Texas Forever (The Tylers of Texas 6)

“I’ll go with you.”

“Stay here,” he said. “Do you want to cause a scandal?”

“It doesn’t matter anymore. Rose isn’t fooled, and it’s nobody else’s business that I’m out here with you.”

“Just stay put. I’ll be right back.”

Wrapping his hips in a towel, he opened the front door of the duplex and stepped out onto the porch. Erin waited, hugging her knees in the bed. Spending the night with Luke, loving him, then drifting off to sleep with her naked body spooned against his, was her idea of heaven. But it was only a temporary heaven. A world of thorny challenges and heartbreaking decisions waited for her beyond the door of this safe little room.

She remembered the words she’d said to Luke, telling him that he could leave anytime, as long as he didn’t come back. She’d forced herself to say those words, as much for herself as for him. But the truth was, she had never wanted anything more desperately than she wanted to keep him. She wanted him by her side for life, as her partner, her husband, and the father of her children. But if it turned out that he loved his freedom more than he loved her, she would never force him to stay.

After a few minutes on the porch, he came back inside and locked the door behind him. “No fire,” he said. “I didn’t even smell smoke. But I did hear sirens, and I may have seen flashing lights headed for the syndicate place. I couldn’t be sure. They were too far off. But whatever’s going on, it doesn’t seem to have anything to do with us.”

“That’s a relief. Come on back to bed.” She raised the covers, giving him room to slide under. Nestling close, she breathed in the warm, clean aroma of his skin. “I don’t want morning to come,” she whispered. “I want to stay here, with you.”

He kissed her. “Morning always comes, love—until the day when it doesn’t. I know you’re going to have a lot on your shoulders. But you’re strong and smart. You’ll do your father proud.”

“Not if I lose the Rimrock to the bank.”

His arms tightened around her. “I know that if you go down, you’ll go down fighting all the way. But you mustn’t blame yourself for something that wasn’t your fault.”

“Blaming is a waste of time and breath. Tomorrow morning I’ll be sitting down with Sky and Lauren to draw up a financial statement of the ranch’s assets and liabilities. With that in hand, I’ll start a round of calling on the big banks in Lubbock. My dad only borrowed half the value of the ranch to buy out Beau. The rest is free and clear. With that much collateral, surely someone will be interested in refinancing. That’s the last hope.”

“You’ll make it work,” he said. “I have faith in you.”

“Thanks.” She nuzzled the warm hollow at the base of his throat. “I wish you could come with me.”

Erin regretted the words as soon as she’d said them. The last thing she needed, when approaching bank officials, was a boyfriend in tow. She needed to come across as a capable, independent woman.

“My specialty is horses, not banks,” Luke said. “I’ll be right here, getting your cow ponies shod for the roundup.”

And what would happen after his work was finished? she wondered. Would he leave and move on? Luke was a man who had to feel useful. Hanging around the ranch, working as a common cowhand or looking for things to do, was bound to wear on him. And if she lost the ranch . . . Erin tried to imagine a future without the Rimrock. She’d have nothing—a young woman barely out of her teens, with no job skills beyond handling horses. If Luke were fool enough to marry her, she’d be a burden, following him around from job to job or pining away at home because he was always gone.

It was unthinkable. She wouldn’t do that to him.

Luke stirred beside her. “Something tells me you’re not going back to sleep,” he said. “I can almost feel your mind working.”

“Which means I’ll be keeping you awake, too, if I stay,” she said. “You haven’t had a decent night’s sleep since your arrest. You deserve better than this. I’m going back to the house. We’ll have other nights.”

Luke didn’t argue as she gave him a long, deep kiss, slipped out of bed, and pulled on her clothes. He was exhausted, she knew, and their lovemaking—she smiled at the memory—hadn’t exactly reinforced his strength. He would probably be asleep by the time she was out the door.

“See you in the morning,” she whispered, brushing a kiss on his lips. Then she stepped outside, into the night.

Henry slithered across her path as she crossed the yard, patrolling the place for rats, mice, and the occasional rattler. Good old Henry. If someone else took over the Rimrock, they would probably kill him on sight. Before she let that happen, she would trap him and release him into the escarpment.

But she couldn’t think of that now. Somehow she would have to find a way to save her beloved ranch.

Tomorrow she would begin.

CHAPTER NINETEEN

TEN DAYS HAD PASSED SINCE LUKE’S RELEASE FROM JAIL AND Hunter Cardwell’s arrest for Will’s murder. The split-level house on the syndicate ranch stood empty. Vivian Cardwell and her son were both gone without a trace.

Rose, too, was gone. She had flown home to Wyoming to finalize the sale of her house to her brother-in-law. Once that was done, and her possessions boxed and loaded in a trailer, she’d be driving her truck back to Texas, where workers were already clearing the land for the prefabricated log home she’d ordered.

Rose had earned a settled, comfortable future, Erin mused as she gazed out the office window, watching the flight of a red-tailed hawk. Sadly, her own future, and the future of the Rimrock, remained as bleak as the sun-parched landscape outside. She’d applied for the refinance at four different banks. Three of them had already turned her down. The loan officer at the fourth bank had promised to let her know the board’s decision by this afternoon. She was waiting for the call now.

Faintly, across the yard, she could hear the ping of Luke’s hammer as he shaped a shoe on the anvil. It was a comforting sound, a sound she had come to love—a sound she would sorely miss when he was gone.