“I’ll make sure he knows about Sally,” he promised and turned as a set of headlight beams sliced an arc across the ranch yard, taking aim on The Homestead.
Jessy noticed them as well and swore softly, “Damn. It’s Logan. You had better go. Quick. Cat is bound to have said something to him about you.”
But Laredo knew that undue haste was the surest way to arouse a lawman’s suspicions. That knowledge prompted him to first touch his hat to Jessy and amble across the veranda to the steps. Halfway down them, he met Echohawk on his way up.
“Evenin’,” Laredo nodded to him as if he had nothing in the world to hide. But he felt the touch of those gray eyes on his back when he passed him.
Projecting every ounce of calm she could muster, Jessy waited for Logan to reach her. “I guess you heard about Sally,” she said in lieu of a greeting.
“Jenna called me at the ranch,” he said with a nod, then glanced in Laredo’s direction as he disappeared around the side of the house. “Is that the new man Cat was telling me about?”
“Laredo Smith, yes,” Jessy confirmed. She released an audible sigh. “I guess I don’t have to ask what Cat said about him.”
“I guess you don’t.” There was something gentle about the brief curve to his mouth. “I didn’t expect to see him here tonight.” Logan also hadn’t expected to see the bulge in the cowboy’s boot when he went down the steps.
“An ambulance parked in front of The Homestead tends to attract attention,” Jessy replied. “I would have thought less of him if he hadn’t stopped to find out what was wrong.”
“You’re right, of course,” Logan acknowledged.
“Does Cat know about Sally?”
He nodded. “She wanted to come, but Quint was already in bed asleep.”
“It’s just as well. There wouldn’t have been anything she could do.”
“That’s what I told her.” The growl of the pickup’s engine turning over drew Logan’s attention to the side of the house. It stayed there to watch Laredo’s pickup back into the ranch yard. When Jessy turned to go back inside, Logan asked, “Does he always carry a hideaway?”
Jessy swung back, frowning in genuine puzzlement. “A what?”
“A hideaway,” Logan repeated the term, then clarified, “That’s another word for a concealed weapon.”
“What are you talking about?” She let her frown deepen and mask the sudden shaft of unease.
“I noticed the thickness in his right boot when he was coming down the steps. I worked with a Texan once who always carried a hideaway in an ankle holster. His boot looked just like that. It’s something you remember if you want to stay alive in my business.” His tone had an offhand quality to it, but Jessy wasn’t fooled by its casualness. “I hope he has a license to carry that.”
She feigned an indifferent shrug. “You should have asked him.”
“I’m here as family tonight. But there will be another time.” Logan copied her shrug while his gray eyes continued to study her with close attention. “Just how well do you know him, Jessy?”
“Don’t you start on me about him, Logan,” she said in exasperation. “Not tonight. I received enough grief about Laredo from Cat. I don’t need more right now.”
“She told me this Laredo character was a touchy subject,” he remarked with seeming idleness.
But it put Jessy on guard. “Logan, do you have any idea how difficult it is to defend your friends when the accusations against them have no basis in fact? It’s impossible. And Tara didn’t help the situation—as usual.”
“An excellent point.” A wry smile tugged at a corner of his mouth. “Tara would love to see you fail. Mostly because she envies you and wishes she were in your shoes.”
“Tara in charge of the Triple C—now that is a scary thought,” Jessy declared with feeling.
The front door opened behind her. “Jessy, what on earth are you doing out here?” At the familiar sound of her mother’s voice, Jessy turned to face the slender woman she favored. “Logan,” Judy Niles said in surprise when she finally noticed him. “I didn’t know you were here.”
“I just drove up a couple minutes ago.”
“Isn’t it just terrible about Sally?” Judy Niles declared, doing everything but clicking her tongue. “It seems like it’s just one tragedy after another. My mother always told me death comes in threes. I can’t help but wonder who might be next.”
“That is nothing but an old wives’ tale, Mom.”
“I know. Still . . .” she murmured, unconvinced, then appeared to realize she was standing with the door open. “Good heavens, what is the matter with me? Come inside, you two.” She stepped back to admit them and kept talking. “Amy and I were just discussing whether Sally should be buried next to her late husband. What’s your opinion, Jessy? Do you think it would be appropriate?”
“I didn’t realize she had been married,” Logan said.
“Years and years ago,” Judy declared. “To an ex-rodeo rider. He had been working at the Triple C less than a year when he was killed in a car accident. Stumpy said he was next to worthless. Naturally he didn’t have any insurance. What cowboy does? So Chase paid for the funeral and buried him here on the ranch. Ike says the plot next to him is available. But they were married so long ago—and not very happily. I just don’t know if Sally would want that.”
“It isn’t something we have to decide tonight.” Jessy paused in the entryway while her mother closed the door.
“I know, but the decision has to be made soon,” Judy Niles remarked, then quickly raised a finger as something else occurred to her. “Before I forget, I thought of someone you might want to consider hiring to cook and look after the house. DeeDee Rains. She did nearly all the cooking for Sally when she had the restaurant in town. I don’t know what she’s doing now, but I know she isn’t working at Harry’s.”
“I forgot about DeeDee,” Jessy admitted. “I’ll talk to her and see if she is interested in working here.”
“I hope she will be, because we wives can fill in for a while, but you will need someone permanent.” Judy stopped, a look of contrition claiming her expression. “Isn’t this awful? Here we are, talking about such things and Sally is still lying in there.”
“It’s reality, Mom. Sally would be making her own suggestions right now if she were still alive.” The conversation with her mother claimed only half of Jessy’s attention. The rest of it was on Logan as he wandered into the living room where the others were gathered. Somehow she needed to alert Laredo to the comments Logan had made. And soon.
Night cloaked the cabin’s interior in darkness. The only light came from the starshine that grayed the windowpanes. Restless, Chase rolled onto his side and stared into the darkness. He had no idea of the time, but knew it had to be somewhere around midnight. Sleep had eluded him. The best he had managed was a fitful doze that fell somewhere between sleep and wakefulness.
He shut his eyes and tried again. After a few seconds, he gave up the effort, threw back the summer-weight blanket, and swung his legs out of the bunk. He had no difficulty locating the clothes he had taken off only hours ago. He put them on and stepped into his boots. After a glance at the twin bed along the opposite wall where Hattie slept, he quietly crossed the cabin and walked outside into the star-studded night.
The breeze’s cool breath touched him, prompting Chase to button the front of his shirt that he had let hang open. Shadows blanketed the landscape, deepening to black in the low places and lightening to charcoal along the higher areas. There was a stillness and calm out here that soothed some of his edginess.
It was a big and empty land that stretched before him, a land that would still be here, changed yet unchanging, long after he was gone and forgotten. It wasn’t a thought that bothered him; instead he found some comfort in it, a sense of rightness.
The stretching of the screen door’s spring made a faint sound, but in the stillness of the night, it was loud to his ears. Swiveling at the hips, Chase looked behind him as Hattie stepped outside, her hands tying the sash to her cotton robe.
“Is any thing wrong?” Her dark eyes were thorough in their quick inspection of him.
“Couldn’t sleep.” He squared around to run his gaze over the broad sweep of land beyond them.
“It’s almost too stuffy in there to get any rest.” She moved to his side, standing tall next to him, the dramatic streaking of gray in her hair silvered by the starlight.
Chase located the North Star and calculated the time by the position of the stars around it. “It’s well after midnight.”
“Twelve thirty-six, to be exact,” Hattie replied. “I looked at the alarm clock when I got up.”
“I wonder what’s keeping Laredo. I thought he would be back by now.”
“Over the years I have learned not to worry about him. He always shows up when I least expect him.”
Chase picked up on the affection in her voice. “You are very fond of him, aren’t you?”
“In a way, he’s like the son I never had. It hurts to know that a bad mistake made long ago has taken away his future. It could have been a good one.”
“He has a home on the Triple C as long as he wants it,” Chase stated, but the minute he mentioned the word “home,” he was reminded that this wasn’t hers. “I guess you’ll be heading back to your ranch soon.”
“I guess,” she agreed and gave him a sideways smile. “It’s for sure you don’t need anyone to look after you anymore.”
“After being gone so long, you’re probably eager to get back.”
“Not as much as I thought I would be,” Hattie replied. “I don’t know—coming here to a brand-new place, all the work it took to whip the cabin into shape. I enjoyed it. It made me feel young again. Sounds crazy, doesn’t it?”
“Not to me.” And he couldn’t explain why. “It’s for sure I’ll miss you when you go.” He found he wasn’t looking forward to that. Hattie had been the one constant in his new life without a memory.
“Well, you’ll have to wait, because I haven’t left yet,” she retorted.
Chase chuckled. “That’s what I like about you, Hattie. You are never at a loss for a comeback.”
“With a man like you, a woman doesn’t have a choice. She either stands toe to toe with you or gets walked over. And you aren’t walking over me, Duke.”
The smile stayed. “I wouldn’t try.”
“Yes, you would—if I let you.”
“You don’t have a very high opinion of me, do you?” He couldn’t say exactly why that bothered him, but it did.
“That wasn’t a criticism, Duke,” Hattie admonished lightly. “It isn’t even something you would do knowingly. It would simply happen, because you would be too busy to notice. Heaven knows, there are worse faults a man could have.”
“I’ll take your word for it.” Seeking to change the subject, Chase went back to the previous one. “How much longer will your neighbor look after your place?”
“He’ll probably start squawking in another week.”
Chase found himself thinking back to the time he had spent there, the comfort of its old kitchen and the old wooden rocker on the porch. Those thoughts prompted him to recall the old branding iron. Suddenly another memory clicked into place.
Abruptly he swung around and grabbed her by the upper arms. “That old branding iron was a C Bar. That was the brand of Seth Calder’s ranch in Texas. You own his old place.” The certainty of it flashed through him. “My God, I may have slept and ate in the same house he did—and Benteen, too.” A stunned laugh came from him at the incredible coincidence of that.
Hattie looked at him as if he had taken leave of his sense. “What are you talking about, Duke? Who is Seth Calder?”
“My great-grandfather, I think.” He smiled with the realization that he remembered that. “He was Benteen’s father.” In a burst of exuberance, Chase lifted her off her feet and swung her around, ignoring her gasp of surprise.
“You idiot,” Hattie protested laughingly.
But she had no chance to say more. The minute her feet touched the ground, his head swooped down, and he claimed her mouth in a silencing kiss. It wasn’t something he had planned, but the instant he made contact with the soft, giving warmth of her lips, it not only felt right, it felt good, awakening desires that had been long dormant.
What had likely begun as a smack on the lips turned into something more as he explored her rounded curves. His arms wound around her, molding her against him while her hands spread themselves across his back and her body arched, seeking a greater closeness. His blood heated, old needs surfacing with young vigor. He took satisfaction in the discovery that her breathing was as rough as his own.
He was slow to untangle himself from her lips and lift his head to look at her, just for the pure pleasure of it. Her eyes remained closed, her lips slightly swollen from the demands of his kiss.
“Whew.” Hattie released a shaky breath and opened her eyes to look up at him with a slightly dazed and dazzled look. “You pack quite a punch, Duke,” she declared, the huskiness of her voice telling him that she was still feeling the same disturbances he was. “I’m not surprised, though. I somehow knew you would.”