LITMIR.BIZ

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she could easily see that he was covered with mud. Streaks of it slashed at an angle across his cheek while parts of his short black hair were splotched with brown. In spite of his bedraggled condition, he was wasting no time in relaying information to Bram, and from the quick hand gestures he made back toward the drainpipe, he was a man just starting a mission rather than ending it.

      “There’s Jared,” Kerry said to her mother with a breathless rush. “Maybe he’s found Peggy!”

      Not waiting to see if her mom was following, Kerry pushed her way through the crowd until she was standing next to Jared and Bram, who’d now been joined by their younger sister, Willow, who ran the Black Arrow Feed and Grain store. There was also Gray, a tall, dark-haired Colton cousin, who was a local judge. Apparently the Colton family believed in banding together in times of crisis, she thought, and in this case she was deeply grateful that their help was being extended to her and Peggy.

      Focusing her attention on Jared, she begged, “Tell me. What did you find?”

      Jared’s gray eyes locked with Kerry’s pleading brown gaze. All the while he’d been crawling his way through the maze of drainpipes, his mind had been consumed with thoughts of the agony he knew this woman was going through and of the little girl who must surely be feeling trapped and terrified by now.

      Stepping forward, he took her hand and gently folded it between his. “I’ve located her, Kerry. As I worked my way deeper into the pipe, I kept calling her name. She didn’t answer me directly, but I picked up on the sound of her crying.”

      The relief of hearing that her daughter was alive flooded through Kerry and in the process nearly buckled her knees. If Jared hadn’t been holding onto her hand, she would have crumpled right there in the mud.

      “Then she must be okay! But—” she stopped abruptly as another thought struck her. “If you could hear her, why didn’t you go after her and bring her out?”

      He shook his head. “I’m afraid it’s not going to be that simple, Kerry. Your daughter, Peggy—or Bram told me you sometimes call her Chenoa. Which name does she usually go by?”

      “Chenoa is her Comanche name which means—”

      “Little dove,” Jared finished for her. One corner of his mouth lifted wryly. “You must have forgotten that us Coltons are Comanche, too.”

      She hadn’t forgotten the Coltons, Kerry thought, especially this one. By the time she’d been a senior in high school, he’d had women running out his ears, but for some reason he’d wanted to date her. Back then the idea of going out with a rogue like him was indecent, not to mention unsettling. Even though he’d been incredibly handsome and too sexy for his own good. A fact that hadn’t changed as far as she could see.

      Flustered that she’d allowed her thoughts to wander, she said, “My daughter normally goes by Peggy.”

      Jared nodded at Kerry while from the corner of his eye he could see that Bram was already talking over a course of action with the rescue people. “Peggy has wormed her way back into a shaft of pipe that I can’t reach,” he explained to her.

      Sick with fear, she gripped his fingers. “Someone else—someone smaller—” she began, only to have him dash away her hopeful suggestions with a shake of his head.

      “It would take someone smaller than Peggy even. I’ve found where she’d crawled through to another section of pipe, but her movements disturbed the surrounding ground, causing some of it to cave in behind her. Even if she was smart enough to turn around and find her way back, she couldn’t get past the dirt and rocks that are blocking the end of the pipe.”

      “Oh God! Oh please tell me you can get her out! Please!”

      One of Jared’s hands lifted to her shoulder. He gripped it firmly as he looked directly into her eyes. “Kerry, I promise you I’ll get her out. I’m not sure exactly how to do it yet, but I’ll get her.”

      Kerry desperately wanted to believe him, but the whole situation sounded so awful. Her baby was in a deep dark hole with no way out. “But she might not have enough air! If it takes a long time to get her out—”

      “Now, Kerry, don’t panic. If you collapse you won’t be much good to Peggy once we do bring her up.”

      Tears were blurring her eyes and she blinked furiously to prevent them from spilling onto her cheeks. God knew she had a good reason to fall apart, but over the past few years, she’d had to battle her way through tough times. The experiences had taught her to steel herself against personal pain and anguish, to show a brave face even though her heart was breaking. That was the strong, Comanche way, and she wanted Jared Colton to see that she was no weaker than he.

      “You’re right, Jared,” She drew in a bracing breath and squared her shoulders. “What can I do to help?”

      Jared glanced up the sloping ground to where Kerry’s mother was waiting with a group of people that had grown to large proportions in the past hour. “Just go back to your family and wait. We’ll take care of everything.” He looked down at her as another notion suddenly struck him. “Wait—there is something. If your husband is here, he could be a help. If he’d be willing to crawl down into the pipe and call to Peggy, she might respond to him. That would help us pinpoint her exact location.”

      Bitter regret twisted deep in Kerry’s stomach. Damon wouldn’t be willing to send Peggy a birthday card, much less risk his life to save hers. She tried to swallow away the guilt and sorrow that she felt, not for herself, but for her innocent daughter.

      “Uh, he’s…not around. But I could crawl into the pipe and call to Peggy,” she quickly suggested.

      Jared shook his head. “It’s too deep and dangerous, Kerry. I don’t want to put you at risk.”

      Her heart sank. “Oh well,” she said huskily. “Then I’m—uh, sorry, Jared. Because Peggy doesn’t have a father.”

      Chapter Two

      The next few hours were some of the hardest Jared had ever endured. For the sake of the little dove trapped beneath the ground, he was trying to focus all his mental ability on the rescue operation. Yet there was a small part of his thoughts that continually strayed to Kerry.

      To learn that she was a single mother had knocked him for a loop. The Kerry WindWalker he remembered was the quiet, reserved waitress who’d worked seven or eight years ago at Woody’s Café. At that time he’d tried to get to know her personally, but she’d stubbornly kept the conversation between them to the same light exchange she used for all the customers in the homey little eating place. She’d had a reputation for being prim and proper and, in spite of Jared’s best efforts, she’d left Black Arrow with that same squeaky-clean standing.

      Jared could only suppose that the years away from Black Arrow had changed her. Although there was one thing that remained the same, he thought ruefully. She had no man in her life. The fact that she’d been raising her daughter alone saddened him. Yet he had to confess there was a selfish part of him that was glad she wasn’t attached to some other man.

      “Okay, Jared, that’s ten feet. Want me to go any deeper?”

      Shaking away his thoughts, Jared looked up at Newt, a burly oilfield worker who was operating a large auger. This was the second hole that had been drilled into the ground near to the spot where Peggy was trapped. The first had failed to give Jared an entrance to reach her. After a long, careful study from inside the ground, coupled with the engineering blueprints he had of the original layout of the drainage pipes, he’d finally decided to try another, at a closer angle.

      “No. That’s good. Hop out, Newt, and I’ll go down. Maybe this one will get me all the way back to her.”

      Someone caught him by the arm and Jared glanced around to find Bram at his side. Having his brother here for support, even in the capacity of sheriff, helped him forget that he’d been at this for hours and that his body was now running on sheer adrenaline.

      “Newt

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