~~^~~
"Birch, look at this," Chance called out.
Birch jogged over to where Chance had knelt to look at something on the ground by the creek in front of his house. "What did you find?"
"See for yourself." He pointed out two sets of footprints, one belonging to someone small, like a woman. A man's boots made the other set, boots with a deep cut in the edge of one heel.
"Jenks Clondry."
Chance stood. "Either he's still stuck on the idea that Annora belongs to him, or he's doing Charlotte or John-B's bidding."
"More likely Charlotte's. John-B does have some principles. I can't see him ordering the kidnapping of a woman." Pushing to his feet, Birch glanced around for more sign. "Here are more prints. Looks like they must have been struggling."
"No question," Chance said. "He took her."
"Let's ride to the Double J." Birch strode toward the barn, with Chance at his heels.
It took twenty minutes to reach the Angstrom spread. John-B answered Birch's' frantic pounding on the door.
"Why, Birch, to what do I owe the honor at such an early hour—"
"Never mind the small talk," Birch pushed him inside. "Where is Annora?"
John-B's brow creased with a frown. "Is she the woman I heard was at your place?"
"Yes, where is she?"
"I have no idea. I assume she's missing. Anything I can do to help?"
Birch stared at him trying to determine the man's honesty. If John-B didn't order the kidnapping, then... "Where's Charlotte?"
"Probably at breakfast where I would be had you not knocked." He shouted in the direction of the dining room. "Charlotte?"
The cook holding a coffee urn appeared in the doorway. "She already ate, sir. I think she's at the barn."
John-B looked back at Birch. "Come on." He pushed past Birch, walking in the direction of the barn. Birch followed.
"Charlotte?" John-B called into the dark, musty barn.
"Here, Daddy." She appeared in the doorway of the tack room.
Birch edged by the older man. "Where is Annora, Charlotte?"
"Birch!" Worry filled her blue eyes, banished in an instant and replaced by an expression of innocence. "Why, I have no idea where Annora is. We've become friends, but I haven't seen her for a day or two. Isn’t she at your place? "
He wanted to choke her, the little witch. Any doubt he might have had about her being involved in Annora's disappearance had fled. Backing her against the door, he said, "What did you do, send Jenks after her? Did you convince him Annora belonged to him?"
"Why would you say such a thing?" She glared at him, without an inkling of guilt.
"Charlotte," John-B said, "if you know anything about this, you tell Birch right now. The Angstroms do not sink to low pranks like kidnapping."
Anger flashed in her eyes. "What do you think of me, Daddy? I have no idea where Annora might have gotten to. Maybe she decided to return to town."
Birch knew her well enough to know he wouldn't get anything more out of her. Charlotte excelled at lying. Without another word, he spun about, aiming for his horse.
"What are you thinking?" Chance asked after they mounted up.
"Even if she had decided to go back to town, she wouldn't have taken Hezzie."
"Why not? She rides him whenever she gets a chance."
Birch slowed his horse. "She what?"
"Hezzie's quite taken with her. He lets her ride him."
"Hellfire." He gazed out over the land, searching for a buffalo with a woman on his back. Gray clouds billowed low in the sky probably five miles away. "Look. Grass fire."
"Looks to be on Wilson's Creek. Angstrom has a line shack near there."
Could Annora have caused the fire? When he found her, he was going to give her a good shaking. If not for the fire and taking Hezzie, for scaring the life out of him.
No, Clondry must have taken her. They'd seen the wagon tracks and the man's boot prints with hers.
When they reached the fire, they found the shack in flames. They jumped from their horses and left them ground tied.
"I'll check the shack," Birch shouted as he ran.
Chance didn't answer. He pulled the bedrolls from their horses and raced off to fight the fire.
Moments later, Birch joined him. "No sign of her in the shack. Or of anyone else."
They were still beating at the flames when Jenks stumbled out of the smoke. "Birch, what are you doing here? Did you see the smoke? Spark must have lit in the grass from the fire I built in the shack."
Birch dropped his blanket and grabbed the man by the throat. "What have you done to Annora."
Cursing, Jenks fought to get free. "I left her in the shack. Let me go, I have to find her."
"She's not in there. I swear, if she's hurt, I'll see you pay for it. Hezzie isn't here either."
"She must've taken him." Jenks shoved him.
Birch released his hold. He would beat the man to a pulp later. Now, he had to find Annora.
"You'd better hope they're all right."
Three Seven Aces hands reined in before jumping from their horses.
“Boss, you all right?”
Jenks answered with a curse.
"Grab your bedrolls and help out," Chance shouted.
At last, the wind died down. Even so, it took the six men another hour to put out the fire.
Birch’s concern centered on the whereabouts of Annora and Hezzie rather than the origins of the flames. Exhausted and black with soot, he and Chance returned home, keeping an eye out for a glimpse of her.
By the time they reached home, Birch’s pocket watch read 11:10 am. His belly complained of being empty.
"Look." Chance pointed to Hezzie's pasture. The buffalo grazed the grass as if he'd never been missing.
Certain now that he'd find Annora inside the house, Birch rushed inside, leaving Arrow for Chance to tend.
"Annora?" he shouted from the great room.
Mable hurried in from the kitchen. "She's upstairs. She had a horrible night."
"What happened?"
The housekeeper opened her mouth to answer, but he cut her off. "Never mind. I'll ask her myself." He took the stairs two at a time.
"Don't you go busting in on her, Birch Struthers."
He found her room empty. Noticing the closed bathroom door, he concluded she was inside. Hands on his hips, he paced back and forth in front waiting for her to emerge. “What the hell is she doing in there for so long?"
When he couldn't stand it any longer, he burst inside to find her in the bathtub. Her head lolled on the edge, her long, fiery hair hanging over the side to puddle on the floor like a pool of embers. Faint breaths emitted from her parted lips. Bags underlined her eyes, attesting to her difficult night.
"Annora."
Her eyes opened. When she realized she wasn't alone, she surged from the tub naked. Water streamed from her body as she gaped at him.
Birch froze at the breathtaking sight.
~~^~~
Annora's mind identified the man in the bathroom with her, told her she was safe, but she couldn't stop the scream climbing her throat.
He held out his hands and moved closer. "Don't scream. It's me, Birch. I'm not going to hurt you."
Her gaze made a frantic search of the room. For an escape? For something to cover herself with? Confusion ruled her brain. She needed to leave the tub but saw nowhere to go. Couldn’t think what to do.
Hands, strong, hands, closed around her upper arms. She found herself pressed against his hard chest, his heart pumping the same rhythm as her own.
His pressed his mouth to hers, swallowing her scream, silencing her.
Shock held her frozen. Exhaustion fogged her mind.
Jenks? Is he going to violate me? Someone, help!
He moaned, and his lips glided over hers. The tip of his tongue swiped her lower lip. "You taste so good, Annora."
Birch. Birch's voice. Not Jenks.
Memories of him ret
urned in a flash, along with her senses. Sight, sound, vision, touch. Her hands flitted over his body, over muscles hidden beneath the fabric of his shirt and vest. She smelled smoke.
The fire!
She jerked back, breaking the kiss. "Fire. The shack… Jenks."
"I know. I know. It's all right. You're home. You're safe." He drew her back into his arms, his vest buttons pimpling her bare skin.
She pulled away and glanced down in horror.
Naked!
She'd fallen asleep in the bathtub.
"Birch! I... What are you doing here?" Desperate hands searched for a towel, clothes, anything to cover herself.
Spinning away, he snatched a towel from the stool beside the tub and handed it to her. Gratefully, she wrapped it around her wet body.
Birch's clothes were wet too.
"I found you missing when I rose this morning. I... We thought Jenks kidnapped you, and Hezzie, but you weren't at the Seven Aces," he stammered. "My hell, Annora, you scared me half out of my wits."
"I'm naked. Why are you in here while I’m unclothed? "
"I didn't… I wasn’t… I had to make sure you were all right."
"Well, I'm fine. Shocked out of my mind by your boorish behavior is all. Leave. Get out and let me dress."
"I'm sorry. I..."
His reluctance obvious, he backed from the room, shutting the door behind him.
Annora stepped from the tub and sat on a stool, shrouded by the towel while she collected her wits. What had he been thinking to come in here like that?
He'd kissed her.
Never had she experienced anything like it before.
She'd wanted more, a lot more.
The act had shaken her to the core. Not only because it happened, but her own reaction startled her. She’d gone hot and itchy. Even now, she felt warm and... wanting.
She wanted more of his kisses.
Get away from here, Annora, before you fall in love with him. Before it's too late to run.
In a hurry, she pulled on her clothing. When she emerged from the bathroom, Birch waiting for her in the hall, his face flushed, hands shaking.
Had the kiss affected him the same way it had her?
"Annora, let me apologize—"
"It's not necessary." She hurried into her room. Pulling a small trunk near the wardrobe, she tossed garments inside.
Birch stood in the doorway, watching. "What are you doing?"
"Packing to return to town."
"Don't do that." He rushed to her side, tried to take her into his arms. "I didn't mean anything by invading your bath. I apologized."
She pushed him aside. "It doesn't matter. Let me go, Birch. I'm confused. I need space, my own place where I can think."
He stepped back, arms hanging at his sides, eyes lowered. "I'll have Chance drive you." At the door, he stopped. “Annora—”
“Leave, Birch. Go. Leave me alone.”
Spinning on his heels, he left.
The moment he disappeared from sight, Annora felt the loss. She sat on the edge of the bed. Had she gone crazy? She wanted him back.
No. She needed to go home.
Thoughts collided in her head. What should she do?
Run.
When she descended to the great room, dragging her trunk, Chance hurried to take it from her. She saw no sign of Birch.
To her surprise and pleasure, Chance said nothing. She walked from the house, with him following. He put her trunk in the back of the buckboard while she climbed up to the seat. A moment later, he joined her, taking up the reins. With a flick of the whip and a quiet order, the buckboard carried her away from High Plains Ranch.
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
"Why did you let her go?" Lissette demanded. She'd found him in his study. "You love her, don't you?"
Birch lifted a hand but let it drop. "I don't know what I feel. She wanted to go. Who was I to stop her."
Lissette made a sound of exasperation, arms stiff at her sides, bracketing her rounding tummy. Would Annora look like that carrying his child?
"Well, I hope you're happy. You'll lose the ranch now." She waved her arms in helplessness. "Or are you going to marry Charlotte? I swear that woman arrived within seconds of Annora's departure as if she'd been watching for it."
Birch didn't want to talk about Charlotte. Had Annora reached her apartment yet? Did she think about him? About what happened between them? He wanted to go to her, talk to her. The more he thought about it, the surer he felt that she belonged at High Plains. She wasn't the spoiled, manipulative, high society, know-everything brat he'd thought at first. In fact, she couldn't be more unlike Charlotte. She'd given him a chance to prove his case and admitted she'd been wrong to think he mistreated his stock. Birch admired any person willing to admit when they were wrong.
A mew came from beneath the sofa where Lissette sat. She looked down and edged her skirts away. Smoky, one of Annora's cats, emerged, peering up at them with sad eyes. He mewed again as if asking for his mistress.
How could Annora have forgotten her pets? She'd been so attached to them. She must have been more upset than he thought. Far more, especially if she chose not to come back for them.
"Hello." Lissette lifted the tomcat onto her lap, petting its gray-striped head. "What are you doing here? Where is Freckles?"
Freckles. Birch glanced around. Good hell, if anything happened to that kitten, Annora would never forgive him.
He searched the room on hands and knees, under chairs and sofas, behind tables and cabinets. He called the kitten’s name.
"Birch, have you gone mad?" Chance stood in the doorway. "What are you doing?"
"I have to find Freckles. Annora will kill me if I lose her."
Lissette stood. "I'll check with Mable. Maybe she knows where the kitten is." She hurried toward the kitchen.
Birch moved to the great room, searching it with the same thoroughness he had the study. "If I can find Freckles and reunite them, maybe Annora will talk to me, let me explain."
Chance laughed.
Birch glowered at him. "What are you laughing about? This is serious."
"I'll be damned," Chance said, no longer chuckling. "You are in love with her. The big, tough, rancher-lawyer who had no need of a wife, has fallen in love. By hell, I can't wait to see Annora dragging you around by the ear to do her bidding."
"Shut up." Birch surged to his feet, advancing on his foreman.
"Can you say I'm wrong?” Chance held up a hand. “Tell me you don't love Annora and I'll shut up."
For one long moment, Birch stared at him, then whirled away. "I don't have time for nonsense."
"Birch," Lissette called from the hallway.
He turned and saw Freckles in her arms, safe and sound.
"Thank goodness." He took the kitten from her. "Find something I can put her in so I don't lose her. I'm taking her and the rest of the herd to Annora right now."
"Good for you." Chance cast his gaze over the room as if expecting to find what he needed there in the study.
"I'll fetch a pillowcase," Lissette said. "That should work."
"All right." Birch marched toward the front door. "I'll hitch up the buckboard. Bring the rest of the critters, Chance."
The smile on Chance's face remained, even as he hunted for Annora's pets. When he didn't find them all inside, he went out. By the time he rounded up the last one, Birch sat in the buckboard, a scowl on his face. “What took you so long?”
Rather than reply, Chance held up four bulging pillowcases, letting the squirming, hissing, growling critters answer for him.
Birch jerked a thumb at the buckboard’s bed. "Put them in the back."
The instant all the animals had been placed inside, Birch slapped the reins, and the team trotted toward town.
He parked the buckboard outside Annora's empty-looking office. He peered through the windows, seeing no sign of anyone. A knock on the door to her private apartment gained him no response. "Annora?” he shouted at
an upper window. “Annora!"
George came from the haberdashery. "Annora's not there, Birch."
"Where is she?"
He took out his pocket watch to check the time. "Right now, I'd say she's a bit beyond the city limits.”
Birch blinked. His brow furrowed. “What’s she doing there?”
“She’s on the 12:15 train heading East."
"The train! Why?"
"She decided she didn't belong here. She's going home to New York."
~~^~~
Annora gazed through the passenger car's smoke-smudged windows, wondering where Birch might be at that moment. Had she done the right thing in leaving? The moment she set foot on the train, doubts set in.
A little girl ran past chasing a black cat, sending pain searing through Annora. Tears threatened. She hated leaving her babies behind but returning to the ranch to get them would ruin everything. She would never be able to leave if she had to face Birch again.
What are you running from?
Annora had no answer. Birch? The job she'd come there to do and failed at?
Or falling in love.
Yes, the notion of being in love with Birch terrified her. All her life she'd believed herself unlovable. Oh, she knew her parents loved her, but that didn’t compare to love from a man.
She put her fingertips to her lips remembering that scorching kiss he'd given her in the bathroom before she'd run away.
"Afternoon, Miss."
She lifted her gaze to see the same conductor she'd met on her journey to Sheridan, the one who'd been about to toss Buttons off a moving train. "Hello. Ben, isn't it?"
"Yes, ma'am" He grinned, exposing the empty space where he'd lost a tooth. "Going home, are you?"
"Yes, I am." She glanced out the window again, yearning for a last sight of the Big Horn Mountains, but they had fallen behind them now. She'd never see them again. She took her ticket from her purse to hand to him.
"Did you enjoy your stay in Sheridan?" he asked.
"Yes, I did." She'd more than enjoyed it—she'd loved it.
"Me," Ben said, "I've never been back East—have no hankering to go there. I like the wide-open spaces and the mountains rising up to meet the clouds. Reckon I'll be planted at the foot of them one day."
Ride for a Bride in Wyoming (Rocky Mountain Romances Book 4) Page 12
