Page 4 of Rawhide and Ransom

Caro sent Ashley a sideways look. “Are you thinking what I’m thinking?”

Ashley chuckled. “If you’re thinking we’re a lot closer to Miley’s size than Hawk is, then yes. You’re thinking what I’m thinking.”

“That’s okay. You don’t need to go to that kind of trouble,” Hawk said quickly. “I already told her I’ll take her shopping tomorrow.”

“Is that wise?” Caro looked concerned. “It might be better to keep her out of the public eye for now.” She cast a worried look at the sleeping teenager on the couch. “At least until we know what we’re up against.”

“She’s right.” Clint nodded sagely. “We don’t even know if we’re dealing with one criminal or many.”

“We?” Hawk glanced around the group in surprise. Though they were his friends, Hawk was accustomed to feeling like the odd man out. Not only was he nearly a decade older than the rest of them, he was the only member of their group who was still single. Not in a million years had he expected them to drop everything like this and make his problem their problem.

“Yes,we!” Johnny scowled at him. “You’re always there for us. We’re gonna be here for you.”

Hawk wasn’t sure he was ready to drag them any further into it. “You do realize I haven’t vetted her story yet?”

Johnny shrugged. “You have good instincts. What are they saying?”

Hawk glanced Miley’s way again. “They say she’s telling the truth.” Based on what he’d just finished reading online, it was possible he had a newly orphaned teenager on his hands. It was a gut-wrenching thought.

Johnny’s jaw tightened. “Then as far as I’m concerned, we have a missing single mom to hunt down. One who sounds like she may be in as much danger as her daughter is.”

Everyone nodded in agreement.

Caro moved toward the door. “Clint will drive me home so I can grab a couple of changes of clothing for her.”

Clint grinned and swung his fist through the air. “Yes, I will.” His voice was comically dry as he absorbed his marching orders, but the look he gave his wife was filled with indulgent pride.

“I can throw together some toiletries and other stuff for her,” Ashley offered.

“I already took care of that,” Hawk protested. “I may be a guy who lives alone, but I own soap.”

Ashley arched her eyebrows at him. “What about a stick of deodorant that doesn’t smell like men’s aftershave?”

Okay, he hadn’t thought about that. He held up his hands in surrender. “You may have a point.”

While his friends drove off to gather supplies for Miley, he moved across the living room to set her wallet on the end table next to her bottle of water. Then he dragged out his laptop. So much for his plans to spend the evening watching football and carving on a new saddle. Instead, he grabbed another cookie to munch on and resumed his online research into the Dakota family and Gilbert Farm. This was no time to kick back and relax. Johnny was right. They had a missing woman to find.

* * *

One hour earlier

I’mthe real Annalee Gilbert.

Annalee had no idea why some stranger out there was in possession of her daughter’s cell phone, much less answering it and telling everyone she was Miley’s mother.

But I intend to find out.Right after I figure out where I’m at.

And where the laundry truck she’d hitched a ride in was taking her.

She was still shaken by what had happened back at the hospital. The nurse’s insistence on calling her Jane Doe — even after Annalee had stated her name — had totally creeped her out. The name Jane Doe brought to mind a lifeless body in a morgue with a tag tied around her bare toe.

Ugh!She felt as wobbly as a newborn kitten and was wearing nothing but a hospital gown, but she wasn’t dead yet, no thanks to the hit-and-run driver who’d landed her in the hospital.

Pushing the soiled linens off her, she sat up while the truck continued rumbling down the highway. It wasn’t much of a getaway vehicle, but a recently revived coma patient leaving the hospital against doctor’s orders didn’t exactly have a lot of options at her disposal. According to her nurse, she’d been unconscious for the better part of three weeks following the collision. Unfortunately, the nurse hadn’t volunteered any other details. And for the life of her, Annalee couldn’t seem to remember them with any clarity on her own.

All she could remember was getting into her pickup truck at the farm, rolling down the window to wave at her daughter, and driving off toward…somewhere. She couldn’t remember where she’d gone or anything else that had happened between when she’d driven away from home and when she’d awakened at the hospital. She’d begged to call her daughter, and the nurse had granted her wish, only to have that weirdo pretending to be her answer the phone. Afterward, the nurse had offered to sedate Annalee to “take the edge off,” propelling Annalee to make a run for it the moment she left the room.

And here I am, wherever here is.

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