“I’m not going to tell you anything, Bro.” Chase looked up at him. “If that were January out there? I’d do exactly the same thing.”
HW was halfway to the barn when something else finally registered in his brain. In Cam’s bedroom her wedding finery had been hanging up on the door of the closet, her shoes set underneath. There hadn’t been anything in Sam’s.
He stopped walking. Had she already gotten dressed? He tried to imagine her mounting a horse dressed like a bride and couldn’t make it work. Had she changed her mind?
Realizing that worrying about it was just making him feel a whole lot worse, HW went into the barn and saddled up Messi, his brother BB’s favorite horse. He was just about to head out when Ry shouted his name.
“Wait up! I’m coming with you.”
HW didn’t bother to stand around while his twin got himself organized. If he insisted on coming, he’d find HW by the creek.
* * *
Sam pulled up Dollar for the umpteenth time and glanced over her shoulder to find Carter a long way behind. Sugar had obviously realized that the person on her back was not in charge and was having a lovely time dawdling along at minimum speed. Sam had no idea what the time was, but as the day brightened around her, it felt like the return journey was taking hours.
Carter also tended to stop and ask questions about the landscape whenever something occurred to him, which wasn’t helping at all. Sam was trying to keep her nerves in check, but her answers were getting shorter. If she didn’t get back to the ranch soon, HW would find out she wasn’t there and probably suspect the worst, seeing as his own mother had run out on him.
Carter finally came alongside her. “This place is weird. Why aren’t there any trees?”
“They cut them down for fuel and to expose the mine workings,” Sam said. “Do you think you could increase your pace just a little bit?”
“I dunno.” Carter patted Sugar. “Ask the horse.”
“I could tie your reins to the back of my saddle, and you could just sit there, and let me do the driving,” Sam offered.
“No thanks. I’ve seen you drive.” Carter shuddered. “And I hate not being in control.”
Sometimes it was a real shame that he was so like her. . . .
“We’ve still got hours, Sis, so take a chill pill,” Carter reminded her.
“I have to get ready,” Sam reminded him.
“How long does that take?” He studied her carefully. “It’s not like you’re one of those high-maintenance women.”
“I will be on my wedding day—if I get back in time, and my bridegroom hasn’t given up on me, and left for a life of sin and debauchery in Las Vegas.”
Carter frowned. “You sound a bit stressed, Sis.”
She glared at him. “I wonder why?”
He raised his eyebrows. “Then maybe you should stop talking, and we should get moving?”
For a second, Sam contemplated abandoning him to the local coyotes, and then gathered her reins. “Okay, let’s get going.”
* * *
“It’s somewhere around here.” HW dismounted and walked over to the bank of the creek. There were only a couple of places where it was safe to cross, and all the ranch riders used them. “She definitely came this way. I can see Dollar’s hoofprints.”
Ry joined him. “And it doesn’t look as if she came off or anything. There’s no sign of a disturbance in the rocks or in the creek bed.” He spoke into his cell. “Chase? You there? Can you activate that signal on Sam’s cell?”
Seconds later a high-pitched beeping noise had both men scrambling over the rocky terrain.
“There!” HW got back on his horse, forded the creek, and spotted Sam’s pink phone case wedged in between two of the rocks. He dismounted and gingerly picked it up. “It doesn’t look in bad shape. I wonder if it slid out of her pocket when she was coming up the side of the creek bank?”
“That’s certainly happened to me before,” Ry said. “Crossing the creek can be a bit of a roller coaster.”
They retreated to level ground, HW guarding the cell phone like a priceless jewel.
“Do you know her password?” Ry asked.
“Yeah.” HW stared at the phone, his reluctance growing.
“Then punch it in,” Ry suggested.
“What if she was texting someone to come and get her?”
The rushing water of the creek filled Ry’s silence.
“You won’t know that unless you look,” Ry suggested carefully. “It’s way more likely she was texting you or Cam.”
“Okay.” HW took a deep breath and typed in her password. Her last two text messages to someone with the name CKOilz5 flashed on the screen.
Stay put and I’ll come to you x.
On my way. See you in 20. x
HW stared at the screen and then read the messages aloud to his brother, stumbling over the words as it suddenly hurt to breathe. “She’s gone, hasn’t she?” He slapped his Stetson against his thigh. “Goddammit.”
Ry tried to take the cell out of his hand, but HW wouldn’t let him. He stuffed the phone in his pocket and went back to his horse.
“HW . . .” Ry said.
But he was done listening. Wheeling Messi about, he set off. As soon as he gained level ground he just rode until the landscape became a blur, and nothing else mattered.
Chapter Six
“Oh, thank goodness!” Sam gasped as the ranch and barn finally came into sight. “We made it!”
“I’m not sure my ass did,” Carter grumbled. “It’s so numb I can’t tell if it’s actually still there or I left it behind in Morgansville.”
“Don’t worry, you’re still an ass,” Sam reassured him. “Wow, look at all the cars. I wonder what time it is?”
She dismounted outside the barn, helped Carter down, and left him wobbling around complaining his legs were like Jell-O. She set about taking the tack off the horses and rubbing them down. For once the barn was completely quiet. She assumed that everyone was off getting spruced up for the wedding. A glance at the barn clock showed her it was almost ten, which meant she had two hours to get ready for the wedding.
Cam and January were not going to be pleased with her. . . . But she was back, and considering everything that had gone down that was an achievement in itself.
She took Carter up to the main house and went through into the kitchen. There was no sign of Ruth, who was probably getting ready, but Chase was sitting at the table, his laptop open while he talked on the phone. He glanced up as she appeared, and then startled and did a double take as if he’d seen a ghost.
“Sam!”
He held up his hand, as is she was going to do a runner, and then spoke into the phone. “Yeah, she’s here. Where is he?”
Sam pulled out a chair for Carter and helped them both to a mug of coffee, which her brother gulped down with all the fervor of the caffeine addicted. She studied the back of the laptop, which looked remarkably familiar, and stiffened.
“Why are you on my laptop, Chase?”
He set his cell down on the table and stared at her. “Where have you been?”