Cowboy Who Came For Christmas (Harlequin Romance) (23 page)

CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR

T
HEY
HAD
A
RNIE
on the stretcher but he was in so much pain he kept going in and out of consciousness.

Adan walked close. “Arnie, you hang in there, okay?”

Arnie opened his eyes, blinking with a slow awareness. “Maggie?”

“She’s right here.” Adan motioned for Maggie since she seemed to be afraid to look at her husband. Maybe he’d find out what happened if he let her talk to Arnie.

Giving him a defeated frown, she hurried to Arnie’s side. Adan stood nearby, deliberately eavesdropping.

“Sorry,” Arnie said, tears in his eyes. “So sorry. Love you.”

Maggie started crying. “I love you, too. I never meant for this to happen. Arnie, don’t die on me, okay? I don’t care about the money.”

Arnie’s grimace of pain served as a grin. “Never mind that. Doesn’t matter anymore.”

Money? What in the world were they talking about? Maybe they’d had some sort of argument about money and he’d tripped and fell? Or had he been pushed?

“How is he?” Adan asked one of the paramedics working on Arnie. He cataloged what he’d just heard, memorizing the conversation until he could question Maggie or Arnie later. He also noted that Arnie hadn’t mentioned Joe Pritchard, but he could just be scared and anxious to see his wife.

“Hard to say right now,” the young man replied. “Broken right leg, possible internal bleeding and slight concussion, several lacerations and abrasions and a sprained left arm. He’s lucky to be alive. Those bushes and shrubs cushioned the fall and kept him from going over the next ledge, which looks like a long way down there.”

“Did he say what happened?” Adan asked, his gaze on Maggie.

“An accident,” the man replied before he went back to his work. “That’s what he kept telling us.” He pointed toward where a sheriff’s deputy stood. “The deputy questioned him several times when we were working on him and that’s all he’d say.”

Adan absorbed that information and then took out his phone to call Sophia. He’d been so busy trying to get to the bottom of this latest event he hadn’t been able to get a free minute. When she didn’t answer, his pulse moved in a jumpy warning. She’d promised to keep her phone nearby.

Turning to David, he said, “Sophia’s not answering. Can you try Karen?”

“Sure,” David said. “She’ll be worried anyway.”

Adan waited while he watched Maggie’s every move. Right now, she was holding Arnie’s hand. “Are you going with him to the hospital?”

She glanced up at Adan, her eyes red rimmed and frightened in the glowing lights from the ambulance and the flashlights.

“Can I?” she asked, more demure now.

“Do you want to go with him?”

She bobbed her head. “I know you have lots of questions and I’m willing to tell you the truth. But...after I make sure he’s going to be all right.”

Adan nodded. “Okay. I’ll get to the hospital as soon as I can.” Then he added, “I’m trusting you to be honest with me, Maggie. I’ve had enough of people keeping secrets around here.”

“Me, too,” Maggie said. “But if you want the truth, maybe you’d better start with Sophia.”

Then she turned and hurried toward the ambulance.

David came up next to Adan. “Karen’s not answering her phone, either. I think we’d better get back up there.”

“I agree,” Adan said, worrying nagging at him all the way around. “I’m gonna figure this out, one way or another.”

* * *

“Y
OU
CAN
’
T
BE
SERIOUS
.
”

Sophia shook her head at Sean. “I’m not going anywhere with Joe Pritchard.”

A knock at the door halted any retort, so Sean dragged her to the door with him. “Open it.”

Dreading whatever waited for her behind that door, Sophia shook her head. “No. I won’t leave you here with them.”

“Open the door,” Sean repeated. Then he moved the gun from her to the three women in the corner. “Or I’ll have to shoot one of them.”

Sophia did as he told her, her mind still trying to absorb that this scrawny kid was Joe’s son and that he’d been married before. Did he even know this kid or had he grabbed another innocent victim to do his dirty work?

When she unlatched the door, Joe pushed his way inside and grinned at her, his brown eyes wild and darting, his stringy hair dark and matted. “Well, well, at long last.” Then he let out a chilling laugh. “Honey, I’m home.”

Sophia’s knees went weak, but she refused to show fear with the man who’d tormented her for so long. “You won’t get away with this. The mountain is covered with law enforcement people.”

Joe kicked the door shut. “Don’t I know it! Been playing cat and mouse with them for days now. If my boy here hadn’t helped me, I’d probably be under the jail by now.” Then he glared across the room. “That girl caused us a bushel of bad luck, but we’ll take care of her soon enough.”

Melissa started crying again. “You lied to me and tricked me—”

Joe whirled, his eyes turning to dangerous slits. “And you did the same to me, missy. Tried to kill me and ran away—just like this one right here.” He grabbed Sophia and pulled her to him, a gun at her head. Then he shouted at Melissa again. “You were supposed to wait until Sean got here to help us. Messed up all of our plans.”

“I didn’t like you,” Melissa retorted, still crying. She turned to Sean. “He...made a pass at me and promised me all kinds of things. He said we could ditch you. Sean, he’s not a good man.”

Sean’s face blushed with hot anger. “He’s doing what he has to do to get away. I told you that already. I told you people lie about him, but he’s my dad. He found me after all these years.”

“You only told me to act like we were together and then you’d let me go,” Melissa shouted. “I didn’t want to do this anymore but you showed up and so I tried all day to figure out a way to stop it. You both make me sick.”

Sean bolted toward the girl, but Bettye and Karen got between him and Melissa.

“You try anything, sonny boy, and I’ll kill you myself,” Bettye told him.

Joe twisted Sophia against him, his hot breath on her neck. “Tell your guard dogs to back off, Sophia. Or I will let my son kill them one by one.”

Panic rocketed through her body, but Sophia had to do as he asked. Just until she could get him alone. “It’s okay. I’ll be all right. Bettye, please don’t try to stop them. Just be careful, please. Soon this will all be over.”

Bettye held Melissa and Karen close. “We’ll be fine, honey. You don’t let that animal hurt you.”

“He won’t,” Sophia replied. She’d kill him before she let him touch her again. “I’ll be back soon and this will all be over, I promise.”

Joe grabbed her by her hair. “Don’t make promises you can’t keep, sweetheart.” Then he forced her out into the cold night, his gun pushing into her backbone.

Sophia took one look back before he slammed the door behind them.

* * *

A
DAN
’
S
GUT
CHURNED
with the sure knowledge that something had gone wrong. He couldn’t reach Jacob or anybody else. Running now, he and David made good time back up the rocky path.

When they came up on level ground, Adan halted David. “I don’t see Jacob anywhere. Let’s make sure we aren’t about to be ambushed.”

David complied for a moment. “We have to get to our women, Adan.”

“I know.” Adan stared toward Bettye’s cabin. “Looks like the lights are on. Maybe they’re busy and away from their phones.”

“Or maybe we’re wasting time speculating,” David retorted.

Adan put a finger to his lips and motioned for David to follow him up toward the cabin. The two men hid in some heavy bushes while Adan scanned the area for signs of Jacob. Or anyone else. When he didn’t see or hear anyone, he went into action.

“I’m gonna check through the window,” Adan said. “You stay here in case I get caught.”

David nodded and pulled out his gun. “I’ll cover you.”

Adan took off in a crouch and carefully stepped up onto the back porch. At first, he saw Bettye and Karen in the kitchen. Peering as far inside as he could without being seen, he stared toward the living room. Melissa was with Sean.

And Sean was holding a gun on her.

Adan strained to see where Sophia was. When he didn’t see her anywhere in the tiny house, he turned and headed back to where David stood in the shadows.

“Are they all right?” David asked.

Adan shook his head. “I don’t think so.” He explained what he’d seen. “I think Sophia’s either out here trying to figure out what to do...or she’s gone looking for Jacob.” Then another thought occurred and he bristled. “I hope she hasn’t gone all heroic and decided to search for Pritchard.”

David grunted. “If that kid is holding our women, what’s that got to do with Pritchard?”

“I don’t know,” Adan admitted. “Maybe nothing. Maybe everything.”

“So what’s the plan?”

Adan did another visual of the moonlit woods. “First, we get in there and apprehend that idiot holding them. Then we find out where Sophia is.”

David stood. “I’m ready. Had about enough of idiots messing with us.”

“Me, too,” Adan replied. “Let’s get in there.”

* * *

P
RITCHARD
PUSHED
AT
HER
, his fingers and the gun barrel stabbing at her backbone and ribs. She wasn’t sure where he was taking her, but Sophia knew this might be her last night on earth. He’d kill her this time. Of that she was sure.

She thought of Adan and pictured him getting back to little Gaylen by Christmas Eve. Would he grieve for Sophia? Or would he breathe a sigh of relief that this was finally over?

Stop that
, she told herself. Adan cared about her. She’d felt it in his kisses, in his soft smiles, in his wry sense of humor and his serious sense of justice. Maybe they’d only known each other a few days, but each hour in those days had been a lifetime of...falling in love.

Tears pricked at her eyes.

I love him. How can that be?

Was she so caught up in dying that she finally wanted to live again?

Joe’s poke brought her back to reality. “What you thinking up there, suga’?”

“Nothing that concerns you,” she retorted. Her mouth was what usually got her in trouble with him, but she didn’t care now. She’d tried to get away and for a while, just a while, she’d been content and almost happy and almost safe.

Now he’d come back alive and found her, and if she couldn’t have Adan and a good life, then she didn’t want to do this anymore.

Don’t give up.

She could hear Bettye saying those words. Could hear Adan telling her to hang on. Should she fight one more time? Would it be worth the fight? Or should she just go away with Joe and find a way to survive so that her friends and the man she’d fallen in love with would stay safe?

“What’s the deal with you and that infernal Ranger?” Joe asked, his hand snaking around her waist.

Sophia shivered, but the goose bumps came more from the revulsion she felt at Joe’s cruel touch than the chilly night air. “What do you mean?”

“I mean, I saw y’all together on that first night.”

Sophia felt sick to her stomach. How long had Joe been watching her? “Then you must have seen me hold a gun on him.”

“I saw that,” Joe said, chuckling. “That old lady laid him out. Funny, about that. I figure you had a lot of reasons not to get all tangled up with a Texas Ranger.”

She nodded. “Yes, but I had one very good reason to get to know him. He and I had a really good discussion regarding you.”

Joe whirled her around. “What did you tell that Ranger?”

“I told him everything,” she said, glad to have it all out in the open. “I told him I thought I’d killed you and that I left you on that deserted road and I took off in your car.”

“With my money,” Joe said, his teeth grinding together with each word. “Did you tell him you took the money? All of the money?”

Sophia’s fear disappeared. She had Adan to thank for that. “I did tell him I took back my money.”

Joe snorted, his grip on her arm stinging. “Yeah, right. So that means you didn’t let on about the real money hidden in that trunk and that’s why I’m here, sweetheart.”

Sophia’s bravado slipped again. “What are you talking about?”

“I got my ways, but I got wind of a rumor that you were on this mountain and that you had some money hidden away somewhere. My money. And I aim to get it and get out of here—with you, of course. After all, we got a lotta catching up to do, don’t we, sweetheart?”

CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE

“O
N
THREE
.”

Adan motioned to David as they both crouched on opposite sides of the back door to Bettye’s cabin. “When we go inside, you head left for the women and get them behind the kitchen counter. I’ll go right and take out the kid and make sure Melissa isn’t caught in the crossfire.”

“Are you sure we can do this?” David asked, doubt in the question. “I don’t want anyone else to get hurt.”

“I can take that stupid little twerp without firing a shot,” Adan said, letting out some of his frustrations while he tried to shed his own fear over Sophia possibly being taken. “I knew he was trouble.”

He couldn’t think about his fears right now. He couldn’t think about Sophia in her big flannel shirt and soft gray sweatpants. He wouldn’t think about those kisses that had heated them up like the fire she kept stoked in the fireplace. And he sure couldn’t think about her out there in the dark with a deranged ex-husband who just would not give up. Right now, he had to do this job one step at a time.

Because it was obvious Joe Pritchard had made his move. Now Adan wondered if the Burtons had something to do with this latest. Or one of them, at least. He’d deal with Maggie later, too.

Adan didn’t have a choice. He had to find Sophia.

“Are you ready?” David gave him a confused stare.

“Yeah, just going back over everything.”

Everything about Sophia. Was it possible he cared way more about her than he’d let on?

Not only possible. But a sure fact.

I’m falling in love.

That realization propelled Adan forward. He had to end this tonight, one way or another. He wanted Sophia in his life and he’d figure out how much that could complicate things when he was done with Joe Pritchard for good.

“Let’s go,” he said, nodding to David.

Adan counted to three then kicked the back door open and turned to the right with his rifle trained on Sean. “Drop the gun right now! Melissa, get on the floor.”

David turned to the left and through a flutter of feminine comments and screams, hurried the women behind the kitchen cabinets and counter.

Melissa screamed and did as Adan told her—she dropped like a rock onto the floor beside the coffee table. Sean’s shock was evident. His eyes went wide and the expression on his face turned him from smug to afraid in two seconds flat.

The boy laid the gun on the coffee table and held up both his hands. “He made me do it,” he said on a long whine.

“Who?” Adan asked, advancing on the trembling man. “Who made you do it?”

“My daddy,” the boy replied. “Joe Pritchard.” Then he gave Adan a satisfied smirk. “But he should be long gone by now, with all that drug money and that woman who hid it from him.”

* * *

“W
HY
DID
WE
STOP
?”

Sophia tried to get her bearings, but she was afraid they were lost deep in the hills of Crescent Mountain. The man pushing her forward had been unusually quiet. Which agitated and scared her. “Joe, where are we going?”

Joe pushed at her then stopped so fast she fell back against him and smelled sweat and a woodsy, smoky odor. “You tell me. You know where that old car and the money are. I need you to take me there.”

How did he know she’d hidden the car? Who had told Joe she was living on this mountain? Everything started making more sense in her mind, even Sean and Melissa’s rants before Joe hadn’t just stumbled upon Crescent Mountain on a hunch. He’d obviously known she was here. Which meant someone on this mountain must have helped him.

“The car?” Sophia
shook her head and tried to play dumb. “You think we can find a car in the dark? What car?”

His aggravation came to the surface. “Shut up and stop pretending you don’t know what I’m talking about. I thought I knew where it was but I got some bad information. You’re gonna fix that, though. Once we get the car and the money, I can leave this place. I never want to be on a mountain again.”

“I can’t help you,” Sophia said, panic and fear rising with each step they took. If he got her to that car and it actually cranked, he’d take her with him. And she’d really be in serious trouble. “I... I can’t remember where that old car is.”

Joe stomped his dirty boots and shifted his rifle. Pointing a finger at her nose, he said, “You know this mountain and you hid the darn car, so yes, you do know where it is and yes, we will find it tonight.”

Stalling, she said, “We can’t find it in the dark without a flashlight.”

“I got a flashlight right here,” he said, waving the tiny pocket flashlight he held in one hand.

“That thing isn’t worth the few bucks you paid for it,” Sophia said, her mind whirling with possibilities. “We need a powerful flashlight to find the right path. I think we’re lost. I don’t recognize this path.”

Joe let out a string of curse words. “Am I ever gonna get off this godforsaken mountain?”

Not alive
, Sophia thought. “I don’t know, Joe. You’re the one with all the big plans.”

He yanked her around with such force her teeth rattled, causing her to bite her cheek. The sting of that raw wound only reinforced her desire to get out of this alive.

“I don’t need your smart mouth, Sophia. You’d better think hard about how we can get to that car...or you’ll regret you ever messed with me.” His sneer turned sinister, his eyes flashing with anger. “You love your mountain friends so much, don’t you? Wouldn’t want one of them to suffer the consequences of your actions, right?”

“What do you mean?” she asked on a weak breath, afraid of what this man was capable of doing.

Joe leaned close, his dirty fingers caressing her cheek. “I mean business. One of your buddies could die tonight, or maybe that cute little girl who scammed my son and me will be the first one to go. All I gotta do is call my boy and he’ll put a bullet through her head.”

Sophia gulped back a retort, fear and loathing making her sick inside. “I’m not sure I can find the car in the dark, Joe. I can try at first light.” She swallowed the taste of blood where she’d bitten the inside of her mouth. “Don’t hurt anyone. That’ll just make things worse for us. Let’s just wait until the morning.”

“I can’t wait to first light,” he said, his whisper wrapping around her like a boa constrictor. “Your excuses are tiresome as always. Try again.”

Sophia closed her eyes and hoped she could survive this night. Ashamed that just minutes ago she’d been about to give up, she decided she hadn’t come this far to let Joe kill her now. Not when happiness was just out of her reach.

She thought of Adan and compared how he’d treated her to how this man had always treated her. There was no comparison. Adan had shown her what a true man could be like, how a real gentleman could act. Even if they could never be together, she’d always remember how Adan had changed her life.

So she came up with a plan that she hoped would work. “I think I can find the car, but we need to go back the way we came so I can start on the path near the road out in front of the cabins. There’s a way toward the other side of the mountain that will lead us straight to the car...and the money.”

Joe hissed and stomped but finally he nodded. “Okay. But I’m warning you, if you’re up to your old tricks, it won’t be pretty for you or your friends.”

“Just call your son and let him know what we’re doing,” she said. “Melissa and my friends shouldn’t have to pay for what I’ve done.”

“No, they shouldn’t,” he retorted, “but you made this bed, sweetheart, so you gotta lie in it.”

“You’re right,” Sophia replied, a chill settling in her bones, her face numb with cold, her hands frozen in clenched fists. “This is my fight and I’m tired. I just want it to end. I want you to take the money and get out of my life. Forever.”

Joe chuckled and tugged her close, the echo of his laughter sounding eerie as it lifted out into the night. “I told you, you’re going with me. ’Cause you know what they say—if I can’t have you, no one will.”

* * *

A
DAN
STARED
DOWN
at the sniveling young man in front of him, all of the pieces of the puzzle falling into place with a clicking clarity. The big house, the robbery, Sophia driving the getaway car and Maggie Burton telling him all of this was Sophia’s fault. The house Pritchard had robbed had belonged to the drug dealer, and he’d taken a lot of money. Did Sophia know about that money? Was that what she’d tried so hard to hide from everyone? Maggie had told him to ask Sophia about the truth.

Now he knew everything. But he still had a job to do.

“Where did he take her?”

“I told you, I don’t know,” Sean said, diverting his eyes in what looked like a lying way to Adan. “Man, I just do what he tells me and he told me to get up here and keep the girl occupied.”

“Because he knew Melissa wouldn’t betray us,” Bettye said on a disgusted breath. “She figured out you both were crooked and she tried to warn us.”

Melissa sat with her grandmother, a sheepish expression puckering her face. She didn’t say a word, but Adan guessed she regretted her part in all of this. The details were still murky but he’d pin her down once he could breathe again. Once he had Sophia back here and safe.

In spite of what she’d withheld from him, he still cared about her. But could he forgive her?

Adan pushed that thought out of the way and tried again with the boy. “Look, we know he’s your long-lost daddy. So he came to Arkansas to find you and make up for lost time. That’s a sweet story, but Joe Pritchard is a dangerous, out-of-control criminal who killed a woman back in Texas. So you’d better start talking or you’ll soon be in a jail cell right beside him. And that won’t be so sweet, trust me.”

Sean looked up, his greasy hair swaying like aged straw against his skinny face. “He wants that money. That’s all I know.”

Adan’s head came up. “The money that he stole from a drug dealer he’d been in cahoots with?”

Sean’s sneer returned right along with a fist of attitude. “No, the money that
she
took after she tried to kill him. He told me it was his and that he’d taken it out of the bank so they could start over somewhere. She double-crossed my daddy, so he’s doing what he has to do.”

“He’s lying to you,” Adan said, his heart striking up a strange dance that moved between panic and desperation. “Do you know where this car is located?”

Sean shook his head. “I don’t. Really, I don’t. But he’s gonna find it and then he’s gonna take her with him. He’s determined to make her see that...he still loves her.”

Adan took one long breath and leaned over Sean. “I’m going out there to find them but before I leave, you need to understand a few things about your daddy. He won’t get away this time. The kind of obsessive control he has over people, especially women, is not love. You need to understand that right now, son, or you’ll wind up just like him.”

Sean’s eyes misted over. “I just wanted to meet my daddy. That’s all. He left when I was a baby, so when he found me, I was willing to do anything he wanted. I only wanted to help him out.”

And Pritchard had played on that in order to get his way and to get some help pulling this off. They probably found an easy mark in Melissa and used her to help cover and carry out their plan. Joe Pritchard wasn’t worth the dirt under their shoes, but these two kids didn’t need to hear that lecture right now.

He gave Sean an understanding stare. “Sometimes we do the wrong things for what seems like the right reasons.”

Sean shook his head and stared over at Melissa. “Yeah, I guess so. Whatever, man.”

Adan wished he had time to stay here and talk some sense into the kid, but he had to go and find Joe and Sophia. He placed a gentle hand on Sean’s shoulder. “I understand how you feel, and I know you love your father. But he’s done some bad things and you don’t need to be caught up in this, understand?”

Sean nodded and wiped at his nose. “I wish I’d never seen this mountain.”

Adan could certainly agree with that, but this place was growing on him in spite of the urgency of his mission. He turned to David. “Will you make sure he doesn’t go anywhere?”

David nodded. “I’ll tie him to a chair if he tries to move.” Then he winked at Adan. “And while I’ve got him and Melissa here, I’m gonna read both of them the riot act—just for good measure.”

“Great idea,” Adan said. Then he grabbed his gun and headed out the door. He’d been on this mountain for too many days now and he longed to get home and hold his daughter tight.

But he had to save Sophia first. After everything, if he couldn’t do that, he would never forgive himself.