Jenny (14 page)

"How is Jenny doing?" Richard asked conversationally, although his interest in Jenny was far from
casual.

"From the tone of her letter, I think she's handling
everything as well as can be expected," Rose said. "I
have to admit I was shocked when she wrote that
she'd decided to stay on in Durango. I thought for
sure that she'd come back here once she'd taken care
of all her father's business concerns."

"It's definitely been too quiet around here without
her. Maybe Richard can convince her to come back,"
Aubrey said with a good-natured laugh as he looked
over at his friend.

"I'm certainly going to try," Richard declared.

Tall, sophisticated, and handsome, Richard was the
oldest son of a very wealthy family. He was used to
getting exactly what he wanted out of life. If he
couldn't win it on his own, his parents purchased it
for him.

That had all come to a frustrating halt, though,
when he'd set his sights on Jenny Sullivan. He'd been
attracted to her from the first time he saw her when
she arrived in Philadelphia. He'd arranged an introduction and had escorted her to several dances, but
as hard as he'd tried to woo her, she'd proven remarkably resistant to his amorous efforts.

Richard had never been so challenged by a woman before. Females usually chased him, and the fact that
Jenny was different had intrigued him even more.
He'd made up his mind that Jenny was the woman
for him. The only difficulty he'd had was convincing
her of that fact. Still, Richard wasn't one to give up
when he wanted something. Jenny Sullivan was going
to be his-even if it meant he had to go to Colorado
and bring her back.

"From what you told me about her letter, it sounded
as though she wanted to stay on at the Lazy S permanently," Rose's cousin Melanie put in.

"For the time being, maybe. Once she's established
it as a successful guest ranch, she'll have plenty of
money to hire someone else to run it for her. Then
she can do whatever she wants to do, and I'm sure
we can convince her to come back here to us."

"This should be great fun," Aubrey remarked. "Just
making the trip to Colorado will be interesting. I've
never traveled that far west before."

"None of us have," Rose said. "That's why it's
such a wonderful opportunity! Once we've experienced it, we can tell others and get people excited
about going and really help Jenny to succeed."

"You're a mastermind, Rose," said Cherilyn Bates,
another longtime girlfriend. "You've already got this
all figured out."

"When I get excited about something, there's no
stopping me!"

"We know! We know!" they all agreed with good
humor.

"Who is going along to chaperon you and Melanie?" Cherilyn asked.

"I'm hoping my Aunt Tillie will agree to accompany us. She'd be the most fun, that's for sure."

"Why do you need a chaperon if you're traveling
with Richard and me?" Aubrey asked, a wicked, humorous glint shining in his blue eyes.

"That's precisely why," Rose retorted, grinning at
him. Everyone knew that Aubrey and Richard were
notorious rakes. "No matter how daring and wild I
may seem to be in my madcap adventures, a lady's
reputation must be protected at all costs." She quoted
the last as if she were teaching a course in etiquette.

The conversation drifted on to other things as they
all left the dining room. Richard and Aubrey wandered into the study and helped themselves to snifters
of brandy, wanting to enjoy an after-dinner drink.

"Why are you so intent on making this trip to Colorado?" Aubrey asked. He'd been surprised when his
friend had agreed so quickly to go along.

Richard glanced at him. "Let's just say I have a
great deal of interest in the West."

"Since when? I've never known you to care one
way or another about anything west of the Mississippi."

He shrugged. "Maybe I'm expanding my horizons."

"And maybe your interest lies with one young lady
who just recently moved back there."

Richard's expression turned calculating. "Jenny is proving to be quite a challenge to me. I find that intriguing."

"This should be a most interesting trip," Aubrey
mused. He knew his friend considered himself to be
a ladies' man, and he also knew that when Jenny had
not fallen easy prey to Richard's seductive charm,
he'd grown frustrated. Richard was not a man accustomed to being denied anything he wanted. "I don't
think I shall be bored at all."

"Indeed."

"You were worried about being bored?" Rose repeated, coming in on the end of their conversation as
she joined them. "There's no way you'll be bored,
Aubrey. There will be so many different things to do,
I imagine we will be going from sunup to sundown
with all the activities Jenny has planned."

"I'm not the most active outdoorsman," Aubrey explained.

"Maybe this will encourage you to take up some
new interests."

"It also might encourage me never to leave home
again," Aubrey said drolly. He enjoyed a quieter life
than Richard. Richard was the one who was always
looking for new challenges to keep things exciting.

"There will certainly be plenty to keep us busy,"
Richard said.

"Fine horseman and crack shot that you are, Aubrey, I'm sure you'll find plenty to do. Jenny mentioned that there might be hunting expeditions," Rose
went on.

Richard nodded, but didn't say anything more. He
was going to Colorado to hunt, all right, but it wasn't
big game he was after. He was after a woman-a
woman who had proven far too elusive until now. He
would be ready to leave as soon as Rose got everything arranged.

Cole didn't know what it was that had drawn him to
the high pasture at the Lazy S, but he found himself
riding there late the following week. He had stayed
away from the ranch on purpose since that day he'd
worked on the roof with Jenny. He'd seen that any
bills submitted to him for the ranch were paid in a
timely fashion, but he had not contacted Jenny again.
He didn't want, or need, the aggravation that dealing
with her caused him. He didn't want, or need, the
conflicting emotions she aroused in him.

Cole was scowling as he rode at a steady pace toward the scene of Paul's accident. His heart was hardened against Jenny. Despite the fact that he might still
feel some kind of physical attraction to her, he'd had
enough time these last days to think things through,
and he knew for certain that he wanted nothing to do
with her. Jenny had walked off and left him standing
alone at the altar. She'd humiliated him before the
entire town, and then she'd run away in the night like
a coward, leaving him to face the talk and the speculation about what had gone wrong with their wedding.

His anger returned as he mentally relived those turbulent times. After she'd first gone, he'd tried to
drown his fury in liquor and wild women. He'd done
a damned good job of trying, too. After a while,
though, Cole had realized that he had to sober up.
He'd considered leaving Durango and starting over
somewhere else, but he loved the area too much. This
was his home. His family had been one of the pioneer
ranching families there in the San Juan country. They
had endured and succeeded. His father had worked
hard to establish the Branding Iron, and after his parents' deaths, he'd continued to work at building up
the ranch. When the town of Durango had been established and the railroad had come, the area had
flourished. The Branding Iron had just been starting
to turn around when he'd had the trouble with Jenny.
Since it had looked as if Jenny was never going to
be coming back to town, Cole hadn't contemplated
leaving for very long. If Jenny wasn't around, there
was no reason to go.

Cole had forced himself to face reality and had
sobered up. He had a ranch to run.

Telling himself that the best revenge was success,
he'd begun to work day and night to make the Branding Iron the most successful spread around. At the
time, he hadn't known if Jenny would ever find out,
but he would know, and that was all that mattered.

Cole was pleased that the endless hours of hard
work had paid off. Few ranches could match the Branding Iron. He was by far the most successful
rancher in the area right now, and it felt damned good.

Cole was satisfied with the way things had been
going in his life. He could have just about any woman
he wanted, but he didn't want commitments. His
failed wedding with Jenny had left him very cautious
about taking any kind of vows with a woman. If a
female was out for a good time, he'd oblige, but he
wasn't going to get involved.

That was why he'd been so careful around Mira
the other night. He was not about to get trapped in a
tricky situation that could lead to an unwanted wedding. That was why he made it a point, too, not to
spend too much time with any one woman. He didn't
want to get anyone's hopes up, because he knew he
wasn't the marrying kind.

Cole reined in as he reached the general area where
Louie had told him they'd found Paul's body. He dismounted and, leaving his horse to graze, walked
around, studying the ground, looking over the lay of
the land.

All was peaceful.

All was quiet.

There was no sign that anything untoward had happened there, and that only made him wonder all the
more if Jenny was right. What could have caused Paul
to have such a deadly accident in such a peaceful
spot?

The sound of a horse in the distance surprised Cole. He reached for his sidearm, cautious, wary. He wondered fleetingly if Paul had run into anyone when
he'd been riding there. The place certainly was deserted enough.

Cole tensed as he'd waited to see who was riding up.
He feared it might be trouble. He knew that it was
trouble all right just not the kind of trouble he'd
been expecting.

He wondered what twist of fate had brought Jenny
there at that particular moment. He'd wanted to spend
this time alone, trying to piece together the truth of
what had happened to Paul without anyone else
around. Now he was going to have to talk to Jenny.
In disgust, he slid his gun back into his holster.

Jenny had tied her hair back and was dressed in
pants again, but even from this distance, there was no
mistaking that she was all woman. His expression
darkened as he waited for her to draw near. He didn't
like the effect she had on him. He could deny it all
he wanted but the fact remained that he was still at tracted to her. Cole told himself that what he felt for
her was a purely physical thing. Jenny was nothing
to him but an obligation.

Cole prided himself on being in complete control
of his emotions. He fought down the desire that
stirred within him as he watched her ride closer. He
waited for her to come to him, his expression guarded.

When Jenny caught sight of a man in the distance
walking the very ground where her father had been
found dead, she pulled her rifle from its sheath, knowing this might mean trouble. To the best of her knowledge, none of her men were supposed to be working
up here. Whoever it was, he didn't belong there. She
rode forward at a steady, cautious pace, ready to confront the trespasser.

When she drew close enough and recognized Cole,
Jenny was surprised. She couldn't imagine what he
was doing on Lazy S property. His unexpected presence unsettled her just as finding him at the house
on her first day back had troubled her. She felt uncertain and knew she had to be cautious as she rode
on to confront him.

"What are you doing here?" Jenny demanded as
she reined in before him.

"Are you planning to use that gun or put it away?"
Cole challenged, ignoring her question as he eyed the
rifle she was holding.

"I wasn't sure who you were at first, so I thought
I'd be prepared for trouble," she quickly explained, sliding the rifle back into its sheath. "Feel safer now?"

"I was never worried."

He said it so casually that Jenny was a bit stung
by his attitude. She'd always been a good marksman,
and Cole knew it.

"So why are you here? I'm surprised to see you."

"I've been thinking over what you said at the house
last week about the way your father died. I thought
I'd ride over and take a look around."

"What are you hoping to find? Louie and the men
looked around the day they found Papa, but Louie
said that there was nothing unusual here."

Cole gazed out over the land. "I don't know that
I'm looking for any one thing in particular. Just something that might explain the `why' to us. Sometimes,
though, no matter how hard we try to understand why
something bad happened, we never get a straight answer." His voice turned cold as he spoke, but he never
looked her way.

Jenny chose to ignore his unspoken question.
"Well, according to what Louie told me, Papa was
lying face down on the bank of the stream about ten
yards up farther." She pointed, indicating the location.