Though my heart raced and my thoughts ran wild, I managed to provide a convincing smile. “Yes, I’m sure. I may be a coward, but I can’t keep you from helping other people. Now go. The sooner you leave, the faster you’ll get to come back.”
Cowboy slid off the bed and yanked on his jeans. He grabbed his shirt and hat and started to walk away, but then turned and came back. He clamped one brawny arm around my waist and lifted me high enough so that his mouth secured itself over mine. After a long, searing kiss, he pulled back and gave me a reassuring smile. “Well, I think you’re brave. Especially since, if you’d turned me down one more time yesterday, I was planning to wring your pretty little neck.” He winked at me, kissed the tip of my nose, and headed for the door. “When I get back, we’ll talk about your sleeping disorder.”
I hopped out of bed and raced into the living room, not bothering to turn on any lights. Didn’t matter, though. The glow from the computer screen in the other room gave off enough light to see Cowboy tearing off the top sheet of the notepad on my desk.
“I don’t have a sleeping disorder.”
He glared at me. “Darlin’, I’d love nothing more than to stand here and argue with you, but I have to go. We’ll argue when I get back. That way we can make up,” he said, shrugging his brows. Cowboy pecked me on the cheek and held up the piece of paper with Ned Swanson’s phone number written on it. “Thanks for this. I’ll call him on the way to the fire.” Cowboy headed for the door and called out, “I’ll be back soon. Lock the door behind me.”
The moment he walked out, I shut the front door behind him and flipped the deadbolt to the lock position. I walked toward the couch to grab the remote, planning to watch some TV until he returned.
But as I reached for it, the floor creaked behind me and fireworks exploded behind my eyes.
Chapter Eighteen
My eyes flickered open.
I blinked a few times to clear my blurry vision, until I finally made out a faint glow of light. My head pounded, but when I tried to reach up and touch it, I realized I couldn’t. My arms seemed somehow stuck behind my back. At first I thought I was paralyzed, but as I wriggled around, I felt the scratchy rope binding me twist painfully tighter.
Someone tied me up?
That knowledge sent a surge of fear running through me. I glanced around, searching for my captor, but all I could determine was that I was lying in a musty, hay-filled stall of an old, dilapidated barn, and there was no one in sight. As far as I could tell, I was completely alone.
That was, until someone banged loudly on something and a man’s gruff, stale voice rang out. “Fucking idiot.”
It sounded a little familiar, but I couldn’t place where I’d heard it before.
Though the loud banging persisted, I couldn’t see the man. Only heard him swear occasionally under his breath. Quietly, I tried to maneuver into a sitting position, but couldn’t because my feet were bound, as well. Since I couldn’t see my captor, I hoped like hell he couldn’t see me—
Oh my God! I did recognize that voice. Dan, the not-exactly-homeless bum? But…why? What did he want with me?
Dread filled me, and my adrenaline kicked into high gear. Panicking, I rocked back and forth to gain enough momentum to allow me to sit up. But as I did, I knocked something over behind me in the process. The clanging noise echoed through the barn.
“Who’s there?” Dan called out.
Who’s there? Was he as deaf as he was blind? Or had he only pretended to be blind all along?