Rebecca Winters - Home To Copper Mountain

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.

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 more attractive in person.

“When I got out of my car, I could hear screaming. It gave me the chills,” he explained. His compassionate gaze let her know her nightmare must have been a beaut.

Audra moaned while she willed her body to calm down. To think he’d heard her carrying on from clear outside.

How awful! How humiliating!

“I thought you were being attacked. Your front door was locked, so I got in through your bedroom window, which had been left open.”

Last night she’d been too physically exhausted to check the window. Her driving need had been to reach the bed before she collapsed.

To her chagrin the clock radio by her bed said five after twelve. She hadn’t thought to set it because she rarely needed an alarm to wake her up. Normally she only slept seven hours.

“It’s a-all right,” she stammered. “If you would please wait for me in the living room. It’s down the hall on your left.”

“Would you like some help getting up first?”

“No— I can manage, thank you.”

The concerned gray eyes staring down at her from between heavy black lashes made a sweep of her five-foot-five figure. They started with the toes peeping out of her cast, and ended with her dark red curls, missing nothing in between. She felt as if he’d just sucked all the air out of her lungs.

“So you’re the cousin who almost lost a limb.” His voice had a faraway sound, yet his gaze was all too personal as it took in her other leg, which was bare to the fringe of her denim shorts. “Thank God it didn’t happen.”

Thank heavens she hadn’t changed out of her clothes before she’d finally drifted off. He could have found her in her underwear…

Audra had never felt so embarrassed in her whole life. Heat poured into her cheeks.

“So,” she mimicked. She was attracted to him yet his presence in her bedroom made her feel violated, though she knew he’d meant her no harm. “You’re the son with the death wish. The Hill Country’s a little far out of your way for a pit stop, isn’t it?”

Avoiding his eyes, she waited until he’d disappeared out the door before reaching for her crutches.

That’s when she saw her spiral notebook still open and lying on the bed next to her hip. The pencil had fallen to the floor.

“Racetrack Lover!”

Oh no! Had he read what she’d written?

Audra closed the book and put it on the bedstand. In a few clumsy moves she eased herself off the mattress and was able to grab fresh underwear from the drawer.

No way was she going to wear another pair of shorts in front of him. Snug jeans were impossible to put on. A blouse and skirt would be easier to manage than a dress with a zipper up the back.

She pulled a light-blue blouse and denim skirt from the hangers in the closet, then moved to the bathroom across the hall as fast as she could.

Since she was unable to shower with the cast on, a quick sponge bath would have to do for today. The small bathroom left little space for her cast and the crutches, too.

She applied a dusky pomegranate shade of lipstick and flicked a brush through her curls. There wasn’t anything she could do about the shadows under her eyes.

“Did you close and lock your window?” he asked as she entered the living room a few minutes later.

“It’s a little late for that, don’t you think? Until a few minutes ago we’ve never had a break-in.”