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to know where she was and if they’d arrested the money-grubbing piece of trash who
had stolen her away. It had taken hours for the sheriff to calm him down and convince
him to do exactly what Erin had asked.
“Take a pill, Rance,” Hollis offered. “Remember your blood pressure.”
“A pill? You want me to take a pill? What my blood pressure needs is for me to get
my hands around that bastard’s throat and choke the hell out of him.”
Brad chuckled. “Then I’d just have to arrest you and where would we be?”
“I just don’t understand any of this.” Rance lifted his hat, ran his fingers through his
hair and replaced the hat. “Why’d you call off the dogs? You don’t know what danger
she could still be in.”
“Do you really think I’d send everyone home if Erin’s safety was still an issue?
Honestly?”
“If Erin’s okay why didn’t she call me herself? Why wouldn’t she talk to me?”
Brad looked back at him calmly. “Did you ever stop to think maybe she’s tired of
putting up with you running roughshod over her and yelling at everything you don’t
like?”
“And why couldn’t T.J. come with us?” Rance persisted. “He’s her fiancé. Shouldn’t
he be here, too?”
“Rance, old friend, for once in your life just shut up and take my word for it that
everything’s fine.”
“And what the hell are we doing in Wyoming? I never heard of any place called
Newcastle. Is this where he took her?” He looked out the side window. “I don’t see
anything except a lot of pasture and cattle. What is this place, anyway? And who’s this
idiot driving us? He hasn’t said a word since we landed except to ask if we had a nice
trip.”
68
Hard Lovin’
Hollis chuckled. “Well, we did, didn’t we? Your private plane has everything but a
whirlpool tub on it.”
“You didn’t answer my question,” Rance pointed out. “Has this shithead got Erin
stashed away somewhere? Is he hiding her until we get there? We should have brought
the FBI with us.”
“Sort of, yes. And no, we shouldn’t have. Oh.” He looked through the windshield.
“I think we’re here.”
The SUV turned off the highway to a gate in the miles and miles of fencing. The
driver lowered the window and reached out to punch a code in a keypad and the gate
slid smoothly open. They rolled through it and along a gravel road that cut through
more acres of pastures. But then in the distance, on a knoll partially surrounded by
trees, he spotted what looked like a massive two-story log cabin. Its peaked roof rose to
the sky and long wings spread out from either side of the main body of the building.
“What is this place?” he demanded. “It’s big enough to be a lodge. Did you bring
me to some kind of fucking resort?”
“Just hold on to your temper,” Brad said. “You’ll find out everything in a minute.”
As they drew closer Rance caught sight of matching buildings stretching behind the
main house. But what really caught his attention was the incredible number of vehicles
parked to the side, everything from pickup trucks to convertibles. And when he opened
the door to get out the sound of music and laughter and the babble of many voices
coasted out to him on the breeze.
He noticed the driver speaking into a radio and turned to the sheriff. ”Okay,
Enough. What the fuck is this? I’m not moving one more step until you tell me who I
have to kill to get Erin back.”
Hollis took him by the arm and tugged him along. “Just a few more seconds and all
your questions will be answered.”
69
Desiree Holt
At that moment Erin rounded the corner of the house and ran toward him, and
Rance’s heart settled to a steady beat. For the moment his anger faded and he opened
his arms to his daughter.
“Hi, Daddy.” She hugged him tightly then pulled back and grinned up at him. She
looked over at Brad Hollis. “Thank you for arranging this, Sheriff.”
Hollis shrugged. “I reckon you’re old enough to know what you want to do. I’m
just the delivery boy.”
“Daddy?” She tugged on the hand of the very tall, very good looking man who’d [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]