He'd whispered goodnight, climbed in his truck, and driven down the street a little ways.
The kiss they’d shared, the second, had been just as good as the first. And she hadn't pushed him away. He hadn't meant for it to happen, but his heart was starting to hope.
Hope was dangerous.
Sarah had pulled herself up from nothing, gone to college and vet school. She was passionate about the career she'd thrown herself into. He'd done the opposite, choosing the land and a low-paying career that he loved instead of pursuing education and a traditional job.
Was he crazy to even think that someone like him could end up with someone like her?
Chapter 8
Sarah hadn't managed a full night of sleep, but she'd had a couple of good snatches of a few hours each. She woke refreshed.
Or maybe the euphoria she felt had more to do with Chase's good-night kiss.
He'd been delayed at the Triple H, and Amanda Newton had called again. Sarah was outside the vet clinic, closing the hatch after packing up her truck when her phone rang.
She didn't recognize the number.
"Dr. Campbell," she answered.
"This is Detective Owens over at the Taylor Hills PD. I wanted to let you know we'd made an arrest in your case. Two arrests."
Her knees went weak, and she clutched the tailgate to steady herself.
"That's good. Right?" Knowing the men who’d attacked her were still around somewhere had messed with her head. Surely now she could find some peace…
"We've been working hard to build a case that'll hold up in court. I think you can safely go to bed at night knowing they're off the streets. We've got them."
She was safe. Tears prickled, and she closed her eyes against them, against the emotion that was a tight knot in her chest.
She had to clear her throat twice before she could get the words out. "Thank you for letting me know."
He hung up, and she slipped her phone in her pocket, but she couldn’t move yet. She gripped her truck for several more moments while she let the truth settle. The police had caught the bad guys. She'd begun to fear they'd never be caught—knew it was a long shot based on the little amount of information she'd been able to give them about her captors.
She was still shaking when her phone rang again. Her heart leapt. For one crazy second, she thought it would be Chase calling at just the right moment so she could tell him the news.
It wasn't. When she picked up, it was Amanda's father on the line.
"Mr. Newton. I'm glad to finally speak with you."
"I'm sorry it's taken me so long to call back.”
"It's all right. I'm sure you know Amanda's been worrying about her ewe."
There was a silence. Too long.
"I'm not sure what Amanda told you, but her mother and I have separated."
"Oh." Sarah didn't know what to say to that. "I'm sorry to hear that."
"We're going to be selling the property. I don't know what's going to happen to Amanda's sheep, but—" His audible sigh came through the line.
"I can certainly keep my ear open for someone who might be willing to take on the ewe and lambs, or at the very least, let her board there."
"Thanks, that's very kind."
"Is it all right that I take care of the ewe until things are settled? Amanda is very worried about the birth and the babies."
"Yes, send me the bill." He rattled off an address, which she rapidly took down, and they ended the call.
Her earlier elation was dampened as she hung up with the man.
It was clear now why Amanda was overly concerned with one of the lambs being abandoned. If her parents were splitting, she was worrying about being abandoned herself.
Sarah remembered the heartbreaking grief when the family she'd thought would be hers and Kayla's forever was suddenly torn from her.
And it was a stark reminder that relationships didn't last. What was she doing with Chase, when she hadn't been able to interest James? What would she do when Chase's interest waned?
Kayla took Bando for their usually nightly patrol. She'd been doing so since the night of Sarah's birthday party, and so far, she’d seen nothing else out of place. Except she and Bando'd been out of town for the past two nights, visiting a friend of Sarah's in Galveston who had given her some priceless advice on applying for grants. A grant could mean money for her rescue, money she desperately needed.
Something was off in the barn when she went in, though she couldn't put her finger on it. She tightened her grip on the Mag flashlight she held, prepared to use it as a club if an animal was in here.
She edged toward the back of the barn, where the little burrow had been that first night, though it had been empty since.
Was that a scuffle? She whirled toward one of the empty stalls but didn't see anything moving there.
There was something huddled in the hay. She approached while Bando issued a warning growl.
"Don't hurt her!” The voice was young, angry. “Get away, or I'll, I'll—"
Startled by the sudden outburst, Kayla backed away from the tiny dog lying in the hay.
A boy who couldn't have been more than ten rushed out of the nearby stall but slowed when the mama dog—a Chihuahua—issued a warning growl.
"Don't touch her," Kayla warned.
"Go away." The boy turned to Kayla and snarled. His hair was mussed, one knee of his jeans ripped. He was almost as scrawny as the dog. And as dirty. His jacket had stains on the fabric, and his face and hands had shadows that looked like they’d scrub right off in a tub. Not the shadows in his eyes, though. No soap and water would remove those.
"This is my barn, my property," she pointed out. "Where'd you come from anyway?"
He shot a glare over his shoulder. His lips were clamped shut.
"Have you been staying here?"
She raised an eyebrow at Bando. He’d gone forward to sniff the boy, who was still standing back from the mama dog. Bando snuffled his feet and hands. The boy looked like he wanted to ignore the dog, but there was no ignoring the crazy tail wag and happy body wiggle the border collie gave.
Big help he was. Where had Bando and that sniffer been while she'd had a trespasser on her property?
The boy bent over and scratched Bando's ears, though he kept a wary eye on Kayla. She recognized that wariness. Meanwhile, Bando panted happily.
That Bando had obviously given his seal of approval was evident, but Kayla wasn't going to be swayed so easily.
"Do you live around here?" she asked. The only neighbors she knew were an older woman her grandma's age and a wealthy rancher with high school kids. The Triple H wasn’t too far, but she knew there were no kids his age living there. Who was this boy?
He didn’t answer.
"What's your name?"
Still nothing.
There was an audible stomach gurgle, and it wasn't from her. The kid's head was down, and he made no acknowledgement, just kept rubbing the soft fur at the ruff of Bando's neck.
Who was this kid?
And why did he remind her with a visceral punch of her own childhood?
He sniffed, rubbed his nose with the grubby sleeve of his jean jacket. He hadn't given her any information, and she couldn't just leave him out here. This was her property, and she was responsible for what happened here.
She pulled her phone from the pocket of her coat. "If you won't tell me who you are, I guess I'll have to call the cops."
His face went white, and he started to back away. Bando, thinking it was some sort of game, starting jumping and barking around him.
"Hey, wait."
But he didn't wait. He threw one more look over his shoulder at the mama dog and bolted.
"Wait!"
Kayla started to follow, but the kid was fast, darting through the open doorway and out into the darkness.
Bando followed, playing a happy game of chase. He barked joyfully until Kayla cried out, "Bando!"
Then he returned to her, barking his
joy.
By the time her feet hit the dirt outside the barn door, the kid had disappeared. She blew out a frustrated breath.
"That could've gone better," she told her dog, who just looked up at her with a wide, doggy smile and lolling tongue.
Their breaths puffed out like fog in the night air. She walked the perimeter of the barn, thinking maybe the kid had just hidden behind the building, but he was well and truly gone.
She tried to remember if she'd locked the back door of her house. There was hardly anything of value inside, but still...
She went back in the barn where the mama dog hadn't moved. "You need something to eat, don't you, girl?"
Bando barked, because he knew the word eat usually meant his bowl being filled.
"Not you," she said with a nudge of the dog's shoulder.
She had the sense of being watched as she walked back to her house, but no little boy jumped out at her. Not even a blade of grass moved, as if her land was holding its breath too.
Maybe she should call the cops, alert them...
But something made her wait.
She returned to the barn with a paper plate and an open can of wet dog food. She'd left Bando in the house, penned in the laundry room with a tall baby gate that he couldn't jump. He'd howled mournfully as she'd exited with the food. But he was rowdy, and she wanted to win the trust of the little dog or they'd get nowhere.
Out in the barn, the mama was appropriately wary until she got a scent of what Kayla carried. Then her nose began to twitch.
Kayla left the paper plate and bowl of water a few feet away from the Chihuahua and backed off. Mama dog left her puppies curled in a sleeping pile of fur and kept one eye on Kayla as she sniffed and crept closer.
She didn't let up with watching Kayla as she gulped down the food with huge greedy bites, her stomach quickly becoming distended. Kayla hadn't put much on there, not wanting to make the dog sick if she was starving.
Next the dog lapped up the water.
Kayla would have to get Sarah out here tomorrow to examine the poor thing, make sure they weren't dealing with other medical issues, only the near-starvation. And the puppies.
But what was she going to do about the boy...?
Mama dog went back to her puppies and curled around them with a satisfied doggy sigh. Kayla scooted away. She caught sight of something peeking out of one of the few stall doors.
She sidestepped to get a better look. There.
Inside the stall was a faded quilt with a tear on one side, along with an unopened can of baked beans, two candy bar wrappers, and what looked like a faded photograph.
This was the boy's stash.
Was someone in town missing a boy?
Chapter 9
Jessie had been back from maternity leave for two days, and Chase had barely spoken to Sarah in that forty-eight hours. After spending hours on end in her company, the distance was disconcerting.
He couldn't help feeling as if she were building a wall between them. He couldn't explain it, but he felt it. She'd moved home...moved on? Didn't need his friendship anymore?
And he'd reverted to that high school kid he'd been, afraid to ask for what he really wanted.
She had told him that Amanda's ewe was about to lamb any day, and she’d also shared what she'd learned about Amanda's parents splitting. He felt for the girl. He prayed that her dad would stay involved.
Chase was trying to be patient. He knew Sarah was swamped with work. He didn't want her to feel as if he were nagging her to spend time with him.
But that wasn’t what stopped him from approaching her, not really. No, his fears went deeper than that, all the way back to Taylor Hills high. Eventually, Sarah would remember that he wasn't like her other friends. He didn't have a fancy degree. He wasn't brilliant and didn’t make a lot of money. He was just a cowboy.
A cowboy who missed her. Missed hearing her funny comments about the animal's personalities. Missed her self-deprecating humor. Missed that glint in her eyes she got when she was staring at him sometimes.
It was Friday, and Nate had sent him to town for some two-by-fours for a repair to the main barn. Well, afraid or not, enough was enough. He bought lunch at the cafe—to go, of course—and camped out in the clinic's parking lot. He knew she'd stop by for Jessie's sake, if she could.
He'd parked in the back corner of the small lot, and he was rewarded when her truck pulled in after only half an hour. She and Jessie tumbled out, laughing about something. Even though it had only been forty-eight hours since he'd seen her, the sight of her hair flying out of its braid and her laughing eyes hit him hard.
He loved her. It wasn't going away.
He'd propped open his door and had one foot on the running board when someone else stepped out of a low-slung black sports car that he hadn't noticed until now, parked front and center, blocking the sidewalk.
Chase had never met him, but it had to be Hero. His hair was slicked back and his tan might've been fake, but the dude was good-looking for a city boy. He carried a huge bouquet of red roses. Definitely two dozen there. Expensive.
And all Chase could remember was how heartbroken Sarah had been when Hero had ended their engagement. The stricken look on her face had haunted him for several nights.
Hero approached Sarah, and she certainly looked surprised to see him. She waved Jessie on into the clinic. She tucked her hair behind her ear in that sweetly feminine way she had, and when she looked up at the other man, it sure seemed to Chase that her heart was in her eyes.
He couldn't watch.
If Hero was here to win her back, the huge bouquet would be about 24 sweet-smelling points in his favor. As would the fact that he and Sarah had been together for so long.
What was Chase, other than a good friend? A loser with a low-paying job, no education to speak of, no chance for a future of wealth and success.
Which way would the scales tip?
Yeah, he wasn't staying to watch.
Chase closed his door as quietly as he could and fired up the truck. With Sarah and Hero on the sidewalk outside the clinic, maybe she'd be too distracted to see him go.
Or maybe she wouldn't care.
He left without knowing what had happened, but he couldn’t help but guess, and the images were painful as he headed out of town and back to the Triple H. He'd lost his appetite and left the two meals on the kitchen table. Someone would eat them.
In the barn, he picked up a shovel and started cleaning stalls. Shoveling manure was one of the most-avoided jobs on the ranch, but right now he felt like manure, and the work would keep him busy.
Late afternoon, he got a text from Sarah. A picture, no words, just her and Amanda squatting in the hay next to two baby lambs. So the mama'd finally had her babies.
He could only hope, for Amanda's sake, that she accepted both of them. He knew Sarah would stay on for a bit to do what she could.
He didn't respond to the text. Finding out that she was back with Hero would be too painful. He pocketed his phone and kept shoveling.
"Gotcha."
Kayla grabbed the back of the jean jacket before the kid could get more than a step ahead of her.
"Hey, let go!" he cried, but she didn't. She'd been expecting him to run—she knew from experience—and she held on.
It was dark in the barn, well past her usual bedtime. In her lunge to grab him, she'd dropped her phone, and the flashlight app was on. It must've fallen face-up, because light shined in her eyes but didn't really illuminate the boy she was trying to keep from running.
"Just wait a minute, Miles. I'm trying to help yo—"
He struggled, pulling his arms right out of the jacket, since she held onto the back. He scrambled for what must be the hole in the back wall of the barn, because she'd been expecting him to come through the double doors. She should've guessed they were too heavy for a boy his size to pull open.
She'd known he'd be back for his things. Had stayed up all night last night, but he hadn't showe
d then.
When you only had four possessions in the whole world, you didn't leave them behind. Of course, he had five, if you counted the dog.
He headed for the door, and she paused long enough to reach for her phone. Thank goodness he hadn't stepped on it. He was quick, because he'd almost disappeared already.
She raised the light to see him about to duck behind a stall to where the hole must be.
"You'll freeze out there without this," she called out. She couldn't imagine how he'd kept warm the night before.
He hesitated, but it was enough.
"I've got grilled cheese and soup up at the house. Piping hot. Milk and cookies for dessert." That stopped him.
"You said you'd call the cops." His back was still to her, but he'd frozen in place.
"I won't call the cops," she promised. "I've got a warm bed and plenty of blankets, and you can see Bando. And your Chihuahua."
He didn't ask after the dog, but fairly radiated with wanting to.
"Did you name her?" she asked. "I haven't named the puppies yet." She'd taken the Chihuahua and pups up to the house in a cardboard box, where the mama had given her the cold shoulder, only eating and sleeping. Kayla couldn't wait to get her in the bath but wouldn't push the animal to accept what she wasn't ready for.
"You've been taking good care of her," Kayla said. She wanted to ask, but who's been taking care of you? The answer was obvious. He had.
He turned, shielding his eyes from the light with one hand. "How'd you know my name?"
"I found your stash." She bit her lip. "I was a foster kid—actually me and my sister both were—and I knew you'd come back for your stuff. That picture—you don't leave something important like that behind." She'd carried a wallet-sized photo of their family from before their parents had died. She still had it tucked away in a shoebox.
He looked at her from the side, a wary glance. But she knew she'd won.
She held out the photo. And he carefully made his way toward her to take it.
Chapter 10
It was more than a half hour before sunrise when Kayla was awakened by Bando's soft woof.
Stealing Sarah: a Cowboy Fairytales spin-off (Triple H Brides Book 3) Page 7
