“Leave...me...” she said, then gave over to a fit of racking coughs.
“Like hell,” he said, his voice a low scrape. “I lost...one woman I loved...and didn’t fight for. I won’t lose...you.”
* * *
Ryan spotted Jack’s horse and a brown gelding prancing restlessly outside the barn as he crested the hill. He scanned the area carefully looking for his brother, for Tracy...and for The Wolf. Wayne Parnell. A man with a lengthy rap sheet and a brutal history of merciless killing.
“Jack!” he shouted over the roar of the ATV.
A movement in his peripheral vision caught his attention at the same time that Tom Vasquez aimed a finger toward the same tree-shaded ravine a hundred yards down the other side of the hill. A tall, dark-headed figure lumbered and lurched into the shade of the trees. Ryan brought the ATV to a skidding halt. “Check the barn,” he barked to Vasquez, as he swung off the four-wheeler and pulled the rifle from his back. “Jack and Tracy have to be around here somewhere.”
The ranch hand hurried toward the burning barn, covering his mouth and nose with his shirt.
After checking the rifle and chambering the first cartridge, Ryan crouched low and took up a position from which he could monitor Parnell’s movement.
“Do you see them?” he called to Vasquez.
“I think so. But the fire’s too hot to go in the front.” Vasquez raised his arm to shield his face from the heat and stumbled away from the flames licking the barn door.
Ryan set his jaw. No way in hell was he letting his brother perish in that fire without even trying. “Then we have to create a way for them to escape out the back.”
“Ideas?” the ranch hand asked.
Ryan’s gaze darted to the four wheeler and the tow chain mounted on the rear. “Let’s rip a hole in the wall.”
* * *
I won’t lose you.
Tracy heard the words, and her heart gave a light flutter of recognition, but her eyelids drooped. Staying awake took too much strength. He legs were rubbery. The only thing keeping her upright was the rope that bound her to the baler, and it cut into her flesh as her weight sagged against the constraint.
The smoke was so dense. Jack was awake. She could just...
“Tracy!” he growled when her head lolled. “Stay—” cough, cough “—with me!”
“Can’t...” The ropes tugged at her wrists as he cut. “I love...y—”
The ropes dropped loose, and she toppled toward the floor. Muscled arms caught her. Lifted her.
She curled weakly against Jack’s chest, her breathing no more than a feathery wheeze. Beneath her cheek, his chest heaved and rumbled when he coughed.
I love you, Jack. She longed to say the words, but her head was too fuzzy, her body too weak.
* * *
Jack had started for the front door of the barn, before realizing the fire blocked the exit. Tracy lay draped in his arms, limp and unresponsive. A bitter ache lashed his heart at the thought of losing her.
Hang on, darling. I’ll get you out of here. I promise. Just hang on a little longer!
Adrenaline fueled his legs as he changed direction, searching for another way out. Without protection from the smoke for his mouth and nose, he was rapidly succumbing to the acrid cloud filling the barn. He had just turned, searching the dark recesses for an alternate escape route, when he heard a familiar voice shouting his name. Relief and gratitude pricked the bubble of tension swelling in his chest, but he didn’t call back. He saved his oxygen for rescuing Tracy.
Ryan was there, but could his brother do anything to help them get out? And what about The Wolf? Was the killer lying in wait to pick them all off as they fled the burning barn?
He heard a distant roar, a loud screech and a crash. A large piece of the back wall tore away, and bright beams of sunlight streamed in through the dense smoke. Weaving through the maze of flames, Jack rushed towards the gaping hole. Fingers of fire reached for him and floating embers scorched his skin, but he didn’t slow his step. His only thought was of getting Tracy out that barn and reviving her.
“Jack!” Tom Vasquez shouted. “Bring her over here!”
Sucking in fresh air as he emerged from the conflagration, Jack staggered to the shade of a nearby tree where Tom met him.
“Tracy!” His voice was choked by emotion and phlegm as he set her carefully on the ground. He slapped her cheeks lightly to rouse her, and she blinked against the blinding sunlight that peeked through the branches above her.
She groaned hoarsely, her head rocking side to side in distress. “Jack...” she whispered, her voice crackling roughly.
He pressed a kiss to her forehead and shushed her. “Easy, darling. You’re safe now.”
Her body convulsed as she coughed and wheezed, and Tom helped her sit up.
Jack, too, cleared his lungs as best he could, spitting out the dark taste of ash that lined his throat, before turning back to Vasquez. “Where’s...The Wolf?” he asked between gasps for breath.
“Down in that ravine,” Tom said, aiming a finger past the idling four wheeler. “Your brother is watching him.”
Jack rubbed his gritty eyes, which stung from the smoke, and narrowed his gaze on the dark figure huddled under the trees in the ravine. He drew his gun from the small of his back and rose from his knees. “Stay with her, will you? I have unfinished business.”
He stalked past the blazing barn and dropped weakly on the ground beside Ryan.
His brother gave him a side glance. “You okay?”
Jack nodded and coughed.
“Tracy?”
“Alive, but...” He drew a rattling breath. “She needs medical attention.”
“You both do. Go. I’ve got this.” Ryan peered through the sniper scope. “He’s not going anywhere.”
At that moment, The Wolf dashed from the cover of the trees, charging them. Jack didn’t wait for permission. He aimed his pistol. Fired.
A second shot blasted at the same time. Ryan’s rifle.
The Wolf dropped, writhing on the ground, holding his leg.
Ryan glared at Jack. “I said I had it.”
Jack slumped with fatigue and relief, raising a hand to his aching head.
His brother grunted and hitched a thumb over his shoulder. “I’ll take it from here. I have backup on the way. You get out of here. Get Tracy and yourself to a hospital.”
At the foot of the hill, The Wolf had stopped moving, his eyes in a fixed stare. Assured that the killer was no longer a threat, he jerked a nod to Ryan and stumbled back to Tracy’s side.
Wide blue eyes met his as he dropped to his knees next to her. “W-Wolf,” she rasped, grabbing his hand.
Jack stroked her cheek. “We got him, Trace. He’s dead.”
Chapter 20
His living room resembled Grand Central Station.
Having heard about the incident at the old hay barn, Jack’s heroic rescue of Tracy and the death of the assassin who’d been stalking their guest, every Colton and hired hand had assembled in Jack’s living room.
“I’m fine,” Jack assured Big J for the tenth time when his father cast him a worried glance. “Eric said the CT scan showed no concussion. I have a hard head apparently.”
Tracy, too, had been treated for minor wounds at the ER and released. Now, she sat on his sofa with Seth on her lap and Greta hovering beside her. Jack wanted to be the one keeping vigil over Tracy, but his turn would have to wait until his sister, Brett, and half of the ranch’s staff including Edith, who was a force of her own, finished buzzing worriedly about her.
“I know you probably could use something stronger,” Tom Vasquez said, handing Jack a glass of iced tea, “but your brother says alcohol doesn’t mix with whatever painkiller he gave you at the ER.”
Jack smiled his thanks, keeping half of his attention focused on Tracy even as he answered questions for the curious hands who surrounded him.
“You’re all being so kind,” Tracy said, squeezing Greta�
�s hand and tugging Seth close for another one-armed hug. “Really, all I need is a good night’s sleep. I’m just glad the ordeal is over, and none of you were hurt.” Her eyes lifted to Jack’s then, and he read in her gaze the same fear that had shaken him to the core when he’d learned she’d been kidnapped. The bone-deep terror of losing her.
“So now that the threat to your life has been eliminated, will you move back to the main house?” Greta asked.
Tracy hesitated, drawing a slow deep breath. Her expression darkened, Jack’s only warning before she said, “Actually, I think the time has come for me to leave. I’ve already imposed on your hospitality and protection far too long.”
Jack’s gut swooped, and his muscles tensed. She was leaving?
“What?” Greta said, frowning.
“No, Miss Tracy! Stay here!” Seth whined, tugging her sleeve.
“I’m sorry,” she said, “I never intended to stay this long. If not for the threat I was under and Jack’s insistence that I stay here, I’d have gone last week.”
“You’re not an imposition. We’ve all loved getting to know you,” Greta said.
“Thank you. Really, but I must. There are things back in Denver I have to—”
“Nooo,” Seth groaned again, tears welling in his eyes. The hurt and disappointment on his son’s face left a hard, cold pit inside him. Everything he’d tried to protect Seth from when Laura left, everything he’d felt when his wife had abandoned him and their son, everything he’d tried to repress for five years so that he could make a happy home for his boy came crashing down on him in that instant.
Tracy said something quietly to Seth he couldn’t hear over the roar of blood in his ears. His fingers tightened around his tea glass, and he gritted his back teeth so hard his molars ached. A tremor started low in his belly and worked its way outward until his limbs trembled. He turned without speaking to anyone and stalked outside. He needed air. He needed distance. He needed to punch something.
He’d opened his home, his life, his heart to Tracy. And she was walking away.
* * *
Tracy’s gaze followed Jack as he stormed out of the living room, and her heart sank. She’d hoped for a chance to talk to him privately and explain her decision before telling the rest of the family, but when Greta asked, she’d been honest with her new friend about her plans. What she hadn’t told Greta, what she couldn’t put into words even in her private thoughts was the devastation she’d felt when she’d seen Jack crumple on the barn floor. In those moments when she thought they’d both burn to death, when she considered the danger and anguish she’d unwittingly brought to the Colton ranch, her guilt and despair had been a vicious animal gnawing her soul. She was jinxed. She had been responsible for her cousin’s death and nearly cost Jack his life. Tragedy followed her, and she wouldn’t allow the train wreck of her life to hurt anyone else she loved.
She would keep in touch with Seth, as she’d promised, but lingering at the ranch any longer, allowing the little boy to grow more attached to her—and vice versa—would be selfish and cruel, knowing she couldn’t stay permanently.
And Jack...
Jack would be the hardest to leave. She’d fallen in love with him. Losing him from her life would be like ripping out her heart. Like living underwater with no air to breathe. Already the pain was suffocating.
Maybe things could be different if she thought he loved her. If he’d ever said anything about a future together. If he’d asked her to stay—not because she had to to save her life, but because he wanted her there.
But his silence was deafening. Shattering. Conclusive.
Even the small hope she clung to that he was waiting for the crowd of relatives and friends to clear out of his house to speak his mind proved futile. He was decidedly closed off, sullen and terse with her as they prepared Seth for bed.
He remained withdrawn the next morning as she packed her bags. When she tried to broach the topic of her departure, he’d brushed her aside and stalked outside to the stable. He remained hidden in the shadowed stalls with the horses, even when she sent Seth with a message for him that she was ready to go.
“He said to tell you he was busy, but to have a safe trip,” Seth reported when he returned.
Brett and Greta had both turned out to wish her well and say their goodbyes, and Jack’s siblings exchanged a look of disbelief.
“Tracy, I’m sure he just—” Greta started.
“No, it’s okay. I understand,” she said as bravely as she could and flashed them all a smile she didn’t feel.
She cast one last look toward the stable, and the crack in her heart widened. With a sigh of resignation and heartache, she pulled Jack’s son into her arms for a final hug. “I’m going to miss you, sweetie. But I’ll call, and we can Skype, and you can visit me anytime you want.”
Seth’s chin quivered. “Bye, Miss Tracy. I...l-love you.”
“Oh, Seth, I love you, too.” She gave his rumpled hair a kiss, fighting not to lose her composure in front of the child, then hurriedly climbed into the rental car and closed the door.
* * *
Jack moved with stiff, jerky motions as he worked in the stable, killing time until he heard the engine of Tracy’s rental car rev and the tires crunch over gravel as she drove away. He slammed things down with more force than needed and smashed his finger in a stall gate.
Spitting a curse out under his breath, he stuck his injured finger in his mouth and sucked on the throbbing wound. If only he could find a similar balm for his seared heart.
He heard the thud of booted steps and glanced up to see Brett striding toward him with his mouth set in a grim line. “You’re an idiot and a bastard, Jack Colton!”
Jack fisted a hand and returned his brother’s glare. He didn’t want to punch his brother, but he was itching to hit something, and if Brett provoked him... “Leave me alone.”
“You couldn’t even come out and tell her goodbye? That’s more than rude, man. That’s just...” Brett flattened his mouth again and shook his head in disgust.
Self-preservation, Jack finished mentally.
“Cold,” Brett said. “And pathetic.”
Jack heaved an exasperated sigh. He felt bad enough about Tracy leaving without his brother heaping on guilt. He grabbed a rake and started shuffling straw around the stall floor. “If you have a point to make, do it. I’m kinda busy here.”
Brett seized the rake handle and yanked it from Jack’s hands. “Did a bull kick you in the head, bro? Why did you let her leave?”
“Let her?” He scoffed. “I can’t keep her here against her will. That’s called imprisonment, and it’s illegal. Ask Ryan.”
“She wanted to stay!” Brett waved a hand toward the stable door. “Anyone with eyes could see that.”
“Really? Fine way of showing it. I thought packing her suitcases and hopping in her rental car at her first opportunity said she was eager to leave.” He stepped closer to his brother and put his hand on the rake, trying to grab it back. Brett held tight.
“Well, from what I can tell, you didn’t put up even a token resistance. Does she know how you feel about her? Did you tell her?”
Jack stilled, and his insides grew cold. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
Brett laughed without humor, shaking his head. “Man, you must have been kicked by a bull.” He stared at Jack for a few seconds with an incredulous look furrowing his brow. “Is it because of Laura? Are you going to let Tracy walk out of your life without a fight because you think this is somehow a repeat of what happened with Laura?”
Jack heard the quaver in his inhaled breath, felt the sting of moisture in his eyes. “Leave me alone, Brett,” he gritted through his teeth.
His brother released the rake and curled his fingers in the front of Jack’s shirt, tugging him close enough to stick his nose in Jack’s face. “It’s not the same. Don’t screw this up because you’re scared of what you’re feeling for her.”
Jack
couldn’t breathe, couldn’t make his lungs loosen enough to take in oxygen. He held Brett’s stare and fought the surge of emotion that stampeded through him.
“She was happy here. You’d have to be blind not to see that. You made her happy.” Brett cocked his head. “She loves you, Jack. Hell, even I could see that!”
“He’s right.”
Jack jerked his gaze to Greta, who’d sneaked up on them undetected.
“Listen to him, Jack. Our bonehead brother is making sense. I saw it. Tracy blossomed in the last couple weeks, even with the threat of that killer hanging over her. Because of you. And Seth. She’s leaving because she’s scared, too.”
“Maybe I’m letting her go to protect Seth,” he said defiantly.
“Bull,” Brett said with a snort. “She loves Seth, and he loves her. You let her go to save your own sorry hide. From what, I don’t know, because it’s pretty obvious she’s perfect for you.”
Greta stalked closer. “Jack Colton, if you love her, go after her. Don’t let her leave here thinking you don’t care.”
Jack’s pulse ramped into high gear. Laura had left because she didn’t belong on the ranch. The life of a rancher didn’t suit her, and she never loved him enough to overcome her unhappiness. But Tracy had taken to ranching, messy chores and all, like she was born to it. She’d smiled when she woke in his arms, excited for a new day. Despite the stress she was under from The Wolf.
And he’d been happy, damn it! As happy as he’d been in a long time.
His stomach bunched as he cast a glance toward the ranch yard where Tracy had just driven away. “It’s probably too late to stop her. She must be to the highway by now.”
Greta squeezed his arm. “Maybe not. She was going to stop at the main house to tell Maria and Edith goodbye.”
Blowing out a nervous puff of breath, Jack pushed past his sister and tugged Buck, saddleless, out of his stall. If he wanted to catch up to Tracy, he’d have to hurry.
* * *
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