Colorado Bodyguard (19 page)

A quiet seemed to fall over the mountainside. No hawk called out again from high above the trees. No squirrels chattered at her from a pine bough. Even the breeze seemed to have gone silent.

Bo felt a sudden chill as if the sun had gone down—an instant before the man appeared so suddenly from out of the dense darkness of the trees. He grabbed her, yanked her down from the saddle and clamped an arm around her as he shoved the dirty blade of a knife in her face.

“Well, look at you,” he said hoarsely against her ear. “Ain't you a sight for sore eyes? Guess it's my lucky day.”

* * *

J
ACE
 
HAD
 
JUST
 
knocked at the door when another truck drove up from the direction of the corrals. As Senator Buckmaster Hamilton himself opened the door, he was looking past Jace's shoulder. Jace glanced back to see Cooper Barnett climb out of his truck and walk toward them.

Jace turned back around. “I'm Jace Calder,” he said, holding out his hand as the senator's gaze shifted to him.

The senator frowned but shook his hand. “I know who you are. I'm just wondering what's got you on my doorstep so early in the morning.”

“I'm here about your daughter Bo.”

Buckmaster looked to Cooper. “Tell me you aren't here about my daughter Olivia.”

Cooper laughed. “My pregnant bride is just fine, thanks.”

The senator let out an exaggerated breath and turned his attention back to Jace. “What's this about—?” But before he could finish, a tall, elegant blonde woman appeared at his side. Jace recognized Angelina Broadwater Hamilton, the senator's second wife. The rumors about her being kicked out of the house to make way for Buckmaster's first wife weren't true, it seemed.

She put a hand on Buckmaster's arm. “It's the auditor calling from the foundation office. He's looking for Bo. She didn't show up for work today, and there seems to be a problem.”

“That's why I'm here,” Jace said.

“Me, too,” Cooper said, sounding surprised.

“Come in, then,” Buckmaster said, waving both men inside. Once he'd closed the big door behind them, he asked, “Now, what's this about Bo?”

“I was just talking to one of the wranglers,” Cooper said, jumping in ahead of Jace. “Bo apparently left Saturday afternoon on horseback, saying she'd be back this morning, but she hasn't returned.”

“That's what I heard, as well,” Jace said, taking the opening. “I need to know where she might have gone.”

Both Buckmaster and Cooper looked to him. “You sound as if you're planning to go after her,” the senator said.

“I am.”

“Why would you do that? I didn't think you two were seeing each other,” Cooper asked like the protective brother-in-law he was.

“We're not,” Jace said.

“Wait a minute,” the senator said. “You're the one who stood her up for the senior prom. I'll never forget it. My baby cried for weeks.”

Jace nodded. “That would be me.”

“But you've dated Bo more recently than senior prom,” Buckmaster was saying.

“Five years ago,” he said. “But that doesn't have anything to do with this. I have my reasons for wanting to see Bo come back. My sister works at the foundation.”

“Why wouldn't Bo come back?” the senator demanded.

Behind him, Angelina made a disparaging sound. “Because there's money missing from the foundation, along with your daughter.” She looked at Jace. “You said your sister works down there?”

He smiled, seeing that she was clearly judgmental of the “kind of people” Bo had hired to work at the foundation. “My sister doesn't have access to any of the money, if that's what you're worried about.” He turned to the senator again. “The auditor is down at the foundation office, trying to sort it out. Bo needs to be there. I thought you might have some idea where she might have gone in the mountains. I thought I'd go find her.”

The senator looked to his son-in-law. Cooper shrugged.

“Cooper, you were told she planned to be back Sunday?” her father said. “She probably changed her mind or went too far, not realizing how long it would take her to get back. If she had an appointment today with an auditor, I'm sure she's on her way as we speak.”

“Or she's hiding up there and doesn't want to be found,” Angelina quipped from the couch. “If she took that money, she could be miles from here by now.” She groaned. “It's always something with your girls, isn't it?”

“I highly doubt Bo has taken off with any foundation money,” the senator said, and shot his wife a disgruntled look. “Every minor problem isn't a major scandal,” he said and sighed, clearly irritated with his wife.

When he and Bo had dated, she'd told him that her stepmother was always quick to blame her and her sisters no matter the situation. As far as Jace could tell, there was no love lost on either side.

“Maybe we should call the sheriff,” Cooper said.

Angelina let out a cry. “That's all we need—more negative publicity. It will be bad enough when this gets out. But if search and rescue is called in and the sheriff has to go up there... For all we know, Bo could be meeting someone in those mountains.”

Jace hadn't considered she might have an accomplice. “That's why I'm the best person to go after her.”

“How do you figure that?” Cooper demanded, giving him a hard look.

“She already doesn't like me, and the feeling is mutual. Maybe you're right and she's hightailing it home as we speak,” Jace said. “But whatever's going on with her, I'm going to find her and make sure she gets back.”

“You sound pretty confident of that,” the senator said sounding almost amused.

“I know these mountains, and I'm not a bad tracker. I'll find her. But that's big country. My search would go faster if I have some idea where she was headed when she left.”

“There's a trail to the west of the ranch that connects with the Sweet Grass Creek trail,” her father said.

Jace rubbed a hand over his jaw. “That trail forks not far up.”

“She usually goes to the first camping spot before the fork,” the senator said. “It's only a couple of hours back in. I'm sure she wouldn't go any farther than that. It's along Loco Creek.”

“I know that spot,” Jace said.

Cooper looked to his father-in-law. “You want me to get some men together and go search for her? That makes more sense than sending—”

Buckmaster shook his head and turned to Jace. “I remember your father. The two of you were volunteers on a search years ago. I was impressed with both of you. I'm putting my money on you finding her if she doesn't turn up on her own. I'll give you till sundown.”

“Make it twenty-four hours. There's a storm coming, so I plan to be back before it hits. If we're both not back by then, send in the cavalry,” he said, and with a tip of his hat, headed for the door.

Behind him, he heard Cooper say, “Sending him could be a mistake.”

“The cowboy's mistake,” Buckmaster said. “I know my daughter. She's on her way back, and she isn't going to like that young man tracking her down. Jace Calder is the one she almost married.”

 

Find out what happens next in

LONE RIDER

by
New York Times
bestselling author B.J. Daniels

available August 2015,
wherever Mills & Boon Books and ebooks are sold.

www.millsandboon.co.uk

Copyright © 2015 by Barbara Heinlein