Page 4 of The Cowboy's Wild Side

“Yeah, okay, boss. I’ll go up and Bruce can stay here.”

“Why are you still on the phone? Get your ass up there.”

“I’m on my—”

“Where do I find these fucking geniuses,” Gino snarled, ending the call before his henchman could finish.

Gino didn’t believe in keeping his appointments on his computer or phone. He carried an old-fashioned, leather bound diary. It was small enough to fit inside his jacket or jeans pocket, he carried it wherever he went, and made entries in a code only he could understand.

Lifting it out, he scanned the next forty-eight hours. Two items jumped out at him. A date with a lingerie supermodelaptly named Lacy Gardner that evening, and more importantly, he was expected at a formal dinner later in the week hosted by Joan and Jimmy Harper, Karen’s parents.

He did have one consolation.

They were still on a cruise and wouldn’t be flying back from New York for a couple of days. It wasn’t much time—but it was enough to nab Karen before she could spill the beans.

Thinking back to the evening before, he still couldn’t believe it had happened. Karen rarely visited the training stable, and when she did she was always with her father. The staff had left except for Robbie, one of his two barn managers. He was there during the day, while another man named Pedro stayed overnight.

Gino had been spending a few minutes with Ben, one of his favorite stallions, when he’d seen Pedro arrive and Robbie walk out to the parking lot to meet him, leaving the barn completely empty. He always put his phone on vibrate when he was with one of his prized horses, and when he felt it buzz against his chest he quickly lifted it out. The caller was Sonny, and he only contacted Gino in emergencies.

Sonny was the man he referred to as his turf accountant. In actual fact, outside of Gino’s small group of bookies, he was the only person who knew about Gino’s illegal betting business, and was responsible for laundering the ill-gotten gains.

“Sonny, what’s wrong?”

“It’s Doggie. He says he can’t make his drop tonight. He claims he’s deathly sick. I told him I’d go by his house and pick it up and he blew me off.”

“What was his excuse?”

“He rambled on about not being able to explain me to his wife.”

“This doesn’t sound right,” Gino grunted.

“That’s what I thought, and he must have had a huge weekend.”

“Damn right! When those long shots won races five and eight a lot of people lost a lot of money.”

“Funny how the favorites were both pipped at the post,” Sonny remarked with a chuckle.

“Hilarious,” Gino grunted sarcastically, “but getting back to Doggie. We can’t let him get away with this shit. Tell him I don’t give a fuck if he’s sick. He’s to bring in the money or I’ll send two boys out to collect it, and whether his wife is there or not, it won’t be pretty.”

“Will do, Gino.”

Ending the call, Gino had been sliding the phone back into his pocket when Ben had whinnied. It was something the horse only did if he heard someone walking down the barn aisle.

His heart skipping, Gino had hurried to the door and poked his head out. To his horror he’d seen Karen Harper hurrying to the nearest exit. Darting from the stall he’d called her name, but she either hadn’t heard him or pretended not to.

He’d guessed it was the latter and bolted after her. When he’d run into the parking lot he’d spotted her sprinting to her car. As she’d climbed in and sped off, he’d raced to his Jaguar and followed her, but he’d been held up by a series of red lights. By the time he’d caught up she’d reached her condominium building and was disappearing into the underground parking garage.

The memory sent a surge of anger rippling through his body, but as he let out an impatient, frustrated sigh his phone rang. Snatching it up, he was relieved to see it was Harry.

“What’s going on?” he demanded. “Do you have her?”

“Boss, I just broke into her unit. Her car’s still in the parking garage, but she’s gone.”

CHAPTER FOUR

Over coffee and muffins, Karen listened intently as Helen described her new country life and explained why she was so much happier. When she described riding up Smoky Hill in the fog, and how she’d seen the huge block of snow fall from a mountain peak, Karen was captivated.

“I’d love to witness something like that, but don’t you miss the shopping and restaurants?”

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