Rocky Mountain Dreams & Family on the Range by Danica Favorite (summer beach reads txt) 📕

She might as well admit the only one who could help her now was on his way to the ports. Her best recourse was to follow him. Josie couldn’t go with her, though. Maybe waiting at the hotel might prove a better solution.

Yes.

She’d do that.

Feeling more secure in her decision, she smiled at Josie and hummed a little ditty she’d learned as a child. Josie picked it up and together they walked to where she knew a streetcar passed. The money she’d brought from home helped immensely. She might even have enough to bring both herself and Josie back to the ranch...although that presented a new set of problems. Namely, kidnapping charges.

Right now she could defend her actions as a rescue. Possibly. She frowned. Things were altogether confusing.

“Excuse me, ma’am?” An automobile pulled up beside them. A man leaned out the passenger door. His scruffy features sent a frisson of apprehension through her, prickling the skin of her palms.

She stopped reluctantly, placing Josie behind her. A fat droplet of rain splashed against the shiny hood. “Yes?”

“Thought you might need a lift. You and that young’un.”

“No, thank you, we’re quite fine.”

“Well, now, we weren’t asking.”

The flurries in her stomach took flight and Mary pivoted forward, causing Josie to emit a squeak as she strode away from the vehicle. The bushes beside her seemed too thick to dodge across and the next house sported a forbidding wrought iron fence.

From behind, a hand clamped on her arm and spun her around, jerking her toward the car. “You’ll be coming with us, Miss Mary.”

“Let the girl go,” she gasped, her arm aching beneath the force of the man’s grip.

“Nah, we’ll be taking her, too. Langdon has plans, and I’m not fool enough to interrupt them.”

The driver opened the back door, and her captor shoved her in. Josie came next, Mary’s body breaking her momentum and cushioning her against the side of the vehicle. She hugged the girl close, pulling her onto her lap. Josie buried her face in Mary’s shoulder, and she felt the trembles rippling through her.

Fright filled her, too. She tightened her hold on Josie.

The scruffy man hopped into the front of the vehicle. “Let’s go,” he told the driver. “Looks like it’s about to rain, and I don’t fancy getting wet.”

The ride took forever, a confusing maze of twists and turns. She kept eyeing the latch on the door, but the way the driver sped through the streets disabused her of the notion to jump out. She’d never forgive herself if Josie was hurt.

But they had to get away somehow.

“Excuse me,” she shouted above the noise of the engine and whip of the wind. This type of automobile had a roof that only covered the backseat. She hoped it rained on her captors. Served them right.

The men in front ignored her. Worrying her bottom lip, she peeked out her side. Vehicles swerved around her, proving a jump out that side would be foolish. She shifted and glanced toward the passenger side. The sidewalk had disappeared when they’d left the residential neighborhood.

The air felt thicker, laden with the odors of water and fish. Would anyone at the docks help her? Knowing the rough elements as she did, possibly. Many men working in these conditions were honest and didn’t care to see a child come to harm. Then again, many drank too much and had allowed their morality to emulate the tide, coming and going as it pleased.

The driver finally swerved to a stop on a street hugged by ramshackle warehouses. The man in the passenger seat jumped out to open their door. “Slowly now,” he warned. “I’ve no patience for uppity women.”

Despite the fear curdling her stomach, she stifled a snort and the tart reply she wished to give him. Josie refused to move off her lap, so she scooted across to the passenger door. “Tell the girl to get down,” the man ordered.

“I shall hold her,” she said, daring to meet his eyes.

He shrugged, a leer on his lips. “Your choice. I’m just the deliveryman.”

As she moved over, the driver made an odd sound. She whipped him a glance. He’d removed his cap and she had to swallow her surprise. His blue eyes were familiar. The bowler-hat man from the alley? He met her look and winked so quickly she almost missed it. “All will be well, miss,” he said with his familiar brogue. “Follow directions, okay?”

She nodded and continued out of the automobile, trying to keep her balance on the broken sidewalk. Josie clung to her but she managed to hold her steady enough. Bowler-hat man pulled the automobile away, and she was left with the scruffy man.

Her first instinct prompted her to run, even with Josie in her arms. Her captor must have seen the impulse on her face because he grabbed her arm and propelled her toward a large, nondescript building. The road steeply declined toward the Willamette, whose muddy waters lapped lazily against the docks. Dockworkers rushed from boat to boat, making her dizzy.

Or maybe it was panic at this man’s manhandling. He stopped at a building only feet from the river and thrust her through a narrow doorway. It took several seconds for her eyes to adjust. The sound of the port dulled in this place, replaced with a muffled stillness that swathed the shadows. No movement. If she could reach her pocket, then things would be solved quite neatly. She’d have to put Josie down, though, and make her move quickly.

“Come on,” the man growled behind her. His grip dug into her arm as he plowed ahead. If she was going to run, she must do so now. She yanked her arm back, causing the man to let out a startled oath. “What’re you playing at? Let’s get moving.”

“We are not going with you.” She yanked again, and he was so shocked by her words that her arm slid from his fingertips, albeit painfully.

“I’ll not be having any of this,” he snarled. He