Call the barn, too. I rode Dawn again. Ask Teddy to put her up for the night.” Caleb patted one of Katherine’s gashes with antibiotic ointment.
She gasped, biting back a scream. “Now that I’m okay, we’re going to find them ourselves, right?”
“I’m taking you to the E.R.”
“No.” Shaking her head made everything hurt that much worse. “I can’t leave. Your guys will find Noah and bring him here, right?”
“Yes.”
“Then the only reason I’d walk out that door is to help search for him. I won’t leave here without him. He needs me and his meds.”
She expected a fight but got a nod of agreement instead.
Caleb went back to work carefully blotting each gash without saying another word. Trying to distract herself from the pain, Katherine studied the room. The decor was simple. Substantial, hand-carved wood furniture surrounded the fireplace, which had a rust-colored star above the mantel. The cushions were soft. The place was more masculine than she figured it would be. There had to be a woman somewhere in the picture. A protective, gorgeous man like Caleb had to have a beautiful wife. And kids. She’d already envisioned him holding his child. She could easily see him with two or three more.
There was one problem. Nothing was out of place. She knew from spending the past week with Noah, kids left messes everywhere. “I hope your wife doesn’t get the wrong impression when she sees a strange woman on your sofa.”
Caleb didn’t look up. “I’m single.”
Had she met him under other circumstances, the admission would’ve caused a thousand tiny butterflies to flutter in her stomach. But now she could only think about Noah.
“Do you want to call Noah’s parents and let them know what’s going down?”
“No. There’s no one else. His mother died. I’m all he’s got.” The poor kid.
Her sister, Leann, had always been the reckless one. Everything had been fun and games and risk for her. Now she was gone and Noah was in trouble.
A hundred questions danced across Caleb’s intense brown eyes. To his credit, he didn’t ask any of them.
Katherine figured he deserved to know the truth. “She died in a climbing accident at Enchanted Rock a week ago. She was ‘bouldering,’ which apparently means you don’t use safety equipment. You’re supposed to have people spot you, but she didn’t.”
Caleb’s jaw did that tick thing again. She’d seen it before when he’d seemed upset and held his tongue. Did he have something he wanted to say now?
“Sorry for your loss. This must be devastating for you. What about Noah’s father?”
“She...the two of them...lived in Austin alone. She never told me who his father was. As far as I know, no one else has a clue, either. My sister may have been reckless with her actions but she could keep a secret.” Katherine wondered what else she didn’t know about Leann.
“Be easy enough to check out the birth certificate.”
A half-laughed, half-exacerbated sigh slipped out. “She put down George Clooney.”
If Caleb thought it funny, he didn’t laugh.
Katherine cleared her throat. “I doubt if the father knows about Noah. Leann never told anyone who she dated. Not even me. I never knew the names of her boyfriends. When she spoke about them, they all had movie-star nicknames.”
“There must’ve been a pattern to it.”
Katherine shrugged. “Never gave it much thought before. Figured it was just for fun.”
His reassuring nod comforted her.
“You two were close?”
“Our relationship was complicated, but I’m...was...fiercely protective of her.” Katherine squeezed her elbows, not wanting to say what she really feared. Her sister had shucked responsibility and become involved with something or someone bad, and now both Katherine and Noah were in danger. Things had been turning around for Leann. Why would she do it?
Katherine tamped down the panic rising in her chest.
No one could hurt Noah.
She had to believe he would come home safely. Even though every fiber in her being feared he was already panicked, struggling to breathe. What if she found him and couldn’t help? Her purse was lost along with his medicine.
One of Caleb’s eyebrows lifted. “What about her friends?”
“I don’t have the first idea who they were. My sister was a free spirit. She moved around a lot. Took odd jobs. I don’t know much about her life before Noah. It wasn’t until recently she contacted me at all.” Had Leann known something was about to happen? Was she connected to the file?
Caleb didn’t look at her. He just went back to work on her leg, cleaning blood and blotting on ointment.
Oh, God. Bile rose in her throat. Acid burned a trail to her mouth. “No news is definitely not good news.”
“There aren’t a lot of places to hide. If your nephew’s around here, we’ll find him. My men know this property better than they know their own mothers.”
His comfort was hollow. A wave of desperation washed through her. If the men got off the property with Noah, how would she ever locate him?
“You hungry?”
“You know, I’m starting to feel much better.” She tried to push up, but her arms gave out.
“Eat. Rest. The pain in your leg is only beginning. You must’ve twisted your ankle when you fell. It’s swelling. Stay here. Keep it elevated. I’ll check in with my men.”
Caleb disappeared down the hall, returning a moment later with a steaming bowl in one hand and a bag of ice in the other. He’d removed his cowboy hat, revealing sandy-blond hair that was cut tight but long and loose enough to curl at the ends.
He set down the bowl before placing a pillow behind her head and ice on her ankle. He pulled out his cell while she ate the vegetable soup Margaret had prepared.
There was a knock at the front door. Katherine gasped. Her pulse raced.
* * *
CALEB’SEYESMETKatherine’s and the power of that one look shot straight to his core. Her on his couch, helpless, with those big eyes—a shade of violet that bordered on purple in this light—made him wish he could erase her pain.
He let Sheriff Coleman in. The officer’s tense expression reflected Caleb’s emotions. “Your coming by on short notice is much appreciated.”
Coleman tipped his hat, a nod to the mutual respect they’d built for one another in the years Caleb had owned the ranch.
“My men are out looking as we speak. I’ll need more details to file the report.”
Caleb introduced Coleman to Katherine. “This is the boy’s aunt. He was with her at the Reynolds’ pumpkin patch when it happened.”
Sheriff Coleman tilted his head toward Katherine. His lips formed a grim line. “Start from the beginning and tell me everything you remember.”
She talked about the pumpkin patch.
“Do you have a picture we can work with?” he asked, looking up from his notepad.
Her head shook, her lips trembled, but she didn’t cry. “No. I don’t. Lost them along with my purse and everything else I had with me. Not that it would do any good. He’s only been living with me for a week. We haven’t been down to clean his mother’s apartment yet. I don’t have many of his things. A few toys. His favorite stuffed animal.”
She rambled a little. Not many women could hold it together