An image of his brother’s mulish, teenage expression flashed into Caleb’s brain. His throat suddenly felt raw. He knew a line had been drawn in the dust. He also knew he was never going to see his brother again.

He pressed his heels into the mare and leaned forward in the saddle, urging her from a walk to a trot to a gallop. He heard Travis’s shout of surprise, and then Rambler’s hooves pounded behind them.

The world flashed past, Neesha’s long strides eating up the ground, her body strong beneath him, her lungs expanding, breaths blowing out. He settled into the rhythm, breathing deep, fighting to clear his mind of memories.

But the memories wouldn’t stop. He saw Reed when they were seven, wrestling on their beds when they were supposed to be asleep, their father’s shouts from the living room, the two of them diving under their covers, and lying stock-still while they waited to hear Wilton’s footsteps on the stairs.

He saw them chasing down an injured calf when they were thirteen, waving their arms, yelling until they were hoarse, corralling it where they could look at the gash on its shoulder. Reed had held it still, while Caleb applied antibiotic ointment and crudely stitched the wound.

Unfortunately, their efforts had only served to make their father angry. He told them they’d wasted far too much time and effort on a single calf and made them work an extra two hours before allowing them to come in for a cold dinner.

But there were also good times, when Wilton had been out on the range, sometimes for days at a time. When their mother would relax and smile, and they’d play board games, watch silly sitcoms and eat hamburgers on the living-room sofa. Reed had been there for the good times and the bad. They’d struggled through homework together, commiserated with each other over unfair punishments, drank illicit beer, raced horses and teased each other mercilessly at every opportunity.

Travis shouted from behind him, and Caleb saw they were coming up on the fence-line. He pulled back on the reins, slowing the mare to a walk, forcing deep breaths into his tight lungs.

“You going for a record?” Travis laughed as he caught up. Both horses were breathing hard, sweat foaming out on their haunches.

“Haven’t done that in years,” Caleb managed without looking in Travis’s direction.

“It’s like riding a bike.”

“Tell that to my ass.” Caleb adjusted his position.

Travis laughed at him. “And we’re going all the way around Miles Butte.”

“That’ll take all day.” And half the night. “We’ll be lucky to get home by midnight.”

“You got something you have to do?” Travis watched Caleb a little too carefully, waiting for his answer.

Yes, Caleb had something he wanted to do. He wanted to see Mandy again.

But, apparently, Travis wasn’t about to let that happen.


Mandy hadn’t seen Caleb in two days. She’d read in one of Abigail’s women’s magazines that if a man wasn’t into you, there was little you could do to attract him. But if a man was into you, he was like a heat-seeking missile, and nothing would slow him down.

Caleb definitely wasn’t a heat-seeking missile. And it had occurred to her more than once over the past two days that he might have got what he wanted from her and now moved on. Maybe Travis was right, and that was the way they did it in Chicago.

Even this morning, they were taking two vehicles from the ranch to Lyndon for the first water rights review meeting. Seth, Abby and Mandy ended up in the SUV, while Travis and Caleb drove the pickup truck. It wasn’t clear who had orchestrated the seating arrangements, but surely any self-respecting heat-seeking missile could have managed to get into a vehicle with her.

Mandy tried not to focus on Caleb as they turned off the highway onto Bainbridge. There was plenty to be optimistic about between her father’s continuing progress at the rehab clinic in Denver and Seth getting more and more excited about the upcoming campaign. He and Abigail had been discussing and debating political issues all the way from the ranch to Lyndon. And, with Seth and their father pretty much out of the picture, Travis seemed to be relishing his new role as de facto ranch manager.

Not that Mandy was jealous.

Though, now that she thought about it, everyone in her family seemed to be moving into some kind of new phase in their lives. Except for her. Other than supporting Travis at home, finding Reed and getting the Terrell family back on track, what was next for her?

“Mandy?” Abby interrupted her thoughts from the front passenger seat.

“Hmm?”

“Can you check my briefcase back there? I want to make sure I brought all five copies of the information package.”

Mandy reached for the briefcase where it was sitting on the SUV floor, pulling it by the handle to lay it flat on the seat beside her. She snapped the clasps and pulled it open.

“The green books?” she asked, thumbing her way through the rather professional-looking coil-bound, plastic-covered volumes.”

“Those are the ones.”

Mandy counted through the stack to five. “They’re all here.”

“Thanks,” Abby sang. Then she turned her attention to Seth. “I’ve got us all at the Sunburst. You’re sharing with Travis, and I’m with Mandy. I put Caleb on his own. I figured, you know, the big, bad, Chicago executive might not be used to sharing a bathroom.”

Seth laughed, but Mandy couldn’t help remembering that Caleb had shared a bathroom with her at the Rose Inn. He’d seemed perfectly fine with that. Then again, they’d been trapped in a storm. It could be considered an emergency situation. But he’d worked like a dog for the next three days. And he hadn’t complained in the slightest about the accommodation, the food or the hard work. He didn’t strike her as somebody who required creature comforts.

She opened her mouth to defend him, but then changed her mind. She really shouldn’t be thinking so much about Caleb. She should be thinking about Reed, and how to find him, and how soon she could reasonably touch base with Enrico Rossi and check the status of his investigation. Or maybe she could call Danielle directly. Perhaps she’d heard something from Enrico.

Seth pulled into the parking lot at the side of the Sunburst Hotel. Travis’s pickup truck was already parked, and he and Caleb were getting out. Mandy watched Caleb’s rolling, economical movements as he pulled a small duffel bag from the box of the pickup truck. His gaze zeroed in on the SUV, finding hers as he strode across the parking lot toward them.

She quickly looked away and concentrated on climbing out the back door. He swung open the back hatch and began loading his arms with their luggage. Travis followed suit. Seth grabbed the last bag, and beeped the SUV lock button. Mandy was left with nothing but her shoulder bag to carry into the lobby.

Caleb fell into step beside her.

“How’re you doing?” he rumbled.

“Just fine,” she told him primly, concentrating her focus on the short set of concrete steps that led into the glass entrance.

A set of double glass doors slid silently open in front of them, welcoming them into the gleaming high-ceilinged, marble-floored, floral-decorated lobby. Pillars formed a big circle around a patterned tile floor, while the service desks formed an outer ring in front of the walls.

“I’ve got a copy of the confirmation,” Abby announced, slipping a sheaf of papers from a side pocket in her bag.

“Let me get the check-in.” Seth strode up to a uniformed woman at the registration desk.

Caleb lengthened his strides after Seth, leaving Mandy behind. He caught up and put his credit card on the counter. Seth immediately shoved the card back toward Caleb. The two men had a brief debate, and it looked like Seth was the one to back off.

Mandy positioned herself beside a pillar, out of the route of direct walking traffic, next to Abigail and the luggage.

A few minutes later, Caleb returned to them.

“Ladies.” He nodded. “I assume these are your bags?” He scooped up their suitcases.

“Those are ours,” Abigail confirmed.

“Then, right this way. You’re on the tenth floor. As am I, and Caleb and Seth are on seven.”

“One second,” said Abigail, finding a glass-topped table to set down her briefcase.

She opened it, pulled out two of the green packages and took a few steps across the lobby to hand them to Travis. “Lunch is at the Red Lion next door. The meeting starts at one o’clock. We have dinner reservations at the Riverfront Grill. And then I thought we’d go to the Weasel.” She did a little shimmy as she mentioned the name of the most popular dancing bar in Lyndon. “It’s Friday night, so they’ll have a band.”

Travis took the books from her hands, giving her a mock salute. “Works for me. See you guys in a few.”

Caleb headed for the elevator, and Mandy fell into step behind him.

On the tenth floor, they exited, finding their room five doors down. Abby inserted the key card, holding the door open for Caleb with the bags. Mandy brought up the rear.

“This looks nice,” Caleb noted politely, setting the bags on the padded benches at the foot of each of the queen-size beds. The room had a small sitting area near a bay window with a view of the town. The two beds looked thick and comfortable, and the bathroom appeared clean, modern and spacious.

“I’ll see you both at lunch,” he finished, heading for the door.

He opened it, got halfway out and then stopped, turning back. “Mandy? You have a minute? I’ve got something I want to ask you about, but it’s buried in the bottom of my bag.” He gestured into the hallway. “You mind?”

Surprised and confused, and worried it might have something to do with the sale of the ranch, Mandy nodded. “Uh, sure. No problem.” She moved after him, telling herself it couldn’t be a sale. Not this fast. Not without any warning.