for a moment. “You sure you don’t want something to eat?”
She shook her head. As Tucker left, she moved to the bed, pulled back the covers and glanced at the sheets. He was right. She was used to nice things. The sheets looked worn and pilled with noticeable bumps, but she didn’t care. Kicking off her shoes, she started to climb in when she realized that her jeans were too damp to sleep in.
Hurriedly, she discarded them, laying them across the chair next to the bed before diving under the cold covers. A fire crackled in the woodstove, but the cabin was still freezing. She closed her eyes, willing herself to fall asleep so she didn’t have to think.
But of course that didn’t happen. She kept seeing the expression on Tucker’s face when he saw Melody. No, she thought, when he saw an image of Madeline in the woman’s innocent face. When he realized the body in the creek had been Misty’s—not Madeline’s—and that Madeline might be alive. He was a man besotted and, as far as she could tell, always would be.
She squeezed her eyes tighter, feeling the heat of her tears. She couldn’t hold them back. Turning her face into the pillow, she cried until the sheets began to warm up and so did she. Her emotions spent, she let exhaustion take her.
* * *
TUCKER CAME INTO the cabin, his arms loaded with enough junk food to last them two days at least. It would probably take that long to get out of here once the storm moved on.
He looked around as he started to put the bags down, thinking Kate must be in the bathroom. But the door was ajar. Then he saw her jeans tossed over the chair beside the bed.
Quietly, he put down the bags he carried and moved toward the bed. She was so slim and the bed sagged so badly that he hadn’t even noticed the slight lump in the middle. He smiled down at her, enjoying this peaceful Kate. She looked like a woman without a care in the world—if you didn’t notice that the skin around her eyes was red and puffy. She’d been crying.
He felt his heart break and wanted to scoop her up in his arms and hold her and tell her that everything was going to be all right. But he had his doubts about that. At least now she was just dead to this world and quickly regretted thinking it.
As he stepped away, he felt sick. The remains in the creek were Misty Dunn’s. Not Madeline’s. He thought about K.O., remembering how the man was with his sister Melody. He agreed with Kate. He couldn’t see K.O. as the killer.
The rain seemed to be letting up a little. Stepping outside under the small roof at the front of the cabin, he pulled out his cell phone and called Flint.
“Where the hell are you?” his brother snapped.
“Hell Creek actually.”
“Funny.”
“Not so much. A storm blew in. We’re trapped here for a while. The road out is impassible until it quits raining and dries up.” He told Flint what they’d learned. “I thought you could check out K.O.’s alibi, but quite frankly, I believe him. He seems to be his sister Melody’s only caregiver. He’s very protective of her.”
Flint was silent for so long Tucker worried that they might have been disconnected. “So that’s the last of the Dunns,” his brother said finally. “You told him about Madeline?”
“He was upset, relieved actually, since he was trying to protect Melody from Madeline when he took her out of Clawson Creek. But unfortunately, Madeline never had a broken leg.” His brother swore. “The remains found in the creek are Misty’s.”
“He’s sure?”
“He said Madeline pushed her down the stairs and Misty broke her leg. He’s sure. I think Madeline is alive. I also think K.O. is afraid of her and will take Melody and hide again. Kate seemed to think he suspected who might have killed Misty, but while he denied it, I think she’s right.”
“Madeline.”
“He’s running from her, but I think there is more to it. I think someone else is involved.”
“Nice work,” Flint said after a moment. “Ever thought about going into law enforcement?”
He hadn’t. “If you’re being facetious—”
“Not at all,” the sheriff said. “You can look into it while you’re locked up again in my jail.” Flint said nothing for a few moments. “So you’ll be back once the roads are passable?”
“I’ll call when we leave here. We’ve hunted over here so I don’t have to tell you how bad this kind of mud gets.”
“No,” the sheriff said. “At least it should keep the two of you out of trouble.”
He thought about the woman he’d left back inside the way-too-small, way-too-intimate motel cabin. “You’d think so.” He disconnected and stood for a moment, breathing in the cold wet air as the storm moved on and the rain began to slow.
Taking a deep breath, he went back inside, then tossed more wood on the fire and stretched out in the old recliner near the woodstove, praying for the oblivion of sleep. Madeline had made his life hell nineteen years ago. She wasn’t finished with him.
Only now, it wasn’t just him. There was Kate.
* * *
KATE KNEW IT was only a dream because she was no longer in the cabin and yet her heart was pounding. A storm was raging outside. Thunder boomed, making her jump, followed almost instantly by a sharp, blinding flash of lightning. She realized that she was in a house but not one she’d ever seen before. She’d been looking for something, searching, when suddenly goose bumps rose on her arms as the air inside the house seemed to change. Her fear accelerated as she realized that she wasn’t alone anymore.
A stair creaked. She looked up the wide stairway to see a dark figure standing there and realized she was now in Madeline’s old house. Her blood froze in her veins as the figure began to descend the stairs.
Run! But her feet wouldn’t move. It was as if she was glued to the spot, watching something malevolently evil coming toward her.
Her heart pounded so loudly she couldn’t hear anything else. She tried to scream, to warn Tucker. Tucker? She’d forgotten he’d been with her. But where was he now?
The figure was clad in all black, including the hoodie that covered most of the face in dark shadow. Kate knew that once she saw the face, she was going to die. On the stairs, a gloved hand reached up and pushed back the hood and she came face-to-face with—
Kate sat up in bed, unaware that she was screaming until Tucker bounded from the recliner next to the woodstove and took her in his arms.
“It’s all right,” he was saying as the scream died off on her lips. He stroked her hair, murmuring words of comfort. “You’re all right. Just a bad dream. I’m here. No one’s going to hurt you.”
* * *
TUCKER HAD SEEN the terrified look in those wide green eyes and was surprised anything could frighten her. Kate clung to him. Her breathing was raspy and fast as she trembled in his arms. All he could think was that it must have been one hell of a nightmare.
“Want to talk about it?” he asked as she began to relax.
She shook her head and disengaged from him to get up and walk to the window. Parting the curtains, she peered out, her back to him. He could see that it was still raining a little. The sky was lightening but the horizon was still black with storm clouds.
Kate looked so enticing silhouetted against the last of the storm. He wondered how long they would be trapped here, how long he could be in this cabin without doing something they might both regret.
When she finally spoke, he could barely hear her over the crackle of the fire in the woodstove. “What was it about her?” she asked, her voice low as the lighting in the room.
Tucker realized he’d been waiting for this question. Kate was convinced he was still in love with Madeline, would always be, and now that Madeline might be alive... How could he convince her that Madeline had been a fantasy for a teenage boy? Kate... Well, Kate was the real thing. The kind of woman any red-blooded male would die for.
He got up from the bed and moved to where she was standing, her back to him, until he was nearly touching her. He could smell the scent of her shampoo in her hair that fell like a dark river in the firelight.
His heart pounded being this close to her and yet still not touching her. He breathed in the mesmerizing scent, knowing that if he touched her, if he turned her to face him, if he looked into those bottomless green eyes, he would be lost forever.
* * *
“KATE?”
She closed her eyes, reveling in the way her name sounded on his lips. She could feel him directly behind her. All her nerve endings tingled at even the anticipation of his touch.
“Kate?” Soft as a caress, the sweet sound sent shivers across her bare skin. That ache at her center intensified, but she didn’t turn around. She couldn’t bear to look into those gray eyes and know that he could see how vulnerable she was feeling.
Mostly, she couldn’t bear to see pity in those eyes. She didn’t even want to admit the truth to herself. She’d fallen for a man who was in love with another woman. She’d fallen in love with Tucker Cahill.
Gently, he pushed her long hair aside and pressed a kiss to the nape of her neck. She shivered, a sigh slipping from her lips as he pressed another kiss against her bare flesh before he let her hair drop to her shoulders again.
“You want to know about Madeline?” he whispered so close now that she could feel his body heat.
She nodded, terrified that she might cry again. She didn’t want to know what it was about Madeline that had ensnared him so completely. But at the same time, she had to know.
“Madeline had only one thing going for her,” he said, his voice so soft she had to lean back a little to hear him. “She knew how to drive a teenage boy crazy. A grown man would have seen right through her amateurish seduction.”
Her chest tightened. She ached with longing. This man... She’d never felt such need. Desire ran like a wildfire through her veins, making her legs weak and her heart thunder in her chest.
“She used sex as a weapon,” he whispered against her ear, sending a shiver through her. If he didn’t stop... But she felt as if she might die if he did. “Not knowing any better, I thought it was love. Now, because of you, I know the difference.”
His large warm hands settled on her shoulders before he slowly turned her to face him. She felt her heart leap to her throat. His gaze locked with hers. “Kate.” And then she was in his arms, burying her face in his shirt.
“Oh, Kate.”
* * *
“OH, KATE.” HE repeated the words, a man surrendering. All the fight was gone. As well as all the reasons this was his worst idea yet. All his good intentions. He’d let this woman get to him. As hard as he’d tried to hold her at arm’s length, she’d knocked down the barriers he’d built after Madeline.
He’d promised himself that no woman would get too close again. That he would never trust that much. That he wouldn’t, couldn’t, love with that heart-opening intensity that could leave him devastated once again.
But he hadn’t counted on meeting Kate Rothschild. She charged into things with so much courage and determination that he’d found himself in awe of her grit. Kate, who’d spent nineteen years planning retribution for her brother. Kate, who was as vulnerable as him—and hated it equally as much.
“Oh, Kate,” he said again as he gently lifted her chin to look into those green eyes. Their gazes locked. Her breathing quickened along with his. He could no longer lie to himself. He thought he’d loved Madeline. Now he knew what real love felt like. What he felt for this woman standing before him in nothing but a T-shirt and pale pink underwear.
He’d tried to keep her at arm’s length but couldn’t. He’d wanted this from almost the first time he’d laid eyes on her. The hours they’d spent together had been pure torture. The woman made him crazy and breathless and aching inside for more. He wanted her like he’d never wanted anything before.
Desire spiked through him as he thought of what he wanted to do to her, with her. The scent of her, the feel of her bare skin against his lips, against his tongue, against his own naked flesh.
He dropped his mouth to hers, taking possession of her with a demanding kiss. She answered in kind, both of them clinging to each other as if caught in a gale-force wind. He swept her up and carried her to the bed. He knew once he made love with her he would only want to do it again and again. He wanted her completely, in every possible way, forever.
That alone should have stopped him. This woman could do more than break his heart. And yet, the longing in him was a force of its own. He lowered her to the bed and looked down into those eyes. “You sure about this?” he asked, his voice husky with desire.
Her gaze locked with his, she pulled him down into a kiss. He gave in to it, feeling as if he was on a runaway train. There was no getting off this wild ride, even if he’d wanted to.