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MILLS & BOON
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To Tony
My husband, my hero
To Elizabeth, Joseph and Mary
I am so proud of each of you
To Darlene Buchholz, Annie Oortman,
Dianna Love Snell and Sharon Yanish
Good friends and great critique partners
To Krista Stroever
For your suggestions and guidance
To Jessica Alvarez
For your help throughout the editing process
Contents
Chapter ONE
Chapter TWO
Chapter THREE
Chapter FOUR
Chapter FIVE
Chapter SIX
Chapter SEVEN
Chapter EIGHT
Chapter NINE
Chapter TEN
Chapter ELEVEN
Chapter TWELVE
Chapter THIRTEEN
Chapter FOURTEEN
Chapter FIFTEEN
Chapter SIXTEEN
Chapter SEVENTEEN
Chapter EIGHTEEN
Chapter NINETEEN
Chapter TWENTY
Chapter TWENTY-ONE
EPILOGUE
ONE
“Kate. I need your help.”
The urgency in the caller’s voice made Kate Murphy’s heart race. “Who…Who is this?”
“It’s Tina.”
Kate flinched at the name she hadn’t heard in three years. Images of death and betrayal flashed through her mind. Images Kate wanted to forget.
“Maybe I shouldn’t have called.” Tina’s words were clipped, her tone wary. “It’s been so long, but—”
Cupping a free hand over her ear, Kate tried to drown out the whirr of the centrifuges that filled the medical research lab where she worked.
“Wait, let me step into the hallway. I’ll be able to hear better.” Static crackled across the line as Kate changed locations. “Still there?”
“I know this sounds crazy, but I stumbled across something in the woods and need your medical expertise. Remember when you used to joke about what would happen if the bad guys ever unlocked the secrets of science?”
“Yeah?”
“I think they have.”
The tone of Tina’s voice made Kate’s skin crawl.
Her former friend was right. The whole thing did sound crazy. “How’d you find me, Tina?”
“Your name was in the paper. The article said you worked at Bannister Scientific in Atlanta.”
Kate raked a hand through her hair. She had only given one interview and suddenly she was front-page news. “I can’t leave. I’m in the middle of a project.”
No reason to mention her research had been put on hold. Tomorrow started her two-week probation while Bannister Scientific decided whether she’d keep her job.
“It’s Friday,” Tina pleaded. “Surely you get the weekend off? I’m only living two hours away.”
“I…I may be on call.”
“Growing up you said you’d always be there for me, Kate. I don’t have anyone else. We’re kind of kindred spirits in that regard.”
“What about your mom?”
“She died last Christmas.”
A lump formed in Kate’s throat. “I’m sorry, Tina.”
“So am I. You deserve an apology. What came out after Eddie’s death…I should have believed you.”
The last thing Kate wanted was to open old wounds concerning Tina’s brother. “Where are you?”
“Mercy, Georgia. About two hours north of Atlanta. I’m a housekeeper for a man named Nolan Price and his teenage daughter. I needed a job. Nolan was kind enough to take me in.”
“Listen, Tina, I don’t think—”
“Remember your grandfather’s cross?”
How could Kate forget? Of all things to give Eddie as a token of her love, handing him her most cherished possession three years ago had been the most foolish.
“I found the cross in Eddie’s safety-deposit box,” Tina said. “Just like my brother to tuck it away.”
Kate’s shoulders slumped with relief. The cross hadn’t been destroyed in the fire.
Her grandfather’s face floated through her mind—the man who’d loved her, raised her, taught her about a God she had eventually shut out of her life.
“I’ll give you the cross tonight. You can stay the weekend and see for yourself what I’m talking about.”
Kate shook her head ever so slightly. “Sounds like you’re trying to blackmail me into visiting you.”
Tina laughed, a self-deprecating sound that for an instant touched Kate’s heart. “Call it a bribe, okay?”
Kate sighed. Bribery or not, she needed the cross back around her neck. Sure, Tina could mail it to her, but Kate wouldn’t risk losing the cross again.
“Give me directions,” she finally said.
“Take the connector to 400 North.”
Jamming the phone between her ear and shoulder, Kate reached into the pocket of her lab coat. She pulled out a small tablet and ballpoint pen and jotted down the instructions.
“Tell me what you think you discovered, Tina.”
“Not over the phone. You’ve got to see it. With your scientific background, you’ll know if it’s worth my getting worried.”
You already are, Kate wanted to say. “Surely there’s someone else who can help you.”
“I don’t know who to trust.”
“The police?”
“No!”
“You’re scaring me, Tina.”
“Yeah. I know. That’s the way I feel. Scared to death.”
Kate hadn’t wanted the phone call from Tina, hadn’t expected it. Yet, here she was zooming along a desolate back road, heading into rural North Georgia on the coldest day in February to meet a woman she never thought she’d see again.
Dark clouds rolled across the evening sky and added to the anxiety eating at her ever since she’d heard Tina’s voice. Usually the levelheaded pragmatist, Kate had done an about-face. Driving into an approaching storm to revisit a friendship that probably should remain dead didn’t make sense.
Her cherished cross was the only reason she had agreed to meet Tina. Ever since she’d given it to Eddie, her life had fallen apart, as though God had left her when she’d parted with the necklace. Maybe retrieving the cross would turn her life around. Right now she’d do anything to get back on track.
She looked at the empty can of diet soda perched in her car’s console. Too much caffeine and too little sleep over the last few days working on her research project had taken its toll.
Now she had two weeks to kill.
She’d meet Tina, get the cross and find a B and B on the way back to Atlanta. A good dinner and a soak in a hot tub sounded like a fit ending to a long day. About twelve hours of sleep were just what she needed.
Kate reached into her handbag and grabbed a bottle of antacid tablets. She could imagine her boss’s voice. “You’ll kill yourself before your thirtieth birthday.” Jason Bannister often teased her about her marathon work habits. Probably the most savvy scientist Kate had ever worked for, Jason had hired her six months ago for research and development, confident she would succeed.
The partnership study with Southern Technology would have put Bannister Scientific on the map in diabetes research and ensured the two companies merged into the largest laboratory in the southeast.
Except the clinical trials hadn’t supported Southern Technology’s data. The newspaper article only compounded the problem.
Kate shouldn’t have talked to the reporter. She’d had a lapse in judgment, which was something she didn’t accept in others, and certainly not in herself.
She shook her head. She and Tina were exact opposites in that regard.
Tina saw the good, ignored the bad. Maybe that was why it hurt so much when her once-upon-a-time friend had cut Kate out of her life.
Kate glanced at her reflection in the rearview mirror. Even Tina’s raven-black hair and voluptuous Latina body contrasted sharply with Kate’s rather average looks. In Kate’s opinion, her only attributes—and that might be stretching the point—were her fierce determination and blue eyes. Right now those eyes were bloodshot-red.
A roll of thunder forced her attention back to the road as twilight faded into night. Kate switched on the Mustang’s headlights and took a left at the four-way stop. So far, she’d had no problem following Tina’s directions, but the descending darkness and plummeting temperature threatened to make the last segment of the journey more challenging.
What had brought Tina to this isolated spot? A job? Nothing indicated the area was inhabited other than a few mailboxes by the side of the road and driveways that twisted into oblivion behind the tall pine trees.
Lightning flashed across the sky. Seconds later, a crash of thunder sounded as if it hit the edge of the road. All around her the pine trees danced, their groans mixing with the whistling wind.
A fine mist turned to drizzle. Kate clicked on the wipers and checked to make sure her window was closed tight, then shoved the heater knob to high.
A road sign warned of a sharp curve. Kate downshifted and felt the powerful engine slip into Second. From what Tina had said, a bridge crossed Mercy Creek just ahead.
The rain strengthened. Fat drops splashed against the windshield. A blast of wind hit full force. Kate gripped the wheel to keep the car from crossing the yellow line. As the wind surge died, she flipped the wipers to high and scanned the road for the bridge. The turnoff to Tina’s should be on the far side of the creek.
From out of nowhere, a deer charged into the beam of her headlights. Kate pushed in the clutch and stomped on the brake while her hand shoved the gear into First. The tires squealed in protest as the car skidded across the road.
The animal hit the front bumper with a loud thump, soared in the air and crashed against her windshield.
The massive carcass blocked Kate’s view. Instinctively, she turned against the skid. The deer shifted to the passenger’s side, smearing a bloody trail along the windshield.
Her heart slammed against her chest.
The Mustang was headed for the creek.
The car broke through the guardrail. A jagged edge of steel grated against the door, ripping a gash in the passenger side. For half a second, the auto teetered on the edge of the bridge, then plunged into the raging current below.
Kate screamed. Ice-cold water rushed in like a tsunami, flooding everything in its path.
She floated somewhere outside the realm of consciousness until a searing pain in her leg and bone-chilling cold snapped her back to reality. Where was she?
Try to think. The car, a deer, the bridge…
Oh, dear God.
Water swirled around her knees. She couldn’t feel her left leg, couldn’t move it. The right one throbbed with pain.
Get out. Kate unbuckled her seat belt and pushed on the driver’s door. Locked. She reached for the button to release the latch, grabbed the handle and shoved. Nothing budged.
She tried the automatic window. A grinding noise filled the car, and the glass lowered ever so slightly.
“Help me,” she shouted through the crack. The wind caught her words and erased them from the night.
She wanted to cry, but she was too terrified, and there was no time. She had to free herself.
Dipping her hand into the swirling eddy, she grabbed her cell phone from the console and shook out the water. Kate pushed the power button. No light. No start-up jingle.
The rain pounded against the car with an unrelenting fury. The water continued to rise. Waist high. Cold. Dark. Her teeth chattered as she gasped for air. Don’t panic.
She smashed the cell phone against the window, hoping to break the glass. Crash-resistant silicon proved stronger than cellular technology. Enraged, Kate threw the phone against the far window and heard the plunk as it dropped into the pool of water filling the car.
The horn.
She hit the center of the wheel. A momentary blare erupted, then sputtered out like a dying engine.
This couldn’t be happening.
“Oh, please.” She pushed on the door with all her strength, but it wouldn’t move.
A sound cut through the storm.
She strained to hear. The wind howled and thunder rumbled.
Nothing.
Maybe a hallucination from hypothermia.
Numb. That was how she felt. Not cold. Not hot. It wouldn’t be long. As much as she needed to hold on to hope, death seemed inevitable.
But giving up had never been her style.
What had she read? People didn’t respond to calls for help.
“Fire,” she screamed through the opening in the window as she continued to push against the door. “Help me. Fire. Help me. Fire.” She repeated the sequence until her voice cracked and finally gave out just like the horn.
Tears streamed down her face and mixed with the water now at chest level. Soon her mouth would be covered, then her nose. How long before death would take her? Two minutes? Three?
God, help me.
A speck of light flickered through the darkness.
“Here I am,” Kate cried out, her voice weak even to her own ears. She hit the horn. Nothing.
The light zigzagged through the tall pines. Too far away to see her. She had to make some sound.
Her right leg broke free from the tangled metal of the brake pedal. She raised her foot and strained to reach the shoe that slipped through her outstretched fingers. She lunged. A driving pain sliced through her left leg. Kate shoved her hand deeper into the water and caught the heel of her pump. Raising the shoe to the windshield, she pounded against the glass.
A dull thud filled the night. Would anyone hear her signal for help?
The light disappeared.
Water lapped around her neck, but she wouldn’t give up. Over and over again, she slammed the shoe against the window.
Slowly, warmth engulfed her, as if the water temperature had risen twenty degrees. A sense of euphoria swept over her. She was swimming in her old neighborhood pool. Tina sat on the edge of the deep end next to Eddie with his broad shoulders and lifeguard tan. Kate smiled, waved and…
Something jarred her. The door wrenched open. Hands touched her.
“It’s okay. I’ve got you now.”
A man pulled her from the car. Her head fell against his shoulder.
“Hold on, honey.”
Instinctively, she clung to him. “Eddie?”
They were moving. Going through the water, but Kate felt nothing except the strength of his embrace. She wanted to drift to sleep in his arms.
“Stay with me,” his voice warned.
Suddenly, she was lying on the cold, hard ground. Rain pelted her face.
She blinked her eyes open.
Eddie hadn’t saved her. Someone else had.
He dropped to the ground beside her and lifted her into his arms.
“I know this hurts,” he said.
She pushed her hands against his massive chest, but he drew her closer. “No!”
She couldn’t move. With one hand, he held her tight against his body. With the other, he reached for something. A heavy wool coat wrapped over them, and he hunkered down under its protection.
A siren wailed in the distance. Kate heard it, or thought she did. Only partially aware of the sound, she was totally aware of the man holding her close.
Her eyes were heavy. She wanted to sleep, but his gentle voice urged her to stay with him.
“Don’t leave me,” he said over and over again, as if they were a team working together to keep her alive.
A chorus of voices broke through the night.
“Over here,” he yelled. “North side of the creek.”
Help was coming. But Kate didn’t want to leave the protection of his embrace.
“What happened?”
“She went off the bridge. Hypothermia. Keep her warm.”
Blankets covered her. Kate felt their weight at the same time he pulled out of her grasp. She shivered, unable to control the spasmodic jerking of her muscles.
“She’s in shock.”
He touched her hand. “I’ll follow the ambulance to the clinic. Is there someone I can call? Maybe a relative?”
She swallowed, tried to speak. Her voice came out a whisper, cracked. “Call Tina Esp—”
He gasped. “Tina Espinosa?”
Kate nodded.
“Later.”
She shook her head. “Now. Let Tina know I’m hurt. She’ll help me.”
“Tell her, Price,” a voice demanded.
Price? The man Tina worked for. Kate latched on to his arm and wouldn’t let go.
Another voice chimed in from the foot of the stretcher. “Truth is, ma’am, Tina—”
Sounds swirled around Kate. What had he said?
“Hush!” Nolan glared at the person who had spoken.
Kate gripped her rescuer’s hand even tighter. “What happened to Tina?”
Nolan bent down, his face close to hers. Dark eyes, brow wrinkled with concern.
“Tell me,” she pleaded.
“I’m…I’m sorry,” he finally said. “They found her a few hours ago. Tina’s dead.”
TWO
Nolan Price would rather be anywhere than outside Mercy MedClinic’s emergency room. Hand him a financial portfolio to study or a corporate merger to broker and he was home free. But tubes pumping blood and oxygen into dying patients gave him the creeps.
Maybe it was the memories. Eight months and the pain hadn’t gone away. He doubted it ever would.
He glanced at his watch—10:00 p.m. Over three hours since he’d pulled the woman from the creek. Surely medical science, even in this rural facility, could determine the extent of her injuries in that length of time.
Kate Murphy. He’d finally learned her name.
Nolan shook his head. Too much had happened in one afternoon. The phone call about Tina, and then her friend had almost died in his arms.
God had a strange sense of timing.
Of course, he’d found that out with his wife’s tragic death.
At least he still had Heather. Not that raising a fifteen-year-old single-handed was anything but tough. Every time he thought he was making headway, she retreated into her shell. He couldn’t relate to his daughter no matter how hard he tried. Or prayed.
Maybe they should have stayed in Los Angeles.
He sighed, then pulled his cell from his pocket, hit the home listing and listened as the phone rang and rang.
The answering machine clicked on. “I’m sorry we’re unable to take your call. Please leave a message….”
Why wouldn’t she answer?
“Heather, I know you’re there. Pick up the phone.”
No response.
“I’m not mad.” Anymore, he wanted to add.
If only Olivia were alive.
“Make sure the doors to the house are locked, and don’t open for anyone. I’ll be home as soon as I can.”
Nolan snapped the phone shut and shoved it back in his pocket as the sheriff pushed through the emergency-room doors. Early forties, tall and lanky, Wayne Turner was a pack-a-day smoker with a habit of poking his nose into everyone else’s business.
“Doc said he’d be finished with her soon. Lady’s lucky. Tore one of her knee ligaments. That’s the extent of it ’cept for a few cuts and scrapes.”
Nolan nodded. No reason to encourage Turner. Tonight of all nights, he didn’t feel like making conversation.
“Must be quite a lady from what the EMTs said.” The sheriff stuck his chin in the air. “What’s your take?”
“Last I saw, she was bone cold and struggling to survive. We didn’t have time to exchange pleasantries.”
Turner shoved his hand in his pocket and rattled his change. “Lucky you found her. The way your house sits back from the road, no way you could have heard the crash. How’d you happen to be outside on a night like this?”
A vision flashed through Nolan’s head—Heather’s boyfriend running through the woods.
“I was on my way back from talking to Wade Green over at the funeral home about how to handle Tina’s arrangements,” Nolan said, purposely not mentioning the boy. “That’s when I saw the break in the bridge.”
Turner sniffed. “Sorry about your housekeeper. Guess we owe you. Would have been two dead-on-arrivals if you hadn’t happened by in the nick of time.”
Nolan leaned against the cold tile wall. He hadn’t thought of saving anyone when he’d raced after the boy. Then he’d seen the car, realized someone was trapped inside. Thankfully, he’d had his cell phone and the EMTs had answered his call for help or Turner’s statement might have proven true.
The Good Lord supposedly didn’t give you more than you could handle. Heather was the problem. Tina had filled a portion of the void Olivia left. His daughter confided in the housekeeper, trusted her. Now that Tina was gone, Heather might withdraw even further from him.
“Shame that housekeeper of yours had a flat on Old Man Hawkins’ dirt road. Pretty isolated stretch. No one to help her.” Turner shook his head. “Allergic to latex. Who’d figure? Not the way I’d wanna die.”
Doc Samuels had filled Nolan in earlier. Changing the tire had brought Tina into contact with something that had triggered an anaphylactic reaction.
Ignoring the sheriff, Nolan turned to face the doc as he pushed open the ER doors.
Short, stocky, with a receding hairline and a small birthmark over his left brow, Mercy’s sole physician stuck out his hand. “Thanks for staying, Nolan.”
He returned the handshake. “Lloyd.”
“Good job with the accident victim. Few seconds longer and she’d be in the morgue instead of the treatment room. Keeping her warm did the trick.”
“Hypothermia’s easy enough to spot.”
“Yeah, but you reacted.” The doc pointed to the doors he had just stepped through. “That little lady owes you her life.”
Nolan shrugged off the praise. “Right time, right place.”
“She tore her ACL. Probably won’t need surgery, but her leg’s too swollen to be sure. She’ll need an MRI once the swelling subsides. Right now, I’ve got her in a knee immobilizer, but she has to stay off her feet for a few days. Problem is her insurance won’t cover keeping her here all night. Closest hotel’s in Summerton. Don’t know if driving over the mountain would be the safest bet.” He looked at the sheriff.
“Rain turned to sleet about an hour ago,” Turner said. “Highway patrol plans to close the pass to Summerton. The way the temperature’s dropping, we’ll be iced over for the rest of the night.”
“Would Edith mind if—”
Turner held up one hand, palm out. “Count me out, Doc. Edith’s spending the night with Ms. Agnes. That handicapped daughter of hers took a turn for the worse. Edith’s helping out.”
Nolan let out an exasperated breath. Last thing he wanted was a stranger underfoot, but the woman needed a place to stay.
“Kate Murphy knew Tina. Heather and I can put her up until the storm passes.”
“Appreciate it,” Lloyd said, slapping Nolan’s arm. “I gave her something for the pain. She’s a little groggy. Check on her occasionally in the night.”
The doc turned to the chief. “Ms. Murphy asked about her car.”
Turner whistled. “Boys are still trying to pull that sucker out of the water. Probably late morning before the roads improve so they can tow it over to Mercy Automotive. Mind if I get a little info from the patient, Doc?”
Lloyd nodded and pointed the sheriff toward the treatment room.
When Turner was out of earshot, Nolan said, “I talked to the funeral director earlier this evening. Wade said to ask you when Tina’s body would be released.”
“Already done. Wade picked her up about an hour ago.”