Читать книгу The Millionaire Cowboy's Secret - Karen Whiddon - Страница 13

Chapter 4

Even that effort left Skylar gasping for breath and coughing. She didn’t dare waste any more energy.

Eyes watering, she hurried. Arriving at the barn, she saw it was ablaze. Rushing inside, despite the now-black smoke roiling off it, she heard the panicked screams of the horses.

Someone loomed up in front of her’Matt, leading one of his terrified horses. She jumped aside, grabbed a halter and entered the first occupied stall.

Inside, the panicked animal lashed out with her hooves.

“Don’t halter her,” Matt shouted. “Just release her and my men will herd them toward the door. Hurry.”

His words made sense. Opening the stall door wide, Skylar used the halter to slap at the frightened mare’s hindquarters. The horse bolted forward, eyes wide with terror.

Skylar didn’t wait; she hurried to the next stall. Matt rushed past her, doing the same.

In the next few minutes, she lost track of time, focusing intently on saving the horses one by one. Soon all the stalls were empty except the stallion stall at the end of the barn.

And the fire had leaped across the aisle from the empty stalls, the hay in the feeding trough already ablaze.

The staccato sound of hooves pounding the wooden stall door mingled with the roar of the fire. This one, this one last horse, had to be freed. She would not let it roast alive.

Beside her, Matt’s grimy face showed similar resolve.

Heedless of the danger, he ran to the stall and yanked the door open. Nothing but black smoke and the bright orange and red of the flames.

Skylar’s heart skipped as she cursed. No way the horse could survive that conflagration. No way. Heart pounding, she rushed after Matt, whether to offer her assistance or try to drag him to safety, she didn’t know.

A shape appeared out of the smoke. Burned and terrified, huge nostrils flaring, Matt’s stallion nonetheless let Matt lead him to safety. The instant they were free of the stall, the horse bolted, nearly knocking Skylar out of the way.

“Come on, hurry,” Matt shouted. “The roof’s about to collapse. Get out!”

Side by side, they ran for the door. They’d barely cleared the opening when something inside the building exploded, sending them flying and knocking them to the ground.

Dazed, Skylar pushed herself up to a crouch. She’d skinned her knee, and her elbow was bloody, but that appeared to be the extent of her injuries.

Squinting in the smoke, she tried to locate Matt.

José and several of the stable hands hurried over, helping Skylar up. Matt limped toward them. From his appearance, he had similarly minor scrapes and cuts.

Belatedly, she realized the stallion had disappeared. “The horse,” she croaked. “Where’s the horse?”

“Go find Saint,” Matt ordered, his voice sharp with what sounded like fury. Two of the stable hands rushed off to do his bidding. He turned to his friend. “José, call the vet and get him out here pronto. Saint is burned and some of the others probably are, too. They all inhaled a lot of that smoke.”

Nodding, José whipped out his cell phone and turned away to make the call.

Dusting herself off, Skylar coughed. Her legs felt shaky. “Don’t you think you should call the police?” she asked quietly. “It seems pretty obvious that fire was deliberately set.”

“Do you have proof?” He stared at her, his gaze narrow, his mouth a hard, thin line.

“I smelled something. Right before the explosion. Gasoline or kerosene’some kind of accelerant.”

He turned away, the rigid set of his shoulders telling her he already knew. “We’ve already called the fire department. It’s going to take them a while to get here, though’they’re volunteers. I know they have one guy who specializes in that sort of thing. We’ll see what they find out.”

Though she knew she might be pushing it, she had to find out what had exploded in the barn. Surely he wasn’t foolish enough to keep explosives around his precious horses?

“Matt, wait.” Grabbing his arm, her heart still pumping with adrenaline, she took a deep breath to speak. Instead, she immediately began coughing.

To give him credit, Matt waited until the coughing fit had subsided.

“Something exploded there in the barn,” she said, wiping at her stinging eyes with her fists. “Any idea what that might have been?”

Clearly exhausted, he dragged a hand across his face, smearing the soot. “No.” His answer short and sweet, he seemed to sway as he stared at her. “Do you?”

Since she couldn’t come right out and voice her suspicions, she slowly shook her head. “I have no idea.”

“I thought not.” To her surprise, he held out his hand. His fingers were black and filthy, exactly like her own. “Come on. By the time the fire department gets here, the barn will be nothing but embers. You can help me round up the horses so the vet can check them over.”

Not sure how to react, she finally slid her hand into his. As his fingers closed around hers, she couldn’t help but think how long it had been since she’d held a man’s hand.

Five years or more. A lifetime.

Again she pushed the thoughts away, letting Matt tug her after him. This was different. This was a crisis, not a date.

Somehow, they managed to round up all the horses, chasing them into a large fenced arena across the parking lot and upwind a distance from the still-burning barn. All the horses were accounted for. All except one. The beautiful stallion he’d called Saint was nowhere in sight.

“The vet’s on the way,” José said. “Where the hell is the fire truck?” About to say more, he apparently got a good look at Matt’s face. “What’s wrong?”

“Saint’s missing.”

“Is he badly hurt?”

“I’m worried,” Matt muttered. “He looked like he had some pretty bad burns.”

José clapped a hand on his shoulder. “Well, hell, you know this entire area is fenced. Even if he made it out of the barnyard and into one of the other pastures, it shouldn’t be too hard to find him. He’s got to be here somewhere.”

Still, despite the reassuring words, worry continued to etch lines in Matt’s face.

Rubbing the back of her neck, she turned a slow circle, searching. “There’s no chance a gate could have been left open, right?”

José shot her a look heavy with annoyance. “Anything is possible. Whoever started this fire could have left a gate open. But all the pastures are divided up and fenced.”

Biting back an instinctive retort, Skylar kept her gaze on Matt instead. She wouldn’t allow José to bait her. Whatever his problem was with her, she wanted no part of it.

“Even if someone left a gate open, Saint couldn’t have gone far.” Matt’s voice, weary and husky with worry and exhaustion, made her long to go to him and put her arms around him.

Since there was no way in hell that was going to happen, she clenched her hands into fists instead.

Behind them, there was a loud pop, then the crack of lumber as the barn’s roof collapsed. Fire roared up into the sky, engulfing the remains of the building.

Matt nodded, gesturing toward the blaze. “Even if the fire department shows up now, it’s too late. The barn’s a total loss.”

At least the other buildings appeared to have been spared. One of them, she knew, was his office. Two men stood near that smaller building, continuously spraying it with hoses to make sure the fire didn’t spread.

Matt sighed. “Skylar, you can go back to your trailer. Thanks again for all your help. I’m going out to find Saint.”

“I can help search,” José offered. “But it’s pretty damn dark out there. You know it’ll be easier to find him once the sun comes up.”

“That’s true.” Matt set his jaw. “But he’s hurt and scared and I can’t leave him alone. I want to bring him back so the vet can take a look at his burns. We’ve got a couple more industrial-strength flashlights in the tack room.”

With a nod, José hurried off to retrieve those.

“I’m going to look, too,” Skylar said quietly. “And before you turn me down, think. You know you need all the help you can get.”

Expression shuttered, Matt finally nodded.

José brought the flashlights. Matt took two from José and handed one to Skylar.

“I thought she was going back to her trailer,” José protested, his voice dripping with dislike.

“Look,” Skylar started, clamping down on a flash of anger, “I don’t know what your problem is with me, but’”

Matt squeezed her shoulder in warning. “Easy, now. Both of you. It’s been a rough couple of hours. Arguing isn’t going to solve anything.”

He was right. Just like that, she felt the urge to fight roll off her. José nodded. “Sorry.”

“Apology accepted,” she bit back, managing to soften her tone a little.

Apparently satisfied, Matt nodded. “Skylar, thanks for all your help. You saved several horses.”

Keeping her chin up lest her own exhaustion show, she nodded. “Now we just need to find your stallion. Have you heard from the stable hands?”

“No.” Matt checked his phone. “They know to call me if they locate him. They went in pairs. I sent one group to the north pastures and the other group went south. We probably should search separately.”

“Agreed. I do think we should split up,” José put in, his expression and his tone neutral. “We can cover a lot more ground separately.”

Her heart skipped a beat while Matt considered. If he agreed, searching for the missing horse would be the perfect time to also conduct a search for the hidden ammo.

“Good idea,” Matt finally said. “Skylar, do you want to go alone or with me?”

She pretended to consider. “I think José’s right. We can cover a lot more ground if we go alone.”

“José and I will take west, you go east.”

She nodded, then watched as they vanished into the darkness. Now, while she helped search for the missing horse, she could also take a look around for a potential ammunition-storage site. They knew he’d purchased enough bullets to supply an army. Her job was to find out what he’d done with them.

Despite the mini explosion in the barn, she knew that hadn’t been due to ammunition. According to the reports she’d been given, if a stockpile the size of Matt’s blew, it would have left a crater.

Matt’s devotion to his horses was obvious after this morning. She knew he wouldn’t do anything that might endanger them.

Ergo, he must have an outbuilding on another part of the ranch. No doubt far enough away from the livestock that it would never be a threat.

Hefting the heavy flashlight in one hand, she set out, glancing back over her shoulder to see if anyone was watching her. Flashing lights down the road indicated the arrival of the fire trucks. The still-burning barn illuminated the corral of agitated, frightened horses, the flickering light of the flames an eerie mix with the sour smell of smoke.

The acrid scent seemed to follow her as she set off. At the last moment, she decided to go the same way as Matt. She had a hunch. While she didn’t doubt he was actually searching for his stallion, she knew if she were in Matt’s position and someone had set fire to a barn, her next concern would be to check on the stored ammunition. In case that was his plan, her best bet would be to follow him while continuing to keep an eye out for the missing horse.

* * *

“That Skylar chick surprised me. She was really something,” José mused, falling into step beside Matt.

Matt hid his grin. “Yes, she was. She’s obviously a horse person. Without her, I’m not sure we could have gotten all the horses out.”

“Yeah, we need to have a talk with the stable hands.”

“I agree.” Matt grimaced, the knot that had settled into his gut twisting. “They were so disorganized and in such a panic that they got in each other’s way.”

“You’re also wondering if one of them might have had something to do with starting the fire,” José guessed.

“Exactly. They said they’d already fed the horses. What were they doing feeding so early?”

“True. And why didn’t they smell the smoke?”

Considering, Matt nodded. “Especially since Skylar did.”

“True. Speaking of her...” José glanced back over his shoulder as if to make sure she hadn’t followed. “Do you think she might have had something to do with this?”

“What?” Shocked, Matt stopped, staring at his friend. “Why would you think something like that?”

“To smoke out where the ammo is, of course.”

“But to endanger all those valuable horses...” Matt’s horror-filled voice trailed off.

José shrugged. “Just a thought.”

“I think you’re way off base with that one. You saw her this morning. She was obviously concerned for the horses.”

“And that’s it? That’s the only reason you don’t suspect her?”

“Isn’t that enough? Plus, what would be her motive? The ammo thing doesn’t really fly, as any idiot would know not to store explosive ammunition anywhere near horses.” And, even though Matt didn’t say it out loud to his friend, the simmering attraction he felt for the redhead also had something to do with it.

Ha. He needed to make sure he thought with his head, not with his groin. Which was ironic, in its own way. He’d never had a problem getting women, and most of them, like the models he occasionally dated, were happy with his no-commitment philosophy as long as he occasionally bought them a bauble or two.

Maybe that would be the solution. But though he knew if he picked up the phone and called, any one of them would come running, the knowledge did nothing for him. He simply wasn’t interested.

No, he was better off keeping his focus where it belonged’on his plan to draw in Diego Rodriguez. He was too close now to screw it up.

Meanwhile, his most valuable horse had completely vanished.

“I don’t see him.” Once again, José shone the flashlight beam out into the pasture. The high-intensity light illuminated a good area, but there were no signs of the stallion.

“Keep looking,” he ordered tersely, turning in the opposite direction with his own light. “The sun should be up soon.”

“Do you wanna check out the’”

“No.” Matt cut José off before he could finish the sentence. He gave a second, meaning-filled glance behind them. “You never know who might be following or listening.”

José grimaced. “Got it.”

They branched out, Matt calling Saint’s name in a low voice, the way he might have called for a dog. The horse knew his voice and had even come to it once or twice, though no time had been spent actually training for this. In the predawn light, he doubted it would work this time, either.

Add to that the fact that the stallion was no doubt terrified and possibly wounded... No, they’d have to find him and corner him before he got a chance to run again.

Matt could only hope he wasn’t hurt too badly.

Twenty minutes passed, then thirty. José had begun to slow down, his defeat evident in the rounding of his broad shoulders.

“You can go in if you want,” Matt offered. “I’m going to keep looking.”

“I still think it’d be better to wait until full light. Go back to the house, grab a cup of coffee and something to eat, and head back out.”

“Eat?” Matt asked. “I doubt anyone’s getting much breakfast this morning. Not with the barn still burning and the fire department there trying to put out the fire. Also, Doc Bertram is working overtime checking out my horses, so I’d say if anyone deserves breakfast, it’s him.”

José acknowledged the truth of that statement with a weary grimace. “Still, right now with these flashlights, it’s like looking for a needle in a damn haystack.”

The old cliché made Matt shake his head. He felt a deep exhaustion as well, but refused to give up until he found his horse. “Saint’s worth it,” he said. “Besides, you know as well as I do how many coyotes roam these parts. I can’t risk it. If he’s wounded and they catch wind of the scent of his blood...”

They’d surround the horse and take him down. Maybe. Still, he couldn’t take the chance. Not only was Saint a valuable purebred stud horse, but he was Matt’s personal mount.

When they reached the end of that pasture, they stopped. “No sign of him.” Matt tried not to sound defeated.

“The gate’s closed to the next one,” José pointed out. “He didn’t come through here.”

“He can jump.” Pushing away the exhaustion, Matt rubbed the back of his neck. “Normally, he doesn’t, but if he’s out of his mind with terror, who knows?”

“So you want to check out the next pasture, then?”

It was dangerously close to the caves. Matt wasn’t about to take the chance of Skylar following them. Though there was nothing illegal about the amount of ammo he had stockpiled, he needed to keep the location secret if his plan was ever going to work. Everyone’including the ATF’had moles. Once the cartel learned of the location, they’d simply take what they wanted.

It was how they operated.

He walked a dangerous tightrope and he knew it. While he had no plans of doing anything illegal’other than taking down the man who’d slaughtered his family, that is’he’d do what he had to do in order to ensure success.

Ironically enough, though, the one thing the ATF suspected him of was the lone act he wouldn’t commit. No way in hell would he be selling ammunition to the Mexican cartel to fuel their war.

“Hey.” A feminine voice behind them had them turning. Matt shot José a wry look that meant I told you so.

“Having any luck?” Skylar asked, walking up to them without using her flashlight. Though he supposed since they’d just been using theirs they were easy to spot, he didn’t like it. Still, the darkness did appear to be lifting, even though the sun hadn’t risen.

“I thought you were searching the other way,” Matt said.

She shrugged, apparently unconcerned. “I took a quick look, didn’t see anything and headed this way.”

Lying. He didn’t know how he could tell, but he knew. He shouldn’t have been so surprised.

“Maybe you should have gone back to your trailer after all,” José drawled.

Ignoring him, she focused on Matt. “I take it you two haven’t had any success?”

“Do you see a horse?” José sniped.

Slowly, Matt shook his head in warning. “No, we haven’t been able to find him.”

“That’s odd.” Shining her flashlight out ahead of them, she sighed. “I’ve searched two pastures, even though I had to climb over one fence. I know most horses won’t jump a fence unless provoked, so I have to ask. Do you think there’s a possibility the stallion was stolen?”

For a heartbeat Matt could only stare. “Why would you think that?”

“The barn fire could have been a diversion.”

“But they would have gotten Saint out first,” José said, his tone indicating he gave no credence to her idea.

To be fair, Matt took a few seconds and considered it. “Anything is possible,” he finally said. “But I don’t think that’s why the fire was set.”

“Then why?” she asked, the slight edge to her voice letting him know he’d fallen neatly into her trap.

As if he’d tell her the fire had most likely been a warning from one of the large Mexican drug cartels. Since they all were at war with each other, they didn’t like their suppliers dealing with other factions.

Despite the fact that Matt was not yet officially supplying them with anything, José had made sure the word got out that he had ammo to sell.

This fire was meant to be a warning. La Familia, the largest of the cartels, didn’t take kindly to any opposition. The fact that several groups, including Diego Rodriguez’s, had shown an interest in the ammunition had no doubt angered them. The fire was their way of showing him exactly what he needed to do. Matt felt quite certain he’d be getting another message soon to reinforce that point, whether verbal or written.

Meanwhile, Diego Rodriguez was lying low. He knew full well the dangers of forming his own cartel and going against his former. This much ammo would certainly help him in the inevitable war that would follow.

Diego needed this ammunition. That much Matt knew.

Which meant he was much closer to hooking his fish than he’d realized.

Meanwhile, Skylar was waiting for an answer. Resisting the effort to shut her down, instead he looked at José. “I have no idea,” he said. “What about you?”

To his credit, José didn’t react in any way, other than with a quick cough. “No idea neither, amigo.”

Skylar made a sound under her breath, just enough to let them know she wasn’t happy with their answers. “Well, then, gentlemen. Let’s get busy and see if we can find your missing horse.”

Despite her bossy attitude, which amused Matt and pissed off José, they let her lead the way and followed her. She shone her flashlight straight ahead. Matt took the left and José the right.

Despite this, there was still no sign of the horse. Even with dawn beginning to color the horizon and turning the black night to a milky sort of gray.

Working as a team, they began to move forward, each of them searching in their own direction, sort of like a fan.

When they reached the end of that pasture without seeing Saint, Matt’s heart sank. “Where the hell could he be?” he muttered.

“Did you hear that?” Skylar touched his arm, warning him to be silent. “Listen.”

He froze, straining to hear. Just as he was about to tell her he hadn’t heard a thing, there was a rustle that might have been a rabbit, a coyote, anything.

“I don’t think that’s a horse,” José muttered. “Coyotes, most likely.”

“Shh.” Skylar held up her hand. “They’re tracking something. Wait.”

Then they all heard it. The sound of hooves pounding the earth, the sound of a panicked horse running for his life.

Both he and José drew their guns.

“There.” Skylar pointed, swinging her flashlight in the direction of the noise.

Saint, backed into a corner. And flanking him in a semicircle were several coyotes.