Julian shook his head. “I’m sorry, Mia. I know it must feel as if your world has been turned upside down, but I promise you, wewillfind him. Will you need help with your employer? DPD will be happy to give them whatever theyneed.”
“I’m sure it will be fine. I’ve got some vacation days coming.” She hadn’t planned on using them likethis.
“Let me call the Cimarron first and see what they have to say before we start making plans.” Marc stepped out of theroom.
Weighted down by a sense of overwhelm, Mia found a chair and sat,wincing.
Joaquin sat beside her. “I’ve got a lot of extra vacation hours. Why don’t I take some time off? I don’t want you to have to deal with all of thisalone.”
“You would dothat?”
He nodded. “Hell,yeah.”
“Won’t that complicate things for you at the paper—being associated with me while this story is makingheadlines?”
“After tonight, it’s too late to stop that. I’ll deal with thatlater.”
Marc stepped back into the room, a grin on his face. “Jack’s answer was, ‘What thehellkind of question is that? Of course, they’re welcomehere!’”
“That’s Jack.” Joaquin chuckled. “You’re going to love itthere.”
* * *
Joaquin satin the back of Hunter’s SUV, Mia all but asleep in the seat beside him, her head resting against his shoulder, his arm around her. The pill they’d given her at the hospital had all but knocked her out. Then again, it waslate.
Hunter and Darcangelo had worked with hospital security to take them out a back way, sparing Mia a media onslaught and postponing the confrontation between Joaquin and Cate. With an escort of SWAT cops, they’d taken Joaquin and Mia first to his condo and then to hers, then stood back while the two of them packed for their stay at the Cimarron. By the time they’d left Denver, it was almost ten, and Mia was so loopy on Vicodin that she could barelyfunction.
That was fine by Joaquin. She deserved a break, some time to forget, a chance to escape fear and pain and memory. She’d been strong tonight, too strong—no tears, no panic, no shock. Still, he’d been able to tell that she was overwhelmed there at the end, the horror she’d lived through catching up withher.
“I wish I’d hit the bastard.” Joaquin didn’t realize he’d spoken aloud until he heard his voice. “If only I’d known who he was before I slammed on the brakes, I could have ended it allrightthere.”
Darcangelo looked back over his shoulder. “Stop. You reacted on instinct and did what any one of us would havedone.”
“You did the right thing by letting him go,” Hunter said. “I meant to say something earlier. If you had chased him and shot him, you’d be in a legal mess. If he’d shot you, you might be dead. Either way, that’s not what youwant.”
“I was afraid he’d gotten to Mia. I had to let him go to help her.” He hadn’t even had to think about thatone.
“You made the right decision under a lot of pressure. Feel good about that.” Hunter flipped on his turn signal. “Here’s the turn-off.”
Out of the darkness loomed the ranch’s front gate—an archway constructed of big logs with a wooden sign bearing the words “Cimarron Ranch” on a crossbeam. Nate West sat there in his pickup, ready to close the heavy steel gate behindthem.
Hunter flashed his brights. West did the same. Then Hunter turned off the highway and headed down the dirt road that led to the greathouse.
Joaquin glanced back at the highway, wanting to make sure they weren’t being followed. Apart from West’s truck, there was only one set of headlights behindthem.
“Relax, Ramirez,” Darcangelo said. “That’sWu.”
Mia stirred, moaned, then lifted herhead.
“We’re almost there. The ranch house is just over thisrise.”
She sat up, glanced around, confusion on her pretty face. “The house? You mean thecabin?”
“That’s what he means,” Huntersaid.
They reached the top of the rise, and there it was—the Cimarron’s great house coming intoview.
“There it is,” Joaquinsaid.