Chapter 10
“Do you think they really saw someone?” Hudson was asking Gage when Lincoln and Charlotte sat down at the table. Gage must have filled him in on what he’d missed.
Gage shrugged.
“Where are the programmers?” Lincoln asked. He’d noticed they hadn’t showed up for dinner yet, but Anne was in the kitchen talking to Cal. The influencers had changed their clothes and were gathered at a table apart from the others, sending Anne disgruntled looks now and then.
“They’re going back to Two Willows to do more work,” Amanda said, arriving with a plate of food. “Anne’s making Cal pack their dinners. She says they’re behind and things are too chaotic around here.”
“You don’t think she’s scared, do you?” Nate put in.
“What would she be afraid of?” Lincoln asked. “Even if there was someone in the woods, there’s probably a logical explanation.”
“Like what?” Hudson asked .
“Like they were out for a hike. There’s a path around the lake. Why shouldn’t someone hike it?”
“Never seen anyone other than us on it since I’ve been back,” Hudson said.
“How often do you go out that way? We’re working all the time. Maybe people use it constantly.”
“Veronica and her friends think it was their rivals.”
Lincoln noticed Charlotte gazing out the window absently. She’d taken Sasha aside on their way in, and the two women had spoken earnestly for a few minutes. When he’d asked Charlotte what it was about, she’d said she was pressing the young woman for details about the man she’d seen in the woods but that Sasha hadn’t been able to give her any. “Charlotte? You okay?”
“What?” She blinked. Noticed them all looking at her. “I’m fine. Just… wondering who it was and what they wanted.”
“It probably wasn’t anyone,” Lincoln said, worried the incident might scare Charlotte. He didn’t want her souring on life on the Ridge just when things were going so well between them. “And if it was, it wasn’t anyone who matters. You’re safe here. You know that, right?”
“Of course.” She pushed her plate away. She’d barely made a dent in the fettuccini Alfredo Cal had served today. “Did your call earlier go okay? How’s your dad doing?”
“You talked to Dad? What did he say?” Hudson asked.
Lincoln drummed his fingers on the table, buying time. He’d had to repair the edger three separate times today, while the whole crew stood around waiting. The process was time consuming because each time he had to stop the line and lock out the machine to make sure it was safe to work on.
“He’s doing okay. Frustrated that he’s not a hundred percent recovered, of course, but it sounds like he’s making progress. That wasn’t the reason I called, though. I told him we need a new edger. He wasn’t too happy about it. I got a lead on a used one for sale out of a mill that shut down recently. Thought that might make the pill go down easier, but it didn’t.”
“We can’t take on any more debt,” Nate said.
“If we don’t, we might as well close the mill right now.”
“Let’s deal with this tomorrow—at the mill office,” Carter said unexpectedly. He cocked his head in Amanda’s direction and sent his brothers a meaningful glance. His message didn’t require their secret language.
Amanda was fairly drooping.
“You okay?” Charlotte asked her.
“I’m fine.” Amanda picked at her salad. “I just don’t like the idea of a man in the woods…” She trailed off, shook her head and tried again. “My dad came for me like that, sneaking through the trees to get to me. I don’t ever want to feel like that again—like I’m being hunted.”
Charlotte pulled back, hugging her arms across her chest tightly. “You think that man was here to come after someone?”
“No one is coming after anyone,” Lincoln said firmly. “ Amanda’s dad is in custody. We solved that problem, and we’ll solve the problem with the edger, too. Come on. Everyone’s acting like we’re at a funeral, and we’re not. We’re just tired and hungry. Do you want me to get this warmed up?” he asked Charlotte, gesturing to her plate of noodles.
“I guess.”
He stood and carried it to the counter where Cal was serving seconds to several mill workers. “Could you heat this up?” he asked when it was his turn. He served himself a second plate of dinner while he waited. When Charlotte’s meal was ready, he brought it all back to the table, determined to turn the evening around.
“Did you get a chance to look at the link I sent you for those cabinets?” he asked Charlotte, sitting down and handing her the warmed-up food. “If you can get a general sense of what you want, it’ll be easier when we go to pick them out.”
“Not yet.” Her expression didn’t change. Lincoln felt a new twist of worry. Didn’t women love choosing things for their houses?
“Better get on that. I know we’ve been going slowly, but we’ll get those floors done soon. Then we’ll pick up our pace, and before you know it, we’ll be renovating the kitchen.”
Charlotte sighed. “Slow is good right now,” she said. “I want to get a few paychecks under my belt before I make any more purchases.”
Nate flashed him a sign. Cold feet?
No , Lincoln flashed back. Charlotte wasn’ t getting cold feet about living here. They’d spent every night together, and she went on and on about how much she was enjoying her new job.
“Are you worried about money?” he asked cautiously. This probably wasn’t the place to talk about it, but he wanted to understand her sudden lack of interest.
She shrugged. “I think it’s prudent to have more cash in the bank first.”
“I could loan you a little.”
Charlotte’s head snapped up, her eyes wide. Nate frantically flashed a series of signs, something like Quit now while you’re still ahead.
“I don’t need a loan.” Her voice was tight. “It’s my house, my cabinets. I’ll pay for them when I’m ready to.”
She spoke quietly but firmly, establishing a rock-solid boundary with everyone at the table as her witnesses. He felt as awkward as a schoolboy getting dressed down by his mother—in front of all his friends.
“I know it’s your house,” Lincoln said slowly. “You bought it for a dollar, fair and square.” He immediately regretted the edge that had crept into his voice, but he wasn’t used to being chastised like that. He was a grown man. One who’d taken a leadership position in plenty of dangerous situations. Still, Charlotte didn’t know he’d paid the rest of her house’s market value into the family bank account. She didn’t owe him anything, either, because if she’d known that was part of the bargain, she’d never have taken the house in the first place.
“What’s that supposed to mean?” Charlotte stared at him.
“Nothing.” He took a bite of his food, barely tasting it as he chewed and swallowed.
Charlotte leaned forward. “No, answer me. Why did you say it that way—like I got away with something when I bought it?
Nate hurried to intervene, ever the peacemaker. “That’s not what Lincoln is trying to say. He’s disappointed, that’s all.”
Lincoln nearly choked as he swallowed another bite. He didn’t know whether to thank Nate or punch him. He didn’t need anyone to point out that Charlotte had hurt his delicate man feelings. Even if she had.
“Disappointed in what?” Charlotte still had that wary, half-angry look, like she’d been tricked and just found out.
Lincoln decided to take the bull by the horns. “Disappointed that it seems like renovating your house isn’t a priority. Which means maybe you’re having second thoughts about living here. I want you to stay, that’s all. I’m kind of… invested in that.” Literally and figuratively.
“Oh.”
He’d made the right move. Her wariness subsided, and after a moment, she smiled a little. “I plan to stay, but I need to be careful with my money, that’s all. I don’t want to overspend, and I don’t want to be beholden to anyone, either.” She hesitated, then went on. “I made that mistake once before. I let my last boyfriend provide for me, and then suddenly he was controlling me. When I tried to break it off, he… made it difficult.”
Lincoln swallowed down a rush of shame. He should have known her sudden thriftiness had nothing to do with him. Her ex sounded like a real bastard, shooting that horse in front of her—bossing her around.
Still, it bothered him that she wouldn’t let him take care of her. As far as Lincoln was concerned, she was part of his family. You protected family whenever you could. Helped them in a pinch.
Amanda leaned forward. “Not all men would take advantage of you that way, Charlotte. When you’re in a committed relationship, it’s okay to help each other financially.”
Charlotte was already shaking her head. “Not for me. Never again. I don’t ever want a man to control whether I have a roof over my head, or food on the table, or clothes on my back.”
Lincoln sat back in his chair. Charlotte had a deed that said she owned house number37, and that deed would stand up in a court of law. That made him different from her previous boyfriend, didn’t it? He might have contributed financially to her situation, but he’d done nothing to take away her independence.
“I don’t think there’s anything wrong with a man wanting to take care of his wife—or girlfriend,” Hudson said. “Hell, that’s what men are supposed to do.”
“It’s a nice idea,” Charlotte said flatly. “But it doesn’t work.” She stood up. “Speaking of my house, I’m going there now. Busy day tomorrow.”
“Want some company?” Lincoln asked.
She hesitated. “I guess.”
Relieved, Lincoln flashed a sign to his brothers—and Amanda, seeing as she’d learned their secret language, too—as they carried their dishes to the counter. Keep quiet. He knew they’d understand he meant that none of them better mention that he’d paid for the rest of house number37. Charlotte might not stick around very long if she knew. Somehow he needed to establish that she could trust him—and then he’d tell her. Maybe they’d laugh about the newcomer deal someday.
Lincoln took Charlotte’s hand and led the way outside. “You’ve convinced me,” he said, trying to lighten the mood between them. “I swear to god I won’t lend you money for those kitchen cabinets. Not even if you beg me.”
Charlotte smiled. “You’d better not. And don’t even think of buying me a porch swing.”
“You want a porch swing?” He stopped and took her in his arms.
“I do,” she admitted, coming into his embrace willingly, much to his satisfaction.
“I’d like to buy you a porch swing.” He dropped a kiss on the top of her head, relishing the way she fit against him. “If you ever kick me out, I’ll take it with me, though.”
Charlotte laughed. “I guess I can agree to that.” She snuggled against him and sighed. “This is my favorite part of the day. Coming home to you. I’m sorry I was prickly before. I guess I come with baggage.”
Lincoln’s heart warmed, erasing everything that had gone before. She wanted him. That would have to be enough for now.
“I don’t mind your baggage,” he told her. “You’re my favorite part of the day, too.”
The following Monday, a text arrived from Steven while Charlotte was at work.
No court case. They don’t have a leg to stand on and Ivan’s lawyer pulled the case to avoid sanctions for a frivolous lawsuit. No need to come to Saratoga. Your address won’t be disclosed, either.
Charlotte was so happy she nearly hugged the cow she and Craig were treating. Surely Ivan would give up now since even the court was taking her side. Sasha had taken down the photo that contained Charlotte’s face as soon as she asked her, and when there were no more sightings of strangers in the woods, she decided Lincoln must have been right; it must have been Dennis the women had seen.
While she was relieved, the influencers seemed disappointed. Amanda had forwarded her a series of posts in which they’d recreated the skinny-dipping episode, with splashes of water conveniently covering parts of their naked bodies. Several more days passed in a blur of work and nights with Lincoln. She heard nothing from Ivan and was beginning to hope her nightmare was over .
Thursday evening, she stood at the base of her stairs watching Lincoln, Nate and Carter wrestle her mattress down. With one thing after another, she was still living in a practically empty, unfinished house, but that was about to change, and what few possessions she owned needed to be moved to number35 while she and Lincoln refinished the floors of number37.
When her phone chimed in her pocket with a notification, she drew it out absently, glanced at the screen and wished she hadn’t. It was an email from Ivan.
You won this round, but I’ll win the next. Come home, Charlotte.
Come home. This was her home, and she had no intention of leaving it. She shoved her phone in her pocket angrily, but Ivan’s words replayed in her mind, and she found herself glancing over her shoulder, as if he might appear at her door.
She was relieved when Amanda arrived instead just as the men made it down the stairs and propped the mattress against the railing to take a break.
“Anne is driving me crazy,” Amanda announced without preamble. She accepted one of the beers Lincoln went to fetch from the refrigerator, took a long drink and wiped her mouth with the back of her hand. “She wants us to package up breakfast every morning so her programmers can eat in the van on the way into town. She’s mad that Veronica and her friends keep talking to them.”
“Did she offer to pay more for the service?” Carter asked.
“Of course not,” Amanda huffed. “Just ordered boxed breakfasts for her workers like Cal and I were staff at a catering company.”
“Maybe Cal should open a catering company,” Nate said slowly. “He could hire some employees, and they could move to the Ridge.”
“It’s not a bad idea,” Lincoln said. “That could supplement the salary we offered him.”
“You’re right, it’s not a bad idea.” Amanda looked around. “Charlotte, your floors are going to be gorgeous when they’re done.”
“I think so,” Charlotte said, but her mind was still full of Ivan’s threats.
“Everything out of the closets?” Lincoln asked her.
“Not yet.” She hurried upstairs as the men set down their drinks, picked up the mattress and carried it outside. When she had an armful of clothing, she carefully made her way down again to bring it to number35. She passed the men on the porch, heading back.
“Want help?” Lincoln asked.
“I’ve got it.”
Come home , Ivan’s voice said again in her mind.
She shrugged it off as she lugged the clothes into number35. Maybe it was time to block Ivan. Up until now, she’d wanted to know if he was trying to reach her, but she dreaded looking at her email these days.
Charlotte hung her clothing in the closet of the nearest upstairs bedroom, the one Lincoln had slept in before he’d moved in with her. She had just made her way downstairs when her phone chimed again. Her heart sank until she realized it was a text, not an email notification. Steven was writing her.
Have you seen this?
He’d linked an article from the local Saratoga newspaper. Charlotte sat on the bottom step and clicked it.
Racehorse Missing, Presumed Stolen
She quickly read on.
Forrester’s Grand Rally, two-time champion thoroughbred, has gone missing from Gasparyn Stables only weeks after being pulled from the Belmont Oaks last minute due to an injury. Sources suggest the theft could be linked to recent turnover among staff. Authorities aren’t commenting on the ongoing investigation.
She scanned the short article twice, her throat tight. Who on earth had stolen Rally?
She shuddered to think of how Ivan would react, especially if he thought one of his employees was to blame. He prized loyalty above everything else. Besides, Rally was worth millions.
He’d already won the Kentucky Derby and the Preakness Stakes and had been on track for the Triple Crown before he’d injured his leg. That injury, coming hard on the heels of the one that had sidelined Summer’s Day, had kicked off a vicious series of arguments between her and Ivan. She’d refused to follow his orders, all the while planning behind his back to leave, but he’d never quit demanding she fix things so Rally could run in the Belmont.
Now Rally was gone.
Even without that Triple Crown win, he could earn Ivan a fortune in stud fees. She thought about all the security cameras and precautions at the stables. Anyone entering the facility would have been filmed. She wondered why there hadn’t been any arrests made already.
The line about turnover among staff at the stables made her pause. There had been a lot of new faces toward the end of her tenure there. Ivan was an irascible boss who’d never had qualms about firing people. She thought about Peter Illych’s behavior on the day Ivan had told him his services were no longer needed. The way he’d sneered at her.
Good luck, he’d said.
Had he been nursing a grudge against Ivan all this time? Peter had worked for him for years before she’d come along. Knew everyone else Ivan had employed up until that time. Did he know the weaknesses of the security system? Or had someone else taken Rally? And where had they gone?
Charlotte pocketed her phone and hurried back to the others, wishing she could share the story with them and talk it over, but she was determined to keep this secret locked tight in her heart. No man wanted to hear about his girlfriend’s shady ex-boyfriend. What kind of woman did she have to be to stay with a man like Ivan for so long?
“There she is,” Lincoln said when she entered number37 again. He came to wrap her in a hug.
“Here I am,” she agreed. And here was where she planned to stay.
By the time everyone left, and he and Charlotte had settled into number35, Lincoln was ready to call it a night, so when his phone buzzed, announcing a phone call, he nearly didn’t answer it.
Almost too late he recognized the name. “Lincoln Elliott,” he said quickly when he’d tapped the screen and lifted it to his ear.
“Hi, Lincoln. Ralph McInnis here. I’m handling the Grover Mill teardown. We talked about that edger you were interested in?”
“I’m still interested.”
Ralph heaved a gusty sigh. “The thing is, it’s not available anymore. Turns out the owner promised it to someone else and didn’t bother to tell me.”
Lincoln’s heart sank. “You’re kidding.”
“Wish I was. He stiffed me on my salvage fee, too. Said he’d found the buyer, so I didn’t earn it. Can you believe that?”
“No, I can’t.” And he couldn’t believe the edger had slipped through his fingers. “You wouldn’t happen to have a line on another one for sale, would you?”
“I’m afraid not. But I’ll keep your number just in case I come across one.”
“I’d appreciate that.”
Lincoln hung up, shoved his phone in his pocket, and faced Charlotte, who was sitting on the bed they’d just set up. There wasn’t anywhere else to sit, so he joined her.
“Bad news?” she asked.
He filled her in. “I don’t know where I’ll find another edger that cheap. It was really a good bargain. I shouldn’t have hesitated once I’d convinced my father.”
“You were busy,” she pointed out.
“I was chicken.” Lincoln couldn’t believe he’d said that out loud, but it was true. He’d known they needed that machine, but when the moment came to buy it, he’d balked, not trusting his own judgment because his father and brothers didn’t agree with it.
“Chicken?” She bumped his shoulder with her own. “I doubt that.”
“I knew we had to spend that money, and I put it off.” Frustration reared within him, and for one moment he wished he was back in the Army. He’d never second-guessed himself while serving because he hadn’t had his family breathing down his neck, reminding him of how he’d gotten it wrong before.
Charlotte watched him expectantly, saying nothing until Lincoln heard himself spill the story. “The last time I pushed my dad to spend money, the whole business collapsed.”
“That can’t be right. I thought the price of lumber crashed and put your family out of business,” she said softly.
“That happened, too, but we could have ridden out that storm if we hadn’t just taken on a huge loan to upgrade a bunch of our equipment. It was all my fault. I pushed and pushed Dad to get with the times. I told him all the other mills would leave us behind if we didn’t update our machines. He kept saying we had to be prudent with our cash, but I wouldn’t listen. Every time he turned around, there I was with my spreadsheets and proposals.”
He couldn’t stand the memory of it, how cocksure he’d been, as if a teenager knew more about running a mill than an experienced man like his father.
“It sounds like you were young and excited about building the family business.”
“I was a stupid fuck who ruined everything.” Lincoln stood up, unable to contain the anger—and shame—that coursed through him every time he thought about the way he’d hectored his father about spending that money. “It was my fault. I ruined everything.”
“Lincoln,” Charlotte chided him. “You were a kid. Your dad had run the mill for years. He wouldn’t have invested in that equipment if he didn’t think it was the right thing to do.” She stood, too, coming to touch his arm.
“You don’t understand.” Lincoln ground out the words, shame burning through his body. “The mill was already struggling. And he was…” His throat clogged with a surge of anguish he’d managed to hold inside until now. “He was failing. His health had gone to shit.” Watching his strong, vital father hollow ou t from overwork and the stress of watching the whole town slip away had been the worst experience of Lincoln’s life. “He bought the equipment to keep me happy,” he spit out. “I was that much of a prima donna. I kept saying if we didn’t upgrade, we might as well shut the place down. He was afraid we’d all bail on him, so he gave in. You should have seen him the day they delivered all that equipment. We walked through the mill once it had been installed. I was so damn proud. So… triumphant.” The word was sour in his mouth. “Two weeks later, the price of lumber crashed, and the layoffs started.”
He turned away from her, remembering every moment of those days. “We’d watch them go from the front porch of house number1. Day after day, family after family, packing up and driving away. The town emptying out. All our friends. All our parents’ friends. Every last worker at that mill—gone.”
His voice sounded like sandpaper over old, dried wood. “I did that. I killed our town.”
“You did what you thought was right,” Charlotte insisted.
“What I thought was right was dead wrong.” He faced her, even though he didn’t want to. She had to know how badly he’d screwed up, because he could do it again. “Then it was just us. My dad and my brothers and I. We tried to keep the mill alive ourselves, but of course we couldn’t. And Dad… kept having episodes.”
“Episodes?”
“He’d go gray.” Lincoln’s heart squeezed just remembering it. “He’d kind of fold over, like he couldn’t breathe. He wouldn’t go to the doctor. We could see he was going to have a heart attack someday.”
His chest felt encased by iron and Lincoln fought to breathe, his voice becoming unsteady knowing he had to tell her the rest of it.
“Then there came this day—it was pouring rain, and we were racing to meet a deadline we didn’t have a hope in hell of meeting. A hail-Mary pass supplying logs to another mill who still had contracts to fill. There was an accident with a logging truck.” He tried to swallow past a lump that had grown in his throat, but couldn’t. “Nate nearly got killed.”
“Oh, Lincoln.”
He rushed to say the rest of it, knowing he was close to letting his emotions overcome him, something he never did no matter what. Suddenly he was back there in the cold and wet, the rain coming down in sheets, the dusk closing in so they couldn’t see anything. His father shouting orders. Hudson trying to maneuver the truck.
The sound of logs starting to fall.
“It was as close a call as you can get,” he managed to say. “The shock must have done something to Dad’s heart. After he made sure we were all okay, he just… bent over, his hands braced on his knees—and then he collapsed.”
“Oh, my God. I’m so sorry.” Charlotte’s eyes filled with empathetic tears. “That must have been terrifying.”
“I thought he was dead.” Lincoln had never admitted that to himself. He’d stood paralyzed when his father had fallen, watching his brothers sprint to his aid. He’d thought he’d killed—
Lincoln swallowed again. “A minute later, Dad sat up. Scared the hell out of all of us. We thought he was down for the count. Hudson was calling an ambulance, but Dad grabbed the phone out of his hand. Said to stop being a bunch of crybabies and help him up.” He shook his head. “Five minutes later he was back to work. He wouldn’t listen no matter what we said. Wouldn’t quit for the day or even take a break. Wouldn’t even make a doctor’s appointment to get checked out. We realized he wasn’t going to slow down no matter how bad it got. That’s why we joined up.”
“Joined the military? Because of your dad’s heart?”
“As long as we stayed on the Ridge, he would have kept trying to save the mill. He would have ended up dead one way or the other. So we left.” Another wave of pain overwhelmed him. There was no way he could explain that morning around the kitchen table, he and his brothers telling their parents one by one that they were leaving the Ridge and wouldn’t be back. “It was all my fault,” he said again. “That’s why I have to get it right this time.”
“It wasn’t your fault,” Charlotte argued. “It was a sequence of events that went badly, that’s all. Like you said, you’re here now, and you’re going to put everything right. There will be another edger for sale.”
“What if there isn’t? What if I let Dad down again?” His chest was so tight he wondered if he might be the one to have a heart attack this time .
Charlotte put her arms around him.
“You’re not alone,” she said. “I’m here. Your brothers are here. So are the mill workers, Veronica and her friends and Anne’s programmers. Everyone wants Elliott Ridge to be a success.”
“It has to be. I can’t fail again.” He pulled back and looked her in the eyes. “Do you understand? I couldn’t face my father if I did—or anyone else. You have no idea what it feels like to screw up that badly.”
She stilled. “Actually, I do,” she said softly.
He gazed down at her in surprise. “You do?” He couldn’t believe it.
Charlotte wriggled a little as if she wished she hadn’t admitted it, but he waited her out and finally she let out a little sound that was half laugh, half despair. “I wasn’t going to tell you this.”
“I told you my secrets,” he said gruffly. Now they were out, he wished he hadn’t, but at the same time he was glad. The memories still hurt but somehow there was space around them, as if there was room now for the possibility of a different outcome in the future.
She pulled away from him and hugged her arms over her chest. “My last boyfriend was a real piece of work,” she said helplessly. “You know some of what he did but not all. I don’t want you to know.” She covered her face and Lincoln moved close enough that he could run his hands up and down her upper arms, wanting to reassure her. When she looked up again, he was stunned to see tears in her eyes. “I like you, Lincoln. A lot. But you won’t like me when you find out who I was.”
He drew back to study her again. “Yes, I will.” Nothing she could say would change the way he felt about her.
“No, you won’t.” She stepped back, too. Tried to pull out of his arms. “I don’t like myself.”
“It can’t be that bad.” He took her hands and didn’t let her shake him off.
“It feels that bad,” she said quietly.
He waited, knowing how hard it was to let down your guard when you’d held it up for so long.
“You have to understand he was charming at first. So… grown up and sophisticated. I was in awe of him when we met. I couldn’t believe he even noticed me let alone asked me out. I was in my last year of veterinary school, waiting tables at a local restaurant. He was… in his forties.” She looked down, color rising in her cheeks. “He came from a very wealthy Eastern European family. He ran businesses I didn’t understand—and he had a stable full of horses. Very, very expensive ones.”
Lincoln tried to keep his breathing even. He’d known her ex was rich, but the idea of some hardened businessman preying on his Charlotte made him want to hurt someone.
“I don’t know if he ever actually liked me or if he just needed a new veterinarian.” She looked up at him. “I still don’t know why he wanted to replace the old one.”
“The old veterinarian or girlfriend?”
She smiled at that. “The old veterinarian, although I imagine there was an old girlfriend, too. I just don’t know who she was. He lured me in by offering me work on the weekends that paid better and was far more appropriate to my upcoming career than my waitressing job. He never hired me officially—just slipped me a few hundred-dollar bills every week. By the time I graduated I’d moved in with him. He dismissed his private veterinarian and installed me in his place.” She broke free of Lincoln and paced around the room. “A few months later, things began to go south.”
Lincoln waited for her to gather her thoughts. He wanted to wrap her in his arms again, but she was lost in the past, and he wanted to hear what she had to say.
“At first he let me do things my way, and I treated those horses the way they deserved to be cared for, but pretty quickly he began to step in and dictate what I could and couldn’t do. While I’d worked part-time under his previous veterinarian, I’d begun to have an inkling what went on behind the scenes of the racing world. I promised myself it would be different if I was in charge, but as soon as I was, my boyfriend insisted I give his horses performance enhancers. We were still in our honeymoon phase, and I wanted to please him. I knew we were cheating, but I thought that was the extent of the crime. It seemed like everyone else was doing it.” She shook her head. “That’s how I justified it. Over time I saw firsthand what those chemicals did to the animals. What they allowed the owners to do to them.”
“The drugs hurt the horses?”
She nodded slowly. “The drugs weren’ t good for them, that’s for sure. They allowed the horses to race when they were injured so badly they shouldn’t have been running at all. The way my ex treated those horses—it was criminal. And now I was involved. Of course, it was only a matter of time before the excitement wore off and I saw him for who he really was. Gradually, he began to take me for granted. He still took me to restaurants and galas but as arm candy, not because he cared. He stopped suggesting what I should do with the horses and started demanding. Began to raise his voice when he didn’t immediately get his way…” She trailed off, hugging herself as if she was cold. “Once I stopped being in awe of him, I started noticing things that didn’t seem right. These men came to the house now and then. I don’t know what language they were speaking, but the way they stopped talking when I came into the room—it made me uncomfortable.”
Lincoln straightened. “You think your ex was involved in something shady?”
She nodded again. “I never found out what it was, but I realized over time he kept a lot of cash in the house. I don’t think it was drugs, because he didn’t use them and I never saw anyone else take them, either. I don’t know what it was.”
“Money laundering,” Lincoln suggested. “Arms smuggling. Human trafficking. Could have been anything.”
Charlotte paled. “I was never any part of that.”
He closed the distance between them. “Of course you weren’t. He was using you to dope his horses. He didn’t need you to do anything else.” When she pulled back like he’d slapped her, Lincoln cursed himself for being so blunt. “I mean your ex knew how to find people to do his dirty work. He didn’t need you to multitask.”
“That doesn’t make me feel any better.”
“You have nothing to feel bad about. He’s the one who lured you in, then put you in a position to compromise your morals.”
“But I’m the one who compromised them.” Charlotte lifted her hands and pressed them to her cheeks. “I… went along with it. Helped a horse run a little faster here. Helped another one overcome its pain there. By the time I knew what a monster he was, it was too late.”
“What do you mean?”
“He’d gotten control of me. He… didn’t pay me. Not with money. Instead, he gave me a credit card and said I could buy whatever I liked. It sounds generous, but it wasn’t.”
“He could track every penny you spent, and I bet you didn’t spend as much as you should have earned.”
She shook her head. “He was having me watched all the time, too.” Charlotte’s voice was thready, and there were tears in her eyes. “The first time I tried to get away, I did everything you’re supposed to do when you’re leaving a controlling relationship. I found a little apartment. Got a different job. I never breathed a word of it to him or anyone he knew.”
Lincoln had a feeling he knew where this was going. Her boyfriend was a powerful man. He wouldn’t stand for that.
“He found out. The night before I planned to leave, he came home early with a huge bouquet of flowers. He had his chef prepare a wonderful meal. When we were done eating, he toasted me with champagne. What could I do? I drank it. I don’t remember anything else until I woke up the following morning. I found my phone to check the time and discovered an email from my new employer saying he regretfully had to rescind the job offer he’d made. Then I got a call from my new landlord. She was in tears. I’d found a little apartment in this beautiful old house that was split into six residences. Overnight, the house had burned down.”
Lincoln took it all in. Charlotte’s ex was far more than a two-bit thug.
“I told myself it had to be a coincidence. Ivan couldn’t have had me fired, let alone burn down a house, except Ivan could do all sorts of things. I was too terrified to try to leave him again.”
Lincoln took her in his arms and held her tightly. “You got away.” She was here now, after all.
She took a deep breath but allowed him to hold her. “My grandmother died,” she said. “Ivan couldn’t keep me away from her funeral. How would that look? After all, he was an important man in town. Her lawyer found me there and told me he could help.” She looked up at Lincoln. “It was all very cloak and dagger. He explained my ex was monitoring my phone, and he had one of his associates take it and create a diversion. Meanwhile, Steven slipped me cash and a passport and sent me on my way. I flew back and forth across the country several times before I landed in Chance Creek.”
“Thank god for Steven,” Lincoln said without any irony. He recognized the name. That’s who Charlotte had been talking to on her phone her second night on the Ridge.
A smile tugged at one corner of her mouth. “Yes. Thank god for Steven.” Then her smile fled and tears filled her eyes, but she raised her gaze to his. “I understand if you want me to leave.”
“Leave?” Lincoln’s pulse jumped. “Why would I want you to leave?”
She stared at him. “I just told you my ex was a dangerous criminal and that I doped his horses so he could win races.”
“You know I served twelve years in the Special Forces, right?” he asked her drily. When she nodded, he went on. “You think we spent all that time handing out cupcakes? Charlotte, I know how the world works. I’ve seen a thing or two.” She kept watching him warily and his heart fell. He wished they could skip all this and go straight to bed, but he could tell she blamed herself for everything she’d been a part of, even though she’d done nothing wrong. “Guys like your ex—they’re a dime a dozen, and they all operate in the same way.” When her expression didn’t change, he tried again. “Bad guys manipulate good guys. They know what levers to push. How to convince and how to threaten. They break all the rules good guys live by. You stayed true to your values, Charlotte, so you were no match for your ex. I bet he made you feel like shit every time you tried to say no.”
“He was an expert at that,” she admitted. “I’d think I was trying to do the right thing, and he’d convince me it was all wrong or worse—selfish and ungrateful. I’d walk away from our conversations not knowing up from down, let alone right from wrong. But I should have been able to stay true to myself even if he was a good talker.”
“You’re human,” Lincoln told her. “And he had twenty years on you. Sounds like he spent a lifetime in the business of manipulating people. You didn’t stand a chance.”
“But I… hate myself,” Charlotte blurted, shocking Lincoln to silence. She pressed her lips together, but he could tell it was the truth—and he bet it ate her alive when she was alone. God, he understood exactly how she felt, which made it that much worse to know how she was suffering.
“I just… hate everything I’ve done,” she went on, her voice thick with unshed tears. She pushed out of his arms again. “I don’t even know why I did it. That’s the worst of it, you know? I was a good person once. I wanted to do good things, but when I was with him, I became someone else. Now I don’t know who I am.”
“I know who you are.” Lincoln came to stand next to her. “You are a wonderful woman who cares deeply for the people and animals around her. ”
“But I let everyone down. I let myself down. My grandmother died while I was with Ivan.”
Lincoln drew her into his arms. “You couldn’t have known who your ex was when you met him. You couldn’t have predicted what he’d do.”
“You couldn’t have known the price of lumber would crash, either,” she pointed out shakily. Lincoln stiffened, then relaxed again as the truth of it sank in. She was right; he couldn’t.
“Guess we both had a difficult lesson to learn,” he said, savoring the feeling of her pressed close to him. “We need to look more carefully before we leap.”
She laughed suddenly.
“What?” Lincoln asked, looking down at her in concern.
“I didn’t learn that lesson, did I?” She shook her head at his confusion. “I met you at the airport, you invited me here and I took another flying leap.”
“I guess I didn’t learn it, either, then. This time it worked out, though, so I don’t regret leaping.” Lincoln bent down and kissed her.
She sighed. “Honestly? I don’t regret it, either. Are you sure you don’t think I’m a horrible person?”
“Do you think I’m one?” He countered.
“No,” she said. “I think you’re wonderful.”
“And I think the sun rises and sets because of you.”
When Charlotte woke up the next morning, she rolled over, grabbed her phone off the floor, looked at its screen and groaned to see she’d woken up nearly an hour before her alarm was due to go off. Sunlight shone through the curtainless windows of house35. After a minute or two of trying, she knew she wouldn’t get back to sleep. Instead she got up as quietly as she could and slipped into her clothes. At least she could get an extra-long ride since she hadn’t gotten one yesterday.
Lincoln was sleeping so soundly he didn’t even turn over when she got out of bed. Last night’s conversation seemed to have freed him from a burden he’d been carrying for a long time. Charlotte was grateful she’d found the questions to get him talking about what was going on in his head.
She felt lighter, too, as she made her way downstairs and out the front door. She’d been so sure Lincoln would look down on her if he knew the truth about her relationship with Ivan. In the end he’d surprised her, and in talking about it, she’d felt able to let go of some of her shame. Maybe Lincoln was right; maybe Ivan had simply outmatched her. She was older now. Wiser. She wouldn’t make the same mistakes again.
As Charlotte cut through the empty streets, she spotted Sasha slipping into the house she shared with her friends near the town hall. Where had she been so early in the morning? Charlotte stifled a laugh when she saw Gareth opening the front door of Anne’s boarding house and sneaking inside, as well. The two of them must have been together. If Anne ever caught them, there’d be hell to pay.
A wave of contentment washed over her. Birds were singing overhead, and the air was fresh, although it was warm already. Gage wouldn’t be up for another half hour. Hudson wouldn’t be jogging for an hour or so. Now that Sasha and Gareth were safely in their homes, she had the whole place to herself.
She wandered in the direction of the stable, so lost in thought as she approached the corral that flanked it that it was only when she rested her arms on the top rail she noticed something out of place. Colonel, Thorn and Eagle were gathered in a knot on the far side, their eyes rolling, whickering now and then. Closer to her an unfamiliar stallion snorted at her intrusion.
Charlotte stilled.
Not unfamiliar. She knew that horse.
What was Rally doing here?
She gripped the top rail, her fingers digging into the wood. Rally had been stolen from Gasparyn Stables. Now he was here on Elliott Ridge.
It didn’t make any sense.
Rally nickered and took a step toward her. When she saw he still had a slight limp, her stomach sank. She’d assumed when she’d left Ivan would hire another veterinarian right away. Had his new hire botched Rally’s care?
If so, Rally might never race again.
Stunned, Charlotte could barely credit the evidence in front of her eyes. That mistake could cost Ivan a lot of cash. Had he arranged for Rally to be stolen so he could collect the insurance money?
No, Charlotte thought, staring at the horse who was stretching its neck over the rails, looking for a scratch behind the ears. Not for the insurance money. Not yet, anyway. If he’d wanted that, Ivan would have arranged for Rally to disappear for good.
He was framing her.
The earth tilted beneath Charlotte’s feet, and she held on to the corral fence with both hands as Rally nudged her with his nose. If anyone found him here, they’d think she’d stolen him, and she’d go to jail. That’s what Ivan wanted—to punish her.
Charlotte fought to make sense of it. She had no idea how he’d gotten Rally into this corral, but she had no doubt Ivan was behind this. He’d probably called the sheriff already, who’d be on his way to catch her with his stolen horse. And Rally was on Elliott property. Did that mean Lincoln and his brothers could be charged as accessories to the theft? They could lose their contracts—
They could lose their town.
Horror gripped her. For an awful moment she thought she might be sick. She had to get Rally away from here.
She had to leave Elliott Ridge.
That’s what Steven had said: if she thought Ivan knew where she was, she had to leave. She’d left cash in her bank account for just such a possibility. Before Ivan could bring the sheriff to witness this “crime,” she needed to run far enough that no one would ever find her.
But somehow she couldn’t move. Her breath was coming in gasps, and she thought if she let go of the corral fence, she might collapse to the ground. She didn’t want to leave the Ridge. Didn’t want to leave Lincoln. Not when everything was going so well. This was the home she’d always craved. Lincoln was the man she wanted to spend her life with.
But if she stayed, he could lose everything he loved.
Charlotte stared into Rally’s liquid eyes. How had Ivan found her? More to the point, how had he gotten Rally into this corral? There was no way someone could drive up Elliott Way without waking up everyone in house number1. Could someone have walked the horse onto the Ridge and cut through the woods to muffle the sound of its hooves?
Was that what had woken her so early?
Maybe she was still asleep, Charlotte thought desperately. Maybe she was still in bed with Lincoln lying next to her. Maybe she would wake up in a minute, and this would all be a dream.
Charlotte squeezed her eyes shut. Took a deep breath. Opened them again.
Rally stepped closer. He gave a little whinny. Nudged her. Did he recognize her? She had worked with him often enough.
Was the person who brought him here watching them now?
Charlotte drew in a quick breath, but as she scanned her surroundings, she felt sure she was alone. She had time—but not much. Someone would wake up soon. The sheriff would arrive. She had to move Rally, now.
She couldn’t ask Lincoln for help. If she did, he’d think they could deal with the situation logically. He’d call the sheriff, explain what had happened and expect justice to prevail.
That wasn’t how things worked when Ivan was involved. She couldn’t use normal channels to fix this mess. She had to outsmart him at his own game.
She took another steadying breath and quickly considered her options. As long as no one looked out their window, she had a chance of getting Rally out of here unseen. After all, she’d been saddling up a horse and riding it early most mornings for the past week, so the sound of her leading Rally away wouldn’t cause any alarm.
She glanced around again, made sure she was alone, then unhooked the gate, grabbed Rally’s lead and directed him out the corral, fastening the gate behind them.
She needed somewhere to stash the thoroughbred. Food for him. And a way to transport him far away as soon as she got the chance.
Charlotte thought of the clearing at the mine. Amanda had hidden her stolen painting up there in the abandoned buildings. Could she tether a horse there for the day out of sight of the rest of the community?
She didn’t let herself think it through. Rally already wore a bridle. Grateful no one lived directly behind the stables, she walked Rally slowly to the outskirts of the community before picking up the pace a little as the ground grew steeper under her feet. She made a wide loop past the northern side of town until they reached the road that led to the mine.
When they finally arrived at the clearing, she breathed a sigh of relief. Charlotte examined the area, found a spot beneath some trees where she could leave Rally tied up and spotted a water tap near one of the buildings. She raced to test it. Turning it gingerly, she was relieved to find it still worked. It took long minutes to find an old metal bucket that was still watertight. She let the water flow for a while before filling the bucket and left it within Rally’s reach. She hated leaving the horse here, but there was nothing for it. She would have to return as soon as possible after she found a better situation for him.
“I’ll bring food for you before the day is over and get you out of here,” she told him, smoothing his sleek neck. “I have to go now before anyone notices I’m gone, but I swear I’ll be back.”
She had to get a trailer. And figure out where to take Rally.
Time was ticking along, though, and soon Elliott Ridge’s inhabitants would be awake. Charlotte found the track she’d taken with Lincoln on their tour but made a large detour around Hudson’s tree. She cut through the streets to her house and slipped inside as quietly as she could.
She heard Lincoln moving around upstairs and the shower running. Relieved, she hurried to the bedroom. She managed to change into a clean outfit and was making the bed when he came out, a towel wrapped around his waist.
“There you are,” he said and drew her into a damp embrace. “I woke up, and you were gone.”
“It’s such a beautiful morning, I had to ride,” she told him.
“I was afraid maybe I scared you off,” he said, kissing the top of her head.
“Never,” she said, her mind still working away at the problem she’d hidden at the mine.
Suddenly she remembered Admiral, the sad, old horse she and Craig had rescued from Ed Johnson’s place a week ago. He was housed at Bella’s facility now, eating, exercising and healing from his neglect.
Maybe she knew a way to get a trailer here, after all.