Ominous by Lisa Jackson

Author:Lisa Jackson
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Kensington
Published: 2017-06-21T04:00:00+00:00

Chapter 16

Ruth gasped at the crude comment. It was just an expression, wasn’t it? As he loomed closer, pinning her with his lewd grin, she shrank against the wall of the barn and wondered if he could have been her attacker.

Even if he wasn’t the one, the potential for danger was there, setting every nerve in her body on edge. Adrenaline coursed through her veins, imploring her to rush over to the corral, grab her daughter, and blaze a trail out of town.

But she couldn’t run from the question: Did you rape me?

She wanted to ask, to prod Rafe for a confession, but he was too drunk for a reliable answer, eyes rolling shut as he took a heavy drag on the cigarette and then stumbled back, groping in the air for the fence.

Ethan lunged forward and grabbed Rafe by one arm, yanking him back onto his feet. “You’re going back to the bunkhouse. Get some coffee or sleep it off. Whatever you need to do. Just get the hell out of here.”

“Get your hands off me,” Rafe growled. “I can walk just fine.”

“Then go,” Ethan said, pushing him back toward his horse.

Holding her breath, Ruth watched as Rafe stumbled off. After he managed to heave himself into the saddle, he raised his head and trained his simmering gaze on Ruth. Putting two fingers up to his eyes and then pointing out to her, he pinned her with a hateful look. “I’ve got my eyes on you, girl.”

Silence overcame Ruth and Ethan as they watched him gallop off.

“What do you think that meant?” Ruth asked, pressing the back of one hand to her sweaty upper lip.

“He doesn’t know what he’s saying. That’s the whiskey talking.”

Was it? Rafe’s anger had rough edges and muscle, the kind that pummeled another man unconscious in a barroom brawl. And if he directed that fury toward a woman . . . she didn’t want to think of the consequences.

Or the fact that he knew her name. How had he known? Had he been watching her? Or was he her attacker?

She wished she could share her fears with Ethan, fill him in about the trauma that had sent her running from home, but that was not going to happen, especially with her daughter yards away, wondering about her riding lessons.

“Are you okay?” Ethan was noticing her damp skin and lightning nerves.

“I’ll be fine.” She tried to take on a joking tone as her crazed heartbeat began to slow. “You know, being in my profession, I expect to counsel some people who are on the edge. But this town seems to have more than its share of them.”

He cocked his head to one side. “Been that kind of morning?”

“Don’t get me started. Let’s just say that I’m going to start making a list of these characters.”

“Keeping a scorecard?”

“Definitely. My roster of people who have a screw loose.”

“A screw loose? Did you attend the Three Stooges School of Therapy?”

“I’m just saying, we’ve got a disproportionate psycho population in Prairie Creek.

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