Page 44 of River Legacy
“Hank Armstrong in town sold me Mabel. He was worried I couldn’t drive it because—”
“It’s a stick shift,” he said for her. “What are you doing here?”
“I came back to try to help you keep your ranch.”
He lifted a brow. “I beg your pardon?”
“I know my father. He isn’t giving up. If anything, he’ll do whatever he has to do now to get what he wants. He’s up to something. I don’t know what, but I’m afraid he’s found another way to get the ranch.”
Ryder shook his head. “Why would I—”
“Trust me?” Now she interrupted him. “Because no matter what Claude said, I wasn’t running a con on you. I don’t expect you to believe me right now, but...” She looked around the ranch for a moment. “Being here with you, I was more myself than I’ve ever been. I couldn’t leave like that.”
He was swamped with such a rush of emotions he felt off balance. He wanted to believe her, but so much was at stake. How could he trust this woman? How could he not if she was telling the truth?
His heart thumped hard in his chest as if begging him not only to believe her but also to not let her go. Ryder told himself he couldn’t trust his heart any more than he could trust this woman.
Unfortunately, even though he had the heart of a fool in love, he wanted to trust it.
Victoria feared he didn’t believe her and that he’d never trust her again. Maybe she’d been too impulsive, forcing Claude to let her out on the edge ofPowder Crossing, then buying a pickup and coming back here. But she’d had to. Just as she had to make him understand. “Ryder—”
“You want to see Vic?” Brand called from the barn doorway, clearly ignoring the angry look his brother shot him.
“Vic?” she asked and heard Ryder groan as she passed him on the way to the barn. Once inside the cool darkness, she breathed in the familiar scent and went to the stall where the mare and foal were.
“I thought you were going to check that fence,” Ryder said pointedly to his brother.
Neither Vicky nor Brand paid him any attention.
“Oh, he’s so beautiful,” she said of the new colt. “I swear he’s gotten bigger since I saw him earlier.”
Brand chuckled at that. “We were about to let them out into the pasture,” he said. “Glad you didn’t miss it.” Then he grinned and shook his head. “You really did come back.”
She met his gaze. “I had to.”
Brand nodded. “Try not to break his heart.”
For a moment, she thought he was talking about the new colt. Then Ryder walked past her and opened the back of the stall to let the mare and her foal out into the pasture. The foal took off at a run after his mother. Victoria felt her throat close, and her chest hurt. She couldn’t help getting choked up as she watched the colt chasing after the mare. Her gaze went to Ryder leaning against the fence watching mother and son.
Her heart ached at just the sight of him. Shewanted to reach out, press her palm against his back, feel his strength through the sun-warmed fabric of his shirt. She wanted to touch him so badly that it made her ache inside. She felt her eyes fill with tears at the thought that he would turn her away again.
“I would imagine you two have something to talk about and I have some fence to check,” Brand said loud enough for his brother to hear. He tipped his hat at her and whispered “Good luck” as he picked up his horse’s reins from where he’d ground-tied them earlier and swung up into the saddle.
Victoria joined Ryder at the fence to watch the horses. Beyond them, she could see Brand riding off through the summer grass. They both seemed to watch him go, neither acknowledging the other.
She found herself holding her breath, half afraid of what Ryder would say, let alone what he’d do now that his brother was gone.
Securing the gate on the pasture, he turned to her. “Let’s go up to the house to talk.”
In front of a window that he cleaned the dust from, Claude had set up a viewing station, realizing that CJ had been right. He was high enough on the hill that he could see who came and went from the Stafford Ranch. He’d found an old wooden box, and taking his binoculars over to the window along with it, he surveyed the property. He was glad that he’d spent a whole lot of Wen’s money to get the reallygood binoculars. He could see everything and zoom in on faces and license plates.
As he watched, he saw a dull red pickup turn into the ranch. He’d followed it in until it disappeared behind the trees and reappeared down by the barn. With a shock, he’d seen the woman who’d climbed out.
Victoria?He should have known she’d head back out there. But what was she doing in that old truck? More important, how was Ryder going to react? The cowboy would have to be a fool not to run her off again. But Claude would bet that the woman had made a fool of her share of men, and Ryder wasn’t the exception.
Claude had watched her disappear into the barn with both cowboys. Minutes ticked by. A cowboy came riding out on a horse headed north across the endless prairie. Where was Victoria?
His cell phone rang. CJ Stafford. He picked up. “Yeah?”
