A Daring Proposal (21 page)

When he pulled back, he pressed the tape over her mouth then squeezed her jaw until tears filled her eyes. “I wish we had time for more, but, I have preparations to make before hubby gets here.”

The chill that filled her since the moment Smitty put a gun to her head became an iceberg. Tied and muzzled; how was she supposed to keep Jed safe?

***

Jed had wanted with every fiber of his being to rush out after Chaney himself. Knowing where she was had made it hell waiting for backup, but he wasn’t stupid. If he rushed in alone, he would be playing right into Smitty and his partner’s hands. So, he’d waited for Steve. Then they came up with a plan. They rode toward the cabin. He’d also called the sheriff and told him a place they could meet.

Steve signaled to Jed that his phone had buzzed. After they reined the horses to a stop and Steve spoke for a m
oment, he handed Jed the phone.

“Where and when?”

“Thirty minutes at the old cabin.”

“Is he alone?”

“It wasn’t Smitty,” Dale told him.

“What?”

“I said--”

“I know what you said. Who was it?” Jed’s fear vaporized what little patience he had been able to control.

“I don’t know. I didn’t recognize the voice, but it wasn’t old and rough like Smitty’s. The man said, ‘Hope you’ve got a fast horse. Then Chaney yelled something about it being a trap.”

Jed tensed when he heard the weighted pause before his uncle continued. “What happened then?”

“I think, I think he hit her.”

Anger spiked through him tensing every muscle in his body. Sterling pranced sideways in response bringing Jed quickly back to focus. His uncle was talking again. Quieting the horse, Jed listened.

“. . . said, ‘Granddaddy’s cabin. Thirty minutes or you’ll never see her again.”

Jed stared off in the direction of the cabin before he replied. Anger and rage weren’t going to get Chaney back safe. He need
ed to think strategy and logic.

“Okay. You stay on guard there. We don’t know who, if anyone else is involved in this. Steve and I have a head start on getting to the cabin. That will give us time to check it out and find the best way to handle this.” He flipped the phone closed.

“We’ve got less than thirty minutes,” he told Steve as he rode up beside him. “Smitty didn’t place the call so we know we have more than one old man to deal with.”

“Do you know how many?”

“Not yet, but I called the sheriff earlier. He’s taking some men up the back way. He’ll call if he gets any more information before we get there.” He gave Sterling the slightest of touches and they bolted across the ground. Ten minutes later, they met up with the sheriff.

The cabin was on the east side of a stand of trees. It had been Chaney’s great grandfather’s first residence on the property, before he built the big house where she lived now. With most of the property containing low brush or nothing at all, this was the only place that provided protection from the relentless sun in the summer and gusting winds the rest of the year. It also offered a rare thing on the ranch. Privacy.

When he and Chaney were younger, he had often been glad for the man’s choice of location. The cabin held many of Jed’s best memories including some recent ones. Now it might offer nightmares for the future.

Shaking off the troublesome thoughts, he moved silently with the sheriff and Steve closer to the cabin. Behind some wild berry bushes, and a good distance from the structure, they came upon an SUV. The sheriff had already run the plates and was waiting for a response. They disabled the vehicle and moved on.

Before they broke from the trees, the sheriff signaled them to a halt. He pulled out his beeper. Jed’s impatience at waiting had him flexing his hand into a fist over and over.

“The vehicle is registered to a Cain Burton. He’s got prior arrests for fraud and theft, but no convictions,” the sheriff whispered. “Anyone recognize the name?”

Jed nodded. “I think Chaney was talking to him the day of your wedding, Steve. Something about telling him and Pike she wasn’t interested in selling the ranch,” he said.

“Damn,” Steve hissed. “I remember the name now. He’s the clerk Pike hired about a year ago. I thought Pike had fired him a while back. In fact, I’m sure of it. Pike mentioned the guy carrying on so much he had to call security.”

“That’s not a good sign,” the sheriff said. “He obviously doesn’t take rejection well.”

Jed took little comfort in the fact that the sheriff didn’t say more. He also knew that though there weren’t charges of assault or worse, it didn’t mean they hadn’t happened. If the guy had gotten away with other crimes before, and had now moved on to kidnapping, he figured the bastard was feeling invincible. Anything could happen.

Everyone nodded their heads at the sheriff’s comments. They started moving toward the cabin again. After only a few steps, Jed tripped over something. As he fell forward, his hands landed on something warm and soft. He pulled his hand back and stared hard at the ground in front of him. It wasn’t ground, though. It was a body.

“Damn,” he said in a harsh whisper. “It’s Smitty.”

The sheriff came up beside Jed. He quickly examined the body. “His throat’s been cut. Hasn’t been dead long. Looks like Burton doesn’t want to share the ranch.”

To Jed it meant the threat Burton had made about the deed in thirty minutes or Chaney wouldn’t live was not an idle one. He had to get a plan in motion and soon. They were running out of time. “Stay here, I’m going up to
try and see inside the cabin.”

He didn’t give anyone time to argue with him. His back pressed against the wall of the cabin Jed eased his way to the closest window. He knew the layout hadn’t changed over the years having been inside just a couple of weeks before. The outside appearance would have led him to that conclusion anyway. This window would give him the best view of the interior, and with a broken pane, he could hear as well. The light shining through the window told him Burton or Smitty must have brought a lantern of some kind, because there hadn’t been a serviceable one when he and Chaney were there. He stopped moving mere inches from the window and listened before chancing a look.

“Well, darlin’, looks like we’ve still got about ten minutes before your honey gets here.”

Hoping the man faced Chaney while he spoke, Jed peeked through the window. What he saw turned his blood to ice and very nearly ruined any chance of surprise they had. He had used tape to cover Chaney’s mouth and tied her hands and feet to the cot. Burton sat beside her with his hand on Chaney’s thigh.

“I can think of several enjoyable ways to spend the time,” Burton said and Jed watched the man inch his hand further up Chaney’s leg. “Then again, that would be adultery. Maybe we should wait until after I take care of Mr. Sampson. Then we can take our time and really enjoy ourselves.” The man stroked his hand further up Chaney’s thigh causing Jed’s blood to boil.

“Then again, I guess adultery is a small concern with all the other little sins I’ve committed,” Burton said.

Jed’s jaw clenched so hard pain sliced through his skull as he watched the man slide both hands up her hips and over her stomach. The only thing that eased the pain was the way Chaney dealt with the man. She didn’t shy away or even squirm. She lay there, still as a stone and refused to give him the satisfaction of knowing she was scared.

That’s my girl,
Jed thought as the man’s hands stopped just below her breasts. Jed didn’t know if he could stop himself from jumping through the window if Burton hadn’t stopped there. A dozen torturous ways to make the man pay for what he was doing popped into Jed’s mind. They would have to wait. What he needed to do first was get Chaney out of there safely

He scanned the rest of the cabin and found Burton and Chaney alone. Taking one more moment, he looked back toward the cot.

“Then again, what I have planned will probably have you screaming. We wouldn’t want to upset hubby prematurely now would we? I guess I’ll just have to be patient.”

Jed swallowed the hate building in his throat. A moment later, he turned and made his way
back to the sheriff and Steve.

“He’s alone. Less than ten minutes left. I’ll get Sterling and come up to the front. Have the men spread out around the perimeter but stay in the trees,” he told the sheriff. “You and Steve take up places on either side of the porch. I’ll draw him outside and you guys can take it from there.”

While Steve and the sheriff spread the word, Jed took off through the trees to get Sterling. It didn’t take him long. Only two minutes passed before they waited in front of the cabin. A moment before he opened his mouth to call Burton, Jed remembered he was supposed to think he was dealing with Smitty.

“I’m here, Smitty,” he yelled as he slid out of the saddle. “Bring Chaney out and I’ll give you the deed. All I want is my wife. I don’t give a damn a
bout this land. You know that.”

He waited. No response.

“Come on, Smitty. I--”

The door opened but no one came out. He couldn’t see anything through the darkness inside. Burton must have doused all the lights. Jed also couldn’t see if Steve and
the sheriff were in place yet.

“Hurry, Mr. Sampson. I think the old man did something to your wife. She’s not moving.”

Terror raced through Jed’s veins obliterating all intelligent thought. He had to get to Chaney and make sure she and the baby were all right. Dropping Sterling’s reins, he bolted for the cabin. The next thing he knew, Jed was sprawled on the floor holding his head trying to stop the gong pounding inside it.

“Hello, Mr. Sampson.”

At the same moment Jed heard Burton, the man must have turned on the light again because brightness seared Jed’s eyes, blinding him. He kept trying to see where Chaney was. Between the bright light and pain in his head, he couldn’t focus. Not wanting the man to know how badly hurt he was, he forced down the nausea roiling in his stomach and tried to stand.

***

Chaney watched Jed pull himself to his knees then brace against the wall and stand. When he had charged through the darkened doorway, Burton tripped him and Jed sailed across the room. His head hit the woodstove and Chaney feared he’d been knocked unconscious. She should have known Jed Sampson had a head harder than cast iron.

It was several seconds before his eyes focused and he met her gaze. “Are you all right
?”

Chaney heard the concern in his voice and knew from experience it was in the depths of his eyes as well. She felt it to the tips of her toes. Even knowing it was more for the baby she carried th
an herself it warmed her heart.

“Yes,” she said through lips that still stung from Burton ripping off the tape.

“How touching,” Burton crooned. “Where’s the deed?”

Chaney felt a chill when Jed’s gaze left her and returned to the man standing beside her. When he lifted his chin as if to dare Burton to come and get it, she felt white-hot fear course thr
ough her veins.

“Give it to him, Jed. It isn’t worth your life.”

“Smart girl,” Burton replied, pressing his mouth close to her ear. “But if you knew anything about men in love, sweetheart, you would know it isn’t their life they care about.”

In an instant, he twisted her arm up and behind her as he hauled her closer to him. Then she felt the gun’s barrel pressed
behind her ear.

“Now, Mr. Sampson, the deed?”

Chaney had yelped at the unexpected pain when Burton jerked her arm back. In that moment, Jed had taken one step closer, but she held up her hand to hold him off. One thing she did not need was to see the love of her life shot to death in front of her.

It didn’t matter that Burton had it all wrong. Jed didn’t love her, only their baby. But that didn’t stop her from loving him. She had to think of some way to get him out of the mess she and her father had unwittingly made.

“Jed, give it to him,” she said, as the gun barrel pressed more firmly against her head raising her on tiptoe. “You were always good at giving the other team the ball on the field. You can certainly hand a piece of paper to a man standing still in front of you. Just give it to him.”

Having gone to every football game Jed ever played, Chaney knew he had never dropped a pass, fumbled, or turned over the ball to anyone. He was famous for his quick moves around the defense or bull-headedly running into them, over them or anything else that got him into the end zone. She hoped he got the message now.

“Give it to him?” His eyes questioned her but she saw a dawning of comprehension as well. “You want me to chuck and run? Like a coward?”

Tuck and run was the correct term and she almost laughed at his twist on the play name, but cowardice had nothing to do with it. Slowly, praying Burton didn’t notice her movement Chaney lifted her right foot
several inches off the ground.

“Yes,” she squeaked when Burton jerked her even closer for affect.

“I guess you win, Burton. It’s her land. She’s the boss. I always do what she says.”

The minute the words were out of his mouth, Chaney knew he would do the opposite of what she said especially after her earlier accusations. He wouldn’t run. He was going to fight.