Hunting Down the Horseman

by B. J Daniels

  Faith laughed, glad that her sister had something to keep her mind off finding Constance Small. “Thanks, but I just need a shower.”

  “You haven’t forgotten the fund-raiser tonight at the community center, have you?”

  Faith had. She frantically searched around for a way to get out of it.

  “Don’t even think about backing out,” Eve said. “McKenna called a little while ago to make sure we were both going.”

  Faith groaned at the thought of going to the dance.

  “Faith?” her sister said in a voice that reminded Faith of her mother’s.

  “Of course I’m going.” She couldn’t let her sisters down. Even though they weren’t blood related, there was a bond between them that nothing could break.

  “Wear your red dress.”

  Not even the thought of a county dance could dampen Faith’s mood for long. As she went into the house she hugged her latest secret to her, treasuring what had happened this afternoon.

  But minutes later as she stepped into the shower, Faith realized that Jud Corbett had awakened something inside her. A secret impossible desire that she’d put away the same way she’d put away her dolls and her childhood daydreams.

  Like a genie freed from its bottle, her secret yearning had emerged now and, even if Faith had wanted to, she knew no matter how dangerous, it wasn’t going back into that bottle.

  JUD OPENED the front door of the Trails West Ranch house and breathed in the mouthwatering scents of chile rellenos, homemade refried beans and freshly fried corn tortillas with Juanita’s special spices. He’d bet she’d made flan for dessert.

  His favorite meal. He closed his eyes, pausing to hang up his jacket and brace himself for whatever was awaiting him. The only good news about his father’s move to Montana was that he’d somehow talked Juanita into making the move with him and Kate.

  The menu alone was a tip-off, even if Jud hadn’t seen his brothers’ vehicles parked out front. It was just as he’d suspected: a family meeting.

  Hearing the tinkle of ice in crystal glasses and the hum of voices in the bar area, Jud headed toward it, pocketing the pleasurable thoughts of the young woman horseback rider he’d seen.

  “Jud,” his father said as he spotted him. Grayson looked at his watch and frowned. He was a big, handsome, congenial man, as open as the land he lived on.

  “Sorry I’m late.” Jud thought about mentioning the woman he’d seen but changed his mind. He got razzed enough about women, his own undoing since he’d made the mistake of sharing some of his exploits, embellishing, of course, to make the stories better—just as the movie magazines did.

  “Dinner smells amazing,” he said, hoping to cut short whatever this summit meeting might be about.

  Everyone was gathered in the large family room, a bad sign. His oldest brother Russell stood behind the bar nursing a beer; Lantry was propped on a stool talking to their father’s wife, Kate; Shane was sprawled in a chair by the window—no sign of Maddie, his fiancée, another bad sign; and fraternal twin Dalton was whispering with Juanita and stealing tortilla chips from the large bowl in her hands.

  “So what’s up?” Jud asked as he helped himself to a beer from the bar fridge, just wanting to get this over with.

  He saw a look pass between his father and Kate. Uhoh. He felt his heart dip. For years after their mother, Rebecca, had died, Grayson had been alone. They’d thought he would never remarry.

  Then along came Kate. Kate had shown up at their Texas ranch with a box of photographs of their mother. Rebecca had been the ranch manager’s daughter. Kate the daughter of the ranch owner. The two had grown up together on Trails West Ranch outside of Whitehorse, Montana.

  Kate had lost touch with Rebecca over the years. When she’d found the photographs, she’d said she’d thought enough time had passed since Rebecca’s death that Grayson might want them.

  He had. And it wasn’t long before he’d wanted Kate, as well. All these years Grayson hadn’t been able to go through his deceased wife’s belongings. With Kate’s love and support, he finally had—and found the letters from their mother, triggering this marriage pact among the sons.

  Grayson had fallen hard for Kate. So hard that he’d sold his holdings in Texas and bought Kate’s long-lost family ranch in Montana as a present for her, then moved them to Montana.

  His father had been so happy with Kate. Jud couldn’t bear it if that was no longer the case.

  “Kate and I have something to tell you,” Grayson said now, his expression way too serious for Jud’s tastes.

  Jud took a swig of his beer and braced himself for the worst. All five brothers had thought their father’s marriage and the move to Montana was impulsive and worried, since even Jud had noticed that Kate had seemed different here at the ranch.

  She should have been happy to have her family ranch back after it had been lost when her father died. But she hadn’t been.

  “Kate?” Grayson said, giving his wife’s shoulder a squeeze.

  She raised her head, glancing around as if looking for someone. Her gaze settled on Shane sitting by the window, his back to them.

  What the hell, Jud thought, feeling the tension in the room crank up several notches.

  “I have a daughter.”

  They all stared at Kate, knowing she’d never been married and as far as they’d known had never had a child.

  “I gave birth to her when I was in my early twenties, right after my father died, right before I left Montana,” Kate said, her voice strong. “I gave her up for adoption when she was only hours old.” She swallowed. “I’ve regretted it ever since.”

  What was this? True confessions?

  “You weren’t in any shape to raise a child alone,” Grayson said. “You had little choice given your situation.”

  She cut her eyes to him and he fell silent again. “The father of my child was married.” Her back stiffened visibly. “He wasn’t going to leave his wife. I was hurt. I told him the baby had died. It wasn’t until recently that I told him the truth.”

  You could have heard a pin drop in the room. Everyone was staring at Kate. Except Shane. His back still to them, he appeared to be gazing out the front window as if uninterested. Or had he already heard this?

  Jud felt his chest tighten. “What happened to your baby?”

  Kate turned toward him. “Adopted by a local family, she grew up in Old Town Whitehorse.”

  Jud did the math. “So she would be in her mid-twenties.”

  “Twenty-six,” Kate said.

  He could see what was coming. “Does she know who you are?”

  Kate nodded.

  “Of course, she was surprised,” Grayson said. “So it is going to take some time to get to know her and her to know us.”

  “So when do we get to meet her?” Dalton asked.

  The silence said it all.

  “You’ve already met her,” Kate said. “Her name is Maddie Cavanaugh.”

  Jud shot a look at Shane.

  “Shane’s fiancée?” Lantry demanded, glancing at his older brother, as well. Shane still didn’t say anything or look in their direction.

  “I take it Maddie is upset,” Jud said, stating what he knew was the obvious.

  “She’ll come around,” Grayson said, always the optimist.

  “I wanted you all to know so you understood that it might be tense when Maddie is around. She’s having trouble forgiving me. I’m having trouble forgiving myself.”

  For the first time, tears shone in her eyes, but she seemed to hold them back with sheer determination.

  “Are you worried about the legal ramifications, Kate?” Lantry asked, always the lawyer.

  “No,” Grayson said. “She is Kate’s daughter and will be treated like any other member of this family.”

  “But the wedding is still on, right?” Jud asked.

  Russell shot him a warning look.

  Juanita announced dinner was ready as if on cue, but no one moved.

 
“This calls for margaritas,” Grayson announced.

  Kate touched his arm. “Maybe after dinner,” she suggested.

  Everyone except Shane headed in for dinner. Jud hung back. “I wasn’t only thinking of myself just now,” he said to Shane.

  “I know.” Shane got to his feet. “We should join the rest of the family.” He looked like hell. Clearly this was taking a toll on him.

  “Maddie will come around. You know she will,” Jud said. “She loves you. It would be a damned shame if you let this come between you. You’re made for each other.”

  Shane smiled. “Not to mention the pressure it would put on you to tie the knot.”

  “Yeah,” Jud said smiling ruefully. “Not to mention that.”

  EVE WISHED she didn’t know her two younger sisters so well. The moment she’d seen Faith’s face on her return from her ride, she’d known something had happened.

  Whatever it had been, Faith was keeping it to herself. Eve had noticed right away that Faith had been thrown from her horse. There was dirt ground into the seat of her jeans and into the elbows of her Western shirt.

  This wasn’t anything new. Over the years Faith had returned many times from rides fighting to hide the fact that she’d been thrown. Often also trying to hide her hurt pride.

  This time, however, Faith seemed jubilant, and that had Eve as perplexed as anything. She would have thought a man was involved, but at this point in Faith’s life, she seemed to prefer the company of her horse.

  Eve looked up at the knock at her screen door to find her twin brother, Bridger, standing just outside. She couldn’t help thinking about the first time she’d seen him.

  Unlike her, he’d known he was adopted. He’d even known he’d had a twin sister. Their shared blood had thrown them together as they’d tried to find out the truth about their illegal adoptions.

  “Hey,” he said as he met her gaze through the screen. He was dark haired like her. Eve had always known she was different from her mother, father and two sisters, who all had blond hair and blue eyes. Now she knew why.

  “Just the person I wanted to see,” she said as he came into the house, and she gave him a hug.

  “Faith must be home,” he said, glancing at the supper she had started. Eve had remodeled her grandma Nina Mae’s home down the road when Nina Mae had to go into the rest home with Alzheimer’s.

  The Bailey ranch house sat empty except when Faith was home. Eve didn’t want her sister, who insisted on staying at the ranch house, to come home to an empty house, so she spent time here trying to make it a home for Faith.

  Faith had taken their parents divorce the hardest. Now their father lived in town with his girlfriend and their mother in Florida.

  “You’re an awfully nice sister,” Bridger said as he sat down at the kitchen table where everyone always congregated.

  Eve would have argued how nice she was. She felt she’d let down her family because from the time she was very young, she knew she was different and resented it, always searching for her real self. Her real family, as she thought of them. She’d just wanted someone who looked like her. Now she had Bridger, at least.

  “Any luck?” Bridger asked picking up one of the papers spread out on the kitchen table.

  “I called all of the Constance Smalls I’ve found so far,” Eve said pouring him a cup of coffee before sitting down at the table with him. Later she would try the C. Small listings.

  “You realize she probably married and changed her name. Her name might not even have been Constance Small. She could have lied about that, given she was a runaway.”

  “I know.” Eve could hear Bridger’s reservations. Once they’d found out that Constance Small was probably a runaway, he seemed to back off in the search.

  She couldn’t blame him. It did feel hopeless. Even if Eve lucked out and found the woman, she’d probably wish she hadn’t.

  “So? Did Laci have her baby?” she asked, changing the subject.

  Bridger’s expression quickly shifted from a frown to a broad smile. “She sure did. Jack Bridger Duvall.”

  “Laci beat her sister and got the name Jack?” Eve laughed. The two sisters had both wanted the name Jack from the time they’d found out they were both carrying boys. They’d agreed that whoever gave birth first got the name.

  “Laney went with Jake,” Bridger said with a shake of his head. “Sisters.”

  Eve smiled. “I know you brought photographs. Come on, let’s see ’em.”

  “I thought you’d never ask,” he said pulling his chair closer to her as he dug out his digital camera.

  Eve pushed away the papers with the names of the women who could possibly have given birth to her and her brother, wishing she was more like Bridger. He’d moved on. Why couldn’t she?

  Chapter Three

  “Excuse me, can you tell me who that woman is?” Jud Corbett asked the elderly woman standing next to him. “The one in red.”

  The Old Town Whitehorse Community Center was packed tonight, the country-western band made up of old-timers who cranked out songs that took Jud back to his youth in Texas.

  A smile curled the elderly woman’s lips as she glanced across the dance floor, then up at him. “They’re the Bailey girls—Eve, Faith and McKenna. Faith is the one in red. Pretty, isn’t she?”

  “Very,” Jud said. “Faith Bailey, huh?” He liked the sound of her name.

  The woman beside him cut her eyes to him, her smile knowing. “So why don’t you ask her to dance?”

  He chuckled. Dancing with him would be the last thing Faith Bailey wanted to do. “That’s a good idea.”

  “Yes, it was in my day, too,” the elderly woman said sagely.

  Jud moved across the worn wooden dance floor toward Faith, who was flanked on each side by her sisters. After dinner tonight, he’d opted not to stay at the ranch but drive back to his trailer on location to be ready for an early shoot in the morning. At least that had been his excuse to escape the tension at the ranch.

  As he was driving through Old Town Whitehorse, he’d seen all the rigs parked around the community center. Slowing, he’d heard the old-time country band. He’d bet himself that the band members wouldn’t be a day under seventy—and that his trick-riding cowgirl would be there.

  He’d parked and walked back to the community center to find he’d been right on both counts.

  As he crossed the dance floor toward Faith Bailey now, he realized she’d already seen him and was trying to look anywhere but at him. Clearly, if she’d had somewhere to run in the crowd of people, she would have.

  “Hello again,” he said, tipping his Stetson as he stopped directly in front of her.

  Seeing that she was trapped, her blue eyes flashed like hot flames. “I’m sorry. Do I know you?”

  “I would have sworn we’d crossed paths before,” he said and grinned. It had bothered him why she’d been practicing her stunts so far away from her ranch house.

  But from the imploring look she was giving him now, he’d wager that she hadn’t wanted anyone to see her doing the stunts. Was it possible that not even her sisters knew?

  “I guess I could be wrong,” he said in a slow Southern drawl. “Why don’t we dance and see if we can sort it out? Unless you’d like to discuss it here,” he added quickly when he saw she was about to decline.

  Her cheeks flushed with heat, those big blue eyes hurling daggers at him. “If you insist.”

  “I do.” He took her hand and drew her to him.

  The band had broken into a cowboy jitterbug. He swung her away from her sisters and deeper into the other dancers on the floor.

  She was a good dancer, staying with him, matching any move he made even though anger still blazed in her eyes. She apparently didn’t like being blackmailed into dancing with him. Talking over the band was out of the question, which was fine since he was enjoying dancing with her and had a bad feeling where their conversation would go.

  He swung her around, catching her around her slim wai
st, their gazes meeting, hers challenging. He liked everything about her, from the fire in her eyes to the arrogant tilt of her chin and the easy, confident way she moved. Faith Bailey was apparently just as home on a dance floor as she was on a horse.

  And she wasn’t about to let him get the better of her.

  He smiled, thoroughly enjoying himself. He was sorry when the song ended and she started to pull away. He drew her back as the band went right into a slow dance.

  “So, Faith Bailey,” Jud said as he pulled her close, breathing the words at her ear. “Why is it you don’t want anyone to know about your trick riding?”

  She tensed in his arms. Drawing back slowly, her gaze a furious slit, she said, “Blackmail will only get you so far, Mr. Corbett.”

  He chuckled. “Come on, why the secrecy? You’re good. Damned good. Why hide your talent?”

  “We’re not all like you, Mr. Corbett,” she said. “Some of us have no need to be in the spotlight.”

  “Jud. Mr. Corbett is my father.” His grin broadened. “And you and I are more alike than you think. I recognized myself in you the moment I saw you riding across the prairie. You love trick riding, and don’t tell me you don’t like an audience after that stunt you pulled earlier today. So what are you afraid of?”

  “Nothing,” she said too quickly, and he knew he’d hit a nerve. The song ended. “Thank you for the dance.” She tried to pull free, but he held her a moment longer.

  “Don’t worry,” he whispered, his gaze locked with hers. “I’ll keep your secret.”

  He’d expected relief in her expression. But instead her eyes narrowed, making it clear she didn’t like the fact that it was something else they shared.

  As he released her and she disappeared into the crowd on the dance floor, all Jud could think about was seeing her again.

  FAITH TRIED to still the trembling in her limbs. She went straight to the punch table and downed a glass. Dancing with Jud Corbett had shaken her badly. She feared there was some truth in what he’d said about them being alike.

  A man like that could confuse a woman. Not Faith Bailey, who wasn’t susceptible to him. But she pitied other women, who she realized could be easily mesmerized by his good looks and easygoing charm.