The Texan Meets His Match (Lake Howling Book 2)

by Vella, Wendy

  “We’re safe here,” Annabelle said, but inside she was thinking, Oh my God, please let them be safe!

  “I hope so,” was all Cooper said.

  The siblings talked well into the night. Finally exhausted, they both found their beds. Annabelle lay in the dark replaying her brother’s words and feeling calmer from hearing them again, hearing the sanity that she felt was beginning to return to Cooper Smith. There would be setbacks, as he’d said, but today was a big step forward and she owed Ethan Gelderman for that. It had been his words that had helped her brother to unburden himself and in doing so, Annabelle believed they had turned a corner. Now she needed to get Ethan to forgive her and then everything in her world would be starting to right itself once more.

  Well, nearly everything, she thought, remembering her brother’s words about the man he still owed money to.

  CHAPTER NINETEEN

  Annabelle couldn’t sleep, so after tossing and turning and punching her pillows a few times, she turned on her beside lamp and picked up her cell phone. It was 1:45 a.m. Would he be still awake?

  Taking a deep breath, she found his number, and called Ethan.

  “Hey,” she said when he answered.

  “Annabelle, is everything okay?” His voice was thick with sleep and she imagined that large, naked body pressed next to hers.

  “No, I’m fine… really. Just listen, okay?” He agreed, so she continued. “Tonight I had a long talk with Cooper and he apologized for the way he spoke to you and the way he’s been treating me. We really talked, Ethan, about everything that had been going on with him, and I think it’s a time of change for both of us.”

  “I’m happy for you, baby.”

  “I’m sorry about getting into it with you about Brad too.”

  He was silent for a few seconds before he said, “I called him, and said a few things, and he texted me back later. I’ll tell you about it when I see you, okay?”

  “Okay,” she whispered, feeling so full of love it almost hurt. “Anyways, it’s late, but I just wanted to say… Well, I just wanted to say that I never meant to hurt you, and that I love you and it’s okay if you don’t love me back, but I needed to tell you that because… well, I just needed to.”

  There was absolute silence on the other end, so Annabelle said, “Goodnight, Ethan,” and hung up feeling nervous and terrified because he hadn’t said he loved her back. Had Cooper and Branna been wrong? Was the love all on her side?

  He called back two seconds later. She thought about not answering but then decided she was too old for those kinds of games.

  He said, “I love you, Annabelle, so fucking much it hurts, and I want to fly back to Howling now to show you just how much,” which made her cry. “Don’t cry, baby,” he told her.

  “They’re happy tears, I promise,” Annabelle said. “Come home tomorrow. We’ll talk and then you can kiss me and tell me how perfect I am.”

  “I don’t remember saying that, sweetheart.”

  “Sure you did. Right before ‘I worship you,’” she teased, now that she could breathe again. “And now we have to go because you need your beauty sleep so you can rise with the sun and hurry back here. Fly safe, my love.”

  “I love you, baby,” he said before she disconnected the call.

  She slept then, a deep sleep that featured Ethan and Cooper and the other people she loved. When she woke early, she was still smiling. It didn’t fade as she pulled on leggings, a sweatshirt, and her sneakers.

  “I’m just going for a quick walk, Coop, and then I’ll make breakfast when I get back,” she said, poking her head into her brother’s room. He was an early riser too.

  “Okay. Maybe I’ll help you,” he said, swinging his legs out of bed.

  “And maybe I’ll accept.”

  She let herself out of the house. Striding off down the road, she pumped her arms to warm up. It was early, before six a.m., so she had the road to herself. Titling back her head, she inhaled the scent of the redwoods that stood behind her as she strode along the road beside the lake.

  She’d been walking awhile when a blue sedan pulled up beside her. Smiling, she turned to face the driver. The man smiled back. He had on a Lakers cap and a sweatshirt and was resting his elbow on the window ledge. She’d seen him yesterday, only then he’d been driving a camper van.

  “Morning. You decided to stay?” Annabelle said.

  “Morning. Yes, I was reluctant to leave this lovely place,” he said, looking behind her as if he was searching for something.

  “No place like Howling, that’s for sure,” Annabelle said.

  “I was wondering if Cooper Smith was your brother, Ms. Smith?”

  Annabelle felt a trickle of unease as she remembered what Cooper had said to her last night about owing someone else money. “Cooper Smith?” She pretended to think about that for a few seconds. “Can’t say the name is familiar, but I’d head back into town again, and ask around there. They may be able to help you. Ask for Cubby. He’s pretty knowledgeable about who lives where in the area.” Lifting a hand, Annabelle turned and began to jog back down the road away from her house.

  She heard the car start up again and come up behind her. Moving to the side, she lifted her hand again, but the car stopped.

  “I thought you’d just take us straight to him, Ms. Smith, but seems like you’re not going to oblige.”

  She saw the gun he was holding, and then the back door opened and someone grabbed her. She struggled, fought hard, kicked and punched, but there were two men in the back and they had her subdued quickly. Her hands and feet were bound, her mouth taped in seconds.

  “A car’s coming! Keep her down!”

  Annabelle’s head was pushed between her knees as she heard the driver turn the music up so her sounds were muffled. Then they were moving.

  “Check her for a cell phone.”

  She felt hands running over her body and wished she could bite the one that squeezed her breast.

  “It’s here.”

  She’d brought it in case Cooper needed her, and now she wished she’d left it.

  “Your brother owes me two hundred thousand dollars, Ms. Smith, and I don’t plan on leaving here without it. So you’re going to call your Texan, and we’re going to organize to meet up with him and my money.” The man grabbed the back of her hair and pulled her head up as he spoke beside her.

  Annabelle had thought that she’d known terror walking into that building in Vegas with Ethan, but this… this was terror. Her heart raced, she felt sick, she couldn’t breathe in deeply because her mouth was taped, and the bindings around her wrists and ankles were cutting into her skin.

  “We get Cooper and then head straight for that place where we stored the van.”

  Annabelle thought about Ethan, and how she’d told him she loved him, and felt her anger begin to push through the fear. She didn’t want to die yet; she wanted a life with the man she loved, and a child like Billy to cuddle and wake up to every morning. They’d find her, she knew that. Her people would come for her when they knew she was missing. Annabelle just had to stay alive until they did.

  Ethan flew into Brook at the ridiculously early hour of 7 a.m. After Annabelle’s phone call last night, all he could think about was getting to her, holding her and never letting her go. She loved him. God, her voice had sounded so sweet when she’d told him that. She loved him. He felt the foolish grin he’d worn since he’d opened his eyes grow wider.

  Looking around at the clear morning and the still lake, he thought they’d live here. He loved it and this was her home, the place of her roots. His were in Texas along with his dysfunctional family, so he’d choose hers.

  “Jesus! What the fuck, Gelderman. It’s seven o’fucking clock!” Jake opened the door with a scowl, wearing a t-shirt and shorts. His hair was standing on end; his jaw was unshaven.

  Leaning forward, Ethan wrapped his arms around his grumpy friend and hugged him. “Annabelle loves me.”

  “Well, I don’t,�
�� Jake complained, then turned to walk to the kitchen, leaving Ethan to shut the door.

  “Hi, Ethan.” Branna was standing half-asleep, resting against the kitchen counter, dressed in shorts and a fluffy sweater with an open book on the front as she watched the coffee brew.

  “Apparently Annabelle loves him, so that gives him the right to wake us up.” Jake moved behind Branna and wrapped his arms around her, then rested his head on her shoulder.

  Ethan wanted to do that with Annabelle: wake with her in his arms and hold her in the morning while the coffee brewed.

  “When did she tell you?” Branna said, leaning back against her man.

  “Last night. She called me at one forty-five in the morning,” Ethan said, wondering if it was too early to go there now.

  “One forty-five a.m.,” Jake mimicked.

  “I forgot what a bitch you are in the morning, McBride,” Ethan said.

  “It’s not the morning, Tex. The morning starts at eight at the earliest,” Jake said.

  Ethan pulled out his cell phone as it started buzzing. “Hey, baby, you’re up early,” he said, seeing Annabelle’s number on his screen. He felt the smile fall off his face as he listened to her frantic words. “Are you still in Howling, Annabelle?” Ethan didn’t get an answer; instead, a man’s voice came on the other end. He listened for a few more seconds, then the call was cut.

  “What?” Jake said with a deep frown.

  “That was Jenson. He has both Annabelle and Cooper and he wants two hundred thousand dollars, otherwise I get them back dead.”

  His insides felt cold, as if they’d frozen over and were slowing down his ability to think. Someone had a gun at the head of his beautiful girl and Ethan had never known fear like it.

  “Branna, call Buster and get him here, and then call Declan, Newman and my parents and get them to do the same.” Jake snapped out the words as he handed her his phone. He then took Ethan’s phone and called Cubby.

  “They’ve probably left town or are hiding out somewhere, but have someone block the roads,” Ethan heard him say seconds later.

  Shaking his head, he tried to clear it. She needed him to focus now, needed the cool head he’d had in the Army. “I need to start looking,” he said as he walked towards the door, but Jake’s hand stopped him.

  “Not alone, now without guns and support, you don’t.”

  “He has my girl.”

  “And we want her back alive, and to do that we need to do this right. Ethan, you know what I’m saying is the only way.”

  He managed a nod, but could find no words as his throat was clogged with fear.

  Cubby arrived first with Buster and Newman in his cruiser.

  “What the fuck is going on?” Buster snarled. “This town is a peaceful place, and we had that shit with Bran and now Belle. I’m going to kill someone.”

  “Get in fucking line,” Ethan snarled.

  “Jake, start talking,” Cubby said calmly. “You”—he pointed at Ethan—“sit before you fall down.”

  They listened as Jake gave the facts, brief though they were.

  “My deputies are checking the Smith place now, and will arrive here soon,” Cubby said.

  Ethan sat and listened, sipping the coffee Branna had put in his hand. She was now standing behind him. The hand she placed on his shoulder shook. These were the people she loved too.

  “Nobody’s left town this morning. Maggie at the store said she’s been up since three and has a view of the road, and no one’s been in or out,” Cubby said.

  “Annabelle called me at one forty-five, so unless they got her in the hour between, they’re still in Howling,” Ethan said, forcing himself to speak slowly, then to breathe in and out.

  “No one in Howling will have that kind of money in their houses that I know of,” Newman said, his face serious as he paced the room. “Do you know someone who can fly it in for you, Tex?”

  It was agony not to be able to reach her. This love shit made everything a million times worse, and the thought that he might not see her again just about had him blacking out.

  “Ethan, keep it together,” Jake said. “We’ll get her back. They have to still be in the area, and Cubby has someone watching the road for any cars leaving.”

  “A camper van came in early yesterday, about five a.m., and the driver went into The Roar. I went in there at six for a coffee. Betty was working, and she told me he asked a lot of questions, so we know what he’s driving and have a good description of him, if this is our man,” the deputy said. “The van hasn’t left, and if it tries to I’ll be notified.”

  “I thought you were checking all incoming vehicles,” Ethan snarled.

  “Was, but this one slipped by because it arrived early, and the guy seemed like a genuine tourist.”

  “But now we know he’s not.” Ethan felt the leash on his temper slip.

  “I understand where you’re coming from there, Tex, but it’s not helping Annabelle none,” Cubby said in a calm voice that made Ethan want to punch him.

  “I just spoke with your dad. He said there are a couple of locals who don’t believe in banks. Macy has a safe with money in it, as does Walt Heath. He says he’ll start with them, and get to us with what he can ASAP,” Branna said.

  “I’ve got some,” Buster said.

  “Me too,” Newman said.

  “Okay, so between us we can probably come up with the money,” Jake said, and Ethan was humbled that these people were not hesitating to use their money.

  “Every cent will be paid back, I promise.”

  “Settle, Tex. We know that, and if we didn’t, we’d still be doing it,” Buster said.

  Cubby’s phone rang as Jake rolled a map out on the table and they all moved to gather around it.

  Ethan thought again about just walking out of the house himself and starting a search. He needed to do something to get to Annabelle, anything. Standing here made him feel helpless.

  “Jeb’s just radioed in and said that his brother and a friend were tramping on the north trails. He thought he saw signs of life in the old Lever place about thirty minutes ago.”

  Ethan made himself focus as Cubby put his phone back in his pocket. “Where’s that?” he demanded.

  “Here.” Jake stabbed a finger at the map. “It’s about a thirty-minute walk in.”

  “Are there many places like that out there?” Ethan asked.

  Cubby shook his head. “Most are used for the tourists now, but this one was let go because it was in a bad state. When old Mr. Lever passed, his people decided to let it rot.”

  Ethan looked at Jake, Buster and Newman. “Okay, we’ll take it, and you keep in radio contact, Cubby.”

  The sheriff looked at the three men before speaking. “The thing here is that while a few of you irritate me to hell, I don’t want any of you shot, so if you find anything, you radio it in, and then we go in and see who’s inside. You got that, Tex?”

  “I got it,” Ethan said, knowing there wasn’t a shit show in hell of anyone stopping him if he thought Annabelle was in there.

  “Jake, I’m not real confident that your buddy here’s telling the truth,” Cubby said.

  “I’ll watch him.”

  They were all armed in minutes and walking into the redwoods. It was still early, and the air was cool, but none of them felt it. They were all focused on what they had to do.

  “I’m running this,” Jake said, “and you’re gonna listen, Ethan.”

  Ethan grunted but said nothing further, concentrating on calming his breathing and focusing on what had to be done to get his girl back safe.

  Buster followed Jake, Ethan came next, and Newman brought up the rear. They’d penned him in and for now he’d let them. They kept the pace brisk and no one spoke again until Jake raised a hand and they all stopped. When Jake pointed downwards, Ethan saw tracks and felt his heart start a steady thud in his chest.

  “It’s up ahead about twenty feet. Newman, you and Buster go around the back, and Te
x and I will take the front.”

  Ethan watched his friends slip into the trees silently, then he and Jake moved slowly forward. The place was small and run down, raised up on stilts, with half its roof missing. One window faced out onto a small porch, but he couldn’t see anyone inside.

  “There’s a camper,” Ethan said.

  “Could belong to anyone,” Jake cautioned.

  “I’m going underneath the house,” Ethan whispered, then ran forward without waiting for Jake. In seconds Jake had followed, spitting out several foul words, eyes shooting sparks at Ethan.

  He heard the voices then, male, definitely two, but no woman’s voice. Closing his eyes, he prayed she was safe, and that it was her up above him.

  “We have to get them outside,” Jake whispered.

  “We need a decoy,” Ethan mouthed.

  Newman and Buster arrived then, moving quietly to where he and Jake were standing.

  “They’re both in there. I looked in a window and Annabelle’s next to Cooper on the sofa, sitting up, looking ready to bite whoever comes near her,” Newman said.

  Ethan felt his knees buckle, the relief was so intense.

  “We need a distraction,” Jake whispered. “Something to draw them out.”

  “Okay, give us a few minutes,” Buster said, then he and Newman were on the move again.

  Minutes later, they heard the sound of loud singing. Ethan watched, tense and waiting, as Buster and Newman came up the trail with their arms around each other, weaving all over the place.

  “You have got to be shitting me,” Ethan whispered.

  “Fuck me,” Jake said. “I’d be tempted to shoot them just to shut them up.”

  Their voices were so off key, Ethan was sure any wildlife had run for the hills.

  “Let’s go.” Ethan pulled his gun and ran towards the rear of the house, then up the steps. When he reached the door, he quickly tested the handle and when it turned, he pushed the door open.

  Annabelle and Cooper were sitting close to each other on the sofa facing the rear of the old Lever place, so they saw Ethan and Jake before the men did, because the men had their faces pressed to the window, trying to see who was making the racket outside.