The Lone Rancher

Chapter Fifteen

Quin groaned miserably. He felt like death warmed on a dim flame and he wondered if he was still alive. He couldn’t tell for sure. He’d hoped dead would feel better than this, but who could say for certain?

Before he could take inventory to see if he still had most of his body parts, a fuzzy haze overtook him and he dozed off.

A few hours later—or maybe it was a century, he wasn’t certain—he regained consciousness. He opened his eyes to realize he was sprawled in bed at Doc Lewis’s infirmary. He turned his head sideways to see Boston draped uncomfortably in the chair beside him.

Quin tried to ease onto his side so he could reach out to limn the refined features of her enchanting face, but it hurt to move. He groaned involuntarily, causing Boston to come awake instantly. Her green eyes were noticeably puffy from crying. There were red welts on her cheek and a concerned frown etched her brow.

“How are you feeling?” she whispered as she combed her hand through his tousled hair.

“Like hell,” he croaked. “How about you?”

“The same. It’s killing me to know I’m responsible for your injury. I was trying to help and I made matters worse.”

“I already told you it’s not your fault.”

She glanced away, shifted uncomfortably, then murmured, “Do you remember what I said after we managed to drag you onto Cactus’s back?”

“Sorry, no. I guess I blacked out. What’d you say?”

She bit her lip, then smiled ruefully. “I don’t know if it will make you feel better or worse. Maybe I should let it be.”

“Spit it out, Boston. It isn’t like you to mince words.”

She took an enormous breath, as if she were diving off a cliff into fathomless depths. “I’m in love with you.”

Quin smiled faintly. “Are you saying that because you know I’m dying?”

She shook her head adamantly, sending the chestnut-colored braid rippling over her shoulder. “I realized I loved you before I managed to get you shot. You aren’t dying. The bullet missed vital organs but it nicked muscles and ligaments. Doc Lewis patched you up and said you’d be stiff and sore for a couple of weeks.” She squeezed his hand. “Just because I love you doesn’t mean you’re obligated—”

He pressed his forefinger to her lips, wishing he had the strength to pull her into his arms and hold her close. “I love you, too, Boston,” he whispered earnestly. “There aren’t the right words to describe how much you mean to me.”

“Well, why didn’t you say so?” she huffed, but grinned—and he felt a hundred times better when he basked in the warmth of her glorious smile.

“I kept silent because I didn’t think you wanted me and I didn’t want to crowd your independent space,” he replied.

She pressed her lush mouth to his. “I want you like crazy and you can crowd my space anytime you please, Cahill.” Her long thick lashes fluttered down to shield her gaze as she trailed her fingertip over his jaw and cheek. “Are you going to ask me to marry you?”

“No. Every man you know proposes to you,” he reminded her. “I don’t want to be anything like them because I’m not after your money.” He grinned rakishly—and wondered if he’d been able to pull it off since he wasn’t an accomplished ladies’ man. “I’m fascinated with your fiery spirit, your intelligence and your gorgeous body. All of the person you are. But you’ll have to ask me if you want to move to 4C and stay forever because that’s how long I promise to love you, Boston. You are my heart.”

“I want to be with you always, Cahill,” she choked out as tears dribbled down her cheeks. “Marry me.”

“Name the time and place,” he insisted as he rerouted her tears with the pad of his thumb.

“On two conditions,” she negotiated.

“Here it comes,” he grumbled playfully. “What do I have to do to keep you with me forevermore?”

“I want to add my herd of longhorns to yours and find out what it’s like to make the trail drive to Dodge City. Doc says you’ll be up and around by then.”

Quin blew out his breath. “Damn it, Boston. Spring trail drives are notorious for violent storms, bandits, stampedes, dangerous river crossings and renegade Indians on the way to Kansas.”

She got that determined tilt to her chin that he’d come to recognize at a glance. “You are not going without me and that’s that, Cahill. I crave new experiences and adventure.”

“I was hoping our marriage would be adventure enough,” he mumbled.

She grinned and said, “Has it occurred to you that I don’t want to be away from you? Besides, I want to make certain you don’t overdo it after getting shot on my account.”

Quin sighed audibly, knowing this was likely the first of many times he wouldn’t be able to tell Boston no. “Fine. We’ll go together. And what’s the second stipulation?”

Her smile disappeared and she stared intently at him. “I want you to contact your brothers and sister. Let them know you’re injured and your parents’ wagon wreck wasn’t an accident.”

“No,” he muttered. “Having my siblings gather around while I’m injured and vulnerable offends my pride. I’m the eldest, damn it. I’m supposed to be in charge—”

His voice dried up when Boston skimmed her moist lips over his mouth, then said, “I understand how you feel. I suffered the same kind of conflict with my father. I loved him, but he angered me because he forced unreasonable demands on me. He disappointed me because he couldn’t accept me for who I was.”

Quin couldn’t imagine her father finding fault and trying to stifle her spirit. It was who she was.

She smiled ruefully as she traced the curve of his lips. “You are caught between aggravation, disappointment and love, too. But your brothers and sister are part of who you are and, deep down, you care about them. You’re angry because they left you to hold the ranch together by yourself. They disappoint you because they don’t share your dreams and your interests. But each of us has to be who we are, Cahill.”

“I know you’re right, but they left me alone to pick up the pieces, manage the ranch and deal with the gossip,” he mumbled. “It wasn’t easy.”

“I know, but your parents’ deaths altered their lives, too,” she reminded him. “They have a right to decide if they want to be involved in this investigation. There is one man running around loose who knows what happened two years ago. We need to find out what happened to the fourth gang member. Whoever killed your parents should pay for what they did to your family. Your brothers and sister can help serve justice. Bowie is a sheriff, after all. What better place to start than calling him in to continue the investigation while you’re recovering and driving the cattle herds to Kansas?”

She kissed him so tenderly that every objection he’d formulated fizzled out. Maybe it was time to contact his family. According to the man who died at Triple Creek, there was far more to learn about his parents’ deaths.

“Please, Quin,” she whispered softly. “Let your family help solve this awful crime while you recover your strength and tend your ranching duties…. Did I tell you I love you…?”

“Not often enough, sweetheart.” He stared into those mystifying green eyes and saw his future. “I’ll marry you on one condition,” he stipulated.

“Name it,” she said without hesitation.

“Love me until the end of time, Boston.”

Her radiant smile lit up the room—and his lonely soul. “Done. I’ll have the parson here first thing in the morning for our wedding ceremony. Rosa and Lucas can bear witness.”

Quin used her thick braid like a rope to draw her head back to his. “Tomorrow can’t come soon enough. Then you won’t have an excuse to leave me alone again.”

“I’m not going anywhere.” She smiled adoringly at him. “Stampeding longhorns couldn’t drive me away.”

After tomorrow she would belong to him, with him, he mused as they sealed their promise with a kiss. Quin had enough sense not to spout those specific words to a woman with Boston’s feisty, independent temperament. He loved her the way he’d never loved anyone or anything in his whole life. Quin vowed to spend every day telling her so. Or better yet, he’d show her that she was everything he needed to be happy for now…and until long past the end of eternity.