The Rancher (44 page)

Cole scooted forward in his chair.

“Charlie kept the rest of them inside,while Wes took care of the kid. When Wes didn’t return after a few minutes, Charlie went outside and found him lyingface down in the mud, his head covered inblood. He thought Wes was dead for sure. That’s why I was so sure you’d been theone causing all the trouble.” Max juttedhis chin toward Clay.   “It was one ofyours who done this to Wes.”

“Who was it?” Cole demanded.  “Who

did this?”

“Don’t know the boy’s name. But with that bright red hair and freckle spots all over his face, I reckon you’ll know him. Charlie said they all just call him Kid.”

Clay scratched his chin and looked up at Cole without lifting his head all the

way.  “Davey,” he said flatly.

The  boy  couldn’t  be  more  than

seventeen.

Clay stared at him, his eyebrowsscrunched together.

“It’s Davey.”

“We just said that.”

“No.  Think about it.  Every time therehas been an accident, he was there.  Hewas at the bar when your foreman waskilled.  He was the one who told Caleb

the horse had gotten out.  He was the one

who was hurt in the wagon incident, and even when Martha was trapped inside the chicken coop...”

“It was Davey who got her out.” Clay’s face lit with comprehension.

Again, a gnawing sensation bit at Cole’s insides.  He ran through the brief interactions he’d had with the young cow hand.  He felt the blood drain from his

face.

“He’s driving Abby home from the Campbell’s. He’ll have her alone.”  Cole burst out of his chair.  He could not sit any

longer.

He strode toward the door, but stopped at the threshold.   “Ma’am. Gentlemen,” Cole nodded his head toward Jenna, then Max and Charlie.

“Wait. I may also be able to help.”

Jenna stopped him.

Cole eyed her with apprehension.

She looked at her father and then toeach of the men around the room before

she fixed her gaze back on Cole.

“I’m… a Pinkerton.”

Cole’s jaw dropped and he worked quickly to pick it back up again and he raised a single eyebrow.   He’d never heard of a female Pinkerton before and when he looked over at his brothers, he noticed she’d caught the interest and undivided attention of both of them.

“I’m back here on assignment, but will help where I can.”

Cole reached into his pocket and pulled out the small locket he’d found on his

property.

“I believe this belongs to you.” Cole

stared at her hard.  “Querida,” he finished with a contrived smile.  He closed her

fingers around the metal chain and hastened to the door with his brother and

father-in-law at his heels. He had to find

Abby.

“Where did you get this?” Jenna yelledafter him.

He ignored her question and had almostreached the stable.

“Charcoal?”

Cole turned around when Rafe calledhis name from the Grayson’s doorway.

“I’ll be right behind ya.  I need to havea little chat with the lady first about acertain non-preacher,” Rafe said.

Cole nodded and turned back towardhis horse.

Low clouds had suddenly turned a

darkened gray.  Another storm front was

setting in.  He had to find Abby. Now.

“Martha.” Clay’s voice was frantic.

“Martha.”

“I’m here,” she said as she walked out of the kitchen.   “What’s all yer yellin’ about, Clay honey?” When the woman noticed Cole standing at the door, she blushed, looked down, and wiped her hands on her apron.

“Have you seen Abby? Has she made it home from the Campbell’s yet?”

“Come to think of it, no.  She left in quite a hurry after Reverend Daniels showed up. I didn’t have a chance to talk to her.  Bert and Jim drove me home.” Martha looked back and forth between the

two men standing in front of her.  “Clay, what’s wrong?”

Worry lines etched into the woman’s face as she waited a reply.

The two men exchanged glances.  If this Davey kid was mixed up in all the trouble, Abby wouldn’t be safe.  Cole didn’t hear Clay’s response.  He was already out the door.  Raine and Rafe both met him near

the corral.

“She’s not here,” he called back to them as he mounted his horse.

Clay ran out of the house just as he pulled Maverick around.

“Ya!” Cole yelled and kicked Maverick into a run. He heard the others pull up behind him, but did not pause long enough to look.

He’d told the young ranch hand not to

take Abby home through the ravine, but he would bet his horse that is exactly where he’d taken her.   If this Davey kid did anything to hurt Abby or had anything to do with Alaric’s death, the boy wouldn’t be safe around him.

The air had turned crisp.   It bit into Cole’s face as he raced toward town. He prayed Davey had stayed on the main path and had not diverted on the way home.  He was closer than ever to finding the truth about Alaric, yet it was something else that drove him forward.   Fear, he

realized.  Fear of losing the one thing he’d once believed he could live without. Love. He loved Abby.

He pushed Maverick harder.  He had to reach her before something happened. Before he lost her.

Gun shots. The pounding in his chestnearly knocked him from his mount, but hepressed forward.  When the wagon cameinto view at the south end of the pass, Cole   pulled   Maverick  to   a   stop. Something was terribly wrong.

He scanned the confines of the pass andup into the hills.  A glint of steel flashedfrom the cluster of trees at the top of theridge. From his position, he could see Abby hunched behind her wagon, rifle inhand, and Davey lying lifeless at her feet. There was no time to waste.

He dismounted, a Remington in eachhand. Raine was right behind him.  Coleglanced up to Rafe and motioned for himand Clay to climb the ridge.  They wouldfind the shooter and stop him.

Movement drew his eye to some

huddled foliage at the base of the ravine behind Abby. Cole hunched lower.  When a man appeared out of the brush, Cole aimed.  He was too far out of range and wouldn’t be able to get off a clear shot.

A few yards away, he spotted a massive angular rock protruding from the side of the hill.  If he could make it that far undetected, he would be within shooting

range.  He glanced to the ridge line and saw that Rafe and Clay had managed to reach  the  rim  undetected.  They’d dismounted and had already made their way to the cluster of trees on foot.

Cole crouched as low as he could to the ground and rushed to the rock.   Raine joined him.

“She’ll be all right, Charcoal. We’ll get her.”

Cole couldn’t respond for fear hisemotions would betray him. He lifted hisgun and rested the barrel along a smallcrevice in the rock. Though the cloudswere low and the temperature haddropped dramatically in the last half anhour, the air was eerily still.

Fear gripped him the moment Abby leftthe base of the wagon and stood, rifle inhand.  She’d not seen the man approachingher from behind. However, she stopped,hands in the air, and turned around.

From this distance, Cole could barelymake out the look of recognition as shefaced her attacker.  She knew the man.

The boorish gunman raised his pistol,level to Abby’s head.   Cole had to dosomething.  And now.   He aimed.   Hedidn’t have a good angle to the man’s

heart, but one shot in the head would do it.

His finger started to bend against the trigger, but before he could complete the action, another shot echoed through the small canyon.

He held his breath.  He’d hesitated too long.  Dread gripped his gut.  Like waking from a bad dream he watched as Abby’s attacker fell in one long, drawn out motion to the ground. Abby had not been hit.  She was alive.

Cole pushed himself away from therock, running.   He swiftly swung a legover Maverick’s back, dug his heels intothe horse’s flanks, and rushed toward the

wagon.

Chapter Twenty-Two

Abby waited for the pain. It didn’tcome. She took a deep breath, fresh airfilling her lungs.  She was alive.

Her eyes opened to Jefferson Spencerlying in a lifeless heap just feet away fromher. She blinked hard. An incessantdrumming filled her ears and she tried toshake it from her head.  As the poundinggot louder, she looked up. The sound camefrom a quickly approaching rider onhorseback.

Cole.  Her heart leapt at the sight ofhim.  Had he done this?  Had he saved her

once again?

One instant Cole was on his horse and

the next he was making his way toward her. She wasn’t sure he had even

dismounted, the movement had been so fluid.  Then she felt his hands on her face, tilting her chin upward to meet his kiss. The familiar fluttering in her stomach was replaced by the thundering of a herd of horses dancing on her insides.

Is this really happening?

His mouth crushed against hers and instead of pulling away she yearned to be closer.  Needed him to be closer. Her lips parted ever so slightly. Tingles started in her mouth and worked their way through her body, down to her toes. He felt good. She was safe. This felt right.

Cole’s hands tightened on her jaw, pulling her into him.  It was not enough. The connection she felt to him at this

moment was more intense, more fulfilling than anything she had ever experienced. She slid her arms up his chest and over his shoulders.  Her fists closed around locks

of hair at his nape and she pulled him closer.

Cole’s fingers traced over her hair and down her body to her waist.

Abby collapsed against him, responding to his every touch. For her, they were alone in the middle of a dream, working together to shove away the reality of the horror she’d just experienced. She was acutely aware of his hands, entwined in the fabric at the back of her dress, pulling her even tighter into his embrace.

When a deep seated groan escaped him, he withdrew his lips from hers and looked down with eyes that reflected a full blown

storm.  With Abby still cradled in his arm, he brought a hand up to caress her jawline, his thumb rubbing over her lips.  After a few moments of silence, he bent his head toward her, moving closer until his lips were mere inches from hers. The wait, torturous.

Please.

His mouth connected in soft surrender, capturing her lower lip between his.

Finally
, she breathed, almost audibly.

Cole buried his face in her neck. “I thought I was going to lose you.” He placed a light kiss just above her collar bone. “When I’d only just found you.” His breathless admission both surprised and delighted her.

Never before had a man infuriated her

so, yet never before had one evoked such

emotions. She loved him. She knew it now without question.   Tightening her own arms around his neck, she cradled her head into his neck.

Someone behind them cleared his

throat.