After Tex (12 page)

“I looked there, in her room, in the attic, even in Tex's room.”

At Megan's quizzical look, the housekeeper shrugged. “She seems to be more at ease when she
sits in his chair by the window. I saw no reason to forbid her from doing it.”

“No, of course not,” Megan said. She glanced at Jake. “Any ideas?”

“Is it possible she overheard you talking about flying to New York on Sunday?”

“It's possible. In fact, if she was anywhere near Tex's office at the time, it's likely. Todd and I were arguing about it.”

“The words or just the yelling could have frightened her,” Mrs. Gomez suggested. “Perhaps she assumed you would insist on her going, too.”

“I actually thought about it. I thought she might enjoy a few days in New York. I told Todd to make a reservation for her, just in case. Afterward, I thought about the kind of schedule I'm going to have to keep and decided it was a bad idea.”

“But, of course, she wouldn't have known that,” Jake pointed out. “She would have jumped to the obvious conclusion that you were taking her with you against her wishes.”

“You're assuming this is because of something I did,” Megan retorted, not wanting to accept the blame he was all too eagerly heaping on her. “What about her mother? Is it possible that she's shown up, contacted Tess in some way? Tess could be hiding from her.”

Mrs. Gomez sketched a cross across her chest. “I hope you are wrong. The poor child has enough to deal with without that.”

Jake stood up and strode toward the door. “We may all be overreacting. We're accomplishing noth
ing here. I'll search outside and talk to the men. You two go through the house again from top to bottom.”

“Mrs. Gomez can do that,” Megan insisted. “I'm coming with you.”

Jake regarded her with surprise. “Whatever. Let's get going. There's a storm blowing in tonight. We have to find her before it hits full force. If the temperatures drop much more we'll have snow instead of rain.”

Megan grabbed Tex's old sheepskin coat off the peg by the back door. It was miles too big for her, but it was warm. The icy wind that smacked her in the face when she stepped outside proved it had been a wise decision. Jake had been wrong. It was already snowing.

“Where should we start?” Megan asked.

“I want to go back to the barn. I can't believe she'd go far from those kittens.”

“Mrs. Gomez said she'd looked there.”

“Maybe not in the hayloft or in every stall.”

But a thorough search revealed not a trace of Tess. Even though she desperately wanted to believe that Tess was merely hiding from them, Megan was beginning to get a sick feeling in the pit of her stomach. Years ago, on a night not so very different from this one, she had run away. She had set out to find her mother, to prove to herself that Sarah O'Rourke still loved her.

She had plodded out to the highway, then turned toward town, intent on getting to the bus station. Snow had begun falling before she even reached the road—big, wet flakes that had soaked through her coat and piled up all too quickly on the slick highway.

Her hands and feet had been so cold she'd barely been able to feel them. Tears streaming down her cheeks had all but frozen. She hadn't gone far before she had wanted desperately to go home, to crawl back into her warm bed, but stubborn pride had kept her going.

Tex had found her an hour later. He had blustered and carried on about how foolish she'd been, but she realized now how badly his hands had been shaking when he'd gathered her close, how frightened he had been. She knew that same kind of fear when she glanced toward the stall where Tex's horse should have been.

“Jake,” she called out, panic threading through her voice.

He was at her side at once. “What?”

“Midnight is gone.”

“Tex's horse?” Jake's gaze flicked to the empty stall. “She wouldn't have…”

“She wanted to learn to ride. I gave her those boots today. Maybe she got it into her head that she had to earn them.”

“Or maybe she just decided to run away,” he said grimly. “I'll saddle up the horses. You round up as many men as you can find and let Mrs. Gomez know we're going to search. She can start calling some of the neighboring ranches.”

Megan raced from the barn. She alerted the foreman first. Tom promised to have the men ready to ride out immediately.

“We'll find her, miss,” he said with quiet confidence. “Don't you worry. The men all like that little gal. She was like Tex's shadow. He pretended not to
notice that she was never far away, but we could tell it pleased him. She's learned a thing or two since she's been here. She'll be fine. She's a real feisty one.”

“That she is,” Megan agreed, then ran on to the house.

“I will make the calls,” Mrs. Gomez promised.

Megan swallowed hard, struggling with guilt and fear. “If something happens to her—”

“Nothing will,” the housekeeper declared. “You will find her and bring her home.”

Hearing the reassurances repeated so often should have helped, but Megan kept seeing Tess's face the day of the funeral. She'd looked so lost and alone, so terribly frightened. Even when she'd been snapping and snarling, the vulnerability had been plain in her eyes.

“Think back,” Megan ordered herself as she mounted the horse Jake had saddled for her. Would Tess have struck out for town the way she had?

“Let's try the highway,” she suggested, turning in that direction.

Jake didn't question her decision. He rode silently alongside her. When she turned toward town, he said, “You did this once, didn't you?”

Megan nodded. “But I wasn't on horseback and I didn't get far.”

There was no sign of hoofprints in the deepening snow. After little more than a mile, Megan concluded she had been wrong.

“Where else would I have gone?” she asked aloud, struggling to put herself into Tess's place. Surely the
same hiding places that would have lured her years ago would prove irresistible to Tess, as well.

She'd always been drawn to the creek. But on a night like tonight, with the wind howling and snow piling up rapidly, surely Tess wouldn't have wanted to be out in the open.

But there was a place, Megan realized finally, that would be safe and dry.

“I think I know,” she said suddenly to Jake.

His gaze clashed with hers and it was as if her thoughts were silently communicated. “The cave,” he said at once.

“Our place,” Megan whispered.

It wasn't really a cave at all, just a niche nature had carved out in the side of a rocky cliff. There had been barely enough room for two people sitting side by side, but that was more than enough for one small, frightened girl.

Jake led the way, his horse stepping carefully over the rocky, treacherous terrain. The sky was thick with clouds that shadowed the moon and left the night dark as pitch. Megan's horse stumbled on the slick ground, rocking her wildly in the saddle before he steadied.

Her gasp of dismay drew Jake's attention. “You okay?”

“Fine,” she said, teeth clenched against the jarring her body was taking. Once, riding had been second nature to her, but in recent years there had been few opportunities. Obviously she could use a little practice. Who'd ever heard of a rancher who couldn't ride worth a damn?

“It's just beyond this next rise,” Jake called back.

Megan peered through the inky darkness and saw
little more than the shape of Jake ahead of her. “How can you tell?”

“There are some things a man never forgets,” he called back, laughter threading through his voice. “Like the time that big ol' snake slithered in front of us and you threw yourself straight into my arms.”

“I don't remember that,” she retorted.

What she remembered was Jake kissing her for the first time in that cave, his lips soft and tender and tentative against hers. Her shy response, the first womanly stirrings of her body. It was not a memory she intended to share just now.

“I recall the kiss, too, Meggie,” Jake said quietly. “All the sweet wonder of it.”

“What kiss?”

“You can pretend if you like, but you're remembering it, too. You're blushing.”

“How the hell can you know that?” she grumbled. “It's dark as sin out here.”

“Because you always blush when I catch you in a fib. That's why you're such a lousy liar.”

“Maybe I've gotten better with age.”

“Shall I turn my flashlight on you and check it out?”

Knowing her face was burning, Megan tried to distract him. “Is that the opening up there on the left?”

After the briefest hesitation, he turned in the saddle. “You're right. That's it.”

His horse nickered. From somewhere nearby came a response.

“That has to be Midnight,” Megan said. “Tess! Tess, are you out here?”

Jake dismounted and moved toward the opening in the cliff. “Tess, sweetie, where are you?”

“Here.” The tearful reply came not from the cave, but from the same direction as the horse's soft neighing.

“I think she's over there, Jake.” Heart pounding and almost dizzy with relief, Megan slid to the ground, skidded on the snow, then ran toward the sound of muffled sobs.

Tess was on the ground, with Midnight standing protectively nearby. Megan hunkered down beside her. Only then did she realize that she was trembling, just as Tex had been all those years ago.

“Oh, baby,” she whispered, gathering Tess close. The sense of déja` vu, the swirl of powerful emotions, stunned her. Was this what it meant to be a mother?

Tess was soaked through and shivering.

“Are you okay?” Megan asked, trying to warm her. She pulled back and examined Tess's tear-streaked face. There were no cuts or bruises.

“It's my ankle,” Tess whispered. “There was so much snow, I slipped and fell when I got off Midnight. It's twisted. I tried to get up again, but I couldn't. I couldn't get the boot off either, 'cause my foot's all swollen.”

“We'll cut the boot off,” Jake said, kneeling down and examining the injured leg.

“No,” Tess protested with a cry. “The boot's brand-new.”

“I'll get you another pair,” Megan told her.

“But these are the ones Tex promised me. I can't ruin 'em,” she insisted, clearly on the verge of a fresh round of tears.

Jake stared at Megan. “Any ideas? The boot has to come off.”

“Could you maybe work it loose at the seams, so it can be repaired?”

“I'll give it a try.” He glanced at Tess. “That okay with you?”

She sniffed, but her expression was hopeful. “You really think it can be fixed after?”

“I'll see to it,” Megan promised.

Tess sighed. “Then go on and cut,” she instructed Jake. “But if you mess up, I'm gonna hurt you.”

Jake grinned. “Now there's an incentive,” he said as he carefully sliced along the inner seam.

As the boot loosened, Megan gingerly pulled Tess's foot free. She winced at the swelling and the already visible black-and-blue bruising.

“You think it's broken?” she asked Jake.

He probed the tender ankle, then shook his head. “We probably should have it x-rayed to be certain, but I think it's just a bad sprain. Let's get her back to the ranch, get some ice on it and see how it looks then. We can take her in to Doc Lee's office after that.”

“I ain't going to no doctor,” Tess protested. “No shots.”

“An X ray doesn't hurt,” Megan reassured her. “No shots are required.”

“Yeah, but what if it's broke? He ain't gonna set it without jabbing me with a needle and you know it.”

“Let's cross that bridge when we come to it,” Jake said. “Let's get you up in the saddle with me.”

“What about Midnight?” Tess demanded. “We can't just leave him here. He took care of me.”

“Midnight will come along on his own now that he knows you're going home,” Jake assured her.

They rode back toward the ranch at a careful pace. When they were within sight of the house, Tess asked, “Am I in trouble?”

“Oh, yeah,” Megan replied. “Big time.”

“But I'm hurt and I'm just a kid.”

“It's because you're a kid that you're in trouble,” Jake said. “You had no business taking off like that and scaring everybody half to death. Do you know how many people have been tied up all evening looking for you?”

“A lot?” she asked.

“Every man on the ranch.”

“Oh, boy,” she murmured.

“That about sums it up,” Megan said. “But we'll discuss all of that in the morning. In the meantime, let's get that ankle of yours checked out. Then I intend to lock you in your room for a month.”