Cowboy Defender

by Carla Cassidy

  She’d taught him his alphabet before he started school. She’d explained about worms and ants and bugs they might find while they dug for hidden treasure in the garden. And there was always treasure because she’d plant either a small toy or a bagful of candy for him to find.

  She had been his first real love and she’d left him. It was far too easy to tap into the emotions he’d felt that horrible morning when his father had told him she was gone and that he’d been too ugly for her to want to take him with her.

  Eight-year-old Clay had been physically sick as pain had rocked through him. Gone? How could she be gone? What had filled him had been the pain of an emptiness so huge it threatened to swallow him. It had been a grief so enormous it had gutted him.

  For a week he’d gone to bed every night with the hope that when he got up the next morning she’d magically be there again. He’d desperately wanted to wake up and discover that her leaving him had just been a terrible nightmare.

  But as the days passed and she didn’t return, the hollow winds of utter abandonment had blown through him. Abandonment. He’d vowed long ago that he would never be abandoned again, that he’d never love a woman that deeply again.

  He frowned and sat up. Was that what was keeping him from fully accepting the love he knew he felt for Miranda? As deeply as he loved her, was he afraid that she would somehow abandon him like his mother had?

  The little-boy dread collided with the adult man’s love for Miranda. Love trumped childish fears. He wanted Miranda in his life forever and he would never have an opportunity to have that if he didn’t take a leap of faith. And he so wanted to take that leap of faith with her.

  He jumped up from the ground and remounted Rowdy. He galloped back to the stable as his heart beat a rhythm of pure joy.

  He loved Miranda Silver and he wanted to tell her that as soon as possible. He couldn’t wait until he was supposed to pick her up from the school after noon. He needed to go there now and tell her that he loved her and wanted to build a future with her.

  When he reached the stable Mac was there. “Hey, Clay. I didn’t know you were here today.”

  “I’m here, but I’m leaving.” Clay dismounted. “Can you do me a favor? Can you give Rowdy a brush down and stable him? I’m kind of in a hurry.”

  “Sure, no problem.” Mac took Rowdy’s reins from Clay. “What’s the emergency?”

  “I need to tell a woman that I’m in love with her,” Clay said over his shoulder as he headed out of the stable.

  “Go get her, cowboy,” Mac yelled after him with a laugh.

  Clay intended to. He fully intended to claim his woman. He raced for his truck and within minutes he was back on the road and headed back to the school. His heart sang like the tires on the truck against the blacktop.

  Without his little boy fear, his heart was fully open to love without reservation. He couldn’t go back in time and magically fix the abandonment he had felt when his mother had left him. But he was no longer a little boy.

  He was a grown man who knew what he wanted. He wanted to build a future with Miranda and her children. He wanted to be the man in her life, the person she could depend on, the person who would always be there for her, no matter what she needed or wanted. If he was Romeo, then she was definitely his Juliet.

  He’d said nothing earlier when she’d surprised him by telling him she was in love with him. He’d been so shocked words had momentarily failed him. And now that he thought about it, there had been pain on her face when she’d turned to go into the school.

  She probably believed he didn’t love her. Maybe she now was thinking that she was just another woman he’d dated but he was ready to move on and date somebody else. Maybe she now believed that he was really nothing more than his reputation.

  He had to tell her he loved her and he had to tell her now. He couldn’t wait another minute. He pulled up in front of the school and parked at the curb. He didn’t intend to be here long...just long enough to tell Miranda Silver he was madly in love with her and wanted her to be in his life forever.

  His heart still beat a tattoo of joy as he entered the glass-enclosed office. The school secretary, Abbie Lauper, smiled at him. Abbie was an older woman, a widow Clay had helped on a couple of occasions, loading groceries into her truck.

  “Clay Madison, haven’t ever seen your face in this building before,” she said.

  “I’m here looking for Miranda. I dropped her off earlier. She wanted to come in and tell some of her students and fellow teachers goodbye for the summer.”

  Abbie frowned and pushed her wire-rimmed glasses more fully onto the bridge of her nose. “I haven’t seen her this morning, but maybe she didn’t stop to sign in as a visitor and instead went right to her classroom. That’s not like Miranda. She always abides by the rules and knows she should check in here since she isn’t officially teaching her class today.”

  “Where is her room?” Clay asked.

  “Second floor, room 210. Stairs are straight ahead as you leave the office and turn left.”

  “Thanks, Abbie.” He hurried out of the office and headed for the stairs. He took them two at a time and then walked down the hallway to room 210.

  A young woman he didn’t know stood at the front of the classroom. She was obviously the substitute teacher who had been hired to fill in for Miranda. There was no sign of the woman he most definitely wanted to see.

  “Has anyone seen Ms. Silver this morning?” he asked.

  A chorus of voices, including the teacher’s, said “No.” For the first time Clay’s heart began to beat a different rhythm...one of controlled alarm.

  He tried to keep his disquiet tamped down. Didn’t most schools have a lounge for the teachers? Maybe she was there, visiting with teachers as they came in and out.

  “Can anyone tell me where the teachers’ lounge is?” he asked.

  “It’s right next to room 118. The door on the right as you face the classroom,” the teacher replied.

  Clay turned on his heel and raced for the stairs. She had to be there. She just had to be. He’d dropped her off at the front door. Where else could she be?

  He nearly stumbled down the stairs in his haste and then raced along the hallway to room 118. He opened the door next to the classroom and was immediately assaulted by the smell of old coffee and tuna fish.

  Two women sat at one of the three circular tables and there was no sign of Miranda. “Have either of you seen Miranda Silver this morning?” he asked.

  They both shook their heads negatively. The alarm that Clay had tried to contain exploded in his chest. There was only one more place left to look. He headed for the gymnasium that doubled as a lunchroom.

  He’d been in the gym once, when he and a couple of other cowboys had come to watch a basketball game. It was approaching noon and the smell of tacos filled the air.

  He whirled into the room where tables and benches were filled with students enjoying their meals. The noise level was near deafening as several teachers and lunch monitors walked among the tables and tried to shush the students.

  His eyes desperately scanned the crowd, but Miranda wasn’t there. She wasn’t anywhere. He left the lunchroom and leaned weakly against the hall wall.

  All evidence pointed to the fact that she’d never made it into the school. And that meant she’d been gone for almost an hour and a half.

  He took his phone out and, with shaking fingers, dialed Dillon’s number. The lawman answered on the second ring. “She’s gone, Dillon.” His voice cracked with emotion. “She’s gone and we need to find her.”

  Terror ripped through his body as he hung up and went to the school’s front door to await Dillon. The only reasonable answer was that Miranda had been waylaid by somebody before she reached the front door of the school.

  They must have somehow forced her into a vehicle and driven away before anyo
ne had even seen her. A wave of helplessness swept over Clay. He didn’t even know where to begin to search for her. And most terrifying of all, he didn’t know if they were already too late.

  Her head hurt.

  Her mouth was dry.

  Her eyelids were so heavy.

  But an internal voice was screaming in the back of her brain. Miranda, wake up. Danger! Danger! You have to wake up now.

  Was she back in the hospital? Or had she never left? Was her time with Clay, her love for Clay only some sort of a hallucination due to whatever drugs the doctors might have given her? What was happening? What was going on?

  Miranda, you have to wake up. Open your eyes. The internal voice grew more insistent. You are in trouble. You have to wake up.

  She managed to crack open an eyelid. She quickly closed it and frowned. Nothing made sense and her head hurt so badly. She cracked open an eyelid once again. She certainly wasn’t in a hospital.

  Wh... Where was she? The layer of cotton that had wrapped around her brain slowly began to unfurl. She’d been at the school...but she hadn’t gone inside... Henry! Henry had been hurt! No...no, that wasn’t true. That had been a lie, a horrible lie.

  Lori.

  The name thundered in her head and she gasped. Her eyes snapped open as the rest of the cotton fell away. Sunshine attempted to flow through a nearby dirty window, the end result a gloomy twilight in the unfamiliar room.

  She was seated in a chair in a kitchen she’d never seen before. Wooden cabinets were half-painted while the refrigerator and stove looked like they belonged in another century.

  The room smelled musty and in one corner a large web hung from the ceiling with a large spider awaiting its next prey. It wasn’t until she tried to reach a hand up to rub her forehead that she realized she was tied to the chair.

  Oh, God. Her arms were tied tightly to the armrests on either side of her. Her legs were bound to the front chair legs and a thick rope also wrapped around her waist, assuring that she wasn’t going to stand up or get away no matter how hard she tried.

  Panic leaped into her throat, momentarily making it almost impossible for her to breathe. Despite the tightness of the ropes around her wrists, she jerked on them and gasped when there was no give.

  The top of the table where she sat was bare, as were the countertops. There was nothing to use to even attempt to cut the ropes and nothing to use as a weapon even if she could get her hands free.

  Once again a terrific panic shot through her. Where was this place and how could she escape it? Was anyone else in the house? Was Lori here? Was Hank? Oh, God, was her ex-husband really behind the attacks on her? How could he do something like this? Why would he do this to her?

  She drew in her breath and listened. She didn’t hear anything. She expelled her breath. Wherever she was, she was apparently alone right now.

  Once again she yanked up on her arms, hoping to feel a bit of give in the ropes, but to no avail. She pulled on her legs, but the bindings were simply too tight for her to escape.

  She was stuck in this chair, in a small kitchen in a place she didn’t recognize. How much time had passed since Clay had dropped her off at the school?

  What had been in that syringe Lori had stuck in her? Had she been unconscious for minutes...for hours...for an entire day? Was the twilight semi-darkness of the room not because of a dirty window, but because it really was twilight?

  Did Clay even know she was in trouble? Oh, God, how was he ever going to find her? Lori hadn’t even been on their long list of suspects and Miranda had insisted to everyone that Hank would never do anything to harm her.

  Hank. Was this his final betrayal of her? To kill her and take her away from their children forever? Why would he do such a thing? Had Lori talked him into being a part of this? Did Lori want her children?

  Her chest clenched tight with pure terror. What was going to happen to her when somebody returned to this place? Whatever it was, it wouldn’t be good.

  She finally did the only thing she knew she could do. She threw back her head and screamed.

  Chapter 12

  Clay was beside himself with fear. It hadn’t taken Dillon long to arrive at the school, begin questioning people there and confirm that nobody had seen Miranda inside the building. He also checked on Robby, who was where he belonged in class and had been there since school started.

  “We need to get the word out that she’s missing,” Clay told Dillon with panic eating his insides. “The more people looking for her, the better.” He grabbed Dillon’s arm. “We’ve got to find her, Dillon. We both know she’s in deep trouble.”

  Dillon covered Clay’s hand on his arm. “We’re going to find her, Clay.” Clay released his grip on Dillon. “Why don’t we head to the café? That’s the best place to get the word out and start a search fast.”

  Clay followed Dillon there, his heart thundering so loudly he couldn’t hear the roar of his truck’s engine. What could have happened to her? Where could she be?

  Dammit, who wanted to harm Miranda and now had the chance to do so? Acid rose to the back of his throat. He felt like throwing up, he wanted to fall to his knees and weep, but he knew he had to remain strong. He had to be strong for Miranda. He felt like tearing apart the entire town until they found her.

  A killing anger rose inside him. If this person laid a finger on her, Clay would kill him. He clenched his hands tight around his steering wheel and imagined he was squeezing the neck of whoever had Miranda.

  Clay had never been a violent kind of guy, but when it came to what was his and what he loved, all bets were off. Who in the hell was behind this?

  It was imperative that they figure out who it was so they’d have an idea of where to look for her. Tears momentarily blurred his vision. They had to find her, and she had to be okay!

  They reached the café. Thank God Mondays were always busy as people came out to eat and talk about the weekend past. The more people he and Dillon managed to contact quickly, the more people who would go out searching for her.

  Clay walked in before Dillon. It was noisy with the clatter of silverware and plenty of conversations filling the air. “Hey everybody,” Clay yelled loudly to be heard above the din. “Hey,” he yelled even louder to get everyone’s attention.

  People stopped talking. Forks remained poised between plate and mouth as everyone turned to look at him. “Miranda Silver has gone missing. I think she’s in trouble.” To his horror his voice cracked and his knees buckled.

  Dillon grabbed him by the upper arm. “Go sit down. I’ll take over.”

  Clay saw Mac and Flint in a booth. Mac stood and motioned for him to join them. Clay made his way there as Dillon began to explain about Miranda going to the school but never making it inside.

  “I need anyone with information to come forward. If you saw anything at the school or anywhere else that involved Miranda this morning, come talk to me privately. I’ll be just outside.”

  As Dillon left the café, a dark-haired woman Clay didn’t recognize followed him. He started to get up, but Mac stopped him.

  “What can we do to help?” Mac asked. “I can summon all the men at the ranch. What do you want them to do?”

  “I’m not even sure what to tell you,” Clay said with a sense of helplessness. Oh, God, he was in a nightmare and he couldn’t wake up.

  He’d vowed to keep her safe and somehow he’d failed. Dammit, he should have waited and watched a little longer when he’d dropped her off at the school. He should have walked her inside and to the office.

  “Clay?” Flint’s voice pulled him from his thoughts.

  “Why don’t you all start searching the abandoned barns and sheds in the area,” Clay said. Now wasn’t the time to dwell on self-recrimination. He needed action.

  Miranda had obviously been kidnapped by somebody and that somebody would need a place to ho
ld her. At least within the next couple of hours they would be able to rule out all the abandoned buildings in the area.

  He couldn’t think about the very real possibility that she was already dead and it would be her lifeless body that might be found in one of those empty barns.

  He got up from the table at the same time Dillon stepped inside and motioned for him. Clay hurried to the lawman. “I’ve got a lead. A woman was at the school at the same time you were and saw Miranda get into a dark-blue sedan with a rusty back bumper. She didn’t get the license plate, but she said a dark-haired woman was driving.”

  Clay looked around. “Where’s the witness? Who is she?”

  “She wants to stay anonymous for now,” Dillon replied. “At least if what she said was true then we know what kind of car we’re looking for and that a woman was driving it.”

  Clay’s mind whirled. A dark-haired woman? “It has to be somebody Miranda trusted. Otherwise she wouldn’t have gotten into the car.” He thought of all the dark-haired women he knew and the few that he had dated, but none of them made sense for what had happened.

  Lori.

  The name screamed inside Clay’s head.

  “It sounds like Lori’s old Ford,” Dillon said, obviously on the same wave length. “She doesn’t drive it often, but I’ve occasionally seen her in it around town.”

  “It’s Lori, Dillon. I don’t know why she hates Miranda so much, but we both know it’s her.”

  “I’m heading over to Lori and Hank’s place now.”

  “You want me to ride with you or follow you?” Clay asked urgently. They couldn’t be wrong about this. It had to be Lori. It just had to be, and if that was correct then they needed to get to Hank and Lori’s place as soon as possible.

  “I’d prefer you wait for me here,” Dillon said as he headed in the direction of his patrol car.

  “Well, you know damn well that’s not happening.” Clay quickly followed him and slid into Dillon’s passenger seat.

  As Dillon took off, doubts began to creep into Clay’s mind. What if they were wrong? What if it wasn’t Lori and they were wasting time on a wild goose chase?