“If it is a cave, you’d have to be a hobbit to crawl through the opening and get inside,” Shane continued.
“Not even hobbits could get in there,” Franny said decisively, clearly sending a cease-and-desist order to Shane and a discouraging message to the boys.
“You could use a loader.” Emily decided the attention was off her and swiped a cookie. They were still warm. “Franny’s dad has one and so does Sheriff Connelly.”
“The sheriff used to work for the state highway department.” Shane took another cookie.
Franny looked at him sideways. “How do you know that?”
“I know everyone in town.” He grinned at Franny the way Emily wanted Bo to grin at her. “I used to be on the town council.”
“Past tense,” Emily said in a thorny voice. How had Franny nabbed a man without leaving the ranch? At Franny’s sideways glance, she added, “Roy told me.”
“Then it must be true,” Shane murmured.
“Cookie eating will now stop because the lasagna should be ready soon,” Franny announced with firm looks at her children. “Hopefully someone will be hungry for dinner. I’ll do the barn chores if you can make a salad, Em.”
“But...” Emily looked at the boys. They were in charge of feeding the stock at night and closing up the barn.
“We’re on lockdown,” Davey explained.
“Yeah,” Charlie added. “Mom trapped a feral in the ranch yard, so we’re on house arrest.”
With all the talk about husbands, chocolate-chip cookies and Merciless Mike’s hideout, Emily had forgotten about the bull. “You trapped him?” The biggest side of beef she’d seen in a long time?
“I’m not sure where he is,” Franny admitted in a guarded voice. Clearly, she hadn’t told the boys just how large the bull was. “We fixed the fences lining the federal road. You, Zeke and I can do a sweep in the morning. If he’s still on the property, we’ll move him to one of the arena pens.”
Franny made it sound so easy, as if the bull wasn’t larger than Buttercup and years younger.
“I’ll come out in the morning to give you a hand,” Shane said, like any good boyfriend would.
Franny had all the luck.
“Maybe Bo would want to help, too.” Emily had no pride when suggesting it.
No pride at all.
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
“WAKE UP,” DAVEY WHISPERED, shaking first Charlie’s shoulder and then Adam’s.
“What time is it?” Charlie grumbled, rolling over. “I don’t smell bacon.”
Davey tugged his brother back to face him. “It’s four. We need to go now.”
“Where?” Adam sat up and rubbed his eyes.
“To the lookout.” He tossed the clothes to them that they had taken off the night before. “You heard Shane yesterday. Only someone as small as a hobbit could get in Merciless Mike’s cave.”
Adam blinked. “I’m the size of a hobbit. Charlie always says so.”
“We can’t go.” Charlie squeezed his eyes shut. “We’re on lockdown.”
“We’re taking the truck.” Davey had thought it all through. “We take the truck to school when we’re on lockdown. We’ll be fine.”
Adam rolled out of bed and reached for his jeans. “Come on, Charlie. Maybe when it comes to Merciless Mike’s hideout you’re a hobbit, too.”
“Mom will worry.” Charlie yawned.
“And if we get the gold, Mom won’t worry anymore.” Davey shook his brother’s shoulder. Gold meant money for trips down to Ketchum to see a movie. It meant Grandpa Clark wouldn’t call to ask Mom for money that she owed him. It meant Davey could go to camp with the missing kids this year and every year until he was eighteen. Maybe they’d have enough left over to buy new stuff for the ranch, too.
“But it’s dark outside.” Charlie yanked the covers over his head.
“If we get the gold, you can buy a new video game,” Davey said, sweetening the pot. “I’ll let you play my turn the first day.”
Charlie thrust the quilt down to his waist. “Promise?”
“I swear.” Davey offered his hand for a shake because that’s what grown men did when they made a deal.
Adam was nearly dressed. “Did you ask Mom?”
“No, stupid.” Davey rolled his eyes. “This is a surprise. A hobbit surprise.” He’d already taken the keys to both the old ranch truck and the federal gate. They just needed to sneak out without being discovered.
They made it downstairs before they met with trouble.
“What are you doing?” Granny Gertie wheeled her walker up to them. She always slept in sweatpants and a sweatshirt. Her hair looked like a white haystack. “Up to no good, I bet.”
The way Davey figured it, he had two choices. Make a run for it and hope Mom and Aunt Em were slow getting out of bed and chasing after them. Or he could enlist Granny on their quest.
“We’re going for the gold,” Davey whispered. “You know it’s up on lookout point, don’t you?”
Gertie stared at them in silence for a moment before asking for her coat and boots.
They were so loud getting out the door with Granny’s walker, Davey thought for sure Mom or Aunt Em would come downstairs.
Then Charlie slammed the old truck door and Davey figured they were caught this time.
But no one came.
Davey released the parking brake and coasted down the hill and over the cattle guard before starting the engine.
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
“WHERE ARE THE BOYS?” Emily opened Franny’s bedroom door at zero-dark-hundred.
“Sleeping?” Franny sat up groggily. It was the first good night’s sleep she’d had since Bradley Holliday had told her he didn’t like the quality of their bulls. Her alarm wasn’t set to go off for another ten minutes.
“Their bedroom door is open, and no one is in bed. They aren’t downstairs, either.” There was fear in Emily’s voice.
“That darn gold.” Franny launched herself out of bed, stumbling on the hall rug and catching herself on the door frame of the boys’ room. Their bed covers looked as if they’d been thrown aside as if the boys had had no time to lose. “It would be just like them to set out early to try and find it.”
She ran down the stairs, calling out their names.
“Granny Gertie isn’t here, either.” Emily followed her. “Her boots are gone.”
The rumble of an engine approaching had them running out the front door.
It was Shane in his Hummer with Zeke in the passenger seat. He parked the SUV in the old ranch truck’s spot. Bo and Jonah got out of the back.
Franny sprinted upstairs to get dressed, leaving Emily to ask if they’d seen the old truck on their way up the drive.
The sun was just rising. The stock would be hungry. They had water. They could wait.
Soon enough, Franny was outside with Kyle’s shotgun and the tranquilizer gun. “Someone needs to stay here in case they return.”
“Bo and Jonah.” Shane delegated without hesitation while he gave Franny’s shoulder an encouraging quick rub. “I got them out here early because I didn’t want you heading out without backup.”
“You never should have told my boys about those boulders and hobbits,” Franny snapped.
Shane drew back. “I’m sorry. We’ll find them safe and sound. I promise.”
“Don’t make promises you can’t keep,” Franny snapped again, overcome with concern.
“I have to go,” Jonah protested. “It’s my story.”
“I’ll stay with Bo.” Emily fussed with her hair, which she had yet to comb. “I put a couple lariats in the back of Shane’s SUV, along with the first-aid kit. A sleeping bag in case someone’s in shock. Water. A couple of energy bars, including the chocolate kind Adam likes.”
“Perfect.” Franny had
been too flustered to think so far ahead. She hugged Em. “Thanks.”
Jonah was scowling at Emily and mumbling something about women who didn’t play hard to get.
“If you’re coming, Jonah, get in.” Shane climbed behind the steering wheel.
Franny hopped in the back with Jonah. “Thanks for cutting your honeymoon short, Zeke.”
“Hey, that’s real job security, right?” But Zeke didn’t say it with his usual good humor. He’d come to work for them after Kyle had died and was fond of the boys.
The sky was getting lighter. It was going to be a clear, sunny day. Franny hoped it would make finding the boys easier.
“The gate’s latched, but not locked.” Shane pulled up to the federal gate. “We locked it yesterday.”
They had indeed.
Zeke opened the gate, then closed and latched it behind them. And then Shane gunned the Hummer up the mountain.
Franny held back a sob of relief when they reached the top. “There’s the truck.” It was on the other side of the lookout’s concrete foundation near the cemetery and the pile of boulders. “That’s where we found Kyle.”
Kyle.
Panic rose up in her throat, threatening to cut off air.
“Where are the boys?” Jonah craned his neck.
A flash of black, a crunch of metal and then the SUV jerked to a halt.
“A bull just rammed us.” Jonah couldn’t believe it. “What the heck?”
“So much for fence mending,” Shane muttered, leaning forward to look down the hill, where the bull had disappeared.
“It’s him. It’s Big Daddy Buttercup.” Franny gasped and pressed a hand over her heart. “Where are my kids?” From this distance, she couldn’t see any heads in the ranch truck window, not even Gertie’s.
“That thing doesn’t deserve the name Buttercup.” Jonah unbuckled his seat belt and twisted around for a better look. “You should call him Killer.”
“Here he comes again,” Zeke said in a voice that was too calm. “Hold on.”
Franny gripped the door handle and the seat belt across her chest while Shane jammed the SUV into Park and put both feet on the brake pedal.
The bull rammed the Hummer head-on in a clash of metal that seemed to press on Franny’s chest. The SUV rocked but didn’t move. Franny sucked in air as Big Daddy spread his legs and shook himself.
“That’s right, numbskull.” Shane shook his fist toward the bull. “Military grade.”
“I’ve got to get to my family.” Franny opened her door. “That old truck isn’t made for a war zone.”
“Franny, don’t!” Shane spun around in his seat.
Jonah reached over and closed her door. “Haven’t you ever seen a Jaws movie? Stay in the boat.”
“Jonah’s right, Franny. Stay inside.” Zeke took command. “Shane, drive. We’ve got to get closer to that truck.”
Shane honked the horn, startling the still-groggy bull, who trotted out of the way.
They drove around the lookout-tower foundation, the SUV tilting at an awkward angle. One strike from the bull and they’d slide down the slope.
Franny’s fingers knotted in her lap, but the bull left them alone.
The sun cleared the Sawtooth Mountains and the ranch truck came fully into view. Its fenders were pulverized, and it listed to one side.
Three heads popped up in the rearview window.
Sucking in air, Franny dialed 911, but she had no service. “Where’s Gertie?”
“I think I see her hair above the passenger headrest.” Shane reached back and gave Franny’s hand a reassuring squeeze.
A crash rocked the SUV from Jonah’s side, crumpling the doors inward.
Big Daddy Buttercup had followed them. He trotted around the SUV, scraping the metal with his long horns.
Franny covered her ears. “I have to get to my kids.”
“Let me and Jonah go.” Shane couldn’t get his door open. He rolled down his window.
“What? Why?” Franny held on to the door latch and looked around for the bull, ready to make a run for it.
“Because you and Zeke are going to climb to the roof and rope that beast,” Shane explained. “Didn’t you say you needed at least two people to rope him? You can tie Big Daddy to the roof rack while Jonah and I jump into the truck bed and protect the others.”
Shane at his logistical best.
“You’re assuming he won’t knock us off the roof.” Franny rooted in the back until she found Zeke’s coiled lasso and her own.
“Or the hood,” Jonah pointed out. “We shouldn’t get off the boat.”
Zeke half turned to stare down Jonah. “Haven’t you ever been on a boat in rough waters?”
“No.” Jonah was not amused. “Hollywood is landlocked.”
“That makes Big Daddy a land-shark,” Shane pointed out, easing the SUV forward until he bumped the ranch truck tailgate with his grill.
“Very funny.” Jonah wasn’t laughing.
“If there’s one thing Grandpa Harlan taught me, it was to stay calm in a crisis. He didn’t say to stay serious in a crisis.” Shane climbed out of the window and leaned back in to speak to Franny. “You trust me to protect the boys, don’t you?”
“She loves you, so of course she does.” Jonah scrambled out of his window and onto the roof, joined by Shane. “Any fool can see it, except you two, obviously.”
Franny sputtered. Yes...she loved Shane, but she hadn’t told him and hadn’t planned to, either. Confessions of love were for people committed to living in the same county.
The bull rammed her door, shattering the glass window. Jonah and Shane stumbled on the roof, but didn’t fall off. Gasping, Franny punched the remaining glass out of the window with her elbow as the bull backed up and sniffed the air.
“This is a big deal,” Franny murmured, staring into Big Daddy’s eyes. “You, my friend, are gonna pay for that.” Literally. When she put him on the rodeo circuit.
Shane and Jonah leaped safely from the hood of the Hummer to the ranch truck’s bed.
The bull trotted around the vehicles, looking for a target.
“Shane!” Her boys pounded the rearview window. “Help! Shane!”
Gertie peered over the seat and gave a little wave.
Franny wanted to go to her children. She wanted to reassure them everything was going to be all right. But she had a job to do. She climbed out the window onto the Hummer’s hood.
“Just one problem,” Zeke said when he was standing on the Hummer’s roof beside her. “If we both tie off on the Hummer, we have no leverage to guide him back to the ranch.”
They could catch him, but they couldn’t keep him. He’d just ram them until the metal gave or he popped a tire.
“There’s got to be a way.” Other than hitting him with a tranquilizer dart, which would only make him dead weight.
* * *
SHANE HAD LEARNED many things in business school.
Evading feral beasts and rescuing families from them hadn’t been on the curriculum.
“Shane!” The boys pounded on the rear windshield, fear in their eyes. “Help! Shane!”
Shane willed his courage to hold out. If anything happened to those little guys, he’d play chicken with that bull and the Hummer’s grill, and win or lose, those kids would be safe.
Davey leaned out the driver-side window and waved. The door itself was caved in. Who knew if the old, thin metal would hold up?
“Stay where you are!” Shane commanded, reaching for Davey’s hand to give it a reassuring squeeze. “Back in the cab. We’ll get you out of there.”
“Is he gone?” Zeke held the rope with a big loop at the end and surveyed the area.
“Do you hear that?” Standing on the hood, Franny clung to the luggage rack above the front windshield of the Hummer.
She had a similar rope in her hand but wasn’t ready to throw.
“I don’t hear anything.” Jonah’s gaze darted around.
“Exactly.” Franny peered into the brush. “You’d hear birds if he’d left.”
“Birds. Don’t forget to put that in your script, Jonah.” Emergency humor. Shane swallowed thickly, wondering if he could kick in the ranch truck’s rear window without hurting anyone inside. He feared the bull would ram the truck if they tried taking the boys out the side windows. And then there was Gertie. Her walker was in the truck bed.
A heavy snort. A crack of brush. The giant devil struck the Hummer again, knocking Zeke to his knees. Big Daddy was quick. Shane would’ve thought they’d have more warning than that.
The bull disappeared down the slope on the other side of them.
Someone had a hold of Shane’s shirt back. Someone was screaming.
“It’s okay. You’re okay,” Shane repeated and glanced over his shoulder at Jonah. “Stop. You’re scaring the boys.”
Jonah snapped his mouth shut. “Sorry. That just sorta...came out. Don’t tell Emily. I mean, Bo. I mean, Emily or Bo.”
Shane had no time to figure out what was going on in his cousin’s head.
“Keep down.” Zeke twirled the lariat above his head. “Come on, Buttercup. Come out, come out, wherever you are.”
The air was still. Even the boys were quiet.
Snort. Crack.
They all looked left.
The bull emerged from the trees ten feet away and charged the rear of the SUV.
Zeke flung the rope. It glanced off the bull, having missed one of his long horns.
The bull put on the brakes and slammed sideways into the tailgate.
Franny fell to her knees.
Everyone in or on the ranch truck screamed.
The bull shook his head, then spun around, kicked at the rear bumper and bucked toward the brush.
“Let me try.” Franny got to her feet and twirled the lasso over her head while Zeke coiled his rope, kneeling at her feet.
“Hey,” Shane called. “If you need to tie him to a second anchor, you should use this hitch in the truck bed. It’s for a fifth-wheel trailer, isn’t it?” He’d seen them on the highway before.
Lassoed by the Would-Be Rancher--A Clean Romance Page 20