A Rancher's Vow Read online

  Reed futilely scoured the area around it for signs of recent activity.

  Then he made his way toward the mine entrance. From a distance, it appeared to be sealed up tight, but as he drew closer, he noticed some of the boards seemed a little loose. Loose enough for a man to get inside?

  He glanced back to share the discovery with Alcina, but she had wandered in the opposite direction, toward what was left of the rotting buildings. She stood rooted to the spot at a broken-out window.

  The skin along his neck crawled.

  “Reed!” Alcina’s voice sounded strained. “You might want to come over here!”

  Her shout was punctuated by a sharp whine, and shattered chips of wood sprayed her.

  “Alcina, get to the horses now!” Reed yelled, even as a second bullet churned up the earth near her feet.

  She didn’t hesitate, but flew as if her life depended on it. Which it very well might, Reed knew, running as well.

  Alcina was closer. She reached the horses first, grabbed Feather’s reins and tossed him Red Rock’s.

  Reed mounted and moved out, yelling, “Follow me.”

  Another blast from the rifle high above him made him look behind to check on Alcina. She was halfway into the saddle when the whine of another bullet freaked Feather. The mare bolted. Her right leg raised, her body off balance, Alcina went flying and landed hard, hip first.

  Reed gathered Red Rock and circled him back to her even as she managed to get herself off the ground.

  Slowing, he held out his arm and hooked her just above the waist. She had the good sense to grab on to him. Under a steady barrage of bullets that whizzed by, one at a time, a few too close for comfort, he headed directly for the rear of the buildings, which offered temporary protection.

  There he set Alcina down, removed a foot from the stirrup, offered her a hand and said, “Climb on up in back of me.”

  Breathing hard and obviously in pain, she could only nod. But after she hooked a foot in his free stirrup and bounced upward, he heard her muffled grunt. Then she was behind him, her arms securely around his waist.

  Relief that she was all right washed through Reed, but it was short-lived. They had to get out of there immediately.

  Gritting his teeth, he told her, “Hold on.”

  Then he took off fast. Only a few bullets followed, since Red Rock took them out of rifle range in a moment.

  Soon they were back in winding foothills. Unless the gunman had a horse, which Reed doubted, they were safe. He slowed to save his mount.

  “How are you doing back there?”

  “Fine, considering.”

  Grateful that she was safe, that she was pressed against his back, her arms around his middle, Reed offered up a moment of silent thanks.

  Then he asked, “What was it you wanted me to see inside the building?”

  “A car.” Her voice grew excited. “Not a pickup or an SUV. A car. And I think it’s Daddy’s.”

  Which meant Tucker and Pa were somewhere around the mine. Or in the mine.

  Or what was left of them was inside.

  Reed didn’t want to think too closely on the odds of whether or not the old men were still alive.

  The snow was falling harder as Reed pushed out of the foothills only to catch sight of Feather grazing as if nothing at all had happened to spook her. He let Alcina down before he got to the mare, then calmly walked Red Rock right up to her. The horses were busy exchanging greetings when he grabbed Feather’s reins. He held them out to Alcina.

  “Can you mount by yourself?”

  “I should hope so,” she said, bristling before his eyes. “That wasn’t the first spill I ever took.”

  Reed grinned. Alcina mounted with no trouble, but he noticed that she sat gingerly, as if she was hurting more than she wanted to let on.

  “We have to go back,” she announced.

  “To get shot?”

  “Both of our fathers are in trouble. You know that as well as I do. We have to rescue them.”

  “We can’t. I mean, not now. Everything happened so fast, I didn’t even get to figure out where the shots were coming from. We’d be sitting targets.”

  “What do you suggest, then?”

  Reed had the awful feeling that if he said, ‘Go back to the house and call the sheriff,’ she would return to the mine without him. Besides, he didn’t really want to do that, either. It might compromise their fathers’ safety…if they really were still alive.

  Pa had to be alive, Reed thought. Nothing had ever been settled between them.

  “We have to wait until later, Alcina, until it’s dark and the gunman is gone or off guard.”

  “Gunman? You don’t think it’s Cardona?”

  Reed shook his head. “I can’t see him up in that rock, lying in wait with a rifle for some trespasser to come along. He’s got other things to occupy him. He would have hired someone to do the dirty work.”

  Riding all the way back to the ranch house and then returning later didn’t make sense. They’d be too exhausted to do anyone any good.

  Besides, they could use shelter as soon as possible. The snow was coming down in a thick, wet sheet now.

  Only one place he could think of to wait out the storm.

  GLAD TO BE out of the blinding snow, Alcina moved to the back of the underhang where she threw down the saddlebags. The natural shelter halfway up the rimrock was a huge shallow cave of sorts, large enough to shelter not only them but the horses, as well.

  While she removed Red Rock’s saddle, Reed built a fire.

  “Handy having firewood in here,” she said.

  “Bart and Chance and I have always kept firewood stacked. This was our favorite hideout ever since we were kids. Our version of a tree house.”

  She heaved the saddle near the leather bags on the other side of the pit and noted that Reed was already coaxing a flame to life. He grabbed a couple of bigger chunks of cedar and set them across the flame.

  “Mmm, smells wonderful.”

  “Give it five minutes and it’ll be toasty warm in here.”

  Alcina certainly hoped so. She fetched the second saddle. She had to admit that she was looking forward to some warmth. The wet snow had soaked through the jeans’ legs and the arms of her sweater.

  Moving around helped her dispel the chill. She used a saddle blanket to wipe down the horses. Feather blew through her nose and lipped Alcina’s arm.

  “If that’s a hint for a treat, you’ll have to wait until I see what Felice packed for us.”

  In the meantime, she scratched the horse’s nose and patted her neck, then went on to Red Rock.

  “So, when was the last time you were here?” she asked Reed.

  “A few years back, when all three of us were home at the same time for Christmas. We rode up here on Christmas Eve, after Pa went to bed. It was a nice, low-stress holiday. Unusual for the Quarrels family.”

  “Hopefully, there’ll be a lot more of them in the future.”

  “Yeah, right.”

  She knew he was thinking of their fathers, wondering if the men were still alive. She refused to consider the alternative. Emmett and Daddy would be all right. She and Reed would see to it.

  Together, they could do anything.

  With the fire now going gangbusters, Reed had turned his attention to the sitting area. He’d already lined up the saddles side by side before the fire. As she joined him, he shook out the wool cape and covered both the saddles and the ground in front of them.

  “The best I can do in the way of comfort,” he said. “Are you hungry?”

  “I’m too worried to have an appetite.”

  “You’d better find one. Your body is going to need fuel if you expect to pull off a rescue attempt.”

  Attempt…would they succeed?

  Knowing Reed was right, Alcina tried to eat. She finished most of her sandwich and some beans and rice, but merely took a bite of her apple to more easily split it. Then she gave a half to each horse and washed h
er hands with the snow that she scooped from the edge of the overhang.

  Outside the shelter, the snow had increased to near whiteout conditions. Rather, grayout, since the hour was late. Wherever it was hiding behind the banks of clouds, the sun was setting. Another hour and it would be dark. Hopefully, the storm would let up by then.

  Thinking ahead to what lay in store for them, feeling as if she’d swallowed a live snake, Alcina moved around restlessly.

  “That won’t do anyone any good,” Reed said from the other side of the fire. “You’re worrying yourself sick.”

  “Are you saying you’re not worried?”

  “I’m trying not to think too far ahead. Come on back here.” He patted the area on the ground next to him. “Let’s see if I can help you unwind.”

  Alcina didn’t see any harm in a little closeness. She rejoined Reed on their makeshift seating area and didn’t even protest when he began to massage her shoulders.

  His touch, combined with the warmth of the fire, soon had her feeling more intimate things, albeit ones that made her equally nervous.

  “Better?”

  “Much,” she fibbed.

  But she didn’t protest when he pulled her back against his chest and wrapped his arms around her waist. She closed her eyes and pretended the only thing she had to worry about was the two of them and their mixed-up relationship. That was more than enough to occupy her mind.

  “Reed, there’s something I need to tell you.” She didn’t know what else the night would hold, but it was time she was honest with him. “It’s something I should have admitted to right off when you proposed. Only, everything went so fast…and then I was afraid…”

  “You don’t have to be afraid of me,” he murmured, nuzzling the hair around her ear.

  Yes, she did. She was afraid of his not being in her life. That she might drive him out for good. But he had to know sometime. Still, she found it difficult to get directly to the point.

  “When I came home from graduate school, I was hoping…well, you and I didn’t seem so far apart in age then, not like in high school. I—I’d always liked you…well, more than liked you, and…”

  “Just tell me.”

  “I was in love with you, Reed, and you were engaged to be married.” He tightened his hold on her, but she couldn’t look at him. If she did, she might not be able to continue. She laid her head back against his shoulder. “I couldn’t stand it, so I went back to New York. I’d met Jeffrey Van Ack before, at school. This time, he decided to sweep me off my feet…and I let him.”

  “You mean that you slept with him.”

  “I mean that I married him.”

  He stiffened. “Are you telling me that you’re a bigamist?”

  “No, of course not!” she protested. “We were married for less than a year.”

  “Then what’s the problem?”

  Realizing he sounded relieved, she faced him. “I thought you would be the one with the problem because I didn’t tell you up front. But no one in town knew, except for Pru, of course, because I didn’t want them to. I—I was so humiliated because Jeffrey—”

  “Shh.” He interrupted the last of it and gave her a comforting squeeze. “It sounds to me like you’re through with Jeffrey.”

  “I was through with him a decade ago.”

  “Then why should I have a problem?”

  Alcina sagged with relief. She’d been dreading this moment for nothing. And there was no need to explain the humiliation part about Jeffrey wanting her family connections rather than her. Reed wasn’t demanding a detailed explanation.

  “Hey—” he tipped her chin so that she was gazing into his eyes “—you’re my wife now. That’s all that matters.”

  The way he said it made her heart race stronger. “That sounds so…so personal.”

  “It is personal,” he whispered, trailing his mouth from her ear to her lips. “Very personal.”

  When he kissed her, Alcina’s emotions unfurled inside and threatened to overwhelm her.

  She turned to meet him more fully, mouth to mouth, breasts to chest. He tangled his hand in the back of her hair and tightened his hold on her as if he were branding her as his own. She’d wanted this for so long.

  At last…at last…

  At last he was holding her and kissing her and touching her the way she’d dreamed of so many lonely nights. There was an urgency to his seduction that thrilled her.

  Was it that he’d finally realized he loved her?

  Or the fact that he knew they would walk through danger together tonight?

  That thought made her a little desperate. She feared not only for their fathers but for him. For them.

  If something happened to Reed now…

  No, she wouldn’t think about that. It was all happening for her at last, and she would not allow the dark forces at work to cheat her of her due, not when she finally had what she wanted.

  When Reed unzipped her vest, she did the same for him, opening his shirt to her searching touch. The feel of his warm flesh under her fingertips made her dizzy with longing. As he undressed her further, laved her neck and her breasts with warm, moist kisses, she gave in to every feeling she’d ever had for him.

  He reached down into her unzipped jeans. “You’re wet,” he murmured into her mouth as he sank two fingers in deeper.

  “I know. So what are you going to do about it?”

  She was naked in a moment, but not long enough to be cold. Soon his hot body was pressed to hers. He kissed her mouth, then explored lower. He captured her nipple and tugged until it extended tight and hard and resulted in a glorious wave of pleasure.

  She moaned “enough,” but he didn’t stop.

  He licked and nipped her stomach, placed his hands on the insides of her thighs and spread her wide. Then his hands cupped her buttocks and he opened her to him like a feast that he began ravishing with tongue and teeth.

  She was panting…pleading…ready to light and soar with the fire he created.

  Fisting his hair, she pulled his head upward, and somehow, without any guidance he found her and slid inside. She was more than ready for him. With his first thrust, a shudder began deep inside her.

  She lifted her hips to take all of him…everything he had…everything she had ever wanted from him.

  And then a golden light filled her mind.

  Alcina gave over to the passion she’d always dreamed of having with Reed.

  But this was no dream a little voice whispered. This was the real thing.

  Real flesh…joined in celebration…the dawn before the darkness to come.

  REED COULDN’T GET OVER the fact that Alcina had been in love with him for years.

  He’d lain awake thinking about it for the longest time with her in his arms. Eventually, he’d slept. When they’d awakened, the storm had abated and the hour had grown late. They’d ridden out by the light of the moon.

  “We can leave the horses here,” he said softly, stopping before they left the last of the foothills.

  “So far from the mine?”

  “If we ride in, we announce our arrival, maybe draw more gunfire.”

  The landscape shone a bluish-silver and Reed worried that they might be spotted, anyway, but there was no helping it. They weren’t that far from the abandoned buildings, and they would approach from the direction opposite the mine. Stealth on foot was their best chance for success.

  “All right,” Alcina said, dismounting. “I trust you.”

  Reed cringed at the reminder of his dishonesty.

  He still couldn’t believe that he’d blown his chance to speak out. The perfect opportunity had presented itself when she’d told him about her first short-lived marriage. But instead of telling her about Pa’s plan, he’d made love to her.

  And she’d let him.

  He had a lot to atone for.

  They tethered their horses to a low-growing cedar.

  “Can you handle this?” Reed asked of a looped rope.

 
Alcina took it from him and pulled it over her head and one arm so that it lay across her body. Reed himself shouldered a saddlebag heavy with flashlights and some tools that might come in handy. Lastly, he slipped the rifle from its saddle holster and prayed he’d have no cause to use it.

  Prayed he’d have no cause to regret bringing her along. He’d tried not to, but once more, Alcina had threatened to follow him if he dared leave her behind.

  “One moment,” she said as he was about to set off. She placed her hand on his arm and lifted her head to brush her lips across his. “A kiss for luck.”

  “Then make it a kiss!” he breathed.

  Reed pulled Alcina to him and kissed her deeply until she shuddered in his arms. Words unspoken welled in him like a storm about to break. But words would have to wait.

  “No more distractions,” he said, setting her from him. “We need eyes in the back of our heads.”

  Though she seemed uncertain, she didn’t argue, merely walked by his side…a woman with her man.

  When they came to the clearing where they would become vulnerable, he put an arm out and scanned every inch of the landscape before them. Nothing caught his attention. Nothing moved. Straight ahead, the abandoned hulks awaited them.

  They crept as one…silently…swiftly…stopping only when they arrived at the first building, where they ducked under its shelter. A chance to catch their breath…and let their heartbeats slow.

  And to check out the car up close.

  “It’s Daddy’s,” Alcina confirmed, her voice trembling with excitement.

  Reed pulled a flashlight from the saddlebags and shone it inside. “No signs of a struggle.”

  “Is that good?”

  “There’s no blood,” he said simply, moving to an opening that had once been a window, where he could look across an open area to the mine entrance.

  He listened hard for anything that would indicate another presence.

  The howl of a coyote in the distance crept along his spine. An answer came from a different direction. Soon there was a chorus…passionate…short-lived.

  Suddenly, all was still.

  It was time.

  “Ready?” he asked, grasping Alcina’s hand.

  She squeezed in answer.

  It took mere seconds to flee across the open area…the longest seconds of Reed’s life.