Saved by the Rancher (27 page)

“I’ll have one of them stay on the couch.”

Caleb hugged his wife and daughter. “I’ll be home when I can. Get some rest.” He held them close for a few moments.

Jack’s arms were empty, making him ache as he watched Caleb and Summer. He turned his back on them and walked away, needing to do something besides wallowing in his misery and thinking about what might be happening to the woman he loved. She was out there, and he needed to find her.

Chapter Forty-One

J
ENNA WOKE AT
dawn, cold to the bone but alive. For now. The sun peaked over the hills, brightening the horizon. She welcomed it because it meant the temperature would warm up soon. Groggy and thirsty, she turned to her side and awkwardly pushed herself up and leaned back against the tree. She didn’t hear anyone looking for her, only the sound of the wind in the trees, birds chirping around her. Didn’t anyone know she was gone? Jack would know. He’d come for her.

Help me, Jack.

With single-minded determination, she stood, gained her balance as her head spun. She braced herself against the tree. Her hands hurt, everything hurt. The pain sometimes overcame her. She had to stay awake. Move. Find Jack.

Face raised to the sun, she tried to picture the ranch, figure out the route David brought her. Hesitant about her decision, but needing to do something, she made the decision to head east toward the rising sun, and hopefully Jack.

I love you, Jack. I’m coming home.

E
XHAUSTED, FRUSTRATED, AND
going out of his mind, Jack almost believed he heard Jenna calling him. Crazy, just the exhaustion and his conscience calling to him. They spent all night looking for her, only to discover Sally, badly injured and near death in the brush out behind the house. Caleb rushed her to the animal hospital, hoping they’d found her in time. Sick over the dog’s injuries and the possibility he might lose her, even more devastating, Jack knew the bastard had a knife and was willing to use it.

No telling what he’d do with the knife on Jenna. How far would he go this time? That thought set Jack’s muscles solid as stone and had him desperate to comb every house, barn, farm, acre, mile to find her. Whatever it took, he’d never stop searching.

They hadn’t found a single trace of her. She’d vanished into the woods. Jack was thankful they hadn’t found her dead, but with the temperature dropping at night and the fact she’d been gone for so long, his thoughts turned morbid. If she were alive out there, she wouldn’t last another night. Jack knew it, and it was eating him alive.

What if she wasn’t on the property anymore, but somewhere else? The enormity of that thought swamped him in misery.

Caleb crashed on the couch. Jack drank coffee, trying to stay awake and alert. Midmorning now, the sheriff organized the men to start searching the other side of the property. Jack hoped they’d find Jenna soon. They had to find her. If he lost her, he didn’t think he could live.

He’d talked to Ben again. Jenna hadn’t called him, or his office, to say she was on the run. Ben’s source reported no news about Merrick’s whereabouts. The honeymoon remained a closely guarded secret, kept under wraps from the press.

The sheriff tried contacting Merrick International, only to be told David was on his honeymoon. He hadn’t really thought the sheriff would have any better luck getting information from the Merrick family or the corporate office. David had gotten away with this many times before, but he wouldn’t get away with it this time. Jack would make sure of it.

The phone rang and Jack jumped to grab it.

“I’m on a plane. I’ll be home in an hour.” Sam received Jack’s message and knew he wouldn’t have called unless the situation was dire.

“Thanks, Sam. You don’t know what this means to me.”

“What’s going on? Is it Mom and Dad? Summer? The baby?”

“No, they’re all fine. It’s Jenna. She’s been kidnapped. Just get here,” Jack said wearily.

“Who’s Jenna? And who kidnapped her?” Sam didn’t hide the surprise in his voice.

“Jenna is my fiancé and her ex-husband kidnapped her yesterday.”

“Fiancé! Well, I’ll be damned, brother. Okay. You got the local guys looking for her?”

“We’ve been out all night. We think he took her into the woods on the property, but he could have had a car stashed and taken her anywhere. He stabbed Sally. She’s still at the hospital. We don’t know if she’ll make it. We really have nothing.”

“I’m sorry about the dog, man.”

Jack appreciated the sentiment, but with Sally in good hands, his thoughts were on Jenna and finding her.

“So he’s armed and dangerous. All right. Who’s the ex? Maybe I can start with him?”

“David Merrick. You heard of him?”

“As in Merrick International?”

“That’s the one.”

Sam whistled. “That’s big money. If he’s got her, he could take her out of the country and hide her forever.”

“I don’t think he did. He just got married. I think he came to tie up loose ends. Namely, Jenna. She owns a big junk of Merrick International. He wants it back, in addition to being obsessed with her. It’s a long story. Get here, and I’ll tell you everything.”

“On my way. We’ll figure this out, and we’ll find her.”

“We need to find her. She’s everything, Sam. I can’t lose her.”

“So it’s like that, huh. Your Jenna must be something special to bring you out of your stupor and back into the real world. I’ll do everything in my power to make sure we get her back,” he assured Jack. “I thought maybe you’d end up like me, spending too much time working and not enough time living.”

“I’m only alive when I’m with her,” Jack responded, choked up.

“We’ll get her back.” Sam hung up.

J
ENNA SPENT THE
morning walking and resting in intervals. Weak from blood loss and lack of food and water, she had to rest more often than she liked. Her head cleared in the warm sun, making it easier to concentrate on her surroundings. At one point, she realized she’d walked in a circle. Her vision doubled and she pressed the heels of her hands to her eyes. Frustrated, she found a relatively soft patch of grass, lay down, and closed her tired eyes. She didn’t think she’d run this far from the dirt road, but maybe in her panic she’d covered more ground than she realized.

Rested and refocused, she rolled to her hands and knees, hissed in a ragged breath when she pressed on the scrapes and cuts on her right knee, and cocked her head to the side to look down at the damage. Something off in the distance caught her eye.

“No way. I was this close and didn’t see it.” The dirt road lay no more than fifty feet ahead of her. Difficult to make out for all the trees and shifting limbs in the wind, but there it was right in front of her.

Back on her feet, she moved slowly on rubbery legs and made it to the deserted road. Still alone. Deep tire tracks rutted the road where David must have taken off in the Jeep, reassuring her he was gone. The coil of rope lay as an ominous reminder of what David had planned for her. She didn’t think he’d really stayed in the woods, but with all the spooky noises at night, she had scared herself good, imagining him out there stalking her.

Chapter Forty-Two

S
AM PULLED INTO
the driveway, noting all the men standing around, eating lunch and drinking coffee. He parked behind the classic Mustang and wondered who it belonged to. Nice ride. He got out, grinned, and caught Lily when she launched herself into his arms.

“Uncle Sam! You came.”

“Yes, darlin’. Where’s Mommy and Uncle Jack?”

“They’re in the house. Uncle Jack is very sad. We can’t find Jenna. The bad man with the knife took her.”

“You saw the bad man?” Sam didn’t like the idea of his niece being exposed to this kind of danger.

“Yes. He was big and he took Jenna into the woods. He hurt Sally.” Her little lip quivered.

Sam kissed her sweet cheek and carried Lily up the porch stairs and into the house with him. “Did the bad man say anything to you?”

“No. I watched out the window. Jenna made me go inside. I didn’t think she saw the bad man, but now, maybe she did see him, and that’s why she made me go in.”

“I think you might be right.” Sam and Lily walked into the kitchen. His sister smiled and Jack looked beat.

“How did you get here so fast?” Summer grabbed Lily and gave him a huge hug, holding on to him for a long time.

“Jack called. I came.” Sam put a hand on his sister’s rounded belly and gave her a wink. Happy for her, but his concern for Jack overshadowed everything at the moment. “Any word, brother?”

“No. The teams just came in from searching the woods behind the barn and out along the pastures. We’ll grab something to eat and head out again in an hour. It’s already late afternoon and we haven’t found any clues. Nothing. Not one damn sign of her.”

“Tell me about her, the ex, everything. How did you get involved with her? Another thing, how come I didn’t know you were getting married? I might be busy, but I’m never too busy to answer the phone and talk to my brother about his upcoming wedding.”

“Summer, take Lily outside, or home, something,” Jack pleaded. “She doesn’t need to hear about how we found Jenna and got involved.”

Summer headed out with Lily, kissing Sam’s cheek as she passed.

“Okay. Here it is . . .” Jack told Sam the whole story, everything he knew about Jenna. Sam listened, asking questions only for clarification. When Jack finished, he let out a long sigh and put his forehead down on his crossed arms on the kitchen island.

“This is quite a mess she’s in. You think she’s still alive?” Sam had his doubts at this point. He’d seen too many similar cases that ended in tragedy.

Jack raised his head, meeting Sam’s eyes. “My gut says she’s alive. I feel it. We need to find her, Sam. She’s been out there a long time.”

“We’ll go with your gut. Mine’s usually right, so we’ll trust yours. Who’s running the search, and where do we have left to look before we take this off the property?”

“The sheriff is running things with some direction from me. I sent the guards with pictures of her to check all the bus stations, airports, car rental places, anything and any way he could take her out of here. Nothing.

“We’ve searched the woods behind the house where we found Sally. I don’t think he would have continued back through there, because he’d have come to the family cabins. Too many people back that way. Someone would have seen him. I think if they were on foot, he’d have to cross the valley and go into the woods on the other side, back behind the barn. We’ve searched there, but nothing. Depending on how far he got with her on foot, the next place to look is the hills farther past the fire road. It runs through the forest and back toward the main road and the lake. But, Sam, that’s damn far for him to take her on foot.”

“But possible. We have to assume he wanted to get as far away from the ranch with her as possible. She probably went willingly to get him away from the house and Lily. He probably stashed a car on the dirt road and took her out that way. Let’s check it out.”

What Sam didn’t want to say was that she might not be on the property any longer, and they might never find her. Deep down, Jack already knew, but wasn’t ready to admit it.

A
FTERNOON ALREADY, THE
sun descended toward the west. Darkness would fall quickly once it passed the hills. Jenna needed to cover as much ground as possible before she lost daylight.

Walking down the road was much easier than trying to dodge branches and see a clear path through the dense forest. Still, it was slow going. Exhausted, she needed food and water. She hoped she’d come to the creek, or some kind of water she could drink. Maybe then she’d feel a little better, and she could make it to the ranch. She needed to make it back to Jack.

She didn’t come to the creek, but managed to walk for several hours, talking to herself in her mind to keep from going crazy.

Just a little farther, take one step at a time. Jack’s waiting for you. You can make it. Keep going. Think of the baby. Don’t let that bastard win. You’ve survived every other time. You’ll make it this time, too. Find Jack.

Thanks to the mostly downhill grade, she managed to cover a good distance before sunset. Worn out, she was determined to make it around the next bend before stopping to rest. She dragged her feet, putting one foot in front of the other. If she lay down again, she might sleep through the night, and she couldn’t afford to spend another night in the cold.

She came around the bend and spotted the edge of the lake past the open meadow. Unable to help herself, she started laughing. With her hoarse voice and mouth so dry, the odd sound came out more like a series of squeaky croaks, but she was elated. Maybe just hysterical.

Water. The lake meant she was close to the main road and only about five miles from the ranch. Not that far. If she could get to the main road, someone would see her.

Excited, her energy surged and she made her way to the lake. Lake water was better than no water. She knelt on the bank and leaned forward to drink. Nothing like tap water, the lake water was gritty from dirt and silt she stirred up, but it would do. Her knees and the bottom half of her legs were soaked through, making her even colder. Violent shivers shook her. Maybe getting wet wasn’t such a good idea. Thirst overrode common sense.

More tired than she’d ever felt, she couldn’t get her legs to lift her and fell back on her heels. She needed to rest. So close, but she just couldn’t go any further. Everything ached, but not as much as her head. She collapsed onto her side, her feet and knees in the water, and passed out curled on the muddy bank.

Chapter Forty-Three

J
ACK,
C
ALEB, AND
Sam rode through the low area on horseback, past the large pastures to the part of the property where the tree lines on both sides of the valley were closest. None of the men found any sign of Jenna, but they all thought this area the most logical place to search. This part of the valley was a long way from the main house, but the best place to cross from one side to the other without being seen.