Born To Be Wild (12 page)

Micah nodded. “Reyna was afraid for you, Isabel, as she should have been.
I
was afraid for you.” He reached out and slid a hand around the back of her neck, sending threads of an old connection coursing through her, trying to bind her to him. “Coming out here alone was more than careless. You were asking for trouble.
Don’t
do it again.”

His touch thrilled her. And she knew he was right. He was still angry, so why didn’t he just yell at her and get it over with?

She returned her gaze to his. “I am my own person, Micah,” she told him more calmly than she was feeling.

“Yes, you made that very clear twelve years ago.”

She couldn’t help the rush of emotion that made her say, “I had no choice! Because I couldn’t count on you.”

Micah shook his head. “No, Isabel. Because you didn’t believe in me.”

…

Defying Poppi, Isabel rode out at night to meet Micah.

Earlier that day, he’d managed to sneak onto Falcon property again, this time without getting caught, and he had left a message in her bedroom to meet him.

This was it, she thought, excitement making her shaky inside. Micah was finally going to step up and be the man she knew he could be. He would take her off to marry her as he’d promised. No more waiting.

Wondering if she should have brought an overnight bag with her, she slowed Crank at the bottom of Suicide Hill, and even though she wanted to race right into Micah’s arms, she took the horse up at a reasonable pace.

Micah stood there on the flat above, wind rippling through his hair, looking so attractive her heart practically burst with pride. He was all hers! And soon he would be her husband, and they would never be apart again.

He’d beaten her to the flat as he always did. He said it was because he loved her so much he didn’t want to miss a second of time with her.

Tired of their being separated even for a minute, Isabel eagerly pushed Crank the last few yards and halted the horse inches from Micah.

He helped her dismount straight into his arms. He kissed her, one of those sweet, slow, love-filled kisses that seemed to go on forever. This was what their life would be like, she thought. Days filled with kisses and nights filled with lovemaking.

Finally, he set her on her feet.

“I just had to see you,” Micah said. “I was worried you wouldn’t be able to get here, that your father really would lock you up.”

“If he did, I would always find a way to get to you, Micah.”

He smiled down at her and cupped her cheek. “I love you so much I can hardly stand it, Isabel.” He slid a hand over the bump on her stomach. “And I love our baby already. I promise you that someday we’ll be a family.”

That made her heart stall. “Someday? I thought you wanted to see me to talk about getting married.”

“Sure, we can talk about it. We just can’t do it yet.”

“Why not?”

“Other than the fact that you’re not of age? My father won’t let me bring you to Wild Ranch. He needs convincing.”

“Then we can live somewhere else.”

Sighing, Micah hugged her, then asked, “On what money, Isabel? All I have’s a couple thousand dollars that I saved, but that wouldn’t do us for long. I don’t know how long it would take me to get a job, or what it would pay. Babies are expensive. We can’t do this on our own. We need to bring our families around first.”

Isabel went stiff in his arms. Couples did this on their own all the time, didn’t they? “What if that never happens?”

“It has to happen. The baby will make a difference in their attitudes. It’ll end the feud at last. Our fathers will see that it’s not right to keep our child from having both parents. Together.”

“And what if you’re wrong?”

“Isabel, you can’t think that way.”

He was putting her off again. She couldn’t believe it. He’d said he wanted to do the right thing, but only when he got his father’s approval it seemed. In the meantime, did he expect her to have the baby and take care of it alone?

Hurt and anger flooded through her. “What I’m thinking, Micah, is that you’re not man enough to be a husband or a father!”

“Isabel, please be reasonable. I’m just asking you to wait a while longer.”

“For how long, Micah? A month? Two? Until the baby is born? Until our son or daughter has a birthday?”

“I-I don’t know.”

Isabel backed up and grabbed Crank’s reins. “I don’t know, either, Micah Wild! I wish I had never met you! Then I wouldn’t be so inconveniently pregnant!”

With that, she tried to mount Crank, but without something to step on, it was impossible. Then Micah was behind her, lifting her. She let him help her onto the horse’s back. Looking down at him one last time, she hoped he would say something to change her mind. But his expression was closed.

“Don’t ever touch me again!” she cried, starting Crank downhill faster than she should.

“Be careful, Isabel! The baby…”

Yes, the baby. The life they had created together. The life that she would be responsible for…alone.

Dreams shattered, she rode off.

Hoping, praying, he would follow.

Heart shattering when he didn’t.

…

How had what happened tonight brought up the past so vividly?

Isabel didn’t want to go back there. She didn’t want to relive the most miserable time in her life. Until now, that was. Nothing trumped a missing child. They had to concentrate on now, and on finding their daughter.

“It doesn’t matter. It’s all in the past,” she said, nevertheless stung by his words. “I promise to be careful, Micah. I won’t purposely leave you out. But I won’t wait around to be rescued, either.”

“You haven’t changed, Isabel. You’re the same stubborn, irritating—”

With his hand still around the back of her neck, he jerked her toward him and kissed her. A long, lingering caress of his lips on hers that made her throat close and her heart thrum. That ignited the good memories. A kiss that seemed to go on forever without demanding more. A kiss that reminded her of the first time their lips met, when their hearts were young and filled with hope for the future.

How many times had he kissed her like this?

So many, she couldn’t count them all.

As she had in the past, she felt herself succumbing—sexually, yes, but even more so emotionally. He filled her heart in a way that only he could. No other man had ever touched her to her very core. Her pulse fluttered and her head went light, and for a moment it seemed anything was possible.

But the moment ended.

When the kiss ended.

And she was left with what was. Though old longings shot through her, she didn’t know that they could overcome the bad memories of the past. The lack of trust.

Didn’t know if she and Micah could be together again except for their daughter’s sake.

Sadly, that might have to be enough.

Chapter Twelve

“So she went on a wild goose chase up into the mountains after Bobby, and I followed. Which makes us both fools, I guess.”

Micah finished his story of the night even as he finished his early-morning breakfast.

Caleb, the only other person in the house up before dawn, was still eating. And listening. He didn’t think his grandson was a fool. Not Isabel, either. Foolish, perhaps, for going to that cabin alone. But the girl had always had a spine.

“You’re sure Bobby Soto had nothing to do with Lucy’s disappearing?”

“As much as I can be.” Micah took another slug of coffee. “His new young girlfriend swears he was with her in Albuquerque when Lucy was taken.”

“Coulda been lying for him.”

“I don’t think she was that bright, Gramps.”

“So did you read Isabel the riot act?”

“I tried. She gives as good as she gets.”

Caleb chuckled. “That makes a healthy relationship. The power between partners should be equal. Neither should have the upper hand.”

Whether the partners were part of a couple or a business relationship
. Caleb couldn’t help but think about Hector and about how everything had gone so wrong between them.

“Isabel and I don’t have a relationship, Gramps. Not past our temporary truce to find Lucy.”

“That can change. If that’s what you want. Is it?” he challenged.

Micah stared at him as if he was trying to read his mind. “
You’ve
changed, Gramps.”

Change had been coming for a long time. Even before Hector died. Caleb wished he’d been able to make amends with the man before the end, but Jonah and Eduard had not only continued the feud, they’d poured fuel on it. He hadn’t been able to betray his son like that. And now he was sorry that he hadn’t found a way to right things.

Caleb patted his grandson’s arm. “Dire situations call for dire measures, Micah. Besides, fighting all the time gets old…and with Hector gone, I don’t have no one to fight anymore. Now I wonder how much of my life, how much of my children’s and my grandchildren’s lives, I wasted.”

“I guess it’s never too late to learn from one’s mistakes.”

“So when all this is over and Lucy is safe, you’ll convince her mother that you’re still the man for her?”

“I’m planning on trying,” Micah admitted. “But I want to be able to trust Isabel not to walk away again, Gramps. I don’t know what’s going on in that head of hers, because she doesn’t always say what she thinks anymore. For all I know, she may want nothing more to do with me.”

Caleb could see that thought was like an arrow to his grandson’s heart. “Do you really believe that?”

Micah shrugged. “I just don’t know. I’m not sure Isabel believes that I wanted to marry her all those years ago. Dad told me he wouldn’t have her step on Wild land, that if I wanted to be with her, then I had to leave. That was the reason I told her we had to wait. She’s not about to forget that part.”

“Pretty nervy of Jonah to tell you that, when the land is still in my name. You want Isabel, you get her and bring her to your home. I’ll take care of your dad.”

Micah smiled. His grandfather was as feisty as ever. “Thanks, Gramps. Nice to know you’re on my side.”

“Always was, boy. You just didn’t realize it.”

Micah took a last slug of coffee and rose. “I need to get going. I have to pick up Isabel and get on the road. That 48 hours is coming up fast.”

Caleb knew that to be true. The window to get Lucy back safely was narrowing. “Listen, boy, you loosen up your thinking and you might have everything you ever wanted. I love you, and I love our Lucy. I would do anything…give anything, even my life…to get her back.”

“That’s not going to be necessary, Gramps. We’ll find her.” Micah’s voice grew rough. “We
have
to find her. But I love you for the thought.” Micah left the table, giving Caleb an affectionate squeeze on the shoulder. “And thanks for the advice about Isabel, Gramps. I’ll think about everything you said.”

Caleb grunted a reply and went back to his breakfast. By the time he finished, Micah was gone.

About to gather the dishes and get them in the washer, he hesitated when he heard a distinct
ding
from his cell phone.

Frowning, he pulled it from his pocket, and saw that someone had sent him a text message. But who? He didn’t text, but people were always trying to make him do something he wanted no part of. In his opinion, technology had gone out of control. Starting to slip the cell phone back in his pocket, he hesitated. Instinct told him this was something he wanted to read. Getting to the message, his chest instantly went tight.

Want Lucy Alive? Bring $25k to Suicide Hill. Alone. Now.

His heart thundered so loud he could hardly hear himself think. The kidnapper had contacted him!

What to do? Of course he wanted Lucy alive, but he didn’t have the money at home, and the kidnapper wanted it now. He would have to meet him and explain. Promise that, as soon as the bank opened, he would get every penny.

And as insurance, he would take his rifle, Caleb thought, already out the door. He knew he was being as foolish as Isabel had been going up to the mountain cabin by herself, but the text had said to come alone. He feared that any deviation from the demand would mean Lucy’s life.

His hands shook as he saddled Ivy, his favorite mare. She was a big girl, still young and fleet of foot.

He could count on her.

Just as Lucy could count on him.

The first streaks of daybreak were coming up as Caleb rode out of the barn and down the road toward Suicide Hill. He started out slow, not only for Ivy’s sake but because he didn’t want to alert anyone in the house who might try to stop him.

“We’re going to save our Lucy, Hector. She’s gonna to be all right. You’ll see. The son of a bitch who took her will get his money. He’ll just have to wait until the bank opens, is all.”

Talking to Hector as he had in the old days before the war between them started was making him feel a little better. Made him believe he wasn’t really doing this all alone. He almost sensed Hector’s presence, as if his nemesis was lurking behind him, urging him on. Undoubtedly his imagination, but he was okay with that. Whatever it took to keep him going.

A quarter of an hour later, he was at the base of Suicide Hill. Couldn’t see anyone at the top. Didn’t want to yell out his business and maybe scare off the kidnapper. But neither did he want to ride that damn incline that went practically straight up. He’d loved the thrill of it when he was young, but that was more than half a century ago.

Instead, he went around the long way, first crossing over to Falcon land so that he could reach the flat at the top of the hill without killing himself.

“You don’t mind if I ride your land now, do you, Hector? It is for the good of our great-grandchild, so I can bring her home to her family. I know you want that.”

As he narrowed the distance, Caleb was getting a little short of breath. Anxiety. He recognized the signs. Used to have trouble with it when he was a kid. Now here it was again. He’d come full circle in lots of ways.

“Like with you, Hector,” he muttered as he loped Ivy along the last stretch. “I forgive you. Bet you never thought you’d hear those words from me, did you?”

In view of the flat, he realized it was empty. No kidnapper. No Lucy.

He went the last hundred yards and dismounted. Not as easy as it used to be. He was already stiff and sore. His legs didn’t work right at first. But he paced the area, looked to the bottom of the hill. Nothing. No one.

What the hell?

Then he heard a whinny come from the stand of trees behind him. His heart thumped. Lucy must be back where he couldn’t see her.

Mounting Ivy again, he turned her, muttering, “We’re coming for you, Lucy. Hector and me are coming to save you.”

But when he got into the thicket, he still didn’t see her. For a moment he thought he’d imagined that whinny. Then he heard hoofbeats behind him. He turned to see another rider come up on him fast. A masked rider. Alone. No Lucy.

“Where is she?” Caleb demanded, going for his rifle.

But the other man was quicker with his. “Don’t touch it or you’re a dead man.”

Believing the threat and the rifle aimed at him, Caleb took his hand off the stock. “Where’s my Lucy?”

“Where’s the money, old man?”

Caleb knew that voice but couldn’t quite place it, maybe because the scarf covering the lower half of the man’s face distorted the sound of it a bit. “Bank isn’t open yet. You think I keep that kind of money in the house?”

“Then why are you here?”

Damn if he didn’t know that voice. And now that the sun was up and shafts of light were filtering through the trees, those eyes looked familiar, too.

“I just wanted to tell you I would get you the money. Don’t hurt our girl and you’ll have your twenty-five thousand by noon.”

“You’d better have it here by noon—”

Caleb started as he realized the kidnapper’s identity.

“—or I’ll cut her throat and let her bleed out.”

The threat to Lucy tore through Caleb, and he let loose on the man. “You hurt one hair on that girl’s head, Bobby Soto, and both the Wilds and the Falcons will be after you to rip out that thing you call a heart!” Only after he said it did he realize it might not have been wise to use the man’s name.

“Fuck! You just shouldn’t have recognized me, old man!” Bobby yelled as he reached out and smacked his rifle across Caleb’s head.

…

The second note was stuck to the front door as though someone had been in a hurry and hadn’t wanted to take the time to manage shoving it inside.

Seeing what it was, Isabel stopped dead in her tracks.

“What’s wrong?” Micah asked as he caught up to her.

“The same stationery…” She reached out and snatched it from the door.
Ms. Falcon
was scrawled on the envelope. “Lucy’s handwriting.”

“Let’s go in the house.”

Nodding, she handed him the keys. He got the locks open in record time, and with an arm around her back, gently pushed her inside. She white-knuckled the envelope for a moment, then ripped it open and read.

Dear Ms. Falcon —

Please don’t worry about me. I’m not hurt like in the bus accident. I’m okay, I swear. I’m eating good and even have a new school uniform. Maybe when we recharge my cell phone, I can reassure you. Call off the police and stop offering a reward—please!—and everything will be okay.

Love, Lucy

Micah choked out, “How does the bastard who took her get her to write these nice little notes?”

“I don’t know. But at least she’s alive and unhurt if we can believe what it says. Ms. Falcon again,” Isabel said, a stab of pain going through her. “It’s like he doesn’t want her to think of me as her mother. I don’t get it.”

Micah didn’t answer, but she refused to be negative. Lucy said she was all right, so she was all right.

But it was unsettling that the kidnapper had reached out to them twice now, but with no seeming agenda. No ransom note. No demand for anything. The note said she was eating well and had a new school uniform—as if the person who took Lucy actually cared for her.
Like a mother
. Maybe that’s why Lucy had addressed the note to Ms. Falcon.

“This doesn’t sound like a predator has her.” Which gave her a tiny ray of hope. “And we’ve gotten no request for ransom. So what do they want?”
To replace her?
That thought sent a shiver down her spine.

“It asks you to call off the police.”

Pacing the room, Micah stopped to stare at her photographic work that she’d hung on the walls. “Isabel, what if we’ve overlooked something that’s directed to you? You mentioned the guy who threatened you because of the photo you took of him with his mistress at the strip club. So okay, not him. But what if you got a shot that implicated someone else in something more serious? A crime of some sort?”

Her stomach sank as she focused her full attention on him. “Yeah. It’s possible, I suppose. Definitely worth a look.”

…

Isabel didn’t have a real office—the casita was too small for that. But since there was an eat-in kitchen, she’d devoted the small dining area off the living room to her work. A desk, several bookshelves and two chairs made a decent little office space, Micah thought. She took the seat in front of her desktop and turned on the computer.

“I’ll pull up my photographic files online. And I keep tear sheets of everything that goes to press and store them in three-ring binders.” She pointed to the shelves where she’d set a couple dozen binders with dates of stories clearly marked on the ends. “Maybe you can take a look through them, starting with the latest ones.”

“Sounds good.”

Micah grabbed the newest binder and took the other seat.

“I forgot to tell you that I finally reached my mother this morning,” Isabel said. “When I couldn’t get her before, I was hoping we would have Lucy back before I had to tell her about it.”

“Is she all right?”

“No, of course not. She said she would book the first plane she could get.”

“That’ll be good for you. Or, hopefully, we really will have Lucy back by the time she gets in.”

“God, I hope so.”

No sooner did Micah open the binder than his cell phone rang. His brother.

“Seth, did you hear anything?”

“No, sorry. I’m calling about Gramps.”

Micah straightened. “What about him?”

“He’s missing.”

“That’s ridiculous. Gramps can’t be missing.” His words brought Isabel swiveling around in her seat to face him. “I had breakfast with him not more than two hours ago.”

“Yeah, the dishes are still on the kitchen table,” Seth said.

Micah frowned. “Maybe he wasn’t feeling well and went to lie down.”

“He’s not in his room. Not answering his cell.”

A little anxious, Micah searched for a logical answer. “Maybe he thought about something you needed from the grocery.”

“His old pickup is still out in the drive. I’m worried about him, Micah. I don’t exactly know what to do.”

“Did you check to see if his horse is still pastured?”