At Wolf Ranch

by Jennifer Ryan

  She tossed her dirty bra and panties into the sink, washed them with the hand soap, and hung them next to her wet towel on the bar next to the shower. She hated to leave her things strung over Gabe’s bathroom, but what choice did she have at this point?

  She pressed her thighs together, thinking of Gabe and the warm way he made her feel when he looked at her.

  She thought of him wrapping his arms around her from behind, and sliding his hands over her taut belly and lower, to pull the towel up and touch her where she burned.

  Stop. You’ve got things to do.

  Still alone and not knowing when to expect Gabe home, she grabbed her tote off the table by the front door, set the heavy bag on the dining table, and pulled out her laptop and notebook.

  She opened her laptop, but froze before turning it on. What if they could track her Internet access and emails?

  Frustrated, she opened her notebook and concentrated on making a list. She thought of her sister. What could she do for Lela?

  Check on funeral arrangements. Maybe her uncle already made them, but Ella wanted Lela buried at the ranch with their parents. Plan memorial service. Find proof against my uncle. Find someone I trust to help me arrest my uncle. She wrote: State attorney? FBI?

  Who was she kidding? Without Internet access and the ability to hide her identity, she couldn’t accomplish anything.

  The desk across the room caught her attention, but she hesitated to use Gabe’s laptop. She’d imposed so much already, she hated to use his things without asking. Still, she couldn’t sit here and do nothing. Too much time had passed already.

  Set on accomplishing at least one of her tasks, she limped over to his desk and sat in his chair. She opened his laptop and the screen lit up. No password protection; several spreadsheets and documents popped up. She tried not to snoop, but they were right in front of her face. His plans and calculations for the ranch, the cattle, his breeding program, cost estimates, land allocations. More stuff she couldn’t decipher. Smart, well-thought-out plans for a man about to embark on a new venture. He’d outlined the steps he needed to take, timelines for different aspects of the business, and forecasts for the next five years.

  She touched her fingertips to the screen. “You worked so hard to set this up.” She’d learned a thing or two about finance in school and working her way through the many departments at the company. If his projections were correct, and she had no reason to doubt them based on what she’d seen, he’d be profitable inside a year and making better than decent money in five. More than enough for him to live at Wolf Ranch and support a family.

  Her gaze went to the photos on the mantel. Family was important to him. Naturally, given his age and a prospering business, he’d want to settle down, get married, and have a family of his own. She thought of dark-haired, brown-eyed babies in his strong, protective arms and sighed. Such a pretty picture.

  She shook it off and stared at his spreadsheets again, more plans forming in her mind. More she needed to do to make this right for him.

  With Gabe’s pages minimized, she opened his browser and typed in the New York City morgue they’d mentioned on the news. She jotted down the number on her pad. With a few more keystrokes and searches, she found Heaven’s Gate Funeral Home in New York. She’d ask Mary to make arrangements to have them prepare her sister’s body for burial and ship it to a funeral home in Crystal Creek.

  Warm hands settled on her shoulders and kneaded her tight muscles. Gabe. She hadn’t heard him come in or walk up behind her. He worked her shoulders with his big hands, easing her mind as well as her body. She looked up at him upside down, and he traced his finger along her cheek, wiping the single tear away. The moment stretched, their gazes held, and he combed his fingers through her damp hair to let her know he felt the pull between them too.

  Unable to decide on a casket on Heaven’s Gate’s website, she’d been staring at the photos for ten minutes. Gabe’s body brushed against her back as he leaned over, took the mouse, and clicked on the screen. She stared at the wood coffin with the white satin interior. A vine of roses carved into the wood. His hand settled on the rose pendant on her chest.

  “That’s the one,” he said simply, his fingertips brushing up her neck and through her long hair. Shivers danced up her spine and his hands settled on her shoulders again.

  She jotted down her choice—the perfect choice, thanks to Gabe’s help—on her notepad and sighed.

  “You can’t make that phone call.”

  She ignored the order in his voice, knowing he was only trying to protect her.

  “I’ll contact the house staff and instruct Mary to complete the arrangements.”

  “What if the phone is tapped, or she tells your uncle where you are?”

  “My uncle would never expect me to call. The servant extension is a different number from the house. I’m not going to tell her where I am. And she won’t say anything. She works for me, not my uncle.”

  “Is there a difference?”

  “Yes. Which is one of the reasons my uncle is doing this.”

  “It’s too great a risk.”

  “I have to do this. My sister deserves to be buried with dignity, not left in some cold morgue.”

  She leaned back in the chair and stared up at Gabe. He leaned against the desk, his hands stuffed in his pockets. He gave her a nod that he didn’t like it, but he’d drop it.

  “You look better and worse all at the same time,” he said, not smiling.

  “Thanks. You’re a real sweet-talker.”

  “That’s why the place is crawling with women,” he teased back, letting go of the tension between them from a minute ago.

  “Um, I guess I never thought about it. Is my being here a problem for you and your girlfriend?” He didn’t wear a ring and the house definitely shouted bachelor with its sparse furnishings and decorations, but a man like him probably had a girlfriend somewhere. Or maybe ten.

  “My fiancée—”

  “Oh shit. I’m sorry. I kissed you. I’ll explain to her that it was my fault.”

  “Ella. Stop. She left me years ago. She never stayed one night in this house.”

  Since he started this conversation, she waited, feeling as if he wanted her to know what happened.

  “It’s no big deal. I met a girl in college.”

  “Good ol’ Texas A&M.”

  “We were together three years. I asked Stacy to marry me junior year. She said yes. We graduated. I bought this place and brought her home to marry her and build a life, starting on this small spread. I brushed off her complaints about living this far from even the smallest town, and how she’d never find a job, friends, how she’d be stuck out here with me, as nothing more than wedding jitters. Hell, I was nervous too. I figured once we settled in, she’d make this place hers, and we’d have some kids, and she’d be happy.”

  “This place wasn’t what she expected?” Ella guessed.

  “Let’s say she was a bit high-maintenance from the get-go. She grew up in a middle-class home in a good-size town in Texas. All the plans we talked about at school sounded good. She went along, swearing she loved me and couldn’t wait to be a rancher’s wife.”

  “You brought her here, and the reality of living in the country on the ranch with the animals set in.”

  “A tiny house in the middle of nowhere, limited access to shopping malls, the movies, restaurants—fun—wasn’t exactly what she had in mind.”

  No. Ella imagined she’d wanted something grand, like Wolf Ranch, and located closer to a big city like Bozeman.

  “What happened?”

  “She left me standing at the altar, staring at the house and land and the life she didn’t want.”

  Ella had seen the beautiful wood arch out back down by the creek, under two towering trees. She bet it was beautiful in the spring and fall with the grass and wildflowers. The perfect spot to get married.

  “I’m sorry, Gabe. No one deserves to be abandoned like that.”

  S
he understood all too well the kind of hurt that caused. Her mother loved her father and couldn’t overcome her grief at losing him after the plane crash. She’d gone to their New York estate, the place they used to go to be alone and ride the horses, and hung herself, choosing death and an afterlife with her beloved rather than a life with her daughters. Loving someone that much was dangerous. A broken heart could break you.

  “Yeah, well, after that, I left this place and followed the rodeo circuit to earn the money I needed to buy a bigger place and set up the ranch I really want.”

  Yes. Wolf Ranch. Gabe had jumped at the chance to buy it when her uncle presented a deal too good to be true, because he needed the house and land to prove himself worthy.

  “I rode broncos and bulls and any woman I could get my hands on.”

  To prove he didn’t need Stacy and could have any woman he wanted. Blunt, but she appreciated his honesty. She’d bet everything she owned all he had to do was smile and they jumped into his bed. The thought brought on a wave of unfamiliar jealousy and anger. She barely knew him, but thinking about him with another woman set off a bunch of emotions she didn’t want to analyze too closely.

  “Did it help you forget Stacy?”

  “Nope, but it passed the time, and I made a lot of money.” He might have stopped sleeping with random women to prove he was over Stacy and what she did to him, but he still needed the big ranch to prove he had something to give a woman who shared his dream.

  Gabe’s gaze met hers. “Stacy showed up about two years ago. She wanted me back. Said it was a huge mistake to leave me, that we could make a life together work.”

  “Must have made you feel good to see her come crawling back.”

  “Not like I thought it would. She gave me all the words I thought I wanted to hear, but I didn’t feel anything inside. Nothing. I’d made a mistake, thinking she’d be happy living the life I wanted. I never considered the life she wanted. I deserved what I got, standing alone at that altar, waiting on a woman who only existed in my head. A woman I thought I loved once but didn’t. I won’t make that mistake again.”

  “You made a name for yourself and a lot of money on the rodeo circuit. She thought you’d have the life she imagined.” She pointed to the buckles and trophies.

  “Something like that. But I still live here, and her picture of our life still didn’t match mine. Although I still wanted the wife and family, the life my parents showed me, I didn’t believe her smile.”

  “I know the one.”

  “I bet you do. Men probably smile at you all the time and want only one thing.”

  “Two. Money and sex. The first is a great aphrodisiac for the second to some people.”

  “How many men have asked you to marry them?”

  “None. I rarely date someone more than a few weeks and never let things get that far. Like you, I never quite believe the smile.”

  “The pictures on TV prove you hardly ever stay home alone.”

  “Partners in fun are one thing. A partner for life is quite another. Love is dangerous. It makes people lie to make someone else happy, but in the end it only hurts them more when that person discovers the truth.”

  “Exactly what Stacy did.”

  “It makes people grieve so hard when they lose it that they’ll do anything to get it back.”

  “Your mother.”

  “She loved my father so much, she couldn’t live without him. The vows say till death do us part. My mother believed that in death she’d be with him again.”

  “Were they happy together?”

  “They were made for each other. They smiled and meant it every day.”

  “Don’t you want that for yourself?”

  “My life is complicated. They met before all the money came into play. I’ve got that and an uncle who wants me dead.”

  She pointed to the mantel. “Home. Family. Seems I don’t have either anymore. My family is all dead, and I can’t go back to my house in New York where my sister died.”

  “We’ll find the evidence you need to put that bastard behind bars, so you can go home.”

  Funny, she didn’t want to go anywhere. She liked it here. Even with everything hanging over her head, she still felt life was simpler here.

  “Um, I hope you don’t mind I borrowed your computer.”

  “Help yourself. Lord knows everything on there is a whole lot of nothing now.”

  “Your projections and business plans are well thought out.”

  “They won’t be executed. Not in the same way. I’ll have to figure out what to do with my limited resources.”

  He stood and took two steps away, ending any further conversation about how much this place and reaching for more had cost him.

  He turned back to face her. “I got you a present.”

  Surprised, she opened her mouth, but closed it again.

  He shook his head. “It’s nothing big, just something you need.”

  “Thank you.”

  “Don’t thank me yet. You might not like it.”

  “Gabe.”

  He closed the distance between them, reading in her the importance of what she wanted to say. He crouched in front of her, one hand on the arm of her chair and the other on the desk.

  She leaned in close because the moment called for it. “Thank you for saving me out on that road and letting me stay here. I don’t know what I would have done without your help. You’re a good man, who didn’t deserve any of this.”

  His steady gaze told her he understood she meant what Stacy and her uncle both did to him. His hand clamped on to her leg, and he massaged his way up over her knee to her thigh and hip. Heat spread like wildfire through her system.

  “You’ll be okay.”

  Hearing him say it made her feel better. A spark of belief flamed to life.

  “You’re tough. You’ve had to be to grow up without your parents, just you and your sister, no one else to rely on or help you when you needed it.”

  “How do you know that?”

  “Because your uncle killed your sister for something as stupid as money.”

  “It’s a lot of money.”

  “Nothing is worth taking someone’s life.”

  “Yeah, well, I want to kill him for what he did to her.”

  “I know you do, but you’ll do what is right and make sure your sister gets the justice she deserves.”

  “I’ll make sure you get the justice you deserve. He shouldn’t have made that deal with you.”

  “Stop worrying about me.”

  “I can’t,” she confessed.

  His eyes narrowed and blazed with heat. He leaned in close, or maybe she leaned into him. No, they’d met in the middle, that strange connection between them pulling them in. Their faces remained an inch apart. His breath whispered over her skin, smelling of the wintergreen mints he kept in his truck. She thought he’d kiss her and held her breath.

  His big hand reached up and held the side of her head, and he pressed his forehead to hers and closed his eyes like it hurt to be this close to her. He stood, breaking the intimate spell, and stared down at her with the same need she felt reflected in his eyes. He didn’t give in and neither did she. They let the moment, the feelings and emotions simmer.

  “I’ve got to bring the stuff in from my truck.” He turned back before he went out the door. “Can you cook?”

  “I can make reservations and order take-out.”

  He laughed. “City girl. I’ve got to feed the horses and do some chores. I’ll make you something to eat when I get back. You must be starving.”

  “I haven’t eaten all day.”

  “Damn, honey, I’m sorry.”

  “Not your fault. I wasn’t really hungry anyway.”

  “I know you’re grieving for your sister, but you’ve got to eat. Especially if you’re taking those pain pills.” She shrugged that away. “You didn’t take them, did you?”

  “No. I’m fine.”

  “Why don’t you take them?�
�

  “I don’t like them. They make me feel not myself. I don’t like feeling that way.”

  He tilted his head and studied her. “You’re not what I thought you are.”

  “Ditsy spoiled rich girl?”

  “I think that’s just another lie you let people believe.”

  “What are you talking about?”

  “You know what I’m talking about.” With that bombshell hanging between them, he walked out the door, a blast of cold air and snow blowing and whipping the door shut.

  So, he’d decided the news reports he’d seen about her and Lela that morning might not be all true. Most people didn’t look close enough, or care one way or the other. Her close friends laughed at what reporters said about her. Lela used to think the absurd stories were funny.

  She used Gabe’s cordless phone and called the penthouse staff extension.

  “Wolf residence.”

  “Mary, it’s Ella.”

  Mary knew her and Lela better than anyone. She’d cooked for the family for years and had become more like an aunt to her and Lela. Mary sniffled and stammered out, “Ella, do you know? Has someone told you?”

  “Yes, Mary, I know all about Lela. I’m so sorry you were the one to find her.”

  “I can’t believe someone murdered my beautiful girl in her own home. Your uncle is going insane looking for you. Where are you, dear? Come home. We’ll get through this together.”

  “I can’t. Not yet. Please, whatever you do, don’t tell Uncle Phillip you spoke to me.”

  “He asks about you every five minutes.”

  “Please, Mary. It’s important.”