Beverly Barton - The Outcast

"What do you want me to do?"

"Get as much information as you can about B. K. Stanton's death. We've got to prove who killed Reece's father, or he'll be put in prison for the rest of his life."

"Elizabeth, what are you not telling me?"

"I don't know what you mean."

"I asked if you knew Landry was innocent because you'd read his mind. You didn't answer me," Sam said.

"I can sense certain things about Reece, and pick up on some of his emotions, but... well, I can't read him the way I do most other people. He's able to form some sort of shield around his mind, around his emotions."

"Good God, Elizabeth, you're taking this guy on faith? You're risking your life without knowing for sure whether or not he's really innocent."

"He's innocent, Sam. I know he is. Please help us."

"I'll run a background check on Landry and I'll-"

"I thought I told you not to call Sam Dundee!" Reece stood in the doorway, his face flushed with anger, his amber eyes wild with fear.

"Reece, please try to understand-" Elizabeth gazed at Reece with compassion and a plea for understanding in her eyes.

"Elizabeth!" Sam shouted into the telephone. "Is that Landry? If it is, put him on the phone."

"Wait just a minute, Sam." Elizabeth held out the phone to Reece. "Sam wants to talk to you."

Reece stared at the phone as if it were a slithering snake ready to strike, then glared at Elizabeth. "I thought I could trust you, but the minute my back was turned you called Dundee."

Elizabeth shook the phone at Reece. "I didn't betray you. I'm trying to get Sam to help you prove your innocence. Sam has contacts everywhere. He owns a private security agency in Atlanta. His sources are unlimited."

Reece walked into the room slowly, glancing back and forth from Elizabeth to the phone in her hand. She shoved the phone at him.

"Talk to Sam," she said.

Reece took the phone. "Yeah?"

"Landry?"

"Yeah."

"I don't know exactly what's going on there," Sam said, "but I want to warn you that if you harm Elizabeth, you're as good as dead. Do I make myself clear?"

"Crystal clear."

"If Elizabeth believes you, then I'm willing to give you the benefit of the doubt. I'm checking you out, Landry, and if I find out you've been lying, I'll personally cut your heart out."

"And if you find out I've been telling the truth?"

"Then I'll do whatever Elizabeth wants me to do to help you. Now put Elizabeth back on the phone."

Reece handed her the phone. "He wants to talk to you again."

"Sam?"

"I'll call you tomorrow and let you know how much I've been able to find out. Until then, for God's sake, be careful."

Elizabeth breathed a sigh of relief. Sam was going to help them. "Thank you, Sam. You can't know how much this means to me."

"What I want to know is how much Reece Landry means to you."

"I'm not sure, but..." Elizabeth glanced at a scowling Reece. "Just call us tomorrow with whatever information you can find. Reece is going to have to leave soon, and he needs something to go on."

Returning the telephone to its cradle, she faced Reece. "Sam is going to help you."

"I think I should leave as soon as possible." Reece glared at her, the distrust glowing in his eyes. "I don't dare trust Dundee. For all I know he's calling the sheriff to turn me in right now."

Elizabeth grabbed Reece by the arm as he turned from her. "You don't have to leave. Sam isn't going to call the sheriff. He would never break a trust. He's an honorable man."

"I'll stay until morning," Reece said, all the while damning himself for a fool for taking a chance by trusting his beautiful witch. "On one condition."

"What condition?" Elizabeth asked.

"I want my gun back."

Elizabeth nodded agreement. "If I go get your gun and give it to you, you promise you'll stay until Sam calls tomorrow?"

"I'm probably a fool for agreeing, but I agree."

"I'll need to put on my coat. I hid your gun outside, between the compost bins." Elizabeth walked out of the living room, through the kitchen and onto the back porch. When she reached for her coat on the rack by the door, Reece grabbed her by the shoulders, twirling her around. She stared at him, uncertain what he intended to do.

"I would never hurt you. You know that, don't you? The gun is for my protection against the police."

Elizabeth swallowed the knot in her throat, but she couldn't slow the rapid beat of her heart. "I understand."

Reece traced the lines of her jawbone with his fingertips. "I don't want you to be afraid of me."

"I'm not afraid of you, Reece. I'm only afraid of what might happen to you."

Elizabeth pulled away from him, put on her coat and went out into the cold February afternoon alone. It was at that moment she made her decision. When Reece Landry left her mountain, she was going with him.

Chapter 5

We're not going to discuss this anymore!" Reece stuffed cans of soup and sandwich spreads into the duffel bag Elizabeth had given him. "When I leave this mountain, I leave alone."

"But you don't know the back roads. If I'm with you, you're less likely to get caught. We could even get through the roadblocks with me driving. I could fill the back of the Jeep with flowers from the greenhouse and tell the police that I'm on a delivery run. You could hide under a blanket or something." Elizabeth handed Reece a loaf of bread and a carton of saltine crackers.

"You've seen too many movies. This isn't a game. This is for real. If you go with me, you could get yourself killed." Reece eyed the 9 mm lying on the kitchen table.

"And without my help, you could get yourself killed," she said.

Reece looked at Elizabeth, the woman who had saved his life only a few days ago, the woman who wanted to join him in his fugitive's journey. She wasn't small and fragile. She wasn't a whining, helpless female. Mother Nature had put Elizabeth Mallory together like a work of art-round, full-bodied, solid. She possessed an inner strength as well, a strength that attracted Reece as much as her physical beauty. Braless and with her hair tumbling freely down her back to her waist, Elizabeth presented a picture of earthy sensuality.

Elizabeth was the type of woman who could plow a field, cook three meals a day from scratch, shoot and skin her own game, give birth to a baby and be ready to fight off an Indian attack the next morning. Pioneer stock.

"Why are you looking at me like that?'' she asked.

"I was just picturing you fighting off an Indian attack," Reece said.

"What?"

"Just thinking about how much you're probably like your ancestors who settled these mountains." Reece stuffed the stack of clean clothes Elizabeth had given him into the duffel bag. More of Sam Dundee's clothes.

"For your information, my ancestors didn't fight off the Indians. My Scots-Irish ancestors married Indians, they didn't kill them." Elizabeth laid her hand atop Reece's where he gripped the handle of the duffel bag. "If you let me go with you, I can get you to Newell safely, and... and I can help you find your father's murderer."

Reece looked her directly in the eye. "What do you intend to do, go through the whole town reading everyone's mind?" Reece pulled away from her, dropping the duffel bag to the floor.

"I could meet the people who knew your father. Possible suspects. Members of his family."

Picking up the gun, Reece slid it into the pocket of the leather jacket Elizabeth had given him. "I need to check the Jeep." He walked toward the door leading to the back porch. "You said it has a full tank of gas. That means I shouldn't have to stop on the way."

"Reece, please don't leave until after Sam calls." Elizabeth followed him to the back porch.

"I won't, if he calls in the next hour." Reece opened the door. A puff of cold air hit him in the face. Turning, he smiled at Elizabeth. "How will you explain about your Jeep being gone?"