Billionaire Bosses Collection. Кэрол Мортимер
Читать онлайн книгу.
find her before night falls. We have mountain lions, coyotes. She can’t stay out alone tonight.”
“She can’t have gotten far,” Emma said with a strong, positive tone. “We’ll find her before dark. We’ll split up to look,” Emma said. “No point in staying together. Maybe Muffy will just go home.”
“I don’t think so,” Zach replied, his nerves on edge and not helped by Emma’s cheerful optimism. “That little dog isn’t any more accustomed to being out on her own than Caroline is. Muffy won’t know the way home. Damn, I’ve never felt so helpless.”
“Have you ever been this panicked about yourself?”
He gave her a startled look. “That’s entirely different.”
“Have you ever been this concerned about another adult?”
“No. Adults are different. Caroline is vulnerable.”
“You’re going to help. There are lots of people to help in the search. I’m sure we’ll find her.”
“Emma, I don’t know how you can be so certain we’ll find her,” he said, trying to avoid snapping at her. “All the odds are the other way.” If he and Emma were opposites, it had never been more so than at this moment. He glanced at her and saw her watching the land spreading away from the county road.
“There are a lot of people to look for her and she hasn’t been gone long,” Emma replied.
She was right, but it was a huge ranch with too many hazards for a child. Caroline would be completely unpredictable because she had never been out alone before. He hurt for Will and Zach was terrified for Caroline, trying to avoid thinking about how afraid she must be.
They lapsed into another silence until Zach waved a hand. “We’re less than a mile from the turn into Will’s ranch.”
A barb wire fence bounded the property and the land near the road was flat with mesquite scattered across it. “You can see a lot from here.” Shortly, he spotted the gate ahead and beyond it a thick grove of trees. The road curved out of sight and two tall cottonwoods bordered the county road. “Let me out along here, Zach,” Emma said.
“I don’t think she’s had time to get this far. I hope not.”
“I’ll start walking back toward the house. Maybe I’ll meet her.” She patted his arm. “Don’t worry until you have to.”
“How the hell can I not worry?” he snapped, knowing he was being sharp, but he was filled with worry and fear for Caroline and he couldn’t understand or appreciate Emma’s positive attitude.
“Let me out as soon as you turn off the highway please.”
“Emma, I don’t want to have to worry about you, too.”
“Don’t be ridiculous. I have my phone. Stop the car and I’ll go on foot.”
He slowed, turned and stopped.
“Be positive, Zach. We’ll find her.” She jumped out quickly and he drove away.
At least she had a phone and knew how to use it. He suspected Emma knew little more than Caroline about being out on her own on the ranch, but she was an adult and would be okay. She was insulated in her positive feelings while he had none. As he drove around a bend in the road, Emma disappeared from sight in his rearview mirror.
Emma stood still, her gaze searching the dark woods. It would be five soon and since it was winter, the daylight would fade quickly. Saying another prayer, she began to walk inside Will’s fence, continuing on in the direction they had been headed before Zach turned onto the ranch drive. She had told him she would walk toward the house, but she wanted to look along the highway a bit first. The highway worried Zach and she could see why. She studied the darkness beneath the thick grove of trees as she went. Surely if a child and a dog were nearby, they would make noise.
“Caroline,” Emma called, the cry sounding small, pointless in all the emptiness around her.
Emma walked briskly for ten minutes, following the wide curve of the road, listening for any sounds of a child and then she heard voices. The road still curved and whoever was talking was lost to sight, but it sounded like more than two people.
Emma jogged, following the road, and finally she saw a pickup ahead. It had pulled off the side of the road. Relief and joy swamped her because it was a couple standing and talking to Caroline. The child held a white dog in her arms.
“Caroline!” Emma lengthened her stride and ran, breathing deeply when she reached them.
“Caroline, everyone is looking for you,” she said as she hugged the little girl lightly.
She looked expectantly at the couple standing watching. She offered her hand. “I’m Emma Hillman,” she said.
“We’re Pete and Hazel Tanner,” a deeply tanned, white-haired man said. His wide-brimmed hat was pushed back on his head. “We saw the dog and stopped and in a few minutes the little girl came running into sight. She gave us a number to call and they are coming to get her.”
“Thank you so much,” Emma said. “I’ll call her uncle and tell him in case he hasn’t gone to the house.” She turned slightly, calling Zach to tell him.
“I’m the one coming back to get her,” Zach said. “When I drove up, they told me the Tanners had called. Thank goodness you’re with them. I should be there in minutes.”
“She’s fine, Zach. And she has her dog with her. These nice people stopped to see about Muffy and then Caroline came along.”
“Just wait and I’ll get all of you. I won’t be long.”
“I’m sure you won’t,” she said smiling and thinking how fast he had driven. She called her mother to let her know Caroline was found safe.
Scratching Muffy’s head while Caroline held her, she talked to the couple for a few minutes. She wanted a hand close to the dog in case Muffy decided to run again.
“Caroline told us her name and how her little dog ran away and she couldn’t catch her. She said her nanny was probably looking for her,” Mabel Tanner said.
“A lot of people are searching for Caroline,” Emma stated, smiling at the girl.
Emma heard the car before she saw Zach and then she watched him pull onto the shoulder to park. He had a leash in his hand and hooked it on Muffy’s collar after he had hugged Caroline. Picking up Caroline, he handed the end of the leash to Emma while he talked to the Tanners.
“Thanks beyond words for helping,” he said, shaking hands with the couple and talking briefly to them. In minutes they climbed into their pickup while Zach held the door for Emma and Caroline. As Caroline buckled herself into the back, Zach buckled the leash in beside her. Caroline pulled Muffy onto her lap. Zach leaned in to brush a kiss on the top of Caroline’s head. “You gave us a real scare,” he said softly.
“I’m sorry.” She smiled up at him, and he stepped back to close the door.
He slid behind the wheel and glanced at Emma. “After I talked to you and knew you were with Caroline, I called Will to tell him to go on to the symphony because everything is okay here. He’s already landing. He said he wants to come home to hug Caroline.”
“I can understand that,” Emma answered. She turned in her seat to talk to Caroline.
“Caroline, did you have trouble finding Muffy?”
“No. I could see her, but she wouldn’t come back to me. I had to run fast.”
“I’ll bet you did,” Emma replied. “You ran a long, long way.”
Caroline nodded her head. “She sat to wait for me and then she’d run. I think she wanted to play.”
Emma had to laugh. “I’m sure she had great fun.”
“Everyone