Guarding the Mountain Man’s Secret (Brothers of Sapphire Ranch #7)

Chapter 14

CHAPTER 14

T he next day, Miles stood near the crackling fire, the warmth from the flames doing little to chase away the chill of unease that had settled over him with this conversation. His brothers and Eric sat or stood in the chairs around the hearth, their faces grim as they discussed their next steps.

The close quarters of the cabin and bunkhouse were wearing on everyone, and they needed to find and eliminate the threat so Eric's and Jude's families could return safely to their own homes.

And so the work on Jonah’s cabin could continue. No one could miss how eager Jonah and Patsy were for their home to be finished so their wedding could take place. They’d hoped for a Christmas ceremony. Since that holiday was just over a week away, it would likely be closer to New Year’s before they could be married and move into their new home.

Miles couldn’t help a glance over at the kitchen, where Clara worked with Patsy and Jess, cooking for the survey camp and all the hungry bellies here.

"Do we think it's a stranger trying to steal from us? Or someone from Mick's operation?" Jude leaned forward, arms braced on his knees.

Jonah frowned. "If anyone’s out there now, we should find their tracks in the snow."

"We need to search the area again." Jericho’s tone held its usual decisiveness. "Two men stay here to protect the house. The rest of us will ride out and scour every inch of this land until we find whoever is behind this."

A sound plan. Gil would likely want to stay here with Jess, and?—

The front door opened, letting in a gust of cold air ahead of Naomi. She’d been working in the bunkhouse. She closed the door and scanned the room.

Their conversation paused at the worry in Naomi’s expression. Her gaze landed on her husband, Eric. "Have you seen Anna?” She flicked a look at the rest of them. “I was putting Mary Ellen down for a nap and sent Anna here to fetch a basket of sewing a quarter hour ago. She hasn't returned."

Eric rose. "She hasn't come in here.” He looked around the room. “Right?”

"I haven't seen her." A knot of worry tightened in Miles’s gut as the other men also confirmed they hadn't seen the little girl. The bunkhouse was only steps away from this cabin. Where could she have gone?

Naomi's brow furrowed. "She should have been back at least ten minutes ago." Her voice rose with worry.

In an instant, everyone was on their feet, all the women coming from the cookstove except Clara, who stirred the contents of a pot, but watched the group with concern in her gaze.

"We'll find her." Eric wrapped an arm around his wife. "She can't have gone far."

Once outside, they all fanned in different directions. Miles headed for the barn at a run. They’d trekked this route so much, the trail had been trod down much more than anywhere else.

He pushed open the heavy barn door. "Anna? Are you in here?" His voice echoed in the quiet space, but no cheerful, childish voice called back.

Sean followed him in, and they checked every stall, then the hayloft.

No sign of her.

Dread twisted tighter as he and Sean left the barn, looked in the corrals, then crossed to the bunkhouse. Eric and Naomi had just come out of the door.

Naomi’s eyes rimmed red, and Eric’s hair had splayed from the frantic raking of his fingers.

"Any sign of her?" Eric’s voice sounded strained.

"Nothing in the barn or corrals." He glanced around the edges of the clearing, where the others were searching. "You checked the bunkhouse?"

"She’s not there." Naomi’s words choked. “Only Mary Ellen, who’s still sleeping.”

Eric frowned as he stared into the distance. “We know she left the bunkhouse and never made it to the cabin. I already looked in the outhouse.” He glanced at the ground around them. “Too bad there’s so many tracks here.”

As Eric spoke the words, something odd snagged Miles’s gaze. Footprints. Toward the side of the bunkhouse.

He stepped closer to better see the tracks. They were blurred, like someone had dragged their feet.

Eric crouched beside him. “Whose are these?”

Miles pointed “They look like a man's boots, and the toes dug deep into the snow. Like he was carrying something heavy.” He looked over at Eric and Naomi, who’d lowered beside her husband. “Do you know who might have walked from the woods to the door, then back to the trees?”

“Are you sure he started from the forest?” She glanced at Eric. “One of the men might have gone out there this morning.” To relieve themselves, no doubt. An easier trek than all the way up to the outhouse beyond the main cabin.

Miles turned back to the prints to make sure he’d seen right. “Look how the trail back to the woods lands on top of the first prints to the bunkhouse door.”

The weight of the discovery pressed hard on his chest. Was it possible?

Eric surged to his feet and bolted toward the trees.

“Wait. Eric.” Miles caught his arm. “We need to tell Jericho.” If the stranger lurking around had taken Anna, they needed to be careful how they went after her.

But Eric shrugged away and disappeared into the shadow of the woods.

Miles whirled back to Naomi and motioned up the hill where the others were searching. “Go tell Jericho. Quick.”

She scrambled that direction, and Miles followed Eric. He couldn’t let his friend go alone. Especially if the scoundrel they chased had kidnapped such an innocent young girl.

C lara stirred the hearty stew, the aroma of herbs and vegetables wafting through the cozy cabin.

The smells made her want to vomit.

Outside, frantic shouts echoed as the others searched for little Anna. Even Uncle Hiram had gone out to help. Her pretense for staying inside was that she couldn’t leave the food. Not that anyone had stopped to ask.

Not when a seven-year-old girl was missing.

Could Anna really be lost?

This was the distraction Holloway had promised. Her chance to search Dinah and Jericho's room.

She’d expected another fire, maybe gunshots. Something that would get the men running, the women stepping outside to see.

She hadn’t expected this.

She set the wooden spoon aside with trembling hands. How could Holloway stoop to snatching an innocent child? Bile rose in her throat at the thought of Anna’s cherubic smile, then those beautiful eyes wide as she faced whatever Holloway had done with her.

Protect her, Lord. Comfort her.

She'd hoped there was some shred of decency in the man, that she could reason with him. But using an innocent girl to manipulate Clara? It made her insides churn. Even if he returned the child unharmed, the terror she must be feeling out there alone in the wilderness...

Clara would have to play along, make him believe she was cooperating in his scheme to get the deed.

An idea occurred to her.

She could forge the deed, buy herself time and get Holloway to move on. But first, she needed to find the real document.

The front door was securely shut, the place empty except for her.

She slipped into Dinah and Jericho's empty bed chamber, pausing just long enough to take in the furniture. There were a few likely hiding spots—the dressing table, the two chests of drawers, and the trunk at the foot of the bed. After a glance at the door, she approached the dressing table first, with its delicate curves and intricate carvings. Tugging open the first drawer, she wondered… Had Miles made this? It was a work of art, and from what she’d seen, he was more than capable.

A lump tightened her throat as she searched that drawer, then the next. Ribbons, hairpins, and small trinkets greeted her, but no deed.

She moved on to the first of the two chests of drawers standing side by side. The clothing in two of the drawers appeared to belong to Dinah, and the rest held linens and cloth. No paper at all.

The other chest held Jericho’s clothes, and she moved as quickly as she could, listening for the crinkle of paper.

With each passing moment, the weight of her deception grew heavier on her shoulders. She was betraying the trust of the Coulters, the very people who’d done so much for her and Uncle Hiram. The people she’d come to care for deeply. Yet, the alternative—allowing Holloway to carry out his awful plan unchecked—was unthinkable.

The heavy trunk lid rose with a creak that echoed throughout the room. She rifled through quilts and other fabrics.

Then her fingers tapped wood. She lifted the cloth to see a small wooden box. Could this be it?

With shaking hands, she lifted it out and opened it, revealing a stack of papers of various sizes. She combed through them, her eyes scanning each one until the words at the top of a paper snagged her gaze. Homestead Deed.

Her heart thundered so fast that she could barely breathe.

She pulled the deed from the box, confirmed she’d read the title correctly, then replaced everything else. Did the quilts look undisturbed? As much as she could tell.

She closed the lid and scanned the room once more to make sure nothing was out of place, then hurried back to the main room.

All remained quiet here, save the crackling of the fire in the hearth, the quiet bubble of the stew in the pot on the cookstove, and the frantic shouts for Anna drifting in from outside.

She had to help in the search. Maybe if Holloway was watching from nearby, he would release Anna once he saw Clara come out of the house.

She slipped into the chamber she shared with Uncle Hiram and knelt beside her bag. Opening the folded paper, she studied the elegant scrawl that filled both sides of the page. She could copy this well enough. The style wasn’t unusual. She’d have to find similar paper. High quality, with no hint of a manufacturer’s mark pressed into it. Could she make new paper look aged like this? Maybe.

She’d have to try. Holloway wouldn’t know the exact condition of this document, so it wouldn’t have to be identical.

Was it possible to copy this deed exactly, but make a small change Holloway wouldn’t notice, yet a claims office would? Perhaps she could change the spelling of the claims office. Or maybe the name of the register who’d signed the deed. Surely, she could find something that would work.

For now, she tucked the paper down under her folded skirts, then scurried back to the main room and the stove. She stirred the soup and moved the pot to a cooler surface. The aromas didn’t make her quite as ill now. She had a plan. One that would keep both the Coulters and their property safe—and her uncle—if all went right.

She strode toward the door, grabbing her coat and gloves on her way out.

The crisp mountain air filled her lungs as she stepped onto the stoop. Shouts of Anna's name echoed through the clearing, each one more desperate than the last.

Most seemed to come from down the hill, in the trees past the barn and bunkhouse. That made sense, for Anna and her family had been staying in the bunkhouse. Holloway had likely snatched her nearby.

Anger burned hotter inside her. He couldn’t win this battle, and she wouldn’t let him hurt this family again just to teach her a lesson.

She hurried in that direction, going wide around the barn and corrals. Should she check the barn and bunkhouse once more? Just in case? Something in her chest nudged her toward them.

She veered left to the barn door, slipping inside. The dim light made it hard to see. And surely the others had searched here already. But she did a quick scan of each stall and climbed the ladder to the hayloft, just in case.

No one.

She plunged back into the cold wind and jogged around to the bunkhouse. The barn and bunkhouse shared a wall, and the door to the latter was positioned at the side.

She pushed open the door and stepped in, her cheeks relieved to be out of the wind once more. A fire crackled in the hearth, and as she scanned the beds, her gaze stumbled on a sleeping child.

Mary Ellen.

Not Anna.

The tiny moment of hope deflated. The two-year-old must be taking her morning nap, unaware of all the chaos among the people she loved.

Clara tiptoed along the rows of bunks, checking beneath each and on every mattress tick. Just in case. This room was dim, the cloudy day outside letting in little sunlight through the single window. And the fire at the other end of the room didn’t add much brightness.

As she reached the last set of bunks, she nearly missed the wide blue eyes staring at her from the face of a terrified little girl.