The Deputy's Lost and Found (14 page)

Something about the sound of her father’s angry voice pierced her and suddenly layers and layers of images were rapidly unfolding in her mind. They were coming at her with such a rush that she was close to being ill, yet at the same time relief was flooding through her, replacing all her doubts and uncertainties with a furious sort of confidence.

“No one has tried to brainwash me, Daddy. Except maybe you. Brainwash me into thinking that your and Jane’s trysts were something acceptable, that your long-term affair had nothing to do with Mother’s death. Well, you can tell yourself that if it makes you feel better, but you’ll never convince me! Mother let herself die because she didn’t want to live with a cheating husband. You were her whole life and you betrayed her with an old family friend. You betrayed me.”

“Camille! This is not the time or place to be sorting our family laundry! Now get your things. We’re leaving. Before we say something that can never be taken back.”

Completely ignoring Ward, Lass whipped around to Brady. Excitement, amazement and joy all swept across her face as she gazed up at him. “There’s no need for me to go back to Porter Farms now, Brady! I remember everything. And I can tell you now that I’m free. Free to stay here and love you.”

A tender light filled his eyes and then before Ward could say anything about the matter, Brady swept her into his arms and kissed her. As the tender touch of his lips lingered on hers, Lass felt contentment so sweet and pure that tears flooded her eyes.

“What is going on here?” Ward demanded.

Just as Brady lifted his head to explain, the doorbell rang. Since Reggie was nowhere to be seen, Brady set Lass aside to go answer it.

“Excuse me,” he said as he quickly strode toward the foyer. “I’ll be right back.”

Once Brady was out of sight, Ward stepped closer to his daughter. “Do you love that young man? Is that why you don’t want to come home with me?”

Lass’s lips trembled. Her father had hurt her, had managed to destroy her admiration for him, scar all the good years when her family had been happy, when her family’s love was whole and strong. And yet, a part of her still loved him, didn’t want to lose her only parent.

“I do love him, Daddy. But I—” She swallowed hard, then dismally shook her head. “My life at Porter Farms is over. I think we both realized that once Mother died and I…found out about Jane.” A rueful grimace twisted her features. “I’m not saying I want to shut you out of my life completely. I’m trying to tell you that I need time. Time to try to make sense of all that’s happened to our family.”

He reached out and gingerly touched her cheek. “All I ask is for a chance to make it up to you, honey,” he said brokenly. “You and your mother—you’ve always been my whole life. All I’ve ever worked for—the farm, the horses—it was for you.”

Her throat burning, she turned her face away from him and blinked her eyes. “Yes, I know,” she murmured thickly.

The sound of footsteps came from across the room and both Lass and Ward turned to see Brady emerge from the foyer. Another man was following directly behind him, but his head was hidden by Brady’s broad shoulder.

Since the Donovans didn’t carry out ranching business in the house, Lass wondered if the unannounced guest was Sheriff Hamilton, wanting to question her father. But then Brady suddenly stepped to one side and she could see the
visitor was not the rugged sheriff; it was her nightmare come to life.

“David,” Ward greeted warmly, “did you have a good look at the Donovans’ stables?”

Lass stared numbly at the man, her throat too paralyzed to utter a sound.

He glanced over at Lass, then gave her a sympathetic smile as though she didn’t have her full mental faculties and needed to be treated with patience and understanding. Clearly he’d made this trip with Ward confident that Lass still had amnesia and wouldn’t be able to recognize him, she thought wildly.

Turning his attention to her father, he answered, “It was great, Ward. You really need to let Mr. Donovan show you around before we leave. They have an aquatic pool for the horses and I want you to see it. I think it’s time Porter Farms invested in one. If we plan to compete—”

The muscles in Lass’s throat finally released enough to work and she screamed loudly as she stumbled backward, away from David and her father.

Brady leaped forward and caught her by the arm. “Lass! What is it? What’s wrong?”

Horrified, she flung a finger toward David, who was already backing cautiously away from them. “David—he’s the one who attacked me! At the car—in the mountains!”

Feigning a wounded expression, David stepped forward and held his palms upward in a gesture of innocence. “Camille, I’m so sorry about your—accident. Your father tells me you can’t remember anything and I can see for myself how tangled your thinking is right now. But you’ll get well and then you’ll see how much I care about you.”

He reached a hand toward her and Lass shrank back against the comfort of Brady’s solid frame.

“Liar!” she flung at him. “You—you’re psychotic. Tell my father what you were planning to do to me! To him!”

Totally confused, Ward turned to his daughter and said in a soothing, placating voice. “Honey, you’re confused. That’s David. Our assistant. Our friend. Remember? He couldn’t be the man who tried to harm you.”

“He’s not a friend, Daddy,” she spoke through gritted teeth. “All he wanted was to get your ranch and he planned to do that through me. I tried to tell you about him months ago, but you refused to believe me! Now after all that’s happened, you’re still taking his side!”

Apparently Ward’s spoken defense of him was enough to give David the courage to stop his backward progression out of the room and he stared at Lass as though he couldn’t believe she would have the gall or the courage to accuse him of anything.

He said, “Camille, you’re still a sick woman. You obviously have me confused with some other man.”

Her voice trembling, Lass shouted at him, “I’m sick all right for not screaming to high heaven at the track when you strong-armed me into your car!”

Ward’s bewildered expression suddenly turned suspicious as he looked at his assistant. “A few days after Camille left the ranch, you made a trip to Florida to visit your family. Or so you said. Maybe Deputy Donovan should give them a call and straighten out this matter,” Ward suggested.

David’s gaze was suddenly darting nervously around the room. “This from you, Ward? I’m going outside for some fresh air and while I’m gone maybe you’ll come to your senses and realize your daughter is delusional.”

“Come here!” The order to David came from Brady, his
voice steely soft and so menacing it could have been a weapon. “You have a few questions to answer.”

“Not to you, buddy!”

At that moment David turned and started to run toward the foyer, but Brady instantly leaped into action and halfway across the room, he caught Lass’s attacker by the arm and spun him around.

David immediately resisted and attempted to throw a punch at Brady’s face, but he quickly dodged the blow. David attempted to swing again, but by then Brady was plowing into him with both fists, until he staggered backward then fell against an antique table. The piece of furniture, along with an ornate lamp, crashed to the floor. David followed close behind and lay sprawled and groaning among the broken pieces.

“My God!” Ward bellowed in stunned disbelief. “What is going on here?”

Heaving from anger and exertion, Brady glanced at him. “You’re witnessing an arrest. Lincoln County style.”

“Then I’m here at the perfect time,” Kate announced as she hurried into the room. She was carrying a large silver tray and there, among the drinks and snacks, lay a pair of handcuffs. With a catlike grin, she shoved the tray toward Brady. “I heard the commotion and thought you might need these.”

Wiping his sweaty forehead against the sleeve of his shirt, Brady looked at her and the handcuffs, then started to chuckle. “Grandma, are these the cuffs I gave you as a gag gift?”

Kate chuckled along with her grandson. “I knew someday I’d have good use for them.”

Grabbing up the cuffs, he planted a kiss on her cheek. “I can never get ahead of you, can I?”

She tossed him a grin full of love and pride. “Don’t even try.”

Quickly, Brady plucked the woozy man from the floor and cuffed his hands behind his back. Once he was certain his prisoner was securely shackled, he shoved him down in the nearest chair and turned to search the room for Lass.

She was standing only a few feet away, anxiously waiting and watching for the ordeal to be over. As soon as he held out his arms, she ran to him and buried her face against his chest.

“Oh, Brady,” she sobbed with relief. “My nightmare is finally over.”

Pressing his cheek to the top of her head, he held her tightly. “And our life together is just beginning, my darling.”

Later that night, in the privacy of the foreman’s old house, Lass and Brady lay snuggled together on the small double bed. An arm’s width away, moonlight slanted through the bare windows and bathed Lass’s face in a silver glow that matched the radiant light in her eyes.

Even though she was drowsy from their lovemaking, she couldn’t seem to wipe the smile from her face or to let herself actually fall asleep. There was too much to think about, too much to experience to waste it on slumber.

Drawing lazy circles across Brady’s chest, she tilted her head back far enough to see his face. His tawny hair lay in rumpled waves over his forehead while his relaxed features were a total contrast to the fierce expression he’d had when he’d lunged for David.

“Are you sorry that Grandma invited Ward to stay on the ranch with us for a few days?” Brady asked in a dozy voice. “She really wasn’t trying to butt in, you know. She loves you.”

The corners of Lass’s lips continued to curve upward. “Yes, I know she loves me. And she wants me and my
father to have a chance to talk things over and hopefully make a new start of things. She believes that’s important to my happiness.”

“So do I.” His fingers gently stroked her hair. “Do you think it’s possible for the two of you to start over?”

“I didn’t before. But I do now. I think…when the awful truth about David finally sunk in, I believe he realized how he’d been looking at things in the wrong way. You see, my father has always been a hard-driving, ambitious man. And David is that same type. I suppose that’s why he liked him so much. Why he wouldn’t believe me when I told him that he was making overtures that were making me…uncomfortable.”

“Had David worked for your family long?”

“Probably three years. And in that time I made the mistake of going out on one date with him. It took me about an hour to realize he wasn’t my type at all. But he refused to accept that I had no interest in him.” She sighed. “What will happen to him now, Brady?”

Earlier this afternoon, after things had calmed down, Brady had hauled David to the jail in Carrizozo. As of now, the man was still behind bars, waiting for bail to be set.

“That’s for a court to decide, Lass. As far as I’m concerned they should lock him away for a long while. But I can’t believe that all this while he was checking in to make sure you still had amnesia and couldn’t identify him. It took a lot of nerve to come face you again. He sounds like the kind of man who thinks if he wants it hard enough it will come true.”

Lass shivered. Now that her memory had returned, the images of what had happened continued to haunt her. Yet a part of her was glad that she could remember the whole incident now. Remember it and hopefully come to terms with it all.

“When he showed up at the track, I was stunned, Brady. I was standing there at the saddling paddock watching the jockeys and the horses and then suddenly David showed up out of nowhere. I had no idea that he knew I’d come here to New Mexico. The only thing I can figure is that he overheard my phone conversation when I was making flight plans.”

“What did he tell you? I mean, the reason that he was there?”

“He’d said that my father had taken ill and that he’d come to fetch me home.”

“The man hadn’t heard of telephoning?” Brady asked.

“Exactly,” she answered. “I was immediately suspicious, so I told him I wanted to call my father first. That’s when he jerked the cell phone from my hand and forcefully walked me to his car.”

Brady made a tsking noise with his tongue. “Bad mistake, Lass. Never get into a car with someone you don’t trust.”

“I certainly learned that lesson,” she said wryly. “I made a huge mistake by not making a scene at the track and alerting someone that I needed help. I should have never allowed him to get me into the car. But I went along. Because deep down, I never suspected he would try to physically harm me. But then as we drove east from the track, he begin to tell me how much he loved me, how once Daddy was dead, the two of us could have Porter Farms for our own. I was terrified. He seemed so calm, so sure that once he’d had me on his own I’d be willing to stay with him and let him have control of me and the ranch. He talked about giving me tranquilizers and telling everyone I’d had a breakdown after my mother died, but he was going to care for me. Or that I’d even have an accident if I ever tried to leave him.”

Brady propped himself up on one shoulder to look down
at her. “God, Lass, do you think he meant to murder your father? Or did he only mean when your father grew older and passed away?”

Lass shook her head. “I’m not certain. But when he said those things, there was evilness in his voice that I’d never heard before. After that my mind began to work furiously to find a way to get out of the car and away from him. I knew if I ever had a chance of escape I would have to do it while we were still in the mountains. Once we got out on the flat desert there wouldn’t be anywhere to hide. So I feigned nausea and told him to pull the car over before I retched everywhere.”

“Yes. Johnny found the spot where the car was parked,” Brady said. “He said a scuffle happened there.”

Lass closed her eyes against the vivid memories. “David got out of the car, too. I guess by then, he didn’t trust me. I walked to the trunk area and began to cough, but it wasn’t convincing enough for him. He grabbed me with intentions of putting me back in the car. He told me it was time he had a bit of fun.”