Bridal Falls Ranch Ransom (12 page)

“Sit up!” he yelled against the wind.

She straightened in the saddle.

Urging his horse in as close as he could to the mare, he let go of the single rein, reached over and locked his arm around Eve’s waist.

She went limp as he snagged her off the runaway horse.

Holding her like a rag doll, and counterbalancing in the saddle, he pulled back on the reins and brought the gelding to a stop.

He lowered her to her feet on the ground and dismounted next to her.

“Thank God you’re okay.” Wrapping his arms around her, he felt her tremble as she rested her head against his chest.

“I couldn’t stop her once she took the bit.” Pulling back, she turned to stare toward the corral, where the crew who’d witnessed the incident had managed to rope the mare and pull her inside.

“We better get the vet. I suspect she was drugged.”

“What kind of maniac would do something like this?”

“Maybe the same nut who tried to keep Tyler’s cow dog quiet the night he sabotaged the brakes on the SUV. Come on, let’s get some help for your mare.”

He climbed atop the gelding, then removed his foot from the stirrup so Eve could put hers in. Reaching down, he grabbed her hand and helped her swing on behind him.

“Thanks, Kemosabe,” she whispered. “You’ve saved my butt again.” She wrapped her arms around his chest, sending a shock wave ricocheting through his body. He wanted to breathe her in. Feel the sensation of her skin against his. Run his fingers over every inch of her exquisite body.

“Any time, Tonto.” Reaching down, he put his hand over her clasped fingers and turned the horse toward the action transpiring in the corral.

Tyler and the crew had managed to get the saddle off the mare by the time they rode up and dismounted.

“I’m going to go cool him down.” He nodded toward his horse, who was breathing hard and bathed in sweat.

“Okay.” Eve turned and hurried to where Tyler was giving instructions to another crew member.

“Buck, go call the Hastings’ ranch. They’ve got an equine vet up here from the valley for branding. We need him to come take a look at Miss Brooks’s horse right away.”

“Sure thing.” Buck tipped his hat to her and sprinted for the lodge to make the call.

Eve went to the corral and stared through the railing at her horse, watching her buck like rough stock in a rodeo, then pause for a few moments before starting the cycle again. “J.P. says he thinks she’s been drugged.”

“That would be my guess, too. I tried to caution your dad about buying her from Grimes.” Tyler turned to face her. “Rumor back then was he’d been doping his horses with fluphenazine.”

“Fluphenazine?”

“It’s used to enhance a horse’s performance level, but some horses can have an allergic reaction to the drug. It can make them go berserk.”

“But I’ve had her for years. That stuff would be out of her system by now. Unless...” A shudder hummed through her body. Unless the same person who had thrown the ransom note through the window last night also doped her horse, knowing she’d be riding her this morning.

“When the vet gets here, tell him what you suspect she may have been doped with. I’m going to let J.P. know.” She turned and headed for the area next to the barn where he’d unsaddled and unbridled the bay. He was quick-cooling him now in a stream of water from the hose.

“How’s she doing?” he asked, dropping the hose and moving over to shut off the valve.

“Not good. Tyler says Roger Grimes used to dope his performance horses with a drug called fluphenazine. An allergic reaction can make them go nuts.”

“You call the vet?” He began slicking the excess water off the horse’s hide with a cupped aluminum spatula.

“Buck’s doing it now. There’s one a couple miles down the road working at another ranch.”

“I’m sorry about your mare, but I’m glad you’re okay.” He studied her from under the brim of his dusty black Stetson.

“I could swear I saw the Lone Ranger charging after me when I glanced back.”

“Really?” His expression was serious as he stared at her, but his clear blue eyes sparkled with amusement.

“Yeah.” She smiled, feeling her worried mood lighten with the effort and the close proximity of her own knight in shining armor. “The only thing you need now is a white hat and a couple of six-guns. Oh, and a mask.”

Eve glanced away at the sound of gravel crushing in the driveway, seeing a white pickup pull in, noting the veterinarian’s medical box in the truck’s bed liner. “There’s the vet.”

“Go. I’ll find you as soon as I walk him out.” J.P. stared after her, a degree of contentment stirring in his blood as he watched her walk away. Shoulders back, easy stride, head held high. She’d taken a huge step today. Her transformation couldn’t be far from complete. She could come out of the shadows now, at least on the ranch, but L.A. was going to test her newfound confidence in ways that could tear her apart.

Worry battered his optimism. He wanted to be there for her, but she hadn’t asked.

Turning back to his task, he finished slicking the water off the big bay’s coat, pulled the lead rope free from the hitching post and led the horse away.

* * *

“G
otcha
.” J.P.
held up
a bullet, squeezed in the teeth of the pliers and dropped it into his palm. He’d lucked out and found it lodged in the tire he and Tyler had wrestled off the truck.

“With this slug—” he laid the tool on the work bench in the garage and stared at Tyler Spangler “—we can ballistically match it to the gun it was fired from.”

“I never would have guessed you weren’t a real cowpoke. You fooled the heck out of me this morning, chasing after Miss Brooks on that runaway horse. Are you a bodyguard?”

J.P. clamped his jaw tight against the urge to demand Tyler pay attention. Lives were at stake. “Miss Brooks doesn’t feel safe right now. I’m here until she does.”

“All right,” Tyler said.

“I want you to play up this find at the barbecue in a few minutes. Tell anyone who will listen that we recovered a slug from the tire and plan to take it into Sheriff Adams in the morning so he can use it to identify the sniper.”

“You think he’ll show up here tonight?”

“I do. He knows this evidence can send him to prison for attempted murder. He’s going to do whatever it takes to prevent me from delivering it to the authorities, including trying to mess with the vehicles.”

“Be careful, J.P.” Tyler turned and headed for the garage door. “I’ll see you outside.”

“Yeah,” J.P. said as he trailed after Tyler and stepped out the side door. He paused for a minute to listen to the notes of guitar music as they drifted in from out on the front lawn where the barbecue was just beginning to sizzle. Eve’s idea of rewarding her ranch crew for a hard day’s work. He had to admit there wasn’t a muscle in his body that wasn’t screaming city slicker right now. The idea of a thick juicy steak, a beer and live music by a local artist sounded pretty good. Already the young woman’s bluesy voice was pulling him in. Shoving the slug into his pocket, he reached back and locked the door behind him. If the saboteur wanted inside there tonight, he’d better be prepared for a fight.

Eve spotted J.P. coming out the door at the side of the garage and walked toward him.

“Hey, cowboy, how do you like your steak?”

“Medium rare.”

“I’ll let the grill master know, right after you tell me if you and Tyler found anything in the tire.”

He shoved his hand into his pocket and produced the slug. “Found it on the inside of the tire. It was lodged in the sidewall. I’m taking it to Sheriff Adams in the morning.”

Reaching out, she opened her hand. He dropped the bullet into her palm. “This could have done horrible damage if it had hit Spangler.”

“Or anyone else, for that matter. Listen, Eve.”

She handed it back and gazed up at him, noticing the way he scanned the group laughing and talking on the front lawn, just over her shoulder.

“I intend to use this slug as bait tonight. I’m going to need your help.”

Pulling in a deep breath to combat the uneasiness sliding down her spine, she leaned closer. “What are you going to do? Hide it in the potato salad?”

He gave her half a grin. “No, I need you to bury it in the baked beans. Can you handle that, sweetheart?”

“I can do it.” What she couldn’t do was be this close to him without having her skin tingle and her body respond on a subconscious level.

J.P. leaned closer and whispered, “It won’t hurt. I promise.”

She saw him swallow hard, saw his pulse jump along his carotid artery, saw the heat in his blue eyes. She wasn’t the only one swimming against a riptide.

“Tell me what to do.”

“Throughout the evening, I need you to mention the slug we found in the ranch truck’s tire, and that I’m taking it to the sheriff in the morning so it can be matched to the .308 shell casing we found near the falls. My bet is the kidnapper or whoever is keeping him abreast is here tonight and listening. One way or another the information will get to him.”

“That’s it?”

“Yeah.”

“You said it was bait.” She studied him in the gathering twilight, working to pull the threads together. They intertwined in a net of apprehension that sprung inside her and trapped her nerves.

“No, J.P.! He’s dangerous. The vet confirmed someone gave Ginger a dose of fluphenazine last night, knowing she’d go berserk this morning. He doesn’t care about hurting anyone or anything. He’s deadly. What if he shoots at you?”

“I’ll shoot back.”

“What if he doesn’t miss this time?”

“Relax, Eve. I’ll be prepared tonight, and if he doesn’t come around here, he’ll be waiting for me somewhere along the highway on my way into town tomorrow morning. I didn’t just fall off the turnip truck. Trust me.”

Stone-cold fear fanned out inside her chest, making it hard to breathe. She closed her eyes and pulled in a deep breath, then another, before she controlled the beginnings of a panic attack.

J.P. reached out and tipped her chin up with his fingers.

She opened her eyes to stare at him. His touch generated a hot spot near her heart.

“This is why you hired me, remember. To protect you, to get the SOB who’s after you. We’re so close. Let me do my job.”

Caught in purgatory between yes and no, she could only find maybe in her heart. The thought of him being injured or killed bore a hollow place in her belly.

“You’re the strategist. If you think it will draw him out into the open, I have to believe you’re right.” But she didn’t have to like it. Knowing the man she was falling for might not survive.

She didn’t like it one damn bit.

“Come on.” She stepped back, regretting the disconnect as his hand fell away from her face. “There’s still time to get your order in over at the grill. Dangerous confrontation, medium rare, with a helping of bravado on the side.”

Sobering, she stared up at him, trying to read the look in his eyes, but she couldn’t see through his wall of blue.

“Don’t mind me.” Irritation burned in her blood. All she could see was him injured and bleeding. Turning on her boot heels, she walked away. “Looks like I’m choking down a well-done worry, whether I like it or not.”

Chapter Twelve

Eve was saucy....

Two seconds after she’d disarmed him at the BBQ with her witty repartee, he knew he’d never get enough of it as long as he lived. He wanted it 24/7. He wanted
her.
Indefinitely.

Readjusting his position at the northwest corner of the garage, he stared into the darkness, glad she was locked safely in her room upstairs right now, worrying about him.

She’d be more upset in the morning when he told her he couldn’t allow her to come along on his trip into town. Perhaps her position would soften once he reminded her of the crash they’d survived the last time around.

Retraining his focus, he picked out Tyler’s location in a bank of trees kitty-corner to the garage and homed in on his unmoving figure standing next to the trunk of a tall pine.

Night sounds assaulted his senses, buzzing around him in a frenzied hum of crickets and frogs. The creek gurgled and rushed past not one hundred yards from his location.

A flicker of movement in his peripheral sent a charge through his veins. Reaching up, he batted away a moth in search of a light source. But he’d made sure there were none tonight. Nothing to give away their presence in the dark. Waiting. Watching. Hoping to bring this to an end before anyone died.

He glanced at his watch. One a.m. on the dot. Around the same time the rock had come crashing through Eve’s upstairs window.

Tension climbed his spine and kneaded the muscles between his shoulder blades. The situation was escalating. Was it too much to hope the thug had assumed a nocturnal high-time when he liked to roam the darkness and spread his brand of terror?

Caution roared in his eardrums as he strained to hear beyond the noise. There were only four ways into the three-bay garage, every one of them locked.

Somewhere beyond the bank of river willows and buck brush lining the edge of the stream, he saw something move.

His heart rate ticked up. Picking it out of the darkness, he watched a lone figure cross the driveway and blend into the brush. Had Tyler decided to move his location? Or was the kidnapper looking to make his move?

Pressing back into the shadows next to the side door of the garage, he pulled the .41 from its holster, stepped around the corner and worked his way along the front of the building. He’d intercept the thug when he stepped out of the willows, draw a bead on him and demand he stop in his tracks.

Pop!

J.P. heard the odd noise at the back of the garage, like a lightbulb imploding on a sidewalk. Recognition sliced across his brain.

Molotov cocktail?

He took off at a run headed for the back of the structure. Glancing up, he saw a yellow halo push into the night sky. He rounded the end of the structure, raised his weapon and scanned the bank of trees for the attacker.

The echo of running footsteps across the wooden bridge over the creek changed his focus. Once the man who’d thrown the firebomb made it to the road, he’d never catch him.

Whoosh!
The flames exploded, climbing up the back wall of the garage as they fed on the fuel.

“Tyler!” J.P. yelled, watching him materialize from his hiding place next to the tree, but he was headed in the wrong direction. “Tyler!”

Two seconds later, the clank of a cast-iron bell clapper shattered the night and sent out the alarm.

Pushing away from the cover of the structure, he ran down the driveway and across the bridge. Taking cover next to a pine, he stared into the darkness.

Nothing moved.

Listening, he tried to pick out the sound of footfalls or brush cracking. Nothing. The thug was probably hunkered down, determined to wait him out. That wasn’t going to take much doing, since he couldn’t see his hands in front of his face. He’d never seen night this black.

A rustle in the brush next to him brought his head around. He worked to pick out movement amongst the leaves, but it was the overwhelming smell that warned him he’d dared to step into someone else’s territory.

It didn’t take light for him to pick out the two brilliant white stripes running along the skunk’s back.

Backing away slowly until he was out of the animal’s firing range, he holstered his weapon, turned and ran back across the bridge.

The ranch crew had mobilized to save the garage.

Tyler and Buck were in the process of dragging a hose line from the lodge, where it had been attached to a large water valve.

J.P. jumped in, grabbed the line and helped them drag it around to the back of the garage, where the fire had taken hold.

“Did you see who did this?” Tyler yelled over the roar of the flames.

“No. He took off across the bridge. He could have gone any direction.”

Buck aimed the nozzle at the base of the flames and opened the valve. A high-pressure jet shot out of the hose. The flames hissed and died in the plume of water, and within a couple of minutes the fire was out.

“You guys have your own personal fire department?”

“Have to,” Tyler said, “when the nearest fire truck is forty miles away. If we had to depend on them to put a fire out around here, this garage would be a pile of ash before they could get here.”

“J.P.!”

J.P. turned at the sound of Eve’s voice, watching her hurry across the driveway in her robe and a strategically placed scarf. She carried a flashlight, which she promptly shined in his eyes. “Is everyone okay!” In turn, she raked Tyler and Buck with the beam.

“Thanks to Tyler and Buck, the damage is minimal.” He gestured to the black scorch pattern fanning out from its source of ignition, a Molotov cocktail.

“I need your light.”

She handed it to him and he stepped closer to where the firebomb had smashed against the wall. Shining the beam onto the ground, he spotted the remains of the broken bottle. A beer bottle, judging by the brown glass scattered in the gravel.

Eve must have spotted it as well, because he heard her quick intake of breath. “Someone started this fire on purpose, didn’t they?” She turned to look at him.

“Yeah. I heard the bottle pop against the wall, but whoever threw it is long gone now.”

“Did you get a look at him?”

“No. It was too dark. I never anticipated he’d do something like this.” Worry ground over his nerves. It could just as easily have been the lodge, with Eve inside.

“Do you think—” she lowered her voice to a whisper “—it’s the kidnapper?”

“Same hit-and-run tactic. It could be him.”

One by one the towering yard lights snapped on as the rest of the crew put in an appearance in varying states of dress.

“Come on, let’s get you back inside.” He handed her the flashlight and turned to where Tyler was assigning duties in the mop-up phase.

“Troy and Cody, get a nail puller from the barn and pry up the siding. I want to make sure there’s nothing hot inside the wall.”

The brothers headed for the barn.

Tyler glanced up at them. “Night, Miss Brooks. We’ve got this situation under control.”

“I’m sure you do, Tyler. Thanks.”

J.P. escorted her across the driveway and around to the back door of the lodge, where they nearly collided with Edith.

“There you are, Miss Brooks. I just wanted to check on you and make sure you were okay.”

“I’m fine, but the garage, not so much.”

He studied Edith in the shadows of the porch light, noting the beads of sweat dotting her forehead. She looked frazzled, disjointed and upset, but he supposed being jolted out of bed at one-thirty in the morning by a fire alarm bell could produce those results. Still...

“Well, I’ll head back to my cabin then. Good night.”

“Good night.”

J.P. nodded and waited for her to step past him before he took the steps behind Eve, aware of the lingering scent of starter fluid.

Edith Weber? The firebomber? Or had she simply helped her nephew Roger Grimes put the Molotov together?

“I’ll take you upstairs, make sure everything’s okay, then I’ll take up watch from the front porch.”

“Why? You don’t think he’ll come back tonight, do you?”

“I didn’t think he’d try to burn the garage down, but he did. There’s still plenty of time between now and dawn if he wants to make another attempt.”

Concern worked over his nerves as he followed her up the stairs, anxious to have her tucked safely inside and out of harm’s way. There were too many variables. Too many unknowns at work for him to let his guard down again and underestimate this adversary.

* * *

“Y
ou look beat
,
cowboy
. How about some coffee?” Eve asked, holding the steaming mug out for J.P. to take.

“Sounds good, thanks.” He took the cup from her.

She turned and sat down on the porch swing, pushed back her scarf and settled into the comfy cushions to watch the sun come up over the Bridal Falls. Life was good right now, even with everything going on. She owed that to J.P.

“Any more action last night after I went to bed?”

“No. It went quiet once Tyler and the crew turned in.”

She wanted to say
good,
but the affirmation stuck in her throat. The firebomber’s failure to try something else last night only meant he’d strike again. Her pulse rate ticked up as she gazed across at J.P.

“What time are we heading into town?”

“I’m leaving at nine.” His eyes were fixed on her, intense pools of blue, deep and unyielding. Dangerous.

“I assume that means you want me to stay put while you go out looking for a confrontation?”

He sipped his coffee, once, twice. “It’s too risky for you to be in the passenger seat, Eve. I think we both know that. Whatever he’s willing to do to keep the bullet evidence from reaching Sheriff Adams, he’s going to try on the trip into town. Have you forgotten that we damned near lost the SUV over the side of that mountain?”

Visions of gore too horrible to contemplate sprinted across her thoughts. “What can I do to help?”

Caught off guard, his stare softened a bit. “You can stay on the ranch today, surrounded by the branding crew. They’re good men. They’ll look out for you.”

“Just promise me you’ll come home in one piece.” Her throat tightened almost to the point of pain. She swallowed against the tension and focused on J.P.’s handsome face. On the determined smile slowly arching the corners of his sexy mouth.

“It’ll take more than this nut job to stop me.”

“Speaking of nut jobs, I haven’t had a chance to ask you if you’d consider coming back to Los Angeles with me for my meeting with Thomas.” A knot squeezed in the pit of her stomach and wouldn’t relent. She needed J.P. there for moral support when she gave Thomas the boot.

“I live in L.A., sweetheart. I’ve gotta go back sometime, to feed my goldfish, Fred. He hasn’t eaten since I left.”

“Of course you do.” She grinned at him, amazed by his innate ability to take the edge off any subject with a slice of humor. The tension locked between her shoulder blades started to relent a degree at a time.

“Don’t get me wrong, I do love it here.” J.P. sobered, enjoying the serene set of her features. A beacon he planned to hang on to in the storm he knew would come.

“What’s not to love?” he whispered, seeing her blossom in the streaks of sunlight piercing through the pines in dawn’s wake. “Fresh air, open spaces, peace and quiet, no cell phone service.”

And a determined kidnapper, who wanted to take what he’d realized he wanted.

Tipping his coffee mug, he drained the last of the java and stood up. “I need to get ready to go. Will you be okay out here?”

“My predicament is all your fault, you know.”

“Really?” Curiosity melded with concern inside his head and sent a jolt of uneasiness charging through his limbs. Was it possible she’d discovered the information he’d withheld from her about her half sister? The confession he’d continually tamped down, knowing it would eventually resurface. Was this the day?

“I didn’t have the guts to be sitting out here in broad daylight two weeks ago.” She stared up at him, her fair blue eyes bright with the sheen of tears pooled on the rims.

Bone-deep desire brought him to his knees in front of her. If for any reason he didn’t come home today, she had to know how beautiful she really was.

“You have all the courage you need, Eve.”

Straying outside the bounds of his self-imposed restraint, he set his mug down and reached for her, cupping her face in his hands.

“It’s always been inside you.” Leaning in, he pressed his lips against her forehead, pulling in the scent of her hair, a mix of fresh air and roses.

Heat exploded inside him, rocking his nerves, burning her brand on his heart. He sucked it up and continued his leisurely seduction, all geared to imprint a message on her soul he hoped she’d never forget.

A moan slid up her throat.

Working strategically, he breathed her in as he kissed her cheek and trailed his lips down the right side of her slender neck.

She shuddered under his targeted assault, but went rigid the instant he switched it up to the other side and moved his mouth across the patch of scar tissue at the base of her neck.

A whisper of verbal protest started in her throat; he felt it vibrate across her vocal cords.

“Courage, Eve,” he whispered, moving up to tease her earlobe before pressing a series of kisses across her battle-scarred cheek.

Intoxicated by the experience, he found her lips for an instant, then pulled back to look into her eyes before he lost all control.

“You’re more beautiful now than you ever were. Don’t let anyone make you think otherwise. Ever.”

He snagged the empty mug and pushed to his feet, drained of any immunity he had against her. He couldn’t risk getting caught in her sleepy blue gaze again, so without looking down, he walked to the front door of the lodge, pulled it open and went inside.

* * *

E
ve remained glued
to the seat of the porch swing long after she’d watched J.P. pull the Explorer out of the garage and take off down the driveway. Tyler Spangler wasn’t far behind him in the ranch’s truck, headed in to pick Devon up from the hospital and his dog, Hank, from the veterinarian.