KIDNAPPED COWBOY (28 page)

Dalton took her hand in his as they raced for the cafeteria. Raised voices greeted them.  He threw open the door, holding it until she’d stepped into the building.  Then he followed her inside. 

“We won!” Clayton snarled.

“You did not!” another boy challenged.

Then, the girls got in on it.  “Miss Myers held that pig longer than any of you did.”

Dalton muttered a curse and crossed the room.  Caitlin followed, finding it hard to keep up with his long, determined strides. 

“Is there a problem here?” he cut in, his warning tone bringing the shouts and growls to utter silence.

“What’s this all about?” she demanded, disappointed to see the kids fighting again.  And she had no doubt that their argument would have soon turned into a fistfight.  What happened to all those counseling sessions?  To their learning better ways to deal with anger?  Maybe Brandon was right in questioning her ability to run things.

“They’re arguing over who won today’s competition,” Zach explained with a shake of his head.

“Seems to me no one caught Squealer and held onto him for any length of time,” Dalton said, his gaze sliding over to Caitlin.  “Except for Miss Myers here.”

“That doesn’t count,” Jimmy muttered angrily.

“Why not?” Dalton asked his demeanor calm.

“Because she runs this place.”

He raised a brow.  “Correct me if I’m wrong, but aren’t you the one who insisted Miss Myers be included in the competition in the first place?”

The boy hedged.  “Well, yeah.  I reckon so.”

He glanced her way with a chuckle.  “I’m not a man who’s easily impressed, but I have to admit that I was pretty impressed by her pig handling skills today.”

Caitlin rolled her eyes. 
Some skill.  The pig ran her over.

“So does she get the boys’ or the girls’ prize?” Clayton asked.  “Since there was one of each on your team and none of us could grab hold of that darn pig.”

“I’m not taking the prize,” she told them.  “I might have held onto Squealer for a moment, but I didn’t keep hold of him.  That was part of the rules.  So we’ll have to choose the winners some other way.”

Dalton folded his arms, his gaze scanning the young faces around the room.  “I’m thinking we just call it a tie.”

Kylie looked questioningly at Dalton.  “You mean you’d take all of us to the rodeo?”

“Why not?  I’d say you’ve all earned it.”

Caitlin nodded in agreement.  “As long as your parents give you permission to go.”

The room exploded into elated cheers. 

“And,” Dalton said, his deep voice cutting through the noise, “only if I hear you’ve been toeing the line while I’m away.”

“Where are you going?” Leah asked, exchanging worried glances with the other counselors.

“I have some business I need to tend to.  But I’ll be back before you and the teens head home.”

Dalton had become sort of a father figure to the teens, most of them coming from broken homes with little or no guidance.  Like her, they would miss him.  Like her, they had come to respect and love him.

She loved him. 

Caitlin lowered herself onto one of the bench seats.  How was she going to stand his being gone, even for just a short time? 

“What if you don’t make it back before we go?” Tommy asked with a frown.

Caitlin didn’t even want to consider that possibility.  She pasted on a smile, “Then you’ll see him again this fall when we go to the rodeo.” 

“It’s nice to know I’ll be missed,” Dalton told them with a grin.

He had no idea how much,
Caitlin thought with an inner sigh.  But she knew what she had to do, something she hadn’t done with another person since she was a child.  She was going to trust him completely.

CHAPTER FIFTEEN

He was gone.

Had been for nearly two whole long, miserable, Dalton-less weeks.  She’d spoken to him almost every day since he’d left, most of those calls revolving around how much he missed her and the kids.  He apologized for taking so long, that things were taking longer than he expected to wrap up. 

Caitlin sighed.  She had done her best to hide her true feelings from the kids, but it was futile.  The teens, wise to the ways of the world, saw right through her charade to be Little Miss Sunshine.  Suddenly, the tables were turned.  And it was the kids who were counseling her.  Did she want to talk?  How was she doing?  Why didn’t she call Dalton back if she needed to hear his voice again?

In their minds, they believed that hearing his voice would make her feel better.  True as that might be in one sense, it tore her apart in another.  Because he was there, wherever
there
was.  And she was here, waiting for him to come home.  And with a man like Dalton, one who lived for the next new and exciting challenge, she feared she would always be waiting for him to come home.

She glanced toward the picture Leah had charcoal sketched for her of Dalton.  The girl had a tremendous gift when it came to art.  The drawing was so near to Dalton’s likeness, Caitlin had actually kissed it good night once.

Key word -
once.
  That particular kiss had left her looking like the bearded lady.  A fact she only discovered while brushing her teeth before bed that night.  Thank goodness she hadn’t given the picture a good morning kiss instead.  She could only imagine how hard it would have been to explain the telltale goatee to the teens.

Oh, it’s nothing.  I’ve just been making out with a paper man.

Laughter bubbled up inside her, brought on by a combination of sleep deprivation and loneliness. 
She was pathetic with a capital P.
At least, she had a clearer understanding of the phrase ‘crazy in love’.

And if missing Dalton wasn’t enough, she’d had to deal with his brother via phone or in person almost every day.  Brandon’s motivation she concluded - guilt.  His supposed purpose for calling or stopping by Stoney Brook was to make sure she didn’t need anything. She did.  She needed Dalton.

There was no missing the discomfort in Brandon’s voice whenever they spoke and in his demeanor whenever he was around her.  She knew the cause of it. 
Her.
  Dalton had said that his brother was aware of his relationship with her.  A girl from the wrong side of the tracks.  What better way to cool things between them than to send Dalton away on business? 

Well, she wasn’t going to let Brandon win.  She was a fighter when it came to something that meant the world to her.  And being with Dalton did.  He and Stoney Brook were the two most important things in her life.

She looked toward the phone, wishing it would ring.  Her last conversation with Dalton had ended with him saying he missed her and her replying, ‘If you missed me so much, you’d be here.’  The words had come out before she could stop them.  And she’d regretted them immediately.  Emotional blackmail was not her forte.  But she missed him so much.

Trust him was what he’d always come back with.  As if she had any other choice.  Grabbing her jacket from its hook by the door, she headed out to the fire where the counselors and teens were busy roasting marshmallows.

The nights were becoming noticeably cooler as fall approached.  Her heart felt heavy.  Not only because of her emotional struggle over her relationship with Dalton, but because the teens would be leaving in two days and she would be returning to her apartment above the diner, waiting tables again for a living.  Not that working at the diner was a bad thing.  The regulars she served at Ethel’s place had become like a surrogate family to her.  But she still missed interacting with the kids during those long months when the camp was closed.

“Miss Myers,” Clayton greeted with a wave before stuffing a blackened marshmallow into his mouth.

She was lucky to have heard him at all over the music blaring from the portable radio she had purchased for the camp two summers before.

“Hey, guys, how about a little less volume?” she said with a grin.  “That thing’s loud enough to wake the dead.”

Several of the boys began making ghost wails and laughing as Jimmy moved toward the picnic table to do as she’d asked.

“And in local news, it appears Dalton Barnes has come out of retirement...”

Caitlin’s head snapped around.  Her hand flew to her mouth, muffling her stunned gasp.

“Did you hear that?” Kylie exclaimed.

Excited murmurs spread around the fire.

“Don’t touch that!” Caitlin hollered as Jimmy reached for the volume control.

His hand fell away from the radio and all eyes turned her direction.

“Rumors are circulating that Dalton Barnes is making a move to get back onto the circuit, his having entered a couple of local rodeos.  And like the Dalton Barnes of old, he’s leaving the other riders in the dust.”

She walked almost woodenly to the picnic table she and Dalton had painted before the retreat opened, unable to believe what she was hearing.  Dalton was riding again?  But...                           

“Dalton’s riding again!” several of the teens chanted excitedly.

Tears pricked at the back of Caitlin’s eyes.  He’d never mentioned anything to her about going back to the rodeo.  Not one word.  The truth twisted painfully in her heart.  Dalton wasn’t coming back. 

Leah stepped up beside her, placing a comforting hand on her shoulder.  “You okay?”

Okay?  Her entire world had just fallen out from under her.  Caitlin wondered if she would ever be okay again.  She turned to the young counselor and forced a smile, knowing the teens were listening.

“I’m fine.  Just a little surprised.”

“You mean Dalton didn’t tell you he was returning to the circuit?” Jimmy asked with measured hesitation.

“No.”  She reached out to shut the radio off.  If she heard any more news on Dalton’s rodeo return, she was going to burst into tears right there in front of the kids.  And that would not be a good thing.

“Excuse me,” she said, her voice catching.  “I have a phone call to make.”  Turning, she walked away, every step forced as she wanted desperately to run. 

By the time she reached her cabin, she could barely see through the tears.  Dalton had lied.  About loving her.  About coming back to her.  And, like a fool, she had believed him.

Spying the sketch of him on the table by the sofa, Caitlin picked it up and tore it into several jagged strips.  She couldn’t bear to look at it. 

She grabbed for her cell phone with a trembling hand and struggled to find Brandon’s number through the sheen of unshed tears that filled her eyes.  Emotionally she couldn’t handle talking to Dalton at that moment, not with her heart breaking the way it was, and, unfortunately for Brandon, he was next on her list.

The phone rang several times, and then, much to her frustration, the answering machine came on.  “You’ve reached Brandon Barnes...”

She was shaking from head to toe.  The second the beep to leave a message sounded, she let loose on her anger.  “You heartless, conniving, lying ogre of a man, you!  How could you?  How could Dalton?”

The phone clicked and there was a rattling at the other end.  “Caitlin?  What’s wrong?”

Brandon.

“What’s wrong you ask?” she said with a choked laugh.  “How long were you and your brother gonna string me along?  Business my foot!”

“What are you talking about?”

“Dalton’s gone back to the circuit,” she said, sobbing.

“Caitlin,” he said, “calm down.”

“Don’t you dare tell me to calm down!  I have every right to feel the way I do right now.  I just heard about your brother’s rodeo comeback on the radio.  Or are you gonna tell me that he hasn’t been riding?  That there’s been some kind of mistake.”

Please let that be the case.

After a long moment of strained silence, Brandon said, “No, it’s not a mistake.  But—”

“I didn’t think so,” she cut in with a muffled sob.

“Caitlin, it’s not what you think.  If you’ll just give me the chance to—”

“Explain?”  She was fuming now.  “Or make excuses?”  She didn’t give him a chance to reply.  “Oh, and feel free to build your resort or find someone else to run this retreat, because I quit!”

“Caitlin, please, you don’t under... You what?”

“Quit,” she repeated, her heart breaking.  “I’m giving you my notice right now.  If the retreat opens again next year, I won’t be here.”  He had no idea how hard it was for her to say that.  The retreat was her life, but it would never be the same.  Not now.  Not without Dalton.  She’d never be able to devote enough of herself to the kids with part of her heart now missing.

Brandon cleared his throat and then said firmly, “Well, damn it, I don’t accept your resignation.”

“What?”

“I’m not in charge of Stoney Brook anymore, Dalton is.  If you intend to resign, it has to be done through him.”

“But you hired me,” she argued.

“I’m sorry, but it’s outta my hands.”  He sighed.  “Look, I know you’re upset, but I’m asking you not to do anything rash until you’ve given my brother a chance to explain things to you.”

“Why can’t you?  You seem to know what’s going on.”  Yanking a tissue from the floral decor box on the table, she blew her nose.

“I can’t.”

“Can’t or won’t?”

“I gave Dalton my word I wouldn’t say anything.  If you’ll just wait until he gets back, he’ll tell you everything.”

“As far as I’m concerned, your brother can go tell it to the bulls he can’t seem to live without!”  She hung up and then sank down onto the sofa, tears streaming down her cheeks. 
So much for trust.

*              *              *

"Hello?"

"Brandon, it’s me," Dalton said.

"Where the hell have you been?” his brother barked.  “I’ve left messages on your cell phone and when I didn’t hear back I called every damn rodeo in the state trying to find you."

"I took a header off a bull last night and ended up in the hospital.”

“You okay?” he asked, some of the hardness leaving his voice.

“I’ll survive.” Suddenly, it occurred to him that if Brandon had been trying that hard to reach him something had to be wrong.  His gut clenched.  “Has something happened to Caitlin?”