The Cowboy's Stolen Bride

by Cora Seton

“Have you seen the creek?” Noah asked when he reached the porch. He stopped on the steps.

  “Pittance Creek? Sure,” Liam said.

  “Today?”

  Liam shook his head.

  “Come take a look.”

  Liam grabbed the bottle of beer, got up and followed him across the pastures to where the creek divided their land from the Coopers’ spread. Liam sucked in a breath. “Shit.” The creek had been getting lower all summer, but he’d never seen it like this before. A narrow trickle of water wound through the center of the creek bed, leaving nothing but dry, cracked mud to either side.

  “I’ve never heard of it getting this low,” Noah echoed his thoughts. “Asked a few of the older men in town; they’ve never seen it like this, either. We need rain.”

  “There’ve been droughts before,” Liam said feebly. It felt like another punch in the gut to face this kind of adversity just when things were going so well. He couldn’t say he was surprised, though. There hadn’t been rain in months.

  And he wasn’t really cut out to be a winner, was he?

  He pulled his key ring out of his pocket. Popped the top off his beer and lifted it to his mouth. He was just washing away the grit, he told himself.

  More like trying to drown the failure.

  Liam suppressed a growl.

  Did he really want to be the kind of man who drank to forget things? Who took weather personally and always thought the world was out to get him?

  He’d lost Tory, and that hurt—a lot. That didn’t mean his life was over. Or that anything would improve if he got drunk.

  Noah was watching him. “We might have to cull the herd early.”

  Liam watched the pitiful stream in silence for a minute. Fought against the urge to hunch his shoulders, wallow in the pain of it all, drink down the damn beer he held in one long gulp and fetch another.

  He wasn’t a quitter, no matter what anyone thought. He was done with that.

  “I’m not leaving.”

  Noah gave him a questioning look.

  “I won’t leave,” Liam repeated. “I don’t care if we lose everything. This is Turner land, and this is where I intend to live out my days. No matter what.” He tipped the beer bottle upside down and let the liquid inside run out onto the parched ground.

  “I’m with you,” Noah said. “Let’s figure out how to turn this around.”

  “There you are.”

  Tory looked up from making a snack in the kitchen of Thorn Hill to see Lance standing in the doorway in his work clothes, dusty and tracking mud.

  “Want a slice of cheese?” Tory asked, offering him a chunk. “I made some toast to go with it.”

  “Toast and cheese? Didn’t Mom ever teach you to cook?”

  “I’m sure she tried.”

  Lance grunted. “You paid more attention to what Dad was doing, if memory serves. Always more inclined to be a rancher than a ranch wife.”

  “That was a long time ago.” Tory nibbled her cheese and tried to ignore the memories that stirred in the back of her mind.

  “Hopefully not too long. I could use some help. Are you up for a ride?”

  “Sure.” She hurried to finish her snack and put things away again. When they’d saddled their horses and ridden out to one of the pastures, they followed along the fence until they came to a post that was sagging low enough to let out the cattle.

  She wondered what Steel was doing today. It had been a long time since he’d been back to the house. Had he harvested that damn crop yet? She’d been afraid to go see.

  Lance dismounted, and she followed suit, then put on the pair of gloves he offered her. “Remember how to do this?”

  “No,” she admitted, but in the end it wasn’t too hard. Lance did all the difficult parts, like pulling out the post, digging a better hole and setting it up again. She was simply an extra pair of hands to hold things, steady them and whatever else it took.

  There was something familiar to all of this. Breathing in the scent of sunbaked earth. Feeling the tiniest breeze across her skin to relieve the unrelenting heat. Bending to a job with a family member by her side, knowing it was their hard work that would get things done.

  Lance was right; when she was a child she’d followed her father around, wanting to be a part of everything he did. She’d loved being in the barn when he oiled the saddles. Loved trying to help him muck out the horse stalls. Loved everything about the ranch and the work her father did here.

  It had hurt so badly when he’d been taken away—

  “Tory?” Lance said uncertainly. “Everything okay?”

  A tear slid down her cheek. She couldn’t lift a hand to wipe it away; she was holding a loop of wire Lance would need in a minute.

  “No.” She tried to scrub her cheek against her shoulder, but more tears came. “It’s just—I miss… Dad.” She struggled to find the words. “I miss—everything. You know?”

  Lance set down his tools, took the wire from her arms and wrapped her in a hug.

  “Yeah, I know. I miss him, too.”

  Tory almost squirmed away, but instead she gave in. When was the last time Lance had hugged her? When they were kids?

  Despite her best efforts to block them, memories spilled into her mind. Ones she hadn’t allowed herself to think of in years.

  Goofing around with her siblings. Riding horses. Doing chores. Sharing family dinners.

  It hadn’t all been bad. Not by a long shot. And it had all been ripped away in an instant the day Dale was arrested. She hadn’t seen him after that—not even once. He hadn’t wanted her to visit him in jail. She didn’t know how she’d have gotten back to Chance Creek from Idaho to do so.

  “He died alone.” Her voice cracked. Tory tried to steady it. “All of us left him.” It killed her to know that, no matter what Dale had done.

  “Not Steel,” Lance said. “He came back to see Dad a few times.”

  Tory pulled back. Blinked. “Steel visited Dad?”

  “Yeah. Didn’t you know?”

  She shook her head. Another one of Steel’s mysteries. “I didn’t visit him.” Had her father thought she’d abandoned him? “I didn’t write. I didn’t do anything.”

  “He didn’t want you to. He wanted us to start a new life,” Lance said.

  “How do you know?”

  “Because it’s what I would want in his shoes.” Lance was silent a moment. “Dad wasn’t a bad guy, Tory. He was just… lacking in whatever it is that stops us from making mistakes. The things he did weren’t malicious. They were just dumb.”

  “Running guns over the border seems more than dumb.”

  “Yeah, I know. I can’t quite reconcile that, either.”

  “I loved him.” Fresh tears started to her eyes. “He was just Dad to me.”

  “I loved him, too. The thing to remember is that he loved us just as much. More, even. But he made his choices, Tory. None of what he did is our fault. Now we have to make our own choices. We have to move forward.”

  Tory dried her eyes and stepped back. Lance let his arms drop, but he was still watching her carefully.

  “I miss how it was. Our family. When we were all together. I wish to God I could have that back,” she told him. She’d never even admitted that to herself before, but it was true.

  “We can’t go back in time,” Lance said gently. “But we can build a better tomorrow. As a family,” he added firmly. “Look at us. We’re all here in Chance Creek, even if it isn’t perfect, and even if Dad is gone. That’s a start.”

  Tory nodded, feeling closer to him than she’d been in a long time, but before she could tell him, the sound of a horse’s hooves made her turn to see who was coming.

  Olivia rode up and dismounted. “What are you two up to? Hey, Tory—are you okay?”

  “I’m fine.” Tory scraped away the remnants of her tears, embarrassed she’d let any of them flow. That wasn’t like her.

  “She’s just missing the old days,” Lance said.

  Olivia
nodded. “I think we all do now and then. You know, if you stayed, we could make a whole new batch of memories here. Good ones. It’s what Dad would have wanted.”

  Tory swallowed. It was hard to admit she wanted that, too. “You’re probably right.”

  “You don’t have to make up your mind right now,” Lance said with a pointed look at Olivia.

  “He’s right. You don’t have to decide today. “Don’t take too long, though. We could have so much fun,” Olivia said. “Besides, you’re staying here at least three years, right?”

  “That’s right.” Three years of watching Liam move on with his life—without her.

  It was going to be a long haul.

  “So you saved the dialysis unit?” Jed asked when he found Liam in his barn office.

  “Looks like it.”

  His uncle straightened a stack of paper that was threatening to slide off the desk. “Good work,” he said gruffly. “That’s pretty important in this town.”

  “Guess you’re happy we’re that much closer to winning the Founder’s Prize.”

  “Aren’t you?” Jed demanded. “Especially with your mother trying to sell my ranch out from under me? If I’d known this day was coming, I would never have let your father inherit it.”

  “Under us, you mean. Of course I’m happy.” Liam leaned back in his chair and stretched his back. “You know what, though? I’m just as happy to have helped the town. People keep stopping me on the street to tell me what it means to them. I didn’t realize how many folks I knew here.”

  “It’s really something, isn’t it?” Jed asked. “How good things are when you’ve got strong roots. Everyone’s always in a hurry these days to rush around and go other places. I like it right here.”

  “Know what you mean,” Liam said. “Wish some other folks felt the same way.”

  “Like that Cooper girl? Yeah, I know about her,” Jed said. “I know about everything.”

  Liam didn’t think that was true. At least, he hoped Jed didn’t know about the pot crop growing at the Ridley property. He hoped like hell Steel got it out of there soon, if he hadn’t already.

  “It’s not going to work between Tory and me,” he told Jed.

  “Maybe you’re not trying hard enough.”

  Liam sat back. “I tried pretty damn hard.”

  “Did you? Seems to me you gave up pretty quick. She’s been home only a month or two. Can’t have spent too much time at the problem.”

  How could he explain to his uncle he didn’t want to be the kind of guy who didn’t know when to quit? Tory had said her piece. She was a grown woman; she knew her own mind.

  “You can’t just make her fall for you,” Jed said. “You’ve got to make her fall in love with Chance Creek. I heard you announced you wanted to marry her.”

  “Someday. In the future—”

  “You put the cart way before the horse,” Jed told him. “Women want to be wooed. They want the dinners. The dancing. The movies. The thrill of the chase.”

  “I don’t know about that—”

  “At least take her out a time or two before you start talking forever,” Jed said.

  Hell.

  He’d really blown it, hadn’t he? Liam scraped a hand through his hair. “I rushed things.”

  “Sounds like it.”

  “I was afraid of losing her.”

  “A self-fulfilling prophecy,” Jed proclaimed. He sighed. “Know all about that.”

  Liam stilled. He’d wondered once or twice why his uncle had never married. “Did you drive a woman away?”

  “Ran her off with a pitchfork, more like. I’ve regretted it ever since.”

  “Maybe you need to woo her, whoever she is.”

  “Maybe you’re right. Anyway, just came by to—” Jed broke off and sniffed the air. “What’s that?”

  Liam sniffed, too. “Smoke.” He leaped out of the chair and rushed to the door, Jed following behind. A thick, dark plume rose up in the distance over the Ridley property, and Liam could make out the glow of dancing flames.

  When the horses were safely back in the stable, Tory went up to the house with the others, ready for a cold glass of water. Time to think about dinner, probably.

  “Wait—I smell smoke,” Olivia said suddenly.

  Lance looked around. “Fire,” he barked. “On the Ridley property.”

  Good, was Tory’s first thought. Let it burn. The flames would destroy all evidence of what Steel had done, and maybe they could finally start working at being a normal, law-abiding family. But with things so dry, that fire was going to spread, fast—and God knew how far.

  “Do we call it in?” she asked.

  “What are you talking about?” Olivia demanded. “Of course we call it in.”

  Lance pulled out his phone. “On it.”

  Tory watched him punch in the emergency number. “There’s no water in Pittance Creek to fight that fire. It’s going to spread like crazy,” she said to Olivia. “We need to dig a fire break—fast.”

  Lance lifted the phone to his ear. “The tractor! Come on!” They hurried after him as he spoke into the phone, but he’d pocketed it again by the time they reached the outbuilding. He took charge of the tractor, backing it out of the building and turning it around.

  “Bring all the shovels you can find,” he called back.

  Tory and Olivia scrambled to locate them, climbed awkwardly on the ATV they sometimes used for ranch chores, Olivia driving, Tory clinging to her and juggling the unwieldy tools, and took off after Lance toward the Ridley property.

  The fire loomed larger the closer they got.

  “Those volunteers better hurry up,” Olivia called over her shoulder.

  Tory wondered if it was already too late.

  Chapter Thirteen

  Someone had set fire to the Coopers’ crop, Liam realized. Had they done it themselves?

  That didn’t make sense.

  “What are you gawking at? Pick up the pace,” Jed hollered as Liam hung up from his call to the fire department. Liam gritted his teeth, wanting nothing more than to sprint back to the house, but he feared Jed’s hip would give out if they went any faster.

  As they neared the front door, Liam’s mother pulled in with Enid and Leslie in the truck with her.

  “There’s a fire on the Ridley property,” he called out. “You need to head back to town until it’s under control.”

  “Did you call the fire department?” Mary shaded her eyes. From here all you could see was smoke high above the house. He hoped that was enough to convince her of the danger in the situation.

  “Of course. Someone already phoned it in. The volunteers should be on their way, but it’s going to get big fast in this heat. I need to get going. Go to town, okay? Take Jed!”

  “I’m not leaving—”

  Noah and Stella spilled out of the house behind him. “There’s a fire,” Noah called.

  “Saw it,” Liam told him. “Called it in.”

  Enid took stock of the situation. “Jed, can you drive Leslie back to town?” she asked. “We’ll help fight the fire.” Jed preferred someone else to chauffer him around these days, but he could get to town and back in a pinch.

  “But—” Liam said.

  “I’ll help with the fire, too,” Jed said.

  “You need to help Leslie,” Mary told him.

  Liam could see Jed was going to argue. He needed to speed this up. “Where’s Virginia?” he asked Enid.

  “In town with a friend. She’ll be coming home soon.”

  “Jed, if you drive Leslie home, you can intercept Virginia before she gets to Thorn Hill, sees that fire and decides it’s up to her to put it out. You know she will!” He held his breath. Would his gambit work? Every moment they spent here talking, the fire was growing bigger.

  Jed nodded. “I can do that. You’re right—she’ll drive straight into the fire if she sees it, the batty old hen.” He was already hurrying toward Mary’s truck. “Keys,” he barked.

 
Mary tossed them to him. “See you soon, Leslie,” she called.

  Enid was already hurrying for the barn. “We need shovels,” she called back. “Come on.”

  “We need more than that.” As soon as he saw Jed get in the truck, Liam lit out past his mother and Enid. Noah raced after him. It took far too long for them to wrestle the disk harrow into place and attach it to the tractor, but a few minutes later, Liam was driving the tractor toward the Ridley property. Cutting a fire break around the blaze was the only way he could see stopping it. The disk harrow was the fastest way to get it done.

  Behind him, Noah yelled to the others to load into the back of his truck. Liam put the pedal to the floor; Noah would catch up to him in no time.

  When he neared the property line that bounded the Flying W, he saw he wasn’t the only one who’d had the idea. Someone was in a tractor scraping the vegetation off the land on the other side of the creek. The fire had already jumped the paltry flow, and both banks were burning.

  It looked like the pot crop was ablaze on the far side. Soon the ramshackle outbuildings near it would be, too. The house, on his side of the creek, was intact so far. That’s where he’d start, Liam decided.

  He heard a shout behind him and looked back to see Noah’s truck hurtling his way. It pulled to a stop nearby. Noah killed the engine, and Enid, Mary, Stella and Maya spilled out of the back. “Do you think we can stop it?” he thought he heard his mother shout.

  “I don’t know,” Noah called back, already racing toward the fire.

  It didn’t look good, Liam thought. He floored the accelerator again and got to work.

  The heat stopped them well before they reached the blaze itself.

  “How the hell are we supposed to fight that?” Olivia cried.

  Tory knew what she meant. No one had tended the Ridley property for a long time. The dried-out hedgerow around the pot crop was burning uncontrollably. All around it, overgrown grass and weeds offered fuel for the fire.

  Ahead of them, Lance had driven the tractor over near the creek, lowered the disk harrow and was beginning to plow a long line between the Ridley property and Thorn Hill. Tory could see he meant to wrap around behind the fire to try to contain it to the area that was already burning. He must have judged it too late to save any of the outbuildings. As they watched, the tractor passed them and kept going to make a wide arc.