KIDNAPPED COWBOY (3 page)

“You thought kidnapping my brother was gonna make him change his mind?”  He laughed.  “You don’t know Brandon.  He doesn’t take well to having his back up against a wall.  Be glad you got me instead.”

“I knew doing this would probably cost me my job.”

“Your job,” he replied with a snort.  “Hell, kidnapping is a federal offense.  I think you’d have lost more than just your job.”

“Would have?  Does that mean you aren’t gonna call the police?”

“With what?  My cell phone is lying on the seat of Brandon’s truck.”

“Oh.”

“Not that I’d call anyway,” he added with a frown.  No way in hell was he going to call his brother to let him know what happened either.

She looked up at him in surprise.  “I wouldn’t blame you if you did.”

“You’re kidding, right?”  He crossed the room to stand beside her, turning to give her better access to the cuffs so she that could remove them.  “The last thing I wanna read in the paper is EX RODEO STAR KIDNAPPED BY CRAZED WOMAN WIELDING A CURLING IRON.”

“Don’t forget half-drunken.”

“Don’t push it, lady.  I’ve been in a jail cell before.  You don’t wanna be there.”

Her eyes rounded.  “You’re an ex-con?”

Dalton chuckled.  “Not exactly.  Just got my ass tossed into jail along with a few of my rodeo buddies after a couple of alcohol-induced bar room fights.”

“So you have a drinking problem?”

“What are you? My therapist?”

“I could be.” 

She almost sounded serious.  “If anyone needs therapy here, it’s you.  You just kidnapped me with a hair thing.”

“Curling iron,” she corrected.

He knew what it was.  “So what exactly was your plan?” he asked, the sarcasm thick in his voice.  “You intended to curl my brother’s hair until he gave in to your demands?”

Her lips actually quirked into a smile.  “I hadn’t thought that far ahead.”

“Seems to me you didn’t think about much of anything.  And to answer your question, no, I don’t have a drinking problem.  I just seem to have a shit-for-luck problem, which means I have a tendency to be in the wrong place at the wrong time.  Tonight being proof of that.”

“So you really aren’t gonna turn me in?” she asked, nervously biting at her bottom lip. 

The action drew his gaze to the plump pink flesh.  His first thought was – tempting.  But he reeled that thought in pretty damn quick.  He was not about to fantasize about this woman, even if he was a sucker for big, beautiful green eyes.

“Sorry to disappoint you,” he said with a husky laugh.  “But what happened tonight is something I’d rather no one ever find out about.  So as long as you promise not to pull a stunt like this ever again, I’ll go my way and you can go yours.”  He made enough mistakes of his own.

“I promise.”

“You know, there are other ways to go about settling problems.”

“What?”

“I’m just saying that you might have considered calling my brother and try reasoning with him.”

She opened her purse and dug through it.  “Been there.  Done that.  Your brother is harder to reach than the President of the United States.”

“I’m sure he’s busy.”

“Busy my butt,” she snorted.  “Your brother is doing his best to avoid me.”  Her attempt to locate the key grew more frantic.  “Where is it?  I know I stuck it in here.”

“You lost the key?” Dalton said with a groan.  He rolled his eyes.  “Oh, hell.”  The situation was just getting better and better.

CHAPTER TWO

“For your information, I didn’t
lose
the key,” Caitlin told him as she continued to rifle through all the pockets in her purse.  “I put it in here yesterday, so it’s got to be in here somewhere.” 

Dalton watched with a wide grin as the pile of discarded items grew.  A plain black leather wallet.  A hot pink hairbrush that folded in half.  A deck of cards.  A handful of peppermint candies.  And two packs of Bubble Yum.

“Bubble Yum?”

She looked up at him.  “I happen to like blowing bubbles.”

Hmmm...yet even another side to his crazy but beautiful kidnapper.

She held the purse upside down and shook it, emptying everything out onto the scarred wooden end table.  A travel-size pack of tissues.  Tylenol.  Sunglasses.  A nail file.  And two tubes of flavored lip balm that had his thoughts returning to her lips.  It appeared that their deep pink color was au natural.

“You got a kitchen sink in there, too?” he asked with a nod, forcing his thoughts to something other than her incredibly sexy mouth. 

Her panicked expression eased into a smile as she paused to look up at him again.  “Afraid not.  I only carry the necessities.”

Which obviously didn’t include the handcuff key from the look of things, but she hadn’t given up.  He studied her closely as she continued her search for the missing key.  What kind of life could she have had growing up that led her to a place like Stoney Brook?  She didn’t exactly come across as one of those hardened, street-smart, runaway teens that spent summers at the retreat his father had started when Dalton was just a boy.  Even if she was a kidnapper.

“Caitlin...”

“Yes?” she muttered, resuming her search.

“When you mentioned running this place, what did you mean?”

“Just what I said.  I’m camp director here.  Have been since I graduated from college.”

“How old are you?”

Her head snapped up, her gaze meeting his.  “Hasn’t anyone ever told you that it’s not polite to ask a woman her age?”  Just when he was about to apologize, a slow smile spread across her face.  “Lucky for you, I don’t have a problem with it.  I’m twenty-eight.  How old are you?”

“Thirty-two.”

“Hmmm.”

“Hmmm?  What’s that supposed to mean?”

She shrugged as she dug into one of the purse’s side pockets.  Again.  “I don’t know.  I just thought you were older than that.”

“Yah, well, ten years on the circuit can do that to a man,” he said matter-of-factly.  “You find that key yet?”

“No,” she replied with a frustrated sigh.  “It must have fallen out when I helped you out of the car.  I’ll go out and look for it.”  Dropping her empty purse atop the pile of scattered belongings on the table, she turned and started for the door.

“Caitlin...” he called out again.

Hand on the doorknob she glanced back at him, moisture filling those big, beautiful emerald eyes.  “Yeah?”

“It’s gonna be alright.”  The words spilled out before he’d had a chance to reconsider saying them.  What on earth was he thinking giving
this
woman reassurances?  One who’d dragged him out to his family’s retreat against his will. 

“I sure hope so.  For the kids’ sake.”

“We’ll work something out.”  Damn it all, there he went again – making promises when he was in no position to guarantee her anything. 

Nodding halfheartedly, she opened the door to leave.  Only a powerful gust of wind caught it, wrenching it from her grasp.  She let out a startled shriek as the door slammed into the inside cabin wall with a resounding thud.  Snow that had piled up at the threshold spilled in over her shoes in a glistening blanket of white. 

Dalton cursed, wishing his hands were free to help as she struggled to close the door against the storm’s fury.  Her size wasn’t much force against the relentless wind.  He moved to stand beside her, turning his head to avoid the wildly whipping strands of long auburn hair.

“Hold onto it,” he ordered over the howling wind.  “I’ll get my shoulder behind it and help push the door shut!”

“I can’t,” she replied in a panicked cry.

The fire hissed and sparked as the wind gusted across the room.  “Come on, Caitlin, you’re a hell of a lot tougher than that.  Push!”

He stepped up beside her, putting his shoulder into the effort.  Together, they forced the door shut and then turned, sagging against it. 

“So much for finding the key,” she muttered as she shook the snow from her hair.

Even in her windblown state, she looked sexy.  Maybe he should have left the door open.  The chilly air would have helped keep his head clear and his body less responsive to this sexy, green-eyed cowboy-napper. 

He looked down at her.  “I sure hope you thought to bring along some food.  From the look of things we’re bound to be here a while.”

Her head snapped up, her eyes widening.  “We’re stranded?”

He nodded with a frown.  “Afraid so.”

She grabbed at the front of his shirt, curling her slender fingers into the thick cotton as she clutched it tight.  “We can’t be.  I need to get back to town and find some way to convince your brother not to go through with his plans to close this place.”

“Ain’t happening tonight.”

Stubborn little thing she was, she shook her head, refusing to accept the truth of their situation.  “I can’t just sit around and do nothing.”

“I agree.”  Pressing his length against her until she was effectively pinned to the door, Dalton lowered his mouth to hers.  A man didn’t need the use of his arms to kiss a woman. 

Caitlin stiffened in surprise, her fingers flattening against his shirt.  No doubt to push him away.

He deepened the kiss, determined to teach her a lesson.  A woman couldn’t just up and kidnap a man at whim.  Even worse, damage his pride by doing it with a damned curling iron of all things.     

Instead of pushing him away, she leaned into him with a soft sigh, her fingers curling into his shirt again.  Her lips melded to his in welcome surrender.  The faint taste of peppermint stirred his senses as his tongue swept over her full lips. 

A low groan sounded. 

His?

Hell.  Not only had he’d been handcuffed, hogtied and kidnapped against his will that night.  Now his sexy kidnapper was turning him inside out with her sweet response to his kiss.  Sweet hell.  It was hot enough to singe his drawers.  And he was more than ready to burn.

He tore his mouth from hers and stepped back, his pulse rocketing.  What was he doing?  He was supposed to be teaching her a lesson.  Not encouraging her to kidnap
and
kiss men she didn’t know.

Dazed, Caitlin leaned back against the wind chilled door and pressed a trembling hand to her lips.  For the first time in her life, she fully understood the true meaning of the term ‘breathless’.

Muttering a curse, Dalton Barnes pivoted on booted heel and moved to stand in front of the fireplace, his arms still bound firmly behind his broad back.  “I’m sorry,” he murmured.  “That was a mistake.  I shouldn’t have done that.”

The corners of her mouth drew down into a frown.  His kiss had every nerve in her body sparking with desire.  A sensation she’d never experienced before. 
A mistake
.  

The crackling of the burning logs in the fire was the only sound in the room.

Caitlin’s frown deepened.  She supposed she couldn’t blame him for regretting the kiss, one he’d initiated.  Not with the circumstances being what they were.  After everything she’d put him through that night.

Sighing softly, she pushed away from the door and edged slowly across the room to where the brooding giant stood.  She took in his hard, lean, very male form.  Maybe it was a good thing she’d lost the handcuff key.  If he had kissed her that thoroughly with his hands bound behind his back, what could the man accomplish with his hands free?

Very large hands now that she thought about it.  Her gaze dropped further down to his boots.  Very large boots.  She found herself wondering if the saying was true about men with big hands and feet.  Something told her Dalton Barnes was the kind of man who could prove that theory right.  Warmth spiraled downward from her recently kissed lips to her toes at an alarming rate of speed.

“Down girl,” she muttered to herself, embarrassed to have even given any thought to such things.  This was the ‘Ogre’s’ brother.  That had to make him at least one-part ‘Ogre’, right? 

He turned to look at her.  “Did you say something?”

“I...uh, no,” she said, feeling flustered. 

“You all right?” he asked, the tension on his face giving way to concern.

“W...what?”

“You aren’t getting sick, are you?  You look a little flushed.”

After the kiss they’d shared, who wouldn’t be?

She sank onto the nearby sofa with a tired sigh.  “I’m fine.  It’s just been a really long day.”

He snorted, the abrupt sound echoing in the sparsely decorated cabin.  “Tell me about it.”  He glanced toward the window where the heavy snow was still coming down outside.  “We might as well make ourselves comfortable.  Looks like we’re gonna be stuck in this cabin for a little while.”

She nodded.  “I suppose you’re right.”

He stepped away from the fire, settling his hulking frame onto the worn green and beige sofa cushion beside her.  Though instead of sitting back in comfort as she’d done, he was forced to lean forward in a rather awkward position thanks to those stupid mail order handcuffs she had put on him. 

Guilt tore at her.  She had dragged an innocent man into this mess.  “This is all my fault,” she said, glancing up at her hunky rodeo captive.

“Reckon you could say that,” he replied, shifting uncomfortably.

She had to do something.  Pushing up from the sofa, she started across the room.

The sofa creaked as he shot to his feet behind her.  “Where you going?”

She paused to glance back at him.  “One way or another I’m getting outside to find that key.”

“Don’t be crazy.  Wait, let me rephrase that.  Don’t be any crazier than you already are.”  Instead of pinning her with an angry glare, he flashed a devastatingly sexy smile.

How could a man who had spent years riding the rodeo circuit have such perfect teeth?  Rodeo riders got thrown from bulls and trampled on at least a few times in their career.  So why couldn’t he have made things easier on her by having a missing tooth or two?  She’d have even settled for a crooked nose.  Anything to ease the mental distraction his good looks were causing her when she really needed a clear head to set things right.

“Ha-ha,” she muttered with a frown.

“Seriously, you saw what it’s like out there.  It’s a blizzard.  You’ll never find that key.  Chances are you’ll be blown away in the process.”  His gaze slid over her.  “Hell, I’ve seen prairie dogs that weigh more than you do.”