A Cowgirl's Pride (16 page)

Well, that answered that question. “Will do.”

More disgruntled than ever, he hung up the phone
and resumed his seat by the fire. Damn it all to hell! This would be the
perfect chance to have Leah all to himself for a while. Why in blazes hadn’t he
asked anyway? He stood to go back and dial the main house to ask for Leah, but
the curious stares of the wranglers had him crossing to Cookie instead.

“Smells good. How soon will lunch be ready?”

“Noon, same as always,” Cookie said as he
glanced at the clock on the wall. “Why?”

“Boss wants me to run an errand right after
lunch. That’s all.”

He went through to the bathroom to wash up and
figure out a plan. Not much of one though. The key hung inside the door of the main
house. He’d go fetch it and talk to Leah before saddling up. That way, if she
did want to go, they could saddle Beauty as well. His mind made up, he rejoined
the men in time to help set the table for lunch and was first in line for food.

Cookie’s beef stew was the best around, his
biscuits light and fluffy, but they may as well have been sawdust for all the
notice
Cal
took of his meal. Eager to see his woman, he wolfed it down like a starving dog
and left the bunkhouse behind.

Chapter Ten

Footsteps sounded on the porch, and Leah tensed.

“Want me to answer that?” asked
Trent
.

“Would you mind? Michael did give back your gun,
didn’t he?”

“Not yet, but I can at least ask who’s there.”
He smiled and stood, crossed to the door, and asked, “Who’s there?”

“Michael.”

Trent
unlocked the door and let him in. “How did your men fare?”

“My men are fine, but Roddy and his goons held
Scott hostage until they got a couple miles down the road, then slowed enough
to roll him out and kept going. I called
Calgary
.
DuShane’s going to intercept them on that end. I’m waiting for his call.
Where’s Luke?”

“He went to check on your fax quite a while ago.
He’s probably still in the office,” Leah said. “Want to join in a game of gin
rummy?”

“I’ll check with Luke first.”

Michael left the room, and she resumed playing
cards with
Trent
.
When Michael came back, he joined them at the table.

“That fax hasn’t arrived yet. I don’t know what’s
keeping them.”

“You said it was your ex-partner. Would he take
someone with him?”
Trent
asked.

“Yeah, his new partner.” Michael stared at
Trent
. “Paul somebody.”

“Paul Harris?”

“Yeah, that’s it. You know him?”

“Yep, so does Roderick Kendall.”

“Shit! You think Vic’s in trouble?”

Trent
nodded. “Seems highly likely.”

Michael dialed his cell. “He’s not answering.
I’m calling the chief.”

“What’s his name?”

“Dwight Dailey.”

“Never heard of him,” said
Trent
.

“Neither have I,” Leah affirmed.

Michael made his call. When he finished, the
three of them waited in tense silence.

His phone rang. Michael thumbed it to life then remained
silent more than he talked.

“That was DuShane. He says
Kendall
must have taken a scenic route as his car never appeared at the checkpoint.”

“
GPS
.
His driver probably pulled up an alternate route,” Leah said.

A quiet knock had Leah looking toward the door
in fear as Michael got up to answer.
What
now?

“Who’s there?” he asked.

“
Cal
.”

Michael unlocked the door and held it open for
Cal
to enter. “What’s
up?”

“I came to see Leah for a minute.”

“Oh, okay.”

Leah rose to greet him. “Hi,
Cal
.”

“Hi. Luke wants me to ride out and check on
Cam
’s place. Feel like coming along?”

“I’d love to!”

“I’m not sure that’s wise, Leah,” said Michael,
frowning at
Cal
as if he had two heads. “Maybe I should ride along.”

“I have my gun. We’ll be fine. There’s not
likely to be any trouble back there.”

“Cell phones don’t work out there, Roddy’s on
his way back to
Vancouver
, and you’re waiting on
a call from
Vancouver
.
I’ll be safe enough with
Cal
,
and I
need
to get out of here for a
while. I’ve been home for days and haven’t ridden Beauty once. I haven’t even
been out of the house except to play with the kids.”

“Do you know how to handle a gun, Leah?” Michael
asked. “In case something does happen.”

“Of course! I grew up here remember? Luke
probably has my handgun and rifle locked up in the cabinet. I’ll go check.”

“Check on what?” Luke asked as he entered the
kitchen.

“Do you still have my guns?”

“Yeah, why?”

“I want to go riding with
Cal
and Michael thinks we’ll be safer with
an extra gun.”

He nodded his agreement. “You want just one or
both?”

“May as well take both. Maybe I’ll get lucky and
bag us a deer.”

“Nope, hunting season’s over and you don’t have
a license anyway. There’s deer in the freezer anytime you want some. I’ll get
your guns, load them and make sure the safety’s on.”

“Thanks, big brother.”

She grabbed her snow pants off the hook by the
door and pulled them on, along with her boots and coat. By the time Luke
returned, she was jamming her hat on her head and raring to go.

“Be careful out there, sis.”

“I will. Come on,
Cal
.”

“Luke, I need the key,” he said.

“It’s right here.” Luke reached up to the key
rack hanging behind the door and passed
Cal
the key ring. “If you sense any danger, come on back. The house isn’t that
important.”

“Will do, but don’t expect us back anytime soon.
I want to see
Cam
’s house and ride for as long
as possible,” Leah said, smiling up at him.

Luke gave her and Cal a funny look but nodded.
“Be careful.”

“Yes, sir.”

Cal
walked close beside her as they crossed the yard. All was quiet. She
wondered if they should take Rounder along. That dog was terrific at sniffing
out trouble. Leah saddled her mount while
Cal
saddled Rusty. It felt great to out and
about, doing something, anything, besides waiting for the proverbial axe to
fall. Rounder whined as they led the horses from the barn.

“Want to come with us, girl?” Leah asked,
bending over to ruffle her fur and give the dog a hug. Rounder preened and
scampered back and forth, itching to run. “Okay, Rounder. Follow along.”
Cal
gave her a leg up,
and she settled in the saddle. She thought she would feel strange on a horse after
all this time, instead, she felt freer than she had since she’d left.

“Ready?” asked
Cal
.

“Oh yeah! Let’s ride.”

“The road to your uncle’s place is one we keep
open during the winter, and even though
Cam
’s
away, it makes it much easier to check on the place. It might be drifted in a
bit, but the going shouldn’t be too rough.”

“No problem. I’m just glad to be on a horse
again.” She patted Beauty’s neck. “You’re ready for a ride, too, aren’t you,
girl?”

Beauty whinnied in response to her gentle touch
and soft voice.

“She remembers you.”

“Yeah, I think she does. She’s in excellent
shape. Do I have you to thank for that?”

“Yes, ma’am. Guilty as charged. Feel like
trotting or do you want to keep to a slow walk?”

“Can we ride for a short way? Really ride?”

“The wind will be kind of cold in the face, but
we should be all right. Let’s go.”

They rode side-by-side down the road with
Rounder running along beside them. Her face felt like it was freezing, but the
fresh air felt so good, she hated to slow down.

“Better rein in. We’ll trot the horses for a
while so they’re not too sweaty when we stop.”

“Okay.”

They trotted along until the house came into
view, and she slowed Beauty to a walk.

“
Cal
,
it’s beautiful! No one told me he’d built a log cabin.”

“Yep.
Cam
had
the logs hauled down here when we enlarged the north pasture. He spent weeks
peeling the bark and sanding them smooth.”

“Well, it was certainly worth it. Just look at
that place. It almost glows in the sun.”

“Yes, beautiful!”

She felt his gaze and turned to look at him,
knowing his words were aimed at her and not the cabin. The compliment had her
feeling all warm and fuzzy inside, and she smiled. He smiled back and reached
for her hand as the horses walked abreast of each other toward
Cam
’s place.

Uncle Cam,
please forgive me, but I need this man and I’m going to have him…today.

Cam
even had a hitching rail running across the front of his verandah.
They dismounted, and
Cal
unearthed a couple blankets from his saddlebags to spread one over each horse.
He’d brought along a shovel and used it to clear a path to the front door, then
unlocked it and went in first. She followed a few steps behind.

There was no sign of anyone else having been
around, the house warm and cozy as they entered. The promise foretold by the
exterior fulfilled in spades as she noted the elegant interior. The huge living
room had a cathedral ceiling and a loft overlooked the entire room; hardwood
floors covered with plush scatter rugs placed in front of the furniture, a
fireplace at the far end, and huge plate glass windows to let in the sun.
Gorgeous!

“Come on. The kitchen’s through here.” He
grabbed her hand and tugged her along behind him.

Cedar cupboards gleamed to equal the shine of
the ceramic tiled floor. There weren’t any curtains at the windows to block the
view of the creek. Patio doors led from the dining area to a huge back deck.
The bathroom was next, complete with corner shower stall and a sunken whirlpool
tub.

They retraced their steps to the front entry and
climbed the curving staircase to the loft. There she found two good-sized
bedrooms with a half bath shared in between. A smaller bedroom, tucked into the
far corner, seemed to be in use as a home office.

“This place has the feel of him. Did he design
it himself?” she asked.

“Yes, he did. Worked on it until he had
everything just the way he wanted it then he started to build. We all pitched
in when we could, especially with the basement, but
Cam
was very precise with his directions. This was his vision, his baby and no one
wanted to make a mistake.”

Leah laughed. “He can be a hard taskmaster at
times.”

“Never more so than when we worked on this
house, but look at the end result. He knew what he wanted and went for it,
stick by stick.”

“Shouldn’t that be log by log?” she asked,
laughing.

“Logs, sticks…we used plenty of both.”

She walked over and bounced on the edge of the
bed. “Oh, this is comfy!”

“Want to try it out?”
Cal
asked with a lascivious quirk to his
eyebrows.

“Oh, lordy! Uncle Cam would never forgive me.”

“Who says he’d have to know?”
Cal
said as he assisted her to her feet.

Super conscious of being in her uncle’s house—in
his bedroom—she hesitated, unsure of their next step, until
Cal
spoke.

“Leah.” His voice was a breathy whisper as he
undid the zip of her jacket, pushing it back off her shoulders.

She grasped the edges together. “No, Cal. Not
here. This is my uncle’s bedroom. It doesn’t feel right.”

“Where then, if not here?”

“Let’s go back downstairs.”

“All right. I can build a fire if you want.”

“Can we stay that long? I’d hate for Luke or Dad
to worry and come looking for us.”