Born To Be Wild (10 page)

“Marry? You think I would sanction such a travesty?”

“We don’t need your permission!” Isabel’s voice held a note of panic.

“Oh, but you do. You’re a child, Isabel. Underage.” He turned to Micah. “And the law considers you an adult. Do you know what that means? By law, I can have you arrested for statutory rape.”

“Poppi, no! You can’t do that!”

But Micah knew that Eduard Falcon really could.

“I can and I will, if you ever come near my daughter again!” With that, Eduard grabbed Isabel’s arm and dragged her off, shouting, “Get off my land, Micah Wild. Now! Or I’ll be making that call to the sheriff!”

Isabel looked back at him, her tear-streaked face relaying her shock and misery. He was feeling them, too. Well, not so much the shock. He’d known Eduard wasn’t going to take it well. Getting a man’s daughter pregnant trumped asking for her hand in marriage, even when the families got along. He’d been lucky Eduard hadn’t used him as target practice.

Micah raked a hand through his hair. Isabel’s father just needed time to cool off. He’d see how much they loved each other. And understand this was the best solution. A baby changed everything. In the end he’d be okay with his daughter marrying a Wild. He had to be.

But how long would it take for the man to come around?

…

Eduard Falcon never had come around.

Nor had Micah’s own father. Not to this day.

Micah tried to keep his mind on his food and not on the past, and not on worrying himself sick about his missing daughter. But eventually, his memory wandered back to what he’d found on Bobby’s computer.

Halfway through his steak, the prime beef butchered on the ranch just a few days ago turned to cardboard in his mouth. Micah forced himself to eat it anyway. He needed to keep up his strength. He needed to stop thinking of the worst-case scenarios. He needed to eat, and he needed to sleep, so that he would be fully functional when he and Isabel resumed the search for their child in the morning.

He would choke down the steak, even if it killed him. And somehow, he would sleep because he had to or be useless.

“Here,” Seth said, setting down another beer in front of him. “Looks like you could use this.”

“Thanks.”

He popped off the top as his brother slid back into his seat. He’d been so distracted with dark thoughts that he hadn’t even been aware of Seth leaving the table.

“I put the word out at the Gecko, Micah,” Gramps said. “About the reward for helping us find Lucy. By morning, everyone in the county will know and want that money. We’ll get results. You’ll see. Someone will come through and then we’ll form a posse to go rescue our girl.”

Micah tilted the beer bottle up in salute to his grandfather. “Tomorrow.”

But it should have been today. He and Isabel should have found Lucy. Their daughter should be safe right now in her bedroom here.

Or at least she should be safe with her mother.

The thought left a hole in his heart.

Shoving himself away from the table, he said, “I need some air,” and headed outside with his beer. But staring out into the vast darkness surrounding him and the ranch, he could no longer keep it at bay. The darkness invaded his thoughts.

Lucy could be anywhere out there. With anyone…

Flickers of the sites and photos he’d found on Bobby’s computer crept through his mind.

Hell, even if Bobby wasn’t the villain here, Lucy could be the victim of some other man who was a sexual predator.

Please don’t let that happen to an innocent little girl
, he silently prayed.
Not to my Lucy. Let her be all right.

Wherever she is
.

…

Lucy still had no clue of where she was.

She stared out the window into the dark and tried to get up the courage to jump to the tree. She could barely make out the trunk and the branches.

What if she fell? Could she survive a fall from a second story?

Probably she would just break her legs, and she wouldn’t be able run to away. Then he’d bring her back inside and lock her in this bedroom again. And probably nail the window shut.

But she had to get out of here. Had to get home.

She’d begged and she’d cried. He still wouldn’t let her go.

At least he had let her write that note to Mom. She’d convinced him that she could keep “Ms. Falcon” from following her—he’d gotten mad when she’d called her Mom at first, so she’d quickly changed it to Ms. Falcon—and she’d tricked him. Mom would understand; she would never think she’d run away. Then Mom would tell Daddy, and Daddy wouldn’t stop looking for her until he found her and brought her home.

He had to find her.
Had to.
Or else she might never see her parents again.

But where
was
he?

She’d waited all day for Daddy to come for her. But as the hours passed, she’d realized it wasn’t going to happen. She’d have to figure out some other way of escaping this place. Because the man who’d taken her was out of his mind. At least he seemed that way. Sometimes, anyway.

When he was talking crazy talk, he scared the beans out of her. But at least he hadn’t hurt her.

Yet.

He’d fed her, had left a tray of food in her room, twice. At first she hadn’t touched the stuff, because she figured it was poisoned. Or at least drugged.

He’d done something to her to get her to go with him.

She remembered now.

He’d stuck something that smelled weird over her face…and the next thing she’d known, she woke up in this locked room.

The first tray of food he’d delivered while she was asleep had a sandwich and an apple, milk, and a big cookie. He’d left it just inside the room on the floor. She’d been afraid to touch it. What if he’d loaded it with something even worse than that stinky stuff? He hadn’t come back for hours. Her stomach had rumbled with hunger, and she’d fought it, but eventually she’d given in, had tasted just a little of the sandwich after checking it carefully. It had smelled okay and looked like a normal turkey sandwich with tomato and lettuce. He’d even included a nice pickle.

She’d been less cautious with the beef brisket and mashed potatoes and carrots that he’d brought her for dinner. He’d said he’d made the brisket special for her, because it was her favorite.

Crazy…crazy….crazy…

Fried chicken was her favorite. But of course he’d have no way of knowing that because he didn’t know her. She didn’t know him, either. She kinda recognized his face, though. She’d seen him before, but she couldn’t place him.

Maybe she’d seen him other times in the school yard.

Had he been watching her? Waiting for his chance to kidnap her?

Why?

The door lock clicked, and her heart thundered. She spun around to face him. He wasn’t old, maybe the same age as Daddy. And he looked mestizo, with the naturally tan skin of a Chicano, the ink-dark long hair of a Pueblo Indian, and the pale gray eyes of a white man.

“I brought this for you.” He was holding a brown jumper on a hanger and held it out to her. “You need to try it on.” He frowned when she didn’t immediately take it. “I want to see if it still fits you.”

Still? More crazy talk.

“That’s my school’s uniform.” But where had he gotten it? She was pretty sure it wasn’t hers. And it didn’t look new. “Are you going to let me go to school in the morning?” she asked hopefully.

He grunted, “Just try it on so I can see you in it!” Then he threw it on the bed.

“Please! My parents have got to be frantic looking for me.”

He stared at her for a moment, his expression confused. And then it got all stormy.

“People are out searching for you, offering a big reward. Saying
they’re
your parents!” He looked outraged. “They won’t find you if I can help it. And if they do, they can’t have you!”

Lucy’s eyes stung again. He was talking like she didn’t have parents again. Why would he say something like that? “Let me go home, please!”

“You don’t belong to them. You’re mine! No one is going to take you away from me.”

He had that crazy look again, like maybe he would kill someone if they tried. Like maybe
her
.

Or Daddy!

It hurt her to breathe. She had to get away from him before he hurt either one of them. Or anyone else.

Had to.

Trying not to panic, Lucy said, “I-I’ll write a-a-nother note. I’ll make sure they s-stop looking for me, okay?” Her voice was filled with tears, and she was trying not to sob. She had to find a way to trick him again, to make him let her go. “Please, I d-don’t want anyone to get hurt, n-not them, not you. No one, okay? Let me write the note!”

Without another word, he left the room.

She blinked, and tears rolled down her cheeks.

The door lock snicked, and his footsteps faded down the hall.

She looked at the bed and the brown jumper. If she tried it on, would she be able to reason with him?

Or would he say or do something else that didn’t make sense and just ignore her pleas?

Crazy…crazy…crazy…

How was she going to get away from him?

Chapter Ten

“I’m so sorry for what you’re going through,” Cruz told Isabel when they were alone in the Falcon Ranch living room, sitting in cowhide chairs facing the Mexican tiled fireplace.

Poppi and Reyna had stayed up for a while, but, looking as exhausted as she felt, they’d both excused themselves and gone to bed. Which is what she should be doing right now.

Only, Isabel didn’t want to be alone just yet.

“Are you okay? Did you hear me?” Cruz asked, his tone concerned.

She narrowed her gaze on him. Somehow, she kept her voice even. “No, I’m not okay, Cruz, and, yes, I heard you…I just don’t believe you.”

“Izzy!”

“I told you never to call me that again!”

Izzy had been his special nickname for her, and she’d forbidden him to use it after he’d betrayed her. “Don’t look so damn offended. I haven’t forgotten that you sided with Poppi when I was pregnant, or that you spent years trying to convince me that I should apply for full custody and withhold parental rights from Micah. He’s been a good father to Lucy, Cruz, and he’s always made sure I had enough child support, even when he had to take a second job off the ranch to pay for it. Furthermore, he’s never tried turning Lucy against any of the Falcons.” Unlike the way Poppi did with the Wilds.

Cruz held up his hands, palms out. “Okay, so I’ll admit I was wrong about Micah. I’ve known that for years.”

“If only you hadn’t squealed on us to Poppi—”

“What? You think things would have worked out different?”

“They could have. Now we’ll never know, will we?”

“Isabel, I was only trying to protect the sister I love!”

“Yes, well, if you’d kept your big mouth shut, Micah and Lucy and I might be a family now. Lucy might have brothers or sisters.” The thought caught her unawares, and she felt her eyes well up at the stillborn dreams she’d once had. “Instead, all hell rained down on our heads back then, and look where we are now!
Damn
the feud, and damn anyone who keeps it going!”

“Jeez, Iz, I—”

“What will it take to make you help stop the hostilities?” she demanded. “This war between our families is wrong, Cruz. Who knows whatever started it between Grandfather and Caleb, but it should have ended with them. It has to stop now!”

Cruz sighed. “Yeah…tell that to Poppi.”

Unfortunately, Poppi and Jonah were so damn stubborn, probably neither would agree to a permanent truce. The men couldn’t be near each other without finding something to fight about—and damn if Reyna and Seth weren’t following in their fathers’ footsteps. At least the two families had agreed to a truce that would hopefully last until Lucy was safely home. But Isabel couldn’t even be certain of that.

“What can I do to make you feel better?” Cruz asked, looking sincere.

“That’s easy,” Isabel said, wearily getting to her feet. “Help us find our child.”

“I promise to do everything I can.”

Cruz got up and put his arms around Isabel in a hug. She relaxed and hugged him back. She knew Cruz loved her and Lucy, and that his heart wasn’t really in the fight between the two families any more than hers was. Not anymore, anyway.

Cruz kissed her forehead. “Goodnight, Izz…Isabel.”

Back in her old room, she stripped off her clothing and jumped into the shower. The water beating down on her felt so good. She was stressed and exhausted, and the shower relaxed a little of the tension in her body.

And it reminded her of Micah.

She closed her eyes and let her imagination replay the moments with him in the shower…

She felt him kissing her…touching her…penetrating her with his tongue and fingers. Sliding her hand between her thighs, she stroked herself, intensifying the memories, seeking the brief respite they’d shared together.

Truth be told, she longed for more than those brief moments, longed to know what it would be like to make love—really make love—with Micah, the grown man. Leaning back against the shower wall, she imagined it, eyes still closed, as she slipped her fingers deeper into her folds. Imagined him deep, deep inside her. Imagined riding him, exposing her breasts and her clit to his big, rough, clever hands.

Sensation started to shoot through her in waves.

Suddenly, she stopped, and pulled her hand away.

She didn’t want to finish alone.

She wanted Micah
.

But she couldn’t have him. Not unless she was certain he wouldn’t break her heart again. That he would never again choose his family over her and Lucy.

Did he even want her at all, or had he simply taken comfort in her to ease his grief over their missing child?

Truthfully, she didn’t know. The crisis was fraught with emotion. When it was over—when she had Lucy safely home—would he still want her then? Enough to fight for her?

She could hope so…but she wasn’t sure.

She couldn’t even be certain if she herself was willing to take that risk.

…

Nearly two hours later, Isabel still lay awake in the dark in her childhood bed, eyes open, her mind churning over Bobby’s whereabouts. She’d tried, but she simply couldn’t fall asleep. Every time she closed her eyes, she saw Lucy’s face. Heard Lucy crying for her.

She felt so helpless.

If Bobby did have her child, where could he have taken her?

The answer remained elusive, just out of reach. Her mind went around and around with the possibilities. She was sure she could figure it out, if only she tried hard enough. She didn’t think he would be at his parents’ house. Surely they would never sanction any criminal activity on their property, especially when a child was involved. But Hank was in jail…so maybe Bobby took Lucy to his place. Wherever that might be.

The owner of the Gecko Saloon might know.

But as she turned on the light and got out of bed to wake up the bartender—Tom?—and ask him, she paused to look at the photo of her family on the dresser. It had been taken before Mama left her and Reyna and Cruz with Poppi to go back to Santa Fe. A happy family moment, they were gathered together on the front porch. Smiling and laughing.

Which made her think of the photos on Bobby’s bookshelves.

The family photos.
The family cabin
.

Her pulse sped up.

She knew exactly where that was.

Off-road in the mountains, no one would pass the place, maybe not for days. There, Bobby would have all the privacy in the world to do whatever he wanted to do…

Creeped out by the thought, Isabel shed her nightgown and quickly climbed back into her clothes. Her cell in hand, she tried calling Micah, but he didn’t answer. This wasn’t a message she wanted to leave on a cell phone. She would try him again in a little while.

From a drawer, she took her old weapon—her sheathed knife—and secured it to her jeans waistband. Then she pulled on snakeskin boots—appropriate for a snake hunt, she thought—and found an old denim jacket in the closet and shrugged into it. The mountains were cool at night.

She opened her door carefully and listened hard. The house was quiet. Everyone was at least in bed if not sleeping. She didn’t know how any of them could sleep again until they found Lucy.

Hopefully, that’s what she was about to do.

She moved silently down the stairs and through the kitchen to the rear door, the one closest to the barn. Once there, she grabbed a bridle, then entered the pasture where several horses were asleep on their feet. Starting an engine would wake someone in the house. Besides which, she wasn’t quite sure how to get to the cabin using a vehicle.

One whistle and she heard the snort of a horse awakening. She whistled again and heard the clump-clump of hooves and a familiar whinny.

“Crank, that’s the boy.”

In reality, Crank was getting to be something of an old guy, nearly seventeen. But he wasn’t ready to retire yet, and he knew the land, and he knew her as well as she knew and trusted him. She could depend on him holding steady no matter what—he didn’t fret at danger, and his footing was sure.

When Crank got to her, she made a fuss over him for a moment and gave him a peppermint before slipping the bridle and bit into place. She secured the cheek strap and then pulled out her cell to call Micah again.

“Damn it, answer!” she said just before it went to voice mail.

She hung up.

What now? She didn’t want to go out there alone.

Before she could formulate a plan, she heard running footsteps and whipped around to see Reyna coming straight for her.

“Isabel! Riding out at night? Are you out of your mind?”

Reyna had apparently come after her straight out of bed. She was wearing a sleep shirt and boots, and her long legs were bare.

“I couldn’t sleep.” Isabel thought fast or Reyna would stop her. She would try, anyway. “I thought a moonlight ride might relax me.”

Her sister studied her for a second, then shook her head. “I don’t believe you. What are you up to?”

Isabel knew Reyna could go around and around like this forever, so she gave part of the truth. “Following a hunch.”

“About Lucy?” Reyna looked incredulous. “That’s insane! You can’t go alone!”

“No, of course not,” Isabel lied. “Haven’t you noticed that Micah and I are together on this?” She would call him again on the way.

“
This?
Where are you heading on a horse?”

“Up in the mountains to check out a cabin.”

To think, she hadn’t wanted to alert her family by starting up a vehicle. Now, unless she put out this fire, Reyna was going to get everyone up in arms. Leading Crank to a tractor tire lying on its side, she stepped up and swung a leg over the gelding’s bare back.

“No saddle?”

“I haven’t forgotten how to ride just because I don’t make the ranch my home, Reyna. Crank has always fit me perfectly. Please don’t wake Poppi or Cruz and tell them what I’m doing. You know how much they hate Micah. If you tell them, there will be trouble we really don’t need right now.”

She could tell Reyna didn’t like it, but they were sisters and they’d always been close. Always had kept each other’s secrets…like her stealing out in the night to meet Micah.

“You’re right. I won’t tell
them
.”

Isabel frowned at the emphasis. “Don’t tell anyone!” she ordered, then clucked and rode off.

Praying she was about to save her child.

…

Micah came abruptly awake and stared into the dark, his pulse pounding.

What the hell?
What had awakened him?

There it was again
. Ah. The insistent ring of his cell phone. Had it rung a couple times before? He’d been drugged with sleep, and—

Isabel!

Reaching out lightning-quick to the nightstand, he expected to see her name on the caller ID and was startled that Reyna Falcon was calling him instead.

He punched the talk button. “Reyna, is something wrong with Isabel?”

“She hasn’t met up with you yet?”

Confused, he asked, “What are you talking about? I was asleep.”

A short pause was followed by an indignant, “I
knew
it! I knew Isabel was lying!”

His pulse jagging again, he threw off the covers and swung his bare legs off the bed. “What’s going on?” This had to mean trouble.

“Isabel just rode off on Crank a couple of minutes ago. She told me she was meeting you.”

“Not unless she meant to surprise me.” He didn’t know where he was going, but he was already pulling on his jeans.

“Didn’t sound like that. She said the two of you were together on this.”

“What is this?” he demanded, acid churning into his stomach.

“That’s what I wanted to know. Isabel told me she was following a hunch, that she was riding up into the mountains to check out some cabin.”

“What cabin?” He managed to pull on a T-shirt over the cell phone in his other hand.

“She wouldn’t tell me. So you don’t have any idea where she’s going?”

Isabel had to be going after Bobby. He couldn’t think of any other reason for her to ride off in the night to check on something. Which meant it had to be the Soto family cabin in the mountains. He tugged on a boot one-handed. “I have a pretty good idea of where to find her. Thanks for letting me know.”

“Well, tell me first!”

But he’d already hung up. He didn’t want Cruz or Eduard screwing things up by showing up at the cabin. He stuck the cell in his pocket, pulled on his other boot, grabbed a jacket, and ran out of the house.

Why the
hell
had Isabel set out alone to walk straight into danger? She should have called him. Damn it! At the first opportunity, she’d abandoned him and set off alone.

Again
.

His gut churned with the thought that she could get herself hurt, or worse. Then he would never have the opportunity to make things up with her, to convince her to give him another chance. He knew now that’s what he wanted. He couldn’t go on without her. Without his family. He had to believe that he and Isabel and Lucy could be happy together at last.

Once this nightmare was over.

Thankfully, Wild Ranch was closer to the cabin than Falcon Ranch. He should be able to get there at the same time Isabel did, even though it took him what felt like an interminable amount of time to fetch Slade and saddle him. So when he took the gelding out into the darkness, it was at a fast lope.

He had to catch up to Isabel before something happened to her. Something he couldn’t fix.

…

Twenty minutes of precarious riding after she left the ranch, Isabel thought she recognized the portion of creek that sat below the Soto cabin. She’d tried calling Micah yet again, but as often happened in these mountains, she hadn’t been able to get a signal.

Maybe it was fate. Maybe it was just as well she didn’t get hold of him.

If Bobby did have Lucy…

She feared what Micah would do if he lost his temper. He’d already threatened to kill Bobby. Anger talking? Or had he been serious? She couldn’t take the chance that her daughter’s father could end up behind bars.

She couldn’t do that to Lucy…

Feeling her chest crush tight, she also knew she couldn’t do that to Micah.