Revenge (41 page)

In the near paddock, Dani Stewart, Skye's younger sister, was working with Max's daughter. The fiesty five-year-old was astride a docile gelding named Cambridge. Over the protests of his ex-wife, Colleen, Max had presented the palomino to Hillary on her fifth birthday. The stirrups were so high they looked comical, but Hillary was serious about riding. Even though she'd had a terrorizing experience during the fire, when she'd been trapped in the stables with Dani as they'd brushed Cambridge after a lesson, Hillary was persistent and claimed that she wanted to be a trick rider someday, just as Dani had once been.

Jenner climbed out of his truck, smelled the scent of ash and charred wood that still lingered after the fire, and pocketed his keys.

Dani's voice carried on the wind. “That's it, Hillary. Show him who's boss.” With a quick little kick, the girl urged the horse into a trot. “Take control. There ya go.”

Again Hillary gave a nudge of her heels. Flicking his tail, the horse broke into a slow gallop much to Hillary's delight. “Faster!” she cried, her brown curls bouncing in the brisk breeze. “Come on, faster!”

“I don't think so.” Dani watched her small charge carefully. “Come on, slow him down. Pull back on the reins easy now. Don't hurt him. I swear, Hillary, someday you're going to be the best cowgirl in the county!”

Hillary giggled at the praise, then reluctantly obeyed and slowed Cambridge into a trot, then a walk.

“That's about it,” Dani said, and Hillary's face fell.

“One more time,” she begged. “Please.”

Dani checked her watch and shook her head. “I can't, hon, really. I'm supposed to be at the Purcell place in fifteen minutes and it'll take me twenty to get there. So come on, you help me with the saddle and bridle.” She looked up as Jenner hobbled to the fence. At the sight of his crutches, she winced. She, too, had nearly lost her life in the fire.

“Jeez, are you still on those?” she asked as she uncinched the saddle.

“For a while yet. Here, let me help you—”

Her gaze stopped him cold. “I can handle it,” she assured him as she swung the saddle from the horse's back and plopped it onto the top rail of the fence. “I do this for a living, y'know.”

“So I've heard,” he drawled.

“Just because I'm a woman—”

“It has nothing to do with that, Dani. Okay? Give it a rest. I only wanted to help.”

She lifted a shoulder. “Well, I don't need it, but thanks, anyway.” She yanked the blanket from Cambridge's back and told Hillary to run into the barn and fetch a currycomb.

A pretty woman with curly red-blond hair and eyes the color of whiskey, she had a temper that was legendary. Years before, there had been rumors about her. She'd been wild. A party girl. Someone you could call for a good time. Or so the town gossip mill had insisted, though Jenner didn't know anyone who'd actually taken her out.

Now, she was a strong woman who, in Jenner's opinion, married the wrong man. Jeff Stewart was one year younger than Jenner and seemed to spend more than his share of time on a bar stool at the Black Anvil flirting with the single women who happened in.

Jenner knew. He'd been there himself.

Hillary returned with brush and comb and both she and Dani started working on the gelding. “That's it;” Dani encouraged as Hillary, tongue angled out of her mouth, tried her best to groom the horse. Jenner leaned against the top rail of the fence, watching his niece wrestle with a knot in Cambridge's tail.

“Be careful,” Dani said. “He's even-tempered, but even the best horses have been known to kick.”

The knot gave way and Hillary dropped her brush onto the ground. “All done,” she announced.

“Good job.” Dani was still brushing the palomino's hide. She glanced up at Jenner. “I don't know if I ever really thanked you for—”

Jenner waved off her words. “It was nothing.”

She rolled her eyes to the darkening heavens. “Hear that, Hillary? He thinks saving our lives was nothing.”

“That's because Uncle Jenner's full of B.S.”

“Says who?” Jenner asked, and reached over the fence to swing the little girl into the air. She gave out a whoop of delight while he tried to ignore the shaft of pain that sliced down his leg. The screen door banged, and from the corner of his eye, Jenner watched Max stride across the parking lot. His face was stern and set, his mouth an angry line.

“Mommy says.”

It figured. These days Colleen Smith didn't have anything good to day about the McKee family. “Well, tell your mommy that I think—”

“Don't say anything,” Max warned his brother as he approached. He winked at his daughter. “When you go back to Mommy's, you tell her that you had a nice time and that you were safe, okay?” Max shot his brother a look that warned him not to argue.

Jenner wasn't having any of it. He gave Hillary a hug. “You tell your mom that you're a brave girl and that you can handle a horse as good as the best of 'em. And you tell her Uncle Jenner said so.”

“I will,” Hillary pronounced with a mischievous grin cast in her father's direction.

Jenner couldn't let it go. “And let her know she's right. I am full of B.S.”

“He means hot air,” Max said quickly, “but since you're relaying messages, Hillary, tell Mommy that Uncle Jenner's a troublemaker who doesn't know when to keep his big mouth shut... No, on second thought, just tell her you had a great time while you were here at the ranch. She doesn't need to know all the details.” Max lifted Hillary from his brother's arms and squeezed her in a gentle hug. “So, how'd the lesson go?”

“Great. Hillary's a natural,” Dani said as she unbuckled the bridle, and Cambridge, glad to be rid of the straps of leather, snorted, tossed his head, and took off, bucking and running to the far side of the corral. Hanging the bridle on a fence post, Dani sighed. “I guess he's glad the lesson's over.”

“How about you?” Max asked.

“Me? Naw. I could do this all day.” Dani climbed over the fence, dusted her hands on her jeans, and pulled a set of keys from her pocket. “I'll be back next week.” She managed a smile for her enthusiastic student. “Practice if you can and when you're done, you put Cambridge away. Make sure that he's taken care of. Cooled off and brushed. Don't let your dad do it for you.” With a wave she climbed into her dusty Bronco.

As Dani drove off, Max set Hillary on the ground and rumpled her wild curls. “Why don't you see if you can wangle a piece of Kiki's pie from her?”

“She made pie?”

“Apple and blackberry.”

“I want both.”

“Good luck,” Max said, and Jenner smothered a smile. Kiki was outwardly gruff, complaining about kids these days being spoiled, but the old cook had a soft spot in her heart for all the McKee children and grandchildren—she'd even done her share of the spoiling. Jenner guessed that with one sly little look, Hillary would have all the pie she wanted.

Hillary took off in a cloud of dust, her tiny red boots pounding the dry earth, her hair streaming behind her, Max followed her with his eyes, his grin suddenly wide and proud, and Jenner understood, really understood, the bond between father and child for the first time in his life.

Because he might just have a child of his own.

He shoved his hands into the front pockets of his jeans. “I'm here about work,” he said.

Max eyed his crutches, and the smile that he'd had on his face for Hillary, disappeared. “You can't—”

“I damned well can, Max. I told you I'm tired of being a charity case.” That much was true. He wanted to work, needed to feel his hands doing something, anything, to get rid of the restless energy in his blood. There was another problem, as well. He wanted to be closer to the Rocking M, to the investigation into his father's murder because of the worries that gnawed at the back of his brain—worries about Beth and Cody's safety. “Just because I'm on crutches doesn't mean I'm useless.”

“I know, but you should take your doctor's advice and—”

“To hell with my doctors! I want to work, and I'm gonna do it. Either here or someplace else.” That was stretching the truth a bit, but he didn't care. “I already told you—”

“Okay,” Max said, his eyes narrowing. “You can have your old job at the ranch back. You know it's waiting for you, anyway, but you've got to agree to keep seeing the physical therapist and the doctor.”

“You can't tell me—”

“I can and I will. As long as you work for the Rocking M—” Max bit back the words. “Oh, hell, Jenner, just use your head for something other than a spot to hang your hat.” He ran stiff fingers through his hair and cast a wary glance toward the dark-bellied clouds moving slowly across the sky. “Besides, I need you around. We got problems.”

“That much I know.”

“All of a sudden we've got more witnesses than we can handle—witnesses who claim they know who killed Dad and started the fire.”

Jenner's muscles tensed. “You believe 'em?”

“None so far. All just fortune hunters.”

“Big surprise.”

“But we're generating a helluva lot of interest.”

Jenner's mouth curved into a cynical smile. “Ain't it amazing what a few dollars can do?”

“I'm not taking any chances. I hired a couple of security guards to keep an eye on things. Chester's not too happy about it, but I think they'll work out.”

Jenner glanced back at the two cowboys who didn't quite fit in, undoubtedly the men who were supposed to guard the ranch. From whom? Who was out to get the McKees?

So Max was concerned enough to take some extra precautions. That worried Jenner. It worried him a lot.

 

The first drops of rain plopped against the Nova's windshield as Beth parked her car next to Jenner's truck. The sky was slate gray, the clouds shifting in the rain. Any plans for Cody to go riding would have to be postponed now. She didn't like thinking about arguing with her two-year-old, who wouldn't understand that sometimes promises had to be altered. No, she thought as she glanced at her son asleep in the car seat, Cody would give her a hard time when she tried to explain about the weather.

Great.

He barely roused as she unbuckled his seat belt, pulled up the hood on his sweatshirt and dashed through the raindrops to the front porch. With her free hand, she rang the bell as Cody yawned and settled against her shoulder.

The door opened and Jenner stood framed in the doorway. Backlit by the lights in the hall, he seemed as rugged as the rocky gorge of Wildcat Creek. For a brief second, they stared at each other, gazes touching, Beth remembering what it was like for his work-roughened hands to caress her skin. Her throat was suddenly dry and she licked her lips nervously as he stood aside.

“Come on in.” He held the door for her and she walked into the fortress of the Rocking M. “Great day for a ride, eh?”

“You explain it to him.”

“Thanks a lot,” he said sarcastically. “Everyone's in the den.”

Beth wasn't sure she was ready for ‘everyone,' but she took a deep breath and walked into the room. A fire crackled against pitchy wood and gave the room warmth against the coming storm. Beth's spine stiffened when she saw Virginia, huddled in a corner of the couch, her face without a trace of warmth. Max was seated behind the desk and Mavis rocked in a chair near the fire. At the sight of Cody, the little old lady found her cane, stood stiffly, and made her way across the room. “Well, here he is,” she said as Cody's eyes blinked against the soft lights. “Been sleeping, haven't you?”

“He's usually a little grouchy when he wakes up,” Beth cautioned.

“Am not!” Cody's expression was dark and mistrusting. “Not grouchy!” He clung to her.

“It's all right.” But she felt as if she was lying because the hostility in the room fairly sizzled.

Mavis knew when to retreat. “Well, when you wake up, dumpling, come on over and see me. I think we have a book to read or—”

“No!”

“It'll just be a few minutes,” Beth apologized, embarrassed at Cody's behavior. He was only two, but she wanted him to show his best side, to be the adorable little boy she loved, to prove to the whole McKee family that he was as special and bright as she thought he was.

But why? So they would accept him? Part of her heart squeezed as she saw the censure in Virginia's features. She would never love this boy, nor would she ever believe that he was her grandson. And Beth would never put Cody in a position where he was judged by a bitter woman who couldn't face the truth.

“He just needs some time to wake up,” she explained to Mavis, who, diametrically opposed to her daughter-in-law, seemed anxious to welcome the boy into her family.

Mavis crackled a laugh. “Don't we all? Sometimes I'm a little grumpy when I first wake up. So was that son of mine, rest his soul.”

The room turned suddenly quiet at the mention of Jonah, as if his ghost had entered the room.

“Oh, Lord,” Virginia whispered.

Jenner, shifting his body so that he stood between Beth and his mother, ruffled Cody's head. “I think I promised you a horseback ride.”

Beth's stomach clenched. “But it's raining.”

“Never stopped a good cowboy.”

Cody managed a shy smile. “I ride?”

“Right now, if you want to.”

Beth felt everyone's gaze rest on her. “I don't—”

Jenner grabbed her arm and turned her toward the door. “We'll discuss it in the barn.” With a glance over his shoulder, he said to his brother. “We'll be back in a little while. Beth and Cody are staying for dinner.”