When All My Dreams Come True (24 page)

The sun would be setting before too much longer. Maybe he could sneak off using the darkness for cover, that is, if the shooter didn’t sneak up on him first. He sent another shot toward the trees to make sure his attacker didn’t get too comfortable. Another blast came back, skipping off the top of the boulder.

He lay for almost an hour, trading a shot now and then with his foe. The sound of hoofbeats reached his ears. They grew louder. Jace squirmed around trying to find them and spotted two horses and one rider. He grinned when he recognized Dew’s horse and figure.

“Look out, Dew. There’s a shooter in the trees.”

Dew pulled his rifle and sent several shots in that direction. None of them were returned. Jace lifted his hat above the boulder. No bullet came to knock it from his hand. He took a deep breath and stood as Dew stopped next to him. He handed Jace the reins to his horse.

“I knew something was wrong when I saw your horse and you weren’t on it.” He nodded toward Jace’s arm. “You all right?”

“Just a scratch. Let’s check out these trees. Maybe he left something behind.” Jace mounted and headed toward the stand of trees. He reined his horse to a stop and stuck out his hand. “Thank you, Dew. I think you might have just saved my life.”

Darkness fell long before they reached the ranch. While Dew took care of the horses, Jace strode into Annie’s house, letting the door slam behind him. He wanted to see the look on Bobbie’s face when she saw he was still alive.

Annie slid her chair back. “I’m sorry, Jace. We waited for you before eating, but it got late.”

He ignored his sister and watched as Bobbie scanned his face. He knew the moment she saw the blood on his arm. Her eyes grew wide and her mouth fell open as she stood and rushed toward him.

“Jace, your arm. What happened?”

Annie didn’t give him time to sort through his thoughts as she bombarded him with questions. She shoved him onto a chair and dressed his wound as he gave a brief rundown.

“You need to tell the sheriff, Jace.” Annie’s face was only inches from his, so he saw the exact moment the tears formed. “I can’t lose you too.”

He pulled her into his arms. “It’ll be all right. I’ll tell him in the morning.”

Annie pulled away. “But Jace—”

“I don’t want anyone out at night, Annie.” He glanced around the table and took in Bobbie’s tears before noticing the scared expression on Ben’s face. He leaned toward his sister. “It’s getting too dangerous. Now let’s change the subject.”

He pulled his plate toward him and started filling it. “I sure hope this is good because I’m starved. Ben, you’re not eating. Is that your way of telling me your mom’s cooking is bad?” He gave the boy a wink and received a smile.

“Nope. Mama’s the best cook ever.” Ben sent his mother a grin and dug into his food.

Jace forced the food down to keep up appearances. A short time later, Pete took the kids off to get ready for bed. Jace managed to finish the meal without looking at Bobbie again. Then he stood and excused himself.

“Jace?” Annie’s voice stopped him.

“I’m fine, Annie. I’ll talk to Morgan in the morning, and everything will be all right.” He didn’t sound convincing even to his own ears, but it was the best he could do at the moment. “Good night.”

He took a deep breath of cool night air.
God, help me. I don’t know what to think anymore. Who do I believe? Who do I trust?
The verse from Proverbs came to him as if God answered from the stars shining overhead.
Trust in the Lord with all thine heart
. Peace settled over him as he said the verse aloud followed by a prayer of thanksgiving. There was still a long battle ahead of him, but God would be with him every step of the way.

Two days had come and gone since someone had used him for a target. Jace sat on his horse at the top of a rocky butte overlooking a vast portion of range speckled with several of his grazing cattle. The peaceful scene did nothing to calm the emotions raging through him.

He’d talked to Morgan as promised, but he didn’t know what good it had done. After all the questions and snooping around, they gleaned nothing new. Morgan approached Hank Willett about the shooting incident, which only served to produce more animosity between Jace and Hank. Morgan questioned Bobbie as to her whereabouts during the week. Jace observed from a distance, but he knew the moment Morgan asked where she was during the shooting. Her gaze seared his flesh. He hadn’t been able to look her in the eye since.

He reached up and massaged his shoulder, hoping to ease the tension throbbing at his temples. The effort was in vain. The only way to end the strain would be to find Bobbie innocent.

He gave a snort and shook his head. All his efforts to find evidence for or against her ended in nothing more than getting shot at and a headache. He’d come home to see her sad and questioning eyes gazing at him. She wanted answers. He had none to give.

He turned toward the sound of galloping hooves and found Sonny Marshall heading toward him. He reined in his horse with a skid.

“We’ve got another branded cow, Jace.”

“Does the brand look like the other ones?”

“There’s a slight difference. I’ll draw it for you when I head back
that way.” Sonny cleared his throat. “One more thing, Jace. The rumors we’ve heard about the mountain lion must be true. I just found two dead calves with cat prints around them. The calves’ mothers looked a bit beat up too.”

“Great. That’s just what I need.” He played all his options through his mind. Coop, David Lundy, and Dew each rode different portions of his property line. Adam Taylor and Bobbie were at the ranch. He couldn’t send Adam to hunt the mountain lion. That boy couldn’t shoot a hole in a lake. Most men scattered when he pulled his rifle.

“Ride back to the ranch and get Bobbie. Tell her that she’s to go with you to try and spot that cat. Tell her I’ve already spoken to the sheriff about leaving the ranch site, and it’ll be fine. It’s better if we go after that mountain lion in pairs, and Bobbie is the only one I can spare right now. Besides, she’s a better shot.”

“Ain’t it the truth.”

“I’m going to ride down and see if David’s finished checking the south property line. Then we’ll both join you.”

“Right.” Sonny spun his horse around and nudged him into a gallop. Jace stared at his retreating back. He could have sworn he saw a smile on Sonny’s face as he turned away.

Bobbie shoved the pitchfork deep, scooping up as much manure as she could before tossing it into the cart. Mucking stalls was one of her least favorite jobs, but it fit her mood. Why couldn’t she sing like Annie did during her tasks? Blaring out a tune would help her get through the drudgery, but the music wouldn’t come. Would she ever feel music in her soul again?

Two days. She shoved the pitchfork deep. For two days, Jace had avoided her, sending one of the other wranglers whenever he had a message. When they did have to come into contact, his attitude made her scurry from his presence. In all the glances she sent his
way, he never once tried to look at her. She could feel his tension no matter the distance between them.

She pitched the refuse into the cart. What had she done or said to make him turn on her? She came up empty. Maybe she should confront him, ask him what was wrong. Bobbie shook her head. Better to leave than face Jace in his present mood.

That thought had crossed her mind more than once. Leaving the ranch sounded like a great idea and yet dreadful at the same time. Morgan would track her down. Jace already seemed to lean toward her being guilty. Riding off would confirm it in his mind, even if she could pull it off. He made it a point to have one of the other wranglers near the ranch. She knew their main job was to keep an eye on her. That started the day after she wanted to race Mack around the ranch site to give him some exercise—the day Jace’s foul mood began.

She stabbed the fork into the ground and leaned on it. Jace wasn’t the only one acting as if she was guilty. Quite often in the last few days, she’d caught Coop staring, only to see him look away when their eyes met.

Unable to leave the ranch to prove her innocence, she had plenty of time to think. Maybe too much time. Some of the places her thoughts took her left her stunned. What about when she found Coop behind the bank with two other men? The way they had exchanged papers and then split up looked suspicious. Could they have something to do with the robberies?

Bobbie sighed and pulled the pitchfork loose. She wouldn’t do the same thing to Coop that others were doing to her. Besides, she liked Coop. He’d always been nice to her.

“Let’s go, Bobbie.” Sonny stood in the doorway of the barn. “We got work to do.”

“I
am
working.”

“No, I mean real work. Wrangler work. We got a mountain lion to hunt down and kill. Jace wants you with me on this. He said it’d be fine.”

The grin on Sonny’s face told her she’d heard right. She dropped the pitchfork, only to have to go back and move it to its rightful place. Neither the pounding in her chest nor her smile as she saddled Mack could be calmed.

Sonny and Bobbie headed out side by side. She heeled Mack into a gallop, anxious to feel the wind in her face. Mack seemed to feed on her exuberance, or maybe he was just as happy to be out on the run. She hated to rein him in, but she had to let Sonny catch up. The two exchanged a grin, and she knew he understood.

They stopped on the way toward the western boundary line where Sonny had found the cat tracks. He showed her where the branded cow was tied and did a quick sketch of the brands before turning it loose. Then he took her to where the mountain lion had killed the calves. After one more quick examination of the area, he led her toward the mountains, following the tracks of the cat.

They kept their horses in a slow walk, alert to any movements or sounds that might help them locate the mountain lion. Their rifles lay across their laps at the ready. It was wonderful to be out and feeling useful again.

Sonny cleared his throat. “Ya know, Bobbie, most of us don’t think you’re guilty.”

Try as she might, she couldn’t keep the tears from flooding her eyes. “Thank you, Sonny.”

He glanced back at the ground, checking on the tracks before turning to meet her gaze. “Ya might want to dry them tears, else you won’t be able to hit the side of the mountain. We need your eyes sharp right now.”

Laughter bubbled through her as she swiped at her eyes with the back of her hand.

“He’s only acting like that because he’s been deceived once before. He didn’t take that well either.”

She reined in her horse. “What do you mean, Sonny? Jace thinks
I’m betraying him? I thought he believed I was only guilty of robbing banks.”

Sonny pulled his hat lower on his forehead. “Oh, there now. I’ve gone and said too much.”

“Well, you’d better keep on talking. How does he think I’m betraying him?”

Sonny took too long examining one of the cat tracks.

“Sonny, you’ve got to tell me what Jace is thinking.”

“He’s starting to believe you’re playing a part in the cattle rustling. Leastways, that’s what Coop told me.”

“
What?
How could he possibly think I’d do such a thing?”

Sonny only shrugged and nudged his horse forward. “We’d better keep moving. Jace wants us to find that cat. He plans to join up with us after a bit.”

She followed him down the rocky trail, her mind playing over this new information. They came to a large outcropping of stones, skirted them, and moved farther up into the mountains.

“I’ve got an idea, Bobbie,” Sonny said. “There’s a good chance that cat may be holed up in that bunch of rocks up there. It may be waiting for nighttime before going down to chew on them calves some more. Why don’t you move a little farther down that way while I go up and around them? If I see that cat, I’ll fire a shot and try to chase him toward you. If you see it, take your best shot.”

“All right. Just be careful up there.”

“I will. You too.”

While Sonny headed farther up the mountain, she moved down it. When she found a good vantage point, she dismounted and tied Mack to some brush. Then she climbed up to a large rock, hunkered down, and waited.

She sat long enough for her muscles to feel stiff. Even her eyes felt dry from staring up the mountain. She laid her rifle on the boulder in front of her, stretched her legs out, and flexed the muscles, moaning at how good it felt. Then she raised her arms and, one at a time,
placed them behind her head, twisting and bending to get her circulation back.

Afterward, she turned back toward the mountain and studied the landscape. Still no movement. So much time had passed, and still no sign of Sonny. He should have made it around the rock cluster by now.

She grabbed her rifle. Something didn’t feel right. She stood and pressed against her lower back to relieve the ache. Voices coming from behind an outcropping froze her movements.

“Yer yella, Coop.”

Coop?
She squatted down and listened.

“I ain’t yella.”

“No? If you weren’t, you’d a taken care o’ that girlie as soon as you caught her watchin’ us behind the bank...or let us do it. We don’t need no witnesses.”

“I didn’t think she needed killing.”