Flint Read online

  She closed her eyes and a tear slid silently down one cheek, leaving him feeling totally lost. He pulled her into his embrace and kissed the top of her head. "Stay with me tonight..."

  He felt her body tense, and he slowly loosened his arms, allowing her to step back. "Did I ask for too much too fast?" He waited in agony to hear her deny that he had. But instead, she just moved back another step.

  "I need to think about this, Flint. It has nothing to do with you. You're fine. It's me. I think it would be best if I slept in my own room." Her voice was shaky and soft. He wanted to yell at someone...scream and rant. Instead, he simply placed his hands on his hips and nodded. And as she turned to walk out of his room and vanished down the hall, he felt as if a fist of sizeable proportions had just slugged him in the gut.

  She packed her own things into her backpack, leaving the clothes he had bought for her in the armoire and drawers. Tears blinded her as she tucked her papers into the top zippered compartment, leaving the bulky lock box on the bed. She glanced at the clock on the mantle and slipped into her jacket, figuring that they should all be asleep by now. And with one last look around her temporary little haven, Lily Thomas slipped out the door and tiptoed down the stairs to the big front doors, where she set a letter addressed to Flint on the small table next to the entry.

  The ranch road turn off was a good ten miles from the main road, and she figured she could walk it in about three hours if she made good time. She should be able to catch a ride with a trucker back to Austin. She still had the $78.00 she'd started out with, since Flint had refused her money. She could buy a bus ticket to Fort Worth, and be on her way by nightfall tomorrow.

  Walking alone in the dark wasn't nearly as scary as never seeing Flint again...never feeling his hands or lips on her. She knew that she would never forget the man. A stranger she'd met less than a week ago had somehow stolen her heart and branded her soul. She would cling to that memory tight. She might be a thousand miles away, but Flint Calderon would remain close in her heart.

  There was enough of a moon to give adequate illumination to the road as she made her way down the ranch lane and when she finally reached the main road that led to Beesford in one direction, and the main highway in the other, she turned toward the highway, refusing to look back.

  Chapter Seven

  Flint read the letter she'd left, and his insides felt like a ball of lead. "She can't get far if she's on foot." Dora's non-nonsense tone brought him back to the here-and-now, and he lifted his eyes to stare at her.

  "No, but she could have caught a ride with a trucker headed for Austin. And all I can do is hope she found someone who won't take advantage of a lone female walking at night."

  "Folks round these parts wouldn't try to hurt that child." Dora's frown gave him the strength to believe she was all right.

  "Let's hope you're right, Dora."

  Curley was just coming in for breakfast, and seeing the look on Flint's face, he grabbed the letter out of his hands and swore loudly. "Shit, man...what'd you do to scare her off?"

  "Shut the fuck up, Curley. Did you gas up the ranch truck yesterday?"

  "I always do. You need me to go with you so you don't screw up again?"

  "Go to hell." Flint grabbed the keys off the hook by the door and took off at a dead run.

  He would find her, if he had to follow the damn bus to Fort Worth. And when he caught up to her, he wouldn't be dumb enough to let her out of his sight again. As he slid into the high seat of the big truck, he swore foully. Damn female pride. He saw her letter in his mind's eye as he spun gravel under his tires and gunned it for the ranch lane.

  I want you to know how much your kindness means to me. I wish I could stay, but it just can't work. He'll never stop hunting until he finds me. And when he does, I don't want him to be able to hurt you or your people. He's dangerous, Flint, and he isn't above murdering people to get what he wants. I truly appreciate all you've done for me, but I can't let you put yourself on the line for my problems any more. These were the first few nights in a long time that I've been able to sleep without waking in a panic.

  I'll never forget you, Flint Calderon.

  And he'd be damned if he'd let her...

  * * * * *

  She stared at the walls of the small cell they had placed her in. Just her luck to be picked up by a Travis County Deputy Sheriff after climbing out of the kindly trucker's rig just outside Austin. The panic that had swamped her when he'd placed those cuffs around her wrists had died down to a sickening buzz of anxiety. The woman in the next cell smelled of hard liquor, and was sleeping it off on the bare little steel cot with its thin pad that passed for a mattress.

  She'd been booked like a criminal, fingerprinted, mug shot taken. And she'd been told she had one phone call. But she didn't have anyone to call except Flint. Even if she'd known his number, she didn't want him involved. He would be arrested for harboring a criminal. And as honest as he was, she was sure he would admit to doing that without blinking an eye.

  She had no idea what time it was. There were no windows, and no clocks visible on any of the walls she could see. It had been a few hours, she was certain, since she'd been arrested and booked. She could smell food from somewhere, but they hadn't offered her any breakfast. She knew very little about legal processes, but she'd watched TV enough to know that if they were holding her on charges of grand theft and attempted murder, she wasn't going anywhere any time soon, unless they shipped her back to her step dad in Garfield, which she highly doubted, considering this had moved out of the range of family court and conservatorship issues to attempted homicide. At least she'd have her day in court this way. She'd be able to tell folks what the bastard had done.

  If anyone would listen to her...

  "I'm real sorry, Mr. Calderon, but until she comes up before the judge, she can't have any visitors except her attorney." The Deputy at the reception counter of the Travis County Central Booking office smiled up at him and let him know with silent urging that she wouldn't mind him asking her to go for coffee.

  He whipped out his phone and speed-dialed Max. Turning away from the desk, he walked away a few paces and said tersely, "I take it that Max isn't in this early?" The answering service said they could take a message.

  "Tell you what, ma'am...you get him on his damn private phone and tell him Flint Calderon is waiting for him at the 10th Street Jail booking facility in Austin. And I'll make it well worth his while if he gets his lazy ass out of bed and meets me here." He closed his phone and sank onto one of the less than comfortable wooden benches that lined the outer office walls.

  Five minutes later, his phone rang, and he opened it with a "Where the hell are you?"

  The attorney's voice was sleepy. "Where the hell should I be at 6:03 a.m.? I turned my damn cell phone off so I could get some sleep. And what the hell are you doing in jail? You get picked up driving drunk or something?"

  "They arrested Lily early this mornin', Max, and they won't let me see her unless I'm her lawyer. Can you get her the hell outta this place?"

  "Shit, Flint...it'll take me at least an hour and a half to get there. I have to make a couple of calls. You damn well better have coffee waiting."

  "Miss Thomas?" Lily jerked awake from the half-sleep she'd fallen into, and sat up groggily, worn out from worrying and going without sleep for so long.

  "Yeah?" Her voice was dry, and she blinked up at the female office who held out a bottle of spring water and a packaged sweet roll.

  "You were supposed to be on your way to Del Valle Correctional right about now, but there's been a hold-up. I thought maybe you'd be hungry." The woman came as close to a smile as she could probably manage, and Lily nodded eagerly and took the offering, quickly tearing the cap off the bottle and drinking it down thirstily before ripping open the cellophane wrapper on the roll that had probably come out of a vending machine.

  "Thanks so much! Why was I supposed to be headed for Del Valle? I thought they were going to arraign me or s
omething, according to the officer who arrested me last night."

  "I can't say. But it looks like your attorney has arranged bail for you, so they won't send you there if they just have to turn around and let you loose again."

  Lily had just shoved a huge bite of roll into her mouth and she stopped chewing, staring in shock at the officer. Managing to swallow, she squeaked, "My attorney?" Her mind went blank.

  "It'll be a few minutes but I'll be coming back to take you upstairs to one of the conference rooms. Better eat and use the john while you can."

  Max read the digital case file that was on the laptop in front of him, and when they brought Lily into the room in shackles, he frowned up at the officers. "Get those off of her. She isn't going anywhere. At least, not until I get word back from Judge Layton. I'll vouch for her behavior until notice comes to release her."

  The female deputy unlocked the chain from the shackles around her ankles and wrists, but left the shackles on. "Sorry sir, but until we get her release order, she's still a flight risk."

  When Lily sank onto the chair across the desk from the man, he smiled at her and his grey eyes took in the bruises that could be seen on her throat and arms. "Hello, Ms. Thomas. I'm Max Daly. I've been retained to act in your behalf in the matter of The State of Texas Versus Lily Thomas, Case #140085932. Flint Calderon posted bail this morning at your arraignment hearing in which I represented your interests. I'm also representing you in a civil suit brought in your behalf against one Jacob Proctor of Garfield City, Travis County Texas citing fraud, theft by deception, and gross negligence resulting in the death of one Helen Thomas Proctor. Please respond for the record that I am your attorney in both matters." He indicated the microphone before her.

  She somehow managed to speak. "Yes. Um...you are my attorney, Mr. Daly."

  He nodded, and read something on the screen of the laptop. "Would you please answer a few questions for me, Miss Thomas?"

  "Of course...ask."

  "One of the charges against you states that you ran from the home of Jacob Proctor, who was your legal guardian, on the night of..." he read the statement from the screen, and glanced up at her. "Your legal guardian stated that you ran after you 'struck him with a piece of furniture'. He also stated that he had no idea what caused you to suddenly 'go crazy'." The attorney glanced at her wrists with the purple and yellow bruises. "Can you explain to me what made you do such a thing?"

  She realized that they were being observed through the one-way mirror on the far wall, and that the microphone was most likely recording their conversation. She pushed her sleeves up to show the bruises more clearly, and reached to unbutton her collar, pulling it open to expose the hand print.

  "My step father, Jacob Proctor was beating me, strangling me, and threatening to rape me...um...in a place that would have been excruciatingly painful. I am not strong enough to fight someone his size off, so I had to hit him with a candleholder. It's not the first time he's beaten me, and I believed every threat he made to hurt me physically."

  The interview went on for about twenty minutes, with the female officer standing at the door, observing and listening. Lily explained into the microphone how Jacob Proctor had come into their lives, and how Lily had good reason to believe that her mother had not accidentally swallowed nearly 100 sleeping pills. Jacob had kept control of all of her pills, and put them into a locked box, and only allowed her to take them when she became restless. The only way she could have gotten so many pills was if her husband had purposely given them to her, or left the bottle within her reach.

  As she spoke, she realized that he was asking her questions about why she believed that her mother's death was no accident. With the officer standing there, the attorney had proof that he was not coaching her or leading her on. Of course, the recording could not be used in court, but it could be used to discredit her step father, and perhaps sway a decision-making social worker toward removing Jacob Proctor's legal guardianship of her. She then remembered the insurance policy Jake had taken out on her, and the way he'd nearly left her to die before calling the EMTs. A cold chill ran through her.

  The bastard had been making it look like she was suicidal...so that when he actually killed her, there would have been a pattern of suicidal tendencies on record. "I have a few questions for you. Mind if I ask?"

  The man smiled at her and waited.

  "Where is Flint?"

  Max's smile widened. "He's waiting down in the reception area."

  "Can Jacob Proctor hurt him in any way for protecting me?"

  "No."

  "And he's not in trouble for aiding and abetting a fugitive from justice?"

  "We're doing our best to make sure that isn't going to happen."

  Lily swallowed hard, and chewed her lower lip. "I pray to God he isn't, because that man is the kindest, most gentlemanly person I've ever met. I'd hate for him to get into trouble with the law when he just helped me for a few days."

  "You can talk to him about that. I do believe those are your release papers. Of course, you'll have to appear in court once we get this mess squared around, and you won't be able to leave the ranch, since he's pretty well put it on the line to keep you out of jail, but I'd say he'd like to hear what you have to say face-to-face."

  Lily gasped as the officer handed the attorney a sheaf of papers, and removed the shackles from her wrists and ankles. "You mean he put his ranch up to secure my bail?"

  "Pretty much. So if you take off again, you'll see him out of a house and a living, young lady." The man gazed at her quietly, and she felt hot color flood her face.

  "I won't. I couldn't do that to him." Her belly tied into knots thinking something she did would cause him to lose everything.

  "I'm glad. We need to go down and get your stuff out of the security lockup." The attorney gently gripped her elbow and guided her out of the room and down the hall to the elevators.

  "How did Flint know I got arrested?" Lily stood beside the big attorney, wringing her hands together.

  "When he couldn't find you on the road, or at the bus depot, and no one by your description had bought a ticket for Forth Worth, he guessed something had happened, and called the Beesford constable who just happens to be a good friend of his. Shirlanne checked the sheriff's office records and lo and behold, your name popped up. They must have been keeping an eye out for you after your face and stats hit the APB lists."

  She shuddered and hugged herself to keep her hands from shaking. "I thought I could get to Fort Worth without causing him any more problems. I didn't mean to get him involved."

  Max stepped into the elevator and hit the correct button before turning to face her. "Miss Thomas, if Flint got involved it was because he wanted to...believe me. You couldn't have stopped him once his mind was made up."

  She lifted her eyes to his craggy, attractive face. She guessed he was in his fifties, but he looked like he was in great physical shape. "You have to keep him from getting in trouble...please. He didn't know anything about me when I met him and Curley. I just don't want to see him get hurt by what I've done."

  Max gazed down into the amber eyes that had so captivated his client, and he understood exactly why Flint Calderon was in such a dither to keep this woman safe. She seemed to have something that infiltrated a man's guts and made him go all mushy inside. Christ! She was even doing it to him. He cleared his throat and patted the soft hand she'd placed on his arm. "He'll be just fine. He's a strong man with a powerful sense of honor and ethics. If he chose to champion your cause, Miss Thomas, it was because he saw something in you that touched him deep inside. Just don't give him reason to regret that trust."

  The soft pink that rose into her cheeks was doing a damn great job on his own libido. How any man could have left those horrible bruises on this sweet child was beyond him. But he knew that men like Jacob Proctor had no decency in them, and if it was the last thing he did, he would see that man in jail.

  He didn't tell her any of the things he'd learned about he
r ex-step father. He would let Flint do that. He also didn't tell her that he'd contacted the Travis County Social Services and had her guardianship case transferred to the Calder County division, and that he'd set an appointment for her to meet with a caseworker and himself next week. He had a lot more work to do before he gave her any more information. He didn't want to get her hopes up before he was certain that he could bring this to a satisfactory conclusion.

  Chapter Eight

  Flint rose like a shot from the hard wooden bench, and in three long strides he was across the lobby. His ass ached from the long hours of sitting on that damn bench, but every ache and pain was gone the minute she stepped out of that elevator with Max at her side. Max shot him a warning glance to keep his cool, and he barely kept himself from grabbing her and dragging her into his arms. He inhaled a deep breath of her sweet scent, and held his lawyer's gaze for a long moment before they all stepped up to the desk to retrieve her property.

  He forced himself to not slip an arm around her slim body and pull her close to feel her near him. It took them about twenty minutes to sign for her back pack and her personal items, and then they were heading for the doors. Once they were outside the building, he picked up his pace until they reached the parking lot where attorneys and cops parked.

  They had made him move his truck earlier on in the day to the general parking, and he'd met Daly outside the main doors. Daly could damn well drive him back to the ranch truck. Once inside Max's big SUV, he let himself pull the damn woman close against him and nearly crush her in his arms. He expected maybe a complaint at being held too tight...instead, he felt her arms go around him in the damn tightest hug he'd ever felt, and she pressed her face into the front of his shirt and cried her eyes out. He tugged her tight against him, and kissed the top of her head, unable to say one damn word.