by Aimée Thurlo
She leaned back and tried to stretch, but her muscles protested. She forced herself to take a deep breath.
“Is it happening again?”
“It’s not a contraction this time. My muscles are sore, that’s all. It would help to take a warm bath, but my weight makes me clumsy these days.”
“Let me help you, then.” Seeing her hesitate, he added, “Annie, I’ll just be there for you, nothing more.”
Temptation spiraled through her. His gentle hands on her, the warmth of the water. She could envision it all so clearly.
“Annie, let me do this for you,” he insisted gently.
She wanted to stand firm, but the tenderness in his voice and her imagination made his offer irresistible. “All right,” she whispered.
Jake led her gently to her bathroom. Then, while the tub was filling, he began to undress her. She didn’t protest, allowing him to take over. Within a few minutes, she stood naked in front of him.
“Look at me,” he said, tilting her chin upward until she met his gaze. “You have a beautiful, feminine body. Don’t be embarrassed,” he said, then helped her ease down into the tub.
Enveloped in the water, and bare to his gaze, she felt more vulnerable than she ever had. He knelt by the side of the tub, dipped his hands into the warm water, then moistened her shoulders, allowing the water to trickle down her body. He caressed her gently, asking nothing, and was rewarded by her soft sigh.
His touch was like magic, soothing her body and easing all her soreness away. Jake smoothed his wet palms over her breasts, then over the swell of her stomach, then moved lower, parting her legs. His touch was gentle, eliciting a slow fire that never pushed her over the edge, but led her gently toward it and kept her there.
“Don’t stop,” she whispered.
The water enveloped her in a gentle blanket; when he broached her body, she felt as though she were being rocked in a river of pleasure. Her body yielded to the exquisite sensations cascading through her until she came apart under his touch.
“I love the way you respond to me, sweetheart. When you sigh my name that way, you make me feel like one hell of a man.”
She opened her eyes. “You are.”
He kissed her then, long, slow, and deep. “What you need now is gentleness and love. I’m not asking you for promises, nor am I making you any that you aren’t ready to accept. Just let me be what you need right now.”
Her heart ached with love. “Then don’t go. Just hold me,” she murmured. As she stepped out of the tub, he dried her off, then took her back to bed. He placed the covers over her, then lay behind her, his arms securely around her until she fell asleep.
THE MORNING SUN was shining brightly when she woke up. She looked around but Jake was gone. Now, in the clear light of day, everything they’d shared last night seemed more like a wonderful dream than reality. Perhaps it was a little of the magic of the season. It was, after all, Christmas Eve.
Annie dressed and, as she entered the kitchen a while later, saw Jake. She was about to greet him when the phone began to ring. She picked it up and, after hearing the caller’s name, handed the receiver to him. “It’s Iris, for you.”
Jake set his coffee cup down and took the phone. He listened for several moments, then spoke. “Where do you want to meet?” He hung up and looked over at Annie. “Iris wants to meet me alone by the crossroads at the north end of the pueblo,” he said. “She sounds really frightened about something, but she wouldn’t tell me what’s going on.” Jake grabbed his coat from the rack. “I better go. It shouldn’t take me long but, in the meantime, make sure Martin or Nick can stay here with you.”
“Nick is working,” she said, looking out the window, “but Martin is just directing traffic and giving advice because of his burned hands. I’ll ask him to come inside for a while.”
“That should do it. I’ll be back as soon as possible.”
Intending to heat water for some chamomile tea first, she was pouring water into the teapot when she heard a knock at the front door. “I’m coming,” she called.
As Annie opened the front door, she saw Virgil Lowman standing there, his pistol aimed directly at her stomach.
“Don’t make a sound,” he snapped. “I know you’re alone in the house. Jake just left and everyone else is by the horse stalls. Nobody saw me driving up from the opposite side of the house. If you call for help, you’ll die before anyone gets here.”
“What do you want?” she asked, her voice trembling.
“Come with me.” He shifted behind her, the gun pressed to the small of her back as he prodded her on.
“My coat,” she said.
“Forget it. Just keep moving.”
Quickly placing a letter in the mailbox, he pushed her toward his car as fast as she could walk. It was freezing outside, and she held her arms clutched to herself for warmth. He’d parked so the vehicle couldn’t be seen from the corrals.
“Don’t do this, Virgil. What can you possibly gain by kidnapping me?” she begged. “I’m about ready to have my baby, and the only thing I can do is slow you down.”
“You’ve managed to ruin all my plans. I’d been led to believe that you were only staying at the ranch because you were broke. That’s why I was hoping you’d be cashing in your check and getting ready to leave now that the art auction was over. But then, this morning I heard Martin’s wife talking to her sister at the bank. I understand that you, Martin and the twins stand to inherit a chunk of money if you stick around for a year. So now it looks like you’re not going anywhere, after all, and I wasted my money on those stupid carvings.”
“You bought my pieces?”
“Like I said, it would have been worth it, if you’d left. Jake would have been so distracted I wouldn’t have had to worry about him. He and his brother would have gone back to their own lives, the ranch would have closed down, and I would have had a lot less to worry about.”
“Is that why you’re kidnapping me? You want to distract Jake?”
“No, it’s too late for that. Right now I just want Jake to do exactly what I tell him and the only way I can guarantee that, is by taking you away from him.”
“It’s not Jake you have to worry about. Captain Mora knows about you, too. Were the bearer bonds the evidence Paul told me about after you stabbed him?” she asked, trying to understand what was happening.
Lowman shook his head. “They’re just part of it. There’s more, and Jake’s going to find it for me—that is, if he wants to keep you alive.”
Her heart began to hammer against her ribs and she placed her hand over her stomach. She couldn’t let this happen. She had to protect her baby.
“You blackmailed Paul, too, didn’t you?” she asked, stopping in front of his car, playing for time. “Saya gave you the diary and trusted in your friendship, but you ended up betraying her.”
“Saya was a beautiful, gentle creature. If anyone betrayed her, it was Paul. All I did was make him pay for the hell he put her through.”
“Don’t make it sound noble. You’re not fooling anyone. You knew that the diary could hamper any attempt Paul made to reconcile with his sons, and that gave you an advantage you couldn’t pass up. You were desperate for cash.”
“Paul took the only woman I ever loved and treated her like dirt until the day she died. He owed me, and I saw to it that he paid. It’s that simple,” he said, pushing her inside the car.
“Are you trying to convince me or yourself? Let’s not forget, you even stole from Saya. I bet her secret bank account is long gone.”
“It wasn’t doing anyone any good where it was. I drew from it for years. There wasn’t much left when I closed it out. But it’ll be hard to prove. I covered my trail well,” he said, driving off pueblo land as fast as he dared.
“But now what? What else could Paul have hidden that you fear so much?”
“Paul found out I was the blackmailer, and then set me up. He took a couple of photos of me picking up the cash at the drop s
ite. Then, once he knew it was me, he took a closer look at all his business dealings with the bank and discovered that his bearer bonds were just copies. He also knew my copier had a flaw he could trace. Once he had evidence that tracked it to my office, he came to me. He demanded that I pay back all the money I’d stolen and return Saya’s diary to him immediately, or he’d have me arrested.”
“But why kill him? He gave you a chance to make things right.”
“I didn’t have the money, don’t you see? It was over a hundred thousand dollars when everything was added up. He gave me a week to make restitution, but had he given me a year, it would still have not been enough. I couldn’t borrow money, either. I have no collateral.”
They reached a solitary log cabin in the Santa Fe National Forest an hour later. Lowman grabbed a backpack, then forced Annie at gunpoint to walk through four inches of snow to the cabin.
“Get in,” he ordered after unlocking the door. When she hesitated, he pushed her inside. Annie tripped forward, but caught herself before she hit the wooden floor.
“The lock doesn’t look so sturdy,” she said, looking back at the entrance. “What makes you think I’ll stick around here?”
“The lock will hold you. It’s brand new. The windows have bars on them, too, a little feature I added to keep teens who come up here in the summer from breaking in. And even if you manage to get out, how far can you walk in your condition? It’s bitterly cold outside, there’s snow on the ground, and there’s nothing around for miles. You don’t even have a coat. Now give me your shoes and socks, and I’ll leave you some food and coffee from the backpack.”
“You can’t leave me here, Virgil.” She looked around the one-room cabin. There was no bed, just a few pieces of cheap wooden furniture. “Can’t you see that if anything happens to me or my baby, you’ll only make things worse for yourself?”
He slapped her hard enough to make bright spots of lights dance in front of her eyes. “Shoes and socks,” he repeated.
She gave them to him, and he dumped the contents of the backpack, a thermos and a grocery bag, onto the small wooden table. Fear shot through her as another contraction began. Trying to ease the discomfort, she forced herself to walk in a circle, though the floor was like ice.
“Jake can’t help you,” she said. “He doesn’t know where the photos you want are hidden, and neither do I. This is pointless.”
Virgil kept between her and the door, even though they both knew she couldn’t outrun him. “If he doesn’t find them soon, you’ll both be dead. You better hope that he’s willing to put his neck on the line for you.” Lowman slammed the door in her face, and she could hear him padlocking the door again from the outside.
“And if he does, will you keep your word and tell him where I am?” she shouted.
There was a moment of silence. “I could lie to you, but I won’t. If I get what I want, there won’t be any evidence against me. You and Jake will be the only witnesses, and I know you’ll talk. I can’t risk that. You’ll both stay alive only as long as I need you. Meanwhile, enjoy your dinner.”
As she heard his car pull away, fear gripped her. She didn’t have a coat and already the temperature was dropping. She looked around, but there was no wood for the fireplace or fuel for the single kerosene lantern. In desperation, she began rolling some old newspapers up into tight balls for kindling. Then, using a small knife she found in the kitchen drawer, she dismantled one of the two cane chairs to use as fuel.
Several minutes later, she’d managed to build a small fire. The priority at the moment was staying warm. She then searched through the food he’d dumped on the table. There were cold cuts that tasted peculiar, but not necessarily rancid, and bread. That, and the fire would keep her alive for now. The hot coffee in the thermos was a blessing. The liquid warmed her, and she sipped it slowly.
Looking around for a blanket, she went to the old dresser opposite the fireplace and opened the top drawer. It was empty except for a small, leather-bound book. It looked old and worn but, despite that, had retained an elegance that spoke of days gone by. Curious, she opened it carefully and read a page at random. It was then Annie realized she’d found Saya’s diary.
The words drew her as she saw into the soul of the woman who’d loved with all her heart, despite the odds.
No matter how difficult my life becomes, the love I have for my sons will keep me going and give me the strength I need. I could have given in to the cancer that consumes me, but it’s for them that I fight and remain alive. The children need me. It’s through their mother’s love that they’ll grow to see all the possibilities within themselves and learn to reach out for their dreams, whatever the cost. I will never give up, because to do so would be to fail them.
Annie’s fear subsided as determination filled her. She understood Saya’s fierce loyalty to her sons. As a mother-to-be, she would also do anything and everything she could for her baby. Lowman would not win.
She wasn’t going to kid herself. Her situation was desperate. It would take a miracle for Lowman’s plan to fail. But this was Christmas Eve, a time of miracles. Holding to that, she built up the fire, pushing the cold away again and buying herself a little more time.
Chapter Twenty
Iris had parked within sight of several pueblo dwellings. The woman was genuinely scared, but Jake couldn’t figure out what was going on. “You’re saying that some anonymous caller told you that I was ready to pin my father’s murder on you? Based on what evidence? Did the caller say?”
“All I know is that he said I better figure out a way to convince you I was innocent, because you were a man with powerful friends who could make a lot of trouble for me.”
“If you know anything about the murder—”
“That’s just it! I don’t. All I can do is remind you that I cared about your father, and I would have never harmed a hair on his head.”
“Tell me more about this caller,” Jake prompted. “Did you recognize anything about his voice?”
She tried to remember. “He was speaking real softly and it sounded as if he was holding something over the mouthpiece. I could hear other voices close by, but I couldn’t make out anything they were saying.”
Jake felt an gnawing uneasiness. There was something about the situation that just didn’t sit right with him. It was starting to look like a diversion, a ruse to get him away from the house. But why? The answer came swiftly, like claws tearing at his heart—Annie.
He ran back to the truck, not bothering to explain himself to Iris, and raced back to the ranch. Bursting through the front door, he called out to Annie, but got no reply.
His gut knotted with fear as he raced through the house, searching and trying to shut out the instinct that warned him that he was too late. Annie’s coat still hung in the entryway, but she was nowhere to be found.
Getting Nick and Martin’s help, they searched everywhere, including the outside buildings, without success.
“There are fresh vehicle tracks outside, but we had several workmen come through today,” Martin said.
“Let’s not jump to conclusions. We have no reason to believe she’s in danger,” Nick said.
“She is. I feel it in my gut, brother. We have to find her. Get the wranglers together and go talk to everyone in the pueblo. Find out if anyone saw or heard anything that could give us a lead.”
“I’ll call Captain Mora,” Martin said. “We need to get him involved as soon as possible.”
Jake knew with every shred of instinct he possessed that Lowman had taken Annie. But where? And why hadn’t Lowman made his demands known by now?
As Nick reached for his coat, Martin came in, holding an envelope. “I checked the mailbox on a hunch and found this. It’s addressed to you, Jake.”
Jake opened it and found a typewritten note. He read it aloud.
“‘Annie will be dead by midnight tomorrow unless you deliver all the copies of the bearer bonds taken from Paul’s safe-deposit box. I also want t
he packet I know Paul hid in the house. It’ll contain a photograph, among other things. You or Nick are the only ones capable of finding that evidence. Do it now and get ready to drop it off at a designated time and place, along with fifty-thousand dollars cash. I’ll be in touch.”’
Martin looked at Jake and Nick. “Do you two know where Paul hid those things?”
Nick shook his head and looked at Jake, who shrugged.
“I haven’t got a clue where that stuff is,” Jake said, “but we can’t let the kidnapper know that. Virgil Lowman has Annie. Though he didn’t sign his name on the note, I know that as sure as I know my own name. But if I tip my hand and go after him, he may kill Annie. I have one chance—and that’s to find her myself before he even knows what I’m up to.”
“I can go to the bank passing myself off as you, and withdraw all the money I can,” Nick said. “That’ll give you a chance to track down where he hid her.”
“Yes. Wear my clothes and jacket, and make sure Lowman sees you if he’s there. But don’t talk to him if possible. Martin, get Mora to help us. We’ll need to make first-class duplicates of the copies Lowman made. We’re not giving him the real evidence—at least not right off the bat.”
“Where will you start looking for Annie?” Nick asked.
Before Jake could reply, Captain Mora came into the room. “I got Martin’s call while I was on the road and came over right away. My men are looking for Lowman now. We won’t make an arrest, we’ll just tail him. Maybe he’ll lead us to Annie.”
“That’s a good strategy, but we can’t count on it working. We need another approach,” Jake said, showing him the note and the instructions.
“If I’m right, Lowman knows we’re on to him,” Mora said. “That means he’ll lay low until it’s time for him to surface and pick up the evidence.”
“Having Nick pose as me might misdirect him and buy me some time.”
“It’ll work,” Mora agreed. “Most people can’t tell you two apart anyway,” Mora said. “But you’ll still need to focus your search in the right direction.”