“There’s no sign of the Jeep,“ Diana said as she put the key into the lock.
The back door slammed just as Specter dashed into the hall. The dog raced into the kitchen, searching for his familiar quarry. Diana ran after him and promptly went sprawling as she tripped over a pile of garbage that had been left just inside the doorway.
“Are you all right?“ Brandon demanded, pausing only for a second.
“Yes.“ Diana heaved herself up out of the mass of old coffee grounds, wet paper towels and vegetable peelings.
“Let Specter out the back.“
“Right.“ Brandon was already opening the back door. Specter hurried through, barking excitedly. Brandon followed the dog at a run, and Diana dashed after both of them.
She caught a brief glimpse of a running figure before it disappeared into the trees. The dog was hot on the intruder’
s heels. Brandon and Diana followed the sound of loud yipping and the equally loud sound of someone crashing through the undergrowth.
It was all over in a matter of minutes. The intruder didn’t stand a chance of outrunning the dog and must have known it. Diana and Brandon raced into a small clearing a short time later and saw Specter panting heavily over Robyn Lambert’s huddled, weeping figure.
“Robyn.“ Brandon looked stricken. Gone was his earlier dash of adult cynicism. He walked up to the girl slowly.
“Why?“
Robyn lifted her tear-stained face from her arms and glared at Diana with anguish and rage. “It’s her fault. You would have married me if it hadn’t been for her.“
“Oh, Robyn,“ Diana said softly.
“I know your Dad was against our getting married, Brandon. But we both knew that in the beginning. You were willing to stand up to him, you said. You wouldn’t let him tell you what to do, you said. But then he stopped trying to order you around, and he started talking to you and you listened to him. She’s the one who told him what to say to you. I know she is. She thinks she’s so damn clever.“
“Geez, Robyn.“ Brandon sounded thoroughly disgusted.
“And you listened to her, too, just like he did. You believed all that stuff she said about a woman having a career and being able to take care of herself. You quoted her to me, damn you. She put the words in your mouth. You said it would be best for me if we waited – but I know the truth. She talked you out of marrying me.“
“That’s enough, Robyn.“ Brandon reached down to help her to her feet.
Robyn lashed out at him with her hand. “Don’t touch me, you bastard. I don’t want you to ever touch me again.
Who do you think you are, anyway? You’re nobody, do you understand? Just the son of an ex-construction worker who writes cheap thrillers. My father is a lot richer than your father. He’s got a college degree and he belongs to the right clubs, and he and Mom go to parties with the most important people in Portland. My parents were right. You aren
’t good enough for me.“
Brandon’s expression was frozen. “I had a close call, didn’t I? The thought of being married to the kind of selfish, vicious little creep who would pull the kind of stunts you’ve been pulling on Diana is enough to make a man stay single for life.“ He turned and started walking back toward the cottage. “Come on. Let’s get your things together. I’ll drive you back to Portland this afternoon.“
“Brandon. I love you.“
“No you don’t,“ Brandon said with astonishing wisdom. “You’re just trying to find some guy who will marry you so you can get out of your parents’ house. Any man will do. But if you had any brains, any self-respect, you’d move out by yourself. You’d learn to deal with things on your own. You just want someone to take care of you and make everything easy for you. Find another patsy.“
“Brandon.“ When Brandon didn’t respond, Robyn swung around and confronted Diana. “It’s all your fault.
Brandon was going to marry me until you got involved. You ruined everything.“
Diana stepped forward impulsively and put her arms around the young woman. Robyn pushed violently against her and then collapsed, weeping, on Diana’s shoulder.
A long time later, when Robyn’s tears had finally dried, Diana turned to find Colby standing quietly in the trees behind them. Without a word he led them both toward the cottage.
“Chapter Twelve of Shock Value,“ Colby explained an hour later as he and Diana sat eating tuna sandwiches alone on the front porch. “Donnelly gets up in the middle of the night and falls into a pile of dirt taken from a freshly dug grave.
Guess Robyn couldn’t find any freshly dug graves and decided to make do with garbage.“
“I hadn’t gotten quite that far,“ Diana admitted. “I'm still on Chapter Ten. That poor girl. She’s got some major problems.“
“They’re her problems, not ours and definitely not Brandon’s. She was trying to use him.“
“To escape her domineering family.“
“Everybody’s got something to escape,“ Colby said coolly. “It takes a while to learn that the only way you can really escape anything is to cut yourself free. You can’t use other people to do the dirty work for you.“
Diana concentrated on her sandwich. “No, I suppose not. Still, I feel sorry for her.“
“After what she did to you? She deliberately tried to terrorize you, honey. In my book that means she’s not entitled to any sympathy.“
“You can be very hard at times, Colby.“
He scowled at her and took a huge bite out of his sandwich. “Don’t try to make me feel sorry for that little twit.“
Diana decided to let the subject drop. She knew Colby’s loyalties were limited but extremely fierce. His son was far more important to him than some neurotic little teenager who thought marriage was the ticket to freedom. Diana wondered exactly where die ranked on Colby’s list of loyalties. She needed to know because something told her that very soon she was going to have to make a major decision.
“Is Brandon coming back tonight?“
“He said he was. Two hours to get to Portland, drop off Robyn and two hours to get back. He should be back here around seven.“
“How did your visit with Gil Thorp go?“
“Maybe 111 have him and his wife out here for dinner one of these days. Is that okay with you?“
Diana smiled. “Certainly.“
Colby was silent for a while, chewing reflectively. “He hadn’t heard anything about the pranks.“