Cowboy Secrets

by Alice Sharpe

  “Yeah,” she said as she mopped her face. She looked down at her left foot and he directed the light. Her sock was torn and her foot was swollen. Tears appeared in her eyes. “It hurts.”

  He felt it gingerly, stopping when she cried out, but then her gaze traveled past him. “Sierra! Pike, when did she get here? What happened to her?”

  “I was hoping you could tell me,” he said.

  She shook her head. “Where’s Danny? Did they use me to trap him? I have to find Danny.”

  “Right now, we have to help Sierra,” Pike said, scooting back to lift Sierra’s hand and touch her face.

  Tess crawled over to join him, dragging her injured foot. “Sierra, please, wake up.”

  To Pike’s infinite relief, Sierra’s eyes opened, but she blinked and furrowed her brow. He helped her roll over and sit. She moaned and clutched her head. He cradled her shoulders. “You’re hurt,” he said, feeling the top of her head and finding a noticeable bump. His hands ran down her arms, over her legs. “Does it hurt anywhere else?”

  “It hurts everywhere,” she whispered. “Pike, what happened?”

  “You don’t remember how you got down here?”

  “No.” She paused for a second. “No. I was looking for Tess.” Her confused gaze switched to her sister. “Oh, my God, sweetheart, are you okay?”

  “I don’t know where Danny is!” Tess said as tears made more muddy tracks down her cheeks.

  Pike and Sierra looked at each other, then Pike put an arm around Tess’s shoulders. “We should have told you over the phone and then none of this would have happened. Danny is dead, honey. You were right, a man named Raoul Ruiz apparently killed him.”

  “How do you know? How can you be sure? What if—”

  “We’re sure,” he said with just enough firmness to cut through her emotion. “We’ll explain everything later. Right now we need to get you and Sierra off this ledge and out of this mine. You’re both frozen and it’s a long way home. Can I count on you?” Tess nodded.

  The only place the ledge was open enough for a person to stand was right near the rim. He helped Tess first. She couldn’t put weight on her foot and tumbled against him, but he managed to prop her against the rocks, where she held on with a white-knuckled grip. Then he fashioned a loop in the end of the rope, tied a bowline knot and pulled it tight.

  Now came the tough decision. How did he get both of these women up to the top? Did he leave the dazed one down here to wait her turn, hoping that she wouldn’t fall over the edge? Or did he leave the one who couldn’t even stand?

  Sierra apparently sensed the dilemma. “Her first,” she said through chattering teeth.

  “Her first what?” Tess demanded.

  “I have to go up to the top in order to pull each of you to safety,” he said.

  Tess clung to him a second. “Please don’t leave us.”

  “I’m not leaving you. Wait for me to give you an all clear, then put the loop around your body and more or less sit on it. Use your good foot to keep yourself off the rock face. I’ll pull you up.”

  He put his gloves back on, noticed Tess’s other shoe nearby and grabbed it. It was for the injured foot so he tossed it aside. He turned his attention to Sierra. “Let me help you stand so you’re ready when it’s your turn.” She leaned against him as he gently helped her to her feet. To his relief, she seemed pretty steady as she backed against the rock face beside Tess. He looked into her eyes a long moment and her lovely lips curved into a jittery smile.

  “Cover your heads in case I knock dirt and rocks down as I go up,” he said.

  He hated leaving them twenty feet below, but there just wasn’t any other way to get them out of here. He handed Sierra the good flashlight and took the weak one for himself. It didn’t take light to get up to the mine floor on his own—it just took brawn.

  Once he’d made it to the top, he took a couple of deep breaths. “Okay,” he called, as he flicked on the weak light so he wouldn’t trip and make a mess of things. He let the rope back down. “Make sure you hang on. You hear me, Tess?”

  “I will,” she called, but her voice sounded a hundred miles away.

  He coiled the rope around the rock for extra leverage and began pulling to take up the slack. When he felt the rope tighten, he began the chore of hauling another person up a rock-and-dirt wall. For the first six feet, Tess was deadweight, but as she finally reached the side of the chasm, he felt the tension slacken as she apparently got her good leg under her and used her hands. Still, it was a great moment when he pulled her safely over the last of the edge, picked her up and carried her to the rock.

  “Your turn,” he called to Sierra.

  Within minutes, he had grasped her under the arms and hauled her the last distance. Arm and arm, they staggered to the rock upon which Tess sat and, for a minute or two, hovered there in the ever diminishing glow of their one good flashlight.

  “Look at my poor shoes,” Sierra finally said as she straightened her legs to reveal her shredded black suede boots.

  “They’re done for,” he said.

  “They cost three hundred dollars.”

  He stuck out his foot to display tooled brown leather. “So did these.”

  “They look fine.”

  “Well, they’re country boots. Yours are city boots.”

  “They used to be,” she said. “Now they’re garbage.”

  He picked up her hand and squeezed it and she smiled at him. The smile fled as she apparently heard an approaching noise at the same time he did. Tess whimpered and shrank against the rock. Someone was coming down the tunnel toward them. He put his finger against his lips and Sierra turned off her flashlight. Without that modest beam of light, the cavern seemed to close in around them, trapping them between the deep shafts and beyond the only exit. He picked up the shotgun.

  The way he figured it, someone had meant for both women to disappear. The apparent roof collapse at the rim of the crevice indicated an accident. Without Tess’s note, who knows when they would have looked for her here, but when they did, her abandoned shoe would suggest an explanation for her disappearance. Sierra’s necklace would do the same for her. But why had the fake Danny asked Tess to wait for Sierra to accompany her? Was he aware that Sierra knew his identity? That had to be it.

  And now? Had they come back to make sure the women had both died? Had they had second thoughts about the plausibility of their plot?

  He hugged the wall and took a peek out into the main shaft. He could see lights, which made the people approaching pretty good targets. “Stop where you are!” he yelled.

  “Pike!” a man responded.

  “Gerard?”

  Within seconds, all three of his brothers finally came into clear view. He’d never been happier to see them.

  “You didn’t text...”

  “I forgot,” he admitted.

  “Did you find them? Are they okay?”

  “More or less,” he said.

  “What can we do to help?” Gerard asked.

  Frankie clapped Pike on the back. “Are you kidding? The professor here is the clever one in the family. I bet he’s got this all figured out.”

  “Yeah,” Pike said and grinned. “Sure I do.”

  * * *

  SIERRA OPENED HER EYES. For a moment, she wasn’t sure where she was or how she had gotten there. The room was dark, but that could be because of pulled shades. She sat up, which made her head ache, and looked around. Tess slept in the other twin bed. They were in the downstairs room Grace had insisted they use.

  They were safe.

  Now she remembered. Awakening on the ledge, Pike holding her, the impossibly long, cold ride home, Tess’s grief, Grace’s gentle care.

  And more. She remembered more.

  The door opened
and Pike appeared. He smiled when he saw her and crossed the room. He hadn’t shaved for over twenty-four hours and it looked as if he’d slept in his clothes. All in all, sexy as hell.

  He sat down next to her. “How are you feeling?” he whispered.

  She shrugged as she glanced at Tess. “How is she?”

  “Grace thinks her ankle is sprained. She put a splint on it just in case something is broken. We can’t get out of here yet because of the storm. You up to coming with me so we can talk?”

  “Absolutely,” she said and pulled down the sheets to find that she was wearing her own nightclothes, which meant she wasn’t wearing much.

  “I guess I better put some clothes on,” she said.

  His lingering gaze and sudden wistful smile shot through her body. “Need any help?”

  She leaned into him and touched his face with her own. His breath was warm against her chilled skin and he smelled like coffee and cinnamon. Delicious. She kissed his lips and for a second they just sat that way, content just to be together.

  “Here,” he whispered against her cheek and she pulled away to see that he held her diamond necklace. Her hand flew to her throat—she hadn’t even noticed it was missing. “It was broken, but I fixed it,” he said, and fastened it around her neck.

  “Where did you find it?”

  “In the mine. You have a red mark on the back of your neck. Someone must have ripped it off.”

  “My father gave me this,” she said softly. “Thank you for fixing it.”

  He kissed her nose. “Up to rising now?”

  “Yep.” Various aches and pains announced themselves when she stood. They were explained by the bruises on her legs and arms. One knee hurt and her elbow was stiff. She found clean jeans in her suitcase, then pulled them over her hips and her green sweater over her head, wincing as the neckline tugged on her hair. Pike was suddenly there to smooth the sweater on its way and kiss her forehead.

  “They hit my head before they threw me off the edge into the rift,” she murmured.

  He clasped her shoulders. “Do you remember what happened?”

  “Bits and pieces.”

  They quietly left the bedroom and entered the empty kitchen. The view outside was blinding white—obviously it was still snowing.

  “Is it a terrible storm?” she asked as she drew herself a glass of water.

  “We’ve had worse. This one seems to be winding down already.” He patted the stool. “Sit down, tell me what you remember.”

  She sat down across the island from him. “I remember seeing Tess’s shoe on the ledge. Then there was a noise and a bright light. I turned around in time to see a man in a ski mask. He grabbed your Glock from my hand, struck me in the head and said something as I staggered away.”

  “What did he say?”

  “I don’t know. It was hard to understand him because of the mask, but it’s more than just that.” She paused for a second, thinking.

  “What is it?” he asked. “Do you remember something else?”

  “I was just thinking about a dream I had right before I found out that Tess was missing. Someone in a football helmet pinned me to the ground and called me an idiot.” She bit her lip. “I don’t think it was a premonition or anything.”

  “What happened next?”

  “It all happened in the blink of an eye. He lifted me off my feet. The next thing I knew, I landed like a ton of bricks. I thought for sure every bone in my body was broken, but I was able to roll farther under the overhang. My eyes felt like they were spinning off into the dark. Then I heard voices and I realized there were two men up there. I think they were arguing about making sure I was dead. And then it sort of slipped away until all of a sudden, you were there.”

  He took her hand and rubbed her knuckles with his thumb. “What happened last night when you went to help your father and brothers find the film crew?” she asked.

  “They were where I thought they’d be. A gunshot had spooked their horses. A couple were injured, the producer worst of all.”

  “A shot!” she said. “Doesn’t that seem kind of coincidental considering what was going on a mile or so over in the mine?”

  “It does to me.”

  “How injured was the producer? Isn’t his name Gary?”

  “Yeah. Between Tess, him and you, Grace had her hands full. You have a slight concussion, Gary tore his rotator cuff when he put his hands out to stop his fall and a couple of the others are a little banged up, too.”

  “Did they see anyone at all?”

  “No. They’re convinced that the ex-employee who attempted to sue them tried another sabotage.”

  “Why would someone like him target Tess? And how would he even know about her in the first place?”

  “I don’t know,” he said. “Unless there’s a snitch in the crew.”

  “You mean someone on the film crew could be in cahoots with the ex-employee?”

  “Yeah. It’s no secret what Tess saw happen in LA. Everyone in the house is talking about it. For instance, who knows what a snitch might have overheard Grace telling my father, or what Frankie might have said in passing.”

  “Oh, man, I never thought of that.”

  “There’s nothing to be done right now but keep a watchful eye. Do you want some tea or something to eat?”

  “Tea sounds good,” she said. “Did you guys find anything else in the gold mine?”

  “Not really. There were a few shoe tracks too large to belong to you or Tess. It looks to me like someone’s intention was to make your falls look like an accident. There was a lot of fresh rubble strewn around as though there’d been a collapse. It might have worked if the two of you hadn’t been lucky enough to hit that ledge.”

  Sierra shuddered.

  “Chance and Frankie looked for some indication of the snowmobile that I heard when I first got there,” he continued. “They found a few tracks and deduced it must have headed to the main road, so that’s where they went. They found additional tracks and a spot where a heavy vehicle had gotten stuck in the snow and then dug out. There were no people or machinery left behind, but it seems pretty clear someone brought a snow vehicle onto ranch land and contacted Tess to facilitate an ambush.”

  “If Raoul isn’t behind this, why pick on Tess?”

  “Maybe she seemed like a weak link to the snitch,” Pike said as he got up to microwave a couple of cups of hot water. He dug tea bags from a canister.

  “Did you look at the text Tess thought Danny sent?”

  “I couldn’t because they stole her phone. She did notice it wasn’t his usual number.”

  “Probably a burner.”

  “Yeah,” he said, handing her the hot cup.

  “Some of this doesn’t make sense,” she added and rubbed her forehead. “Things aren’t logical but I can’t think clearly enough to figure out what’s wrong.”

  “I can’t, either,” he admitted. “I’m brain-dead.”

  “Have you had any sleep?” she asked.

  He smiled down into her eyes. “Not much.”

  “Maybe we should go...take a nap. Together, you know?”

  He leaned down and kissed her. “I would love nothing more,” he whispered against her lips. “Unfortunately, I have to meet up with Gerard and Chance to feed the cattle.”

  “How do you accomplish that in this weather?”

  “We grow and store hay during the summer for times like this when field grazing is inaccessible. Then we load the hay onto a trailer and pull it out into the fields with a tractor. One of us drives and the two who pulled the shortest sticks get to ride on the back with pitchforks and drop the hay to hungry, frostbitten cows. It’s kind of fun in its own weird way.”

  Her expression looked incredulous. “I have work to do anyway,” sh
e said at last. “I haven’t heard from Savannah in a while.”

  “Let me get your laptop for you,” he said. “I saw it by the fireplace.” He dashed out of the kitchen and was back with the laptop within seconds.

  “By the way, I called the local law,” Pike said as he handed her the computer. “They said they’ll send someone out to check the mine when the weather calms down.”

  “I’ll call the LAPD,” she volunteered as she hit the button to power on the laptop.

  “Do you miss New York?” Pike asked.

  She nodded. “It’s my home. Have you ever been there?”

  He shook his head.

  “Will you come visit me?” she asked.

  “Is that an invitation?”

  “Absolutely. It’ll be fun to show you around. Spring is lovely.”

  “I bet,” he said. “We’ll have to get through calving, then I’m all yours.”

  “And then there’s summer,” she added, staring up at him. “I admit it’s humid, but who has to go outside?”

  “Summer is a busy time on a ranch,” he said. He put his hand on her shoulder and added, “But I’ll make time.”

  “Good. And then you have to see fall in the city. There’s a big election this year for mayor. It’ll be wild.”

  “Fall,” he said. “Autumn is beautiful here.”

  “I bet.”

  He curled a piece of her hair around his finger. “Did you inherit your dad’s interest in politics?”

  “Not really. The guy I’m voting for is Maxwell Jakes. He’s practically a shoo-in, mostly because the other guy is a first-class sleazeball. My dad would have approved, though. He was a one-party kind of guy and Jakes is the right party.”

  The sound of clomping came from the direction of the back bedroom and they both turned their heads. Tess appeared, awkwardly wielding a pair of crutches.

  “Hey, look at you,” Sierra said. Bruised, cut, bandaged and pale, the poor kid looked like she’d been through a wringer. For the first time that morning, Sierra wondered how she looked after the previous night’s ordeal. “You have crutches lying around?” Sierra asked, glancing up at Pike.