Passion on the Ranch: Books 1-4 (4-Book Bundle) (Erotic Romance - Western Romance)

by Hart, Melissa F.

  As she read the words, her hands started to shake. It said:

  Darling, I know how important it is for you to find who poisoned Lucky Penny. This belt must have something to do with it and I know who it belongs to. I’m going to talk to him this morning and hopefully I’ll have made everything right for you by the time you wake up. Love, Colton.

  Suzanna felt tears stinging her eyes but she refused to let them fall. It touched her heart that her husband loved her enough to want to solve this mystery for her, but it also made her fear for his safety. Anyone willing to poison a stable full of horses might also be willing to kill any person who got in their way. Colton might very well be putting his own life at risk in his noble attempt to make her happy. He said he knew who the belt belonged to, but he didn’t give her a name. How could she stop him from putting himself at risk if she didn’t know where he had gone?

  The tears she had been trying so hard to hold back burst forth, unbidden. Suzanna had no choice but give into them. She buried her face in her hands and sobbed uncontrollably. It was humiliating to behave so childishly, but she couldn’t help it. She realized with a sigh that she hadn’t had her menstrual cycle since before the wedding and it was probably just hormones that were making her so emotional lately.

  “Pull yourself together, Suzanna,” she scolded herself. She grabbed a handkerchief from the dresser and wiped her eyes dry then blew her nose loudly. Afterward she felt better, but as she blew her nose a second time, something made her pause. There was an odd smell in the air she hadn’t notice before.

  Suzanna’s eyes flew open wide as she realized what the scent was; smoke! Suzanna ran outside of the cabin as fast as she could and saw the barn was engulfed in flames. “No!” she cried out and ran toward it. The heat from the flames drove her back and she stepped right into one of her father’s workers.

  “Take it easy. The horses aren’t in there, so there’s no need to run,” he said as he held her. Suzanna recognized him as one of the newest employees, a man named Clyde.

  “I’ve got to call the fire department!” Suzanna said frantically, but he held her tightly by the arm, squeezing her painfully with his fingers.

  “Your father already did that. He told me to tell you to wait here,” he said in an odd tone of voice.

  “Wait for what?” she asked, puzzled. That wasn’t the kind of thing Daddy would have told her to do in an emergency. He would have counted on her skills to evacuate all the employees and animals, and get everyone to safety. Waiting wasn’t his style or hers.

  Clyde shrugged and said “I was just with him in the house and he told me to find you and tell you to wait here. Something big is about to happen that you need to see.”

  “I’ll just get Colton then,” Suzanna said, trying to pull her arm free from Clyde, but he only gripped her harder.

  “Colton is part of it. They both want you to wait here.”

  “Okay,” Suzanna said and Clyde relaxed his grip on her. As soon as he had, she lifted her boot and kicked him as hard as she could in the shin. As he began to hop on one leg in pain, she shoved him with all her strength, knocking him completely off balance and onto the ground.

  “Daddy’s not here! He spent the night at the veterinary hospital with the horses! Colton went to confront the man who poisoned them, and I think it must be you!”

  Suzanna pulled her revolver from her holster and pointed directly at Clyde’s head. He immediately put his hands in the air and cried out pitifully, “It wasn’t me. It’s my brother. He’s the one who poisoned the horses! I told him not to do it; but he wanted to teach you a lesson. He wanted you to know what it was like to lose everything that mattered to you.”

  “So he poisoned Lucky Penny,” Suzanna said with understanding. She listened as Clyde confessed everything, and gasped in horror as when he revealed that his brother was Jasper, the cattle rustler who had tried to kill her and Colton not so very long ago.

  “Where is he now?” Suzanna asked, her voice trembling.

  Clyde shook his head pathetically and cried out, “He’s gone to take away everything that you love. He’s gone to get his ultimate revenge.”

  Suzanna thought hard for a moment. Everything she loved; what could that be? The answers were simple enough. She loved Daddy and growing up on the ranch, and of course she loved Colton. Suddenly, the fire from the barn created an explosion that knocked her back several feet. She fell hard to the ground with her ears ringing.

  As her head began to clear, she saw that the explosion in the barn had purposefully caused the fire to leap from the empty structure to the ranch house. Growing flames were beginning to swallow the beautiful home where she had lived with Daddy. Thank God he wasn’t there this morning, but someone else was! To her horror, she saw the silhouette of a man in the window on the top floor. Suddenly, Clyde’s words made sense and she realized who the figure in the window was.

  “Colton!” she cried out in terror. “Jasper isn’t just trying to burn down my childhood home; he’s going to murder Colton in the process!”

  Too guilty to speak, Clyde simply nodded his head to let her know she was right. Suzanna was already gone, however. She was running toward the ranch house, desperate to save the man she loved no matter what it took.

  ***

  Chapter Seven

  Colton was tied tightly to a chair, unable to break free or move. The chair was positioned in front of a window overlooking the ranch; the perfect view to the tragic scene below. Colton was forced to watch as Suzanna came running out of their cabin to see the barn burning. He saw her have a confrontation with Clyde and silently cheered when she kicked him and knocked him the ground. Then, after the barn exploded and the ranch house began to burn, he watched in terror as the woman he loved ran toward the burning building.

  “No! Run away, Suzanna! Don’t try to save the house! Don’t try to save me! You’ve got to get away!” Colton shouted out uselessly, knowing that she couldn’t hear him and that she would ignore him even if she could. She was a stubborn and defiant woman who followed her heart and never listened to anybody. It was her best and worst quality rolled into one.

  Suddenly, he could hear her shouting from downstairs and he realized that she had entered the ranch house, despite the growing fire.

  “Colton! Where are you?”

  “Get away to safety!” Colton shouted down to her. “Tell the police it was Jasper. He poisoned the horses and he started this fire. He wants to kill you, too! Get away to safety before it’s too late!”

  “I’m not leaving without you!” Suzanna cried out breathlessly, as she climbed to the top of the stairs and found Colton where he was bound to the chair. Quickly, she worked to release him from the complicated knots, but it was difficult. Her eyes were watering from the smoke and it was becoming hard to breathe. Plus it was growing terribly hot and sweat was making her hands too wet to grip the rope.

  “Don’t worry about me! Escape before he kills you, too!” Colton insisted, but Suzanna wouldn’t listen.

  “If I let you burn to death in this fire, then I might as well already be dead. I love you more than life. Either we both escape together or we both die together.”

  Colton resigned himself to the fact that he couldn’t change her mind. He understood her feelings, for he felt the same way about her. They were joined together as husband and wife until death do us part, and there was no way that either one of them would ever abandoned the other while they were still alive.

  Finally, the last of the knots came undone and Colton sprang free from the chair. The room was engulfed in smoke now and they both crawled along the floor, desperate for breathable air. They crawled to the window, and Colton kicked it open with his powerful legs. They both breathed in the fresh air, but so did the fire, and suddenly the flames creeping in on them became a massive wall of solid flames.

  “We’ve got to jump!” Colton cried out between painful coughs of his lungs.

  “We’re on the second floor! It’s too high up!�
� Suzanna said fearfully.

  Colton saw that she was right. Desperately, he glanced around the room. Tall curtains hung from a rod above the window. He yanked them down and held them out the window. He said to Suzanna “I’ll hold the curtain for you to climb down like a rope.”

  “But how will you get down?” Suzanna cried, shaking her head vehemently. She wouldn’t leave him to die just to save herself.

  “When you reach the bottom, you can grab a ladder from the side of the house and put it up to the window for me to escape. It’s our only hope! You’ve got to do it!” Colton said. He grabbed her and kissed her passionately, with all the love he felt for her in his heart.

  Suzanna knew that he was right. This was the only way she could save him. Clutching the curtain, she climbed down it like a rope until she felt the ground beneath her feet. She turned and ran for the nearest ladder. Just as she reached it, however, a familiar figure blocked her path.

  “Jasper!” she cried out in surprise and terror.

  He drew a gun and aimed it right at Suzanna’s heart. Grinning madly, he said, “Just halt right there, girl. I’m gonna make you watch while your ranch house burns to the ground, with your husband trapped inside. Then, after you’ve witnessed him burn to death, I’m going to shoot you!”

  Suzanna froze in place, not knowing what she could do. Even if she reached for her gun, Jasper already had his drawn and would shoot her before she even touched the trigger. Her only hope was to appeal to his sense of humanity.

  “Please Jasper, don’t do this. I’m sorry that you’ve suffered in your life, but killing Colton and me won’t fix your problems, it will only make them worse. Surely there’s some goodness in you. You can still do the right thing and let us all go.”

  “Ha! I quit doing the right thing long ago!” Jasper said. Suddenly, a bullet pierced through the air, hitting Jasper in the hand. He screamed in pain and dropped the gun he was holding to grip his bleeding hand. Suzanna turned and was surprised to see Clyde holding a smoking gun aimed at Jasper.

  “I’m sorry I had to shoot you, brother, but she’s right. I can’t keep on letting you do bad things to people. I wanted to stop you from killing that owl, but I didn’t. I wanted to stop you from killing those horses, but I was too afraid. Now, you’ve moved on to killing people and I just can’t stand by and let it happen anymore. This was my chance to do the right thing and I did it.”

  “Thank you Clyde! I’ll never forget this!” Suzanna kissed Clyde on the cheek. Then she remembered Colton and hurried to carry a ladder up to the house. She leaned it against the window and he climbed out just moments before flames completely engulfed the room. His hair and clothes were singed, his lungs were damaged, and his skin had burns, but he was alive!

  It took the fire department hours to put out the flames, and when they were done the ranch house was completely destroyed. The house she’d grown up in had to be demolished along with the barn and several other structures; only the cabin and the chicken coop survived.

  Colton fared well enough, too; his burns were all minor and healed quickly, as did his lungs. He and Suzanna moved Jeremiah into the guest bedroom of their little cabin, which put a damper on their lovemaking, but they needed to take a break from that while Colton recovered, anyway. Besides, Suzanna wasn’t in much of a mood to be wild, as the stress of recent events had taken a heavy toll on her. She spent most of her mornings vomiting and didn’t have her usual energy. Colton wondered if maybe she’d gotten a virus when he was in the hospital, but it passed after a few weeks.

  Making plans to rebuild the ranch house seemed to give her a spark of new life and renewed energy. As the reconstruction began, she seemed to be positively glowing and was gaining weight in a very pleasing way.

  “What’s with you lately?” Colton teased her lovingly. They were surveying the progress on the new house when suddenly she started nibbling his neck.

  “I was just thinking that soon this house will be finished and we’ll be able to move in. It will be nice to have our own place, away from Daddy.”

  “Wait a minute.” Colton held up a hand in surprise. “Won’t your father be moving into the ranch house?”

  “Daddy and I talked about it this morning. He’s just a single man and the cabin will give him all the space he needs. The ranch house is large with plenty of bedrooms for a growing family. Daddy said it’s only proper that you and I should live in once it’s built.”

  “That’s awfully generous of him, but we don’t need that much space either.” Colton flushed, feeling taken aback by Jeremiah’s generous offer.

  “I told Daddy that, but he didn’t want his grandchildren growing up in a tiny cabin when they didn’t have to. The timing is a little tight. I’ll be in my third trimester by the time the builders are done, but that still gives us plenty of time to decorate.”

  Colton suddenly felt faint and had to grip the wooden frame the builders had erected to keep from passing out.

  “What? You’re pregnant?” he asked with a look of surprise. As Suzanna nodded, all the color drained from his face. The shock he was feeling quickly turned into complete and utter joy. He scooped her into his arms and kissed her passionately as he hugged her tight. “Pregnant! I’m so happy I’m going to be a father! Is it a boy? Is it a girl?”

  “Yes.” Suzanna smiled, relieved to see that he was as thrilled about the pregnancy as she was.

  “Don’t tease me; just tell me which one? Are we having a boy or a girl?”

  “We’re having one of each. The doctor said they’re fraternal twins.”

  Colton whooped with joy and swung his beautiful wife in a circle before gently setting her back down on the ground and kissing her sweetly.

  Jeremiah Wheeler couldn’t help but grin at the scene the happy couple made as they held each other amidst the construction of their new home. His daughter had always sworn she didn’t want to be a wife; she’d said she was too independent and wanted to ride her horses freely across the land, but as her father he had always known better. Sure, Jeremiah had feigned being angry about her affair with Colton, but that was just to cement the love he’d known they’d have for each other. He’d known the kind, responsible foreman was just the right man to tame his wild daughter, and he’d been right all along.

  The only thing Jeremiah realized he’d been wrong about was hiring that summer employee, Clyde. He’d allowed evil onto the ranch by helping his brother Jasper in is plot of revenge. Sure Clyde had done the right thing in the end and allowed Suzanna to rescue Colton, but no sooner had Clyde turned his back on his brother, than Jasper picked his gun up with his uninjured hand, shot Clyde, and disappeared.

  Jeremiah hoped that Jasper had run away this time for good and that they’d never see him again. Looking at his daughter smiling in the arms of her husband, he pushed all thoughts of Jasper from his mind. They’d had enough unpleasantness to last them a lifetime. It was time to move onto the better things and a new future. Soon, the ranch would be filled with the sound of children again as two new babies graced the land.

  “I love you so much!” Colton whispered in Suzanna’s ear as they held each other tightly in the very place where their new bedroom would soon be built.

  “I love you, too.” Suzanna grinned. Then she cocked her head playfully and said, “You know, I think this would be a good time for us to sneak off to the barn together. Daddy’s busy with the builders and all the ranch hands are out in the fields. We’ll have the hay loft completely to ourselves.”

  “It sounds like you’re trying to be naughty.” Colton grinned playfully back at her and let her lead him to the barn. Even amidst all the changes they were having in their lives, they both knew that the one thing that would always stay the same was their passion for each other.

  THE END

 

 
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