Jenny (34 page)

"I've got to go back. They're waiting for me." He
was breathing heavily as he shifted away to sit beside
her on the side of the bed.

"Once we're married, you will never have to stop."
She looked up at him, loving the look of burning desire that glowed in his eyes at her words.

"I'm counting the hours believe me," he growled,
kissing her one last time before he stood up. "You
rest now. Save your strength," he teased. "You're going to need it tomorrow."

"I'll be ready," she answered.

"Will you be all right alone?"

"I'll be fine. You just hurry back once they're
gone."

"Don't worry. I will."

Cole left without kissing her again. He knew if he
did, he might not get back downstairs for some time,
and he didn't want to have to explain the reason for
his delay.

The meeting continued for over an hour before the men finally had drawn up their plan. They were confident it would work, and as Jared and Frank rode for
town, they were ready to recruit the other ranchers
they would need.

Wayne rode out at the same time. He had said all
the right things and acted as if nothing was wrong,
but he was as close to panic as he'd ever been in his
life. He rode at top speed for home. There was no
time to waste.

Cole was still working in the study when Tom rode
back in from Durango with the answering letter from
the reverend. Cole opened and read it immediately.
He was pleased to learn that the preacher would be
there to perform the ceremony at two the following
day.

In a little over twenty-four hours, Jenny would become Mrs. Cole Randall. He liked the sound of that.
He went upstairs to give her the news.

Wayne was never so glad to get home.

"Mira!" he shouted as he ran into the house.

"What's wrong?" Mira demanded as she came out
of the back of the house to find her brother standing
wild-eyed in the middle of the hall.

"I'll tell you what's wrong! Jenny Sullivan is up
and about, and-"

"She is?" Mira stared at him in furious disbelief

"Yes! You only grazed her. You're just damned
lucky she didn't see you when you were taking your
shots at her."

She swore loudly. "Damn that bitch! I hate her!
God, how I hate that slut!"

"But that's not all I found out." he went on, cutting
off her rantings. "Cole was there, and so was Marshal
Trent and Frank Goodwin. The ranchers are planning
to band together to catch the rustlers. They're planning a trap for us. We gotta get out of here while we
still can! We gotta leave now!"

She'd always known her brother wasn't the
smartest man around, but she'd never thought he was
this stupid.

"Wayne, if they don't know we're doing the rustling, why do we have to run?"

"Because they're going to figure it out! I know it!
They'll be coming after us, and when they do-"

"You are so stupid, Wayne," she told him in disgust. "If they don't have any idea that it's us, and if
we stop rustling and don't fall into their trap, how
will they ever prove it? I don't see what the problem
is.,,

"They're going to catch us! I know it!"

"They are not going to catch us. Not unless we do
something stupid-like run!" she snapped at him.

Wayne was furious and frightened. "I'm sick of
you telling me how stupid I am! You're the one who
thought you were so damned smart. You're the one
who thought you knew what you were doing."

"I do know what I'm doing."

"What the hell are you two shoutin' about?" Russell Jameson demanded, staggering into the hall. He'd been sleeping in a drunken stupor in the parlor when
their arguing had roused him. His mood was foul and
his temper raging.

"We gotta get out of here, Pa!" Wayne blurted out.
"Mira tried to shoot Jenny Sullivan, but she only
wounded her. Jenny's still alive, and now they're
looking for the ones who did it. I know they're going
to find out it was us and come after us. I know it!"

"You don't know anything!" Mira shouted back at
him. "They don't know I did the shooting, and they
don't know we've been rustling either. There's no
reason for us to run scared, you coward."

"Yeah, well, the least you could have done was kill
her!"

"Believe me I wanted to, but if you hadn't killed
her father in the first place, none of this would be
happening."

Russell was staring at Mira. "I thought you were
marrying Cole Randall. I thought that rustling was
only to tide us over for a while until you'd got him
to the altar."

"Things haven't worked out," she hedged, seeing
her father's fury and hating the prospect of dealing
with him. He was nothing but a useless, nasty drunk,
and she had put up with him for about as long as she
could stand.

"Why the hell not?" he roared. "You spent the
night with him! He should be marrying you after you
spread your legs for him that way!"

"Cole didn't bed me!" she threw back at him. "He slept in the bunkhouse the night I spent over there."

"Sure he did," Russell said, leering at her. "I always knew Cole was a smart one." He laughed drunkenly. "Of course he ain't buying the cow! He done
got the milk for free! You're a stupid bitch. I can't
believe you're my daughter."

"Neither can I!" Mira sneered. "Why don't you go
on back to bed, you old drunk. Get out of my sight!
Go sleep it off. I'll handle things around here."

"It don't sound like you're handlin' much at all.
You sure as hell ain't handlin' Cole Randall!" Russell
glared at her, then looked at Wayne. "And just what
good are you? If you had any sense at all, you would
have been man enough to figure out a way to save
this place without your sister havin' to whore herself!"

"Old man, you better shut up while you're still
breathing!" Wayne threatened. He had suffered
through endless beatings as a child that hadn't
stopped until he'd been big enough to fight back.
Since then, his pa had stopped hitting him, but he'd
never stopped telling him how stupid he was.

Mira looked from her father to her brother. "While
you two continue your discussion, I'm going to ride
out to the canyon and tell the boys our rustling days
are over. We've got to make sure they lay low and
don't try anything else until we give them the goahead."

"Then what do you plan to do? Since you're so smart, how are you going to save the place? We've
been just hanging on as it is."

Mira glared at Wayne, the look in her eyes savage.
"I'm going to marry Cole."

With that, she turned her back on them both and
stalked out of the house. She had a lot to do before
she went to find Cole again. It wasn't going to be
easy after seeing how attracted he still was to Jenny,
but she had to find a way.

As Mira saddled up and rode for the canyon to
speak with her men, she grew even angrier and more
full of hate for Jenny. She despised the woman with
every fiber of her being. Jenny had had Cole at the
altar and had thrown him away and now she decides
she wanted him again? There was no way Mira could
stand by and let that bitch have him. Cole was hers.
She'd been patient, waiting for him to get over Jenny,
biding her time as she tried to seduce him. She'd
thought she'd been making progress with him. After
what had happened at the dance, though, she knew
she had to act and act fast. Her bullet might have
missed killing Jenny, but she had no intention of
missing when it came to making Cole her own.

"You look lovely," Evelyn told Jenny, smiling serenely at the sight of her niece clad in a pretty pale
blue gown. She looked beautiful. No longer was she
pale and wan. High color stained her cheeks, and her
eyes glowed with inner joy. The only reminder of her
trauma was a small bandage on her forehead.

"Do you really think so?" Jenny asked as she lifted
her worried gaze to her aunt's. She remembered how
she'd looked in her full-skirted bridal gown and wondered if Cole would think she looked pretty today so
simply dressed. "Last time-"

"Last time you didn't go through with the ceremony," Evelyn told her with a grin. "Believe me,
Cole would much rather marry you in this dress than
see you in that bridal gown again."

"Bad memories?"

"I'm sure."

"Well, today I intend to erase those bad memories
once and for all. Today I'm going to become Mrs.
Cole Randall, and I can hardly wait."

"It's almost two o'clock, and Reverend Ford is
downstairs with Cole waiting for you. Whenever
you're ready, we can go down." Evelyn went to her
and hugged her close. "Are you happy, darling? Are
you really happy?"

"Oh, yes, Aunt Evelyn," she said, returning her embrace. "I love Cole with all my heart."

"Then let's go get you married."

"I'm ready."

They left the bedroom and made their way down
the hall. Evelyn told to wait at the top of the steps
while she went downstairs to make sure everything
was set. In a minute she was back.

"It's time, Jenny."

They shared one last, loving hug; then Jenny
started down the steps. When they reached the hall,
Jenny saw the ranch hands gathered on the porch. She
looked questioningly at her aunt. Evelyn smiled at
her.

"They figured out what was happening when they
saw Reverend Ford show up. They wanted to celebrate with you," Evelyn explained. "We couldn't fit
everybody in the parlor, so they're going to watch
from the parlor windows."

Jenny smiled at her men before turning toward the
parlor, ready to go to Cole.

It was time.

Evelyn walked with her to the parlor door before
slipping away to join those who were waiting with
Cole and the minister. As Evelyn entered the room,
everyone turned to see Jenny in the doorway.

Jenny was positively glowing, and she had eyes
only for Cole, who was standing apart from the others
with Reverend Ford. Her gaze went over him, visually
caressing him. She realized he must have sent one of
the hands to his ranch to get a suit for him to wear
for the ceremony, and he was ruggedly, compellingly
handsome. His presence was commanding, and she
was drawn to him like a moth to a flame. She could
not resist him, and she did not want to-not ever
again.

Cole saw Jenny and immediately went to her to
take her arm. He still remembered how lovely she'd
looked in her bridal gown two years ago. She had
been stunningly lovely then, but today he thought her
even more radiant, even wearing the simple gown
she'd chosen. She had pinned her hair up away from
her face, and he could hardly wait to pull the pins
from her hair and free the heavy mass to his touch.
His thoughts threatened to race ahead to the night to
come, and he had to force himself to concentrate on
the moment at hand.

This was their wedding day.

At long last, Jenny would be his bride.

"You're beautiful," he said in a low, soft voice
meant just for her to hear.

She smiled up at him. "Thank you. I wanted to
be for you."

They shared a secret smile as Cole guided her to
stand before the minister.

"Are we ready to begin?" Reverend Ford asked
quietly.

Jenny remembered another time when he'd said the
exact same words to her. She noticed, too, that the
minister seemed a bit nervous as he spoke. It was at
this moment that she'd stopped him the last time, but
today she only smiled.

"Hurry," she said in a loud whisper. "I've already
waited too long to marry Cole."

The minister smiled back at her and began the ceremony. "Dearly beloved..."

As Reverend Ford spoke, Jenny glanced up at Cole.
All the love she felt for him was shining in her eyes.
She found Cole watching her, too. At first when their
gazes met, his expression seemed suddenly guarded,
almost cautious, as if he feared she would once again
run from him. But Jenny stood her ground. She loved
Cole and wanted only to spend the rest of her life
with him. She gave him a serene, blissful smile, and
he knew this time it was right. This time she really
would be his. They both turned back to the minister
then, eagerly anticipating the vows to come.

They would be man and wife.

Rose sat with Tillie and Melanie watching as Cole
and Jenny were bound together in holy matrimony. She sighed with happiness for them, thrilled that
Jenny had won Cole's love, delighted that they were
going to live happily ever after together, and overwhelmed with joy that they had found each other before it was too late.

As Rose listened to them taking their vows to love,
honor, cherish, and obey each other, tears burned in
her eyes. She found Dan slipping, unbidden, into her
thoughts, and she wondered why. She'd missed him
ever since he'd left with Dr. Murray. She'd hoped that
he would come back to the ranch unexpectedly and
surprise her, but the hours and days had passed, and
she had not heard from him.

Rose couldn't imagine what had happened to make
Dan change so drastically. What she'd felt for him
had been special and real. What they'd shared had
been wonderful and different from anything she'd
ever known. It troubled and saddened her to lose Dan
so soon after she'd found him.