Rescue at Cardwell Ranch

Unless word got around about Sheldon’s attack—and his firing. Everyone would think it was because he was the one who’d attacked McKenzie. How long would it take before everyone knew? He groaned. Gossip moved faster than an underpriced house, especially among Realtors.

McKenzie Sheldon better hope she hadn’t just destroyed his reputation—and his career.

* * *

“I’M ANXIOUS FOR you to see the building I found for the very first Big Sky Texas Boys Barbecue,” Tag said later that afternoon. “The Realtor is going to meet us there in a few minutes.”

Hayes had taken a long nap after the breakfast Dana had made for him. He’d awakened to the dinner bell. Dana was one heck of a cook. Lunch included chicken-fried elk steaks, hash browns, carrots from the garden and biscuits with sausage gravy.

“This is the woman who should be opening a restaurant,” Hayes said to his cousin.

“Thanks, but no, thanks,” Dana said. “I have plenty to do with four small children.” As if summoning them, the four came racing into the kitchen along with their father, Hud, the local marshal. The kids climbed all over their father as Dana got him a plate. It amazed him how much noise kids seven to two could make.

Tag’s fiancеe, Lily McCabe, came in looking as if she was already family. She declined lunch, saying she’d already eaten, but she pulled up a chair. Introductions were made and five minutes later, Hayes could see why his brother had fallen in love with the beautiful and smart brunette.

“We’d better get going,” Tag said, checking his watch. He gave Lily a kiss then rumpled each child’s hair as he headed for the door. Hayes followed, even though there was no purpose in seeing this building his brother had found for the restaurant.

They weren’t opening a barbecue place in Big Sky. He wasn’t sure how he was going to break it to his brother, though.

The road from the ranch crossed a bridge over the Gallatin River. This morning it ran crystal clear, colorful rocks gleaming invitingly from the bottom. Hayes watched the river sweep past, the banks dotted with pines and cottonwoods, and wished they were going fishing, instead.

At Highway 191, Tag turned toward Big Sky and Hayes got his first good look at Lone Mountain. The spectacular peak glistened in the sun. A patch of snow was still visible toward the top where it hadn’t yet melted. This morning, when he’d driven to the ranch, the top of the peak had been shrouded in clouds.

“Isn’t it beautiful?” Tag said.

“It is.” All of the Montana he’d seen so far was beautiful. He could understand why his brother had fallen in love with the place. And with Lily McCabe.

“Lily was nervous about meeting you earlier,” Tag said now, as if reading his mind. He turned toward Lone Mountain and what made up the incorporated town of Big Sky.

Hayes could see buildings scattered across a large meadow, broken only by pines and a golf course. “Why would she be nervous?”

“She was afraid my brothers wouldn’t like her.”

“What is the chance of that?” Hayes said. He had to admit that Lily hadn’t been what he’d expected. She was clearly smart, confident and nice. He hadn’t found any fault with her. In fact, it was blatantly clear why Tag was head over heels in love with the woman.

But Lily had reason to be nervous. She was backing Tag on the restaurant idea. A math professor at Montana State University in Bozeman, she didn’t want to move to Texas with her future husband. A lot was riding on what Tag’s brothers decided. Their not wanting a Montana barbecue place had nothing to do with liking or disliking Lily.

“Is she going to meet us at the restaurant building site?” Hayes asked, wondering how involved the bride-to-be was planning to be in the barbecue business. After the fiasco with Jackson’s wife, the brothers had decided no wives would ever own interest in the corporation. They couldn’t chance another ugly divorce that could destroy Texas Boys Barbecue. Or a marriage that would threaten the business, for that matter.

“No, she’s doing wedding planning stuff,” Tag said. “Who knew all the things that are involved in getting married?”

“Yes, who knew,” Hayes agreed as his brother turned into a small, narrow complex. He saw the For Sale sign on a cute Western building stuck back in some pine trees and knew it must be the one his brother had picked out.

“Good, McKenzie is already here,” Tag said just an instant before Hayes saw her.

He stared in shock at the woman he’d seen the night before. Only last night McKenzie had been lying at his feet outside a grocery store as her would-be abductor sped away.

Chapter Five

“Hayes, meet McKenzie Sheldon, Realtor extraordinaire,” Tag said. “McKenzie, this is my brother Hayes.”

McKenzie smiled, but she wasn’t sure how convincing it was. Her sister had tried to talk her into moving this meeting to another day. Maybe she should have listened. She hadn’t felt like herself all day.

While she’d tried to put what had happened last night out of her mind, she kept reliving it. Now she felt jumpy and realized it had been a mistake to take the attitude “business as usual” today.

But she couldn’t bear the thought of hanging out at the condo all day when she knew nothing could take her mind off last night in that case. Her first stop had been the office where she’d assured everyone that Gus Thompson would no longer be a problem. While she was there, the locksmith came and changed all the locks, which seemed to reassure some and make others at the office even more nervous since Gus hadn’t gotten along with any of his coworkers.

Then she’d gone to her condo, packed quickly for overnight and driven to Big Sky to meet her client. She’d worn a plain suit with a scarf to cover the bruises on her neck, but the gash on her temple where the man had slugged her still required a bandage if she hoped to hide the stitches.

As she caught her reflection in the empty building window, she saw with a start that she looked worse than she’d thought. How else could she explain Hayes Cardwell’s reaction to her? His eyes had widened in alarm as he put out his hand.

He looked like a man who’d just seen a ghost. He’d recognized her. How was that possible when he’d only flown in yesterday?

“Pleased to meet you, Ms. Sheldon.”

Tag had told her that his brothers shared more than a love of barbecue. The resemblance was amazing. Like Tag, Hayes Cardwell had the dark hair and eyes, had the wonderful Southern accent and was handsome as sin.

She thought of Ted Bundy as she took Hayes Cardwell’s large hand, hers disappearing inside it, and saw his dark gaze go to the bandage on her head. “I had a little accident last night.”

“You’re all right, though?” He still held her hand. She could feel herself trembling and feared he could, too.

She put on her best smile. “Fine.” Then she finally met his gaze.

His eyes were a deep brown and so familiar that it sent a shudder through her. Even though she’d told her sister that there was nothing to worry about, she was well aware that the man who’d attacked her last night could be closer than she thought.

* * *

HE’D STAYED HOME from work saying he didn’t feel well, even though he knew that might look suspicious if he was ever a suspect. But he was too anxious and upset over last night to go to work today.

There’d been nothing of use in the morning paper, only a short few paragraphs.

Police say a man tried to abduct a 28-year-old woman about 10:35 p.m. last night in the River Street Market parking lot.

The man attacked the woman as she came out of the market and attempted to put her into the trunk of his vehicle. He is described as over six feet with a muscular build. He was wearing a dark-colored baseball cap and driving a newer-model large car, also dark in color.

If anyone has information, they should contact the local police department.

He knew he should be glad that the information was just as useless to the police. She hadn’t gotten a good look at him, which was great unless they had some reason to withhold that information. That aside, nothing in the news was helping him find the woman.

Too restless to stay in the house, he decided to go for a walk in his northside neighborhood to clear his head. The houses were smaller on this side of town, many of them having been remodeled when the boom in housing came through years before.

House prices had dropped with the mortgage fiasco, but so many people wanted to live in his valley that prices had never reached the lows they had elsewhere. He was glad he hadn’t been tricked into selling his house for top dollar. He could have found himself in a house he couldn’t afford. Instead, his small, comfortable home was paid for since he lived conservatively.

Everything about his lifestyle looked normal on paper. He’d attended Montana State University right there in Bozeman. He’d bought a house after he graduated with a degree in marketing and had gone to work for a local company. He was an exemplary employee, a good neighbor, a man who flew under the radar. If caught, everyone who knew him would be shocked and say they never would have suspected him of all people.

As he walked around his neighborhood, he saw that more houses were for sale. It made him upset to think that his older neighbors were dying off because more college students would be moving in. Constant temptation, he thought with a groan.

He promised himself the next time he took a woman it would be in another town. Even better, another state. He couldn’t take the chance so close to home ever again. If there was another time. Last night’s botched abduction had left him shaken. She’d jinxed things for him. If he didn’t find the woman and fix this—