Texas Forever (The Tylers of Texas 6)

Portly, bald, and easygoing, Abner was better at bartending than he’d ever been at enforcing the law. “Your usual, Will?” he asked.

Will nodded and laid a bill on the bar. Abner gave him change, whipped a bottle of Corona out of the cooler, and opened it. Will muttered his thanks and settled into a quiet corner booth. He hoped Abner wouldn’t try to start a conversation. He didn’t feel like talking. Hell, he didn’t even feel like breathing, but he had to keep doing it.

A couple of regulars came in and sat at the bar. Will knew them, but he kept quiet, nursing his beer and pondering his choices.

One thing was clear—he was wasting time when he needed to be acting. He would finish the beer, go home, and call a meeting with Erin, Sky, and maybe Rose, who wasn’t directly involved, but might have some good ideas. They would assess the ranch’s resources and somehow come up with a workable plan to save the Rimrock. No plan could succeed without hard and bitter sacrifices. But they would do whatever it took to save the Tyler legacy.

Still lost in thought, Will left the bar and crossed the parking lot to his truck. His biggest worry was for Erin. She loved the Rimrock—the land, the cattle and horses, and the rhythm of daily life, from morning chores to watching the sun set over the caprock. She’d been raised on the ranch, and she’d never wanted to be anywhere else. His failure could take all that away from her, leaving her with nothing but a broken heart.

With the windows down, he drove north on Main Street and took the main highway out of town. By now it was late morning. Heat waves rose from the asphalt. A farm truck passed him headed toward town. Otherwise there was no traffic. People who had errands would be apt to run them earlier, before the stifling midday heat set in.

He passed the black skid marks and smashed fence where Kyle Cardwell had swerved off the road to avoid hitting the cow. Erin had told him that Kyle had been driving seventy miles an hour when the crash happened. Maybe she’d been right to break up with him. Flowers or no flowers, a man who’d put her life at risk in a fit of temper wouldn’t be great husband material.

By the time Will turned off the highway onto the long, gravel lane leading to his ranch, his thoughts had moved on to other matters. It was a shame he’d never bothered to buy life insurance. At least, if something were to happen to him, Erin would be provided for. As it was—

What the hell?

He slammed on the brakes, swearing as the truck screeched to a stop. A large tractor tire was lying across the lane, almost as if some idiot had left it there on purpose. He could have gotten around it by driving with two wheels in the bar ditch, but he couldn’t leave it there to cause an accident for somebody else. The least he could do was drag it out of the way.

Will opened the door of the cab and stepped out. At that instant he glimpsed a movement in the brush beyond the bar ditch. In the next instant, the explosion that roared inside his head ended everything.

* * *

By the time Erin and Rose finished the makeshift fence and returned to the ranch, it was almos

t one o’clock. Carmen met them at the front door, a concerned look on her usually cheerful face.

“Is everything all right, Carmen?” Erin asked.

“I’m not sure,” Carmen said. “Mr. Maddox, the farrier, has gone.”

Erin’s heart dropped. Surely she’d misunderstood. Maybe Luke had just gone to town. “Gone where?” she asked.

Carmen shrugged. “Just gone, with his trailer and all his gear. He gave me a note for your father, with his hours and a forwarding address. I left it in the office. And he said he left a note for you in the duplex.”

“But when did he go?” Erin’s pulse was skittering. “How long ago?”

“Two or three hours, maybe. I was busy and didn’t pay attention to the time. You must be hungry. Would you like some lunch?”

“Not now, thanks. Where’s my father?”

“He went to town. He should be back soon.”

Rose put a hand on Erin’s arm. “Are you all right? You’re as white as a sheet.”

“I’m fine,” Erin lied. “I’m going out to the duplex—and I think I need to go alone.”

She cut through the kitchen and out the back door. As it closed behind her, she broke into a run. Her stomach churned. What had Will said to Luke that would make him pack up and leave? What if she never saw him again?

The duplex where Luke had stayed was stripped bare of his presence—the sheets folded on the bed, the towels in the laundry basket, Luke’s clothes, boots, and toiletries gone. Except for the folded note, torn from a yellow pad and tucked partway beneath a pillow, it was as if he’d never been there.

Erin’s hand shook as she picked up the folded paper with her name on the outside. She’d believed, in her naivete, that she’d found a man she could love. But it had all come down to this—an empty room and a folded note.

Bracing herself to have her heart broken, she opened the note. The message was brief, only a few lines.

Erin,

I care for you too much to stay and cause trouble. One day you’ll realize that my decision to leave was best for both of us. I will never forget you.