Once out in the courtyard, she spotted a telephone, but a big, burly man was using it. She dared not wait, dared not expose herself. She kept moving with the crowd, skirting along the shops rather than cutting through the open center, hoping she could find another phone on the way to the car. No doubt, Paula would be waiting for her in the parking lot. At least, she assumed the other woman would figure she’d gone back to the car as suggested.
Head turning, gaze constantly searching every corner of the shopping center for any sign of Lester, JoJo stumbled on, pulse thrumming strangely, encouraged when she recognized a sculpture she and Paula had passed earlier that morning. She advanced through and into another familiar courtyard and figured she was now in the vicinity of the correct parking lot.
Almost home free.
A glance around assured her Lester was nowhere in sight. But another telephone was. And this one wasn’t in use. She hesitated…and a hand hooked her arm. JoJo shrieked and spun around, throwing her package like a weapon.
With a grunt, Lucky caught it in the gut. “If you wanted me to hold this, you could have just asked.”
“It’s you!” JoJo’s head was spinning. “My God, did you have to scare me like that? Why do you always do that?” she demanded even as she realized she’d never been so glad to see anyone in her life. “I’ve got to call the police.” But when she turned back toward the telephone, she saw a teenager was already picking up the receiver. “Damn!”
“Hey, what’s going on?” Expression concerned, Lucky stared at her. “Someone steal your wallet?”
“No.” Not knowing what else to do, JoJo headed for the archway that would take her to the parking lot. She’d call the police from the safety of the ranch. “I have to find Paula. What are you doing here anyway?”
“Looking for you. You’re going in the wrong direction.” Placing a hand in the middle of her back, he steered her toward a different exit. “I ran into Paula in the parking lot—she didn’t know where you were.”
As they passed through the opening, JoJo took a last look over her shoulder, almost expecting to see Lester standing there, glasses bobbling on the tip of his nose, his thin body tensed in frustration.
But he’d vanished.
For now.
In the opposite direction, Paula leaned against the hood of her car, engrossed in a conversation with Eli until she spotted JoJo. Then she straightened and waved. Relieved that the torture of the past few days was almost over—that Lester would soon be in custody—JoJo grinned weakly and waved back.
A moment later, she was taking her purchase from Lucky and placing it on the rear seat of the car. Straightening, JoJo caught a flash of silver-and-purple gemstone at Paula’s ear, and realized she’d bought the Sadie Buckthorn earrings she supposedly couldn’t afford.
Before JoJo could comment on the purchase, Paula asked, “Where’d you disappear to?”
“It’s a long story.”
“One I want to hear,” Lucky said, steering her away from the passenger door. “Eli, do you mind riding with Paula?”
“No problem.”
Paula looked surprised but offered no protest. And the next thing JoJo knew, she was settled in Lucky’s Bronco. She wondered why he waited until they were on the road to start his interrogation.
“So give.”
“I think I know why I’ve been having such bad luck lately. Lester Perkins.”
“Lester…you’re not talking about the same Lester Perkins who used to—”
“Work for your father,” JoJo finished for him. “One and the same.”
“He was always a harmless soul.”
“He killed Mia Scudella.”
“I don’t believe it.”
“Welcome back to the real world, Lucky.” JoJo stared out at the landscape that looked like a movie set. Or one that had been made into a movie set, she amended, reminded of Adair’s false claim to being a stuntman on the shoot. “You’ve been gone too long.”
Lucky took a moment to digest this. “All right, say he did kill Mia. What does that have to do with you?”
“Lester identified himself with your brother. He’d had a thing for Mia, probably because Nick was engaged to her. Lester told Mia he cared for her, and she laughed at him. I don’t think he meant to, but he did kill her. As you know, he got away with murder for years. Who would suspect him? Lester was working for Nick when he hired me as a dancer. I was always friendly to Lester, and he took it for more, especially when Nick and I hung out together.”
“You’re saying he had a thing for you like he did for Mia?”
“Enough to take me prisoner rather than let me marry the man I knew as Mac Schneider. Lester was certain he was evil—he may even have known Mac was really Marco. He locked me up because he was afraid for me.”
“Then why do you think he’s responsible for what’s been happening to you?”
JoJo leaned her head against the side window. Her adrenaline was fading fast, leaving her exhausted, both physically and emotionally.
“He may blame me for his being locked up in a psychiatric ward,” she told Lucky. “He escaped the morning of Nick and Sasha’s wedding. Didn’t Caroline tell you when she was going on about my relationship with Marco?”
“Not a word.”
How surprising. Undoubtedly, his sister had given him a carefully edited version of the truth so as to put JoJo in the worst light possible.
“Lester made his way to Sedona somehow,” JoJo explained. “He followed me to Tlaquepaque and waited until I was alone to get to me.”
“He threatened you with all those people around?”
“I didn’t let him close enough.” JoJo started when she realized Lucky had a cellular phone in his Bronco. Wishing he’d tell her he believed her story and that she wasn’t working for his father, she started to pick up the phone.
He put his hand over hers. “Don’t call the police.”
“Why not?”
“I’ve known Lester all my life. He may be sick, but he’s not evil.”
“I didn’t say he was.”
“With the police involved, anything could happen. He might be killed. Let me handle this. I’ll find Lester and bring him in.”
Not knowing what to say, JoJo stared at Lucky. She didn’t want to see Lester Perkins dead, either, even if he had tried to kill her out of revenge for his being locked up. But how did Lucky think he could find Lester? The man could be holed up anywhere, even in one of the nearby canyons. She didn’t care to believe that Lucky didn’t want Lester found, but her suspicions were engaged yet again.
Letting go of Lucky’s phone as if agreeing to let him handle the situation alone, JoJo wished she could read his mind.
What had Lucky been doing at Tlaquepaque? And with Eli? The glitzy tourist shopping center didn’t appear to be their sort of place.
Then again, Lucky always seemed to show up directly after something unexpected and unpleasant happened to her.
The Bushwhacker incident.
The flash flood.
And now Lester.
Did Lucky already know where Lester was?
JoJo couldn’t decide if Lucky was her hero or a man more clever and dangerous than any she’d ever met. A male nurse had helped Lester escape. A big man. Lucky? He could be using her to get back at his father.
A sick thought, one that chilled JoJo, especially since she’d made it so easy for him. She’d fallen into his arms right on cue. And now her emotions were all tangled up in little knots where he was concerned. She could deny the facts all she wanted, but she felt more for Lucky Donatelli than a healthy dose of desire called for.
Swallowing the lump that stuck in her throat, she asked, “So what were you doing at Tlaquepaque—other than looking for me?”
“Seeing a man about business.”
What man? Lester? JoJo shook the evil thought away. Too complicated to be true. She was fabricating. Paranoid.
“Anything you care to talk about?” she asked, hoping he
would give her a reason to have faith in him.
“Not yet.”
And that was the end of that conversation, JoJo realized, suppressing her disappointment.
They were nearing the Macbride property. She only hoped that, once there, Lucky wouldn’t stick to her like glue. The moment she got inside the house, she intended on making a phone call to Las Vegas.
A call that Lucky would undoubtedly stop if he could.
“SO WHAT’S UP, LUCKY?” Eli asked as they headed for the outbuildings a few minutes after arriving at the ranch. “With the woman, I mean.”
Lucky glanced back, but JoJo was already inside the house with Paula. He was wound tight as a spring over the situation—Lester’s complicating everything—but he wasn’t about to share that with his friend. What was happening between him and JoJo was eating at him. He had plans. He didn’t need complications. He didn’t need to worry that he could be wrong about being able to handle Lester.
He should have stayed away from JoJo the moment he’d suspected she was his father’s creature. Rather than taunting her, trying to drive her out, he should have moved into the Wrangler’s Roost with Eli.
Out of sight, out of mind.
She’d be gone soon enough, Lucky realized, and he knew damn well he wouldn’t easily forget her. Maybe if he hadn’t held her in his arms and made love to her, he’d be relieved to see her go. As it was, he was torn about her leaving. Part of him wanted to throw her a parade to see her off. Part of him wanted to force her to stay.
No woman had ever tied him up in knots like this before, and Lucky wasn’t liking it one bit.
“Hey, you on some different planet, or what?” Eli asked.
Lucky realized he still hadn’t told him anything. He carefully studied his friend’s expression when he said, “Lester Perkins.” No hint of recognition.
Eli shrugged. “Wanna be more specific?”
“Lester’s worked for my family all his life. He’s…slow. And kind of odd. He got himself in deep trouble recently and landed in a psychiatric ward. A few days ago, he escaped. And now he’s here.”
“You see him yourself?”
“He saw JoJo. Put her into a panic.” Lucky suspected she was far more freaked than she’d let on.
“You’re not gonna involve the cops?”
Eli’s aversion to the authorities was no secret, not to mention perfectly understandable, so Lucky didn’t get uptight at the question. “I’m planning on getting to Lester myself.”
“Then what?”
“I haven’t decided.”
“DID YOU AND LUCKY HAVE an interesting ride home?” Paula asked, throwing her legs over one arm of an upholstered chair, wedging her back against the other.
“The same ride you did.”
“Now, why do I doubt that?”
“True,” JoJo said, relaxing into the couch cushions. “Eli is more civilized.”
Paula laughed. “You have a thing for Lucky, don’t you?”
“He does have a definite effect on me.”
“What more could a girl ask for?” Paula sighed. “So what shall we do till dinner? We could take the horses out again. Or how about a hike around one of the vortexes?”
“You may have the energy, but I’m beat.” She’d probably used up all her adrenaline for the next week. “I just need some quiet time.”
Time without Paula, JoJo thought, sliding a glance across the room toward the phone. In the house for nearly a quarter of an hour and not a second to herself. She wanted to make that call, but with some privacy. The call could wait a bit longer.
“We could kick back and talk.”
About men? That’s where all of Paula’s conversations led, it seemed. Thinking she could go to her room and have some time to herself, JoJo was about to say she needed a real lie down when the front door opened and Rocky burst through, followed by Adair and Caroline.
“So, did you girls buy up Sedona?” Adair asked.
“Not today,” Paula said.
“There’s always tomorrow.”
“Man, I’m bushed,” Rocky complained, his legs a bit bowed as he wobbled to the couch. He sprawled at the end opposite JoJo.
“Another horseback ride?” Paula asked.
“Nah. We were learning to rope.”
“Rope what?”
“Livestock, of course.”
“Pretend livestock,” Caroline amended.
“There’s a wooden bull with a real skull set up over by the enclosure,” Adair explained. “Vincent said that’s the way rodeo cowboys practice roping.”
“I’m all roped out,” Rocky said with a yawn.
And JoJo realized she wasn’t going to get the privacy she was looking for, especially not with Caroline settling herself in the kitchen right next to the cordless phone. Maybe it was a sign that she should forget about calling the Las Vegas authorities.
“I think I’ll go take a look at the new killer bull,” JoJo joked as she got to her feet.
“You wouldn’t want company, would you?” Adair asked. “I can give you instructions.”
JoJo didn’t miss Caroline’s sudden sour expression. “I can figure it out for myself.” She had no desire to be alone with him anyway.
If her rebuff had any effect on Adair, he didn’t show it, but merely poked his head in the fridge. JoJo left the ranch house, glad to be alone for a while. As she strolled across the property, she thought about Lucky and his plea that she let him find Lester himself. She still didn’t know whether or not to trust the man.
Either she was going to believe in him or she wasn’t. Her choice. And a fine fix, considering all that had happened to her over the past few months. She’d believed in Mac/Marco, and look where blind trust had gotten her. Maybe that was the problem—the past wasn’t quite the past yet. And until she resolved her part in a relationship that had led to her kidnapping, she would probably hold any man who attracted her in suspicion.
Maybe she just didn’t trust her own instincts.
So she’d made a mistake. Time to get over it. Time to start anew. Judge a man for his own worth, not compare him to another. Just because Lucky and Marco were both sons of crime bosses didn’t mean they were cut from the same cloth. And she had to remember that if Lucky had wanted her permanently out of the way, he wouldn’t have saved her from the gully washer.
Besides which, he would have needed a great deal of foresight—or rather second sight—to free Lester Perkins to get to her. At the time, he wouldn’t have known she was coming to Sedona, because she herself hadn’t. So he couldn’t have engineered some complex plot against his father involving her—she was just certain of it. At worst, he’d tried driving her off the ranch from day one by showing her his devil side, because he and Eli had something to hide.
But someone had engineered a plot specifically against her. Someone had sprung Lester. Some big man. Adair?
The conclusion was logical. She’d already suspected Adair anyway. He had a gun. And now she knew for certain that he’d lied about being a stuntman on Call of the West.
Adair’s being at the ranch with witnesses when Lester came after her meant nothing, JoJo reasoned. Lester was off kilter, but he wasn’t a child. He was perfectly capable of taking care of himself, of responding to a phone call telling him where she’d be and when.
But if Adair were pulling Lester’s strings, she still had one unanswerable question—why? What had she ever done to earn his enmity? Could the two men be related? Not that Lester had ever told her anything about family. Of course, it was possible that Lester was working alone here. Not likely, considering the circumstances, but possible.
If only she could go to the authorities. She should call them, despite Lucky’s plea. But she felt sorry for Lester, and in truth, didn’t want the poor man hurt or worse. She’d press Lucky for his plan of action and then decide.
JoJo was within yards of the outbuildings when she realized Lucky had beat her there. He and Eli were near Bushwhacker’s enclosure, loop
ed ropes in hand. Vincent was there, too, his brow furrowing and head nodding as Lucky spoke. Then he jogged off, and JoJo realized a tacked-up horse waited for Vincent nearby. The wrangler rode in the direction of the grazing lands where Flora had told her the Macbride crew was headed with the rounded-up strays.
No sooner had she spotted the wooden bull than Lucky’s rope whipped up into the air, whirling around his head…stretching out in front of him…and looping directly around the bull’s neck. Eli was next, his throw equally successful. The men retrieved their ropes and returned to their lassoing positions. JoJo figured the men might be there for some time.
And the Wrangler’s Roost would be empty.
Never having been inside the place, JoJo thought to satisfy her curiosity. Eli was staying there. And she suspected that when Lucky disappeared to “work” with Eli, that’s where they holed up. Wanting to know exactly what they’d been laboring over, she silently stole away, waiting until the men were out of sight before breaking into a jog.
A few minutes later, she was at the entrance of the original ranch house, a log cabin with several additions. The front door was unlocked. Even so, when she stepped inside, she called, “Anyone home?” and waited a moment. Just in case.
The deserted main room was a smaller version of that in the new house. It had wood-paneled walls and a stone fireplace. In addition to sitting and eating areas, however, a corner space provided for a large work area, as well—a desk and a long table undoubtedly meant for the foreman’s use. But the foreman was out on the range, and it was evident that the area had been utilized quite recently if the mugs and the lingering smell of coffee were any indication.
JoJo investigated. Pinned to the table was a layout of what appeared to be a resort. On closer inspection, she realized she was looking at a two-dimensional view of the Macbride Ranch, with additional buildings and stock areas sketched in. Curious. Nick hadn’t said anything about changes.
Then, maybe Nick didn’t know about this.
The first clue that she was caught snooping came with the opening of the front door. She and Eli were equally surprised to see each other. At least he didn’t have a reason to be embarrassed.
Lucky Devil Page 15
