Rancher's Wife
Page 17
She raised her head, catching his hands and holding them still. “I’m not hurt. His name is Janson Brand. I met him, dated him a couple of times while I was doing my first film.” She shrugged, but her lower lip trembled and he could see she wasn’t as unmoved as she wanted him to believe. “He’s...not sane. All these months...it was him.”
He had a hell of a lot of questions, but most of them could wait. “Where is he now?”
Her gaze clouded. “I told him Old Red hated women, so he got out to open the gate. I think—I think he shot the bull. He had a pistol. If he hitched a ride, he might be gone.”
He stared at her. The abrupt realization that he hadn’t lost her was too much and he put his arms around her and pulled her to him, just needing to feel her against him. “My God, woman, I thought...” He let his voice trail away, unable to articulate everything he’d feared.
The sound of vehicles approaching from both directions interrupted him, and he helped her carefully to her feet. She didn’t appear to be hurt, though she winced when he grasped her forearm. Rolling up the sleeve of her blouse, he could see already-purpling splotches the size of fingertips.
The thought of that man putting his hands on her made him so furious he could barely speak, but all the same, he was damned glad that was all she had to show in the way of reminders from her harrowing experience.
The first vehicle to roll to a halt was the other truck from the ranch, bringing first-aid supplies and the additional weapons he’d ordered them to get. The two men were hardly out of the truck, exclaiming over Angel, when the sheriff pulled up from the other direction.
Joe-Bob had gotten Angel to sit down and was giving her a drink from a canteen. Day walked over to meet the sheriff, wanting a word with the man without Angel overhearing.
“Day.” The lawman’s nod was short and serious. “We got another problem out by the main road. You know anything about it?”
Day scratched his head. “Maybe. You know the guy who took Angel at gunpoint while I was out tracking the mares? I called your office about it a little while ago.”
The sheriff nodded. “Right. The dispatcher radioed me, told me your wife had been abducted. What’s happened?”
“Angel got away from him out near the main road,” Day explained. “She left him shooting at one of my best bulls. Did he kill him?”
Slowly the sheriff shook his head. “Depends on who you’re asking about. That big red bull of yours is standing over something in the front pasture that looks an awful lot like the remains of a human being. I have one of my deputies guarding him from a cruiser—remembered that bull ain’t too friendly to people.” The sheriff looked past him for a moment, at the woman sipping from Joe-Bob’s canteen. “She’s a lucky lady. Did you know the fella?”
Day nodded. “She did. She worked with him once. Apparently he’d had her on his mind for quite a while.” He hesitated. “Can we finish this later? I know you’ll want to talk to Angel, but I’d really like to get her back to the house. We left our daughter there with the rest of my men. She needs to know her mama’s okay.”
The sheriff gave him a sympathetic nod. “There’s no rush. Send some of your hands out here with a tranquilizer gun when you get back. I already called the coroner, but I don’t particularly want any more bodies for him to identify.”
* * *
The coroner and the medic team had left, taking with them Janson Brand’s trampled body. The sheriff had come back and gone again. As the evening sun set behind the mountains to the west, all the excitement seemed to have passed.
Angel paused in the door of the living room and Day looked up from the couch and smiled. “Is she asleep?”
She sighed. “Finally.” Beth Ann hadn’t wanted Angel out of her sight since they’d returned to the house in late morning. It would take a while for the child to feel safe again, she was sure. Fortunately, with Day having sole custody, Beth Ann would have all the time she needed. Angel smiled. “I guess we’ll worry about weaning her away from the blanket again in a few months.”
“I’m glad it makes her feel more secure.” Day didn’t smile. “I wish I had something that would make me feel better.”
Guilt rose in her and she perched on the couch beside him. “Day, I’m sorry. After all your warnings, I should never have gone out to meet that car. I just didn’t think—”
He put an arm around her, pulling her down across his lap. “It wasn’t your fault. If he hadn’t succeeded today, he’d still be out there. Besides—” he grimaced “—I shouldn’t have ridden off this morning. My men could have tracked those mares without me. I wasn’t thinking of your safety like I should have been.”
She smiled, linking her arms around his neck. “Have you got a coin? Heads, I take the blame. Tails, it’s all yours.”
He chuckled. “You’ve made your point. I won’t talk about blame anymore if you won’t.” He heaved a sigh. “I’m just glad it’s over.”
Angel sobered. “So am I, although I feel guilty saying that aloud when poor Janson is dead.”
“Poor Janson, my a—”
Her palm cut off his words. “He must have been very sick. I can’t blame him, either.”
He could, but for the sake of harmony, he’d drop it. Still, when he imagined how terrified she must have been...
“What are you thinking about?” She traced a finger across the weathered lines in his forehead, smoothing the frown away.
He hesitated. Then he reached up and captured her hands, holding them pressed against his heart. “I was thinking about what you told me last night. Today, when I realized he had you, I was scared to death I’d never get to hold you like this again.” He took a deep breath and looked into her eyes. “I love you, Angel Kincaid. I want you to be my wife for the rest of our lives together.”
Her brown eyes were soft with love, shining with emotion. “Oh, Day, I love you, too. This is what I want, cowboy. Not fame, not money, not awards. Just you, and Beth Ann, and any other children we have together.”
A great weight lifted from his heart. He hadn’t realized how badly he’d needed to hear her say exactly that. Gathering her into his embrace, he kissed her with all the pent-up passion she aroused in him. When she was boneless and breathless in his arms, he raised his head a fraction. Against her lips, he asked, “And how soon do you want to start producing these brothers and sisters for our daughter?”
She wriggled on his lap, just a little. “Feels to me as if we could fire up the production line tonight.”
He laughed aloud, enjoying her daring. “No doubt about it, darlin’.” He lifted her into his arms and stood effortlessly, starting up the stairs toward their bedroom. “The sooner we get started, the more years we’ll have to enjoy the results of our labor.”
She echoed his laughter. “Well, then, in the interests of saving time, let’s get started.”
He stopped halfway up the stairs, his smile fading, his gaze intense as it met hers. “Together.”
She touched her lips to his in a silent pledge of her love. “Together.”
* * * * *
ISBN: 978-1-4592-8671-9
Rancher’s Wife
Copyright © 1995 by Anne Marie Rodgers
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