She stepped away from him, away from the seductive pull of his touch. “Then let Eb Whitlock buy it.”
His eyes narrowed. “I can’t do that.”
“Why not?”
“Something’s going on around here. I’m not convinced all the so-called accidents are accidents.”
Even in the heat, she felt a chill run over her. “You think somebody’s sabotaging the ranch?”
“Maybe. And Whitlock’s one of my candidates.”
“Oh, for heaven’s sake! That thing with the petroleum drums was a case of bad memory.”
“It could have been, but he seemed pretty focused to me. And then there’s the question of Duane.”
“Duane?”
“Did you see whose brand was on those cattle?”
She tried to remember, but the only thing that surfaced was a mass of heaving bodies with the power to kill her. “No, I didn’t.”
“I didn’t either until the last two ran by me. They both carried the D-Bar on their left hip, Freddy.”
“My God, Duane will be furious that his cattle got out and stampeded like that.”
“Unless he stampeded them.”
“What? You are paranoid, Ry McGuinnes!”
“Am I? When I got to the corrals, Duane was on the phone, and I think he was talking to Leigh. We can assume Leigh told him about the subdivision thing. When I saddled up, he came out and asked where I was headed, and I told him over by the old homestead.”
She gasped. “Just what are you implying?”
“You’re the one who said Duane would do anything to protect his own. He could have figured you could handle yourself in a stampede if you happened to be around, but he may have reckoned I might not.”
“No.” She shook her head. “You’re definitely wrong about this.”
“Then what’s the explanation for all the accidents? The True Love curse?”
“I’d accept that before I’d accuse anyone I’ve known and trusted most of my life.”
He sighed. “I can understand that, but deep in your heart you know something’s wrong around here, and you’ll have to agree that several people have a motive for devaluing the property with these accidents. Besides, you don’t strike me as the superstitious type.”
“I refuse to be the suspicious type, either.”
“Not even when you almost died?”
Freddy shoved her hands in the back pockets of her jeans and gazed down at the ground. A short distance away was the tree she’d climbed. It lay broken at the base, toppled over, its leaves and branches crushed. Nearby was a flat, grayish blob that was probably what remained of her hat. She shivered. Was it possible that someone was sabotaging her beloved ranch? If so, she needed an ally she could trust. She leveled a look at Ry. “You’ve said you don’t want the ranch to disappear, but you haven’t said you’ll work to save it either. Looks like I don’t have any good options.”
He rubbed the back of his neck. “It’s not an easy situation. I can’t buy it alone, and I’ve promised both partners we’ll sell to developers and make a huge profit. That’s why they’re coming in with me.”
Freddy’s first reaction was despair. But she took a deep breath and thought about the way Chase Lavette had arrived today, decked out in boots, jeans and hat, all dusty from a walk down the road. And hadn’t Ry said something about the third partner wanting to bring his son out to the True Love, to give him the experience of being a cowboy? She studied Ry and compared him to the man who had arrived in wing tips and tie.
“Are you sure that’s why they’re coming in with you on this deal?” she asked. “To make big money?”
“Sure. Why else?”
“You didn’t come here just for that. You’ve just confessed you wanted to test yourself.”
“Yeah, but—”
“Ry, what if they’re both like you, needing the True Love for some personal reason but not quite ready to admit it? So they use an acceptable excuse, such as making money, to be a part of a ranch, to live a different sort of life.”
The corner of his mouth tilted up. “Are you saying we should get them out here and convert them to the idea of keeping the ranch?”
“It seems to have worked with you.”
“Yeah, but my case is a little different.”
“How?”
The smile left his face and he regarded her with an intensity that sent a quiver through her. “I fell in love.”
The earth seemed to drop away beneath her feet.
“Unfortunately,” he said, “she doesn’t feel the same way about me.”
She gazed at him and remembered the emotion that had gripped her when she saw him riding through the stampede to save her. She’d been ready to give her life to save his. Even knowing how he’d deceived her about the ranch, she’d loved him enough to sacrifice herself. Even then. “Don’t be too sure,” she said unsteadily.
“Oh, I’m sure. You see, this lady’s already given her heart away, and that love will always be her first priority. I’d have to accept second place. I’m not satisfied with that.”
A pain sharper than she’d ever known knifed through her. “You would make me choose?” she whispered.
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because I can’t promise you that I’ll be able to keep the ranch as it is. I can try, and we can hope my partners want to try, but the city could still grow around us, choking us out. We could lose zoning fights. We could go bankrupt. Even Thaddeus Singleton couldn’t promise Clara that they’d always have the ranch. He could only promise his love. That’s the one sure thing, Freddy.” His hands clenched at his sides. “And it has to be enough.”
A door swung open in her heart, a door rusty and unused.
“Let it be enough, Freddy,” he murmured.
Joy shouldered its way through the door, filling the space where fear had reigned for so long. Happiness made it almost impossible to speak. But she had to say the words, had to give him what he sought. “I love you, Ry.”
Intense emotion blazed in his eyes. Then he leaned down and picked up the two pieces of wood. “I think this can be fixed,” he said gently. “It’s more portable now,” he added with a soft smile. “It can go wherever we go.” He closed the distance between them. “Will you marry me, Frederica Singleton?”
“Yes.”
He pulled her roughly into his arms and kissed her, dust and all. The pieces of wood in his hand imprinted themselves against her back as he tightened his hold. Clara would have approved of this moment, Freddy thought fleetingly. Then Ry’s kiss deepened, and she abandoned thought altogether.
ISBN: 978-1-4592-8634-4
The Trailblazer
Copyright © 1995 by Vicki Lewis Thompson
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