“True,” Ash said. “We have nothing to lose by checking out the cave. Just to be certain. If nothing else, it will calm your mind.” She looked at Rose. “I’m a firm believer in listening to those silent voices with warning shrieks.”
Rose nodded. “Thank you. And if he’s not there, I’m sending a dump truck tomorrow to fill in that stupid cave. I don’t care what Wolf and his bosses would think or do about that.”
She walked to the jeep, ready to ride. Behind her she heard Jace say, “Galen’s going to kill us for letting her come with us.”
Ash said, “Try to stop her. Go ahead, I’ll love watching.”
The brother and sister got in the jeep. Rose sat in the back, and no one said another word about her staying behind.
Chapter Sixteen
Rose knew that Ash and Jace were carrying pistols of some kind, and the gun rack had a complement of rifles on it, so she didn’t feel unsafe. In fact, she wasn’t afraid at all, except for Galen. She just knew her husband too well, and as Jace drove nearer where the cave was located, her uneasiness grew.
“I’ll go down,” she announced, and both Ash and Jace, seated up front, shook their heads.
“You stay in the car and man the wheel in case we need to make a fast exit,” Jace told her. “If Galen finds out we let you anywhere near where Wolf and his men might be, he’s going to excommunicate Ash and me from the family circle. It’s serious business on this, Rose.”
He pulled up close to the cave and glanced at his sister. “Let’s make this fast. No need for us to get captured. I’d like to live to enjoy the little lady who won me tonight.”
“Who was it, by the way?” Ash asked.
“I don’t know, but it was some little sweetie from Tempest. I didn’t catch the name. I don’t care, either. Rose, you come sit behind the wheel, and leave the jeep running.” He laid a black pistol on the dash. “This is in case you get any visitors.”
She hopped out of the jeep and went around to the driver’s seat. “Hurry, please. I know Galen’s in trouble.”
“All right, all right. We’ll get our hammy-brained brother out of the rabbit hole. No worries,” Jace said, winding a rope around his sister. “Many a time I’ve dreamed of dropping you into a cave and leaving you behind, sister dear. I just never thought I’d have the pleasure of doing it.”
“If you leave me behind,” she said, “you will so regret it.”
He winked at Rose. “Sit tight, but be prepared to haul out of here.”
She had no choice. It was enough that they took her seriously and were going to look for Galen, wasn’t it?
Not really. Ash didn’t know what Rose did about that sizable cavern. She knew she could explore it so much faster than Ash. Rose shut off the engine, grabbed the pistol and hurried after them.
“Wait for me!” she whispered loudly.
The two shadows ahead of her turned.
“What the hell are you doing?” Jace demanded. “Once the mission’s begun, you can’t go renegade.”
“Sorry. I just don’t see how you’re going to lift Ash back out by yourself,” Rose explained. “It took you and Galen both to get me out before. Since you won’t let me anchor the rope, I’m going down. You and Ash should be able to handle my postpregnancy weight.”
They looked at her. Jace shrugged. “Pregnant or not, you don’t weigh much. Let’s go, stubborn lady.”
At the slice in the ground where they’d discovered the cave, Ash quickly tied the rope around Rose. “Hurry. We don’t want to be found here, or we’ll all get nabbed. Galen’s going to kill us, anyway, for letting you do this, so don’t get stuck and don’t hang around and explore like you did before. Just in and out and gone.”
“I know.”
Jace handed her a Maglite and a decent-sized hunting knife. Ash said, “Just in case you find yourself in a tricky spot.”
“Got it,” Rose whispered, and put the knife in her boot, though she didn’t think she could ever use such a thing. The pistol she kept in her hand, loaded and unlocked, just in case she found herself lowered into a trap. She took a deep breath to calm herself.
They began to let out the rope, and Rose squeezed through the opening. Once at the bottom, she stood, took off the rope and left it dangling.
There was no one in the large, dug-out space, but still she kept her gun ready. The front loader was still there, as was the painting of Running Bear. Nothing seemed to have moved. She worried about bats and spiders, but she could survive those. Galen was her primary concern.
And he didn’t seem to be here. She’d been wrong.
She’d started to reach for the rope when she noticed a trail of what looked like blood, and shone the flashlight on it.
“Hurry, Rose!” she heard Ash hiss from above.
Rose followed the trail with the flashlight to the back of the cave, where it seemed to disappear. Maybe a wounded animal had crawled in here.
But then she felt air blowing on her hand, cold and yet warm at the same time, as if there was some kind of ventilation nearby. She felt the wall, expecting it to be sturdy—and a door squeaked open a fraction.
Her scalp prickled. Cautiously, she peered through the crack. Unable to see anything, she pushed the door open a bit farther. Nothing moved. It was quiet as a tomb in the space beyond.
It
felt
as if she were in a tomb. A sensation of danger swept through her. Rose inched forward, pushed by something she couldn’t define, a feeling that she needed to go as far as she could—and then she saw the trail of blood on the floor again. She followed it, telling herself each footstep would definitely be the last. But then she heard a moan, and pressed forward once more.
She heard footsteps, and gasped. Something rustled in the corner and she sent her flashlight beam there. “Galen!”
He shook his head at her in warning. She ran to him, lying down behind him just as someone came along the corridor. Wolf swung a flashlight at Galen, and Rose shrank against his back.
“You’re still here,” his uncle said, and laughed.
Since Galen was not only bound but gagged, he couldn’t reply. He pressed her against the wall behind him, and Rose lay very still.
“Something’s not right about you,” Wolf said. Rose’s skin jumped with goose pimples as she prayed he wouldn’t come closer. “I may not have gotten the spiritual gifts my brothers did, but I do know that you seem different somehow,” he said to Galen. “Your eyes look hopeful. And fearful. I’ve never seen fear in your eyes.” He shone the flashlight at Galen, and Rose held her breath. “I’m going to get some help to move you to another location,” Wolf said. “I don’t like the feeling I’m getting.”
Rose heard footsteps as he walked away. She couldn’t allow him to bring men to move Galen! Even if she got back out of the hole and somehow figured out a way to bring Ash and Jace here to rescue him, he’d be gone. Moved somewhere deeper in the tunnels, no doubt—and this time, she wouldn’t know where to find him.
Rose reached around Galen with her pistol, took careful aim at Wolf’s backside and fired.
He fell to the ground with a shriek, cursing. Rose grabbed the knife, quickly cutting Galen’s bonds. He ripped the tape off his mouth, grabbed the knife and the pistol. She guided him to the entrance with the flashlight, both of them hurrying before Wolf alerted someone. He was rolling around on the ground in agony, but just before she passed through the door, Rose met his eyes.
She’d never seen such absolute hatred in her life.
“Hang on,” she told Galen, and ran back to the tape and the ropes she’d cut off him. She took them over to Wolf, tying his ankles first, then his hands and finally she taped his mouth.
“Come on, babe!” Galen urged.
She stared down into Wolf’s eyes. He glared back at her, his gaze fierce with hatred.
“I hate you, too. Don’t mess with my family,” she whispered, so that Galen couldn’t hear her.
She hurried over to the door and went through it, Galen following close behind.
“When we get home, you’re getting a spanking,” he said. He tried to tie the rope around her, but she pushed him away. “You’re injured. You go first.”
“Just this once, listen to your husband.” Galen put the rope around her and tugged at it.
Rose called, “Hurry!” to Jace, and he pulled her up. She squeezed back through the crack in the cave ceiling and ripped off the rope. “Galen’s down there! I shot Wolf, so pull fast!” she said, stuffing the end back down the hole.
The rope tugged again, and Jace and Ash leaned back, pulling hard. Rose slashed at the ground with the hunting knife, trying to widen the slice of earth enough for Galen to make it through. He was considerably larger than she was. She kept chipping away at the earth with all her might.
“Pull harder!” she told Ash and Jace—and suddenly, Galen’s head came through the hole, and then his shoulders. Rose had never seen anything so wonderful, except when her children were born. She wanted so badly to kiss him, but there wasn’t time. Galen’s arms came through, and he pulled himself the rest of the way out.
“Hello, bro,” Ash said. “Need help walking?”
“I’m good.” He stumbled a bit, but kept up a fair pace. Rose ran ahead and started the engine, so Ash and Jace could ride shotgun and in the back, just in case they were pursued. Wolf’s men would be on them any second. Galen dropped into the backseat with a groan, then checked the magazine of a pistol Jace handed back to him.
“You look like crap, Galen,” his brother said. “Sight for sore eyes and all that.”
“That’s fine,” Ash said, “Beat it out of here, Rose. Drive like you’re being chased by your worst nightmare.”
She was. She remembered Wolf’s eyes as he’d stared her down—and knew she had an enemy for life. Rose drove as fast as she could, the jeep bumping and flying over ruts in the New Mexico ranch land, her blood chilled like ice.
* * *
“Y
OU
TWO
ARE
in big trouble with me.” Galen limped inside the house at Rancho Diablo and headed for some whiskey. “I want a shower, and then you,” he said to Ash and Jace, “have some serious explaining to do. What were you thinking, taking my wife where Wolf could get her? She’s not part of the mission!”
Rose reached to wipe some blood off his face, and he waved her away.
Galen glared at his sister and brother. “Wolf was there. He could have grabbed her.” He pointed at Rose. “He
would
have taken her prisoner, except she shot him!”
“We heard the gun go off, and figured our girl had hit the target.” Ash slapped Rose’s hand in a high five. Jace reached for some whiskey and had the grace to look slightly ashamed, but Ash—no, shame wasn’t an emotion she owned. That made Galen even hotter under the collar. He realized he was talking a bit out of his head, but just looking at his dainty wife—she’d had babies less than a month ago, for heaven’s sake—just made him madder at Jace and Ash. “I’m going to shower. All of you stay out of my sight for a while. Then I’m calling a family meeting. I don’t care if the party is just wrapping up in town.”
Rose followed him to his room, watching as he stripped to boxer briefs that molded to his well-muscled legs. “You can’t be mad at them. I made them take me to the cave.”
“I
can
be mad at them.” Galen stripped off, not able to look at his delicate wife. “I’m not happy with you, either. If you don’t mind, I’d like to be alone.”
“Fine. You can be alone all you like. But your back is bleeding, your face is cut, there’s something oozing from your arm and I’m not so sure you’re not going to need stitches in your head. Not that I’m a doctor like you, but that’s just my opinion. Let me know when you’re ready to go to the E.R. And by the way, you owe your brother and sister thanks. They’re awesome. Later, you can tell us all how you came to let yourself get grabbed by your uncle.”
She left the room, leaving him to fester in his bad mood. “I owe my siblings a swift kick in the pants,” he muttered, and went to look in the bathroom mirror at the list of things Rose had mentioned he might need allopathic help with. He hadn’t told her that at least two of his ribs were cracked, and there was a possibility he had a slight concussion. Maybe more than slight. He had a rocking headache from being punched in the head, and the kicks he’d taken to the ribs hadn’t been sweetness and light, either.
But none of it was as bad as the fear that had hit him when he saw his sweet-faced wife poke her head through the cave door. He’d known Wolf was due back any moment, to come and check on him again, and the sheer terror that had held Galen in a vise grip was something he never wanted to feel again in his life.
Rose scared him to death. He didn’t know how to deal with knowing that his wife was fearless. Absolutely fearless. “All I asked was that she stay home and look pretty. We talked about that,” he muttered, checking the gaping wound over his eyebrow that one of Wolf’s goons had opened up. “Just once I wanted not to be worried sick.”
“You’ll survive it,” Rose said, coming into the bathroom and setting a bowl of ice beside him, and a tube of antibiotic ointment. “You can spend the rest of your life griping at me for everything. Won’t bother me in the least.” She gave him a saucy smile. “I’m going home now. Jace says he’s on standby to run your cranky, unappreciative self to the E.R. Good night.”
She left again, and Galen closed his eyes.
He’d married a warrior. And she was going to drive him mad.
* * *
“Y
OU
SHOULD
BE
HAPPY
Rose is so brave,” Ash said as they gathered upstairs for the family meeting at about two in the morning. He’d been to the E.R. for a professional wrap of his ribs. His family could have done it, but they were being pains, saying that just for once, he needed to respect the opinions of others in the medical community. He knew they were worried about his headache, so he finally bent and let Jace haul him in for “proper” medical tests, evaluation and treatment.
But now he faced his family, fully prepared to let his temper fly. “I’m
not
happy she’s so brave. I didn’t marry Rose to be my bodyguard. You can’t seem to get it through your skulls that she is my wife. She is a mother. I think I died a little when she came through that cave door.” He glared at Sloan, Dante, Falcon and Tighe, who looked sympathetic. Then he passed a glare over Jace and Ash, who shrugged.
“If it wasn’t for Rose, you’d still be in the hole, dude,” Jace said.
“I’d rather be in the hole!” Galen went over to the whiskey and poured himself a stiff shot. He downed it, took a deep breath. “Look, try to visualize this. You’re tied up and gagged. You’re not sure you’re ever going to see your family again. Suddenly, your petite wife, who’s still breast-feeding your babies, walks through the door and shoots your uncle in the...” He glanced around the room wildly.
“Backside?” Sloan said helpfully.
“Keister?” Falcon said.