She smiled. How utterly romantic she’d thought the whole process at seventeen. Then she looked for the loosened nail to see if it was still there.
And saw a silver coin dangling from a metal loop!
CHAPTER FIVE
JODIE’S BREATH whooshed from her lungs. A coin? A silver coin? Had she become so wrapped up in her teenage memories that she’d started to hallucinate?
She shut her eyes, hoping that when she opened them the coin wouldn’t still be there. But it was.
Was it Rio’s coin? But how?
Her fingers trembled as she pushed the window open wider and brought the coin inside. They trembled even more as she examined it, because there was no mistaking. It was his! She’d spent hours when she was seventeen memorizing its every line.
Her first reaction was to fling it away.
The coin bounced and skidded across the hardwood floor before coming to rest on her bedside rug.
How dare he! How dare—She might defend him to the others, but not to herself. What on earth would make him think that she—she!—would be willing to meet with him?
Jodie shook her head. She didn’t believe it. She couldn’t believe it. He’d never come here! But if he did, if he had, wouldn’t it mean he was desperate?
Her mind whirled. What should she do? Call Tate? Tell Rafe? If Rio had done what he was suspected of doing, he didn’t deserve...
She crawled over to the rug, reclaimed the coin and sat with it, her back against the side of the bed. She’d defended him before her family, protested for his innocence. At the first provocation was she going to jettison everything she’d instinctually felt and said? Or was she going to give him a chance—one chance—to tell the truth?
She waited a half hour to make sure everyone was asleep, then, dressed in jeans and a light jacket, she slipped outside, across the gravel drive, through the courtyard and onto the path that led to the business heart of the ranch. The ranch office, the bunkhouse, the workshops and a large tack room all faced each other around a small clearing. Her goal was the storage room to the rear of the bunkhouse. It was there she and Rio used to meet.
Her heart beat rapidly as she paused outside the door. Not from any lingering attachment to Rio, but because she wasn’t sure—if it was him—how deeply she wanted to get involved.
She rapped lightly on the wooden door. It jerked open and she was pulled inside. The windowless storage room, used mostly to secure the camp-cooking gear for the twice-yearly roundups, was in full darkness. Jodie couldn’t see a thing, but she was highly aware that the grip on her wrist—hard and tight and urgent—belonged to a hunted man.
“Rio?” she asked, her voice low. “Is that—”
“Shh!” he hissed as the flint of a cigarette lighter scraped a low flame into life.
A moment passed before Jodie’s eyes adjusted well enough to see in the flickering light. He hadn’t changed that much. His face still had a boyish quality, even when sporting a mustache.
“Satisfied?” he grunted.
At her jerky nod the lighter flicked shut, plunging them back into darkness.
He reached past her for the door, peered out, then drew her after him as he crossed to the barn in a low crouch. Once inside, he pulled her over to the most distant stall.
When he seemed content to have their conversation in darkness, Jodie switched on the flashlight she’d brought with her. “Will this do?” she asked pointedly, placing it on its base on an upturned crate.
“I suppose,” he returned.
His hair was longer than he used to wear it, falling in straggly blond curls almost to his shoulders. His eyes—older now with deep creases at the corners—kept darting toward the barn doors as if he was worried someone had followed them.
“You didn’t tell anybody I was here, did you?” he demanded.
Jodie released an impatient breath. “I can’t believe you had the nerve to do this! Are you crazy? The sheriff’s looking for you!”
“Jodie, you can’t tell a soul! ’Cause if you do—”
She cut him off. “I haven’t made up my mind what I’m going to do yet. Anyway, why do you think you can come to me for favors? Do you remember what happened the last time we were together? When I thought you wanted to marry me and you—”
“I made a mistake!”
“—and you said all you’d wanted was to have a little fun?”
“I never said that!”
“You did.”
He dragged a hand through his hair. “All that happened a long time ago. I was young, you were young—”
She crossed her arms. “And now you’re in trouble again. I heard what happened, Rio. Tate Connelly—he’s the sheriff here now—told us the other day. You’ve sweet-talked another rancher’s daughter—only this one you got pregnant, then you beat her up!”
“I didn’t!”
“I’m supposed to believe that? Me? When you told me one lie after another? You’ve come to the wrong person, Rio!”
“I never lied to you! Well, maybe once or twice, but never about anythin’ important.”
Jodie gave him a level look. “You lied about Shannon—about her wanting you to kiss her.”
“I thought she did!”
“You’re still lying. And you’d better start telling the truth!”
He shook his head and glanced toward the doors again. “You gotta help me, Jodie. You’re the only person who can.”
“You sure think a lot of yourself.”
To her surprise he crumpled onto the straw, his shoulders hunched, his chin fallen. When he looked up, his expression was pleading. “I didn’t do it and I can prove it! I was with some people when it happened!”
“Why didn’t you tell that to the sheriff in Colorado?”
“‘Cause he wouldn’t believe me! ’Cause he and Crystal’s daddy are some kind of special buddies.”
“If it’s the truth, he has to believe you.”
Rio laughed hollowly. “That’s not the way it works in the real world. Not for people like me. Lawmen act first, then check their facts—if they even bother to check. Sheriff Preston’d just hand me over to the Hammonds and let ’em take care of it.”
“Who are the Hammonds?”
“Crystal’s family. Real bad people to cross.”
“So are the Parkers.”
His eyes narrowed. “Not like this. These people will hurt you! Kill you even. Cripple you for sure. Make you wish they had killed you.”
Jodie settled on the straw a short distance away. “Then why in the world would you get involved with...what was her name? Crystal?”
A muscle jerked along his jaw. “You won’t believe me if I tell you.”
“You love her,” she mocked.
“I do! Not like...Not...” He shut up, obviously realizing that if he offended her, it would destroy any small hope he might have that she’d help him. When Jodie remained silent, he admitted, “Not like with all the others. Not like...with you. This time I realty—I didn’t see her until after I’d signed on at the Double Z, then I knew I was in trouble. She...she felt the same.”
“So the baby was yours,” Jodie said.
His head jerked up. “Was?”
She had never seen Rio so intent before. Never sensed in him this deep an emotion. When she realized he didn’t know what had happened, she nodded slowly. “I’m sorry, yes. Crystal lost the baby.”
He closed his eyes and began to rock back and forth, thumping the back of his head against the wooden stall separator.
Jodie didn’t know what to say. She was under no obligation to feel compassion for him, but she would have had to be made of stone if she didn’t feel something. She was quiet for a moment, then said, “Tell me what happened.”
“I don’t know! If I did I’d...” He stopped rocking. “The last time I saw Crystal she was fine. She’d told me about the baby the week before, and I was tryin’ to find a way to work everythin’ out. I saw her before I went into town for a ropin’ contest. I
went in early, the Friday evenin’ before it started—last Friday, as a matter of fact, although it seems a lot longer.” He shook his head and continued, “There were card games and such goin’ on. This ropin’ contest is a big draw. It has some nice prize money, and there’s some big pots in the poker games. I thought I could win us some money to live on. Cowboys come from all over with their pockets full. One or two from Texas, even.” He sat forward. “That’s who knows I couldn’t have done it! The fellas I was playin’ cards with that night. All night! There’s four of ’em. An’ they’ll remember me, ’cause I won! I took a bundle off ’em! Crystal was gonna be so happy—” His voice trailed off in misery and he began rocking once more, his head thumping against the separator.
“Why can’t you tell that to the sheriff?” Jodie asked.
He looked at her. “‘Cause I only know one of their names. This buddy of mine called Joe-Bob. The others—” he shrugged “—well, Joe-Bob knows ’em. They’re his friends.”
“Then all you have to do is produce this Joe-Bob.”
Another hollow laugh. “I wish I could. Like I said, that contest pulled ‘em in from far and wide. And by the time I found out Crystal was in a coma and that Sheriff Preston was lookin’ for me, everybody’d scattered. Moved on back to the ranches they work on or to other places.”
“And Joe-Bob?”
“He’s one of the boys from Texas I told you about. He’d been workin’ on a ranch up in Montana and was on his way back home. Said he’d made arrangements with a rancher in West Texas that was lookin’ for extra hands. That’s why I’m here—to find him.”
“What’s his last name?”
Rio gazed at her steadily. “All I know him by is Joe-Bob. Big ol’ boy, about thirty. Could be part Mexican. Brown hair, dark eyes.”
“If you show your face around here, you’ll get picked up. Tate’s telling everyone to watch out for you.”
“That’s why I need you. To help me find Joe-Bob. Please, Jodie! I know I don’t deserve it, but you’re the only person I can ask.”
“Are you completely out of your mind?”
“I was afraid to turn myself in. Afraid what would happen. You don’t know these Hammonds!”
Jodie could sense his fear. He might be lying about other things, but not that. “I don’t know,” she said slowly. “I have to think.”
He grasped her by the shoulders. “Don’t think too long, okay? I have to get this straightened out. When Crystal wakes up, she’s gonna wonder what’s happened to me. She’ll think I ran out on her! I’m sure that’s what her daddy and her stepbrothers are gonna tell her.”
Only Rio Walsh would have the gall to ask an old girlfriend to help him retain the affections of a new one. Jodie gazed at him incredulously and wondered how in the world she’d ever been attracted to him. Even to the point of running off with him. Now she felt nothing but an odd kind of pity.
She wriggled against his hold. “Don’t touch me!” she snapped.
He let go instantly.
They both got to their feet and looked at each other a little awkwardly. This wasn’t the first time they’d had to brush the straw from themselves after being together in this stall. Only, years before, she’d been exhilarated after being with him.
“Where will you be?” she asked.
He shrugged. “Around.”
She fished in her pocket for his silver coin. “Here,” she said. “I’ll make my decision tonight. When you’re ready to meet again, put it out like you did before. If I agree to help, I’ll be here within the hour.” She cocked her head. “Did you do the same thing with Crystal? Leave the coin for her to find?”
When he didn’t answer, she knew. He’d probably used that signal many times before her and after. It wasn’t anything special.
She started for the main doors of the barn.
“Jodie?” he said, still keeping his voice low. “You won’t tell anybody until after you’ve let me know, will you? You’ll at least give me a head start?”
She waited long seconds before replying. “You’re just going to have to trust me about that, aren’t you?”
Then she walked away.
SURPRISINGLY JODIE SLEPT soundly once she got into bed, and when she awoke the next morning, her mind was made up. She believed him. She would help. His feelings for the girl had rung true, and that was what had finally convinced her.
Of course they had to continue to keep his presence a secret. That he knew the ranch and the ranch hands’ schedules like the back of his hand was an advantage. They would find some out-of-the-way place for him to stay while she... That was where her plans got a little sticky. While she what? How was she going to find this Joe-Bob? West Texas was huge. The ranch where this cowboy was employed could be nearer to El Paso than Del Norte. Or closer to New Mexico than the Big Bend area.
She checked for the coin after awaking, and checked again after she’d showered and dressed. It wasn’t there. So it was with a mild start—part of her still wished his return had been a bad dream—that she saw it upon returning to her room after breakfast.
For years she’d felt somehow inadequate because Rio had rejected her. She knew it was silly—she had nothing to feel inadequate about!—yet still she had. Then last night, in that odd reality in which she’d seen him stripped bare of artifice, her lingering doubts about herself had disappeared.
She retrieved the coin, slipped it into her pocket, then started off for a seemingly casual stroll near the work area.
There was no need for stealth in the daylight. If anyone saw her, she’d stop and talk. Jodie, home from college and her year’s vacation, exploring her old stomping grounds.
No one was about, not even Rafe in the office. From the sounds of activity in the corrals and pens beyond, some of the cowboys were there, but most were out tending cattle or seeing to the upkeep of the fence—both never ending activities. Still, she tapped lightly on the storage-room door, in case someone might hear.
Rio was waiting for her, looking more exhausted than he had the night before, as if he hadn’t slept. He had a lot to think about, though he didn’t know the worst. From what Tate had said, Crystal was in worse condition than Rio understood. Besides losing the baby, she was in a fight for her own survival, and Jodie wondered whether or not it would be kinder to tell him.
“First,” she said, handing back the coin, “I’ve decided to help you.” At his quick release of breath she cautioned, “Wait. You may not like what’s coming. You know the old adobe schoolhouse? That’s where I think you should hide. It’s out of the way, yet close enough I can get to it on horseback in under an hour. It’s—”
“It’s rubble!” he burst out.
“It’s a place where no one would think to look. That’s what you want, isn’t it? Until you can turn yourself in when you prove your alibi?”
“It doesn’t have a roof! And the walls—”
“Forget it, then! I’ll call Tate and he—”
“No, no. The schoolhouse’ll be fine.”
“Next,” she continued, “you have to wait for me to contact you. No more of your coming here on your own. If you keep it up, someone’s going to spot you.”
“They haven’t so far.”
“Which could be pure luck.” She frowned. “How did you get here, anyway? Did you hitch or drive or what?”
“I have a pickup truck.”
“Where’s it now?”
“Hidden away a mile or so from here. I borrowed from a friend up in Colorado. Brought my gear with me just in case. Sounds like it’s gonna come in handy—steepin’ out and all.”
“I’m sorry the accommodations aren’t perfect,” she murmured dryly. “How about supplies?”
“I have enough food to last a couple of days. After that...” He shrugged.
“I’ll bring you more if this drags out.” She hesitated. “There’s something else. Last night when we talked about Crystal, I told you she’d lost the baby, but...her condition is more serious than you t
hink.”
“How bad is it?” he asked quickly.
“Tate said ‘touch-and-go.’”
Rio groaned.
Jodie offered impetuously, “If you want, I’ll go with you to see the sheriff up in Colorado. We’ll make sure he listens. I can even get Rafe and Aunt Mae to—” When she realized what she was saying, she stopped.
Rio laughed. “Yeah, right. Your cousin and aunt are gonna see to it that I get justice. Most likely they’ll just find a nice strong limb and hang me themselves, save everyone else the trouble. The tree in front of the bunkhouse still looks pretty sturdy.”
They heard Axel whistling as he walked by on his way to the cookhouse, and they instantly lowered their voices. Jodie didn’t want to be caught with Rio any more than he wanted to be caught himself. She could just imagine what the family would say if they knew. Especially Mae.
“What are you going to do?” she whispered, anxious to be back in her father’s house. “Wait until night to make your way to the schoolhouse?”
“That’s what I thought. I’ll probably stay put here until then. Unless you think Axei’ll come in. He hasn’t started using this place for everyday storage, has he?”
Jodie shrugged. “I have no idea. I just got back myself. If you’d showed up last week, you’d’ve missed me. I was in New York.”
“Ahh...so you finally got what you wanted. To escape from the Parker Ranch.”
Somehow when Rio said it, the notion grated. She lifted her chin. “Actually I was away for a year.”
“How’d you get Mae to let go for that long? Or did you just run off again?”
“Run off” was a little too close to the truth for Jodie’s liking. She straightened to her full height, which was only an inch or so shorter than Rio’s and chose not to respond. “One more thing,” she said. “Can you give me a little more information about this Joe-Bob? About the ranch he’s working on? Are you sure it’s in West Texas?”
“That’s what he said. And that’s all I know.”
“His last name?” she tried again.
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