Kidnapped By The Cowboy (C Bar C Ranch Book 2)

by Pam Crooks

  More troubling, once word reached the C Bar C, given TJ’s tarnished reputation among the outfit, they were sure to be alarmed.

  “Maybe someone from the ranch is looking for me,” she said, regretting their worry if it were true. She had, after all, come to no harm with TJ.

  His glance turned skeptical. “And steal your money when they found you?”

  “No.” Immediately, she discarded the idea. “You’re right. Of course not.”

  Every man in her outfit, loyal to a fault, could be trusted. None of them would dream of taking anything from her without her permission.

  Would they?

  “Whoever it was, it’s strange they didn’t stay here and wait for me to come back,” she said instead.

  TJ’s mouth quirked. “Exactly.”

  She resisted what he implied, that something illicit could be happening. “Maybe you’re wrong. Maybe it was just someone down on their luck and looking for money. When they found mine, they simply took it.”

  His dark eyes didn’t waver from hers. “Guess we could ‘maybe’ all night long, couldn’t we, Callie Mae?”

  Her apprehension grew. “You’re thinking Kullen has something to do with this, aren’t you?”

  A muscle in his jaw leapt, as if he could hardly hold in his contempt for the man.

  “All I’m saying is your whereabouts is information that could be important to someone, and we both know Kullen would be at the top of the list,” he said. “Until I know who tracked you here, if someone tracked you here, I don’t want you out of my sight.”

  She crossed her arms and shivered. “You’re scaring me, TJ.”

  “I don’t mean to.” He chucked her under the chin. “Just don’t wander off.”

  He pivoted toward the horses, but at the sound of approaching hoofbeats, he turned back. Sure the intruder had returned, Callie Mae sucked in a quick breath and took an instinctive step closer to TJ.

  He circled his arm around her shoulders and pulled her against him in a reassuring movement so casual, so automatic, he didn’t seem to realize what he’d done.

  “Well, I’ll be damned,” he breathed. “It’s Boomer and Maggie.”

  “Yes,” she murmured, her surprise great but not enough to mask her awareness of TJ’s body next to hers. “Looks like Stinky Dale is with them.”

  “That’s him, all right.”

  With Boomer leading, the trio rode closer.

  “We were hopin’ that campfire was yours,” the horseman said. “You’re a sight for sore eyes, TJ, let me tell you.”

  TJ grinned. “Could say the same about you.” They drew up, and TJ indicated the white cotton sling which protected the man’s arm, a grim reminder of how Kullen had shot him only yesterday. “How’re you doing?”

  “Well enough, I reckon.” He shrugged one shoulder. “Bullet took out a piece of my hide. Hurts like the dickens, but I’ll live.”

  “He refused to stay at the farm.” Maggie spoke up in her quiet voice. “You all right, son?”

  Their looks connected. “Better than when I saw you last.”

  Her gaze dragged to Callie Mae and touched on TJ’s arm, still draped around her shoulders. Seeing it, too, Boomer frowned beneath his white moustache. Maggie bit her lip and quickly averted her eyes. Even Stinky Dale’s brows furrowed beneath the brim of his Stetson.

  Tension built in the air, thick enough to cut. Callie Mae took a smooth step away from TJ, and his arm dropped back to his side.

  Little wonder his mother appeared upset, she supposed. Maggie wouldn’t approve of TJ having much of anything to do with Callie Mae, and after what happened at Boomer’s, Callie Mae couldn’t much blame her. The woman was just too timid to say or do anything about it.

  Regret twirled through Callie Mae. She’d known Maggie Grier for years. Poor thing had had her share of personal troubles, but she was a hard worker, and her employment on the C Bar C as bunkhouse cook had been an honest one.

  Except for yesterday, Callie Mae hadn’t seen her since Danny died. She’d been strangely absent during TJ’s trial and afterward.

  But Callie Mae reminded herself that her grudge against TJ had nothing to do with his mother. Or Boomer, either, for that matter, whose loyalty to both of them was obvious.

  Suddenly, it became important to set them at ease and assure them she wasn’t the vindictive shrew they thought she was.

  Callie Mae managed a smile. “I was just going to make coffee. I’m sure you could all use some. It won’t take me long.”

  Acutely aware of their eyes upon her, especially TJ’s, she stepped away to attend to the task.

  TJ turned his attention to Stinky Dale. “How’d you manage to hook up with Boomer and Maggie?”

  “After you and Miss Lockett left our place last night, I couldn’t stop thinking about you two out on the range, looking for a horse you had no guarantee of finding. Figured you could use some help. I decided then and there to ride over to Boomer’s and see if he’d like to come along.”

  TJ nodded. “Glad you did.”

  “Makes two of us.” Then, Boomer exclaimed. “I’ll be damned, TJ. Is that Blue I’m lookin’ at?”

  “It is.”

  Heads turned toward the three tethered horses, tails flicking, their long noses bent to the grass. The thoroughbred’s midnight black hide, his elegance and power, set him apart from the other two.

  “Woo-wee!” Boomer grinned. “Reckon we’re too late.”

  Stinky Dale slid a low whistle between his teeth. “Isn’t he something!”

  “A little worse for wear, I’m afraid,” TJ said with a sigh. “He tangled with the lead stallion in that herd of mustangs you told me about.”

  “You found him with ’em, then?” The cowboy swung out of the saddle to join Boomer, already down.

  “I’d still be looking if you hadn’t mentioned them.” Appreciation threaded TJ’s voice.

  “He got roughed up some, did he?” One-handed, Boomer flipped open a saddlebag. “I was afraid something like that might happen, the way he got his freedom handed to him so fast. I brought my vet kit, just in case.”

  “He got cut on the belly,” TJ said, his voice filled with relief. “I didn’t have anything to sew him up with.”

  “Let’s take a look at him.”

  Boomer hustled off, Stinky Dale on his heels. TJ moved toward Maggie, but she’d already dismounted by the time he got there to help.

  “Have you had your supper yet?” she asked.

  “We just got back with Blue.” He patted his lean stomach. “But we’re starved. Neither of us had anything to eat today.”

  “Nothing?” She darted a hesitant glance at Callie Mae. “Go on and tend to your horse, then, and I’ll stir something up. We’ll talk later.”

  He regarded her. “I’m glad you’re here, but it wasn’t necessary, Maggie.”

  “I couldn’t stay away.”

  “I know.” He bent and pressed a kiss to her cheek. “Make plenty of grub for us, then, all right?”

  Suddenly, she enveloped him in a quick hug. “I was worried about you with her, TJ.”

  Though Maggie kept her voice low, Callie Mae’s listening picked up the words, and she stiffened. She couldn’t hear TJ’s response, and she told herself she didn’t want to.

  It was silly to feel hurt, but she did. Callie Mae kept herself busy adding coffee to the pot she’d filled with water; she studiously set it over the fire to boil.

  By the time she straightened, TJ had joined Boomer and Stinky Dale, and Maggie stood in front of her, clutching a wicker hamper to her chest, as if she needed to hold on to the thing for courage.

  Several inches shorter, she had to tilt her head back to meet Callie Mae’s gaze beneath her hat brim; though her skin showed signs of her age, her chestnut-colored eyes were clear.

  The sight struck Callie Mae. The whiskey which used to cloud those eyes was gone.

  “Hello, Maggie,” she said quietly.

  “Miss Lockett.” Her thr
oat moved. “Miss Lockett, there’s something I have to say.”

  “I’m happy to listen.” Callie Mae sought to put the woman at ease and gave her a small smile.

  “My son—TJ—” She drew in a quavery breath; moisture formed beneath her lashes. “He’s been hurt real bad with everything’s that happened, and he deserved none of it, so I’m just askin’ that you leave him alone. You and Mr. Brosius. Please.”

  Callie Mae didn’t move. “I do believe TJ’s troubles were of his own doing.”

  With the exception of Blue Whistler’s spooking back at Preston Farm, of course. And that had been Emmett Ralston’s doing, with Kullen a puzzling part of it, but the root of the matter trailed back to Danny’s dying, which TJ had admitted responsibility—

  “You don’t know that. You don’t,” Maggie insisted.

  “Oh?” Callie Mae’s brow arched. “Would you care to enlighten me on what I’m ignorant of?”

  Maggie’s gaze dropped. Her lips pressed together. Her expression turned pale and anguished, and like a thunderbolt, realization flashed through Callie Mae.

  Maggie Grier knew something that was tearing her apart.

  “Maggie?” Callie Mae fisted her hand to keep from touching her. As much as the woman despised her, she wouldn’t appreciate the gesture. “What is it?”

  Maggie’s head came up. “Just leave my son alone, will you? Go back to your fancy ranch and never come back!”

  Chin quivering, she set the wicker hamper down with a heavy thud and flew like a frightened bird to join the men by the horses.

  Callie Mae stared after her. What had she kept herself from saying? Something so terrible she couldn’t speak the words?

  Instinct told Callie Mae they were words she needed to hear, and somehow, she had to find a way to unlock the secret Maggie kept hidden inside her.

  Chapter Twelve

  “You’re going to have to pull him out of the Fort Worth race,” Boomer said, the timbre of his voice unusually somber. “You know that, don’t you?”

  TJ dragged in deep on his cigarette and held the smoke in his lungs. Bitter disappointment rolled through him. He exhaled slowly and nodded. “Yeah.”

  “Damned shame.” Stinky Dale shook his head and cupped his hand around the match flame.

  TJ squinted through the smoke of their collective cigarettes and fastened his gaze on the stream meandering along the edge of their camp. Moonlight glistened on the tranquil water, a sight that would’ve been soothing if his gut hadn’t been so tied up in knots.

  Supper had come and gone. Maggie had filled their bellies with her rib-sticking chili and corn muffins left over from yesterday’s baking. Now, they’d let their meals settle while she and Callie Mae cleaned up.

  “Could’ve been worse, I suppose,” he muttered but took little comfort from his own logic.

  Stinky Dale nodded. “He could’ve gone lame or something.”

  TJ shot him a scowl. “Don’t even think that, Stinky, let alone say it.”

  The cowboy shrugged. “It’s true.”

  TJ knew it was. He just wasn’t of a mind to admit it.

  “He’ll heal well enough,” Boomer added. “Just going to take some time, that’s all.”

  Time TJ didn’t have. He’d already spent his winnings—in his mind at least. He’d been that sure Blue would triumph in the race down south. The days and weeks he and Boomer, Maggie and Lodi spent training, planning, hoping—hell, all of them were sure.

  Now, he’d go a little deeper into debt, a little more beholden to Boomer. A lot more impatient to get himself on track to respectability again.

  Would he ever get there? Would his life never get better? Easier? Successful?

  Most frustrating of all, though, TJ was nowhere closer to finding the truth in Danny’s death. How could he convince Callie Mae to stay with him for as long as it took, so he could?

  Now that he’d found Blue, she was even more determined to return to Kullen. She’d probably be itching to go back to the C Bar C, too. Take a hot bath and change clothes. Her life there waited for her. Comfort and responsibilities. The outfit, maybe even her parents, would be concerned by her absence.

  The list went on and on.

  Time. He was just about out of it.

  Worse, someone was looking for her. Or him. Probably both of them. Didn’t take a genius to figure the person was most likely Emmett Ralston, working for Kullen while the bastard was laid up.

  Tendrils of panic curled through TJ. Once Callie Mae left him, he wouldn’t be able to stop her from getting married. He wouldn’t be able to watch out for her. He wouldn’t know if something happened, if she got hurt or scared—

  Until it was too late.

  And something would happen. He could feel it. His gaze shifted to the darkness beyond the camp, their fire a beacon to anyone in the shadows.

  TJ had informed Maggie, Boomer and Stinky Dale about the intruder, that whoever it was had found Callie Mae’s brown velvet purse, emblazoned with her brand. Their thinking concurred with his. They had to act on the assumption the thief, by his absence, was up to no good.

  “He’s watching us,” TJ said, his voice subdued to keep from reaching his mother and Callie Mae.

  Boomer pulled his gaze off Blue. His lips tightened. “Reckon so.”

  “We’re like sitting ducks out here.”

  “Maybe we should saddle up, take a look around,” Stinky said.

  “He’d see us.” TJ discarded the idea; he’d already been tempted to do just that, but with no tracks to follow, and the night black as pitch, they’d be wasting their efforts. “He’s got the advantage, hiding in the dark.”

  Stinky studied the burning end of his cigarette. “If he is.”

  “We have to presume it.”

  Boomer sighed. “Could be a long night.”

  TJ studied his friend. In the shadows cast by the firelight, the older man’s skin shone pale, his expression fatigued. The wounding he’d suffered yesterday was clearly taking its toll.

  “Best if we take turns as guard,” Stinky Dale said.

  “Good idea.” Boomer nodded.

  “I have a better one,” TJ said and ground out his cigarette in the dirt.

  “Yeah?” the other two said in unison.

  “Get Blue out of here. Take him home under cover of darkness. I can’t risk someone trying to hurt him or steal him.”

  “Tonight?” Stinky Dale asked, surprised.

  “That’s right.” Maggie headed past them on the way to the stream, carrying the chili kettle for washing. Once she was out of earshot, TJ continued. “I want my mother out of here, too. She scares easy. It’d be hard on her if anything happens.”

  Boomer finished his smoking. “That it would.”

  Thinking of the day’s ride his friend had already ridden, and another one just like it ahead of him, TJ endured a new worry. “You up to it, Boomer?”

  He scowled. “Don’t make me sound as if I’ve got one foot in the grave.”

  TJ took no offense at his gruffness. “You’ve had a rough time of it.”

  “Not so rough that I can’t do what you’re askin’.”

  “If you’re sure.”

  “I am.”

  “What would you like me to do?” Stinky Dale asked.

  TJ swiveled his glance toward the cowboy. “Go with Maggie and Boomer. Help them with Blue.”

  Keep them safe.

  “You can count on it,” he said.

  His loyalty meant the world to TJ. Stinky Dale had proven to be one of the few good things he’d taken away from his years at the C Bar C.

  Right along with a foolish love for Callie Mae.

  TJ found her across the campfire, packing clean silverware into Maggie’s wicker hamper. Her braid was a charming mess, and she had to pause to tuck loose strands behind one ear before resuming her work. She’d rolled up her cuffs to wash the dishes, revealing slender, feminine arms—

  He knew the feel of those arms around him, how they�
��d held her body pressed to his. The memory rushed back and ignited a slow fire inside him, one that never seemed to go away. Made him forget where he was—

  The crunch of footsteps reminded him in a hurry. Maggie came back from the stream, the clean kettle dripping at her side. She passed the three of them without seeming to notice they were there. Her troubled expression told TJ her mind was at it again. Plaguing her with worries and fears and the haunting grief which never left her.

  “I’d like to marry her, TJ, when this is all over,” Boomer said quietly.

  Pleasure distracted his concerns, and TJ gave him a lopsided grin. “You asking my permission, old man?”

  “Just wanted you to know.”

  TJ’s grin faded. He studied Maggie again. “She’ll think she’s not good enough for you.”

  “I know.” Boomer’s glance lingered over her, too, for a long moment. “And she won’t say yes until she’s got you taken care of.”

  TJ grunted, knowing it.

  “You’re all she’s got,” the horseman said. “She figures she owes you. Considering everything that’s happened.”

  “This thing is my problem.” And had been since the night Danny died. “I don’t need her help to fix it.”

  Suddenly impatient, he rose. The other two stood with him.

  “Let’s get going,” he said and approached the campfire.

  Callie Mae latched the hamper and glanced up at him. In the flames’ light, her eyes appeared black, heavily lashed. Curious.

  “I’m sending Boomer home with Blue,” he said.

  “Now?” she asked, taken aback.

  “Yes. He can tend to Blue better at the farm. They both need to rest, besides.”

  She stood, faced him. “But it’s late, TJ.”

  “Stinky Dale is going with them,” he said, not budging.

  Her glance slid to the cowboy, then back to TJ.

  “All right,” she said slowly.

  “You’ll come with us, won’t you, TJ?” Maggie asked.

  “No.” At her instant alarm, he softened. “But soon,” he added.

  “This has to do with the rider who broke into our camp, doesn’t it?” Callie Mae asked.

  “I don’t want to take any chances on him stealing Blue.”