Tory closed her eyes as she pictured her father and all of the suffering he had accepted for Keith’s involvement with Linn Benton. Tears burned at the back of her eyes but she bravely pushed them aside.
The rest of the trial was a blur for Tory. She only remembered that Keith spoke in his own defense, explaining exactly what happened in the past and why. Since he had pleaded guilty to the charges, the only question was how stiff a sentence the judge would impose.
When Tory left the courtroom, her knees felt weak. She held her head high, but couldn’t hide the slight droop of her shoulders or the shadows under her eyes. The past few weeks had been a strain. Not only had the trial loomed over her head, but she had been forced to deal with nosy reporters, concerned friends, and worst of all the absence of Trask in her life. She hadn’t realized how difficult life would be without him. She had grown comfortable with him again in those first warm weeks of summer. Since he had discovered Keith’s secret, there was a great emptiness within her heart, and life at the Lazy W alone was more than Tory could face at times.
Lifting her head over the whispers she heard in the outer hallway of the courthouse, she walked down the shiny linoleum-floored corridor, through the front doors and down the few concrete steps into the radiant heat of late July in central Oregon.
She stepped briskly, avoiding at all costs another confrontation with the press. At the parking lot, she stopped short. Trask was leaning against her pickup watching her with his harsh blue eyes.
After catching the breath that seemed to have been stolen from her lungs at the sight of him, Tory lifted her chin and advanced toward Trask. Her heart was pounding a staccato beat in her chest and her pulse jumped to the erratic rhythm, but she forced her face to remain emotionless.
Trask pushed his hands deep into his pockets, stretching his legs in front of him as he surveryed her. Dressed in a cool ivory linen suit, with her hair swept away from her face, Tory looked more like royalty or a sophisticated New York model than an Oregon rancher. He grimaced slightly when he noticed the coldness of her gaze as she approached. She stopped in front of him, her head slightly tilted to meet his gaze.
“Are you happy?” she asked, inwardly wincing at the cynicism in her words. She noticed him flinch.
His teeth clenched and a muscle worked in the corner of his jaw. The hot summer wind pushed his hair from his face, exposing the small lines etching his forehead. The sadness in his eyes touched a very small, but vital part of Tory’s heart.
“No.”
“At least satisfied, I hope.”
He frowned and let out a long sigh of frustration. “Tory, look. I just wanted to say goodbye.”
She felt a sudden pain in her heart. “You’re…you’re leaving for Washington,” she guessed, surprised at how hard it was to accept that he would be on the other side of the continent. If only she could forget him, find another man to love, someone who wouldn’t destroy all she had known in her life.
“The day after tomorrow.”
She stiffened. “I see. You wanted to stick around for the sentencing, is that it?”
His face hardened, but the agony in his blue eyes didn’t diminish and her feelings of love for him continued to do battle in her heart. Rex and Keith had been right all along. Trask had used her to promote himself and his damned political career. Already the papers were doing feature articles about him; painting him as some sort of martyred hero who had come back home to capture his brother’s killers. Only Keith hadn’t killed anyone!
“I just hoped that we could…” He looked skyward as if seeking divine guidance.
“I hope that you’re not going to suggest that we be friends, senator. That’s a little too much to ask,” she said, but the trembling of her chin gave away her real feelings.
“I wish that there was some way to prove to you that I only did what I had to do, and that I didn’t intend to hurt you.” He lifted a hand toward her and she instinctively stepped backward.
“Don’t worry about it. It won’t happen again. All my family is gone, Trask. There isn’t anyone else you can send to prison.” She walked around to the driver’s side of the truck and reached for the door handle, but Trask was there before her. His hand took hold of hers and for a breathless instant, when their fingers entwined, Tory thought there was a chance that she could trust him again. God, how she still loved him. Her eyes searched his face before she had the strength to pull away. “I have to go.”
“I just want you to be careful, some things still aren’t clear yet.”
She shook her head at her own folly of loving him. “Some things will never be clear. At least not to me.”
“Listen…I thought you’d want to know that I’ve instructed John Davis to keep watching the ranch.”
“What!”
“I think there still may be trouble.”
“That’s impossible. It’s all over, Trask.”
“I don’t think so.”
“Call him off.”
“What?”
“You heard me!” She pointed an angry finger at Trask’s chest. “Tell Davis that I don’t need anyone patrolling the ranch. Furthermore, I don’t want him there. I just want to forget about this whole damned nightmare!” Her final words were choked out and she felt the tears she had managed to dam all day begin to flow.