Jenny (33 page)

"Cole?" Jenny looked up at him. Her eyes were
aglow, and a gentle smile curved her lips. She still
felt terrible, but she wasn't going to let that stop her.
Nothing meant more to her than Cole's love.

"What, love? Do you need something? Is there anything I can get you?" he asked, ready and willing to
do whatever she wanted if it would make her feel
better.

"Yes, you can get me something."

"What?"

"You can send somebody into town to get Reverend Ford for me."

He looked worried at her request and couldn't
imagine why she needed to see him. "You want to
see the reverend?"

"Yes, right away. The sooner the better but only
if you agree to marry me," she said straight out. "Will
you marry me, Cole Randall, and make me the happiest woman in the world?"

Jenny would forever remember how Cole's expression changed as she proposed to him. He went from
worried to shocked to amused.

"In a heartbeat," he answered, leaning toward her
to kiss her again.

When he finally ended the kiss, she smiled up at
him lovingly.

"I thought it would be best if I proposed to you
this time;" Jenny told him.

"Are you sure you don't want a big wedding in
town?"

"No, absolutely not. We'll be married here, privately."

"You aren't going to change your mind at the last
minute again, are you?"

"There's no danger of that, Mr. Randall. I made a
mistake two years ago, but I learned from it. I love
you. I'm never going to let you go again."

"How soon do you want to have the ceremony?
When do you think you'll be feeling well enough?"

"Let's plan on the day after tomorrow. Dr. Murray
said I should be better by then."

"Good. I'll make the arrangements."

Cole kissed her yet another time, tenderly touching
her cheek as he finally moved away from her.

"Jenny, there was one other thing I wanted to talk
to you about," he began.

"What is it?"

"Have you remembered anything-anything at all
about the ambush? Did you see anyone or hear anything?"

"It's all so confused in my mind," she said slowly,
frowning as she tried to force herself to remember
exactly what had happened on that fateful ride. "The
shots came from up on the rise. Gene was hit first."

Jenny tried to concentrate, tried to recall if she'd
seen anything that could help Cole find the ambusher,
but she had no recollection other than hearing the first
shot and seeing Gene fall. "I'm sorry, Cole. I wish I
did know more, but that's all I can remember. I didn't
see anyone. I wish I had."

"So do I," he said fiercely. He was frustrated that
he had nothing to go on. "You rest now."

"You're not going to go-" Jenny clutched his
hand, a little frightened.

"No, sweetheart, I'll stay right here if that's what
you want me to do."

"Yes. Stay with me, Cole. Don't ever leave me."

"I won't, Jenny."

She gave him a small smile as her eyes drifted shut.
She did not release his hand but held him tightly.

Cole settled in the chair beside the bed, watching
Jenny rest. His gaze went lovingly over her, but it hardened when he stared at the bandage. The bandage
reminded him all too forcefully of how very close
she'd been to death.

The tenderness that had held him in its grip altered,
and anger grew within Cole. He had vowed to find
the one who'd done this to Jenny, and he would. If
he didn't hear anything from Jared by tomorrow, he
would ride into town himself and see what the lawman had found out.

Cole kept a vigil by Jenny's side throughout the day.
She slept a lot, but every time she awoke, he was
there with her. The only time he left her was to seek
out Tom and send him into town with a letter for
Reverend Ford. He returned to Jenny right away and
stayed until Evelyn came up to the room near midnight to relieve him.

Frances had turned down the bed in the extra bedroom for him, and he slept there that night. His wasn't
a deep, restful sleep, though, for he kept waking up,
worrying about Jenny. Each time, the quiet of the
house reassured him that all was well.

Cole was up with the sun, more than ready for the
start of the new day. He had heard nothing from Marshal Trent, and he was almost ready to make the trip
into town to find out what the lawman had learned. He went downstairs to see if Frances had started
breakfast yet.

"Good morning, Cole," the older woman greeted
him as he came in the kitchen. "I'll have your breakfast ready in just a minute."

"Is Jenny awake yet?" he asked.

"I checked on her a few minutes ago, and she and
her aunt were both still asleep. You go ahead and get
yourself some coffee while I dish this up."

Cole poured himself a cup of hot, black coffee and
settled in at the dining room table. He'd thought he
would be eating alone, and he was surprised when he
heard someone on the stairs. He got up to see who it
was, expecting to see Evelyn. He was startled to find
that Jenny was with her aunt.

"Jenny you're up. Should you be out of bed this
soon?" He was delighted that she was capable of
moving around, but he was still concerned about her.
He hurried to help her.

"Dr. Murray said I could get out of bed when I felt
I was ready, and I'm ready," Jenny told him as she
took his hand.

When she reached the bottom of the steps, Cole
slipped a supportive arm around her waist.

"Have you got her, Cole?" Evelyn asked.

"Yes.
"

"Then I'll go help Frances with breakfast."

She went off to the kitchen while Cole guided
Jenny into the dining room.

Cole kept Jenny close to his side as they made their way toward the dining room table. Even though she
was up and moving again, she still felt very fragile to
him as he helped to support her. They reached her
chair and he pulled it out for her, but she didn't immediately sit down.

"I am much improved this morning, but there is
one thing that would make me feel even better," she
said as she looked up at him and smiled slowly.

Cole was ready and willing to get her whatever she
needed. "What is it?"

"A kiss," she said with a sigh as she looped her
arms around his neck and drew him down to her.

"I think I can find one of those for you," he murmured.

"Only one?" she asked, lifting her lips to his.

Cole gave a low groan at her suggestive words and
wrapped his arms around her as his mouth covered
hers. Though he still had to keep a tight rein on his
desire for her, this kiss was infinitely more satisfying
than the chaste ones he'd given her yesterday. Only
the sound of Frances and Evelyn coming tore them
reluctantly apart.

As Cole helped Jenny sit down, he was pleased to
see that some color had returned to her cheeks. He
took the chair next to hers as the two women set down
their trays of food. They all settled in and ate together.

It was only a short time later that Rose, Tillie, and
Melanie came up from the guest house and joined
them. All were thrilled to find Jenny up and about. They were just finishing breakfast when they heard
horses coming.

"I'll go see who it is," Cole offered, rising to go
and meet the visitors. He was glad to see that it was
the marshal riding in with Frank Goodwin, one of the
neighboring ranchers.

"Morning, Cole," Jared said as he reined in before
the house. "I'm glad you're still here."

"Good to see you, Jared Frank. Have you got any
news? What did you find out?" he asked quickly.

"Donathan wasn't involved. There were people all
around town who saw him in Durango that day."

Cole nodded slowly, his mind racing as he tried to
figure out who else could have been behind the shooting. "It must have been the rustlers, then."

"I'm sorry to hear about all your trouble, and I'm
real glad Jenny's going to be all right," Jared said.

"So are we," Cole returned.

"Frank came along because he just found out yesterday that he had been hit, too," Jared explained.

"So that's three of us this time." Cole was thoughtful. "Why don't you two come on inside? Jenny's up
and feeling much better today."

"That's good news. Thanks."

Jared and Frank followed Cole indoors. He introduced them to everyone; then they started to go to
the study to talk.

"I'm coming with you," Jenny insisted.

"Are you sure you're strong enough?" Evelyn
asked, not wanting her to overexert herself.

"Yes, Aunt Evelyn. This is my ranch." Jenny got
up, and Cole was instantly beside her to help her.

Jenny sat in one of the wing chairs in her father's
study, while Cole sat behind the desk. Jared and
Frank sat on the sofa that faced the desk.

Cole quickly explained that he'd sent the men back
up to the site of the shooting the following day, but
they had found nothing.

"I'd expected as much, but it doesn't make it any
easier to accept," Cole continued. "I've been trying
to think of a way to track down Jenny's attacker, and
I'm beginning to believe that the ambush and the rustling are somehow connected. We need to set a trap
of some kind for these rustlers. There's got to be a
way to stop them."

They discussed at length what could be done to lure
the rustlers in and then trap them, and Jenny joined
in. As they were talking, Frances knocked on the
study door.

"Wayne Jameson just rode in."

"Bring him on in," Cole told her.

"I wonder why Wayne's here," Jenny said.

"I saw him in town the other night, and I mentioned
to him what had happened. I told him to keep an eye
out, so maybe he knows something," Jared offered.

Cole rose to meet Wayne at the door as Frances
ushered him in.

"Glad to see you, Wayne." Cole shook his hand.

Wayne greeted everyone and looked at Jenny.
"Jenny, it's good to know you're going to be all right. I heard from Marshal Trent that you'd been shot. I
rode over to see how you were and to see if you
needed any help."

"That was kind of you, Wayne," Jenny told him.
"We're all right, for now. Cole's helping me take care
of things here on the ranch. We just need to find out
who took a shot at me and who's been rustling all the
cattle."

"Did you have any problems out at your spread,
Wayne?" Jared asked.

"No. They left us alone this time. We were lucky."

`They hit Frank, too. That's why he's here. We're
trying to put together a plan to trap the rustlers. I think
it may be time to organize a cattlemen's association,
too, and start patrolling the range ourselves."

"If need be, we can bring in a range detective,"
Cole said. "But I think we can catch them."

Wayne joined in the discussion, but grew more and
more nervous as the other ranchers and the lawman
laid out their plan for catching the rustlers. He realized that Cole was absolutely determined to bring
them to justice, and he didn't want to be the man
facing him when the truth finally came out. Wayne
went along with everything they agreed on, and even
offered to work with them. In the back of his mind,
though, he was planning to get away as fast as he
could. He had to get back to the ranch and warn Mira
about what was going on. Their rustling days were
over. It was time to cut and run while they still could.

Jenny grew weary as the men continued to plan
their trap.

"If you'll excuse me, I need to rest for a while,"
she said, slowly getting to her feet.

"Jenny, it's just good to see that you're up and
around already," Jared told her.

"Thank you, Jared," she said with a slight smile.
"Frank, Wayne, I'll see you later."

"Take care, Jenny," Frank said.

Cole went to her and again slipped an arm about
her waist to help her.

"I'll be right back," he told the men as he and
Jenny left the study.

When they were in the hall, Cole simply picked
Jenny up in his arms and carried her upstairs.

"You didn't need to do that. I could have made it,"
she protested, but her protest was halfhearted as she
linked her arms around his neck. She liked having
him hold her close.

"Yes, I did," he said, grinning at her. "It gave me
an excuse to hold you."

"After tomorrow you'll never need another excuse."

Their gazes met and a fiery heat flamed to life
within them both. They didn't say anything else as he
carried her up to her room. Cole bent to lay her upon
the bed, but Jenny deliberately didn't let him go. She
drew him down with her, kissing him hungrily, wanting him near.

"I don't want to hurt you," he said quietly as he
broke off the kiss.

"You'll never hurt me, Cole," she whispered
against his lips, urging him back to her.

His mouth claimed hers possessively as his hands
swept over her sweet curves. For long moments they
lay together, starving for closeness, desperate to be
near one another. Finally, as his passion threatened to
wipe all logic from his mind, Cole tore himself away
from Jenny.