Hiding Out At The Circle C Read online

  "You can run, but you can't hide. I'll find you."

  That was when she'd met Nellie. Haley chose to believe it had been fate, for she'd needed to get safely away and think. She could have tried to find her mother. Last she knew, Isabella Whitfield had been in Manhattan, but Haley knew she'd have been far from welcome there. And wouldn't this mess she'd gotten herself into just prove to her mother once and for all what a failure she was?

  But to go with this stranger and his wife simply because she'd liked the woman on sight? Because she'd looked into Nellie's eyes and felt a kinship she couldn't explain?

  "Haley? You ready?" Nellie asked.

  It seemed too easy. Too good to be true. To just disappear for a while in the Colorado Rockies and pretend to be a housekeeper. Suspicion was second nature to her. "That's it? Let's go? Just like that, you're going to take me to your home?"

  Cam looked at the kind, warm Nellie, exchanged an indecipherable glance, then turned back to Haley with an easy shrug. "Yep."

  The man wasn't harmless, despite his light and easy manner and smooth, charming voice. No man with eyes that full of blatant sexuality could be harmless. And Haley didn't need a seismograph to register that smile as ground-shaking. "Aren't you going to ask me for my references?" she questioned, expecting it all to be a trick, or a trap. "Or if I can even cook for God's sake?"

  His smile was slow, wide and devastating. "Darlin', if you don't burn water, you can cook better than Nellie, here. And we'll be mighty grateful for that, believe me." He chuckled when Nellie jammed an elbow into his stomach. He rubbed the spot with his hand.

  "What if I'm a mass murderer, or on the run?" Perverse of her to push her luck, she knew, but she couldn't help it.

  "Are you?" he asked, his thumbs hooked through his belt loops. He didn't look overly concerned.

  "No. Not a mass murderer, that is." She gave an involuntary shudder as the bloody image of her team flashed through her mind. God, would she ever be able to forget? Or sleep again? At that moment, she doubted it, but the first and foremost thing had become survival. Even a couple of hours ago, she'd been ready to give up, to let them catch her. But no longer.

  She wanted to live.

  She wanted to catch them.

  Cameron looked at her, and though he could have no idea what was going on in her head, she saw a rush of compassion in his eyes.

  "As long as you're not wanted by the law," he said easily, "I don't have a problem. Nellie doesn't, either."

  Well, she was wanted, but evasion of that statement came shamefully easy. Anything would have, to protect her neck. Literally. "You trust your wife's judgment, then."

  He nearly choked with laughter and her eyes narrowed as she took a step backward. With a small giggle, Nellie hurried to explain. "No, Haley, this isn't the husband I told you about. Cam's my brother-in-law. Jason couldn't come. He … well, he fell off a roof," she finished lamely, watching as Haley took another step away. "It's really not as crazy as you think."

  "No, it's not," Cameron said, that insufferable grin in place. "Besides, everyone knows Zach is the crazy one, not me or Jason."

  "Cam!" Nellie sighed and shook her head as she took Haley's hand, pulling her forward. "Please, don't misunderstand. We all live together on the ranch, and we need a housekeeper, just like I told you. Desperately."

  What were her choices? She couldn't call the police, not while she was the main suspect in the EVS bombing. They'd send her back and she'd face trial— The thought made her stomach flop. She needed a place to hide, a place where she'd be safe until she could figure out what to do without getting herself killed. "Why me?"

  "Because I like you," Nellie said, lightly squeezing her hand.

  Just that easy gesture nearly undid Haley. When was the last time she'd been offered unconditional friendship? Affection? Been accepted for a reason other than her brain?

  Nellie, still holding her hand, added, "And because I'm living in a houseful of men who don't know squat about what it's like to be female. Something between us clicked from that first moment, Haley. I felt it, and I know you did, too, or you wouldn't even be considering this. It you don't come, I'll worry about you. You don't want that."

  "You don't even know me." How in the world could these people be so trusting? Didn't they know what kind of world they lived in? Of course not, they lived in Colorado. On some little ranch where nothing penetrated. It sounded … lovely, irresistible. Safe. And when it came right down to it, what other choices did she have? None. "Okay," she breathed.

  "Okay?" Nellie repeated, rubbing her belly, looking tired. "You'll come, then?"

  "I'll come."

  Nellie laughed once, then hugged her tightly. Feeling awkward, uncertain, Haley patted her back, meeting Cam's eyes over Nellie's shoulder. They were warm, easy and friendly. Relieved. Haley didn't want to think about that—how a complete stranger could care so much. She pulled away from the unaccustomed contact and shoved her hands into her pockets. It was easy to be nice to Nellie because she liked her. It wouldn't be so easy, however, to be nice to Cameron Reeves. She most definitely didn't want to like him. She couldn't afford to.

  It didn't matter; she wouldn't be staying long.

  "I'm so glad you'll come," Nellie whispered, grabbing her hand. They walked then, in companionable silence, weeding their way through the hordes of people, and Haley was thankful for the few moments of quiet.

  No one could have followed her. Maybe whoever was terrorizing her would assume she'd been killed in the explosion. Relief at that thought made her giddy. Until she remembered her messages.

  They stopped at the exit. Cold air blasted through the opening. She glanced up in surprise as Cam stripped off his denim jacket. He held it out, going still when she backed from him. She'd accept his job offer because she didn't have a choice but she wouldn't accept his charity.

  "Take the jacket," he said easily. "It's not going to bite."

  No, but he might.

  "It's cold out," Nellie added, belting her own sweater high over the bulge of baby.

  It had been hot in South America. Haley hadn't thought of this. "I'll be all right." She felt the flood of heat fill her face as they both looked at her. Cam's features were purposely inscrutable, but she felt sure he hid pity—and she hated that.

  Nellie didn't manage to hide a thing and she looked at her, worry and concern evident.

  "Take the jacket, Haley," Cam said. "She'll hound you about it, otherwise. It's easier this way." Then, without waiting for a response, he wrapped it around her shoulders, holding it while she slid her arms into the sleeves. She felt surrounded by warmth, softness and an unfamiliar-yet-heavenly scent.

  Cam pushed her gently out the swinging glass doors. The sky loomed dark, and Haley realized she had absolutely no sense of time.

  They headed across the street to the parking structure, Cam attentively holding on to Nellie, who seemed tired. "Not too much farther, Nel," he murmured, craning his neck to check for cars.

  Nearly across the street, all three of them stopped in surprised shock when, with a loud squealing of tires, a taxi gunned its way directly toward them.

  Haley froze, capable of only one thought: They found me and now they're going to kill two innocent people to get me!

  Cam muttered a ripe oath as the taxi swerved recklessly away, spraying them with gravel. Immediately he pushed back Nellie's hair to see her face. "You okay, Nel?"

  "Fine. Idiot!" Nellie shook her head. "He's going to kill someone, or at least give them heart failure."

  Haley stood still, shaking, as both Nellie and Cameron shrugged it off.

  "Haley?"

  She blinked, realizing that Cam had taken her shoulders. Her heart slammed in her chest. "It was just a taxi," she said dazedly.

  "Yes," he said, concern deepening his voice.

  One warm hand slid up to cup the back of her neck and she knew by the tightening of his jaw that he could feel her trembling like a frightened rabbit. She struggled for contr