Zach kicked the sorrel and the horse responded without a second’s hesitation, gathering speed like a comet streaking across the sky, approaching the ravine where the creek slashed through the field. Massive muscles bunched, then lengthened, and horse and rider were soaring across the rock-strewn chasm where only a thin stream of water trickled.

The colt landed with a thud on the pebble-strewn bank and, with renewed energy upon sight of the stables, ran flat out across the yellow stubble of the pasture. Grasshoppers and pheasants, wings flapping in a frenzy, were flushed from the straw.

Zach leaned low over the sorrel’s neck and urged the horse ever faster. Cyclone took the bit between his teeth, his legs flashing over the cracked earth. Wind screamed past his ears and sweat darkened the horse’s coat. Laughing for the first time in weeks, Zach yelled, “Move, you miserable hunk of horseflesh.”

Only when they were near the paddock did Zach pull back on the reins, wrestling control from the headstrong beast. “Slow down,” he growled, standing in the stirrups. By the time they entered the paddock, the colt had switched from a gallop to a trot and finally into a reluctant walk. Cyclone tossed his head, his bridle jangling as he fought the demanding demon on his back.

“You did good,” Zach said. Cyclone was blowing hard and Zach kept him moving, walking slowly, until the colt’s breathing was normal again. “That’s better.”

Zach didn’t see Trisha watching him, didn’t notice her lurking in the shadows of the scrub pine until he’d reined up at the fence and she climbed onto the top rail. With a sinking sensation, he knew he’d have to deal with his family again and suddenly his wings seemed clipped. All the old anger and resentment welled up in him and the ranch that had moments before appeared so vast quickly became confining and small.

“This place is a prison!” Trisha said as she pushed aside a long-needled branch encroaching over the fence.

“What’re you doing here?” But he knew. They were all here. For good.

“Family vacation,” she said with more than a trace of sarcasm. Her nose wrinkled when she saw the horseflies gathering near the colt’s rump. The smells of manure mixed with urine, sweat, and dust apparently offended her. “Believe me, I tried to talk Dad out of it, but you know how he is when he makes a decision.”

“Humph.” Zach swung down from the horse’s back.

“In a way, I understand. Dad’s tired of everyone just sitting around and waiting for the phone to ring at the house in town-even the police and the feds. Doing nothing!”

Zach remembered.

“Dad said we were all getting on his nerves-now, there’s something new,” she added sarcastically.

Zach didn’t respond.

“Anyway, I think he was worried about another kidnapping.”

“No way.” Zach hauled the saddle off the horse and hung it over the top rail of the fence. “Aren’t you the one who pointed out that he wouldn’t care if one of us was abducted? Just London.”

Trisha pouted.

“You know, if I turned up missing, I think he might buy a bottle of expensive champagne and have himself a celebration.”

“He’s not that bad,” she said without much conviction, then catching Zach’s steady gaze, sighed. “Okay, so he is that bad. Anyway, it doesn’t matter why he sent us here-the fact of the matter is that we’re all stuck in this godforsaken place.”

“Is that so?”

“Including Kat.”

Zach’s stomach dropped a little, but he managed to keep his face from registering the slightest trace of emotion. “She’ll hate it here,” he said flatly.

“Already does.” Plucking a few needles from the branch near her head, she sighed and twirled the sprig between her fingers. “You should have heard their fight. It reminded me of Mom and Dad before they split up. Kat put up a battle, I’ll give her that, but despite her excruciatingly loud protests against being shipped out of Portland, she wound up here, with the rest of us, and that really pissed her off. She wanted to stay close to the investigation and I thought she might grab Dad’s.22 and put a bullet through him before she’d leave town. But, of course, Dad got his way.” Trisha’s eyes clouded and Zach knew she wasn’t thinking about Kat any longer.

“He always gets his way.”

Trisha glanced up at her brother. “I think Dad had an ulterior motive for shipping her off.”

Zach lifted a disinterested eyebrow.

“Kat’ll freak, ’cause I think the investigation’s winding down. The cops are out of leads and the FBI isn’t doing any better. All a bunch of fools with their thumbs rammed up their asses.”

“What about Phelps?”

“The private investigator? He’s a joke. Have you ever seen anyone so…ordinary in your life?” Dropping the pine needles, she dusted her hands and glared up at Zachary as if the situation were all his fault. “It’s all a front, anyway. Dad wants to believe that the Polidoris are behind the kidnapping.”

“Are they?”

“They’re not stupid, Zach. Anthony has to know that he’d be at the top of the suspect list.”

Zach wasn’t convinced, but he didn’t bother to comment. Let Trisha believe what she wanted.

“It’s all such a pain. Ever since London disappeared no one can go anywhere without some damned bodyguard prowling around behind.”

Zach tied the reins to the second rail of the fence. He wasn’t in the mood to listen to his sister’s whining. Trisha was just ticked off because she couldn’t sneak around meeting Mario Polidori. Both families disapproved of the romance between Mario and Trisha. The only subject the Polidoris and Danverses had agreed upon in the last hundred years was to forbid Mario and Trisha from seeing each other. They were adults, she’d argued, and Witt had told her that she’d better start acting like one and move out, but as far as he was concerned, while she lived under his roof, she’d abide by his rules.

Trisha had other plans. She seemed to think she was some modern-day Juliet and Mario was her Romeo. The thought made Zach sick and he spat on the dusty ground. She should have learned her lesson about Mario Polidori. With a grunt, he grabbed the saddle and slung it over his shoulder to carry it into the stable.

Following him inside, Trisha said, “I thought you and I could work a deal.”

Zach sent her a look telling her silently to get lost. He didn’t need Trisha’s kind of trouble. He had enough of his own. Though he’d gotten a slight reprieve, the old man was still making noise about boarding school and Zach was considering walking through the Danvers gates and never looking over his shoulder.

“C’mon, Zach. I need your help.”

Zach swung the saddle over a sawhorse, then dropped the blanket over the top rail of a stall. Dust and horsehair rose in a cloud that clogged the air.

Trisha coughed and Zach swallowed a smile. Served her right. She’d never shown any interest in the horses-she was only here because she wanted something. And badly.

“Okay,” she said. “Here’s the deal-I need to find a way to sneak out of here. At night.”

“Why?”

“It’s personal.”

“To meet Mario, right?”

“The less you know the better.”

“No.”

“What?” Her face crumpled into a look of wounded pride. “I stood up for you-”

“How?” he demanded.

“I told Kat that you wouldn’t hurt a hair on London’s head.”

“Thanks for the vote of confidence,” he muttered as he yanked the bandanna from his pocket and wiped the sweat from his neck.

“That’s more than anyone else did for you, and Kat’s still not convinced that you weren’t involved somehow. If you were any older everyone would think you were behind it, but since you’re only seventeen-”

“Why would I kidnap London?”

“For money,” Trisha said slowly and Zach couldn’t help his reaction. His head snapped up and his eyes narrowed on his sister.

“Then wouldn’t I demand ransom?”

“It’s only been a little while.”

“So how would I do it? How would I grab Ginny and London and stow them away God-only-knows where while I got myself cut for an alibi. It doesn’t make sense, Trisha, and everyone knows it. They’re just pointing at me because I was gone that night and there’s no one else to blame.”

“Tell that to Jack Logan.”

“Logan’s a jackass. Oh shit, who cares?” Zach stormed outside and unknotted the reins. Cyclone sidestepped and tossed his head as Zach led him into a stall. Muscles knotted in quiet rage, Zach filled a bucket with water and let the colt drink before rubbing him down. “You’re way off base, Trisha,” he finally said.

Trisha dusted off the burlap and sat gingerly on a sack of oats. Leaning forward, propping her elbows on her knees, she cradled her chin. Her gaze narrowed through the dusty window and she chewed on her lower lip. “Okay, okay, maybe you really shouldn’t be the number-one suspect.”

“Thanks.”

“So who do you think took her?”

“I don’t even want to think about it.” And that was the truth.

“Well, someone had to.”

“Okay, Ginny, then.”

“Yeah, but who was she working for?”

“Don’t know. Hell, do we have to do this-dredge it all up again?” Zach hated to admit it, but he missed the little kid. True, she’d bugged the hell out of him and tagged after him. More often than not he’d told her gruffly to “get lost,” but he worried about her and had trouble sleeping at night just wondering what had happened and if she were all right.

Trisha plucked a piece of straw from the manger. “One word from me and you’d be shit out of luck.”

“How’s that?” With the currycomb, Zach worked on a knot in the colt’s mane.

“I could say that Mario told me you were involved in the kidnapping.”

Zach tensed. Where was this going? Slowly, he resumed brushing the horse. “It would be a lie.”

“Everyone would believe it. You know, there are still a few rumors floating around about you.”

“Can it, Trisha.” He’d heard all the gossip and didn’t want to be reminded that when he’d been conceived his mother was having an affair with Polidori. His teeth ground together but he just kept working, ignoring Trisha’s innuendoes and veiled threats. Christ, what did she want from him?

“It’s just that I hate it here, Zach. This is…nowhere. I want to go back to Portland.”

“You just got here.”

“Doesn’t matter.”

“You want to be close to Mario.”

“So what?”

Zach slid her a look that called her stupid. “Get smart, Trisha. It’s never gonna work between you and Polidori. Dad’ll never approve.”

“Since when do you care?”

“I don’t. I’m just giving you some free advice.”

“Save it.”

“Fine.” He opened the door at the back of the stable, then let the colt trot outside. With a snort and toss of his head, the horse ran free, bucking and kicking up his heels before lying in the thick dust and rolling. Clouds of dry earth roiled to the sky and the colt grunted in pleasure. Soon all Zach could see of the animal were four white-stockinged legs thrashing madly.

Trisha made a face. “You’re not going to help me?”

Zach shook his head. “No way.”

She arched a delicate brow and set an expression somewhere between a sneer and smile on her pouty lips. “You’ll be sorry.”

“Tell me something I don’t know.” Irritated, he strode out of the stable and wished that the rest of his family would just leave him alone.


It was hours later when Kat found him. The sun had set and Jason had taken Trisha and Nelson into town. Zach, avoiding his family as much as he could, had stolen two beers from the refrigerator and had climbed onto the roof of the tack shed that butted up to the stables. The dark sky was alive with shooting stars and Zach sat alone, his back propped against the rough outer wall of the second story of the stables, his legs stretched out on the sloping cedar shingles. Through the tar paper and split shakes, he heard the muffled sounds of horses, snorting, rustling in the straw, letting out an occasional whinny.

The moon was small, just a sliver, but gave off enough light so he could see the stands of trees flanking the rambling ranch house and outbuildings. The house was lit like a Christmas tree, patches of warm light glowing through the windows. Kat was still awake, prowling the rooms. He caught glimpses of her now and again, moving restlessly from one window to the next, and he decided he wouldn’t slip through the French doors to his room until all the lights had been turned down and he knew that she was asleep. So far, he’d avoided her, but he wouldn’t be able to sidestep her forever.

He opened a can of Coors and beer foamed over the side. He took a gulp, catching most of the overflow when he heard the old dog let out a quiet bark, then the unmistakable sounds of footsteps walking unerringly to the stable. His heart nearly stopped. Seconds later the rungs of the ladder to the hayloft clicked as someone climbed to the top. Now what?