by Janet Dailey
“I didn’t realize she had been married,” Logan said.
“Years and years ago,” Judy declared. “To an ex-rodeo rider. He had been working at the Triple C less than a year when he was killed in a car accident. Stumpy said he was next to worthless. Naturally he didn’t have any insurance. What cowboy does? So Chase paid for the funeral and buried him here on the ranch. Ike says the plot next to him is available. But they were married so long ago—and not very happily. I just don’t know if Sally would want that.”
“It isn’t something we have to decide tonight.” Jessy paused in the entryway while her mother closed the door.
“I know, but the decision has to be made soon,” Judy Niles remarked, then quickly raised a finger as something else occurred to her. “Before I forget, I thought of someone you might want to consider hiring to cook and look after the house. DeeDee Rains. She did nearly all the cooking for Sally when she had the restaurant in town. I don’t know what she’s doing now, but I know she isn’t working at Harry’s.”
“I forgot about DeeDee,” Jessy admitted. “I’ll talk to her and see if she is interested in working here.”
“I hope she will be, because we wives can fill in for a while, but you will need someone permanent.” Judy stopped, a look of contrition claiming her expression. “Isn’t this awful? Here we are, talking about such things and Sally is still lying in there.”
“It’s reality, Mom. Sally would be making her own suggestions right now if she were still alive.” The conversation with her mother claimed only half of Jessy’s attention. The rest of it was on Logan as he wandered into the living room where the others were gathered. Somehow she needed to alert Laredo to the comments Logan had made. And soon.
Night cloaked the cabin’s interior in darkness. The only light came from the starshine that grayed the windowpanes. Restless, Chase rolled onto his side and stared into the darkness. He had no idea of the time, but knew it had to be somewhere around midnight. Sleep had eluded him. The best he had managed was a fitful doze that fell somewhere between sleep and wakefulness.
He shut his eyes and tried again. After a few seconds, he gave up the effort, threw back the summer-weight blanket, and swung his legs out of the bunk. He had no difficulty locating the clothes he had taken off only hours ago. He put them on and stepped into his boots. After a glance at the twin bed along the opposite wall where Hattie slept, he quietly crossed the cabin and walked outside into the star-studded night.
The breeze’s cool breath touched him, prompting Chase to button the front of his shirt that he had let hang open. Shadows blanketed the landscape, deepening to black in the low places and lightening to charcoal along the higher areas. There was a stillness and calm out here that soothed some of his edginess.
It was a big and empty land that stretched before him, a land that would still be here, changed yet unchanging, long after he was gone and forgotten. It wasn’t a thought that bothered him; instead he found some comfort in it, a sense of rightness.
The stretching of the screen door’s spring made a faint sound, but in the stillness of the night, it was loud to his ears. Swiveling at the hips, Chase looked behind him as Hattie stepped outside, her hands tying the sash to her cotton robe.
“Is any thing wrong?” Her dark eyes were thorough in their quick inspection of him.
“Couldn’t sleep.” He squared around to run his gaze over the broad sweep of land beyond them.
“It’s almost too stuffy in there to get any rest.” She moved to his side, standing tall next to him, the dramatic streaking of gray in her hair silvered by the starlight.
Chase located the North Star and calculated the time by the position of the stars around it. “It’s well after midnight.”
“Twelve thirty-six, to be exact,” Hattie replied. “I looked at the alarm clock when I got up.”
“I wonder what’s keeping Laredo. I thought he would be back by now.”
“Over the years I have learned not to worry about him. He always shows up when I least expect him.”
Chase picked up on the affection in her voice. “You are very fond of him, aren’t you?”
“In a way, he’s like the son I never had. It hurts to know that a bad mistake made long ago has taken away his future. It could have been a good one.”
“He has a home on the Triple C as long as he wants it,” Chase stated, but the minute he mentioned the word “home,” he was reminded that this wasn’t hers. “I guess you’ll be heading back to your ranch soon.”
“I guess,” she agreed and gave him a sideways smile. “It’s for sure you don’t need anyone to look after you anymore.”
“After being gone so long, you’re probably eager to get back.”
“Not as much as I thought I would be,” Hattie replied. “I don’t know—coming here to a brand-new place, all the work it took to whip the cabin into shape. I enjoyed it. It made me feel young again. Sounds crazy, doesn’t it?”
“Not to me.” And he couldn’t explain why. “It’s for sure I’ll miss you when you go.” He found he wasn’t looking forward to that. Hattie had been the one constant in his new life without a memory.
“Well, you’ll have to wait, because I haven’t left yet,” she retorted.
Chase chuckled. “That’s what I like about you, Hattie. You are never at a loss for a comeback.”
“With a man like you, a woman doesn’t have a choice. She either stands toe to toe with you or gets walked over. And you aren’t walking over me, Duke.”
The smile stayed. “I wouldn’t try.”
“Yes, you would—if I let you.”
“You don’t have a very high opinion of me, do you?” He couldn’t say exactly why that bothered him, but it did.
“That wasn’t a criticism, Duke,” Hattie admonished lightly. “It isn’t even something you would do knowingly. It would simply happen, because you would be too busy to notice. Heaven knows, there are worse faults a man could have.”
“I’ll take your word for it.” Seeking to change the subject, Chase went back to the previous one. “How much longer will your neighbor look after your place?”
“He’ll probably start squawking in another week.”
Chase found himself thinking back to the time he had spent there, the comfort of its old kitchen and the old wooden rocker on the porch. Those thoughts prompted him to recall the old branding iron. Suddenly another memory clicked into place.
Abruptly he swung around and grabbed her by the upper arms. “That old branding iron was a C Bar. That was the brand of Seth Calder’s ranch in Texas. You own his old place.” The certainty of it flashed through him. “My God, I may have slept and ate in the same house he did—and Benteen, too.” A stunned laugh came from him at the incredible coincidence of that.
Hattie looked at him as if he had taken leave of his sense. “What are you talking about, Duke? Who is Seth Calder?”
“My great-grandfather, I think.” He smiled with the realization that he remembered that. “He was Benteen’s father.” In a burst of exuberance, Chase lifted her off her feet and swung her around, ignoring her gasp of surprise.
“You idiot,” Hattie protested laughingly.
But she had no chance to say more. The minute her feet touched the ground, his head swooped down, and he claimed her mouth in a silencing kiss. It wasn’t something he had planned, but the instant he made contact with the soft, giving warmth of her lips, it not only felt right, it felt good, awakening desires that had been long dormant.
What had likely begun as a smack on the lips turned into something more as he explored her rounded curves. His arms wound around her, molding her against him while her hands spread themselves across his back and her body arched, seeking a greater closeness. His blood heated, old needs surfacing with young vigor. He took satisfaction in the discovery that her breathing was as rough as his own.
He was slow to untangle himself from her lips and lift his head to look at her, just for the pure pleasure of it. Her ey
es remained closed, her lips slightly swollen from the demands of his kiss.
“Whew.” Hattie released a shaky breath and opened her eyes to look up at him with a slightly dazed and dazzled look. “You pack quite a punch, Duke,” she declared, the huskiness of her voice telling him that she was still feeling the same disturbances he was. “I’m not surprised, though. I somehow knew you would.”
“Are you saying this is something you have been thinking about?” The possibility pleased him.
“How modest you sound.” A soft laugh bubbled from her. “That was unexpected. Only an immature female would fail to find you attractive and wonder what it would be like to be kissed by you.” She absently straightened the collar of his shirt, a gesture that conveyed a comfortable intimacy. “And I have definitely wondered.” Her gaze lingered a moment on the masculine line of his mouth, then lifted to his eyes. “Or is that something you think I shouldn’t admit? You seem to live by an old code. Maybe you don’t believe a woman should admit she sometimes feels desire, too.”
“You know something, Hattie.” A smile crinkled the lines around his brown eyes. “You talk too much.”
“And you don’t talk enough,” she countered. “For instance, I don’t know if it bothers you that I am a widow. Do you think I’m being unfaithful to Ed’s memory by wanting to kiss you?”
“Shut up,” Chase growled and took steps to make certain she did.
The kiss was a long and deep one, each giving free rein to their passions. Each had felt this heated rush of feeling before, but being new to each other gave it a heady twist.
Their lips parted a second time, and again they stayed in the embrace, each breathing hard and smiling a little at this oddly giddy feeling they had. His hands roamed over her back. Chase was vaguely irritated by the enveloping night robe when he wanted nothing between them.
This time Hattie didn’t say a word, leaving it to Chase to speak first. “I can’t promise you anything, Hattie.” He felt honor bound to say that. “Not even tomorrow.”
She placed a shushing finger on his mouth. “I wouldn’t hold you to it even if you did. It wouldn’t be fair, not when you haven’t fully recovered your memory. As a woman, I’ve learned not to count too much on tomorrow. It’s much wiser to make the most of tonight. It may be all there is.” She paused a breath, then swore softly and ruefully, “Oh, hell.”
Chase drew back. “What’s wrong?”
“Laredo’s coming.” She nodded in the direction of the road.
Turning his head, Chase spotted the pickup’s headlights before he heard the steady hum of its engine. Hattie pulled out of his arms and hurriedly straightened the front of her robe and re-knotted the sash that had worked loose. When she began to pat and smooth her hair into order, he chuckled.
“Such old-fashioned modesty. That’s unexpected,” he said with a grin, turning her words back on her.
She slapped at his arm in playful retaliation. “Be quiet.”
“It’s not many women your age that need to make those kind of repairs to their appearance,” he teased, quick to notice she was a little bit flustered.
“And whose fault is that?” Hattie retorted, then cupped her hands to her cheeks. “Oh, my goodness, I’m actually blushing. I didn’t think I still knew how.”
She laughed softly at herself, and Chase joined in, wrapping an arm around her shoulders to nestle her against his side. That’s the way they stood when Laredo drove up to the line shack.
But Laredo was too preoccupied with his own thoughts to notice.
“You’re up late.” His glance bounced off them as he slipped the truck keys into his pocket. “You weren’t waiting up for me, were you?”
“As a matter of fact, we weren’t,” Chase replied. “But considering how late it is, what took you so long?”
Laredo pulled in a deep breath and let it out. “Sally Brogan, the housekeeper, is dead. It looks like a heart attack. The coroner hadn’t got there yet when I left, but Echohawk had arrived.”
“Did he talk to you?”
“No.” He studied Chase for a moment. “You don’t remember Sally, do you?”
After a short pause, Chase replied with a small negative movement of his head.
“Jessy said she’s been in love with you for years. I guess your ‘death’ really tore her up. Now it’s her death that’s weighing on Jessy.” There was no emotion in Laredo’s voice.
But Hattie knew him too well, and understood the things he had left unsaid. Instinct had her moving from Chase’s side and laying a comforting hand on Laredo’s arm.
“It must be awful for Jessy,” she said. “I don’t even know Sally, and it hurts that she went through all that anguish without ever knowing Chase was still alive. I can imagine the sense of guilt Jessy must be feeling.”
“Yeah.” Laredo’s voice was flat, almost clipped. “It can’t be helped, though.”
“And Jessy knows that, too.”
“Yeah. She’ll get over it.” A muscle worked in his jaw, a clamping down of feeling.
With a sudden flash of intuition, Hattie realized it was another emotion entirely he was masking. Soft as a whisper, she murmured, “It’s Jessy, isn’t it?”
He slid her a downward glance, a sardonic wryness twisting his mouth. “I’ll get over it.”
“Duke and I were talking before you came.” She spoke in a normal voice, glancing at Chase to include him. “He said you have a home here as long as you want it.”
“That’s generous,” he said with an acknowledging nod in Chase’s direction. “But it’s not likely to be up to me. Now if you’ll excuse me, I think I’ll turn in. It’s been a long day.” Head down, he headed for the cabin.
Her heart went out to him as Hattie watched him disappear inside the cabin’s darkened interior. Chase moved to her side.
“Is something wrong?”
She felt the curious probe of his gaze. Earlier she would have hesitated before sharing Laredo’s secret with him. But kissing him had changed all that.
“It’s the hell of loving someone when you feel you don’t have the right,” she confided.
“And we are talking about whom?” Chase questioned.
“Laredo and Jessy.”
His head lifted in sudden understanding. “The wind is blowing that way, is it?”
“If you have a problem with that, tell him now, Duke.” It wasn’t a request. The firmness of her voice had it bordering on a threat.
“It’s not my decision to make,” Chase replied. “For either one of them.”
Hattie smiled, the worry easing from her. “You are smarter than I thought.”
“I’m glad you realize that.” There was an unspoken longing in the way his gaze moved possessively over her face. “I guess we might as well turn in, too. If I have trouble getting to sleep this time, at least it will be for a different reason.”
She laughed, feeling that exhilaration of a new love found, and hooked her arm in his. Side by side, they walked to the cabin.
Chapter Thirteen
The afternoon sun blazed hot and strong on The Homestead’s towering facade. Inside, the hum of the air conditioner kept a steady flow of cool air circulating through the den. After a chaotic morning full of phone calls and endless comings and goings, the house was blessedly quiet.
Taking advantage of the lull in activity, Jessy retreated to the den to see if there was any ranch business that needed her attention. She had barely sat down when the front door opened. Mentally crossing her fingers that it wasn’t someone who wanted to talk to her, she continued going through the stack of telephone messages. But the quiet footsteps in the hall came straight toward the den.
Jessy looked up when they stopped at the doorway. Monte Markham stood in the opening, dressed in a pair of chinos and a plain white shirt rather than his usual jodhpurs and boots. His finely drawn features wore a look of concern.
“The house was so quiet, I had almost decided no one was home,” he said and hesitated. “Hav
e I come at a bad time for you?”
“Of course not. Come in.” She rose from the chair and came around the desk to greet him. “I was going through my messages to see if there was anything urgent that needed to be handled. There wasn’t. You heard about Sally,” she guessed.
“Yes. This sorrow doesn’t seem to end for you. I am so sorry, Jessy.” There was a mixture of compassion and understanding in his expression.
“Thank you,” Jessy murmured automatically.
His mouth curved ever so slightly. “How many times today have you heard the same words and answered the same way? Quite a few I would imagine.”
Her smile was wide in admission. “After a while, it becomes something of a reflex.”
Monte nodded. “I understand.”
“I think you do.” That surprised her a little. Yet, on reflection, she realized he was sensitive that way.
“Dare I ask where everybody is? I expected to see more vehicles parked outside when I drove up.”
“There were quite a few people here earlier.” But nowhere near the numbers that had descended on The Homestead when news of Chase’s death had spread. Nearly all of them were ranch women, come to offer their help in whatever way they could. Sally had been well liked, but she wasn’t Chase Calder.
“Have you decided when the funeral will be?”
“Day after tomorrow,” Jessy replied. “Cat is handling all the details. As a matter of fact, she and Amy Trumbo are down at the cemetery selecting a burial site now.”
The mere mention of Cat’s name made Jessy feel uncomfortable. Cat had been cool to her when she’d arrived that morning. Fortunately there were others around, so nothing was said. And no one appeared to notice there was any strain between them.
“I am glad you don’t have to handle that responsibility. You have strong shoulders, but you are already carrying a heavy load running this ranch,” Monte observed. “I wish there was something I could do to help, but I know there is nothing.”