In a Cowboy's Arms (Hitting Rocks Cowboys)

by Rebecca Winters

  * * *

  AFTER SPENDING THE night on the reservation, Jarod drove straight to the ranch on Wednesday to look in on his grandfather. Since his hospital stay the month before, Ralph’s condition could change on a dime because of the pneumonia plaguing him. Martha had just served him his lunch. She smiled at Jarod as he walked into the bedroom.

  “I’ll stay with him while he eats,” he told her.

  “He’s in better spirits than I’ve seen him in a long time.”

  Jarod figured that might have had something to do with the visit from the gorgeous blonde on the neighboring ranch. Being with her last night had shaken him, though he wasn’t sure in such a positive way.

  You were my life, Jarod, but I thought you didn’t want me. I thought my life was over. I was devastated to think you’d decided it wouldn’t be wise to marry the daughter of Daniel Corkin. He hated you.

  Even though he’d talked to his uncle, it had taken until early morning before the cloud over Jarod’s mind had dispersed and he’d allowed himself to dig deeper for answers. Daniel wasn’t the only person who’d hated Jarod enough to cause him injury. He could think of another man who matched that description.

  A member of his own family.

  Since Sadie’s return to Montana, Ned had shot him glances that said he’d like to wipe Jarod off the face of the earth. Ned had always been up to trouble and had taken it upon himself to be chief watch dog of Jarod’s activities. Was it possible he’d heard about Jarod’s plans to marry Sadie?

  Jarod couldn’t imagine it, but if that was the case, then he understood the hate that could have driven Ned to prevent the ceremony from taking place. Couple that with his drinking and a scenario began to take form in Jarod’s mind.

  “I’m glad you’re here, son,” Ralph Bannock said. “We need to talk.”

  His grandfather’s raspy voice jerked him from his black thoughts to the present. Since Jarod’s father’s death, his grandfather, whose thinning dark hair was streaked with silver, had started calling Jarod “son.” Though he and Jarod were the same height, his grandfather had shrunk some. He was more fragile these days, and there were hollows in his cheeks.

  He was propped against a pillow, sipping soup through a straw. Martha kept him shaved and smelling good. Today he had on the new pair of pajamas Connor had brought him.

  Jarod spied a newly framed five-by-seven photograph placed on the bedside table. His breath caught when he realized it was a picture of his grandfather and Sadie taken when she couldn’t have been more than six or seven. She was a little blond angel back then, sitting on the back of a pony.

  His grandfather’s eyes misted over when he saw where Jarod was looking. “Sadie gave me that last evening. I remember the day her mother brought her over to see the new pony. Addie took a picture of us and gave it to her. Sadie said that was one of the happiest memories of her life and wanted me to have it.... With that father of hers, she didn’t have many good ones. There was always sweetness in that girl.”

  No one knew that better than Jarod. He’d never forgotten the day they’d rode into the rugged interior of the Pryors to find one of the wild horse herds. They’d come across a mare attending her foal, their shiny black coats standing out against the meadow of purple lupine. He and Sadie had watched for several hours. “I wish that little foal was mine. I never saw anything so beautiful in my life, Jarod.”

  The scene was almost as beautiful as Sadie herself. That was the day their souls joined.

  Jarod knew in his gut Leslie Weston was becoming more serious about him, yet he kept holding back. It wasn’t fair to her. She’d invited him to Colorado to meet her family, but he wasn’t there yet.

  When Sadie left again for California, maybe that would be the spell-breaker for him. So far no other woman had ever gotten past the entrance to that part of him where Sadie lived. She was his dream catcher, trapping the memories that would always haunt his nights.

  Last night his uncle had listened to him before giving him a warning. “Consider the wolf that decides it is better to risk death for some chance of finding a mate and a territory than to live safely, but have no chance of reproduction. You don’t know how many winters the Great Spirit will grant you, but they will be cold if you continue to torture yourself with insubstantial dreams that give no warmth.”

  Jarod knew his uncle was right. He could see a marriage working with Leslie. While he ranched, she’d be able to continue with her career. Together they’d raise a family. For a variety of reasons he felt she’d make a good wife. But would he make a good husband? The answer to that question was no. Not if he couldn’t tear Sadie out of his heart.

  “Son? Did you hear me?”

  His head reared. “What was that, grandfather?”

  “I said I need you to do me a favor.”

  “Anything.” He sat in the chair next to the bed, emotionally shredded.

  “It turns out Daniel is worse in death than he was in life.”

  Jarod sat forward. After what Sadie had told him about her father, he wasn’t surprised. “What do you mean?” Sadie’s father had cast a pall over their lives for too many years.

  “He cut Sadie and the Hensons out of his will.”

  The news shocked Jarod. She’d said nothing of this last night. He shot to his feet. “But there’s no one else to inherit!”

  “That’s right. On June third, the ranch is to be sold to the highest bidder. Parker Realty in Billings is handling it.”

  So soon? That was only two weeks away. Jarod’s hands formed fists.

  The lunatic was selling the place rather than give it to his own flesh and blood?

  “I would buy it,” his grandfather continued, “but Daniel thought of that, too. No Bannock will be able to touch it.”

  “But Sadie loves that ranch. It’s her home. If nothing else, she’d want to keep it in her family.”

  “She told me she plans to buy it so she and the Hensons can live on the property until they die. It would be just like that lowlife Corkin to force her to come up with her own money to buy it back. You and I know her heart has always been here.”

  Jarod felt his heart skip a beat. Despite what everyone had been thinking, Sadie wasn’t going back to California. Even when the circumstances pointed otherwise, deep down Jarod had known.

  “Does she have the kind of money it will take?”

  “She has savings, but Zane is flying back to California to sell the Lawson house. That money combined with hers ought to be enough to pay off the bank loan so they can hold on to it until they come up with more.”

  “‘They’?” His nervous system received another shocking jolt. “What does Zane have to do with her ranch?”

  “Everything! Being Ryan’s uncle, he has decided to move here with her. Together they’re going to do the ranching.”

  Jarod frowned. “Does he know anything about ranching?”

  “She said he’s a retired navy SEAL who just got divorced after finding out his wife was unfaithful. If he was courageous enough to defend our country and survive thirteen years in the military, it stands to reason he can learn. Mac will be there to help him.”

  His grandfather had an amazing way of humbling Jarod.

  “One day she wants it to be Ryan’s in honor of Eileen. Their mother put her heart and soul into that ranch before Daniel drove her away. What I want you to do is pay a visit to our attorney in Billings. Ned wants that ranch. He wants Sadie, too, but she was never his to have.”

  Their eyes locked. His grandfather’s steel-gray ones stared at him. “If it wasn’t for that accident, she would have been your wife!”

  As if Jarod needed to be reminded.

  “When Ned hears it’s on the market, he’ll try to fight the will on the grounds that a third-party designee won’t stand up in court these days and anyone can b
uy it. I want you to get to Harlow before Ned does. Inform him of Sadie’s desperate plight and make sure no one else gets their hands on her property. Block him with everything you’ve got.” His gray eyebrows lifted. “I mean everything.”

  Jarod got the message. This was a mission he was going to relish. Ralph Bannock of the Hitting Rocks Ranch was a big name in the State of Montana and wielded a certain amount of power among the business community. For once Jarod planned to use that power for leverage.

  “Don’t worry about Tyson or your Uncle Grant,” his grandfather continued, unaware of the tumult inside Jarod. “I’ll take care of them. If they decide the blood between them and Ned is thicker than the blood between them and me, then there will be war. We’ll have to get there before they do. Time is of the essence. I’ll be damned if I’ll let Daniel Corkin cheat Sadie out of her rightful inheritance. Addie wouldn’t have stood for it.”

  Jarod remembered Ned’s angry warning in the barn two nights ago about the war not being over. Little did his cousin know what he was in for. Though Ralph had always been Jarod’s champion, until this moment he hadn’t known how much he loved his grandfather. “I’ll drive to Billings first thing in the morning.”

  “We’ll keep this under wraps.”

  “I’m way ahead of you.”

  * * *

  SINCE THURSDAY WAS Liz’s day off from the clinic and she wanted to tend Ryan, Sadie had to wait till then to drive Zane to Billings to make his flight. Little Ryan cried when they walked out the back door. They both felt the wrench, but Sadie knew he’d be laughing in a few minutes.

  After she dropped Zane off at the airport, Sadie met with Mr. Bree at Parker Realty and they talked business. He couldn’t tell her about the other bids, but he did give her a price. If she could meet it, he’d be happy to sell the property to Zane.

  She explained about the house in San Francisco, advising that Zane’s agent would contact Mr. Bree with a notice of intent to use the money from the sale of the house to purchase the ranch. Everything depended on a quick sale. Sadie put down earnest money from her savings account. With that accomplished, she left his office and headed back to the ranch. She had a lot to discuss with Zane when he called her later.

  Ryan was taking his afternoon nap when she returned. Now was a good time to get busy cleaning out her father’s bedroom. So far she hadn’t been able to bring herself to go in it. When she told Liz and Millie of her intentions, they wouldn’t hear of it.

  “Give it more time, honey,” Millie urged her. “While Ryan’s still asleep, why not put on those sassy new cowboy boots and take a ride on Sunflower?”

  “She’s a lot like Brandy once was,” Liz commented. “Playful, with plenty of spirit. You’ll love her. But Maisy’s energetic, too. Go ahead and ride whichever one you want.”

  “Thank you.” Sadie stared out the living room window facing the mountains. “I presume Dad sold my horse after I left.”

  “Along with half the cattle.”

  “Did he get rid of my saddle, too?”

  “No. It’s still waiting for you in the tack room.” Millie got up from the couch and put an arm around her. “Don’t dwell on the past. I happen to know a girl around here who never let a day go by without going for a ride.”

  Obviously, Millie knew she was on the verge of breaking down.

  “Maybe for a half hour. If you’re sure.”

  “What else have we got to do? Having a child in this house makes me feel useful again.”

  “It makes me want one of my own,” Liz said on a mournful note.

  So far every subject they’d touched on was painful one way or the other. “I’ll get ready, but I won’t take a long ride. If Ryan starts crying for me, call me on my cell.”

  Millie shook her head. “Whatever did we do before cell phones?”

  If Sadie and Jarod could have called each other eight years ago...

  But Sadie’s father had forbidden her to have a phone. He didn’t want guys calling her without him knowing about it. At Christmas, four months before she’d fled to California, Jarod had bought her one and paid for the service, but she’d been too afraid her father would find out. She’d made Jarod take it back.

  If they’d been able to talk before his accident, she would have known he hadn’t deserted her. They would have communicated while he was in the hospital and their marriage would have taken place the second he got out....

  You’re a fool to dredge up so much pain, Sadie.

  She put the phone she’d bought ages ago in her blouse pocket, then went in the bedroom to change into her cowboy boots. Just a short ride to the bluff overlooking the ranch and back.

  After thanking Millie and Liz, she left the house through the back door and walked to the barn, lifting her face to the sun.

  The smell of the barn flooded her with bittersweet memories. Horses had been her soul mates, just as Jarod had said. When her mom had left, this was the place where she’d come to cry her heart out and find solace. They’s always listened and nudged her as if to say they understood.

  Though the fights between her parents had stopped, for a long time the emptiness of no loving parent in the house had swallowed her alive. From her earliest memories, her father had been a gun-toting alcoholic. He’d always been gruff, though her mother had done her best to shield Sadie from him.

  But somewhere along the way he’d turned hard and cold. After the divorce he’d just have to look at Sadie and she’d known he was seeing her mother. Sadie had learned to stay out of his way.

  A neigh from the horse in the barn startled her, breaking her free of those memories. She discovered her cheeks were damp. After wiping the tears away, she walked over to Maisy’s stall. The sorrel stared at her as if surprised to see a stranger.

  Sadie moved on to Sunflower’s stall. With a yellowish gray coat set off by a black mane and tail, the dun-colored mare was well named. She nickered a greeting.

  Sadie rubbed her nose. “Well, aren’t you the friendliest horse around here. Want to go for a ride? I know you’re one of Liz’s horses, but you won’t care if I take you out for some exercise, right?” She marveled that her friend, who’d become a vet, was still Montana’s champion barrel racer. But as she’d informed Sadie, this would be her last year of competition and she hoped to go to the Pro Rodeo Finals in Las Vegas in December.

  The horse nickered again, bringing a smile to Sadie. She could saddle and bridle a horse in her sleep, and before long she had left the barn and was galloping away from the ranch. As the horse responded to her body language, the exhilaration she hadn’t felt in years came rushing back. She’d done this before. She’d felt this way before.

  Her inner compass told her where to go. She was on one of those rare highs and discovered herself racing toward the rocky formations in the distance where Jarod had first taken her to see the wild horses. Sadie knew he wouldn’t be there. She didn’t even know if the horses still ran there, but she was back now and this was one pilgrimmage she had to make.

  In a few minutes she’d reached the place where her bond with Jarod had been forged. The deserted gulch held no evidence that anything had ever happened here, but cut Sadie open and you’d see his imprint on the organ pumping her life’s blood.

  Jarod. It was always you. It will always be you.

  * * *

  WHEN JAROD TOLD Harlow’s secretary he needed to see his grandfather’s attorney ASAP, he figured he might have to wait hours or come back the next day. But the two men were old friends. As soon as she buzzed her boss and told him who was out in reception, she smiled at Jarod.

  “He says you can go right in.”

  “Thanks, Nancy.” He walked across the foyer to the double doors and opened them.

  Harlow started toward him. Though the older man was in his seventies and had a shock of white hair, he was a wi
ry, energetic individual. His shrewd blue eyes played over Jarod with genuine pleasure. “Come on in! It’s always good to see you.”

  They shook hands before the lawyer took a seat behind his desk, motioning for Jarod to sit in one of the leather wing-backed chairs in front of it. “Has Ralph taken another turn for the worse?”

  “His last bout of pneumonia left him weak, but he’s still fighting.”

  “That’s good to hear. And Tyson?”

  “His macular degeneration along with ulcers has taken a real toll.” The brothers were only two years apart. “I’ve come on my grandfather’s behalf about something vital.”

  “Ralph appears to be depending on you more and more to run the Hitting Rocks Ranch. He couldn’t choose a better man to be following in his footsteps.”

  Jarod’s uncle Grant probably wouldn’t like hearing that, but Jarod had always liked Harlow and felt the man’s sincerity. “They’re big ones.”

  Harlow chuckled. “Indeed they are.” He pushed a stack of legal briefs to the side of his desk and leaned forward. “Tell me what’s going on.”

  It didn’t take Jarod long to explain the problem.

  The older man touched his fingertips together. “What a tragedy, but there is a very simple way around the problem. If Ralph wants to make certain Sadie Corkin doesn’t lose her ranch without her knowing he’s behind it, I’ll act as a straw buyer and purchase the property.”

  “It’s going for $700,000.”

  He nodded. “When all the papers are filed and transactions made, Ralph can pay me and the land will be deeded over to Zane Lawson. He can work out the details with Ralph to get him paid back. No laws have been broken, therefore no grounds for a court case. That part of Daniel Corkin’s will doesn’t hold water. Anyone has the right to buy that ranch including a Bannock.”

  With those words Jarod felt his chest expand. Only a friendship as strong as the one his grandfather and Harlow had built over the years could have achieved this miracle. “How soon could you act on it?”

  “Today if you want.” He quirked one white eyebrow. “You’re anticipating a bidding war?”