by S A Monk
“Don’t worry about the bastard,” Hank amended. “You can deliver him to the sheriff once you take care of his henchmen.”
“You bet. That’s what I’m planning on doing.” Hawk pulled on a pair of gloves, opened his door, and swung inside his truck.
Hank and Eli waved him off. Hawk rolled down his window for one last instruction. “Stay close by the phone after you pick up the ‘Vette. I’ll be in touch as soon as I can.”
Soon as the Dodge pulled away, Eli turned to Hank. “I’ll get the Corvette by myself. You better follow him once he leaves Caldwell’s. I think he’s gonna need your help. Just make sure you stay outta sight.”
“Just exactly what I figured,” Hank said in complete agreement. “Caldwell’s not going to get it his way this time.”
∞∞∞
“I swear, I didn’t know anything about Jenny being kidnapped,” Cindy was angled toward Hawk in the truck, staring at his implacable profile. Her hands were moving rapidly as she spoke and her tone was vehement. It was still snowing relentlessly outside, blanketing the road that lead up to the massive Caldwell ranch house. “I know Brad was getting really angry and agitated about not being able to close that land deal, but I can’t believe he’d resort to kidnapping in order to get you to sell that property. My god, if it’s true, he’s gone over the deep end!”
“Your brother’s ego has always assured him he can get away with anything.” Hawk lifted one eyebrow as he cast her an inquiring glance. “It’s odd, though, how you didn’t have your car today, and I just ended up having to bring you home.”
“My car wouldn’t start this morning, so Brad dropped me off at the rodeo on his way into town.”
“How convenient. Now he has you with me to make sure I don’t bring anyone to this meeting but myself.” In front of the big two story house, he pulled his truck into the circular driveway, put it in park, turned off the ignition, and turned to her. “He uses you, Cindy. He always has you in the right place at the right time. You’re a pawn in all his games. He gives you just enough information to keep me coming to you for it.”
“Is that all I’ve ever been to you— a source of information?”
He stared at her and shook his head solemnly “No. We’ve had more than that— at times. But I don’t think we’ve ever been right for one another, or been enough. That’s probably why neither of us would ever make that big commitment. It’s time for both of us to move on, Cindy. You need to get out from under your brother’s thumb and make your life your own.”
“We could try one more time.”
“No, we can’t. I’m going to marry Tom’s daughter, if she’ll have me.”
“Oh Hawk!” Tears pooled in her eyes, and she turned away from him to stare out the window at the falling snow. She was silent for several moments, then turned back to him and whispered, “What if Brad has had her killed?”
The rage that transformed Hawk’s face was swift and terrible. “Then this place will all be yours because I’ll kill him!”
Her vision shifted to the rifle in the brackets behind her head. “Oh god, I hope he hasn’t gone that far over the edge.”
“Let’s go find out, shall we?”
Inside the house, Cindy walked angrily up to her brother who was standing in the doorway of his study. “You’re crazy if you think you can pull off this stunt without getting caught and thrown into jail. Are you going to see everything you worked for go down the drain over one land deal?”
Brad waved her away impatiently, his eyes fixed on the man behind her. “Go upstairs, sister. You don’t have any idea what’s going on.”
“The hell I don’t!”
“Go!” Whirling on her, he raised his hand to slap her. In a blur of motion, Hawk stepped up to Brad and caught his forearm in a vise grip, stopping him. “If you want to hit someone, try hitting me,” he growled menacingly. “I’d love to get into it with you.”
Caldwell spun and stared at him for a few suspended seconds. He appeared to be seriously considering the invitation. “I could still hold my own against you, you half-breed bastard!”
Hawk grinned maliciously. “Yeah, you finally learned to fight pretty well under your dad’s tutelage, but if I remember correctly, I beat the crap out of you in our last fight, our senior year in high school. Care to try to even the score? I’d love to oblige you.”
“I wouldn’t waste my time,” Brad finally decided with a sneer. “I’ve got what I want from you. Ready to sign that bill of sale?”
“Where’s Jenny?”
“Safe and sound— for the moment. I wouldn’t waste too much time, though. I can’t promise you how long she’ll remain that way.”
Hawk grabbed him by the front of his shirt. “If she’s hurt in any way, Caldwell, I’ll make it my personal crusade to put you behind bars for a good long time!”
“Your threats are a waste of time, Larson. There’s no evidence that connects me to any of your personal tragedies.” As soon as Cindy disappeared upstairs, Brad stepped aside and waved Hawk into his study. “Come in and take a seat. Let’s get on with our business.”
Hawk stepped around the big leather armchair in front of Brad’s immense cherry wood desk. Several documents were laid out on the highly polished surface. Brad strode to the back of his desk, picked up a pen, marked an x on the lines where he wanted a signature, then swiveled the papers toward the man across from him.
Hawk barely glanced at the documents. “Give me a pen!”
Brad handed him one, and watched him scrawl his full name. “Don’t want to read them, huh?” The banker chuckled humorlessly. “Well, that’s understandable. Basically, they state that you agree, of your own free will, to sell me all three hundred acres, in the upper northwest quadrant of your ranch, above the hot springs, for three thousand dollars an acre. Of course, I won’t really be giving you nine hundred thousand dollars, just your pretty little partner back. She is worth that much, isn’t she?” Laughing, Brad picked up the signed papers and slipped them into a manila envelope, which he took over to his open wall safe. After laying them inside, he closed the steel door and spun the combination lock. “I have envied you her, I’ll have to admit,” he said over his shoulder. “She’s a nice piece of work. I have to wonder, though, what Tom would have thought of you fucking around with his daughter. Oh well,” he shrugged and chuckled. “He’s dead. What does it matter?”
Hawk stepped around to the side of the desk as Brad turned back to him. “You’ve got what you want, now where the hell is Jenny?” he demanded.
The land he’d just sold to Brad as a prerequisite to getting her back hadn’t caused him a moment’s doubt. He’d sell the whole damn ranch if that’s what it took to get her back, and he knew Tom would want him to.
“You could have saved yourself a lot of grief if you had sold me that land when I first asked to buy it.” Brad had retreated to his former position behind his desk. “You could have saved Tom a lot of grief, too. He probably didn’t need that additional stress on his weak heart. But you always were a stubborn bastard, Larson. You could have kept his daughter out of this, you know.”
Hawk took a step forward and gave his adversary a savage look. “Fuck you, Caldwell! Where’s Jenny?”
Brad smiled, in charge and enjoying it. “Before I tell you, let me make this arrangement perfectly clear. You get her back, hopefully safe and sound, and she stays that way as long as you don’t renege on our deal or go to the sheriff, or anyone else. I don’t want to hear a word about you claiming to being forced into this sale. Let the land go and live happily ever after with Tom’s sweet daughter, if she’s stupid enough to have you. Make trouble for me, and she pays for your stupidity. Got it?”
Hawk glared at Brad. “She better be safe and sound, or the deal is off, Caldwell, then I come after you, guaranteed.”
Brad laughed as he walked out from behind his desk. “You’ve never been a match for me, Larson.”
Hawk moved into Brad’s path as he headed toward th
e door. Every inch of him was taut with barely controlled fury. “Where is she, goddamn it?”
Brad lifted a well-manicured eyebrow and smiled thinly. “At that miner’s shack next to the old Miller mine.” Stepping around Hawk, the blonde rancher walked out of his office and stopped in front of the stairway to the second floor. “Better hurry. The snow is getting worse. Wouldn’t want Tom’s pretty little daughter to spend the night up there, all alone and scared.”
Hawk seriously doubted she was alone, any more than he believed Brad was going to let the two of them walk away from that miner’s cabin safe and sound. He suspected, as Hank had, that it was definitely a trap. That bill of sale would never be credible to those who knew both men, unless he and Jenny weren’t around to refute whatever story Caldwell concocted to explain it.
Determined not to let that happen, Hawk turned and strode out the front door. In another hour it would be completely dark. The storm was growing in intensity and would probably dump several feet of snow on the ground by morning. He had to drive up to the hot springs, take the dirt road above it, then the rutted logging road beyond that for several miles before he could reach the Miller mine and cabin. He didn’t think he’d get there before dark, not with the snow piling up on the road the way it was. He had to take it slow enough to make sure he made it all the way up the narrow, twisting road without getting stuck. If he had to walk....
Reigning in his desire to hurry was tough. He didn’t know who had actually taken Jenny from the rodeo, but his worst fear was that it was the big thug he had seen outside Brad’s office over a week ago. He wouldn’t let himself dwell on what the man might do to her if he was alone with her for several hours.
He was already consumed with anxiety. Jenny had become his life, as important and vital as the very air that he breathed. If something happened to her, how was he going to live without her. He’d be more lost than he’d been after Tom’s death. He hadn’t had a chance yet to tell her how much she meant to him; how much he loved her. He couldn’t lose her. He couldn’t!
CHAPTER 27
Jenny came to, suddenly, with a sharp catch of breath that she immediately had the presence of mind to stifle. In one moment of awful clarity, everything came back to her. She peeked through her lashes, but otherwise made herself lie perfectly still. She wanted the two men she heard talking to think she was still asleep. Their backs were to her, and she needed a moment to assess her surroundings and her situation.
Her eyes swept the room beneath the concealing veil of her lashes. It was dimly lit by a couple of candles and lanterns, containing little furniture besides a small table, a couple of rickety wooden chairs and the narrow iron rail bed she was lying on.
Lying on? No way! Good lord, she was tied to it, she realized in the next instant; tied hand and foot! The discovery sent a tidal wave of panic through her and almost snapped her control. As she made a second secretive sweep of the room, she carefully tested the constriction of her bonds. The rope around her wrists held her arms loosely above her, apparently tied to the low iron rail headboard. The thicker ropes around her ankles were much tighter. Knotted around her boots, each end was tied to the bottom iron rail of the bed, forcing her legs apart.
The position terrified her, especially once she recognized the room she was being held in. It was the one room cabin next to the abandoned Miller mine. Jenny remembered Hawk bringing her here to show her where he thought their stolen cattle had been transported from. That eerie sense of foreboding she’d had when she’d been here had been some kind of inner warning. Too bad she had not been clairvoyant enough to realize the danger that waited for her here.
Having assessed her situation as best she could, she focused on the two male voices. She recognized the one speaking. It was Steve Walker. His abduction of her was just plain sad. Regardless of his feelings for Hawk, she’d once treated him as a friend.
“I need to go outside and find a spot where I can get a clear signal on this damn cell phone,” he stated. “Caldwell has to have talked to Larson by now.”
“Yeah, go on and see what you can find out,” the other man said, then laughed. “I’ll keep the little lady company.”
Jenny remembered that voice, too. It sent a deep chill down her spine.
“Stay away from her, Joe.”
“Hey, she’s still asleep. That chloroform must have been pretty strong stuff.”
Peering through the feathery screen of her lashes, Jenny saw the man Steve called Joe walk toward the bed. She froze, not even daring to breathe.
“You make sure you stay out there and keep a sharp look out for that half-breed cowboy,” Joe directed as he stood over her. Towered over her, more like it! “I don’t want to be caught off guard by him when he comes after her.”
Hawk knew where she was, and he was coming! He’d get her out of this. Jenny felt relief and elation wash through her, then evaporate just as swiftly when she realized that he’d also have these two waiting for him. Oh god, it was a trap! What could she do to help him? Not much all tied up!
Though she didn’t turn her head, she heard the door slam and knew Steve had left her alone with the burly bodyguard. It took all her resolve to remain still and pretend sleep as he sat down on the edge of the bed and leaned over her, one hand braced beside her chest on the opposite edge of the mattress. Up until she felt his hot breath on her cheek, she’d been able to keep her eyes closed enough to feign sleep. But the moment he got that close and touched her face, she snapped her eyes open and cringed away as far as her bonds would allow.
His big beefy hand stroked her cheek and slid to her hair. “I knew you weren’t asleep any longer, little lady,” he chuckled. “You can quit pretending now.” Both of his hands moved to her wrists, which were resting beside her head. “Wouldn’t you like to have these ropes removed?” He began to unknot the ropes. “Let me rub some circulation back into your hands and arms.”
Jenny would just as soon he not touch her at all, but she realized that this was a good opportunity to at least get partially free. The moment her hands were hers to command again, she fisted and unfisted them to get the blood circulating through her fingers again, finding they were nearly numb from lack of motion.
“Will you untie my feet?” Her voice sounded thready and husky from being unconscious, but she managed to keep the tremor of fear out it. Proud of her control over her emotions, she even managed a tiny half-smile. “My toes feel pretty numb, too.” Her goal was to get completely untied.
“You ask so nicely,” Joe responded as he moved his big hands slowly up the side of her rib cage. To her horror, they continued to climb to her breasts, where they molded themselves to their heaving shape. “Nice, missy. Very nice.” His eyes glassed over a bit, then he reluctantly lifted his hands and moved to her boots.
As he leaned across her and untied the ropes securing her feet, Jenny scooted backward, up against the head rail, never taking her eyes off the man below her. He was immense, even seated. Jenny guessed well over six and half feet, weighing over three hundred pounds, much of it solid muscle. She wouldn’t stand a chance in a struggle with him. She wondered if Hawk would. Maybe, but only if he could catch the man by surprise.
“Cold, sweet thing?” Joe put his big hands on her shoulders and gave her a long speculative look. “I think maybe I could warm you up real nice.”
Jenny could see what he intended. She knew she couldn’t escape him, but the lustful intent in his eyes made her desperate. Rolling sideways, she fell off the bed and scrambled to her hands and knees. She caught him off guard, and took advantage of his momentary surprise to lunge for the door.
But for a big man, Joe was fast. He reached for her just as she got to her feet, catching the hem of her red leather jacket. It came off with a fierce tug. He tossed it aside and tackled her around the waist. In one surprisingly fluid move, he flung her over his shoulder and took two big strides back to the bed.
The springs of the tiny bed nearly broke under their combined weight a
s he threw her down and fell on top of her, his weight trapping her beneath him and robbing her of breath. Tucked into his belt, something hard and metallic poked into her stomach. Jenny assumed it was a gun and started to reach for it, but Joe grabbed her wrists and held them pinned over her head in one beefy fist. With his other, he yanked her blouse from her jeans and tore it open.
Tiny pearl buttons flew everywhere, and Jenny cried out as she struggled frantically to free herself from the giant. It was a useless waste of her energy. There was no budging him. He was going to sexually assault her, and there didn’t appear to be anything she could do to stop him. Tears filled her eyes. She squeezed them shut as he pushed aside her blouse and went to work on her jeans. Terror and revulsion made her fight anyway, especially when she felt him freeing himself from his own pants. She tried to bring her knee up. He anticipated the move, countered it, and laughed. In spite of her resolve not to give him the satisfaction, she started to cry.
Amused by her frightened struggles, Joe captured her face in one large hand, squeezed, then lowered his mouth to hers. Jenny did the only thing she could do. She bit him. He howled, then backhanded her hard across the mouth, splitting her bottom lip open. Tasting her own blood, she fought the loss of consciousness that threatened. A blast of cold air told her that someone had come in through the door.
“Goddamn it! Get the hell off her!” Steve Walker roared as he charged the man on top of her, grabbing him by the back of his shirt, trying to pull him off. “You scum! I knew I shouldn’t have left her alone with you.”
Jenny used the slight distance between her and her attacker to wiggle her arms free of her blouse. Rocking on her back, she shoved against his massive chest with all her might. Between her and Steve, they managed to throw him off of her, but Joe went for the gun in his belt as soon as he cleared the bed. Spinning to face Steve, he fired at him. The close range shot knocked the wrangler back several feet. He landed against the wall. Jenny screamed and and swung off of the bed. Blood was soaking the upper half of Steve’s body, rapidly turning his white shirt bright red.