Jared's Runaway Woman
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But her worry proved baseless when she arrived at the boardinghouse and found Sam in the Gleasons’ yard, playing with the brothers. He saw her and hurried over.
“Hi, Mama.”
“Hi, honey.” She knelt down and gave him a hug. “How was school today?”
“We drew pictures,” he said.
“I’ll bet Miss Peyton liked yours the best,” Kinsey said. Even at this young age, Sam showed signs of having his father’s gift for drawing.
“Did you walk home with the Gleason boys?” Kinsey asked.
“Huh-uh,” Sam said. “Uncle Jared walked me.”
Kinsey’s blood ran cold. “Who—who walked with you?”
“Uncle Jared.” Sam gestured toward the boardinghouse.
Kinsey’s heart pounded into her throat and hung there. She got to her feet.
“You run on and play for a while, Sam,” she said, urging him toward the Gleason brothers.
Anger raged in Kinsey as she crossed the yard. Jared Mason, a man of power and privilege, so used to having everything he wanted, so accustomed to always getting his way. He’d deliberately ignored her wishes. He’d invaded her home. Turned her world upside down.
And now he’d moved threateningly close to Sam.
Kinsey yanked open the back door and stormed into the kitchen. There he stood, in the entrance to her bedroom. Kinsey’s anger doubled.
“How dare you,” she demanded, her breath coming in short puffs.
Jared stood still as a stone fortress, expressionless, unmoved by her anger, her outrage.
She stepped closer. “Don’t you ever—ever—come around Sam again. Don’t you ever—”
A smile tugged at the corner of Jared’s lips. Smug. Pleased with himself.
Powerful.
Jared held up a leather-bound book.
Kinsey’s breath left her in a single huff. Her world tilted.
“I’m sure you recognize this. The Templeton family Bible.” He nodded toward her bedroom behind him. “I found it beside your bed.”
Kinsey dug deep, hoping to muster anger. “You have no right…”
Jared stepped closer and fanned the thin pages, stopping in the center of the Bible. “This is the section where the family records are kept. Births, marriages… deaths.”
Run. Run now. The thought flashed in Kinsey’s mind. Yet a chill claimed her, holding her in place.
Jared consulted the page, though it was obvious he didn’t need to. This was a show he reveled in.
“Beth Templeton married to Clark Mason,” he read. “Clark Mason, dead. Beth Templeton Mason, dead.”
Jared looked at Kinsey. “You want to explain to me how that’s possible? I mean, since you’re claiming to be Beth Templeton Mason, the woman I figured was using a different first name and her maiden name.”
He was toying with her. Enjoying the power he had over her. He already knew the answer so Kinsey didn’t respond.
“Funny thing,” Jared said, forcing a little laugh and shaking his head. “According to your family Bible, there really is a Kinsey Templeton. A whole separate person. Adopted by the Templeton family. Beth’s stepsister.”
The weight of the past bore down on Kinsey, crushing not only the moment, but her future as well.
“I—I can explain—”
“You were never married to Clark. You were only his sister-in-law. You didn’t give birth to Sam.” Jared’s expression turned hard and cold. “Or did you?”
Kinsey’s cheeks flamed and she found her anger now. “That’s a filthy thing to suggest. Clark and Beth were devoted to each other. Beth was Sam’s mother.”
“So you’ve got no blood tie to Sam at all, have you,” Jared said.
Kinsey gasped, realizing what he’d just maneuvered her into admitting.
Jared stepped closer. “In fact, you’ve got no family relation to Beth either, do you? You’re her stepsister. A stranger to the family. Somebody they took in.”
“It wasn’t like that,” Kinsey declared. “We were sisters—as close as any sisters could be. We—”
“You’re nothing but an outsider.” Jared moved in, his words cutting worse than a sword. “You’re nobody. You’ve got no standing in Sam’s life. You stole him.”
“I didn’t! Beth begged me to—”
“You stole him and you hid him. You kept him from his real family.”
Jared towered over her, battering her with his words, with his accusations…with the truth.
Kinsey blinked back tears. “You don’t understand! You weren’t there! You didn’t— ”
“I’m taking him.”
Kinsey gasped and shook her head frantically. “No!”
“I’ll get the sheriff if I have to,” Jared told her. He gave her one final hard look, and walked toward the door.
“No!”
Kinsey whipped the gun from his holster. Jared spun around. She pointed it square at his chest and pulled back the hammer.
“You’re not taking Sam anywhere.”
Surprise registered on Jared’s face. He shifted. His gaze bounced from her to the gun, around the room and back to Kinsey once more. She saw his mind working, berating himself for underestimating her, for letting her get the drop on him, for losing the upper hand.
“You’re not taking Sam anywhere,” Kinsey said again, hearing her cold, deliberate words. “You have no idea what I’ve been through. And you have no idea what I’ll do to keep Sam.”
“Look, I—”
“Leave town. Don’t come back,” she told him. “Don’t you ever—”
“Mama?”
The back door opened and Sam walked in.
Jared grabbed the gun from her hand.
A foolish move. It could have gone off, shot him or her, or some innocent bystander. But Jared wasn’t familiar with guns. Kinsey had realized that when she’d seen him fumbling with his holster in the hotel room and it suddenly made sense why he hadn’t joined in the shooting in front of the Wild Cat Saloon the night he’d kissed her in the alley.