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“Yeah.”
“What a coincidence, I did too.”
A wave of panic rolled through me. My heart sputtered, and my mouth went dry. I didn’t know the odds of the first person I’d meet in Texas being from the same town as Aubrey—my former college roommate—but they had to be astronomical.
I’m so screwed.
“Small world,” I said, forcing a smile.
“Sure is.”
“Do you still live there?”
Please say no. Please say no.
“No. A few years back, I bought a ranch a little farther north…just inside the Dallas County line.”
Relief chased my fears away. He’d unwittingly given me an opening. I jumped all over it, like a kid on a trampoline.
“How big is your ranch?”
“A hair over a hundred and fifty acres.”
“That’s a lot of land.” Or so I hoped. My parent’s summer house in the Hamptons sat on three acres. The mansion and the grounds always seemed enormous to me, but I was in Texas, and there was a whole lot of open land here. “What do you do with a hundred and fifty acres?”
“Raise cattle…Angus cattle. I’ve got about seventy head.”
“Oh, wow. I’ve never been to a cattle ranch before. What’s it like?” I asked, determined to keep the topic of conversation on him instead of me.
“Once we get back to civilization, and get you checked out at the hospital, I’d be happy to give you a tour before I drive you home.”
“You have another truck?”
He chuckled. “Darlin’, I’ve got two more trucks, and half-a-dozen cars.”
“Why so many?”
“In my line of work, it’s not wise to use the same vehicle twice.”
Confusion crowded my brain.
“I thought you were a rancher.”
“I am.” He nodded. “But I’m also a bounty hunter.”
Bounty hunter. Bounty hunter.The words thundered through my brain.
My stomach pitched as a whole new wave of panic crawled up my body, turning every muscle to stone. I wasn’t stupid or naïve. I knew my parents had started looking for me the second they discovered me missing. Not because they were concerned about my physical or mental well-being, but because they were at risk of losing billions of dollars.
My stomach continued tumbling, like a barrel over Niagara Falls, and saliva pooled in my mouth.
I was going to be sick.
“Put me down! Put me down!” I demanded, bucking and squirming in the man’s arms.
“What’s wrong?” he barked, easing me onto my feet.
“I-I’m gonna throw up,” I wailed, shoving my cell phone in his hand.
