The color had washed from Virginia’s face. She stood trembling all over, her lips moving, but nothing coming out.
“But the truth is I wasn’t the only bastard to come out of this house—was I, Aunt Virginia?”
JOSEY WALKED UP the narrow dirt road to a small hill before she stopped to look back at the sprawling lodge and the tall cottonwoods and the sparse pines that made the place look like an oasis in the desert.
The lodge was far enough off the main road that she felt relatively safe. From what she’d seen earlier, the main road got little use, not that the lodge could be seen by anyone just happening to drive past.
No one knew she was here. That was the beauty of it. So why couldn’t she relax? Because her mother wouldn’t be safe until she sent the money and got her moved.
Jack had said they would stay for the week, but Josey knew she couldn’t make it that long. If there was just some way to send the money without having to leave here—or let anyone know where she was, she thought, as she walked back down the road in the diminishing daylight. It would be dark soon, and she had no desire to be caught out here alone.
But she wouldn’t involve Jack any more than she had. She couldn’t.
As she entered, she didn’t hear a sound from down the hall. The door to the parlor was closed. She assumed Jack was still in there talking to his aunt, though she couldn’t imagine what they might have to talk about. Unless Virginia was trying to talk him into doing away with Pepper and splitting the take.
They’d better cut Enid and Alfred in, Josey thought with a wry smile. The two gave her the creeps. If anyone was plotting to knock off Pepper it was one or both of them.
As she opened the door to the bedroom, Josey realized that Jack could have finished his talk with his aunt and be waiting here for her.
She was relieved to see the bedroom unoccupied. She closed the door behind her and stood looking at the large canopied bed. Playing married was one thing. But where was Jack planning to sleep?
The door opened behind her as if on cue. She turned to look at him, and he grinned as if he knew exactly what she’d been thinking.
“I’m sorry, where did you say you would be sleeping?” she asked.
“I was thinking we could negotiate something.”
She smiled back at him. “Think again.”
“I suppose sharing the bed is out of the question?”
“You suppose right.”
“Don’t you trust me?”
“Not as far as I can throw you.”
“Now, honey,” he said, reaching for her, “we can’t let Enid catch us sleeping separately on our honeymoon.”
Josey stepped away from him. “We can if we have a fight.” She picked up a cheap vase from a nearby table, tossing it from hand to hand. “A lover’s quarrel. You know newlyweds.”
He was shaking his head, but still smiling. “No one will hear it if you break that.”
“But Enid will see the broken glass in the morning when she comes with the coffee and catches you sleeping in that chair over there.”
Jack launched himself at her and the vase, but he wasn’t fast enough. The vase hit the floor and shattered like a gunshot. Jack’s momentum drove them both back. They crashed into the bed and onto it, with Jack ending up on top.
“Now this is more like it,” he said, grinning down at her.
Josey could feel the hard beat of his heart against her chest as she looked into those amazing blue eyes of his. The man really was adorable.
“I want to kiss you,” he said quietly. He touched her cheek, his fingers warm.
She felt a small tremor. He could be so gentle that it made her ache.
“What will it cost me?”
“You want to pay for a kiss?” she asked, raising a brow, trying to hide her disappointment that he hadn’t just kissed her.
“Is there any other way you’d let me kiss you?”
She hated that he made her sound cheap and mercenary. She’d only agreed to take his money for this week because it would have made him suspicious if she’d turned it down. Did he really think she was doing this for the money?
“I really—” The rest of her words caught in her throat as she realized he was untying her scarf. She grabbed for the ends to stop him—just not quickly enough.
“What the hell?” He pushed off her to a sitting position on the edge of the bed next to her, his expression one of shock and horror as he stared at her. “Josey...what—”
“It’s nothing.” She quickly sat up as she tried to retie the scarf to cover up the rope burn on her neck.
“Like hell,” he said, reaching out to stop her as he took in the extent of her injury. “How did this happen?”
She didn’t answer as she tried to take the ends of the scarf from him and retie them. “Please.”
He held the scarf for a moment longer, his expression softening as he lifted his gaze to hers. “Who did this to you?” There was an edge to his voice, a fury.
“It has nothing to do with you.” She pulled away, getting to her feet and turning her back to him as she clumsily tied the scarf with trembling fingers.
“This is why you were on the highway,” he said, rising from the bed to come up behind her. “This is what you’re running from.”
She didn’t deny it.
“I don’t understand why—”
“No, you don’t, so just forget it,” she snapped. She finished tying the scarf and swung around to face him. “I took care of it.”
He stared at her. “The only way to take care of it is to kill
