“Now you’re being smart,” Ricardo claimed, reaching over from a safe distance as he shoved the phone under Dale’s hand.
His gaze met hers, and her chest squeezed. He was up to something. But what?
She noted his eyes shift quickly to her right three times.
“Hurry up, Taylor,” Ricardo said, moving closer to her. “Get your brother on the phone for me, now!”
She watched as in one fluid motion, Dale let the phone slip from his hands, and as it fell to the floor, he lifted the chair enough to slam one of the legs down onto the device, shattering it into pieces.
“You bastard!” Rage twisted Ricardo’s face. “Your girlfriend’s going to pay for that,” he spat, pulling a knife from his boot.
Then the guy turned to face her, those cold eyes hot with fury as he raised the blade. Dale surged to his feet, the chair still tied to him, and charged, bent over, at Ricardo.
Realizing, just in time what Dale had been trying to tell her, Sadie immediately pushed to her feet and stumbled awkwardly to her right, just as Dale barreled into the vengeful man.
The impact sent him crashing into the stone fireplace, cracking his head with a sickening thud. Dale didn’t waste a second. He pivoted to hit the stone with his chair, over and over until the force of the impact broke the wood, freeing his arms and legs in the process.
“Sadie, close your eyes,” Dale warned, his voice urgent.
She obeyed, squeezing her eyes shut as she heard the sounds of a struggle, fists meeting flesh, grunts of pain. Then, a loud thump echoed through the room, and silence fell.
Her heart pounded in her ears, terror gripping her. Oh God… What if it was Dale who had fallen? What if—
“It’s okay, Sadie,” Dale’s voice broke through the terrifying silence, warm and reassuring. “You can open your eyes now.”
She opened them slowly, her breath catching as she saw Ricardo’s crumpled body on the floor, blood trickling from awound on his head, cheek, and mouth. Dale was standing over him, breathing hard but otherwise unharmed. He rushed toward her with Ricardo’s knife and cut her loose. Then he cut his restraints, and the broken parts of the chair crashed to the floor.
“Are you okay?” he asked, pulling her to her feet, concern darkening his gaze.
“So much better now that you’re okay,” she replied, a lone tear escaping down her face.
Careful of her bruises, Dale crushed her close. “I’m so sorry, Sadie. It’s my fault. I shouldn’t have opened the door.”
She shifted back and met his anguished gaze. “No, it’s not. If you hadn’t, I would’ve. We had no reason to believe they weren’t firemen.”
He shook his head, obviously too guilt-ridden to listen to reason. “I should’ve known better.” Then the guilt clouding his gaze turned to something much darker. “Who else hit you?” he asked, examining her face. His gentle touch was a stark contrast to the murderous glint in his eyes.
“Pedro,” she replied, then stiffened. “He could come back. We need to—”
Dale shook his head. “It’s okay. Bastard’s lucky Cooper got him before I did.”
She blinked. “Cooper? But how do you know for sure?”
He pointed to the monitors where she could clearly see Cooper handing over the restrained beast of a thug to the sheriff. A second later, the calvary entered the house, no doubt unlocking the door with some sort of gadget. They entered the room and glanced from the unconscious Ricardo to the busted chair pieces scattered on the floor, then to Sadie.
Anger darkened their eyes when their attention rested on her throbbing cheek.
“You okay, Sadie? Dale?” the men asked in unison, as Mac bent down to check Ricardo’s pulse before pulling out a set of handcuffs to restrain the slumbering man.
“Yes,” she replied, and those tears welling in her eyes spilled down her face as relief washing over her. “I’m okay. How about the horses?”
Cooper smiled. “Safe and sound, although the barn is in rough shape.”
She turned to face Dale, frowning at the large bump on his temple. It matched the one in her throat. “Sorry about the barn. Maybe if I’d stayed at home, this—”
He hooked a finger under her chin and lifted her face. “None of that. This was a good plan.”
“And a successful one,” RJ pointed out.
