A Rancher's Vow

by Patricia Rosemoor

  With a yell, the bartender toppled.

  Reed watched as, seemingly in slow motion, the rifle flew one way, Ruskin the other…making a perfect dive over the precipice and straight down the shaft.

  His protracted scream raised the hair along Reed’s neck.

  “Son, are you all right?”

  Reed managed to get himself to his feet. “Pa! Thank God.” The old man looked exhausted, but he was moving fine. Reed clapped him on the back.

  “Sweetheart, you did it,” Tucker said, hugging his daughter.

  “We all did it, Daddy.”

  Reed picked up his flashlight and moved the beam along the floor. “The cell phone, where the hell is it?”

  “You want to make a call now?” Pa asked.

  “We’ve got to find it!” Reed said, knowing the danger was not yet over.

  “It went down the shaft,” Alcina told him, her voice cold enough to chill him.

  He met her frosty gaze. His heart plummeted. She knew. Not that it would matter if they didn’t get out of there and fast.

  “The cell phone is down in the same stope with Ruskin?”

  “I don’t think he’s going to call anyone for help,” she told him.

  “Let’s get out of here, now!” He couldn’t stress the word enough.

  “You’re not the boss of me, Reed Quarrels.”

  “Argue with me later, Alcina!” He latched on to her wrist and pulled, yelling to their fathers, “Hurry if you want to get out of here with your lives!”

  They were right behind him and Alcina, who’d quit struggling against him for the moment.

  Reed’s heart was in his mouth as he took them back the way they’d come. His gut told him they had to get up a level and fast.

  He shoved Alcina onto the stope ladder, then Pa and Tucker.

  He came up last, yelling, “Keep going! Don’t stop for anything!”

  Apparently, his urgency had gotten through to them all. They moved faster than was safe. Tucker slipped once, but Alcina merely grabbed her father’s arm to steady him and pull him faster.

  They were halfway down the tunnel toward the entrance—still some distance away—when a blast thundered from behind them so strong that the support timbers began to shake and dance.

  “Keep going. Faster!”

  Loose rock and clouds of dust rained down on them, but the walls and ceiling held.

  But Reed could sense the tunnel below collapsing…

  Hugh Warner Ruskin had made certain that he would never be separated from his inheritance again.

  “THANK GOD WE ALL MADE IT!” Tucker cried fervently as the four straggled out of the mouth of the tunnel.

  “Thank God,” Reed echoed, his gaze devouring Alcina. “You’re not hurt?”

  “My bruises probably have bruises.” She shrugged. “I’ll live.”

  She gave him a minute to say something more. To take her in his arms and tell her how much he loved her and how much she meant to him, but he stood there. Staring. Silent. Vintage Reed.

  She looked away and murmured, “Maybe you’d better see to your father.”

  “Pa?”

  The word came out strangled, like Reed had just remembered his father’s heart. Even if the old man wasn’t exactly dying, he needed care. But, to her surprise, her own father was already seeing to Emmett. Reed was sort of a third wheel in the situation. Tears sprang to her eyes as she followed, watching Reed’s father lean on his old business partner.

  Reed glanced back at her, his expression conveyed nothing.

  Business partner…

  The words echoed in her mind and Alcina couldn’t shake them. Not when Reed wasn’t talking to her. He was so silent.

  So stiff.

  So over.

  And it had hardly even begun….

  AFTER A NIGHT of tossing and turning, interrupted by bouts of hot tears, Alcina dragged herself out of bed knowing what she had to do.

  First she needed a shower to let the steaming water beat some of the soreness out of her and some common sense into her. Not that the water could heal her emotions the way it could her body.

  She missed Reed.

  She would always miss him.

  At least she had a few memories to keep her warm, she thought. Reed hadn’t faked the passion they’d shared during the snowstorm. And she was pretty certain he was fond of her in his own way.

  And in his own convoluted way, he had been truthful with her, she supposed, while she’d been purposely stupid not to understand what he’d meant by a business deal.

  Well, he’d get what he’d wanted out of the marriage.

  The night before, she’d dropped off Emmett and Reed at the pickup still parked behind the gas station. Reed had begged her to let him come by the bed-and-breakfast after he took his father home. He’d wanted to talk to her privately. She’d refused.

  Alcina didn’t want an apology from him. All she wanted was what she couldn’t have—his heart.

  After watching Reed drive out of her life, she’d made Daddy promise to work out a deal about the mortgage. He’d been happy to agree. It seemed that being confined and facing death together had helped him and Emmett work out their differences.

  Daddy had already called over to the Curly-Q earlier this morning to learn that Bart was coordinating the official investigation. He’d decided to stay in Silver Springs and had accepted an offer arranged by his old friend, Sheriff John Malone, to be a deputy in this neck of the woods.

  And, after telling her that, he’d headed over to the ranch himself to have a serious talk with all the Quarrels men.

  Well, now Reed could be rid of her.

  Alcina threw on her old robe and stuffed her feet into her fluffy slippers. A look in the mirror made her shudder. But what did it matter? She was alone now.

  Maybe a pot of coffee would give her the energy she needed to get through the day. She didn’t know if she would ever feel like eating again.

  But when she opened the bathroom door, Alcina froze in shock at the unexpected sight before her. A blanket of fresh flowers covered her bed.

  And Reed was beneath them!

  “What are you doing here?” she choked out, mentally ordering her racing pulse to behave.

  “Sharing your bed.”

  She laughed bitterly. “Your services are no longer required, Reed.”

  “Alcina, don’t talk like—”

  “I’m making an appointment with a lawyer to start divorce proceedings.”

  “You’re what?” he demanded, sitting straight up.

  He was nude at least to the waist…

  Alcina made a choking sound and backed up another step. She should slam the bathroom door and lock it until he left.

  “Alcina, do you love me or not?”

  “My heart’s not the one in question.”

  “You know how I’ve always had trouble speaking up for myself—well, I told Pa and Bart that I’m the man to run the spread. And they both agreed.”

  “I’m happy you settled things with your family.”

  “You are my family now, Alcina. I should have spoken out to you yesterday when I realized this…” He took a deep breath as if searching for his courage. “My heart is already yours.”

  Alcina swallowed hard. Reed wouldn’t lie to her, would he? Not directly, at least.

  “What are you saying, Reed Quarrels?”

  “That I love you, Mrs. Quarrels, and I want to stay married to you and to make babies with you.”

  Everything she’d wanted to hear him say…

  The only protest she could find was “What if we can’t? Make babies, that is. I am older than you and it might not be so easy.”

  “Then we’ll keep trying,” Reed said seriously. “I’m a very hard worker, in case you haven’t realized it.”

  While he wore a poker face, Alcina knew he was teasing her.

  Spirits soaring as she realized her dream was finally coming true, she asked, “What are you wearing under all those flowers?�
�

  He grinned. “Why not come here and find out for yourself?”

  Epilogue

  January 1

  Emmett was quite pleased with himself as he dressed for Barton and Josie’s wedding. Lainey and Daniel couldn’t be happier to get a new mother. The new year sure was starting out right. He grinned as he buttoned his shirt and slipped on a string tie.

  The Quarrels family had turned into something!

  His boys had pooled their resources to make the back mortgage payments. And they’d leased away the mineral rights to the northeast quarter of the property for the next ten years to keep the Curly-Q in the black.

  The mortgage up-to-date.

  Silver Springs flourishing—houses and stores in town being fixed up for the new mine workers.

  Barton running the town, Reed running the ranch, and Chance not running at all anymore.

  Not with that rodeo school Chance and Josie were planning to start this summer, Emmett thought, admitting the idea had some merit after all. As did the other new-fangled ideas his sons were tossing around. He guessed he’d better listen up and let them think they were really running things. After a lifetime of resentment and disagreement, Barton, Reed and Chance were of one mind, ready to work together, to do whatever was necessary to save the family legacy.

  They were finally acting like brothers should.

  Emmett could bust his buttons with pride…all his scheming had paid off.

  Three sons and three grandchildren and counting—he’d noticed a special smile around Alcina’s mouth when she didn’t think anyone was looking. A renewed friendship with his old partner Tucker. And then there was Felice, the woman who had stuck by his side no matter what his faults were. He had plans for her, too, but he’d have to be extra cagey, if he didn’t want to scare her off before he got a ring on her finger.

  Emmett had never felt so lucky, not even when he’d struck it rich so many years ago.

  His family around him and thriving.

  What more could a man ask for?

  ISBN: 978-1-4603-5023-2

  A RANCHER’S VOW

  Copyright © 2000 by Patricia Pinianski

  All rights reserved. Except for use in any review, the reproduction or utilization of this work in whole or in part in any form by any electronic, mechanical or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including xerography, photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, is forbidden without the written permission of the publisher, Harlequin Enterprises Limited, 225 Duncan Mill Road, Don Mills, Ontario, Canada M3B 3K9.

  All characters in this book have no existence outside the imagination of the author and have no relation whatsoever to anyone bearing the same name or names. They are not even distantly inspired by any individual known or unknown to the author, and all incidents are pure invention.

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  *The McKenna Legacy

  **Sons of Silver Springs