LITMIR.BIZ

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in need. Was that one reason Hoyt had fallen in love with her? Because he’d seen the need in Emma herself?

      “I promise you it is no imposition,” Emma said. “I love having guests, especially female ones. I’m so outnumbered around here.”

      “Thank you,” Billie Rae said. She looked exhausted. No doubt she’d been running on adrenaline and fear for hours and was about to crash.

      “Why don’t I show you up to one of our many guest rooms?” Emma said quickly. “Since all six of the boys have their own places now, we have more empty bedrooms than you can shake a stick at. Then I’ll get you a snack. It always helps me sleep.”

      Billie Rae glanced at Tanner, who smiled and nodded, then she followed Emma without a word.

      “You have this whole wing to yourself,” Emma said when they reached one of the rooms that was always made up for guests. “So please, make yourself at home and if there is anything you need, don’t hesitate to ask.”

      “I won’t be here more than tonight.”

      Emma smiled. “Get some rest. Sometimes it takes more than a night. You are welcome to stay as long as you need. You’re safe here.”

      Billie Rae nodded, tears coming to her eyes. “You’re very kind.”

      “No, I’ve been where you are right now.” Admitting it was easier than she’d thought it would be.

      For a moment, the young woman looked as if she was going to deny it or pretend she didn’t know what Emma was talking about.

      “I was with a man who kicked the hell out of me on a regular basis,” Emma said, surprised how easily too the anger came back. “Oh sure, he was always sorry. It was for my own good. He loved me. It took me a while to realize it wasn’t for my own good, just as it wasn’t my fault and that nothing I did or could do would change him. He didn’t love me. He didn’t know what love was.”

      Tears spilled over Billie Rae’s cheeks. “I’m just so embarrassed.”

      Emma took her hand and they sat down on the edge of the bed. “Embarrassed? Oh, sweetie, you have done nothing to be embarrassed about.”

      “I married the wrong man. He … fooled me.”

      She nodded. “But you got smart and left him.”

      “He told me he’ll kill me and I don’t doubt it,” Billie Rae said, brushing angrily at her tears.

      Emma shook her head. “He isn’t going to find you here. Tomorrow you can decide what to do next.”

      “You don’t know Duane. I’m afraid he’ll find out that you all helped me and do something terrible to you.”

      “Honey, that’s why there’s a shotgun in this house. Trust Tanner. He’s a good man.” She studied the young woman for a moment. “I don’t know if you believe in fate or not, but I can tell you this. Tanner finding you and bringing you here was no accident.”

      AS DUANE SAT IN THE empty fairgrounds in the dark, he knew where he’d made his mistake. If he’d gotten Billie Rae pregnant right away, none of this would be happening. But instead he’d listened to his wife, who’d wanted to wait until they were “settled in as a couple,” as she called it.

      With a surge of angry resentment, he realized she just wanted to make sure the marriage was to her liking. That he was to her liking.

      Duane swore under his breath. Wait until he got his hands on her. He’d show her. She would never pull a stunt like this again. He’d kill her if she did. That was if he didn’t end up killing her this time. He flushed, embarrassed to be put in this position, as the scent of fried food still drifted on the breeze coming through the open window of his Lincoln.

      The last of the lights of the rodeo vehicles had dimmed away to darkness in the distance, all headed west. From the faint glow on the horizon, Duane figured the closest Montana town had to be up the highway. He was hungry and tired and even his anger couldn’t keep him going much longer.

      Duane looked around. It was just his car now and his father’s pickup.

      Where the hell was Billie Rae?

      He waited until the night air cooled to a chill before he put up his car window, started the engine and drove down to park by the pickup. Billie Rae would be coming back soon and he didn’t want to miss her.

      A thought struck him like a blow. Unless she’d left with someone.

      That cowboy he’d seen her with?

      He couldn’t get his mind around that. But then he’d thought he’d made it clear to Billie Rae what would happen to her if she ever tried to leave him—or to anyone who helped her. She’d made a friend who thought she could come between them. That friend was no longer anywhere around, now, was she?

      Duane had thought Billie Rae had learned her lesson that time. But apparently that hadn’t stopped her from “befriending” someone else who thought they could interfere in his marriage to her.

      None of this was like Billie Rae, he thought as the hours wore on, and he felt an uncertainty that rattled him. For the first time, he wasn’t sure he knew his wife as well as he thought he did.

      AFTER HER TALK WITH Emma Chisholm, Billie Rae showered, slipped into the cotton nightgown left for her on the huge bed and slid between the sheets that smelled like fresh air.

      Emma had also left her a glass of milk and a plate of sliced homemade banana bread. Billie Rae had eaten all of it. She hadn’t realized how hungry she was or that she hadn’t eaten since breakfast that morning.

      For the first time in a long time, she felt as if she could breathe as she got up to brush her teeth with the new toothbrush Emma had set out for her. The cool night air blew in through the open window next to her bed as she crawled back under the covers. The breeze billowed the sheer white curtains. She could see the outline of mountains in the distance, smell sage and hay beyond the fresh clean scent of the line-dried linens on the bed.

      But it was the sweet scent of freedom that she gulped in as if she was a drowning woman finally coming up for air. She was still half-afraid to believe it, but lying here in this house, she was filled with a sense of peace like none she had felt since she’d married Duane.

       Don’t rest too easy. I’m still out here looking for you. And when I find you—

      She took another deep breath, chasing away the sound of Duane’s voice. Like Scarlett O’Hara, she wouldn’t think about tomorrow. For tonight, she was alive and safe, and that was more than she had hoped for.

      At a tap at her door, she said, “Come in,” thinking it would be Emma.

      “I just wanted to check on you and make sure you have everything you need,” Tanner said, peeking around the door.

      “I’m fine.” More than fine. “Thank you.”

      “I’ll see you in the morning, then,” he said. “I’ll be just down the hall.”

      She couldn’t help her surprise. Emma said that all the Chisholm sons had their own places now. “I thought—”

      “I decided to stay here tonight.” He shrugged, looking a little embarrassed. “In case you …”

      “Needed anything,” she finished for him, smiling.

      “Good night, then,” he said and closed the door.

      Billie Rae lay in the bed still smiling, remembering what Emma had said. Trust Tanner. She did. She closed her eyes, dead tired, aching for sleep, but quickly opened them as Duane’s image appeared as if waiting to taunt her in a nightmare.

       Trust Tanner? Do you really think that cowboy or his whole damned family can save you?

      She touched her diamond engagement ring in the darkness, the thick band of white

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