Into the Storm by Helen DePrima

Author:Helen DePrima
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Harlequin
Published: 2015-04-15T00:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER NINETEEN

SHELBY STOOD WITH an arm around Ghost’s neck, her face hidden against his mane. All her woes had started with a horse, but horses had saved her sanity and given her a new life. No home, no family, but she had work she loved and the freedom to go wherever the wind took her—good enough until now. She stroked the colt’s satiny coat, trying to recapture her old sense of self-sufficiency. Instead her fingers tingled with the memory of Jake’s hard muscles under her hands, the frame of his ribs as she smoothed the lotion down his back. Desire flickered in her heart for the first time since...

She shuddered; the flame died.

Ghost nuzzled for a treat. When she reached into her pocket her hand found Jake’s knife, a reward for a little boy’s bravery. She wondered if he touched it for reassurance whenever he encountered a snake.

Her fingers tightened around the rough bone handle. Answering her phone, Jake had stepped inside her defenses, pushing her in a new direction as a great rock toppling into the river alters the water’s course. Regret and sorrow might still ride at her heels, but she was done letting them haunt her like some ancient curse.

She recalled a documentary about aboriginal hunters in South Africa. They followed on foot, often out of sight but never letting their prey rest, eventually wearing it down for the kill. She had let herself be stalked the same way.

The old dread fell away like an outgrown carapace, leaving her foolish with relief and then hot with shame. She could have ended the pursuit at any time, but she had let her tormentor continue to hound her. What more could he take from her? Her life, she supposed, but that would end his game.

Flinty resolve quickened in her heart: no more running, no more hiding. She had given him the power—she would take it back.

She had never told a soul, living or dead, what had mutilated her life. The thought of baring her wounds made her mouth go dry and her heart pound, panicky as a horse trapped in a burning stable, but she owed Jake the truth. After Tom and Luke came home to help work the ranch—she would tell him then.

She should check her voice mail since her phone had a full charge. She turned it on and walked toward the creek until she saw the signal bars light up. Immediately a tone signaled she had messages, the first from the rancher in Nebraska. The second number belonged to the Lincoln dealership in Albuquerque.

She returned that call, relief mixed with apprehension, and asked for the service manager.

“Now don’t get excited,” he said, “but I might have a line on your part. A salvage dealer in Maine thinks he’s found a filler tube in Canada. I should know in a day or so.”

No rush now that she’d promised to stay at least another week, so she told him to call her back when the repair had been completed.

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