Killer Country Reunion. Jenna Night

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       TWO

      Zane stared at Caroline as if he expected some further, bigger reaction from her.

      She wasn’t about to give it to him.

      He could forget about her asking why he’d left town and dropped all contact when they were engaged to be married. Where he’d been. How long he’d been back in the town of Cobalt. The answers didn’t matter. After eight years of wondering, she simply didn’t care anymore.

      Okay, that was a lie. But he didn’t have to know she still thought about him sometimes. Not as often as she used to when he first left. Just every now and then. And each time she’d come back to Cobalt for a visit, until she’d moved back a month ago.

      She was disappointed to notice that even treading water in soaking wet street clothes, the man looked good. That was something else he didn’t need to know. He was more muscular than when she’d last seen him. But he had been barely twenty years old back then. His jaw and neck were thicker now. So was his chest. She couldn’t help noticing that, thanks to the long-sleeved gray cowboy shirt now clinging to it.

      Even during his darkest days, when he was a young criminal going nowhere just like his dad, he’d dressed like a cowboy. His dad had been a hired hand on the horse ranch where the two of them had lived. Zane had always loved horses. He was good with them. She doubted that had changed—but then, what did she know? Back in the day, she’d thought he’d never leave her. She’d been wrong about that, so maybe she never knew him at all.

      “I know you’re capable of taking care of yourself,” he finally said, after the apparent shock of seeing her wore off. “But I’d still like to help you.”

      He looked at the office complex and surrounding boardwalk, then back at her. It struck her that assuming they were safe in the lake might be a mistake. She couldn’t see the shooters anymore, but that didn’t mean they couldn’t see her. The man with the shotgun could still fire at them. And what if the other man had a backup weapon, one that wasn’t waterlogged?

      “A-all right.” Her legs were so cold she couldn’t feel them anymore. But things could have turned out far worse.

      Zane swam closer to her. Despite her best efforts to fight it, a tiny flare of warmth sparked in her heart. This was the chivalrous Zane she’d fallen so deeply in love with.

      But he was also the man who’d left town when he could have stayed to fight. For himself. For the future the two of them had planned together.

      “Let’s go,” he said.

      He swam toward the boardwalk. Caroline tried to follow, but her body wouldn’t cooperate. Her brain commanded her chilled arms and legs to move, but they refused to obey. Her body felt weighted down, pulling her toward the bottom of the lake.

      Her chin and mouth dipped into the water and the searing panic she’d fought off while on the boardwalk overtook her again in an instant. She was going to drown. Those gunmen were going to win after all. Dylan would end up in the care of a mother who wanted him now only because he came with an inheritance.

      Caroline sank farther into the lake before managing to kick her uncooperative legs enough to push her face out of the water a little bit. “N-no!” She forced all her strength into the word, but it came out as a whisper. Zane must have heard it, though. He turned around and swam back to her.

      “D-Dylan,” she managed to chatter when he got closer. “My mom.” She’d just had a horrifying thought. What if the bad guys had gotten away and were headed to the house?

      “We’ll take care of them.” Zane swam behind her, wrapped his left arm across the front of her shoulders and pulled her close so that her back was pressed against his muscled chest. “Right now we’ve got to take care of you,” he said, his breath warm against her ear. “I’ve got you.”

      No, he did not. She wouldn’t be fooled again. He did not have a strong hold on her, he was not looking out for her and he was not a man she could depend on. She’d trusted him for all those things before and he’d let her down.

      But there was no way she could get out of this freezing cold water on her own. Right now she had to rely on him. She had no choice.

      A sob caught in her throat as she again imagined her mom and Dylan in danger. With her brother gone, the responsibility to take care of what was left of the family rested on her shoulders. What if she’d already failed?

      As they moved through the water Caroline caught a glimpse of flashing blue-and-red lights in the office complex parking lot. A paramedic and an emergency medical technician stood alongside a cop on the edge of the boardwalk close to the water. Each of the medical responders was stepping into a bright orange cold-water rescue suit. Seconds later, she heard a couple of splashes. She and Zane were nearly to the boardwalk now, so the medical responders quickly reached them.

      When the rescuers tried to tug the two of them apart, Zane held her tightly, as if he were reluctant to let her go. She tilted her face upward to look at him. He turned toward her until his slightly beard-roughened chin pressed against her temple. She felt herself drifting back toward the memory of an old familiar СКАЧАТЬ