The Rancher (39 page)

reassurance.  He didn’t. He couldn’t.

“They’re waiting on us.” Abby reached down and took a hold of his hand. “May I ride alongside you?”

He brought her hand to his mouth and placed a firm, but gentle kiss on her

closed fingers.  The ride would give him time to talk to her.   To make her

understand that it was his duty to protect

her.  That he
 
needed
 
to protect her.

She smiled and released him.

Cole followed her into the kitchen,where everyone sat at the dining table.

“Well, let’s go,” Cole urged.

Apparently, they’d all been waiting forhim.  The scraping of chairs across thefloor was deafening for an instant whileeveryone jumped to their feet and headedfor the door.

They were getting closer and he hopedthat today would provide some answers. Cole could almost taste the bittersweet

resolution on his tongue as he reached for

his hat.

Rafe was the first to the door with

Raine at his heels.  When they opened thedoor, his brothers stopped so abruptly that Abby slammed into Raine from behindand fell backward into Cole’s arms.

“What the...”

She blushed.  Cole liked that color inher cheeks.  He set her upright behind himand looked to see what had caused thecommotion.

Abby’s friend, Lily Campbell, stood inthe open doorway, tears streaming downher face.  She spanned her head up Rafe’ssix-foot-three inch frame. Her eyes grewwide and she took a step back.   Coleimagined any of his brothers would causethat reaction.

“Lily?  What’s wrong?”  Raine rushed forward, pushing himself in front Rafe.

Cole thought the catch in Raine’s voice

unusual for him.  When she turned her face to look up at his brother, he saw it.  A small cut just below her eye and deep scratches that extended across her face

toward her ear.  The small cut had caused

the surrounding skin and eyelid to turn a deep bluish purple at the edges.

Lily looked wildly from one brother to the other.   Raine reached his hand to

cradle her face in his palm.  She fell into his arms and started to cry.  For the first time Cole could remember, it looked as if Raine didn’t know what to do.  He stood

there with a bewildered look on his face

and shrugged.  He placed his hand at her crown and caressed her long dark hair, soothing her.   At the sound of a soft hiccup, he hugged her closer.

Abby, finally able to push through the

men blocking the door, took one look at her friend and her soft features darkened

with concern.   “Lily,” she demanded, “what’s happened?”

Lily lifted her head from the crevice at Raine’s shoulder.  The tears had stopped.  She pushed away from him with downcast eyes and took a step backward as if she were breeching some code of propriety.  Turning to Abby, she opened her mouth to speak.

“Lily,” Abby exclaimed, pulling her into the circle of her arm.

Cole knew Abby had just seen the cutbelow Lily’s eye.

“What on earth has happened to you?”  She reached up to touch Lily’s cheek.  Abby ushered her friend to a chair at thetable.

“Papa, go get the doctorin’ kit from the washroom,” Abby ordered Clay.  “Cole,” she turned her beautiful green eyes on him, “go get the wash basin from our room.” She smiled before returning her attentions to Lily’s cut cheek.

Cole shook his head.
 
Our room.
 
It was

still so hard to believe. He covered the

area to their bedroom in moments.

The bed sheets were crumpled and abunched blanket lay at the foot of thechair.
 
Not much of a wedding night,
 
hethought.
 
Patience, Redbourne.

The wash basin was nearly empty.  Hepicked up the porcelain pitcher still halffull, grabbed a clean washcloth from thestack on the vanity, and headed back to thekitchen.

“It’s my pa,” Lily was saying when he

returned.  “He’s decided to send me away

to work.”

Cole handed the washcloth and pitcherto Abby who took it, meeting his eyes fora solitary moment.   Her brief smilewarmed him and he watched as she drew Lily’s long dark hair away from her faceand turned her toward the light comingthrough the uncovered window.

“What?” Abby asked incredulously,returning her focus to her patient.  “Where?”

Abby dipped the rag into the water anddabbed at Lily’s cheek.  Cole mused athow tough Abby was.  Alaric had askedhim to protect her, but Abby was capable.  She had a strength others drew upon.  Hewasn’t sure she needed protecting.   Atleast in the way he’d expected.

“He would be so angry if he learned I had told you, but he’s lost most of our money,” Lily dropped her head to her chest, “on liquor and gambling.  Now, we are being forced to sell our property.”

Raine’s jaw flexed, his eyes on fire. “So, he wants to sell you to pay his debts.”  It was a statement rather than a question.   Raine’s voice dripped with disdain.

“Well, not exactly. He’s just—“

“Where is he sending you?” Abby asked.

Lily sucked in a breath causing Abby topull the rag away from the wound on hercheek.

“Montana territory.”

Abby placed the washcloth back into

the water basin and sat down across from

her friend and sighed.

“It really doesn’t hurt that bad.”  Lily touched her face, just below the cut and then quickly put her hand back in her lap.

“Did your father do this to you?”  Raine asked, barely concealed anger tainting his voice.

Cole had heard that tone many timesover the course of his twenty-six yearsand for Lily’s father’s sake, he hoped Henry Campbell had not hit his daughter.

“Rafe,” Raine said as he nudged hishead toward Lily.

Cole felt her uneasiness as he was sure

did the rest of the room.

“Hi, Lily.” Rafe stepped forward and placed his hands on either side of her face to look more closely at the blunt discoloration of her cheek.  “I am Cole

and Raine’s brother Rafe. I am just going to take a look at that cut, okay?”

“Another one?” Lily lifted a hand to her eye and a small self-conscious laugh choked out her throat.  “Wow.” She tossed

a fleeting glance up at Raine and then lowered her eyes instantly.

“Really, it’s nothing.  I... I just tripped over a log... last night in the woods, that’s all.”

Cole couldn’t help but wonder what she was hiding from them.

“I wasn’t...by myself,” she added with a fleeting glance at Raine.

Raine’s eyebrow lifted, but he said nothing and waited for Lily to continue.

“I was with Mr. Harris...” her voice trailed as she looked at Raine again. “I mean, the reverend asked if he could...oh,

it doesn’t matter anyway.  I tripped and went face first into a low hanging tree branch.”

Raine’s eyes narrowed, but he said nothing.

“The revered tried to stop the bleeding with one of his handkerchiefs.  We were

on our way back to the house when we came across a bay roan tethered to the fence near the back of the barn.  She was magnificent.  I don’t think I’ve ever seen a mare that large.”

“Sounds like Rafe’s she-devil of a horse.” Cole spoke as he turned to Rafe.  “You ridin’ Lexa?” He’d always loved Rafe’s high-spirited strawberry roan with the thick white highlights in her mane.

“It was the strangest thing.  Mr. Harris saw something on the saddle.   When I

looked back at him, his face had drained of all color.   He went as white as the

streaks in the roan’s mane, almost like he’d seen a ghost,” she mused as if remembering the moment.   “He wasn’t awed by her, he was scared.  It was a cool evening and even in the moonlight I could see him start to sweat.”

“What did he see on the saddle?”  Rafe

demanded, ignoring Cole’s question and leaning closer toward Lily.  His ears had perked up and he was now concentrating even more intently on Lily’s face.   He cleared his throat and stood up straight when Lily looked him in the face, her wits suddenly clear about her.

“Is she,” Lily hiccupped, “yours?” she asked, her bravado returning.

“Yes, ma’am. Now, please,” the word

ground through his teeth, “what did he see on that saddle?” Rafe’s eyes had not moved from hers and the intensity of his stance was magnified by the stubborn set to his jaw.

Lily’s eyebrows lifted in surprise as she looked at Cole and then at Raine.

Cole reached over and clapped Rafe onthe shoulders and squeezed hard. “He’sour brother, Miss Campbell.  He won’thurt you.” He shot Rafe a quelling look.

“Forgive me if I startled you, ma’am,” Rafe said in a voice laced with honey.  When he flashed his ‘I’m disarminglycharming’ smile at Lily, she warmed tohim again.

Cole’s eyes nearly rolled into the backof his head.   He had always beendisgusted by how easily each of his

brothers could win over the ladies, even after acting the part of a dolt.  All of the Redbournes seemed to have this effect on women the second they opened their mouths.  It wasn’t arrogance, it just was.  For Cole it hadn’t done him much good, but to attract fortune hunters and society snobs like MaryBeth Hutchinson.

Rafe lifted a booted foot to rest on an

empty chair.  He leaned an arm onto his thigh as he spoke. “Now, think ma’am, what was it he saw on the horse?”

Cole  wondered  at  Rafe’s   sudden interest in her story.

“I don’t know.  He just looked at the saddle and then backed away.”

Rafe shifted his body to look at Cole.  “Who is this Mr. Harris?  Is he British?

“He’s the new preacher in town, and

yeah, how did you know?”

“Hunch.”

“Raine and I just met him.  He lives in the old church up the hill on the edge of town.”  Cole pointed with his head in the direction of Silver Falls.  “Come to think of it, I didn’t see him after the fire started.”

“Why the interest?” Raine asked.

“Fire?  Here?”  The stricken look on Lily’s face registered true surprise.  “Is everyone okay?”

“Jeremiah Carson has a burned throat.  He won’t be talkin’ for a while. No one

else was seriously hurt, but we lost the barn and feed for the animals,” Abby informed her.

Lily gasped.   “I’m so sorry I wasn’t here, Abby.   When Mr. Harris,” Lily

threw a brief glance toward Raine, “I mean, when
 
I
 
got back from my walk, the Patterson’s were just leaving and since my place is on their way, they offered to give me a ride. I knew I looked a sight and didn’t want to cause a stir, so I went home.  I’m sorry I didn’t say goodbye.”

She turned a weak smile on Abby.  “Serves Jeremiah right, though, for all the things he said about you the other day.”

Cole agreed with Lily whole-heartedly about Carson.

“Didn’t Mrs. Patterson ask questions about your cuts?”  Raine asked.

“I didn’t want you all to see me, so I wrapped my shawl around my neck and face and told Mrs. Patterson the cold air was getting to me.  I just wanted to go home.”

“There is nothing you could have done.  Honestly, had it not been for these Redbourne boys I’m now related to, and a few of the cowhands and lingering guests, there would not be a bunkhouse, corral, or fence left in the yard.”  Abby pushed a stray wisp of hair from Lily’s cheek.

“What happened?  How did it start?”  Lily shook her head

“We’re not sure yet, but we’ll find out soon enough,” Cole responded.

“I’ll just bet it’s that new landowner,” she said and then looked over her

shoulder at Clay. “Be careful, Mr. McCallister.”

All eyes focused on Clay, who had leaned back against the counter top, one booted heel resting in the curve of his other foot, listening quietly to the entire

interchange.

Cole had almost forgotten his new father-in-law had been there.

“My pa says whoever the man is that bought the Johansson place has a lot of money and influence and will stop at nothing to get his hands on
 
all
 
our lands.”

“Will everyone stop saying that?” Cole screamed.

Lily stopped short, shock registering on

her face.

“We’re wasting time sitting around here.  Come on, Charcoal, let’s go.” Rafe patted Cole’s shoulder.  “I don’t want to miss any more of the sermon than we already will.  I am more than anxious to meet this preacher, Mr. Harris.” Rafe pulled on Raine’s arm and walked out the door.

“Where’s your pa, now?” Clay asked.

“When I left the house, he was sitting in his study with a bottle of his favorite bourbon.”

“You can stay here as long as you like young lady, but your pa is going to know where ya are.”  Clay did not leave any room for argument.