by Tanya Jolie
“Sorry,” he said to the officers. “I didn’t want to kill her, and I was pretty close.”
“You get that way around snakes,” one of the cops told him, and eyed the squad car where Holly was screeching and pounding on the window. “Thanks for handling that one.”
“You two want to head back to the house with us?” Ethan asked.
“Oh, yeah.” Chris smiled at Becca as he held out his hand. “We’ve got a wedding to plan.”
THE END
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***Coming next is Saved by the Cowboy***
Saved by the Cowboy
Love in Ghost Lake Ranch
Book 3
(Can be read as a standalone book)
By: Amber Duval
Saved by the Cowboy
Chapter One
Jonah Boone rose before dawn to dress and go downstairs, where he found Buck Lloyd starting breakfast for the rest of the family. Savory slices of ham sizzled in a big cast-iron pan, and a bread board sported the first batch of the old trail cook’s homemade biscuits.
Without a word Buck handed him a large thermos of coffee and a big insulated pack stuffed with food.
“That predictable, am I?” Jonah asked, his mouth hitching.
“Boy, being cooped up here for the holidays has you as antsy as a stallion caught in a blackberry thicket.” Buck’s face wrinkled with a grin. “Go on. I’ll let Ethan know you’re cooling your cabin fever.”
“I won’t be more than a day.” He thought of his grandmother’s cabin up in the mountains, where he often spent the night after a long solitary ride. He missed sitting there by the fire, watching the twilight snow frost the evergreens. “Maybe two.”
Buck handed him one of the handheld radios all of the Boone brothers carried when out on the range. “Just call in if you need more time. You know how he worries.”
Jonah nodded, and headed out for the barn to saddle his horse. He didn’t feel guilty about bailing for a day to take a long, cold ride alone. Looking after the family’s cattle ranch demanded that he spend long hours working alongside his six brothers. During the holidays he’d joined in the boisterous celebrations, and had even dressed up in a silly-ass tux for his brother Chris’s wedding. Jonah had never been particularly social, but he’d done his duty.
Now, after a solid month of being corralled by obligations and responsibilities he needed a day for himself – and he’d earned it.
Merlin, his big gray, practically danced with his eagerness to get going once Jonah had saddled and mounted him.
“Yeah, me, too, fella.” He kept him reined in to a trot as they left the stables, and then eased up so the horse could lope across the snow-covered back pasture.
Over the long ride to the ranch’s north boundary line, Jonah sensed his internal knots unwinding. He’d always felt more at home outdoors, with Montana’s endless bright sky and soaring mountain ranges to keep him company.
“My lone wolf,” his mother had called him when she’d found him star-watching on the roof one night. “I think you got most of your Daddy’s Cheyenne blood, Jo.”
The Boone family’s Native American heritage hadn’t just come out in Jonah’s solitary, reserved nature. With his black hair, dark coloring and long, narrow eyes, strangers often mistook him as a local tribesman. His looks also effortlessly attracted the ladies, which he regarded as embarrassing as it was gratifying.
“I wish I knew how you do it,” Caleb, his youngest brother, had once complained. “You just stand around saying nothing, and the women start swarming on you like flies on honeycomb.”
Despite his effortless popularity, Jonah rarely dated. Most girls wanted a relationship to follow every good time. He thought someday he might want to settle down and have a passel of kids, but for now his heart belonged to the land and the sky.
Once he reached Ghost Lake, he rode Merlin into the small barn by the family cottage. After seeing to the big gray, he walked down to build a fire in the yard’s stone pit to warm himself as he ate lunch. Although it would be cozier inside, he needed to soak up the space and the sky more than he needed comfort.
Across the frozen lake the woods glittered a frosty pewter in the afternoon sun. From here it would be a half-hour hike on foot to his grandmother’s cabin by the thermal springs. Merlin might manage his way alone the narrow, rocky mountain trail, but the cabin had no stable if Jonah wanted to spend the night.
Ethan wouldn’t worry if he stayed out two days. Three might be pushing it, though.
A short cry shattered the stillness, making Jonah rise to his feet. Across the lake a shadow darted out of the trees. The pale-haired woman ran to the edge of the ice, and Jonah’s eyes widened. Her bare arms and legs gleamed white in the sun as she fled down the bank.
He doused the fire with his coffee before he slung his pack over his shoulder and ran parallel to the woman. His breath billowed in white clouds as he rounded the west edge of the lake and she saw him. She stopped in her tracks, looked back over her shoulder and then ran for him as if her life depended on it.
Jonah tore off his jacket before she reached him and as soon as she did, wrapped it around her violently shivering form. “What are you doing out here like this?”
“Got away.” She was so out of breath she gulped the air between her words. “Took me. They’re coming.”
He looked all around before he stared down at her. She had a bright red abrasion on her cheekbone, and the shadow of a black eye darkening above it. “Someone after you?”
She nodded frantically. “Hide. Have to. Please. They’re coming.”
Jonah caught her before she could run from him. “Lady, wait.” He went still as he heard a shotgun slide being pumped, and looked over her head. Two men strode out of the woods and advanced on them.
“Looky here.” The biggest of the pair grinned behind the shotgun he had leveled on them. “You making a new friend, Caroline?”
#
Caroline Scott winced as Don Travers tightened the cords binding her wrists, but she kept silent and still. Twenty-four hours of being his captive had taught her that much. He’d shoved her on the floor to sit back-to-back with the cowboy, who also had his wrists bound behind him.
“Don’t you two look comfy.” The big man stepped back and eyed the fire he’d forced the cowboy to build inside the cottage. “I’ll let you warm up while me and my brother have a chat outside.” He jerked up her chin. “You try anything again, bitch, and I’ll blow a hole through your new boyfriend.”
She waited until the men left before she drooped and let the shakes take her. Never in her life had she felt more tired, cold or terrified. All she wanted to do was break down and sob her heart out.
“It’s okay,” the cowboy said softly, curling his warm callused fingers around hers. “Hold on.”
Guilt cut through her self-pity and diced her into bits of shame. “I am so sorry.”
“Not your fault.” The cowboy shifted his arms as if testing the cords. “Which one hit you?”
She shuddered, remembering the blow. “Don, the big one. He likes to use his fists.”
The cowboy muttered something under his breath, and then asked, “Can you tell me what they’re after, ma’am?”
“Gold, supposedly hidden up here during the Civil War. They tried to hire me to scout it for them, but I told them I don’t moonlight. They grabbed me last night when I left my office.” She grimaced as his warmth made her numb hands begin to tingle painfully. “I never thought they’d be desperate enough to kidnap me.”
He squeezed her fingers gently. “Why did they want you?”
“I’m a geologist. My company has had me surveying these mountains for the last two years.” The heat from the fire and his body suddenly made her feel tired, and her shoulders
slumped. “They showed me an old map. They can’t read it, though.”
“But you can,” the cowboy guessed. When she didn’t reply, he asked, “I’m Jonah Boone. You’re Caroline?”
“Yes.” She had to press her lips together to stop them from trembling. “Caroline Scott.”
“Caroline, you can trust me.” As she tensed he laced his fingers through hers. “Can you read this map?”
“Yes, but . . . .” She glanced at the cottage’s front door and lowered her voice to a bare murmur. “They think it shows surface features up on the ridge. It doesn’t. It’s a map of a cave system near here that I surveyed last summer. I know every inch of it, and I promise you, there’s no gold anywhere in there. What are we going to do?”
“Something,” he assured her. “It’s near sunset, so they’ll wait until morning to move us. They give you anything to eat or drink?”
“No.” Caroline’s throat had grown so dry her voice rasped. “I don’t think they care.”
The door to the cottage swung open, and Caroline stiffened. Travers swaggered in, gave her a sneer and disappeared into the kitchen. His brother followed, dumping Jonah’s pack by the fireplace before sitting across from them with the shotgun in his lap.
Caroline knew Andy wasn’t as brutal as his older brother. “Mr. Travers, please, you have to stop this, now. If you do, if you let us go, I won’t say anything. I swear to you.”
“Yeah, I believe that.” Andy chuckled sourly.
“Then let this man go,” she said. “He has nothing to do with this.”
He grunted. “Not happening.”
“You’re really going to ruin your lives over a legend?” Caroline demanded.
“What’s to ruin? Don and me, we ain’t ever had shit,” Andy told her. “This is our chance. We risked everything to get our hands on that map. All you had to do was show us the way, but you couldn’t be bothered. So the way I see it? You brought this on yourself.”
“Folks have been hunting that gold for a hundred years,” Jonah said. “No one’s found so much as a nugget. That map you have is likely fake, too.”
Andy laughed. “Then why would the guy who owned it die trying to keep us from stealing it?”
Caroline felt sick. “You killed someone for a map?”
“The lady needs something to eat and drink,” Jonah said before the other man could reply. “Otherwise she’ll be too weak tomorrow to find anything.”
Andy muttered something rude before he picked up Jonah’s pack, dropped it in the cowboy’s lap, and then untied Caroline. Once her hands were free he sat back down and held the shotgun on her. “There’s food in there. Hurry up and eat.”
Caroline rubbed her sore wrists before she opened the pack and took out the sandwiches and thermos inside. “He needs something, too.”
Andy smirked. “Well, I ain’t untying him, so you’ll have to feed him.”
Chapter Two
“I’m all right,” Jonah told her. “You go ahead.”
Caroline opened the thermos and filled the lid with coffee before taking a long drink. She then brought the edge to his mouth. “Your turn.”
Jonah drank a little. “You have the rest.” For the first time since he’d caught Caroline in his arms by the lake he realized her paleness was natural. Some Nordic ancestor had gifted her with flawless ivory skin, and long, straight hair the color of summer cream. Darker golden lashes framed her sapphire blue eyes, and the heat of the coffee made her pretty lips go rosy.
She ignored his urgings and kept sharing the coffee until it was gone. Generously she did the same with two of Buck’s chicken sandwiches. As she fed him, she used her fingertips to brush the crumbs from his lips. It should have felt ridiculous, being hand-fed like a pet. Somehow Caroline made it feel sweet and intimate, as if they were on a picnic. If they made it out of this mess alive, he’d have to take her on one.
On the last bite she gave him, Jonah kissed her fingers. The fear faded from her eyes, replaced by a shy longing. “Thank you.”
“There are strawberries,” she murmured, lifting one to his mouth. “Here.”
Biting into the tart-sweet fruit made Jonah imagine kissing those lovely pink lips. When she took a nibble, the juice stained her lips even darker. As she licked it away with the tip of her tongue he nearly groaned.
“Dinner is over.” Don Travers yanked Caroline to her feet as his brother did the same with Jonah. “Time for bed.”
The brothers marched them back to the spare bedroom, where Andy held the shotgun on them while Don untied Jonah.
The big man stepped back. “Take your clothes off. All of them. Both of you.”
‘What?” Caroline’s expression turned to horror. “Why?”
“Can’t run off if we’re naked,” Jonah told her, stepping in front of her as he began unbuttoning his shirt. “Get in the bed, Caroline, and undress under the covers.”
Don’s upper lip curled. “What, you’re not going to let me watch her strip?”
“Leave the lady a little dignity,” Jonah told him.
Once Jonah undressed, he handed his clothes to the big man before he turned and took Caroline’s from her. He eyed the younger brother, who looked uncomfortable. He’s the weaker one. Without a word Jonah climbed into the old brass bed beside her.
“Grab the railings.” When they did Don tied their wrists to them and then smirked down at Caroline. “Don’t look so worried. He won’t be able to cop a feel. Now sleep while you can, because in the morning we’re heading up on the ridge.”
The brothers left, shutting off the light and slamming the door. Jonah heard the scraping sound of something heavy across the floor in the hall, and guessed they were wedging the door shut with his grandmother’s pie safe. Then all he could feel was the shivering slender body pressed against his side.
“He’s right,” he told Caroline. “Try to get some rest now.” He heard her sob and turned onto his side to face her. “We’re okay.”
She uttered a watery, humorless chuckle. “We’re naked and tied up together in a bed, Jonah. Tomorrow we’re going to die. There is nothing okay about this.”
“Shhhh.” He shifted his head forward so he could kiss her brow. “We’re still alive, and they’re just plain stupid.” He wrapped his fingers around the railing, and as quietly as he could popped it out of the top frame. Once he slipped his hands free he reached over and did the same for her.
It took a few minutes to unknot the ropes, but once he freed her hands she quickly released his. Jonah got up and took the cover from the bed, draping it over the door before he switched on the bedside lamp.
Caroline averted her gaze from his body as she wrapped herself in the sheet and went to the window. “Can we climb out through here?”
“Not naked.” He checked the dresser and the closet, but found them empty, and then went to the door to test it.
“Wait.” Caroline switched off the light and came to him. “If we try to open it, do you think they’ll hear us?”
“Probably.” He leaned against the door, and then took down the coverlet and folded it to wrap it around his hips. “Sorry.”
“Come on.” She took his hand and tugged it. “Come back to bed with me.”
#
The fact that they were trapped alone and naked in the dark didn’t scare Caroline. Jonah’s quiet courage gave her a little hope. Still, she knew they likely wouldn’t survive another day. She didn’t intend to waste what might be her last hours of life mired in fear.
Once they got back into bed Jonah spread the covers over them, and put his arm around her as she cuddled against his side. “We’ll get out of this tomorrow.”
“Distract me.” She rested her hand on his chest, and felt his strong heartbeat under her palm. Even in the dark she thought she could see his exotic dark eyes glowing. “Tell me something no one knows about you.”
He stroked her hair. “You mean, like writing poetry, or having my ass tattooed?”
She smothered a
slightly hysterical giggle. “I already know you don’t have a tattoo there.”
“I don’t write poetry, either.” He fell silent for a moment. “I like jazz. Old jazz. Big-band music, too. I listen to it in my truck so my brothers don’t rag me about it.”
Caroline could smell the strawberries on his breath, and realized how much she wanted to kiss his firm, masculine lips. “How many brothers have you got?”
“Six.” He turned to face her and propped his head on his hand. “Your turn. Tell me something.”
“I got my pilot’s license last year. My parents are worriers, so I didn’t them that I’d been taking flying lessons. I’ve been saving up to buy my own plane.” She thought of all the weekends she’d spent in the sky, gloriously free of the cares of her job and friends and family. Knowing she’d never get a chance to do so again made her heart ache. “I loved flying.”
“You love flying.” Jonah got up and took the cover off, using it to drape the door before he turned on the lamp. “Love, Caroline. Not loved. I’ll be damned if I let you give up now.”
She turned away from the sight of his big, hard body, but then he climbed back into bed with her, and pulled her back against him. “They have guns. We have nothing. Jonah, we’re going to die.”
“No, we’re not. We have each other.” He touched her shoulder, stroking it with a comforting motion. “There will be a time tomorrow – a chance to end this – and when it comes, we’ll take it.”
“And what if you’re wrong, and they shoot us anyway?” Angry now, Caroline turned around to glare at him. “Don’t you see? You only tried to help me, and now . . . now we’re both trapped. It was bad enough that I was going to die for nothing. Now I’ve stolen your life from you, too.”
“Then we die, Caroline. We all do someday.” He caressed her cheek. “But you and me, we die trying. Not giving up. Not going out with a whimper. We give them hell on our way out.”