Santa in a Stetson (19 page)

Colt hadn't known about her doctor's appointment this morning. Now she had news that couldn't wait and she wanted to deliver it in person. Matt's timing was perfect.

“Let's go.” She put the letter marked Personal in her pocket for Colt, then grabbed her purse. They left the
house through the back door and headed for the new Ford truck Colt had bought her. “You drive.”

She tossed Matt the keys. Next month, he'd turn sixteen and would take his driver's test, but she let him drive everywhere on the ranch. He was a good driver; Allie was not as good yet. Under Colt's tutelage he was becoming a pretty good bull rider. Maybe a champion one day like his dad.

“Thanks.”

On the way up to the range she phoned Allie. She'd stayed overnight at Michelle's. Kathryn planned to pick her up when she drove Matt into town later. As they climbed higher, she breathed in air perfumed by the wildflowers. The sight of cattle grazing beneath a blue sky made the experience surreal.

Colt was easy to pick out in his black Stetson. He must have seen them coming because he separated himself from the men and galloped toward the truck on Lightning. Like the poster of him, he represented the quintessential cowboy, at home in his element.

They both got out to wait for him. He rode straight up to them. His green gaze bored into hers. “Is everything all right?” Their vigilant protector never took time off worrying about them. That was one of the reasons she loved him with a passion.

“Everything's wonderful.” She smiled to reassure him.

“I need you to sign my junior bull-riding release form, Dad.”

Kathryn felt her husband's relief. Before he dismounted, she could tell he was trying hard not to laugh.
To his son, this constituted an emergency. Matt handed him the form.

Colt walked over to the truck and signed it against the fender. “You'll need to send the forty-dollar fee.”

“I'll write him a check,” Kathryn volunteered.

“Here's the money I earned helping Ed.” He pulled two twenties from his pocket.

Colt took them and put them in his shirt pocket. “Now you're really official. I'm proud of you.”

“If it gets there in time, can we go to Oklahoma's junior rodeo in July?”

“A bargain's a bargain. We'll all go and make a vacation out of it.” He gave Matt a bear hug.

“So…” Her husband's eyes traveled to Kathryn. Through veiled lashes he looked her up and down the way he'd done early this morning before they'd made love. Just being near him turned her insides to mush. “Anything I can do for you?”

“I would say you already have.”

They were so in tune with each other, Colt picked up on her message and turned to Matt. “Do you mind if I to talk to your mother for a minute?”

“Heck, no. Just don't make it too long,” he teased. He walked around the truck and got in behind the wheel.

Colt looked down at her. “Our son's in no doubt how I feel about you. Now talk to me.”

“Darling!” She couldn't hold it in any longer. “We're going to have a baby. I hope you meant what you said about having one with me because it's too late to change your mind now.”

His eyes blazed with new light before he caught her in
his arms. “Kathryn,” he cried softly. “I've been hoping for this since our wedding night. Lately I've worried that maybe something was wrong with me and I couldn't give you the thing you wanted most.”

“Oh, I got everything I wanted when I married you. To have your baby is one of those added blessings you hope for but don't always get.”

“I wish we weren't standing out in the open where all the hands can see us.”

“I know. I picked the worst time to tell you, but as soon as I left the doctor's office this morning, I had to come. I could never keep anything from you. When you get home tonight, we'll celebrate.”

“What's that little worry line on your face?”

“I hope the twins will be happy about it.”

“How can you even say that when all they do is hint?”

“I know. I'm being paranoid.”

His white smile thrilled her. “That's your prerogative as an expectant mother. But I tell you what. I'll bring Chinese home so you don't have to cook. We'll tell the twins together. We'll all want to know everything the doctor said.”

“That sounds wonderful. Oh! I brought you a letter marked confidential that might be important.” She pulled it out of her back pocket and handed it to him. “Now I'd better go. Matt is already antsy about getting his form in the mail. See you tonight.”

He gave her a hungry kiss before helping her into the passenger side of the truck. “Drive safely, son.”

Colt waited until the truck disappeared down the slope before he opened the envelope. A small note fell out.

He looked at the letter. It had been typed on paper with a Sahara Hotel, Las Vegas, Nevada, letterhead.

Colt blinked. Natalie was dead.

He bowed his head. Later he would phone Jake to thank him for a masterful investigation. As for Natalie's body, he'd pay for it to be buried at one of the local Las Vegas cemeteries under the name Vicky Adams.

There was no decision to make where the children were concerned. They'd already said they wanted to leave the past in the past. That was what Colt intended to do.

With a new sense of peace that life had come full circle, he mounted Lightning and started down the mountain to find Kathryn. She was his future. Filled with exhilaration that they'd created a new life, he broke into a gallop.

“Hey, Colt!” one of the men called after him, but he was already too far away to answer.