Luke

by R. C. Ryan

  “How long ago was that?”

  “Nine months. He died last October.”

  “So Lily was…?”

  “Six.”

  “And you were…?”

  “Twenty-two. I was away at college. Just starting my senior year. I came home to bury my father and never went back.”

  “That’s tough. It had to be hard for all of you. How did he die?”

  “Mick said it looked like a heart attack while they were driving the herds down from their summer range.”

  “You didn’t have a medic examine him?”

  She shook her head. “He fell from his horse. Mick said he was dead before he hit the ground. We buried him up on the hill.”

  “I’m sorry.” He looked out over the fields, with its fences in need of mending and its outbuildings looking neglected. “Was there no way to keep some of the wranglers?”

  “Not when we checked with the bank and found out there was barely enough to pay them their wages. The only one willing to stay was Mick.”

  “Then why not sell to Hammond?”

  Her voice frosted over. “My dad loved this ranch, and he promised it would be mine someday. I’m going to do whatever it takes to hold on to it.”

  “Isn’t that up to Nadine?”

  “As Dad’s widow, she inherited it, but she wants out. She’s always hated the ranch. I’ve asked her to hold off making a decision until the end of summer, to see if I can get enough from the sale of the cattle to buy her out.”

  “Aren’t the cattle hers, too?”

  Ingrid shook her head. “My dad left them to me. Us,” she corrected. “Lily and me. But I’m the executor.”

  “Since you’re family, wouldn’t Nadine be willing to take a down payment and let you pay it off slowly?”

  “You met Nadine. What do you think?”

  Luke chose his words carefully, knowing this was deeply personal and none of his business. “I guess, if she holds the title on this place, she gets to call the shots.”

  “Yeah. And Bull Hammond has offered her cash to walk away.” Ingrid glanced at her little sister, who had walked over to feed a carrot to Luke’s horse. “Come on.” She leaned close. “While Lily’s amusing herself, I’ll help you get to the house.”

  He shot her a wicked grin. “Much as I’d like your hands on me, I can get there on my own.”

  Her eyes flashed fire as she jerked back. “Don’t ever confuse me with my mother. You want to play sexy games, call Nadine.”

  “Sorry.” His tone went from teasing to contrite in the blink of an eye. “I can see that’s a sore spot with you.” He lifted a palm to her cheek and she flinched and backed away as though burned.

  His voice was barely a whisper. “Believe me. I’d never confuse you with Nadine.”

  At the look in his eyes, she crossed her arms and stared hard at the floor before turning to her sister. “Come on, Lily. It’s time for us to saddle up.”

  Lily hurried over with a nervous look. “Can’t Luke come with us?”

  “After the work he just did, he wouldn’t make it halfway out of the barn on horseback. We’ll just check on the herd and get back in a couple of hours.”

  Over her shoulder she called, “That was my only offer of help. If you don’t head up to the house and settle on the sofa, you’re apt to pass out in the barn.”

  “I’ll be fine.” He watched as she tossed a saddle over her horse and began tightening the cinch.

  Beside her, Lily did the same.

  As they mounted, Luke called, “You stay close to your sister, Li’l Bit.”

  That had her smiling nervously.

  Minutes later the two were riding across a meadow, heading into high country. After that angry visit from Bull Hammond, Luke wished he could join them, just to calm their nerves, but he knew it would be futile to try.

  He turned and made his way slowly to the house, feeling every part of his body protesting the work he’d done.

  He knew he was going to pay a dear price for today. But it was the least he could do to repay Ingrid Larsen for saving his hide.

  He couldn’t help wondering what Bull Hammond would have done if he hadn’t been here. The man looked furious enough to get physical, but it wasn’t clear whether his anger was directed at Nadine or Ingrid.

  Luke paused and looked out across the hills. He hadn’t expected Ingrid’s reaction to his touch. He’d bet all his money that Nadine was the reason she chopped all her hair off and hid that lush body beneath layers of bulky clothes. She didn’t want to be confused with Nadine. Not that it was even remotely possible. They were as different in looks and temperament as two women could be.

  And one of them, working so hard to hold him at arm’s length, was doing strange things to his heart.

  Chapter Four

  Luke walked into the kitchen to find Mick alone. “I saw a truck hightailing it out of here, spitting gravel.”

  The old cowboy looked up. “That was Nadine. She likes fast rides and faster cowboys.”

  “I guessed as much. Ingrid and Lily don’t talk about her.”

  “They live by the rule that if you haven’t got anything good to say, don’t say anything.”

  Luke grinned. “As good a rule as any.”

  “Yeah.” Mick ran a wet mop across the floor before rinsing it out in the bucket at his feet.

  Luke eased himself weakly onto a wooden chair at the table. “Kitchen duties part of your routine?”

  “Not by choice. But I do them better’n the others around here. Ingrid never stops from dawn to dark, and Lily pretty much imitates her.”

  “What does Nadine do?”

  “As little as possible.” The old man shook his head. “I’ve never known her to do a lick of work.”

  “Even when her husband was alive?”

  “Especially then. She liked to call herself a”—he wiggled his fingers to make air quotes—“free spirit.”

  Luke merely grinned.

  The old man moved the mop around. “I think Lars always knew he’d made a bad bargain, so he just looked the other way. And once Ingrid was born, nothing else mattered to him. Father and daughter were like two peas. If he was working in the barn, Ingrid was right there beside him. And when he rode up into the hills, she went along. She rode in his arms until she was old enough to handle a horse on her own. No more’n two or three years old, I’d say.” The old man smiled, remembering. “Lars was so proud of that girl. He used to say she was a born rancher. There wasn’t anything on this spread she couldn’t do better than his wranglers. And that was the truth. She could work circles around all of us.”

  “What about Nadine?”

  “She was happy to leave their daughter to Lars. That freed her to do whatever she pleased.”

  “I have a grandmother like that. She goes off on camera safaris for weeks at a time, photographing the herds of mustangs up in our hills. She gets amazing amounts of money for her photos. But it isn’t the money that drives her. It’s the thrill of capturing the beauty of those mustangs.” He chuckled. “I swear she works harder than anyone I know when it comes to her photography.” He looked over. “So, what pleases Nadine?”

  Mick snorted. “You’ve seen her. Men. Lots of ’em. She craves their attention the way a drunk craves alcohol.”

  “That’s it? That’s all she does? Did her husband know?”

  “How could he not? Especially when she started staying away for nights at a time. The first time she left Lars for over a month, Ingrid was probably five or six.”

  “‘The first time’?”

  “There were too many times to count. Later, when Ingrid was just a teen, Nadine returned to the ranch with a surprise. She was expecting a baby. Lars took her back and loved that baby, even though Lily wasn’t his. And because they’d never divorced in the eyes of the law, Lily is his legal heir as much as Ingrid.”

  “How did Ingrid feel about sharing her father with another child?”

  “You’ve seen them. Ingrid
purely loves that girl. And Lily considers Ingrid her mama as well as her big sister.”

  Luke fell silent, trying to imagine what this family had gone through.

  His grandpop often said that everyone had a story. This one was like a fairy tale gone bad.

  Mick mopped at a spot in the corner of the room. “Ever since Lars died, Nadine’s gone off the deep end. She leaves the two girls for weeks at a time, until she runs out of money. Then she’s back, blackmailing Ingrid into giving her whatever she wants, or she threatens to sell the ranch from under her. A couple of weeks ago she brought a cowboy home with her. Said she was going to marry him. His name was Lonny Wardell.”

  “Wardell?”

  Seeing Luke’s head come up, Mick peered at him. “You know him?”

  Luke nodded. “He worked as a wrangler on our spread for a while, until we caught him stealing.”

  “It was the same here. He’d done some work for Lars, and Ingrid knew he was a drunk and a thief. When she saw how he was taking over her pa’s things, she ordered him off the property at the end of a rifle. It got ugly. He vowed revenge on the ‘bigmouthed female who thinks she can order me around.’”

  Luke shook his head. “How did Nadine take that?”

  “Just like you’d expect. She screamed and hollered at Ingrid, saying Wardell was the first man who’d seriously offered to marry her since Lars, and now her own daughter had spoiled everything. She accused Ingrid of being jealous because she had a life, and all Ingrid had was hard work stretching out in front of her. Then, after she’d said her piece, she headed out to find Wardell in Wayside, the little spit-and-you’re-through-it town where she hangs out. When she finally came back, she refused to talk about Wardell. I don’t know if that means he walked out on her for good, or if she’s seeing him without letting Ingrid know. Either way, as you can imagine, she’s been mad as a spitting cat and making everyone dance to her tune.”

  The old cowboy set aside the bucket and mop and took a chair across from Luke. “What worries me is right after that incident with Wardell, odd things began happening.”

  “Such as?”

  Mick shrugged. “A fire in the hay field left us with no hay for next winter. The authorities said there was no proof it was anything more than a wildfire started by a lightning strike.”

  Luke nodded. “It would be tough to prove otherwise.”

  Mick sighed. “Then Ingrid’s dog, Tippy, that she’d had since he was a pup, was found dead up in the hills where he’d been guarding the herd. Just a few nights before that, he’d set up a loud yapping out behind the barn, but I figured he’d spotted coyotes. The next morning he was dead. And since there was no blood, I’m inclined to believe he was poisoned. But again, it’s just a feeling. I have no proof.” He paused before saying, “And now that gunshot that scattered those mustangs. Though Ingrid didn’t see anybody but you, who’s to say it wasn’t directed at her?”

  Luke’s eyes narrowed. “You think Wardell would go that far?”

  The old man shrugged.

  “Does Ingrid have any other enemies besides him?”

  After a moment Mick nodded his head. “There’s Bull Hammond. He’s our neighbor to the north.”

  “I just met him out in the barn.”

  The old man’s eyes widened. “Is that what set off Nadine? I bet she caught sight of him and figured she’d hightail it out of here before she had to deal with him.”

  “He had fire in his eyes. He threatened Ingrid.”

  “That bastard.” Mick’s lips thinned. “I’m glad you were out there, Luke.”

  “Ingrid said she asked her mother to wait until the cattle sale, to see if she can make enough to buy the ranch.”

  “That’s so. When Hammond heard that Nadine was strapped for cash, he came here and offered to buy her out. She was about to make the deal when Ingrid reminded her their deal had to wait at least until the cattle were sold.”

  “So that gives Hammond a reason to want revenge, as well. You think Bull Hammond’s capable of doing all the things that have been happening around here?”

  “I wouldn’t put it past him. There was bad blood between Bull and Lars, though I don’t know what it was. Lars never confided in me. But if Bull wants to buy this place for a song, all he has to do is wait. With all that’s going wrong, Ingrid may be forced to give up and let her mother sell to him. With that field of hay burned, I don’t see how the girl has a chance of making it through the winter if she has to buy hay from the grain-and-feed place in town.”

  “That makes two men with a grudge against Ingrid. Are there more?”

  Old Mick took a long look at the sweat pouring down Luke’s face. “Son, if you don’t lie down right now, I’ll be hauling you across the room again, just like I did when you got here, and you’ll be swearing a blue streak.”

  “Yeah. And I’m running out of creative curses.” Luke shoved out of the chair and barely made it to the other room, where he flopped down on the sofa, while his mind worked overtime.

  Now he understood why Lily was nervous about riding up to the hills with Ingrid. There were too many unexplained accidents.

  Not accidents.

  Wardell was a drunk and a thief, and Hammond was a known bully.

  Leaving two girls and an old man defenseless in the face of danger was no way to repay Ingrid for saving his hide. Not that he wanted to get into Ingrid Larsen’s business. But hell, he thought, he was already in her business. And now that he knew, he wasn’t certain he could walk away.

  He fell asleep cursing this weakness and questioning whether he’d be a help or a hindrance if he joined them in standing up to danger, if these incidents turned out to be the work of someone bent on real harm.

  Luke’s sleep was disturbed by the sound of a plane flying low enough that it shook the roof and vibrated through the parlor.

  He sat up, pressing his hands to his lower back, aching from the springs of the sofa. He’d have been more comfortable if he’d slept on the floor, but the truth was, he’d been so exhausted by his workout in the barn, he could have slept on a bed of nails.

  Hearing the rumble of voices on the back porch, he made his way there and stopped short at the sight that greeted him.

  His uncle Colin and old Burke were talking to Mick, Nadine, Ingrid, and Lily.

  From the way Nadine was invading Colin’s space, her hand on his arm, her rough voice laughing at something he’d said, it was obvious that she’d decided to make her move on him.

  “Well.” Spotting him, Colin eagerly stepped away. Crossing to Luke, he gave him a friendly punch to his shoulder, causing Luke to suck in a breath at the sudden, shocking pain.

  “When we got the call that you’d fallen off a cliff, we weren’t sure what to expect.”

  Luke glanced at Ingrid while he rubbed at his shoulder. “You hoping to get rid of me?”

  She shrugged. “I figured you’d be ready to get back to your family as soon as possible.”

  “We’re grateful to Miss Larsen. We told her we’d fly up as soon as the weather cleared. So here we are.” Colin studied his nephew, noting the red-rimmed eyes and the way he favored his shoulder. “Good thing you were on your horse and not flying across the hills on your Harley. You’d have probably broken your neck.”

  Ingrid arched a brow. “You ride a motorcycle?”

  “When I can.”

  She frowned. “Why am I not surprised?”

  Ignoring her insult, Luke grinned at Burke, who was sporting a black eye. “You look worse than me. Did you fall off a cliff, too?”

  The old cowboy chuckled before touching a finger to the tender skin. “I was priming a pump at the range shack up on the north ridge, and the handle hit me in the eye, darned near blinding me.”

  “See?” Luke turned to Colin. “It’s like I always tell Grandpop. There are a lot of things more dangerous than riding a motorcycle. Those pump handles can be deadly. And you ought to see what damage a sneaky shed door can do.”

 
Nadine sidled up beside Luke. “Want to see what I can do behind a shed door?”

  Colin shared a look with Luke before turning to Ingrid. “Thanks for taking care of my nephew until we could get here. I’m obliged that we didn’t have to listen to his lame jokes for a couple of days.” He glanced skyward. “If we’re going to get you home in time for Yancy’s special supper, we’d better get started.”

  Without a word, Ingrid crossed her arms over her chest and looked away.

  Lily tipped up her head to peer into Luke’s eyes. “I guess you need to go back to your brothers and your grandparents.”

  Luke knelt down and caught her hand. “I see you were paying attention when I told you about them, Li’l Bit.”

  “Uh-huh.” She touched a hand to his cheek. “You’re lucky to have all those people.”

  “Yes, I am.” At her touch, he wondered at how light his heart felt. Little girls weren’t something he’d had any experience with in his life. Still, those brown eyes were filled with so much sadness, they nearly broke his heart. “But you’re lucky, too. You’ve got your ma and Ingrid and Mick.”

  She looked away, but not before he saw the knowledge in her eyes. She might be only seven, but in that instant he recognized a depth of wisdom beyond her years.

  Luke stood and turned to Colin. “You realize Turnip is out in the barn. I can’t leave without him.”

  Colin held up a hand. “He can keep for a few more days. We debated driving here with a trailer to accommodate Turnip, but we figured your well-being was more important. We decided to use the plane, in case you were so badly injured we needed to get you to a hospital right away. When you’re up to it, you can bring a horse trailer over and haul Turnip home.”

  “That’s not going to work. I wish you’d called to tell me you were on your way. I could have saved you a trip.”

  Burke and Colin were both looking at him with matching expressions of puzzlement.

  Colin spoke for both of them. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

  Luke shrugged, determined to keep things light. “This is the first time I’ve ever had a chance to use girly soaps and lotions.” He winked at Lily. “I don’t think I’m ready to give them up yet.”