Destiny's Bridge Read online

  Title Page

  Copyright © 2003 by Carrie Carr

  Acknowledgments/Dedication

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  Chapter Ten

  Chapter Eleven

  Chapter Twelve

  Chapter Thirteen

  Chapter Fourteen

  Chapter Fifteen

  Chapter Sixteen

  Chapter Seventeen

  Lex and Amanda Series

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  Destiny’s Bridge

  by

  Carrie Carr

  Copyright © 2003 by Carrie Carr

  All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopy, recording, or any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher. The characters, incidents and dialogue herein are fictional and any resemblance to actual events or persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental.

  ISBN 1-932300-11-2 (eBooks)

  eBook Conversion January 2010

  Cover design by Mary D. Brooks

  Published by:

  Regal Crest Enterprises, LLC

  4700 Hwy 365, Ste A, PMB 210

  Port Arthur, Texas 77642

  Find us on the World Wide Web at

  http://www.regalcrest.biz

  Published in the United States of America

  Acknowledgments

  This book wouldn't have been here, if not for: my wonderful AJ, who tirelessly sat beside me as we read and edited (and edited, and edited); Lori L. Lake, a superb author and extremely talented editor/proofreader; and Cathy, the publisher who first tackled "the Monster," and graciously allowed me to re-edit it so that it could finally be printed in its proper form. Thank you all.

  Dedication

  This book is for my mom and dad, who never stopped believing in me, even when I had; and, of course, to my beautiful AJ, the woman who makes everything right, and whose smile lights my way. Forever and always, my love.

  Chapter One

  RAINDROPS PATTERED AGAINST the window and the midday sun hid behind dark clouds. Thunder rumbled ominously, punctuated by erratic flashes of lightning. In the cluttered office, nature’s symphony was wasted on the heavyset man who sat behind the oak desk. Searching for a particular scrap, he rifled through the piles of papers that threatened to topple at any moment. His blue tie was stained, and the top two buttons on his shirt were loose. The matching jacket to his gray suit lay haphazardly across one of the visitors' chairs on the opposite side of the room. The ringing of his phone caused the man to pause in his search. Muttering curses, he picked up the receiver. "Yeah?"

  As the voice on the other end of the line whined on, a smirk gradually formed on the pudgy man’s face. He pulled a pen from his shirt pocket and scribbled furiously on a blank appointment sheet. "Do you think it’ll work?" Nodding, he continued to write. "No kidding? I guess it couldn’t hurt. Yeah. Sure. Whatever." He hung up the phone and tapped the top of the pen against his lips.

  Rick Thompson was the manager of Sunflower Realty. He had been in charge of the real estate office since the owner, Anna Leigh Cauble, retired a few months earlier. Rick had been Somerville High School's star athlete more than ten years before, but his best years were obviously far behind him. The muscular build of his shoulders and chest had given way to a paunchy abdomen, and his dark brown hair was thinning. Resentful that his glory days had faded, he used his current position either to solicit favors or to settle old scores. The news he had just received was too good to ignore, and he wracked his brain for the perfect way to use it. Rick smiled malevolently when he decided what to do. He stabbed a button on his phone.

  "Wanda, tell Amanda I’ve got something for her."

  A few moments later, the door to Rick’s office opened and a petite woman in her mid-twenties stepped into the room. In her black jeans, green silk top, and high-top sneakers, she looked more like a student than a real estate agent. The young agent brushed her hair away from her face and stood by one of the visitors' chairs. "Wanda said you wanted to see me?" Amanda Cauble had very little use for the office manager, having turned down his requests for dates more times than she cared to remember. Amanda was Anna Leigh Cauble's granddaughter and her grandmother's first choice for her replacement when she retired. She had turned down her grandmother's repeated offers and insisted that she start out as just another agent. Content to work her way up, Amanda felt she wasn’t ready for the responsibility of managing the entire office.

  "Yeah." Rick thrust a piece of paper at her. "I got a call a few minutes ago, and they want someone to come out today."

  "In this weather?"

  Mimicking her voice, he said, "Yeah, in this weather." Amanda glared at Rick, who rolled his eyes and continued, "Look, it’s a huge ranch. Just go and meet with the owner." When Amanda’s expression didn’t alter, Rick exhaled loudly, as if irritated, and ran his finger across the information on the appointment sheet, pretending to verify the name. "The ranch is owned by L. Walters. Guess they’re getting tired of the ranching business."

  Amanda accepted the paper hesitantly. "Why me? If you got the call, why don’t you want the client?" She didn’t like the feel of this and didn’t trust Rick any farther than she could throw him.

  "Look, kid. I’m just trying to do you a favor. I know we haven’t gotten along, and I’m trying to make it up to you." Rick could see skepticism reflected in her eyes. "Honest." Releasing a heavy sigh, the big man leaned back into his leather chair. Injecting just the right amount of grumbling into his voice, he added, "Besides, I don’t want your grandmother pissed at me. I need this job."

  Ah. Well, I guess that makes more sense. Amanda studied the paper in her hands. "From these directions, it looks like it’s going to take me all afternoon. Are you sure this couldn’t wait until the weather clears up?"

  "No, it can’t. They said if we don’t come out, then they’ll go somewhere else with their business." Rick propped his feet up on his desk and linked his hands behind his head. "Maybe you’re not ready for such a big client. I could always give it to Stacy."

  The comment stung Amanda’s pride. She had passed her Realtor's exam recently and was quite proud of the license hanging on her cubicle wall. Although she hadn't gone out more than a few times to clients' homes, she knew she could do a much better job than her co-worker. The office gossip was that Stacy had a job only because she was sleeping with Rick. Amanda didn't know if it was true or not, but she knew she wanted a chance to prove herself. "Where else could they go? We’re the only real estate company in town." Somerville was a small town of about ten thousand people, and Sunflower Realty was often hard-pressed for clients as it was.

  "Hell if I know. Do you want the job or not?"

  Amanda frowned. Her boss seemed a little too anxious for her to handle the appointment. Although gut instincts warned her otherwise, Amanda decided to give him the benefit of the doubt. "All right. But don’t expect me to come back to the office today." She turned and left Rick's office and went to gather her things.

  Smiling, Rick watched her leave. He was tired of looking over his shoulder, fearing that Anna Leigh would fire him and put Amanda in his place. Once she meets with Walters, the fallout will keep her off my back for a long time. The owner of the Rocking W Ranch had humiliated him twelve years earlier, when they both attended the same high school. He'd tried several different times
over the years to find a way to get even and hoped that this was his chance.

  After gathering up her briefcase and purse, Amanda jogged around to the side of the building in a hurry to get out of the rain. The unyielding downpour was causing a section of the parking lot to resemble a miniature lake. A few steps before the young woman reached her 1967 Mustang, her left foot sank into an unseen pothole. Amanda staggered sideways and dropped her briefcase into another puddle before she was able to regain her balance.

  Grimacing, she gingerly wriggled her foot, relieved that she didn't sprain her ankle. She picked up the mud-splattered briefcase and shook the excess water away before she opened the car door and escaped the storm. Amanda sat behind the steering wheel and laid the muddy briefcase on the front passenger’s floorboard. She then proceeded to dig through her purse for her car keys. Finding them at the bottom of her bag, Amanda leaned back in her seat, grateful to be out of the rain. She patted the dashboard fondly. The classic blue car had been a graduation present from her beloved grandfather over five years ago.

  She felt her heart constrict at the turn her thoughts suddenly took. We almost lost him. It had been six months since Jacob Cauble had been severely injured in an automobile accident. Amanda immediately moved from her parents' house in Los Angeles to her grandparents' home in Somerville to be at her grandmother's side while her grandfather was in the hospital. Now the only outward signs of the accident were a jagged scar on his forehead near his hairline and a pronounced limp that Jacob himself swore would not be permanent.

  Amanda pulled the rear view mirror down to check her reflection and squinted at the hazel eyes looking back at her.

  "Drowned rat." She ran her fingers through damp hair that almost reached her shoulders and turned her attention to the task at hand. "Sitting here feeling sorry for yourself isn’t gonna get the job done. Now get a move on and take care of business." Amanda started the car and backed out of the parking space.

  IN A LARGE ranch house nestled in the foothills a few miles away, someone else cursed the unrelenting rain. Lexington Walters’ long frame was sprawled comfortably on the porch swing, her muddy boots propped up on the rail that outlined the large wraparound porch. While they always needed rain, she knew that storms such as this one tended to cause problems with the fence surrounding the ranch.

  Bored, Lex stood up, raised her arms over her head, and pulled on one of the supports above her. Stretching her body out, she was gratified to hear the gentle popping as her spine slid back into place. After releasing the support beam, Lex stomped into the house and grabbed her long brown duster and black cowboy hat from their hooks in the hallway.

  "Martha," she yelled, "I’m gonna go check the fence down by the creek." She put the weather-beaten hat onto her head and almost had the door open when a plump woman in her mid-fifties came scurrying out of the kitchen, wiping her hands on a dishtowel.

  "Lexington Marie Walters! Don’t you be bellowing in this house. I raised you better than that."

  Lex hastily removed her hat, looking properly chastised. "I’m sorry, Martha. I didn’t know where you were; that’s why I yelled." She put on the engaging smile that usually got her out of trouble before shoving her hat back onto her head. "It won’t happen again, I promise."

  Not fooled for a moment, Martha just shook her head. The housekeeper had raised the young woman who was standing there doing her best to look contrite. Lex was four years old when Martha came to the Rocking W ranch, shortly before Victoria Walters died in childbirth, leaving Lex, an infant son, and Lex’s older brother. And for the last twenty-five years, Lexie has been using that smile on me. Maybe that’s because it always works.

  Now twenty-eight, Lex had been running the Rocking W Ranch since her father had left home for a life on the rodeo circuit. Rawson Walters couldn't stand the fact that his daughter looked so much like his late wife, so on Lex's eighteenth birthday, he signed the ranch over to her and never returned. Martha was fiercely proud of Lex. Instead of focusing on the losses in her life, her "Lexie" had thrown all her energy into making the Rocking W a ranch to be proud of.

  With motherly affection, Martha reached out and buttoned the duster closed. "Try not to get too wet, Lexie. You know how long it took you to get over that last bout of the flu." She stepped back and gave her charge a stern look. "And don’t you dare be late for dinner. I’m cooking a big batch of chili, and I’m even making your favorite cornbread to go with it." With this, the housekeeper turned around and called over her shoulder as she bustled back to the kitchen, "And don’t you be clompin’ back in here with muddy boots. You’re not too big for me to take my wooden spoon to!"

  Lex looked after her fondly. "Yes, ma’am."

  STRAINING TO SEE through the rain that pounded against her windshield, Amanda’s thoughts brought her back to the reason she was out in this horrible weather. "I don’t know why I continue to let that jerk get to me." She used her hand to wipe the condensation from the inside of the window. "And I can’t believe I’m actually out in this mess."

  Without taking her eyes off the road, Amanda searched her purse for the directions that Rick had given her. Having not actually lived in Somerville before now, Amanda was not very familiar with the area. She had spent a lot of summers at her grandparents’ house, but her time was spent with them, not running around the countryside with kids her own age. So, here she was, driving in the pouring rain on her way to an appointment that she didn’t make and with directions she wasn’t sure she could trust. It made her nervous. Rick looked too smug when he handed her the appointment sheet.

  After a quick glance at the paper in her hand, she peered through the windshield. Okay, that must be the small road on the left that the directions show. Amanda turned onto the road and grimaced as mud spattered along the side of the car. Sorry, baby. I’ll give you a good wash and wax when we get out of this mess. Up ahead, she could barely make out the shape of a large covered wooden bridge. "Oh, how pretty. I’d love to see this when the sun is shining." She slowed the Mustang down until it inched across the bridge.

  LEX FILLED UP the hole around the last post. As she had suspected earlier, a portion of the fence had been knocked down when the raging creek toppled a tree. After clearing away the tree with an ax, she spent an hour rebuilding the final section of fence. Now all she had to do was finish stringing the last strand of wire, and she could go back to the ranch house and get out of the foul weather.

  Just then, a bright flash of lightning illuminated the creek, followed closely by a clap of thunder. "That was too close. I'm out of here." As she picked up the remaining tools, another flash of light caught her eye. "What the…" Her eyes narrowed under her hat. "Who in the hell would be fool enough to come out on a day like this?"

  When the car was halfway across the bridge, a tree being forced downstream by the surging waters crashed into the center support beams. A large section from the middle of the old bridge crumbled, and Lex watched in horror as the small car fell into the creek. The tree and all its knotty branches shoved it downstream.

  Cursing, Lex dropped her tools and ran to the nearby Jeep. She stripped off her coat and hat and traded them for a long rope. The cold rain quickly soaked through her thin tee shirt, and she shivered. She looked up and saw that the car was hung up on debris about twenty yards away on the far side of the creek.

  Lex tied one end of the rope around an oak tree and the other end around her waist. With a running start, she jumped feet first into the creek and allowed the violent current to take her to the half-submerged vehicle. The same tree that had caused the car to plunge into the raging water now pinned it between the branches and the bank. Lex wasn’t certain how long it would stay in one place. The nose of the automobile was already under water, but she was able to climb onto the trunk to get out of the swirling current. Squinting through the rain, Lex used her gloved hands to brush debris away from the rear window and saw the driver slumped over the steering wheel. Glad she hadn't removed her boots, Lex desperatel
y kicked the rear window, which cracked, but popped inward in one piece.

  While she crawled through the open window, a smaller tree slammed into the car and tossed her headfirst onto the soggy backseat floorboards. She pulled herself up, hoping that the car would stay put for just a few more minutes, and reached over the front seat to gently shake the driver’s shoulder. "Hey."

  There was no response. The driver remained hunched over the steering wheel, oblivious to her plight. The car lurched sideways again, and Lex saw that she was quickly running out of time. She jostled the woman a bit harder. "Hey!"

  Still not receiving a response and knowing time was running out, Lex weighed her options. She knew it was never a good idea to move an accident victim, but a quick glance through the window showed that the creek was continuing to rise. Her decision made, she carefully put her hands on the driver's shoulders and pulled her away from the steering wheel. Other than a small lump and a slow bleeding cut on her left temple, the woman seemed free from external injuries. The water level was rising inside the car and was already up to the unconscious woman's knees. Lex quickly unbuckled the seat belt, gripped under limp arms, and pulled the driver between the seats. She leaned the woman upright in the rear seat, and then edged out feet first through the busted out window.

  Lex struggled to keep her balance on the slippery trunk as she reached back into the car. She pulled the still form through the window and set her onto the trunk just as the front of the vehicle slipped more deeply into the water. She quickly pulled off one of her leather gloves and checked the woman's pulse, which was strong and steady. Lex wiped the wet hair out of her own eyes then replaced her glove. Untying the rope from around her waist, she wrestled the unconscious woman up onto her own back and draped the loose arms around her neck. After tying the rope around them both, Lex positioned the woman's head beside her own and slowly dropped into the racing water. Thankful that the other end of the rope remained securely tied around the oak tree, she used her gloved hands to pull them across the churning creek.