The Lone Rancher (7 page)

The teasing comment and the mischievous grin with which it was delivered made Quin squirm in the saddle. “No doubt that's what set off that firebrand when I offered to buy her ranch the first day she arrived.”

Lucas barked a laugh and his shoulders shook with amusement. “You tangled with the wrong female, friend. According to Rosa, Addie K. doesn't have much use for men. Too many adventurers and gold diggers were after her fortune. I think that's one of the reasons she came west.”

Quin recalled Boston making a similar comment about her lack of faith in the motives of men in general. Lucas, of course, received a free pass because Boston apparently approved of her cousin's marriage. As for Quin, he hadn't been welcoming or friendly. He'd wanted something from her, just like every other man of her acquaintance, he suspected.

Until the previous evening, Quin hadn't added getting his hands on Boston's curvaceous body to his list of
wants
. He wasn't proud of it, but the truth was he desired the chestnut-haired hellcat whose sassy mouth amused him, annoyed him and aroused him all at once.

“So what do you say, Cahill?”

Quin snapped to attention, then scrambled to find his place in the conversation. Damn it, fantasizing about Boston had thoroughly distracted him. Finally, he gave up and glanced guiltily at Burnett. “Sorry, what did you say? I was woolgathering.”

Lucas grinned knowingly. “I can see why. Addie K. is exceptionally attractive.”

“Who said I was thinking about that mouthy shrew?”

Lucas's thick black brows arched a notch higher and he grinned broadly. “I'm not as stupid as I look, Cahill.”

“Don't put money on it,” Quin muttered as he followed Lucas, who tethered his string of horses outside Rosa's shop. “After all, you married into the family so that makes you Boston's cousin-in-law. You have my sympathy.”

Several women filed from the shop, carrying packages and smiling in satisfaction. Lucas, Dog and Quin waited until the women had vacated the boardwalk before they ambled inside. Quin stopped dead in his tracks when he heard bright ringing laughter and witnessed the sparkling smile that lit up Boston's face. He hadn't expected her to be here. He certainly wasn't prepared to see her laughing. Usually she only glared poison arrows at him.

Obviously, Quin brought out the worst in her, for as soon as she spotted him her smile disappeared. Then she
focused on Lucas and walked over to hug the stuffing out of him.

“I'm so glad you're here to join us,” she enthused, ignoring Quin as if he was one of the many bolts of fabric crammed on a shelf. “We can discuss my plans for your wedding celebration over lunch.”

“Now hold on a minute—” Lucas tried to object as he stared pleadingly at Rosa.

Boston waved him off as if he were a pesky mosquito. “I wasn't here to attend my cousin's wedding but you won't deprive me of hosting a grand party so the whole town can congratulate you on your marriage and I can meet my new neighbors.”

Lucas stared helplessly at his lovely, lavender-eyed wife and Quin almost felt sorry for the ex–Texas Ranger. Especially when Boston snapped her fingers in front of his nose, demanding his undivided attention.

“Rosa broke her solemn promise to me,” she told Lucas. “We were going to become spinsters together and denounce all men everywhere. Then you came along to steal her heart. My only consolation is this party to celebrate her happiness.” She gave him the evil eye. “Do not fight me on this, Lucas, or I will make your life miserable.”

“And she can, too,” Quin interjected before he could bite back the taunt. “Take my word for it, Burnett.”

When she turned her glittering green-eyed glare on him, silence descended on the boutique. Quin hated to admit that, glare or not, he'd wanted Boston's notice. It beat the hell out of being ignored as if he were invisible. He suddenly remembered that he had considered changing tact. Maybe he could treat the shrew with kindness
rather than taunts and see how that worked. It probably wouldn't matter, given her cynical opinion of men and her dislike of him in particular.

Quin removed his hat, then bowed slightly from the waist. “I apologize, Miz McKnight. That was uncalled for. You are here with family and I am intruding.” He nodded a polite greeting to Rosa, Bea and Butler. “If you will excuse me, I have an errand to run.”

He noticed Boston was watching him intently with those lustrous eyes that could mesmerize a man if he stared into them for a prolonged period of time. That must have been what had happened the previous day, he decided. He had gotten lost in those beguiling eyes and found his lips feasting on her as if he were starving for the taste of her.

Quin turned to leave and Boston said from behind him, “How is Elda? I miss her, you know.”

“And I enjoy having her and her amazing meals,” he replied, glancing over his shoulder at her. “My family went their separate ways to
find themselves
—whatever that means—and my house has been empty until Elda arrived.” He lifted a questioning brow. “How is Rock settling in? My men miss him. I miss him. He is a valuable employee.”

“He fits in perfectly,” she assured him, not smiling, which was too bad because Quin wished he could be the reason for the joyous expression he'd witnessed earlier. But he was an unwanted outsider and Boston wanted him gone.
To hell,
he suspected.

“Addie K.,”
Rosa scolded her cousin. “Where are your manners?”

Quin pivoted to see Boston struggle to paste on a
polite smile but it didn't come close to reaching her eyes. “By all means, Cahill, join us at the Porter Hotel across the square after you conduct your business. We would love to have you join us for lunch.”

That was the most insincere invitation he'd ever received. “Thanks, but no. I don't wish to intrude.”

“Well, maybe some other time, then,” she said dismissively. “I'm sure you're anxious to be on your way.”

“Addie K.!”
Rosa sent her a withering glance. “What has gotten into you?”

Boston flashed her blond-haired cousin an exasperated frown, then strode directly up to Quin. “My apologies, Cahill. Of course, we'd be delighted if you joined us for lunch.”

He decided to accept, if only to annoy her. Indeed, she had aggravated him—so they were even. Since misery loved company, they could make each other miserable over lunch.

“I'll be there,” Quin said before he turned on his heel and walked out.

The jingling bell over the door announced Quin's departure. Adrianna inhaled a relieved breath. Then she pivoted to face her meddling cousin—God love her because Adrianna didn't at the moment. Rosa had forced Cahill on her.

“I would appreciate it dearly, Cuz, if you wouldn't shove Cahill at me. We bring out the absolute worse in each other.”

“Really?” Lucas said, and snorted. “We hadn't noticed.”

Adrianna glanced at her new cousin-in-law. His coal-black eyes twinkled with devilry. She could see
why Rosa had become enamored with Lucas. He was big and rugged and he looked nothing like the prissy aristocrats who sauntered down the streets and ballrooms of Boston. Sort of like Cahill's unpretentious, straightforward manner—

She chopped off the thought. She was not giving Cahill credit for anything. However, there had been a moment earlier when his sincere apology had almost got to her. She wondered what it would be like to call him friend rather than exasperating antagonist.

“I have a few errands to run myself before lunch.” Adrianna strode toward the door. “I'll meet you at Porter's in thirty minutes.”

The instant she stepped outside her gaze landed on Cahill and she watched him stride across the square to the bank. He walked with a hypnotic economy of movement. He was graceful in an utterly masculine sort of way. Too bad she disliked him so much, she mused as she headed in the opposite direction to contact the owners of another restaurant on the northwest corner of Town Square.

Rosa suggested including all of the shopkeepers in providing food, drinks, tables and chairs for the grand affair. According to Rosa, she practiced the same policy when she held her annual Christmas celebration. All the businesses in town chipped in for food, entertainment and fireworks for a Fourth of July festival, she was told, so she wouldn't have problems gaining cooperation.

Twenty minutes later Adrianna scurried across the square to the meat market and came face-to-face with Cahill when he exited the bank. She blew out her breath
and blurted out, “I'm sorry for sounding so rude earlier. It was most impolite.”

“I won't be joining your family and friends for lunch,” Quin said stiffly. “You can make up an excuse for me.”

She clutched his arm when he started off. “You are coming to lunch,” she said in no uncertain terms. “But first I want to know what this supposed Cahill Curse is all about.”

Quin scoffed. “It's pure nonsense, manufactured by locals who believe my family deserved bad fortune because we have enjoyed wealth and success. It doesn't seem to count that we worked long and hard for what we have accumulated.”

She nodded in understanding. “I've overheard similar comments in Boston because of my family's influential position and fortune. The devil is out to get us, or at least he should be because our family cannot possibly have amassed so much wealth without swindling someone.”

“Precisely,” Quin said, then smiled faintly. “It's easier to cut someone else down to your size instead of blaming your misfortune and shortcomings on yourself.” He stepped back a pace, then doubled at the waist. “So let's start over, Boston, er, Adrianna,” he suggested. “I made several remarks at our first meeting that I regret.”

She eyed him consideringly, trying to decide if he was giving lip service or if he was sincere. This time, however, she was careful not to stare overly long into those silver-gray eyes. She had made that crucial mistake yesterday and she had blacked out, only to regain her senses and realize she was kissing Quin as if there
were no tomorrow. It had been the most unsettling moment in recent memory.
Correction
.
Ever
.

“Apology accepted, Cahill, er, Quin. I probably over-reacted. I'm intent on making something of myself in Texas. It is important that I become as successful and business-minded as my father because I could never become the docile, soft-spoken lady he expected me to be when I entered Boston society.”

“What happened to your mother?” he asked gently, showing another side of himself that she rarely glimpsed.

“She died when I was sixteen. It was a devastating loss and it changed my father drastically. He became obsessed with transforming me into the genteel, gracious sophisticate my mother was. But I couldn't be the extension of all that she was.”

She expelled a heavyhearted sigh, amazed that she was sharing a long-kept confidence with her antagonist. What the devil had come over her? They were standing right smack-dab in the middle of Town Square. Of all the places for a confidential conversation, this was
not
it.

“And who are you really, Adrianna?” he asked, studying her intently.

“The independent woman you see before you who doesn't want to conform to the standards men in society have established for women. I want to confront challenges, to test myself and achieve my own goals.”

He smiled wryly. “Then let me say you are well on your way, Adrianna.”

A compliment? She glanced at him cautiously. Her knee-jerk reaction was to question a man's compliment
and determine his hidden agenda. “Are you trying to charm me, Quin?”

His sensuous lips twitched in amusement. “Is it even possible?”

She grinned back. “Considering your lack of charm? No.”

“Touché. I'm not known for my devastating charm.”

She bubbled in laughter—and realized that she had been so intent in conversation with Quin that she hadn't realized the other four dinner companions had ambled up behind her.

She glanced back to see them staring curiously at her, making her self-conscious. “About time you showed up,” she said as she turned on her heel. “Cahill and I were just saying that we'd likely starve to death before you got here.”

Adrianna sashayed up between Bea and Butler to hook each one by the elbow, leaving Cahill to fall into step with Lucas and Rosa. The unexpected intimacy of her conversation with Cahill disturbed her. It seemed they had passed a milestone of some sort. It was more dangerous somehow. Indeed, it was safer to be at odds with him. If she lost that edge, she would be fighting a battle with herself, because he presented the kind of alluring temptation that was unfamiliar to her.

Desiring a man was unchartered territory for Adrianna. Didn't she have enough going on in her new life without stumbling into perilous pitfalls like that? She didn't need further complications.

Quin Cahill was about as complicated as it got!

T
wo days later, after savoring Elda's tasty breakfast, Quin stepped onto the front porch. He frowned warily when Ezra Fields strode toward him. “Something wrong, Ez?”

The lanky cowboy nodded grimly. “Thought you'd wanna know there's some cattle missing from the west pasture. Most of 'em we branded recently. They're some of the calves you planned to drive to Dodge City in a few weeks.”

Quin whirled around to grab his hat. Ezra was still standing on the lawn when he exited the house. “Something else?” Quin asked as he jogged off to saddle Cactus.

“Yeah, I stepped out of the bunkhouse after dark last night and I thought I saw some torches to the west,” he reported as he tried to keep Quin's quick pace. “I didn't think much about it then. Just figured McKnight's cowhands were riding fences. After some of our cowboys checked this morning and found your
calves missing, I got to wondering if rustling was what I saw last night.”

Quin gnashed his teeth. If this was round two of Boston's mischievous pranks, he didn't find it amusing. Repairing fences and gathering scattered cattle cost time and money.

Hell's jingling bells! He should have suspected something like this, he mused angrily. At lunch earlier in the week, that green-eyed hellcat had been sociable and she had even flashed him several smiles after they had shared confidences in the middle of Town Square. Like a fool, Quin thought they had reached a truce. Apparently, she was still peeved at him for making the blundering mistake of insisting she should return to New England where she belonged. Which she should, of course, but try to tell
her
that and see where it got you!

“Want me to help search for your cattle, boss?”

Quin glanced behind him, so wrapped up in his bitter thoughts that he'd forgotten the cowboy was a few steps behind him. “No, Ez. I can handle this.”

“You don't think that spiteful chit did this, do you? Just like she hired away Rock?”

Quin didn't reply, just stalked into the barn to toss a saddle on Cactus's back. “Go back to your chores. I'll see what I can find out.”

With practiced ease, Quin prepared Cactus for riding, then thundered west. Well, so much for the amiable thoughts and erotic fantasies about Boston that had been spinning in his head. She'd tried to lure him under her spell by dropping her hostility, plying him with smiles
and treating him like a friend rather than her worst enemy.

Damnation, what a skilled actress she was. But then, he suspected she'd had plenty of practice in the crowded ballrooms and theaters of New England. And to think he'd even felt sorry for her when she confided her father had pushed her to be something she hadn't wanted to be. She had freely admitted to being a sassy hoyden, he reminded himself. But her striking beauty and the unruly desire that prowled through him when he came within five feet of her had made him vulnerable.

Well, no more of that, Quin fumed as he spurred Cactus into his swiftest gait. He and that hellion were going to have an honest-to-goodness showdown. Maybe not with pistols at twenty paces, but he was going to chew her up and spit her out if
his
cattle were locked in
her
pasture!

 

Adrianna smiled secretively as she lounged in bed, choosing to be lazy this morning rather than hitting the ground running as she had been doing lately. Last night, Quin Cahill had invaded her dreams and she kept seeing him smiling down at her before he drew her against his masculine body and kissed her, caressed her, bedeviled her.

The man could be amazingly charming and amusing when it was his wont, she recalled. He'd told delightful stories about life on the range and cattle drives during their luncheon in town. Then he'd walked her to Rosa's Boutique, gently guiding her with his hand to the small of her back. His incidental touch had sent pleasure and desire swirling through her.

Perhaps Quin had softened now that they had shared confidences. Maybe he had begun to respect her and accept her for what she was. They might become friends… And perhaps in time they might become some thing more….

Her speculative thoughts shattered when someone rapped on the door. “Addie K. dear, one of the cowhands wants a word with you. Are you decent?” Bea called from the hallway.

“Tell him I'll be down in two shakes.” Adrianna bounded from bed, ran a brush through her wild, curly hair, then donned the new pair of breeches and shirt Rosa had made for her.

She frowned in concern when she saw Ches Purvis lounging against the post on the porch, his arms crossed over his chest. She noticed immediately that he had made use of the new bathtub she had placed in the bunkhouse two days earlier. He wasn't as ripe as he usually was, she noted gratefully.

“Is there a problem?” Adrianna questioned.

“Yes, ma'am,” Ches said soberly. “Rocky came back from sorting off your longhorn cattle for the spring trail drive and he noticed some of your purebred Herefords are missing from the east pasture where he put 'em yesterday afternoon.”

“What about the ones I separated and left in the pen for breeding to the shorthorn bulls?” she asked anxiously.

“They're still there, ma'am,” the shaggy-haired cowboy confirmed. “I checked 'em myself before I came to the house.” He started toward the barn, opened his mouth, then clamped it shut.

“Obviously there's something else on your mind, Ches,” she said impatiently. “What is it?”

“Well, Rocky was speculating about whether this was one of Cahill's pranks to retaliate because you hired him away from the 4C. We didn't want to check 4C pastures in search of your prize heifers without your permission. Don't need to start a range war if there is a reasonable explanation.”

Blast it, Adrianna silently muttered. That sounded exactly like something Cahill would do, the ornery rascal. First, he had insulted her, then he'd stolen Elda. Then he'd changed tactics and become the attentive companion at lunch in town. She had let her guard down to the point that her instinctive attraction to him had invaded her dreams and left her aching for his touch. She'd even felt sorry for him because his brothers and sister had lit out and he didn't know what had become of the younger two.

Damn him! He had purposely set her up to humiliate her. The short-lived truce was over and the private feud was on again. Just when she had accepted the inarguable fact that she found him attractive and enjoyed his companionship he had betrayed her feelings for him.

“You want that I should saddle up and check around to find your missing Herefords?” Ches asked.

“No. I'll tend to that task myself,” she managed to say without biting off the cowboy's head. She shouldn't kill the messenger, just because she felt like blowing the deceptive Quin Cahill to smithereens. “Please saddle my dapple-gray gelding. I'll be down at the barn in a few minutes.”

Cursing Cahill with every step, Adrianna whirled
around, then bounded upstairs to fetch her boots and pistol.

“Where are you going with that?” Butler asked when he saw the weapon she had clutched in her fist. “This isn't Boston, but I doubt you can blast someone to kingdom come without serious repercussions, even in Nowhere, Texas.”

“We'll find out,” she growled as she barreled downstairs.

Butler blocked her path at the bottom of the staircase. “You better not be planning to shoot someone, Addie K…. If you are, is it anyone I know?”

“Yes, that rattlesnake named Quin Cahill,” she muttered.

Butler's brows shot up his forehead. “I thought we liked him now.”

“No, he was pretending to be nice, but that snake shed his skin. Damn men everywhere. Easterners or Westerners, they are all the same!”

Butler clamped his hand around her forearm when she tried to veer around him. “I hope you are excluding me, my dear girl. If you can count on nothing else, never doubt that Bea and Elda and I are loyal to you—”

His breath came out in a whoosh when Adrianna impulsively hugged him zealously. “I know. It has comforted me greatly for over a decade, Hiram. I'd be lost without you.”

She stepped back, tucked the pistol into the band of her breeches, then strode toward the door.

Behind her, Butler called out, “If you decide to shoot him for whatever it is he's done this time, don't kill him.
You would not look good behind bars, m'girl. Please try to restrain yourself
this once
.”

Adrianna nodded without looking back. She headed to the barn, serenaded by the
rat-tat-tat
of the carpenters nailing down the rafters for her new addition. She should borrow one of their hammers and pound some sense into that devilish cowboy, she thought spitefully. She had allowed Cahill to make a fool of her because she had fallen for his suave charade. Heavens, she had seen through the practiced charm and silver-tongued flattery of enough adventurers and charlatans in Boston. How humiliating to be fooled by that rugged cowboy!

“You sure you'll be all right riding off by yourself?” Ches asked worriedly when she bounded onto Buckshot's back, then reined east. “There's bears and lobos lurking around this area, even during daylight hours.”

“I'll be fine.” She gouged the dapple-gray gelding in the flanks to race toward the fence separating her ranch from the 4C. “My cattle had better not be in Cahill's pasture,” she growled as she raced off.

 

Quin glanced up and glared at Boston, her hair billowing around her as she flew across the pasture like a witch on her broom. The long-legged gray thoroughbred ate up the ground in graceful strides, he noted. Quin would have admired Boston's horse and her riding skills if he weren't so furious with her latest prank. As it was, he stared at her through a red haze and waited for her to approach so he could bite her head off.

“Get off my property, you thief!” she yelled at him as she brought Buckshot to a skidding halt.

“Me?”
he roared, then made a stabbing gesture toward a dozen longhorns grazing in her pasture. “How many of your men did you pay a bonus to burn
your
brand over
my
fresh brand?”

“Don't be an ass, Cahill,” she snapped back, her green eyes throwing hot sparks. “And don't pretend to be the injured party here. A half-dozen of my pedigree heifers are missing. I have no doubt you stole them from this pasture to breed to those mongrel longhorns you call a prize herd!”

Quin snorted in disgust. “I wouldn't want your white-faced cattle rubbing hides with my hardy breed.”

Her chin lifted and she glowered at him. “Herefords are prized for their adaptability to rugged terrain and harsh climates. At least
my
cattle have genetics and they are known for their good dispositions,” she flashed. “Unlike you and your wild-eyed herds that stampede with little provocation.”

Quin thrust out his arm to call her attention to the fresh brand on his cattle. “Explain that, Boston. Is this your idea of turning a profit? Stealing the neighbors' cattle and selling them as your own? Was that your father's policy, too?”

She reined her dapple-gray thoroughbred up beside him, her breasts heaving with each angry breath. Ordinarily, Quin would have been distracted by her arresting feminine assets, but not today. He was too angry. As angry as he'd been since his brothers and sister betrayed his parents' dreams and left him to do all the work. Now he was being betrayed by the attraction he felt for a woman who didn't even belong in his world. A woman who had struck off to be something besides who she
was. Just like Bowie, Chance and Leanna. Damn it, Boston was just like them! Maybe that's what aggravated him so much.

“What the blazes?”

Adrianna's surprised tone of voice jerked him from his frustrated musings. He studied her closely, then reminded himself that she was an accomplished actress who had made him believe their feud had ended and they were on amicable terms. Ha! She had buried her hatchet, all right. In his
back!

“Amazing that you can feign surprise when you've been caught red-handed,” he said scathingly. “I can
smell
burned hide on my cattle.”

She jerked up her head in defiance. “I am not responsible for this.”

“You mean you weren't on hand when the deed was done?” He smirked. “Don't toss out misleading comments to make yourself look innocent, Boston. One of my men saw torchlights here last night.” He waited for her to follow him a short distance, then he pointed to the ashes of a small campfire. “And here is where you and your thieving cowboys heated your iron in an attempt to cover up the 4C brand.”

“You did this to make me look guilty, didn't you?” she accused harshly. “You are trying to ruin my good name and reputation, in hopes of sending me back to Boston. Well, it won't work, Cahill. I did not order my men to rustle your cattle and I certainly didn't do it myself. You pulled this prank to cover your own thievery when you stole my Herefords!”

He stared at her as if she were insane. Or he was. He wasn't sure which because the woman made him
crazy. Whatever the case, this feisty, intelligent female had him listing like a ship on a storm-tossed sea. He hated her. He liked her. He desired her. He wanted to be nowhere near her… Because, even as furious as he was with her, he couldn't trust himself not to grab hold of her and kiss the living daylights out of her for making him lose control of his self-restraint.

“Where are you going?” he called when she whipped Buckshot around and headed east.

“To find my Herefords,” she threw over her shoulder. “If they are on your property, I'm going to shoot you a couple of times for lying to me, even if I did promise Butler that I wouldn't kill you. But you make me so mad I don't care!”

When she leaned out to open the gate, Quin circled his stolen cattle, herding them through the opening. After he'd shut the gate behind him, he chased Boston across his pasture to a wooded hillside. A moment later, he realized she was following tracks as expertly as he did. Damn, he hadn't given Boston full credit for her skills and abilities. She was knowledgeable about her cattle and she could ride expertly—even in the darkness, no doubt. Which proved she was perfectly capable of stealing his cattle, maybe even branding them herself, so she wouldn't have to involve her hired hands in her mischief. Then they wouldn't have to lie when he accused them of rustling.