He's Got His Daddy's Eyes Read online

  “Really?” Caitlin and J.J. chorused.

  “Yup.” Wes’s shrewd blue gaze went from one rapt face to the other and he grinned expansively. “To tell you the truth, I don’t know how many I’ve got. I started out with fifty.”

  “Where are they?” Caitlin asked. “How did you get them?”

  “Can we go see them? Can we ride them?” J.J. interrupted.

  “Whoa, one question at a time.” Wes chuckled and leaned forward, resting his elbows on his knees. “It all started about fifteen years ago. I had around fifty head of prime horseflesh, but the market was terrible—so low that I couldn’t sell them for anywhere near as much as it had cost me to raise them. I was disgusted. I’d sold off a lot of cattle that year and had more pasture than I needed, so I decided to turn the horses out to pasture and hold on to them for a few years until the market improved.”

  “But that was fifteen years ago,” Josh put in dryly. “And they’re still there.”

  “Wow,” Caitlin said in awe. “Why did you leave them there?”

  Wes shrugged. “Several years went by before the market started moving upward, but by then those horses were as wild as March hares. I’m getting too old to catch and break rough stock.”

  Molly chuckled. “Besides, he likes the idea of horses living wild and untouched out there on those two thousand acres.”

  “I don’t know about the untouched part,” Josh drawled. “In my younger, wilder days, Lucas, Zach and I used to sneak out there and rope and try to ride them.”

  “The hell you say,” Wes exploded, eyeing the younger man with chagrin.

  “Yeah.” Josh grinned unrepentantly. “I had a few cracked ribs from those horses of yours, Wes.”

  “You’re a better cowboy than I thought you were if you managed to get a rope on any of them,” Wes commented. “Let alone ride one.”

  “It took three of us to do it,” Josh recalled. “And I’m not saying any of us managed to stay on for the whole eight seconds. I remember eating dirt, and I don’t recall that Lucas or Zach did any. better.”

  “Did you ever see Uncle Wes’s wild horses, Mommy?” J.J. asked.

  “Sure she did.” Wes leaned over and slipped an arm around Sarah’s shoulders and hugged her affectionately. “I took her out there every chance I got—which was whenever I could kidnap her away from her mother in town. She loved the horses, didn’t you, honey?”

  “Yes, I did.” Sarah tensed and endured the suffocation that threatened the moment Wes caught her shoulder in an affectionate light hug. Still, the sensation grew swiftly until she could barely breathe. “I was crazy about those horses.” She stood, and Wes’s arm slipped from her shoulder. Carefully she sucked air into her starving lungs and managed a smile. “I’m going to get some more ice cubes from the kitchen. Does anyone else want anything?”

  “More cookies, Mommy,” J.J. answered promptly, unaware that anything was wrong. “The plate’s empty.”

  Sarah pulled open the screen door. “I suspect the plate’s empty because a certain little boy ate them all.”

  “Where is the pasture, Uncle Wes?” Caitlin asked with intense curiosity.

  Josh had grown to know Caitlin over the past two weeks and would have been alerted by the focused intensity on her face as she questioned her great-uncle, but he was distracted by Sarah. He remembered that Sarah had adored the big, bluff rancher, and he was puzzled by her uncomfortable withdrawal from his affectionate hug. From his vantage point slightly outside the haphazard circle of chairs grouped around the table, Josh hadn’t missed the quickly hidden concern on Molly’s open face when she watched Sarah slip out from under Wes’s arm.

  Not only had Sarah’s face seemed paler, but she’d also appeared to be having trouble catching her breath.

  It didn’t make sense. Josh frowned, his gaze drifting over Wes as he waved his hand toward the north while he told Caitlin and JJ. where the horses raced free. Then Josh’s gaze moved on, and his eyes narrowed as he registered the full pitcher of cold tea and the dozen or so ice cubes that floated in the pale brew.

  Sarah didn’t go to the kitchen because she wanted ice. What the hell is going on?

  Chapter Six

  Sarah was standing at the counter, taking cookies from a tin container and arranging them on a plate, when someone entered the kitchen. She glanced over her shoulder, expecting to see Molly, and found Josh.

  Josh saw her slim body tense and her features smooth into impassiveness.

  “Are you all right?” he asked bluntly. She stared at him with dark, fathomless eyes for a long, silent moment.

  “What do you mean?” she said finally.

  “You turned pale as a ghost out there.” Josh gestured toward the porch with the hand holding his nearly empty tea glass. “And it looked like you were having trouble breathing. Are you sick?”

  “No.” Sarah turned her back to him and replaced the lid on the cookie tin. “No, I’m not sick.”

  “Then what’s wrong with you?”

  Sarah drew a deep breath and turned to face him. “Nothing. I must have gotten too much sun. I felt faint for a moment, that’s all.” He frowned at her, clearly unconvinced. “Do you want your glass refilled?”

  “Sure.” Josh didn’t believe her. Something had happened out there on the porch, and he didn’t think it was caused by the heat. She clearly didn’t want to tell him, however, so he let her fill his glass and then followed her back to the porch.

  To Sarah’s relief, no one but Josh seemed to have noticed her reaction to Wes’s hug. Caitlin and J.J. were pumping Wes for more details about the herd of wild horses and barely looked up when she set the plate of cookies on the table in front of them and took a seat in the porch swing.

  Two weeks later, the house was still. Sarah carefully eased open JJ.’s bedroom door and peeked inside. J.J. lay sprawled facedown on the bed, his favorite stuffed animal, Tigger, clutched under one arm. Sarah tiptoed across the room and drew the shade, shadowing the room from the hot afternoon sun outside.

  She paused across the hall to look in on Caitlin and found her asleep, too, the shades already drawn against the sun.

  Sarah didn’t know why both Caitlin and J.J. had decided to take a nap on this hot Sunday afternoon. She only knew she was thankful that they had. Given the amount of time she spent twisting and turning at night, her own lack of sleep was catching up to her.

  She stifled a yawn as she entered her own bedroom and within minutes had pulled the shades, shed her sandals and sundress, and stretched out atop the bedspread.

  Sarah didn’t realize the children were missing until nearly three hours later.

  She’d checked their bedrooms when she woke from her nap, and when she found their beds empty, assumed that they’d awakened earlier and gone to play at the barn. However, after an hour elapsed and they didn’t return, she began to worry. A bank of clouds had rolled in, obscuring the sun and chilling the afternoon air. The forecast was for rain, wind and possible hail; Sarah wanted JJ. and Caitlin tucked safely inside the protection of the house before the storm arrived. She shed her sundress for jeans, a long-sleeved cotton shirt and boots and hurried outside.

  She stood on the porch and called their names, but there was no response. She walked around the house to check the tent J.J. had erected with Caitlin the day before, but the canvas shelter was empty.

  A search of the big barn with its attached corral and sheds was equally fruitless. The sound of a truck engine reached her just as she exited the wide doors.

  “Josh!” Truly worried now, Sarah ran toward the slowing truck, waving her arms.

  “What’s wrong?” Josh braked and was outside the pickup, striding toward her, before she could reach him.

  “It’s J.J. and Caitlin.” A gust of wind caught her hair, whisking it across her face, and she pushed the pale strands out of her eyes. “They’re not in the house or the yard. I’ve looked in the sheds and barn—I can’t find them anywhere.”

  His glance went pas
t her to the open barn door. “You’re sure they’re not in the barn? Did you look in the hayloft?”

  “No, I called, but they didn’t answer.”

  “I’ll climb up and look. One of the barn cats has a litter of half-grown kittens in the corner of the loft. Maybe the kids were playing with them and didn’t hear you.”

  “I hope you’re right.” Sarah looked up at the sky. “The weather forecast is for rain and possibly hail. I don’t want them out in this.”

  “Don’t worry, we’ll find them.” Josh caught her arm and turned her toward the barn, slowing his long strides so she could keep up with him. “They can’t have gone far.”

  But the children weren’t in the loft. Nor were they playing in the shaded green interior of the grove of trees and brush near the spring.

  “Josh, where can they be?”

  Sarah’s blue eyes were alive with worry, her face tense with anxiety. Josh wanted to pull her close and soothe her, but he forcibly restrained himself. She wouldn’t welcome the gesture, and he didn’t need the pain her rejection would bring.

  “We’ll find them,” he said grimly. The wind caught at the brim of his Stetson and he anchored it with his hand, glancing up at the threatening sky. “I’ve got to get a couple of pregnant mares into the barn. Why don’t you check their rooms once more? Maybe they left a note.”

  “All right.” Sarah cast a worried look at the darkening sky and hurried toward the house.

  It wasn’t until Josh was closing the stall door on the second of the mares that he noticed Tornado was missing. A swift check of the tack room confirmed that the saddle and bridle he’d been using on the gelding for J.J.’s and Caitlin’s riding lessons were missing, too.

  Hands on hips, he stared at the empty stall for a long moment. Not only was Tornado gone, but so was Rum.

  “Rum’s never very far away from those kids,” he muttered aloud. “Wherever the dog is, that’s where they are.”

  But where was Rum?

  Josh strode to the open barn door and looked out. The sky was growing darker by the minute; even as he watched, lightning arced and cracked, followed by the deep boom of thunder. In the barn behind him, Baby whinnied, the sound a trumpeting challenge to nature’s tempest.

  Josh stiffened, the stallion’s call reminding him of Caitlin’s fascination with horses, and the dozens of questions she’d asked Wes about his wild band.

  “Damn.” He knew exactly where Caitlin and JJ. had gone. He spun and reentered the barn, collecting a blanket, saddle and bridle from the tack room before entering Baby’s stall.

  “What are you doing?”

  Josh barely glanced up when Sarah entered the barn. “I’m going after the kids.”

  “You are?” Confused, Sarah watched the swift movements of his hands as he smoothed the saddle blanket over Baby’s back and swung the saddle atop it “Where are they?”

  “Tornado’s missing—and so is Rum. I think the kids went to Wes’s pasture to see the horses.”

  “Oh, no!” Sarah darted a glance over her shoulder at the open barn door where the wind was gusting, carrying dust and dry leaves. “Are you sure?”

  “No.” Josh yanked the girth tight and buckled it snugly against Baby’s belly. “But I remember the look on Caitlin’s face when Wes was telling her about that herd of wild horses. Add to that the fact that both Tornado and Rum are gone—and J.J.— and I think it’s a pretty fair bet that they’ve gone looking for your uncle’s wild bunch. I’m going after them.”

  “On Baby? Why don’t you take the truck. Wouldn’t it be faster?”

  “Not where I’m going. It’s faster if I cut straight across the pasture.” He didn’t add that it would be easier to quarter the land on horseback than from a truck seat, in case J.J. or Caitlin was lying injured somewhere.

  “I’m going with you.”

  “No, you’re not.” Josh found himself talking to empty air. Sarah had disappeared into the tack room, quickly reappearing lugging a saddle, blanket and bridle. “Stay here,” he ordered as he slipped the latch and led Baby from his stall. “If I’m wrong and they come home, you’ll be here for them.”

  “No.” Sarah was busy slipping the bit between the teeth of Zach’s saddle horse, a glossy bay mare, in the stall next to Baby. “I think you’re right—the kids have gone looking for Uncle Wes’s wild horses. They’ve talked of nothing else ever since they heard that story. They’ve pestered Uncle Wes to take them out to the pasture, but for one reason or another, he hasn’t found time.” She tossed the saddle blanket over the mare’s back and smoothed the wrinkles away. “I should have guessed something was up when Caitlin wanted to take a nap this afternoon.”

  Josh wrapped Baby’s reins around a post, stepped into the stall and hefted the saddle, swinging it onto the mare’s back. “How long has it been since you’ve done any riding?” he asked abruptly, making short work of straps and buckles.

  “A long time,” she answered just as abruptly. “But I’ll keep up. If I don’t, leave me behind. I know the way. I won’t get lost.”

  Josh frowned down into her determined face. “You’ve got a lot in common with that stubborn niece of yours,” he commented brusquely.

  Sarah didn’t respond. He shoved the reins into her hand and left the stall to get Baby. He stopped by the tack room, walked inside and returned with slickers, one of which he tossed to Sarah. “You better put it on,” he ordered.

  Sarah followed Josh out of the barn and mounted, urging the mare into motion. Josh was shrugging into the horseman’s split-backed rain slicker as he rode and she followed suit, casting a worried glance at the ominous black sky.

  Baby galloped in the lead, the bay mare close behind. So close was the mare that Sarah was almost unseated when the stallion came to an abrupt halt, the mare skidding to a stop behind him.

  “What? What is it?” Sarah demanded frantically, clutching the saddle horn.

  “Tornado,” Josh said succinctly, and urged Baby into a fast lope.

  He was leaning from the saddle to catch the gelding’s bridle by the time Sarah arrived. She reined the mare in a half circle around the gelding, but saw no sign of injury.

  “Did he throw them? What happened?”

  “The reins are wrapped around the saddle horn,” Josh told her. “At a guess, I’d say they got off on their own and forgot to ground hitch him. He might have walked off and left them.”

  “Great,” Sarah groaned. “Just great. That means they’re on foot.” She twisted in the saddle, scanning the horizon, but found no movement “They could be anywhere!”

  Josh was silent, his gaze continuing a rapid search of the gelding. His eyes narrowed over the horse’s hooves and fetlocks and he whistled softly.

  “Did you find something?” Sarah asked sharply.

  “Clay dust on his hooves.” Josh released Tornado’s bridle and slapped him on his hindquarters. “Go home, boy.” The horse jumped and ran a few steps before slowing to a walk, continuing along the cattle track in the direction of the Rocking D. Josh gestured to Sarah to follow Baby, and started the stallion down the dirt path in the opposite direction. “This track leads across Drummond land to Wes’s north pasture and his horse herd. A lot of clay cliffs and coulee bottoms lie along this track. I’m betting Tornado left the kids and has been following the track home.” He lifted Baby into a fast lope.

  The wind picked up, whipping Sarah’s hair across her face; she narrowed her eyes against the tangling strands and crouched lower in the saddle, urging the mare faster. Baby’s ebony coat was a dark blur in front of her.

  “There they are!” Josh shouted over his shoulder, and kicked the big stallion into a run.

  ’Oh, thank God!” She urged the mare on, following Josh as he raced down the track.

  Ahead of them, Caitlin and J.J. stopped walking, their relief underlaid with trepidation as the horses drew up beside them.

  “Are you hurt?” Josh demanded, swiftly skimming their guilty faces.

 
“No,” Caitlin responded. ’’’We’re fine.”

  Satisfied, Josh flicked a glance at the sky and stepped out of the saddle. He caught J.J. under the arms and tossed him into Baby’s saddle. “Hold on,” he ordered. He grabbed Caitlin and lifted her up behind Sarah. “All hell’s about to break loose, Sarah. If we’re lucky, we’ll make it to shelter,” he shouted as he remounted with swift ease, one arm holding JJ. securely against his midriff while the other hand gathered up the reins. He leaned forward and sent Baby racing across the rough pastureland toward the crumbling rock of a nearby butte.

  Sarah grabbed one of Caitlin’s hands and pulled it around her waist to anchor the girl before she kicked the mare in the ribs and chased after Josh.

  Above them, lightning cracked, and thunder rolled in a deep-throated, threatening rumble that shook the ground beneath the horses’ hooves.

  “Please, God,” she prayed fervently. “Don’t let her step in a gopher hole.”

  The mare couldn’t keep up with the fast quarter horse stud, but before Baby could leave Sarah and the mare too far behind, Josh stopped him. He dismounted and pulled J.J. after him, grabbing Caitlin and swinging her to the ground before Sarah was out of the saddle. He caught Sarah’s arm and urged her toward a wide shelf of rock where a small, sheltered cave was created by the shelf above and a thick chunk of black rock leaning at right angles against it

  “Crawl inside and sit with your back against the rock. Put Caitlin on your lap,” Josh ordered.

  Sarah dropped to all fours and scrambled inside, stretching out her legs in front of her just as Caitlin clambered in beside her and onto her lap.

  Thunder rumbled, shaking the ground beneath them as Josh slid his long legs in beside Sarah’s, one arm snagging J.J. around the waist and pulling him under shelter and onto his lap just as the heavens opened and hail pelted down.

  The noise was deafening. Caitlin and J.J. covered their ears and huddled close.

  “Josh? Where’s Rum?” J.J. twisted to look up at Josh.

  The little boy’s eyes were huge green saucers, his face pale with fright. Josh had to bend his head close to hear his shouted words, so great was the roar of the hail and thunder outside. He caught J.J.’s chin in his hand and turned his head sideways to speak close to his ear. “He’s safe. Look at our feet.”