by Linda Conrad
"I don't understand," he cried. "Please tell me…"
Go now, my son. Follow your heart. You are needed.
Abby hunkered down farther into her rain slicker. The drizzle had become more of a steady stream, and she cussed lightly under her breath as she fought to reshoe her gelding.
Of all the times for her horse to pick up a rock, this might be the worst. Oh, it wasn't that she couldn't take care of it herself, all the ranch hands on the Gentry Ranch did their own shoeing. But right this minute all Abby wanted to do was to find Gray.
Except … maybe she'd like to be off this muddy prairie and out of the rain.
She was searching for Gray because she had so much to tell him—and the danged man still didn't have a cell phone so she could call him. She sighed, figuring it was probably better to say what she had to say in person, anyway.
Abby had learned so much over the past week, about who she really was and what she really wanted. There were some hard-fought battles she'd waged inside herself, but the skirmishes were over and she knew her heart. She could only pray that Gray still cared enough to hear her out—that she hadn't destroyed everything when she'd let him walk away.
A slight rustle in the bushes to her right made Abby lift her head to see what was there. She didn't see much because the gigantic drops of Texas sunshine came pouring off the brim of her work hat and into her eyes as she'd raised her chin.
She shrugged it off, figuring the noise might be one of the mustangs trying to find shelter from the storm. Looking for Gray, she'd stopped by the Skaggses' main house, but she hadn't found anyone there—not even a ranch hand she could ask. But she'd known where else to look. Gray had to be either at his lodge or out here tending to his herd.
She bent down to finish her task so she could be on her way when another noise, this time the sound of a horse's gallop, made her rise up again. What she saw absolutely took her breath away.
Gray rode toward her on the back of his sleek, black mustang. Naked to the waist, he wore simple leggings, moccasins and a soft leather breechcloth. His slick black hair hung almost to his broad shoulders. A necklace, made from some kind of cloth pouch and two hawk's feathers, hung around his neck. With the rain, gliding wet and sensuously over his bronzed chest, Abby thought the man was too good to be true. Perhaps she'd wanted to see him so badly that this was really a dream.
The dream pulled his horse up beside her, slid off its back and grabbed her by the shoulders. "Abby, why are you on Skaggs land? You could be in danger here."
Gray was really there, really touching her. "I've come to tell you some things … ask you … some things."
He stood close enough that she could feel the steam rising off his sweaty chest and warming her soul. She was desperate for the feel of his arms around her but knew she had to wait. She just hoped it wouldn't be for long.
"Can we move to somewhere safer … and drier … first?" he asked solemnly.
She searched his dear face for her answers, but all she found were the beloved angles of his jaw and a pointed stare. "No, I have to tell you…" she breathed. "I love you, Gray. I guess I've always loved you. I just couldn't admit it to myself before."
"You've decided now you love me?" he demanded dryly.
The first stabbing arrow of doubt hit her then. It couldn't be too late. She wouldn't let it be too late.
"Please," she begged. "Let me finish. I didn't know I could love anyone. When my mother disappeared, I thought everyone I ever let myself love would eventually leave me, too. I was scared … mad. I hid away inside my little girl's skin and let the world go on around me. If I didn't grow up, I didn't have to face all the pain."
"What's changed?" Gray asked warily.
She swallowed back the sob that was about to choke her. "After I spent a few days alone in Mother's cabin, searching my heart, I finally forgave her for leaving me. I'm not angry about her disappearance anymore." Abby looked into the eyes of the man she loved. "I want to come outside into the world and … let myself need love. I need you, Gray. I need your love."
He set his jaw, turned his chin to stare into the brush. This just couldn't be so.
"Gray, I beg you. Don't turn away from me. I want to go wherever you go. I'll follow you to the ends of the earth, if that's where the mustangs take you." She was sobbing openly now, her tears mingling with the drops of rain against her cheeks.
She reached up to throw her arms around his neck, trying to pull him close so at least his body might remember the feel of hers.
"Abby," he shouted gruffly. As he pushed at her roughly, she fell away from him. "Get back! Watch out!"
The next few seconds were a blur of sound and fury. Gray shoved her body in between his and the horse's, while from somewhere off in the distance she heard shouts … anger … shots being fired. With a sudden crack of what she thought must be thunder, a sharp pain drove into her upper arm. But it felt like only a minor irritation compared to the pain in her heart.
Gray had palmed his knife long before the first shot was fired. He started for the brush, determined to finish this right now. Never again would they be stalked this way.
A bullet ripped past his ear as he bent to rush the shooter. Before he could take one more step, a second shot, this one from a distance, rang out. He heard a muffled moan, from ahead and behind him, then more shots and some shouting in the distance. Then the shooting stopped. All was quiet.
"Gray!" The pain he heard in Abby's voice cleared the red haze of anger from his brain and he turned back to her.
What he saw made his heart lurch. She was kneeling in the mud while blood streamed out of her shoulder, mixing with the rain and cascading down her body in sheets that seemed almost pink.
He knew she must be in pain, but still she held both arms out to him in a pleading gesture. "Wait, Gray. Wait for me. Don't leave me," she cried.
"Oh, Great Spirit! Abby, you've been shot." He dropped his knife into the mud and went to her.
He bent on one knee before her and gently slid his arm around her waist to steady her. He saw that her wound was not life threatening, but still it nearly killed him to see her in pain once again. At least the blood flow had dwindled to a slow ooze. He silently gave thanks.
"Abby, my Abby." He shook his head and swiped at the rain that was blurring his vision. "I'll never leave you again, my love. Never. It's all my fault you've been hurt. I let my pride stand in the way of my duty."
"Duty?" she whimpered. "Is that all you feel toward me?"
He shook his head in wonder at her innocent appeal. "Sometimes I get so mad at you I could just strangle you. Other times … I'm blinded by the passionate siren you can be," he told her softly. "But always … always … I love you with every fiber, every breath in me."
He hesitated in order to fight for air and calm. "I'm afraid you will never be rid of me now, dear heart. You might as well marry me and get used to having me around."
"Marry you?" she asked in a shaky voice. "But I thought the tribe—the elders…"
"It doesn't matter, love. Nothing matters but you. Shush … hush now. I need to wrap your arm and stop—"
From behind him, Gray heard someone moving toward them from the brush. He eyed Abby's rifle, still in its spot, hanging on her saddle. Just as he was about to push off for the gun, he heard someone calling his name.
"Mr. Parker? Miss Gentry? Are y'all okay?" A sheriff's deputy whom Gray had met before came from around a tangle of mesquite. "There you two are." The man pointed his rifle barrel at the ground and put a hand on his hip.
"Miss Gentry's arm has been grazed, Deputy." Gray stood to take the first-aid kit from Abby's pack. "She's in no immediate danger, but she'll need to see a doctor."
He dug into the kit, determined to find the gauze and antiseptic, despite the fact that his hands were still shaking. "What's happening out in the bush?" Gray asked the deputy.
The sheriff's man narrowed his eyes at Abby's wound and scratched his chin. "Well, dang," he said with a s
hake of his head. "I'd sure hoped that one shot ol' Milan managed to pull off had gone wild. I'm mighty grateful it weren't worse'n that, ma'am."
"Milan?" Abby asked. "So it was Milan who's been after Gray?"
The deputy shrugged a shoulder. "Seems both them Skaggs boys have been plotting to do away with their stepbrother, ma'am." He moved closer to stare at her arm. "I'm sure sorry about this, Miss Gentry. You going to be all right?"
"I'll be fine. It's just a scratch." She looked up at Gray as he bent down again, this time with the antiseptic and bandages in his hand. "I assume that you've captured Milan Skaggs, Deputy. What about Harold?"
"Couldn't manage to take ol' Milan … alive, ma'am. I followed him out here while he tracked you from the Skaggs' main house," the deputy told her. "The sheriff said I wasn't to make a move until Milan made some threatening gesture toward y'all. I kinda lost sight of him for a second, what with all the downpour, and before I knew it he'd gotten a shot off.
"I dropped him where he stood." The deputy shuffled his feet and hung his head. "I sure wish I'd been a minute faster. For your sake, ma'am."
Abby gasped as Gray spread the antiseptic ointment over her wound, and he had to grit his teeth to finish the job. He couldn't bear that she was hurting, but he was sure glad the bleeding had stopped and it looked like she'd be fine.
"What about Harold?" he asked the deputy.
"One of the other men has been following Harold, Mr. Parker. Looks like that Skaggs boy was following his brother while he tracked you. When the first shots were fired, Harold raised his rifle to take aim on you, one last time.
"Our man drew down on him, but in the confusion, Harold managed to get away." The deputy straightened up, looked as if he was ready to move on. "If you're sure you're okay here, I need to join the rest of the sheriff's men. It won't be more than a few hours afore we catch up to ol' Harold. He's got no place to hide." The deputy took his leave and disappeared back into the brush the way he came.
Gray finished bandaging Abby's arm. "Are you going to make a fuss when I call in the paramedics' helicopter to take you to the hospital?" he chuckled.
She smiled back at him. "Nope. Especially not since my cell phone has gone dead again."
"Ah. I see that you really do need me. At least to remind you to plug your phone in," he teased. "So. Are you going to marry me?"
Abby grinned up at him, but still had a hesitant look in her eyes. "What about your people?"
By way of a partial answer, Gray caressed her cheek and then lightly kissed her lips. "By any chance, chosen one, do you have a little Indian blood in your background?"
"As a matter of fact, I do." She beamed. "On my mother's side."
* * *
Epilogue
« ^
The sun shone brightly down on Abby's bare head. Meanwhile, a light spring breeze tousled the ends of her hair and swirled the silken folds of her dress around her ankles as she turned to find her brand-new husband in the crowd.
She spotted Gray with no trouble. He was standing, lost in deep conversation with the sheriff and Jake Gomez. But as she admired how grand he looked in his buckskin suit and with his hair pulled back and tied in a leather thong, he seemed to sense her need. He lifted his head, found her eyes immediately and smiled at her.
It had only been a week since the sheriff had captured Harold and they'd buried Milan. She and Gray might've waited a little longer to take their wedding vows, but she couldn't really think of a good reason why.
Abby looked around at the friends and family who had gathered here at her mother's cabin to celebrate her marriage. Gray's grandfather had come from Oklahoma and looked quite distinguished in his traditional tribal garb. Meredith had flown up in the jet and brought him back, along with Abby's brother Cal and Cal's new wife and baby.
All the people she loved were here. A little wistful tug at her heart reminded her that her parents were not among the guests today. But she only smiled through the ache, knowing they were here in spirit.
Even Joe Skaggs had come to their ceremony, but Jake had had to bring him out in a wheelchair. It seemed that Joe was dying of cancer—something both of Gray's stepbrothers had known, though no one else had guessed.
When he'd found himself about to die, Joe apparently had been attacked by a sudden remorse for the way he'd treated Gray and his mother and had changed his will, leaving the balance of the Skaggs ranch to Gray. When Harold and Milan found out, they'd decided to try to get rid of Gray by making it look like an accident.
But Joe had been taken to the hospital just as Gray had returned to Skaggs Ranch. Desperate to kill Gray before their father died and they lost their last chance to inherit, the boys had gone after their stepbrother in earnest.
Abby was glad that Gray had invited Joe Skaggs to the wedding. The man was dying, with one son who'd died before him and one son in prison for good. Gray seemed to be coming to terms with his long-term dislike for his stepfather.
She was also very glad when she looked up and saw the other half of her soul, making his way through the crowd toward her. With every step closer Gray took, her heart and her body became heated with the warmth of her love for him.
He swung her close and whispered in her ear. "When can we make all these folks go home, love? I want to lie with my new wife. And I can't wait much longer for your touch or the feel of your skin rubbing across my skin, either."
She giggled as he nuzzled her neck, but she was in full agreement with his sentiments. They'd planned to spend several days out here in her mother's cabin for their honeymoon before they set out on a search for the mustangs' ancient grounds and a new place to call home. And she had at least several days' worth of unused lingerie that she could scarcely wait to try on for him during that time.
"If you'll find a way to speed our family on their way," she murmured in his ear, "I have a few surprises I'd like to show you."
He pulled back to look at her, and a grin creased his features. "That sounds like a plan to me, sweetheart." A twinkle, more devilish than sensual, shone in his eyes. "I have a little surprise for you, too."
"What is it, Gray? Tell me now," she softly demanded.
"You know I can't deny you anything," he sighed against her hair. "Jake has been telling me about how all the land around here used to be full of buffalo, before the white settlers arrived. I guess the Gentry and the Skaggs ranches were right in the path of their migrations."
She didn't know where this was going but she nodded. "Yes that's right. I remember the stories now. The Comanche used to hunt all through these parts."
The meaning of his words hit her at the same moment he opened his mouth to finish his tale. "I asked Grandfather about it. He told me that the legends of the ancient hunting grounds spoke of wild ponies and herds of buffalo as far south as Mexico and as far west as the Rocky Mountains." Gray smiled down on her. "That means the mustangs are already home, Abby."
Tears sprang into her eyes, blurring the sight of the dear face of the man she knew she'd love forever. "Then…" she murmured past the frog in her throat. "We don't have to leave? We can live in Mother's little cabin and stay on Gentry Ranch for good?"
"Abby Gentry Parker, I will go wherever you want to go until our life's vision is ended. You are my soul … my chosen one. Name the place, and there I will build my life with you."
He scooped her up in his arms and rained kisses down on her tear-streaked face. "From this day forward. Wherever in the world you happen to find yourself at home … will be my home, too."
* * * * *
"sharethis-inline-share-buttons">share