She was aware of nothing around her except Rachel, getting to Rachel as fast as she could. She ran. There was a whirlwind of emotion running through her.

Rachel held her breath as her daughter came toward her. Jessie’s eyes reflected feelings she had never seen in them—misery, desperation. She saw the book Jessie was holding out to her, and she flushed hotly with the realization of what she’d read. What did it mean for Jessie to be there with it? That silly book had accomplished what nothing else could!

“Jessica?” Rachel held out a hand tentatively, but the moment their fingers touched, Jessie’s control shattered, and she threw herself into Rachel’s arms. “Mother! Oh, Mother, I’m so sorry! I’ve been so cruel to you,” Jessie cried. “But I couldn’t let you see that I love you, that I’ve always loved you.”

“I know, dearest. It doesn’t matter now.” Rachel could barely get the words out, she was so choked. “Oh, Jessica, don’t cry.”

“When I think of what I put you through, what Thomas did, oh, Mother, you’ve been so wronged!”

“Jessica—Jessie, look at me.” Rachel clasped her face in her hands. “Dearest, none of it was your fault. And none of it matters now that I have you back.”

Jessie looked into her mother’s eyes. She cried all the harder. “Hold me, Mother. If you only knew how often I have dreamed of being held in your arms again.”

The train whistle blew. Rachel stiffened. Jessie looked up, panic in her face.

“You can’t go now—not now!”

Rachel smiled gently. “Our trunks are already on board.”

“Then we’ll take them off!”

Rachel laughed at the stubborn note that came so quickly to her daughter. “Dearest, you need some time alone with your new husband.”

“Damn, don’t use that excuse. You wouldn’t be leaving if I hadn’t married him.”

“But you did.”

“I’ll divorce him!”

“No, you won’t, Jessica. Your baby needs him, even if you think you don’t.”

Jessie lowered her eyes, her cheeks reddening. “He told you about that, I suppose?”

“Yes.”

“Well, I still don’t need time alone with him.”

“Yes, you do. All newlyweds need time to themselves. But I’ll be back as soon as I get Billy settled in school and attend to some business matters I’ve neglected. It won’t be long, Jessica. All right?”

“You promise to come back, Mother?”

There was such pleading in Jessie’s voice that Rachel nearly decided to stay. But she felt strongly about not intruding on the first weeks of the new marriage. Chase and Jessie needed time. All was not happy between them.

“I promise to come back. But I want you to promise you’ll give Chase a chance. He’s a good man.”

Jessie sighed. “We can talk about that when you come back.”

Rachel grinned. “Stubborn to the end, my darling.”

Jessie handed Rachel the diary.

“You didn’t read all of it, did you?” Rachel asked, remembering the heartache she had poured into it recently.

“No, but I’d like to.”

Rachel patted Jessie’s cheek, then gathered her in her arms again for a last hug. “I don’t think either of us needs to read this book again.”

“I love you, Mother.”

“Oh, Jessica, I’ve waited so long to hear you say that.” The tears began again. “I love you, too, and I’ll be back soon, darling.”

Long after the train was out of sight, Jessie stood on the empty platform. Jeb had wandered off to the saloon once he saw Jessie and Rachel embrace. He knew Jessie would need to be alone awhile.

Chase found Jessie at the depot later. “She’s gone?” he asked hesitantly.

Jessie wouldn’t look at him. “Yes.” She continued to stare down the empty track.

“Why the long face?” He asked hesitantly.

Jessie raised her eyes slowly. “She wouldn’t stay—because of you.”

“Now just a damn minute, Jessie. How did I get into this?”

“She thought I should be alone with you.”

“Oh, well.” Chase grinned. “The idea has merit.”

“It does not!” Jessie retorted before she swung around and headed for Blackstar.

Chase followed quickly." Where are you going?”

“Home.”

“You can’t, Jessie. It’s too late to ride all that way.”

“I can ride by moonlight.”

“You’ll freeze,” he pointed out.

“I’ll be riding too fast to feel the cold.”

He grabbed her shoulder. “What’s your hurry? You’ve never ridden home at night before.”

“I want familiar surroundings. I want to sleep in my own bed, in my own room, with my own things around me.” She shook away, angry that she had said that much. She was feeling bereft, as if she had lost her mother all over again. “I’m not asking you to ride with me if that’s what you’re worried about. You can ride back with Jeb in the morning.”

Without waiting for him to answer, she mounted and rode off without looking back.

Chapter 40

JESSIE didn’t know what first alerted her to the other three riders. They were too far away for their horses to be heard, but she sensed them somehow. A little later, she saw them. The hairs on the back of her neck tingled as she realized how close she was to home and that the three riders were racing away from her ranch.

It was the fact that they weren’t on the main track to town that worried Jessie, as if they didn’t want to run into anyone. She didn’t think twice about veering Blackstar off the path to follow them. She didn’t stop to wonder if Chase would miss her, either. He had been following pretty far behind her nearly all the way. She knew he was there, but she didn’t care. This was Jessica Blair’s business, and she would see to her own interests without any help from an interfering husband.

With her urgency affecting Blackstar, Jessie closed the distance between her and the three riders in no time at all. They heard her. The first shot whistled past her ear and brought her own gun to hand. She got off two returning shots, still galloping furiously, before Blackstar’s reins slipped out of her other hand and she had to fight like mad to get the reins back. The men fired another shot at her, but they were running for their lives by then, and the aim was wild.

Jessie continued the chase undaunted. She saw who they were. The moonlight was bright enough for that. She was so furious, she wasn’t going to stop until she had all three dead in the dust at her feet. Thank God she had changed out of her dress and was wearing her gun. But then there was a horse behind her, and Chase was yanking her reins away.

“Are you crazy?” she shouted at him. “They’re getting away!”

“I don’t fancy seeing my wife with a broken neck,” he said as he pulled Blackstar to a stop. “You know you can’t race across terrain like this at night. Think of your horse if not yourself.”

He was right. A hole in the ground could kill a man as easily as a bullet, because it left his horse with a broken leg. But that didn’t lessen her fury. She was watching her quarry get farther and farther away.

“Damn you! It’s too late now!” she screamed at Chase.

“Tell me what happened, Jessie.”

“They shot at me. I shot back.”

“And?”

She shrugged. “I probably wounded what I aimed at.”

“Jessie, who—?”

“Bowdre’s hirelings. I saw them riding away from the ranch. By the time I got close enough to recognize them, they were shooting at me.”

“Clee and Charlie? Was Bowdre the third man?”

“I wish it were Bowdre, but it was Blue Parker! That no-good bastard!”

“Are you sure?”

“He looked right at me before he dug his spurs into his horse. I’ve known him too long to mistake him for someone else.”

“So Parker really has thrown in with them,” Chase said thoughtfully. “They must have offered him a lot of money.”

“It’s more likely spite. He was interested in me, wanted to marry me,” she explained. “After you came, he thought I was avoiding him because of you. He didn’t know I’d left the ranch those two times to go north. When I ran into him one day, he accused me of throwing him over for you. I told him it wasn’t true, but he didn’t believe me. He’s just like my father, a man who feels he’s got to avenge himself for any wrong.”

“What do you think they were up to?” Chase asked.

Jessie caught her breath. Her anger had overcome her fears.

“Let’s get to the ranch,” she cried, turning Blackstar around. “I’m almost afraid to guess what they’ve done.”

Baldy found them just as they got back to the trail leading to the valley. He had been on his way to town to look for them. When he finished talking, Jessie felt numb. She had thought herding the cattle together had been the answer, but all she had done was make it easy for them to be shot. Nearly half the herd lay dead or dying around the campsite. Ramsey was still unconscious from a blow to the head, and the rest of the herd had been stampeded right toward the poisoned waterhole. Baldy had gotten back to camp in time to see the three men riding off and to assess the damage. A man who had worked with cattle all his life, he was in tears from the waste he had seen.

No sooner had Baldy finished talking than Jessie saw the orange glow over the rise that shielded the valley. Chase saw it a second later. A deep animal sound escaped from Jessie. She spurred Blackstar on, and Chase followed, afraid.

Jessie rode no farther than the top of the rise that looked down on the ranch house. The glow from the fire lit her face, revealing such a depth of anguish it tore Chase’s heart.

Every building on the ranch was consumed by flames.

Chapter 41