Cowboy Christmas Guardian

by Dana Mentink

  “I can’t stay quiet.” Her eyes searched Shelby’s. “Barrett is obviously fond of you and so are we. He feels a duty to protect you, a commitment that I haven’t seen in him since Bree was alive, but he’s already lost one woman he loved and I don’t want that to happen to him again.”

  “I don’t want him to risk himself for me. I didn’t ask him to.”

  Her eyes flashed. “Don’t you see that you didn’t have to? I think he’s falling in love with you, and that means nothing would ever prevent him from standing by your side.”

  Falling in love with her? “You’re wrong,” she wanted to reply, but Evie had taken Shelby’s hand.

  “Say you’ll walk away from the mine and never go back.”

  A pang of regret stabbed her heart. Evie was right. Any mother would insist on the same thing, but she could not make a promise to Evie Thorn that would mean she had to break the one to her uncle. “I still haven’t completed my work for Uncle Ken. I can’t make a promise like that.”

  Evie chewed her lip. When she finally spoke, her voice was a ragged whisper. “Then promise me you’ll stay away from my son.”

  Tom cleared his throat. “We don’t have the right to interfere, Evie.”

  “Yes, we do,” she said, tears sparkling on her lashes. “After what he’s endured, I can’t stand by and watch another disaster in the making. He’s finally begun to heal.”

  Tom sighed. “Let’s talk about this later when we’ve got our nerves under control.”

  Evie nodded, mouth tight, and stared out the window.

  Shelby kept her own gaze front and center, willing herself not to cry. Stay away from my son... How could they not understand her desire to protect her uncle? Did it really come down to betraying him in order to follow her burgeoning feelings for Barrett? She recalled the absolute terror she’d felt when the ladder had collapsed, throwing him into the abyss. Did she care for him enough to walk away from her uncle?

  Is that what love meant? Turning your back on your family?

  No, she told herself. She’d turned her back on her mother, busied herself with school and her career, allowing anger and resentment to cement the wall between them. Whatever she felt for Barrett was not strong enough to drive her to abandon Uncle Ken.

  Besides, Barrett had said he could not give her what she deserved, so deep were his own feelings of resentment. Thoughts whirled through her mind along with a cascade of hurts and hopes. She could not be with Barrett unless she gave up on Uncle Ken, and Barrett was not able to give his heart to her because of his endless rage at that same man.

  Oh, Lord, she pleaded silently, what should I do?

  There was no answer in her soul, no comfort as the miles unrolled before them.

  TWENTY-TWO

  After Barrett was thoroughly poked, prodded, hydrated and had his ribs taped, he found Officer Larraby waiting. He’d refused any pain medicine other than a couple of aspirin and fatigue was not helping him concentrate on the questions. Nor was the detached look on Shelby’s face. Was she experiencing delayed shock? He didn’t blame her. As the hours after their escape ticked by, the magnitude of the whole trauma was starting to sink in.

  They sat in an empty waiting room with Larraby and another officer while his parents and brothers clustered nearby.

  Barrett explained again about the body and did his best to describe the location. “I took pictures...” His voice trailed off. “But we used my phone,” he said, “and it was smashed in the fall.”

  “We might still be able to lift something from it.” Larraby held out a palm.

  Barrett felt his cheeks warm. “I left it in the cavern.”

  “I don’t suppose you picked it up?” Larraby cast a peeved glance at Shelby.

  She shook her head. “No, but I can confirm everything he said. You should be able to find the spot where the body is buried and maybe the place where we found the hair.”

  “Oh, you think so, do you? Not until we get some engineers to shore up the place and a backhoe to remove a ton of rubble. Oscar’s given us carte blanche to do whatever we need to, but we’ll still have to bring in people from outside the county to make this happen and that costs time and money.”

  “Do it, then,” Barrett said irritably. “The family needs their son’s remains. It’s only right.”

  “Your family is fortunate we aren’t digging out your remains,” he said, glaring at Barrett, before he cast a glance at Shelby. “Or yours. We contacted your uncle on his cell phone and he’s half-frantic. He’s on his way home right now.”

  Shelby looked at the floor. “I didn’t mean for any of this to happen.”

  “Well, that makes it all better now, doesn’t it?” Larraby said.

  “Hey,” Barrett snapped, “no harm done and we discovered a possible murder. You should be thanking us.”

  “That’ll be the day.”

  “The red marks,” Shelby said suddenly. “Someone left them as a set of directions. Maybe it was the murderer, who intended to come back and remove the body at some point.”

  Larraby held up a palm. “First off, we don’t know this was murder. Second, red marks could have been left by anyone. We’ll investigate, but for now, stay out of the mine.”

  “I concur,” Barrett’s mother said. He saw an odd look on her face as she gazed at Shelby and he wondered what the two of them had talked about on the way to the clinic.

  All he could think about was how petrified he’d been watching Shelby crawl across that ladder. He wanted to touch her, to hold her, to reassure himself that she really was there and not lying broken at the bottom of the chasm. He itched for the others to move away and give him a moment alone with Shelby.

  She straightened and checked her phone. “It’s a text from my uncle. He’s on his way home from the airport.”

  Barrett’s heart sank. He’d not realized until that moment how much he liked having her on the ranch.

  “I have to go,” she said.

  “We’ll drive you,” Barrett said, giving his brothers a look.

  Jack nodded. “Sure. We can stop at the ranch first and get your things if you’d like.”

  “No, thank you,” she said. “I will find my own way home.”

  Barrett started to object but she simply walked out of the waiting room. His mother tried to put a restraining arm on his shoulder but he got painfully to his feet and followed. “Shelby, wait.”

  When she did not slow, he tried to hurry but his legs felt battered and scraped. “Shelby.” She did not pause until he touched her arm. Finally, she turned.

  “What is it, Barrett?” Her eyes looked pained and he wondered if she’d been hurt more seriously than she let on.

  He felt suddenly tongue-tied. “Well, I mean, I don’t think you should be leaving alone.”

  “Why not?”

  “Um, I...I’m worried about you.”

  She caught her lip between her teeth and he could see moisture glittering in her eyes. “Barrett, I am sorry I got you into more trouble, but it won’t happen again. I appreciate all you’ve done for me, I really do, but it’s best if we go our separate ways.”

  “Separate ways?” he repeated dumbly.

  “Yes. I’m going back home to my uncle and you’re going with your family. That’s the way it should be.”

  Of course she was right. His life had been simpler, easier without her, but the words stung like wasps. “Did I...did I say something wrong back there in the mine?”

  She tilted her head and he wanted to reach out and push the strands of hair from her forehead, but he stood frozen.

  “No, not at all. You’ve been so good to me and gone way out on a limb to help me, and so has your family, but my first loyalty has to be to my uncle and your family expects your loyalty to be to them.”

 
“My loyalty is not in question.”

  “It will be, and so will your safety if you hang around with me. Please take good care of yourself, okay?”

  “Shelby,” he started.

  She moved quickly, pressing a kiss on his cheek, and left through the sliding exit doors.

  He felt a presence behind him and turned to find his mother. “I begged her not to go into that mine anymore, and she could not promise that she wouldn’t, so...”

  “So?”

  “So I asked her not to be involved with you.”

  For a second, anger licked hot inside his gut. “Mama...”

  “I know it wasn’t my place, but I was scared. She said her first duty was to her uncle.”

  He let out a gush of air. Ken Arroyo...the root of all the heartbreaks in Barrett’s life. If things had been different, he mused, if Shelby wasn’t the man’s niece...but she was, and all that Shelby and Barrett had gone through was for the purpose of helping him out, the man who’d raised a feckless son, the boy who killed Barrett’s wife.

  He looked at his mother, pain that began when Bree died etched deeply in the crow’s-feet around her eyes. He realized how he must have reawakened that pain by his dangerous interactions with Shelby. He could not be mad at her.

  “If you...if you want her to be a part of your life,” she said, “I will apologize to her, Barrett. I’ll drive over there right now.”

  My first loyalty has to be to my uncle.

  His mother was right. He folded her in his arms and kissed the top of her head. “I love you, Mama.”

  She sighed softly against his chest. “Can we go home now, honey?”

  “Yes, ma’am,” he said. “Let’s do that.”

  * * *

  Shelby could hardly keep her eyes open when she arrived by taxi back at the Arroyo Ranch late that night. Her uncle met her with both anger and rejoicing.

  “You never should have gone. What were you thinking?” Then he clutched her in a bear hug that nearly squeezed the air out of her.

  She endured his relentless questions. “The bottom line is that I got the samples.”

  That stopped him short. “You did?”

  She nodded. “I’ve arranged with an assayer in Copperopolis to analyze them tomorrow at his lab.”

  His eyes widened. “I would never have wanted you to risk your life, but I am glad to know something good came out of it.”

  “Maybe. We’ll know after I complete the analysis.”

  “Well, I’m going with you, of course.”

  “It’s a date,” she said, smiling. “Ten o’clock.”

  “And I’m contacting the Thorns to have my horses returned ASAP.”

  She frowned. “They were very gracious to take them.”

  He lifted a shoulder. “Yes,” he admitted. “I suppose they were. I’ll be sure to thank them.”

  After the hottest, longest shower she could manage, she pulled on some blissfully clean clothing. Her body felt less achy in spite of the gouge on her arm, but the throb in her chest had not dissipated since she left the clinic. The look on Barrett’s face had almost broken her will to leave.

  But he’d made it clear, hadn’t he, before the cave-in? There could be no future for them anyway. His mother had only confirmed that. The Thorns were good people and Shelby would not threaten their future simply to chase after her own fleeting happiness with a man who did not want her enough.

  Fatigue overwhelmed her and she lay down on the bed, pulling the covers up to her chin. As she drifted off to sleep, she thought of the Thorn family room, the smell of Evie’s cooking, the good-natured ribbing of the brothers and the sad blue eyes of one particular brother.

  * * *

  Shelby decided that a dose of sunshine might help lift the gloom the next morning. The December frost had long since melted away, leaving the ground damp. She’d just crested the slope moving toward the stables when she caught sight of the Thorns’ horse trailer parked near the pasture.

  She froze. “Oh, quit it, you ninny. After the horses are delivered, you won’t see any more of Barrett.” Besides, she thought, it was likely Barrett wasn’t even participating in the process with his banged-up ribs and the way they’d ended things at the clinic.

  Standing tall and pushing her hair behind her ears, she marched toward the pasture, face flushing when she realized Barrett was indeed there, coaxing Diamond from the trailer. Pattycake and Buddy were already freed, close together and happy in the pasture.

  Emmaline was also there, to Shelby’s surprise, elbows propped on the pasture fence watching Barrett. Shelby joined her.

  “Are you okay?” Emmaline asked.

  “Yes, a little worse for wear, but not bad.”

  Emmaline cocked her head. “It’s like you are invincible or something.”

  Shelby laughed. “Not anywhere close.”

  Emmaline quirked a grin. “I hope it’s okay that I came. You said...” She shoved her hands in the pockets of her jeans. “You said I could come and see Diamond anytime.”

  “And I meant it.”

  They watched Barrett ease the nervous horse from the trailer before he led Diamond to the pasture and let her loose, shutting the gate behind. After a moment’s hesitation, he joined them.

  Emmaline moved away a few paces, pulling an apple from her pocket, face shining.

  “Here, Diamond. Remember me? Come here, girl.”

  Barrett kept his gaze on the horse.

  “Thank you for taking care of them,” Shelby said.

  “Your uncle already thanked us and offered to pay.”

  “Which you didn’t accept.”

  “Correct.” Now he glanced at her. “They weren’t any trouble. Are you...okay?”

  She nodded. “Scraped is all. You?”

  He shrugged in typical fashion. “No lasting damage. Did you, uh, get your samples safely home?”

  She nodded. “Taking them to a lab in Copperopolis at ten to analyze.”

  Emmaline stretched her arm farther over the fence. “Diamond,” she crooned softly. “You used to be mine, remember? Red apples were your favorite and I brought you one every day.”

  The horse sniffed the air, nostrils flared.

  “That’s it,” Emmaline said. “You remember now.”

  The horse suddenly wheeled around and raced away, legs flying swiftly over the green grass. Emmaline sagged, the apple falling from her fingers. “She doesn’t know me anymore.”

  “It may take some time,” Shelby said, “but she will learn to trust you again.”

  “That’s what my father used to say about my mother. ‘It will take some time, but she will grow to love it here in Gold Bar.’” Emmaline’s features hardened. “Do you see any sign of her coming back?”

  Shelby pitied the girl. Abandoned by her mother, with an angry man like Joe Hatcher for a father. Where was the tenderness in this girl’s life? “I’m sorry, but please don’t give up on Diamond.”

  “Too late,” Emmaline said. “She’s got you now.”

  “Emmaline...” Shelby started, but the girl had already trudged away.

  “She’s had a hard life,” Barrett said.

  “I’ll find her later and encourage her to try again with Diamond.”

  He nodded. “So, uh, I guess I’d better be going.”

  She tried for levity. “Horses waiting for your attention?”

  He huffed out a breath, rubbing a hand across his close-cut beard. “I’ve been banned from most duties until my ribs heal. I had to throw a fit to get to bring the horses over here. Now I’m relegated to building tables for the Christmas Eve dinner.”

  “I hope it’s a great event,” she said.

  “I wish...” he started. “Nothing. I’ve gotta go. I picked
up a new phone, same number, you know, if you need anything. Hope your samples turn out the way you want.”

  Nothing has turned out the way I want, she thought, watching him climb back in the trailer and drive away.

  TWENTY-THREE

  Shelby carried the samples to the truck and her uncle climbed behind the wheel. “Ready to find out once and for all?”

  “Yes,” she said. “More than ready.”

  As they clattered over the drive, she gripped the samples tight. She and Barrett had almost died for this small bag of rocks. Her mind wandered, thinking of his laughter in the cavern, the taste of pickles trickling across her memory.

  “That went better than I expected,” her uncle was saying.

  “Oh, I’m sorry. What did you say?”

  He smiled at her as he took the turn onto a quiet stretch of highway that curved away through the wooded foothills. “My business trip. I have someone who offered full price for my property. I hate to let go of the land, but it will ease the pressure for a while anyway, maybe until Devon is released.”

  “Next year?”

  “Or sooner, maybe.” He shifted in his seat and cleared his throat. “Devon told me that Barrett Thorn sent him a letter.”

  She started. “Really?”

  “Said Barrett made it clear he forgave Devon, that he was praying for him.”

  Shelby swallowed a lump in her throat. “That’s wonderful.”

  Uncle Ken’s lips twisted in thought. “Yeah. I don’t know how I feel about it. Devon’s life is ruined and it’s not like Barrett’s forgiveness is going to make one bit of difference.”

  It will make all the difference, she thought.

  “And who is Barrett to be offering prayers for my son, like he’s some kind of perfect man himself?”

  Who was Barrett? A man learning to forgive. Something warm and soft washed over her heart. She hoped his actions would give him and his family peace.

  Uncle Ken opened his mouth to talk when his glance went to the rearview mirror.

  “What in the world...?”

  Shelby jerked around to see a battered pickup bearing down on them. The glare made it impossible to see the driver, but clearly the driver saw them, pushing the truck forward, closing the gap between them.