The Rancher (45 page)

Abby opened her eyes when Cole lifted

his head away from her.

Raine motioned his head toward the

dead Mr. Spencer.

A vacant feeling overcame her at the loss of Cole’s warmth from her face. He didn’t let go and seemed reluctant to pull away. His eyes fixed once again on hers and he bent his head forward, dropping one last kiss firmly on her mouth. However, his touch never left completely.

He stepped back, sliding a hand down her arm until it found and clasped her

fingers. Turning back to Raine, he pulled her gently along behind him as he walked to the body.

Abby was breathless. She rubbed her unencumbered fingers across her lips and smiled.

Dear heavens.

Cole suddenly went rigid, pulling Abby

back into the moment.

“I know him,” Cole said, a look of bent anger steeling his features. “His name is Mason Gregory. I met him in Kansas a week or so before Alaric died.”

Abby looked from Cole to the dead manlying at their feet, her brows furrowing inconfusion.

“Cole, you must be mistaken.   That,” she pointed to the dead man, “is Jefferson Spencer.”

“You know him?” Raine asked.

Abby took another step forward, her fingers still hooked with Cole’s. She nodded. “All my life.”

“Spencer?  As in, related to all those boys we carted into town, Spencer?” Cole asked as he squeezed her hand.

She nodded.

His jaw tightened.

Cole met her stare, a different kind of storm brewing in their depths. His walnut brown eyes changed into a shade nearing black.

At the clacking sound of hoof beatsbehind her, Abby tore her gaze from herhusband to see Rafe and her father

approaching   on   horseback.   Rafe dismounted   first   and   tossed   an

unconscious   Earl   Spencer  onto   his

shoulder from the horse’s rump.

“Now, how’d he get out?” Raine asked with disgust.

“Davey.” Abby spoke sadly as she looked over at the inert redheaded youth. “He knew something was going to happen.  He told me he was...” she paused briefly, “sorry.”

Rafe tugged Earl’s limp body from his shoulder and laid him on the ground in front of the others.

“What is going on?” Abby’s voice quieted, but with firm resolve.

Clay joined them, another Spencer brother in tow.

“Let’s  just  ask
 
him
.” Clay, who’d obviously heard their conversation, had a hold of the eldest Spencer boy by the nape and shoved the mussed young man

forward into the small group.

A deep growl rolling in Cole’s throat took Abby by surprise.  She tightened her grip on his hand, something telling her not to let him go.

“Tell   me   what
 
he
 
was doing in Kansas.” Cole nearly shouted at him, pointing at his father.

Benjamin Spencer’s eyes grew wide as he scanned the faces of each of the men looming over him.

“Kansas?” Cole asked again, this time through gritted teeth. His stare grew cold as he waited for an answer.  His brows

furrowed and his stance became more rigid.  Abby grabbed a hold of his wrist with her other hand and held tight.

Benjamin stared at him in confusion, his eyes now the size of silver dollars.

“Ben,” she coaxed in a soft voice.

The man veered his gaze away from his intimidators and found her.

“Abby, we never meant for nobody to get hurt.” Benjamin focused his attentions on her, the lone woman in the group, surely hoping to gain sympathy. He rushed toward her, a plea in his voice.

Cole stepped protectively in front of Abby, her hand still held tightly in his

grasp.

Ben stopped short.

A flash of amusement touched Rafe’s

face and Abby realized he had just seen her hand entwined in Cole’s.  She smiled back, despite her knowledge that the danger to the Spencer boys amplified with every moment that passed.

“He was gonna kill you, Abby.” Ben’s

eyes met hers with fierce intensity. “I

couldn’t let that happen.”

“
 
You
 
shot him?” Abby asked in

disbelief.

The meaning of his actions sunk deeperand  her  gratitude  for  his  sacrificeswelled.   Abby pulled her hand from Cole’s and took a step toward thetormented young man who’d just taken thelife of his own father to save her.

His head dropped into his hands and forthe first time in her life, Abby saw a Spencer shed tears.   Without apparentregard for the consequences, Ben threwhis   arms  around Abby’s  neck  andshoulders and hugged her, a little too tightfor comfort, but Abby didn’t let go.

“Thank you, Ben.  Thank you for savingmy life.”

“And mine.” Earl lifted his head and pushed himself up onto his hands.  His voice was low and hoarse. The younger of the two Spencer brothers sat up and with a wary look at Rafe, who stood directly above him, he dragged himself along the ground toward Abby and his brother. When he reached Benjamin’s feet he repeated, “And mine, big brother.”

Ben let go of Abby and reached down to help Earl into a standing position. Together they limped over to a semi hollow log and sat down.

Abby shot a surprised look to Rafe.

“Wasn’t me,” he said with his palms

up.  “He was out cold when we found him.”

“Pa was angry they got the better of us last night.” Earl rubbed the side of his

neck. “But we didn’t start that fire.”

Cole snorted, throwing his hands through his hair in visible frustration.  Abby ignored him.

“Why’d your pa kill Davey?” Abby asked point blank.

“We was just supposed to scare you is all.  I had no idea he was gonna shoot the redhead kid,” Ben responded.

“Why scare Abby?” Raine placed his booted foot on the log where Earl sat.

“Somebody was gonna give us enough silver to pay off the farm if we could make a few problems go away.”

“What problems?” Cole asked as he took an intimidating step forward, his eyes scrunching speculatively toward the young brothers. “And what was your father doing in Kansas?”

Earl slowly lifted his head to meet

Cole’s intense stare. “Pa went to Kansas

to find Alaric Johansson and persuade him

to sell the Gnarled Oak.”

“Alaric? What does he have to do with

any of this?” Abby demanded.

Cole obviously knew more than he’d let on and she wanted answers.

“And do you know what happened to him? My closest friend?” Cole yelled.

Earl looked away.

A snarl found residence on Cole’s face just before he lunged.   Rafe and Raine both reached out, each grabbing a side, holding him from reaching his target.

Ben moved between them and Earl.

From the fierceness in Cole’s stanceand the tightness of his fists, Abbyrealized that his brothers were the only

barrier to an ill fate for Earl.

“Alaric deserves justice!” Cole nearly screamed the last word.  His hands balled into fists while his insides tightened, then burned as if they’d been torn apart all together. He pounded his fists against the kitchen table.  The dark recesses of his mind had tormented him with guilt for so long that Spencer’s death still had not brought him any nearer to finding closure.

“Isn’t death justice enough?” Raine asked.

Cole felt cheated.  Someone else had

done his job. He cursed inwardly.  Determination all but consumed him.

More than ever, he needed to find themalefactor who’d paid to see Alaric dead.

Even if it meant sacrificing everything.

A loud banging sounded from the frontdoor.

“Who’s callin’ at this time of night?  And on Sunday,” Martha muttered as shelifted her shotgun from the wall andwalked out of the kitchen.

“Cole,”   Rafe   broke   through   his thoughts, “you have got to stop allowing anger to cloud your judgment.  Alaric is gone. Nothing we do will bring him back.”

Guilt transmogrified into anger and the fire Cole felt inside fought to consume him. His fingers tugged at his hair in frustration.

“Don’t patronize me.  You have no idea what it’s like to lose your best frien—“

Without warning, Rafe’s fist connected

fiercely with Cole’s already tender jaw.

“You think you’re the only one who’s ever been hurt, little brother,” Rafe said, rubbing his knuckles and shaking his lead hand, “well, wake up.”

As Cole picked himself up from the floor, regret swept over him.  He looked around at all the people standing in the room, knowing what each of them had lost, and knew he’d gone too far.

Cole flexed his aching jaw and locked eyes with his brother.

“Rafe,” Raine said.

The hardness left his expression at the mention of his name.

“You’re not alone, Charcoal.” Rafe patted Cole firmly on the face in the same place his fist had planted its mark.  “You never have been.” Rafe wrapped his arm

over Cole’s shoulder and pulled him into a quick embrace. “You never will.”

When he let go, Cole rubbed his face gingerly and glanced up to find Abby watching him.   Flashes of the last few days passed through his mind. An imprint of Abby, smiling up at him as they’d danced  at  the  wedding  celebration, skittered through his thoughts.  The soft, melon-like scent of her hair had engrained itself in his nostrils and he longed to twine his hands in the luscious fullness of her fiery tresses, to pull her close to him. The memory of her kiss seared his thoughts with fervor as he recalled her eager response to his desperate loving.

No. Rafe was right.   It was time to wake up.  He couldn’t allow the bitterness and need for vengeance to control him.

There was too much at stake now.  Colestudied his wife, holding her gaze.  Abby’s fire blond locks fell in disarrayacross her forehead and down her back.

She was beautiful. He’d thought he couldsacrifice everything, but looking at hernow, knowing what he would be givingup, everything was just too high a price.

Still, he had to know.  Silver Falls washis home now and he intended to protectit.  The walls of the rustic kitchen closed

in around Cole as he paced the room with heavy steps.   Silence met him from the lamp lit table. It seemed no one dared speak.

Cole’s jaw clenched even tighter, but his eyes remained on Abby.

“Alaric was my best friend,” he confessed, “and someone killed him for

his   land.”   Cole   wasn’t  asking  for absolution, but he hoped she’d understand.

Visions of Alaric, riding just a few paces ahead of him around the bend, and the sight of him lying in the bottom of the gorge, broken and dying, had tormented Cole for more than a year. His fingertips pressed at his temples, willing the memories to stop. “I need to know who that someone is and stop him from doing any more harm.”

“Well, we know all the calamities around here lately and Alaric’s accident are connected,” Raine surmised.  “Now, we just have to figure out how.”

“The railroad,” Clay said in a hoarse voice.  He cleared his throat.  “Levi sent papers to me, Max, and Friedrich, just before he passed away, depicting the

railroad proposal.  I’m guessing he sent something like that to the Deardons as well.” Clay pushed his chair away from the table and moved toward the door.

“Clay.” Cole wanted to tell him everything.   “Wait. What did you say?  The railroad is going to pass through Silver Falls?  Where exactly?”

“Allow me to answer that.”

Everyone looked up.  Standing againstthe kitchen doorframe with his ridingduster folded over his arm, was Levi,dressed in denims and a crimson button

down shirt. Cole couldn’t remember the

last time he’d seen this brother without a suit.  By the shadows on the man’s face, Cole guessed he’d not slept much in the last few days.