West Texas Match (The West Texans Series #1)

by Ginger Chambers

  His expression was grim as he slipped behind the wheel. “Inez says Jodie and Rio were there earlier this morning. When they left, it was in Rio’s truck. She’s not sure which way they went.”

  Gib let out a breath in frustration.

  “She did overhear one thing, though, when she served them coffee,” Rafe continued. “Jodie said something about Jennifer. She was telling Rio something Jennifer had said to her. Now I only know of one Jennifer that Jodie knows—Jennifer Cleary.”

  “She’s the only one I know, too,” Gib said, his face brightening with hope.

  In contrast Rafe’s lips tightened. “So Jennifer was lying when she said she didn’t know anything.” He started the engine.

  “She was protecting them,” Shannon said softly.

  “You bet she was,” Rafe agreed. He backed out of the space and shot off down the road, retracing their earlier path.

  Less than an hour later, Rafe turned into the road that led to the Cleary Ranch. It was miles from the Parker Ranch; only in the vastness of an area like West Texas ranch country could someone who lived so far away be considered a next-door neighbor.

  The differences between the two ranches was immediately apparent. The Cleary place was much showier. There was only one house, but it was huge and sprawling, its style of architecture very up-to-date. As Rafe pulled the car up to the front of the house, Shannon saw a glimpse of tennis courts and swimming pool to one side, and impeccable paddocks and formal horse stables on the other. Mr. Cleary was obviously a gentleman rancher.

  Rafe was out of the car almost before Shannon realized it had stopped. Gib rolled out afterward, pausing only when he noticed Shannon struggling with the door. He opened it for her, then hurried her down the packed gravel path, hard on Rafe’s heels.

  A maid answered the doorbell. She looked surprised when she saw that the visitors were the Parkers.

  “Jim here?” Rafe barked at her.

  The maid nodded and motioned them inside.

  The interior of the house was just as modern and sophisticated as the exterior. There was extensive use of wood and windows and richly colored area rugs. Furniture and keepsakes seemed to have been chosen as much for effect as for desire.

  Jim Cleary strode into the room. He was a large barrel-chested man in his late fifties. He wore crisply pressed gabardine slacks, a white Western shirt and unmarked boots. Combined with his mostly pink-and-white complexion, his appearance gave ample proof of the distance he kept from the daily operations of his ranch.

  He shook hands first with Rafe, then with Gib, reserving a nod for Shannon. “Have you found Jodie yet?” he asked.

  “Not yet,” Rafe said shortly. “That’s why we’re here. We think Jennifer knows more about this than she said. We’d like to talk to her.”

  Jim Cleary stared at Rafe a moment, before agreeing. “Sure...sure, I’ll go get her. I think she’s out working with one of her horses.” He motioned them into the sitting area two steps down. “Just make yourselves comfortable and I’ll be right back. Can Edna get you anything to drink? Coffee, orange juice?”

  The three visitors shook their heads and moved down to the sitting area. After the race to get there, it wasn’t easy to wait.

  “Jennifer shows horses,” Gib explained to Shannon after a few minutes spent sitting anxiously on the couch. “She’s won quite a few prizes. That’s some of ’em over there.” He motioned to a showcase filled with trophies and ribbons.

  More minutes passed, minutes during which Gib fidgeted and Rafe remained very still, as if preparing himself for what was to follow.

  Jim Cleary came back into the room, accompanied by a very pretty young woman with short brown hair and very blue eyes. Her gaze slid over the waiting group, avoiding lingering contact.

  Rafe stood up. “Hello, Jennifer.”

  She nodded tightly, her features set. Her father must have told her what Rafe had said, because she immediately denied it. “I don’t know anything,” she said. “The first I heard that Jodie was gone was when Mother woke me up this morning.”

  “This isn’t some kind of game, Jennifer,” Rafe told her. “It’s serious business. We don’t want Jodie to make a mistake she’s going to regret for the rest of her life. You don’t want that either, do you?”

  Jennifer flashed a glance at Gib. “No,” she said.

  “Did you talk to Jodie sometime last night, Jennifer?” Rafe asked.

  “Tell the truth,” her father urged.

  “Please, Jennifer,” Gib said.

  Jennifer’s face slowly crumpled in distress. “Not last night—this morning. I told her not to do it! That she was being stupid, crazy! But she wouldn’t listen!”

  Gib went over to her. “Where did she go? Did she tell you?”

  “She went with Rio. They’d made arrangements to meet at Inez’s place, if you—” she looked at Rafe “—ever made him leave the ranch. She called me last night, told me what had happened. Then this morning, just after daybreak, she woke me up by tossing pebbles at my window. She...she wanted money. All she had was the seventy-five dollars she’d saved. She knew I had more.”

  “How much more?” Rafe asked.

  “I gave her a hundred.”

  “And Rio has his pay.” Rafe frowned. “Where were they going? Did they have a destination in mind?”

  Jennifer nodded. “Jodie said they were going to a place where Rio’s older brother works—a ranch in New Mexico. The Bar L. Outside Ruidoso, I think. Rio wants to try to get hired on there. If not, he told Jodie he was going to ask his brother if he knew of a job anywhere else. Jodie said she hopes they don’t stop until they’re in Montana.”

  “The Bar L?” Jim Cleary repeated. “I know the owner. I’ve been there myself.”

  Rafe brought Shannon to her feet. “We’ll drop you off at the ranch and you can tell Mae and the others what’s happening, while Gib and I—”

  “I want to come with you, Rafe.”

  “Let her come,” Gib urged. “We may need a woman down the line. Jodie might appreciate it.”

  “Or she might hate me even more,” Shannon said. “But I still want to come. I feel I should.”

  “I’ll come, too!” Jennifer offered, trying to make amends.

  Her father shook his head. “I think you’ve done enough already, don’t you? I’m ashamed of you for not telling the truth in the first place.”

  “Jodie begged me not to tell!”

  “Jodie must not be thinking straight right now,” Jim Cleary said. “No, you stay put, Jennifer. But I have a proposition for you, Rafe. Let me take you in the Cessna. It’ll make quick work of the miles. They’re driving, right? Take them five, six hours to get there if they’re lucky, and even if we leave at noon, we’ll be there before they are. You can be waiting for them.”

  Rafe looked at his watch. Shannon saw from her own watch that it was close to eleven-thirty.

  Jim Cleary went on, “I feel I owe it to you, Rafe. Let me help.”

  “Can I use your phone?” Rafe asked. “I’ll need to tell Mae what’s going on.”

  “Sure thing. I’ll go see about getting the plane ready.”

  Shannon sat down again, and Gib took the place beside her. He reached over and lightly squeezed her hand, but Shannon wasn’t sure whether he was offering reassurance that they would indeed catch up to Jodie, or if he was in need of reassurance himself.

  ~*~

  Jim led the way to the runway and hangar that had been built a distance from his house. Shannon had no problem at first. Her mind was taken up with Jodie. Once they found her, what were they going to say? How were they going to handle it? Jodie wasn’t a baby to be brought back to the ranch kicking and screaming. Did Rafe have a plan? Did Gib? How would they make her listen?

  Shannon kept up with the others, her gaze focused on nothing definite. Then she saw it. Sitting out in the open. A small red-and-white twin-engine plane. And she felt her blood grow cold.

  Chapter Fourteen

  S
hannon continued to walk with the others, but she wasn’t aware of her steps. Her eyes were glued to the plane—a plane the same size and colors as the one she’d crashed in.

  She hadn’t expected to be afraid. Before the accident she’d loved to fly. After it she’d had bad dreams—but not about airplanes.

  Rafe turned to look at her, as if he sensed that something was amiss.

  She wanted to stop, to back away. To tell him she had changed her mind. All she wanted to do was get away from the replica of the craft that had robbed her of so much!

  Her memories were still vivid about what it was like to sit alone, the sole survivor in a crumpled fuselage. She knew what the sky looked like through a hole in the plane’s ceiling. She knew how fragile the metal skin could be, and what a crash could do to the bodies of passengers. What wings looked like shattered and broken off...

  They arrived at the short set of steps that led into the plane’s belly. The three men waited courteously for her to board first.

  Shannon took a deep breath and climbed the steps. They had only a small window of opportunity to catch up to Jodie. If the girl and Rio arrived first at Ruidoso and left before they were able to get there, there was no telling where the two of them would end up. Rio could easily find another job along the way, since, from what Shannon had learned of ranch work, foremen and owners were always on the lookout for a good hand.

  She fell into a seat near the front of the plane and closed her eyes for a few seconds, grateful that Jim Cleary had stopped on his way to the pilot’s seat to talk to Rafe and Gib. She had to get better control of herself. She couldn’t let fear gain the upper hand. If she did, she’d never be able to sit in a plane again.

  To her surprise Rafe settled into the seat next to her.

  “Won’t be long,” he said.

  She forced a smile and decided it was successful when Rafe didn’t examine her closer.

  “I’d rather we didn’t have to drag her back, but if we have to, we will,” Rafe said soberly.

  Shannon heard the engines start in preparation for takeoff. Her heartbeat seemed to be trying to keep pace. It was all she could do to sit still.

  She felt the plane move. Her muscles tensed. It’ll be all right. It’ll be all right! she kept repeating to herself.

  “Hey. You don’t have your seat belt on,” she heard Rafe say.

  She snapped the ends together, then gripped the armrests, striving to maintain control.

  “Shannon?” She heard Rafe say her name from a long way off.

  The plane picked up speed, then gained even more until, effortlessly, they were airborne. Which didn’t really help because, in the accident, the engine had failed while in the air, not on takeoff or landing.

  Gently her fingers were prized from the armrests, first one set, then the other, and clasped in a comforting warmth. She forced herself to look at him. Her hands were like ice in comparison to his. Her body was strung as tightly as a bowstring.

  “Why didn’t you say something?” Rafe asked huskily.

  Shannon’s breath caught as she tried to answer. Starting again, she said quietly, pride mixed with wonder, “I did it.”

  “Yes,” he murmured in complete understanding. And his dark eyes held a look she had never seen in them before: respect.

  ~*~

  The trip from state to state seemed to take forever. Shannon was in a far better frame of mind than when she’d started out, but she still found it difficult to relax completely. Every little sound the airplane made caught her attention. At the least bump or dip or deviation in the smoothness of the flight, she experienced the shrill fear that they were going down. She didn’t dare close her eyes. If she did, the plane might crash.

  Long after her hands had warmed, Rafe kept possession of them, and she didn’t fight him.

  Finally, Jim Cleary hollered back, “We’re almost there,” he said. “Luckily the owner of the Bar L has a landing strip just like mine. We can set down there and not have to hunt out an airport. Save some time.” Gib, seated across the aisle from Shannon and Rafe, unwrapped another piece of gum and stuffed it into his mouth. He must have gone through three or four packs already that day. But if it helped to calm his nerves, Shannon wouldn’t begrudge him his vice.

  The plane touched down with the delicacy of a feather. And all Shannon could feel was relief. When it rolled to a stop, Rafe squeezed her hands before releasing his seat belt, then moved forward to talk to Jim.

  Gib took Rafe’s place as Shannon fumbled to release her own belt. “She ain’t gonna like this one bit,” Gib said, shaking his head.

  “Do you think our coming here is a mistake?”

  Gib looked worried. “Naw, I didn’t say that. Just...she ain’t gonna like it.”

  “Do you have something planned to say to her?” Shannon asked, growing more assured as the realization that they were safely back on terra firma took hold in her mind.

  “I was hopin’ you would, or Rafe. I don’t know what to say to her. I never know what to say to her.”

  “Maybe try telling her you love her.”

  Gib raked a hand through his hair. “I’m not very good at that,” he murmured, embarrassed.

  “She’s your daughter, Gib. She might like to hear it.”

  He merely shook his head. “Never was good at that kind of thing,” he said.

  Rafe came back to them, followed by Jim. “Jim’s going to introduce us to the owner if he’s here. If not, we’ll find the foreman. We’ll get him to point out Rio’s brother. Then we’ll play it by ear after that.”

  “Sounds good,” Gib agreed.

  They left the plane and walked the distance to the main house. Like the Parkers’, it had the quality of a structure that had been in place for a long time. Nicely kept, but old. And around it, pulsed the life’s blood of the ranch. Cowboys could be seen here and there doing whatever chores needed to be done. Whenever one of them spotted Rafe, he nodded in intuitive acknowledgment of one practitioner of the craft for another.

  Jim found the owner and introduced them, allowing Rafe to give a brief explanation of their purpose. The owner was fully cooperative. Rio’s brother, it seemed, was out repairing fence, but they were welcome to wait, either for him or for the young couple.

  The owner and his wife did the best they could to make them comfortable. Rafe never moved away from the house’s front window, which gave a perfect view of any car coming up the long drive from the highway. He would see Jodie and Rio the instant they arrived.

  Shannon had almost given up hope, afraid that their trip was a failure, when she noticed Rafe stiffen. “They’re here,” he said. “I’d recognize Rio’s truck anywhere.”

  Shannon and Gib hurried over to the window. They were in time to see a ragtag beige pickup with a pair of cow horns for a hood ornament draw to a stop at the side of the barn.

  “That’s him, all right,” Gib said darkly.

  They watched as the pair got out of the truck and walked over to where several cowboys were talking beside the corral.

  Rafe strode out of the house, Shannon and Gib close behind. They were almost at the corral before Jodie spied them. She jumped, made a small distressed sound and grabbed Rio’s arm. Rio looked up to see what had upset her, and Shannon could swear that he paled.

  “We’d like a word with you two,” Rafe said quietly, yet with underlying steel. “In private.”

  When the thunderstruck couple seemed incapable of movement, the three cowboys they’d been talking to silently retreated.

  “Rafe... Daddy...” Jodie stammered. “How...how did you find us?”

  “That doesn’t matter,” Rafe said tightly. “We’re here.”

  Jodie looked to Shannon for help, her previous animosity forgotten. “Shannon—”

  “How could you do this, Jodie?” Gib asked painfully. “How could you run away?”

  “And with him!” Rafe bit out, his dark gaze holding menacingly on Rio. “Did you ask him what happened, Jodie? Did you as
k him why he was fired?”

  Rio stayed silent. Some of his color had returned, but not all his confidence.

  Jodie gripped his arm tighter. “Sure I did,” she retorted. “He said Shannon wanted him to kiss her. And you didn’t like it, Rafe, because you were jealous!”

  Rafe’s hands clenched. “Bent the truth there a bit, didn’t you, Rio?”

  “You weren’t jealous?” Jodie challenged him quickly.

  “I meant about what Shannon wanted. That’s not what I saw.” Rafe turned glittering eyes on Shannon. “Shannon’s here. Rio’s here. Let’s listen to what each of them has to say about it.”

  Rio laughed thinly as he extricated his arm from Jodie’s grasp. “Hey!” he said. “This all’s gettin’ to be too big a thing. I didn’t mean no harm to nobody.”

  “You helped Jodie run away, but you didn’t mean to harm anybody?” Rafe asked coldly.

  “She wanted to come.”

  “She’s only seventeen.”

  “I love him, Rafe!” Jodie tried to retake possession of Rio’s arm, but he evaded her touch.

  “I didn’t mean to do nothin’ wrong,” Rio repeated. “She wanted to come, so I brought her. That’s it.”

  “Rio!” Jodie cried, experiencing her first taste of heartbreak.

  “Hey—” Rio grinned at her “—it’s been fun. We’ve had some good times, but if it’s gonna cause trouble—”

  “Trouble for you, you mean,” Rafe growled.

  Jodie flushed. She looked at Rio with hurt-filled eyes. “I love you, Rio,” she whispered. “I thought...”

  “He’s not worth it, Jodie,” Shannon said softly. “He doesn’t love you—not like you deserve to be loved.”

  “You low-down, rotten—” Gib broke off and, quite unlike his usual self, threw a hard punch that landed squarely in the stomach of the younger man.

  Breath whooshed out of Rio’s lungs, and he doubled over, grabbing his middle.

  “You leave my daughter alone!” Gib shouted fiercely. “She’s worth ten of you! And if you don’t, I’ll—”