Beverly Barton - The Outcast

"It belongs to Albert and Edna Burton." Reece placed the can of soup under the can opener.

"How do you know these people?"

"What difference does it make?"

"Just curious, I guess." Elizabeth spread margarine on the bread. "I have a feeling you're hiding something from me."

Reece jerked a metal pot from a bottom cupboard. "I know the Burtons' daughter."

"Is she one of your old girlfriends?"

"No." Reece poured the soup into the pot, then filled the empty can with water and added it to the mixture.

"Why are you being so secretive?" Elizabeth laid the sliced cheese on the bread.

Reece set the soup pot on the stove, adjusted the heat and turned to face Elizabeth. "Albert and Edna Burton's daughter married Kenny Stanton."

"This house belongs to your sister-in-law's parents?"

"Yeah."

"How did you know about this place? Did Flossie tell you about it?" Elizabeth remembered what Carolyn, the checkout clerk at the minimart, had said about Tracy Stanton accusing Reece of coming on to her hot and heavy. Had Reece had an affair with his brother's wife? Had they shared a secret rendezvous at her parents' summer house?

"Like I told you, Flossie had entertained Albert Burton and some of his friends out here when Mrs. Burton was otherwise occupied."

Reece handed Elizabeth a frying pan he'd pulled out of the cupboard where the cooking utensils were stored.

"What about you? Obviously you know your way around this kitchen. You've been here before, haven't you? You've been here with Tracy Stanton."

"I checked the kitchen out while I was waiting for you. As a matter of fact, I gave the whole house a once-over." Reece placed his hands on Elizabeth's shoulders. She laid the sandwiches in the skillet and placed the skillet on the stove.

"What kind of relationship do you have with your brother's wife?"

"I don't have a relationship with Tracy."

"Then why did she make the statement at your trial that you were after her, and I quote, 'hot and heavy'?"

"Because she was still angry with me for turning her down." Reece released Elizabeth's shoulders. "Tracy was after me hot and heavy. She invited me up here to her parents' summer house one weekend over a year ago."

"You met her here?"

"Yeah. I was curious. I knew what she wanted, and I have to admit that the idea of cuckolding Kenny tempted me."

"What happened?"

"We kissed." Reece closed his eyes, remembering how close he'd come to carrying his brother's wife to bed. "We both got pretty steamed up, but then I put a stop to things. Tracy Burton Stanton might have money and education and generations of blue-blooded breeding, but I realized that she wasn't any different from the girls who used to work for Flossie." Reece laughed, the sound a mirthless grunt. "The only difference was she gave it away for free."

"You didn't make love to Tracy Stanton?"

"I don't make love to women," Reece said. "I have sex with them. But I didn't have sex with Tracy."

"I'm glad," Elizabeth said. "I'm very glad."

"Yeah? Well, funny thing is, Lizzie, so am I."

Thirty minutes later Elizabeth and Reece sat at the small kitchen table, an oak antique flanked by four Windsor chairs, and sipped on second cups of coffee and nibbled on oatmeal raisin cookies.

"One of the reasons it took me a while to get here is that I stopped at a pay phone and called Sam." Elizabeth glanced at Reece. He stared at her, his amber eyes void of any emotion.

"Even when you're on the run with another man, you still have to check in with Dundee?" Reece set down his cup with a resounding thud, warm coffee spilling out onto the tabletop. "What sort of hold does that guy have over you?"

Elizabeth stared at Reece in disbelief. He was jealous. Reece was jealous of Sam. She suppressed her laughter. "Sam's family. He's been like a big brother to me most of my life." She reached across the table, placing her hand atop Reece's fist. "Sam was a DEA agent for years, then something happened that made him want out, and he formed his own private security agency in Atlanta. He knows a lot about investigating people and protecting them."

"Sounds like good old Sam is the answer to our prayers." Huffing, Reece jerked his hand away from Elizabeth.

"Sam's coming to Newell. Today."

"What the hell for?"

"He's already set things in motion to investigate B. K. Stanton's death and discover other suspects. He'll have his first real report for us this afternoon."

Tightening his jaw and clenching his teeth, Reece breathed deeply. "It may have slipped your notice, but we don't have a telephone out here."

"Sam isn't going to phone me. He's coming out here to the cottage."

Reece jumped up, knocking his chair backward in the process. "You told Dundee where we were? You gave him directions to this place?"

"Yes, I did. And I don't see why you're so upset."

Reece glared down at her. "You don't see why I'm..." Reece's amber eyes glowed with yellow fire. "You betrayed me, Lizzie. Surely you aren't stupid enough to think that Dundee wants to help me. All he wants is to get you away from me, to keep you safe. He's probably already called the sheriff."

Elizabeth scooted back her chair and stood. "I would never betray you, Reece. Never. Sam won't call the sheriff, and he will help you."

"Because he loves you!"

"Yes, because he loves me, and he knows my instincts are seldom wrong."

"I hope you're right about Dundee, because if you're wrong..." Reece walked out of the kitchen, through the back door and into the small clearing behind the house.

If he had any sense at all, he'd take Elizabeth's Jeep and get the hell out of Newell. He'd leave her behind, her and her big brother Dundee. Did he dare stay and trust a man he didn't even know, a man whose primary interest in him was the woman they had in common? And could he really trust Elizabeth? Just because every time he looked at her, he wanted to take her didn't mean he could trust her.

What the hell was he going to do? Would he be a fool to stay and put his life and his freedom in Elizabeth Mallory's hands? Or would he be a bigger fool to run away from his one chance to prove himself innocent and from the one woman who'd ever really cared about him?

Chapter 8

Elizabeth sat alone inside the Burtons' summer house. Reece had been outside for the past couple of hours. First he'd parked Sam's '65 T-Bird at the back of the house, beside the Jeep, then he'd taken off into the woods, saying only that he was going to take a walk down by the lake.

For the twentieth time she checked her watch, wondering when Sam would arrive and how long Reece was going to stay outside sulking. She wasn't accustomed to being alone; MacDatho was nearly always at her side. She wished she could have brought him with her, but where a lone woman might go practically unnoticed, no one would forget a huge black wolf-dog.

The back door creaked. Elizabeth tensed. Turning her head just a fraction, she saw Reece enter the kitchen.

"It's getting colder out there," he said. "I thought I'd make some fresh coffee, but it looks like you've already done that." He glanced at the freshly filled coffeepot.

"It's going to snow before dark." Elizabeth turned back around, focusing her attention on the fire.

"Does that mean Dundee will be snowed in here with us?" Reece picked up a clean coffee mug from the dish drain, grabbed a dish towel off the wall rack and lifted the coffeepot.

"There will be a light snow, just an inch or two. Sam should be here soon."

"Maybe he couldn't get a flight out of Atlanta." Reece poured the mug full of coffee, returned the pot to the coffeemaker and walked into the living room, sitting in a chair to the left of the wicker sofa where Elizabeth sat.