Читать книгу The Colton Bride - Carla Cassidy - Страница 12

Chapter 4

Gray sat in the small cold office in the stables, paperwork before him on the desk and his favorite ranch dog Blackie, a lab mix, on the floor at his feet. Blackie growled, low and threatening and the hackles on his back raised, but he remained lying down.

“What’s the matter, old boy?” Gray asked absently. He leaned over and scratched behind one of Blackie’s ears. “One of those old barn cats tormenting you?” There were dozens of cats on the property, mousers who kept the stable and outbuildings as free of rodents as possible.

Most of the time the ranch dogs and cats played nice together, but Blackie had become more than a bit cantankerous in his old age. Blackie growled again and got to his feet and at the same moment a scream split the night.

Shrill yet short, it shot a piercing edge of adrenaline through Gray as he jumped up from his desk and raced for the stable doors. He hit the night air and rounded the side of the stables and in the near-full moonlight casting down saw two things...Catherine’s Jeep parked in front of the petting barn and Catherine being dragged away from the vehicle by a man dressed all in black.

“Hey!” Gray shouted, his heart pounding as he took off at a dead run. His hand automatically went for his gun tucked in the holster he wore whenever he was out on the property. “Stop or I’ll shoot.” Despite the threat, he could do no such thing as he couldn’t take a chance at hitting Catherine, who was in front of the man like a shield.

The assailant froze and then dropped his hold on Catherine, who crumpled to the ground in a small heap as the man turned and ran. Gray raced forward and once he reached her, she motioned for him to go on and catch the man who had grabbed her.

“Get in the Jeep and lock the doors,” he commanded as he flew by her. She’d be safe there and if somehow the assailant doubled back to her, she could always raise hell with the horn and drive off.

The person had a good head start but Gray was in top physical shape and pumped his legs to achieve a speed he’d never reached before. His heart throbbed painfully in his chest. He had to catch him, he had to find out who had tried to grab Catherine. This man could be the answer to so many things that had happened.

Despite Gray’s desperate need and the bright moonlight spilling down, once the attacker hit the dense woods, Gray lost sight of him. He clutched his gun tightly, willing and ready to use it if necessary.

He stopped and listened and heard the crashing of brush and crackling of broken tree limbs someplace in the distance to his left. He took off in that direction, his mind completely focused on catching the man who’d attempted to harm Catherine.

Fury drove him forward, half tripping over unseen roots. Shadowy tree branches slapped him in the face and shoulders as he raced forward.

He ran for only a few minutes and then stopped once again to listen.

Nothing.

The only noise he heard was the faint whisper of the wind through the treetops and his own ragged breathing. He remained frozen for several long minutes, hoping to hear a sound, a breaking branch, a faint footfall, any kind of indication where the man had gone.

Realizing that the attacker had the advantage of dark clothing to meld into the night shadows and that Gray really had no idea in which direction to give chase, he reluctantly turned and headed back out of the woods.

As he emerged into the clearing he was stunned to see Catherine still on the ground, crawling on her hands and knees, the sounds of her quiet sobs filling him with a new terror.

Was she hurt? Had he mistaken her condition as he’d raced by her in an attempt to catch the perpetrator? “Catherine!” He reached her side and crouched down where she was on her hands and knees, tears streaming down her cheeks. “What are you doing? Why aren’t you in the Jeep? Are you hurt?”

She shook her head. “No...I’m fine, but it fell off...I have to find it.” She frantically raked her fingers back and forth through the grass as she slowly crawled forward.

“What fell off? What are you looking for?” he asked, watching her and then glancing all around to make sure there was no more approaching danger.

“My necklace...I just bought it today...for the baby...to celebrate. It fell off sometime when he had me. I need to find it.”

Despite her obvious reluctance, he pulled her up to her feet and grabbed her by her shoulders to keep her upright. Her deep blue eyes gazed at him beseechingly in the moonlight.

“What does the necklace look like?” he asked.

“Aquamarine stone on a gold chain.” She punctuated the sentence with a thick sob.

“Get in the car and lock the doors. If you see anyone, honk the horn. I’m going to get a flashlight and see if I can find your necklace.” He walked her to the car where he opened the passenger door and placed her inside. “Sit tight. I’ll be right back,” he said and then hit the button that would lock all of the doors.

He raced back into the stables where he grabbed a high-powered flashlight and quickly returned with Blackie at his heels.

He should have paid more attention the first time the dog had growled, that moment when his hackles had risen. Gray should have known something was amiss when the dog reacted to something he didn’t like. He’d obviously smelled the intruder nearby.

Dammit, if Gray had only checked outside seconds earlier he might have been able to catch the attacker. He might now have had some answers. At least he’d gotten outside in time to stop what might have happened to Catherine.

He shined the beam of the light inside the Jeep, assuring himself that she was safe and sound inside, although still crying and then he pointed the light to the ground and began to hunt for her missing necklace.

He knew her tears weren’t just for a necklace she’d bought that day, but probably a reaction to what had nearly happened to her. The thought of what might have happened if he hadn’t left his desk when he had crunched a tight knot in the pit of his stomach.

This was exactly what he’d been afraid of. It was the reason he’d wanted her to keep her pregnancy a secret for as long as possible.

The attacker hadn’t wanted to kill her. He could have done that with a single thrust of a knife into her back, with his hands tightened around her neck right by the side of the Jeep. No, whoever it was hadn’t wanted her dead at all. He’d wanted her very much alive and away from the ranch.

Gray’s anger grew as he continued to sweep the ground for the missing necklace. What had she been doing out here all alone at the petting barn after dark? Had she not taken his warnings seriously? Was she just that reckless to ignore the obvious dangers after everything that had already happened?

He muttered a sigh of relief when his flashlight beam caught the shimmering blue and gold of the missing necklace on the ground. He plucked it from the grass and headed for the car, ready to get what answers he could from Catherine.

She unlocked the car door and he slid behind the steering wheel and held out her necklace. She took it from him with a trembling sob and pressed it tight against her chest. “Thank you.”

“Don’t thank me yet,” he replied gruffly. “I’ve got some questions that you need to answer and the first one is what in the hell you thought you were doing out here all alone in the dark?” The adrenaline that had crashed through him lingered as he waited for her reply.

She dropped her hands with the necklace to her lap, her tears slowly halting while she looked at the petting barn. “I had been in Laramie all afternoon and when I finally got back here it was dark and I thought I saw a light in the barn.”

She frowned and raised a hand to twirl a strand of her hair. “It must have just been a strange beam of the moonlight against one of the windows because when I got out of the Jeep and went to the fence to check it out there were no lights on anywhere. So, I came back out to get into the Jeep and...” Her voice trailed off and she turned her head to look at him, her eyes huge and as dark blue as he’d ever seen them. “He came out of nowhere. I heard a faint footstep in the grass behind me and before I could react, he had me.”

“He was obviously waiting for you and he probably shined a flashlight in the barn in hopes that you’d stop and check it out.” A lump formed in the back of Gray’s throat, a lump of both fear and anger.

“Do you have any idea what would have happened if you hadn’t managed to scream? If I hadn’t been in the stables to hear you?” His voice betrayed the depth of his fear and he drew a deep breath to gain control.

“I’d be dead.” Her voice trembled as her hand released her strand of hair.

“No, I don’t think so, but you’d be gone and I imagine a pretty hefty ransom would have been asked for your safe return.” Gray grabbed the steering wheel and squeezed it so tight that his knuckles whitened. “This is exactly what I warned you about.”

“Who would have thought that a simple trip to a doctor’s office in Laramie would have resulted in this?” She worried the necklace in her hands as if it were a magical talisman.

“Who knew you were going to Laramie?” Gray fought his need to vent his anger, an anger that had nowhere to go except in her direction.

He was upset that she hadn’t taken his warning about her safety seriously, that the evocative scent of her filled the interior of the car and that he wanted to both yell at her and pull her into his arms at the same time.

“Amanda knew because she set up the doctor’s appointment for me. Agnes knew because I told her I wasn’t going to be here for lunch or dinner. I don’t know who else might have known, but surely you can’t think anyone from the house had anything to do with this,” she protested.

“I wouldn’t put this past Trip. I don’t trust him or Tawny or Darla. We’ve got ranch hands we know little about, new hires all over the house. Any one of them could see you as a ticket to a new life. Catherine, you need to wake up. Somebody in your house is up to no good. There have already been murders committed and no suspect has been identified in those deaths.”

Once again she twirled a strand of her hair. “Everything is happening so fast. I just learned I was pregnant yesterday and now suddenly I’m attacked.”

“And there’s no doubt in my mind that whoever tried to take you tonight knows that you’re pregnant, which makes your kidnapping twice as valuable as taking anyone else.”

She released a weary sigh. “Just take me back to the house. At least I know I should be safe in my own private suite.”

Gray started the Jeep engine, deciding now wasn’t the time to tell her that with her suite on the ground floor it wasn’t exactly a tall tower to be breached with great difficulty. There was really no place in the entire house that she was safe. After all, it had only been two months ago that kitchen help Jenny Burke had been found murdered in the pantry.

“Catherine, you’ve got to take this threat seriously. You can’t be out alone after dark. You need to keep yourself surrounded by people all the time and we should probably call the chief of police when we get back to the house.”

“Why call him and complicate everything?” she countered. “What’s the point? The only description I have of him is that his hands were huge and in thin black gloves. He felt strong as an ox as he pulled me away.” She shivered. “But, I have no idea what he looked like and I’m assuming you couldn’t tell anything about him, either.”

“Medium height. Medium build.” Gray sighed, knowing she was right. There was really no point in calling out the chief with nothing more to offer him. The man would be long gone from the woods by now.

He pulled into the garage in the lower portion of the mansion and parked her Jeep in its usual spot. He turned to look at her and noted that her lower lip trembled slightly and fear still darkened her eyes.

“You’re safe now, Catherine.” He couldn’t help but want to erase that fear.

She nodded. “Thanks to you.” She opened her door and got out and he did the same. As he rounded the car to where she stood, as if unsure where to go or what to do, he noted that she still grasped the necklace tightly in her fingers.

“Is it broken?” he asked.

She looked at the clasp and released an audible sigh of relief. “No, it must have just come unfastened.”

“Do you want me to put that back around your neck where it belongs?”

For the first time some of the fear left her eyes. “Do you mind? I bought it today to celebrate. Eventually it will go to my daughter or my son’s wife. I’m just so grateful that you found it. I thought it was lost for sure.”

She handed him the necklace and turned her back to him. As she swept her hair to one side, baring the back of her delicate neck, he fought the impulse to press his lips against her soft skin.

Damn her for scaring him. Damn her for reawakening his desire for her despite all the years that had passed, in spite of all the bitterness she evoked in him.

And damn her for his shaking fingers as he tried to clasp the delicate gold chain at the nape of her neck. “You need a husband, somebody who can watch over you through the day and be at your side at night.” He finally managed to get the necklace on.

She turned and looked at him. “Thanks for the advice,” she said dryly. “Unfortunately I don’t seem to have any volunteers for the job at the moment.”

“I’d volunteer.” The words left his mouth before any thought entered his brain. “You could marry me...of course it would just be a marriage in name only, but nobody else would have to know that. It would give me a reason to keep you close and safe.”

Catherine stared at him for a stunned moment and then laughed. “Sure, that makes sense. For the past four years you’ve made it obvious you don’t even like me. A marriage between us for any reason is an absolutely ridiculous idea.”

“You’re right, of course,” he said stiffly, wondering what on earth he’d been thinking when he’d even made the crazy offer. Obviously he hadn’t been thinking at all.

Catherine would be more apt to marry the society-page playboy, money-grubbing father of her baby than a lowly ranch foreman. He’d learned that lesson nine years ago and he should have remembered it now.

“Then I’ll just say good-night,” he said and turned to head toward the garage door.

“Gray?”

He turned back to face her.

“Thank you,” she said and for just a split second he thought he saw a yearning in her eyes.

Trick of the light, he told himself. “No problem,” he said curtly and then left the garage and went outside into the cool night air. He headed back to the stables, needing to process everything that had just happened, needing to lick the wounds of humiliation that stung like a swallowed wasp inside his chest.

As he walked, he kept his gaze moving, seeking anything or anyone who might be out of place, who might signify danger. Even before the events of tonight, all the ranch hands had suffered from the knowledge that nobody could be trusted.

Two kidnapping attempts of Cheyenne, two murders in the house and even the former chief of police in Dead, Hank Drucker, had not only been discovered to be a dirty cop who got arrested, and was now dead, his death was being investigated as either a suicide or a murder.

Gray had the feeling of danger permeating not only the Dead River Ranch, but also the nearby small town of Dead, as well. Worse, he felt the noose of danger tightening around them all and an imminent explosion of evil about to detonate and there wasn’t anything he could do but wait for it to happen.