Accidental Cowgirl (31 page)

He guffawed, pointing at the little red sports car. “You serious? You drive this anywhere near a tornado, you’re just gonna be a tiny red flag swirling around and around in the funnel.”

Kyla shivered. She definitely didn’t want to be a little red funnel flag. Dammit. She turned off the car and pulled out the keys, then strapped her purse and carry-on over her shoulder. She cursed as her air cast got caught on the door frame, but she managed to wrangle it free before she tipped over onto the gravel. Roscoe popped her trunk and lifted out her duffel bags, then tossed them into the back of his truck.

He came around the passenger side and opened the door for her, handing up her carry-on after she’d muscled herself into his seat. He slammed the door and hobbled around to the driver’s side to haul himself in. With a quick glance in the rearview mirror, he whipped the truck around and headed back north, light flashing on the dashboard.

“Roscoe, where are we going to go?” Kyla asked, holding on to the grab bar for dear life.

He smiled over at her, then glued his eyes to the road. “Somewhere safe, honey. Somewhere safe.”

Kyla looked at him out of the corner of her eye, afraid it was one of his bad days, but his eyes were as clear as could be and his hands were steady on the wheel. Twenty minutes later, the scenery was starting to look familiar again. “Roscoe, how far north are we going to go? The sky is still crystal clear.”

“We gotta get high enough up to where folks got basements, Kyla. Can’t wait out a tornado aboveground.”

“I had no idea you even had tornadoes out here. Aren’t there too many mountains?”

“Used to be.”

Kyla pondered that for a second. “Did you lose some?”

Roscoe sent her an eyebrows-raised look across the truck cab. “No, we didn’t
lose
some, young lady. Before global warming started making tracks north, we never got these damn twisters. But now that the ice caps are melting and the weather’s getting stranger every year, yep, we get ’em. Not often, mind you.”

“Have you, um, talked to anyone at the ranch? Do they know about the tornado warning?”

“Oh, yes. They most surely do.” Roscoe looked out the driver’s-side window, and if she didn’t know better, Kyla would have sworn he was trying to hide a smile.

“Something funny, Roscoe?”

He looked at her, surprised. “Funny? No, ma’am. Ain’t nothin’ funny about a twister.” He drilled his eyes back to the road.

Kyla looked out her window, wondering how chaotic things were at the ranch right now. She was sure Ma must have a basement under the main lodge. Was everyone running around, putting valuables down in the cellar just in case? Were Hayley and Jess worried? Suddenly a pain clenched her gut as she thought of Kismet.

“What do they do with the animals, Roscoe? What about the horses?”

“Not much to be done. Just take them to the safest spots possible.”

Kyla imagined Decker and Cole trying to get all of the horses out of the stable and out to safer ground, and then she had a horrifying image of something happening to Decker. Oh Lord. What if a twister really did touch down? What if he got hurt, or worse?

Forty-five minutes later, they rattled by the WELCOME TO CAREFREE sign, and Kyla sat up straighter. “Where are you bringing us, Roscoe? We’re all the way back to Carefree.”

“Yup.”

Roscoe rolled through town, which looked suspiciously normal and relaxed for a village about to be socked by a tornado. Kyla looked around, confused. “Roscoe, people don’t seem all that concerned. Looks like they’re just going about their business.”

Roscoe frowned. “Well, you know how folks are. ’Til they hear that damn siren, they can’t be bothered to take anything seriously.”

“Roscoe, don’t be mad at me for asking this question, but did you take your medicine this morning?”

“Yes, I took my damn medicine. Lucky for you, it’s one of my good days. If it wasn’t, you’d still be driving right for a damn tornado.” He drove through the downtown area and kept going north, toward the ranch.

“Are you taking me back to the ranch?” Her stomach clutched at the thought, but what could she say to him? He had no idea what her story was, or why she’d taken off this morning.

“Would it be a problem if I was?”

Kyla blew a breath out of her mouth. “Aren’t there any cellars anywhere else around here? Do we have to go back to the ranch?”

Roscoe looked sidelong at her again, then eased off the gas pedal. “I thought that’s where you’d want to go. Your friends are still there, Ma’s there, Decker’s there.”

Kyla couldn’t help a pitiful sound from escaping when he said Decker’s name. “Roscoe, I can’t go back there. Please, can you please just bring me somewhere else? Or tell them you couldn’t catch up with me? Or that I took off on you? Anything?”

Roscoe checked the rearview mirror, then steered into a pull-off on the right and shut off the truck. Kyla looked down at her hands, clenched in her lap. “I’m sorry, Roscoe. I must sound completely unhinged right now. But I really, really can’t go back there, and it’s too hard to explain why.”

“Try me.” Roscoe twisted his body to face hers.

“I don’t think I can explain it.”

Roscoe reached under his seat and pulled out a newspaper, laying it down between them. “Does it have anything to do with this?”

Kyla closed her eyes with a sigh, then opened them to peer at the front page. Under the headline
PONZI PRINCE SENTENCED TO 50 YEARS
was a full-color shot taken at some NYC gala Wes had attended with Alexis a couple of years ago. Nestled into the corner of the shot was a picture of Kyla, looking every inch the scorned accomplice. Apparently Wes’s sentencing was front-page national news this morning.

Roscoe looked out the front window, thoughtful. “This why you left? Or is this why you came?”

Kyla looked up. There was no point lying to Roscoe. Or herself anymore, really. “Yes to both, I guess.”

“You’ve been to hell and back, kiddo.” He tapped his fingers on the wheel as he shook his head.

Kyla was surprised at his gentle tone. “I’d have to agree with you there. And I imagine this article is a high-gloss version.”

“Oh, I know the whole story.”

Kyla cocked her head. “What do you mean? How do you know the whole story?”

Roscoe shrugged. “Old habits die hard, I guess. That and I’ve got way too much time on my hands. After I pulled you over a couple weeks back, I got curious.”

“Why?” Had she given off a scent of fear?

He shrugged again. “Couldn’t put my finger on it. Still can’t. I just knew you had a story.”

“You thought I was drunk.”

“Nah. I knew you weren’t drunk.”

“Roscoe! Why did you put me through all of that nonsense if you knew I wasn’t drunk?”

“I was trying to get a read, so I had to keep you doing stuff ’til I could figure out why you were ringing my alarm bells.” He pointed to his head. “Cop sixth sense.”

Kyla had no idea what to say. She twisted her hands in her lap wondering just how much Roscoe knew about her past year. Afraid to ask, but needing to know, she took a deep breath.
“So what did you find out about me?”

He looked at her for a long moment, tapping thoughtfully on the wheel. “Enough to be glad for you that you chose the most beautiful spot on earth to escape to. Carefree’s a pretty good place to get better, Kyla.”

“I know. I did, a little.”

“Decker might be a pretty good doctor, too.”

Kyla looked up from her twisting hands. She shook her head. “I don’t know about that.”

“I do. He’s a good man, Kyla. A really good man. And he’s coming around to believing that again.”

“I’m sorry. I am. I know you love him, and you have lots of reasons to do so. I’m just not convinced, myself. I’ve only known him for two weeks, so I guess I just don’t know.”

“Maybe you should stick around and find out.”

Kyla laughed hollowly. “That’s not really an option.”

“Why not?”

“Well, for starters, I’ve got a ticket home in two hours. Second, and more important, because he’s engaged.”

“Engaged?!” Kyla gave him credit for looking genuinely mystified. If he was trying to cover for Decker, he was doing a good job.

“Roscoe, cut it out. Even the nurses at the hospital know about it. Don’t tell me the news has escaped your
cop sixth sense
. I don’t believe it.”

Roscoe peered into the rearview mirror, then twisted the key in the ignition. “You’ve got it all wrong, Kyla. The Decker I know would never have slept with you if his heart was elsewhere.” Kyla almost choked. How in the world did Roscoe know they’d spent the night together? “Oh, don’t go getting all flustered. I know how you young people operate.”

Kyla could feel the blush creeping up her cheeks as she looked out the window, hoping Roscoe couldn’t see her face. “Well, I hate to be the one to tell you that you might need some new sources, but Marcy showed me their wedding invitation.”

Roscoe pulled out onto the highway, accelerating smoothly toward the ranch as Kyla’s stomach fell. “Kyla, I’ve known Decker since he was a tadpole in the pond. I know that boy, and he’s one of the good ones. And I’ll tell you something else. I been delivering bread and donuts to that ranch every damn morning since June. And all summer long, there’ve been a fair number of
ladies making eyes at Decker. Any one of them would have been more than happy to keep his bed warm at night. But you know what? I know for a fact that you are the only woman who’s ever gone creeping down that pathway at the crack of dawn.”

“You saw me?” Kyla gulped.

“I did.”

So Roscoe had seen her sneaking back to her cabin. So what? It meant nothing. Maybe she was the only one Decker’d ever slept with in the stable, but who was to say he hadn’t been taking women back to his cabin all summer long?

“And I know you’re too much of a lady to ask this, but do you want to know how I know you’re the first woman he’s spent the night with since he came back?”

“Not really, no.”
Yes, definitely yes
.

“Yes, you do.”

“I don’t, but you’re going to tell me anyway.”
Please
.

“Because Jenny sends along a couple extra donuts every morning that I’m supposed to sneak to the barn for Decker and Cole. And I do. Every morning. And every morning since June, I’ve handed that bag to Decker, because by that time he’s already been up and working for hours. But not that morning. That morning he had sleep in his eyes and a smile on his face.”

Roscoe scrubbed his chin with his fingers. “And that was the first time I’ve seen that damn smile since that boy’s been back. Now, before you go running back east, I think you and Decker need to have a good sit-down. You’re both so damn busy running from the people who’ve pummeled you in the past that you can’t even see each other straight.

“I may be out of line, but I call it like I see it. And I never had any sons. Decker and Cole are the closest I ever got. I just want ’em happy. And I want that boy back here, Kyla. He belongs here. He loves this town. He loves Whisper Creek. He wants to be back, even if he’s not ready to admit it yet.”

Kyla looked at Roscoe, longing to believe him. He had no reason to lie, really, and the thought that maybe, just maybe, she’d meant more to Decker than he’d ever have let her believe was a pretty heady thought. Then visions of Marcy took over, the kind with little strappy sandals and perfect lip gloss, and she sighed miserably.

In a fatherly move, Roscoe put his hand on Kyla’s knee, patting it gently. “Maybe you can help him with that, Kyla.” He looked back out the front window, then narrowed his eyes as
his foot landed hard on the accelerator.

“What’s the matter?” Kyla grabbed the door handle as the truck lurched forward.

“Smoke.” Roscoe pointed ahead of him.

Alarmed, Kyla peered out the windshield, then sucked in a scared breath as she leaned forward. Oh, holy hell. There was a column of smoke coloring the blue sky black as tar, and it was coming straight from Whisper Creek.

Roscoe steered into the ranch driveway practically on two wheels, but Kyla wanted to stomp her own foot on the gas pedal to speed the truck up. They’d flown up the highway since Roscoe had spotted the smoke, but it still seemed to take forever to get here. Kyla released her seat belt, ready to jump out as soon as Roscoe slowed down.

“Hold on, missy. Don’t go jumping out of the damn truck ’til I get it stopped.” Roscoe put his arm out to hold her back in the seat.

As they rounded the last bend in the driveway, the acrid smell of smoke filled her nostrils. Through the billows, she could see flames leaping from the roof of the stable.

“Oh, Lord in tarnation.” Roscoe slammed on the brakes and leaped out of the truck.

Kyla jumped out as well, forgetting her cast for a second. She steeled herself, then took off toward the stable as fast as she could hobble. She tried to count the horses in her mind, hoping with all her might that they were all out to pasture. As she got closer, she stopped dead, hit by a wall of heat that practically pushed her backward. But just as she took a step backward, she heard a terrified whinny and crashing hooves.

“Roscoe! There’s a horse in there!”

Roscoe grabbed her hand, yanking her backward as he pulled a handkerchief out of his pocket and held it over his mouth. He was surprisingly strong for the old geezer she’d been taking him for all this time. “Don’t get any ideas, missy. You stay right here. The fire department will be here any minute.”

The horse whinnied again, and the sound hurtled through Kyla. The smoke was thickening, and flames shot higher from the roof. “Roscoe, we can’t wait for them. It might be too late!” She ripped off her sweatshirt and tied it over her mouth and nose. “I have to try!”

Roscoe grabbed at her arm as she started at a fast limp toward the stable, but she shook him off. The door that faced the house was fully engulfed, so she clambered over the fence, landing in an awkward pile on the other side. Using the fence post, she pulled herself up and hobbled to the other end of the stable, trying her best to ignore her screaming ankle as she ducked under the smoke. A barn cat flew between her feet as she got closer to the doorway, a
teeny kitten in its mouth.