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  Laura gave a weak smile to Tom Jansen and followed Seth out to a beat-up truck parked in front of the feed store. The back was piled high with sacks of feed and a wooden crate filled with assorted tools, boxes, and a small tray of plants.

  Seth held the passenger door for her. Laura braced herself, knowing he’d touch an elbow or arm to help her into the truck. She knew from experience that the slightest touch would send a wave of nausea and fear through her, but if she anticipated it ahead of time and focused on it, she could cover any flinching. Laura gritted her teeth and held herself still while he helped her into the truck.

  Seth ran around to the other side and settled himself next to her, then began a stream of chatter that didn’t seem to require any response from her.

  “Visiting May and her boys? Hmmm. You’ll love it out at the ranch. First time you’ve been here, I’d guess. I would’ve seen ya if you’d been out here before. I make the trip to Jansen’s twice a week, to keep up with what’s going on. My wife, Joelle—you’ll meet her soon if you stay for long—she can’t get around much nowadays so she stays up at the house. I bring back all the news from town when I come out. She likes to hear what everyone’s up to.”

  As Seth talked, Laura wondered how wise it was to come here. The way he spoke, it seemed as though everyone in a fifty-mile radius would know she was here within ten minutes. What on earth had she done, putting her trust in a stranger and taking his word that coming here to Texas, of all places, was the right thing to do?

  She’d done what she had to do, that’s what she’d done. Laura had done this to protect her unborn baby. She’d have to go to the Bishop Ranch and then decide if it was the right place to be. She still had nearly six hundred dollars after buying a one-way ticket from Connecticut to Austin and paying her bus fare out to Evers, Texas. It wasn’t nearly the amount she’d received when she sold her jewelry, but getting to that money was too risky for now.

  Laura watched the road go by and tried to listen as Seth talked next to her, but she didn’t process much of what he was saying. It seemed they were miles from nowhere, surrounded by fields dotted with cattle and barbed-wire fences. Seth slowed and turned at a wide wrought-iron gate anchored on either side by pillars of white stone. A looming sign over the entrance featured scrolled ironwork with large Iron Bs on either end with a horse in the center.

  It struck Laura as odd that the stone pillars were connected to wire fencing around the rest of the land, but that looked like the way it was done out here—ornate entrances flanked by nothing but strands of wires.

  “Well, this is it. I’ll take you on up to the main house where May’ll be. Cade’s probably out in the barns working with those animals he’s always taking in, and Shane’ll be in town. I expect you’ll want time to visit with May and get settled in before you see the rest of the family,” Seth said as he drove down a long dirt road with trees on both sides and green fields beyond.

  Laura nodded as he talked and didn’t let on that she had no idea who Cade or Shane were and that Josh had only told her to ask for May. Seth probably assumed she knew all of the Bishops well if she was coming for a visit, and she couldn’t blame him for that. Laura was good at acting. She’d been acting for the last three years so it came pretty easy to her now.

  A large red barn stood off to the left, looking a lot larger and brighter than she’d expected. When Laura thought of barns, she pictured faded rust-colored paint, run down in appearance, and sided with weather-beaten wood. This barn looked new and modern.

  Seth must have read her mind. “They put that new barn in about two years ago. Nothing but state of the art for Cade’s rescues,” he said with a laugh, but Laura didn’t know what he meant. She laughed anyway.

  They continued up the dirt road and she saw a paved walkway running alongside the road. She apparently had a lot to learn about ranches. She never would have imagined a paved walkway on a ranch.

  As the house came into view—a large house made of the same white stone as the pillars out front—she noticed a large white wraparound porch. A small woman came out leaning heavily on a cane. On the porch sat a wheelchair, perhaps explaining the paved walkway. The woman waved and a warm smile took over her open face.

  For reasons she couldn’t explain, Laura felt...relieved. At that moment, she felt as though everything might be all right after all. As though she hadn’t just lived a nightmare, had her world upended, and gone on the run. Somehow, in this older woman’s smile, Laura found a sliver of peace.

  Chapter Seven

  Cade watched Shane unfold himself out of the sensible sedan he’d parked in front of the barn. Cade thought a man who was six foot two should have a bigger car than that, but Shane just wanted a sensible, well-made, moderately priced car. Cade wondered why he didn’t get something bigger that he’d fit comfortably in, and that didn’t make him look like a sardine crammed in a tin can.

  He had called Shane as soon as he saw Seth drop off their mysterious visitor, but as soon as Shane started in with questions about her, he regretted making the call.

  “Did you see her? What did she look like?” Shane asked.

  “Couldn’t really see anything. Seth dropped her off up at the house and must have said ‘hi’ to Mama before he drove off. That was it,” Cade said with a shrug.

  “You didn’t see anything else?” Shane asked, squinting against the glare of the sun. “Do you think she’s a friend of Uncle Josh’s daughter? Was she young? Old?” Shane asked.

  Cade laughed and kept walking. “I think you can relax, Shane. She hardly seemed like a crazed killer, and I doubt Uncle Josh would send a con artist Mama’s way. What’s got you so worked up about this?”

  “Heck, I don’t know. I just worry about Mama nowadays. I know she likes setting up scholarship funds and helping everyone out, but I wish she’d done it all anonymously. It’s like sticking a huge billboard out on the road that says: ʻI’ve got money, and you can take advantage of me if you want.’ It makes her vulnerable to all kinds of people,” Shane said.

  Cade shook his head at his brother as they took the steps on the porch two at a time together. “I think law school made you bitter and pessimistic, brother.”

  A scowl was the only answer he got before they were at the door, looking through the inset window at the woman who had arrived less than a half-hour before.

  Cade hadn’t expected anyone like the petite blond woman who sat at his mother’s kitchen table, hands wrapped around a mug of hot tea as if she needed its heat. He wasn’t sure what he expected, but he knew she wasn’t it. She had long white-blond hair that fell over her shoulders in a silky wave. Her eyes were brown, but darkened in shadow as if she needed to sleep for several days to make up for deprivation or stress. There was something hauntingly familiar about her, but the image was too vague for him to figure it out.

  As he watched her through the window, her beauty was plain for any to see, but it was her body language that caught his attention. She may have been sitting, but she looked ready to flee at any moment. Her eyes froze on him and Shane when she saw them through the glass. Sure enough, she stood and braced herself as soon as Cade turned the handle on the door to walk into the kitchen. Against what, he didn’t know.

  Cade saw her tense, but also thought he saw a conscious effort to relax her body seconds later, as if she had practiced shielding her internal state.

  “Hey, Mama. We saw our guest had arrived and thought we’d come say hello.” Cade removed his hat and nodded at the woman watching him with wary eyes.

  “Boys, this is Laura. Laura, these are my boys. You’ll see Cade here on the ranch every day. Shane lives in town and works in his office there, but you’ll see him here every few days as well.”

  “It’s a pleasure to meet you,” came her quiet response. She was...dignified. Almost regal, as if she’d been trained how to hold herself, how to engage with people. How to put on the right show for those who watched.

  Laura sat down. Apparently, she had decided
not to run, but Cade couldn’t help notice the way she slid her backpack closer to her.

  “How do you know our Uncle Josh?” Shane dug right into the questions as he always did, earning frowns from Mama and an eye roll from Cade.

  “Will you excuse us a minute, Laura? Shane, Cade—in the den.” May Bishop didn’t ask her sons to join her, and she didn’t wait for a response. It was an order. She walked into the adjoining room and Cade knew she expected them to follow.

  Which they did. Cade shut the door behind them to try to keep the conversation from Laura’s ears, but he imagined she would guess they were arguing anyway.

  “Shane, I won’t say this again. That woman is welcome in my home and you won’t make her feel otherwise; do you understand me?”

  “Mama, you don’t know anything about her. She looks like trouble’s chasing hot on her tail, and we need to know what kind of trouble that is,” Shane said.

  May let out a huff of laughter but there was censure rather than humor in it. “You saw all that from one glance at that poor woman?”

  Cade stood and stared out the window at the long dusty drive that led to the house, waiting for his mother and brother to hash things out. He may have only spent thirty seconds with the woman, same as Shane, but he could also see she was running scared. It seemed clear to him that the woman wouldn’t be here if she didn’t need help. And, hiding out didn’t necessarily mean she’d done anything to deserve the trouble coming her way. He wasn’t as inclined as Shane was to give her the third degree, although he did wish he could figure out why she looked so familiar.

  “She’ll tell us why she’s here in good time, but until then, you’ll treat her with respect, Shane. And, you will not question her, you hear?” their mother said.

  Cade didn't wait to hear Shane’s response. Laura must have heard their conversation, because the front door slammed and Cade saw their beautiful houseguest hurrying down the walkway he’d paved for Mama, backpack slung over her shoulder, blond hair swinging out behind her.

  “We’ve got a runner,” Cade said as he shoved away from the window and headed for the front door. Shane caught up to him, but Mama only made it as far as the front porch. She’d need her wheelchair or help from one of them to make it any further.

  “Wait here, Shane,” Cade said as he moved to catch up to the woman. Shane didn’t listen, of course. He chased down their guest, and Cade saw what was about to happen a split second too late.

  Cade knew Shane meant her no harm. He only meant to talk to her, but Shane didn’t see what Cade had. Shane didn’t realize this wasn’t a woman you could touch casually in that way, at least not when she felt threatened and wanted to leave. Before Cade could stop his brother, Shane reached out to grab her arm.

  What he saw next was predictable to him, but it broke his heart to see. The woman dropped to the ground, crouched over, hands on her head to ward off blows she didn’t realize would never come while she was safe on their ranch.

  Shane stood over her, looking stricken, and Cade could hear Mama’s concerned questions from the porch behind him. Cade moved alongside Shane. “Go on back up to the house,” he said quietly, calmly. “Help Mama get lunch on the table. We’ll be up soon.”

  Shane didn’t argue.

  ***

  Laura was mortified. She moved her hands down from around her head, but used them to cover her face and the heat she knew would be in her cheeks. She knew she looked like an idiot. She squeezed her eyes shut and tried to keep the tears from falling though they burned behind her lids.

  By the time she got to the ranch, she had known she was on her very last legs, that she was tired in a way she hadn’t ever been before. Perhaps part of that was the pregnancy, but she had no idea how badly that would affect her ability to cope with things. One minute, she’d heard Shane talking about who she was and what trouble she might bring with her and the next, she felt she needed to get out of there. She had to go before he started asking questions she didn’t want to answer. All of her usual defense mechanisms and coping tricks had left her when she’d heard the men coming up behind her. And when Shane reached for her, she’d reacted to protect herself, her baby.

  The next thing she knew, she was on the ground in an embarrassing display of stupidity and foolishness. Patrick’s voice hissed in her ear. Fool. Get up of the floor, Laura. They’ll know what an idiot you are. Always showing your background. She could almost see him looking down at her as she crouched on the ground.

  Laura didn’t need Patrick’s voice to tell her how stupid she was right now. She knew it well enough herself. What would they think of her? She stayed where she was, kneeling on the ground, her face buried in her hands, making sure no tears would fall to the ground. She couldn’t bring herself to face anyone after that little display. Her heart beat too quickly in her chest and she needed to calm herself.

  Laura heard a soft voice behind her and heard one of the men walking back toward the house. She slid one hand to the side and saw Cade sit down next to her, arms draped casually over his drawn up knees. He kept his body angled toward the barn and didn’t reach out to her.

  “We’ll just stay here a bit. When you’re ready to get up, you reach out for my arm and I'll help you up, okay?” Cade said.

  Then, much to Laura’s surprise, he simply talked. He didn’t ask questions or try to figure out why she’d fallen to the ground and covered herself like the town idiot after a harmless touch. He didn’t make a big deal out of the fact that she was practically curled in a ball. He talked about nothing and everything all at once.

  “I’ve always loved this time of day. Come to think of it, I love any time of day, but this time is especially nice. Middle of the day…after morning chores are done: animals fed, stalls cleaned, all turned out to pasture. After lunch, I’ve got nothing but playtime to look forward to. Ride a few of the horses. Do some training with my girl, Red.”

  Cade’s voice was soothing, calming. A balm somehow on her frazzled nerves.

  “Hey, speak of the devil herself,” Cade said, and there was a spark of genuine pleasure to his voice that drew Laura’s head up a bit.

  When she lifted her head, she was face to face with a beautiful red dog wagging her tail, low and fast. The dog sniffed the air in Laura’s direction as if trying to get a reading of some sort, and her whole body began to wriggle as she came forward and licked at Laura’s hands. Hands that shook as Laura reached out, unsure of herself but drawn to the beautiful creature in front of her.

  The dog’s eyes were warm and deep and she let Laura pet behind her silky ears. The muscles that rippled beneath the dog’s short hair spoke of power and strength, but she was gentle and timid, almost as if she saw something familiar in Laura and wanted to connect with her.

  “Well, I’ll be. She really likes you,” Cade said with a laugh, and Laura looked over to see him watching as Red continued to wriggle under Laura’s pats and scratches. “She didn’t let me touch her until today. It took me about four weeks to earn that, and here you are on the farm for an hour and she waltzes up, pretty as a picture, and lets you snuggle with her. Ms. Red, I don’t mind telling you, I’m feeling a little like a jilted lover.”

  A smile tugged at the corners of Laura’s mouth. He still hadn’t pressed her for answers or tried to lure her back inside. Laura looked over at his kind green eyes that watched as she petted Red. If she didn’t get up soon, she’d either lose feeling in her legs or fall back in the dirt. With a deep fortifying breath, Laura reached out and took hold of Cade’s arm. Cade simply smiled and helped pull her to her feet. They walked inside together as if he’d simply taken her for a tour of the ranch before lunch.

  Chapter Eight

  Cade and May carried on an easy conversation during lunch, talking about the animals on the ranch, the new scholarship Shane was setting up for her, Red’s progress with people, and more. Shane sat quietly as if he didn’t know what to say to Laura, and Laura focused only on avoiding eye contact with everyone, and she found
that between Cade and May’s conversation, the air didn’t hang near as heavy as it could have.

  “Did you get José the papers to renew their lease, Shane?” May asked her oldest son.

  Shane nodded and swallowed a mouthful of food. “We signed everything last week. I wrote up a twenty-five year lease this time so we don’t have to worry about it for a while, but I gave him a clause to get out of it if he needs to.”

  “Good,” May said and then turned to Laura. “The ranch is four thousand acres, but we don’t use all of that anymore. We use about five hundred acres for the animals Cade rehabs, but we lease another thirty-five hundred acres to José Sandoval and his family. They own a small plot behind us that was too small to do much with. By leasing our land, they’re able to turn a profit on their cattle. You may see the cattle as they’re rotated through the different pastures from time to time, and José and his wife often come over for dinner on Sundays, and they help us out around here when we need them,” she explained.

  Laura nodded. Later, she would wonder why they didn’t use the land themselves anymore, but for now she was too distracted to think about anything other than whether staying on the ranch was a good idea. She needed to rest for a day or two, but considered moving on after that.

  Maybe she could get in touch with John Smith and have him send the permanent identity to her here before moving on. But would staying that long be wise?

  No. I’d better move on and have him send it to me down the road somewhere.

  Laura almost got lost in her thoughts, when May’s voice cut in and pulled her back to the present. “My husband was always more interested in his inventions than in running the ranch,” May said, with a wistful smile. “His family had worked it for generations, but he liked tinkering in the barn more than he liked keeping cattle in it. For years we all teased him about it.”

  Cade and Shane shared a wry smile as Laura looked from one of them to the other, trying to understand.