Jenny (30 page)

"What's wrong?" Rose asked.

"I have to leave for a while. Some of the hands
reported to Louie that there are cattle missing from up in the north pasture. I'm going to ride out and talk
to them, and see what I can learn."

"Isn't that where your father had his accident?"
Evelyn asked as she came in from the kitchen.

"Yes," Jenny answered tersely. She found herself
wondering anew if there was any connection between
the rustling and her father's death.

"Do you want me to ride with you?" Dan offered.

"No, Louie's getting one of the men to go with me.
You two enjoy your time together. I should be back
before dark."

Jenny hurried out to the stable to get her horse. She
was angry at the news and wanted to get to the bottom
of this trouble. Louie and Gene were waiting for her.
They had already saddled her horse.

"Gene's going with you," Louie told Jenny.

"I appreciate the company."

Jenny's mood was determined as they mounted up
and rode out.

It was early afternoon when Cole finally reached the
Lazy S.He'd meant to get there earlier, but all the
trouble on the Branding Iron had delayed him. As he
tied up in front of the house, he was surprised when
Frances came out to meet him. He'd been hoping
Jenny would be the first one out the door.

"Is Jenny here?" Cole asked, eager to talk with her.

"No, not right now, but she should be back before
dark, I hope," the older woman told him.

"Where did she go? Do you think I can catch up with her?" He was ready to declare himself and didn't
want to put it off any longer than necessary.

"She's been gone awhile. Louie heard from some
of the hands that stock was missing from the north
pasture. She rode out with Gene to see what happened."

"So you were hit, too. I'm missing about fifty head,
myself," he told her. "That was one of the reasons I
came to see her."

"Why don't you come on in and wait for her? Dan
came out from town to see Rose today, and they went
off on a picnic a while ago, but I expect them to return
any time now. Evelyn, Tillie, and Melanie are all
down at the stable watching Tom and another hand
saddle-breaking horses."

Cole was greatly disappointed that Jenny wasn't
there. He debated going back home. He certainly had
a lot of work waiting for him, but he wanted to speak
with Jenny too much to just ride off. He'd made the
trip to the Lazy S to tell her he loved her. He was
going to wait for her return no matter how long it
took.

Mira's mood only worsened as she traveled the miles
toward the Lazy S.She had always been jealous of
Jenny, but that jealousy had now turned to deadly
rage.

How dare Cole make love to Jenny up in that hotel
room?

Mira was amazed that she'd managed to control her
fury this long. But she would control it no longer. It
was past time she and Jenny had a private little talk.

Riding cross-country to cut down the travel time,
Mira topped a rise still some miles north of the Sullivan ranch house and reined in. There below her in
the valley she caught sight of two riders. She watched
intently and soon recognized that one of them was
Jenny.

What luck! She'd wanted to talk to Jenny alone, and now was the time. Mira started to ride down, then
reined in again as an idea came to her an idea that
brought a feral smile to her face.

They were alone there was no one else around
for miles-no one who would hear the gunshots.

This was the woman who had stolen Cole from her,
and she was within easy rifle range. She could pick
them both off easily.

The choice was simple for Mira. If she acted right
now, no one would ever know who'd shot them.

With slow calculation, Mira slid her rifle from its
sheath and took aim. She had no second thoughts
about doing it. The only thought in her mind was the
memory of Cole coming out of Jenny's hotel room,
his clothing in disarray.

Cole was hers! Jenny would never have him.
Never!

Mira squeezed off the shot and smiled in vicious
delight as the man fell from his horse. Jenny reined
in and looked her way just as she fired again. Again
Mira hit her mark. She laughed as Jenny fell from her
horse and lay still, face down on the ground. The
panicked horses raced off.

Mira stood up, watching and waiting to see if either
Jenny or the man moved. She was tempted to go
down and check on them, but when they continued
to lie immobile in the dirt, Mira decided it wasn't
necessary. She had earned her reputation as a good
shot around the ranch and believed she hadn't missed. Satisfied, she mounted up again and turned around to
ride for home.

In a day or two, she'd make a trip over to the
Branding Iron to see Cole. With Jenny out of the way,
he would be all hers.

Cole settled in the study and started going over some
of the ranch paperwork while he awaited Jenny's return. He'd been working there for nearly an hour
when he heard a horse galloping up and shouts coming from the stable.

Certain that it was Jenny returning, Cole hurried
from the study. He couldn't wait to see her again. He
was smiling. This was the moment he'd been waiting
for.

"Sounds like Jenny's back," Evelyn said as she
emerged from the back of the house with Frances and
Tillie. They went outside with Cole.

"Maybe she got lucky and found something out,"
Frances said, worried about the rustlers.

They started out onto the front porch, then stopped.
There, running wild-eyed near the stable, was Jenny's
horse, but there was no sign of Jenny.

"That's not like Jenny," Frances said, a cautious
note in her voice as she stared at the lathered horse.
"I wonder why she rode him so hard. And where is
Gene?"

Tom came out of the stable and grabbed up the
reins. "Whoa, boy. Easy there, fella," he said as he
tried to calm the panicked mount.

"Where's Jenny?" Cole asked, looking around for
her as he strode toward the stable.

"I didn't see her actually ride in," Frances said. "I
only heard the horse."

Frances frowned as she and the other women
trailed after Cole. She was suddenly remembering another time when a horse had returned to the stable
riderless.

They hurried toward Tom.

"Is Jenny in the stable?" Cole called out.

Tom looked his way as he continued to try to calm
the horse. His expression was troubled. "No. The
horse came back without her."

"What?"

Cole was beside Tom in an instant, grabbing the
reins and checking the horse over carefully.

"Where did Jenny say she was going when she rode
out?" he demanded. She was out there somewhere,
obviously injured in some way, or in trouble, and he
had to go find her. He had to help her.

"She and Gene were riding for the north pasture,"
Frances answered quickly.

Cole remembered the north pasture all too well
how deserted and remote it was.

"Take care of the horse," he directed Tom. "I'm
going after them." He handed the reins to Tom.

"What's going on?" Rose and Dan asked as they
hurried over to see what all the excitement was about.

"Jenny's horse came back without her," Cole told them quickly. "I've got to go look for her. She must
be in trouble."

"This is just like what happened to her father,"
Frances pointed out worriedly.

Evelyn, Tillie, and Melanie were aghast at what
had happened and shared worried looks.

"I'm coming with you," Dan declared.

Cole knew he might need his help. "Thanks."

"We'll come, too!" Rose said, "We want to help."

"No," Cole said sharply. "You women wait here."
He looked at Tom and ordered, "Get the men together. We're riding out now."

Tom led the horse into the stable and ran off to
gather the hands who were at the bunkhouse.

Cole and Dan went to get their horses while the
women waited by the stable. The two men returned
quickly.

"What should we do?" Evelyn asked in a shaky
voice, looking up at Cole as she nervously clutched
Tillie's hand for moral support. She was nearly in
tears at the thought that something had happened to
Jenny and Gene.

"Pray," Cole answered her, his tone solemn.

The ranch hands came running, and Cole quickly
organized them and told them where to start searching. They rushed to get their mounts, and then rode
out to check the areas Cole had assigned to them.

The women watched them go, horror etched in
their faces. They knew Jenny and Gene were in some kind of trouble, and they hoped the men would find
them quickly.

Jenny stirred and tried to open her eyes, but the pain
in her head was too violent. She groaned and lay still,
trying to remember where she was and what had happened. Even trying to think, though, made her agony
worse. It took a superhuman effort to lift her hand to
her forehead, and when she drew it away and peered
at it, she was shocked to see her hand was covered
with blood. Blackness overwhelmed her, and with the
darkness came relief from the pain.

To Cole, it seemed he and Dan had been riding for
hours, searching for some sign of Jenny or Gene.
With each passing minute, he'd grown more and more
worried. He remembered all too well what had happened to Paul. He could not allow himself to even
consider that something like that could have happened
to Jenny.

They rode on, determination driving them. They
would not abandon their search. Cole just prayed that
they would locate them before sundown.

It was nearly dusk when Cole caught sight of Jenny
lying motionless on the trail.

"There!" he shouted and put his heels to his
mount's sides.

Cole raced ahead, leaving Dan to catch up. When
he reached Jenny he all but threw himself from the horse. Running to her side, he dropped to his knees
beside her inert form.

"Jenny," he called in an agonized voice as he gently, carefully turned her over.

His heart was in his throat when he saw the blood
on her face, and he feared she was dead. Only her
groan reassured him that she was still breathing.

"She's alive!" he shouted to Dan, relief pouring
through him.

Dan rushed to his side. "What happened? Was she
shot?"

"Yes, and thank God, the bullet only grazed her,"
he told him.

"What do you want to do?"

"We've got to get her to the doctor." Cole's mind
was racing as he tried to figure out the best way to
transport her to the ranch house. He didn't want to
wait for Dan to ride back and get the buckboard. That
would take too long. He wanted to get her there as
quickly as possible.

"What about Gene?"

They looked around and spotted him lying a short
distance away. Dan ran to check on him.

"How is he?" Cole called out.

Dan shook his head and hurried back to Cole as
Jenny stirred.

"Cole-" Jenny whispered as consciousness slowly
returned. The pounding in her head was fierce, but
the strong, warm arms holding her gave her comfort.

Cole was thrilled that she was coming to, but worried about her condition.

"Easy, love, I'm here," he said softly, knowing she
must be in great pain.

"Gene how's Gene?"

"I'm sorry-"

"Oh no-"

"Ah, Jenny"

"My head "she groaned and lifted her hand to
her forehead again. "It hurts"

"I know, darling, and we're going to get you help
just as fast as we can."

"What happened?" Jenny asked in a weak voice.

"Someone shot you." Cole spoke quietly, but he
was tense.

The mere thought that she had come so close to
being killed tormented him. The urge to seek revenge
was fierce within him.

"Why?" she whispered, lifting a tortured gaze to
his.

"I don't know, but I promise you, whoever it was
will pay."

Jenny's eyes drifted shut. Cole gently wiped the
blood from Jenny's face with his bandana. She
flinched beneath his careful ministrations, but she did
not make a sound. The wound appeared to be a clean
one, and he didn't believe it to be life-threatening.

Cole wished there was something he could do to
make the trip back to the ranch easier on her, but there
wasn't.

"Help me carry her. I'll mount up and hold her in
front of me now that she's conscious. We won't be
able to travel fast, but at least we can make steady
progress."

"Do you want me to ride ahead for help? I can send
someone back for Gene."

"Yes, and when you get to the ranch, send someone
into town for the doctor. Then come back for us with
the buckboard."

"I'll do it," Dan promised; then he lifted his gaze
to scan the hills around them, searching for a clue to
what had happened. He saw no disturbance, no sign
of anyone around. "Who do you think did this? Who
would have a reason to hurt Jenny or Gene?"

Cole's eyes narrowed as he remembered his fight
with Richard at the dance. "When you send one of
the men into town for the doc, make sure he stops at
the marshal's office and tells Marshal Trent what happened at the social. I want him to find out where
Richard Donathan was earlier today."