Page 125 of The Cowboy’s Intriguing Love

She reached for the back pocket of her jeans, hoping …

He laughed. “You really think I’d leave your phone in there? It’s gone, Shay. You have no way to contact him. No way to contact anyone. It’s just you and me now.”

She stopped walking, and he raised the gun higher. “Go! We need to get there before dark.”

She stared at him. She didn’t feel brave so much as stubborn. If she kept going, she was walking to her death, she just knew it.

“Go!” he screamed.

When she still didn’t move, he stepped closer, and the sneer on his face made her whimper in fear. The moment the sound left her lips, he smiled and grabbed for her.

“That’s right, Shay. You scream. No one can hear you out here.”

All her breath caught in her chest when he closed his arms around her and tried to kiss her. She ducked her head away from him and couldn’t hold in a scream.

“Yeah, baby!” He grasped her ass with one hand and ground his erection into her stomach. “Scream for me.”

She was shaking all over, but one solid thought formed in the panic inside her head – he wanted her scared. He got off on it. She had to find a way to be brave – to make him think that she wasn’t afraid.

She forced herself to go limp, even though she wanted to throw up when he held her hips and ground against her.

When he noticed her reaction, he stepped back. “You know what I’m going to do to you?”

She nodded.

“Then fucking scream!” Spittle flew from his lips as he yelled.

His hand flew through the air, and his open palm knocked her sideways when it hit her face. She staggered away as a fresh wave of pain exploded in her head.

She sucked in a ragged breath but refused to make any sound.

“Fuck!” He glared at her. “I knew I should have waited until you had the kids. I was in too much of a hurry. You’d scream for me if I had them here.” He smiled, and Shayna could see the crazy in his eyes when he said, “Maybe I’ll go get them after all. They’ll scream while they watch me fuck you. And I know you will when you watch me …”

He didn’t finish. Shayna couldn’t keep in a whimper of terror at what he might do to little Mateo and Maya.

“That’s more like it, baby.” He grabbed at his crotch and adjusted his pants. “You keep thinking about it while we walk. Get good and scared and think about those little faces.”

She turned and hurried up the path away from him. She’d rather march herself to her death than have him go back down the mountain looking for the kids.

As they trudged on in silence, she was beginning to think that it was hopeless. Ty would never find her up here. She’d thought that maybe her phone would help – maybe Amelia would be able to find her that way – Shayna had no clue how that worked, but she knew it happened in movies. This was no movie, though. Her phone couldn’t help her. She stopped when the trail split in two. Even if Ty made it this far, how would he know which way they’d gone?

She reached into her pocket. All she had was a Kleenex. She dabbed her eyes with it before turning back to Carey. “Which way?”

He pointed to the right. She bent down as if trying to catch her breath. He came alongside her, and when he prodded her to start moving again, she dropped the tissue.

“No, no!” Carey picked it up and waved it in front of her. “Don’t litter in the mountains, Shay. Don’t you know the slogan? If you pack it in, you pack it out.”

Her blood ran cold when he laughed, and she had to wonder if that meant that he didn’t plan to pack her back out again.

Her hand came up to her throat when it hit her that she was more than likely going to die out here. Ty … Tears started to run down her cheeks again. Ty would be so sad. She sniffed. He’d be better off if he’d never met her. She couldn’t regret it, though. She wouldn’t take back the short time they’d had together.

She remembered the first time she’d seen him at the airport in Salt Lake. She’d felt like the luckiest girl in the world. Her fingers curled around the beehive charm on her necklace.

She glanced over at Carey; he was walking beside her now, seeming less worried that she might try to make a run for it – with good reason. There was nowhere for her to go, the trees were thick on either side of the trail; she wouldn’t get far. And there was no one to hear her shout. They were completely alone up here.

She tugged on the charm and felt a little piece of her heart break along with the chain when it snapped. She lowered her hand, hoping that he wouldn’t notice what she was doing. She let the chain and the charm fall to the ground. It was probably pointless. If Ty somehow managed to track them this far, he probably wouldn’t see it – and even if he did, it might be too late.

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