Everyone will remember that name now, Dusty thought.

  Monte had stopped talking again and was listening now, his expression making it clear that he, too, heard the sound of what could have been a helicopter outside, coming closer.

  “I’m sorry it has to end like this,” he said. “Boone was a bad seed. It was my fault for letting him infect me and my wife. Once he is gone… I’m just sorry that he killed so many people before he was stopped.” Monte raised the gun, pointing it at Letty.

  Dusty still had hold of her friend’s hand. “No!” Dusty cried, stepping in front of Letty to lunge for the lantern Monte had left on a small bench nearby. She flung the lantern in Monte’s direction as she dragged Letty to the barn floor with her.

  The deafening sound of a gunshot boomed in the empty barn, sending a flock of pigeons flapping down from the rafters overhead. Dust filled the air an instant after the lantern ricocheted off Monte’s arm. Glass exploded as the lantern hit the floor. Fuel and flames skittered up the dry wood wall, setting the straw bales on fire.

  Dusty and Letty scrambled to their feet. But Monte was blocking the door, the gun raised as he tried to take aim at them. They dove for the back of the barn, realizing too late there was no way out as flames lapped at the dried wood of the old barn, thick smoke quickly filling the small space.

  Dusty’s eyes burned as she pulled the corner of her jacket up to cover her mouth and nose. Letty did the same. They were trapped. There was no place to run. No place to hide. Monte raised the gun.

  Something moved behind Monte. Dusty felt her heart jump, praying it would be help. Boone Rasmussen materialized in the doorway.

  “Monte!” He picked up the pitchfork and called again. “Monte!”

  Monte turned slowly, seeming surprised to see Boone, even more surprised to see the pitchfork in his hand. The older man shook his head, as if he knew Boone wouldn’t use it. He raised the gun and fired.

  Boone stumbled back a step and looked down at the blood pouring out of the bullet hole in his chest. Then he raised the pitchfork and lunged at Monte.

  Monte fired again. Through the smoke, Dusty saw Boone fall to his knees. Behind him, Ty appeared like a mirage from out of the darkness in the barn doorway.

  The fire crackled all around them, sweeping up the walls, setting the roof on fire.

  Dusty called to Ty to watch out as Monte raised the gun to fire at him. She rushed Monte, Letty beside her. They hit him hard from behind. He stumbled and went down.

  Ty grabbed Dusty and Letty and dragged them out of the inferno. Dusty caught sight of her brother as Cash pulled Boone’s body out as charred timbers began to fall from overhead.

  Cash started to go back for Monte, But it was too late. The roof collapsed in a shower of sparks and smoke. Dusty buried her face in Ty’s chest as flames engulfed what was left of the barn—and Monte Edgewood.

  Chapter Fifteen

  Dusty felt as if she were in a fog as they left the Edgewood ranch and headed for the clinic in town.

  Boone had already been pronounced dead at the scene. Parts of the barn still burning. The fire department and coroner had been called.

  Cash had the helicopter take Dusty and Letty to the clinic, sending Ty along with them. Although everyone involved in the case seemed to be dead or, in Sierra’s case, in jail, Cash wasn’t taking any chances.

  Cash stopped by the hospital with questions for Dusty and Ty. Dusty told her brother about the night after the rodeo when someone had followed her home.

  “It was Boone,” Dusty said. “I didn’t know it at the time, but he must have seen me pick up the syringe. I stuck it in my purse and forgot all about it.”

  “I’ve seen all the stuff you have in that purse, so I can believe that,” Cash said. “But why pick it up at all?”

  Dusty shot him a duh look. “One of the horses could have stepped on it. Any rancher would pick it up and pocket it.”

  “Probably why I became a sheriff,” he said.

  “Sierra is singing like a canary from her jail cell in Bozeman,” Cash said. “She said she’d awakened the night Clayton T. Brooks was murdered to see her husband coming in from the far pasture, his shirt and jeans covered in blood. She’d pretended to be asleep as he put the clothes into the washer and showered before returning to bed.”

  “So she knew,” Ty said shaking his head.

  “When she’d heard Clayton had been murdered and that Cash thought Clayton had come out to the Edgewood Roughstock Ranch the night he died, Sierra still couldn’t believe Monte had killed him,” Cash said. “At least that’s her story. She said she thought Monte was covering for Boone.”

  “What about Waylon’s murder?” Ty asked.

  “Sierra says Waylon had been by the ranch the day he died,” Cash said. “She’d seen Waylon and Monte out in the yard arguing.”

  “So you think Waylon tried to blackmail Monte?”

  “Appears that way,” Cash said. “According to Sierra, Monte had come into the house upset. Later he left and when he came back, she smelled smoke on him. But she also smelled smoke on Boone later that night when she went to his bed. Boone said it was from Lamar smoking in his truck. We still don’t know how Boone’s watch ended up in the ashes at Waylon’s house if Monte set the fire.”

  Dusty frowned. “I might. You know that night at the rodeo in Sheridan, the night Boone chased me home? I saw Boone drop something on the ground. At the time I just saw something glitter. It must have been his watch because Monte picked it up and pocketed it.”

  “Then used the watch to try to frame Boone for Waylon’s murder and the fire,” Cash said.

  “So Sierra really did take Boone’s truck to get away from Monte?” Ty asked.

  Cash nodded. “She says she realized he knew about her and Boone and that she feared he planned to kill her, too.”

  “Why?” Letty asked. “Why would someone like Monte Edgewood do this?”

  “Greed, pride, the need to be somebody,” Cash said. “He saw that Devil’s Tornado could make him famous. Once he found out that Boone was drugging the bull, he chose to kill to cover the deception.”

  “By killing?” Ty asked. “He couldn’t possibly think he could get away with it.”

  “Once he found out about Sierra and Boone, he planned to frame Boone for all the murders,” Dusty said, remembering what Monte had said in the barn last night.

  “According to Sierra, under the contract Monte had with Boone, if something happened to Boone, Monte would get Devil’s Tornado,” Cash said. “Except it turns out that Devil’s Tornado is really a docile bull named Little Joe.”

  “What happens to the Edgewood Roughstock Ranch and Little Joe?” Dusty asked.

  “Sierra inherits it all,” Cash said. “She already has a lawyer looking into selling everything, lock, stock and barrel. I would imagine that will be the last we see of her.”

  “So it’s over,” Ty said.

  “Seems that way,” Cash agreed.

  Dr. Taylor Ivers came back into the room to give Letty and Dusty some salve for the slight blistering they’d suffered on their faces. She’d already treated them for smoke inhalation and said they could go.

  Dusty thanked the doctor. Taylor was part of the McCall family in an extended way. Everyone had thought Taylor would leave town after everything that had happened, but she seemed determined to stay on at the clinic.

  Taylor seemed to be lightening up a little. Dusty had heard that Taylor and her sister Anna Austin VanHorn McCall even had lunch once a week now.

  “You need a ride home?” Cash asked Dusty.

  “I borrowed a pickup from a friend,” Ty said quickly. “I’ll take her and Letty home.”

  Cash smiled and nodded, giving his sister a hug before he left.

  When Ty pulled up in front of Letty’s motel, Hal Branson was waiting for her.

  Hal had been out of his mind when she hadn’t shown up for their date and, after talking to the police, had driven clear to Antelope Flats in the middle of the night because he’d been so worried about her. The last time he’d talked to Letty, she was headed for the rodeo to meet Dusty—and Hal had feared she’d met up with more than Dusty.

  Dusty couldn’t have handpicked a man more perfect for Letty, she thought, when she met Hal. She could just imagine their children. And seeing the joy in both of their faces, Dusty had a feeling marriage and children wouldn’t be that far off.

  Hal offered to make coffee since the sun would be coming up soon. He and Letty went into the house behind the motel office.

  “I’ll give you a ride home,” Ty offered. “Unless you want to stay here and have coffee.”

  Dusty shook her head. “Three’s a crowd.” She reached over and took one of the keys off the board behind the motel desk. “Looks like No. 9 is empty,” she said and tossed the key to him.

  TY STARED DOWN at the key, then up at Slim. He’d never been so thrown off balance by any woman in his life. His gaze met hers.

  “Well?” she asked.

  “Slim—”

  “I know. It’s been one hell of a night. I have no intention of going home and having to tell this story again.” Her eyes locked with his. “Nor do I plan to spend what’s left of this night alone in my bed.” She smiled. “I already told Cash I wouldn’t be coming home tonight. You going to try to make a liar out of me?”

  “You sure about this, Slim?”

  “More sure than I have ever been about anything in my life,” she said leaning into him to kiss him. “And you know me.”

  He chuckled. “Oh, yeah, I know you, Slim.” And he was about to get to know her better. “But I have to tell you that I always pictured us married first, me carrying you over the threshold of our new house.”

  “Really?” She smiled. “How long would it take to build this house?”

  “Six months, at least.”

  “Great,” she said, taking the motel room key from his hand. “That will give us plenty of time to get to know each other better. Starting tonight.”

  She started to walk past him, but he reached out and pulled her to him, kissing her as he took the motel room key.

  “It’s not the same as our own home, mind you,” he said as he swung her up in his arms and shoved open the door. “But for tonight, it will have to do.”

  DUSTY WAS TREMBLING when he set her down in motel room No. 9. Nine for luck, she thought as she looked up at him. A chill rippled across her skin, an ache in her belly. This was Ty, a boy she’d known all her life.

  Only as she looked at him, she realized he wasn’t a boy anymore. She was staring into the eyes of a man. A man whom she suspected would continue to surprise her until the day she died.

  A shudder quaked through her as he took her in his arms and kissed her, deepening the kiss as he molded his body to hers.

  “Ty,” she moaned against his wonderful mouth.

  His large hands took her shoulders and backed her up until she was pressed against the wall. His mouth dropped to hers again. The sensation was like fireworks exploding through her body.

  He rested his hand on the curve of her hip. Snaked his fingers up her rib cage and slipped it under the edge of her bra. A soft sigh escaped her lips as his warm hand cupped her breast. He bent to press his mouth against her throat, sending a shiver of kisses along the rim of her ear. His tongue licked across her warm skin as his hands skimmed over her body, as if he were memorizing every inch, tasting every inch.

  Her fingers dug into his muscled back as he carried her over to the bed. “Slim,” he whispered, then drew back. “Would you rather I call you Dusty?” he asked, so serious it made her laugh.

  She shook her head. She was his Slim and they both knew it.

  She didn’t remember him taking off her clothes. Or her taking off his. But suddenly they were naked, their bodies melding together as they rolled around on the bed, laughing and kissing, his blue eyes a flame burning over her bare skin, hotter than the fire in the barn.

  His mouth dropped to her breast and she thought she would die from the sheer pleasure of it. She buried her hands in his thick hair, moaning as he gently bit down on her hard nipple, arching against him, loving the feel of flesh to flesh. Loving Ty.

  He made love to her slowly, gently, with a kind of awe, as if amazed that she had given herself to him so completely. She found even the pain of her first time was pleasurable. They made love again as the sun rose on another day, all the horror of what they’d been through slipping away like clouds after a rainstorm.

  In Ty’s arms, she found everything she’d dreamed of and more. He fulfilled her every fantasy as if he knew exactly what she wanted. What she needed. Later, she propped herself up on one elbow and looked down at him, surprised that she felt no embarrassment.

  “Your father is going to think we’re too young to get married,” Ty said, running his thumb along her lower lip.

  She kissed the rough pad of his thumb and shook her head. “My father will be delighted.”

  Ty didn’t look so sure about that.

  “You’ll see. I know my father.” She fell silent for a moment, thinking about Asa. “Can I tell you something?”

  “You can tell me anything, Slim.”

  “I think he’s dying.”

  Ty sat up in surprise. “Oh, honey.”

  She nodded and brushed at the tears that blurred her eyes. “I saw something in his expression at the last family dinner. I think he planned to tell us all, but then Cash had to leave.” She bit down on her lower lip as Ty pulled her to him, holding her tightly in his arms.

  They made love again, slow and sweet. She fell into a deep sleep in Ty’s arms, only to be awakened by the phone late the next day.

  Ty answered it, listened, then handed it to her, his face set in a grim line that frightened her.

  “Dusty?” It was Shelby. What was her mother doing calling her? The only way she would have known where to find her was from Cash—and there was no way he would have told Shelby about what had happened last night.

  “What’s wrong?” Dusty asked, sitting up, thinking it might be about her father.

  “You have to come home,” Shelby said.

  Dusty was ready to launch into a speech about how she was twenty-one and she didn’t have to explain herself when Shelby said, “I wouldn’t have called you, Dusty, but it’s your father.”

  Dusty gripped the phone tighter.

  “He wants everyone to come out to the ranch,” Shelby said. “Rourke, Brandon and J.T. are already here with their wives. Cash and Molly are on their way. You’re welcome to bring Ty with you. This concerns everyone who your father—” her voice broke “—loves.”

  Dusty could hear her mother crying softly.

  “We’ll be right there.”

  ONCE EVERYONE WAS SEATED around the large dining room table, Asa McCall stood. It took all the strength he had, but he wanted to do this standing. He didn’t want them to see how weak he was. Soon enough, they would know.

  “I appreciate you all coming on such short notice,” he said, looking around the table at each of them, his sons and their wives or soon-to-be-wives, Dusty and Ty. He’d always hoped his headstrong daughter would realize that the man of her dreams lived just up the road.

  There was so much he wanted to say to them.

  To think he’d almost lost Dusty last night. Cash had filled him in, no doubt leaving out many of the more frightening details. The thought that Dusty might not be here with them practically dropped him to his knees.

  Shelby reached over and took his hand, squeezed it and smiled reassuringly at him. The love of his life. Strong, just like her daughter. He thanked God for that.

  He cleared his throat and began the story about his friend Charley and the land deal, telling the story quickly, simply.

  He knew his children would understand the consequences at once. They were too smart not to.

  When he’d finished, J.T. had his head in his hands. Everyone looked stricken.

  “I don’t see how you could have let something like this happen,” J.T. said, then shook his head.

  “It happened,” Rourke cut in. “The question is, what can we do?”

  Asa shook his head and suddenly had to sit down. “We haven’t enough money or capital to buy him out. The mineral rights are worth more than the land.”

  “There must be some way to stop this,” Cash said. “Have you talked to a lawyer?”

  “The contract cannot be broken,” Asa said. “I’ve already tried to buy back the mineral rights. He wouldn’t sell to me even if I could raise that much money.”

  “But we’re at the north end of the coal fields,” Rourke said. “There might not even be any coalbed methane gas at this end of the valley. That mineral rights contract might not be worth the paper it’s written on.”

  “It seems Charley’s son is willing to take that chance,” Asa said.

  “It will change the ranch, but we will still own the land,” Dusty spoke up, as if waiting for worse news. He’d seen the look in her eyes when she’d come into the room. She knew he was dying. Like her mother, she probably could also see how weak he was and that this was taking every ounce of his strength.

  He smiled down the table at her, grateful to have such a daughter.

  “There will be roads all over to the gas well heads,” Rourke was saying. “Even if they don’t find gas, they will drill for months. Maybe even years, putting in roads, ruining the land.”

  “Yesterday, I received a letter in the mail that Charley’s son has sold the mineral rights lease,” Asa said and looked down the table at his youngest son. “It was bought up by Mason VanHorn.”

  He watched Brandon look over at his wife, Anna VanHorn McCall, in surprise. Asa had been trying to come to terms with the fact that Brandon had gone against his wishes and married Anna. He’d feared that the long-standing feud between the McCalls and the VanHorns would end up destroying his son’s life. When he’d seen the letter and found out that Mason VanHorn had bought up the mineral rights lease for McCall land, Asa knew his worst fear had come true.

  Only Mason VanHorn had the kind of money to buy up the lease. Asa was thankful he wouldn’t live long enough to see a VanHorn drilling on McCall land.