Read Online Rancher Rescue by Barb Han - Free Book Online Page A

go next? We can’t go back to your ranch, can we?”
    “No. I don’t want to put my men at risk any more than we already have. What about your place? Any chance Leann passed a file to you in Noah’s things?”
    Hope once again brimmed in her shimmering eyes. “I hadn’t thought of that. It’s a possibility.”
    Caleb glanced at his watch, ignoring the ache in his chest for her. “If we leave now, we’ll make it before daylight.”
    He preferred to move under the cover of night anyway.
    She pulled back as they started toward the door. “Wait.”
    Caleb eased more of her weight on him, ignoring the pulsing heat on his outer thigh at the point of contact. “What is it?”
    “I want to grab more medicine and something from Noah’s room first.” Katherine pushed off him to regain balance.
    Her phone vibrated and she froze.
    “Take a deep breath and then pick up,” Caleb said.
    She exhaled and answered.
    “Is he breathing?” She paused. “Good. He has asthma. There’s an inhaler he uses and I have medicine. I can bring them wherever—”
    The guy on the line must’ve interrupted because Katherine became quiet again and just listened. “What time?”
    Her expression vacillated between anger and panic.
    “Where?” She signaled to Caleb for a pen and paper.
    He retrieved them and watched as she jotted down “Sculpture at CenterPark” and then ended the call.
    Her wide-eyed gaze flew up to him. “They want to meet tomorrow afternoon.”
    “Did they mention anything about the file we’re looking for?”
    She shook her head. “They only said to bring it to NorthPark Center.”
    “Good, it’s out in the open. What time?”
    “Three o’clock.”
    Caleb glanced at his watch. “We have plenty of time to check it out first.”
    “They told me to come alone.” Determination thinned her lips before she turned and walked away.
    He wouldn’t argue as he closely followed her, ready to grab her if she faltered. She was determined to walk on her own; he’d give her that. The way she did “stubborn” was sexy as hell. Now was not the time for the conversation he needed to have with her. The one that said no way in hell was he allowing her to go by herself.
    “Before we leave, is there any place we haven’t looked? Did she have a secret hiding spot?”
    “None she would share with me.” As she moved behind the sofa, she stopped suddenly. “I didn’t think about this before, but it makes perfect sense. We might not find anything, but it’s worth checking out.”
    Katherine limped down the short hall and into the master bedroom.
    She stopped in the middle of the room and looked up at the ceiling fan. “She had a small diary when we were kids that she hid by taping it to the top of one the blades. I found it when I was helping my parents spring clean once.” A hint of sadness darkened her features. “Found out just how much she was sick of me when I peeked at the pages.”
    Caleb righted a chair that had been tossed upside down and settled it in the center of the room. “Let me look.”
    Even on the chair, he couldn’t see the tops of the half-dozen blades.
    Puffs of dust floated down when he wiped the first. More of the same on the second. His hand stopped on a small rectangle on the third. “I found something.”
    “Can you tell what?” Her voice brightened with hope.
    “It’s secure.” He didn’t want to take a chance on damaging it by ripping it off. His fingers moved around the smooth surface. Tape? He peeled the sticky layer off the item. “I’ll be damned. It’s a cell phone.”
    “Thank God, they missed it.”
    “I don’t recognize the brand,” he said as he palmed it.
    “Think it works?”
    He pressed the power button. “It’s dead. If we can find a store that sells these, we can buy a new cable or battery. We’ll look up the manufacturer when we get back in the car.”
    “Okay.” She spun around. “Oh, and I need to find something else.”
    He followed her down the hall