The Lady's Man

by Linda Turner

  “Where’d you get the poison? You steal it?”

  “Oh, no! We wouldn’t do nothing like that. He had some for killing rats and so we’d use it to make her think we really meant business. But we didn’t mean for any of the wolves to get hurt. Then that big one ran out in front of us that day up on Ridge Road and I had to swerve to miss him. H-he hit his head on the windshield, and the next thing I knew, he was grabbing my rifle from the gun rack in my wrecker and he shot him. Just like that.” He tried snapping his fingers, but they were slick with sweat and he failed miserably.

  “We took the carcass up into the mountains,” he continued hollowly. “I thought we were just going to dump it, but he pulled out his hunting knife and cut it up.” Hugging himself, he shuddered. “When he threatened to do the same thing to the Davis woman if she didn’t cancel the project, I didn’t think he was really serious, since we threw my rifle in Beaver Creek. But then last night he tried to kill her, and I just can’t stand by and let him do that. Next time he might really do it.”

  “Who?” Nick persisted harshly. “Dammit, Chester, we can’t do anything if we don’t have a name! Give us the bastard’s name!”

  Pushed to the limit, he couldn’t take any more. “Butch Jenkins!” he shouted. “It’s Butch Jenkins!”

  Swearing, Zeke whirled to grab his jacket from the coatrack near the door. “I’ll kill the son of a bitch!”

  “Dammit, Zeke, hold on!” Nick snapped, then cursed when the phone rang.

  Jerking it up, he didn’t even have time to identify himself before Sara McBride said shakily, “Nick? Let me talk to Zeke. It’s an emergency.”

  His gaze flew sharply to Zeke. “You’d better take this,” he said grimly. “It’s your mother. She says it’s an emergency.”

  “What?” In two quick strides, he crossed the room and took the phone. “Mom? What is it? What’s wrong?”

  “Zeke, thank God!” she sobbed. “It’s Elizabeth, honey. Butch Jenkins was just here—”

  “Did he hurt her?”

  “He took her, honey. I tried to stop him, but he had a gun and he wouldn’t listen to reason. He made her tie me up—”

  “Are you all right?” he asked quickly.

  “Yes, but he took off with her in his truck. He’s going to kill her, Zeke!”

  “Then he’s a dead man,” he said coldly. “Tell me exactly what he said. Did he say where he was taking her?”

  Dragging in a calming breath, she let it out shakily. “No. Just that they were going for a ride, and that he’d kill her and every one of the wolves before he’d take a chance on losing his ranch. Be careful, son,” she warned “He’s made up his mind what he’s going to do, and he’ll shoot anyone who tries to get in his way.”

  “Oh, I’ll get in his way, all right,” he promised furiously. “I’ll get right in the bastard’s face.”

  After making sure she really was okay and telling her to track down Joe on his cell phone so he could stay with her until Zeke was able to get back to the ranch, he hung up and turned to face Chester with barely controlled rage blazing in his eyes. “Where’s he taken her?”

  Pale, the other man scrambled to his feet, knocking over his chair as Zeke advanced on him purposefully. But he was too slow, and Zeke was on him like a dog on a rat. “Where are they, dammit? Where’s the slimeball taken her?”

  “I don’t know!” he cried. “Honest!”

  “Don’t give me that garbage,” Zeke growled, grabbing him by his shirt and snatching him up on his toes to shake him. “You know him, know how he thinks, where he likes to hang out and plot his twisted revenge. You said he took Napoleon up in the mountains after he killed him. Where, dammit!”

  “The o-old m-mine shaft off Deer Mountain Road,” he gasped, his head bobbing back and forth as Zeke gave him another threatening shake. “We used t-to go up there to drink and sh-sh-shoot off our guns. H-he might have g-gone there.”

  It was a place to start. “If he’s not there, I’m coming back for you,” Zeke promised with a snarl. Dropping him, he headed for the door with Nick just two steps behind him.

  He should have told her he loved her.

  His jaw rigid, Zeke sat silently in the passenger seat and stared straight ahead as Nick raced out of town with sirens blazing. Grabbing his radio mike, he called for backup to meet him and Zeke at the old abandoned mine in the mountains west of town, but all Zeke saw was Elizabeth’s face that morning when he’d kissed her. He’d known right then that he wanted to spend the rest of his life with her, and he hadn’t said a word. And now he might never get the chance.

  Swearing, Nick took a curve too fast and had to slow down or risk losing control. “I should have known it was Butch. He came to every damn town meeting and just sat there, never saying a word, never acting like he cared one way or the other whether there were wolves in the area or not, and that should have tipped me off right there. He saw his father blow his brains out, didn’t he? Because the wolves were running in packs back then and feeding on cattle?”

  Zeke nodded curtly. “I remember my father talking about how bad it was. There was a drought and the elk moved farther north to feed. Instead of going with them, the wolves stayed here and turned on the cattle. Everyone took a hit, some more than others. Butch’s family lost everything. But then, so did some others. You didn’t see any of them picking up a gun and kidnapping a defenseless woman.”

  “We’re going to get to her in time,” Nick said. “Elizabeth’s smart. She’ll do whatever she has to, to buy herself some time. You’ve got to believe that.”

  Zeke didn’t doubt that. It was Jenkins that had him worried.

  A mile from the cutoff to the mine, Nick cut the siren. His deputies, scattered around the county, radioed that it would be another fifteen to twenty minutes before they could reach the mine, but Nick only had to look at Zeke’s set face to know that he wasn’t waiting on anyone to go in after Elizabeth. Cautioning his men to come in quietly and expect gunfire, he pulled off into the trees a hundred yards from the entrance to the mine. Seconds later, with their guns drawn and Zeke in the lead, they soundlessly made their way on foot to the mine.

  “You thought you were so smart, hiding out at the McBrides’,” Butch taunted as he forced her deeper into the mine. “Did you think I was too stupid to find you? Any moron could have done it. All I had to do was call the hospital and tell them I was a florist and had some flowers to deliver. They told me where you were, just like that,” he said with a snap of his fingers.

  “I would have guessed eventually, anyway,” he confided as he set the flashlight he was carrying on the ground and pointed it up at the roof of the mine. “You’ve been hanging out with McBride ever since he hit town.”

  Plopping down on a rock, he casually pointed the gun at her, as if he didn’t have a care in the world now that he had her right where he wanted her. “He would have hurt you, you know. He likes to play around. Of course, you don’t have to worry about that now that I’m going to kill you, but I really hate to see a man take advantage of a woman.”

  The statement was ludicrous, coming from him, but he didn’t seem to realize that. Dressed in nothing but the pink flannel gown and house shoes she’d been wearing when he’d forced her into his truck, Elizabeth shivered as the cold air of the mine skated over her skin. He was crazy, she thought, staring at him in horrified fascination. Certifiably nuts. One second he acted like a big brother looking out for her best interest, then in the next breath, without an ounce of regret, he casually added that she was going to have to die. And she didn’t doubt for a second that he meant it. The question was When? Was he just stringing out the torture, making her sweat, or did he even know himself when he was going to pull the trigger?

  Keep him talking, she told herself How long had it been since he’d kidnapped her? An hour? Two? Surely Zeke knew by now that she was missing. He would come for her. As sure as she knew she loved him with all her heart, she knew he would come for her. All she had to do was hang
on. Somehow he would find her.

  Standing well back in the shadows, every muscle in her body tight with fear and pain, she glanced around at the rough-hewn walls of the mine and pretended an idle interest in its construction. And all the while, her eyes furtively searched for a way out. “I’ve never been in a mine before. How deep does it go?”

  “Deep enough for your grave,” he retorted, his grin sinister in the weakening light of the flashlight. “If you’re worried about the animals getting to you, don’t. I’ll take you down into one of the tunnels and wall you up. You can rest there for eternity, all nice and cool and quiet.”

  He was so smug, she wanted to smack him one. And although she knew she shouldn’t, she couldn’t just stand there and let him think he was going to get away with murder. “I can’t stop you from killing me,” she told him curtly, “but there’s no way m hell you’re going to leave my body here to rot and just walk away like nothing ever happened—”

  “Shut up!”

  “Sara’s told Zeke by now that you took me, and he’s going to tear these mountains apart looking for me,” she taunted, lifting her chin defiantly when he raged at her in fury.

  “Zeke McBride couldn’t find his ass with both hands tied behind his back!”

  “He’s not looking for that. He’s looking for you,” she jeered. “And if you don’t think he’ll find you, you’re crazier that I thought.”

  “I’m not crazy!” he screamed, jumping to his feet to wildly wave the gun at her. “Shut up, you bitch! I’ll kill you. I swear I will!”

  “And then what? You can’t go back to that precious ranch of yours—that’s the first place Zeke’ll look. So you’ll have to run, to hide like a snake-in-the-grass. And everywhere you go, you’ll have to constantly look over your shoulder for Zeke. Is that what you want? Think about it.”

  Leaving the entrance of the mine behind, Zeke inched his way down the main shaft in the dark with Nick at his side and went weak with relief as Elizabeth’s voice carried back to him in the all consuming darkness of the tunnel. She was alive! Thank God! Then her words registered, and he swore silently. He was, he promised himself furiously, going to kill her himself the second he got his hands on her. Dammit, what the devil was she doing? Trying to goad the creep into shooting her?

  His heart hammering with fear for her, he made his way deeper into the mine, feeling his way down the shaft as it dipped and curved without warning in the darkness. Then, just when he thought he was never going to find Elizabeth and Butch in the all-concealing blackness, the shaft took a hard right turn, and suddenly there they were. Standing m a weak pool of light fifty yards in front of him and Nick, they circled the light like wrestlers, each looking for a chance to bring the other one down.

  Every instinct Zeke had shouted at him to rush into the light and snatch her out of harm’s way. But Butch was waving the gun like a madman and far closer to her than he was. The second he stepped into the light, he’d shoot her.

  He had to take the bastard out from where he stood, he decided. Butch was distracted and, thanks to Elizabeth’s taunting, too furious to notice that they were no longer alone. All Zeke needed was one shot, and the jerk would never hurt Elizabeth or anyone else again.

  His gun drawn, he motioned to Nick that he was going to take the shot from where they stood, then quickly took aim. But even as he lined up the shot, he knew he couldn’t take it. Jenkins was too close to Elizabeth, the shadows that danced between them magnified by the flashlight on the floor between them, and neither of them stood still for longer than a second. He couldn’t get a clear shot without possibly hitting Elizabeth, and that wasn’t a chance he was willing to take

  Swearing silently, he lowered his gun and shook his head at Nick. Understanding, the sheriff moved to the opposite side of the tunnel to wait for a better shot, but in the darkness, he couldn’t see the loose gravel underfoot. He took a step, skidded on the rocks, and the sound was like a shout in the echoing darkness of the mine shaft.

  Her heart in her throat, Elizabeth froze, her eyes wildly searching the darkness that extended beyond the boundaries of the flashlight’s dim glow. “Zeke!” He was there, somewhere in the shadows between her and the mine’s entrance. Without a thought, she ran toward the darkness.

  She never made it. With a snarl, Butch turned on her and caught her by the hair, nearly jerking her head off her shoulders. She shrieked, her back on fire with pain, and hardly recognized her own voice for the roaring in her ears. This was it, she thought, sobbing. The final reckoning. It was either her or him, and by God, it wasn’t going to be her!

  Somewhere in the distant reaches of her consciousness, she thought she heard Zeke yell something, but the words didn’t register. Screaming, her only thought to get back at the monster who tortured her, she turned on him like a shecat and caught him off guard. His one hand still wrapped in her hair and the other trying to steady the gun, she launched herself at him before he could take aim, and they both went down hard. Blindly, she grabbed for something to hit him with, but all she could come up with was a handful of gravel and dust. She threw it right in his face.

  “You bitch!”

  She never saw the blow coming Releasing her hair, he backhanded her, and pain exploded in her face. Before she could do anything but moan, Butch was on his feet and pointing his gun right at her heart. He never saw Zeke step up behind him until it was too late.

  “Give me a reason to use this,” he said silkily, pressing his own gun to the underside of Butch’s jaw. “Just one. I’m begging you. C’mon. Make my day, tough guy.”

  For all of ten seconds, the bastard actually considered it. Zeke could feel the tension in him and was braced to pull the trigger at any second. And Butch obviously knew it. He hesitated, then abruptly decided this wasn’t a fight he could win. Hatred glittering in his eyes, he threw down his gun.

  Zeke would have liked nothing more than to beat him to a pulp, but he kicked the gun away instead and handed the bastard over to Nick. Before he even had him cuffed, Zeke was reaching for Elizabeth. With a sob, she threw herself into his arms. Only then was the nightmare truly over.

  Her hand caught in Zeke’s, Elizabeth didn’t know if she could ever bring herself to let go of him again. Through all of Nick’s questions about her kidnapping, through another exam at the hospital to make sure Butch’s blow to her head hadn’t worsened her concussion, over the course of the ride back to his mother’s, she never let go of Zeke’s hand.

  And he didn’t seem any more inclined to let go of her than she was of him. He only did so once—to hug his mother and assure himself that she really was all right—then he was reaching for Elizabeth again, keeping her close even when his brother and sisters rushed forward to hug them both in relief, and there was nowhere else she would have rather been.

  She should have been in bed, but when Sara insisted that Zeke take her upstairs and let her get some rest, his fingers tightened around hers in protest. “In a little while, Mom. First I have to show her something,” he said gruffly.

  “But, Zeke, the poor girl’s exhausted!” she protested in surprise as he headed toward the front door with Elizabeth in tow. “Can’t it wait?”

  His jaw stubbornly set, he kept walking. “No. It won’t take long. I just can’t put it off any longer.” And with no other explanation than that, he led Elizabeth outside and helped her into his truck.

  When he drove past the house, deeper into the ranch instead of toward the entrance, Elizabeth lifted a brow in surprise. “Where are we going?”

  “Someplace special,” he promised. “If you’re up to it.” Concern darkening his eyes to slate, he frowned down at her pale face. “You’ve been through hell. I should have listened to Mom. You need to be in bed.”

  “I’m fine,” she assured him. “The pain pills the doctor gave me helped, and I can rest later.”

  Not convinced, he stared down at her searchingly, but something in her eyes must have convinced him that she really was okay. With a nod
, he turned his attention back to his driving. “When I found out Butch had taken you, all I could think about were the things I hadn’t said to you yet,” he said huskily, gazing straight ahead. “I promised myself if I ever got you back, I was going to tell you the first chance I got. This is it.”

  Her heart doing flip-flops in her breast, Elizabeth couldn’t manage a word as he turned off the ranch road and bounced over the rough ground to a spot in the distance where two gnarled old pine trees stood all alone on a rocky knoll that had been swept bare of snow by the wind. The highest spot for miles in every direction, it offered a breathtaking view of the mountains to the west.

  Pulling up between the two pines, facing the mountains, Zeke cut the engine. His eyes on the view, he confided, “When I was a kid, my father told us kids that when we were grown, we could each build a house anywhere on the ranch we wanted. I picked here.”

  Elizabeth could understand why. It was spectacular. With no effort whatsoever, she could see a rock and log home there, with large windows to the west, bringing the mountains and sky inside. “It’s beautiful,” she said softly, and didn’t want to picture who he would be sharing that home with. “I hadn’t realized that you were planning on coming back here to live.”

  “Actually, there was a time when I had pretty much given up on that. I was engaged...” He sent her a sharp—look. “I suppose you heard about that?”

  She didn’t deny it. “She was in medical school.”

  “I didn’t play around on her, Lizzie. I know this may be hard for you to believe, considering the way the gossips talk in this town, but she was the one who wasn’t faithful—”

  “I know,” she said simply. “Your mother told me. I believe you, Zeke. You don’t have to explain your past to me.”

  Just that easily, she gave him her trust and had no idea what that did to him. Emotion clutching his heart, he took her hand and twined his fingers with hers. “I don’t want any secrets between us. Rachel and I were a mistake right from the beginning. She wanted a high-dollar practice in Chicago, and I thought I could live with that.”