style="font-size:15px;"> She owed it to Colton and his presence. But even though she felt safe here, she knew she couldn’t afford to let her guard down. She heard his voice from outside her window. Glancing out, she saw him walking toward the barn, several dogs following along behind him. She raised the window and heard him talking to them. It caused her to smile that he talked to his dogs. She liked that about him. Then her face reddened as she realized that wasn’t all she liked about Colton. She enjoyed the way his shirt pulled tight against him, revealing broad shoulders and muscles for decades.
Transfixed, she watched him kneel and pet one of the dogs that jumped up on him, rubbing him affectionately. He suddenly glanced her way. She reddened again, this time at being caught staring. But he good-naturedly raised his hand in a wave to her.
She moved away from the window. Trusting Colton to keep her safe was one thing, but finding herself drawn to the man was another. Still, she couldn’t deny the attraction. But then, why wouldn’t she be affected? A good-looking man had swooped in and rescued her from the bad men. Her feelings were probably natural, but she couldn’t act on them. She didn’t have a great track record with men. Her last serious relationship had ended ugly, causing her to realize the idiom that girls fall in love with men like their fathers wasn’t just a saying. It was true. Lance liked the casinos as much as her father did. Once she’d realized this, she’d quickly ended the relationship. She already had one gambler in her life and certainly didn’t need another.
* * *
Before she went downstairs, she took a few moments to phone her neighbor Mrs. Duncan. Laura told her she was going to be out of town for a few days and asked her to check in on her cat, Misty, and to make sure she had food. Mrs. Duncan agreed and wished her a good trip. Laura hated not being honest with her, but she thought this was the best way. Colton hadn’t even wanted her to phone, but she couldn’t go into hiding while her kitty starved.
Next, she called her friend Denise Jenkins, another nurse in the ER. She wanted to let her know she was safe and ask her to pass along the message to the nurse manager that she’d had to go out of town unexpectedly, so they could remove her from the work schedule and find someone to cover her upcoming shifts.
Denise sounded groggy when she answered and Laura remembered that her friend had worked the graveyard shift. She’d begun her shift while Laura was finishing hers. Laura glanced at the clock and realized her friend had probably just gotten home and into bed an hour or so ago.
“Denise, it’s Laura. Are you awake?”
“I am now,” she moaned. “Why are you calling me so early? You know I just got off work.”
“I know. I wouldn’t have called, but it’s important. Something happened last night. A group of men tried to abduct me in the employee parking lot.”
“What!” Denise’s voice cleared and Laura could tell she was now fully alert. “Are you okay? Are you being held captive? Should I call the police?”
“No, no. I’m fine. Another man was there and he rescued me. I’m safe, but I don’t think I’m going to be returning to River City for a while.”
“Did you go to the police? Did they find the guys who tried to get you?”
“No, we didn’t go to the police. You know this wasn’t a random kidnapping attempt. Randall sent those men to grab me.”
She had told Denise about her father’s gambling debts and Randall’s insistence she pay, but not the rest—the horrible truth that Randall was demanding she marry him. She shuddered, thinking about the idea of him ever laying a hand on her.
“Are you sure you’re okay?” Denise asked her.
“Yes, for now. Anyway, the reason I called is that I didn’t want you to worry about me, but I also need you to call the nurse manager and ask her to take me off the schedule. Just tell her I’ll call when I get back into town.”
“When will that be?” Denise asked, her voice growing ever more frightened.
“I don’t know. Maybe not for a while. I don’t have my phone anymore, so you can’t call it, but you can reach me at this number.”
Denise was silent on the other end for several moments. Laura wondered if she’d hung up or fallen back asleep, but when she spoke, Laura could hear the uncertainty and fear in her tone. “Laura, tell me the truth, is someone there with you now? Are they making you say this?”
“No, Denise. I’m fine. Will you please just do as I asked?”
“I will. I’ll take care of it later this afternoon. And will you do me a favor? Stay safe.”
“I will,” Laura promised, then hung up the phone, not knowing if she would ever see her friend again.
* * *
By the time she dressed, Colton was on the front porch in one rocker, a mug of coffee in his hand. Laura spotted a well-worn leather Bible in his lap. He placed it aside as she stepped outside. The dogs lazing at his feet lifted their heads to her curiously.
“Afternoon. How’d you sleep?”
“Good. Too good. Why didn’t you wake me sooner?”
“What for? I guessed you could use some catching up on your sleep. I made breakfast. Nothing fancy, just eggs and bacon. I saved you some.”
“Thanks, but I’m not hungry.” She sat in the opposite rocker and one of the dogs—a brown mutt—moseyed over and sniffed around her. Laura held out her hand to him, then reached down and petted him.
“That’s Milo.” He pointed out the other dogs one by one. “This is Freddie, Rowdy and Miss Roxie.”
Laura scratched behind Milo’s ear. “How are you, boy?” In response, he jumped up onto her lap. “What kind of dog is he?”
“He’s just a run-of-the-mill mutt. All of them are. No thoroughbreds here.” He gave her a wry look. “I hope you like animals because I have a mess of them. The dogs are good for alerting when someone is approaching the house.”
“I heard them last night, but I didn’t see them.”
“I had them penned up.”
“I love animals,” she confided. “I have a cat. Misty. When I was younger, I always dreamed of becoming a veterinarian.”
His eyes alight with interest, he asked curiously, “What happened to that dream?”
She sighed. As with most other things, her father’s gambling had stolen another dream from her. “Life happened.”
He must have sensed her reluctance to talk about it because he set aside his Bible as he stood.
“I thought we would go into town and see about getting you some clothes and such. But first I want to give you the layout of the ranch.” He walked to the front door and she saw a small box mounted on the wall. “I always keep the alarm set. The passcode is 824. It’s set to ring to my cell phone if it’s set off. I also wanted to show you this.” He moved through the house to the kitchen and into the laundry room, but it wasn’t just any laundry room. He pushed open a closet to reveal what appeared to be a weapons arsenal.
