Rest Thy Head (24 page)

Hefting the makeshift club, he boldly marched onto the porch. He tried the door and found to his surprise that Drew hadn’t locked it. With a huge roar, he shoved the door open with such force it made a tremendous crash when it hit the wall.

Drew came awake in an instant. “Wha…Who…”

Jake strode over to the bed and held the club above Drew’s head. “Where’s Peyton?”

Drew cut his eyes toward the other side of the cabin. A look of surprise came to rest on his face. “She…she…she’s no …not here.”

Jake gestured toward a denim jacket lying on top of a pile of old blankets. “That’s her jacket.”

“But…”

Jake trembled with anger and had to swallow before he could speak. “If you’ve hurt her, you’ll spend the rest of your life in prison, provided I don’t decide to save the state some money and take care of you myself.”

Drew caved in quicker than he had expected. “I don’t know where she is. When I went to sleep, she was lying on those blankets with her hands tied.”

Keeping an eye on Drew, Jake moved closer to the blankets. “She cut the ropes off.”

Drew scowled as he ran a hand through his disheveled hair. “I might have known you’d be the one to come after her. I could always tell you wanted her, not that she’d have any interest in a freak like you.”

Jake held his breath and counted to ten. He’d like to teach this guy some manners, but he didn’t have time for that. “You’d better pray that nothing happens to her. I’m holding you responsible for her safety.”

Drew sneered at him. “I’d never hurt Peyton. We’re in love, you freak. As soon as I find her we’re getting married.”

Jake wondered what to do now. He needed to track Peyton, not deal with Drew. Inspiration struck when he saw a coil of rope thrown in the corner. “Get up.”

Drew didn’t move.

“I said, get up.”

“You gonna make me?”

Jake hefted his club and rushed across the room to Drew’s bed. “Yeah, you want to argue about it?”

To answer, Drew threw back his blanket and dived for Jake’s legs. Jake went down, cracking his head on the dusty wooden floor. His club slid away from him and came to rest underneath the old table. Drew hurled himself at Jake, but Jake drew up his leg and smashed his booted foot into Drew’s knee. With a howl of pain, Drew crumbled to the floor while Jake scrambled for his club and grabbed his rope.

Cowed, Drew allowed Jake to tie his hands and feet together. Jake stood back and surveyed his captive. “I imagine somebody’ll come to pick you up soon. The sheriff was on his way to Rest Thy Head when I left.”

“Hey, you can’t…”

Jake spun on his heel and strode outside where he searched for tracks to indicate where Peyton had gone. He picked up her trail with little trouble and urged his tired horse forward. If Peyton got lost in the mountains, they might never find her. Mountain climbers and other tourists went missing in the mountains every year. Usually, they never even found a body. “Don’t think about it,” he muttered. “Just find her.”

***

Peyton had tried to follow her tracks, but by lunchtime she finally admitted that she had lost her way. Discouraged, tired, and hungry she sat down on a boulder to rest. “Now what, Reggie? The mountains are spectacular, but right now I’d like to see Rest Thy Head and have some breakfast.”

Reggie snorted which made Peyton smile in spite of her fear. “What’s that? I don’t speak horse, you know. Say that again in English.”

Reggie refused to cooperate, but Peyton stroked her neck anyway. Her horse kept her from feeling so alone in this big, wild place. “In the movies if you give a horse its head it knows the way home. Why do you just stand there when I do it with you?”

Her stomach growled, reminding her it had been a long while since Drew fed her beef stew. Surely by now the authorities had started searching for her! Should she press onward or stay where she was? Hunger and rising panic said to keep moving, but common sense said to stay put. At this point, if she moved she’d probably get further and further into the wilderness. She leaned her face into Reggie’s neck and prayed someone would soon come.

***

The faint trail from McCoy’s cabin worried Jake. The hard, rocky ground made tracking difficult, and if this thing petered out he had no idea which way to search for Peyton. He looked carefully at the tracks in front of him. Peyton had led Reggie, not ridden her, so maybe she didn’t get too far. That was a good call on her part. In the dark one misstep could have potentially fatal consequences.

Thirty minutes later the sun disappeared. Dark clouds moved in from the west, and the wind picked up. If it rained and wiped out her trail…

He studied the tracks on the ground and urged his horse on, trying not to panic as the clouds roiled and curled above him. The rain wouldn’t hold off long. He crested a small hill and found that the trail ended in a sheer drop off. If Peyton tried to go this way in the dark, she might have fallen!

He flung himself off Cinnamon and studied the tracks once more. She had turned around, but instead of backtracking the way she had come, she had veered off to the left. She probably got turned around in the dark.

The trail was easier to follow this time. The ground was softer here, so he had no trouble seeing which way they had gone. Thirty minutes later he came to the spot where Peyton had mounted Reggie.
She probably decided to ride when the sun came up
, he reasoned.

He kicked his tired horse into a canter just as the first raindrops fell.
Please don’t let it rain.
Please don’t let it rain
. Even though he hurried as fast as he could, he lost the trail ten minutes later. “No!” he shouted, his voice echoing across the mountains and bouncing back at him. “Peyton, where are you?”

To his surprise, he heard a horse’s eager whinny coming from behind him. He whirled around and saw Reggie trotting toward him. “Peyton!” he roared. “Where are you?”

Nobody answered. He grabbed Reggie’s reins and headed back toward the direction from which the horse had come. The rain had washed most of Reggie’s tracks away, but Jake figured the horse had taken the route of least resistance so he did too.

The rain fell even harder, and it now had some sleet mixed in with it. At this high elevation it sometimes snowed even in July, so it didn’t surprise him. He wished he knew if Peyton had warm clothing with her, but he doubted it. When she left the inn yesterday, the temperature had been in the seventies, and she had expected to be back long before nightfall.

The rain had mostly turned to sleet, so Jake knew he’d need to find cover soon. He could go back to McCoy’s cabin, but no, he didn’t want to do that. He’d try to find shelter from the storm before he gave up.

As they clambered up a small peak, Jake saw what looked like a narrow opening in the rock wall below him. A small cave should be a nice place to take shelter. As they picked their way down the hill, Cinnamon’s ears pricked up. Her nostrils flared. What had the animal heard? Jake paused and strained his ears.

“Reggie? Regggie…. Here girl.”

Heedless of the slippery trail, Jake spurred his horse down the hill. “Peyton!” he yelled. “Peyton!”

Peyton’s head whipped around. She had heard him even above the noise of the storm. Her face lit up as she rushed to meet him. He vaulted from his horse, and Peyton threw her arms around him. “Oh, Jake, I’m so glad to see you!”

For a moment Jake almost lost his breath, but reality intruded when he felt her shiver. “You’re freezing. Don’t you have a jacket?” He flinched when some of the sleet struck him in the eye.

“No, Drew…”

“I know…”

“How…”

“We’ve got to …”

“Let’s get out of he…”

“Peyton!”

“What?”

Jake looked at the sky. “The storm’s getting worse. We have to reach shelter as quickly as possible.”

“Where? Where can we go?” she begged. Her lips were turning blue, and her arms were pimpled with goose bumps.

Jake stared at the small opening he had intended to use as refuge from the storm. There was barely enough room for one person, let alone two people and two horses. “We’re going to the cabin. It’s the closest shelter anywhere around.”

She hugged herself and rubbed her bare arms. “I’m lost.”

Her lip quivered and tore at his heart.

He gave her what he hoped was a bracing hug. “You can make it in thirty minutes if you know this mountain, and I do.”

“Then let’s get out of here.”

She shivered as Jake stripped the saddle from Cinnamon. “Put the saddle blanket around you.”

The wind whistled around Jake’s ears, and he saw Peyton shudder as the wind threw sleet against her bare arms. She wrapped the blanket around her, covering as much of her body as possible. Jake helped her onto Reggie, and they began the trek to the cabin.

***

“Patrick! What are you doing back here?” Ashley cried when Patrick and Sheriff Lamont entered the lobby at Rest Thy Head.

“It’s only raining here, but in the higher elevations it’s sleeting like crazy. The footing’s like glass out there. We had no choice but to call off the search until the weather improves.”

Ashley burst into tears.

“Hey, don’t cry.” Hesitantly, Patrick moved toward Ashley, who threw herself against him and buried her face against his shoulder.

“Marrying Drew would be better than freezing or starving to death! Oh, why did she ever have to come here!”

Sheriff Lamont looked as miserable as Ashley felt. “I’m sorry. I wish we could do more, but I can’t risk the lives of my men.”

Ashley swiped her eyes with the back of her hand. “I know, Sheriff, and I don’t blame you. I’m just so…I just want my sister back.”

“So do we, Miss O’Malley. So do we.”

Chapter Seventeen

After half an hour of being pelted by rain and sleet, they finally saw the cabin in the distance. By this time Peyton couldn’t feel her hands or feet at all, and her legs burned as much as they did the time she spilt some of Eleanor’s furniture stripping products on her skin. Both she and Reggie had ice droplets frozen in their hair.

When the horses came to a stop in front of the cabin, Jake slid off his horse first. He staggered when his feet hit the ground; he felt the cold too. Stumbling over to Reggie’s side, he held out his hand. “Can you get off?”

Peyton tried, but she couldn’t feel her feet and went sprawling in the ice with one leg stuck in front of her and the other skewed to the side.

“Are you hurt?” Jake cried.

“No, I’m fine; just cold.” At least she was until the wind picked that moment to blow with a renewed force and drove more rain and sleet across the back of her neck.

“Let’s get inside,” Jake ordered. The whine of the wind made his voice sound thin and small.

“What about the horses? We can’t leave them in the cold.”

“There’s no barn. Don’t worry about the horses. Wild horses are out in weather like this all the time.”

He grabbed Peyton’s hand as they slipped and slid up the cabin steps. “I never thought I’d be glad to see this place,” she muttered.

“Yeah, well, don’t be surprised when you see Drew.”

Jake shoved the door open, but the place was empty. “Maybe the sheriff took him. Before I left here this morning I tied him up.”

Peyton’s teeth chattered so much she bit her tongue. “I …I don’t care where he is. I ju…just want to get warm.”

“I’ll see about starting a fire.”

By the time the fire burned hotly enough to give off a bit of heat, Peyton had dried herself and found a shirt of Drew’s to wear. “Here’s one for you too,” she said as she handed Jake a clean, flannel shirt.

He squared his shoulders and scowled at her. “I’m not wearing
anything
owned by Drew Roberts.”

“Oh, don’t be silly.” She held it out. “You’re as wet as I am, and the clothes are dry.”

Jake donned Drew’s shirt as if it were a loathsome rag. “It’s a little small for me.”

Peyton laughed. “Oh, you are so transparent. You want me to notice that you have more muscles than Drew.”

Jake flushed. “I do not!”

“Oh, you definitely have more muscles than Drew,” Peyton teased.

“That’s not what I meant. I meant…”

“Oh, be quiet. I’m only teasing you.” Peyton wandered over to the kitchen and rummaged around. “Here’s a can of chicken noodle soup. Let’s have a bite to eat.”

Jake perked up at the mention of food. “Suits me. I’m starving.”

Peyton heated the soup and gratefully felt the warm liquid begin to thaw her insides. “How did you know what happened to me?”

“You’ll just laugh at me if I tell you,” he mumbled. His face turned red, and he wouldn’t look at her.

“Laugh at you? After you saved my life? I don’t think so.”

Jake set his jaw and stared at a point somewhere behind her shoulder. “All right, a ghost told me.”

Peyton laughed.

“You promised,” Jake reproached.

Peyton cupped her hands around the warm mug that held her soup. “Jake, I’m sorry, but do you honestly expect me to believe a ghost told you where to find me? That’s silly.”

Jake shook his head, a mulish expression coming to rest on his face. “I know what I know. Want me tell you about it?”

Peyton giggled. “Please do. I can’t wait to hear it.”

Jake explained how the ghost had helped him. “I know it sounds stupid, but I saw her, and she gave me the note.”

Peyton smacked her forehead with her hand. “Okay, I’ll play along. How did the ghost look?”

Jake thought for a moment. “She was short, and she had short, blonde hair and blue eyes, but the thing I noticed most was the way she moved. She sort of glided across the room. I think she was wearing a dress with little flowers on it.”

Peyton giggled. “Jake, you must have been stressed out. I know exactly who you’re talking about, and she’s no ghost. Her name is Annie. She’s one of the maids.”

Jake finished his soup and set his cup on the cabin’s rickety table. “I know all of the maids, and I promise you she doesn’t work for us.”

Peyton’s confidence wavered as she thought of the times she had spoken to Annie. Could she really have spent so much time in the company of a ghost and not know it? “I promise I’ll find out just as soon as we get back. Whether she’s a ghost or a real person, I owe her my thanks.”