“Be nice,” her cousin murmured, but Audra could tell she was on the verge of laughter. “It’s easy to get lost in the Hill Country after dark, and lest you forget, he’s no boy.”
Her cousin was right about that. An image of the good-looking male with black hair she’d seen in some of Pam’s wedding pictures filled Audra’s mind. Clint and his sons were more attractive than any three men had a right to be.
“Is this to be a quick visit?”
“Yes. Clint’s so thrilled Rick agreed to come here on his way to Arizona, he’s been restless all day waiting for him. I put him to work helping me cook. We’re going to have a big lunch at noon. Sleep now and I’ll be by for you about quarter to twelve.”
“No, no. This is your first chance to show his son around your turf for a change. There’s no way I’m going to interfere with that!”
“Audra—Uncle David wants everyone to meet. The cousins and their families are coming from Austin. He insisted.”
“Oh, no.”
“I’m not too excited about that myself.”
Their uncle probably had to threaten leaving them out of the will for them to agree, but Audra didn’t say the words out loud. Their bitterness over his handling of the Jarrett family finances since their parents’ deaths years before had turned them into angry men.
After the loving care Pam had always shown their cousins growing up, Audra couldn’t believe how mean-spirited and ungrateful they were. When they’d heard she was marrying what they considered to be some old geezer from Colorado, they’d mocked her and laid bets the relationship wouldn’t last.
To their shock, she’d returned to Texas with her new husband following their honeymoon in Hawaii. Despite family emergencies that required Pam to leave Hawaii early to be with Audra after her accident, and Clint to fly home to Copper Mountain to talk some sense into his son Nate, who was hurting from a broken engagement, it appeared their marriage was thriving. Clint would be a permanent fixture around the ranch from now on.
Tom, the oldest of the three boys and their spokesman, had given their uncle David an ultimatum. They wanted Clint out of the main house. Until he was gone, they would no longer come out on weekends to help keep the fencing in good repair, a never-ending project.
That kind of cruelty pained Audra, who was still hampered to a large extent by her broken leg. Her unexpected accident had brought Pam running to her side to wait on her when Pam should have been enjoying precious time with her brand-new husband.
As it turned out, Clint Hawkins was anything but an old geezer.
Audra didn’t know such a wonderful person existed anywhere. She’d shed tears of happiness he’d come into Pam’s life. Already she sensed that beneath Clint’s mild-mannered nature lived a highly principled man and a force to contend with. He protected Pam in so many subtle ways, their male cousins would be no match for him when they did meet.
As for Uncle David, Audra could tell that Clint had won him over when he’d agreed to fly Pam’s husband to Odessa in the middle of the night.
There’d been some family emergency that required Clint’s getting on a plane back to Colorado. Their uncle wouldn’t have gone out of his way like that if he hadn’t respected Clint a great deal.
When Audra really thought about it, lunch with the whole family ought to be downright interesting.
“I’ll make sure I’m ready when you arrive. Thanks for checking up on me, Pam.”
“As if I wouldn’t. Get a good sleep.”
I won’t. “You, too.”
Audra clicked off, then lay back against the pillows. The time she dreaded every night was here once again.
No longer on heavy painkillers that blotted out consciousness, when she closed her eyes, her mind replayed the horror of the accident.
Refusing to let it happen tonight, she turned on the lamp and reached for the spiral notebook she kept by the bed. She could almost hear the music as she pulled the pencil from the coil and started jotting down the words to a song formulating in her mind. She’d already entitled it “Racetrack Lover.”
Hey cowboy, can you hear me?
Better hold your sweetheart tight.
There’s an exciting new man.
Coming into town tonight.
He’s lucky on the track and lucky with the women,
He’ll mess with your gal,
Consider that a given.
Tall, dark and sexy,
Handsome as sin,
He’s the racetrack lover
Who’s about to drive in.
If you don’t want a broken heart before daylight,
Keep your gal out of sight and locked up tight.
Better put her in the barn,
And throw away the key,
Don’t let him get near her,
Or believe you me,
He’ll take her for a ride,
And rob you blind,
Before he spins his wheels,
And leaves her behind.
He’s a charmer,
He’s a talker,
He’s a no-strings guy,
He’s the racetrack lover in town on the fly.
Hey cowboy, can you hear me?
Better hold your sweetheart tight.
There’s an exciting new man coming into tow—
“I’m so cold. Are you cold, Pete? Pete? Talk to me! Oh no! Oh please God, no.
“Don’t let him be dead! Help him! Help him!” She pounded her fist against the glass.
“Why doesn’t someone come?” She pounded harder. “Help! So much blood. He’s not moving.
“Someone help! What am I going to do?”
“Audra?”
“Oh thank God. Get him out. Hurry!”
“Audra? Wake up,” an alarmed voice sounded from the murky haze engulfing her. “Wake up! You’re having a nightmare.”
She felt a hand on her shoulder. “Come on. Wake up. It’s all right. You’re home in bed. It was just a bad dream.”
“Pam?” she cried, clutching the hand that gripped her upper arm to force her awake.
But it wasn’t small and feminine. This hand felt solid and male. Her eyelids flew open.
A man with black hair stood over her bed.
CHAPTER TWO
AUDRA SCREAMED bloody murder and threw off his hand while she tried to reach the nearest crutch. To her horror, her bad leg pretty well held her anchored.
“Forgive me for frightening you, Ms. Jarrett,” he said in a low voice. “I’m Clint Hawkins’s son Rick. I told Pam I’d pick you up for her.”
Rick Hawkins?
She fought to catch her breath and waited for her heartbeat to return to normal. Her mind began to clear now that the threat of bodily injury had passed. Audra recognized him from Pam’s wedding photographs. In those pictures his tall, well-honed physique had been dressed in a formal suit instead of a black T-shirt and jeans. He was even