Beverly Barton - The Outcast

"I'll do that." Elizabeth slid behind the wheel of Sam's antique T-Bird, turned and waved at Carolyn.

Her round cheeks rosy from the winter wind, Carolyn waved back as she curved her lips into a friendly smile. Elizabeth had the oddest sensation that Carolyn knew she was somehow connected to Reece Landry, and like Flossie, Carolyn hoped that Elizabeth truly cared about Reece.

Elizabeth drove the car to the edge of the parking area where a pay telephone was located. Glancing back toward the market, she saw that Carolyn had returned inside. Elizabeth rummaged in her purse for a quarter.

Dialing the operator, she gave Sam's phone number and asked that the charges be reversed. Within seconds Sam came on the line.

"Are you in Newell?" he asked.

"I'm at a minimarket outside town at a pay phone," Elizabeth told him.

"Where's Landry?"

"We're in separate cars. He's taken the Jeep on out to a summer house in Spruce Pine. He thinks it's a safe place to hide out while we're searching for the real murderer."

"Are you all right, Elizabeth?"

She smiled, knowing full well that Sam wanted to ask about his precious '65 Thunderbird. "I'm fine and so is your car. It could get muddy when I drive out to the cottage. The place is located on a dirt road."

"Give it up, kiddo, and go home. I promise I'll do everything I can to help Landry."

"I want you to come to Newell, today, and meet us at the cottage. We have to form some sort of strategy. Reece is confused and not thinking straight or he never would have come back here. A woman at the motel recognized him and called the sheriff this morning."

"What motel?" Sam asked.

"The motel where Reece and I stayed last night."

"My God, Elizabeth, tell me you're not sleeping with that man!"

"I'm not sleeping with Reece." She grinned, remembering waking this morning in Reece's arms. "Well, I did sleep with him last night, but-"

"I'll kill him!"

"Calm down, Sam. We just shared the same bed. I'm still as pure as the driven snow."

"This is no joking matter. Landry may not have killed his father, but he's no saint. As a matter of fact, he's a real bad boy and has the reputation to prove it."

Elizabeth sighed. Sam should know better than to try to convince her to do anything she didn't want to do. "I'm not leaving him."

"What's going on, Elizabeth? Really?"

"I think I may be falling in love with Reece."

Sam groaned. "Do you think he loves you?"

"No," Elizabeth admitted. "Reece doesn't know what love is, but he will. He needs me, Sam. Even Aunt Margaret says I'm his only hope, that no one else can save him from himself."

"Why do you need Aunt Margaret to read Landry's mind, to see into his future? Isn't your crystal ball working?"

"Now who's trying to be funny?" Elizabeth asked. "I can't see into Reece's future. I haven't picked up any images about what's going to happen to him. And I told you I can't get inside his head, except every once in a while. When he lets me."

"Well, I'll be damned. A mind you can't read and a future you can't predict. You really are taking him on faith, aren't you?"

"I care so much about Reece, about what happens to him. He's lived a very hard life. He deserves some happiness."

"Look, kiddo, you've got yourself involved in this man's problems and you're sexually attracted to him. But don't just assume you're falling in love with him." Sam cleared his throat. "Sexual attraction isn't love, and neither is caring about someone. You could easily be mistaking your desire to set things right in Landry's life with love."

"I know." Elizabeth realized far better than Sam did that she was totally confused where her feelings for Reece Landry were concerned. "That's why I said that I think I'm failing in love with him. I've never been in love before, and I'm not sure."

"Take things slow and easy."

"Sam, please fly out of Atlanta as soon as you can. We really need your help. I'll give you the directions to the cottage."

"Even if Landry is innocent, we may not be able to prove it," Sam told her. "Have you ever considered that possibility? Are you willing to stay on the run for the rest of your life?"

"Reece is innocent, and together the three of us are going to prove it."

"Have you told Landry that you're involving me in this, that I'm coming to Newell?"

"No, not yet. Why?"

"Because he may not like the idea of me trying to help him," Sam said. "I don't think Landry trusts me any more than I trust him."

"Well, that's plain stupid. You trust me and Reece trusts me, and I trust both of you, so it stands to reason that the two of you should trust each other."

"Yeah, sure. Now give me the directions to that summer house."

Elizabeth gave him the details and wished him a safe trip.

"Kiddo, you be careful."

"I will, Sam. I promise."

She replaced the telephone slowly, her hand lingering on the cool plastic. She'd loved Sam all her life. He was her brother, her uncle, her father figure and her friend. She wanted Sam to like Reece, to trust him. And she wanted Reece to feel the same way about Sam.

Reece paced back and forth on the front porch of the Burtons' summer house, the February sun warming him as surely as the winter wind chilled him. Where the hell is she? he wondered. She'd had more than enough time to pick up a few supplies and get to the cottage. What if the sheriff had picked her up? What if she'd been in an accident? What if she'd changed her mind and decided not to join him?

If she had any sense at all, she was on her way back to Sequana Falls and as far away from him as she could get. In the cold light of day she might have realized what a mistake she'd made following a fugitive, a man balanced between life and death.

A hard knot formed in his gut. He slammed his fists down on the pristine white wooden banister surrounding the porch. Dammit, he didn't want to care whether she was on her way to him or on her way back to Sequana Falls. He didn't want it to matter, but it did. There was something addictive about Elizabeth Mallory, about the way she looked at him, the way she put her strong arms around him, the way she said his name. In less than a week she'd gotten under his skin. She'd made him want her near. No other woman had ever done that.

Reece glanced up at the blue-gray sky, heavy white clouds floating past, the sun noonday high. In the distance he heard a car. His heartbeat accelerated. Maybe it was Elizabeth; maybe it was the sheriff. He went inside the cottage, positioning himself beside one of the huge front windows, and waited for the car's approach. Peering around the side of the window, he saw the black '65 Thunderbird round the curve in the dirt road.

Elizabeth! She'd come to him. She hadn't deserted him. A spiral of sweet, unadulterated joy sprang up inside him and spread through his body and mind, and even invaded his heart.

Swinging open the front door, he rushed out onto the porch, but stopped himself from running into the yard to meet her. His heartbeat roared in his ears. Excitement raced along his nerve endings.

He wasn't alone.

Elizabeth flung open the car door, stepped outside and waved at Reece. Dear Lord, he was so handsome, so big and virile and utterly beautiful standing there on the gingerbread-trimmed porch, Sam's old jeans clinging to his lean, muscled hips and legs. She wanted to run to him, throw her arms around him and tell him how glad she was to be with him.

Did she love Reece Landry, a man she'd met less than a week ago, yet a man she'd known in her heart for months? Her feelings for Reece were complicated, her empathy for him, her desire to help him and the sexual attraction she felt all mixed together. She knew one thing for certain-she had never felt about another man the way she felt about Reece, and the intensity of those feelings frightened her.