THE RENEGADE RANCHER (17 page)

Chapter Twenty-Six

Brian was asleep—or should have been—on the couch in his home. Or what would be his home for about six more weeks. Until the bank took possession of his family’s ranch.

He’d showered and was glad to be clean, ready to smell like horses again. Even if it was only for a couple more days. He scratched his morning stubble and scrubbed his face, ending up on the new scar on his forehead. He hadn’t received it fighting one of the worst serial killers in Texas history, but it would always remind him of finding one.

Brought home by a patrol car, he’d been released from jail in the middle of the night with the apologies of the P.D. No media frenzy. No reporter to tell the world he was innocent. No longer newsworthy. No longer employed as a Fort Worth paramedic. And no longer with a reason to follow Lindsey around night and day.

Except one.

He smelled toast, bacon and coffee. Time to get the day started. Time to face the family and tell them his decision. He heard the discussion and stayed quietly on the couch so he could listen. While in jail, no one had bothered to tell him why Simmons had killed the Cooks.

“The news said he wrote everything down,” his sister-in-law explained. “In the beginning, he wanted the Cook family mineral rights. He faked their sale, was discovered and began killing. When he got away with it, he killed again. It became an obsession. The authorities said he enjoyed it and considered it a challenge to outsmart the police, so he began killing prostitutes. They aren’t releasing how many died until they notify all the families.”

“That was one sick SOB,” his dad said. “If he confessed and they had a blasted book about it, we should sue someone for keeping Brian in jail almost a week.”

“There wasn’t a paper manuscript, JW. Simmons dictated tapes and hid them in a safe. So it took the police longer to sort through it all,” Alicia explained patiently. “We’re not going to sue anybody. We’re darn lucky they didn’t press charges against John for helping his brother escape from the hospital.”

“Come on, Dad,” John said. “We’re burning daylight. Gotta get this place in shape for the appraiser if that financing is going to come through in time.”

Financing?

“John, Dad, wait a sec,” he called from the couch, looking long and hard at his boots. He’d miss them. His family and the boots, but he’d made a decision.

Alicia was drying her hands on a dish towel, John had just put his Navy SEAL ball cap on his head and his dad leaned lightly on the cane that was more for Mabel’s peace of mind now than for real stability.

“What’s up?” his brother asked, standing at his normal parade rest.

Brian leaned forward on his knees, tired when he shouldn’t be after “resting” in jail for four days. “I need to say something, so don’t interrupt. Got it?”

They all nodded their heads.

“First off, I’m sorry that I dragged you kicking and screaming into finding Lindsey and ultimately Simmons.”

“Right, like we’re going to be mad that you single-handedly stopped one of the worst if not
the
worst serial killer in history,” Alicia said, putting the towel around her neck and leaning into John’s side. “Right?”

“He said not to interrupt.” John wasn’t smiling, but he did drop his arm around his wife.

“We should apologize.” His dad sat on the arm of his reading chair. “We could have been more supportive.”

“That’s not what this is about.” He looked at his dad. “We’ve avoided talking about the ranch long enough. You’re moving in with Mabel. Don’t deny it, Dad. You practically have already. John and Alicia will have her properties to run. And I’m leaving. Well, there’s no reason to refinance the ranch. I won’t be here. I’m giving it up, heading to Florida with Lindsey. If she’ll have me.”

All three of them spoke at once. Irate, indignant, mad and just plain hurt. Then he realized there weren’t just three people yelling at him, there were four.

Lindsey’s sweet voice rose above the rest and asked from the kitchen, “What’s he saying? I promise he told me he wanted the ranch.”

“He told me the same thing the night in the hospital,” John threw out.

“What are you doing here, Lindsey?” He stood, pulled her to him from behind his brother and kissed her as though he hadn’t touched her in a year. “You still feeling okay?”

“I’m great. Are you? Okay, I mean?” His family had gotten strangely quiet. “I think we’re all a little stunned by your announcement. I thought you wanted to be a rancher?”

“It’s not that I don’t. I—” He looked at his father and brother. “Any way we could get some privacy?”

“We all live here, bro.”

He grabbed his boots and Lindsey’s hand and pulled her through his family, straight out the back door with no explanation. His brother’s laughter didn’t slow him down.

“Hey, cowboy. Take it easy, my ankle’s still swollen.”

Taking the gravel in his stocking feet wouldn’t have put a hiccup in his pace, but Lindsey reminding him she’d been severely injured recently changed his mind. He swung the best thing in his life into his arms and proceeded straight to the barn, where he set her on some feed bags. Once inside, he shut and bolted the door.

“Wow, it’s dark in here.”

He sat and pulled his boots on, letting his eyes adjust, watching her shy away from the horse stall. She watched for critters that might be near her feet. What was he thinking? She hated this place. She wanted to live at the beach, not in an old house falling down around his ears. But he had to explain, had to tell her.

“Don’t get comfortable. Follow me.” He led the way to the hayloft and opened the east doors, sitting down and dropping his legs over the side. The sun was just peeking over the treetops of the oaks that lined the drive to their house.

“It sure is pretty here.”

“I love watching the sunrise from up here. Some mornings, especially the first week Dad was home after his stroke, it was pretty much the only pleasure I got during the day. I love the smell of hay, working with my hands, the feeling of success when one of the mares foals.”

“I’m not sure I know one end of a horse from another. And I’m hopeless where cats are concerned. They don’t like me and hiss all the time.”

“It means something to me that this place has been in my family for over a hundred years. I was looking forward to setting things right, getting it back on its feet.”

“What’s stopping you? Money? Because I think we have someone willing to refinance the place.” She paced behind him while he tried to understand.

Did that mean she planned on staying here? He craned his neck to watch her as she told him her plans.

“You see, once my financial stuff is settled—like selling Jeremy’s house—we can get a loan in our names. What’s that look for? If it’s not money, then what’s making you leave?”

“You.”

“Me?” She sat next to him, dangling her boots over the edge next to his.

“Those are Justins. And they’re extremely pink.”

“Aren’t they great? If you’d told me they came in this color, we would have bought some the first day. I needed some stuff and couldn’t go back to...you know...” She pressed her lips together and shrugged. “So Alicia and I went shopping.”

“You bought boots?”

“Of course I did. If I’m going to live on a ranch, I need boots to walk around in the mud and other stuff. Don’t I?”

“I don’t think those are mud boots.” He shook his head at her expression, thinking he was crazy. “Lindsey, you love the ocean. You said you wanted sand between your toes. I planned to move because you wanted to live on the beach.”

“Brian Sloane, it’s you that I’ve been looking for. I was looking for someone to fall in love with. Not a wave. Not a job. Not a lifestyle. Even though I’m scared to death of snakes and I don’t think I’ll ever learn which ones won’t eat me. Don’t laugh at me.”

“Come here.” He was laughing and smiling so much it hurt. He maneuvered them back into the loft and onto the hay. “Did you just propose to me?”

“I don’t recall the words
will you marry me
coming from my lips.”

Their greeting kiss had been in front of his family. Not this one. It was a reunion. He tugged her to mold their bodies together. There was no doubt how much he’d missed her. She gave as good as he did and after five minutes there was no doubt how much she’d missed him.

He sat her on an old apple crate that had been there since the time of his grandfather—but maintained by him as a thinking stool. His answer didn’t take much pondering. He’d probably made up his mind about Lindsey before he’d ever met her.

“I think I will.”

“Will what?” she asked, the sunshine creating a halo of light behind her.

“Now that you’ve asked politely, I’ll marry you.”

“Oh, you. Stop fooling around.” She threw a handful of hay at him. “I love you, but I refuse to say yes before we have an official date.”

“What did you say?”

“That I want a date first?”

“No, ma’am. You said you love me, and that’s a real good thing, ’cause you’re the only woman I’ve ever wanted to say this to.”

He pulled her into his arms. Sunbeams were flooding the old hayloft, and her eyes were the perfect color of blue that matched the sky behind her.

“Uncle Brian,” came a young singsong voice from the yard below.

“Yeah?”

“Pawpaw wants to know if you asked her yet. And said to tell you to hurry up ’cause we want pancakes.”

“Skedaddle, baby girl.” He plucked some straw from Lindsey’s golden hair as his niece left the barn. “Living here’s going to be an adventure every day.”

“I believe it.”

“I love your boots.” He kissed one of the bruises on her cheek from their previous
adventure.

“They say with the right pair of shoes, a girl can do anything.” Lindsey dragged a finger across the pulse point in his throat. “If she’s lucky, she might even catch a handsome cowboy/paramedic turned detective/bodyguard.”

“I’m done with all those jobs. I only have one now. Loving you. That’s it.”

“I’ll take it and love you right back.”

* * * * *

Keep reading for an excerpt from WEDDING AT CARDWELL RANCH by
New York Times
bestselling author B.J. Daniels.

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SPECIAL EXCERPT FROM

Read on for a sneak peek of
WEDDING AT CARDWELL RANCH
by
New York Times
bestselling author
B.J. Daniels
Part of the
CARDWELL COUSINS
series.

In Montana for his brother’s nuptials,
Jackson Cardwell isn’t
looking to be anybody’s hero.
But the Texas single father knows a beautiful
lady in distress when he meets her.

“I’m afraid to ask what you just said to your horse,”
Jackson joked as he moved closer. Her horse had wandered over to some tall grass
away from the others.

“Just thanking him for not bucking me off,” she admitted
shyly.

“Probably a good idea, but your horse is a she. A mare.”

“Oh, hopefully she wasn’t insulted.” Allie actually smiled. The
afternoon sun lit her face along with the smile.

He felt his heart do a loop-de-loop. He tried to rein it back
in as he looked into her eyes. That tantalizing green was deep and dark,
inviting, and yet he knew a man could drown in those eyes.

Suddenly, Allie’s horse shied. In the next second it took off
as if it had been shot from a cannon. To her credit, she hadn’t let go of her
reins, but she grabbed the saddle horn and let out a cry as the mare raced out
of the meadow headed for the road.

Jackson spurred his horse and raced after her. He could hear
the startled cries of the others behind him. He’d been riding since he was a
boy, so he knew how to handle his horse. But Allie, he could see, was having
trouble staying in the saddle with her horse at a full gallop.

He pushed his horse harder and managed to catch her, riding
alongside until he could reach over and grab her reins. The horses lunged along
for a moment. Next to him Allie started to fall. He grabbed for her, pulling her
from her saddle and into his arms as he released her reins and brought his own
horse up short.

Allie slid down his horse to the ground. He dismounted and
dropped beside her. “Are you all right?”

“I think so. What happened?”

He didn’t know. One minute her horse was munching on grass, the
next it had taken off like a shot.

Allie had no idea why the horse had reacted like that. She
hated that she was the one who’d upset everyone.

“Are you sure you didn’t spur your horse?” Natalie asked, still
upset.

“She isn’t wearing spurs,” Ford pointed out.

“Maybe a bee stung your horse,” Natalie suggested.

Dana felt bad. “I wanted your first horseback-riding experience
to be a pleasant one,” she lamented.

“It was. It is,” Allie reassured her, although in truth, she
wasn’t looking forward to getting back on the horse. But she knew she had to for
Natalie’s sake. The kids had been scared enough as it was.

Dana had spread out the lunch on a large blanket with the kids
all helping when Jackson rode up, trailing her horse. The mare looked calm now,
but Allie wasn’t sure she would ever trust it again.

Jackson met her gaze as he dismounted. Dana was already on her
feet, heading for him. Allie left the kids to join them.

“What is it?” Dana asked, keeping her voice down.

Jackson looked to Allie as if he didn’t want to say in front of
her.

“Did I do something to the horse to make her do that?” she
asked, fearing that she had.

His expression softened as he shook his head. “You didn’t do
anything
.” He looked at Dana. “Someone shot the
mare.”

Someone is hell-bent on making Allie Taylor think she’s
losing her mind. Jackson’s determined to unmask the perp. Can he guard the
widowed wedding planner and her little girl from a killer with a chilling
agenda?
Find out what happens next in
WEDDING AT CARDWELL
RANCH
by
New York Times
bestselling author B.J. Daniels,
available
July 2014, only from Harlequin® Intrigue®.

Copyright © 2014 by Barbara
Heinlein