Colton Cowboy Hideout (The Coltons of Texas, Book 7) Read online

  He suspected she’d been hiding out here not only from an armed man who wanted her father’s old watch, but also from getting on with the rest of her life.

  She’d had only a month of freedom after years of being in the witness protection program. Decisions had been made for her all of her life, first in foster care and then in protective custody. It had to be daunting to finally be free to make choices for herself and to try to figure out exactly what she wanted her life to be.

  Believing she was in love with him was too easy. She might be happy here for a couple of months, but eventually she would have realized she’d jumped too fast and she would want to explore being young and beautiful and completely unencumbered.

  He’d watched helplessly as Helen had turned her back on him and the twins. He didn’t want to see another woman walk away from them. He wasn’t going to give another woman the opportunity, especially one he knew was just too young to know what she really wanted.

  Still, the pain he’d caused had radiated from her beautiful eyes and cut him to his core. He cared about her deeply. He cared enough about her to push her away, to force her to find the life she deserved.

  Unable to go back to sleep, he got up and pulled on his jeans and a T-shirt and then grabbed his gun and padded into the living room. He sank down on the sofa and wondered what the morning might bring.

  Troy had said Josie could leave whenever she wanted. She was free to go home to Granite Gulch. She owed him and his girls nothing and he knew tonight he’d broken her heart completely.

  Would she pack up and leave when she woke up? Would she stay to see to it that the girls had their breakfast and then leave?

  An ache filled his chest as he thought about her not being in his life anymore. She’d take so much of the warmth in his heart with her. She’d steal away so much of the laughter when she left. She would definitely take a huge piece of his heart with her, but he couldn’t tell her that. The last thing he wanted was to give her any false hope that there could ever be something between them.

  Restless energy filled him and he got up off the sofa and paced the length of the living room several times. He didn’t even remember his heart being this heavy when Helen had walked out of their marriage.

  Knowing he needed to get some sleep before morning, he got off the sofa and walked down the hall. But instead of turning into his own room, he continued on down the hall. The need to take a peek at his sleeping daughters drove him into the nursery.

  As usual, Leigh slept on her tummy, her head turned to the side and her favorite blanket clutched in one hand. Lily slept on her back, sprawled as if she owned the bed and all the space around her.

  They loved Josie and he didn’t question that Josie loved them. She would have made a wonderful mother to them, if only she were even five years older...ten years older.

  The ache in his heart only expanded. Josie was right. If he kept himself closed off from the possibility of ever finding love again then his daughters would never know the love of a mother in their lives.

  But he couldn’t make his romantic decisions based on his daughters. And he couldn’t love Josie Colton. He refused to love her. He turned away from the cribs and stared at the partially opened doorway that led into Josie’s room.

  The light was out and no sound came from within. He’d heard her weeping after she’d run from his room. Each one of her sobs, every one of her tears, had ripped at his heart.

  He stared at the doorway, and just as he’d needed to get a glance of his daughters, he wanted to look at Josie while she slept. For all he knew, he might never get the opportunity again to gaze at her while she was vulnerable.

  He crept to the doorway and peered inside. The bright moonlight gave him a perfect view of the bed...the very empty bed. His brain worked to make sense of the fact that she wasn’t in the room. She hadn’t been in the guest bathroom when he’d passed by it.

  She was gone.

  A wild panic hurtled through him. Had she sneaked out of the suite and to her car and driven away? Or had she gone after that damn watch all alone in the middle of the night?

  He walked over to a drawer where he knew she’d kept her things and pulled it open. Empty. She had definitely packed up her things, but had she left the property?

  He hurried back to his room, where he turned on the bedside light, grabbed his keys from the nightstand and then raced for the front door. Under most circumstances he would never, ever leave his girls alone for a single minute, but this wasn’t most circumstances.

  Besides, it would take him only a couple of minutes at the most to see if Josie’s car was still parked outside. He hurried down the hallway toward the door that led outside, his heart beginning an unnatural racing rhythm.

  He opened the door and his worst thoughts were realized. Her car was still there, but she was nowhere in sight. He turned and hurried back down the hallway.

  Once inside the suite he didn’t hesitate to grab his phone and call Peggy. Despite the lateness of the hour, she answered on the second ring, sounding alert and wide-awake.

  “Peggy, I need you.” His voice cracked with emotion he hadn’t yet processed. “I think Josie is in trouble.”

  “I’ll be right there.”

  Tanner hung up and grabbed his holster. He slung it on around his waist and shoved his gun into it. His heart now thundered with barely suppressed fear.

  Why hadn’t she asked him to go with her to get the watch? Why would she take off all alone in the dark of night? The answers were easy. It was because she didn’t trust him anymore. It was because he’d broken her heart.

  Damn her for putting herself at risk to make a dying serial killer happy. He could only hope the gunman wasn’t on the property and hadn’t seen her take off on her own.

  He grabbed a flashlight from beneath the kitchen sink counter and then stood in the middle of the living room with every muscle tensed as he waited for Peggy to arrive. When had Josie left the suite? Had it been the sound of her going out the door that had awakened him?

  How long ago had that been? Twenty minutes? Thirty?

  He was half-frantic by the time Peggy arrived. “I don’t know how long I’ll be gone. Feel free to sleep on the sofa until I get back. I just couldn’t leave the girls here all alone.”

  “Of course you couldn’t. Go,” she exclaimed. “Go do whatever it is you need to do and don’t worry about things here. Just make sure Josie is safe.”

  Tanner nodded and then hurried out the door. Yes, he definitely wanted to keep Josie safe. When he reached the outside, he headed for the stable where he kept Beau. Josie was on foot and hopefully he could catch up with her if he was on horseback. He wanted to get to her before she got to that cursed tree.

  He’d like to take one of the trucks, but at this time of night he feared he’d awaken everyone in the big house and he wouldn’t put it past Fowler to fire him. Besides, the horse would be almost as fast.

  He saddled Beau in record time and then mounted and took off across the pasture. In spite of Zane’s added security, he saw nobody as he rode hell-bent for leather toward the wooded area in the distance.

  Even without an armed man hunting for her, Josie could encounter all kinds of troubles in the dark in the woods. She was unfamiliar with the area. She could fall and break a leg or slip and knock herself unconscious.

  Or the creep who had been shadowing her could find her again...find her out here alone and vulnerable. His fear for her exploded through his veins. His one driving thought was to get to her as quickly as possible. His single driving need at the moment was to make sure she was okay.

  Once again he wondered when she had left the suite. How long of a head start did she have on him? With every second he didn’t see her, his heart beat faster.

  The heat of the night nearly suffocated him. Or was it his fear for her that closed up the back of his throat and made his chest heavy and breathing difficult?

  It seemed to take forever to ride across the pasture even though h
e knew it had taken him only a few minutes. When he reached the edge of the woods, he got off Beau and tied the reins to a low tree branch. Then he set off on foot with the flashlight beam leading the way.

  He’d hoped to catch up to her before now. Was she already at the tree? If she was, then hopefully she was there all alone and he’d run into her as she was heading back to the ranch.

  He moved as quickly as possible through the trees and shrub. He didn’t bother to call her name. He didn’t trust she would answer him. If she’d wanted him with her she wouldn’t have left all alone; she would have asked him to accompany her.

  At least the woods weren’t filled with her screams. His stomach clenched at the very thought of her ever having a reason to scream.

  He was within twenty yards of the tree when the sound of voices broke the silence. All of his muscles tensed and he quickly turned off the flashlight.

  “I didn’t find anything.” Josie’s strained voice rose in volume. “It was supposed to be here, but it wasn’t.”

  “Don’t lie to me, girl.”

  Tanner instantly recognized the deep snarl. He pulled his gun and crept closer, needing to get a visual on the situation. He slid behind a tree trunk and peeked around it.

  His heart felt like it stopped. Josie stood on his left and the man stood to his right with his gun leveled at Josie’s chest. Danger crackled in the air like the precursor of a lightning strike.

  “I’m not lying,” she said to him. “My father is the liar. He told us the watch was here, but it isn’t. I don’t know where it is. I don’t even believe there was a watch.”

  “Then what are you doing out here in the middle of the night?” the man asked.

  If only Tanner could maneuver to get behind the man, then he might have a good chance to take him down without putting Josie at risk.

  “Empty your pockets,” the man demanded.

  “Go to hell,” Josie replied. Tanner stifled a groan. She was tempting fate! Mentally he begged her to comply with the man. Why was she arguing with him with a gun pointed at her chest?

  “You can either empty your pockets yourself or I’ll kill you and empty them for you.”

  Knowing he couldn’t wait any longer, Tanner stepped out from behind the tree trunk. Everything happened in the snap of an eyelid. The man leaped forward, wrapped an arm around Josie’s neck and shoved the gun under her chin as he stared at Tanner.

  Josie’s eyes were huge and seemed to plead with him to do something—anything—but as long as the barrel of the man’s gun kissed her slender throat they were at a standoff. There was no way Tanner could take a chance that the man wouldn’t pull the trigger.

  “Let her go,” Tanner demanded.

  The man laughed, an ugly, gravelly sound. “You sound like you think you’re in control here. How about you drop your gun or I’ll blow her head off.”

  “And then I’ll shoot you and you’ll be dead,” Tanner countered, his nerves firing hot inside him.

  The man cocked his head as if he were thinking about it. “That’s true, but she’ll still be dead, too. Are you willing to make that kind of a sacrifice?”

  Not in a million years. Tanner weighed his options and realized he had none. The man could have shot her and killed her already. Tanner had to believe the last thing this man wanted was to commit cold-blooded murder.

  “I’ll put down my gun and you let her go,” he finally said.

  “How about you put your gun down and she gives me the watch,” he replied. “Once I have the watch then the two of you can walk away from this without getting hurt. I don’t want to hurt anyone, but I will if I have to.”

  “I told you...” Josie began but stopped as he shoved his gun barrel into her skin.

  Tanner wanted to kill the man. He wanted to wrap his hands around his neck and squeeze until the life went out of him as he saw Josie wince with pain. But he couldn’t do that. He couldn’t do anything.

  “Josie, it’s not worth it,” Tanner said desperately. “If you found the watch then give it to him now.” He could only hope there was some sort of honor among thieves and once the man had the watch he’d let them both go.

  Slowly, with great trepidation, he lowered his gun, bent down and placed it on the ground next to him. He straightened. “Your turn.”

  The man pulled the gun barrel from the bottom of her chin but kept his arm wrapped tight around her neck. “Now, give me that damn watch before something bad happens to both you and your boyfriend.”

  Tanner held his breath, hoping Josie had found the damn watch. He prayed she’d just give it to the man and this would all end here and now without anyone getting hurt.

  CHAPTER 12

  “Give it to me,” the man shouted in her ear.

  His arm tightened around her throat and Josie realized how much she wanted time to get to know her siblings better, how desperate she was to live her life.

  Tanner stood as still as a statue, but his eyes pleaded with her to do what the man said. The last thing she wanted was to get him hurt, but she also didn’t want to give the creep the watch. She wouldn’t let him win.

  “Damn you, girl, give it to me now,” the man exclaimed.

  Josie did just that. She pulled the small knife from her pocket, and with a prayer for strength, she plunged it into his upper thigh.

  He screamed like an enraged bull and released his hold on her. She slammed her fist into his hand and his gun fell to the ground. Tanner was on him in a hot minute.

  With a roar, Tanner tackled him as she stumbled out of the way. She might have wounded the man, but she certainly hadn’t hurt him enough to disable him.

  She watched in horror as the two men grappled on the ground. They rolled over and over, crashing into the nearby bushes with first one man on top and then the other.

  Her heart beat frantically and fear trembled through her body and tasted bitter in the back of her throat. Now her fear wasn’t for herself, but for Tanner.

  She’d been a reckless fool to come out here alone and now she’d put the man she loved in danger. Her fault; this was all her fault.

  The two men rose to their feet, but the battle wasn’t done. Tanner smashed his fist into the man’s face and in turn received a blow to his chin that reeled him backward. “Tanner,” she cried out.

  Fists continued to fly and finally the terror that had kept her frozen in place snapped and she hurried over to where Tanner had placed his gun on the ground and she picked it up.

  “Stop!” she screamed. “Stop it, both of you.” She pointed the gun at them, but there was so much movement and so much shadowed darkness, she was afraid to fire it, terrified she would accidentally shoot Tanner.

  Tears of frustration, of panicked horror, blurred her vision. She should have given the man the watch when he’d first demanded it. She should have never let things get so out of control.

  She cried out as the man punched Tanner in his eye. Tanner responded with an uppercut that threw the man backward on the ground. Tanner surged forward to attack once again, but the man grabbed his gun, got to his feet and quickly disappeared into the darkness of the night.

  Tanner ran to her side and grabbed the gun from her. He pointed it in the direction the man had fled for several long moments and then he threw his arm around her shoulder. “Come on.”

  As they raced back Tanner kept his gun pointed all around them, before them and behind them. Her heart beat so hard it was as if the organ was splintering her ribs.

  Blood flowed down the side of Tanner’s face from a cut in his eyebrow and he breathed in harsh pants as they continued to run through the trees.

  They exploded out of the woods and Tanner’s horse awaited them. He jammed the gun into his holster, untied the horse and then quickly mounted.

  “Give me your arm,” he said urgently. “I’ll pull you up and you swing your leg over to sit in the saddle behind me.”

  She moved close enough and he grabbed her by the upper arm, and through sheer brute streng
th he pulled her up and into the saddle.

  She wrapped her arms tight around his waist as he kicked his heels into the horse’s sides and the horse shot forward. She squeezed her eyes tightly closed and hung on for dear life as they galloped across the dark landscape.

  Tears chased each other down her cheeks as she buried her face in his back. She had no idea how badly he’d been hurt. The sight of his blood had terrified her. He’d been hit multiple times in the face and on his body.

  Because of her.

  Because she hadn’t given up the watch immediately.

  Why had he come after her in the first place? Why had he put himself at risk for her? And where were Lily and Leigh at this time of the night? Oh, God, why had she been so foolish?

  “Don’t shoot,” Tanner yelled and reined in his horse.

  She lifted her head to see they were nearly at the stable and a man on horseback had a rifle pointed in their direction.

  “Tanner...is that you?”

  “It’s me, Steve.” Tanner pulled his horse to a halt.

  “Jeez, man, you nearly got your head shot off. What are you all doing out here in the middle of the night and what in the hell happened to your face?”

  “It’s a long story. We just want to get back inside the suite. I’ll fill you in later.” They continued toward the stable.

  Once inside the dimly lit structure, he helped her off the horse and pointed to a nearby wooden bench. “Sit. This will just take me a minute.”

  She didn’t argue with him. Her legs didn’t feel as if they could hold her up another minute. She sat on the bench and watched silently as he unsaddled his horse.

  In the light the blood on his face looked even more horrifying, and a dark shadow had already appeared around his eye. He moved quickly, and when the horse was in a stall, he turned to her and gestured for her to stand up.

  “I didn’t mean to involve you in this,” she finally said as they left the stable and headed toward the house.