Ciarán jumped up and grabbed her waist lifting her into the air, swinging her and laughing before heeding her squeals and bringing her down to the ground again. He grabbed her once again lifting her back up to settle in his lap kissing her loudly.
Ciarán was as excited and happy as she expected him to be and she put off the inevitable questions surrounding what he was going to allow her to do and not do. She hoped that since the winter was slow when the ranch got busier, she would be less busy, maybe just working at Bhaile Haven for ten to fifteen hours a week. She could help with little Paddy and do the baby preparations in May and June. She thought that if she could compromise and he knew she would go down to just those few hours a week in May, he would leave her alone until then. She could only hope. But for now, he was on the phone calling all of his family and she would stop by and see her dad the next day.
Katie watched as her husband was animated on the phone and that was not a usual sight. Ciarán was not like Liam who took the room by storm and if he didn't like something, he stood his full height, seemed to expand a bit, and made things happen just with his presence. Then adding the boom to his voice which could make most people outside of the family, quake in their boots.
Ciarán, on the other hand, was just as large a man as his brother was but was generally a quieter, albeit just as intimidating a force to be reckoned as his brother, in his own way. Ciarán would quietly enter a room, and if he wanted to empty it or let the inhabitants know of his anger, he would speak calmly with his words forged out of steel. The hardness in his manner and in his eyes gave you no doubt as to the expectations and quickness in which those expectations should be carried out.
Oddly enough, because Ciarán didn't rant and rave or bellow, as Jocelyn called it, at the offending party, Ciarán was seen as the more dangerous of the two. He was an unknown whereas Liam threw it all out there. Ciarán said few words that implied everything. A person's imagination is more of a deterrent than words because there were no boundaries to where it could take you. The ranch hands cringed if Ciarán were handling any discipline or reprimand. He was just too hard to peg in that mood. Katherine was getting the hang of it, though.
*****
Outside the ranch gates, sat a car that had been to this spot many times before, and the driver was looking for an early Christmas present. He expected it to arrive shortly in the form of Katie O'Connor. He would make it happen tomorrow. He had waited too long and his patience had run out. He watched as the lights darkened before he drove to Elk Ridge alone one last time.
Chapter Two
Katie left the ranch on her way to Elk Ridge to see her father and give him the news. Her morning chores were taken care of and since Ciarán was working out on the ranch, he wouldn't be home for lunch. As she was coming just around the bend outside the north gate, she came upon a car with its hood up as though there was engine trouble. Being a trusting soul normally, she slowed down to get a look at what was the problem and to see if there was assistance like a drive into town that she could help with.
Simultaneously, she dialed her husband and told him that someone was in front of the north gate of the ranch with some car problems and she was going to see if she could help. She asked if he would send a ranch hand and as Katie stopped to tell the man that she had help coming, Ciarán heard her make a yelping sound. It took less than ten minutes for the ranch and some law enforcement to descend on the place Katie was supposed to be to find her car empty, no other vehicle around, and her keys on the ground.
Ciarán had been a long way away from the north gate when he heard Katie over her Bluetooth in the car and then it had gone quiet but didn't disconnect for a few seconds longer. Trying to call Katie made it ring the first few times and then it went immediately to voice mail after that. But maybe they could ping off the last tower she had received his call from to find her. He called Liam who was closer than he was to the north gate working that morning close to home. Liam took over the calling of the family, the sheriff, and then Parker directly, before initiating the search and rescue call to the ranch.
By the time Ciarán arrived at the place where Liam was, ranch hands were looking for where Katie could have gone. He tried to recap to Liam what he knew when he appeared, all the while looking to see if she had taken her small pack from the car. It held her GPS and Personal Locator Beacon (PLB) in the side pocket. It was gone so he was praying she had it turned on and thankful that she had learned her lesson going to Trappers. He had added the PLB to enhance the total package. He just prayed she turned them on.
He knew his gut was right when he said it would be safer for her. He had begged Katie and then demanded that she put it in her pack if she wanted to go anywhere off the ranch alone. Now he almost cried with relief that she had agreed. Determined to end this quickly, he needed to get things moving. He knew as an experienced search and rescue worker, that the quicker you got out there, the more likely you would find a good outcome.
"Okay, so, did you hear anything else?" Liam asked as he called Parker to get the sheriff's office in on this and then he called Quinlan to fly up and help. He told him not to let on to Mom but tell Da because that would be a mess otherwise. All the O'Connor kids knew that their father had to know but to leave it up to him to tell their mother. He taught them early on that a man protected his family and sometimes that included releasing information or not.
Ciarán remembered hearing the yelp from Katie and a background sound, like a grunting umph, but not in Katie's voice. It was a deeper, masculine voice. Just as though the air was knocked out of someone. That's my girl, Katie; you do as much damage as you can. However, in the next thought, he feared she would be retaliated against for it. It caused him to equally pray she didn't do anything to upset the man he was sure had taken her. He feared for her life because if this man's obsessions were as off-centered as Ciarán had understood, he wouldn't stop if he caused her pain. Not even if she asked him to because he got off on it.
It wasn't that people didn't do some of those things in marriage but 'no' always meant 'no,' even when you do it for fun and excitement. This sicko got off on ignoring 'no' in any form. The man not only had his wife, but the little one that he had yet to become accustomed to but already loved with all his heart.
Then Ciarán called Katie's dad and had to admit to him that he didn't take care of his daughter as he had promised. A statement to which, upon hearing the apology, Brian Franklin pushed it aside. Ciarán further told him that she was in a vulnerable state, being pregnant.
"So that's what she wanted to talk to me about this morning. I hoped she wasn't going to complain that you were too strict and overprotective. I'd say this proves you knew what you were doing. It was a good call that you were so protective."
"Thank you, sir. Now let's get our girl."
"Son, I had never doubted that you would take excellent care of my daughter and love her completely, in spite of her fears. She couldn't have picked a better man to be her husband and father to that baby. "
"Thank you, sir, but I should have done better. It wasn't enough."
"Really? You thought you could protect her all the time, for the rest of your life? Well, you have a pretty high opinion of your abilities, I'd say. I never thought you omnipresent, still don't and you have to get over it. This person, this Stuart guy, obviously has her and with obsessions, you just cannot know the outcome. They are unpredictable. Now let's stop wasting our time and go after our girl. I will come over and help hold down the fort. I can go searching if you need me, but I can do a lot of groundwork as a backup, as well. And I'm positive, this time, next year I will be bouncing my grandbaby on my knee."
Parker was there having arrived with the sheriff, who was calling in, even more, reinforcements. He was calling this a kidnapping. Kelli was hot on their heels and she blasted back when Parker's first response was to protect his woman.
"Kelli, what the hell do you think you are doing here and whatever the reason, you go back home, now. This isn
't a safe place and I promise to call you when we find her."
"Sorry, I'm here because my sister and best friend need me and you are going to have to live with it, Parker Jamison. I'm not waiting for someone to call me. I'm going to be here for her."
Parker looked over to Liam, silently asking for assistance in getting Kelli out of the area. Liam held up his hand and said, "I understand your desire to keep her out of the incident, but we O'Connors stick together. Do not be surprised if every O'Connor family male under fifty shows up and be glad if their spouses do not accompany them. That is what this family does. Never doubt that if you mess with one of us, you are messing with all of us."
Then Liam turned to Kelli and said, "Kelli, Mrs. O'Malley will be making coffee and sandwiches and I need someone to man the phones at home. Until I get more family here, it's going to have to be you, hon. Bring the coffee and the food as it's ready. Get the coffee out here as soon as possible because we are going to feel the cold soon but we can wait for food. Oh, and bring us some blankets out of the upstairs hall closets."
"Oh," he continued, "will you call Donald and Cash and tell them that we are going to have to dump the whole operation on them until we get this handled? It's going to take everyone to keep this going while we handle business."
Kelli paid particular attention to the information she was given, asked how much she was supposed to tell people, stopped to kiss an amazed Parker full on the mouth and took off to handle things she had been assigned.
"Oh, and I haven't called Jocelyn yet because I want to be out of here before she comes back or she will want to go as well," Liam yelled.
Kelli took off at a rapid clip to accomplish the assigned tasks.
"What the hell? Liam, how did you do that? She would have stood here with me and kicked, yelled, cursed and we would be in a world war assault. You got her out of here and she didn't even balk? That, my friend, is talent."
"No, she was here to help. You wanted her out of the middle of things to protect her. I gave her plenty to do that I really did need to be done. She didn't feel like I was making things up just to get her out of here. She knew we needed them done and she was the best to do them right now. I could have made some calls, but it always works best if you can do them in person. You will figure her out."
Liam looked over the Forest Service maps he had for a moment before looking up again.
"And one more thing, work on your 'tough move' because if you are requesting an action, that is one thing, but if you aren't taking no for an answer, you need to do it better. People can read your voice, tone, body language better than they hear your words sometimes. Not the 'tough cop' move, but the 'I adore you and you will do as I say because I love you or else', move. Kelli already knew what your words were going to be; she needed to see how serious you were when you spoke them. We O'Connors are a pain in the ass sometimes and that extends to the women."
"You can be a complicated bunch that is for sure. Now let's go and get our Katie back home." And yes, he meant 'our Katie' because he was going to be attached to Kelli until the day they died so he felt comfortable in claiming ownership of the family members, passionate and demanding though they were. Now if he could just convince her of that.
Chapter Three
You are crazy, Stuart. I cannot believe you thought you could kidnap me right from under my husband's nose; right under the Clan O'Connor's nose. A slight grin escaped when she imagined what Ciarán would do to this man once he found him but then the arm she was sure was dislocated at the shoulder reminded her she was not in a safe place to enjoy those thoughts. That would come later when Ciarán and Liam found her. Katie had no doubt that they were sending out the alarm at that very moment. Stuart Landau when they find you, there will be no saving you from their wrath.
Stuart was agitated and angry. It was obvious to Katie that he wasn't getting what he wanted by his familiar mannerisms. She had not done what he wanted her to do and she knew it made him angry. She knew from experience that he expected her to leap out of her car to help him. She would have done that at twenty and once outside her car, he could easily have taken her in his. She wondered if Stuart had planned that she would be any better at not being the victim than she had been at twenty. She wondered if it spoiled his plans enough. She soon found it didn't do anything but anger him. That was dangerous.
Fortunately, her husband had her well trained. He said that under no conditions do you ever allow someone to get you into their car. Also, you never leave your car if you are inside and they are outside. Remember to call for help immediately. She was so glad she had called Ciarán before getting out of the car. She knew he would know something was wrong right away and they would find her car. She just needed to hang tight and they would come to get her. He would be so proud of her. She stifled a cry of yearning for him.
She wondered if they would know what happened to her. Stuart had attempted to be caring towards her but Katie knew it was not in his character and he was forcing it. He told her he would have her up at that cabin in a few hours. Then he would get her settled and see what she was complaining about in her shoulder. Katherine wondered if he really cared since he was the one who yanked it out of place dragging her from the passenger side of the car. She doubted it. His eyes were cold. She needed to keep looking for weaknesses she could use against him.
"Well, whatever is wrong with your arm, you're a nurse, and can fix it once we stop."
She didn't want to disabuse him of that fact. They trudged along working their way up the mountain toward the cabin that had been waiting for weeks. He seemed less in the reality of things and more in some place she was only in because he had forced her to be there with him. It was hard to follow his thinking because he was thinking from this undetermined place instead of coming from her reality. As they trudged along working their way up the mountain, she tried to draw on her nursing and psychology training. Carefully responding or just letting him talk seemed best.
Don't upset him. Don't humor him in a way that he would know it. Her reason might not be a reason to him. This was hard. Her arm hurt, her whole body was in pain. Thinking past the pain drew tears and that was a sign of weakness she was unwilling to show. She wondered where the cabin he was talking about was. He kept saying he was going toward that cabin he had talked about after he got her into the woods. He said it had been waiting for weeks.
Katie had few things in her pack that would help her in this situation. Geez, I forgot to pack for kidnapping. Katie thought sarcastically. It helped her deal with her feelings of loss of control. She knew her men had it worse than she did. At least, her husband made her throw in her GPS and PLB after the lake. When her cell rang, she knew it must be Ciarán. Instead of giving it to Stuart as he started towards her to grab it, she had quickly put it on silent and tossed it back towards the way they had come. She silently hoped that he wouldn't want them to go back in search of it. But then again, if he did, it would keep them in the same area for longer. Either way, it couldn't be a bad thing. He apparently decided it was not a big deal because he hesitated a moment, then pushed her further ahead of him and kept going up the mountain.
*****
Ciarán and Liam assisted in putting together a search and rescue crew while their search dogs and the best trail horses were brought up. Ciarán had not trained these animals well with the thought of them searching out his own wife, but if anyone could do it, they could. Glad to have a task to concentrate on, he called and sent Kelli over to the house to gather Katie's dirty laundry from the day before and a pair of shoes.
"Are you all right, Ciarán?"
"I will be, Kelli, just get those items for me, please."
That would be the best thing to get her scent from and crazy as it might sound, he needed her scent with him as much as the dogs needed it.
"Parker, I have plenty of gear in the Bhaile Mountain Guide storage room. Kelli can get whatever anyone is short on so they are all fully geared up. Tell her just to mark it off the inven
tory if she has time."
Liam seemed to be doing some mental list himself before he spoke again.
"Mrs. O'Malley will help with food and coffee as well as water and supplies to pack as you need it. When Jocelyn comes home, do not let her up here, and give her some tasks as you saw me do Kelli. Tell her to expect company and to get things set up in the house and in Ciarán's as well. That will keep her more than occupied. Oh, and one last thing Parker, don't tell her not to worry. It gets her—"
Parker cut him off, "I know, it gets them angry." Liam laughed and told him he was learning.
Within the hour, Ciarán and Liam had already left to climb up the mountain with all the supplies they would need, leaving Kelli in charge of the coordination of the ranch until relief showed up and to call Jocelyn. Parker was charged to make sure that the rest of the clan was geared up for following them. Even though Parker had his own job to do that was his paying job, he also knew that this was going to be his future family, and with determined men leading this group, he could do no less than help his family as they needed it.
The rest of law enforcement and the other search and rescue teams were assembled. Parker and the sheriff were able to fill them in, show them the terrain and the direction that Liam and Ciarán had taken. When they retrieved the things they needed, they gave trace scents to the rescue dogs, and Kelli worked on getting everyone set with any extra gear and supplies needed.
Jocelyn came home as quickly as she could after getting the call from Kelli and checked with Parker on what was going on. She had little Paddy with her and was immediately met by irritated men. They were upset that she was there with a baby.
Ignoring all other conversation, she found Parker and asked him directly, "Tell me what is going on and where is my family?"
Katie Consents (Ciaran O'Connor Book 3) Page 3
