An Ounce of Prevention

It didn't take Alex long to catch up with her. He tossed the limb aside and mounted behind her. "Now let's ride as fast as we can for a while, following this arroyo."

For a while, talk would have been difficult with the jarring gait of the horse. When she finally allowed the horse to slow down, she spoke over her shoulder to Alex.

"Are we going back to the van?"

He shook his head. "That's what they would expect us to do." He pointed at a brush-choked low area between two mountains. "Instead, we're going to ride through there."

She frowned. "But the camper is that way. We'd be going north of it."

"Exactly. I don't want to head directly toward it. If we're spotted, they will wonder why we are headed this way - into dry empty desert. They will think we are lost. Maybe they will let the desert deal with us, as they planned."

"But what about the children?"

"We have to trust Jonathan to take care of them until we know it's safe to return."

"He'll call for help. What if he calls someone who is involved in this?"

"I have a feeling he'll call someone he knows first - Like Katie and Bill."

"Or Señor Medena?"

"Dad would be a good choice. He would know who to contact here."

Carmen looked at him over her shoulder. "Why? I thought he had lived in Texas all his life."

Alex smiled down at her. He has relatives here, I think. He has connections, anyway."

Carmen grimaced. "I hope not with the drug dealers."

Alex shrugged. "I don't think so. I never heard anything to indicate it. But even if he did, he'd never allow his grandchildren to be hurt."

Carmen studied his face. It was always hard to tell what was going on in his mind. Surely he didn't think his father was involved in anything illegal. He was a rich man, though.

Alex lifted a brow, his eyes mocking her. "You have a suspicious mind."

She turned away from him, facing forward. She was getting a cramp in her neck looking at him that way.

His arms circled her waist and warm lips brushed her neck. "I didn't mean to hurt your feelings."

"You didn't hurt my feelings." She guided the horse under a Palo Verde tree that hung over the arroyo. There she stopped to give the horse a rest. Alex dismounted first and reached up to her. It wasn't as though she was incapable of dismounting without his help, but she welcomed his strong hands on her waist. She slid down into his arms.