The McKenna Legacy Trilogy

by Patricia Rosemoor

  Her forehead furrowed. "You don't think... "

  "That someone wants to drive the refuge out of existence?" Bone-tired, Chase set his shoulder against a tree and wondered if he would ever catch his breath. "I've been trying not to think that, but putting everything to coincidence is getting mighty hard."

  Kate rested her back against the big old pine tree opposite him and hooked the heel of her red boot against its trunk. He could see the wheels of her mind clicking in the subtle change of her eyes. He'd once been familiar with her every expression, her every mood. He'd carried those impressions away with him and suspected that at least some of them would have a place in his memory forever.

  But when she suddenly asked, "Why is Thea willing to pay above market for the land?" he realized she was still able to surprise him.

  "Because she wants to make money on it."

  "The question is how?"

  "She's a real estate developer, remember."

  "That's what she said," Kate agreed. "But, like you, I wonder if the explanation is really that simple."

  The reason he'd challenged Thea about wanting refuge land specifically.

  "I don't know. Then I don't know much lately."

  He understood the Thea Lockridges of the world only on a surface level. Greed was greed no matter where a person hailed from. But he didn't have a clue as to what she might be planning beneath that beehive of hers.

  Kate surprised him yet again when she asked, "Are you considering Thea's offer?"

  "Why should I?"

  "It is possible that her proposition might be the answer to the refuge's problems, isn't it?"

  Anger swirled in the pit of his stomach. "Giving the mustangs less room to run free is a solution?"

  "They're not running free now, Chase, not with fences and vetting, supplementary feed and round-ups," Kate argued. "Face it. You may be working in a less restrictive manner than normal, but you are managing the herd."

  "Which is better than their giving up the will to live in feedlots where they can't run at all! They grow despondent. Many refuse to eat." He shook his head. "I've seen too many dead mustangs already."

  "The reason you got involved in the first place?" She sighed. "Do you want to talk about it?"

  "It's a long story, Kate."

  "I'm not going anywhere."

  Chase could almost hear her thousand and one questions. If he started, there would be no turning back. Did he want to open himself to her scrutiny? He had to admit that Kate deserved more than he'd given her so far. He couldn't make up for the past, but he could give her at least part of the truth.

  Agitated, he shoved his hands in his pockets and began to pace. "When I left here, I hitched my way to Nevada, to my Uncle Ross's spread."

  "Peggy's brother?"

  "Yeah."

  Reminded of the gentle mother who'd died of abuse and neglect long before he'd hit puberty -- before he was tall enough and strong enough to do something about his drunken, no-good father -- Chase nodded. He couldn't think of her without feeling sick inside.

  "Ross was a good man," he said, continuing as much for himself as for Kate. "Tough, though. He took me in without any questions, but he worked my butt -- both on the ranch and off -- exactly like he did his own boys. He made sure I got my high school diploma. And then he prodded me into taking courses that had to do with ranch management and animal husbandry at the local college. No degree," he informed her, just in case she was wondering.

  Kate merely shrugged and said, "I know Nevada holds about half of our wild horse population. And that the ranchers are fighting multi-purpose usage of federal lands and want to restrict open range to their cattle."

  "Some of them are hotheads, not adverse to taking the law into their own hands and damn the consequences."

  Chase stopped at the edge of a narrow ravine that zigzagged along the pine stand. He stared into the crevasse, unseeing, his mind conjuring the memory that drove him.

  "One day, I was out rounding up cattle with my cousins Lee and Mitch. I went after a few strays and by accident stumbled on a secluded water hole." Though upwards of a dozen years had passed, the horror hadn't. "More than thirty mustangs had been shot to death." He glanced at Kate, whose expression reflected what he was feeling. "All they were doing was trying to get water to survive a while longer."

  Her "How awful" sounded strangled.

  Though he accepted the image that always followed him, Chase allowed himself to be distracted by a clump of flowers on the slope a few feet below. He stepped down and captured a bloom, delicate against his calloused hand, then approached Kate who seemed frozen to the spot.

  He'd always thought the moments before twilight surrendered to dark were mystical. He could barely see her, bright red hair deepened to mahogany, eyes dark pools of pain, brimming with unshed tears.

  Did she cry inside for the mustangs?

  Or for him?

  Not wanting to be pitied, he offered her the flower. "Venus' Slipper." When she didn't respond, he reached out to slide the orchid's stem behind her ear. She shuddered, and Chase thought she might bolt. "A beautiful bright spot in the dark," he murmured, trailing a fingertip along a curly wisp of hair that feathered her cheek. "Like you."

  Her breath caught and she softly said, "I wish you hadn't seen that tragedy."

  "Don't. I'm glad I did... I vowed never to forget. That season, I started adopting mustangs."

  "To protect them... "

  "A drop in the bucket."

  Unable to help himself, he ran his knuckles along Kate's jaw line. He hadn't forgotten her, either. He hadn't even come close. He'd judged every woman he'd ever been with using her as a standard. Few had met her measure.

  None had been her.

  For months -- since that Nash guy had divorced Kate and she'd moved back to Bitter Creek -- he'd been tempted to seek her out. To learn if memory and reality had anything in common. But the past that goaded him had also stopped him. He'd been ashamed. And afraid.

  And so he'd let it alone.

  In the end, she had come to him, even if the wild horses had been her excuse.

  A sign?

  He set a palm against the tree trunk above her head and leaned in. Her familiar scent teased him, her easily recalled warmth tormented him.

  Staring into the face so close to his own, he recognized the curiosity in Kate's eyes. And the questions. She blinked but didn't glance away. She sighed but didn't speak. Her lips trembled. Parted. Fascinated by her lower lip, he ran his thumb pad along its fullness.

  He remembered kissing this mouth. How could he forget?

  He would have been less than a man if he didn't try to revive the past.

  KATE WIDENED HER EYES when Chase's head dipped toward hers. As if from a distance -- as if it were happening to someone else -- she watched him move in on her in slow motion. She had the time she needed to duck away. She told herself to move, to get out of this while she could.

  But curiosity held her fast, wouldn't let her budge. She tried to think. She couldn't. Like a deer caught in a vehicle's headlights, she was trapped, heart thundering, waiting for the inevitable.

  And then it was too late to do anything but give over.

  Kissing Chase was familiar and yet not. He was harder, stronger, more practiced than she remembered. She was older, wiser, more discerning. They weren't kids, doing what came naturally. They were adults, testing each other... testing themselves.

  And then something changed.

  Chase stopped holding back and kissed her like a man desperate for what he feared he couldn't claim. His muffled groan speared her with something that Kate didn't want to feel. Confusing emotions engulfed her. Some small rational part of her thought to stop and push him away, but his urgency proved contagious.

  Impulse wrapped her arms around his neck.

  Memory fitted her mouth perfectly to his.

  Need opened her to his invasion.

  Running on instinct, she fed on the physical sensations swamping
her as he moved in, pressing her back into the scratchy bark, tugging at her waist until her hips flowed forward, meeting his. Head light, body heavy, she gave herself up to the moment and a kiss so deep that she couldn't stop the wanton sound that welled in her throat and escaped to his capture.

  With a like groan, Chase slid his hand upward, finding the outer fullness of her breast. Blood rushing through her suddenly weak limbs, she nearly drowned in a wash of desire. She dug her fingers into his neck and shoulder and arched her back in an attempt to get even closer.

  His mouth left hers with a gasp. He was having trouble breathing normally. As was she. Sucking air deep into her lungs, she willed her whirling head to clear. She hadn't been kissed so thoroughly since...

  Since?

  Maybe never.

  Lingering emotions warred with good sense. Had Chase pressed the issue, she might have thrown herself back in his arms. But he seemed equally indecisive. And she began wondering what in the world had possessed her. How could she have lost her head so thoroughly?

  She put her response to madness -- a full-moon night -- and took control of the situation.

  Palms levered against his chest encouraged Chase to back off. A few calming breaths and her world began to right. The hour had grown late, their surroundings dark. She could barely make out his face. His thoughts were hidden from her. Good. That meant he couldn't read her confusion, either.

  She tried to sound as if nothing had happened, when she said, "Nathan and Merle are probably wondering if we fell into a sinkhole."

  A low curse under his breath was followed by Chase's growled "Then we'd better get back, hadn't we?"

  As if part of some silent pact, neither said a word about the kiss as they climbed into the truck. Maybe Chase was regretting it already, Kate thought, wishing herself somewhere else. Anywhere but with him.

  As soon as they arrived at the refuge, she would make some excuse and leave for home. That would give her some breathing room.

  And time to prepare for her night's adventure.

  Kate reminded herself that she had a wild horse to find... and, if her instincts were correct, another truth to learn, as well.

  ANNIE'S STOMACH TURNED ITSELF inside-out as she watched Chase and Kate Farrell alight from the Bronco and she was faced with the truth. Standing on the screened porch, she wasn't close enough to the parking area to hear what they were saying to each other, but between the full moon and the dim yard light, she certainly could read their body language. Both of them appeared tense... with each other.

  A weight settled on Annie's chest and she could hardly think above the rushing noise filling her ears. She'd been dreading this. For once she'd hoped her instincts had been wrong, but no, they'd been on the money.

  Something personal was going on between those two...

  "Hey, is that Chase or what?" Nathan called irritably from the office. "If not, I'm gonna get outta here and find myself some grub."

  She kept her voice sounding as natural as she could. "He's here."

  Nathan and Merle had been waiting for Chase to show for the best part of an hour. Enough time for her to conjure all sorts of things going wrong.

  Everyone else had left for home or town, including the volunteers who'd gone out with the employees. But the sisters had been around long enough for that gossipy Gerry to spill her guts about Kate's conversation with Nathan. The veterinarian had claimed she'd gotten into the mind of a horse and had seen a stampede, maybe the one that had killed Doc.

  Annie wondered how many others Gerry had already told -- not that she believed in such spooky incidents as having any real basis in fact.

  But what if...

  Wired, wanting to break up the cozy tete-a-tete between Chase and Kate that was making her sick, Annie was about to shout a greeting when the new vet abruptly waltzed over to her pick-up. He stood staring after her for a minute before stalking toward the office.

  Annie opened the screen door for him. "We were beginning to think you got lost."

  Distracted, he muttered, "Something like that," and turned to watch the pick-up shoot down the gravel road.

  Swallowing her rising anger so he wouldn't notice was some trick. She took a deep breath and informed him, "Nathan and Merle have been waiting."

  "Right."

  He marched straight into the office without even looking at her. Right behind him, Annie cursed the day that Kate Farrell had stepped her pretty red boots on the Bitter Creek Mustang Refuge.

  "Did you find the missing horses?" Merle asked without preamble.

  "No sign of them." Chase threw himself into a chair opposite his employees. "I guess that means that neither of you had any luck, either."

  Nathan shrugged. "No one admits to seeing any stray mustangs."

  "But you think they might have?"

  "Someone must've. Those horses couldn't have up and disappeared into thin air."

  "Not a hundred head," Merle agreed. "And not when they carry those freeze marks identifying them as being under BLM protection."

  Needing Chase's attention, Annie placed a comforting hand on his shoulder and added, "Sounds like someone's making trouble for us on purpose."

  "That's exactly what I'm afraid of."

  And when the trouble had started, Chase had turned to her to talk things through, Annie remembered. And when he'd really been down, they'd even shared a couple of dinners. Finally. Progress! His wanting to confide in her had made everything she'd done for him worthwhile.

  Though she'd always loved horses -- the reason she'd visited the sanctuary in the first place -- she hadn't sacrificed her real life just to help the mustangs. Her sights had been set on bigger game. Chase himself. She'd fallen in love with the man at first sight, had figured it was merely a matter of time and opportunity before he realized that she was the woman he needed as his life's partner. And she'd been very clever on how to go about getting him.

  With each problem that had crept up on the refuge, she'd offered Chase her sympathy and had volunteered her help in finding solutions. They'd grown closer... and would have grown intimate, she was certain... if only Kate Farrell hadn't appeared to upset things. The night before, Chase had even cancelled the dinner she'd spent so much time planning and looking forward to. Even her reminding him about the welfare of the mustangs hadn't changed his mind.

  Two damn days and months of gain had gone to dust.

  "So what are we gonna do?" Nathan was asking.

  "At the moment," Chase said grimly, "all we can do is keep our ears and eyes open for the troublemaker."

  But how did he figure he could manage that when all his spare attention seemed to be focused on the redhead? Annie wondered.

  When she'd decided to go after Chase with everything she had, Kate Farrell was an obstacle she hadn't even considered. But she couldn't let a little unexpected deterrent discourage her, not after all her hard work. Never one to sit around and twiddle her thumbs while waiting for someone else to solve her problems, she wasn't about to start now. She wasn't about to let another woman seduce the man she loved without putting up a fight.

  No matter that the vet seemed like a decent sort, Annie knew she had to act fast and not worry about scruples.

  Where Chase Brody was concerned, she couldn't afford to have a conscience.

  "STAY," KATE TOLD WRANGLER, giving him the hand signal Doc had trained him to recognize. "I shouldn't be gone too long, so you wait for me here, okay?"

  The patchwork mutt yawned loudly, turned in a full circle and plunked down on the old chair pillow she'd thrown in the bed of her pick-up for him.

  "Good boy."

  Normally she wouldn't have brought a dog onto refuge land lest he inadvertently scare the horses, but Wrangler was a quiet guy and exceedingly well-behaved. Doc had seen to that. While his slight size wouldn't afford much in the way of physical protection, she'd felt better having his company on the ride out. And Doc had told her a body couldn't ask for a better watch dog. Not altogether comfortable wanderi
ng around the refuge by herself in the dark, she wouldn't mind Wrangler's guarding her back, even if from a distance.

  If only Chase had believed her -- or if Nathan hadn't warned her off from seeking out the horses again -- she wouldn't have considered coming out alone.

  Kate started down the incline where she and Chase had found Sage and her band grazing the afternoon before. Since the horses had hung around the area for several days after the stampede, she didn't feature them drifting too far off now because of a minor scare.

  Making her way by the glow of the full moon high in the sky -- dawn was barely a few hours away -- she checked the mag-light hanging from her belt, using her free hand to shelter the high beam. She meant to use the bright light only as necessary. The less intrusive she was, the more likely she would be to get close to Chase's horses.

  Chase.

  She couldn't stop thinking about the man he'd become and the life he'd chosen for himself.

  At first she'd been baffled by his apparent selflessness in taking on a burden the size of the refuge, but having had time to consider their earlier conversation, she thought she understood why. Chase had felt completely helpless at finding those dead horses shot while at their water hole.

  Undoubtedly as helpless as he'd been against his father when Vernon Brody had raised his hand to his wife.

  Not that Peggy had been murdered.

  Vernon had merely intimidated the sweet woman into staying away from doctors, who might have questioned or even reported her too-frequent scrapes and bruises. By the time she'd been desperately sick enough to defy her husband in this matter, the cancer had been unstoppable.

  No matter how many years had passed, Kate still remembered the night that Chase had poured out his heart to her. His unresolved frustration. His grief. His guilt. Things he'd admitted he hadn't shared with anyone else.

  The correlation was clear to her. The wild horses were as helpless against men with high-powered rifles as Peggy had been against her husband's fists. Whether or not he consciously knew it, she figured Chase was trying to atone for his inability to save his mother by defending other creatures who couldn't protect themselves.