The Rancher's Second Chance

by Leigh Riker

  This time, alone, she would find the pack. Prove she could do the job. Herself.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE

  COOPER ROLLED OVER in his makeshift bed. Outside the tack room, he heard the sounds of a horse being saddled, but through the narrow window he could see it was still dark. Clete or Dex wouldn’t be at work now. He sat up, reached for his boots and stumbled to his feet. Yawning, Cooper stuffed his shirt into his jeans.

  In the barn aisle, to his surprise, he found Nell ramming her shotgun into its scabbard. Bear stood hip slung in the cross ties, looking as bleary-eyed as Cooper felt. He called out to her but she didn’t hear him at first. “Nell,” he said again. She whirled around as if seeing a ghost.

  “Where did you come from?”

  “Tack room.”

  She made no comment about that. “Coyotes,” she said, checking Bear’s girth, his bridle, then leading him past Cooper to the barn doors. The horse was awake now, its ears pricked for the adventure ahead.

  “Wait. I’m coming with you.”

  “I don’t want you there. I’ll do this.”

  “You’d risk your safety? Just because we had a fight?”

  “It was more than a fight. I’ll file for divorce as soon as I take care of this.”

  Cooper gaped at her. You and I are finished. He’d known she was angry with him, hurt, but he couldn’t believe Nell would be so reckless as to chase after the pack in the dark on her own. But then she’d always been impulsive and never did like being out of control, relying on anyone, including Ned, Jesse, Hadley Smith or especially...Cooper.

  “Nell, I understand you’re upset with me. I realize you’re determined to prove yourself to Ned, but you misunderstood me before. I do respect you. I know what’s important to you. That’s important to me too. We can iron things out later. Let me go with you now.”

  Nell said nothing. Before he could say another word, she was out the door and in the saddle, nudging Bear with her knees from an eager trot into a fast canter. Leaving Cooper in the barn aisle, she clattered off into the darkness.

  He let her go but he already had his cell in hand. Juggling the phone and his tack, he saddled his horse while he called the Circle H, where Logan would call Wilson Cattle and Finn. Which was pointless, he realized. None of them could get to the NLS before Nell reached the coyotes.

  Cooper swung up into his saddle. It was up to him to save Nell from herself.

  * * *

  NELL RODE FAST, she and Bear racing across the dark grass without even moonlight to see by. But it didn’t take them long to reach the slight ridge at the old boundary of the NLS that merged onto Cooper’s former ranch.

  Of course, she understood how he felt about that, how much he must want to reclaim his heritage for himself, his mother, his children and future generations. He’d cared enough to betray Nell to get what he wanted. Never mind his attempt to soothe her in the barn. They had become enemies again. If she did lose the NLS, she would also lose the very essence of herself. That won’t happen. She was about to make sure it didn’t, and right now Jesse, another rival, must be in the foreman’s house in bed, oblivious to what was happening.

  And PawPaw hadn’t answered her calls. By the time he showed up, if he did, Nell would have finished this. The threat of the coyotes to the herd, to her very being as a rancher, would be ended. She’d already lost far too much tonight.

  The lone howl she’d first heard had turned into a chorus. As she topped the hill, Nell saw the pack, nearly a dozen coyotes with a few pups out in the open, milling about, unaware of her presence. Several adults closer up had gathered around a downed calf. Nell struggled not to let the sight overwhelm her. She’d seen what had happened to Elsie and Ferdinand, PawPaw’s special bull, but she seemed to be in an even shakier mood tonight and giving in to revulsion wouldn’t help. Nothing could help the calf now.

  Nell’s breath caught in her throat. Was this Elsie’s baby? The one she and Cooper had nursed after being injured? When no further coyote attacks had occurred—until now—Nell had finally released it to the herd, strong enough to survive on its own. Even if it wasn’t that calf, every animal mattered. To Jesse, they might be assets on a balance sheet, but to Nell—and she had to admit, to Cooper—they were individuals, each one unique with personalities all their own.

  She couldn’t look at the calf. In that moment, she didn’t want to know. And it wouldn’t change anything; she would still take out as many coyotes as she could. Their feast was over.

  Behind her in the distance, she heard hoof beats pounding up the hill, headed for the flat stretch of land before her that went on and on to the far horizon.

  Nell yanked the shotgun from its sheath, determined to take out the coyotes before the sound of the approaching horse scattered them. She checked the load, then began to raise it and take aim. From the shelter of the trees nearby, the panicked sounds of the herd reached her. Most had scattered, running for their lives, but some were still visible through a small stand of trees. Without a clear line of sight, she’d risk killing them instead.

  Nell rode closer. The coyotes were so engrossed in the calf lying on the ground that they didn’t seem to notice or smell her until she was right on top of them.

  As she approached, a few ran off, but the rest regrouped—and suddenly Nell was surrounded. The snarling of the pack reached fever pitch, lifting the fine hairs on her arms. The one that seemed to be the leader snarled, deep in its throat. Another lunged at Bear, managing to nip his flank. The horse screamed in pain, spun on his hocks and tried to take off, but the pack only closed in more, eyes glowing red in the darkness, about to pull her off her horse, to prey on Bear.

  She was alone. The rider she’d heard earlier might not spot her. She’d ridden off, trying to prove she could run the NLS with no one else’s help. Instead, she’d put herself in danger, just as Cooper had said. Even worse, she’d risked Bear.

  What had she done? How am I going to get out of this?

  If the pack succeeded in dragging her to the ground, they would try to finish Bear too. At the least, he could be badly injured. For one instant, she considered dismounting to let him race for the barn and try to shoot her way out. Coyotes were capable of reaching a speed of forty miles an hour, but there was a chance Bear could outrun them. Her horse might make it; but he might not. She might make it; then again, she might not.

  To prove a point, she’d made a bad decision and trapped them both. If PawPaw had decided she wouldn’t inherit the NLS, she might not be around to hear him say it. She wouldn’t see him again, wouldn’t be able to tell her parents and Jesse that in spite of their differences, even when they didn’t believe in her and she couldn’t rely on them, she loved them anyway.

  She’d never see Cooper again either. In spite of what he’d said tonight, she...loved him too. Maybe she should have listened, opened up to him before tonight, admitted how much his faith in her and their potential future had meant to her.

  The milling coyotes kept moving closer, then closer still, until one of them clamped its teeth around the toe of her boot. Nell’s pulse skyrocketed. Keeping a tight hold on her reins, she snatched her foot free. Bear was dancing in place, eyes rolled back in his head. Nell could smell the fear rising from his hide, or from her own skin.

  “Nell!” a voice called out. “Don’t move!”

  Cooper had followed her. He galloped flat out to reach them. At his approach, another pair of coyotes disappeared into the trees, making the cows there run out into the open. They thundered off, trying to rejoin the herd before they were caught, but the rest of the coyote pack remained, fixated on Nell and Bear.

  “Get down. Low,” Cooper shouted. As soon as she managed to duck over the horse’s neck, flat against his warm coat, a shot rang out.

  The coyote that had bitten her horse fell. A second shot took out the one whose canine teeth had ruined Nell’s boot. A th
ird hit the leader of the pack, and as more shots followed, many of the others went down. The rest scattered, yipping and squealing as they ran through the trees, then disappeared. Nell was still in her saddle when Cooper rode up, reined Domino to an abrupt stop, and hauled her off Bear onto his horse and into his arms without Nell ever touching the ground.

  “Don’t even think about telling me I shouldn’t have come after you.” His voice shook. “Do you realize how close you came?”

  He meant to almost dying or serious injury, but she couldn’t say a word. Nell clung to him, her face buried in his broad shoulder, his strong arms around her. Freed of his rider, Bear ran off, hightailing it toward the barn, then seemed to reconsider and came back though he was breathing hard after his own near miss. He hadn’t left her either. She felt...humbled. “Oh, Cooper. I knew being impulsive would get me in trouble someday. I nearly got Bear killed.”

  Cooper didn’t comment. He seemed too angry with her—and relieved?—to trust himself not to say something that would only separate them more from each other. Nell deserved that.

  Cooper dismounted, leaving her in his saddle, feeling more alone and less capable than she ever had in her life. What had she really proved? After this, PawPaw might take Cooper’s offer just so he didn’t leave the NLS to Nell. She would still try to fight for the ranch she loved, but she would no longer have a marriage, real or fake, to sustain her. Which, she admitted, it had.

  He walked over to the calf, bent down and assessed the carcass.

  “Is it Elsie’s baby?” she made herself ask.

  “No,” he said in a grim tone. Cooper rose, came back and swung onto his horse behind her. He gathered Nell to him again, then picked up his reins. Her horse had started to wander off again, not far but enough distance to worry Nell. If the pack returned, he’d be defenseless. Cooper clucked to him. “Come on, Bear. There’s a rack of hay waiting for you tonight and a treat. Let’s go home, boy,” he said. Nell noticed he hadn’t included her.

  * * *

  AS SOON AS they reached the barn, Nell found PawPaw waiting. With the adrenaline still pumping through her veins, she dismounted. “I’ll see to the horses,” Cooper said. Without looking at her, he walked Domino and Bear inside.

  That left Nell to face her grandfather. “What happened out there?”

  They stood near the open doors, his horse, Beauty, wearing her saddle and tied to a hitching rail. From deep inside the barn, she could hear Cooper unsaddling their mounts, exchanging bridles for halters.

  Trying to gather her wits, she gave PawPaw a quick report, downplaying the danger she’d faced with Bear. “A good number of the pack were killed,” she finished, though Cooper had done all the shooting while Nell had just tried to stay on her horse. She wasn’t the hero of this adventure and she wouldn’t lie. That had gotten her into trouble before. “The credit goes to Cooper.”

  At least they’d been alone on the ridge, not with the NLS cowhands to see her in such a vulnerable spot. Her grandfather had obviously been about to ride after her, but before he’d left, she and Cooper had come back. What had seemed to last for hours had ended in those few minutes of terror.

  “Then if it wasn’t for Cooper,” PawPaw said, “you’d have been in bigger trouble.”

  Yes, but she still had enough pride to stand up for herself. “I took my shotgun. Plenty of ammunition.”

  “And didn’t use it, from what you’ve said. I should never have gone away.”

  “PawPaw. I’ve tried. I’ve done a good job. I did my best—until tonight.”

  Her grandfather’s silence made her feel worse. Would he turn over the NLS instead to Jesse? Though it might help her to get what she wanted, it wasn’t her place to reveal to Ned that Jesse planned to sell the ranch because he didn’t care about this land. Not like Nell.

  With all her heart, she’d hoped to see her name on the plaque above the gateposts by the road. Nell Sutherland, Proprietor. She wouldn’t give up now.

  “PawPaw, I admit I let you down. Give me another chance,” she said, willing to beg. “Let me show you I can do this—and do it well.”

  He ignored that. “Where was your brother tonight?” PawPaw looked around and, as if he had conjured him up, Jesse strolled over from the foreman’s bungalow. Her heart sank. He must have noticed the barn lights on and, of course, he couldn’t resist getting in on this confrontation.

  “I’m here,” he said. “Clete ran over with the news that Nell was almost killed by those coyotes. Why didn’t someone call me?”

  “What could you have done, Jesse?” she asked, motioning at his cast.

  “Better than you, apparently. I know how to manage a business—employees, livestock in this case—and that’s what the NLS is.”

  “You don’t have a business.” Nell couldn’t keep from saying this after all. The words had popped out of her mouth before she could stop them.

  PawPaw glanced from her to Jesse. “Is this true?”

  Her brother looked down. “At the moment, I have a few problems.”

  “Such as?”

  With obvious reluctance, her brother reeled off the list: a pending bankruptcy proceeding; lawsuits that, of course, were not his fault but his business partner’s; the potential loss of commercial property he owned in Kansas City. “But I’ll be on my feet soon. My lawyer’s taking care of things.”

  “That’s not what you said earlier.” Cooper walked out of the barn still holding a bridle. Its silver trim gleamed in the darkness.

  “Tell the truth, Jesse,” her grandfather said, his gaze steady on her brother.

  “Let me speak first, PawPaw.” Nell stepped forward. This wasn’t Cooper’s battle to win. It wasn’t even Jesse’s. If she didn’t hold her ground now, as she had with Bear on the ridge, she wouldn’t deserve to own the NLS. “I can fight coyotes every night if I have to, run this ranch all day long through spring rains and winter blizzards, worry about the herd like you do, treat them as if they were my children. I’ve ridden with you in the snow to deliver hay to them. I’d protect this land to my last breath,” she said, “and my doing a good job, a better job, has nothing to do with my being a woman. Or your granddaughter, for that matter.”

  “She’s right,” Cooper said to her surprise. “Nell would have done the same for me tonight as I did for her.” He turned to PawPaw. “I understand this is a big decision, Ned, but I hope you’ll view Nell’s case with all the seriousness she deserves,” he said. “I’ve worked with a lot of courageous cops, including Finn Donovan, but I’ve never seen a braver person—man or woman—than I did tonight when Nell rode out alone to save your herd from those coyotes. I’m sure that, without the slightest hesitation, she’d do it again.”

  “Cooper,” she started to say, overcome by his support. Even after what she’d said, when she’d made it clear there was nothing left between them.

  “One more thing.” Ignoring Jesse and Nell, Cooper held PawPaw’s gaze. “From the day I came back to Kansas, I’ve been trying to do right by Nell—just as she has for the NLS. Did I want the land I lost to be mine again? Yes,” he admitted, “but I didn’t marry her to get it.”

  PawPaw muttered, “And I didn’t steal that land from your father. I bought John’s ranch because we were friends and he was in financial difficulty. I paid a fair price so he could get on his feet and start over. For your mother’s sake too. I know that meant losing the ranch they loved but the Ransom ranch is preserved as part of the NLS. If our situation had been reversed, John would have helped me. The question is, can you let go of that promise you made?” Her grandfather waited, but Cooper didn’t respond. “Or will you make that offer you weren’t sure about?”

  “See, PawPaw?” Jesse said. “That’s all he’s ever wanted here.”

  Cooper’s eyes met Nell’s. Had she heard her grandfather correctly? And Cooper too when he’d said something about the offer he was
going to make? What if...?

  “Nell,” Cooper said. “Jesse is wrong.” He took a breath, then faced her grandfather again. “So were you, Ned. Yes, my original plan was to make you an offer for my half of this land, but I’m not making that offer. Why?” He turned back to her, his gaze somber. “Nell, your grandfather, your brother, even your parents may not appreciate this, but I do. You’re the most amazing woman I know, the most amazing person, and you’re far more important to me than any piece of land ever was or could be again.” His voice lowered. “I love you, Nell. No, loving you doesn’t even begin to cover it.”

  He waited a moment but, stunned to the toes of her boots, Nell couldn’t seem to say a word. Had he really done that? For her? PawPaw and Jesse didn’t speak either. Her brother only cleared his throat, then walked off into the night toward the foreman’s house. PawPaw touched Cooper’s shoulder before he went up the rise to the main house, and Nell watched Cooper’s expression change from one of hope to resignation. With her silence she’d let him down too.

  “I’ve made my choice,” he finally said before he walked away. “But if we’re going to have a chance, Nell, now I need you to choose me.”

  * * *

  IN THE BARN, Cooper took Bear from his stall to clean, then disinfect the nasty wound on his left foreleg. Nell’s horse stood patiently in the cross ties, occasionally eyeing Cooper as if wondering whether to trust him. Seemed to be a common view just now.

  With a soothing touch and soft words, Cooper went about his business, taking comfort in the routine, trying to block out the past few hours. Why hadn’t Nell believed him? That if no one else had faith in her, Cooper did?

  By tomorrow morning, she’d most likely file for that divorce she’d threatened. The memory of their sweet moments together, the first on the very ridge where the coyotes had attacked tonight, ran through his mind. Other nights too when she’d mourned Elsie, then Ferdinand, and Cooper had comforted her. When they’d shared their feelings. When they’d truly been partners.