Sure. Thanks, anyhow.”
Jayne didn’t release her breath until the engine started and the truck began pulling away. She’d done it! They were safe. As soon as the truck came to a stop again, she’d ask the man to call the police.
Her head fell back in exhaustion. She only hoped she didn’t bleed to death before the truck stopped.
Chapter Two
Cade McGovern pulled off his dusty Stetson and set it beside him on the passenger seat. He chomped down on the toothpick in his mouth and chewed thoughtfully. “Dumb bastard. He’d be smarter to let her go,” he muttered.
In his mirror, Cade watched the other man staring after him, before turning to walk back to his silver car. Cade could have been nicer, he admitted to himself. It wasn’t that poor bastard’s fault that Cade was out of sorts with himself and the world at large.
He’d jammed his thumb good on that cart when he started loading. Besides, Cade wasn’t fond of strangers and he hated coming into town. Technically, Darwin Crossing wasn’t enough of a town to make most maps, but it was as close to so-called civilization as he wanted to get. He could live just fine without other people and their problems. Especially some jerk old enough to know better than to saddle himself with a runaway wife.
At least Cade’s former wife, Bonita, had been smart enough not to get pregnant before she ran off, he thought grimly.
Thinking of Bonita caused him to bite down harder on the toothpick. How come all the paths in his head led to thinking about her lately? She was the last person he wanted to think about. No man liked to remember past mistakes, and Cade had never made a bigger one.
He’d been old enough to know better, yet her dark flashing eyes, sultry smile and lush beauty had nailed him like a deer caught in headlights. His grandfather had tried to warn him about women and ranching, but he hadn’t listened. Family history alone should have warned him.
It was funny, too, because Cade had been a loner by choice, ever since he could remember. Even when he was riding the rodeo circuit he’d kept to himself. Of course, in retrospect he realized that had been the draw for Bonita. She’d seen him as a challenge. And a winner, of course. Bonita wouldn’t have given him the time of day if he hadn’t been successful.
Cade cursed. She was haunting him from her grave.
No doubt because of the recent acts of sabotage on his ranch. He hadn’t gone out of his way to make enemies, so he could think of only one person who might have a reason to be causing him these petty problems. Luís D’Angelo. Bonita’s younger brother, was the only man alive who hated him that much. Luís blamed Cade for his sister’s death. He didn’t seem to find it significant that she’d died in a car crash with a man who wasn’t her husband. Luís was convinced Cade had been abusive and chased her away.
Cade could have told him how far off the mark that was. He could have told Luís several truths about his sainted sister, but the kid had only been sixteen when she died and in a moment of misplaced gallantry, Cade hadn’t wanted to totally disillusion the boy. So now the kid was out to destroy Cade and his ranch. And he didn’t seem to care who got hurt in the process.
Two of Cade’s men had been injured in the stampede someone had deliberately started while they were trying to move the herd yesterday. That was how Cade got saddled with coming into town today. With his banged-up elbow, Rio couldn’t lift the heavier supplies they needed and Sven had bruised a couple of ribs. Cade was only thankful that had been the worst of it.
Only plain dumb luck had kept anyone from getting hurt in the fire in the grain silo last week. Fortunately, Hap had spotted the smoke right away and the fire was put out before much damage was done. But the way these attacks were escalating, it was only a matter of time before someone got seriously hurt.
Cade’s foreman, Hap Ramirez, had wanted to call the sheriff in the beginning, right after the fences were cut and several girths were slit. Cade had found himself reluctant to send the law after his brother-in-law because of his age. But now, it looked like the kid was going to give him no choice in the matter.
This was a busy time on a working ranch. A time when a man didn’t need to be out hunting some fool kid hell-bent on a vendetta to avenge a cussed woman who hadn’t been worth it in the first place. With a sigh, Cade turned on the radio to drown out his thoughts.
He decided in town not to go straight back to the main house. The way things were going it had occurred to him that it might be a good idea to pick up some extra supplies and take them out to the old line shack. A backup location might come in handy in case the kid decided to torch the house next. Cade and his men couldn’t be everywhere at once. The Circle M was a large spread in the middle of nowhere. Normally, that suited Cade just fine.
He debated about calling Hap on the radio and letting him know about the change in plans, but the dour older man already had his hands full right now, especially since he was down three men with Cade gone, too. They needed to get the rest of the strays rounded up and the herd moved this week. Of course, Hap could run the Circle M by himself after all these years. He’d been foreman for Cade’s grandfather since forever. It had come as a shock to all of them when the old man succumbed to a bout of influenza and died unexpectedly last year.
Known for being a crusty old curmudgeon, Otis Mc-Govern had nevertheless taken in his only grandchild after the deaths of Cade’s own parents. Unfortunately, not before Cade had spent several years being shuffled from one foster home to another. Otis and his son hadn’t spoken in years, so it was some time before Otis learned what had transpired.
By the time Otis convinced authorities to let him have guardianship, Cade had a chip on his shoulder big enough to be visible a mile away. Otis ignored the chip. Being a cowboy from the old school, and a loner himself who liked it that way, he took Cade’s chip to be a matter of course. He took in his bewildered, angry grandson and taught him the only skill he knew. Ranching.
The two of them had butted heads like a pair of bulls after a rodeo clown. Neither knew how to back down. Yet somewhere along the line, Cade came to realize that he loved ranching and the land as much as his grandfather did. Still, as big as the ranch was, there could only be one person in charge. Cade finally walked out after a heated argument over some breeding stock and headed for the rodeo circuit. He’d been determined to win himself a stake that would let him buy a place of his own up in Colorado. He hadn’t wanted anything half as ambitious as the Circle M, just a small spread he could run himself.
Oddly enough, that pleased his grandfather. On Cade’s infrequent visits home, they got on better than they ever had when they’d lived together.
Cade let his thoughts roam the past until the line shack finally came into view. For a moment, he sat in his truck just drinking in the rugged beauty of the landscape. Jagged cliffs formed a backdrop for the shack. They fed the stream that ran to a small pond down below. The Circle M boasted some fabulous grazing land as well as several thick draws that were a haven for deer and other wildlife. The peace of this land never failed to move him. Several times Cade had thought this particular spot would have made a better location for the main house than the one his grandfather had selected all those years ago.
Maybe he’d unload everything and spend the night here. The idea had definite appeal. He must have had some subconscious thoughts along this line because he’d thrown his gear into the truck before he headed into town.
Cade pulled around in a semicircle in front of the shack to facilitate unloading. He turned off the engine, swung down
