Lonestar Angel

by Colleen Coble

“We’re about to have devotions together,” Clay put in.

  The day she left him, she shouted that she wanted nothing to do with a God who would take her baby from her. She said she was a Christian now.

  When her eager smile came, he wanted to know what had happened in the five years they’d spent apart that had brought her to Christ.

  In the shaft of light through the open door, the children were clearly visible. Eden stared at each girl. They slept peacefully, curled together like puppies in the big bed. They’d begged to sleep together, but she doubted they’d stay like that all night. She pulled the door closed, squared her shoulders, and went to find her husband.

  She stopped in the hall and gulped. Clay was still her husband. She hadn’t allowed her thoughts to wander there much since this race to find their daughter had begun. Was it only yesterday at seven that he’d shown up in her life again? A few hours ago she’d been planning to accept Kent’s proposal.

  Forcing herself forward, she went down the hall and stood in the doorway to the gathering spaces. An old western starring John Wayne played on the television. The scent of popcorn teased her nose, and she saw Clay in the recliner with his boots off. A bowl was in his lap and a big glass of iced tea was on the table beside him. She knew without sipping it that there would be enough sugar in it to eat the spoon away.

  He must have sensed her gaze on him because he jerked his head toward where she stood. Kernels bounced from his lap as he sprang to his feet. “Hey.”

  “The girls are asleep.”

  He held up the bowl. “Want some popcorn?”

  The smell tantalized her, but the thought of cozying up to him on the couch to share the treat made her shake her head. She chose the chair the farthest away from him.

  “Tea?” A grin tugged his lips as he held up his glass.

  “I still have a gag reflex.”

  He took a gulp. “You’ll be happy to know I’ve cut down on the amount of sugar.”

  “To what? Half a cup?”

  His grin widened. “It’s what keeps me so sweet-natured.”

  She squelched the desire to smile. During their very short and tempestuous marriage, he’d always had a way of coaxing her out of a bad mood. Picking up the remote, she shut off the TV. “We need to talk.”

  “I’m all ears.”

  “There’s no way of knowing which of those girls is Brianna. We need that DNA test as soon as possible.”

  “I know.” He picked up a manila file folder beside him. “I’ve poured through their histories and even talked to Rick. Any one of them could be our daughter, except India.”

  She reached for the folder and flipped it open. Katie’s smiling face greeted her, and her gut clenched. “I think Katie is Brianna.”

  His gaze gentled. “She’s a little cutie. But don’t get your heart set on her. I’m betting Paige is our daughter.” He moved out of the recliner and knelt beside her chair. Flipping through the pages, he pointed out Paige’s stats. “Look here. She was left at Walmart by two men. Sounds like kidnappers to me.”

  The infant’s photo tugged at Eden’s heart. The baby’s somber gaze held a light. “No one knows her real name?”

  “Nope. But read the rest before you make a snap judgment.”

  She riffled through the other biographies, then finally closed the file. “You’re right. Brianna could be any one of the four. So we really are going to have to wait for the DNA. How long will it take?”

  His lips flattened. “Too long. Weeks after these kids leave here.”

  She desperately wanted to know which of these girls was their daughter. It had been all she could do while bathing them not to press her lips to their damp foreheads. She hadn’t wanted to frighten them, though, so she’d been warm but kept an appropriate distance.

  “I’ll get hair samples from them over the next couple of days,” she said. “Can you get them into a priority lab?”

  “I can try.”

  And she knew he would. He had connections. She mentally prepared for what she had to say next. How did she even broach the subject of sleeping arrangements?

  “Spill it, Eden,” he said.

  He grinned, and even though she wanted to glare at him, her lips twitched. She glanced away.

  “I already know what’s eating you, you know,” he said. “But that bed is a king. We’ll stuff pillows between us. I promise to stay on my side.”

  She let out a sigh. “I don’t like it, Clay. Our marriage was over a long time ago. It feels—weird.” Forcing her gaze up, she stared into his face. “It took me a long time to get over you.”

  “I never got over you,” he said, his voice soft.

  Heat flared in her cheeks. “See what I mean? This will never work if you remind me at every opportunity that we were once married.”

  His eyes narrowed. “We’re still married.”

  “So it appears.” She still couldn’t believe her attorney hadn’t made sure everything was final. She struggled to remember how things had happened five years ago. She’d rushed away when Brianna died, and her lawyer had said he’d take care of the details. Something had obviously fallen through the cracks.

  But not for long.

  “Why did you leave?” he asked. He looked down at his popcorn bowl. “You took off without a word.”

  She went cold. Admitting she left because his reason for marrying her was gone would only serve to show the chasm between them. But honesty was all that would do now. They had too much at stake to play games.

  She held her head high. “Clay, you know perfectly well you only married me because I was pregnant. We barely knew each other. You were gone more than you were home. Once Brianna was gone, there was nothing to hold us together. I needed a clean break.”

  And she’d barely cauterized the wound. Or was it still oozing blood?

  5

  SHE COULDN’T STAY IN THE BATHROOM FOREVER. EDEN EYED THE PEACH-COLORED TEDDY SHE wore and shuddered. Why hadn’t she checked her suitcase before rushing off on this search? What seemed fine in the privacy of her apartment was indecent here.

  She let out a groan and leaned onto the sink. Surely there had to be another way to get to the truth. Why not just tell the Baileys that they thought Brianna was here? They had children. Any parent would be sympathetic to their cause.

  But not if it impacted their business. Their mission.

  How could she ask them to get involved? The Baileys had been entrusted with the children’s welfare. Rick and Allie didn’t know her and Clay. The Baileys might toss them out for fear they might kidnap one of the girls. She lifted her head and stared into her own frightened eyes.

  She had to open that door and go into the bedroom. This wasn’t some stranger she was sharing a room with. This was Clay. He wouldn’t hurt her. The problem was, she didn’t know how she felt about him. While he’d been absent, she could almost forget their marriage had ever happened. She could push aside the memories of a tiny body cuddled to her breast and the scent of her newborn baby.

  The muscles in her throat worked at the memories that surged. Her eyes burned. She would not think about that day. Could not. Straightening, she twisted the doorknob and stepped into the hall and to the bedroom door.

  The covers were turned back on the big bed. She focused on the picture above the bed of a tranquil mountain stream. Anything to calm the way her pulse jumped when Clay turned to look at her. His chest was bare and he wore blue pajama bottoms, a concession to her she was sure. In the old days he didn’t wear—She cut off the mental image before it could form.

  He let out a low whistle. “I assume Kent was to be the recipient of that getup.”

  She dived for the bed and covered herself with the sheet. “Our relationship was pure, and I’m in no mood for your tone.”

  He grinned and climbed into the bed beside her. “Want pillows between us?”

  “If you promise to keep your distance, you can have the space.”

  He shrugged. “All I want is to find our d
aughter.”

  His words stung more than she’d expected. Not that she wanted him to be making a pass at her. “Why didn’t you call?” she asked abruptly. “Rather than just show up. And how did you find me anyway?”

  He put his hands behind his head and leaned back on the pillow. “I knew you’d never believe me without seeing the photograph. I’ve always known where you were. It’s not hard to track someone.”

  He grinned and shrugged. “I tried to get up the nerve to call you when I got the divorce papers, but you’d made your wishes pretty clear.”

  “Why did you want to reach me then?”

  “I wanted to talk you out of it.”

  She held his gaze. “Why? We were two dumb kids who got caught by our own foolishness. We didn’t even know each other very well.” They’d had passion between them but nothing more. He’d been in Hawaii on leave and she’d been mesmerized by his good looks and exotic occupation. At least that’s what she’d told herself.

  “It was more than that and you know it.”

  She turned away from the intensity in his eyes. “Was it? After Brianna was born, all we did was fight.”

  “I had to work.”

  It was a familiar argument. She hadn’t wanted to be stuck at home by herself while he traveled the world.

  “You blamed me for losing Brianna,” he said.

  “You blamed me too. You didn’t say it, but I felt it.”

  He raised a brow. “It was my fault, not yours. And you can come up with a dozen other theories, but we both know the kidnappers wanted to punish me for something. So if anyone’s to blame, it’s me.”

  She was too tired to argue with him. “Maybe you’re right about more than one person being involved.” Her next thought chilled her. “What if he’s lured us here for a reason?”

  “It’s a possibility, I admit, but I’m not about to let go of this opportunity to find my daughter. But, yeah, he wants something from us. Money, something. I’m sure he’ll make his demands known sooner or later. In the meantime, we find Brianna.”

  She glanced at him in time to see the muscles in his jaw flex. His determination had never wavered. Why was that? The baby had been a part of their lives such a short time, but he’d never given up hope of recovering Brianna. Against her will, the fact impressed her.

  The sheet had slipped from her shoulder, and she tugged it into place. “What could be in this place that would make it worth getting us to come here? Bluebird Crossing is desolate.”

  “We’re close to the Mexico border,” he pointed out. “This area is like an open door to the drug cartels. If the culprit who took Brianna is associated with the drug lord I had a run-in with, this would be a convenient place to get access to me. And there are few people, so he wouldn’t have to worry about interference.”

  “So he’s got us isolated.” She shuddered. “What if he’s just saying one of the girls is Brianna? Maybe he wants revenge on you for the man who drowned, and he knew you’d come if you thought our daughter was alive.” She didn’t want to lose the thread of hope she had, but common sense kept rearing its head.

  Clay nodded. “It’s possible. It’s hard to figure when we don’t know who was behind Brianna’s kidnapping.”

  “That envelope containing the picture. It was sent from El Paso. It wouldn’t be a problem for a drug lord to send one of his men across the border to mail the letter.”

  “This whole area has been like a war zone with the violence from Mexico spilling over the border. He’d have no trouble moving around.”

  She turned off the light and rolled over, facing the window. After a moment, she said softly, “I want her back, Clay. I want to tell her everything and that I love her.”

  “So do I,” he said in the darkness. “And I want to make the man who took her pay.”

  Though his words seared her, somehow they thrilled her too. And she found she believed every word.

  The bunkhouse was quiet except for the crickets that chirped outside the screened windows. The high desert cooled down at night, and Clay had turned off the air to hear the night sounds. He offered to put pillows between them again, but Eden rolled over and offered her stiff back to him, a reminder that she didn’t need a physical barrier to keep him in his place.

  He shifted in the bed and turned his face toward the window on his side. The pungent odors from the outdoors were a reminder of what he used to be. He’d grown up in the Chihuahaun desert near Terlingua, a place he’d hoped never to see again. Big cities and bright lights were more to his liking now. And though he felt discomfited, he was sure Eden was a bird in the sea.

  As he kicked off the sheet, he heard something. A soft slithering sound, like a rope being tugged over the wood. He went on high alert. A snake? His keys were on the nightstand. He threw them to the floor to see if he could elicit any different sound. Like a rattle. But all he heard was the clang of the keys hitting the rug, then a frantic slithering sound. Eden stirred beside him, then her breathing deepened again.

  It was definitely a snake, but at least it wasn’t a rattler. More likely a patchnose or a bull snake. It would be frightened, but he needed to get it out of the room before Eden saw it and freaked. Unfortunately, he couldn’t do it in the dark. He sat up and put his feet on the floor, then flicked on the light. The warm glow chased the shadows from the room. He blinked and glanced around. A snake was coiled about six inches from his foot. He froze when he recognized the familiar markings. A rattler. It hadn’t rattled, but then, they didn’t always.

  The snake was within striking distance, and Clay didn’t move a muscle. If Eden moved or made a noise, the thing was likely to bite him. She sighed, and one hand stretched out. The snake’s eyes didn’t blink, but Clay could tell it had noticed the movement.

  “Eden, don’t move,” he whispered. “Can you hear me? Don’t move. There’s a rattler by my foot.”

  She sighed again, and he knew she was sleeping too soundly to have heard his warning. She stirred again, and the snake showed signs of agitation. His best chance was to jerk back his foot, but he knew rattlers. They were lightning fast, and this was a big boy. It might even be able to reach him on the bed.

  Wait. The pillow. Could he hit it with the pillow and knock it down? His mouth was dry. Keeping his gaze on the snake, he slowly moved his hand over to grasp the pillow. He threw the pillow and jerked his foot back at the same time. Everything happened so fast that he wasn’t aware at first that he’d been bitten. Then a stinging pain radiated from his ankle.

  “Eden!” he said, reaching over to grab her arm.

  She fought him off. “Don’t touch me!”

  “Wake up. I need you.” He wasn’t sure if it was the poison or adrenaline, but his head spun.

  She finally sat up in bed. “Clay? What’s the matter?”

  If he hadn’t seen the drops of blood from the puncture wound, he wouldn’t have believed it. His ankle stung. “A snake bit me. The phone is on your side of the bed. I need you to call Rick.”

  Her eyes widened, and the last of the sleepiness in her eyes disappeared. “You’ve been bitten?”

  He nodded. “By a rattler. It’s under the pillow on the floor. Don’t get out of bed. Just call Rick and tell him what happened. I’m a little woozy. I have to lie down.” He flopped onto his back.

  She grabbed the phone on the bed stand and called the main house. He listened to her explain the situation to Rick. “He is coming over right away with some men.” Her eyes were worried. “How do you feel?”

  “My lips are numb,” he said, struggling to talk.

  “You might be having an allergic reaction. I think it’s too soon for venom to be doing anything. I’ll call Rick back. Maybe he has an EpiPen.” She punched in the number again.

  Clay struggled to draw in a breath. His chest felt tight, and his throat seemed to be swelling. Eden was right. The venom shouldn’t be having an effect for half an hour, but allergic reactions happened sooner.

  The pillow hid the snake, b
ut he could see the reptile’s tail sticking out from under it. The tail moved, but the rattle made no sound. So that’s why he’d had no warning. He closed his eyes.

  6

  THE SNAKE’S HEAD EMERGED FROM UNDER THE PILLOW, FOLLOWED BY A LONG, SINUOUS BODY. Eden shuddered, unable to tear her gaze away as the beautiful creature slithered across the floor to curl in the back corner. She touched Clay’s damp forehead.

  His lids fluttered, then opened. His pupils were enormous. He licked his lips. “Where’s Rick?”

  “He’s coming.” A tourniquet wasn’t advisable at this point, but she wanted to do something.

  She heard feet pounding up the walk outside. A few moments later Rick and Buzz burst into the room. Rick wore his boots and jeans, but his shirt was half unbuttoned. He carried a pitchfork. Buzz was behind him with a shovel in his hand.

  Rick stared around the room. “Where’s the snake?”

  She pointed. “There, in the corner. But what about Clay? Did you bring an EpiPen?”

  He handed it to her. “You’d better give it to him while we take care of the snake.”

  Taking the pen, she opened the gray tab, then jammed the tip into Clay’s thigh, holding it there for several seconds. Clay flinched but didn’t open his eyes. His lips were blue.

  Eden dropped the EpiPen and took his hand. It was cold and blue too. “Clay? Stay with me, Clay!” She clutched his fingers and watched the men approach the corner.

  It took only moments for them to dispatch the snake. Mumbling under his breath, Buzz carried the snake out on the shovel.

  Rick came to the edge of the bed. “He’s got a little more color,” he said. “What happened?”

  “I’m not really sure. I woke up when he said he’d been bitten.”

  Clay coughed and opened his eyes. The scary whiteness was receding from his skin, and his pupils were looking more normal. His fingers tightened on hers, and he struggled to sit up. Something tight in her chest loosened, and she inhaled deeply, suddenly aware she’d been holding her breath.

  “The snake,” Clay whispered.