Cowboy Who Came For Christmas (Harlequin Romance) (24 page)

CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX

S
OPHIA
THOUGHT
OVER
and over that she should try to trip Joe so she could run away. Or she could find something to hit him with and hope she injured him enough to get away from him. But both of those options left things wide-open for Joe to call his son and tell him to shoot one or all of her friends.

Adan should have found out by now that she was missing, and he probably knew about the hidden money, too. That one thought gave her hope that he’d track them and come to her rescue. Adan might not forgive her for not telling him about the drug money—he’d want to confiscate that money and save her. But Sophia was used to saving herself. Maybe what she’d believed to be courage was actually her taking the coward’s way out. If she’d called the police the night she’d left Joe for dead, she could have returned the money and taken a plea bargain.

But now she was back in the same spot with the same man in what felt like a never-ending carnival ride in a house of horror. She wanted to survive. She wanted to live. She wanted her life back, without Joe and his crimes hanging over her head.

You have one of the good guys on your side now.

Sophia held on to that thought while Joe pushed and shoved her back onto the path they’d taken. Determined to get off this horrible track, she pledged to do the right thing if she ever lived to see tomorrow. True courage could only mean being completely honest.

Why had it taken her so long to see that?

Joe’s arm hitting her shoulder brought Sophia out of her musings. “You wouldn’t be taking me on a merry chase now, would you, Sophia?”

“I’m taking you back to the only path I know to get to your car,” she said, meaning it. “It’s hard to see very much in the dark, even with the full moon. But if you’re patient with me, I think I can find where I hid the car.”

Or I can find a way to kill you and make it stick this time.

“No thinking about it,” he said on a harsh breath. “We’ll walk all night if that’s what it takes. If you don’t take me to that car, somebody’s gonna get hurt.”

Sophia found the nerve to pull away from him. She was cold and dirty and afraid, but a dark heat pulsed through her, giving her strength. “I told you I’ll take you to the car and the money, Joe. So quit threatening me. My friends are smart and independent and they can take care of themselves. Not to mention, you have a Texas Ranger on your tail, in case you’ve forgotten. You can’t make threats, so just stop it.”

Joe grabbed her by her neck and yanked her back, his nose inches from hers. “You sound so brave and sure, honey. But if you keep messing with me, I’ll put a bullet right between that Ranger’s eyes. I don’t like how you two have been shacked up together. It ain’t right, know what I mean?”

Sophia willed the fear that shuddered through her body to settle. “We aren’t shacking up,” she said. “He’s been protecting me—all of us—from you.”

Joe’s laughter cackled out over the woods. “That many people he has to protect—from little ol’ me? I’m impressed with myself.”

“Don’t be,” she replied. “If I know Adan Harrison, he’s probably got your precious son tied up and under lock and key right now. How does that make you feel?”

Joe’s hand came across her face in a hard slap that left her stunned and brought tears to her eyes. She bent over, a hand to her face, but Joe lifted her up, his eyes burning with a mad fire. “If he lays a hand on my boy, I’ll kill him right in front of you.”

* * *

A
DAN
DIDN
’
T
KNOW
which way to go. The sheriff’s deputies posted at different roads and lanes across the mountain hadn’t seen any sign of Joe Pritchard and they didn’t want to send out any more search teams this late at night. First thing in the morning, the sheriff would bring in tracking dogs.

Adan couldn’t wait till morning. Pritchard had Sophia now, so he’d try to get off this mountain as soon as he could. But greed would make him look for that lost money, which might give Adan the time he needed to find them.

He was beginning to think the man was a ghost.

But everything that hadn’t made sense before was starting to fall into place now. Pritchard had help—Sean and Melissa—and maybe someone else. The Burtons?

His gut shouted that one of them had helped Pritchard and the other one hadn’t. They’d argued and a fight had ensued or possibly Pritchard had argued with one of them and Arnie had fallen during that fight.

Maggie had mentioned money—could she have been talking about the money allegedly hidden in the car Sophia had brought here? Pritchard had stayed on the mountain because he wanted to find that car and now he needed Sophia to help him.

He’d kill her once he had the dirty money.

Adan’s brain buzzed with all of the ins and outs of this case. Should have been an easy hunt. He had Pritchard cornered and all he had to do was nab him and take him back to Texas. But there were so many variables to this mess, he felt as if he were caught in a giant maze. And Sophia was with the madman at the end of that maze.

Adan trained his flashlight on the woods and called the sheriff for help one more time. If he could gather a few men, they could comb the nearby woods. After arguing back and forth, the sheriff finally agreed to send some men.

Adan hung up and glanced around. When he heard a moan coming from across the road, he hurried in that direction, thinking it might be Sophia.

And he was met with a shotgun in his face.

“Jacob?”

The old man moaned again. “I was gonna let you have it with both barrels.”

“Who did this to you?” Adan asked, suspecting he knew the answer. He started feeling Jacob for any broken bones.

The ornery old man pushed him away. “Cut that out. I ain’t dead, so help me up.”

“Was it Pritchard?”

Jacob rubbed his head. “Don’t rightly know since whoever it was came up behind me. Gave me a good wallop, I reckon, since my head is banging like a hammer hitting stone.”

“He’s taken Sophia,” Adan said, his voice low. “Can you make it back to Bettye’s place?”

Jacob steadied himself and checked his gun. “Of course I can.” He wobbled and grabbed for Adan’s arm. “Or maybe you can just get me to the door.”

Adan pulled Jacob up and half carried, half dragged him across the road and up onto Bettye’s porch. At their knock, David opened the door with his own weapon at the ready.

“Jacob!”

Bettye came running and soon they had Jacob inside.

“Take care of him,” Adan said. “I’ve got some of the sheriff’s men coming to help me do an immediate search.”

“Good luck,” David called. “Be careful.”

Adan nodded and took off. Then he saw several cars coming up the mountain road. At least he had reinforcements. He only hoped it wasn’t too late.

* * *

S
OPHIA
HEARD
VEHICLES
circling the winding road, several of them, from the flash of highlights she saw. Glancing back at Joe, she steeled herself for his reaction.

He stopped and jerked her around. “What have you done?”

“Me?” Her surprise was sincere. “How could I have done anything? I’ve been traipsing around with you for over an hour.”

“You deliberately brought me back here,” he said. “That was a bad decision, sunshine.” Grabbing her by the arm, Joe twisted her around so quickly pain shot through her body.

“I ought to beat the tar out of you right here,” he said. “You never did know how to follow directions.”

“No, I didn’t,” she said, trying with all her might to find something to hit him with. “But I’m telling you, the path to the car is that way.”

She pointed to the one path she knew would get him what he wanted. And while they walked that path, she’d find a way to either kill him or run from him as fast as she could.

“Don’t be playing with me,” Joe warned on a low growl.

“I’m not,” she said, her nerves shot with anger and frustration. “Let’s get going before that search party gets here.”

Joe poked her with the rifle. “Get on up that path. Now!”

Sophia looked back toward the approaching vehicles, her one prayer that they would follow Joe and her straight to the hidden car. Then it occurred to her that she could make things easy for Adan and the search party by leaving clues. While they talked, she broke dry twigs and scraped her boots over muddy earth to leave a definite print.

“Joe, what did you do when you woke up? After I left you?”

He grunted and coughed. “What do you think I did? I had to get to a hospital, but I was a wanted man.”

“You’ve always been a wanted man,” she said, her hand snagging a branch that had slapped at her light sweater.

“Shut up on that,” he whispered. “If you had just stuck with the plan, we’d both be somewhere else right now.”

Or she’d be dead.

“I didn’t like the plan from the get-go,” she retorted. “I didn’t want to be a part of any robbery.”

“But you sure liked being married to me.”

Sophia dug her heel in the moist dirt left over from the snow. Dug it and pretended the soft earth was Joe Pritchard’s head under her shoe. “I kind of got over that, too.”

He knocked her off her feet. “You made a big mistake, leaving me for dead. I’ve had to hide out for years. I don’t think I can just let you get away with something like that.”

Sophia lay there, catching her breath, her hand around her neck, on the blue scarf Bettye had crocheted for her. She slowly pulled it into her right hand. With her other hand, she lifted up onto her knees and then pushed up to stand. She left the scarf lying there on the path for Adan to find.

* * *

A
DAN
GATHERED
THE
half dozen law enforcement people and explained the situation. “We have one man and one minor in custody.” He went over the details of Sean and Melissa’s involvement and turned to the sheriff. “You can take the boy in, but the girl came here to find her grandmother. I’ll make sure she gets back to where she belongs.”

The sheriff looked skeptical but nodded. “We got other fish to fry right now.” He instructed his men to spread out and stay near the perimeter of the small community. “In the morning, we’ll have hounds up here.” He turned to Adan. “We’ll get your man, Ranger Harrison.”

Adan nodded. “That’s my intention, too, sir.”

But he knew this would be like trying to find a diamond in the rocks. He took off along one of the beaten paths anyway, a deputy close behind him. While he walked, Adan wondered why he couldn’t just let go. He’d held back from any kind of relationship for almost five years. Determined to raise his daughter, he’d finally had to turn to his willing parents for help. This life didn’t work with raising children, especially if you were single.

What had he been thinking? That always getting his man was more important than being a good daddy? He thought about Joe Pritchard and the poor kid who was his son. Had Joe walked away from a young wife and left a toddler?

Adan closed his eyes for a moment, a scene of him laughing with Gaylen warming his insides. Then Sophia came into the picture, her smile beaming as she tugged at Gaylen’s hand.

Adan opened his eyes and blinked. Could that be possible? Could he overlook how she’d withheld this last important detail from him because she was so afraid to trust anyone?

Later
, he thought.
After this. After I finish this job and put Joe Pritchard in jail for good.

After an hour of walking through leftover snowdrifts and crossing streams that left his feet and legs numb, Adan turned to the deputy helping him. “I think we need to give up on this path and try another one.”

The deputy gave him a relieved nod. “I agree, sir.”

Adan did one last sweep of the area, his eyes now adjusted to the gray moonlight. When he found a dark looming shape about fifty feet away, he started toward it. “I see something,” he told the deputy.

They traipsed up a hillside to the odd-shaped mound. Winded and tired, Adan shined his light on what he hoped was that infernal car everyone wanted to find.

But it wasn’t a car.

“It’s a lean-to,” the deputy said, surprise mixed with disappointment in his words.

“Let’s search it.” Adan pushed forward, his gun ready. “Hello. Anyone inside?”

When no one responded, he held up his light. Signs of a doused campfire and a few open cans and small boxes indicated someone had been living here.

“I think we just found Joe Pritchard’s hideout,” he said.

“Want me to call it in?”

Adan nodded. “We need to process this place, but I can’t do that right now.”

“I’ll get it done,” the deputy offered. “Not much to see or find, but I can take pictures at least.”

“Good idea,” Adan replied. “You stay safe, okay?”

The deputy nodded. “I’ll be careful. We get this kind of work up here in the foothills all the time.”

Adan didn’t doubt that, but they had a desperate killer without any sense of conscience out here on the loose. With a desperate woman as his hostage. A woman who’d try to take matters into her own hands, no matter how scared she was.

“I’m gonna keep moving,” he told the deputy after they’d radioed the sheriff.

Soon he was alone in the quiet forest. He’d always been a loner and doing his job his way, on his own time, had always defined him and made him a good Ranger. So he listened and worked his way across the many meandering paths through the hills and valleys of Crescent Mountain.

Another hour had gone by and with each minute, his heart rate accelerated. Pritchard wanted Sophia but he also wanted that stolen money, too. Adan knew if push came to shove, Pritchard would kill the woman and take the cash.

Gritting his teeth against the cold and his own stubborn determination, Adan tried not to lose hope. He shined his penlight on the root-filled, rocky path. When his light hit something blue, he stopped, his breath hitching. Adan bent down and lifted the soft crocheted scarf, his heart pulsing with relief and dread.

Sophia’s favorite scarf. She’d told him Bettye had made it for her last Christmas. Adan held the scarf tightly coiled around his finger and inhaled the scents of almonds and oranges. Then he called in his location to the sheriff. Soon, he’d have backup to help him up the mountain.