Chapter Sixteen

Lorn

Women are my bane.

Every time I try and let one in, they find ways to prove to me how unworthy of me they are.

I sit at my kitchen table and steam as I fight to control my breathing. I confided in her something so personal, so shameful, and she reacted exactly how she shouldn’t have.

With judgment.

Does she think I’ve experienced no shaming in my life? Yeah, I’m rich. Big deal. I’ve been a target for ridicule my whole damn life. My father was my biggest bully. She knows nothing about me, and yet she cast the stone.

Because, obviously, Rayne Carr must be a total saint, right? Given her behavior, that’s not true. I know there’s a darkness behind her little façade. I hate that I want to know what it is. I hate that I want to know her and still be a part of her life, even after our fights.

There’s something deeper there. Her eyes are wide with fear more often than not, and when I press that button, she goes into a fit to try and push me away.

I don’t feel like going away quite yet. She may have bitched out massively now, but my instincts tell me there’s something behind her smokescreen. If she’s brought someone bad to my borders, that’s one thing, but if she gets hurt or worse because I was sitting in my cabin pouting over a fight, I’ll never forgive myself.

I still need answers. I can’t let my emotions get in the way of that simple fact. I release another breath and rise, our plates loaded with unfinished omelets on the table. Cleaning will have to wait. I’ve got some tracking to do.

I change into a pair of sturdy jeans and my green jacket. She stormed off in my boots, and I can’t help but laugh. She looked ridiculous, stomping out in my massive shoes and her nightie. Must have been a cold walk back. I reach for my second pair of boots and have a thought, then turn them over.

I memorized the pattern of that print in the snow, especially once Rayne went all haywire about it. It doesn’t match the treads of this boot.

Curious.

I slide my socked feet into them and tie them up before I step out into the frosty forest air. A single trail of boot prints heads off toward the trail straight ahead, and I follow them as I collect my thoughts. She clearly wants nothing to do with me. That’s fine by me, but until my property is protected, and my tenant is also safe, I have a responsibility here.

She can get rid of me when she leaves this land. And good riddance.

The trail leads where it should, to her cabin across the way. I stop in the woods and hang back. I don’t want to storm right up to the front door. That wouldn’t exactly be tactful. This is something to play carefully. I glance around me. Is there someone else peering at that door from another part of the woods?

I take stock of the ground around me, but I only see one pair of footprints—the ones from my own boots, dragged through the snow by a tiny woman in a silk nightgown.

If I wasn’t still so pissed at her, it would be really, really funny.

Rayne stomps over her busted front door. I remember how great it felt when it crumbled beneath my force.

Oops. Naw, just kidding. If I had to do it again, I would, though, exactly the same. No regrets here.

She’s dressed in suitable clothes, and I notice that she’s dragging her little suitcase behind her. I don’t see my boots she promised to leave on the front porch for me.

Typical.

Her eyes are glassy and red even from this distance. She storms down the porch steps and walks with long strides toward a path I’ve never shown her before.

My god, this woman has no sense of direction. How is it that she can grab a set of tools and rewire a generator, but she still can’t take the right path? I imagine she’s trying to head back in the direction of the main cabin to call for a ride home. She’s going to be disappointed when she doesn’t get there.

Sigh. It’s a good thing my instincts don’t suck. Once again, it falls to me to keep this woman safe. What did I do with my life before Rayne Carr walked into it?

I believe I sat and read a lot of books. It was a simpler, peaceful time. Thoughts of Rayne’s comments flood back into my mind. She thinks I should rejoin the world, face my critics and get back to the society I was born into. What, so they can treat me like she just did?

Fat chance.

She may think she has an idea, but she doesn’t. That life was a gilded cage, and the woods are my freedom. Why would I ever go back?

Rayne disappears down a snow-covered path, and I follow at a distance, not wanting to frighten her. Then again, I believe she thinks she’s being followed, so this might not help at all. Fortunately for me, I can be silent in the woods. Rayne won’t know I’m here until I’m ready for her to know.

I give her a wide berth. With the snow, it’s easy enough to see where she’s headed, and it is in no way the direction she thinks she’s going. The path reaches a fork. I’m lost in thought as I notice that her footprints have turned to the left, and my mind slowly comes to the realization that she has taken the seriously wrong path.

“No,” I breathe.

I pick up my pace and jog through the snow. I can see her back ahead in the distance, and I call out, “Rayne, wait!”

She turns back and glares at me, then steps backward. Her foot lands on open air, and she disappears from my sight with a scream.

“Rayne!”

I sprint over. This path ends at a cliff side that leads straight down toward the lake. When I reach the edge, I lean over, terrified of what I’ll see.

Rayne holds onto a thick branch sticking out from the cliff. She’s about two feet down, her eyes wide and terrified as she stares up at me.

“Help,” she breathes.

I reach down and grab her forearms. I tighten my grip and launch her back up and over the precipice. Her suitcase lies on the ground a few feet away, and my eyes bore into the black material as I cling to her, holding her tight against my body.

Rayne shivers, from fear, from cold. I can only guess, and I can’t seem to make myself let her go. I thought that I had lost her to that cliff, and my stomach dropped right with her. Now to hold her safe in my arms… well.

This kind of thing can’t happen again.

My fear spurs my anger right back into place and I stand, lifting us both up, then set her from me so I can get a good look at her.

Her green eyes are big as saucers, and she’s still trembling.

At the moment, I can’t care about that. I’m too damn mad.

“You could have gotten yourself killed, again. If you can’t navigate in the woods, you shouldn’t be here!”

My voice echoes down the cliff, and I’m reminded that she could have easily been a pancake at the bottom of it. That image fuels my anger even more. She feeds off my energy, and her eyes finally narrow, though her voice still shakes when she speaks.

“You’re right, I shouldn’t be here. I was trying to get to the main cabin to get away from this place.”

“I showed you where that trail was.”

“Yeah, well, I forgot. My mind was a little preoccupied over the fact that my cabin had been ransacked!”

My eyebrows lift at this little piece of news. Ransacked? By whom?

She realizes her mistake too late. She tries to wave the comment off. “It doesn’t matter. You want me gone. I want to be gone. Let me go!”

“You had your cabin broken into and you expect me to simply let that go? Who do you think I am? Actually, scrap that. I know exactly who you think I am. Some kind of criminal. Here’s the thing about that, Rayne. I’ve been one hundred percent honest with you this entire time. You, on the other hand, have clearly been lying and hiding information from me, and now I hear that there’s a crime happening on my own property. This ends now. You have to tell me what you’re hiding from and why!”

“Why should I tell you anything? There’s a chance that you’re the one who did it! You spent time in jail. Who knows what kind of connections you have?”

Some pieces come together for me here. She’s upset about my time in jail, that much is obvious, but she also has opinions about criminals and their intents upon release.

“Rayne.” I intentionally soften my voice and take a step back. “I went to jail for a stupid thing. I have never spoken to anyone I spent time with in there since I left. I want to put that chapter of my life behind me, for good. I understand that you are afraid. I can see it. I am on your side here. Please, let me help you.”

Her emotions play out in a battle for control on her face. I can tell she wants to trust me, but she hasn’t let herself. I’m sure she has her reasons. I know I do, after all, but I don’t break eye contact with her as I wait for her to come to a conclusion.

“I can’t help you if you don’t let me in, Rayne. Tell me the truth. Let me be your ally here, not your enemy. It would appear you already have enough of those.”

Her eyes well up with tears as her inner battle continues. A sob sneaks from her as she collapses toward me, and I catch her in my arms and cradle her there. I let her cry out all her fear and despair and stress, not knowing how long she has had to carry this weight alone.

She tilts her head up to look at me, and I wipe away a hot tear gone cold beneath her eye. My palms encase her cheeks as I dip my head and capture her lips in a gentle, reassuring kiss. She returns the gesture, but it is far from erotic. It is a gesture of trust, of faith that I won’t hurt her in any way.

I can’t even fathom it. Just the thought of someone wanting to hurt her sends a wave of protectiveness through me, and I hold her closer. I keep the kiss gentle, and I push her back gently as I notice that she is no longer shaking.

That’s certainly a good sign.

“Tell me, Rayne. Tell me what it is that’s haunting you.”

She inhales, and when she releases the breath a puff of steam dissolves into the air.

“All right,” she says. “But it’s not a happy story.”