Indigo Lake

She smiled. He might have been dumb enough to hit Reid Collins, but Lucas had enough sense not to drive his low BMW over dirt trails that didn’t even qualify to be called roads.

Slowly she walked toward the silhouette. She knew the moment he spotted her. He straightened and faced her. Lucas Reyes might be a lawyer now, but he fit here. He was a man who came from the land. He was as much a part of it as it was of him.

“Where’s that new BMW your mother told me you bought last month?”

“I traded it for the pickup. Told my dad to take it out for a spin.” Lucas’s voice was clear but his face was lost in the night. “Mom suggested a vacation might be nice. My father hasn’t taken more than a long weekend off in years.

“Where’s Tim?” the shadow asked when she was ten feet away.

“He didn’t believe you’d be out here. Tim said he’d bet you were at one of the bars. There’s only two but he said it would take until closing time for him to make a complete sweep of the places.”

Lucas huffed but didn’t comment.

She moved closer, not knowing what to say to a man she hadn’t seen in over a year but had been in her thoughts almost every day. They’d been close once, but now she felt she barely knew him. Maybe she never had. His dark good looks were still there, but the favoring of his Hispanic heritage was almost gone from his voice.

“Reid will probably sue me for hitting him, but I’m not sorry.”

“He might, if he had a witness.”

Lucas raised his head. “You two were standing right there. You must have seen it.”

“I wasn’t looking,” she answered. “Tim didn’t see anything, either.”

Lucas relaxed. “If I’m asked in court, I won’t lie. I did hit him.”

There it was, she thought, that bone-deep kind of honesty that she loved about Lucas. Since she’d known him, Lucas had always done the right thing for his family, his career, his parents. The only one he’d left out had been her. There wasn’t room for her in his life, not in high school or college or now.

“Reid wouldn’t ask. He’d figure you would just lie as he would.”

“You’re right. Gambling on people to be honest is a fool’s bet most of the time. I learned that in court.”

She pushed away thoughts of a love that had long ago died of starvation and tried to keep her mind on Lucas’s problem. “You didn’t tell anyone that Reid ran and didn’t save us that night at the Gypsy House. He convinced the whole town that he was a hero. Remember, they even had an assembly to honor him? I’d been too shy to speak up and Tim was home recovering, but you could have said something.”

“No one asked me what happened.” Lucas put his hands on her waist and lifted her onto the pickup’s open tailgate. “Everyone was listening to him. I didn’t lie. I just didn’t say anything.” He moved a foot away and leaned on the side of the truck.

Lauren smiled, liking being at eye level to him and sensing they were still as comfortable around each other as ever. In the darkness it almost seemed like they were teenagers again and not a big-city lawyer and a small-town newspaper editor. “Never argue with a lawyer, right?”

“And never believe a storyteller, right?” he added. “I’ve been reading your ‘Legends of the Plains’ articles online. I doubt all our ancestors were as brave as you painted them.”

They both laughed.

He raised his hand and brushed her cheek. “I’ve missed you, Lauren. I think of you often.”

When he leaned in to kiss her, she backed away. “We’re friends, Lucas, nothing more. That’s all it can be between us.” She almost added that her heart wouldn’t take another disappointment. They’d almost connected a dozen times over the years and it always ended with him walking away.

“Then why are you here?” His words came fast and cold. “I thought you came out to see me, but you’re looking for a story?”

Maybe she’d hurt his pride or maybe she’d simply reminded him that nothing more than friendship ever worked between them. The easy way they’d had with one another a moment ago was gone. She wanted it back, but she wasn’t brave enough to deal with him stepping closer again.

“I’m worried about you, that’s all,” she answered. “Did Reid really fire your father? He’s the best ranch foreman around.”

Lucas hesitated and she feared that he wouldn’t talk about it. Ranch folks usually kept their business close to the vest. Finally, his words came low. “Yes. Fired him yesterday morning and told him to be moved out before dawn tomorrow. After thirty years, my parents had forty-eight hours to load up.” His voice was dull, all emotion spent. “He also fired most of the hands. Told them to have their belongings out of the bunkhouse by dark. My folks had everything crammed in one of the cattle trucks by the time I drove in from Houston. They’re sleeping in town tonight with friends.”

“What about your brothers and sisters?”

“The youngest two are away at college. I don’t think Dad’s even told them yet. My two sisters are married and farm down by Brownfield. One brother joined the army last year. The girls drove in to help yesterday. All the cowhands on the place pitched in to help, but it was chaos. I heard Mom cried all day. I finally got them settled after dark and went looking for Reid.” He laughed without humor in his tone. “To tell the truth I didn’t think I’d find him. When I saw his car at the truck stop I didn’t have a plan.”

“Why did he do this all at once? What was the hurry?”

“They’ve been selling off pieces of the ranch for years. My dad wasn’t surprised. I think he saw it coming.” Lucas plowed his fingers through dark straight hair. “He said last Christmas that if they sold any more land there wouldn’t be enough pasture to switch cattle into.”

“I don’t think the people in town were aware of it shrinking.” Ranch folks might not talk, but town people did.

“One of the hands told me today that Reid hired a manager out of Fort Worth to come in and close the ranch down while he rushed over to Austin to go to a party. The manager brought in a crew, men who look like hired thugs, not cowhands. He’s selling off the cattle left on the place, and word is the horses are going tomorrow.”

“Do you think Reid’s father knows what he’s doing?”

“I don’t think he cares. Most of the good pastureland is already gone and who will want a big house in the middle of nowhere? But once the land’s gone, it’s gone. If I had the money, I’d be tempted to buy it and show Reid what a ranch like that could be. If profits were poured back into the operation it would really be something, but they’ve been bleeding it dry for years.”

This Lucas, Lauren understood. The planner. The kid who was born on a horse and loved the land. If he ever got the chance, he’d build a ranch just like he built a career in law.

Only ranches like the big ones in Texas were inherited, not bought.

She brushed Lucas’s hand. “You’re losing the place where you grew up.”

“Yeah, but it was never mine. My folks moved into the foreman’s house not long after they married, but it wasn’t theirs. The place where they raised their kids vanished in forty-eight hours.”

Lauren understood but didn’t know how to help. “The memories will be with you, Lucas. The love in that house lives on.”

“Right,” he answered quickly. “But I swear before I ever bring a child into this world, I’ll have a place that’s mine.”

Another hurdle, she thought. Lucas had to have everything right, everything in place before he’d allow himself to think about living his life. There would never be enough time for all his dreams...enough time for her in his life.

A light began to glow from the north, almost like the sun had decided to come up early in a new location.

They turned and watched it for a few heartbeats, then Lucas whispered, “Fire!” as if saying the word too loud would make it real. “It’s on the Bar W. Dad and the cowhands aren’t there to deal with it.”

Lauren stood watching in disbelief. The Bar W, Collins land. She knew little about ranches, but she knew fire in this open country could be deadly.

He grabbed her hand and they started running toward the front of the pickup.

“I’ll call 9-1-1,” she shouted as she climbed in the passenger side of his truck.

Lucas nodded and headed across the open pasture. “Where’s your car?”

“About half a mile back on the road.”

He was there before she could finish her call.