Raleigh And The Rancher (Wranglers & Lace #3)

by Laura Anthony

  “He was my father,” Raleigh rasped, the truth of Fay’s words cutting deeper than any physical suffering ever could. But her friend wasn’t about to let up.

  “Then Dan came along and tried to pry you out of your reclusive shell, and you turned your back on him. Just like your pa turned his back on me. It hurts to see history repeating itself.” Fay sighed.

  “I’m so afraid if I let myself love Dan, something awful will happen to him.” Raleigh clasped her hands in her lap to keep them from shaking. “I’m terrified he’ll end up like everyone else I’ve ever loved.”

  “You know something? Your father was so scared of falling in love with me, he wouldn’t even spend the night.” Fay gazed off into the distance, remembering. “He’d come visit awhile, then leave me with empty arms and a lonely bed. Damn it, Raleigh, he broke my heart.”

  Fay’s voice cracked and tears glistened in her eyes. Clearing her throat, she sniffled and slashed at her eyes with the back of her hand. “But that’s all past now.”

  “I had no idea.” Raleigh stared at Fay. “You two seemed so happy together.”

  “That’s the hell of it. We were happy.” Fay fiddled with her apron strings. “I’m not telling you this to upset you, Raleigh, but it’s important to understand. I want you to break the cycle. Don’t forsake Dan. He obviously cares for you very much.”

  “Fay, I can’t handle this relationship.”

  “How do you know unless you try?”

  “It’s too risky,” Raleigh whispered.

  Raleigh could see stark sorrow written on Fay’s dear face. “Honey, if you let Dan slip away, I promise you, you’ll regret it for the rest of your life.”

  Chapter Ten

  Dan stopped unloading the truck and cast a wary eye toward the darkening sky. A bunker of brown clouds rolled steadily eastward. Unfortunate, he thought, that the storm had arrived too late to prevent his parents’ incoming flight. Pete had already gone to Abilene to pick them up at the airport. Dan savored their visit like a root canal.

  The last week without Raleigh had been pure hell. The horses, somehow sensing their mistress had left for good, misbehaved, refusing to cooperate with either him or Pete. Even Matt Dillon had nipped at him earlier in the afternoon. He couldn’t blame the animals. Without Raleigh, he felt irritable, distracted, and downright ornery himself.

  And now his parents were about to descend upon him in the middle of a sandstorm. What else could go wrong? he wondered, shouldering a fifty-pound sack of oats and heading for the barn.

  Halfway across the yard he stopped dead in his tracks. The corral gate hung open, creaking with each billowing gust of dusty wind. All the horses were gone except for Matt Dillon and Sunny, who were enclosed in a separate paddock.

  “Damn,” Dan swore, dropping the oats to the ground. Obviously, either he or Pete had left the gate unlocked. This wouldn’t have happened if Raleigh had been here, he thought, squinting into the distance.

  No sign of the missing horses. Damn. He couldn’t leave the animals out in a sandstorm, they might get hurt. There was no choice but to go after them. Dan looked at his watch and then at the sky. No time to wait for Pete, the situation was urgent. But where to start looking?

  If only Raleigh were here, she’d know what to do. Dan shook his head. Useless thinking. This was his ranch, and he could handle a crisis.

  Disgusted, he stalked to the barn, Chester hot on his heels. He grabbed his gear and quickly saddled Matt Dillon. Another glance at the ominous sky told Dan he had maybe an hour before the storm hit. Leading the gelding out of the paddock, he latched the gate, then swung into the saddle.

  Galloping across the pasture, Dan followed the hoofprints as best he could, Chester trotting behind him.

  He rode for several minutes, the storm rolling in faster than he’d expected. Anxiety gripped his gut.

  The wind kicked up, blowing sand and dirt into his face. Grit coated his lips. He spat and wiped his mouth with a blue bandanna he dug from his back pocket.

  Each step took him deeper and deeper into the storm. In his mind, Raleigh rode beside him, fortifying his imagination with her undaunted courage. Even though she’d told him she didn’t love him, Dan had trouble believing she was gone for good. He still felt her presence, in his heart, in his soul.

  Hunkering in the saddle, he bunched his shoulders for protection against the growing wind, and coughed. Sand eddies danced and swirled before him. He tugged on the reins and turned Matt Dillon to the left.

  He skirted a clump of cacti and traveled over a rocky ridge. His eyes burned. His nose itched. He rubbed his mouth with a knuckle, and tasted dirt.

  Evil, dark clouds boiled above, threatening a sandy deluge. The encroaching gale whistled through the rocky canyon. He couldn’t see two feet in front of his face, much less hoofprints in the shifting earth.

  Chester shied, barking furiously. Dan urged Matt Dillon onward, but the gelding balked.

  Dan drove his heels into the Thoroughbred’s sides. “Come on, come on.”

  Matt Dillon snorted, thrashed his head.

  Then Dan heard it, clear and unmistakable—a rattlesnake’s deadly buzz.

  Matt Dillon reared, bucked, kicked, fought the bit.

  A violent snatch of wind grabbed Dan’s hat and sent it flying across the rugged terrain. Grinding his teeth, Dan struggled to stay astride the frightened horse.

  “Whoa, there. Whoa, boy.”

  The rattling grew louder, more insistent.

  Dan scanned the ground, trying unsuccessfully to locate the snake and steer the horse clear.

  Matt Dillon reared again, his hooves clattering against the rocks. The Thoroughbred tugged sharply on the bridle, seeking to rid himself of his passenger. The leather reins chewed Dan’s palms as he fought desperately to remain in the saddle.

  But this time Dan wasn’t so lucky. His aching fingers slipped. He lost his balance and succumbed to the bucking animal’s attempts to dislodge him. Arms and legs windmilling wildly, he snatched for a handful of Matt Dillon’s mane and missed.

  He cried out seconds before his head struck a large, flat rock and his thoughts fractured into silence.

  * * *

  Raleigh knew Fay was right. She loved Dan, wanted him, needed him, couldn’t live without him. No matter how hard she struggled to deny it, he’d embedded himself in her psyche like a farrier’s nail in a horseshoe.

  They complemented each other—his calm nature soothed her fiery tendencies, while her down-to-earth practical approach to problem solving helped offset his dreaminess. Like a bit and bridle, they fit, wonderful as a team, ineffective alone.

  She had to find Dan and tell him the truth. Now. Today. This minute. For at last she was ready to admit her love, both to Dan and herself. Finally she had a chance for happiness.

  “Fay,” Raleigh said, looking her dear friend straight in the eye. “I have to go to the ranch.”

  “In this storm?” Concern knit Fay’s brow.

  Raleigh got to her feet, removed her apron, and retrieved her purse from behind the counter. Fay followed her to the doorway, pushing up the sleeves of her sweater as she went. The wind seized the front door from her hand and smacked it against the outside wall with a resounding bang.

  “Will you look after Caleb for me until I get back?” Raleigh had to shout over the wind to be heard.

  “Of course I will. Good luck.”

  Raleigh waved goodbye and dashed down the block, her pink uniform flapping around her legs in the thick, dusty breeze.

  At the thought of seeing Dan again, excitement and dread mixed inside her like an exotic cocktail. She gunned the engine and maneuvered her battered old pickup through the gathering storm.

  Fists of sand splattered against the windshield. She turned on the wipers, but they only smeared the dirt, decreasing her visibility even more.

  When she finally reached the ranch it was only to find it empty. Dan’s truck sat in the driveway, keys swinging from the ignition. The corral
gate hung open and there were no horses in sight. Had the animals gotten out of their enclosure? Raleigh worried. In this storm?

  “Dan,” she called, cupping her hands around her mouth. The wind slapped the echo back in her face.

  Blowing sand filled her sneakered feet. The wind roared steadily. Squinting against the dust, she saw Sunny silhouetted in the paddock.

  Then, she heard the faint sound of barking. From out of the dust clouds ran Chester, tongue lolling.

  “Hey, Chester,” she greeted him.

  The dog whined.

  “What’s the matter, boy? You hungry? Hasn’t Dan been feeding you since I left?”

  Chester whined louder, pawing at her leg. He barked sharply and turned in a semicircle, as if trying to tell her something.

  “What is it, boy?”

  Growling, Chester hunkered down on the ground and laid back his ears.

  A disturbing intuitive flash told Raleigh something was very wrong, that Dan was in trouble. She certainly couldn’t stand by and do nothing while the man she loved was in danger. She’d fallen prey to that tragic mistake once and she wasn’t about to do it again.

  Unlatching the paddock, she led Sunny outside, ignoring the increasing tempo of the storm. Not bothering with a saddle, she swung onto the mare’s back and started across the pasture, Chester leading the way.

  Savage blasts of sand impeded her progress. She could scarcely see. If it hadn’t been for the dog, she wouldn’t have known which direction to go.

  Stark images dominated her mind’s eye. Her mother’s fiery death. Jack’s pale, lifeless body wrenched from the murky waters by rescue workers. Pa, weak and frail, being wheeled into surgery for the kidney transplant that had ended his life.

  And Dan. The way he had looked the last time she’d spoken those cutting, lying words. She’d caused him so much pain. What a fool she’d been. Life was so short. Too short. Letting her pride and fears get in the way of life, allowing her anger and shame to get in the way of love. Now that she realized the error of her actions, it might be too late to change, too late to undo her hateful statement.

  Too late to tell Dan she loved him.

  For the first time in many years, she teetered on the brink of tears. A river of sorrow pressed against her eyelids, threatening to break through the levee of her loneliness and come cascading down her cheeks in unstoppable torrents.

  The wind howled, cold and desolate.

  Sand clung to her eyelashes, her nose, her mouth. Sneezing, she squinted into the darkness, trying to decipher Chester’s skulking shape ambling just ahead of her. Everywhere she looked she saw whirlwinds of dust, debris and sand snuffing out the last shreds of daylight.

  To her left, she heard Chester bark. She tried to turn Sunny west, into the wind, but the mare tossed her head and stepped gingerly through the sand, obviously reluctant to move.

  Raleigh sank her heels into the horse’s flanks. “Come on, Sunny, you can do it.”

  Then, out of the blackness, Matt Dillon emerged, galloping for his life, dragging Dan’s saddle behind him. Raleigh caught a fleeting glimpse of the terrified Thoroughbred as he thundered away.

  Oh, no, she fretted, Dan had been thrown. He was out there somewhere in the sandstorm, alone, possibly injured. Fear tightened her throat as a barrage of awful possibilities assaulted her mind.

  Raleigh stifled a moan of despair. She had to remain calm.

  Leaning over Sunny, she continued to urge the mare forward, following Chester’s steady barking. If it weren’t for the dog, she’d be totally adrift in a sea of blinding sand. She tugged her sweater more tightly around her shoulders, but it provided precious little protection against the mounting cold, and none whatsoever against the accumulating grit.

  “Oh, Dan, where are you?” she whispered. “What’s happened?”

  It seemed hours passed, although she knew it was only a matter of minutes. In this seething black pit of sand-filled hell, reality became fantasy and fantasy, reality. She even lost her sense of direction.

  Doubt clouded her thoughts. Maybe Chester didn’t know where Dan was. Maybe this was a wild-goose chase. For all she knew, she might be headed straight back to the ranch.

  Chester’s barking grew louder as she approached. Her stomach twisted. Something was very wrong.

  She slipped off Sunny’s back, but held tightly to the reins, avoiding the risk of the mare taking flight. Extending her right hand in front of her, she stumbled forward, searching like a blind woman, her fingers grasping for landmarks.

  “Chester,” she shouted.

  The dog yipped excitedly.

  Dear God, she prayed. Please let Dan be all right.

  She tripped over a rock and fell to her knees. Brushing sand from her eyes, she stared at what lay directly in front of her.

  An unmoving form sprawled across a rocky ridge. She knew instantly it was Dan.

  Her heart pounded, injecting her with a fresh jolt of energy. Staggering to her feet, she struggled toward Dan, ignoring the thorns and grass burrs pricking her knees and palms.

  She scaled the small ridge, pulling herself up beside him, all the while clinging to Sunny’s reins. She reached for Dan, fingers trembling.

  “Dan?” Her voice cracked.

  No response.

  She tasted terror, grim and metallic. Touching him, she found he felt cold. So very cold.

  Inching closer, she squatted over him, her knees tucked under her chin. She laid her cheek against his face but experienced no warm breath on her skin. In the darkness she couldn’t see his chest rise and fall. She grappled for a pulse at his wrist, but felt no reassuring thud.

  She grabbed him by the shoulders and gently shook him. His head rolled limply. She saw a small pool of dark blood staining the ground beneath him.

  “Dan!” she screamed, and for one hideous moment, thought he was dead.

  * * *

  He heard her calling to him through the mist. Raleigh. His girl. How had she gotten so far away?

  Struggling through the boggy swamp of his mind, he willed his eyes to open, his mouth to speak, but he felt so heavy, weighted, leaden, lost in a forest of blackness.

  Her fingers gripped his. Where was he? What had happened?

  Oh, yes. He remembered. The horses, the storm, his parents were coming. But why was Raleigh here and how had he hurt his head? Groaning, he raised a hand to the painful knot at his temple, felt something wet and sticky. Blood?

  He heard a sob. Raleigh? Crying?

  “Oh, Dan, you’re alive, you’re alive!”

  Prying his eyes open, he stared at her through a mat of sand. “Of course I’m alive,” he said gruffly. “Why shouldn’t I be?”

  “I thought you were dead,” she babbled.

  Using his elbow, he propped himself up to a sitting position. “You’re crying,” he said, reaching out a finger to caress the wet stains on her cheek. “I thought you couldn’t cry.”

  “Me, too.” She sniffled, grinning. “Guess I was wrong.”

  “Come here,” he said gruffly, and clasped her to him.

  Curling her head against his chest, she sobbed while he gently kissed her forehead and brushed soft tendrils of copper-colored hair from her face.

  “I was so scared.” She hiccuped.

  “Shh,” he soothed. “Everything’s going to be all right.”

  “I lied to you, Dan. I lashed out and hurt you to protect my own emotions. I was so wrong.”

  “It’s okay, sweetheart. I understand.”

  For several minutes he sat rocking her in his arms, bonding with her, absorbing her essence into his very marrow. An incredible peace enveloped him. Despite the storm, the lost horses and his injury, Dan experienced a profound sense of rightness. Things were as they should be, he and Raleigh together again. By the time her small body stopped trembling, the wind had quieted from gale to gust.

  “We need to get you to the hospital,” she said, wiping her mud-streaked face.

  “I’m fine.”r />
  “Well, I’m not taking any chances,” she declared, pushing away from him and standing. “Come on.” She held out her hand and he took it, letting her help him to his feet.

  “We’re going to have to ride double,” she said, waving a hand at Sunny.

  “And bareback, too,” Dan observed.

  After Sunny put up an initial resistance at accommodating two riders, they eventually made it astride the reluctant mare. Dan rode in front, Raleigh behind, her thin arms wrapped securely around his waist, her cheek pressed against his back. He thrilled at the heavenly sensation.

  “What about the horses?” Dan asked. “They all escaped from the corral.”

  “Forget them,” she said. “Your health is more important than they are.”

  Her words surprised him. Could she really care more for him than the horses she adored?

  They traveled through the gradually diminishing wind, Dan’s brain swirling with thoughts. His head hurt, but he didn’t mind. Raleigh was back, and that was all that mattered. He couldn’t wait to get her alone someplace quiet. The thought fueled him with unexpected energy, dispelling his aching weariness.

  Sunny stumbled, lost her balance and slipped on the rocky surface. They lurched forward as the mare’s back hoof caught her front. Dan heard the ping of metal striking stone. The mare staggered, limping.

  “What happened?” Dan asked.

  “She threw a shoe on these rocks.” Raleigh sighed. “We’ll have to walk the rest of the way, and I’ll have to reshoe her when we get back.”

  “Can’t it wait until morning?”

  Raleigh shook her head. “Poor Sunny is so shallow footed, she can’t manage long without being shod.”

  The storm had finally ended. Hand in hand, Dan and Raleigh plodded back to the ranch. Chester trotted along beside them, while Sunny limped behind. They wandered for many minutes and just when Dan feared they might be lost, he saw lights from the farmhouse glowing through the foggy darkness.

  As they drew closer to the house, Dan could make out the shadowy shapes of Pete and his parents clambering down the front steps toward them.