by Penny McCall
She stepped outside, looking for privacy and spotting Matt instead, for the third time. Keeping an eye on her, she figured, and waved to him. He waved back and turned away, pretending it was just a coincidence that he hadn’t been more than a half block away from her since she’d left his office. Good old dependable Matt. Why couldn’t she fall for someone like him, she wondered? Someone sweet and steady and predictable, who’d be home for dinner every night, never forget her birthday. Someone who thought of her before he thought of himself?
Because she was an idiot, the kind of idiot who went for jerks like Bennet Harper. And Tag Donovan. Okay, she didn’t want to label Tag a jerk, but she couldn’t deny there were similarities between the two men. They both lied, for one thing, and that was a pretty big thing. But there was also a major difference; she’d stepped into this relationship with Tag Donovan eyes wide open. He wasn’t feeding her any garbage about commitments, and he wasn’t going after her family. But he wasn’t telling her everything, either, and she knew firsthand that ignorance might be bliss, but it also added a layer of foolishness to the hurt and betrayal that would come along with the truth.
Yet here she stood making excuses for him, trying to put him in the best light. If that didn’t spell trouble, she needed a new dictionary. With a sigh she dug the satellite phone out of her satchel and dialed her mother, the queen of giving men the benefit of the doubt.
One of the household staff answered, of course, and went to fetch her mother—apparently in Antarctica since it took a while for Cassandra to answer, and when she came on the line the temperature seemed to drop fifteen degrees.
“Alexandra, how lovely of you to call.”
Alex rolled her eyes. “If I apologize now, will you stop talking to me like that?”
“I’m sure I don’t know what you mean.”
“The battery on the phone isn’t going to last long enough for you to get a guilt fix, Mother.”
“Oh, all right then,” Cassandra said. “I can never stay angry with you anyway, darling, but I must say it was cruel of you not to call me back and tell me your cabin burned down. I was positively sick with worry.”
“How do you know my cabin burned down?”
Silence.
“Battery, Mom.”
Cassandra heaved a windy sigh. “Bennet called me.”
Alex didn’t say anything for a full thirty seconds. Her mouth was open, but nothing came out.
“Battery, darling.”
“How does Bennet know my cabin burned down?”
“He calls every now and then to find out how you’re doing,” Cassandra said in her fiddle-de-dee voice, like she’d admitted to cheating on her diet. “I told him about our conversation the other day, and he knew how worried I was so he made some calls. It was very sweet of him.”
“He calls every now and then?” Alex repeated slowly. “And you talk to him?”
“Alexandra…”
“After what he did?”
“Oh, well now, that was just business, darling. And he’s really very sorry about it, you know. He apologizes to me each time we speak.”
“Mother!”
“He thinks it’s his fault you ran off to that godforsaken place,” Cassandra plowed on.
“I didn’t run anywhere, I went to college,” Alex said through clenched teeth, “and I have a feeling if God was to forsake any place it would be wherever Bennet Harper was.”
“You wouldn’t say that if you didn’t still care.”
“You’re right, Mom. I care that he’s still butting into my life. All I want is to be left alone, and you should feel the same way. He tried to rob you and Preston blind.”
“Nonsense. Your stepfather lost very little money, what with the tax deduction. And you ruined Bennet for it.”
“I didn’t ruin him. I broke our engagement—”
“You know how class-conscious people are, Alexandra. Bennet was cut from our social circle—”
“Not because of me. You swept the reasons for our breakup so far under the carpet the dust mites had trouble finding them.”
“I saw no point in making a spectacle of ourselves…”
Alex tuned her out. She could recite the rest of the argument from memory—not airing dirty laundry, putting on a brave face, keeping up appearances—Cassandra had enough platitudes to keep even Tag-Donovan happy, and there was nothing worse in her book than giving her friends fodder for gossip.
Beep.
“What, darling?”
Alex checked the readout. “The phone is going dead.”
“If talking to me is such a trial, I suggest you hang up,” Cassandra said irritably.
“The phone is really going dead.”
“Oh.”
“I don’t want to argue, Mom. I just called to let you know I’m all right.”
The grocer poked his head out the door and said, “Your order’s ready, Alex.”
She nodded and looked around for Matt. If he was going to follow her around anyway, he might as well play pack mule. But he was busting up a fight between two of her faithful followers. She watched him grab the combatants by the back of their shirt collars and quick-step them off in the direction of the sheriff’s office. So she covered the mouthpiece of the phone and said to the grocer, “Can you pack it for horseback and send it to the stable?”
He nodded and ducked back inside.
Alex checked back into the phone conversation and discovered that her mother was relaying the latest about Muffy Van Amstettler’s face-lift. And the phone beeped at her again.
“Mom,” she said, “I have to go. I’ll call you again when I can.”
“All right, then. Good-bye, Alexan—”
The phone died. Alex made a mental note to charge it at the stable and went inside to pay for her supplies, coming out the front door just as they went out the back. She was only a few steps behind the delivery boy, and for once she was alone, her small entourage having been lured away by the prospect of a fistfight.
“Leave the packs there.” She pointed to a spot just inside the stable door, handed the delivery boy a five, and waved off his thanks. It was Tag’s money, and Jackass was making a ruckus inside.
Somebody was messing with him, was her first thought. Trying to get him drunk again. Or worse. She didn’t think twice, picking up a shovel and heading back to his stall.
She didn’t get ten feet before the shovel was torn from her hands, her arms were pinned from behind, and something that felt like burlap and smelled like manure was tied over her eyes.
Jackass was still kicking at his stall. Now that her eyes were out of commission her ears were all she had left, and in between blows she thought she heard someone groaning. And she was helpless. She hated helpless. But at least her brain was still working, and if she could convince her attackers not to knock her out maybe she could find a way out of whatever she was being dragged into now.
Jackass let out an equine scream, rage or pain, and there went any hope of staying calm and using her brain. Her feet were so much more satisfying. She lashed out, twisting and fighting to free her arms.
“No you don’t,” her captor said. “I ain’t getting kicked again.”
Alex went still. “Franky?”
“Christ, Franky, can’t you ever keep your mouth shut?”
“And Mick.” Absurdly that made her feel better. They hadn’t wanted to hurt her before; she doubted they would this time, especially since she hadn’t kicked anyone in the balls. Yet. “I should have known.”
“We’re real happy to see you, too.”
Alex’s voice had quieted Jackass for a few seconds; as soon as Mick spoke he started to make noise again.
“He’ll have the whole town in here if we don’t shut him up,” Mick said.
Alex didn’t like the tone of his voice. “If you let me go to him, he’ll be okay.”
“No.”
“Are you going to kill me?”
“We’re taking you for a guide.”
“Then I’ll need a horse.”
There was a whispered exchange, one of them swore, and she heard the cock of a gun.
“You shoot him and I won’t cooperate.”
“Fine,” Mick said. “You cooperate or we shoot him.”
She clenched her jaw, but she nodded. The blindfold came off, and she saw Franky jump back. That would have been pretty satisfying, not to mention amusing, if she hadn’t seen Tag slumped against Jackass’s stall. He wasn’t blindfolded, but his hands were tied and he didn’t look too good. Nobody was holding a gun on him, so Alex figured he’d come out the worse in whatever confrontation had occurred before she arrived. Knowing Mick and Franky’s affection for surprise attacks, probably they’d hit him over the head. “Are you all right, Tag?” she asked, clamping down on another surge of violent tendencies.
“Yeah,” he said, sounding a bit groggy and definitely in pain. He still had to be a smart ass. “I tried to tell them you’re nothing but trouble, but their minds are made up.”
“What minds?”
Franky took a step forward, but Mick stuck his arm out and stopped him. “The boss wants you two looking for the treasure.”
“The boss?” Alex asked.
“You just do what we tell you and everything will be fine.”
“You’re going to ride horses?” Alex looked them over, shaking her head. “It takes more than a pair of cowboy boots and some brand new Levi’s to get along in this country.”
“We aren’t doing nothing but following the two of you around until you find the treasure.”
“Right.” Like she was going to lead them anywhere near the Lost Spaniard—not that she knew where it was, but she wasn’t taking Frick and Frack out to the middle of nowhere, digging a bunch of nice, convenient holes, and ending up in one of them when they got tired of the search. “What are you going to eat and drink?” she asked them. “Where are you sleeping?”
“We’ll use your stuff,” Franky said.
“No you won’t,” Alex told him. “There’s only enough for two, and we’re not sharing.”
“We’ve got guns.”
“If you shoot us, your boss will probably be unhappy.”
“She’s got us there, Mick.”
“Stop thinking,” Mick said to Franky. “We got some stuff. We’ll make do.”
Alex crossed her arms. “You can force me to be out here, but I won’t look for the treasure.”
“Then—”
“Then what? You’ll kill me?”
They traded a look.
“We do this my way or not at all,” she said.
“If I were you, I’d listen to her,” Tag put in.
“Nobody asked you,” Franky said.
“Fine, but she can out-stubborn a mule, and if you have any patience left when she’s through with you that animal of hers will use it up. If you want to get out of here some time this week, and without the entire town on your ass, you’ll do what she wants.”
“Thanks,” Alex said to Tag.
“Just trying to help.”
“I can see that.”
“What? They hit me over the head, and all this arguing is making my headache worse.”
“So you’re taking their side?”
“They have the guns. I was trying to save time.”
“Nice to know what your priorities are.”
———
IN THE END IT WAS A COMPROMISE. ALEX AND TAG retained ownership of their supplies. Mick and Franky kept the guns, including Alex’s Winchester and Tag’s Ruger.
Tag’s misdirection seemed to have worked, or maybe anyone watching for him and Alex wouldn’t expect a party of four leaving in the middle of the night. Franky made a point of telling them how many people had cleared out of Tent City while they were waiting for Alex to show up at the stable, and then he went over and stole as much as he could carry. He was sadly misguided when it came to what would be useful where they were going. Alex didn’t see how it would help her to set him straight.
And the fun didn’t end there. Mick wasn’t happy about being on horseback. Neither was Tag.
Franky really wasn’t happy. “The only good horse is under the hood of a gas-guzzling American car,” he grumbled. “Preferably one made in the eighties.”
“The kind that gets about six miles to the gallon?” Alex scoffed.
“The kind with a nice big trunk to carry around mouthy, obnoxious broads.”
“Jackass has never complained, and he travels on grass and water. Those are free.”
“Cars don’t usually bite,” Tag pointed out.
“They do where I come from,” Franky said.
“What is it with you people, talking all the time?” Mick wanted to know. “Let’s hit the road.”
“There aren’t a lot of roads where we’re going.”
“Or streetlights,” Tag put in. “That’s why it’s always so much fun to travel at night.”
“At least you’re still alive,” Mick said.
“You don’t want us dead,” Tag said. “You want us to find the treasure.”
“What I want right now is for you to shut up.”
They all sat there for a couple of minutes, nothing but the slight sigh of the wind and the occasional creak of leather to break the stillness, and then Mick asked, “Which way do we go?”
Alex didn’t say anything; neither did Tag.
“Mick asked you which way,” Franky said.
“Oh, we can talk now?”
Franky pulled on his reins, and his horse sidled over next to Alex.
“I wouldn’t do that if I were you,” Tag said, “you might end up—”
Jackass nipped at Franky’s horse, Franky’s horse went wonky and launched Franky into the air.
“—on your ass in the dirt,” Tag finished.
Franky climbed stiffly to his feet, hissed in a breath and cupped his balls, then limped in Alex’s direction, dragging his gun out of his shoulder holster. Tag got there before him, but Franky didn’t point the gun at Alex, he pointed it at Jackass. The horse rolled his eyes, but he didn’t move.
“You want to go look for the treasure or do you want to shoot Alex’s horse?” Tag asked Franky.
“Both.”
“Which is more important to you?”
“Get back on your horse, Franky.”
“But Mick—”
“Now.”
“Not so fast,” Alex said before he could heave his bulk into the saddle. “You aren’t treating that animal like that again.”
“Like what?”
“Sawing on the reins hurts her mouth. She’s not stupid. A little nudge goes a long way.”
“Oh.” Franky walked around to look in his horse’s face. “I didn’t know she was a girl,” he said, looking up at Alex. “Maybe I’m too heavy for her.”
Mick gave him a shove with his foot. “Just get on the damn thing. We ain’t got all night.”
Franky took a deep breath, huffed it out, and put his foot in the stirrup, dragging himself upright and standing there until Jackass nipped at his backside, at which point he vaulted into the saddle and groaned in pain.
Jackass nickered out a laugh, nudging Tag with his head as if he wanted to share the joke.
“I think he likes you,” Alex said to Tag.
“I’m touched.” And stupidly, he actually was. Next to Alex, Jackass was the… creature whose respect it had taken him the longest to earn.
“The minute this thing is over, I’m shooting that bastard,” Franky grumbled.
Jackass snorted and rolled his eyes in a take-your-best-shot kind of way.
“Men,” Alex said, then leaned forward and patted Jackass on the neck. “Take the high road,” she said in his ear.
“Jesus, she’s talking to the horse,” Franky announced.
“She does that a lot,” Tag said.
Alex looked over at him. “He’s the one I thought would listen.”
Chapter Nineteen
THEY RODE ALL NIGHT. AGAIN. DAWN WAS BREAKING when Alex stopped Jackass. Tag would have stayed where he was until some of his muscles unknotted, but she looked over at him. It wasn’t like she challenged him or anything, but she swung down from Jackass so effortlessly he felt compelled to do the same. He hoped it looked a hell of a lot better than it felt.
“What do you think?” she asked.
Tag shrugged. That hurt, too. “You’re the expert,” he said when there was a fair chance he could manage actual words instead of just groaning.
“Why don’t you look at the map?” Mick suggested.
“How do you know we have the map?” Alex asked him.
His gaze flipped to Tag. So did hers. Tag didn’t so much as breathe for fear he’d give something away, and he didn’t mean his personal agony,
“We followed you in Denver,” Mick finally said. “Talked to the, uh, chick in the library.”
“The librarian?” Alex asked.
“Yeah, sure, the librarian.”
Alex narrowed her eyes, but nobody contradicted Mick because, Tag thought, it was a perfectly plausible explanation. Mick and Franky had been following them in Denver; they could have pumped Ms. Newstead for information, and the woman probably wouldn’t have thought twice about telling them. Alex didn’t look entirely convinced, though, and when Tag saw her turning his way he got real busy unloading Angel.
But he could feel her watching him. And wondering.
“We are camping here, right?” he asked.
“This is as good a place as any,” Alex said. “We can’t be far from the first landmark on the map.” She glanced over at Mick, but he was currently ignoring her to wander off and answer nature’s call. He didn’t go far enough for her taste. She made a face and turned back to Tag. “This little valley will allow us to have a fire that can’t be seen for miles around. We can stay here for a few days, search the surrounding area, then move on if necessary.”
“A few days?” Franky asked, switching his focus to Mick when he strolled back to join them. “How long we gonna be out here?”