The Cowboy Next Door: Includes a bonus novella (Montana Strong Book 2)

by R. C. Ryan

  “Cinnamon rolls to go with your ham and eggs.”

  “You’re spoiling us, Penny.”

  “And that makes me happy.”

  Zachariah accepted a cup of steaming coffee and took a moment to breathe in the fragrance before drinking.

  Otis and Roscoe stepped in from the bunkhouse and Mary Pat came downstairs while Finn ambled into the kitchen, dressed for a day in his office in Haller Creek.

  Sam elbowed him. “Don’t you ever take a day off?”

  Finn shrugged. “After a trial like the one we just finished, an ordinary day at work will seem like a vacation.”

  “It’s not exactly the same as a margarita on a sandy beach.”

  “Highly overrated, bro. All that sand between your toes. And sunburn.”

  The two shared a grin.

  While the family ate, Penny moved her food around her plate and let the jokes and conversation flow around her. When at last they all pushed away from the table, with Mac fussing about Mary Pat’s safety on the road, Sam waited until the others left before crossing to Penny at the sink.

  He slid his arms around her waist and drew her back against him, nibbling the sensitive skin of her neck. “Sure you don’t want to come with me?”

  She shook her head. “I’ve had time to think about what you said last night. It’s better if you go alone. That way, you and Curtis can talk man to man and feel free to speak your minds. I’d just be in the way.”

  “Money, you’re never in the way.” He turned her into his arms and covered her mouth with his.

  When they came up for air, he smiled. “Maybe I can finish this business with your brother sooner than expected, and once we go to the bank and then meet Dex to pay off his debt, I can come back here before the others get home and we’ll…talk.”

  That put a smile on her lips and a glint of laughter in her eyes. “Uh-huh. We’ll…talk?”

  He shrugged. “If we’re lucky, we may even find time for something more.”

  She pulled his face close and kissed him. “I like the way you think, cowboy.”

  He framed her face before slowly kissing her. “Hold that thought, Money.”

  As he walked from the room, she ran to the window and watched as he climbed into one of the ranch trucks and drove away.

  Turning back to the sink, she was humming a little tune and thinking of the relief Curtis would feel when Sam offered to clear his debt.

  Sam followed the gravel driveway leading to the Lazy K ranch that seemed to go on for half a mile or more. He’d expected to find Curtis standing outside the property line, waiting to meet with Dex. Instead, finding no sign of either Dex or Curtis, Sam pulled up alongside the first of several barns and stepped out of his truck.

  Inside, he caught sight of one of the wranglers who had been with Curtis at the Hitching Post the previous night.

  “’Morning.” Sam strolled over. “Know where I can find your buddy Curtis?”

  The bearded cowboy leaned on his pitchfork and gave him a long, steady stare. “Who wants to know?”

  “My name’s Sam Monroe.”

  “I saw you last night at the Hitching Post in Haller Creek.”

  Sam nodded. “I was there with Curtis’s sister, Penny.”

  A grin creased the cowboy’s face. “She was one spittin’ mad female. Reminded me of a cat tossed in a rain barrel.”

  Sam chuckled. “Yeah. That about sums up Penny when she realized what a mess Curtis was in. I told her I’d help out her brother.”

  The wrangler’s eyes widened. “That’s decent of you. But you’re too late.”

  “Too late?”

  “Curtis is gone.”

  “To meet Dex?”

  The cowboy gave a short laugh. “Not if he can help it.”

  “What does that mean?”

  The wrangler turned away and hung his pitchfork on a hook along the wall. “On the ride home last night we tried telling Curtis that our boss doesn’t hold with drinking and gambling. But as usual, he just had to find out the hard way. That about sums up his life so far. When Curtis told Everett Noble, the ranch foreman here at the Lazy K, about the trouble he was in and made an offer to work for the next year at half the pay if he could get an advance to cover his debts, he was fired.”

  Sam’s heart plummeted. Curtis was learning some hard lessons. He glanced around. “Will I find him in the bunkhouse?”

  The cowboy shook his head. “He’s long gone.”

  “Gone where?”

  The wrangler shrugged. “I didn’t ask. He didn’t say. He just packed up his duffel and left. And if he’s smart, he’ll hightail it out of the entire state of Montana before he slows down. If Dex Cantrel catches up with him, poor Curtis won’t be able to walk. Hell, from what I’ve heard about Cantrel, Curtis will be lucky if he can still breathe.”

  With gritted teeth Sam walked back to his truck and climbed inside. On the long drive back to the ranch, he fumed over this latest twist.

  Penny would be worried sick about her brother and the lack of information Sam was able to glean. And from what he’d seen so far, Curtis wasn’t the kind of man who would call his sister to let her know where he landed just to ease her mind.

  Curtis might be lucky enough to outrun Dex for the moment. But unless he put a thousand miles between them and gave up pool hustling forever, the two were bound to meet up again one day.

  With Dex’s reputation on the line, he would move heaven and earth to collect the ten-thousand-dollar debt, knowing unless he did, the next kid who came along in some seedy bar would try to pull the same stunt.

  Sam didn’t like Curtis’s odds. He could run, but he couldn’t hide. Sooner or later he’d be caught. And when he was, playing pool would be the least of his worries. He’d be lucky to get out of this mess alive.

  Penny put the first loaves of cheese bread in the oven to bake. Two more were on the counter, rising under linen towels. They would be perfect with the lasagna she was planning for supper. She’d already browned the beef, and it now simmered in the big pot of sauce on the stove.

  The house was redolent of Italian spices and the yeasty fragrance of bread baking.

  Instead of the usual hustle and bustle of the place, it felt oddly peaceful. Mary Pat had left right after breakfast. Mac, Roscoe, and Otis were in town. Zachariah was holed up in his room, catching up on his beloved legal reviews. The ebb and flow of a familiar Mozart concerto drifted through the closed door.

  She picked up a bucket of rags and cleaners and climbed the stairs, determined to stay as busy as possible, in order to keep her mind off Sam and Curtis.

  She knew her brother. Even though he would be relieved to have Sam’s offer of money, it would gall him to have to accept help. Being the youngest in the family, Curtis had always had this driving need to prove he could keep up with the others. When twelve-year-old Danny had managed to climb to the top of the ancient oak tree on their property, seven-year-old Curtis had crawled up to the roof of their house and fallen to the ground. Instead of learning his lesson, within a week of the cast being removed from his broken leg, he’d walked like a high-wire acrobat across the narrow railing of the bridge over a nearby creek. He’d tumbled into the foaming water spilling over the rocks below and had been knocked unconscious. If not for Danny and Cooper, he’d have drowned.

  He’d always been wild and reckless. And though she’d done everything from punishing him to begging him to change, there was just something in him that made him test every boundary.

  And though his brothers had always played by the rules, and she loved them for it, Penny knew in her heart that she loved this rulebreaker just as much. It was true she worried over him, and probably always would. It was also true that she despaired of ever seeing him settle down like other adults. But she loved her wild, unconventional, daredevil brother so much it hurt. And right now, all she wanted for him was to be safe.

  At least this time he would be. Thanks to Sam.

  She paused in her work.
<
br />   And hadn’t Sam told her that Curtis was a lot like him?

  A little laugh issued from her throat as the thought blossomed inside her. Of course. And that’s another reason why she loved Sam. That wild, reckless side of him was so at odds with her determination to play by the rules. But despite their differences, he’d proven himself to be a man of honor. Honest, straight-talking, and willing to give Curtis a hand while he figured out how to be a man.

  She was smiling as she descended the stairs carrying a bucket of rags and cleaners.

  When the back door opened, sending a gust of wind to rattle the cabinet door, she turned, arms laden with rags. “I didn’t expect any of you back so…”

  The rest of the words she’d been about to say died in her throat.

  It wasn’t Mac, or Roscoe, or Otis.

  The stranger in the doorway was tall, dressed in a rumpled suit that had seen better days. His dark hair was long and stringy beneath a black knit cap. His eyes were dark and narrowed on her with a feral look that had her heart leaping to her throat.

  In his hand was a pistol.

  A pistol aimed directly at her heart.

  Chapter Twenty-Three

  Reacting on instinct, Penny began to turn away, hoping to scream and alert Zachariah. A big hand closed over her mouth while an arm encircled her waist. She was lifted off her feet and hauled, kicking furiously, out the door, where a truck stood idling beside the back porch.

  She was thrust into the passenger side and restrained with plastic zip ties on her wrists and ankles. She screamed in terror. Though the plastic bit into her tender flesh, she lifted her feet and bucked, hoping to kick out a window.

  Swearing a blue streak, the man withdrew a hypodermic needle from his pocket and stabbed it into her upper arm.

  “Let’s see you fight now.” It was a voice she’d never heard before.

  Her vision blurred, and she could feel her movements begin to slow. She could no longer kick her legs. She moved her mouth but made no sound. Within seconds she was unable to sit up. She could feel her body sliding bonelessly to the floor of the front seat.

  An engine roared, and the truck was moving.

  Penny struggled to focus. Somewhere in the far recesses of her brain, she sensed that it was imperative that she get away. Nobody would ever know where she’d gone. But it was a fleeting thought as her mind began to shut down.

  She whimpered once, before falling down a long tunnel of darkness.

  The long drive back from the Lazy K gave Sam plenty of time to work through the wave of self-disgust at the way things had turned out. He’d been so sure of arriving in plenty of time to catch Curtis and get him to the bank and back, he hadn’t even given a thought to what he’d do if Curtis wasn’t there. Hell, where could he be?

  Sam’s attempts to phone Penny had gone unanswered. He’d left her several messages, but he still hadn’t heard from her.

  It had never occurred to Sam to ask Penny for her brother’s cell phone number before leaving home. So far, he’d been unable to locate Curtis, and he hadn’t been able to call him.

  By the time he arrived home, he was seething with frustration.

  As he pulled up to the back porch, Mac, Otis, and Roscoe were just stepping out of their truck, laughing and chatting after their visit to town.

  Mac walked up to Sam. “Where’re you coming from, son?”

  Sam shrugged. “I’ll tell you later. Right now I need to see Penny.”

  He took the porch steps two at a time and slammed into the mudroom. Seeing the pile of dirty rags, he paused for just a moment before storming into the kitchen.

  Before he could call out, he stared in horror at the smoke pouring from the oven. He pulled open the oven door just as the others stepped into the room.

  “What the hell…?”

  Seeing smoke billowing, Otis raced across the room to open the window.

  Hearing the ruckus, Zachariah opened his door and peered out. “What’s all the commotion out here? And what’s that godawful smell?”

  “Smoke.” Using a towel, Sam hauled out the burned loaves of bread and tossed them out the window before setting the pot of burned meat sauce in the sink and turning on the taps. It sent a cloud of steam rising above the sink.

  “Where’s Penny?”

  Zachariah scratched his head. “How would I know? If she isn’t in the kitchen, she’s probably cleaning upstairs.”

  Sam stormed up the stairs and returned minutes later. “She isn’t there. Not that I thought she would be. It isn’t like Penny to neglect her chores. First those dirty rags and now the food. Something’s wrong here.”

  Mac’s head came up sharply. “What are you getting at, son?”

  Sam shook his head. “I don’t know. None of this makes any sense. First her brother and now…”

  Mac held up a hand, interrupting him. “Penny’s brother?”

  “I drove to the Lazy K this morning, hoping to get Curtis out of a jam.”

  Mac’s eyes narrowed. “What sort of jam?”

  As quickly as possible Sam explained about the pool game and the amount of money Curtis had lost.

  Mac listened before asking, “And how were you planning on helping him?”

  “I thought I’d take him to the bank and lend him the money to pay Dex Cantrel. But Curtis got fired from his job and left town.”

  “Did Penny know?”

  Sam shook his head. “She and her brother had a falling out. I doubt Curtis would have admitted to her that he’d lost his job over this and was leaving town. She was already mad at him for gambling and drinking.”

  “If she isn’t with her brother, where could she have gone?”

  Sam looked around. “The better question is, how could she have left?” He started toward the door. “I’ll check in the barn to see if her ancient car or any of the trucks are gone.”

  Otis put a hand on his arm to stop him. “I’ll go. You stay here.”

  While he was gone, Sam walked to the mudroom and studied the pile of rags.

  Minutes later Otis returned to say, “The car and trucks are there. Nothing looks out of place.”

  “But this does.” Sam pointed.

  At the blank look on their faces he said, “What’s the one thing we’ve all noticed about Penny?”

  Mac nodded in understanding. “She’s neat as a pin.”

  “Exactly.” Sam started pacing. “I can’t think of any reason she would drop a pile of rags here. Or allow those loaves of bread and spaghetti sauce to burn. Unless…”

  “Something or someone forced her to,” Mac finished for him.

  Sam was already dialing his brother.

  “Ben.” He put his phone on speaker, and the others stood by while he explained what they’d found at the ranch. “I’m thinking Dex Cantrel couldn’t collect from Curtis, so he decided to kidnap Penny to flush her brother out of hiding.”

  In the blink of an eye Ben’s voice switched from concerned brother to that of an efficient lawman. “I’ll pull up photos and descriptions of Dex Cantrel and Curtis Cash, and alert the state police and the local law enforcement in the area that both men are persons of interest.”

  “Let them know that Penny is missing, and I believe she’s been kidnapped.”

  “Bro, I can’t accuse a man of kidnapping without some sort of proof.”

  “I don’t have any proof, except this feeling in my gut that Penny didn’t leave here of her own free will.”

  “Did anybody there see her being taken?”

  His question was greeted with silence.

  Suddenly Otis spoke up. “What about that dirty truck we saw pulling onto the interstate ahead of us?”

  Roscoe and Mac nodded as Mac explained. “It appeared to be coming from this direction, and at the time we figured he’d made a wrong turn somewhere, since none of us recognized it.”

  “Did you see a woman in the truck?”

  All three men shook their heads.

  Ben’s voice came over the
speaker. “Can any of you describe the driver?”

  Otis shrugged. “I just caught a glimpse of his head. He was wearing one of those black knit caps. Underneath it, his hair was long. But I didn’t see anybody else in the truck. Just him.”

  Ben’s voice revealed a trace of disappointment. “That’s not much to go on. A lone man driving a dirty truck that may or may not have come from our ranch, or may have just been lost and made a wrong turn. I can’t ask the state boys for help with that one.”

  Sam was quick to say, “I know it’s a longshot, but at least mention it to them, Ben.”

  Ben’s voice switched yet again, from lawman to concerned brother. “Sam, stay close to the ranch, in case Penny returns or tries to reach you by phone.”

  “Like hell I will.” Sam studied the strained faces of the men standing around him. “The others can stay here. But I have to do something.”

  “The best thing you can do is trust that we’ll do the job we’re trained to do.”

  “Ben, I—”

  The line went dead.

  Sam stared at the phone, then turned away and began pacing from the kitchen to the mudroom and back.

  The others stood helplessly by, his frustration, pain, and outrage palpable.

  Two hours later, when Sam’s phone rang, he snatched it up. Seeing the sheriff’s office on his caller ID, he said, “Yeah, Ben.”

  “I paid a call on the Lazy K to learn whatever I could from the ranch foreman. Everett Noble told me Curtis was a good employee, but there had been rumors about his gambling, and when Everett learned the amount of his debt, he had to let him go. The state police have issued an APB on both Curtis and Dex. I expect to hear something positive within the next forty-eight hours.”

  “Forty-eight…” Sam couldn’t hide his disgust. “We’re talking about Penny’s safety. Maybe her life. We need to find her now, Ben.”

  “I know. And believe me, Sam, I know what you’re going through. But these things take time. Just trust us to find her.”