by Diana Palmer
“Why did your father have you watched?” he asked, curious.
“So we wouldn’t get involved with men,” she said simply. “Sari said Daddy told Paul that he didn’t want his daughter marrying some grubby little lawman.” She winced. “Paul had been with the FBI. He was the only member of his family who wasn’t involved with the mob. He was very proud. It hurt him, to have Daddy say such a thing. As if he had no worth, because he’d been in law enforcement.”
“He didn’t approve of your sister getting involved with him?”
“He didn’t know, or they never could have,” she replied. “Paul loved her so much. More than anything in the world. He broke up with her because of money...well, because of Daddy,” she amended, not wanting to tell him the whole truth. “She went off to the Bahamas to try to get over Paul, and got caught in a hurricane. Paul and Mandy, our housekeeper, flew down there to look for Sari.” She shivered. “Paul used his FBI credentials to get to the disaster scene. He found a body with red hair. He thought it was Sari. Mandy said she’d never seen him cry.” She stopped and swallowed. “They went back to Nassau to arrange to fly the body home, and there was Sari, drenched but alive getting off a sailing ship that had rescued her and some of the other tourists on the tour. It was a wonderful homecoming.”
“They’re married now?”
She laughed. “Oh, yes. Paul was going to be noble, but Mandy said Sari locked him in a bedroom with her. They were married less than a week later.”
He chuckled. “She sounds like a character.”
“She is. My best friend, as well as my big sister.”
“I never had siblings, until my mother married Randall’s father,” he said, pain just slightly visible in his hard features. “He was well-to-do, so mother finally had everything she ever wanted. I haven’t spoken to her in years, but I loved Randall,” he said, his voice softening. “We’re not full brothers, but that never mattered. I’d do anything for him.”
“He speaks the same way about you,” she replied.
“Hey, boss!” one of the hands called. “Snow’s getting pretty deep. Want me to hitch up the sledge and start hauling hay to the south pasture?”
“Good idea, Bandy,” Ren called back. “Call some of the part-timers in, if you have to.”
“I will.”
“Your men are nice,” she said.
He chuckled as he shouldered away from the fence. “They’re competent, or they wouldn’t work here, nice or not. We’d better get going, before the snow gets any deeper.”
She was afraid he was going to cancel the tour. She beamed when she realized that he wasn’t.
He turned away from the sweet, shy look on her face. He wondered about her. She didn’t seem to fit a pattern at all.
* * *
THEY RODE THROUGH the lodgepole pines to a small stream, its banks thick with snow, that ran through the property. It was like a silver ribbon in the snowy landscape.
“I just can’t get over how shallow the streams and rivers are out here,” she remarked. “Back home, even streams are pretty deep in places.”
“A lot of things are different out here in Wyoming. We had a cowboy lost in a blizzard once. Took us two days to find him, and he wasn’t alive by the time we did. He didn’t follow the cardinal rule.”
“Which is?” she asked, genuinely curious.
“Stay put. It’s best to stay on a trail or path or road, if you’re near one. But you never keep walking. It’s suicide.”
“I’ll remember,” she said. “What kind of trees are those?” she asked, indicating some hardwoods near the stream.
“Cottonwoods,” he told her, smiling. “Old-timers used to scrape the sap from them and eat it like ice cream.”
“Wow!”
He chuckled at her enthusiasm. “Are you always that excited to learn new things?”
“Always,” she replied. “I read a lot about the Inuit, up in Alaska. They have over fifty words for snow.”
“We have just a few words for it, and none of them are repeatable in mixed company,” he said, tongue in cheek.
It took her a minute to get what he was saying. When she did, she burst out laughing.
He pulled his hat lower over his eyes. “The boys usually have a campfire out near the first line cabin. We’ll go that far and then turn back. Snow’s getting deep, and I’ll have things to do.”
“Okay.” She was looking forward to seeing a real campfire. She hoped the one she’d put in Ren’s painting was realistic. She’d seen them in movies, but never in real life.
* * *
THE LINE CABIN was small, made of rough wood. There were three cowboys sitting around a big bonfire. One was making coffee. Another was frying what looked like bacon and eggs.
“Hey, boss!” the youngest cowboy said, smiling. “Damned stove stopped working, so we’re roughing it.”
“I’ll have Grandy come out and see about fixing it tomorrow,” Ren promised. “Got enough coffee for two more?”
“Sure do. Bacon and eggs, too.”
“We just had breakfast, but thanks,” Ren replied.
He dismounted and helped Merrie down.
She grimaced as she tried to walk.
“Legs sore?” Ren teased. “Riding takes some getting used to.”
“I noticed,” she said with a laugh. “I haven’t ridden a horse in months.”
“Wish we could say that,” one of the other cowboys commented wistfully.
“This is Meredith,” Ren introduced her. “She’s a friend of Randall’s. She’s staying with us for a while.”
He introduced the cowboys to her. One, a tall and rangy one, was named Willis. He was the ranch foreman. The rest of the men greeted her enthusiastically. One got her a cup of coffee, another offered her a camp stool. She sat down and sipped coffee while Ren asked them about predators that had been seen nearby.
She almost dozed off. Ren called her name. He had his horse by the reins.
“The boys and I are going to ride down to the fence line for just a couple of minutes to look at a sick heifer. Will you be all right until I get back?”
“Of course,” she said, holding out her hands to the warmth of the bonfire. She smiled. “I’ll wait right here.”
“See that you do.” He vaulted into the saddle. “Won’t be long.” He turned his horse and caught up to the others.
Merrie watched them until they were out of sight. The snow was beautiful. The campfire was so warm. She closed her eyes and smiled. Then she heard it. A long, echoing howl. It sounded like a wolf, and very close by.
She stood up, her heart racing. The howl came again. It sounded closer. She looked around nervously. She had no weapon. She’d read about wolves. Wouldn’t they attack lone people sometimes?
The howl grew louder and closer. Merrie panicked. She’d promised not to move, but there was a wolf and it sounded as if it was coming closer, right into the camp. She felt fear like a sickness in her gut. If she’d only had a weapon!
She got up from the camp stool and moved away from the howling, back down into the shelter of the lodgepole pines. Perhaps if the wolf couldn’t see her, it would leave. Her heart raced like a ticking watch as she kept backing into the woods.
She didn’t mean to go far, but the snow suddenly picked up and turned everything white around her. She couldn’t see a foot in front of her. She hoped she was going the right way, to try to get back to camp. Ren would be back soon. Surely he’d see the wolf and make it leave!
The snow fell harder. It blinded her as she walked. In less than five minutes, she was hopelessly lost. And that howling was closer than she’d realized.
She recalled what Ren had told her about the cowboy who got lost in a blizzard and was found dead. She also remembered what he’d said to do. Don’t
keep walking. Stay put. Keep on a path or a trail.
She looked around and grimaced. There wasn’t either. She was in a small clearing near a stream. She didn’t have a cell phone with her, or any matches. She couldn’t make a fire. She was freezing cold, because she didn’t have gloves and she’d had to hold on to tree trunks to get away from the howling thing.
Great, she thought. I’ll freeze to death, and it’s my own fault. Nobody will ever find me. I’ll be covered up with snow and lost in the wilderness. Why didn’t I stay put?
She sat down at the trunk of the tree and wrapped her arms tight around herself. “Stupid, stupid,” she muttered to herself. All because something howled. It was still howling, only it sounded closer. She had nothing that could be used as a weapon. There was a big limb nearby, but she couldn’t budge it. The whole limb was frozen. That made her hands even colder, and numb.
The snow was coming down in bucket loads. Ren was probably going crazy trying to find her. He was going to be so mad...!
The sudden sound of a gunshot startled her. She jumped to her feet, shivering. Then it dawned on her. It was a signal.
“I’m here!” she called. “I’m down here!”
There were voices. One was deep and very angry. She winced as Ren came into view, moving down the hill as if the snow wasn’t even there.
He came to a stop in front of her and stood with his hands on his hips, glaring down at her with black eyes that absolutely glittered.
“Oh, Ren!” She threw herself against him and held on for dear life. “I’m sorry. I’m sorry! I did a stupid thing. I heard a wolf howling and it sounded so close. I got scared and I just didn’t think. I’m sorry!”
He let out the breath he’d been holding and jerked her close, inside his open jacket, enveloping her in his strong arms. He rocked her, loving the feel of her soft body against him, drinking in the scent of honeysuckle that still clung to her hair. It had been a long time since any woman had made him feel protective, possessive.
“It’s all right,” he said at her ear, his voice like velvet. “I only meant to be gone for a minute or two. We lost track of time.”
“The howling scared me,” she confessed sheepishly. She loved being held by him. She felt safer than she’d ever been in her life, right now. She closed her eyes with a soft sigh and listened to Ren’s heart beat under her ear.
“We have wolves on the place,” he said. “One of them, however, is a pet. That’s what you heard,” he added with a soft chuckle.
“A pet?” She lifted her head and looked up into his black eyes at close range. Very close range. She felt swollen all over because of the way he was staring at her.
“It lives in the cabin with Willis, when he’s out here with the nighthawks.”
“Oh.” Her eyes were searching his. They fell involuntarily to his chiseled mouth. She’d never been kissed in her life, but she wanted to be. She’d never wanted anything so much. “Nighthawks?”
Ren intercepted that look and understood it better than she realized. He was tempted. Very tempted. But she was Randall’s girl, and the snow was about to cover them up. He took her by the waist and moved her back away from him.
“Nighthawks. The men who watch over the various herds at night, from line cabins like this one, when we have bad weather. We have to go back to the house now,” he said. “You must be frozen in that flimsy coat.”
“My hands are cold, too,” she said. She grimaced. “No gloves.”
“You’re going shopping tomorrow, snow or no snow,” he replied. “I’ll have Tubbs drive you and Delsey to town. She’s got the card for the account.”
“Oh, but I could...”
“You’ll do as you’re told,” he mused, smiling at her consternation. “You won’t win an argument with me. Give it up.”
“Okay. Thanks,” she said softly, her pale eyes adoring on his hard face.
His body clenched. He liked the way she was with him. He hated his brother. He didn’t know what he wanted anymore. He felt like a man walking headlong into quicksand.
“While you’re at it, buy an evening dress.”
“An evening dress?” she asked absently.
They mounted up. He led the way back up the trail.
“I told you. There’s a party for a friend of mine who’s moved into a new house with his wife. You can go with me. They’ll have a band and hors d’oeuvres. You can dance, can’t you?”
She swallowed. “No,” she said miserably. “I’ve never even been to a party in my life, except birthday ones when Sari and I were very small and our mother was still alive.”
He frowned. “You really can’t dance?”
She grimaced. “No. So I guess I won’t need the dress...”
“I can teach you to dance,” he said quietly. “It’s not that difficult.”
Her face lost its tautness. She smiled. “I’d like very much to go with you,” she said. “If your friend wouldn’t mind. I don’t know anybody here.”
“He won’t mind.”
“Okay.”
He thought about teaching her to dance. He thought about teaching her a lot of things. His body got hotter and hotter with images that flittered through his mind as they reached the house. If she was telling the truth, he’d enjoy teaching her. That brought him back to reality. Angie had pretended to be innocent, too.
He glanced at Meredith, who was beaming at him. Was she the real deal, or was she like Randall’s other women?
He was going to have to find out, sooner or later. And if she wasn’t the real deal, then he might be saving his brother from more heartache. That was it. He was taking her out for a noble reason. To see if she was what she pretended to be.
They left their mounts at the stable. He walked her to the back door.
“Stay inside,” he said firmly.
“Okay, boss,” she replied with a faint smile. “Sorry about all the trouble.”
He shrugged. “Rescuing Eastern tenderfeet is what we do around here. In between the winter headaches, at least.”
“I never got to meet the pet wolf.”
“When the weather clears I’ll introduce you,” he said. “Get a heavy winter coat. And a dress. Something pretty.”
She grinned. “I’ll get something gorgeous, so I won’t let you down.”
“Let me down?” he asked.
“I wouldn’t want to embarrass you in front of your friends,” she added. “I don’t have much fashion sense. I’m glad you’re letting Delsey go with me. She’ll know what I should buy.”
He felt odd inside. She didn’t want to embarrass him? Angie had gloried in embarrassing him, everywhere they went. She loved to stir up trouble. There was a good chance that she was going to be at this party, and he’d thought about staying home, just to save his pride.
But he could take Meredith with him. Show Angie that she wasn’t difficult to replace. He studied Meredith’s pert figure and smiled. She’d look stunning in an evening gown, with her hair and makeup done properly. She was very pretty.
“Have your hair done, while you’re at it.”
Her eyebrows arched. “Have it cut?” she faltered.
“Good Lord, no!” he exclaimed. “It would be a crime to cut hair like that,” he added, his eyes more expressive than he meant them to be as they lingered on her soft, pale blond hair that fell to her waist in back.
“Oh.”
“Have them teach you how to style it. To go with the evening gown. And get some makeup if you don’t have any.”
“I have powder and lipstick. That’s all I ever wear,” she said. “I don’t like a lot of makeup.”
He pursed his lips, and his black eyes twinkled. “It puts a man off, too.”
“Puts him off?”
“I look really bad wearing a wom
an’s lipstick.”
She flushed to her throat. She couldn’t even find words. She turned and ran.
Ren looked after her with a puzzled expression. She was incredibly shy. And that didn’t seem like an act.
He wondered as he went back outside whether she could really be so innocent. Her father had been overprotective—paranoid, to his mind. She hadn’t been allowed around men. She’d been hit with a belt for trying to date a boy. That was what she’d said. But she was Randall’s girl, so how did that fit?
Randall was a sweet man, and Ren truly loved him as a brother. But Randall was a ladies’ man who changed his women like he changed his socks. He slept with them until the newness wore off, then he went hunting again.
But Meredith didn’t have the look of a sophisticated woman. She didn’t act like one, either. Perhaps her attitude was put on, but she wore that cross and refused to take it off, even knowing that Ren didn’t like it. A woman who was religious would have morals of steel, and principles to match.
He went back to work and put Meredith out of his mind while he organized the men and left for the outlying pastures.
* * *
MERRIE WAS OVERWHELMED. “He wants to take me to a party,” she told Delsey with barely contained excitement. “He wants you to go shopping with me tomorrow and get a dress!”
Delsey shook her head. “Well, I never.” She laughed. “He hasn’t even talked about going on a date since Angie cheated on him.”
“He doesn’t talk about her, does he?”
She shook her head while she worked around the kitchen. “She really hurt him. He’s never been a playboy, not like Randall. He’s deep, and he keeps to himself. Not that he’s totally innocent,” she said with a laugh. “They still tell tales about him when he was a young man and new to wealth. But even then, he was choosy. And he wants to take you to a party!”