Desert Ice Daddy (4 page)

Gary harrumphed, a sullen expression on his face. He didn’t like her taking over like this, as she had known he wouldn’t. He very much insisted on wearing the pants in the family, whether competently or not, and making all decisions. But for once, she couldn’t afford to humor him.

Akeem stepped to the door and held it open. “Let’s get going then. We have plenty to do to get ready. I’ll take Gary home.”

She was so surprised she could hardly move. Instead, she watched them for a second or two.

“I think I…” What she thought was that allowing the two men to leave together was a really bad idea, but she couldn’t say that without getting Gary angry and possibly offending Akeem. She didn’t want to offend Akeem. It was such a relief to have him around, and he was being so incredibly nice. So she looked for an excuse to keep them apart.

But Akeem said “I’m here to help” in that mild voice of his that was full of calm strength and had always worked miracles with even the wildest horses.

Worked on her, too, even now. She let go of trying to control every detail of the situation and reluctantly nodded.

For a moment it looked like Gary might object, but
one look from Akeem actually had him complying with only a few muttered curses, miracle of miracles.

He only tossed in one objection, and that only when he was halfway across the yard. “I ain’t leavin’ without my pickup.”

“Yes, you are,” Akeem said in that voice again. “One of Flint’s men will drive it over to your place later.”

Gary’s face was turning red. But even drunk, he seemed to know enough not to pick a fight with Akeem. Or so she hoped. She didn’t breathe easier and believe that he was actually going until he got into Akeem’s car and slammed the door shut. And still she didn’t fully trust them not to do anything stupid on the way. She knew Gary’s temper well.

But she was too worried about Christopher to worry any longer about the men.

The white Navigator was just disappearing behind the paddocks as her phone rang again.

H
E HATED LEAVING
T
AYLOR
, but if getting her ex out of her face would help her, then that was what he would do, although he would have been happy not to go within a mile of the man. Akeem drove faster than necessary, eager to be rid of Gary.

“So you gonna pay the money for my boy?” Gary had been watching him the whole trip, asking questions between giving directions.

“Yes.”

“And what do you expect from my wife in exchange?” he asked just as Akeem pulled into the drive
way of what once had been an elegant country house and was now falling into disrepair.

Anger boiled close to the surface. He held it in check, as he normally held all emotion. Because he needed to prove to himself that he wasn’t like his grandfather. Because a wild desert warrior would be no use to Taylor. To win her, he had to become what his friends and business associates thought he already was—a true Texas gentleman. “She’s my best friend’s sister.”

“That all? You sure you’re not boinkin’ her?” Gary gave a grating laugh.

The gentleman veneer was wearing awfully thin. He’d shown admirable self-restraint during the drive, but now Akeem’s arm shot out, his wrist catching the man’s neck at his Adam’s apple and pressing him against his seat. He was glad that Taylor couldn’t see him now.

“Maybe it’d be best if we didn’t discuss Taylor.” He held on to that razor edge of control. Because he wanted to do so much more to Gary than restrain him for the moment.

Like hell Taylor’s divorce had been as amicable as she’d been telling everyone. Like hell they’d just grown apart. The bastard was a drunk and he was a violent drunk at that. And if Akeem allowed himself to think what might have happened to make Taylor pick up Christopher and leave…

But he couldn’t think of that, because more than anything he wanted to help Taylor now and he couldn’t do that from jail.

So he didn’t push harder, and he didn’t drag the
bastard out of the car to—He drew a deep breath and held his anger in check.

“You’ll be at the ranch tomorrow morning at six. You’ll be sober.” He congratulated himself on how reasonable his voice sounded. “You’ll stay at the house, keeping vigil with the cops so Taylor can ride out with the search teams. She’ll be frantic. She’ll say that she can’t sit still at the house anymore. And if you tell anyone about the ransom—” He paused, took a moment to get a firmer hold on his famous calm. “It’d be better for the both of us if you didn’t.”

Gary’s face was turning a pale purple, his watery blue eyes bulging, his lips forming a barely audible “Yes.”

With effort, Akeem relaxed his hand, watched the guy scamper out of the car, then he backed down the driveway without looking at that sorry excuse for a man again.

He was dialing his phone as soon as he was back on the highway, calling the bank, telling them to have his money ready within the hour. The next call went to Mike, his security manager.

“I’m going to need a handgun,” he said. He had hunting rifles at home, but for this trip to the desert, he had different needs altogether.

“Yes, sir. I’ll have one cleaned, checked and ready for whenever you stop in.” Mike was good that way, didn’t ask too many questions, but was always prepared to do whatever needed doing.

“I might not make it into the office for the next couple of days.” If there was anything Taylor and Flint needed, he would be there for them for as long as they
needed it. He could even sleep out there, which he hadn’t done in ages.

“Can you bring the gun over to my place in about two hours? Ammunition, too. And two bulletproof vests. One small,” he added after some thought.

“Yes, sir.”

Taylor would be going with him. He would have been willing to do anything to avoid that, to keep her from danger, but the kidnapper had been adamant. And it didn’t make all that much sense. What did they care, as long as they got the money? They probably figured Taylor would be easier to intimidate. They were wrong about that.

He’d seen the steel in her eyes. And didn’t want to think about what had to have happened to that tomboyish but still sweet and innocent girl he had once known to put all that hardness in her. Because if he thought about it, he would have to turn the car right around and go back to Gary. Which wouldn’t be the most productive thing at the moment, even if it would be the most satisfying.

“Is there anything I can do to help?” Mike was asking.

“Maybe. We’ll talk when you get to my place.” He thanked Mike and hung up the phone, his thoughts already on the next morning, on what he needed to do to protect Taylor and her son.

Route 109 led through a vast area the locals fondly called Hell’s Porch. While it wasn’t an official desert, its thousands of acres supported nothing but some brush and countless scorpions and snakes, some coyotes, quite
a few wild hogs and the occasional cougar. The combination of which provided endless possibilities for anyone entering the area to get into some serious trouble.

But aside from all the wildlife, tomorrow it would also hide an unknown number of kidnappers probably all armed to the teeth and a little boy who was likely scared to death.

Enter the woman he loved.

With nothing but him to stand between them and out-and-out disaster.

“E
VERYTHING GOOD
?” the voice asked.

Jake Kenner grinned into the phone. “Better than good, boss. We’re getting the money today.” He ought to get a bonus for that. He sure hated waiting. The longer you sat around, the more chances for someone to figure something out or mess something up.

“What in blister-blazing hell are you talking about?”

“They wanted to bring the money early. It’s all set up,” he boasted, more than pleased with himself. He’d had his doubts about all this at the beginning, but he had handled it well, yessir, and he was really looking forward to that money. He shifted the chewing tobacco along his gum and spit some juice out, careful with his new boots he’d bought in anticipation of the money coming in.

“And who authorized that?” the voice shouted in rage, instead of praising him.

“I th-thought—” he stammered, growing uncertain now. “Sooner the better, ain’t it?” He shoved away the jewelry catalog his girlfriend had been leaving around
her apartment for him as a hint, angry now that he’d brought it along. It’d be just his luck to have the whole job come to nothing and not get the money after all.

“Wasn’t I specific with the timing?” said the voice of dread.

He didn’t dare respond to that.

“What do you mean, they?” the voice asked then.

“Some guy’s gonna drive her.”

“For your sake, I hope this is some sick joke you’re making up.”

He stayed silent again, looking at the kid, who was watching him with hurt and betrayal in his large blue eyes, always watching. Jake didn’t bother with a mask. The kid would have recognized his voice anyway. And since he’d gone missing the same time as Christopher had, everyone already knew that he was involved. He was confident that when this was over, he could buy himself a new identity and disappear forever with his share of the money. He glanced at the boy again. He was a smart little kid, had a way with the horses, too, as little as he was, which Jake, a trainer, could appreciate.

He shrugged off the prickle of conscience. The kid would be back with his mother soon enough.

The boss growled. “Who in hell is coming with her?”

“Probably her brother,” he guessed.

“That bastard is out leading the search in a chopper. Watch out for that.”

Jake’s stomach clenched. The whole business was beginning to look bad suddenly. “You think she called in the pigs? She’s bringing an undercover cop?”

“Not a cop,” the voice snapped.

And the man ought to know. He’d assured Jake at the start that he had an inside connection with the cops, that everything would be taken care of. Jake would get his money with very little risk of trouble. Which he counted on. He had plenty of trouble from his creditors already.

“Probably some thug his brother hired to protect her. Do whatever you want with him. He’s dispensable. But whatever you do, you can’t let her and the boy go. I need time. Two more days. Can you idiots understand that?”

He didn’t like the tone of warning. He glanced at the other five guys the boss had recruited for the job. One was checking his gun, the other three were still sleeping. When had he become responsible for all of them?

He said the only thing he could. “Yes, sir.”

Taylor slept in fits, on and off, after a tense day where she had to pretend in front of the cops that nothing had happened, pretend disappointment when the men came back to the ranch to take care of the animals and rest, then pretend hope as they geared up for a night search and left again.

Crying in frustration was the easiest part. She didn’t have to pretend that.

At least Akeem and Gary hadn’t gotten into a fight on the way to Gary’s place. Neither sported any bruises this morning.

She sipped her coffee at the kitchen table, watching them talking quietly in the living room. They’d shown up at about the same time an hour ago. Gary looked sullen, but sober and willing to cooperate, which was what counted. He even had on clean, if wrinkled, clothes, his hat in hand.

He nodded one more time to whatever Akeem had told him, then left him and moseyed over to the cops. Akeem strode to the window. In a room full of tension,
he was a bastion of calm and solid strength, his movements unhurried, his attention focused. He’d left his corporate gear behind for once, wearing blue jeans with a sand-colored Polo shirt and boots, reminding her of their younger days. Even in informal clothes, he looked every inch the prince of the desert that he was—a real prince, if estranged—something few knew about him beyond his circle of friends. He liked to keep his private life private.

His silhouette blocked half the window, but she could see through the other half. The ranch hands were waiting outside, the vehicles lined up, Flint out there with them, dividing up the area that needed to be covered. Lora Leigh, his new wife, was at his side, ready to go to bat for Christopher.

Lucinda, the housekeeper, stood out there, too, but only to see everyone off. She’d had a hard time the day before in the heat. She was going to stay home to rest. Only because she knew the score. Beside Taylor, Akeem, Flint and Gary, Lucinda was the only one Taylor had told about the ransom call.

Lucinda was like family. She loved Christopher like a grandmother.

She could think about little else now. In a few hours, she would have Christopher back. She wouldn’t allow herself to let any doubt enter her mind. When those thoughts pushed their dark despair into her heart anyway, she closed her eyes and said another prayer, for the thousandth time since Christopher hadn’t come back for his pancakes and grits.

“Looks like they’re about ready.” Akeem stepped away from the window and came over to her.

Gary was leaving his conversation with the officers and wasn’t far behind. “Here. Some coffee to take with you.” He produced a tartan-patterned Thermos from somewhere. And she recognized it after a moment—a gift from a neighbor a few years back, along with a picnic basket they’d never used.

“Good luck. Be careful.” His blue eyes were clear for once, the encouragement in them genuine. He could be nice when he wanted to be.

“Thanks,” she responded with a tired smile and accepted the Thermos, although Lucinda had already set everyone up with food and drinks. She ran the house like a general. Thank God for her. She had taken good care of Flint all these years, and Taylor was grateful for that.

She walked to the door behind Akeem, her knees nearly locking, and glanced back before stepping through the door he was holding open for her. She looked to Gary one last time, hoping he would hold up long enough without a drink. “You can call on my cell if anything happens here.”

Then she walked out into the morning sunshine and found Flint’s gaze on her face, his expression tight with worry. He’d gone a few rounds on the phone last night with Akeem about who should be driving her to the exchange. Akeem had won, but only because he had more experience with Hell’s Porch.

Flint hadn’t been happy about using someone else’s
money either, even if it was from one of his best friends, but with the time limit, he had no choice but to accept.

“Sure you don’t want me to go with you instead?” Flint being Flint, he couldn’t resist asking one last time, adjusting his Stetson on his head.

“I’ll be fine with Akeem. Thanks.” She headed for the Navigator, said nothing at the surprise that waited for her in the interior until the doors were closed behind them. “What’s all this?”

Plasticky-looking, black foot-by-foot squares covered the sides, save the windows.

“Kevlar.” He started the engine, but didn’t pull out ahead of the pack. They were to lag behind, then take their turn toward Route 109 when nobody was looking.

Her fingertips were numb from nerves.

“You bulletproofed the car?” She shouldn’t have been surprised. Akeem had always been a man who paid close attention to detail. The kind of man a woman could come to trust and depend on. Some other woman. After the mess her marriage had turned into, it would be a long time before she completely trusted another man.

“Mike and the boys worked on it last night.”

He waited until most of the pickups were rolling down the road, raising a cloud of dust, giving the look of a herd of migrating elephants over the African savannah, then pulled to the end of the line. “Flint told me about Jake Kenner.”

The name had the power to squeeze her heart. “He hadn’t come back in last night.”

“And you don’t think he got lost.”

“Nobody saw him go out, nobody saw him during the search.” Flint had called to tell her that just as Akeem had left with Gary the day before. “He hasn’t been answering his cell phone. What if he went off earlier? Before the search began?”

“With Christopher?”

She nodded, sick to her stomach from the thought. “Christopher would go with him. Jake is a trainer. He’d been giving Christopher riding lessons.” That thought alone made her break out in a cold sweat.

“Flint said he was new to the ranch.”

“He came a month before I did.” She clenched her teeth, guilt nearly killing her. What kind of mother was she to trust her son to a kidnapper? She should have known, should have paid more attention. Jake had been aloof, but she’d thought only because he was still new and hadn’t adjusted to the rhythm of the ranch yet. He’d been patient with Christopher, doing whatever the little boy’s fancy was, whatever made him happy.

Every time she gave her trust, someone took advantage, it seemed. But not anymore. “I wonder if he was only kind to Christopher to lure him in.”

“It’s not your fault.” Akeem’s voice was steady and sure. “We can’t afford to waste energy on blame. What comes next will need one hundred percent from the both of us.”

He was right. She drew a deep breath. “You have the money?” She hadn’t been able to ask that inside with the cops listening.

They’d been grousing about having to call in the FBI
if and when a ransom call did come in. Kidnapping was a federal offense. She’d been sweating bullets, worrying that they might have figured something was up.

“It’s in the back,” he said.

Of course. She breathed a little more easily, squelching her thoughts of unreasonable desperation that had come to her during the sleepless night.
What if Akeem didn’t come? What if he couldn’t get all that money? What if he changed his mind about the money? What if? What if? What if?

But he was here.

She glanced toward the back, could only see the horse blanket that covered whatever was back there. She caught sight of a first-aid kit. For Christopher? She tried not to worry and just be grateful that Akeem had thought to bring it. She should have thought of something like that. But she hadn’t been able to think of anything beyond seeing Christopher today, the moment when she could wrap her arms around him.

She was shaky with nerves. Which was no good at all. They’d managed to get away from the house without arousing the cops’ suspicion, but the most difficult and dangerous part of their mission was still to come: handing over two million dollars to armed criminals and hoping, just hoping to God, that they kept their word.

“You have that kind of money lying around, doing nothing, you need a better accountant,” she said to make herself think about something else.

“Just had it freed up to buy some horses.”

She was so preoccupied still, that a few moments
passed before his words registered. “Two million dollars’ worth?”

She knew he was doing well, but hadn’t realized just how well. It shouldn’t have surprised her. He was incredibly intelligent and as hardworking as any man she’d ever known. According to Flint, he could have accepted his grandfather’s millions and gone to Beharrain to live the lavish life of a true sheik. Instead, he had put his wide shoulders to the work and set his mind to building his own empire. Which he had.

“And worth every penny,” he was saying, that goofy look she knew so well coming over his face. Her brother did the same thing when talking about particularly fine animals.

“Who has horses like that?”

“A prince in Saudi Arabia. There’s an auction going on.”

Guilt assailed again, albeit from another direction. “And you’re missing it.”

He shrugged.

Of course, missing the auction was beside the point, since he was giving her the money he was supposed to use to bid, she realized. “I’ll pay you back.” She couldn’t even start to worry about how she was going to do that, but she would if it took her the rest of her life.

“It’s not necessary.” His gaze found hers, held it. “But since I know you’re not going to take no for an answer, I’ll just say, I have no doubt.”

“Good. Because I’m going to make it. I’m working on it.”

“We’ll all be coming to you begging to borrow, one day.”

If she weren’t so tense, she would have smiled at that. The Aggie Four—three now—didn’t go around begging. But she was putting herself through college on an academic scholarship, plus putting away every cent she could save, investing based on her newfound knowledge from her studies in finance and on recommendations from her brother. She was going to build an accounting firm that would be the pride of Texas.

Men weren’t the only ones with ambitions and the will to make them come true. She was never going to be poor again, and she was
never
going to be at the mercy of another man. Not even her own brother whom she dearly loved and who would have given her anything she asked.

But she wanted to be her own person at last.

Christopher would start school soon. He wasn’t going to be teased for Salvation Army clothes the way she’d been. He wasn’t going to be picked on because he couldn’t afford to take lunch. Someday he would go to college, a good one. And she wouldn’t take Flint’s money, not for that, not for anything else if she could help it. And she
would
pay Akeem back.

He was falling back as more and more pickups in front of them took various country roads to get to areas they were supposed to be searching today. Then he took the Route 109 turnoff, and they were on their way to Christopher.

Anticipation held her in a grip so tight she could hardly breathe. She startled when the phone rang. Akeem’s.

He flipped it open, listened. “Anything else?” Then, “Do me a favor, give Flint a call and let him know.”

“Christopher?” she asked breathlessly when he hung up. Did this have to do with her son? What should Flint be told?

“Jack,” he said. “They traced yesterday’s call to the same airport where Flint’s transport got blown up.”

She stared with incomprehension. “Do you think there’s a connection?” What did the horses have to do with Christopher?

“Or coincidence. It’s the closest small airstrip that takes private business. Security is not nearly as stringent there as in Houston or Dallas.”

A new worry hit her then. “You think they flew Christopher out of the area?” Her heart about stopped on that thought.

“Hey.” He took her hand for a second, squeezed it. “They wouldn’t take him anywhere. They need him if they want their money.”

True. She made a point to fill her lungs and relax. And meant to squeeze his hand back but he’d pulled away by then. Within a few minutes, she could see the Shell station in the distance.

Her phone rang.

“Stop at the station. Go to the bathroom. There’ll be a cell phone waiting for you there. As soon as I hang up, you’ll throw your own phone and your friend’s out the window.” The line went dead.

Now that she knew about Jake Kenner, she’d been listening for his voice, but it hadn’t been him on the other
end. This guy was older, possibly a heavy smoker, judging by the rasp. Which meant that this all hadn’t been just one desperate guy’s bid for quick riches. She told Akeem as much.

“What did he want?” He kept his eyes on the road.

“They want our phones.” She rolled down her window and tossed hers out. “Yours, too. They left one for us at the station up ahead.”

His lips flattened in annoyance, but he did as she asked, tossing his expensive BlackBerry that she was sure held a ton of important business information.

She winced. “Sorry.”

“You have to stop that.” He glanced over. “Nothing matters a millionth as much as you and Christopher.”

Her heart gave a quick staccato beat, and a sudden sense of warmth melted a spot off the block of ice that had been growing in her chest all morning. She wasn’t sure how to respond to Akeem, so she went with changing the subject. “You think they’re watching us?”

He turned his attention back to the road. “They could have a man at the station with binoculars.”

That didn’t make her feel all that comfortable, considering that she had to get out at the station.

They were pulling up to it within a few minutes, nothing but a few square yards of tar top, a square building and six pumps in the middle of nowhere, decorated with a jumble of signs, some of which advertised businesses decades gone.

The place didn’t exactly inspire confidence.

“Want me to do it?” Akeem asked.

“They’d look at you funny if you asked for the key to the ladies’ room.” She drew a deep breath and opened the door, stepped out and tried to look like she wasn’t about to fall apart from nerves.

The station looked deserted save for the man behind the counter inside. When she asked, he handed her the key and the large wooden fob it was tied to. “Here you go, ma’am.”