Rancher Rescue (18 page)
Coleman patted Caleb on the back. “You need a ride to the hospital?”
“No, thanks.” He said goodbye and climbed into the cab of his pickup.
* * *
H
E
MADE
IT
to the hospital in record time and found Katherine sitting next to Noah’s bed.
She looked up at him with those expressive eyes. “He’s going to be fine. His skin is already pink and dry.”
Relief flooded him as he pulled up a chair next to her. “Did they say when he’ll be released?”
“Could be as early as tomorrow. They want to keep him overnight for observation.”
“That’s the best news I’ve heard today.”
“It is.”
He cupped her cheek. “Then why the sad face?”
“Nothing. How’s Matt?”
“He’ll be fine. They’re bringing him in. Not that he likes the idea.”
A knock at the door interrupted their conversation. Marshal Jones poked his head inside. “Katherine Harper?”
“Yes. That’s me.”
“Marshal,” Caleb said, nodding.
Jones returned the acknowledgment.
“Could I have a word with Ms. Harper in the hallway?”
“As long as he can come with me.” She moved to the door alongside Caleb who was already in motion.
“Not a problem,” Jones said.
“Is everything all right, Marshal?” Her hand was moist from nerves.
Caleb gave it a reassuring squeeze.
“I didn’t mean to worry you,” Jones said. “I wanted to let you know what we found on the CD.” He glanced from her to Caleb.
Katherine’s hand came up to her chest. “What?”
“Turns out your sister videotaped Kane murdering a business associate. We’ve been watching him for years trying to gather evidence against him for other crimes. He was slick. Anytime we got close, witnesses disappeared.”
Katherine’s head bowed.
“Your sister outsmarted him. She went to great lengths to hide the evidence. She disappeared. Then he found her.”
“I wonder why she didn’t run straight to the police or you guys,” Katherine said, wiping a tear from her eye.
Caleb pulled her close.
“She’d been on the run, trying to keep her son safe. She was young and scared,” Jones said. “All she wanted was to give her son a life. When I finally made contact with her, she told me that if anything happened, she wanted Noah to be with you. Said you’d be the best mother he could possibly have.”
Tears rolled down Katherine’s cheeks.
“For what it’s worth, I’m sorry. She was brave to do what she did,” he said. “If not for the accident, she would’ve brought Kane to justice.”
Katherine’s gaze lifted, her chin came up. “Thanks. It means a lot to hear you say that.”
He inclined his chin. “Emergency personnel tried to revive Kane at the scene. You should know he didn’t survive. He’ll never be able to hurt you or Noah again. We apprehended an SUV with his associates, and they’ll be locked away for a long time.”
“Thank you.” Relief washed through her.
Jones excused himself as Caleb walked her back into Noah’s room.
Katherine checked on her nephew before taking a seat next to Caleb on the sofa.
“You need anything? Coffee?” he asked.
“No. I want to be right here in case Noah wakes in this strange place.” Her eyes were rimmed with tears when she said, “I’m sorry you couldn’t stay with your friend.”
“Are you kidding? He was pissed at me for leaving you.”
Confusion knitted her eyebrows. “I didn’t want you to have to choose between us and him. He’s your best friend.”
“And he always will be. Did you think you were doing me some kind of favor pushing me away like that?”
“Yes. Noah was fine, and I needed to know how Matt was doing.”
“That so?”
“Yes.” She looked at him as if he had three eyes. “Besides, you don’t know what it’s like to have a family thrust on you before you’re ready.”
“As a matter of fact, I do. And guess what? It doesn’t scare me. You make a decision and then adjust your life to adapt to it. I’m a grown man.” He pulled her into his arms and felt her melt into his chest. “And I want you.”
Tears spilled from her eyes, dotting his T-shirt. “I want you, too,” she admitted.
“Let’s make a deal.”
She arched an eyebrow. “I’m listening.”
“Let me tell you what I can and can’t handle when we go home.”
“Okay.” Her smile didn’t reach her eyes.
“You gonna explain the long face?”
“You have the ranch. Where’s
home
for me and Noah? We can’t go back to my apartment. Not after what happened.”
“I was getting to that. I want you both to come to live with me. I love you. My life was empty until you came along. If you don’t like the ranch, we’ll buy a new place. I belong wherever you are.”
“Are you serious?” She looked as though she needed a minute to let his words sink in. Her head shook. “You love that place.”
“Not as much as I love you.”
“I love you, too. Believe me. I do. But what about Noah? I’m the only family he’s got and I don’t want to confuse him.”
“Then let’s change that.”
Her expression made him think the three eyes she’d seen on his forehead had grown wings. “All I’m saying is let’s make it permanent.
Us.
I want to become a family.”
She looked up at him wide-eyed as he stood.
He got down on one knee. “If I live another hundred years, I know in my heart I won’t meet anyone else like you. You fit me in every possible way that matters. I don’t want you to leave. Ever. I want to spend my life chasing away your fears and seeing every one of your smiles. I’m asking you to be my wife.”
Tears fell from her eyes.
He leaned forward and thumbed one away as it stained her cheek, and he waited for her answer.
She kissed him. Deep. Passionate. And it stirred his desire. “Keep that up, and I’ll show you what we can do with the bed on the other side of that curtain while little man sleeps.”
She smiled up at him and his heart squeezed.
“You haven’t answered my question.”
“Yes, Caleb, I will marry you.”
“Good, because I want to start working on a new project.”
“A project?” she echoed, raising her brow.
He pulled her into his chest and crushed his lips against hers. “I want Noah to have a little brother or sister running around soon.”
She smiled. “I want that, too.”
“And I’m going to spend the rest of my life loving you.”
* * * * *
Keep reading for an excerpt from RAVEN’S HOLLOW by Jenna Ryan.
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Chapter One
She was being hunted.
The darkness seethed with the bloodlust of the fanatics behind
her. She couldn’t see them, couldn’t see anything except the shadows of the
hollow that twisted branches into skeletal limbs and turned everything that
moved into her persecutors. The shadows hid their faces, and their bodies, but
the footsteps shaking the forest floor told her they were closing in.
An ancient name swam in Sadie’s head even as desperation drove
her deeper into the woods. Nola Bellam. Not her, not quite, but someone who was
part of her.
The knowledge did nothing to alter her flight. Fear gathered
like a fiery liquid in her chest, blocking logic, preventing clear thought. The
trees, misshapen and grown together, bent lower. The ground grew rougher, the
bushes more tangled. Wind swooped down in bursts to claw at her black robe.
She’d run from these same pursuers many times before tonight,
as herself and as her ancestor. She was fast, but they were faster, and one of
them was equally desperate.
Ezekiel Blume had raped Nola Bellam, who’d been his brother’s
wife. Nola had taken her child and escaped, but not to safety. Nowhere was safe
in Raven’s Hollow. Ezekiel had been hell-bent on capturing her before his
brother returned to the area. On killing her before the truth came out.
Because ignorance was the mightiest weapon of all, he’d branded
her a witch and set a group of fearful townspeople on her. He’d died for that in
the end. They all had. His brother, Hezekiah, had ensured it.
Words and images blurred. Ravens dived now with the wind. One
of them, as large as a man, landed on the path several yards ahead.
Something about him penetrated the haze in Sadie’s mind, and
she slowed.
“Keep running,” he ordered, but she wouldn’t. It was time to
make things right.
Moonbeams silvered the trees. Ezekiel’s knife slashed the air
while his mob of followers held their torches high, circled and salivated.
Smiling at their fervor, Sadie raised her arms and let the
glittering darkness enfold her.
When Ezekiel’s blade struck, pain shot through every nerve in
her body. A single cry kept the man-sized raven away. Tonight, the war was hers
to wage.
So let it hurt. Let her blood be spilled. This time she
wouldn’t try to trick death. She would accept her fate, and in doing so, she
would save a man from the evil that stalked him here in the heart of the
hollow.
As she lowered her arms, a knife slid from her sleeve into her
palm. Resolved, she closed her fingers around it. She saw Ezekiel’s face in the
gloom, lit from within by the madness that consumed him.
When his blade fell yet again, she aimed and plunged her own
into his chest.
His eyes widened, his hand stilled. His body froze beneath its
cloak.
Ezekiel dropped to the ground at her feet, blood flowing like a
river from his wound.
Sadie’s breath rushed out. She’d stopped him. There was no
longer a reason for the evil to be called up, no need for the poison within it
to destroy an innocent soul. The man-sized raven would turn back into what he
had been, what he still should be, and life would resume its normal rhythm.
Yet when she turned to watch the separation occur, her heart
stuttered.
The raven stood, as solid and malevolent as ever, half bird,
half man, staring at her through eyes that glowed red and vengeful.
“What is done cannot be undone, Sadie Bellam. You have your own
battle to fight, and he who is me to help you conquer what comes.”
What did he mean, he who was him? Frustration linked with fear
even as the creature closed enormous black wings around his body and dissolved
into the night.
It started slowly, a mere thread of sound beneath the raging
wind. She spun back, but saw nothing. No one.
“Daughter of the witch.” Laughter permeated the silky voice
slithering into her head. “Do not be deceived. There is no one in the hollow who
can help you. All that you see tonight, your mind has conjured...except for
me!”
The voice rose to a roar as another cloaked shape reared up.
This one wielded a much larger knife than Ezekiel’s. She saw a gleam of insanity
in the eyes that locked briefly on hers.
“Your blade struck a false mark, Sadie Bellam. Be assured, mine
will not!”
As the knife pierced her skin, pain exploded in Sadie’s chest.
She knew then what it was to die. The taste of it was bitter copper in her
throat.
The hollow faded in and out, and her mind spiraled into a pool
of black. An iron fist closed around her lungs. She saw claws reaching for her
from above.
And woke as she always did—gasping for air on the floor beside
her bed.
Copyright © 2014 by Jacqueline Goff
ISBN-13: 9781460325933
RANCHER RESCUE
Copyright © 2014 by Barb Han
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