“About a mile from the campground where we parked the truck and horse trailer. We’re with the sheriff, his deputies, and a search team from the State Patrol. We’re spread out working a search grid.”
“Then listen to what I have to say without reacting, and text any questions ye have. There’s an email in Olivia’s inbox from Amber with a video explaining her disappearance. Ye need to get Olivia to check her email. Can ye do that discreetly?”
“Sure.”
“Call back when ye can talk without being overheard.”
JL disconnected the call, pulled to her feet, and crossed over to the window that overlooked the paddocks and a five-furlong training track. After a moment, she whirled back to face him. If her eyes were any indication, her blood was boiling darker than the coffee in his cup.
“I’ve never questioned your judgment, but you left them behind. You shouldn’t have done that. If anything happens to my brother, I’ll never forgive you.”
“I know ye’re upset JL,” David said.
“Upset?” Her voice rose, along with the heat in her eyes.
“Let’s talk to Connor and figure out our next steps,” David said.
“I’m not waiting.” She headed toward the door. “I’m going to Colorado. Kevin’s in Reno. Maybe he can meet me in Denver.”
Elliott rose to block her path, reaching out to hold her still. “The lad’s got plenty on his mind right now. He doesn’t need more to worry about, and neither does Meredith. I’ll go with ye to Denver, but we don’t need to tell the others what’s going on. Look,” he said, hugging her. “We’ve gone through hell with the stones—torture, assault, heart attack, stroke, head injury, stabbing—but we’ve always come through, and we will this time, too. Mayhap the amber and amethyst stones are in conflict and will sort themselves out given time.”
“Rick doesn’t have time to wait,” she said, sniffing. “I’ve got to tell Kevin. If I don’t, he’ll be furious.”
While Elliott comforted JL, David tapped his fingers against his forehead and visualized the stagecoach. The parts and equipment had been in good working order and the horses sound, but the weather could have caused a stagecoach accident in the mountains. Elliott might be right. The stones could be in conflict. He didn’t see how that was possible, but with each new stone they acquired, they gained more knowledge about their properties.
He pushed to his feet. “Kenzie and I are going, too. We’ll figure this out when we get to Denver. I’ll call and have the plane readied.”
There was a light knock on the door, and David drew it back to find Kenzie standing there, an impatient look on her face. “The kids are on play dates. What’s going on here?” Her eyes narrowed then roved the room taking in the three occupants. “What’s wrong? Have you talked to Connor?”
“Aye.” David grabbed his laptop and headed out the door. “We’re going to Denver. Pack a bag.”
She spun on her heel, following. “Okay, but what era clothes should I bring?”
“What ye’re wearing will do. If anybody goes back, it won’t be ye.”
She jumped ahead of him, and the ghost of a smile flitted across her face. “Nothing’s changed. Trey’s cousin is still missing. We’ll see about who goes and who stays. Won’t we, McBain?”
26
The Present, Near Leadville, Colorado—Connor
Connor, Olivia, and the search teams rode down the mountain near Leadville and reached the campground about mid-afternoon. The weather, although brisk and overcast, had remained dry throughout the day. Autumn had booted summer aside with a swift kick and a patented gust of cool air. For Connor, it had been a long three days, and he was tired and saddle sore. But he’d spent time with Olivia and even under the circumstances, he was glad to be there.
They approached the end of the well-worn trail that led to the parking lot. This would be a good time to stop and charge his batteries. With a light touch of his heels, Connor directed his horse toward the toothpick-chewing sheriff. The mud was worse on that part of the trail and it sloshed with each plodding step, splattering Connor’s jeans. He reined in the horse, and the gelding lifted his head with a snort.
“I need to stop at the truck and charge my batteries. What’s your plan for the rest of the day?”
The sheriff reined in his horse, too, and crossed his wrists over the pommel. “We’ll look at the map and figure out where we’re going next. How long do you need?”
Connor scratched his whiskered cheek as he estimated how long it would take to give both batteries a full charge. “A couple of hours, but I’ll settle for one.”
“We don’t have much daylight left. Thirty minutes is all I can give you,” the sheriff said.
Connor fell back into line with Olivia, wondering why the sheriff even bothered to ask. They rode side by side, and occasionally her leg brushed his, sending an electrical charge up his leg.
“The sheriff intends to stop at the campgrounds and study the map. I need to charge my batteries. Do you want to check email? Call your office? Return phone calls?”
“All of the above,” she said.
There were dark circles under her eyes from a lack of sleep and worry. Her jeans were muddy and ripped, and her slumped shoulders gave her a defeated look so out of character as to be almost cartoonish. Her bedraggled appearance sent a throb of affection through him so sharp it was painful.
“I’ve been out of touch long enough. I need to find out what’s happening at the office.”
“What do you want to do about tonight? Ride back up to the cabin?” It was the last place he wanted to go, but he would, if that was what she wanted. “Or maybe stay in Leadville, and go up the first thing in the morning?”
“It’s too late to go to the cabin. It’ll be dusk in a couple of hours. If we stay in Leadville, we’ll have to board the horses. We’re close enough to bunk at the ranch. Let’s save some money and go home.”
He liked the sound of that.
“I want a hot shower and clean clothes,” she said. “I’m sure you do, too.”
“I should drive to Denver. I’m still paying for a room at the hotel, and my gear’s there.”
“After all you’ve done for me, I’ll pay for the hotel, and that includes an empty room for one more night. I know from personal experience, once you get to the ranch, the last thing you’ll want to do is pass up a hot shower and drive all the way to Denver. We can go up there tomorrow.”
“You have mud on your face.” He rubbed the spot, smiling, hoping to lift her spirits. “Let’s stop on the way to the ranch and pick up a couple of steaks and a bottle of wine. I’ll feed you tonight.”
“Dad keeps a freezer full of steaks and a cellar full of wine, but you can do the honors. I’ll sit back and watch.”
He stroked her face again, pretending there was more mud to wipe away, but he was too drawn to her to remove his fingers. She took his hand and squeezed it. He leaned over and kissed the spot where his fingers had been.
“We’ll find her. I promise,” he said.
But when they found Amber, his part in the cover-up—while it might eventually be forgiven—would never be forgotten.
They rode in silence along with the deputies who’d kept a stern professional demeanor during the ride, rarely speaking except in undertones to another deputy. There was little professional courtesy extended to Connor. When he and Olivia reached the truck, they dismounted.
“There’s a tie-up point at the rear of the trailer,” she said. “We can leave the horses there until we talk to the sheriff. Let’s eat, check messages, then conference with him.”
They tied up, lifted the saddle flaps, and loosened the girths by a hole or two to allow the horses to relax a while. Connor wished his tight back and thigh muscles could be loosened as easily. He needed a hot shower and a deep tissue massage. The odds of getting a massage today weren’t great, but at least he could get a shower.
“How about I drive to Leadville and grab us some lunch?”
Olivia dug into her saddlebag and pulled out her phone and packages of dehydrated food. “As soon as I check messages, I’ll ask Bob for a cup of hot water and hydrate some chicken and vegetables. Does that work for you?”
“Any chance for a Coors?”
“I’ll ask him.”
“That’s okay. I’ll be driving or riding after lunch. I’ll wait.” He still had the key fob, so when he approached the door it unlocked automatically. After plugging his phone into the charger, he checked his messages, finding one from JL saying she was on her way to Denver. No explanation. No follow-up text messages. He was in the process of sending a message to JL when Olivia gasped. “What’s wrong?”
She yanked out a Bluetooth headset and slapped her phone into his palm, anger radiating off her like flames rising out of an open fire pit. “A message from my sister.”
He watched the video and listened to Amber’s spiel. He didn’t believe a word she said, but from Olivia’s reaction, the one person who mattered believed every word.
“I’ve been agonizing for days, worried sick about her, and she’s shacked up with a rock hound she met while fossil hunting. The guy is as thoughtless as she is. I’ve had it. I’m done with her. Let’s get out of here.”
Connor replayed the video. There was something familiar about the man whose face was hidden from view. He played it for a third time, studying the man closely, and noticed the fine line of an old scar beneath his nipple.
Rick?
What the hell was his brother doing? He handed the phone back to Olivia. “You need to show that to the sheriff.”
She shook her head, her eyes glistening. “I can’t. I’m too embarrassed. Do you mind?”
“Can’t say as I blame you.”
He climbed out of the truck and headed toward the sheriff, but before he reached the group of law enforcement officers huddled around several vehicles with attached trailers, he stopped and watched the video again. If David was back from the nineteenth century, why send a video? Wasn’t Amber back, too? And if she hadn’t returned with David, she should have returned shortly thereafter. David sent the video to satisfy Olivia and the sheriff. But why not just produce Amber?
Because that wasn’t possible, which lead him to ask the question: Why not? The only logical answer was because Rick and Amber had a dysfunctional brooch and were stuck in the past.
Connor approached the sheriff and his deputies and said without fanfare, “Olivia received an email from Amber. A video was included.”
If the sheriff’s kill-the-messenger look had been a cocked gun, Connor would be on the ground with a bullet in his head.
The sheriff snapped out a rough-looking hand, scarred on the palm and missing the tip of his middle finger. Connor hadn’t noticed that before. His Sherlock Holmes-like observation skills and ability to quickly read situations was slacking a little bit.
“Give it to me.” The sheriff watched it. His face turned red, his eyes bulged, and his lips pressed so tightly together there was hardly any daylight between the top lip and the bottom. After forwarding the video to his own phone, he returned the device to Connor. “Tell Amber to call me. The sheriff’s department will expect her assistance—again—during our spring fundraiser.”
Connor’s first reaction was to chuckle, but he didn’t. “Is that sufficient repayment?”
“Between you and me, detective, she’ll never be able to repay the department for the inconvenience, wear and tear on our animals, and my deputies’ frustration. But it’s our job, and if she goes missing again, we’ll go look for her. I just hope to God, she goes missing in someone else’s county.”
“I think this will be the last time.” Connor tried for a tone of conviction but didn’t think he pulled it off. He shook hands with the sheriff. “Thanks, and thanks to your deputies. I’ll pass along your message when I see her.”
He returned to the vehicle and handed Olivia her phone. “The sheriff wants to talk to Amber when she returns. The department needs help with its spring fundraiser.”
“It won’t be the first time she’s done community service. He should come up with something disgusting for her to do.”
“Like muck barns?”
“No, that doesn’t bother her. He should make her work in a daycare. She can’t relate to kids unless she draws pictures of dinosaurs or sings songs they don’t understand. But that wears off quickly. Then she’s stuck. For such a smart person, she can be so damn clueless.”
Olivia clicked on the video again. “I wonder who the man is?”
“You’ll have to wait until you talk to your sister. If we could see his face, we could run facial recognition software and find out.”
“I guess that’s why he didn’t show himself.”
The mixture of anger and betrayal flashing in her eyes was heartbreaking. Seeing his brother in a compromising position with Amber made Connor feel like an even bigger asshole for putting Olivia through three days of hell.
“Let’s load the horses and get out of here,” she said.
Twenty minutes later, they waved goodbye to the sheriff and drove toward the campground’s exit. “Do you think your handyman will go to the cabin and check on Amber’s horse?”
“I’ll text him now and ask him to board the horse in town. He’ll also need to clean the cabin. I thought we’d go back there later today.”
“The dishes were washed, the beds were made, the log holder restocked. There’s not much to do.”
“Dispose of the garbage. That’s about it. But he’ll check the stoves and the fireplace to be sure there are no live embers. I’d hate the place to burn down on my watch.”
Olivia tapped on her phone. “I can’t believe Amber did this to me and inconvenienced you. I’m sorry, and I’m so embarrassed. If you want another agent in my office to handle the purchase of the ranch, I’ll be glad to step aside and let someone competent handle the transaction.”
Connor pulled over to the side of the road, shoved the gear into park, and turned to face her. “Listen, because I’m only going to say this once. What Amber did is not your fault. You’re not responsible for her. Your concern and worry were legitimate, but it’s no reflection on you. If anything, it shows how loving and compassionate you are and what lengths you’ll go to protect those you care for. I don’t want another broker. I want you.”
After months of frustration, he pulled her into his arms and lowered his mouth, pausing for only an instant to inhale her before his lips touched hers. He almost moaned as the rush of desire flooded his body with heat. Maybe he did, because as her body melded to his, she gave an answering groan.
It was everything he thought it would be. She responded with the same urgency as he cradled the back of her head and threaded his fingers underneath her hair, holding her there, as he slid his tongue between her lips. Realization oozed through him like honey purling through veins—Olivia was finally warming to him. And all he knew was the heat and textures of her mouth—soft and sensual and eager.
Their lips parted. “I’ve wanted to do that for the longest time,” he said.
A slight flush of amusement momentarily relieved the wan paleness of her skin. “And I’ve wanted you to, but I also wanted to keep it professional. I guess I failed.”
“Trust me. You haven’t failed at anything. I never picked up a clue.” He tossed her hat onto the back seat and kissed her again, then pulled away with a grin. “Can we continue this later?” He scratched his face. “I want to shave. My stubble is scraping your skin. I don’t want to give you a bad whisker burn, and I definitely don’t want to stop kissing you.”
“Sure, but first I want to do something I’ve wanted to do for months.”
She tossed his hat onto the back seat, landing on top of hers, and she kissed him with a flirtatious invitation to misbehave. And he did. He tugged her close, consuming her mouth. No kiss had ever made him go so hot and shaky. It was possessive and carnal and dominating to a degree that alarmed him. He had visions of dragging
her down onto the seat and pounding into her until her screams echoed like a canyon’s cry, and his release erupted like a…like a what? Herd of mustangs? God help him, because he was too weak to help himself.
A knocking on the window brought them back to their present reality, his heart thudding in his ears. He rolled down the window. “What do you want, Sheriff?”
“I forgot to ask. Do you have any idea who the man is with Amber?”
Irritated that God had found a way to help him, Connor shot back, “Some lucky son of a bitch who doesn’t have a cop beating on his window. Goodbye, Sheriff.” Connor put the truck in gear and drove away from the campground.
Olivia exploded in hysterical laughter. Not that the situation was that funny, but for her, it was a release from days of worry and stress.
“He’s got to think the Kelly girls have gone to hell in handbaskets.”
“If that’s where you’re going, sweetheart, so am I.”
“I guess that means you’re spending the night at the ranch.”
He pulled out onto the highway, giving her a sideways glance. “We’re finishing what we started before either of us takes another call or responds to a text. Scoot over here next to me. I want to touch you while I drive.”
She moved to the middle seat and buckled herself in. Connor slung his arm over her shoulder and stroked down her cheek, running his fingers over the smoothness of her skin to her neck, past the collar of her T-shirt, and farther down to the swell of her breasts, and the more he teased her, the harder it was to focus on the road. Olivia rested her head on his shoulder, her hand over his thudding heart, and they drove back to the ranch in silence, contemplating an evening in each other’s arms.
27
The Present, Kelly Ranch, Colorado—Connor
The sun was slowly disappearing behind the serrated peaks of the Rockies by the time Connor and Olivia arrived back at the Kelly Ranch. They left the horses in the care of the farm manager and made their way across sandstone pavers toward the main house, fingers woven together. The residence, constructed of spilt cedar and native Colorado red rock, sat at the highest point of a private valley. Other than their footfalls, the nearby splash in the trout pond was the only other sound to break the evening’s stillness.
The Amber Brooch: Time Travel Romance (The Celtic Brooch Book 8) Page 30