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“I don’t know.” Ty was hopping on one foot while trying to tug on his boots. “Tara didn’t give him any details. Damn, this is all I need. If she’s run away, I’ll wring her spoiled little neck.”
“So, Mr. Niles did manage to locate you.” Tara was smoldering when he walked through the front door. She was gowned in a filmy black negligee and a matching robe with thick ruffles forming the collar and running down the front to the hem. “If you ever do this to me again, I’ll leave you,” she threatened, her voice trembling.
“What’s this story you told him about Cat?” Ty demanded. “What’s happened to her?”
“I don’t know. The school called right after you left to say she was missing. They don’t know for how long.” Her answer came back angry.
“Did she run away or what?” At the moment he was more concerned about his sister than he was about his wife’s outrage.
“That’s the way it looks, but they aren’t sure. They think a couple of her girlfriends covered up for her this morning,” Tara explained tersely.
“My God, has she been gone that long?” His frown was deeper and angrier as Ty crossed to the telephone and picked it up, dialing a number. “Who is this?” he demanded when a voice answered. “Jobe, I want you to roust Repp Taylor out of his bunk and get him up to The Homestead now! And if he isn’t there, I want you to get up here on the double!”
“You surely don’t think—” Tara began.
“I wouldn’t put anything past her,” Ty cut in and clicked the phone to clear the line, then dialed another set of numbers.
“Are you calling the police?”
“No. She might have gone to the hospital to see Dad.” He waited impatiently for someone to answer. The hospital operator came on the line and switched him to the appropriate nurses’ station. The response to his initial question brought a flurry of more queries. When he was satisfied nothing more could be learned, he hung up. “Cat was there the latter part of the afternoon.” The information was absently passed on to Tara, his thoughts tracking along another course. “She left shortly after the change of shifts. As far as anyone remembers, no one was with her and she said nothing about returning later.”
The muted thump of booted footsteps crossing the wooden floor of the long veranda filtered into the house. As they registered with Ty, he ran a critical eye over Tara’s appearance.
“Go upstairs and change into something decent. I won’t have you walking around dressed like that in front of my men,” he stated tersely.
“I didn’t think you had even noticed what I was wearing.” And she had changed for his benefit, a spiteful attempt to show him what he’d missed when he’d stalked out of the house.
“That was the whole point, wasn’t it?” he taunted with no humor. Tara swung away, even that satisfaction lost to her as she crossed to the stairs. “When you come down, put some coffee on. It’s going to be a long night,” Ty called after her.
The order infuriated her more. He was treating her like she was some kind of servant. Maybe other ranch wives waited on their husbands like little slaves, but she was different. She had talents that were more valuable to him than anything these women around here could offer him, and she knew it. She wasn’t going to be reduced to the position of serving him coffee. When Tkra reached their suite of rooms, she stayed there.
After observing the anger in Tara’s carriage, Ty pivoted to face the front doors as one opened to admit two cowboys. Repp Taylor came forward, a puzzled look in his expression, with Jobe Garvey following
him into the living room, intently curious about this urgent late-night summons.
“Jobe said you wanted to see me right away” Repp said, gesturing to the older man behind him.
“I came along just in case you needed me,” Jobe added in quick explanation for his presence.
Ty didn’t waste time, his gaze drilling into Repp Taylor. “Where’s Cathleen?”
“Cat?” A stunned look flickered across his lean features. “Isn’t she at school?”
His reaction seemed genuine, Ty threw a question at Garvey, who was foreman of the crew Taylor worked in, but didn’t take his eyes from the maturing cowboy. “Where was Taylor today?”
“He was right here at headquarters, checking the remuda with the rest of us.” The stocky-built Garvey quirked an eyebrow, a furrow deepening in his forehead.
“What’s happened to Cat?” Repp demanded.
“The school has informed us that she’s missing,” Ty stated, continuing to watch for any sign that Repp knew more than he was telling. “It appears she has run away, and I thought you might. . . know something about it.”
“Of all the—” Repp turned his head aside, containing the rest of the comment with a visible effort. Then he slowly shook his downcast head, as if it were beyond his understanding. “I didn’t know anything about it. Since the plane crash, she’s talked about running away from school, but I swear I never thought she’d do it.”
“Why? Did she give a reason?”
There was a vague shrug. “She wants to stay on the ranch and she talked about getting a private tutor if you wouldn’t let her quit school altogether. Losing her mother and all... I guess it’s got her scared that something might happen to her father—or you. Ann she wants st obeome if it does.”
“That little idiot.” It was a muttered aside that Ty made, finally convinced the explanation was the extent of Repp’s knowledge. “She’s been to the hospital. Where she is, or where’s she planning to go after that, I don’t know.” dimness was in his voice. “What about her girlfriends? Do any of them know you?”
