Chase the Wind (43 page)

“An absolute vision,” Zane answered for him. Jake and Zane were
looking over his shoulder while Ty sat beside him, offering help where he thought it was needed. A pool of water began to form,
with an image of a tall, slender woman’s back, and arms holding
a mass of hair up on top of her head.

“Who is that?” Grace asked as she peered over Caleb’s shoulder.

“We saw her this morning down at the spring,” Jake said.

“You were spying on her?”

“I guess you could say that.” Zane grinned.

“I wonder who she is and what she’s doing out here,” Grace said
as she began to take dishes off the shelf.

“She’s looking for me, that’s what she’s doing,” Zane commented.

“Will you shut up! I’m sick of hearing you go on about her like
she’s one of your conquests,” Ty snapped.

Zane rolled his eyes. “Sound’s like you fell for her yourself.”

“No, I’m just tired of the way you talk about women.”

“So, Grace, you say Jason was pretty mad at us.” Zane couldn’t
help grinning as he set Ty up.

“Yes, he was.”

“I bet he wasn’t as mad as Cat.”

Ty sighed in frustration as Zane began to laugh.

“Yeah, she was here this morning and she rode away like a bat
out of hell.” Grace ladled the bowls full of stew and set them down
on the table. “Now you boys eat so you can get to work before Jason runs us all off.” Conversation ended as they dug into the bowls and passed the sketch around, each agreeing that it was a
good likeness of the goddess they had seen, with Zane adding that
he would like to see the view from the other side.

“I could do it,” Caleb said, and they all urged him on, even after Grace smacked him with a towel. The noise was soon interrupted by a knocking at the door, and Grace shushed them as she opened
the portal.

“Excuse me. I wonder if you could help me—I’m looking for someone.” Four mouths at the table dropped open. The beauty they’d spied on that morning was standing in the doorway, her golden hair tumbling around her shoulders, her blue eyes wide
with apprehension.

“Who are you looking for?” Grace asked, wondering if this was
the woman they had been talking about.

“James Duncan. Jamie. He’s my brother.”

Grace put her hand to her mouth as realization sank in. “Oh,
my God, you are his sister. You’re Jenny? Your eyes—they are just
like his.”

“He’s here?”

“Yes. I mean no. I mean not right now. Oh, God, please come
in.” Grace realized she was babbling as she pulled Jenny into the
cabin. “He lives here on this ranch, but he’s out with Chase hunting
strays. He’ll probably be gone a couple of days.”

Jenny blinked back tears as she realized that she had at last found
her brother. She looked around the room as if in a daze, and Ty, seeing her condition, leaped into action, sweeping a chair out to
her just as her knees collapsed.

“I’m sorry. It’s just that it’s been so long,” Jenny apologized as her head began to swim. She heard paper rustling and saw the
pages in a sketchbook being flipped back until suddenly everyone
was staring at one of the pages.

“She looks just like that, Caleb,” Zane commented as they looked between Jenny and the page. Caleb turned the pad around so Jenny
could see the likeness he had drawn from Jamie and Chase’s de
scription.

“I drew this so they could put up posters to find you. I guess it
didn’t work.”

“No, it didn’t.” Jenny looked in amazement at the drawing. “Do
you have any of Jamie?”

“Sure, look through the book. There are lots.”

Jenny began to flip the pages and saw her brother—looking so
much like their father—on horseback, standing, sitting, in a group, by himself, amid drawings of others. Then she saw a drawing of
Chase, his body poised, waiting, his shoulder-length hair blowing
out behind him.

“Chase,” she said almost to herself.

“Those two are inseparable—they have been ever since they ar
rived,” Grace said.

“Inseparable—that’s how they used to describe me and Jamie.”
She had to wipe the tears away again, and she noticed the man
they called Ty watching her closely. “How long have they been
here?”

“A couple of years—three, I think,” Grace answered.

“Three. I was with Gray Horse three years ago.”

“Gray Horse—I’ve heard Jamie mention him.”

“Yes, he was a friend of our father’s. Jamie had been in Gray
Horse’s village before me, and I guess he never thought to go back.”

Grace sat down next to Jenny and took her hand. “He looked
for you, I promise. He never gave up, Jamie and Chase both were
determined to find you, but you just disappeared.” Jenny looked into the soft brown eyes above the scarred cheeks of the woman
who sat beside her and saw her sincerity.

“I know. I made myself disappear for a while, actually.”

“You two will have a lot of catching up to do, I know.”

They were interrupted by the sound of clattering hooves outside.
Cat came bursting through the door, her curiosity piqued by the strange horse outside. She pulled up short at the sight of Ty hovering close to a strange woman sitting at the table.

“Cat, guess who this is.” Grace said excitedly. The other faces
were grinning as Cat narrowed her eyes.

“She looks familiar,” Cat said, her manner reserved as she sized
up this new threat.

“It’s Jenny.”

“Jenny? Oh my gosh, you mean Jamie’s Jenny?” She was excited
and disappointed together, happy that Jenny was found but wor
ried because she was here, and she was beautiful. Cat stalked around the table to get a better look.

“This is Cat Lynch. Her father owns this ranch.”

“I ran into Jamie and Chase out in Nebraska. They saved my life,” Cat said.

“That’s Jamie, all right. Always around when you need him.” Jenny started flipping pages again, the images before her now having names and faces attached to them. She stopped when she came to the last drawing. She looked up into a trio of red faces across from her; Ty was conveniently looking out the window. Cat came around and saw the drawing, her green-gold eyes narrowing to slits as she perused the back of Ty’s head.

Caleb tentatively reached out for the sketchbook, his dark eyes avoiding Jenny’s wide blue ones. She let it go, and he slid the book back across the table as Jake turned and walked away. Zane looked down at the drawing and grinned at Jenny. “You are talented, Caleb. No one can deny that.”

“Indeed,” Grace said, breaking the awkward silence that followed.

“We’d better get back to work, fellas,” Ty said from his place near the window. There was a shuffling of boots and a scraping of chairs as the boys filed out, each of them giving Jenny a second glance, much to Cat’s annoyance.

“So, what are your plans?” Cat asked when the men were gone.

“Cat, where are your manners? She just got here.”

“No, that’s okay,” Jenny said. “I realize I’m intruding. If you can tell me where to find Jamie, I’ll go on, and after we’re together again we can decide.”

“Don’t be ridiculous.” Grace gave Cat a look that immediately made her feel guilty, but Cat had her own interests to protect, and Jenny was much too beautiful to remain here where Ty could see her every day. She hadn’t missed the looks Ty, along with the others, had given Jenny. While Jamie was a valuable employee, he wasn’t worth her own happiness. “We have no way of knowing where Jamie and Chase are, you’ll just have to wait here until they get back. As a matter of fact, I’m sure Jason will want you to stay in the main house while you’re visiting. Cat, go find your father and tell him who’s here.”

Cat rolled her eyes but left to obey, hoping to explain her point of view before Grace had a chance to influence her father.

“I couldn’t do that. Maybe there’s a place I could camp until Jamie gets back.” Jenny was looking down at the table, trying to
hide the pain that Cat’s obvious dislike had caused her.

Grace sat down next to Jenny and took her hands. “You are most welcome here. I consider this place my home, and the people here
are my family. I can’t even begin to explain right now what Jason Lynch has done for me, but I can tell you that he saved my life when he brought me here, much as he has done for everyone else
on this ranch. When Jamie told us about you, Jason did everything
he could to find you: he hired detectives, he posted fliers, he advertised in every newspaper, but we never heard a word. Still, I know that they never gave up. Believe me when I tell you that
Jason will be thrilled you are here, just as I am. Even all those dirty-
minded cowhands are thrilled, because they have shared Jamie’s
pain for the past few years.”

Jenny had to laugh when Grace mentioned the hands, but Cat’s
words still hung over her.

Grace put her finger under Jenny’s chin and lifted it a notch. “Don’t worry about Cat. She’s obsessed with Ty, who so far hasn’t given her the time of day. She’ll come around. She’s just worried about the competition, that’s all. If it wasn’t you it would be some
one else, believe me.”

“Tell her I’m not interested. I’m not interested in any man.”

Grace looked down into Jenny’s deep blue eyes and saw the fear
hidden there. “You’ve had a rough time, haven’t you?”

“It could have been worse.”

“It’s hard for a girl out on her own, I know. I lost my daddy
when I was seventeen, and I was all alone.”

Grace got up to fix Jenny a plate. “Of course, from what I’ve heard of your family, your loss was greater than mine. My father
was a burn.”

“Our father was wonderful. Jamie looks just like him.”

“And your mother? Do you look like her?”

“No. My mother was beautiful, like an angel. I don’t look any
thing like her.”

Grace looked down at the perfectly oval face, the straight nose dusted with freckles from the sun, the clear golden skin, the wide blue eyes that could drown a man in their depths, the golden hair that waved and curled down around her shoulders. The woman
sitting before her was tall, with long legs, a flat stomach and ample
curves. And she had no idea that she was beautiful. Grace’s heart went out to her, but she fought the impulse to comfort the girl. Jenny had the look of a skittish colt that would run at the first sign of trouble, and Grace hoped that Jamie would return soon, before Cat had a chance to run her off.

“What was Jamie like when he was young?” Grace hoped that getting her to talk would help relax her.

Jenny had to gather herself to answer the question. It had been so long since they had been children, running wild across the plains without a care in the world, knowing that their parents would be there to take care of them. What had Jamie been like as a child?

“He was more serious than I. I was pretty wild, now that I think about it.” Grace sat down, anxious to hear. “He was steady, and I was impetuous. I guess that’s the best way to describe us, but he had a great sense of humor, and always had us laughing at something.”

“He still does.” The comment shocked Jenny as she realized that Jamie might have changed in the five years since she had last seen him. Her thoughts scattered as she began to turn the five years back.

Seeing a wild look come into Jenny’s great blue eyes, Grace grabbed her arm. “What else?”

“He loved to read aloud. He would read to us every night. He could make the stories come alive. I would rather listen to him read than read myself. I will never forget when he read
The Arabian Nights,
but that was later, when we were at the mission.”

“That’s where you met Chase?”

“Yes, Chase came right before I was. . . .” Jenny’s words trailed off as she remembered that fateful day when Thad Miller had dragged her away. “I guess he’s all right, then? He was unconscious the last time I saw him, he was trying to help me.”

“He’s fine. You know he’s been with Jamie ever since you were taken. They are like brothers. Chase even goes by the last name of Duncan now.”

“Really? That’s strange, but maybe not. Jamie was always practical. He’s the one who started calling him Chase instead of Chase the Wind.”

“How did you know to come here?” Grace suddenly asked as she recalled how isolated the ranch was.