Colorado Abduction - By Cassie Miles & Marie Ferrarella Page 0,27
the forest rangers set to stop a wider conflagration.
Her lips parted. She drew his tongue into her mouth. Her senses went wild. Every cell in her body responded to him.
When he separated from her, she was breathing in gasps. She hadn’t cooled down. In fact, the opposite. But this fire made her stronger, braver, better. She felt like she could take on the world. One creepy ex-boyfriend like Sam Logan was no problem.
She turned the key in the ignition and drove to the gate outside the Circle M. Between sturdy gateposts, a double-wide gate—about five feet tall with horizontal white slats—was latched and locked with a chain. A dusty-looking cowboy ambled toward them, rifle in hand.
Carolyn parked at the side of the road, hopped down from the truck and strode toward him. “Tell Sam Logan that Carolyn Carlisle has come calling.”
“Don’t care,” he said defiantly. “Nobody gets in. No trespassing.”
“Use your cell phone.” She wasn’t about to let some half-baked guard stand in her way. “Tell Logan I’m here.”
Burke had gotten out of the truck and stood behind her. The cowboy glanced toward him, then back to her. “I’ll call.”
She and Burke stepped back. His kiss still burned on her lips, and she was incredibly attuned to his presence. If they’d been alone, she would have been all over this tall, handsome fed, but that wasn’t an option. She was here to gather information from the SOF, to find Nicole.
She leaned against the hood of the truck and watched as the cowboy returned to his guard position and took out his cell phone. Burke stood beside her.
“Logan will be out here in a minute,” she said. “You were right about his ego. He won’t be able to resist bragging about how he’s the big shot leader of a gang of crazies.”
“After he shows, what’s your plan?”
“I’ll get him to invite us in.”
Though she kept her focus on logic, she couldn’t think of a single rational reason why Logan should open his doors to her. Her method of persuasion had to be based on emotion. She’d mention their past relationship. “Have you ever been in love, Burke?”
“Have you?”
“You’re doing that negotiator thing,” she said. “Answering my question with a question of your own.”
“Yes, I’ve been in love. It changed my life.” Through his sunglasses, he looked at her. “And you?”
“Not with Logan. When we were together, it seemed like the right time to get married and settle down on the ranch. But I didn’t love him.”
“How did he feel about you?”
“It might have been love.” She’d had years to analyze this failed relationship. “Or he might have been in love with the idea of getting a piece of Carlisle Ranch. My father liked him. If we’d married, Logan would be a rich man today.”
“Maybe,” Burke said, “he was using you.”
A rueful awareness seeped into her thoughts. Years ago, when she broke up with Logan, he’d seemed shattered. He’d tried everything to win her back. “You think he was only after my money?”
“It fits the profile for a cult leader—someone who’s manipulative, egotistical and uncaring about the needs of others. With SOF as his power base, Logan has found a way to use these people and, apparently, to provide himself with an income.”
“All these years,” she said. “I’ve felt guilty for rejecting him.”
“Which is how he wanted you to feel.”
The road on the opposite side of the gate led to a barn. A stand of trees blocked the view of the house and the other outbuildings. Logan rode toward them on that road. A majestic sight on his pure white horse. His dark brown leather vest looked like a doublet. He was bareheaded, and his long blond hair flowed past his shoulders and glistened in the sunlight.
At the gate, he reined his horse and looked down at her. In the six years since she’d seen him, she’d forgotten how truly good-looking he was. Not as tall as Burke, but broad-shouldered and lean. His features were as picture-perfect as a movie star’s. No wonder she’d fallen for him.
Carolyn ambled toward the gate. She climbed the slats to the top rung, making her nearly as tall as Logan on horseback. She looked directly into his baby blue eyes. “Well? Aren’t you going to invite me inside?”
“You look good, Carolyn. City life agrees with you.”
Instead of giving him the satisfaction of telling him that he was still as gorgeous as ever, she patted his horse’s neck. “This is a fine-looking stallion.”