Cowboy Who Came For Christmas (Harlequin Romance) (17 page)

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

A
DAN
STARED
AT
his stranded truck and let out a grunt.

Jacob and David grunted with him.

“That there is a mess,” Jacob said, shaking his head.

“Yep.” David glanced at Adan, then looked back at the truck.

“Now that the roads are passable, we can take you and your tires into town to a gas station to get air in ’em again and we can help you mount ’em back on your truck, too.”

“At least he didn’t set it on fire,” Adan said, still not sure why Pritchard would deliberately deflate the tires. “I don’t get it. Why didn’t he just steal my truck and go?”

“Me, either,” Jacob said as they held their rifles up and advanced toward the truck. “He coulda used your vehicle to get away.” He scratched his head. “If you want my opinion, I think the man is running scared and kind of doing a scattershot plan of action.”

“I can’t argue with that,” Adan replied. “He seems to have a knee-jerk reaction to things. I guess he did this out of a fit of anger.”

“It was me.”

Adan and the others whirled around, guns raised, to find Melissa trailing behind them. In one of Bettye’s big coats and with a wool hat covering her hair, she looked like a lost hobbit.

“Come out from behind that tree and explain yourself,” Adan said in a gruff voice. “What do you mean, it was you?”

Melissa pushed through the dirty slush left over from the snow. “He...he wanted me to...distract you...but I hit him over the head and ran. I just ran.”

“Who?” Adan asked. “Who wanted you to do that, Melissa?”

She wiped at her eyes. “That man. The one you’re chasing.”

“Pritchard?” Jacob’s blurry eyes widened. “Girl, are you saying you came here with that man?”

Melissa took another step and then jumped over a deep puddle of icy water. “I was...hitchhiking and he saw me at a truck stop and asked me where I was headed. Once I told him Crescent Mountain, he offered me a ride. Told me he knew how to get here.”

She glanced down and then lifted her gaze to the trees. Adan figured she wasn’t telling them the whole story. Maybe Pritchard had tried something with her and she was too humiliated and embarrassed to explain.

“I’ll just bet he was glad to give you a ride,” David said.

She nodded. “He told me he was coming here, too. At first, I was relieved. But then he turned weird and creepy. Told me his wife had run off and he thought she was on this mountain. Offered me money to help him...get to her.”

Adan stomped toward Melissa, causing her to step back. “I’m not gonna hurt you,” he said, realizing the girl had her own issues. “If you hitched a ride with Pritchard, where is his car and why did you mess with my truck tires?”

Melissa started crying. “He hid the car when the roads got so bad and he couldn’t drive. It’s down the way on an overlook. We walked about a half a mile to get up the mountain road. When he saw this truck, he tried to find a way in. He knocked at the window with a big rock but it didn’t break the glass so he went through your toolbox and found a screwdriver. I guess he pried the glass somehow. It shattered and scared me. I told him I didn’t want to hurt anyone. But he said he was taking me with him as collateral.”

Adan couldn’t believe this guy. “He took advantage of you and used you, Melissa. You could have been hurt...or killed.”

“I know that now,” the girl said on a wail. “He was nice to me and... I trusted him. I—”

She stopped, wiped at her eyes. “I’m sorry. That’s all.”

Her words echoed what Sophia had told Adan earlier about how Joe had charmed her into thinking he was a nice guy. He couldn’t wait to find Pritchard and knock him silly.

“So what happened?” he asked Melissa.

“I... I got scared after he told me what he wanted me to do and while he was looking around in your truck, I picked up the rock he’d used to try to break the window. When we started walking up the road, I lifted the rock and hit him over the head.”

“And what happened next?” Adan asked, his tone gentle now in spite of his growing aggravation.

“I ran away and he...he got up and he was so mad. He got in the truck and tried to crank it but I... I think he flooded it. He cussed and then he got out and took off up the road.” She let out a shuddering sob. “He hollered at me and told me when he found me, he’d kill me.”

“And what did you do?”

She pointed to the truck. “I figured out how to let the air out of the tires so he couldn’t take the truck—so he wouldn’t have a way to take me.” Her eyes went dark. “I’m done with men using me. Done.”

Adan nodded and let that remark slide for now. “So you deflated the tires but you hid in the truck.”

“Only after I was sure he’d gone on up the mountain,” she replied. “I was cold and scared and tired. I figured somebody’d come back for the truck and then I’d be okay.” Then she pointed toward the vehicle. “And I slept with a crowbar I found in the toolbox.”

“Smart girl,” David said.

“Even though you sabotaged the truck,” Jacob added. “You made it where he couldn’t take you or the vehicle but you hoped the real owner would come back.”

She bobbed her head. “Yes, sir. But I didn’t know it belonged to a Ranger.” Looking at Adan with big brown eyes, she said, “I was so afraid of you I... I didn’t tell you the truth. Then when I found out he was after Sophia, I thought I had to stay quiet. I wanted to see my grandma and I don’t want to go back to juvie or go back to my aunt’s house. Please, Adan, don’t arrest me. I didn’t do anything wrong. I was just with the wrong people.” She glared at the truck. “And I hitched a ride with the wrong man.”

“You might have saved all of us,” Jacob said. “If he’d managed to get that truck outta that drift and up the mountain, he could have taken Sophia.”

“But we all have cars,” David replied. “He managed to get me out on a cold night to drive him away.”

Adan rubbed his temple. He felt a headache coming on. “Nothing about this makes any sense,” he said. “But we’re all in it for the duration.” He pointed to Melissa. “Even you. No more withholding information, okay?”

“Yes, sir.”

If he’d been more diligent, he might have pulled all of this and more out of the girl earlier. But his mind had been centered on Sophia and guarding her. In a perfect world, he would have gone after Pritchard that first night and let the rest of the village people take care of themselves.

But he’d been blindsided and stonewalled at every angle.

No more of that.

“What are you gonna do to me?” Melissa asked.

The fear in her words brought Adan back into focus. Thinking there was so much more to her story, he vowed to question her again soon.

He raised a hand and held it out to her. “Melissa, I won’t send you back, but I have to check your record and see if anyone’s reported you missing. Did you run away from juvie?”

“No. I served my six months and went into a foster home. Then my aunt took me in, but I ran away from her sorry boyfriend. She’s my daddy’s sister but she hates me and hates my daddy even more.” She put her hands across her midsection in a firm stance. “I’m not going back.”

Jacob and David gave each other a quick glance then both sent pleading gazes toward Adan.

“She should have a decent Christmas,” Jacob said. “She deserves a Christmas with her loving grandmother.”

Adan rolled his eyes. “I’m not so mean as to make her go back before Christmas,” he said. “But I have to report her to the state authorities and soon. So everybody just relax.”

He glanced at his truck then turned back to Melissa. “You did a brave thing, but it was dangerous to hitch a ride with a stranger.” Adan repeated his concerns, hoping the girl would think before doing this again. “He could have killed you.”

Melissa burst into tears again and ran into Adan’s arms. “But he didn’t. And now you won’t let him hurt anyone, right?”

Adan held the girl and stared out into the dark, wet woods. “I’ll do my best, honey.”

He wasn’t sure he was heroic enough to protect all of them, but he’d do it or die trying.

* * *

S
OPHIA
SHOULDN
’
T
HAVE
panicked when she woke up on the sofa by herself. Adan had wrapped her in a blanket and left her stretched out and all curled up like a content kitten.

He made her feel that way.

How could a man she’d only known for a few days do that to her when Joe hadn’t treated her with any type of kindness in the six years they’d known each other? And how could she feel this way about Adan after she’d given up on trusting men at all and forever?

This one is different
, she thought as she got up and walked around the cabin. Did she think she’d find him hiding in a closet? Or waiting to hit her and drag her into the bedroom?

No, that was more Joe’s way of doing things.

But she had to wonder if Adan was out there searching for Joe Pritchard or if he was somewhere doing background checks on all of them. Did he trust her yet?

They’d kissed and cuddled last night in a very trusting way, so Sophia had to believe they’d moved a little closer toward that end.

But he was still on the right side of the law.

And she still didn’t trust the law.

Pouring herself a cup of coffee, Sophia figured she’d find out the old-fashioned way where Adan had gone. She’d ask the one person who knew what was always happening on this remote mountain. Bettye.

When she was halfway up the path, Bandit met her with a woof and a whish of his tail. “What are you doing out here, boy?” Sophia asked, concern causing her to hurry.

“He’s looking for Melissa,” Bettye said, meeting her on the path. “I can’t find her anywhere.”

Sophia heard the fear in that admission. “Are you sure she’s not visiting with Karen and David or maybe gone on a walk with Maggie and Arnie?”

“I’ve checked with Karen,” Bettye said. “David left earlier with Jacob and your Ranger-Man. But no one’s seen Melissa.”

“Let’s get inside and we’ll figure out how to find her,” Sophia replied.

The cold couldn’t be good for Bettye’s arthritis. With her bad knees, the old woman could barely walk even on a warm, sunny day. And even though Jacob swore eating raisins soaked in gin would cure any ache.

“What are you doing out so early?” Bettye asked when they were back by her fire.

“I was looking for Adan,” Sophia replied. “But you explained where he’s gone. Are they looking for Joe?”

Bettye shook her head, her long gray braid still loose from her everyday chignon. “No, honey. They went to check on getting Adan’s tires fixed. Now that the roads are more passable, he wants to get his truck back up and running. Karen said he told David he needed to be home by Christmas.”

“He has a little girl—Gaylen,” Sophia explained. “He’s worried he won’t make it in time.”

“Hmm. A child.” Bettye let that tidbit soak in. “Is he a married man?”

“She left him,” Sophia replied. “When his daughter was a baby. They divorced but I don’t know if he’s over her or not.”

Bettye didn’t say anything more. “What should we do about Melissa?”

Sophia checked the girl’s room. “She left what little she had on her when she showed up—her other clothes and her purse. But I don’t see her cell phone anywhere.”

“She keeps that thing with her at all times,” Bettye said, her eyes bright with concern. “She’s waiting for her boyfriend to come. With that crazy Joe out there, I worry about her. I’m not used to having a teenager around.”

“I’ll go look for her,” Sophia said, turning to head back to her place for her rifle.

“No, no.” Bettye raised her hand in the air. “I was told to keep you out of the woods.”

“And who told you that?” Sophia asked, her hand on her hip.

Bettye looked sheepish. “Ranger-Man.” She shrugged. “I did find Melissa gone but I was on my way to check on you, too. I get antsy when people just up and disappear.”

Sophia stepped back toward where Bettye sat in her big chair by the window. “Is that what your daughter did—just disappeared?”

Bettye nodded, her head held high. “We didn’t get along on many fronts, so when she told us she was pregnant, things didn’t go very well. So she ran away with her good-for-nothing boyfriend. I... I worried night and day but she called after a year or so and told me she was fine and the baby was fine but that I needed to stay out of her life.” Bettye wiped at her left eye. “A few months later, we got a call that she’d died of an overdose. And her husband had taken off with...our granddaughter.”

Sophia sensed Bettye finally wanted to talk. “And
your
husband?”

“He left, too. Blamed me for running her off and for him not being able to help his granddaughter. Daddy’s little girl and all that.” Bettye twisted her braid up onto her head and pulled a hairpin out from behind her ear to secure it. “He was one of those fine, upstanding types. Never approved of my creative nature. He seemed to forget that he didn’t approve of his daughter being pregnant at seventeen, either. So I got the blame for a lot of things.”

Sophia came to kneel down beside Bettye. “So when Melissa found you, I guess it was a shock.”

“You can say that again,” Bettye retorted, tears in her eyes. “She hasn’t said much, but I think my daughter’s wayward ways had to affect her, too. Not to mention her daddy dumping her with his hateful older sister all the time. All I know is that my granddaughter is afraid to go back home and I will not force her to do so. Not as long as I got a breath in me.”

“You won’t have to do anything much,” Sophia said, patting Bettye’s hand. “No one is going to force her to go back.”

“Your man might,” Bettye replied. “He’s a good, solid man, kind of like the one who left me. He has to follow the law. I’d expect no less of him and I wouldn’t hold it against him. But I’ll fight him on it.”

“I’m going to find her,” Sophia said. “I’ll get my gun and walk the road. Maybe she’s afraid Adan will report her now that the weather is letting up.”

Bettye put a hand to her mouth. “Or she’s gone off with that Sean she keeps talking about. Says he’s already here. She might have run off with him.”