Home by dark, p.14
Home by Dark, page 14
“Or both of the above,” he said. “But I’m finding it hard to believe that the long arm of coincidence stretches that far.”
Her expression admitted the truth of that statement. “Whoever he was, I don’t think he wanted to hurt me. He was just trying to get away.”
“Maybe not.” But that didn’t seem to alter the concern he felt for her. “But whether he intended it or not, you could have been hurt.” He frowned, wondering how much credence to give to Benj’s idea that the man with the shotgun was after him. “I suppose it might have been Will or Joseph.”
“Will or Joseph? But why would they—you mean they might have been trying to get Benj alone? But Will is gone, isn’t he?”
“He’s not at home. That doesn’t mean he’s left the area. You know how kids that age are. He might be hanging out, sleeping in someone’s barn or bunking with an English friend.”
“I suppose so.” She sounded doubtful. “But if either he or Joseph wanted to see Benj, they wouldn’t have to go about it in such a roundabout way.”
“They might be trying to scare him into keeping quiet. In fact, the more I hear about Will, the more likely it seems for him to do just that. He’s the oldest, and it sounds as if he’s not exactly new to causing trouble. He’s the one who’d bear most of the blame if it came out.”
“If that was what they intended, they certainly succeeded in scaring me.” Rachel rubbed her arms with her hands. “I could try to talk to Joseph....” She hesitated.
“Better not,” he said quickly. “Then he’d know that Benj broke his promise.” More seriously, if Rachel were going to be accepted here, she couldn’t afford to make waves in the Amish community.
“That’s true. I’m afraid I’m not thinking clearly.”
“You’re tired.” He stood, afraid that if he hung around feeling sympathetic he’d wind up doing something he’d regret. “I’ll get out of here. Try not to worry. Tomorrow I’ll find out who owns that property. Maybe that will tell us who the man with the shotgun was, at least.”
Rachel stood and walked with him to the back door. She opened it. He started to leave and then made the mistake of looking at her. Her face was tilted up to his, her expression soft and vulnerable.
“Colin...” She touched his sleeve, seeming to search for words. “Thank you. You’re a...a good friend.”
His hand closed over hers, pressing it against his arm as longing welled up in him. It was dangerous, being alone with Rachel in the quiet kitchen, the darkness outside isolating them.
“No problem.” He tried to say the words lightly and knew he hadn’t succeeded. Her face was very close—her gaze wide, her eyes darkening, her mouth soft.
With a sigh, he drew her against him, his lips closing over hers. The kiss was meant to be light, gentle, reassuring, but something far stronger compelled him, giving the kiss an urgency he never intended.
Rachel broke away with an abrupt step back, pushing him out the door. “We can’t.”
“Rachel, don’t—”
“Don’t what?” Her cheeks flamed. “Be a prude? Maybe it doesn’t matter to you what people say, but I can’t afford to have people talking about me.”
“I didn’t mean to upset you.” But he was talking to the door, because she’d slammed it in his face.
Maybe he deserved that. He’d kissed Rachel before, and she hadn’t forgotten, any more than he had.
His intentions had been good then, too. He’d been trying to break up her and Ronnie before they did something drastic. He’d only succeeded in making them more determined.
It wouldn’t help to start banging his head against the door. He’d better go home before he made any more blunders with Rachel.
* * *
ONCE COLIN WAS gone, Rachel’s brief spurt of anger burned out, leaving her exhausted. She locked the house and went upstairs with the puppy, hanging on to the railing as if she were an old woman.
Why did Colin have to complicate matters by kissing her? She’d just begun to think of him as a trusted friend, and now he’d ruined it.
The voice of her conscience interrupted what had begun as a promising pity party. She could hardly blame Colin for what had happened. She’d been just as involved as he had.
The upstairs hall was quiet, with the night-light burning where she’d plugged it in next to the bathroom door. Rachel put the pup into the kennel in her room and then went to ease open the door to the room where Benjamin was sleeping.
He lay on his side facing the window, and his deep, even breathing told her he was asleep. She sent a glance toward the window with its easily removable screen, but there was no handy roof for Benj to clamber out on. And as scared as he was, he wasn’t likely to wander out into the night.
She moved on to her daughter’s room. No need to be especially careful here, as Mandy had always been a sound sleeper.
Mandy was curled up in the old-fashioned sleigh bed, one arm around the faded stuffed dog that had been her nighttime protector since she was a toddler. As long as Ruffie was awake, Mandy could sleep well.
Rachel smiled, smoothing the quilt over her daughter’s small form, feeling the familiar surge of protective maternal love. Mandy’s security was what mattered most now. Nothing, including that foolish attraction she felt for Colin, could be allowed to derail her attention from her child. Rachel bent to drop a light kiss on Mandy’s hair and went softly out of the room.
Unfortunately, once she gained the sanctuary of her bedroom, she realized that despite how tired she was, she was also too keyed up to go to sleep. She moved around the room, straightening the stack of books she hadn’t had time to read, folding back the double-wedding-ring quilt on the four-poster bed.
She’d culled the furniture for her own bedroom from various places in the house. The four-poster would have been perfect for one of the guest rooms had it not been for the broken spool decoration on one of the posts. But if she couldn’t use it for guests, at least she could enjoy it herself.
Princess watched her, whining softly. Eventually, apparently deciding Rachel wasn’t going to let her out, she curled up in a ball and went to sleep.
Rachel ought to do the same, but before she crawled into bed, she wanted to be sure no one was outside. The bedroom windows looked out to the back, giving her a good vantage point. She switched the light off and then edged the curtain aside and let her eyes adjust to the darkness.
The moon had come out from behind the clouds, and by its light she could see that the shed door hung drunkenly just as they’d left it. Shadows lay deep around the outbuildings, but she couldn’t sense anything foreign hidden in them.
Beyond the buildings, the stream caught and reflected the moon’s light. Tracing its progress with her eyes, she realized that from this height, she could see the dam and the wide pool below it, gleaming like an oval mirror.
A chill snaked its way down her spine. She and Ronnie had met in various places in their efforts to keep their relationship a secret—her parents’ barn, the covered bridge, a nearby clearing in the woods. But never at the dam, until that one time.
Her gaze was fixed on the faint shimmer that was the pool, but her inner eye saw something entirely different. Herself, young and foolish and in love, finding the note Ronnie had left for her behind a loose board in the covered bridge, telling her to meet him that afternoon at the dam.
She’d gone, of course, even though it was risky to meet during the daylight hours, walking down her side of the creek to a shallow spot where some convenient large rocks made it possible to cross without getting her feet wet.
She’d hurried through the woods to the dam, sure Ronnie would be there first, and arrived breathless and eager. But it hadn’t been Ronnie sitting on the fallen log who turned to greet her—it had been Colin.
“Hi, Rachel. Surprise.” He gave her the smile that had beguiled half the girls in the valley at one time or another.
She eyed him, not sure what to make of his presence. “Colin? Where is Ronnie?” There was no point in trying to hide their relationship from Colin. Ronnie told him everything, she felt sure.
“He’ll be here. He sent me to say he’d be late.” He held out his hand, indicating a space next to him on the log. “Take a seat. Might as well be comfortable.”
If she didn’t, he’d think she was afraid of him, and she didn’t want that. She wasn’t afraid of him, just leery. Colin always gave her the feeling that he was laughing at her. She sat, smoothing her skirt down over her knees.
Like most of the Englisch boys, Colin wore faded jeans that hugged his body and a T-shirt that was equally faded. A shaft of sunlight through the trees touched his tousled dark hair, and his lips quirked in that familiar mocking expression. She looked away quickly, focusing on the water rushing over the dam, but that wasn’t much better. A chill slid down her neck.
“What’s wrong?” Colin was quick as a cat pouncing on a mouse.
“Nothing.” She couldn’t help a shiver. “I just don’t like it here, that’s all.”
He lifted an eyebrow. “Thinking Aaron Mast’s ghost walks here? He might.”
“Don’t.” The word came out with force, and she clutched her hands together. “Aaron’s dying isn’t something to joke about.”
“Hey, I’m sorry. I wasn’t thinking.” His voice warmed with sympathy, and he put his hand over her clasped ones. “Did you know him well?”
She nodded, not sure whether that was quite true. She’d always felt she knew him, but maybe that had been just a little girl’s fantasy.
“Don’t be sad,” Colin coaxed. “Ronnie wouldn’t have picked this place if he’d known it would upset you.”
She wasn’t sure that was true, either. Still, it was nice of Colin to say it.
She turned to him, seeing his gaze warm when it rested on her face, wanting to tell him she appreciated his kindness. But the words got all tangled up in the way he was looking at her, and the next thing she knew, his arms were around her and he was kissing her.
A branch cracked, the sharp sound sending her yanking away from Colin, and suddenly Ronnie was standing there, looking at them. She took a step toward him. Where were the words she needed to take that terrible expression from his face?
“Sorry, Ronnie.” Colin got in first. “But I guess you know now what Rachel is really like.”
She gasped, taking the words like a blow to the stomach. Then she turned and ran blindly into the woods.
Rachel pressed her hand to her midsection, turning away from the window. Ten years ago, and it felt as if it happened yesterday.
Colin had no doubt expected his mean trick to break up Ronnie’s relationship with her, but he’d been wrong. In fact, it had probably made Ronnie even more determined to marry her. There had always been a rivalry between those two, despite their friendship. Ronnie had been hotly furious at Colin’s action, and it had only increased the sense that it was Ronnie and Rachel against the world.
She wasn’t a teenager any longer, and neither was Colin. And Ronnie was dead, smashing his car into a bridge abutment while driving drunk. It was past time to forget. But she still had trouble reconciling the heartless boy Colin had been with the man who seemed to have sacrificed his career to care for his father. And the man who wanted to protect her and Mandy from harm.
She reached out to straighten the curtain and her eye was caught by a movement. She froze, watching. A figure stepped out of the black mouth of the covered bridge, shadow emerging from shadow. It stood for a moment, and she imagined it watching the house. Then it moved, passing quickly along the lane and out of sight into the shadow of the trees.
She took a breath and let it out slowly. The same person, or someone different? If he’d run toward the woods, he might just now be headed back toward the road, thinking it safe because the house was dark.
Well, everything was locked, and Rachel didn’t doubt that Princess would raise a fuss, even in her crate, if someone tried to get in. She reached out to pull down the shade when a flicker of light from the other direction caught her attention. Her heart jerked.
That wasn’t moonlight reflecting from the pool below the dam. A light flickered and was gone. In that brief moment she’d glimpsed a dark shape, outlined against the water.
Rachel yanked the shade down, moved quickly to the bedside table, and switched on the light. That was enough horrors for one night. Whoever or whatever was out there by the dam where Aaron died, it certainly wasn’t Aaron’s ghost.
CHAPTER TEN
RACHEL STIRRED SUGAR into a tall glass of iced tea at Millers’ market, glad just to be sitting down after a strenuous day of painting and papering with Benj’s help. Meredith’s call, suggesting they meet, had been a welcome break.
Maybe she could talk to Meredith about whoever or whatever it was she’d seen at the dam last night. She’d be glad to hear someone assuring her that what she’d seen was perfectly normal, and her foolish reaction to Colin made it difficult to turn to him. The flickering light had turned up in her dreams, bringing her wide awake with her heart pounding sometime in the night.
“It’s coming along,” she said in answer to Meredith’s question about her progress on the house. “Benjamin and I started work first thing this morning, and I was surprised at all we accomplished. At this rate, the house might actually be ready by the end of the month.”
“That’s great.” Meredith stirred her tea. “And speaking of the bed-and-breakfast, I thought maybe you could use a little help with the business side of things. If you want to put up a website, or if you need guidance in setting up your tax records, I’d love to do that for you.”
The magnitude of the offer took Rachel’s breath away for a moment. Then reality set in. That was part of Meredith’s business, not a gift.
“I appreciate it.” She tried to find the right words to say she couldn’t afford it. “I’d love to be able to hire you to do that, but I—”
“Hire?” Meredith’s eyebrows shot up. “Who’s talking about hiring? I’m a friend. I’m not very good at painting and papering, but this is something can do, and I’d love to.” She grinned, her eyes lighting up. “Seems to me we made a vow once to fight each other’s battles, didn’t we?”
Rachel’s throat was so tight she wasn’t sure she could speak lightly, but she had to try. “I think that referred to fighting dragons.”
“Believe me, the mysteries of the tax code are as fierce as any fire-breathing dragon we ever imagined. Well, how about it? Will you let me in?”
“Of course I will.” The thought of having someone else take over that aspect of the business start-up made her giddy. “But I don’t want to take time away from your own work.”
“No problem. I’m always happy for something that gets me out of the office.” Meredith’s face tensed a little at the words, and then the expression was gone, as quickly as it had come. “Let me do a little research on how best to set up your records, and then we’ll get together.”
“Meredith, I...I can’t tell you how much this means to me.” She no longer felt alone in her plans, and it was surprising how much that mattered.
“It’s a pleasure.” Meredith, probably trying to change the subject, glanced across the store. “Isn’t Mandy with you this afternoon?”
“Benj wanted to take her over to the farm to see the baby goats after we knocked off work. I persuaded them not to take the puppy along. I’m afraid Princess might take it into her head to chase the cows.” Her thoughts flickered to the puppy taking off after the previous night’s intruder. “She is protective—I’ll say that for her.”
Meredith chuckled. “You can’t fool me. You’ve fallen in love with that dog already. Getting her was a kind thought of Colin’s.”
Rachel wasn’t so sure she wanted to discuss Colin, not after that kiss. She might give too much away to Meredith’s sharp eyes.
“Mandy loves her enough for any puppy, although she’s also intrigued by my father’s Nubian goats. Once she’s seen the kids, she’ll probably start trying to convince me that we need one in our backyard.”
“It sounds as if your relationship with your parents is improving,” Meredith said, an inquiring tilt to her eyebrows.
Rachel shrugged. “Daad is warming up to Mandy, at least. I’m thankful for that.” If she didn’t expect too much for herself, she wouldn’t be disappointed.
“Your brother just has the two boys, doesn’t he? I’m sure the only granddaughter will work her way into your dad’s heart quickly. Then it’s just a matter of time until things are back to normal between you.”
She’d like to agree with Meredith’s optimism, but she couldn’t. “I’m resigned to the situation for me. As long as they accept Mandy, that’s enough. After all, I knew what the cost would be when I ran away with Ronnie.”
