KIDNAPPED COWBOY

by Lindsey Brookes

  There was so much more to Dalton than she ever imagined. His interaction with the teens was something to be admired. As was the way he continued to keep his cool even after all they had put him through. They were clearly testing him. And, from what she’d observed, he was passing with flying colors.

  Caitlin glanced down at her watch, and then resumed tapping her favorite ballpoint pen on the desk. Jimmy was late for his counseling session, again. While it didn’t surprise her, it did disappoint her.

  She reached for the file in front of her and opened it. Inside was Jimmy’s life. Not a very good one. His father had walked out on the family when Jimmy was six years old. A very impressionable age to be abandoned by a parent. He had been expelled from three different schools for fighting by the time he was eleven. There were definitely anger issues that needed to be resolved before he ended up in prison. Or worse.

  She sat back in her chair with a tired sigh. This was the part of her job that tugged at her heart. She knew what these kids were going through from her own past experience. But she also knew she couldn’t help them if they didn’t want to be helped.

  “Knock. Knock.”

  She looked up to see Dalton leaning against the open door. “Hey.”

  He stepped into the room. “You know you could give a guy a complex with a welcome like that.”

  “I’m sorry.” She closed the folder and pushed it away from her. “It’s not you. I just have other things on my mind.”

  He swaggered across the camp office with that toothy grin she had grown so fond of. “Wanna talk about it?”

  “It’s Jimmy.”

  His grin faded. “What’s he done now?”

  “He skipped out on his counseling session again.” This was the second time that week and the camp had a rule - if you didn’t attend the mandatory sessions, you were out. The last thing she wanted to do was send any of the kids at Stoney Brook back to their troubled lives. But what choice did she have? Rules had to be followed.

  “That’s odd,” Dalton muttered as he settled a hip atop the corner of her desk.

  She looked up at him. “What’s odd?”

  “I spoke to Jimmy a little while ago and he said he was on his way over to see you.”

  She frowned. “Well, he lied.”

  “Maybe——”

  “There is no maybe with these kids.” She grabbed for the discarded folder and then pushed away from her desk. It was one of the unfortunate parts of her job, but she had to do this. “Jimmy’s gonna have to go home.”

  She stood and rounded the desk with the troubled teen’s folder, brushing past Dalton on her way to the filing cabinet.

  “Caitlin…” He caught her by the wrist, stopping her. “Can you give him one more chance? The boy’s coming around. I know it.”

  “If I let him stay, then what good are the rules we’ve laid down for the kids? They’ll all be skipping out on their sessions.”

  He drew her to him, settling her between his jean-clad thighs. “I know I’m not the psychologist here, but I do know what it’s like to be an angry, resentful teenage boy. As much as I hate to admit it, Jimmy reminds me a lotta myself at that age.”

  “Big difference,” she reminded him. “You were rich.”

  He raised a brow. “Money can’t buy happiness, Caitlin. Not when you’re searching for something more.” He took the file from her hand and returned it to the desk behind him.

  “Funny thing is,” he said, curling his hand about her waist, “sometimes we males don’t even know what it is we’re looking for until some pint-size female comes along and shoves a curling iron into our back.” Leaning forward, he nipped playfully at her neck.

  The feathery kisses tickled and had her squirming. “Are we talking about all males in general or one who has a fondness for handcuffs?”

  He chuckled then gave an innocent shrug. “Don’t we all?”

  She pushed away, not wanting to, but someone had to be the responsible adult. “Okay, we’ve gotten way off track here.”

  “And that’s a bad thing?”

  Only when I’m tempted to see what it’s like to make love on a desk.

  “Yes.” She reached past him for the folder. “If you’ll excuse me, I need to make a phone call to Jimmy’s mother.”

  “Caitlin—”

  “Sorry, I’m late.”

  They turned to see Jimmy standing in the doorway. His clothes were dirty, his face scratched, and pine needles clung to his unkempt hair. And to top things off he was missing a shoe.

  “Jimmy,” Caitlin gasped as she stared at the fifteen year old. “W…what…”

  “What she’s trying to say is what the hell happened to you?” Dalton finished for her as he stood and strode across the room.

  “I was on my way over here when I heard something moving in the trees,” the boy replied, his breathing still labored.

  Dalton frowned. “So you’ve been traipsing about the woods?”

  “Not exactly,” he replied.

  “Then what?” Caitlin demanded. “Do you realize you’re a half hour late for your session?”

  “Yes, ma’am.” He nodded, sending several pine needles to the floor at his feet. “Couldn’t be helped.”

  “Bull,” Dalton growled.

  The boy shook his head. “No, bear.”

  “What?”

  “I got treed by a bear.”

  She latched onto the side of the filing cabinet to steady herself. “A bear?”

  “Yeah.”

  She moved past Dalton, her hands reaching out to examine Jimmy for injuries. “Are you all right?”

  He shrugged. “He didn’t bite me or nothing. I’m okay.” His shaking hands gave away more than he was willing to admit. Like how terrified he had been.

  “Thank God,” she sighed as she mothered over him.

  “Bears can climb,” Dalton pointed out, his expression one of concern. “Are you saying he didn’t come up after you?”

  The young boy managed a nervous laugh. “He tried, but I threw my boot at him. Hit him square on the nose and down he went. Couldn’t get away fast enough.”

  Caitlin glanced down at the threadbare sock and the single toe peeking out of a small hole at the end of it. “That’s where your boot went?”

  “Yeah, try taking a boot off while you’re hanging on for dear life. That damn…” he caught himself.

  “It’s okay,” Dalton said. “We’ll make getting treed by a bear an exception to the cussing rule.”

  “Phew, that’s good to know ’cause I was cussing up a storm while I was trying to get away from that bear. And I sure hate eating soap.”

  “Can’t say that I blame you.” Dalton smiled as he ruffled the kid’s hair. “I ate a good bit of it myself when I was your age.” He looked her way. “I’ll round up the kids and tell them to stay close to the cabins while I take a look around. Give the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service a call. They’ll take care of the bear.”

  She followed him to the door. “Dalton, please be careful.”

  “They don’t call me Play-It-Safe Barnes for nothing.”

  She stepped outside, watching him go and thinking that Steal-Her-Heart Barnes was much more fitting.

  CHAPTER TEN

  It was a beautiful morning, and promised to be an equally nice day if the rising sun was any indication. Dew still clung to the grass, shimmering under the sun as a light breeze pushed at the slender blades.

  Caitlin set her cup of coffee on the porch railing and stretched, filling her lungs with the crisp morning air. It was amazing how awake she felt after yet another long, almost sleepless night spent worrying about the troubled teens.

  While most of the kids had meshed fairly well, there were still a few who were determined not to get along with the others. Not that it surprised her. She dealt with this issue every year. Though some years the kids were more stubborn than others.

  And then there was Dalton. If she wasn’t awake troubling herself with thoughts of the retreat
and the teens that were staying there that summer, she was asleep, dreaming about him. Dreams that had her blushing even now, fevered cheeks soothed by the cool morning air.

  Dalton had uncovered a side to her she never knew existed. Her sexual experience was limited, mostly to rebellious teenage exploration. And never once had she given all of herself, heart and soul. Not the way she had with Dalton.

  She smiled, remembering.

  The crunching of gravel along the distant road pulled her from her thoughts. Through the trees, she caught a glimpse of a four-wheel drive truck with the name BARNES emblazoned on its door.

  Dalton, looking very much like the cowboy she knew he was, had his elbow resting casually on the driver’s side door, country music pouring out through the open window.

  The effect his arrival had on her was almost embarrassing. Her heart launched into caffeine mode without having had even one drop of coffee. Even worse, she found herself wanting to run out and greet him, just as she had every morning since he’d been coming out there.

  Not good, Caitlin, she silently scolded herself. Stay in control. Think calm, cool, collected.

  Dalton chose that particular moment to lock eyes with her as he pulled up to the cabin. Heat hit her right below her rhinestone belt buckle. So much for cool.

  She walked out to greet him, thankful that he had horses to tend to back at the ranch. Otherwise, he would have been staying at the retreat instead of commuting every day.

  “Morning.” His voice still held that early morning huskiness.

  She smiled. “Morning.”

  A high pitch squeal a few feet away startled her. Her gaze shifted to the straw-filled pen on the far side of the truck bed. Inside it, much to her surprise, was a plump, pink…pig?

  She swung back around to Dalton. “Please tell me that isn’t a pig I see in the back of your truck.”

  “Brandon’s truck,” he corrected with a grin as he stepped down from the cab.

  “Excuse me?”

  He grinned and gave a nod behind him. “I’d never haul a pig around in mine. Too smelly. So I borrowed one of Brandon’s.”

  She gasped. “You didn’t.” Brandon was not going to be happy about having a pig hauled around in his truck. Dalton really liked to take things to the limit with his brother.

  “I did.”

  Had the teens finally driven Dalton off the deep end? “Do you mind telling me why you’re driving around with a pig in the back of your brother’s truck?”

  “For a little excitement,” he explained with a grin.

  “I’ve heard of men using girlie magazines, or hitting strip clubs for excitement. But driving around with a pig in your truck…” She shook her head. He had definitely lost it.

  “Darlin’, if I was looking for that sorta excitement, I wouldn’t get it from a pig.” His gaze raked over her. “But if you’re willing…”

  “Behave yourself,” she scolded lightly, despite the temptation of his offer.

  He stepped toward her, closing the space between them. His dark blue eyes held that heated look again. The same one she’d seen that day in the shed just before he’d kissed her.

  “Is that what you really want?” he asked huskily.

  She swallowed hard, resisting the urge to thread her fingers through the pieces of dark hair that curled out from beneath the back of his hat and pull him to her for a kiss. “Yes…I mean no.”

  His gaze dropped to her parted lips. “Caitlin…,” he groaned, leaning in.

  Closing her eyes with a soft sigh, she waited for his mouth to cover hers. Waited for the heat only Dalton had ever made her feel.

  “Awesome!”

  The sudden interruption had them jumping guiltily. Dalton straightened and took a step back as more boys, wearing nothing more than sweatpants or shorts came racing toward them.

  “A pig!” another boy hollered.

  Another cabin door creaked open and one of the boys stuck his head out. “Hey, we’re trying to sleep in here!” Then he caught sight of the others looking over the bed of the truck at the animal inside. “What’s that?”

  “Don’t be a dumb shit,” one of the older boys called back over his shoulder as they ran toward the pick-up. “It’s a damned pig.”

  “No swearing,” Caitlin reprimanded, despite the urge to laugh at the silliness of it all.

  By this time, the rest of the teens, girls included, were awake and spilling out of the cabins to see Stoney Brook’s newest attraction.

  “Eew,” the girls squealed in unison.

  “It stinks,” one complained sleepily as they wandered over to see it.

  “That ain’t the pig you’re smelling. It’s Clayton,” Jimmy declared, giving the boy he had fought with the first day there a not-so-playful shove.

  The other teens laughed, but Clayton didn’t find it the least bit amusing and turned to give Jimmy a shove back. “Maybe it’s your momma they’re smelling!”

  “Boys,” Caitlin cut in.

  “Nobody talks about my momma,” Jimmy growled and launched himself at the other boy.

  Dalton reacted with lightning fast speed, grabbing onto the back of Jimmy’s sweats and hoisting him off the ground.

  “Put me down!” Jimmy squirmed and cursed.

  “Seems to me you got a memory problem,” Dalton replied as he lowered the boy to the ground still keeping his hold on him. “Rule number one: no fighting. Rule number two: no swearing. You got a hankering for soap for breakfast?”

  “Hell…I mean heck no!”

  Dalton released the boy and looked between him and Clayton. “Okay, since you two seem to have bonded so well you’ll be partners in the Camp Stoney Brook competition.”

  “What?” Caitlin gasped. What was he thinking putting those two hotheads together? They had already been assigned different cabins because of their animosity towards each other.

  Clayton shook his head. “No way.”

  Dalton shrugged. “Okay, fine by me. Be a chicken. See if I care. You two didn’t stand a chance of winning the contest anyhow.”

  “I ain’t no chicken,” Jimmy announced with his usual cockiness, chin thrust proudly in the air.

  “That so?” Dalton said.

  “I’ll take on any challenge you wanna give me,” Jimmy told him and then pointed to Clayton. “But I don’t need him to help me win.”

  “Wrong.”

  All eyes turned to Dalton.

  “The challenge is to see who can catch the greased pig the fastest and it’s gonna be done in pairs.” He nodded toward Clayton. “He’s your partner. If you don’t like it, find some way to deal with it. Otherwise, you’ll both be sitting on the sidelines during the challenge and not eligible for the grand prize.”

  “What do we win?” Clayton asked, his interest clearly piqued.

  “A trip to the local rodeo this fall. With your parents’ permission, of course.” Dalton pulled tickets from the back pocket of his jeans and held them up for the kids to see. “Front row seats. We’ll have one pair of winners from the girls’ cabins and one from the boys.”

  Excited murmurs circulated through the group, making Caitlin smile. Their response was so positive. Dalton never ceased to amaze her. He might not have had the psychological training she had, but he knew just how to get these kids to see things his way.

  Jimmy looked her way and then back to Dalton, giving a nod. “I’ll do it.”

  Dalton leaned casually against his truck and smiled. “Good.”

  “On one condition,” the boy added.

  “And that is?”

  “You’ve gotta do it, too.”

  Dalton calmly gave the rim of his hat a push upward. “No problem.”

  Clayton got in on the negotiating. “With her as your partner.”

  “What?” Caitlin gasped.

  Dalton shook his head. “No can do.”

  “What’s wrong?” Jimmy taunted. “Chicken?”

  “If I’ve gotta be his partner,” Clayton said thumbing in his riv
al’s direction, “then you’ve gotta be hers.”

  The other kids chimed in, egging Dalton on and making clucking noises.

  No way! Caitlin shook her head in refusal. She wasn’t a chicken. She just didn’t like to touch smelly things and pigs definitely fit into that category as far as she was concerned.

  She looked to Dalton for back up, waiting for him to explain to Jimmy and the others that adults weren’t included in the greased pig challenge.

  A reassuring smile spread across the rodeo hunk’s face and she sighed in relief. He would put an end to the kids’ crazy suggestion. Her hero.

  Dalton extended a hand to Jimmy. “Okay, kid, you’re on.”

  He’s on? She felt a surge of panic sweep through her. What did he mean by that? Hopefully, not what she thought he meant.

  “Dalton,” she said with as much composure as she could muster, considering there was a squealing pig behind her and a group of over-excited teens surrounding her, “I’d like a word with you in my cabin, please.”

  Bad idea. Her request only made matters worse.

  “Ooooh, she wants you to come to her cabin,” one of the boys taunted.

  “What can I say?” Dalton replied with an I’m-the-man grin. “Women just find me irresistible.”

  She gasped. Of all the things to say! She was going to strangle him with her bare hands once she got him alone. “To talk,” she clarified loudly.

  “That’s what they all say,” he whispered playfully, loud enough for the teens to hear.

  She was tempted to borrow Dalton’s ear-twisting tactic and drag him back to her cabin that way. But one of them had to behave like an adult and it appeared it wasn’t going to be him.

  To make matters worse, Jimmy decided to throw in his two cents, “Mr. Barnes is gonna get lucky!”

  No, he’s going to get dead. Caitlin shot a warning glance at Dalton.

  He shook his head and laughed. “I’m afraid the only place I’ll be getting lucky will be at the greased pig competition. Miss Myers here seems to be immune to my cowboy charm.”