A Cowboy Is Forever

by Shirley Larson

  He let her have her fun for a bit, but then when her tongue explored lower and found him, he swooped, grasped her arms and lifted her over him.

  The summer heat lingered. The lake sang a siren song of invitation with its cool, shimmering reflection under a twilight Montana sky, while the park beside the lake resounded with the shouts of children screaming from the highest chair in the Ferris wheel. Cotton-candy scent and the smell of popcorn permeated the still early-evening air.

  Charlotte strolled beside Luke, thinking that heaven was really an amusement park by a lake in the twilight.

  “We have to have popcorn while we watch the fireworks,” Charlotte told Luke.

  “Does it say that in the manual?”

  “It’s a Malone family tradition. You buy the popcorn, then you go look for a good picnic bench and you sit on top of the table, not the benches, and—” Her voice caught.

  His face looked dark and warm and real, and he reached for her hand. It was so sweet to be understood, to be known this well. He was a wonderful lover, this Luke of hers, but he was just as wonderful a human being.

  “Far be it from me to stand in the way of a family tradition.”

  Clasping her hand lightly in his, Luke took her strolling along the grassy pathway toward the popcorn stand. A fractious, tired child cried out, was shushed by his mother. Tex and Lettie passed, Lettie said hello, Tex grumped at Charlotte, scowled at Luke.

  “She’s going in the hospital tomorrow,” Charlotte told Luke when the couple was out of earshot.

  He clasped her hand a little tighter. “I’m glad something good has come out of all this.”

  At the popcorn stand, Luke purchased the requisite bag of popcorn and, carefully balancing it in one hand, caught Charlotte’s up again in his other, bringing the warmth back to her skin. “When was the last time you came here with your parents?”

  She had to think, to add, to subtract. “It would be six years ago this year.”

  “Want to talk about it?”

  He looked easy and cool, and she remembered then that he had long experience in dealing with people in the throes of life’s crises. She couldn’t do that to him, not tonight when the breeze smelled of summer and a half-moon hung over the water. “No, please, I…no.” She didn’t want sympathy. She wanted to do as she had been doing, run the ranch, work, survive.

  His face was cool when he gave her a hand to help her climb up on the picnic table, and stayed cool as he settled on the tabletop beside her. She didn’t know whether Marris Hollis picked the table next to hers on purpose, but it didn’t make any difference. Not even Marris could spoil the beauty of the night, the aching closeness of the stars.

  Luke’s arm came softly, warmly, around her waist. He held the popcorn within her easy reach.

  “I have some cousins in Virginia,” his low voice murmured in her ear. “They need a trainer for their Arabians. I’m thinking about going there when we get this thing settled between you and my father. I’d ask you to come with me, if I thought I wouldn’t be ripping out a part of your soul-”

  Going with Luke to Virginia. Being with him, being a part of his life. The thought was so tempting. All it required was a betrayal of her father’s and mother’s memory.

  Charlotte shook her head, bumped the popcorn bag, made kernels fly. “You’re right, Luke. I can’t do that. I can’t go…and you can’t stay.”

  A rocket sizzled, red stars blossomed in the air, their sparkle reflected in the water. The crowd aahed and applauded at the first explosion of color, as crowds always did. Another swish, blue stars blossomed, and in quick succession green and yellow. A firebomb exploded with a boom and echoed across the lake to reverberate against the mountains. It wasn’t Charlotte’s heart breaking, but it felt as if it were.

  His arm tightened around her waist, his mouth found her hair. “I want you to be all right.”

  “I will be,” she said, but she knew she was lying.

  He didn’t want to hurt her, but it would hurt when he left, he knew that. He’d tried to protect her from gossip, but he’d done a lousy job of it. He was here, in public with her, because it was what she wanted. It was what he wanted, too, he thought suddenly, amazed. He wanted a public relationship with her, where he could hold her close in full view and it was his right but he also wanted the secret relationship he had with Charlotte that no one else could share, that wonderful secret bond between lovers.

  He wanted marriage.

  Luke loosened his arm from around Charlotte so suddenly that she turned around to look at him

  Color blossomed again in the sky, this time a fountain plume of pure silver light. He felt as if that light were inside him, exploding. He’d been thinking about her, not wanting to hurt her. It had never occurred to him that when he went, he’d leave behind the best part of him

  “Luke? What is it?”

  He shook his head. “Going for a walk,” he said. He had to escape the perfume of her hair, the softness of her body pressed against his side.

  He felt her concern as he slid off the table, but he kept on walking, climbing the hill that divided the lake from the rest of the horizon. He looked away from the fireworks, back over the town—and saw red flames dancing against the black sky.

  His heart thudded in his chest. He shook his head, turned around to look at the sky behind him. Was it a mirage, a crazy reflection of the fireworks? No. There were no fireworks just now. The fire he saw was coming from the direction of Charlotte’s ranch.

  His mind going at warp speed, he raced back to Charlotte, plucked her off the picnic table, ignoring her startled gasp.

  “What is it—?”

  “Don’t talk, just move.”

  He dragged her with him to the rise of the hill, and she saw it then. He felt her sway, felt her tremble. “It can’t be.”

  “We’ll call the fire truck from my car.”

  He took her with him, nearly lifting her off the ground in his haste. He could feel her fighting him, fighting the panic. He stuffed her in the car, grabbed up his car phone and dialed the emergency number, even as he maneuvered his car out of the space in the grassy field and roared out onto the highway.

  “They’re on their way,” he said tersely, and reseated the telephone.

  Charlotte sat frozen beside him, unmoving. He reached over, grasped her hand, clamping her fingers tightly in his even as he shifted gears and gunned the motor up to a speed that had gravel pinging against the undercarnage of the car. A hose. She’d have a hose. He’d get it going, and they’d save something…

  But when he pulled into the drive and they scrambled out of the car, Luke knew no hose in the world could save either the house or the barn. Both were enveloped in flames. Wood crackled and popped, accepting the fire greedily, the sparks flaring obscenely against the sky in a horrible parody of the fireworks they had watched only a moment ago.

  “Thank God the horses are out,” Luke growled.

  Lady Luck neighed in an endless high-pitched protest, and the colt echoed her cries and raced after his mother around the perimeter of the corral, but they were both far enough away from the flames to be out of danger.

  “Yes,” Charlotte replied. The word seemed unreal, echoing inside her head. Nothing seemed real, not Luke’s hand around her waist, not the fire that lit the sky. She wanted to cry, but the tears wouldn’t come. She felt stripped of emotion, as if all thought and feeling inside her head had vanished.

  The one thing she could feel was Luke’s hand, gripping hers tightly, warm, hard, solid.

  “If you can think of anything I could do to—”

  “There’s…nothing.”

  The sky burned red in every direction. Luke could feel the heat, feel the power of fire having its own way with wood, brick, straw, hay. Fury rose inside him, fury at Charlotte’s loss, at his own helplessness. He should have seen this coming. But he hadn’t. Once again, he’d underestimated Nick.

  There wasn’t a doubt in his mind that Nick was responsible�
�and, in his own way, so was he. It had been Luke’s return, and his continuing presence, that escalated Nick’s desire to harm Charlotte—and caused her to lose her home.

  A crowd began to gather. Marris Hollis asked Charlotte if he could do anything, organize a bucket brigade, get a shovel, pull down timbers. Charlotte smiled then. It was a faint smile that must have cost her the world in effort. “No, Marris, but thank you very much. It’s…kind of you.”

  “You know I really am ready to give you a hand if you need it,” he said shamefacedly. “I’m really sorry I—”

  Charlotte put her hand on Marris’s arm. “Don’t be sorry for anything. I know you’re my friend. I’ve always known it.”

  If Luke hadn’t already been head over heels in love with Charlotte, he would have fallen then. To watch Charlotte being considerate of Marris Hollis at a time when her world was falling apart made his heart want to jump out of his chest.

  The sheriff arrived; people made way for Clarence Daggett instinctively. Behind him, the fire truck roared in, and two men jumped to the ground and began dragging out the hoses.

  “Any idea how it started?” Clarence asked Charlotte gently. Charlotte shook her head. She turned toward Luke, as if the strain of acting normally with Marris and Clarence had drained away her last bit of strength. Luke sheltered her in his arms, holding her close, taking in her hurt, her desolation.

  “Miss Malone.”

  Charlotte made a movement asking for release. Luke held her for a moment, resisting. He didn’t want Charlotte to turn and face his father. But Charlotte pushed, and so Luke had to let her go. But he swore that if his father subjected her to one more test of courage, he would pick her up and carry her away.

  Henry Steadman’s face was darkly wreathed in concern. “This is a terrible thing to have happen. I’m very sorry—”

  The fire-borne wind lifted Charlotte’s hair, swirled it around her shoulders. She raised her head and straightened that long neck of hers, and Luke thought she had never looked more beautiful. “I’m surprised to hear you say that. I would have thought you’d be pleased.”

  At Charlotte’s side, Luke clasped her hand tightly and faced his father. Luke was aware that for the first time, he and Charlotte were confronting Henry Steadman as a team. He wanted to feel sorry for his father, knew he should, but it was difficult. He didn’t care that Henry had shut him out over the years, but his father’s constant championing of Nick and his refusal to see the truth about his eldest brother had brought them to this night.

  Henry Steadman looked drained, older and, Luke thought, infinitely more aware. “I know we’ve had our differences. But you surely can’t believe I’d wish anything like this on you. You should know me better than that.” His glance shifted to Luke. “Both of you.”

  Charlotte was not so easily appeased. “What else can I think? You and your son have done everything to drive me out-”

  In the flickering firelight, Henry lost color. He looked like a man who had been stripped of an essential part of his being. “Luke wouldn’t have any part in this.”

  “I’m not talking about Luke, I’m talking about your other son.” The shouts of the men and the crackle and the hiss of the fire behind her gave her the strength to do what she had to do. “I’m talking about Nick, Mr. Steadman.”

  “Nick had nothing to do with this—”

  “Did I hear my name mentioned?” Nick strolled up casually, his hands in his pockets, graceful in his jeans and black shirt with that smile on his face that would have done the devil proud, while behind him the night sky was lit with flames and noise, shouts of men and the pop of wood giving way to the greedy flames.

  Charlotte felt her weariness and shock give way to cleansing anger. He’d come to gloat. She’d see to it that he wouldn’t get the chance. “You won’t win,” Charlotte said. “I won’t be driven away by your despicable capacity for destruction. I’m staying, Nick, no matter how many times you try to burn me out.”

  “Whoa, now, wait a minute. Who says I’m responsible for this?”

  “I do,” Charlotte said. The wind whipped her hair around her face again, and she pushed it back furiously. She had tried for so long to strive for peace, but now she had lost everything, and she was no longer in the mood for peace. She wanted desperately to state the truth in front of Henry and Luke. “I know you set this fire, Nick.”

  “How could you possibly know such a thing? Think my hands smell of gasoline, do you? Want to take a sniff?” He held them up, but no one moved.

  “What makes you think the fire was set with gasoline?” asked Luke coolly.

  Nick dropped his hands and shot Luke a dark look. Recovering, he said, “What else would it be?” Nick’s cool denial sent Charlotte’s temper flaring. And the anger felt good. It took away the pain. “You’d be too clever to walk in here smelling of anything incriminating. That’s not to say you don’t smell. You stink to high heaven.” Nick smiled at Charlotte’s words, but she wasn’t finished. “Well, listen to this, Mr. Steadman. I won’t give up, and I won’t go away. This is my land, and I’ll stay on it if I have to pitch a tent!”

  Nick’s smile vanished. He took a step toward Charlotte, his mouth curled. “No, you won’t. You’ll go away, and the sooner the better. My father and I want you off that land, and you’ll go if we have to drag you away kicking and screaming.”

  Henry whitened with shock. “Nick, you don’t mean that. You can’t mean that. It was never my intent to drive Charlotte off her land forcibly.”

  Nick whirled around to his father. “What difference does it make how she goes? The important thing is that she does go, preferably tonight.” Turning to Charlotte, he continued, “We’ll make you an offer for your land. It’s not worth as much without the house, but—”

  “Son! A man doesn’t take advantage of a woman like this-”

  “What do you want to do?” Nick cried. “Wait another twenty years before we get more land? Maybe you have the patience for that. I don’t.”

  Only the fire snapped in the sudden silence. At last, Henry said, “Are you saying you had…some part in this?”

  Nick recovered immediately. “Of course not. Just because I want to see Charlotte Malone out of here, that doesn’t mean I’ve done anything criminal.”

  “But you have,” Charlotte cried. “You’ve been taking your own cattle and branding them to implicate me and put me off my land. When that didn’t work, you decided to burn my house down.”

  Henry breathed in sharply. He looked like a man who’d taken a blow to the solar plexus. “That can’t be true.”

  “Don’t be ridiculous, Charlotte,” Luke drawled. “Nick doesn’t have the courage or the brains to pull off a scheme like that.” His voice echoed eerily in a night snapping with the sound of destruction, and the fire highlighted his face.

  She could bear no more. She’d lost everything, and now she’d lost Luke, too. She flew at him, pounding her fists on his chest. “Don’t defend him! Don’t, don’t, don’t!”

  He caught her arms and turned her around so that she had to face Nick. “Look at him. How could you think an innocent face like that hid a brain capable of such duplicity?”

  She felt his arms, hard, holding her. She felt him breathing. She’d loved this man. And now he was defending his brother against her. “Let go of me.” She heard her voice, cold, lifeless.

  “And look at the fire. Look how cleverly it’s been set, so that both buildings were too far gone by the time it was discovered to save anything, how nicely it’s burning. Nick isn’t that…resourceful. Don’t you agree, Charlotte?”

  She couldn’t think, couldn’t breathe. The heat of the fire burned on her face, but her skin felt ice-cold. Like her soul. “I’m beginning to think that a Steadman is capable of almost anything.”

  “Be reasonable, Charlotte.” He sounded so cool, so self-contained.

  He won’t give up, Charlotte thought dazedly. The man is demented.

  “Of course Nick didn’t do
this. He was at the fireworks with you, wasn’t he, Father?”

  Henry’s face looked bloodless in the light of the fire. “He stayed behind at the ranch. He…said he had something he wanted to do.”

  “There, you see. He was at the ranch all the time. Innocence established.” Luke smiled at Charlotte, all charm, his hand biting into her arm.

  And then, through the heat and the ice and the agonized pain, a tiny light burned inside her soul. Luke was a lawyer. Luke knew how to make a witness feel comfortable, just before he went in for the kill. Charlotte understood—and knew she’d failed to play her part. “Of course, you’re right, Luke. Nick couldn’t possibly have been responsible for such a clever and diabolical scheme. He isn’t smart enough to carry it out—”

  Nick’s smile vanished. He took a step toward Charlotte. “What do you know? What do you know about me and clever schemes? What do you know about who I am and what I think?”

  “I know you aren’t clever enough for this—”

  “What do you know about clever? I’m smarter than any of you—”

  “What are you saying, son?”

  Henry caught Nick’s arm, as if he needed his son’s support to stay upright. Nick turned on Henry, his eyes blazing, his face red with heat. He wrenched his arm lose. Henry was knocked off balance, and only Luke’s quick reaction saved his father from stumbling.

  “You can’t be telling us you did this terrible thing, Nick”

  Nick’s face was white with rage. “Why not? Somebody had to do something, or she’d be here forever, her with her tumbledown house and her broken-down ranch. I wanted her out. And so did you. You’ve wanted it for years—”

  Henry’s sharp intake of breath stopped Nick’s tirade. “You admit that you deliberately set fire to this woman’s house?”

  Nick’s eyes turned brilliant, pleading, eerily reflecting the firelight. “I did it for you. You wanted her land—”

  “Yes, I wanted her land, but only if she was willing to sell it to me of her own free will. I could never condone destruction of property. It’s against everything I believe. She has a right to live on her land, as long as she doesn’t steal my cattle, which it appears she never did.” Henry reached out to Nick, caught his shoulders. It hurt Luke to see his father’s struggle to absorb the truth. “What have you been doing all these years? Where is your head? Haven’t you been listening to me? I’ve given you everything, my work and my life. I’ve tried to teach you the right way to live in this world. I’ve tried to give you my time to make up for the mother you didn’t have, for the woman I married who wasn’t fond of you. I didn’t want you to suffer for my foolishness. I thought you…knew what your place was, what you meant to me.” He shook Nick, as if desperate to change him and undo the things he had done.