Home To Copper Mountain

Audra Jarrett didn’t like him.

Rick wasn’t such a vain man he had to conquer every woman in sight. Still, her hostility had gotten beneath his skin.

Intrigued, he intended to learn the reason for her demeanor. He suspected today’s events had little to do with the fact that she wished herself anywhere but in his car.

“We discovered each other on the ranch road about two miles from the house.”

Her only response was to turn her head and stare out the passenger window. The gesture caused him to wonder if she resented his father for taking Pam away from her and couldn’t help disliking Rick for being his son.

Rick’s thoughts harkened back to a conversation with his brother. Nate had found out that the men in Pam’s family were laying bets on how long the marriage to their father would last. That was why she hadn’t invited any of them to the wedding.

It was possible that no one in Pam’s family, male or female, was happy about her recent marriage.

Then again, maybe Audra’s antipathy toward Rick had nothing to do with his father. Perhaps after such a terrible nightmare, she was just lashing out. The accident had killed a man she loved, and Rick happened to be a handy target.

“I heard you calling for Pete over and over again,” he said quietly. “He was your fiancé?”

That brought her head around. She studied him as if he were a species she’d never come across before.

“Your father may have married my cousin, but that doesn’t make us related or entitle you to information that’s none of your business.”

He saw her hands curl into fists. His attempt at sensitivity wasn’t going over well.

“Why don’t we start again, Ms. Jarrett?” he suggested. “Since my father and Pam’s happiness is of the utmost importance to both of us, shall we try to be friends while I’m here?”

His father intended to use the money from the sale of the ski business to help Pam establish a bed-and-breakfast on the ranch. Apparently, the idea had been a dream of hers for years and would bring in much needed income. Rick didn’t want to see anything go wrong with their plans when they both seemed so excited about it.

He pulled to a stop in front of the ranch house where there were a half-dozen cars and trucks assembled.

“I have a better idea,” she replied.

His lips twitched while he waited to hear the rest of her remarks with an eagerness that surprised him.

“Let’s agree to stay out of each other’s way. It shouldn’t be too difficult. Inside of twelve hours, boredom will consume you. By nightfall we’ll be breathing the dust from your tires when you peal out of here for heaven knows what race with death you have scheduled next.”

Her withering comment brought to mind a conversation he’d had with his brother a few weeks earlier.

When I saw Laurel’s joy as she held her daughter in her arms, I knew what Mom and Dad felt when we were born. Since that moment, I’ve asked myself how our parents were able to accept our chosen careers without suffering a nervous breakdown in the process.

Come on, Nate. Don’t forget, they placed themselves in mortal danger every time they ran a ski race.

True. But in comparison, you have to admit strapping ourselves into a race car or into the cockpit of a jet increases the danger by quantum leaps.

No longer smiling, Rick got out of the car to help Audra, but Pam had reached her first.

“Honey—you took so long I got worried about you.” She opened the back door to retrieve the crutches for her cousin.

“Forgive me. I’m afraid I overslept.”

The impassioned woman of a moment ago shot Rick a warning glance that forbid him to add one word of explanation.

Message received, he muttered to himself.

By this time Audra had swung her legs out, displaying amazing agility for someone wearing a full-length leg cast. With Pam’s assistance she stood up and started walking toward the house on her crutches.

Pam put a detaining hand on Rick’s arm. Her demeanor didn’t resemble that of the radiant wife who’d introduced Rick and his father to her male cousins less than an hour ago. Some contentious family issue must have flared up during the time Rick had been gone.

“Thanks for picking her up. Did she seem all right to you?” Pam asked in an anxious voice.

Putting two and two together, Rick realized that if Pam had been at her cousin’s bedside both at the hospital and here at the house, then she knew about the nightmares. Maybe she feared Audra had suffered another debilitating episode. Under the circumstances, Rick could well understand her concern.

“She’s fine.”

He didn’t dare say anything else. It was important that Audra trust him.

They walked up the steps of the house together. “Is everything okay with you?” he asked her.

“I’m not sure. Better ask me after today is over, Rick,” came her cryptic remark.

THE DINING ROOM was Audra’s favorite place in the house. It had a huge eighteen-foot ceiling, an enormous fireplace and circular bay windows. In the past, with the addition of several round tables surrounding the main dining-room table, the room could hold forty-five Jarretts comfortably. But tragedy had struck, limiting their numbers.

Today the remaining fifteen family members were joined by Clint Hawkins and his son. Uncle David, whose thinning gray hair still showed traces of auburn, presided at the head.

Several of the other family members in the room had inherited the Jarrett trait of red hair. Audra had been forced to put up with a lot of teasing because of it. She didn’t envy her cousins’ children for what they’d have to deal with as they grew older.

Her uncle told Audra to sit at the opposite end of the table where she could rest her cast without any obstruction. Then he asked the boys—her male cousins now in their thirties—to get up and finish bringing in the rest of the food from the kitchen.

Audra didn’t dare glance at Pam just then. The vexed expressions on the boys’ faces would have caused both of them to break into laughter.

To Audra’s relief, their uncle had placed Pam and Clint on his right, with Rick next to his father. Jim, Sherry and their two children sat on his left. Next to them came Greg and Diane and their two kids. Tom and Annette and their two offspring took up the rest of the places.

Being at opposite ends of the table meant Audra didn’t have to look into a pair of intelligent gray eyes that had been privy to sights she didn’t want anyone to see.

Trying to overcome the shock of finding Rick Hawkins standing over her when she’d awakened, screaming her head off, she concentrated on her food.

As far as Audra was concerned, Pam was the best cook in the Hill Country. She’d outdone herself with her country-fried chicken, giblet gravy, dumplings and a half-dozen side dishes that were her uncle’s favorites.

Audra felt terrible for not contributing anything. The cast couldn’t come off soon enough to suit her.

“This is a fine meal, Pam.” Their seventy-two-year-old uncle appeared to be enjoying himself.

“Clint helped me. In fact, he made the dessert, a Hawkins-family recipe.”

“Which one is that, Dad?” she heard Rick ask.

“Rocky road.”

“I’ll bet it’s good,” their uncle commented.