Ladd Haven (31 page)

“
Cal brought a couple of
thugs for the purpose of intimidation,” Jack piped up. Shoving a
shoulder toward Nick, he crossed the kitchen and took up residence
next to his mother. “Apparently they don’t understand that’s a
crime here in Tennessee.”

“
The only crime that’s been
committed has been by you,” Cal thrust angrily, irritated by his
mother’s presence. He had wanted to avoid this scene altogether,
but she was making that impossible. “We’re here to tell you it
won’t stand. We will reveal you for the liar you are.”

Victoria set her sights on Cal, a
glittery mix of anger and determination in her heated gaze heated.
“Don’t tell me you’re going to continue this charade on behalf of
your wife’s new family?”

“
It’s no charade. Jack
assaulted Delaney. With a gun.”

“
Because Delaney said so?”
Jack laughed, clearly comfortable under his mother’s wing. “That
woman has had it out for me ever since the divorce, everyone knows
that.”

Cal wanted to spit. He wanted to smack
a stiff one across his jaw. Jack had always been a hell raiser, a
short-cut taker, a man skating the field of responsibility, but an
abuser? That crossed the line. “What happened to you,
Jack?”

His mother responded for him, firing
her disdain with both barrels. “What happened to your loyalty to
family, Cal? Why have you forsaken your kin for the
Ladds?”

“
This is about right and
wrong, momma. It’s not about taking sides.”

“
So you intend to slander
our good name with these false charges against your
brother?”

“
They’re not
false.”

“
They won’t withstand the
scrutiny of a judge. You and I both know what will happen if you
proceed. Without physical proof you will only succeed in smearing
our good name.” Taking a step toward him, she said, “We have a
reputation in this town, good standing within the community. Do you
seriously want to ruin that for an old grudge?”

Seemed to him that’s exactly what his
momma was doing—acting on an old grudge. “Jack is out of control.
He needs help.”

Jack belted out a laugh, puncturing the
room with contempt. “It’s not me who needs the help. Everyone in
town knows it’s that Parker kid who’s trouble. Why don’t you focus
some of your attention on him?” Erasing all ease, he added,
“Screwing around with your girlfriend’s father’s lady is pretty
sick, if you ask me.”

Nick flinched. Malcolm seized his arm.
Cal balled his hand into a fist by his side. “You’re walking some
treacherous ground, Jack. I’d watch your back, if I were
you.”

“
Threatening me again?” Jack
looked to their mother. “Tsk, tsk, tsk...when you will you ever
learn?”

Victoria glowered, frosty lines carved
into her face. “Cal, I think you should leave.”

Something in him closed. Hearing those
words spoken from his momma’s lips sealed it for him. This was a
wasted effort. Her stake in this went deep, deeper than he’d
realized. Maybe deeper than he could fathom. She was banking her
reputation and family’s future relations on this one battle. For
better or worse, she was fully vested. “I’ll go, Momma, but I can’t
let Jack get away with what he’s doing. It’s not right, and I
intend to do everything in my power to stop him. I’m sorry if it
causes you pain, but it’s the right thing to do.” As he said it,
Cal glimpsed sight of his father. His heart pitched. Standing
several yards behind her, he’d been listening to the entire
exchange. The guilt in his eyes said it all. This was about
him.

And he knew it.

Victoria’s defense of Jack was an
assault against her husband. It was emotional retaliation for the
years of hurt she’d endured. Cal hadn’t realized until this moment
how hot the memory of Susannah Ladd still burned in his daddy’s
heart. Perhaps he hid it well, perhaps Cal hadn’t been looking, but
now, in the dim light of the dining room, it was there, clear as
mountain river stream.

Casey smacked the steering wheel of her
car, cursing the vehicle ahead of her. “The speed limit’s
forty-five not twenty-five!”

A brown station wagon lumbered along at
an agonizing twenty miles per hour, blocking her passage on the
two-lane highway. Black pavement was marked by a double yellow
line, lined by heavily-wooded trees, constantly curving. There was
hardly anyone out here, with only the occasional mailbox jutting
out from a hidden drive. Still, there was no way she could pass.
Not without risking a head-on collision.

A tiny spasm cramped in her
abdomen. She’d been having them for the last few hours. They were
minor. Nothing more than nerves, but she didn’t dare tell Miss
Ashley. As it was, it took thirty minutes of “convincing” to keep
her from driving Casey to the hotel herself.
A woman in her condition shouldn’t drive. She was too upset.
It wasn’t good for the baby
. Casey wanted
to scream at the top of her lungs, “I’m fine! I’m pregnant. It’s
fine!”

Ashley had been insistent but Casey was
determined she was going alone. Troy needed her. He’d been let go.
Not fired, he assured her, but “let go.” Company policy. Harris
Hotels wasn’t permitted to employ criminals or people arrested for
crimes. Which was totally unfair. Troy wasn’t a criminal. He was
arrested on bogus charges made by a man with a vendetta against
Miss Delaney.

And Casey thought her sperm donor was a
creep. Felicity’s father was right there with him! Jack Foster was
acting like Troy attacked him when Felicity said it was clearly the
other way around. He’d been attacking her mom and Troy had stepped
in to protect her.. After Troy left the diner with officer Gavin,
Felicity came clean and told her everything.

At least Mr. Harris was able to get
Troy out of jail. When Felicity told her the Parkers were letting
Troy stay in jail to teach him a lesson, Casey had wanted to cry.
They were going to let him sit in jail for something he didn’t do?
What kind of lesson was that? Don’t step in and help others in
need? It made her sick. What kind of parents did that to a
child?

Not her. She would never do that to her
kid. Ever. Her daughter was going to be loved. Her child was going
to know she mattered. Troy wouldn’t do that to his child, either.
He was going to be a good dad. Brake lights illuminated as the
station wagon in front of her slowed for a sharp curve.

Growling under her breath, Casey cursed
the car. If she didn’t hurry, Troy was going to leave before she
got there. “Get going!”

Chapter Twenty-Four

Regret pummeled her heart as Delaney
paced the confines of her office. Nick sat idle, watching her work
through her emotions. He was supportive, patient, exactly what she
needed. Trail rides were finished for the day, a few men working to
tidy up and prepare for tomorrow. Nick had relayed his meeting with
Jack, his mother, Cal’s interpretation of it all and Delaney was
sick about it. This was her fault. “I should have gone down to the
police station. I should have gone first thing and pressed charges.
That way Jack wouldn’t have been able to make it look like I only
went down to protect Troy.”

“
You were trying to protect
the hotel. You didn’t know he was going to fabricate a story to
frame Troy.”

“
I underestimated him. I
should have suspected Jack would try and pull something like this.”
But in all honesty she’d never seen it coming. She’d been too busy
with concerns over Troy and Casey, the initial shock, the near
fatal shooting. Casting a glance through the plate glass window,
she zeroed in on the scene of the crime. Images from that night
swarmed—Sadie, Jack, Troy, shrieks, gunfire—the bloody mess of the
fight that ensued. Sure as she was sitting here, Delaney knew that
if Troy hadn’t stepped in when he did, Jack would be dead. A shiver
raced through her. Pulling her gaze from the window, she quieted
the flutter of pulse. “I wish I could go back and change it, go
down and file the charges. At this rate Gavin won’t even listen to
me.”

“
Gavin isn’t the only
officer on the force,” Nick said. “The police can’t ignore you. A
woman comes in and makes attempted rape charges, someone will have
to follow up. There will be an investigation. Troy will be
questioned, you... Trust me, they’ll find inconsistencies in Jack’s
statement. The truth will come out.”

“
They’ll find my bullet
lodged in a wall somewhere.” Despite her best efforts, Delaney had
been unable to find her bullet. She’d scoured the walls, the
ground, but it was nowhere to be found. Vanished. Disappeared. She
bet the police would find it, and it would go to Jack’s claim that
she drew first and fired her weapon.

“
Self-defense,” Nick stated
matter-of-factly.

“
Prove it.”

“
Whose side are you
on?”

She dropped to a seat on the edge of
her desk, the metal edge cutting into her tailbone. “Reality. It
looks bad for me. I’m not the one sporting bruises from the
encounter. I don’t have any physical evidence to prove my
claim.”

“
You have Troy.”

“
A young man with an
unstable past.” A past with marginal personal judgment—very public
marginal personal judgment—including two well-observed dalliances
with older women, one of them Jeremiah Ladd’s girlfriend. When
Delaney learned that Jack had insinuated Troy was there after hours
to have an affair with her, she’d almost doubled over. Jack was
disgusting. He was a disgusting human being with no sense of
decency. Groaning aloud, she muttered, “Oh yeah, jurors are going
to
love
the two of
us.”

Nick walked over and took her by the
shoulders. He held firm, looked her square in the eye and said, “I
love you. You’re not going to go through this alone. You have me,
and together we’ll give Jack exactly what he deserves.”

Including a messy battle between two
well-established families in town, she mused soberly. While she
appreciated Nick’s declaration of love and support, she didn’t
share his confidence. Jack Foster had eluded the consequences of
his behavior for twenty years. There was no reason to believe that
would change.

“
You have to believe you’re
the one with the power here. Don’t give it away so
easily.”

Delaney blinked, realizing at once he
was right. But it was past tense. Shame poked at her heart. She’d
been the one with the power a decade ago yet she’d neglected to
exercise it. She never pressed charges against Jack for his abuse,
instead, opting to run home, taking shelter in the shadows of her
mother’s sanctuary, just as her mother had done before her. Delaney
ran, hid from her assailant. She hadn’t done anything wrong yet she
was the one in hiding. She wouldn’t make the same mistake again.
“You’re right. I’ll go to the police station tomorrow morning and
give a complete statement.”

“
Good girl.” He kissed her
forehead. “Want me to go with you?”

“
No.” Delaney didn’t want
Nick to be subjected to anymore ugliness than need be. If Gavin
wouldn’t listen, she’d find someone who would. This was about doing
what was right, not giving into tawdry insinuations and
accusations. “It won’t take long,” she said, and mentally began to
prepare for the day ahead, the consequences to come.

“
Okay. Now let’s get out of
here and go home.”

Cal and Annie stepped outside the
lobby, pausing. Off to the side of the front entrance near plump
hydrangeas, their round blooms a soothing periwinkle. A collection
of irises surrounded their base creating a lovely effect yet Annie
couldn’t enjoy them. Not when her husband was hurting. Troy was no
longer employed by Harris Hotels—a technicality of sorts, but a
fact—a shock that still stung. Cal felt responsible which was
ludicrous. He’d done nothing wrong. It was his brother, not him.
Circling a hand around his arm, Annie secured their connection. “At
least ya’ll were able to get him out of jail. I know he’s grateful
to you for that. Did Troy say what his plans were? I mean, if the
Parkers weren’t willing to bail him out, will they let him move
back in?”

“
He didn’t say. He was
pretty beat up about losing his position at the
stables.”

“
You assured him it’s only
temporary, right? Until Nick gets it cleared up in
court?”

Cal gazed down at her, a deep sadness
wedged in his hazel eyes. “Yes, but that can take months,
especially if Jack proves to be difficult.”

“
Do you think he
will?”

“
Yes, but the rest is up to
Delaney.”

“
She’s going to officially
press charges, right? Won’t that help?”

“
I imagine so.”

“
But what?” His reticence
was distinct. “What’s troubling you?”

“
It’s my mother.”

Annie balked. “Victoria? What’s she got
to do with anything?”

“
She’s taken up for
Jack.”

As a mother, Annie understood. A mother
couldn’t forsake her child. Couldn’t abandon them in their hour of
need. Even when they made poor decisions, a mother would be there
for her child. “But surely she understands the severity of the
situation. This isn’t a bar fight. Can’t she support him without
allowing him to lie?”