Rodeo Daddy

“Wouldn’t he?” Cody said.

She didn’t want to hear this. Didn’t want to believe it.

“He did it to protect you,” her brother continued. “I can’t tell you how it hurt Dad to do it. He knew you’d be devastated if you learned the truth. By then, Jack knew we were on to him. That’s why he took off the way he did.”

“But why didn’t he take the money?” she cried. “If money was all he cared about, why didn’t he take it?”

Cody shook his head. “Maybe there is some honor among thieves. Or maybe he thought it was a trap.” He reached out, encircled her neck with his arm and pulled her to him. “I’m sorry, sis,” he said, hugging her. “Maybe now that you know the truth, you can finally get over Jack Shane once and for all, and Dad will be able to rest in peace.”

Unable to hold back the tears, she hugged Cody, glad to have her big brother back. She’d give up crying tomorrow. At least now she knew why Jack left the Wishing Tree and hadn’t looked back.

CHAPTER TWO

IN THE DAYS that followed, Chelsea rode Scout every morning, galloping through the cool dawn, the wind blowing back her hair, blowing back her tears.

On those rides, she questioned every aspect of her relationship with Jack, searching for some sign that she’d been dead wrong about him. That her love for him had blinded her to his faults, his weaknesses, his deceitfulness. Or that, like her father and brother believed, she really had been too young to see the truth.

She remembered everything about Jack Shane. The way he talked, the way he stood, the way he touched her. And the way he’d left her.

She’d been seventeen that summer, Jack twenty-two. He had a way about him. A quiet, gentle strength. She liked how he handled the horses she loved. She liked the tenderness that came into his dark eyes when he looked at her. She’d felt a pull to him, stronger than gravity, whenever she was near him.

She’d known he’d been hurt bad when he was young, and suffered poverty and neglect. She’d felt his pain, just looking at him. But she’d also seen his desire to overcome his past, his determination to succeed. He was a man willing to work for what he wanted. He hadn’t been kicked down so much that he didn’t still have dreams.

Maybe it was that hunger that had led him to steal.

It wasn’t like she hadn’t seen how overwhelmed he was by the size of the Wishing Tree ranch, how envious he was of her family’s closeness and how...uncomfortable he was with her wealth. He hadn’t wanted to fall in love with her because of it, and told her as much.

Chelsea had never thought much about money. Probably because she’d never had to. Everything she’d ever needed was on the ranch. Her life was unbelievably rich in so many things she hadn’t realized until she’d met Jack Shane. Money was only one of them.

Jack had never believed he would be accepted in the circles in which her family traveled, and because of that, he’d had trouble believing the two of them had a future.

He’d been right. She ached at the thought of how Jack must have felt when her father offered him ten thousand dollars to leave the Wishing Tree and her. She knew how much pride he had. In fact, he’d had little else.

That alone could explain why Jack had written the hurried note telling her it would never work out. Why he’d left without talking to her and why he’d never come back.

What if Cody was wrong? She kept thinking about the check and the fact that Jack hadn’t taken the money. The more she thought about it, the more she believed Jack hadn’t left out of guilt, but hurt and embarrassment. What if there was an explanation, just as she had originally thought, for Jack going to Box Canyon that night?

The more she considered it, the more she worried that Jack had been falsely accused. She couldn’t have been that wrong about him. If she had been, she would never trust her heart again.

“I’m going to find Jack,” she said one morning at breakfast, surprising herself as much as she did Cody. “I have to confront him. I have to know the truth.”

“I told you the truth,” Cody said contrarily.

“I believe you,” she assured him. At least she believed that Cody believed it. “I just need to know why.”

“For once in your life, just let it go, Chels,” Cody said, pushing away his plate. “He’s going to break your heart all over again.”

“Try to understand,” she pleaded, not wanting this to come between them. “I have to do this.”

“The man is no good, Chels,” her brother said hotly. “The worst thing you can do is dig all this back up. Think of Dad. This isn’t what he would have wanted. If it comes out about the rustling, it’s going to hurt everyone, especially the Farnsworths.”

“This is just between me and Jack.”

Cody threw down his napkin and pushed back his chair. “Why do you think Dad debated telling you for so long?” he demanded as he got to his feet. “Because he feared you’d do some fool thing like this. You always took in every stray cat or dog that wandered onto the ranch, thinking that with some food and love you could save them all. Well, you couldn’t save Jack Shane but you would have died trying.”

“It wasn’t like that. Cody, please, try to understand. I’ve never been able to get over him. If you’re right, then after I see him, I’ll be able to move on. Finally.”

“You think he’ll admit the truth to you?” he demanded.

“Yes, I think he will.”

Cody shook his head, his gaze softening. “Sis, I’m just afraid you’re going to fall under this guy’s spell again.”

“I’m a big girl now, Cody. I’m not seventeen with stars in my eyes. If Jack lied to me, I’ll know.”

Cody was still shaking his head. “Dad made one hell of a mistake by running him off. He should have let Jack stay long enough to hang himself so you could see who he really was.”

“Yes, Dad should have,” she agreed. “But since he didn’t, I intend to see for myself. Support me on this, Cody. Trust me.”

“It isn’t you I don’t trust, Chels. It’s Jack. I saw the way he stole your heart. He would have stolen this ranch just as quickly. You’re making a mistake, one you’re going to regret.”

“I guess it’s my mistake to make,” she said quietly.

“Then you’re on your own.” He swore as he turned and stomped out, grabbing his hat on the way. “Just don’t say I didn’t warn you.”

* * *

“I NEED YOU to find someone for me,” Chelsea said the moment she stepped into the office of Finders Keepers a few hours later.

Dylan Garrett laughed at her abrupt entrance. “Chelsea. What a surprise!” He got up to embrace her.

Dylan and her brother Cody were the same age and had been good friends since they were boys. The Garretts owned a ranch in the same area outside of San Antonio as the Jensens. She hadn’t seen Dylan and his sisters Lily and Ashley since her father’s funeral.

Dylan released her, holding her at arm’s length to look at her. “How are you? I’ve been wanting to stop by to see Cody....”

She knew what he was asking. “Cody is doing...better. You saw how he was at the funeral. He fills his days with work. But I think he’s sleeping more now and he’s talking to me again.”

“Good,” Dylan said, offering her a chair.

“That is, he was,” she added.

Dylan raised a brow. Rather than go back behind his desk, he took a chair across from her. Dylan had always been a strikingly good-looking man. At one time, Chelsea had had a terrible crush on him—his rugged, muscular build, his sun-streaked light-brown hair, always in need of a haircut, and those incredible blue eyes so like his father’s.

But it was the laugh lines around his eyes and mouth and that little dimple in his left cheek when he smiled that used to get to her. That and the fact that he was a nice guy.

Unfortunately, he’d been her brother’s friend, one of the reasons the crush hadn’t lasted long. That and Jack Shane.

She took a deep breath and smiled, trying to calm down. She’d always been impetuous, but now that she was in Dylan’s office she felt a little...scared. “How are you?”