Authors: Catherine Palmer
“Jill, are you all right?” Cole caught her fingers with his good hand. “Did those men hurt you?”
Her green eyes softened. “I’m all right. They weren’t kind, but they didn’t rough me up or anything.”
Still holding her hand, needing the human touch, he leaned back on his pillow again. A shower was in order. A toothbrush. A change of clothes. But he couldn’t think beyond his son.
“Jill, I can’t stay here. I’ve got to find—”
“Matt must have driven to Amarillo to get Billy,” she speculated. “From what Josefina told me, I’m nearly positive about that. Two things could have happened once he arrived there. Either Keeling captured Matt and took away whatever Agrimax has been looking for, or Matt and Billy escaped.”
Cole shrugged. “A third scenario—Keeling’s holding Matt someplace, because the boy won’t give him what he wants. My son can be stubborn.”
“A chip off the old block.” Her lips softened. “I’m choosing to believe they got away.”
“And my mother? Where is she?”
“The boys wouldn’t abandon her at the house with those creeps. The three of them must be together.”
“That’s comforting. My mom, my son and his best friend are either being held and tortured somewhere, or they’re on the lam in who-knows-what-kind of a car. None of them can drive worth a flip, you know.”
She slipped her fingers between his and squeezed. “How are you feeling? You look pale.”
“We’ve got to get out of here.”
“Are you hungry?”
“Do you know where we are? Is there a car we can use?”
“You’re not listening to me, Cole. You need to eat. You need to rest your ankle and give your hand time to heal. Your fingers—” she grimaced “—the doctor at the clinic is concerned. He cut away the dead flesh and stitched you up, but, Cole—”
“What’s the name of this place?”
“We’re on the outskirts of Juarez.”
“Can you find us a car or something?”
“And just where do you think you’re going with a couple of amputated fingers and a sprained ankle?”
“I’m going home.”
She stared at him. “To the ranch…to work?”
Cole stroked his thumb across the back of Jill’s hand. To him, the idea that he would return to his ranch labors at a time like this was inconceivable now. But Jill could believe it. She had known the old Cole, the dry stump of a man whose whole life was his work. She hadn’t yet gotten to know the new fellow—the one who had reordered his priorities while lying inside a mangled car watching his fingers die.
“I’m going home to get my passport,” he said. “Looks like I’m headed to France.”
Jill’s eyebrows lifted, and her eyes sparkled as a grin spread from cheek to cheek. “Well, then…bon voyage!” With that, she leaned over and planted a big kiss right on his forehead.
Cole decided it definitely ranked among the most pleasurable kisses he’d ever had. Top ten, for sure.
Jill glanced in the rearview mirror once every five seconds. Possibly more often. She couldn’t help it. Memories of the rental car, the wreck, her interrogation, and her escape haunted her as she drove across the silent New Mexico grassland. Sometimes she saw things—lights, a shape, a car edging too close to the centerline. She gripped the steering wheel and prayed.
Morphine still dulling his senses, Cole dozed beside her in the passenger seat of the car they had rented after an uncomfortable bus ride to downtown Juarez and a taxi across the bridge to El Paso.
How had all this happened to her? And what did God want her to do with it? She could hardly imagine spending tomorrow in her little house with her dog curled up near her feet as she wrote out lesson plans. What day was it, anyway? Monday evening. Good grief, she had prepared nothing for the substitute that day. What had her students done without her? And how would she ever manage the final weeks until school let out for the summer?
The beeping cell phone cut off her thoughts. She picked it up. “Hello?”
“Jill, hi.” It was Cole’s fiancée. Jill had talked to the woman a couple of times since the accident. “This is Penny Ames. Is Cole available?”
“He’s sleeping. I can’t wake him right now.” She paused and realized she ought to explain. “The doctor gave him painkillers for his hand.”
“So you’re still at the clinic?”
“We’re in a car. I’m driving Cole to his ranch.”
“I see. Well, listen, I’ve decided to take a couple of days off and drive down there. I’m not doing Cole any good just twiddling my thumbs here in Albuquerque. What time do you expect to get him home?”
Jill fretted over how much detail she ought to give on the cell phone. Josefina had told her a lot of information, and now Jill feared she might have erred in forcing the woman to spill the beans. A cell phone wasn’t exactly private communication. Had Agrimax been listening? Or was she becoming paranoid?
It’s not paranoia when people are lying, shooting and kidnapping,
she decided.
What if Agrimax knew Matt had gone back to the ranch? What if they’d heard Josefina talking about the passports? Even if Agrimax hadn’t overheard that call, its thugs might have tapped Penny’s phone or staked out her condo. But Jill realized she couldn’t evade the woman’s question entirely. Penny was Cole’s future wife, after all. She deserved to know something.
Jill couldn’t deny the tug of resentment down deep in her stomach. Why had Penny thought it was all right to twiddle her thumbs until now? Why hadn’t she come to help the minute she knew Matt was missing?
And why did Jill even care?
“I’m not sure when we’ll arrive at the ranch,” she told Penny finally. “But I’d suggest that maybe…well…”
“Maybe what?”
“I’m not comfortable talking about this on the phone. Drive down if you want, but I’m just not sure…the thing is, Cole might not be around for long.”
“Where’s he going? Does he know where Matt is?”
“I can’t say.”
“Listen, I understand your discomfort in revealing too much, but you can at least tell me that. Has Cole found Matt?”
“No.” Jill glanced at the man by her side. His eyes were open, watching her. “No, not really. We might have an idea…but, no…”
“
We
might, huh?” Penny was silent a moment. “You know, I appreciate your help, Jill, but you’ve taken a lot of ownership in a situation that’s really not your affair.”
“That’s true. I operate under a philosophy that says if a man asks for your shirt, you give him your coat, too. If he asks you to carry his burden for a mile, you carry it two.”
“Who came up with that brilliant concept?”
“Jesus Christ.” Jill again glanced in the rearview mirror. “Look, Penny, Cole insisted I go to Amarillo with him. He needed my computer expertise in order to stay in touch with Matt. I went along to Mexico because I wanted to support him. And I care about Matt a great deal. So I’ve done my extra mile. Now I’m going home so I can get back to my life. Drive down if you want. This is between you and Cole.”
“I’m glad you can see that. Cole is—” she paused “—he’s special to me. My feelings for him run very deep. I love him.”
“Love is more than just a feeling, Miss Ames. It’s toughing it out through thick and thin. Listen, I’d be happy to talk to you again sometime, but I need to concentrate on the road. I’ll tell Cole you called.”
Jill hung up before Penny could continue her saccharine professions of love. The sun was setting, and Jill had noticed a pair of headlights behind them from the time she answered
the phone. She glanced at Cole. One of his big shoulders was wedged against the gap between the door and the seat, and he looked uncomfortable.
“Do you want me to stop?” she asked. “Need something more for the pain?”
“Thank you,” he said. He reached across and laid his good hand on her arm. “For the extra mile.”
Jill shivered at his touch and made herself focus on the highway. She hadn’t wanted to like Cole Strong at all. At first, he had been distant and wooden and demanding. But then she began to see other sides to his character. Things emerged, like green leaves unfolding after a long, harsh winter. His love for his son. His devotion to his mother. His pursuit of justice. His willingness to fight for what he wanted.
It didn’t help that Cole had begun to
look
good to her, too. She had become fond of the small curve his mouth made when he didn’t want to smile but couldn’t help it. She liked his hands—great big strong hands, now scarred in his battle for his son. Cole moved slowly and spoke with deliberation, but his eyes flashed with an inner blaze. He had a lot of life in him. Passion. A man didn’t take a bankrupt farm and bring it back to vitality without grit and fire and stubborn determination.
Jill liked Cole’s eyes, too. So blue. She glanced again at her passenger, and their gazes locked. Her heart thudded.
Morphine,
she reminded herself.
That look he’s giving me right now means nothing.
Moistening her lips, she stared at the road. She had dated a lot of men in college, and she’d been involved in a longstanding relationship with a football coach at the high school for a couple of years. But he hadn’t shared her zeal. Though he professed to be a Christian, his life didn’t show much evidence of it. Finally, Jill had realized that he didn’t really love people the way she did—not enough to lay down his life.
Cole, she thought, might be different. Though he didn’t truly understand his son, he loved Matt. But Jill was beginning to think Cole might actually understand her. He might even like who she was and the way she chose to live out her faith. That was a rare thing.
She looked at him again. He wore that little curve of a smile. “I like your hair,” he said. “It’s pretty.”
Drugs,
she told herself.
The man is on drugs.
“I bet you were a cute little girl.”
“And I’m not a cute woman?” she shot back.
“Nah.”
“Ah, well—”
“Beautiful.”
“So anyway, that was Penny on the phone.” Jill kept her focus straight ahead. She couldn’t let him continue like this. He would say things he didn’t mean, and she would like them. And then it would hurt. “She’s driving down to the ranch to see you.”
“You didn’t tell her about France.”
“I didn’t think I should. We don’t know how much access Agrimax has to our conversations. Obviously, they’ve gotten into the computers and some of the phones. I’m wondering if they have some kind of government approval to invade our privacy. Or maybe they’re doing it through—”
“It’s your hair,” Cole said, the words slightly slurred. “I don’t know how it does that.”
Jill swallowed. “It just grows this way.”
“I mean…I don’t know how it makes you look like that…like you have a halo.”
“It’s not a halo. It’s frizz.”
“You’re a holy person. Righteous.”
She wished he would fall asleep and let her drive in peace. This intimacy wasn’t good. It wasn’t safe. “I have many flaws, believe me. I annoy a lot of people, including you.”
“Me?”
“Yes, you. In case you’ve forgotten, you don’t like me. You blame me for Matt’s interest in Agrimax.”
“You help me. I like that.”
She glanced over at him, willing him to stop talking. “People say I’m too single-minded. I butt into things all the time. I’ve even been called boorish.”
“But your lips are soft.”
Jill smacked her palm against the steering wheel. “Stop this right now, Cole Strong.”
“You don’t like
me?
”
“Yes, I do. I didn’t at first, but now I do. I like you—okay?”
“Really…how come?”
“I don’t know.” She let out a breath. “I admire you. There.”
He tapped her arm. “I admire you, too. You’re cute.”
“You said I wasn’t cute. You said I was…”
“Beautiful. Yeah, that’s true.” He hummed tunelessly for a moment. “Beautiful, beautiful halo in the moonlight. Green eyes looking down at me…like emeralds…glowing—so, so beauti—”
“Listen, Cole,” Jill cut in, “you have a fiancée who’s driving all the way down from Albuquerque to see you.”
“Emeralds,” he repeated.
“Penny has deep feelings for you. She loves you. Now go back to sleep.”
“Dormez-vous?”
he sang under his breath. “Are you sleeping, are you sleeping, lovely Jill, lovely Jill?
Dormez-vous? Dormez-vous?
I love you…I love—”
“Cole, you don’t even know what you’re saying. It’s the morphine talking. So would you just be quiet? I’m going back to teaching, and you’ll find Matt and then marry Penny. And I don’t want to have any memories of…of…”
She looked across at him. Eyes closed, he had rolled his head back against the door and was breathing deeply. Sound asleep.
Jill glanced in the rearview mirror. The headlights were gone. The car she had feared was tailing them must have turned off down some country road a few miles back. She studied her reflection for a moment—the riot of curls, the lips, the green eyes, the face she had always considered plain. Then she focused on the highway once again.