by Alix Labelle
The pleasure shattered her this time, harder and hotter than before, and dimly she felt him shuddering and jerking. Then he flooded her with his cream, smooth and warm, and she curled her fists into the sheets.
All her life she’d wanted this – wanted a lover like him – and now she was going to lose him in a few hours. It made Caroline want to scream.
“We best get situated for when they come for us in the morning.” Slowly he drew out of her, and retrieved the cords to tie her wrists together. “Are you a gambling woman, Caroline?”
“Sometimes.” Willing herself not to weep, she lifted her bound hands to slip them over the railing, which he fitted back into place. “Why?”
“Back home, I’ve got a great bed. I special-ordered it from this place in Helena. Feels like you’re sleeping on a cloud.” He switched off the light and retrieved the cover from the door. Once he draped it over them, he looped the cord around his own wrists, tightening the knot with his teeth. “I bet when you try it, you’ll love it so much you’ll want to spend a week in it, with me.”
She closed her eyes tightly. “And if I don’t?”
“Well, then,” he said, replacing his railing, “I guess I’ll get your name tattooed on my ass.”
She didn’t want to laugh, but the sound burst from her lips, and then she couldn’t stop. Not even when she began sobbing.
“Hey.” Jonah wrapped his leg over hers to scoot her closer. “Don’t cry. I’m here. We’ll get out of this, I promise.”
He meant it, too. He would die trying to save her, Caroline realized, and his courage made her feel ashamed for being so weak. She turned her face to dry her tears on her pillow, and then nodded. “All right.”
#
After making love to Caroline, Jonah could have slept for three days. Instead he allowed himself only three hours. When he woke again, he held his slumbering lady close. With silent, methodical deliberation he thought through everything he might do to save them both.
He aimed to keep Caroline alive. A nobler man would have considered sacrificing himself to do that, but Jonah wanted the chance to live, too. He suspected now that loving and looking after Caroline was all he’d ever ask of life again.
In the thin gray light of dawn, Andy Travers came in. He dropped their clothes on the bed before he untied Caroline.
“Here. I found these in the hall closet.” He tossed some jeans and a jacket on top of Caroline’s dress. “Don’t want you to freeze on the trail, gal. When you come out you can use the bathroom, and then we’re leaving.”
Caroline’s hands shook as she released Jonah. Once they’d dressed, she hugged herself with her arms. “I dreamt we were sleeping in your bed last night. You’re right, it’s pretty awesome.”
“The real thing’s even better.” Jonah smoothed down her tousled hair before he took her hand. “Keep close to me today. When our chance comes, it’ll be quick.”
As they walked out of the room, Jonah felt glad he’d taken good care of Merlin yesterday. With the hay and the meltwater trough in the little barn, the big gray would survive. It wouldn’t be long before Jonah’s brothers came looking for him. Ethan knew his habits, and when he didn’t radio in he’d ride out to the cottage and find Merlin. Somehow Jonah had to keep Caroline alive until nightfall.
After they used the bathroom, Don Travers tossed a water bottle and a granola bar to each of them. “You’ll have to eat breakfast while we’re hiking up to the ridge. Let’s go.”
Jonah stayed glued to Caroline’s side while they marched up the ridge trail. The Travers brothers followed, with Don barking for them to hurry up whenever their pace slowed under a quick trot. Caroline seemed to be handling it, but after twenty minutes she halted and glanced back at Don.
“I need to take a break,” she said, her words puffing out white in the frigid air.
The big man, who now huffed as if out of breath, pointed to the ground before he and his brother went lean against a flat-topped boulder beside the trail.
Jonah knew Caroline wasn’t so tired that she needed to stop, and put his arm around her. “You all right?”
“I think so.” She hugged him, and as she did whispered quickly, “I’m going to take them into the caves. I have an idea.”
Jonah nodded slightly as he rubbed her back, and then released her.
“Give her the map, Andy,” Don said, and when his brother came over to hand it to Caroline added, “We’re almost to the top. Where is it?”
“Not on the surface,” she told him, and opened the map to point out a particularly marking. “This is the entrance to a cave system I’ve surveyed. Some of these old tunnels have collapsed, but I know a way to get to where they buried the gold, here.” She pointed to another spot.
Jonah watched Travers scowl before he said, “She’s telling the truth. My brothers and I have played in those caves since we were kids.” It was a lie – he’d hated the dark, tight spaces from the first time he’d followed Chris into them – but it seemed to convince the brothers.
“Then I guess we don’t need you anymore,” Don said, hefting the shotgun and aiming the barrel at Jonah’s chest.
Chapter Four
“You do if you want that to carry out the gold,” Caroline told him, pretending a calm she didn’t feel. “One bar weighs twenty-five pounds, and I’m exhausted. When we find it, how much do you think you and Andy can carry? Three bars? Four?”
“We’ll make trips.” Don sounded surly, but his brows drew together.
“Donny, it’s three miles to the van from here,” his brother whined. “I can’t catch my breath as it is. Shit, we can make them do all the work.”
Don gave Jonah a long, narrow look before he slowly lowered the shotgun. “Fine,” he told her. “Break’s over. Get moving.”
Her heart pounding madly, Caroline held onto Jonah’s hand after he helped her up, and moved quickly along the trail. Behind them she could hear the brothers panting as they struggled to keep up with them. She knew that because both men had no experience with climbing in thin mountain air, they’d soon be even more winded – something that she needed for her getaway plan.
“When I say tattoo,” she murmured to him, “Grab my hand and follow me.”
“What are you whispering about to him?” Andy demanded.
“Some safety tips for when we get inside,” she lied. “Have either of you ever gone caving, Mr. Travers?”
“What do you think, bitch?” Don snapped.
“Well, then I should tell you, too. Once we’re inside, stay close, and don’t touch anything. The structure is very unstable. Displacing even one small rock can bring down a roof on our heads.” Caroline stopped and pulled aside some brush to reveal the cave mouth. “We’ll need those flashlights you brought now.”
Don pulled two small LED torches out of his jacket and handed her one. “You go in first.”
Caroline switched on her flashlight and led the men into the cave entry, the narrow dimensions of which required them to move in single-file for a hundred yards. At the end of the passage the cave expanded into a larger chamber, which sparkled wherever her flashlight beamed.
“I need the map,” she told Andy. When he handed it to her, she pretended to study it for a moment. “All right, we’ll need to take the tunnel on the left there.”
As she and Jonah moved toward it, Caroline felt his tension. She saw sweat had broken out on his brow and upper lip. Lines of strain now bracketed his eyes and mouth, too.
Suddenly she understood. “Oh, damn. You’re claustrophobic.”
“A touch.” He put his hand under her elbow. “We close?”
She nodded. “Be ready.”
Halfway down the tunnel Caroline switched off her flashlight and stopped, shaking it as if it had gone off on its own. “Don, these batteries just died. Give me yours so I don’t walk into a wall.”
“Damn it, Andy, I told you to change them.” The big man passed her his flashlight.
“Tattoo,” Caroline
said, and when Jonah grabbed her hand switched off Don’s torch, plunging them into complete darkness.
She pulled Jonah along with her down the tunnel and into a side passage, cringing as she heard the echoes of the Travers brothers shouting furiously and running after them.
“Right turn,” she said, hauling Jonah around a corner and through a cluster of towering stalagmites. “Another left coming up.”
“You can see in the dark?” Jonah demanded as he hurried along with her.
She knew he was afraid, but loved him for trusting her enough to guide him through the darkness.
“After spending three months surveying the system, I can walk it with my eyes closed. Duck.” She bent down to avoid a low-hanging stalactite. A shotgun blast exploded behind them, making her cringe. “They’re coming. Run.”
As they fled, she guided Jonah through the tunnels and out into a small cave where sunlight sparkled on a small pile of snow. She climbed onto a boulder next to it, and reached up. Once she grabbed the edge of the hole in the cave roof, Jonah boosted her up. She strained to hoist herself out, then rolled over. Bracing herself, she reached down for his hand to pull him through.
“It won’t take them long to find their way out,” she said, glancing at the hole. “We need a place to hide.”
Jonah pulled her into his arms and kissed her quickly. “I’ve got one.” He then surveyed the grove of snowy evergreens around them before he took her arm. “This way.”
#
Caroline was shivering with cold by the time Jonah reached his grandmother’s cabin. Once inside he bolted the door and grabbed the quilt off his old camp bed and wrapped it around her.
“I know you’re cold, but I need you to keep watch for them for a minute,” he said, and she nodded and took position by the window.
He went over to the storage chest and rifled through it until he found his spare radio. The battery light flashed as soon as he switched it on and called for Ethan, but luckily his oldest brother answered right away.
Jonah quickly explained the situation with the Travers brothers. “We’re at the cabin, but they’ll be coming. Call the sheriff and get up here, soon as you can.”
“My bow’s in the shed,” Ethan said. “Arrows in the tool cabinet. Stay alive, Jo.”
Jonah switched off the radio to save the low battery and joined Caroline. “I have to go out back for a minute. Any sign?”
“Nothing,” she said, and then followed him to the back door. “I’m coming with you.”
Jonah understood how she felt; he didn’t want to let her out of his sight, either. “Okay.” He pulled the quilt up over her bright hair. “But if this goes south, any time, you run down the path behind the shed to the river. Follow it north. There’s a rancher named Hastings about two miles from here.”
Caroline nodded. After taking a long look from the door, Jonah led her out to the shed. She glanced at the looming, blackened tower of the old cabin’s hearth and chimney beside the shed and frowned. “What’s that?”
“The first cabin my great-granddad built up here got struck by lightning and caught fire,” he said as he pried open the shed’s frozen door. “That’s all that survived.”
Caroline surveyed it again with a frown. “Why did he leave it standing?”
“I don’t know,” he admitted. “My grandmother always said it was good luck. Maybe she thought it would keep lightning from striking twice.”
Inside Jonah took down from the wall rack his brother’s compound hunting bow, and strapped on the quiver of arrows he’d left in the cabinet. He also took out a breaker bar and handed it to Caroline. “They get past me, you use this on the back of the neck or a knee. Hard as you can hit, and then run for the river.”
She pushed the bar up into her sleeve, but shook her head at the same time. “I’m not leaving you behind.”
“Caroline.” He cradled her face between his cold hands. “The only way I’ll die happy is knowing you’ll live.”
Before she replied, a blast shattered the air. Jonah turned his head and saw the Travers brothers coming around the cabin. He notched an arrow before he stepped outside, and released it.
Andy uttered a shrill scream as the arrow pierced his thigh. As the smaller man went down Jonah notched another and targeted Don’s chest.
“It’s all over, boys,” Jonah told them. “I’ve radioed my brothers. They’re on the way, with the sheriff. You’re going to jail.”
“Where is that fucking bitch?” Don roared.
Caroline stepped out of the shed. “I’m right here. You want me, Don?” She darted over to the scorched hearth, and hid behind the chimney. “Come and get me.”
Jonah shot Don in the bicep, forcing him to drop the shotgun, but the big man kept running for Caroline. He reached the chimney before Jonah could notch another arrow.
“Come out here, you bitch,” Don demanded, grabbing his arm as he stumbled over the rocks in front of the hearth.
Caroline uttered a savage cry as she struck the crumbling bricks from behind with the breaker bar. The treasure hunter looked up and screamed as the old chimney collapsed on top of him.
After retrieving the shotgun, Jonah strode over to Caroline, who was standing over Don’s still, partially buried form. She dropped the breaker bar and hurled herself into his arms.
“It’s all right now, sweet lady,” he said. “We’re all right.”
Something glittered in the rubble, and he reached down to pick up a broken brick with a gleaming golden core.
Jonah put his arm around Caroline as they surveyed the pile of gold bars that had been hidden inside the bricks. “I think you can afford that plane now, ma’am.”
Chapter Five
Caroline gratefully accepted a cup of coffee from Ethan Boone, who added another log to the fire he’d built in the cabin’s hearth. She watched the men milling around the cabin from the window, hoping to catch a glimpse of Jonah. Andy Travers had already been carried down the ridge to the paramedics summoned to take him to the hospital. His brother’s body and the hidden gold that had killed him now lay covered by a shroud.
Ethan sat down on the couch beside her. “I’d like to thank you for saving my brother’s life, Ms. Scott, but I’m not quite sure I’ve got enough words.”
“Caroline, please.” She took a sip of the coffee and held it between her chilled hands to warm them. “And the truth is I nearly got your brother killed. He’s the one who saved me.”
Caleb, the youngest of the Boone brothers, came in with one of the deputies. “Ms. Scott, the sheriff was able to reach your folks, and let them know you’re okay. They said they’ll drive down from Helena in the morning to fetch you.”
“Thanks, Cal.” The thought of going home should have cheered her, but Caroline felt suddenly depressed.
“Once you’re done with the sheriff, we’d be happy to put you up at the ranch for the night,” Ethan said. “We’ve got plenty of room, and one of the best cooks in Montana to make you dinner. Or you could stay in town with my brother, Chris, and his wife, if you’d rather put some distance between you and here.”
“Chris and Becca live in a great big mansion on a hill,” Caleb put in. “You’ll never see fancier digs, either. They got these little soaps in the bathroom shaped like seashells and such.” He saw the way Ethan was looking at him and grinned. “Well, they do.”
Caroline smiled at him. “I appreciate the offer, but I should really just get a hotel room.”
“At least have dinner with us,” Ethan urged. “It’ll keep Jonah home for night before he rides off again.”
She glanced at the window, and saw Jonah talking with the sheriff. “He prefers to be alone, I suppose.”
“It’s our Cheyenne blood,” Caleb told her. “Our mom said he got stuck with most of it. If that boy could live out on the land with just a tent and a horse, I think he would.”
Ethan eyed him. “Caleb, isn’t it about time you head down to the cottage and look after Merlin for your broth
er?”
“Yes, sir.” Caleb tipped his hat to Caroline. “Ma’am.”
When the youngest Boone took off, Ethan sighed. “I keep telling myself he’ll grow up and stop running that mouth one day. He never does.” He glanced at Caroline. “Since our folks passed I’ve been riding herd on these boys. Sometimes I feel more like their old man than a brother.”
The love in his eyes and voice made her heart twist. “I envy you.”
She jumped a little as Jonah strode in, and then forced a cheerful smile. “Everything all right?”
“Not just yet.” He came over and scooped her up in his arms, startling a cry out of her. “Ethan, leave. Now. Take everyone with you when you go, too.”
His older brother nodded. “We’ll see you back at the ranch.”
Jonah carried her back into his grandmother’s bedroom, where he placed her on the bed and drew the curtains. He then stretched out beside her, his dark eyes searching her face. “Close your eyes. We’re taking a nap.”
“You don’t have to stay with me.” She couldn’t help stroking his arm. “I’ll be fine.”
“We’re taking a nap, and then I’m taking you home.” He pulled her closer. “Then you’re spending the next week in my bed.”
“We were scared. Afraid for our lives.” She sighed. “What happened was amazing, but I’m not going to hold you to anything you said to me.”
“That’s a shame, because I’m holding you to everything you said.” He tipped up her chin and brushed his lips over hers. “If there weren’t five hundred strangers outside, I’d be inside you, right now.”
“You could lock the door.” Caroline closed her eyes and tucked her face against his neck, finally and completely at peace. “I like your brothers.”
“They like you, too.” He sighed. “Now sleep.”
#
That evening Jonah arrived at the ranch house with Caroline, who seemed genuinely pleased to the rest of his family. Over a noisy family meal they both filled in the rest of the Boones on what had happened up on the ridge.