Breath of Dawn, The by Heitzmann Kristen

Author:Heitzmann, Kristen [Heitzmann, Kristen]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Fiction, Widowers—Fiction, Family secrets—Fictio Man-woman relationships—Fiction
ISBN: 9781441260512
Publisher: Baker Publishing Group
Published: 2012-11-01T00:00:00+00:00

Erin tried to look calm and brave when Morgan set Livie down and closed the cabin door.

“You remember what to do?”

She nodded.

“Drive slowly and carefully. If Markham’s out there, let him know it’s you.”

“Then why the hat?”

“You’ll see. Get the gas pumping, then go straight in to Rudy.”

She forced an even tone. “Okay.”

As she hurried through the blowing snow into the Maserati he’d left running, the tiny hairs on her neck rose. Could Markham see her? Every nerve pulled taut as she left Rick’s ranch on the one-lane road that only widened out near town. She passed Vera’s driveway about two thirds of the way down, a gravel ribbon walled by lodgepole pines. Did Markham lurk there?

Flesh creeping, she came to a stop at the intersection, then continued across the highway, parked at the pumps, and began to fuel. She hurried, heart hammering, over the roughly paved parking lot. Just before she entered, she slipped the wedding band off her finger and into her pocket. The fewer people outside Rick’s family who knew, the better.

Rudy met her inside the door with his shotgun and a rueful expression.

“Please don’t apologize. You didn’t know.” She hated that he felt bad in any way, hated that she’d dragged him and the others into her trouble. But with fear still twitching up her back, she said, “Could we wait behind the counter until Morgan gets here?”

“He’s not here?” He pressed his hands to his hips. “But that’s his car.”

“He has the other one.”

Rudy’s jaw fell slack. “He let you drive the Maserati?”

She should have recognized a shrine. Ducking past when he unlocked the hatch, she took in the relative shelter of the mostly glass counter. A barrier at least.

Beside her, Rudy smelled like a Slim Jim, and its long plastic sleeve clung to the side of the trash can. “You want to get down and hide?”

“Yes. But I think he’s supposed to see me.”

Rudy groaned. “He looked all right, a little slick maybe, but—”

Someone moved across the tinted storefront windows and came in the door. A jolt shot through her as she came face-to-face with the person she despised. Not a politician who’d done time, though he might have presented that way to Rick, but a maniacal holy man whose brains got too hot in the desert. He knew she saw through him and didn’t try to hide it.

“Hello, Quinn.” Malice marred the jovial tone he aped, matching the shadow in his eyes.

She raised her chin. “What are you doing here?”

“We need to talk.”

“That’s why you trashed my house and destroyed my things?” She felt Rudy stiffen.

Markham’s face settled into a cold stare. “I don’t know what you’re talking about. Come out where we can discuss it.”

Rudy stirred. “She’s fine where she is.”

“Listen, you big goob—”

Rudy slid the gun from the shelf where he’d concealed it and held it across his hips.

“Are you kidding me?” Markham’s scorn came through every word.

“It’s loaded with buckshot. Won’t take down a bear, but human flesh is softer.”

Erin saw the Range Rover pull up to the pumps and said, “You need to leave.

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