His Hometown Cowgirl (16 page)

She pulled the collar of her shearling jacket
closer to her neck, then stuffed her hands in the pockets to warm
them. It was getting colder outside. She'd have to leave soon; she
couldn't let Jasmine stand in the wind for very long.

Gazing at the old fireplace, wishing a
roaring fire burned in the cold empty grate, Kelsey immersed
herself in her thoughts again.

Pete had said they were good together. And
they were. But that just made everything worse. Not only did she
feel like she'd had betrayed Chris, it was like she'd lost him all
over again. Her grief was painful, yet it was safe and familiar.
Almost like a cloak shrouding her, protecting her from a future
filled with unknowns.

Moving on wasn't safe at all. She was scared
to risk her heart again, scared to risk loving again. Scared of
giving into her feelings for Pete, feelings that had been a part of
her all these years. A sob caught in her throat.

Face it, Kels. You have to make a choice. You
can keep on mourning Chris and give Pete up completely, or . .
.

Pain sliced through her heart when she
thought about cutting Pete out of her life like that. She loved
Pete.
Really
loved him. She knew that now.

Kelsey inhaled deeply, tilted her head back
against the rocker and stared at the old wooden rafters in the
ceiling. The time had finally come to accept that Chris was gone
for good. He was
never
coming back. She had to come out of
hiding. She had to learn to live and love again, freely and
joyfully.

Chris was the one who had died. Not her. She
was still alive and needed to join the human race once again. It
was past time.

Lightning flashed outside the two small
windows of the cabin. Thunder rumbled close by, shaking the rafters
up above. More dirt and debris showered down on Kelsey. Rain lashed
at the front door, and Jasmine's frightened whinny sounded on the
wind,

Well, damn. Her time of soul-searching in
peaceful solitude was over. She needed to get moving and fast.
Another clap of thunder rattled the dust-smudged windowpanes and
the entire ceiling shook again. With her heart in her throat,
Kelsey jumped up, getting ready to make for the door.

A rafter crashed to the ground. Swallowing a
scream, she ran and jerked the door open, but not in time. The roof
caved in on top of her, and she hit the floor with a hard
thump.

The last thing she saw were flames from the
overturned lantern flickering all around her . . . then everything
faded into darkness.

****

Pete listened to the howling wind that had
brought in the second violent thunderstorm of the day. Heavy rain
plopped loudly on the tin roof. It sounded good, because it had
been so long since it had rained. In West Texas, rainstorms were
few and far between. They could go months without moisture of any
kind, and then when it finally did rain, it poured. Really
poured.

Pete was thankful for the rain. Maybe it
would cut down on the scattered wildfires he'd been helping to
fight. He sure hoped so. Fighting fires was in his blood; it was
challenging work. But he hated seeing so much destruction, loss of
life, and devastation of the land. The rain was mighty welcome.

After Kelsey's hasty exit, he'd tried to
watch television, only nothing held his interest. He'd picked up
his book in hopes of losing himself in the murder/mystery he'd
started reading last week.

But it was no good either. The words on the
pages blurred before his eyes as his mind kept replaying the scene
in his bedroom from earlier in the evening. Kelsey had been so
upset after they'd made love. His own body still felt replete, but
conflicting emotions raged inside his brain . . . and his
heart.

Damn.
He shouldn't have let her leave
without trying to comfort her and make sure she would be okay. What
the hell had he been thinking to let her go off like that?

Grabbing his phone, he punched Kelsey's
number, and it went immediately to voicemail. He tried texting her,
but again . . . no response.

Had she gotten home safely? Should he call
Mrs. Ruth to find out?

Pete squeezed the cell phone in his hand.
Would Kelsey appreciate him worrying her grandmother? He could see
her in his mind's eye, staring at him with indignation sparkling in
her blue eyes. He could almost hear her scolding him for thinking
she couldn't take care of herself.

Well, that was just too fucking bad.

He was worried about her, so he was going to
check on her. It was as simple as that. He punched the number to
the big ranch house, and Ruth McCade answered on the first ring.
"Kelsey? Is that you, baby? Did you forget to charge your phone
again? Are you with Pete?"

Pete's stomach catapulted with unprecedented
panic, protectiveness, and possessiveness. Damn, Kelsey
wasn't
home. "Hey, Mrs. Ruth. It's Pete. I was checking to
see if Kelsey made it home after she delivered Ranger to me. She's
not there, I take it?"

"Oh, Pete!
No, she isn't here.
I'm
just worried sick. Austin's worried . . . Well, we all are. He told
me how he'd seen her when they'd found your naughty Ranger. He said
Kelsey told him she'd see him at dinner, but she never showed up.
Merciful heavens, where can that child be?" Pete heard a choked sob
and sniffle. Poor Mrs. Ruth. She cried over every little thing.
Only this wasn't a little thing; she had every reason to cry. Pete
felt the chill of fear and helplessness slither down his spine.

"I'm sorry, Pete," Mrs. Ruth said. "I'm so
upset, I can't think straight. Austin's gone to look for Kelsey. He
said he might know where she is. Do you know where she could
be?"

The loud pounding on the front door and
Ranger's enthusiastic bark of greeting announced the arrival of
Kelsey's father, if Pete weren't mistaken. He wasn't the least bit
surprised though. "I think I know where Kelsey went, Mrs. Ruth.
I'll let you know if . . .
when
I find her. Goodbye,
now."

He ended the call and headed for the
door.

More pounding. Louder barking. "Lafferty!"
Austin McCade shouted. "Goddamnit! Open up!"

Yep, it was Kelsey's dad all right. Ranger
was jumping at the door, his tail wagging furiously. For some
reason, the dog was partial to Austin. Kelsey, too.

Pete could relate. He'd always been partial
to Kelsey.

He jerked open the door, and Ranger swished
past him to run outside and off into the rain. "Ranger! Come back
here!" Pete shook his head at the dog quickly disappearing into the
rainy mists of the storm.

Austin stepped inside, swiping his Stetson
across jean-clad legs, knocking most of the raindrops off the hat.
He stomped his boots on the doormat. "Kelsey's not here? I thought
for sure, she'd still be here. Where is she, Lafferty? She never
made it home for dinner. Where the hell is my daughter? Where did
she go after she dropped off that damn dog of yours?"

Pete moved back to stand his ground in the
foyer. "She said she needed to be alone. I believe I know where she
is, sir."

Austin McCade straightened to his full
height, lifted his chin and glared at Pete. "And just
why
did Kelsey need to be alone?" he said in a dangerously soft voice.
"What did you do to her? Answer me, damn it."

Pete could certainly understand Austin's
anger; the man was concerned for his daughter's welfare. Even so,
no way was he going to let Austin intimidate him. Pete had a stake
in the outcome of this situation.
A very big stake
.

He cleared his throat. "I know you're worried
about Kelsey," he said. "I'm worried about her, too. In fact, I
just called Mrs. Ruth to check and make sure she'd gotten home. I
couldn't believe Kelsey hadn't made it back. I was just getting
ready to go search for her."

Austin gritted his jaw, apparently striving
for patience. "Tell me where she is, son. She could be in trouble.
With Kelsey, you never know. She seems strong on the outside, but
she's fragile on the inside. Even more so, since she lost her
fiancé."

Pete nodded his head. "I know she is. I was
going to see if she'd gone to the old dugout. She once told me she
went there sometimes to get away and think."

"The old dugout? Kelsey? I wasn't aware she
even knew about it, much less that she used it for a refuge."
Austin slapped his Stetson back on his head and turned toward the
door. "Okay. I'll take it from here."

Pete didn't think so. "With all due respect,
sir . . . I'm coming with you."

Austin wheeled abruptly on his heel to face
him again. "Haven't you done enough already? Leave her the hell
alone. She's confused and hurting. Don't add to her misery."

"I have no intention of adding to her misery.
In fact, I hope to add to her happiness."

Austin's eyes widened. "Are you saying you're
in love with my daughter?"

"Yes, sir," Pete said, holding Austin's
astonished gaze. "That's exactly what I'm saying."

Austin whistled under his breath. "I'll be
damned. After all those years she had a crush on you, and you never
gave her the time of day."

Pete hunched a shoulder and shook his head.
"How could I? She was so much younger. And I didn't realize I felt
anything more than affection for her until . . . well, never mind
that. You have to know I would never hurt her intentionally,
sir."

"I guess I do know that," Austin conceded
reluctantly. "But all this can wait. I have to find her and make
sure she's safe. I don't know how you were planning to get to the
dugout.
I'm
going back to the ranch and grab a horse." He
turned toward the door ready to make a hasty exit.

Pete clamped a hand on the older man's
shoulder. "Let's take the chopper. It's quicker. We'll be able to
search better from up in the air, and if she
is
hurt, we'll
be able to fly her to the emergency room in Abilene."

A look of respect shone in Austin's eyes.
"You
do
love her, don't you?"

Pete's heart beat fast and steady as the
truth suddenly dawned on him.
He loved Kelsey McCade.
He'd
probably loved her for years.

"Yes, sir. I do. Now, let's get going."

****

The thunderstorm raged about them, and the
rain and wind viciously lashed the helicopter as it hovered over
the pastures. Pete had a tough time with visibility, which was poor
at best. He squinted past the curtain of rain shrouding the
chopper, flying more by instinct than anything else.

His mind focused on one thing and one thing
only:
Kelsey
. He loved her. He had to find her. Dear God in
heaven, she had to be safe. She just had to.

She
should
be okay. The dugout had
withstood more than a century of being battered by countless
merciless storms. She'd be safe if she'd stayed put. But what if
she'd tried to return home? What if her horse had stumbled over a
rabbit hole or something, and Kelsey had taken a fall? Other
worst-case scenarios played in his imagination.

He
had
to find Kelsey. He strained his
eyes as he squinted past the rain to the wet ground below. He would
find her. He had to find her.

"I didn't know the dugout was still there."
Austin's voice boomed into Pete's ear through the headgear. "I
haven't been over that way in years. I would've thought it had
collapsed in on itself a long time ago."

Pete's stomach twisted painfully. Austin's
concerns echoed his own. "Kelsey said it was still in good shape.
They built them to last back in the day." He deliberately blocked
all negative thoughts from his brain and started praying like he'd
never prayed before.

"We're getting close," Pete said. "I'll have
to find a place to land."

As they neared the dugout, the rain let up
and the wind died down. He scanned the clearing near the canyon for
a place to set down the chopper.

"Look!" Austin said, pointing to the ground
below. "Some kind of large animal is running toward the canyon.
Well, I'll be damn.
It's your dog
."

Pete couldn't believe his eyes. Ranger was
running full tilt towards the dugout. He must have started running
the moment he escaped after Pete had opened the door for Austin.
Ranger could run like the wind, but how had the Husky known Kelsey
was in trouble?

"What do you think Ranger's doing?" Austin
said, peering toward the ground below.

"Looks like he's started digging--"

"
Oh, shit!"
Austin said. "The dugout
has
caved in. Kelsey must be trapped inside. Oh God, I have
to see if she's--no, I can't say it . . . I
won't
say it."
Austin's deep voice ended on a choke.

The man obviously loved his daughter very
much. And now, Pete knew he loved Kelsey, too. His heart stopped
beating as he stared at the place in the side of the hill where the
dugout had been built. Where Ranger was digging fast and
furiously.

A tree had crashed onto the roof, the roots
extending skyward like arms seeking rescue, the earth closing in
around the trunk like a moon crater.

It took a minute for Pete to catch his
shuddering breath. "Hold on," he said to Austin. "This landing's
going to be rough."

He maneuvered the chopper toward the clearing
in front of the dugout door. He saw Kelsey's horse tied to the old
soapberry tree that still stood proud and tall. As soon as he set
the chopper down, Austin jumped to the ground and ran toward the
collapsed dugout. Pete was right behind him.

Ranger barked a greeting, then went back to
digging.

"Kelsey! Baby! Are you in there?
Kelsey?"
Austin called.

Pete and Austin stood outside the door, which
was hanging crooked on its hinges, and stared at the mud and debris
protruding all around. Then they stared at each other. Pete
wondered if his own eyes mirrored the same devastation he saw in
Austin's.