Hard Ride to Dry Gulch

by Joanna Wayne

  A DEDICATED DETECTIVE RISKS HIS LIFE TO SAVE A WOMAN AND HER SON IN THIS SPELLBINDING BIG “D” DADS: THE DALTONS NOVEL BY JOANNA WAYNE.

  A haunting beauty with mesmerizing brown eyes is in desperate need of Dallas homicide detective Travis Dalton’s help. Faith Ashburn’s troubled teenage son is missing…and may be hiding secrets that could get him—and his mother—killed.

  Faith will do whatever it takes to find her boy, even if it means turning to the rugged detective, a man shadowed by his own painful past. When the search reveals a shocking connection to the dangerous criminal Travis has sworn to bring down, Faith has to trust him with her life. And when passion flares, she has to trust him with something she vowed never again to give: her heart.

  The desperation in Faith’s voice turned Travis inside out.

  He longed to hold her close and whisper that everything would be all right, but it would be an empty promise. And once she was in his arms with her soft body pressed into his, comfort wouldn’t be the only thing on his mind.

  He wanted to kiss her, had wanted to since the night he’d first laid eyes on her in the Passion Pit, though he hadn’t admitted that to himself then.

  Now the desire was entangled with his need to keep her safe and help her find her son.

  HARD RIDE TO

  DRY GULCH

  Joanna Wayne

  ABOUT THE AUTHOR

  Joanna Wayne was born and raised in Shreveport, Louisiana, and received her undergraduate and graduate degrees from LSU Shreveport. She moved to New Orleans in 1984, and it was there that she attended her first writing class and joined her first professional writing organization. Her debut novel, Deep in the Bayou, was published in 1994.

  Now, dozens of published books later, Joanna has made a name for herself as being on the cutting edge of romantic suspense in both series and single-title novels. She has been on the Waldenbooks bestseller list for romance and has won many industry awards. She is also a popular speaker at writing organizations and local community functions and has taught creative writing at the University of New Orleans Metropolitan College.

  Joanna currently resides in a small community forty miles north of Houston, Texas, with her husband. Though she still has many family and emotional ties to Louisiana, she loves living in the Lone Star State. You may write Joanna at P.O. Box 852, Montgomery, Texas 77356.

  Books by Joanna Wayne

  HARLEQUIN INTRIGUE

  1001—24 KARAT AMMUNITION*

  1019—TEXAS GUN SMOKE*

  1041—POINT BLANK PROTECTOR*

  1065—LOADED*

  1096—MIRACLE AT COLTS RUN CROSS*

  1123—COWBOY COMMANDO#

  1152—COWBOY TO THE CORE#

  1167—BRAVO, TANGO, COWBOY#

  1195—COWBOY DELIRIUM

  1228—COWBOY SWAGGER^

  1249—GENUINE COWBOY^

  1264—AK-COWBOY^

  1289—COWBOY FEVER^

  1308—STRANGER, SEDUCER, PROTECTOR

  1325—COWBOY CONSPIRACY^

  1341—SON OF A GUN**

  1361—LIVE AMMO**

  1383—BIG SHOT**

  1407—COVER ME

  “Bayou Payback”

  1426—TRUMPED UP CHARGES***

  1469—UNREPENTANT COWBOY***

  1504—HARD RIDE TO DRY GULCH***

  *Four Brothers of Colts Run Cross

  ‡Special Ops Texas

  ^Sons of Troy Ledger

  **Big “D” Dads

  ***Big “D” Dads: The Daltons

  CAST OF CHARACTERS

  Faith Ashburn—When her 18-year-old son goes missing, she will stop at nothing to find him.

  Travis Dalton—Houston homicide detective. Once he meets Faith, he will do anything to help her find her son and keep Faith safe.

  Reuben Jackson Dalton, better known as R.J.—Travis’s father and the owner of the Dry Gulch Ranch.

  Cornell Ashburn—Faith’s missing son.

  Reno Vargas—Travis’s partner.

  Georgio Trosclair—Owner of the Passion Pit.

  Angela Pointer—Exotic dancer who was involved with Cornell.

  Mark Ethridge—Head of the DPD missing persons division.

  John Patterson—Border patrol agent and a friend of Travis.

  Walt Marshall—Former boyfriend of Angela Pointer.

  Alex Salinger—Rancher in Laredo.

  Joni Dalton—Best friend of Faith Ashburn, and Travis’s new sister-in-law.

  Leif Dalton—Joni’s husband.

  Alex and Hadley Dalton—Son and daughter-in-law of R.J., who live on the Dry Gulch Ranch.

  Lila and Lacy Dalton—Twin daughters of Alex and Hadley.

  Effie Dalton—Leif Dalton’s teenage daughter.

  A special salute to mothers everywhere who know what it’s like to love a child unconditionally. A smile to my grandchildren who bring endless joy to my life. And hats off to my editor, Denise Zaza, who has worked with me through almost sixty books. Here’s to sixty more.

  Contents

  Prologue

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  Chapter Ten

  Chapter Eleven

  Chapter Twelve

  Chapter Thirteen

  Chapter Fourteen

  Chapter Fifteen

  Chapter Sixteen

  Chapter Seventeen

  Chapter Eighteen

  Epilogue

  Excerpt

  Prologue

  Faith Ashburn emphasized her deep-set brown eyes with a coat of thick black liner and then took a step away from the mirror to see the full effect of the makeup she’d caked onto her pale skin. The haunted eyes that stared back at her were the only part of the face she recognized.

  Her irises mirrored the way she felt. Lost. Trapped in a nightmare. The anxiety so intense the lining of her stomach seemed to be on fire.

  But she’d go back out there tonight, into the smoke and groping, the stares that crawled across her skin like hairy spiders. She’d smile and endure the depravity—praying, always praying for some crumb of information that would lead her to her son.

  Cornell was eighteen now. Physically, he was a man. Mentally and emotionally, he was a kid, at least he was in her mind. A trusting, naive boy who needed his mother and his meds.

  Faith’s bare feet sank into the thick mauve carpet as she stepped back into her bedroom and tugged on her patterned panty hose. Then she pulled the low-cut, trampy black dress from the closet and stepped into it.

  The fabric stretched over her bare breasts as she slid the spaghetti straps over her narrow shoulders. Her nipples were covered, but there was enough cleavage showing to suggest that she’d have no qualms about revealing everything if the offer appealed to her.

  Reaching to the top shelf of her closet, she chose the bright red stiletto heels. They never failed to garner the instant attention of men high on booze, drugs and the stench of overripe sex.

  Struck by a burst of vertigo, Faith held on to the bedpost until the dizziness passed. Then she tucked a lipstick, her car keys and some mad money into the small sequined handbag that already held her licensed pistol.

  S
topping off in the kitchen, she poured two fingers of cheap whiskey into a glass. She swished the amber liquid around in her mouth, gargled and then spit it down the drain. Holding the glass over the sink, she ran one finger around the edges to collect the remaining liquor. She dotted it at her pulse points like expensive perfume.

  Her muscles clenched. Her lungs clogged. She took a deep breath and walked out the door, carefully locking it behind her.

  Six months of going unofficially undercover into the seediest areas of Dallas. Six months of questioning every drug addict and pervert that might have come in contact with Cornell, based on nothing but the one shrapnel of evidence the police had provided her.

  Six months of crying herself to sleep when she came home as lost, confused and desperate as before.

  God, please let tonight be different.

  * * *

  “ANOTHER BACKSTREET HOMICIDE, another trip to see Georgio. I’m beginning to think he gives a discount to killers. A lap dance from one of his girls when a body shows up at the morgue without identification.”

  “And the victims get younger and younger.” Travis Dalton followed his partner, Reno, as they walked through a side door of the sleaziest strip joint in the most dangerous part of Dallas. Georgio reigned as king here, providing the local sex and drug addicts with everything they needed to feed their cravings.

  Yet the rotten bastard always came out on top. His rule of threats and intimidation eliminated any chance of getting one of his patrons to testify against him. Not that they would have had a shred of credibility if they had.

  A rap song blared from the sound system as a couple of seminude women with surgery-enhanced butts and breasts made love to skinny poles. Two others gyrated around the rim of the stage, collecting bills in their G-strings.

  A familiar waitress whose name Travis couldn’t remember sashayed up to him. “Business or pleasure, copper boy?”

  “What do you think?”

  “Business, but a girl can hope. Are you looking for Georgio?”

  “For starters.”

  “Is it about that boy who got shot up in Oak Cliff last night?”

  Now she had Travis’s full attention. “What do you know about that?”

  “Nothing, I just figured that’s what brought you here.”

  Travis had a hunch she knew more than she was admitting. He was about to question her further when he noticed a woman at the bar trying to peel a man’s grip from her right wrist.

  “Let go of me,” she said, her voice rising above the din.

  The man held tight while his free hand groped her breast. “I just want to be friends.”

  “You’re hurting me.”

  Travis stormed to the bar. “You heard the woman. Move on, buddy.”

  “Why don’t you mind your own business?”

  “I am.” He pulled the ID from the breast pocket of his blue pullover. “Dallas Police. Back off or I snap a nice metal bracelet on your wrist and haul you down to central lockup.”

  A thin stream of spittle made its way down the man’s whiskered chin as his hands fell to his sides. Wiping it away with his shirtsleeve, he slid off the barstool and stumbled backward.

  “She’s the one you should be arresting. She came on to me,” he slurred.

  Travis studied the woman and decided the drunk could be right. She was flaunting the trappings of a hooker, right down to a sexy pair of heels that made her shapely legs appear a mile long.

  But one look into her haunted eyes and Travis doubted she was looking to make a fast buck on her back. She had a delicate, fragile quality about her that suggested she’d be more at home in a convent than here shoving off drunks. Even the exaggerated makeup couldn’t hide her innocence.

  If he had to guess, he’d say she was here trying to get even with some jerk who had cheated on her. That didn’t make it any less dangerous for her to be in this hellhole.

  “Party’s over, lady. I’m calling for a squad car to take you home.”

  “I have a car.”

  “Get behind the wheel and I’ll have to arrest you for driving while intoxicated.”

  “I’m not drunk.”

  He couldn’t argue that point. She smelled like a distillery, but she wasn’t slurring her words and her eyes were clear, her pupils normal.

  “I don’t know what kind of game you’re playing or who you’re trying to get even with, but if you hang around here, you’re going to run into more trouble than you can handle.”

  “I can take care of myself.” She turned and started to walk away.

  Travis moved quicker, setting himself in her path without realizing why he was bothering.

  He looked around for Reno, but his partner wasn’t in sight. He was probably already questioning Georgio, and Travis should be with him.

  “Look, lady. You’re in over your head here. I’ve got some urgent business, but sit tight for a few minutes and I’ll be back to walk you to your car. In the meantime, don’t make friends with any more perverts. That’s an order.”

  She shrugged and nodded.

  He stalked off to find Reno. He spotted him and Georgio a minute later near the door to the suite of private offices. When he looked back, the woman was gone.

  Just as well, he told himself, especially if she’d gone home. He didn’t need any more problems tonight. But even after he reached Reno and jumped into the murderous situation at hand, he couldn’t fully shake her from his mind.

  Whatever had brought her slumming could get her killed.

  Chapter One

  Four months later

  Travis adjusted the leather-and-turquoise bolo tie, a close match to the one his brother was wearing with his Western-style tux. The irony of seeing his formerly Armani-faithful attorney brother dressed like this made it hard for Travis not to laugh.

  “I never thought I’d see the day you got hitched to a cowgirl.”

  “I never thought I’d see the day you showed up at the Dry Gulch Ranch again,” Leif answered.

  “Couldn’t miss the wedding of my favorite brother.”

  “Your only brother.”

  “Yeah, probably a good thing you don’t have competition now that you’re building a house here on the ranch. On the bright side, I do like that I get to wear my cowboy boots with this rented monkey suit.”

  Travis rocked back on the heels of his new boots, bought for the conspicuous occasion of Leif’s wedding to Joni Griffin. He’d never seen his brother happier. Not only was he so in love that he beamed when he looked at his veterinarian bride, but his daughter, Effie, would be living with him for her last two years of high school.

  The Dry Gulch Ranch was spiffed up for the ceremony and reception. Lights were strung through the branches of giant oaks and stringy sycamores. A white tent had been set up with chairs, leaving a makeshift aisle that led to a rose-covered altar where the two lovers would take their vows.

  Most of the chairs were taken. Leif’s friends from the prestigious law firm from which he’d recently resigned to open his own office nearer the ranch mingled with what looked to be half the population of Oak Grove.

  The women from both groups looked quite elegant. The Big D lawyers were all in designer suits. The ranchers for the most part looked as if they’d feel a lot more at home in their Wranglers than in their off-the-rack suits and choking ties.

  In fact, a few of the younger cowboys were in jeans and sport coats. Travis figured they were the smart ones. Weekends he wasn’t working a homicide case he usually spent on a friend’s ranch up in the hill country.

  Riding, roping, baling hay, branding—he’d done it all and loved it. A weekend place on the Dry Gulch Ranch, just a little over an hour from Dallas, would have been the perfect solution to Travis. Except for one very large problem.

 
Rueben Jackson Dalton, his father by virtue of a healthy sperm.

  “Time for us to join the preacher,” Leif said, jerking Travis back into the moment.

  He walked at his brother’s side and felt a momentary sense of anxiety. He and Leif had been through hell together growing up, most caused by R.J.

  It had been just the two of them against the world since their mother’s death, and they’d always been as close as a horse to a saddle. Now Leif was marrying and moving onto R.J.’s spread.

  Oh, hell, what was he worried about? R.J. would never come between him and Leif. Besides, the old coot would be dead soon.

  The music started. Leif’s fifteen-year-old daughter started down the aisle, looking so grown-up Travis felt his chest constrict. He could only imagine what the sight did to Leif. Travis winked at Effie as she took her place at the altar. Her smile was so big it took over her face and danced in her eyes.

  Travis looked up again and did a double take as he spotted the maid of honor gliding down the aisle. She damn sure didn’t look the way she did the last time he’d seen her, but there was no doubt in his mind that the gorgeous lady was the same one he’d rescued in Georgio’s sleaziest strip club four months earlier.

  He’d spent only a few minutes with her, but she’d preyed on his mind a lot since then, so much so that he found himself showing up at Georgio’s palace of perversion even when his work didn’t call for doing so.

  All in the interest of talking to her and making sure she was safe. In spite of his efforts, he’d never caught sight of her again.

  Travis studied the woman as she took her place a few feet away from him. She was absolutely stunning in a luscious creation the color of the amethyst ring his mother used to wear. She’d given the ring to him before she’d died.

  It was the only prized possession Travis owned—well, that and the belt buckles he’d won in bull-riding competitions back when he had more guts than sense.

  The wedding march sounded. The guests all stood. Travis’s eyes remained fixed on the maid of honor. Finally, she looked at him, and when their eyes met, he saw the same tortured, haunting depths that had mesmerized him at their first meeting.