Desert Ice Daddy by Marton, Dana (pocket ebook reader .TXT) 📕

the day before. “He hasn’t been answering his cell phone. What if he went off earlier? Before the search began?”

“With Christopher?”

She nodded, sick to her stomach from the thought. “Christopher would go with him. Jake is a trainer. He’d been giving Christopher riding lessons.” That thought alone made her break out in a cold sweat.

“Flint said he was new to the ranch.”

“He came a month before I did.” She clenched her teeth, guilt nearly killing her. What kind of mother was she to trust her son to a kidnapper? She should have known, should have paid more attention. Jake had been aloof, but she’d thought only because he was still new and hadn’t adjusted to the rhythm of the ranch yet. He’d been patient with Christopher, doing whatever the little boy’s fancy was, whatever made him happy.

Every time she gave her trust, someone took advantage, it seemed. But not anymore. “I wonder if he was only kind to Christopher to lure him in.”

“It’s not your fault.” Akeem’s voice was steady and sure. “We can’t afford to waste energy on blame. What comes next will need one hundred percent from the both of us.”

He was right. She drew a deep breath. “You have the money?” She hadn’t been able to ask that inside with the cops listening.

They’d been grousing about having to call in the FBI if and when a ransom call did come in. Kidnapping was a federal offense. She’d been sweating bullets, worrying that they might have figured something was up.

“It’s in the back,” he said.

Of course. She breathed a little more easily, squelching her thoughts of unreasonable desperation that had come to her during the sleepless night. What if Akeem didn’t come? What if he couldn’t get all that money? What if he changed his mind about the money? What if? What if? What if?

But he was here.

She glanced toward the back, could only see the horse blanket that covered whatever was back there. She caught sight of a first-aid kit. For Christopher? She tried not to worry and just be grateful that Akeem had thought to bring it. She should have thought of something like that. But she hadn’t been able to think of anything beyond seeing Christopher today, the moment when she could wrap her arms around him.

She was shaky with nerves. Which was no good at all. They’d managed to get away from the house without arousing the cops’ suspicion, but the most difficult and dangerous part of their mission was still to come: handing over two million dollars to armed criminals and hoping, just hoping to God, that they kept their word.

“You have that kind of money lying around, doing nothing, you need a better accountant,” she said to make herself think about something else.

“Just had it freed up to buy some horses.”

She was so preoccupied still, that a few moments passed before his words registered. “Two million dollars’ worth?”

She knew he was doing well, but hadn’t realized just how well. It shouldn’t have surprised her. He was incredibly intelligent and as hardworking as any man she’d ever known. According to Flint, he could have accepted his grandfather’s millions and gone to Beharrain to live the lavish life of a true sheik. Instead, he had put his wide shoulders to the work and set his mind to building his own empire. Which he had.

“And worth every penny,” he was saying, that goofy look she knew so well coming over his face. Her brother did the same thing when talking about particularly fine animals.

“Who has horses like that?”

“A prince in Saudi Arabia. There’s an auction going on.”

Guilt assailed again, albeit from another direction. “And you’re missing it.”

He shrugged.

Of course, missing the auction was beside the point, since he was giving her the money he was supposed to use to bid, she realized. “I’ll pay you back.” She couldn’t even start to worry about how she was going to do that, but she would if it took her the rest of her life.

“It’s not necessary.” His gaze found hers, held it. “But since I know you’re not going to take no for an answer, I’ll just say, I have no doubt.”

“Good. Because I’m going to make it. I’m working on it.”

“We’ll all be coming to you begging to borrow, one day.”

If she weren’t so tense, she would have smiled at that. The Aggie Four—three now—didn’t go around begging. But she was putting herself through college on an academic scholarship, plus putting away every cent she could save, investing based on her newfound knowledge from her studies in finance and on recommendations from her brother. She was going to build an accounting firm that would be the pride of Texas.

Men weren’t the only ones with ambitions and the will to make them come true. She was never going to be poor again, and she was never going to be at the mercy of another man. Not even her own brother whom she dearly loved and who would have given her anything she asked.

But she wanted to be her own person at last.

Christopher would start school soon. He wasn’t going to be teased for Salvation Army clothes the way she’d been. He wasn’t going to be picked on because he couldn’t afford to take lunch. Someday he would go to college, a good one. And she wouldn’t take Flint’s money, not for that, not for anything else if she could help it. And she would pay Akeem back.

He was falling back as more and more pickups in front of them took various country roads to get to areas they were supposed to be searching today. Then he took the Route 109 turnoff, and they were on their way to Christopher.

Anticipation held her in a grip so tight she could hardly breathe. She startled when the phone rang. Akeem’s.

He flipped it open, listened. “Anything else?” Then, “Do me a favor, give Flint a call and let him know.”

“Christopher?” she asked breathlessly when he hung up. Did this have to