Jake (42 page)

“Of marriage?”

He shook his head. “Afraid that I’m dreaming. That none of this is true. That I’ll wake up and this wonderful feeling of absolute love and peace will be gone, without a trace.”

Without a trace.

Her heart nearly broke for him. She touched a finger to his lips to silence him. “I’m not going anywhere, Jake. I told Cory that I’m your forever wife. And you’re my forever love.”

He drew her close and kissed her with the sort of reverence that had her heart tripping over itself. Then for good measure, he kissed her again, before drawing a little away and catching her hand in his.

“Let’s join the preacher and make it official.”

As they joined the Conway family on sacred ground, with the graves of Clementine and her five sons, and the fresh grave of Seraphine beside them, they spoke their vows.

Out of the corner of her eye Meg saw Phoebe tuck her hand through the crook of Cole’s arm. The two shared a look that was so tender, so loving, so intimate, it sent a thrill through Meg’s heart.

Then she was kissing her new husband, and the family surged forward to offer their hugs and kisses and heartfelt congratulations.

Above the sound of voices talking, laughing, she heard the sighing of a woman’s voice. Was it Seraphine, letting her know that she was grateful for the chance to be home? Or just the sighing of the wind through the leaves?

No matter. Seraphine wasn’t the only one who’d come home.

Meg thought of the woman she’d been when she’d come here, angry and bitter, determined to bury her past along with her father. Instead, she’d regained the love she’d had for this land, and had found a new love that was as shiny and bright as the sun.

It had to be the sun that had made her eyes all misty.

Meg looped her arm through Jake’s, and they watched Cory chasing after Trouble, and the family descending the hill to the house and their wedding supper.

They paused to share a long, lingering kiss.

“Come on, wife.” Jake kept his arm around her shoulders. “I can’t wait to spend the rest of our lives together forever.”

Together. Forever.

His words sent a thrill coursing along her spine.

Now weren’t those just the finest words ever?

As the oldest of the Conway brothers, Quinn’s only concern is protecting his family and their land. But when beautiful Cheyenne O’Brien’s ranch is plagued by a series of “accidents,” Quinn will risk his heart—and his very life—to keep her safe…

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Quinn framed the wolf in his long-range viewfinder and snapped off a couple of quick photos. The male’s coat, thick and shaggy, was matted with snow from the blizzard that had been raging now for three days.

After Quinn had left the ranch and returned to the mountain, it had taken considerable skill to locate the pack, despite the homing device implanted in the male. Cut off from their den by the storm and with the alpha female about to give birth, the pack had hunkered down in the shelter of some rocks near the top of a nearby hill. Since there’d been no sighting of the female, Quinn was fairly certain there would be a litter of pups before morning. That would create a problem for the leader of the pack, whose hunting ground had been narrowed considerably by the unexpected spring snowstorm. The alpha male would have to provide food and shelter for his pack, and all would have to wait out the storm before returning to their den.

Quinn saw the male’s attention fixed on something in the distance. Using his binoculars, Quinn studied the terrain. When he spied a small herd of deer nearly hidden in a stand of trees, he understood what had snagged the wolf’s interest.

The springtime blizzard had caught all of nature by surprise, it would seem. As Quinn watched, a doe dropped her newborn into the snow and began licking it clean of afterbirth.

Sadly, the doe and her fawn, in such a vulnerable state, would be the perfect mark for a hungry pack of wolves desperate for food during their own confinement.

The male wolf took up a predator position, dropping low as he crept slowly up the hill until he reached the very peak. For a moment he remained as still as a statue, gazing into the distance.

Quinn watched, transfixed. Even though he knew this would end in the bloody death of a helpless newborn fawn, he also knew that it would mean the difference between life and death for the pack of wolves unable to go forward until their own newborns were strong enough to travel. Their strength, their survival, depended upon sustenance. The female, too weak at the moment to hunt, would trust her leader to provide fresh meat while she nursed her young.

Quinn felt again the familiar thrill as he saw the alpha male rise up and begin to run full speed across the rim of the hill. The raw power, the fierce determination of this animal, never failed to touch a chord deep inside him.

The wolf dipped below the rim of the hill and was lost from sight.

Quinn experienced a rush of annoyance. He wanted to record the kill for his journal. But something had caused the wolf to veer off-course at the last moment. Snatching up his camera, Quinn was on his feet, racing up the hill, half-blinded by the curtain of snow that stung his face like shrapnel.

He was halfway up the hill when he heard the unmistakable sound of a rifle shot echo and reecho across the hills. It reverberated in his chest like a thunderous pulse.

Heart pounding, he ran full speed the rest of the distance.

When he came to the spot where the male had fallen, Quinn stared at the crimson snow, the beautiful body now silent and still, and felt a mingling of pain and rage rising up inside, clogging his throat, tightening a band around his heart until he had to struggle for each breath.

How dare anyone end such a magnificent life. Why?

He studied the prints left in the snow made by a single horse.

Far off in the distance, barely visible through the falling snow, was a tiny beam of light.

An isolated ranch house, it would seem.

Clouds scudded across the rising moon, leaving the countryside in near darkness.

Quinn knew that he needed to return to his campsite soon and settle in for the night or risk freezing. But he was determined to confront the rancher who had just robbed Quinn’s pack of its leader. A cruel act that had not only left the vulnerable female and her newborn pups without a guardian but had also cut short the scholarly research that had consumed the past five years of Quinn’s life.

With a heavy heart he turned away, knowing that by morning scavengers would have swept the area clean of any trace of carnage. It was the way of nature.

Even if he were so inclined, there wasn’t time to dispose of the wolf’s body. Quinn needed to follow the tracks in the snow before the storm obliterated them completely. Already the surrounding countryside had fallen under the mantle of darkness.

He returned to his campsite and began to pack up his meager supplies. As he did so, anger rose up like bile, burning the back of his throat and eyes.

All attempts at scholarly disinterest were swept away in a tide of fury at the loss of the wolf Quinn had come to love.

He could no longer hide behind a professional wall of anonymity.

This was personal.

He needed, for his own satisfaction, to confront the rancher who had snuffed out the life of the creature that had consumed every minute of every day of his life for the past five years.

As he shouldered his supplies and began the trek in the darkness, he found his thoughts turning to his father. There was no comparison between this despicable act and the horrible trauma Cole had suffered at losing Seraphine. Still, the loss was so deeply felt that it connected Quinn to Cole Conway in a way that nothing else ever had.

Was this how Cole had felt when he’d faced the greatest loss of his life? Had he been swamped with this helpless, hopeless sense that everything that he’d worked for had just been swept away by some cruel whim of fate?

Cole had been, in those early days, inconsolable. A man so grief stricken, even the love for his children and his father, Big Jim, hadn’t been able to lift him out of the depths of hell. Cole’s only coping mechanism had been to throw himself into every hard, physically demanding chore he could find around the ranch, many of which would have broken a less determined man.

Right this minute, Quinn would welcome any challenge that would lift him out of his own private hell.

Quinn moved through the waist-high drifts, keeping the light of the distant ranch house always in his sight.

Someone would answer for this vicious deed.

Someone would pay.

 As Quinn drew close enough to peer through the falling snow, he could make out the sprawling ranch house and, some distance away, the first of several barns and outbuildings.

He was turning toward the house when he caught the glint of light in the barn. Pausing just outside the open door, he watched the rancher forking hay into a stall, where a horse stomped, blowing and snorting, as though winding down from a hard ride. The snow that coated the rancher’s parka and wide-brimmed hat was further proof that he’d just retreated from the blizzard that raged beyond these walls.

Quinn stepped inside, holding his rifle loosely at his side. It wasn’t his intention to threaten the rancher, merely to confront him. But right this minute, Quinn relished the thought of a good knock-down, drag-out fight. For one tiny instant he was that helpless boy again, confronting the rancher Porter Stanford as he’d gloated over the needless deaths of a wolf and her pups. Then Quinn snapped back to the present, though the thought of that long-ago scene had his voice lowering to a growl.

“I’m tracking a wolf-hating rancher. Looks like I found him.”

The figure whirled.

Quinn continued to keep his rifle pointed at the ground, though his finger tightened reflexively on the trigger when he caught the glint of metal as the rancher lifted the pitchfork in a menacing gesture.

“Who the hell do you think you are?”

Quinn blinked. The voice didn’t match the image he’d had of a tough Wyoming rancher. It was obviously female. Soft. Throaty. Breathless, as though she’d been running hard.

“My name is Quinn Conway. My spread’s about fifty miles east of here. And you’d be…?”

“Don’t act coy with me. You know who I am. You’re trespassing on my land. I’ll give you one minute to turn tail and leave, or you’ll answer to this.”

Quinn realized that, though her left hand continued to hold the pitchfork aloft, her right hand had dipped into the pocket of her parka and she was holding a very small, very shiny pistol aimed at his chest.

He lifted a hand, palm up. “I didn’t come here to hurt you.”

“Oh, sure. That’s why you burst into my barn holding a rifle?”

“I’m here to get some answers.”

“Sorry. I’m fresh out.” She tossed aside the pitchfork and in one quick motion pocketed the pistol and grabbed a rifle leaning against the wall. Taking careful aim, she hissed, “Now get, whoever you are. And tell Deke I have no intention of changing my mind. If he thinks he can send some bully—”

Quinn reacted so quickly she didn’t have time to blink. He kicked aside her rifle, sending it flying into the air. Before it landed in the hay, he’d leaped at her, taking her down and pinning her arms and legs with such force beneath him that she was helpless to move anything except her head.

She let loose with a stream of oaths that would have withered a seasoned cowboy. That merely reinforced Quinn’s determination to pin her down until her fury ran its course.

In the process, his own anger seemed to intensify. He’d come here to confront a cold-blooded wolf killer. What he’d found was a crazy woman.

“Let me up.” Teeth clenched, she bucked and shuddered with impotent rage.

“Not until…” His breath was coming hard and fast and he found himself having to use every ounce of his strength to keep her pinned. In the process, he became aware of the soft curves beneath the parka, and the fresh, clean evergreen scent of her hair and clothes. “… you agree to give me some answers.”

“Go to hell.”

Damn her. He wanted to end this tussle, but she wasn’t going to make it easy for him. And the longer he lay on top of her, the more aware he became of the woman and less of the enemy he’d come here to confront. “You’re not going to cooperate?”

When she made no response, he dug in, using his size and weight to intimidate. “You shot a wolf out there on the trail. I want to know why.”

“A wolf?” She stopped fighting him.

He absorbed a small measure of relief that she seemed to be relenting.

She was clearly out of breath. “What business is this of yours?”

“That wolf is my business.”

He saw her eyes go wide. “This is really about the wolf?”

“What did you think it was about?”

He saw the way she was studying him beneath half-lowered lashes and realized how he must look, hair wild and tangled, his face heavily bearded from his days on the trail.

He decided to take a calculated risk. Moving quickly, he got to his feet and held out a hand.

Ignoring his offer of help, she rolled aside and got her bearings before turning to face him.

Her hand went to the pocket where she’d stowed her pistol but didn’t dip inside, remaining instead where he could see it.

“Let’s start over.” He fought to keep the anger from his voice. “My name is Quinn Conway. I study the life cycle of wolves. I was tracking my pack when the alpha male was shot. I followed the shooter here. Now I want to know why a rancher would kill a wolf that was only hunting food for his pack.”

When she held her silence, he arched a brow. “It’s your turn to introduce yourself and say… ‘My name is… I shot the wolf because… ’ ”

“My name isn’t important, but the wolf is. It was threatening my herd. That’s what wolves do. And what smart ranchers do is shoot them before they can rip open a helpless calf.”

“My wolf was stalking a herd of deer.”