âLet me work for you, Cole. You know I can handle the ranch.â
âThatâs not the issue, Bethany.â She could run rings around most of his hands.
âThen what is the issue?â
âWhoeverâs killing my cows is armed. Dangerous.â And if she came across that shooter in the field ⦠His belly contracted with dread.
âThey havenât hurt any people, have they?â
When he didnât answer, she stepped closer. âExactly what do you think is going to happen?â
He folded his arms, refusing to say. It wasnât that he didnât trust herâat least in this.
âThereâs something you arenât saying,â she said slowly. âSomething else has happened, more than the cows.â
He exhaled, knowing he might as well tell her the truth.
Acknowledgments:
Iâd like to thank the following people for their extraordinary help with this book: Elle Kennedy and Judith Sandbrook for their invaluable input and critiques; René Tanner at Montana State University for explaining how their library system works; Caroline Sullivan and Dorothy Archer for their nursing help; Russ Howe, for information on pharmaceutical companies; Rebecca May-Henson and Mary Jo Archer for patiently answering my questions about horses and bloat; Piper Rome and John K. Barrett for information about weapons. Please note that any mistakes are definitely my own!
And a very special thank-you to Patience Bloom, Keyren Gerlach, and the rest of the Mills & Boon>® family for including me in this project. Marie, Beth, Carla, Elle, and Cindyâyou ladies rock!
The sharp report of a gunshot cracked through the afternoon stillness, the echo reverberating through the rolling rangeland and scattering the sparrows on the barbed-wire fence. Cole Kelley jerked up his head and fixed his gaze on the parched brown hills marking the southern boundary of his ranch. Four more shots barked out in quick succession, execution-style. Then a deep, ringing silence gripped the land.
Cole stood dead still, every sense hyperalert, his attention locked on the hills. Nothing moved. No wisp of dust blurred the cloudless sky. Only the dried grass rippled and bowed, paying homage to the perpetual Montana wind.
But coming close on the heels of his sisterâs abduction, those shots could only mean one thingâtrouble.
His pulse kicked into a sprint.
Cole released his hold on his fencing pliers, yanked off his leather work gloves and tugged the cell phone from the back pocket of his jeans. He speed dialed the bunkhouse, relieved he could pick up a signal on the twelve-thousand-acre ranch.
âI just heard gunfire,â he said when one of his ranch hands, Earl Runningcrane, answered the phone. âIâm in the south section along Honey Creek. Whoâve we got working nearby?â
âNobody. Theyâre all in the northeast section, stacking the rest of the hay.â
Just as heâd expected. Then who had fired shots on his land?
âAll right,â he said. âIâm going to investigate. Stand by in case I need help.â
A profound sense of uneasiness unfurling inside him, Cole gathered up his fencing tools and whistled softly for Mitzy, the border collie chasing rabbits nearby. He loped through the grass to his pickup truck, the tension that had dogged him for the past two weeks ratcheting higher yet.
There was an outside chance those shots had come from a hunter, but deer season didnât start for another week. And with the danger currently stalking his family â¦
Cole yanked open the truck door, waited a heartbeat for the dog to leap inside, then slid in beside her and turned the key. âHold on,â he warned as she pointed her nose out the open passenger side window to scent the breeze. âWeâre moving out fast.â
He shifted into gear and gunned the engine, causing the pickup to fishtail on the gravel road. Then he stomped his boot to the floorboard and sped toward the Bar Lazy Kâs southern boundary, giving rise to a billowing plume of dust.
Those shots could be a coincidenceâsomeone shooting at targets, local teens fooling around. But Coleâs gut warned him that he wasnât going to like what he found. Ever since his fatherâs infidelities had hit the tabloids, creating a national media sensation, his family had been under siege.
Dealing with the press was annoying enough. Reporters tramped over Coleâs land for a glimpse of the senator. Paparazzi massed outside the ranch gates like flies over roadkill, their numbers swelling every time another of Hankâs mistresses came to lightâsix so far, proving his father had ignored his wedding vows as easily as heâd forgotten his kids. Photographers had even hovered over the house in helicopters, vying for a shot they could sell to the tabloids, until Cole took out a restraining order to stop them from terrifying the cows.