Carter

  Then there were bills, employees to pay and disputes to sort out, supplies to be ordered—the day-to-day problems of running a business.

  He and Grace settled into a sweet routine. She did the ranch cooking while he worked, she joined the Campbells for dinner, and she tested out recipes afterward. Mrs. Ward had already taken a batch of Grace’s pastries to try out on her customers and ordered more.

  After Grace cleaned the kitchen for the night, Carter coming in to help her with that big job, they put Faith to bed and retired to Carter’s room.

  Carter was craving Grace but both decided they should cool it on the sex for now. They’d be going at it all night if they didn’t, and they were mindful of Faith and Carter’s mother sleeping nearby. Didn’t stop Carter planning what he’d do with Grace when they started up again.

  In the morning, they’d have breakfast, Carter would drive Faith to school, and he and Grace would begin the routine all over again. He could get used to this.

  Faith’s birthday party was scheduled for Friday. The science fair committee didn’t meet on Fridays, Faith said, so she’d get out of school at her normal time, and bring some friends home with her. Grace’s baking stepped up on Thursday, giving her barely any time to talk to Carter—anyone for that matter. She stayed up past midnight, then kissed Carter sleepily before she collapsed, worn out, next to him. Carter only put his arm around her and enjoyed the warmth.

  In the early afternoon on Friday, Carter’s cell phone rang. He didn’t recognize the number, but the ranch got a lot of calls from myriad people.

  “This is Carter,” he said absently while he sorted through feed invoices.

  “Carter?” The woman’s voice on the other end made him freeze. “Please, don’t hang up. We need to talk. It’s important. Joss is dangerous. You need to hear what I have to say.”

  Chapter Fourteen

  At the sound of Lizzie’s voice, all the bile Carter had managed to drive away came back.

  A quick glance around the office showed he was alone, the guys taking a break across the corral and in the entrance of the barn, out of the sun. His three brothers were training in the covered arena.

  “Where the fuck are you?” Carter demanded. “I was almost arrested for abducting you.”

  “I know. I’m sorry—I didn’t mean for that to happen. I was hiding from Joss. If he thought someone dragged me off and dumped me, he’d quit looking for me.”

  “You tell me right now what the hell this is all about.”

  “Carter.” Lizzie’s voice was choked with tears. She was good at acting the pathetic victim. “It’s not me. It’s Joss. Please, can we meet? I want to talk to you face to face.”

  “What, so Joss and his bullies can jump me? You’d set that up.”

  “No, no. Carter, you have to believe me. You pick a place. Somewhere no one will be able to sneak up on you.”

  “Except you.”

  More crying. “I’m sorry. I can’t tell you how sorry I am. I needed help, and Joss made me … Come on, Carter, please. I want to explain. To warn you.”

  Carter didn’t trust her at all. He’d been infatuated with Lizzie most of his young life, when she’d been one of Joss’s runners, but even then he’d realized that her charm had covered many layers of deceit.

  When he’d run into her again in Houston, when she’d claimed she’d gotten herself free of Joss, Carter had let down his guard and allowed himself a sex-filled relationship with her that had lasted several months. Then it turned out she was in thick with Joss and his smuggling, dealing, whatever-he-could-make-money-off-of businesses. Carter had acknowledged his stupidity and broken it off with her. But not before he’d gotten her pregnant with Faith.

  Lizzie couldn’t be trusted, and yet, Carter wanted to hear what she had to say. Joss was up to something. Even if Lizzie were working for him again, Carter could at least make her tell him what Joss had in mind.

  “Fine,” he said. “The diner here in Riverbend. How long will it take you to get to it?”

  “An hour, maybe longer.”

  “I’ll meet you there. You know where it is?”

  Lizzie gave a faint laugh. “It’s a little town—there’s only the one. Carter.” Her laughter was gone. “Don’t stand me up. It’s important.”

  “I said I’d be there,” Carter said. “I’m hanging up now.”

  He thumbed off the call then swiped to his contacts and dialed Ross.

  ***

  Carter approached the diner feeling the rage he thought he’d shed years ago start spreading its poison through him. He’d worked hard, fought for trust, fought to prove to Olivia she hadn’t made a mistake taking him in.

  While people in Riverbend still looked at him sideways, Carter had made good progress. He was respected now, for the most part, and a success at what he did. He, Grant, and Tyler made a hell of a stunt-riding team, ranchers went on waiting lists for them to train their horses, and they won many contracts for movie, television, and advertising work. The ranch made money, letting them live well. Carter damn well wasn’t going to let Lizzie Fredrickson and Joss Brady take everything he’d worked for away from him.

  And he definitely wasn’t letting them take Faith, or Grace.

  Carter entered the diner, sliding his hat from his head, nodding to Mrs. Ward’s oldest daughter, who was manning the register. The place gleamed with new wood floors, new tables, new brass details on the booths, walls painted, ceiling redone—everything looking good.

  Carter saw Lizzie immediately. She wore the same type of blouse and skirt she had when he’d confronted her at the courthouse in Fredericksburg. Gone were her usual tight black shirts that showed off her cleavage, and low-riding jeans that revealed tatts and a thong, when she bothered with the thong.

  Lizzie sat at a table against the far wall, taking a seat that let her look out the side windows. She had a soft drink in front of her, which she poked with a skinny red straw.

  When Lizzie saw Carter, she started to rise, then plopped back down. Carter threw his hat down on the chair opposite her, startling her, and took the seat that put his back to the wall.

  “All right, I’m here.”

  His ploy with the hat kept Lizzie’s attention on him while Ross slipped into the diner and took another table, at an angle out of Lizzie’s sight. Ross wore civilian clothes and had come in his plain truck—no spooking Lizzie with evidence of law enforcement.

  Lizzie looked at Carter with eyes that for once were clear of drugs or drink. Maybe she really had gone straight and sober, but that didn’t mean she wasn’t up to something.

  “Carter, I’ve made a lot of mistakes in my life,” she began without preliminary. “One of them was you—I mean, not understanding what I had in you. The other was giving up Faith.”

  Carter started to rise. “I’m not here to talk about Faith. My lawyer will give you a call.”

  Lizzie grabbed his hand and frantically pulled him back down. “No, no, this is not about custody of Faith. I know you took good care of her—I knew you would, which is why I brought her to you, even when I was so far gone on smack I barely remember driving her out here.”

  Carter sat back down and shook off her grip. “Not winning any favors with me.”

  “I’ve come here to tell you about Joss. He’s seriously over the edge.”

  Joss always had been, but Lizzie looked more spooked about him than usual. “He put you up to this, didn’t he?” Carter said with conviction. “Told you to try to take Faith from me. Why?”

  “Because of this.” Lizzie removed a dog-eared magazine from her large tote bag and opened it, laying it down in front of him.

  Carter saw himself looking back out of the magazine. He was in a clean riding shirt and jeans, his arms folded while he leaned on a pickup with his booted feet crossed, in the shade so he had his hat off. The photographer had put him in that dumb-ass pose. The picture on the opposite page showed Carter’s eyes narrowed over a bandana, as he stared off into the distance. The h
ead and neck of the horse he’d been riding—Buster—had gotten into the shot too.

  Million-Dollar Cowboy, the headline read. The article began, “Carter Sullivan had it rough. He was arrested for the first time at age ten, for possession of drugs, which he was delivering for a dealer, under pain of torture …”

  Carter slammed the magazine closed. “What has this got to do with anything? It’s just journalist crap.” Carter didn’t have the millions anyway—the business did. Carter drew a salary the same as his brothers.

  “Joss took the million-dollar part literally.” Lizzie picked up the magazine and slid it back into her bag. “He did research on you. He found me in a halfway house and came to visit. He said we could make a ton of cash from you if we did it right. He said you were worth millions now, and you owed him.”

  “Owed him for what?” Carter asked tightly. “This?” He laid down his bared left arm, covered with old, faint knife scars. “For the red-hot crowbar he jabbed at the end of my spine? For beating me up when he felt like it, or letting his friends do it for him?”

  “For giving you a roof over your head and a job.” Lizzie shot him the ghost of a smile. “He says I owe him for the same. And for making me his girlfriend when I was sixteen.”

  “I remember you bragging about that,” Carter said. “I wanted to bust his face for it.”

  “Yeah, well, I was young and stupid. I thought it meant I was special, and he liked me. He knew exactly how to keep me loyal to him—I was an addict. Plus, he knew how to coerce people. You know that. You didn’t get away from him until you ended up at your ranch. You always came back.”

  “I didn’t know any better. I couldn’t figure out how to live on my own.” Carter had hated himself for going back to Joss, but at least with Joss, he didn’t end up in an alley with his pants down for some pervert.

  “And for that, he wants you to pay him,” Lizzie said. “He said if I tried to take Faith, we could get you to pay us to get her back. I screwed that up bad, and now I’m going to stand trial for it. Yeah, I am. I’m going to turn myself in and confess what really happened. Shooting your woman truly scared me—I can’t believe I had that in me. But then Joss threatened me so bad, I had to disappear.”

  Carter sat with his hands folded on the table, keeping an eye on her hands. That bag was big enough to hold a gun.

  “Why should I believe all this?” Carter asked.

  “I don’t know. I don’t have any proof. What Joss didn’t count on was me being sober. It really hurts being sober—every day it hurts, but I’m trying. And once Joss told me his idea about taking Faith, I realized I wanted to know my daughter—for real. I didn’t have anything going for me to be a mom, but my parents have money and influence. So I convinced them to support me in a custody battle. They really want me to be a normal person. I feel bad for them. I blamed them for my life before, but I realize now they were only an excuse.”

  Her last declaration was familiar to Carter—he’d concluded the same thing about his former life, but he’d done it about nine years ago. “So the custody part wasn’t Joss’s idea,” Carter said.

  “No, Joss was furious. But then he had another thought—he said that I should go forward with the case, and then offer to let you buy me off. You’d pay any amount to make me withdraw.”

  Carter said nothing. Joss had been right—if Carter could pay to make the suit go away, he would.

  Lizzie went on. “But then you were so angry when I saw you that day in Fredericksburg. I hadn’t seen you since I got sober. I realized how much I’d hurt you, how much I could hurt you, and how good a father you were to Faith. I was released that day, and my parents took me to Houston, to their apartment. I convinced them they didn’t need to stay with me but get on with their board meetings and whatever. I met up with Joss and told him I didn’t want anything to do with going after you anymore. I wanted to leave you alone, let you go on living your small-town life. My parents were willing to help me get on my feet again, and I want to let them.”

  Carter traced a slow pattern on the tabletop. “Let me guess, Joss didn’t want to let you go?”

  Lizzie gave him another half smile. “You could say that. He was furious. We were in a chain restaurant in the middle of a decent part of town—I wasn’t about to go to his place. Joss didn’t try anything, but I saw his face when I left. I knew he planned to kill me. I couldn’t stay in Houston, and I couldn’t go to my parents’ house in Austin, because he’d find me there. I had to hide out. So, I made it look like I’d been taken, hoping the cops would suspect Joss and lock him up until I could get a long way away. But they picked on you, and I know I can’t get away from Joss, no matter how far I run.” She stopped, face filled with misery.

  Carter sat in silence. What Lizzie had told him was plausible, but he’d been burned by her stories before.

  “Why not turn yourself in?” Carter asked after a time. “You’d be protected from Joss in jail.”

  “Not really. He has people inside as well. He had more girls loyal to him than just me.”

  True. Vanishing was about all Lizzie could have done. Joss would hear that the cops thought Carter had absconded with her for his own reasons and maybe believe it himself.

  Carter took in her wide light-brown eyes, her earnest look. “Why are you telling me this now?” he asked. “Why come clean to me? What do you want?”

  Lizzie’s fingers fidgeted on the base of her glass. “Your protection. You know people. Send them after Joss. Get him out of my life—out of yours.”

  It was damned hard to judge whether she spoke the truth. Olivia had taught Carter that overall in the world, it was best to give people the benefit of the doubt. Most people, in everyday life, didn’t act from malice.

  There were exceptions, and one exception was Joss. Carter swore the man woke up every morning planning what evil he’d do.

  Joss’s motivation was mostly money—he’d make any deal to get it and then beat it out of those who owed him. He was also a vicious bastard who enjoyed intimidating others, manipulating them with a mixture of charm and terror tactics.

  Joss had taught Lizzie well. She’d come to work for him at the age of thirteen, when Carter had been eleven. Carter had fallen hard for her, as young as he was, and she’d used her own brand of charm to keep him wanting her. When he’d run into her again after living at Circle C for a time, he’d deluded himself into thinking she’d changed, that they could have an adult relationship. In addition, he knew, he was compensating for knowing he could never have Grace Malory, town sweetheart.

  At least by the end of the volatile affair, Carter had managed to erase any desire he’d ever had for Lizzie. Their parting had been final, in his opinion. He’d used the breakup to close the door on his past and put a padlock on it.

  Lizzie bringing Faith to him had changed that a little. Carter had tried to find Lizzie at first, convinced he could make her see that she needed to stay in Faith’s life.

  He’d given up, understanding that Faith being raised by him, the Campbell brothers, and Olivia was far better for her than a pretend mom-and-dad family with him and Lizzie.

  Now Lizzie sat here, the needle scars on her arms faded, her eyes full of fear and hope.

  Damn it. Lizzie was an excellent liar, and Carter would be a fool to trust her.

  On the other hand, if Carter let Joss kill the mother of his child, what kind of man would that make him?

  “All right.” Carter pinned her with a hard stare. “I can keep you safe from Joss. But you have to trust me, and not run off the second you’re spooked.”

  Lizzie looked uncertain, but gave him a nod. “Okay. I’ll try.”

  The words came too readily, but that might mean she was truly terrified. Carter leaned forward and spoke in a low voice.

  “If I find out you’re lying to me, that this is part of some plan to get to Faith or to me, Joss is gonna be the least of your worries. You understand?”

  Her eyes flickered. Carter saw it dawn on L
izzie that Carter might be more dangerous in the long run than Joss, but too late now.

  Tears beaded on her lashes, and she nodded again.

  “Now, I’m going to have Ross come over here,” Carter said. He knew if he simply raised his hand and signaled, Lizzie would either try to run or draw a weapon. “He’s sitting at a table on the other side of the room. All right?”

  Lizzie’s expression flashed panic, then she forced herself to calm. “What are you going to do? Have him put me in your town jail? I told you, Joss will find a way to get to me there.”

  “No.” Carter waved Ross over without taking his eyes from Lizzie. “I don’t like the thought of you anywhere near my family, especially not today, but I can’t think of anything safer. We’ll arrange something, but for now …”

  Ross drew out the chair on Lizzie’s other side. Lizzie’s hand moved to her bag, but Carter caught her wrist.

  “Lizzie, this is my baby brother, Ross. You saw him before, in Fredericksburg, but I don’t think you were formally introduced. He’s going to watch you and arrest you the second he sees anything he doesn’t like.” Carter didn’t have to look at Ross to make sure his brother understood the situation. Ross had a quick mind, which was why he was rising in his profession and would probably be sheriff one day. Ross also had enough connection with Carter that he’d catch on to what Carter needed without being told.

  “How you doing, Lizzie?” Ross asked her.

  Lizzie looked him up and down. She might claim she’d reformed, but she was sizing up Ross to see what kind of power she might be able to gain over him.

  Ross, fortunately, was smart enough to understand her. He returned her look with a neutral one, his blue Campbell eyes unreadable. Lizzie blinked, uncertain.

  “You’ll have to search her,” Carter said. “She likes to carry.”