Colton Cowboy Hideout (The Coltons of Texas, Book 7)

by Carla Cassidy

  Trevor grinned teasingly at his sister. “I might think they are the cutest kids on the planet for now, but that will change when Jocelyn has my child.”

  As Trevor bent down to talk to the twins, Tanner wondered exactly what Josie had told her brother about him...about them. When she’d spoken to him the night before, had she told him that Tanner had broken her heart?

  “They’re definitely cuties,” Trevor said.

  “Thanks.” Tanner gestured him to a seat on the sofa and Josie sat next to him.

  Tanner sat in the chair and for the next few minutes he and Trevor exchanged pleasantries. “Too bad Ethan can’t see this spread,” Trevor said to Josie and then looked at Tanner. “Ethan is one of our brothers. He has a small cattle ranch ten miles outside of Granite Gulch.”

  “He wouldn’t be able to imagine having a ranch this size,” Josie replied. Her eyes held a new warmth as she gazed at Trevor, a warmth Tanner perversely wished he saw again in her eyes when she gazed at him. But he’d doused that heat with his stark rejection of the love she believed she had for him.

  After a few minutes of talking about family members, their father’s dire physical condition and the events of the night before, Trevor cut to the chase. “You’ve got the watch?”

  Josie nodded and dug into her pocket. She held the pocket watch out to her brother. “Maybe it doesn’t have anything inside of it. Maybe it really just has sentimental value to Father.”

  Trevor released a low, dry laugh. “Do you really believe anything has sentimental value to that man?” He turned the watch over and then looked at Tanner.

  “Do you have a little knife or a screwdriver I can use to pry the back off?” he asked.

  Tanner got up and went to the drawer in the kitchen that held spare screws, batteries of different sizes and a variety of other junk items. He found a small screwdriver, and Trevor and Josie moved to the island.

  “Up, Josie-love,” Lily said and wrapped her arms around Josie’s knees. Josie picked her up and at the same time Leigh held out her arms toward Tanner.

  He held her close and once again tension filled the air as Trevor used the screwdriver to pry off the back of the rusted watch.

  It took him several tries before he succeeded. The back popped off and he released a small gasp. “There’s something here.” He used his fingers and pulled out a small piece of folded, yellowed paper.

  Tanner found himself holding his breath as Trevor gingerly opened the piece of paper. If this really was a map to buried money, he had a feeling Josie’s brothers and sister could use it to better their lives.

  He wished that for them...for her. They’d all been handed such a raw deal by their father and what his actions had done to their family. They deserved whatever they found and he hoped it was a million dollars.

  But from what Josie had told him about her father, he wouldn’t be surprised if the note inside was some kind of a sick joke.

  Trevor stared down at the paper and then looked up at Josie, his dark eyes glittering with excitement. “Josie girl, it’s a map.”

  CHAPTER 13

  Josie set Lily back down on the floor and leaned over the paper with the faint ink drawings. Her heart beat with excitement, an excitement that waned slightly as she tried to make sense of what she was looking at.

  There was a squiggly line that ran up the left side of the map and what appeared to be three humps and some sort of building in the upper right corner. An arrow pointed to the center hump with the infamous X marking a spot directly in front. A small compass had been drawn in the lower right-hand side.

  “This isn’t any help,” she finally said and looked up at her brother. “We don’t even know where this place is.”

  Trevor’s eyebrows pulled together in a frown. “If those humps are mountains, then there’s no way the treasure is anywhere around here. And if it’s not here then who knows where it might be.”

  Tanner placed Leigh on the floor. “Do you mind if I take a look?”

  “Be my guest,” Trevor replied and pushed the paper closer to him.

  Josie watched as he bent over the island top. There was no question that things had been awkward between them this morning and each awkward moment had ached inside of her.

  She’d gone through so much in her life, but nothing had prepared her for this kind of heartbreak. She’d survived foster care and a drug lord’s wrath and come out stronger on the other side, but now she felt broken by a handsome cowboy and his two little girls.

  “I think I know this place,” Tanner said tentatively. “This squiggly line on the left looks like the stream on the property, and it’s possible those humps aren’t mountains, but they’re old grain silos toward the back of the property. We don’t use them anymore, but twenty years ago they would have probably been some of the few structures on the property.”

  He looked up at Josie and then at Trevor. “If I’m right then I can take you there.”

  Josie gazed up at her brother. His eyes once again gleamed with barely suppressed excitement. “It’s worth a shot, right?”

  “Definitely,” Trevor agreed.

  “I just need to get Peggy here to watch the girls. I’ll take them into the nursery and make the call there. Lily and Leigh, let’s go find some toys.”

  Josie watched as he disappeared down the hallway, the pink-and-purple-clad twins toddling behind him. Once again a shaft of pain shot straight through her heart.

  “Whoa,” Trevor said in a whisper. Josie turned to look at him. He gazed at her with a knowing glint in his eyes. “You’re in love with that man.”

  Her first impulse was to deny, but as she opened her mouth to do just that, unexpected tears blurred her vision. She quickly blinked them away and shook her head. “It doesn’t matter what I feel about him and it doesn’t matter how he feels about me. The bottom line is that he thinks I’m too young for him and I haven’t experienced enough real life.”

  “Enough real life?” Trevor released a small dry laugh. “I’d say you’ve experienced far too much real life already.”

  “I tried to tell him that, but it didn’t matter. He thinks I’m too young to know what I feel, to know how I want to spend my life.” A hollow wind blew through her. “I’m just ready now to finish things up here and go back to Granite Gulch and figure things out by myself.”

  “You know you have our support, Josie.” Trevor’s gaze was so warm and caring. “All of us will be there for you no matter what you decide to do with the rest of your life.”

  She smiled. “It’s been a long time coming that we’re finally all together again.” Her smile fell away. “Have you heard how Father is doing?”

  Trevor’s eyes darkened. “I spoke to the warden last night to get an update. As I told you on the phone, he’s failing fast and they don’t think he has much time left...probably only a couple of days.”

  “Then I guess it’s good we can get the watch to him sometime tomorrow.”

  “I have a feeling he won’t be happy to discover his little map has been found.”

  “He told us he wanted it for sentimental reasons. Besides, what difference does it make to him? He can’t very well go retrieve his hidden fortune. At least he’ll die with it in his hands.”

  “And he won’t need the map in hell,” Trevor added flatly.

  Josie nodded, unsurprised by Trevor’s cool tone. Trevor had kept himself relatively emotionally uninvolved with their father. Maybe it was because as the eldest child Trevor had more memories of their mother than anyone, or perhaps it was because in his capacity as an FBI profiler he’d learned to maintain a professional objectivity when dealing with criminals like Matthew Colton.

  “Peggy should be here in just a few minutes,” Tanner said as he came back up the hallway. He’d strapped on his holster and with his darkened eye he looked slightly dangerous.

  “Are you expecting trouble?” Trevor asked with a pointed look at Tanner’s gun.

  “Since Eldridge’s kidnapping I never go out
on the property without a gun on my hip. And then there is the creep from last night.”

  “You gave him a pretty good beating,” Josie said. “Hopefully he ran for the hills.” She touched under her chin, remembering the cold, hard bite of the man’s gun against her skin. It had been one of the most terrifying moments she’d ever experienced.

  “We hoped that last time and still he turned up again like a cockroach,” Tanner replied.

  “I wish I would have enough information to identify him and get him behind bars,” Trevor replied grimly.

  “That makes three of us,” Tanner said.

  A knock sounded at the door. “That will be Peggy.” Tanner strode across the room and opened the door and Peggy swept in.

  She stopped in her tracks at the sight of Trevor. “Well, well, isn’t this a lucky day for an old woman. Not one piece of eye candy, but two.”

  Josie was amused to see not only Tanner’s cheeks blush with faint color, but her brother’s as well. “Peggy, this is my brother Trevor,” she said. “And this is Peggy, Tanner’s right-hand woman when it comes to taking care of his daughters.”

  Josie shoved away the yearning that filled her. She’d hoped she would be Tanner’s right-hand woman through the rest of his life, but that hope had been shattered.

  She couldn’t think about that now. She had to stay focused on the reality that within a couple of hours or so, she’d be gone from here forever.

  “The girls are in the nursery,” Tanner said to Peggy.

  “I’ll head back there now.” With a nod and a coy smile at Trevor, Peggy scurried down the hallway.

  “Are we ready to head out?” Tanner asked.

  Trevor picked up the map from the island. “Ready.” Together they all left the suite.

  “We’ll take one of the ranch pickups,” Tanner said as they stepped outside into the hot morning sunshine. “You two wait here. I’ll be right back.” He headed in the direction of the barn where he’d retrieved the shovel on the first day she’d arrived at the ranch.

  She hadn’t known on that day just how deeply the handsome, blond cowboy would dig into her heart. When she’d followed him out of the parlor on that very first day, she’d had no clue that he and his daughters would grow to mean so much to her.

  “You okay?” Trevor asked.

  She raised her chin. “I’m fine. What do you think we’re going to find at that X?”

  “I hope we find all the money Matthew ever stole,” Trevor replied. “That’s only if Tanner is right and the map really is of this property. If it isn’t, then we might never find where any treasure is buried.”

  “And we have to be okay with that,” she said.

  “I’ll be okay when this chapter is closed and we can all move forward with our lives.”

  The sound of an engine filled the air and Tanner appeared driving a black, king-cab pickup. He pulled up next to them and Trevor got into the passenger seat while Josie got in the back. She was grateful to see Tanner had thought to throw a couple of shovels into the bed of the truck.

  “Buckle up,” Tanner instructed. Josie quickly buckled the seat belt and then he took off. Josie fought for breath as the hot wind from Trevor’s open window slapped her in the face.

  Would this be where they found their father’s ill-gotten spoils? Would this somehow be the final closure to Matthew Colton’s crimes of so long ago?

  There was a little part of her that would grieve the loss of a father, but there was very little mourning in her heart for the real Matthew Colton. He’d spent so much of his life causing pain to others, even taking pleasure in tormenting and manipulating his own children. As horrible as it sounded, his death would be a relief.

  She was saying goodbye to the men who could have, who should have loved her. Her father should have loved her and Tanner could have if only he wasn’t so hung up about the difference in their ages.

  She shoved these thoughts out of her head and reached up to grab a handle over the door as they trekked across rougher terrain. She fought against a shiver as on their left they passed the thick woods where they could have been killed the night before.

  In the light of day she was even more appalled at the foolhardy decision she’d made to go out and attempt to retrieve the watch all alone. If Tanner hadn’t come to her rescue, she could have very possibly been killed and her body wouldn’t have been found until Tanner had awakened this morning and realized she was gone.

  They passed men on horseback who waved, obviously recognizing Tanner behind the wheel of the ranch vehicle. Outbuildings flashed by in the blink of an eye as they headed farther and farther away from the main house.

  She sat forward eagerly as in the distance she saw the rise of three old grain elevators. The large round cylinders were obviously abandoned and aged to a dull gray.

  The wooden building next to them was scarcely a building anymore. The windows had been broken and some of the roof had fallen in and the entire structure listed heavily to one side.

  Was this it? Was this really the place? Certainly it appeared to match what was on the map. A thrum of excitement filled her stomach. Everything else had gone so terribly wrong. She just wanted this one thing to be right.

  Tanner pulled their vehicle parallel to the silos, but about twenty yards away, and cut the engine. “I don’t want to park any closer because of falling and broken concrete,” he said. “We haven’t used these silos in years. I don’t think anyone ever comes out this far on the property anymore.”

  “This definitely looks like the place on the map,” Trevor replied, echoing Josie’s thoughts.

  “Then the next step is to dig,” Tanner said.

  They all got out of the truck and Tanner grabbed the shovels. Together they began the walk across the burned grass and tall weeds toward the silos.

  “I’ll bet finding a fortune will help your family out a lot,” Tanner said.

  “Emotionally it will definitely be satisfying,” Trevor replied. “But none of us will see any financial gain from this. There’s no way to know how to get the money back into the hands it was originally taken from, so whatever we find will be donated to charity.”

  “That’s nice of you,” Tanner said.

  “It’s the right thing to do,” Josie replied. “It’s tainted money. None of us want anything to do with it. There are several great charities in Granite Gulch that could use a good windfall.”

  “I really appreciate you helping us out with this,” Trevor said to Tanner. “And I definitely appreciate you taking care of Josie while she’s been here.”

  Josie stared at Tanner. He didn’t meet her gaze. “No problem,” he said. “It’s been a pleasure to spend time with her.”

  The lukewarm words only hurt her more than she already had been hurt. A pleasure to spend time with her, like she was a favorite aunt who had come for a visit. She couldn’t wait to dig up whatever treasure there might be and then run before he could unconsciously inflict any more hurt.

  They reached the front of the center silo and Tanner dug the shovel into the dirt about three feet away from the structure. “Should we start right here?”

  “You aren’t starting anywhere,” Trevor replied. “You’ve done enough in getting us here. There’s no way I’m going to let you do the digging.”

  Tanner flashed him a quick smile and stepped back from the shovel. “Knock yourself out,” he said.

  A gunshot exploded, the bullet pinging off the silo mere inches from Josie’s head. “Get down,” Tanner yelled just before he tackled her to the ground.

  * * *

  Tanner yanked his gun from his holster at the same time he covered Josie’s body with his own. He turned his head to see that Trevor had hit the ground as well.

  “The shooter is over there in the trees,” Trevor shouted. The trees were on the other side of their vehicle and provided just enough cover to hide a man with a gun.

  And they had no cover at all.

  Tanner cursed beneath his breath as anoth
er bullet kicked up the dirt just in front of them. He curled around the small woman beneath him as she gasped in fear, his need to protect her foremost in his mind. Even though he knew it was impossible, he swore he could feel her heartbeat fluttering frantically against his own chest.

  There was no question in his mind it was the same man from the night before. He must have been watching the suite and had tailed them here. Damn, if only Tanner had managed to somehow permanently take out the man last night.

  Tanner had hoped the man didn’t have any killer blood in his veins. After all, he hadn’t shot them during the previous two encounters even though he’d had ample opportunity. But the cold, hard fact now was that he was obviously shooting to kill.

  Yet another bullet puffed up dust far too close to where they were on the ground. “We need to get to cover,” he yelled to Trevor.

  “Take her and get into the building. I’ll cover you both,” Trevor replied. “On the count of three. One...two...three.”

  Trevor rose to a crouching position and fired off a volley of shots toward the trees. At the same time Tanner jumped up and grabbed Josie from the ground. He threw an arm around her shoulder in an effort to shield her as they raced for the structure next to the silos.

  He guided her through the open doorway. “Get on the ground,” he said tersely to Josie and then turned to fire his gun toward the woods, hoping to provide adequate cover for Trevor to join them in the relative safety of the building.

  Trevor ran inside and Tanner breathed a sigh of relief. He moved to the window opening, broken glass crunching under his feet, as Trevor remained just inside the doorway.

  Adrenaline pumped hard and fast through Tanner’s veins as he stared out in the distance, looking for any movement that might give the exact location of the shooter.

  He glanced at Josie, who was crouched next to the window, her eyes wide with fear. God, he’d seen her this way too many times. And as always, what he wanted to do most of all was sweep her away from here, make sure terror never darkened her eyes again.