by Kat Martin
Kade turned off the flashlight and stuck it in his pocket, pulled the door open, and eased silently inside. Muffled voices came from deeper in the mine, a man and a woman. Ellie. His heart raced as gratitude filled him. She was still alive.
On my way, darlin’. Just hang on a little longer.
A faint yellow glow lit the path ahead as he slipped farther into the tunnel. Kade edged quietly through the dimly lit interior, following the source of the light.
“We’ve talked enough,” Egan said. “I’m going to have you, Ellie. Every way I can think of. You can make it easy on yourself and give me what I want—but I really hope you fight me.”
Anger tore through Kade, and his hand tightened around the Colt. He forced himself under control. One mistake and he could get Ellie killed.
“You want me to fight you?” she said. “Don’t worry. I intend to do just that.”
Kade swore foully and started running. Gun in a two-handed grip, he rounded the corner just as Ellie leaped from a thin mattress in the corner of a room inside the tunnel. She tackled Egan, and both of them went down.
“Ellie!” Unable to get a clear shot, Kade holstered the weapon and went after Egan, who rolled Ellie beneath him and slapped her hard across the face.
Kade grabbed the man by the back of the neck and dragged him off her, spun him around, and slammed a fist into his face. Blood flew, spraying drops of crimson over the front of Kade’s jacket, and Egan went for his throat, wrapping his hands around Kade’s neck, trying to cut off his air supply.
Kade pried Egan’s fingers loose and punched him hard in the jaw. The men struggled back and forth but managed to stay on their feet.
Egan swung a hard punch that slid off Kade’s jaw. “I’m going to kill you, Logan!”
Kade buried a fist in Egan’s gut, then punched him in the mouth. Egan staggered but didn’t fall, bounced back with a series of blows that Kade managed to counter. Egan was tougher than he looked, his body lean and wiry. A hard blow sent Kade crashing backward into the narrow table along the wall. The kerosene lantern went flying, spilling fuel all over the ground, and Kade went down.
“Kade!” Ellie’s warning came an instant too late as Egan grabbed a heavy flashlight and hit Kade in the head. His vision blurred, and everything went black.
By the time Kade opened his eyes a few moments later, a sagging timber was ablaze, Ellie was struggling with Egan, doing her best to fight him with the sharp metal trowel in her hand, and there was ice-cold fury in Egan’s blue eyes.
Kade swayed a little as he came to his feet, just in time to see Ellie dodge Egan’s powerful fist and shove the blade into his stomach.
“You bitch!” he shouted, grabbing the trowel and pulling it free. He gazed down at the blood pouring out of the wound as if he couldn’t believe his eyes. The mattress was blazing, more timbers catching fire. As Kade started toward him, Egan cupped his hands over the bloody wound in his stomach, turned, and ran, heading deeper into the tunnel.
Kade started after him. No way was he letting the bastard escape.
Ellie grabbed him from behind and spun him around. “There isn’t time! We have to leave! The timbers are on fire! The tunnel is going to collapse!”
The fire was moving fast, licking over the debris on the floor of the tunnel, lighting the timbers along the walls and overhead.
Kade took a last look into the darkness and caught a glimpse of Egan’s retreating figure through the growing wall of flames.
“Let’s go!” Grabbing Ellie’s hand, he tugged her forward, and the two of them ran toward the mouth of the tunnel.
Kade shoved open the makeshift wooden door, helped Ellie through to the other side, and ducked through behind her. There was blood on the side of her head, and more oozed from the corner of her mouth. She was clutching her side, he saw, more injured than he had realized. When she took a shaky step forward, Kade swore an oath, scooped her up in his arms, and started running toward the half dozen sheriff’s vehicles pulling through the gate in the chain-link fence.
A safe distance away from the blaze that now licked through the boards across the entrance to the mine, Kade set Ellie back on her feet, then eased her to a sitting position on the ground.
“How bad are you hurt?” he asked, crouching beside her.
But Ellie’s gaze was fixed on the mine. “What . . . what about Egan?”
Kade looked back at the mouth of the tunnel. Flames enveloped the entire entrance. Unless there was another way out, Egan was doomed.
Kade’s jaw felt like granite. “Fire doesn’t kill him, I will. Either way, Richard Egan is a dead man today.”
Kade held onto Ellie’s hand as they watched the vehicles braking to a halt, red and blue lights flashing. Car doors flew open, and deputies began pouring out. Then fire belched out of the mouth of the tunnel, and the entire side of the mountain exploded. A deadly shower of dirt and rocks flew into the air, and everyone hit the ground.
CHAPTER FORTY-FIVE
ELLIE SPENT THE NIGHT IN THE HOSPITAL. SHE HAD A MILD CONCUSSION and two fractured ribs, so they had given her a sedative to help her sleep. She stirred, and her eyes slowly opened. Weak light poured in through the windows, marking the dawn. Groggy and disoriented, she managed to remember where she was and what had happened the night before.
Egan! Kade! The mine exploding! The memories had her heart racing. Her body ached all over, and her head pounded. Her jaw throbbed, but she was alive.
She shifted on the mattress and turned to see Kade sleeping in the chair beside the bed, his lean, broad-shouldered frame bent at an uncomfortable angle, his handsome face lined with fatigue, a day’s growth of beard along his jaw. Blood stained his shirtfront, and his hat was gone.
As she studied his hard, masculine profile, Ellie felt a sweep of longing. Love for him washed through her, this man who had risked his life to save her. This man who had come for her, as she had known he would.
The knowledge loosened something inside her. In her heart, she had never doubted him. She had known in every cell of her body that once he discovered she was missing, nothing could keep him away. A feeling she didn’t quite recognize swelled inside her. She realized it was hope.
Kade’s tall frame shifted in the uncomfortable chair. Clearly, he had been there all night, unwilling to leave her alone. His whiskey-brown eyes opened and came to rest on her face.
“Ellie . . .” Sitting up in the chair, he reached over and took hold of her hand. “How are you feelin’, darlin’?”
She raked back her messy auburn curls. “Better than I should, considering.” After the explosion, the ambulance had taken her to the nearest hospital. Kade had followed in his pickup. While she was being treated for the blow Egan had dealt to her head, which included a CT scan, Kade had given the deputies his statement. Sometime later, Ellie had given hers.
Though the concussion didn’t appear to be life-threatening, the doctors had insisted she spend the night for observation. Kade agreed.
Ellie shifted on the bed, trying to sit up a little straighter. Kade leaned over to help, plumping the pillows behind her back.
“The doctor said if I was feeling all right, I could go home today,” she said. “That’s what I want, Kade.”
His gaze ran over her face. It felt like a caress. “That’s what I want too, darlin’. I want you to come back with me to the ranch.”
Her heart squeezed. She wanted that more than anything in the world. Ellie shook her head. “I don’t think that’s a good idea.”
“It’s the best idea I’ve ever had. I shouldn’t have let you go in the first place.” His hold tightened on her hand. “I love you, honey. I should have told you long before now.”
The hope inside wanted to blossom, but she ruthlessly crushed it down. “I love you too, Kade. You must know that by now.”
His features softened. “I was hoping, but I wasn’t sure.”
“I love you, but sometimes loving someone isn’t enough. You don’t trust me, Ka
de, and without trust, what we have could never work.”
He ran his thumb over the back of her hand and little tingles raced up her arm. “I know that. Believe me, I’ve spent plenty of time thinking about it.”
Ellie remembered the man she had married. Kade wasn’t the only one who knew about cheating and the harm it caused. “I would never hurt you, Kade. I wouldn’t lie to you, and I would never betray you. We both know what it’s like to live with someone who does those things.”
Kade lifted her hand to his mouth and pressed his lips against the back. “I trust you, Ellie. I know I acted like an idiot, but I’ve never met a woman I trusted more. I’ve trusted you with my life, and I’d do it again.”
Her heart was throbbing. It was impossible to tamp down the hope.
Kade sighed. “It was never you. It was me. The truth is, I was afraid I wouldn’t be able to keep you. You’re beautiful and smart, you’re courageous, and the sexiest woman I’ve ever met. I was afraid some other guy would come along and sweep you off your feet. I couldn’t handle the thought of losing you.”
Ellie’s eyes filled. “Oh, Kade.” She was beginning to understand. He had loved Heather and lost her. He was afraid of losing her too. But Ellie was a very different woman.
He sat up a little straighter. “I love you, honey. So damned much. I was never really jealous of Heather because I never loved her the way I do you. It took me a while to figure that out.”
He leaned over and pressed a soft kiss on her lips. “Say you’ll come home with me. I want to marry you, darlin’. But I don’t want to ask while you’re lying in a hospital bed, hurting all over. I need you, Ellie. If you love me, we’ll figure a way to make the rest of it work. What do you say?”
She was smiling and crying at the same time. Kade loved her. He wasn’t a man who spoke those words lightly.
Her smile widened. “I told you once, Kade Logan, you’re a hard man to resist. The answer to just about anything you ask me is yes.”
Kade flashed one of his devastating smiles, leaned down, and very thoroughly kissed her, and though it made her bruised body ache all over, it was worth it.
EPILOGUE
THERE WAS A WEDDING GOING ON IN THE BIG LOG RANCH HOUSE. IT seemed as if half of Eagle County had shown up for the event. The overflow streamed in and out of a big white canvas tent set up outside, with heaters to keep the place warm against the dusting of snow that covered the ground. The mountains and pastures surrounding the ranch house sparkled with last night’s snowfall, making it look like something out of a fairy tale.
Beneath twinkling lights, guests sat at round, linen-draped tables decorated with bouquets of white and pale peach roses sprinkled with white lilies. The fragrance of gardenias drifted in the air.
Along one wall of the tent, a beautiful buffet served Diamond Bar Hereford beef, with every side dish Maria and Dolores could think of. A three-piece western band played a Brad Paisley slow song.
It was time for the bridal dance. Ellie’s heart did a soft flutter as Kade looked down at her, and she couldn’t miss the love reflected in his whiskey-brown eyes.
For the wedding, she had chosen a pale peach silk gown, street-length, with a square-cut bodice. Cream lace flirted with the swell of her breasts, while butter-soft, peach-leather cowboy boots with roses on the front carried out the western theme.
When she’d mentioned wearing her hair swept up with pearl combs, Kade had grumbled something that made her laugh. She hadn’t told him she’d left it down especially for him, but the heat in his eyes when he looked at her said she’d made the right decision.
Kade reached for her hand, drew her onto the dance floor and into his arms for their first dance as husband and wife. He was dressed like the rest of the men in the wedding party, in a black, western-cut tuxedo, black felt hat, and black alligator boots. The guys all looked delicious, especially Kade.
She thought of the wedding gift he had given her, the little sorrel colt that reminded her of Rusty, the horse she had loved and lost. In a sweet moment, he had given Billy an early Christmas present, Sunshine, the palomino filly he had been training. “For helping save Ellie’s life,” Kade had told him.
As she’d watched the two of them together, she’d thought what a wonderful father Kade would make, and smiled at the decision they had made to start a family sometime soon.
A few weeks after the incident at the mine, Kade had taken her to the old Diamond Bar homestead to finish her recovery. She had loved the old cabin on sight. While they were there, she and Kade had talked about the future, what she wanted to do after they were married.
“There’s plenty for me to do on the ranch,” she said. “And it feels exactly right to be here with you. If I decide later that I want something more, I can always take cases on the side. There’s bound to be plenty of work for a private investigator in Eagle County.”
Kade had grinned and kissed her.
Her mind returned to the present as they made a sweeping turn around the dance floor, Kade’s cheek pressed to hers. “You look so damn beautiful,” he said. “You have any idea how happy you’ve made me?”
Ellie smiled. “You make me happy too, Kade.”
“I’m going to make you even happier tonight.” He grinned and kissed her, hot and sweet, giving her a sample of what to expect.
Ellie laughed.
The music swelled, and other couples joined them. Alejandro, handsome as sin in black jeans and a black western-cut jacket, swept Maria onto the floor. The beautiful, black-haired young woman he was going to marry beamed up at him. There was going be another ranch wedding in the spring.
Kade’s friend, Sam Bridger, was there, dancing with Libby Hale, the little blonde he’d told Kade he planned to marry. Maisie Yates was there, flirting with the ranch hands. Currently Slate Crawford seemed to be the center of her attention. Wyatt was there, Roy, Riley, Seth and his fiancée, and Turtle Farley.
Half the town of Coffee Springs was enjoying the party. Even Jonas Murray had been invited. Kade no longer seemed worried about Jonas or any other man. He was the man she was marrying, and she had shown him in every way a woman possibly could that she wasn’t interested in anyone but him.
As the song came to a close, he took her hand and led her off the dance floor.
“I think your friend Zoe is looking for you,” Kade said.
Ellie’s attention swung to her tiny blond friend. “Looks like Chad has gone for fresh drinks,” she said. “Zoe’s probably hoping for a little girl talk.”
Kade nodded, smiled. “I’ll be over there with my brothers.”
Ellie went up on her toes and kissed his cheek, then walked over to visit her friend. Kade headed for the bar, where his brothers, Gage and Edge, stood sipping Kade’s favorite whiskey, Strana-han’s Rocky Mountain single malt.
Gage was as tall as Kade, but brawnier, with the same dark brown hair. Unlike Kade, his eyes were a piercing shade of blue, made even more dramatic by his darkly suntanned skin. Gage had been all over the world on one adventure or another. His company in Denver specialized in finding lost treasure, lost bits of history, sunken ships or just about anything else.
Edge was an inch taller, with a lean, hard-muscled build. He had even darker hair than Gage, and the same blue eyes, but there was a watchfulness in them that set him apart from other men. Edge was Army Special Forces, a subject he rarely discussed.
The brothers’ presence had been Kade’s wedding gift from Ellie—best gift ever. They had shown up three days ago.
“Ellie called me,” Gage had said when they walked into the house. “I was in Mexico. Your lady tracked me down—God knows how—told me she wasn’t going to marry you unless I showed up. And I was to bring Edge with me. She said it was time we started acting like brothers again.”
He’d had a helluva time talking with a lump in his throat the size of an egg, which seem to be affecting all three of them. Kade couldn’t think of anything that pleased him more than seeing the family he had l
et slip away. He’d vowed then and there he wouldn’t let it happen again.
The sounds of the band playing returned his attention to the moment.
“You two make a good-looking couple,” Gage drawled, taking a drink of whiskey.
“Ellie’s beautiful,” Kade said, his gaze finding her at a table with Zoe a few feet away. “Inside and out.”
“You must really love her,” Edge said. “I’ve never seen you look at a woman the way you look at her.”
Gage sipped his drink. “Not even the beautiful-but-deceitful Heather.”
Only Gage would be bold enough to mention her, but Kade just shook his head. “Not even the same species.”
“I didn’t think so,” Gage agreed, and Gage knew plenty of women.
“I’m really glad you both came,” Kade said. “I should have called you years ago, done my best to mend fences.”
“Ellie did it for you,” Edge said. “And you’re right. It was way past time for all of us.”
“I knew I was going to like her when she called and demanded we show up,” Gage said. “I admire a woman with the courage of her convictions.”
Kade laughed softly. “Oh, yeah, my bride is no wilting lily, that’s for sure.” He reached for the glass of whiskey the bartender poured for him. “She probably saved my life that night in the mine.” Gage and Edge both exchanged glances. They knew about Richard Egan, knew how close Kade and Ellie had come to dying that night.
Egan was dead, crushed as he’d tried to escape through an old back tunnel, his body only partially recovered. God’s justice was harsh but well-deserved.
“You heading back to Mexico after the wedding?” Kade asked Gage.
“I’m finished down there. I’ve got a possible client. A woman. Says she inherited a map from her grandfather. Wants me to help her find the treasure.”
“You think it’s real?”
“No idea. Usually it’s just a pipe dream, but you never know.”
Edge’s blue eyes swung to Kade, and he released a slow breath. “There’s something I need to tell you. I already talked to Gage about it, but I wanted to tell you myself. I left the army, Kade.”