Alone in the world except for Lily, Kate had turned to the phone number of the stranger her father had recommended.
Hank Derringer had answered on the first ring. He’d tried to talk her out of coming to Wild Oak Canyon. When she’d insisted, he’d promised to send a cowboy to her, one who could help her get the ranch back up and running and provide the protection she and Lily needed. Her cowboy would be there before they turned in for the night. Or so Hank had promised. Kate wondered what kind of protection she needed on a ranch out in the middle of nowhere.
She’d waited as long as she could to take her shower and still the cowboy hadn’t arrived and probably wouldn’t until morning.
When the water grew tepid, Kate turned it off and grabbed for the fluffy white towel she’d unearthed from one of the boxes she’d brought with her in the moving van. Bent over, her head upside down to wrap her long hair in the towel, her hands froze. Was that a sound downstairs?
She strained to listen.
Nothing.
Kate shrugged, worried her imagination was getting the better of her. She continued towel drying her hair when something crashed below and a low curse followed.
Her breath caught on a gasp and her pulse raced. She’d turned out the lights on the main floor and locked all the doors before she and Lily had come up for the night. Whoever was down there was moving around in the dark. Inside the house.
Kate wrapped the towel around her and ran into the master bedroom she’d planned to share with Lily the first night until she could prepare another room just for her daughter.
Lily lay sound asleep, oblivious to the danger, the only light in the room the glow from the open bathroom door.
With nowhere to run, Kate quietly gathered her daughter, blankets and all, and hurried to the closet where she’d hung all of the clothing she’d brought with her next to those of her father’s. Kate thanked her lucky stars that Lily slept soundly. The little girl didn’t stir as Kate laid her down in the back corner of the closet, tucking the blankets around her, blocking her from view.
Once she had her daughter hidden, Kate tiptoed back to the nightstand, slid the drawer open and removed the 9 mm Glock she’d brought with her.
A board creaked on the stairs, sending Kate scurrying toward the door where she eased it closed.
Her hands shook as she alternated between holding up her towel and balancing the pistol. She wished she’d had time to dress, wishing more that she’d loaded the weapon. She prayed that the sight of it would scare a trespasser into leaving without hurting her or Lily. On second thought, she turned the gun around and held it by the barrel. Hitting the man would be better than pointing an unloaded pistol.
The doors down the hallway opened one by one. Kate held her breath as the intruder made his way toward the room she and Lily occupied. What she wouldn’t give for cell phone reception.
Though, what good would it do when the sheriff wouldn’t reach her ranch for fifteen to twenty minutes? She was on her own.
Where was the cowboy? Why hadn’t he arrived already? Was the man moving down the hallway her cowboy? If he was, he had a lot of nerve barging in and sneaking around. He deserved the same as any thief and Kate would give it to him.
With Lily in the closet and her own hands shaking, Kate couldn’t chance it. She had to divert attention and get the attacker away from the room where her daughter lay sleeping.
Kate prayed the man would give up and go away.
As she watched in horror, the doorknob turned. She wished it had a lock on it she could twist to buy her a little more time. Maybe not having a lock would work out for the better. She raised her arms and waited, her breath caught and held.
A dark figure stepped through the door. The man wore a ski mask. Anyone in a ski mask meant trouble.
As soon as his head cleared the entrance, Kate slammed the butt of the pistol down on his skull so hard the gun bounced out of her hands and skittered across the floor.
The man lurched forward and dropped to his knees.
Kate flung the door wide and leaped past the intruder.
Before she could take two steps, a large hand snagged her ankle.
Her forward momentum brought her down hard, knocking the breath from her lungs. She clawed at the carpet, kicking with all her might with her free foot, landing a couple hard heels in the attacker’s face.
His grip loosened and Kate scrambled to her feet, running as fast as she could for the stairs, thankful and terrified when she heard the intruder’s footsteps behind her.
She had to get the man as far away from Lily as possible. If he hurt Kate, maybe he’d leave her for dead and never find the little girl hiding in the closet.
Kate took the stairs two at a time, missing the last one, toppling to the floor and wasting precious seconds.
The man above her came crashing down the steps and leaped over the railing to land beside her.
Kate swallowed her scream, fearing she’d wake Lily. She rolled to the side, her fingers wrapping around the cord of a lamp.
She yanked the lamp toward her, grabbed the base and turned in time to see the man flying at her. He landed on top of her, knocking the wind from her.
With her hand still around the base of the lamp, Kate swung as hard as she could. The ceramic lamp made contact with the ski mask and bounced off, crashing to the wooden floor, shattering into a million fragments.
Out of options, Kate remembered the self-defense training she’d taken when Lily was little. She knew she was the only one there to defend her small daughter. With the desperation of a trapped mother bear, she freed one hand and jabbed her thumb into the man’s eye.
He yelled and punched her face.
Pain radiated across her cheekbone, her vision blurred and Kate knew she wasn’t going to last much longer. For Lily, she tried to hang in there, forcing the darkness back, struggling beneath the weight of her attacker.
As the intruder reeled back to hit her again, Kate squeezed shut her eyes.
Before the fist connected with her face, all the weight on top of her shifted backward.
Kate’s eyes popped open.
The man in the ski mask fought against another man wearing a black T-shirt and a cowboy hat. Fists flew, and bodies banged against the old furniture. The cowboy hat flew across the room, landing in a corner.
Kate sucked in air, filling her lungs and clearing her fuzzy thoughts. She scrambled to her feet, clutching the towel around her, searching for a weapon of any kind. Her hands wrapped around the legs of an end table. She lifted it high and waited for the right moment.
The two men tumbled and flew around the room, knocking over furniture. With the lights out, Kate could barely tell who was who.
Then her rescuer hit the floor on his back and the man in the ski mask pulled a knife from his belt, the metal glinting in a ray of moonlight shining through a gap in the curtained window.
Kate’s heart thudded against her rib cage.
The man in the ski mask closed in on Kate’s rescuer.
Without thinking past saving the man on the ground, Kate rushed for the one with the blade and slammed the end table down over his head with enough force to break the small table into several pieces.
The attacker dropped to his hands and knees. He swung his arm out, clipping Kate in the back of her legs.
She fell hard, her head hitting the corner of a coffee table. As she landed, she heard shuffling of feet and tried to rise to see what was going on. When she lifted her head, her vision swam.
No. She couldn’t give up now.
Pain