by B. J Daniels
“It was my mother’s name.” She seemed to bite her tongue as if she hadn’t wanted to get that personal with him. “I really should be getting back before my hosts come looking for me.”
“A little late for that,” he said and motioned behind her.
She turned and stiffened and he knew she’d seen what he had. A lone rider was headed in their direction. It was her reaction that surprised him. Lizzy Calder looked scared.
ANNE? WHAT WAS SHE doing riding this way? Lizzy’d had the feeling that neither Anne or Janie rode anymore.
She swore under her breath and turned, not sure how she was going to handle this. But to her surprise, TD Waters was just dropping over a rise out of sight in the distance.
“Lizzy?” Anne said as she rode up. Her gaze was on the horizon where Waters had just disappeared. “Who was that? One of the Winchesters?”
“No,” she said resenting the question but feeling compelled to answer since she was a guest on the ranch. “It was someone who works for them.” She’d been surprised when he said he was working there. Working as a rogue agent on some undercover assignment? What else could he be doing there?
“What was he doing on my land?” Anne demanded. She sounded angry and Lizzy again felt the bitterness in her old friend. What had happened to her over the years that had made her this way? Anne used to be so easygoing, so fun-loving and sweet. Now she was more like her sister.
You mean land you’re in the process of selling, Lizzy wanted to say, but of course didn’t. “It’s my fault. I rode too far, ended up on the Winchester Ranch.” She wasn’t sure how long Anne had been watching them. Had she seen Waters chase her in this direction?
“Was he threatening you?” Anne demanded, already getting her hackles up, even though Waters merely worked for the Winchesters.
“No, he was just curious. He hadn’t seen another rider. I think he was lonesome.”
Her friend raised a brow. “Hadn’t seen a woman who looks like you, you mean.”
Lizzy tried to smile. She’d never been comfortable with her looks. Her hair was too red, her eyes, like her skin, too pale. She managed to keep her freckles hidden most of the time—unless she got out in the sun. Like now. Her cheeks would be covered with them if her face wasn’t flaming with the heated memory of the intense way TD Waters had been looking at her.
He’d been so determined that she’d recognized him. And, of course, she had. It frightened her that he could read her so easily. Even in a split second. She wondered what else she had given away during their brief first meeting.
“Well, if this hired hand wants to see you, he’ll have to call,” Anne said. “I don’t like anyone from the Winchester Ranch on my land.”
“Are you going for a ride?” she asked Anne, afraid she might try to go after Waters. But her friend shook her head.
“Just checking on you. You’d been gone for a while. I was getting worried. There’s talk of a storm coming in.”
Lizzy said nothing. Her heart was still pumping from her wild horseback race across the snowy landscape with a rogue agent after her—not to mention coming face-to-face with him. Her pulse still throbbed just beneath her heated skin. She hadn’t been prepared for the impact the man made in the flesh.
She’d only glimpsed his intensity the first time she’d seen him. Sitting astride a horse next to him, she’d felt the full power behind the man she’d heard so much about. No wonder he had a way with women. She’d looked into his bottomless ebony gaze, a shiver coursing through her that still chilled her. Her every instinct told her that this was a man you didn’t want to mess with.
What if even Roger Collins didn’t realize how dangerous Waters was?
They rode back to the ranch together, Anne insisting she was tired and going to bed early. Janie had gone into town and they’d let the hired help go for the holidays, so Lizzy would have to fend for herself in the kitchen this evening.
Lizzy couldn’t have been more thankful. She couldn’t bear another meal with the two sisters. She wondered idly why Janie had gone into town. Was it possible she was seeing someone? Neither sister had married. In fact, Lizzy wasn’t even aware if either of them had boyfriends. It did make her wonder, though, if they’d both been soured on marriage because of their mother.
Lizzy went straight to her room after putting her horse and Anne’s away. Once there though, she found herself pacing, too keyed up to sit still. She tried to shove thoughts of TD Waters away, but the man was persistent—both in and out of her thoughts.
What she needed was a little something to snack on and maybe a nice cold beer. Tiptoeing down the stairs, she started for the kitchen, when she caught another glimpse of the living room and that awful piece of modern artwork where the old photographs had been.
Maybe she would go down to the basement first and see if she could find photographs of her father. Otherwise, she suspected they would get tossed out, especially with the sisters selling the ranch.
Opening the basement door, she reached in and turned on the light before treading down the stairs. The basement had never been finished and had ended up being used for storage. She saw boxes of Christmas ornaments and realized with a start that she wasn’t the only one ignoring the holiday.
She hadn’t even noticed that Anne and Janie hadn’t put up a tree and apparently had no plans to. That seemed sad, even though Lizzy herself doubted she would be home in time for Christmas—let alone have a tree this year.
Past the ornaments, she found the framed photographs and, pulling up an old rocker, sat down and began to go through them even though the light was almost too dim. She didn’t dare take them all upstairs to the living room and no way was she toting them all the way up to her room to go through them.
There were so many more than she’d remembered. She realized that if she had her choice, she wouldn’t get rid of any of them. These were records of the ranch’s history.
She heard a thud. It sounded as if it had come from the top of the stairs. Maybe Anne had come down for some reason. Or Janie had returned. She listened, feeling a little spooked after her run-ins with Waters, then Anne.
When she didn’t hear anything, she quickly sorted through the photographs, taking any showing her or her father.
Taking the tall stack of framed photographs, she started back upstairs and stumbled, almost falling as the lights suddenly went out.
“Hey!” she called from the pitch blackness. “Hey! I’m down here!”
No answer, but she heard someone close the door with a slight click.
Carefully she set the stack of framed photos down on a step, then felt her way up to the top of the stairs and turned on the light, her heart pounding.
She’d never liked the dark, hadn’t even as a child although she couldn’t remember when she’d first realized how terrified she was of total darkness.
Going back down the stairs, she picked up the stack of photos and was almost to the top again when she heard the door open again.
Janie was framed against the faint light. “Oh, is someone down there?”
She knew perfectly well someone was down there. Lizzy looked into Janie’s face, saw the smirk, felt the hard gaze, but said nothing as she climbed the rest of the way up from the basement.
“What were you doing down there?” Janie asked, sounding not particularly interested.
“Anne said I could have any photographs I wanted.”
“I guess she told you then that we’re selling the ranch.”
“What will you do?” She knew that neither Janie or Anne had started their careers. Both had attended college, but as far as she knew neither had ever worked.
Hunt had made his fortune years ago. The ranch must have made money, as well. Someone had definitely been supporting the two sisters.
“You mean like work?” Janie quirked a brow, that smirk back on her lips. “I’m not too worried about that. I’ve managed thus far and the ranch should bring a pretty good price. Too bad I have to split it with
my sister.”
Lizzy felt cold inside at Janie’s words, and angry. “Since you obviously don’t care what happens to the ranch and just want the money, I would think the Winchesters would be interested in buying it,” she said, then chastised herself for stooping to the other woman’s level.
To her surprise Janie laughed. “The Winchesters will never have this land. I promise you that. If I have my way, there won’t be any Winchesters around to buy it. That goes for anyone else who gets in my way.”
With that she turned and disappeared back up the stairs, leaving Lizzy with the unmistakable feeling that TD Waters wasn’t the only dangerous person she had to worry about.
WHEN TD RETURNED FROM his ride, he quickly showered, changed and hurried over to the kitchen. He’d been gone longer than he’d planned.
Enid gave him a sour look, but no more sour than usual. “Did you get lost? You were gone long enough.”
He decided to see how much information about the McCormicks and Lizzy Calder he could get out of Enid, since she did love to gossip. “I rode south and stumbled across the McCormick ranch,” he said as if just making conversation.
“Surprised you didn’t get shot. If Joanna McCormick wasn’t in prison you would have been.”
“I take it she didn’t like the Winchesters?”
Enid huffed. “Not after Pepper tried to steal her husband. Bad blood between the families.” She added conspiratorially, “Started over an affair.”
“So this war between the Winchesters and the McCormicks began with an affair?”
“And some affair it was,” Enid said warming to the subject. “Hunt McCormick asked Pepper to run away with him.”
Pepper and Hunt McCormick? “But she didn’t.”
Enid shook her head. “She had her reasons.” The old woman seemed to close up again. “I think Hunt McCormick was the true love of her life.”
“Is he still alive?”
She nodded. “Pepper hasn’t seen him for twenty-seven years. As far as I know, he’s still married to Joanna. I heard she wouldn’t give him a divorce, but they haven’t lived together for years.” He listened as she told how Joanna McCormick had ended up in prison for murder.
“There seems to be a lot of violence out here in the West,” he said.
“You have no idea,” Enid said. “No idea at all.”
“I guess I was lucky the owner is in prison and the woman I ran across didn’t try to shoot me.”
“If she was a McCormick, you damned sure were lucky,” Enid said. “That bad blood has spilled over onto the young ones. I wouldn’t turn my back on either of them.” She mugged a face. “They’re both spoiled to high heaven. Anne isn’t so bad, but her younger sister, Janie, was spawned by the devil.” Enid crossed herself.
“Fortunately neither were McCormicks, I guess. The woman I ran across said her name was Lizzy Calder. Even heard of her?”
Enid frowned. “Calder. A Will Calder used to be the ranch manager over there, but he’s been dead for some time. Wait, he had a daughter. A pretty little redheaded girl.” Now beautiful, he thought. “I think she was friends with Anne McCormick. She over there, too?”
“Apparently.”
“How’d you meet her?”
“She was out riding.”
“Probably riding on Winchester land. All three of those girls always used to sneak over here. Thought nobody knew. Well, I knew all right. Come over here flirting with Pepper’s grandsons. If she’d have caught them…” Enid wagged her head as if she didn’t even want to imagine what would have happened.
“Why would Pepper have anything against the girls if she was the one who had the affair with this Joanna McCormick’s husband?” he had to ask.
“It goes back a lot further than that.” Enid clamped her lips together as if that was all she could say.
A secret, he thought.
“I’m going to give you some good advice. Stay clear of the McCormicks and that Calder woman, just do your job and don’t ask any questions. And don’t go mentioning this to any of the family,” Enid said as she thrust a huge bowl of salad at him. “Virginia’s probably starving. Take this out, then you’d better get on the steaks pronto.”
Taking the salad, he stepped through the door into the dining room and saw that the family was gathered around the long table.
Virginia made a point of glancing at her watch before picking up her wineglass. She started to take a drink, but seemed to change her mind.
He served the salad, taking note of the Winchesters sitting around the table. Pepper sat at the head of the table, her son Brand on her right, her daughter, Virginia, on her left and Worth sitting as if on his own next to his brother. The rest of the chairs were empty.
It was easy to tell the brothers apart. From what Enid had said, he found himself thinking of Worth as the big, bitter one. Brand was the handsome one, the only decent one of the bunch, according to Enid. Virginia was simply, in Enid’s terms, the bitch.
Just as he had finished serving the salad, a young woman appeared in the doorway, apologizing for being late. Even if she hadn’t been wearing her sheriff’s uniform, he would have known she had to be Pepper’s granddaughter. They looked that much alike.
Sheriff McCall Winchester took a place at the table. He felt her gaze as he served her salad. Her interest in him made him a little nervous as he quickly filled her bowl and excused himself.
Back in the kitchen, he put down the bowl.
“They ate all of it?”
“The sheriff just arrived. I served her the last of it.”
She studied him suspiciously. “The sheriff a problem for you?”
“Why would it be?”
“You tell me,” she persisted. “I saw the way you looked as you hightailed it back in here. You wanted for something?”
He laughed. “The law is definitely not looking for me.” But he knew there were others who definitely were. In fact, he was beginning to wonder what was taking them so long.
Chapter Six
Lizzy showered and changed, her stomach growling. She decided to sneak downstairs and see what she could find to eat. After her run-in with Janie, she’d lost her appetite and she’d felt dirty after rummaging in the basement for the photographs.
But now she was hungry and it was too early to turn in. As she started down the stairs, she heard an odd sound. The living room was dark, only faint light bled through the sheer curtains at the windows from the snowy landscape outside.
At the bottom of the stairs, she finally realized what she was hearing. In a corner of the living room she could make out a figure curled in one of the wicker chairs, crying.
“Anne?” She moved to her friend and put an arm around her. “Oh, Anne.”
“Don’t pretend you’re my friend,” Anne snapped, shrugging off Lizzy’s arm. “Where were you when my life fell apart?”
Probably in some foreign country working undercover. “I didn’t know—”
“Exactly, you didn’t know. Your mother and father adored each other. That’s all I ever heard growing up. Everyone could see that it ripped your dad’s heart out when your mother died.”
Was she supposed to apologize because her parents loved each other?
“How do you think that made my mother feel?” Anne demanded, her face flushed with her fury. “You think my mother ran my father off?” She let out a hard laugh.
“He left her.”
“I’m so sorry,” Lizzy said, pulling up a chair next to Anne.
“Hunt was even worse. He didn’t just have an affair with Pepper Winchester. He was in love with her, had been since he was seventeen, mother told me. Apparently he’d come to Montana looking for Pepper.”
“So how did he end up married to your mother?” Lizzy asked.
Anne shot her a look. “You think she tricked him into marrying her?”
She wouldn’t have put it past Joanna, especially if she’d known that Hunt was in love with Pepper Winchester. Lizzy had a feeling that
the problems between the two families went way back.
“Supposedly Hunt didn’t know Pepper had married Call Winchester and was only a ranch away when he married my mother,” Anne said. “He told my mother that Pepper was the love of his life. I think he was planning to have both this ranch and Pepper. Now do you understand?”
Lizzy felt her heart go out to Hunt—and Joanna. She tried to find something to say in the silence that stretched out between them. Something that wouldn’t destroy their relationship.
Unfortunately, she’d seen the way Joanna had treated Hunt before they’d separated for good. She had undermined him, embarrassed him, embarrassed them all by being so mean and vindictive.
“I guess I wonder, knowing that, why didn’t your mother just let him go? Anne, she was the one who wouldn’t give him a divorce. Why hold on to a man who doesn’t want you?”
Anne started to argue, but slumped back into the chair. “I don’t know why.”
“She didn’t want him to be with Pepper,” Lizzy said quietly.
Her friend looked up, anger flashed in her eyes but quickly died. “I don’t like thinking of her being that hateful. I know she was cold and hard to get close to…”
“Hunt was always a good father to you girls,” Lizzy said. “He wasn’t a mean man. Your mother was hurt. That’s understandable. But Anne, all that happened so long ago. It’s time to let go of it. All these hateful feelings will only eat you up inside. Your mother could have found happiness with someone else, but she preferred to punish Hunt. Don’t let the past ruin your future.”
Tears welled in Anne’s eyes. “I know you’re right, but…”
Lizzy reached for her. Anne made a halfhearted attempt to push her away, then crumbled in her arms.
“I’m just so confused,” Anne cried. “I don’t want to sell the ranch but Janie does and I just feel too tired and depressed to fight her.”
She rubbed her friend’s back and tried to soothe her as Anne began to cry again. “Maybe if you give it more time…”
“What’s going on?”
Lizzy looked back to see Janie at the edge of the room. Suddenly the room was flooded with light as Janie snapped on the lights.
