Secluded With the Cowboy (16 page)

Dylan took her hand. Together, they walked through the entrance into the caves.

Even before her kidnapping, Nicole hadn’t liked being in enclosed spaces. The door from the office opened into a narrow passage with five carved stone steps leading to the key-shaped opening of the cave. She clung to the railing fastened to the limestone wall. The only illumination came from a string of bare lightbulbs.

Less claustrophobic was the actual cave—not exactly spacious, probably thirty feet by fifty with benches lining the walls. The ceiling arched twenty feet high. She took a breath and concentrated on the space instead of the stone. The last thing she needed was another reason to be afraid.

“Kind of pretty,” Dylan said. “In a prehistoric way.”

“The minerals in the water vapor are supposed to be good for you.” Her voice echoed slightly. “That’s what the brochure said.”

“Look around. Make it fast.”

She paced along the right wall. The heat overwhelmed her. She’d seen a sign in the front office saying it was one hundred and ten degrees in the cave. Stifling hot, the vaporous air smelled of the natural minerals from the hot springs.

Dylan sniffed the mist. “Sulfur.”

“And something metallic.” It felt as though they’d entered the bowels of hell. Instead of facing demons with pitchforks, Nate was coming for them. “How are we going to get out of here?”

“Don’t know.”

He peeled off his jacket and tossed it on a bench. She did the same but clung to her purse, which was loaded with her gun and the other implements she’d gathered in the office, including the flashlight. Gingerly, she circled all the way around the cave. In the silence, she could hear the spring waters rushing behind the walls. Woven mats covered much of the floor, and she guessed that the bare stone beneath the mats would be slippery. Moisture glistened everywhere.

Dylan ducked into a smaller cave that branched off from the main room. “It’s even hotter in here. There doesn’t seem to be another way out.”

No escape. No exit.

Dylan took her into the smaller cave. “I want you to stay back here. Have your gun ready.”

She’d begun to sweat. The heat was making her dizzy. “What should I be ready for?”

“There are two of us and only one of him,” he said. “He’ll have to come through the same entrance we used. I’ll try to get Maud away from him. If you have a clear shot, take it.”

“You want me to shoot Nate?”

“I’m hoping I can get the drop on him.” He mopped the sweat from his forehead. “But if I can’t…”

“It’s up to me.”

She didn’t know if she was capable of killing another human being, but now wasn’t the time for ethical ques
tions.
Shoot first and worry about it later
. Their survival—the survival of the baby growing within her—depended on her ability to act. She sure as hell wasn’t going to wimp out. She took the gun from her purse.

Dylan’s grin was even hotter than vapors. “I love you, darlin’. We’re going to be okay.”

Her confidence rose to match his. “I know we are.”

“If we weren’t already married,” he said, “I’d ask you again.”

“Your timing sucks.”

“Would you say yes?”

Her mind flashed on a series of arguments: The way he never listened, his focus on work instead of her and his tightly controlled emotions. They’d already dealt with many of her problems, but one issue stood out—the only issue that really mattered. Did he want a baby? Was he ready to be a father?

“Ask me again,” she said, “when we get out of here.”

“You’re giving me a reason to get this over with.”

“Good.”

She fired off a quick prayer.
Please, let me walk from this cave with my husband and Maud beside me. Please, let us survive
.

“Stay low,” Dylan advised. “If there’s shooting, duck down and keep moving.”

Leaving her inside the smaller cave, he went toward the entrance. Bending down, he lifted the edge of a woven mat. It was the size of a small area rug and moved easily. Dylan piled two of them in front of the entrance, leaving the center floor bare.

The door from the office creaked open. She heard Nate’s voice. “Dylan. You down there?”

“I’m here.”

“And Nicole.”

“Yes.”

Dylan positioned himself at the wall beside the entrance, ready to grab Nate as soon as he appeared. In his right hand he held his gun.

Then the lights went out.

D
YLAN CURSED
under his breath. He expected Nate to pull a trick like this. On the desk in the office, there had been notes about the electricity. Nate had planned this blackout. The son of a bitch was probably wearing the same kind of night-vision goggles that Burke carried around in his saddlebag.

“Nicole,” he whispered. “You have a flashlight?”

“Should I turn it on?”

“Not yet.”

“When?”

“I’ll tell you.”

He heard the door from the office slam shut. The darkness was impenetrable. He’d let Nate think he had the advantage.

“Hey,” Dylan called out. “Is Maud with you?”

“She is,” Nate said. “I promised that if you did as I said, she’d be returned to you, unhurt.”

“Prove it,” he demanded. “I want to hear her voice.”

There sounds of a scuffle, then a loud gasp.

“I’m right here,” Maud said. “Nate’s holding on to me. Can’t see a thing, but I think we’re going down some stairs.”

Good job, Maud. Keep talking
. “Are you okay?”

“As good as I can be with my hands tied in front of me,” she said. Another useful bit of information. “At least he untied my ankles.”

“Shut up,” Nate growled.

Dylan formed a mental picture of Nate coming down the five stairs, holding Maud in front of him. There would be no way to get a clean shot at him without hitting her. He slipped his gun back into the holster, leaving both his hands free.

Blinded by darkness, he had to rely on his other senses. Damn, it was hot in here. When he touched the stone wall beside the cave entrance, he wasn’t sure if he was feeling moisture from the vapors or his own sweat.

He listened for the sound of their footfalls. As soon as they entered the cave, he’d have to act fast.

“No sudden moves,” Nate warned. “I’m holding a gun to Maud’s head. It’d be a shame if my trigger finger slipped.”

Not wanting to betray his position, Dylan said nothing. He noticed that Nicole was silent, too. And he hoped she had the good sense to stay hidden in the second cave.

Dylan’s first move would be to yank Nate’s gun arm down and shove Maud out of the way. Then he’d make a grab for the night-vision goggles.

Hoping to misdirect Nate’s attention, he took his cell phone from his pocket and lobbed it toward the other side of the cave, where it clattered against the stone wall.

“Slow down,” Maud said. “I can’t see a damn thing.”

Her voice was close. She and Nate were almost to the entrance. Dylan timed his move, acting before Nate saw him.

His left arm arced forward, coming into contact with Nate’s shoulder. At the same time, Maud let out a shriek. She must have tripped over the mats he’d piled near the entrance.

With his left hand, Dylan grasped Nate’s arm, pulled it down toward the floor. A gunshot exploded.

“Get out of the way, Maud.”

Dylan swung blindly toward Nate’s head. He’d been right about the night goggles. He struggled with the strap that circled Nate’s head, trying to pull off the goggles. With his other hand, he fought for the gun.

In the dark he lost his grasp on the goggles. If Nate got away from him, it was game over. He kept hold of Nate’s arm. The gun went off again.

Dylan called to Nicole. “Now. I need light.”

“I’m trying. It doesn’t work.”

In spite of his efforts, Nate still had his goggles. One hell of a big advantage. He could see, while Dylan was blind. He swung Nate around. Together they crashed into a wall. And Dylan lost his grasp.

Nate slithered away from him.

Dylan pulled his gun from the holster and dropped to one knee on the hard stone floor of the cave. He couldn’t aim, couldn’t shoot. His bullet might hit either Maud or Nicole. The hot vapors wrapped around him. Sweat ran down his face in rivulets. He heard Nate laugh and tried to figure out where the sound was coming from.

“You almost had me,” Nate said. “Too bad you couldn’t hold on.”

Though he couldn’t see a damn thing, Dylan squinted. “Let’s talk. We can make a deal.”

“These night-vision goggles do a good job. I can see all three of you.”

“Let the women go. This is between you and me.”

“I want my full measure of revenge,” Nate said. “Because of you, I lost my ranch. And my wife left me. Seems only right that you should lose your pretty little wife.”

He meant to kill her. Dylan’s worst nightmare. He’d rather die a thousand times than to have her injured.

Nicole’s voice echoed in the darkness. “Go to hell, Nate.”

“Stand still,” he ordered her. “Quit moving around.”

“You don’t tell me what to do,” she said. “Not ever again. You’re nothing. Nobody.”

“Since when did you get so tough?”

“You deserved every bad thing that happened to you,” she said. “You’re weak and mean.”

Nate laughed. “I see you. You can’t hide from me.” Another laugh. “Hey, Dylan. I’m raising my gun. Pointing it at your wife. Say goodbye.”

Finally the beam of Nicole’s flashlight cut through the darkness. Like a desperate firefly, it circled the cave. And the light came to rest on Nate.

Dylan fired twice. The flashlight remained steady on Nate as his knees folded. He collapsed facedown on the floor of the cave. In a few steps, Dylan was on him. He kicked the gun away from Nate’s hand and felt for a pulse.

“Is he dead?” Nicole asked.

“Not yet.”

“Well,” Maud said, “that’s too bad.”

The door from the office swung open, spilling light down the stairs. Burke called out, “FBI.”

“You can put your guns away,” Dylan said. “And call for an ambulance.”

“We could give him first aid,” Maud said. “But I don’t like to handle venomous creatures.”

Dylan gathered his wife into his arms. “You did it.”

“We did it together. We’re a team.”

Meant to be together. For better or worse.

N
ICOLE BARELY
had a chance to catch her breath. The ambulance arrived first. Two EMTs loaded Nate onto a stretcher, carried him up from the cave and drove away. A third paramedic stayed behind to provide first aid for Maud and Dylan, both of whom insisted they were all right and would not require hospitalization. Then came the Glenwood Springs police and the Garfield County Sheriff. The interior of the A-frame office was packed with lawmen, flashing credentials and asking questions.

Nicole found a relatively quiet corner near the unlit fireplace. After being in the super-heated cave, the cool temperature felt good. Maud stood beside her.

Gently, Nicole took Maud’s hand. “I should have guessed.”

“And I should have said something.” Maud’s blue eyes—the same shade as Nicole’s—shone brightly. “I didn’t want to mess up your life. If you had wanted to find your birth mother, I would have stepped forward. But you never looked.”

“I loved my parents.” She hadn’t felt the need to search for anyone else. “I never forgot that I was adopted. That’s part of who I am. But I felt lucky that my parents wanted me. Really wanted me.”

“They were good people.” Maud chewed her lower lip—a nervous habit that Nicole had, as well. “Is there anything you want to ask me?”

“One question. Why did you give me up?”

“I was only sixteen when I had you. Your biological father was out of the picture, and I knew I was too immature to raise a child. The adoption people took you from me in the hospital, but I never forgot you. And I never ever stopped loving you.”

“When you moved to Rawlins…”

“I was looking for you,” Maud said. “Don’t get me wrong. I’m not a stalker. There were plenty of other reasons to stay in Rawlins. It’s a great little town, and my vet practice did really well. I sold it for a pretty penny before I moved to Delta. Being near you was the icing on the cake.”

“You were always there,” Nicole said. “At church. At the rodeos.”

“Keep in mind that I was only in my early thirties then. I fully expected to find a man, get married and have other kids. Then, there was the accident. And the hysterectomy.” A tear slipped down her cheek. “You visited me in the hospital.”

“I loved you as a friend and a mentor.” With her thumb, Nicole brushed away the tear. “And I still love you. Mom.”

They held each other for a long moment.

Ever since her parents had died, there had been a gap in Nicole’s heart. Dylan’s family and the hands at the ranch, like Lucas, could do only so much to fill that empty space. Embracing Maud—her birth mother—fulfilled her need for family. A need she hadn’t even been aware of. And when she told Maud about the baby…

Her gaze lit on Dylan. Standing beside Jesse, her husband looked battered around the edges. Streaks of grime from the cave marked his cheeks and jaw. The paramedics had applied a bandage to his left hand where he’d been injured in his struggle with Nate. His jeans were torn at the knee.

But Jesse and Burke had brought his favorite hat. As soon as Dylan put it on, he became a cowboy. The owner of the Carlisle ranch. The man she loved.

Separating from Maud, she said, “I need to talk to Dylan.”

“I’ll be here.”

“You always were.” Nicole squeezed her hand. She couldn’t ask for a more attentive friend or a wiser mentor.

Dylan must have sensed her moving toward him, because he turned to face her. In spite of everything else that was happening in the A-frame office, he focused solely on her. He grasped her hand. “Come outside with me.”

“It’s still snowing.”

“And mercifully cold,” he said. “I feel like I’ve been parboiled from that cave.”

She slipped on her jacket and went with him. They strolled through lightly falling snow to the side of the A-frame where they could have privacy.

“In the cave,” he said, “I asked you a question.”

“Not yet.” She placed her hand on his chest. “There’s something I have to tell you first.”

“Okay, darlin’. I’m listening.”