by Linda Conrad
Billy Ray lifted his hat so he could scratch his head. She knew that meant he was thinking things over. She’d heard Travis tell him to do whatever she asked. Her guess was he’d do what she told him, even if he didn’t think it was a smart idea.
“Yes, ma’am.”
As soon as he was out of the room, she zipped around, shoving clothes in her duffel and straightening the drawers and bed linens. There wasn’t anything she could do about the destroyed pillows or pictures, but she dumped them in the trash and then vacuumed up the rest of the mess.
While she worked, she formulated a plan. She would write Travis a note of explanation that she could mail later, then go pick up her car from the garage. Her old Ford must be close to ready by now. After doing that, she’d stop in to ask Gage for help. She’d earned enough now to be able to afford a motel in the next county over, and that’s where she would go until she and Gage could find her man.
It wasn’t safe for Travis or Jenna if she stayed on the ranch any longer. Besides, she couldn’t bear watching Travis’s face when he learned the truth that she’d been keeping from him all this time. It would kill her to see him in such emotional pain.
But he was bound to be in pain one way or the other. It didn’t matter if she stayed or left. Better for everyone involved if he wasn’t put into a corner, with no choice but to demand she leave the ranch so he could protect his daughter. She knew that would kill him, too.
Summer tried to write her letter while the men nailed the second-story balcony doors shut. But she only managed to wad up enough paper to fill an entire trash can.
Knowing someone on the ranch was bound to call Travis or Barrett soon and tell them what had happened, she gave up and decided to try again later to write the letter. Right now she needed to hurry up and leave the ranch—before something else much worse happened.
* * *
Travis, along with his foreman, Barrett, faced his brother’s back as Gage finalized security plans for the ranch house and immediate vicinity on the computer. “What’ll it take to get this all done? And how fast can you do the job?” he demanded.
“You should’ve taken care of this years ago,” Gage muttered over his shoulder. “Or at the latest, when Sam and Grace were having all that trouble last spring. I can pick up the equipment in the next few days and install it as soon as I clear my calendar.”
“Clear your calendar now. I’ll fly you wherever you need to go to pick up equipment—but it’ll be this afternoon. Someone’s going to be hurt bad if we don’t do something about this bastard today. And I’m danged determined it won’t be Jenna or Summer.”
Gage gave him a funny look. “What is it with you and Summer?”
“None of your business.” Rather than let his brother’s remark rile him, he went on. “Barrett and I will begin putting in place the plan you suggested to unmask the culprit. We’ll start talking to each of the hands and watch how they react. You’re right. Someone with easy access to the ranch, like one of the hands, has to be our guy.”
Gage nodded, but before he could add anything else, Barrett’s cell phone rang and the foreman had to excuse himself to take the call.
“You’re absolutely positive that Barrett’s not our man?” Gage asked when the other man was out of hearing range.
“Positive. Half the time when things have happened, Barrett’s either been with me or he’s been off the ranch running errands. He didn’t have opportunity. Plus, he doesn’t have a motive. Barrett’s been well taken care of and could buy his own spread if he wanted to. He’s always claimed he’d rather stay on the Bar-C where he feels at home.”
“Boss.” Barrett opened the door and came back into Gage’s office. “That call was one of the hands I’d left to watch over the house. There’s been another incident. Seems our saboteur turned into a second-story man and managed to access the guest room where Ms. Summer’s been staying. Made one holy mess of the place.”
“What! Is Summer all right?” His mind blanked and, through a fog of adrenaline, he couldn’t think what he should do next.
He wanted to run. Or yell and shout. Or kill someone with his bare hands. But all he could do was stand there and let the disabling rush of hormones subside.
“She’s fine,” Barrett said. “Told the hands to nail the balcony doors and upstairs windows shut until Gage could do a better security job.”
“I’ve got to get back.” He turned to Gage, but was at a loss for words.
“Go. Call me and let me know what you need me to do.”
“Uh, boss—” Barrett gained his attention again. “Billy Ray said she told him she was heading into town. You want to stay and wait for her? I’ll go on back and check things out.”
“No.” He didn’t know why, but he was sure he needed to be on Bar-C land as soon as possible. “Let’s go. We should be able to catch her on the road to town. And if we miss her, she’ll be better off here with Gage.”
Barrett nodded, lifted his hand to Gage in goodbye and left.
Turning back to his brother, Travis said, “If she shows up here, call me. And then keep her safe while we question everyone. Jenna’s already off the ranch for the weekend. I want Summer safely away. Maybe she can stay with Aunt June, too.”
“You think we should get the sheriff involved?” Gage asked. “Things are out of control.”
“No. I’m still not convinced the sheriff doesn’t have something to do with all this. He’s had a grudge against the Chance family ever since he had to arrest Dad for Mom’s murder.”
Gage nodded. “Yeah, and I probably didn’t make that situation any better when I accused him of manufacturing evidence in order to get Dad out of the way. Frankly, I’m still not sure that Dad and the sheriff didn’t have some private beef going on back then.”
Travis nodded absently, too concerned with what was happening on the ranch to pay close attention. “Listen, I’m gone. If Summer shows up, call me.”
“I will. And I’ll get the equipment ordered. We’ll stop this creep, Trav.”
“You bet we will. No one screws with the Bar-C and people I care about. No one.” He turned and, following Barrett down the stairs, walked back out to his truck.
As he went, his mind whirled with possibilities. Men he knew that might want to harm the ranch or him personally.
Gage had been wrong. Things weren’t out of control. Not yet. He had only just begun to make things right.
* * *
Summer pulled the SUV into Stockard’s parking lot with her eyes welling up. Now that she’d made the decision to go, she was having trouble staying the course she’d set. What about Jenna? Having to leave the little girl behind was an impossible situation. If she stayed on the Bar-C, Jenna wouldn’t be safe. But how could she walk away from the motherless child she’d begun to love as if she was her own?
A smiling Jimmy Stockard came out to greet her and leaned in to talk when she rolled down the window. “Morning, Summer.”
“Hi, Jimmy. I don’t see my car. Is it all fixed?”
An odd look crossed his face as he sobered in a hurry. “Uh, no, not yet.”
“Really? But you said a couple of weeks, and it’s that now. What happened?”
Screwing up his mouth in a frown, Jimmy took a deep breath. “Look, I don’t want to get into any trouble with Travis. But I’m not good at telling stories.”
“Telling stories? What stories? Is my car okay?”
“Well,” Jimmy began hesitantly, “Travis asked me to put off fixing your car, but he didn’t want you to know it was his idea. He said to make up a story about lost parts that sounded believable. But that sort of thing just ain’t my style.”
“Travis said that? But why? Why would he do such a thing?”
“He didn’t say why, but I can guess.” He gave her a pointed look. “Can’t you?”
“No. Travis Chance is the most honest man I’ve ever met. Why would he want you to lie?”
“Aw, come on, Summer. It’s not like that’s a
real hurtful lie. The man is crazy about you. You can see it in his eyes when he mentions your name. I’m guessing he’s only finding excuses to get you to stay.”
She opened her mouth to say something, but couldn’t think of a thing that would make any sense. And certainly nothing that she would want to say to Jimmy.
Her first emotion had been anger over Travis trying to control the situation again. But after a second she knew her feelings were much more complicated than that.
She wanted to stay, too. More than she’d considered. And if it were just her safety she had to consider, she would stay. Maybe forever, if she could talk him into it. But it wasn’t just her safety on the line. It was Travis and Jenna’s lives that mattered the most now.
Jimmy looked terrified that she hadn’t said a word. She decided to at least let him off the hook.
“It’s okay,” she murmured. “I won’t mention that you told me the truth. Travis doesn’t need to know.”
But now she had a bigger problem. She couldn’t take a Bar-C SUV and leave town. Someone might accuse her of stealing it.
Darn. Her life was turning into one big, confusing and potentially dangerous puzzle.
And she’d brought every single bad thing down around her shoulders all by herself.
Gage had to be her next stop. He hadn’t been all that friendly when she’d met him the first time. But she was positive he loved his brother. He would help her because of Travis.
She asked Jimmy for directions to Gage’s office and then bid him goodbye. The mechanic looked relieved to see her go. She certainly wasn’t making many friends in this town. Leaving would be for the best—in several ways. Except for Jenna. Jenna was the innocent bystander in all of this.
After making her way across town and parking behind a two-story building, Summer climbed the stairs to Gage’s office on the second floor. When she entered his office, she found him sitting in front of a bank of computers, concentrating on one screen.
He turned his head when he heard the door close behind her. “Oh, it’s you, Summer. Been expecting you. Hang on a second, I’m almost finished here.”
He’d been expecting her? A sudden chill rode down her arms. But after a second to take a breath, she calmed down and remembered Travis had been here visiting Gage earlier this morning. Maybe one of the ranch hands had called looking for him.
Gage punched another combination of buttons on the computer and turned to fully face her. “Sorry you missed Travis on the road. Better he explain things to you than me. But…so be it.”
“Explain what?” Now she was confused again.
“Travis has decided to go to war against his stalker.”
“W…war? What does that mean?”
“He’s taking steps to stop the jerk for good. Steps like arming the hands he’s sure he can trust. In fact, right about now he should be putting everyone on the Bar-C through an interrogation so he can be assured of who is on his side. And I’ll be installing extra security around the barns and house. If anyone messes with the Bar-C after that, he’ll be sorry.”
“But…but people can get hurt during a war.”
“Yes, ma’am. And that’s why Travis wants you and Jenna to stay off the ranch for a while. Just until we figure out who’s been doing these things.”
This had gotten totally out of hand. No one could be hurt or worse because of her. She could never live with herself afterward—no matter where she went. Nowhere on earth would be far enough away to ever give her any peace.
“But I know who’s been doing it,” she blurted out.
Gage gave her a look she hoped to never see again on anyone’s face. “What do you know? Who is it?” His mouth was narrowed to a dangerous line, and his hazel eyes were dark and glaring.
“No, please listen, Gage. It’s a long story. I was coming here to ask you for help.”
“Before you told Travis what you know? Not very loyal, are you, woman?”
How had she managed to get herself into such a mess? “Just give me a chance to explain. I’m the one that brought all the trouble to the Bar-C. It’s me he’s after.”
Gage moved fast. He jumped up and grabbed her by the shoulders. Shoving her roughly into a chair, he kept one hand biting into her shoulder to make sure she stayed put.
“Don’t move.” He pointed his finger at her as if it was a gun. “Say your piece, but hurry it up. You have ten minutes to convince me not to turn you over to the sheriff.”
Chapter 16
“And that’s the whole story.” Summer rushed ahead, completely out of breath. “When I saw what he’d written on the mirror in the guest room, I knew the stalker was after me. I’m the target. Not Travis or the Bar-C. I can’t stand by and see anyone else get hurt.” Especially not the man she loved or his daughter.
“So you’ve been lying to Travis.” Gage was still glaring, but he’d taken a step backward to scrutinize her and her words. “And staying with him under false pretenses. You do realize my brother has fallen in love with you, don’t you? What the hell were you going to do about that?”
“He’s never said he loved me.” Now she was being ridiculous. Of course she knew he loved her. That’s what had been slowing killing her all this time.
Gage threw her another threatening look and reached for the phone.
“Wait. Yes, I know he loves me. I’m in love with him, too. But he’s too good a man for me, Gage. He’d be a lot better off without me.”
“Agree with you there. But I don’t count. Travis has to make that decision.”
“Please help me find the stalker first,” she begged. “I know what he looks like. And I’m sure he has to be either on the ranch or somewhere nearby.”
Gage finally collapsed back down in his chair. “I guess you haven’t done anything technically illegal. Immoral, yes. But there’s no sense involving the sheriff in our problems.”
“Thank you. Thank you. Travis isn’t too crazy about this sheriff, and I was hesitant to drag him into anything until I knew where the stalker was for certain.”
“Right.” Gage waved off her thanks. “Tell me again what this guy looks like and how long he’s supposedly been in our area.” He turned to his computer and typed in a couple of things.
She did her best to describe the very average-looking guy she would never forget. Then she said, “And the P.I. I hired said he’d heard the man had been back here in the Chance vicinity for at least a couple of years.”
“Hmm. Shouldn’t be too hard to find someone who was raised around here and left town only to return recently. You say he’s supposedly around age fifty?”
“He looked younger than that to me, but the P.I. said that’s what he’d found out when he located an informant who’d been buddies with the guy in prison.”
“Why didn’t you give all this information to the police and let them handle it?”
Exasperated, she blew out a breath. “Are you going to help me find him? Is that what all these questions are about?”
Gage frowned but looked at her with a change of attitude. But she couldn’t tell what he was thinking. Nevertheless, his expression made her nervous.
“I did tell the police everything I found out,” she said with something like a whine in her voice. “They took a report, but they never did anything. I got tired of waiting.”
More than tired. This quest to find Hoss had become the only thing keeping her out of the depths of depression. And out of an institution. And alive.
Until she’d met Travis.
“I’ll help you find him,” Gage agreed. “Shouldn’t be too hard.”
She felt her shoulders relaxing as the air in her lungs whooshed out in relief. “Oh, thank…”
Gage raised his hand, palm out, to make her stop talking. “But first you have to tell Travis the truth. Every bit of it. I’m not doing a thing until he gives the okay. And if he decides he’d rather just run you out of town, I’ll be the first to give you a shove.”
Her back straightened and sh
e looked down at her hands. “I guess I deserve that. I brought the danger right to his door.”
“Fine.” Gage reached for the phone. “Sit right there and tell him now. Get it over with.”
“Wait!” She felt the panic rise up in her chest and threaten to choke her. “I can’t. I can’t tell him over the phone. I need to see him in person. This is too…personal…for a phone call.”
Gage’s hand hovered over the phone’s receiver. “It’s personal, all right. It’s going to hurt him to hear the truth.” Gage rubbed at his own chest as if the thought of hurting his brother hurt him, too.
From that moment, Summer knew she was going to like this man. No matter that he hated her. Anyone who loved Travis so deeply was a friend of hers.
“I’ll find a way to break it to him easy, Gage. I swear. But I have to see his face when I do. Surely you can understand that.”
Dropping his hand, Gage took a deep breath. “You’re right. You owe it to him to face his anger head-on. I’ll call him and tell him to come back to the office.”
“But I thought telling him on the ranch would be better. Easier for him. I’ll go back now.” She stood and turned to the door.
“Hold it.” Gage reached again for the phone. “You stay right there. Travis wanted you out of the danger.”
Yes, that sounded like something Travis would say. But as Gage raised the ranch and waited for Travis to come to the phone, she eased herself toward the door.
She couldn’t tell Travis the truth as long as his brother was looking over their shoulders. It was bound to embarrass Travis, and she couldn’t say all the words she’d wanted to tell him.
No, much better if she told him alone. In person. While he was standing on the ranch he loved so much. Just as Gage said hello, she slid out the door and made a run for the SUV.
Hold on, Travis. I’m coming to tell you something terrible. Wait for me. You’ll know the truth soon enough.
* * *
She made it out of town in record time and without anyone following. She’d worried about the sheriff spotting her speeding and trying to stop her. But she needn’t have worried. No one seemed to be around on this quiet autumn afternoon in Chance.
