by Ruth Langan
Ally nodded. “One of the old-time Hollywood cowboys. I’ve forgotten his name.” She turned to her grandfather for confirmation.
“Zane Tyler. Owned half of Palm Springs at one time, I understand. He used to use that fancy saddle every year when he rode in the Rose Parade.”
Ally picked up the story. “That’s where the prince first saw it and tried to buy it. He wanted to use it for official celebrations in his country. But Zane Tyler wouldn’t part with his for any amount of money, so that’s when the prince decided to ask Gramps to make him one of his own.” Ally’s eyes were shining as she looked at her grandfather.
“Whew.” Ace arched a brow. “You could get a lot of commissions with that kind of exposure. A movie star and royalty.”
“There was a time when Gramps was known the world over for his saddles.” Ally couldn’t hide the note of pride in her voice.
“You could pay a lot of bills with that much profit. How long did it take you to make that saddle for the prince?”
“I didn’t.” Harlan set his cup down with a clatter.
“You didn’t?”
Harlan pursed his lips. “That was at a low time in my life. I’d just been notified about the loss of my son. Ally was faraway and unable to leave her mother. I was struggling to run the ranch. There just wasn’t time left over for anything else. So I told the prince I’d have to pass on his generous offer.”
“Couldn’t you have asked him to wait until you had the time?”
Harlan shrugged. “Maybe. I just didn’t think of it. I simply sent my regrets and let it go at that.”
“And after a while,” Ally said softly, “the orders stopped coming in.”
Harlan avoided his granddaughter’s eyes. “You can’t blame people. The way I dropped off the face of the earth, they probably think I’m dead.”
Ace studied him. “You could take out an ad and let people know you’re back.”
“Yeah.” Harlan pinched a hand over the bridge of his nose, as though fighting pain. “And I could discover gold on my property, too, son. But neither of those things is going to happen. So I’ll go on making a couple of saddles a year, and hoping some local rancher comes up with enough money to buy them.”
Ace could see that this conversation was disturbing to the old man. He got to his feet. “We’d better clean up this mess and think about getting to the mine.”
Harlan looked up. “I don’t believe I ever bothered to ask you. What do you do out at that mine, Ace?”
For a moment Ace thought he might be joking. When he realized the old man was serious he said, “I thought you knew. I own it.”
Harlan chuckled. “Since when? Everybody knows that mine is owned by the Wilde family.”
“Yeah.” Ace deposited the dishes in the sink and turned. “That’s me. Well…” He shrugged. “…My brothers and me.”
“You’re a Wilde?” Harlan’s smile was gone. His eyes had gone dark and flat.
“That’s right.”
Harlan looked from Ace to his granddaughter. “Are you telling me that, knowing how I feel, you’d work for the Wildes?”
“I…needed a job, Gramps. Where else was I supposed to work?”
“Anywhere but for the Wildes.” The old man slammed a hand down on the arm of his scooter. “And you.” He fixed Ace with a look of fury. “How dare you take advantage of my hospitality? Not to mention the advantage you took of my granddaughter.” He pointed a finger. “Get out of my house. Now. I don’t ever want to see you around here again. Is that understood?”
“Gramps, please. Let me ex…”
“And you, girl.” He rounded on her. “Letting a Wilde onto my property. Into my home. Get upstairs. Now. Before I say more than you want to hear.”
Her eyes widened. In her entire life, she’d never seen her grandfather’s temper aimed at her. Theirs had always been an idyllic relationship. “I’m not a child, Gramps. You can’t send me up to bed with a lecture. We have to talk, as one adult to another.”
“Oh, we’ll talk all right. When this son of a…” He glared at Ace. “When this Wilde is off my property, you and I will talk. And not before.”
Ace stood watching this scene with a look of com plete disbelief. But the old man’s anger was real. As was Ally’s pain.
“I wanted to tell you last night, Gramps. I started to. But then Buster and Billy…”
“Not another word.” Harlan pounded a fist on the table, sending silverware clattering to the floor. That had the dogs dropping into a crouch and backing away with matching looks of guilt. He pointed a finger. “Ace Wilde.” He emphasized the last name with a sneer. “I want you out of my house right now. This minute. And don’t you ever set foot on my property again.”
“You have the right to order me out.” Ace cautioned himself to hold his temper. Anything said in the heat of anger would only come back to haunt him later. “But I think you’re making a big mistake if you turn this into a contest of love and ask your granddaughter to choose between the two of us.”
The old man’s face darkened with fury. “Are you so arrogant that you think I’d lose?” The words rang with contempt.
“No, sir.” Ace glance toward Ally, who stood poised in the doorway, tears streaming down her cheeks. “It’s just that, in a case like this, nobody can possibly win.”
He crossed the room, pausing to touch a hand to her shoulder. He yearned to offer her some measure of comfort. Instead, he simply let himself out the door.
Minutes later his truck could be heard starting down the drive. And then there was only silence as an angry old man and a tearful young woman faced each other.
“I have good news and bad news.” Thorpe’s staccato voice on the telephone had Ace temporarily forgetting his temper.
“You’ve learned something?”
“You show a Marla Craine employed in your office.”
Ace nodded wearily. “Yeah. I’m told she didn’t show up for work today. And never even bothered to phone in sick.” Just one more problem in a day that was slowly going downhill.
“Well.” Thorpe’s voice over the cellular phone faded in and out. “Don’t expect her back. When we looked into her background, we learned that she was a close friend of your former assistant, Cassidy Kellerman. In fact, Marla was so close, she expected to be recommended as Ms. Kellerman’s replacement. Upon further investigation we learned that she recently deposited a large sum of money in her bank account.”
Ace’s mind was racing. “You think somebody paid her in advance, hoping she’d be able to do some serious damage to WildeMining if she were to become my assistant?”
“That’s a pretty good bet. When we went to see her over the weekend, she looked absolutely terrified by our questions. I suspected that she might try to run, so I assigned an operative to watch her. He just checked in from St. Louis. She caught a flight there yesterday, and is staying with an aunt.”
“Now what?” Ace was suddenly alert. Maybe the whole day wasn’t a wash.
“I think sooner or later Marla Craine will try to contact the person who paid her to sabotage your company, Mr. Wilde. And when she does that, we’ll nail him.”
“Thanks, Thorpe.” Ace leaned back in his chair and smiled for the first time since morning. “I appreciate this. Keep me informed.”
He disconnected and closed his eyes.
“Bad news?”
At the sound of that velvet voice, Ace’s eyes snapped open. “Hey, Red.” He got to his feet and stared at her with naked hunger. “Something tells me you didn’t come here to ask for your job back.”
She shook her head, avoiding his eyes. “You know I can’t do that to Gramps. He’s so hurt and angry. And it’s all my fault. I should have told him who you were that first day, before he started to like you, and before I started to…” She bit her lip. There was no way now she could ever admit what was in her heart.
“Does he know you’re here?”
She nodded. “I told him I just needed to collec
t my things.” She felt the heat rise to her cheeks. “And my paycheck.” Though it galled her to ask for money, she was desperate. Without this job, she and her grandfather had less than a month before the bills would begin piling up again.
Ace dialed a number. “Beth. Ace Wilde here. Cut a check for new employee Allison Brady. When it’s ready, have someone bring it to my office.”
“Well.” She avoided looking at him. It was too painful. “I’ll just clean out my desk.”
While she filled her briefcase with her meager belongings, it occurred to Ally that this was the second time in less than a week that she was doing this. She felt tears sting her eyes and blinked them back. She wouldn’t allow herself to cry over this. Couldn’t. Because if she started, she’d never stop until she’d run out of tears.
She saw the young woman from accounting enter Ace’s office and exit minutes later, and knew that her check was ready. There was nothing more to keep her here. She took a deep breath and walked into his office.
Without a word he handed her the check.
“I’m sorry, Ace.”
“Yeah. Me, too.” He watched as she folded the check and jammed it into her pocket. “Now what?”
She shrugged. “I don’t know. I guess I’ll drive over to Montana tomorrow and look for work. It won’t be as interesting as this, but it’ll keep my grandfather happy.” She turned away with a sigh. “Oh, Ace, he’s so hurt, so miserable, he actually called me Allison. He hasn’t called me that since I was six years old and climbed up onto the back of a bull.”
“You did what?” He caught her by the arm, then realized his mistake. The moment he touched her he felt the sizzle of heat that shot through his veins.
The only sign that she felt the same thing was a slight flush on her cheeks. “I climbed onto a bull’s back and rode it halfway across the pasture before I was thrown.”
“Why?”
“Because a boy in my class said girls couldn’t do everything that boys could do. He said his big brother was a bull rider, and there weren’t any girls who rode bulls in the rodeo. So I decided to show him he was wrong.”
He felt the beginnings of a smile. “My kind of woman. I guess you showed him.”
“Yeah. And then Gramps showed me the woodshed.” She laughed as she rubbed her backside.
“And I’ll bet he wanted to show you the woodshed again today. But he knows you’re too old for that.”
“Yeah. I guess. But not too old to feel terrible about misleading him.”
He decided to discard whatever good intentions he’d made. He pulled her close and buried his face in her hair. And realized he couldn’t let her go. Not without a fight.
“Come on.” He caught her hand and started leading her toward the door.
“Where are we going?”
“To your grandfather’s ranch. And this time, that old man’s going to tell me what he and my father fought about all those years ago.”
“What good will that do?”
“At least then I’ll know how to make amends. How can I make it right when I don’t even know what I’m fighting about?” Ignoring the employees in the outer office who were gaping at them, he continued holding her hand as he punched the button for the elevator. When they were downstairs, he led her toward his truck. “Come on. I’ll drive.”
“But what if the two of you don’t resolve this? Maybe I’d better take my own truck.”
“Uh-uh.” He grinned. “This way, if all else fails, and he orders me off his property again, you’ll have a good reason to come back to see me.”
“So much dust,” Ace muttered as they drove along the rutted path. “Like somebody just tore up this road going a hundred miles an hour.” He turned to Ally. “Was your grandfather expecting a delivery truck?”
She shrugged. “Not that I know of.”
As the ranch house came into view, both Ace and Ally fell silent. They both knew how much was riding on this one chance to appeal to Harlan Brady’s sense of fair play. If the old man wanted to, he could simply refuse to give Ace an answer, and order him off the property.
As they drove closer, Ally sniffed the air. “Something’s burning.”
“Yeah.” Ace’s eyes narrowed at the pall of smoke rising above the trees. He pulled the truck into the dusty yard and turned toward the barn, where smoke was rising in a great black cloud.
Billy came rushing toward the truck, barking frantically.
“Gramps!” Ally was out of the truck before it came to a stop, with Ace directly behind her, and the little dog on his heels.
As they sprinted the distance between the house and barn, they suddenly caught sight of something that had them both stopping in their tracks.
“Oh, no. Oh, Gramps.” Ally dropped to her knees beside the crumpled form of her grandfather, lying face down in the dirt. Close by was his scooter, which was now little more than a pile of twisted metal.
With sinking hearts she and Ace rolled Harlan over. When they heard him moan they sighed with relief.
“He’s alive.” Ally bent close, pressing her lips to his cheek. “Gramps, can you hear me?”
“Yeah…hear you.” He lifted a hand to her face, then froze when he caught sight of Ace. “You did this.”
“Gramps. Ace didn’t do this. He was with me. Tell us what happened here.”
“Ace knows.” The old man’s eyes flashed fire.
“I don’t know, Harlan.” Ace shot a puzzled glance toward Ally, wondering if her grandfather had lost his senses. “Tell us what happened here.”
“A man. A stranger. Hauled me out of my workroom. Then he threw me down in the dirt and smashed the scooter, before setting fire to the barn.”
Ace’s eyes narrowed. “How did a stranger get past Buster?”
“Buster.” A sigh seemed to well up from deep inside him. “That good old dog attacked him, trying to save me.”
“And?” Ally waited, her heart pounding.
The old man’s eyes filled and his lips trembled. “He shot Buster.”
Ace was already on his feet, racing toward the barn. The fire had spread from the workroom to the bedroom beyond. He ran through a wall of flame and watched as charred timbers crashed to the floor in a display of fireworks.
Ace spotted the still figure of the old dog and lifted him, staggering under the deadweight. Just as he stepped outside more timbers crashed and burned, and a wall of the barn exploded inward, sending up a billowing cloud of smoke and sparks.
Ace gently lay the old dog down beside Ally and her grandfather, who clung together, weeping softly.
The sight of Buster brought a fresh round of weeping from Ally, who turned and buried her face in the old dog’s ruff.
“He isn’t dead.” Ace’s eyes narrowed. “But he’s badly wounded.” He turned to Harlan. “This stranger had to say something. Didn’t he tell you why he was here and what this was all about?”
“He told me.” Harlan’s eyes were dark with hatred. “He said he was delivering a message from the Wildes. That they never forget. And they never forgive. And this was their way of collecting on an old debt.”
Chapter 11
“All right.” His eyes hot with fury, Ace got to his feet. “I don’t know how yet, but we’re going to get to the bottom of this.”
“You’re going to get off my property.” Despite his injuries, Harlan’s voice quivered with anger.
“That’s right. I am. And you’re going with me.” Ace picked up the old man and, ignoring his furious protest, carried him to the truck, where he deposited him inside. Then he returned to where Buster lay, still and silent as death.
“Get some blankets from the house,” he called as he picked up the old dog. At once Billy started dancing around his legs, yapping wildly.
By the time Ace carried the old dog to his truck, Ally had returned with several blankets.
“Climb up here, Red.” He helped her into the back of the truck.
When she was seated with her back against the
cab, he wrapped the dog in the blankets and settled him on Ally’s lap. Poor old Billy danced around the truck, barking in protest. As soon as Ace lifted him up he raced to Ally’s side. Finding Buster there, he settled down, his head beside that of his pal.
Finally Ace retrieved the broken scooter, tying it down in the back of the truck so it wouldn’t roll around. Then he paused to squeeze Ally’s shoulder.
“Hang on. And hold a good thought. He’s a tough old dog. Almost as tough as that grandfather of yours. They’re both going to be fine.”
Then he climbed into the truck and turned on the key. With the wheels spewing gravel, he turned away from the pall of smoke that filled the air, and the burning rubble that had once been Harlan’s workroom and barn, and headed toward home. And prayed they’d all make it alive.
“What’s this?” Harlan watched as the graceful soaring roofline of the Double W came into view.
Ace disconnected his cell phone and lowered it to his pocket. “I’m taking you to my place.”
“You young fool.” The air nearly turned blue with a string of vicious oaths. “What do I have to do to make you understand? I want nothing to do with you and your family. Nothing.”
“Yeah. You’ve made that pretty clear. But right now you don’t have a choice. That old dog needs help. And my brother Hazard is the best vet in the county.”
“A vet? Your brother is a vet?” His tone revealed that he’d expected all the Wildes to be thieves and villains.
“That’s what I said. And if anybody can save old Buster, it’s Hazard. I’ve already alerted him that we’re coming, and he’s standing by.”
They rolled to a stop at the back door and Ace was relieved to see Hazard just stepping out onto the porch.
“Here’s your patient.” Ace leapt from the truck and hurried to Ally’s side, where she cradled the old dog. Her cheeks were wet with tears. “He’s been shot.”
Hazard took the blanket-clad burden from her arms as gently as if it were an infant. “I’ll want you beside him, Ally. It’ll soothe him to feel your touch, and hear your voice, at least until he’s under anesthesia.”