The Ranchers: Destiny Bay Romances Boxed Set vol. 1 (Destiny Bay Romances - The Ranchers)

by Helen Conrad

  “I’ve loved Sky Matthews in my time. I’ve admired him. I’ve envied him. And now I’m going to help you put him away. Because above all, there’s nothing I despise so much as a man who sells out his country.”

  Michael’s shoulders sagged with relief, but his face was still dark with anger. “I wish you’d come to this conclusion a little more quickly,” he said pointedly. “We might have saved a man’s life.”

  Ted Nargeant shrugged. “I’m sorry, but I could not make the decision to turn on an old friend lightly. I had to consider every angle. I had to go over every memory and savor all the good times.” He sighed, looking older than his years. “Sky won’t forgive this one, I’m afraid. I’m losing a part of my past. Have a little respect.”

  “Oh, I’m just full of respect,” Michael said sarcastically. “But I want to get moving on this before another one of us has to bite the dust in order to support your lengthy thought processes.”

  Nargeant’s smile was humorless. “Yes, if we don’t hurry, he’ll get us before we get him.”

  Michael grimaced. “Let’s get down to business,” he said. “How are we going to do this?”

  Nargeant leaned forward across the desk. “That is exactly what you and I are going to map out right now.”

  It seemed forever between the time Jessie phoned Bob Taylor and the time he and the Las Vegas police arrived in the Samarkand. She stood when she saw them coming in the lobby.

  “Upstairs?” he asked her.

  She nodded. “In Mr. Nargeant’s suite.”

  He hesitated. “Would you like me to have someone take you home?”

  “No. I’ll wait right here.”

  His gaze swept over her and she could see he thought that was a mistake, but she didn’t care. She knew what she was doing and she knew what Michael would think about it. She had to stay. She had to see his face.

  So she waited, standing in the lobby, and finally they came down, Michael in handcuffs between Bob and another man. He saw her standing there and his silver-blue eyes glittered like those of a wolf cornered in the wilderness.

  He paused in front of her and held up the handcuffs so she wouldn’t miss them. He didn’t say a word. She licked her lips and waited.

  “Congratulations, Jessica Carrington,” he spit out at last. “You finally got that reward money you wanted so badly. I hope you choke on it.”

  She stood very still, as though paralyzed, and they left through the huge glass doors. Her face didn’t give a hint at the emotion that raged within her. He hated her. She’d known he would. But what could she do? She loved him and she had to save him from himself. Even if that meant she would never have him for her own.

  She felt hard and cold and tired. She ached inside. But she couldn’t cry. There was a tremendous, burning lump in her throat, but other than that she felt hollow. A dry, dead thing that might blow away with the next big wind. At the moment, it seemed at though her life were over. Who could ever bring her the joy Michael had? How could she live knowing she would never feel his touch again, see his smile, join in with his laughter?

  She stood for a long time. People glanced at her curiously as they passed, but she didn’t notice.

  Something bumped gently against her. She glanced down. Jimmy had found her. He curled his little warm hand into her cold one. She looked at it, the immature fingers, and suddenly violent sobs wracked her body. She pulled him to her tightly, and finally she cried.

  They walked back together, first down the neon boulevard, then through the quiet residential streets, and Jimmy’s hand never left hers. When they got to the house, Sheri and Sam were solicitous, making her take a long hot bath and feeding Jimmy. Bob Taylor called and asked if she would come in the next day to make her statement, and she agreed to, speaking normally. Looking at her, most people wouldn’t know she was one of the walking wounded. But Jimmy knew. And he was never far away, always ready with that comforting little hand in hers.

  Sam drove her to the police station the next day. Bob Taylor watched her walk in, and he wondered what was going through her mind. She looked so calm, so cool. Maybe he’d been wrong about her. Maybe she hadn’t been as taken with Michael as he’d thought.

  “Good morning,” he said, offering her a chair. “I’m going to record what you have to say, if you don’t mind.”

  She sank into the chair and shook her head. He began questioning her, going over everything that had happened from the time she first saw Michael in her father’s cafe. She told him about the night in the desert, the scorpion sting, the ride to her uncle’s, the diamonds. Everything. It all came out. She spoke in a clear, unemotional voice. This was just another chore, something to get out of the way.

  When it was over, he turned off the tape machine and looked at her, chewing on his lip. She seemed calm, but something told him the appearance was deceiving. He wanted to help her, if he could. But he didn’t know how.

  “Will you be needing me to testify?” she asked.

  He shook his head. “I doubt it. Your relationship with Michael has a lot to do with his flight from justice, but that’s not what he’s being charged with. You have nothing to do with the original crime.”

  “The alleged crime,” she corrected him.

  He smiled. “Right. The alleged crime.”

  “What’s going to happen to him?”

  “We’ll be leaving for California this afternoon. He’ll be arraigned there. I have no idea when he’ll be tried.” He looked at her kindly. “Would you like me to keep you posted?” he asked.

  She looked relieved. “Yes. Please.” Taking a pen from his box, she quickly wrote out the address of the ranch on a piece of paper for him. “I’d appreciate it.”

  “No problem.” He paused. She sat very still. “That’s all I need right now. Will you be going home?”

  “Yes. If you don’t need me, I think I’ll start back in the morning.”

  He stood, shaking hands with her as she got up from her chair. “Good luck. And thank you.”

  Her smile was cool. She turned to go. But when she reached the door she stopped and stood very still for a moment, then turned back.

  “Can I see him?” she asked dully.

  He’d been afraid of that question from the beginning. He hated to tell her, but he had no choice. “I’m sorry. He has specifically said he doesn’t want to see you.”

  She nodded, not surprised. The emotions were boiling inside her again. One little slip like that and they all came surging to the surface. She bit her lip, holding her feelings back.

  But there was just one more thing. “I don’t suppose you could arrest me,” she said, her eyes deep and troubled, her voice trembling. “I don’t suppose you could put me in jail.” She knew she was being irrational, but she felt that was where she belonged. She wished she could somehow take Michael’s place there.

  “No, Jessie. I’m afraid not.”

  “No.” Her heart had done the asking. Her head knew better. “Well, goodbye.” She even managed a smile. And then she was gone.

  Sky glanced out at the men sitting in his waiting room. The best lawyers money could buy. It was too bad it had come to this, but he’d been in fights before. He’d weather this storm just as he’d weathered others before it.

  He closed the door and sank into the chair behind his desk, procrastinating. He wasn’t really ready to face the legal eagles yet. There was one more thing he had to do.

  “Betty,” he asked his secretary over the telephone, “get me Vanessa in Paris.”

  It took almost ten minutes to get through. He spent most of the time staring out the window at the city below. San Francisco. His home for all this time. Surely it wouldn’t turn on him now?

  No. A fierce anger swept through him. No, dammit! They weren’t going to get him. He would fight the government and the district attorney and every other man, woman and agency that tried to ruin him and the business he’d built up over the years.

  To do that he needed to gather his forces.
And he needed his family around him. Vanessa would have to come home and help her old man, now that he needed her. She’d pout and beg to stay in Paris. He knew his girl. And usually he’d give in to her. But not this time. He needed her. She had to come.

  “Mr. Matthews, I have your daughter on the line.”

  He picked up the telephone. “Vanessa, baby.”

  “Daddy!” Her voice sounded wonderful above the crackle of the overseas line.

  “Sweetheart, how are you? Are you having a good time in Paris?”

  “Oh, Daddy, I was going to call you. Guess what? Daddy, I think I’m in love.”

  He couldn’t keep the exasperation from his tone. “Again?”

  “No.” Her voice got very soft and confidential. “This time it’s for real, Daddy. His name is Mark Beaumont. He’s an artist. He does the most beautiful work in watercolor.” She laughed. “Oh, Daddy, it’s so amazing. I think he loves me, too.”

  Sky frowned. “Well, of course he does.”

  “No.” Her voice was solemn. “Haven’t you ever noticed, Daddy? They never love me. All the men in my life, it’s always been me crazy in love. Never them. Just look at Michael and how he acted. And this time...” Her voice got very soft and warm. “Oh, this time, Daddy, I think it’s true. I think he loves me back.”

  Sky made a helpless gesture no one saw. “Well, what about Michael? Have you forgotten all about him?”

  Vanessa sighed. “Michael is in my past, Daddy. He said when he left he would never marry me. I didn’t want to believe him, but now I see he was right to cut me free like that. Mark is my future. I can’t ever leave him.”

  Sky hesitated. “Sugar....” It was breaking his heart. “Honey, I’d like you to come home. I.,. I’ve got sort of a problem here.”

  Her voice was all tragedy. “Oh, no, Daddy, please don’t make me. If I leave now, I don’t know what will happen. I can’t go. If I do, I’ll be throwing away my only chance at happiness!”

  Sky felt something choking his throat. He was facing jail and his daughter was still looking for happiness. “Honey, this is serious. I’d feel stronger if I had you here beside me.”

  “Stronger?” She laughed. “You’re kidding, aren’t you? Oh, you old kidder! Honestly, Daddy, I’d come if I could. But we both know you can handle anything. You’re still Superman in my book. You’ll get along just fine without me.”

  What could he do? He loved her. His shaking hand went to his forehead and he closed his eyes. “Okay, honey,” he said, his voice raw. “You just have a wonderful time. I... I’ll call you later in the week.”

  He hung up the phone and looked around the office. He really was all alone. Everyone he’d ever loved was gone. Suddenly he felt very old and very tired. Leaning over the intercom, he said, “Betty, send my lawyers in. I’m ready now.”

  CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR

  Home On The Range

  Ranching was a good school for life, Jessie decided one morning as she and Smoke were out riding across her land. You worked so damn hard at it, trying again and again, and it gave you a lot of joy, and then it turned around and kicked you in the teeth, just for the fun of it. And you had to pick yourself up and dust off the seat of your pants and start all over again. Just like life.

  A ranch was also a good place to raise a child. She gave a yell as she saw a rider appear on the crest of the hill, and the rider answered and rode hell-bent for leather toward her, reining to a stop in a cloud of choking dust.

  “Jimmy! You do that one more time, I’ll have Harley tan your hide!”

  The boy laughed. They both knew she was bluffing. She loved to watch him ride. He’d taken to it as though he’d been born in the saddle. He seemed to have grown a foot in the six months since they’d been back from Las Vegas. His little body was thickening nicely, and the smile on his face couldn’t be beat.

  “I’ll race you home,” he challenged. “Bet I win.”

  “That’ll be the day.” But she grinned at him. “Actually, I’ve got to go and check the back lot. Mike said he thought there might be some strays hiding out there. There’s been rumors of cougars lately. I don’t want to leave them so far out. You go on back, though, cuz Harley could use your help with the lunch crowd.”

  Jimmy groaned. “I hate that old café,” he complained, and Jessie had to grin again, because she knew he was just voicing her opinion.

  “But you don’t hate Harley,” she reminded him. “So go on back and give him a hand.”

  “Okay.” Despite his complaining, he wore a cheerful expression as he rode off.

  Jessie continued on her way, riding slow. It was a crisp November day and she was feeling good. Feeling thankful. Counting her blessings.

  First and foremost was Jimmy, of course. She’d brought him back with her, moved him into the house as though he were her adopted child. Harley had taken to him right away, but friends, neighbors, even the ranch hands had said it wouldn’t work.

  “A runaway like that? He’ll be gone in a week” was the general opinion. “And he’ll rob you blind in the meantime. Don’t set yourself up for a broken heart.”

  Well, he was sort of a runaway, but he’d been a runaway searching desperately for the middle-class life he mostly saw on television. Jessie and Harley couldn’t quite provide that, and most of the TV stuff was a fantasy, anyway. But they could give Jimmy things he’d never had, the security he craved, the love that made him strong. And he’d blossomed in their care. Jessie was looking into adopting him legally, and the lawyer said there should be no problem, as soon as it was proven both his parents were deceased.

  The boy was a joy to have around. Jessie often told herself that all the pain and suffering were worth it, because of Jimmy. He was her reason to live.

  Another good thing was the money. Jessie had been in no mood to think about it that last day before she’d left Las Vegas, but Sheri and Sam had taken matters into their own hands and made sure she got the money from the jackpot. She was on videotape. The proof was there. All she had to do was show up to collect it.

  Of course, a good part of the fifty thousand dollars disappeared fast once commissions and taxes were paid, but there’d been enough left to do some good around the ranch, to fix up the house a little, to improve Harley’s café, to buy a few head of better stock.

  Harley and Fred had patched up their quarrel. They went together to the registrar of wills and took a look at what Aunt Jessica had left. It turned out there hadn’t been much of a fortune at all, and what there was had been willed to the Arizona Historical Society. They’d laughed over that. The ten years wasted were a shame, but they were making up for lost time now.

  About a week after she returned home, someone called about the reward for capturing Michael. All he wanted to do was advise her of her right to apply for it, but she hung up on him and never looked into it. That was one bit of money she would starve to death before she’d take.

  Michael. Her heart still ached when she thought of him, but she’d survived. Bob Taylor had sent her updates on his condition, as he’d promised, and sure enough, the authorities had clamped down on Sky Matthews and found enough evidence of Michael’s innocence that he had never even had to stand trial. She didn’t know how long Michael had been forced to spend in jail. She was sure his hatred of her had grown with every passing hour he was behind bars.

  But she knew he was out now, had been for months. At first a part of her had hoped he would get in touch with her. But as the weeks slipped by, that hope had died. It had been six long months since Las Vegas. She didn’t have time to live on memories. There was too much work to do for that.

  It was usually at night when the ghosts of that insane journey across the countryside came back to haunt her. She’d fall asleep quickly, as any woman who did the sort of physical labor she did would have done, and then at about two in the morning she would find herself wideawake, staring at the ceiling, and Michael’s face would be floating there, his smile, his laugh, his passion. And she would have
to go over every single detail of their time together once again before she could sleep.

  It was crazy really how five days could have changed her life so drastically. But they had.

  She found the strays and turned them over to one of the hands to get back to the main herd, then rode over to Harley’s café to see how the lunch take had been. She swung down and tied Smoke out back, stomping hard on the back steps as she came into the little restaurant.

  Jimmy was doing dishes. The only customer was the sheriff, and Harley was leaning across the counter, talking to him. Jessie tossed her hat like a Frisbee and it landed on top of the hat rack, then bounced down to occupy a handy chair.

  “Hi, Sheriff,” she said cheerfully, leaning next to Harley, placing her chin in her hands and smiling at the man. “What’s new?”

  The sheriff looked up from the piece of cherry pie he was attacking with relish and stared at her. Putting down his fork, he took off his dark glasses and stared again. Finally he spoke. “I was just telling your father here about a strange thing that happened. It seems to have something to do with you. Maybe you can help me figure it out.”

  She shrugged. “I’m always ready to cooperate with the law. You know that.”

  The sheriff grunted, but he didn’t return her teasing grin. “It seems someone went out to Bud Harvey’s ranch, called the man out into the yard and beat him up.” He fixed her with a stern eye. “You know anything about this?”

  Jessie had blanched on hearing Bud Harvey’s name. She knew the sheriff had noticed. Avoiding his eyes, she shook her head. “No...no, I don’t know anything about it.” The initial shock passed and her courage came back. She looked him straight in the eye and lifted her chin. “I can’t claim to have any great love for Bud Harvey, but I don’t believe that makes me unique. What makes you think I had anything to do with this?”

  “Well, you just listen, and I’ll tell you.” He had another bite of pie and took his own sweet time chewing it before a serious swallow. “Harvey’s wife called me. Said some guy in a suit, some city fella, was out in the yard beating her husband up and would I come quick and stop it. I said sure. I got in my car and drove on out there. The fella was long gone by the time I arrived. But one of Harvey’s hands, young stinker by the name of Petey, saw the whole thing. Told me the man called Bud out and just started beatin’ on him, then, when he had Bud down in the dust, said...” He brought a napkin to his mouth and cleared his throat before continuing. “He said, ‘This is for Jessie Carrington. Touch her again and you’ll die for it.’” The sheriff paused and squinted at Jessie. “You got anything to say?”