“He’s a good kid.”
“Yeah, he is. All along I’ve been so worried that Jase might have killed the old man. I wouldn’t have blamed him for it, but I didn’t want him to have done it. I couldn’t find a way to prove him innocent and even in some of our conversations, little things he said made me wonder.”
“How awful for you both,” Maia sympathized. She reached for his hand, twining her fingers through his. “Jase isn’t naturally violent, Cole. If he killed his father, he would have done it in self-defense. And to be honest, I don’t think he could have. He was too afraid of him. And it isn’t in him to kill anyone.”
“No, it isn’t.” Cole turned over, his arm sliding around her waist. “But it is in me, isn’t?”
The sadness in his voice shook her. Sadness. Distaste. A note of fear. Maia framed his face with her hands, shifting so she could rise above him to look directly into his eyes. “You’re nothing like that man, Cole. You’re strong and yes, you could be violent if the circumstances called for it, but you’re nothing at all like him.”
“You don’t know that, Maia.”
“Yes I do. I saw your face when you touched the mountain lion, when I worked on the horse. I watch you with Jase, how careful you are. Even when you’re trying to get him to play, you protect his falls. There’s nothing in you that is cruel. Your father reveled in being cruel. It isn’t in your nature, or in Jase’s nature. You like to be the boss, but you’re not out to control everyone. You encourage Jase to speak his mind and make decisions. That’s not wanting control.”
Cole slid his hands up her rib cage, cupped her breasts in his palms and leaned forward to rest his head against her soft flesh. Maia immediately cradled his head to her. “I read people, just as I read animals, Cole. I would never have allowed myself to become involved with you and Jase if for one moment I thought either of you was cruel to humans or animals. I have too much respect for myself.” She smiled. “I have a little bit of violence in me as well, and a great deal of self-preservation.”
His arms tightened around her. “I see him in myself sometimes, Maia.”
“He had strength of will, Cole, and he passed that to you. He must have had a way with women, and you have that attraction as well. Not everything about him was bad. Some of his traits are useful and, hopefully, both you and Jase have them.”
He lifted his head, his blue eyes moving over her face, studying her features inch by inch. “You’re a damned miracle, you know that?”
“Of course I do. Temper and all.” She laughed, the sound happy and warm, filling the large bedroom.
Cole felt her laughter all the way to his bones. She had the power to shake him with that simple lighthearted sound. Her body was soft and warm and welcoming, but she was so much more to him. She would always be so much more to him. The revelation was no longer a shock. Maia seemed as much a part of him as breathing. She was the joy that had been missing from his heart. When he woke in darkness, she brought light to him. She brought out things in him he hadn’t known were a part of him.
How could he tell her these things when they’d only been together so short a time? She wouldn’t believe him. How could she? His arms tightened until she stirred in protest.
“You’re going to break me in half, Cole,” Maia said. “What’s wrong?”
He forced himself to let his arms slide away from her, to lie back and lace his fingers behind his head. “I know you’ve told me about the images the animals have shown you several times, but would you go over it again in detail. Everything you can remember.”
“Why?”
“You ought to be over being uncomfortable about it with me,” Cole said. There was a soft growl in his voice, a deep note that seemed to vibrate right through her skin. “I’m just thinking about all the images the animals have been conveying to you, and I’m trying to put it together. Maybe the answer to the mystery of what’s going on at this ranch is in those images.”
Maia sat back, her hand on his chest, right over his heart. She knew he hadn’t told her what had put the shadows back in his eyes, but if he wasn’t ready to tell her, she wasn’t going to force a confidence. “I’m going to let you get away with that just because I know you’re worried about something happening on the ranch, and I want to be filled in, but I know that’s not what you were worried about.”
Maia waited, but Cole didn’t respond. “Fine. The owl was very vague. Impressions of dangers, something flying overhead. Flashes of light. Horses moving. I couldn’t get a very good take on it because the images seemed faded and far away.” She shrugged. “I know that sounds dumb.”
“The deer then.”
“Blood on the grass and rocks. Fists hitting flesh. More impressions of danger.”