The Lone Rancher

Chapter Five

Quin spent another long four days riding through various pastures, sorting off calves he planned to drive to Dodge City. More often than not, his thoughts strayed to the tantalizing tryst he’d almost had with Boston. The woman was getting to him, though he had told himself repeatedly that she represented the same attitude as his siblings who had ventured off to find a new life that didn’t include him.

Well, maybe it wasn’t so bad, he mused as he and his cowboys herded the calves to the corral for branding. Maybe he’d become too entrenched in ranch life to realize his siblings didn’t share their father’s dream or the same passion for the land. Maybe Quin had pushed them too hard, too fast.

For certain, he’d made several cutting remarks that he’d like to retract. In addition, he shouldn’t have tried to delegate ranch duties so soon after his parents’ funeral. Between the heart-wrenching tragedy and the natural friction between siblings, the situation had spiraled out of control and tempers had flared—to the extreme….

“Hey, boss, you need to have a look at this.”

Quin jerked to attention and twisted in the saddle to see Otha Hadley waving his hat in the air. Frowning warily, Quin reversed direction to see a skinned carcass concealed by tall grass. The hide was gone, along with meaty flesh.

“Someone butchered your calf, right here on the spot.” Otha pointed to the gunshot wound between the eyes. Then he glanced at Quin. “Surely that lady rancher wouldn’t do this.”

Quin was through blaming Boston for swiping and rebranding his cattle. “I think something else is going on here,” he murmured pensively. But damned if he could figure out what and who might be responsible.

Otha cut Quin a quick glance. “Rumors circling the bunkhouse say that lady rancher is trying to undermine your ranch ’cause you offered to buy her out and it made her mad.”

Quin gnashed his teeth. “Cowboys can be worse than old hens when it comes to spreading gossip.”

Otha removed his hat to rake his blunt-tipped fingers through the tuft of wiry red hair. “I reckon you’re right, boss. Half the boys blame the lady rancher and the others think the curse is at work again.”

Quin shot the bowlegged cowboy—who was five years his junior—a withering glance.

“Well, boss, you gotta admit that the thieving, butchering and fence cutting has picked up again. It was pretty bad before and after your folks died, God rest their souls. Then it tapered off awhile. Now it’s cranking up.”

Yes, it was, thought Quin. It had begun with Boston’s arrival. However, it wasn’t as if other ranchers in the area hadn’t suffered similar problems. Just not to the extent the 4C had. Then again, 4C covered more territory and pastured considerably more cattle and horses than the other spreads.

“Uh, boss, I was wondering about taking some time off this weekend for that city-wide celebration those foreigners are planning for Rosa and her ex–Ranger husband.”

Quin frowned pensively when Otha referred to Boston and her entourage as foreigners.

Otha shifted awkwardly in the saddle, then crammed his stained hat back on his red head. “Ya see, I met this real nice girl and—”

“Sure, you deserve a break after riding with me each time I’ve sorted calves,” Quin cut in, and then watched the cowboy’s freckled face turn a deeper shade of red. “Is this real nice girl anyone I know?”

His blush deepened. “Her daddy’s a tracklayer and she works at Monty’s Dance Hall. Don’t think she rightly belongs in that place but she says money is hard to come by so she smiles and dances with cowboys and soldiers for a fee.”

Quin hoped the woman in question wasn’t feeding Otha the same line she fed other customers. The cowboy didn’t need his heart broken. Of course, Quin wasn’t sure what that felt like because the 4C had consumed his life for as long as he could remember. His liaisons were infrequent and impersonal. The occasional scratching of an itch, so to speak.

He knew his brother Bowie had had his heart broken once by Clea North. Quin grimaced, remembering his snide comment about Bowie’s rejection. Salt to a wound, he mused regretfully. Quin had struck out when Bowie had landed on a sensitive nerve about his delay in arriving home to help his parents tend to the business of signing contracts with the railroad.

“I’m thinking about asking Zoe Daniels to marry me,” Otha commented as he reined toward 4C headquarters. “There’s that cabin up north that once belonged to the previous English owners of the property you bought last year.” Otha stared hopefully at Quin. “I wondered if we might rent the place. I could keep a watchful eye on your northern pastures since I’d be riding home in that direction every night.”

Quin nodded. “It might be nice to have a full-time hand keeping up with those far-removed pastures. But the place needs some repair, Otha.”

The cowboy beamed excitedly. “I know ’cause I looked it over pretty good the last time we rode through there. But I can make the repairs myself.”

Quin leaned out to shake Otha’s hand. “Then we have a deal. I’ll pay for the materials for repair if you do the work in your spare time. I hope things work out for you and Zoe.”

Otha smiled so widely he nearly split a lip as Quin turned his attention back to the butchered calf. Someone was preying on 4C and other spreads in the area and Quin would dearly like to know who was behind the rustling, butchering and rebranding of his cattle.

Exhausted from long days of hard work and extensive hours in the saddle, Quin glanced south. He was anxious for a soaking bath and one of Elda Quickel’s gourmet meals. Not that the chuckwagon cook didn’t do his best, but the older man’s fare couldn’t compare to Elda’s. Quin could almost taste the cook’s delicious baked bread from here.



Adrianna waved to Elda, who was making her second visit since she had moved into the 4C ranch house.

“I brought cookies,” Elda announced as she bustled up the steps, with the handle of her basket draped over her elbow. She halted to admire the gleaming woodwork and recently polished floors. “My, Bea has this place shining, doesn’t she? Knew she would.”

“How are things at 4C?” Adrianna asked as she grabbed a couple of melt-in-your-mouth cookies.

“Quiet.” Elda held out the basket for Bea and Butler, who showed up the moment they heard her voice. “It’s sad, really.” She plopped down on the parlor sofa. “That man left everything as it was before his parents died. Why, he didn’t even move into the master suite, and you can tell that not one stick of furniture has changed position in the office or parlor. It’s like a monument to the past.”

Adrianna frowned thoughtfully. Why hadn’t Quin moved on with his life and made the ranch house a reflection of his own tastes? She, on the other hand, had sold the mansion in Boston and only kept the country estate that held fond childhood memories of a life similar to what she experienced now. She had chased new dreams and adventure while Quin Cahill remained entrenched in the past. Maybe being intolerant of change was who he was. Why else would he live in his parents’ shadow and allow their dreams to become his?

It dawned on her that they were alike but in different ways—if that made sense. Cahill kept his father’s dream alive, as if he were the extension of his will. Adrianna wanted to prove she was as capable as her father was.

“You should see the other four bedroom suites.” Elda paused to munch on a cookie. “They must look exactly like they did when his brothers and sister moved out two years ago.” She leaned close and said, “But Quin didn’t confide what caused the rift. He did say he planned to leave things as they are. Maybe forever. Who knows?”

“He told me that his siblings had no intention of running the ranch and they wanted to make their own lives, make their own choices after their parents were gone,” Adrianna said.

Butler smirked. “So that’s why he didn’t approve of you pulling up stakes and moving to Texas. You did exactly what his family did and he didn’t like it.”

Adrianna nodded, then grabbed another tasty cookie while the older threesome chitchatted companionably. Leaving them to their reunion, she wandered outside to consult Rocky. After Elda left, she went upstairs to put away the laundry Bea had washed. She gasped in alarm when she noticed a plume of smoke rising in the distance. It looked as if it was coming from the 4C, perhaps near the grove of trees and underbrush where she had located her missing Herefords—and found herself about to succumb to her secret desires for Quin.

Lurching around, Adrianna bounded down the staircase to alert Bea and Butler. Then she dashed outside to round up her hired hands to help her smother the fire. And blast it, she hoped Quin didn’t believe she was responsible for this latest mischief. Especially not after that steamy incident in the grove of trees. He’d likely think she had tried to lure him in, soften him up, then strike out in another spiteful retaliation.

“Fire!” she yelled at the top of her lungs.

Men darted from the corrals, barn and bunkhouse to see her pointing northeast. Adrianna grabbed the nearest saddle horse and a gunnysack that Rocky tossed to her. She raced across the pasture at breakneck speed. By the time she and her men opened the adjoining gate and headed north, six 4C ranch hands galloped over the rolling hill toward them.

She became the recipient of six accusatory glares. No doubt, gossip in the bunkhouse blamed her for the woes on 4C. Conversely, her employees thought Quin and his men were responsible for stealing her Herefords the previous week.

“You sure we should be helping Cahill?” Chester Purvis asked as he trotted his horse beside her. “He probably thinks you started this fire to get even for swiping your heifers.”

She frowned in annoyance when several other cowboys nodded in agreement with Ches. “We are not starting some silly range war over incidents likely instigated by outlaws and rustlers,” she declared sharply. “Is that clear?”

“Okay, but if you ask me, it’s the Cahill Curse at work again.”

Adrianna jerked up her head and glared at the scruffy, slow-talking cowboy—Pokey O’Reilly was his name—who had spouted the comment. “I am not the superstitious sort and I don’t expect any of my employees to be, either. If you want to believe in voodoo nonsense, then collect your wages and leave.”

That shut them up in a hurry, thank goodness. Adrianna doubted she had changed anyone’s opinion but she didn’t have to listen to such foolishness. She suspected someone was preying on the 4C because it was so large and it was impossible to oversee so many thousands of acres. Plus, someone wanted to lay the blame on her, the newcomer. Why her reputation and respectability was being sabotaged, she didn’t know. She wasn’t sure how to find out, either.

She discarded the troubling thought and hightailed it across the pasture to reach the site of the grass fire. Thankfully, there wasn’t enough wind to engulf all the trees. In addition, the area was nearby Triple Creek so they could soak their gunnysacks with water, then pound out the flames.

Adrianna was hard at work smothering the fire when she glanced sideways to see Quin racing beside a hundred head of longhorn calves that he’d herded from his northern pastures. His narrowed gaze landed on her and she thrust out her chin, daring him to point an accusing finger.

She noticed that every cowboy on hand glanced between her and Quin, waiting to see if a shouting match broke out. She decided to turn rumor of their supposed feud on its ear. When Quin dismounted, she walked up to him, pushed up on tiptoe and placed a kiss right smack-dab on his lips.

There, thought she. That should quell any rumors of a hostile feud between them. “We came as soon as we saw the fire, Quin,” she said loudly.

She met those silver-gray eyes that were fringed with thick black lashes and she saw a faint smile crease his lips. Despite the heavy five-o’clock shadow that rimmed his jaw, he looked irresistibly attractive. Of course, she’d realized how vulnerable she’d become to the man several days ago—which is why they had ended up tumbling around in the grass and she’d been unable to keep her hands off him.

“Thanks, Boston. We appreciate your help.”

He dropped a quick kiss to her lips, grabbed the gunny sack from her hand, then jogged off to beat down the flames. She fell into step behind him to toss aside the potential kindling of fallen branches. They worked tirelessly side by side for an hour to ensure the embers had cooled so flames wouldn’t erupt later to destroy the shadowy grove the cattle favored to beat the blistering summer heat.

“I’m grateful for the extra help!” Quin called to Adrianna’s cowboys. “If you have an emergency, my men and I will gladly return the favor.” He glanced around the area. “I just hope this grass fire isn’t a diversion for other destructive activities, like the butchered calf we found on my north pasture.”

Adrianna blinked in surprise while the cowboys mumbled in speculation about who’d done the deed.

“I also noticed the adjoining fence had been cut a mile north of here. No doubt, a gang of rustlers is preying on our area, so everyone on both sides of the fence will have to remain on guard. I don’t want to lose men or cattle to bloodthirsty thieves.”

He cupped Adrianna’s elbow to usher her toward her saddle horse. “Come on, Boston, let’s check another stretch of fence to make sure no one has been up to more mischief.”

While Rocky Rhodes led Boston’s employees back to her ranch, Quin asked his fire volunteers to drive the cattle he’d collected to the corrals for branding.

When they were alone, Quin scooped her up in his arms, set her on her mount, then asked, “What was that unexpected kiss about, Boston?”

“You’re an intelligent man, figure it out, Cahill.”

He nodded his shaggy head, then reminded himself he was in need of a haircut. He wondered if Elda was as handy with scissors as she was with spoons and spatulas. Otherwise, he’d have to ride into town to seek out the barber.

“I suppose you thought you were quelling gossip about your involvement in my suspicious fire,” he said as he stuffed his foot in the stirrup and swung onto Cactus’s back.

She scraped a recalcitrant strand of chestnut hair away from her sooty face and Quin battled the urge to lean over and kiss her again. But he was reluctant to become as sappy as Otha Hadley—who had visions of happily-ever-after with Zoe Daniels dancing in his head. Boston made it clear on several occasions that she didn’t trust the motives of men.

Not that he blamed her for being a cynical heiress, mind you. He’d had his share of manipulative fathers and mothers shoving their eligible daughters under his nose because the Cahills had money, influence and property. You never knew who was sincere and who had dollar signs in his eyes when money was involved. As for Boston, she was on a crusade to establish her independence and prove her ability to run a ranch. She resented a man telling her what to do.

Quin already knew firsthand how well that went over.

“What are you grinning about, Cahill?” she questioned. “Someone tried to burn down your pasture and barbecue a few calves. Nothing amusing about that.”

He studied her sooty face and the dark braid that tumbled over her shoulder to lie temptingly against her breast. He groaned inwardly, remembering how it felt to skim his hands and lips over her lush flesh and feel her arch toward him.

She snapped her fingers in his face to grab his attention. “What is wrong with you, Cahill? Sleep deprived?”

Something else deprived, he thought, then said, “No, just distracted by thoughts of our last encounter on the very site someone set this fire.”

His comment caused her face to go up in flames. “You should know that was out of character for me,” she mumbled, avoiding his direct stare.

“Momentary lapse of sanity?” he supplied helpfully, then smiled because being with her and playfully teasing her made him happy. Not as happy as touching her intimately…

Careful, Cahill, you don’t want to end up like brother Bowie, who got his heart trampled. And damn! I’m suddenly sympathizing with him.

“Yes, let’s blame it on a momentary lapse of sanity,” she replied aloofly. “That’s what it was.”

He noticed the proud tilt of her chin and decided Boston was as cautious as he was. Emotional vulnerability could lead to humiliation and disaster. Quin wanted no part of it.

“Whatever the reason, I should warn you that kissing me with an audience of cowboys is an invitation to more gossip.”

She expelled a frustrated breath. “I was trying to dispel the notion that we are feuding, because my cowboys were quick to assume you would blame me for the fire. I wanted them to think we are on friendly terms.”

“It might backfire,” he cautioned as they trotted toward the treed hill where the grand ranch house his parents had built stood like a fortress overlooking the barns, sheds and corrals at 4C headquarters. “I suspect the next round of gossip will suggest that I’m trying to romance your ranch out of you because driving you out of Texas hasn’t worked worth a damn.”

She snapped to attention and scowled. “Blast it, I should have thought of that. From feud to affair. Well, I suppose we’ll have to keep our distance to quell that rumor.”

Quin smiled wryly. “Or I could insist that I’ve decided I don’t want your ranch and that I’m after your luscious body.”

Although he’d meant to tease her, she stared at him very seriously, surprising him. “No more and no less?” she asked.

“Would you be offended if I answered yes?”

His appreciative gaze drifted from the rise of her ample bosom to the trim indentation of her waist. Suddenly, he wished she was straddling him and no one was around to catch them doing wildly erotic things to each other. The tantalizing thought sent unappeased desire rippling through him and he gritted his teeth to prevent groaning aloud.

Her deep-green eyes locked with his and he nearly fell off Cactus when she said, “It would be only for your pleasure and mine. We won’t expect favors of any sort. Agreed?”

Hungry need pounded him like a sledgehammer. He had been too long without the sexual favors a woman could provide. Not to mention that wanting Boston in the worst way had been eating him alive since he’d met her.

“If it’s your intent to torment me, Boston, it’s working. But the answer is yes. I want you. Badly. No strings. No expectations. That is, if you want me, too…. Do you?”

She smiled impishly as they approached his house. Instead of answering his provocative question, she asked one of her own. “Mind if I come in? I haven’t toured your place yet. I’m curious what a real Texas ranch house looks like.”

“I’d like to show you my bedroom,” he said under his breath. Unfortunately, that wasn’t going to happen because there were too many cowboys lurking around. It would have to be a quick tour.

“Elda!” she called out when the stout cook appeared at the door. “How nice to see you. Cahill is giving me a tour of his home. I hope he’s treating you well. Otherwise, he will answer to me.”

Quin noticed the exchange of glances between the two women. He knew Boston had spoken loudly to ensure the curious cowboys knew Elda was their chaperone, but whatever had passed between her and Elda excluded him.

Disappointed that yet another erotic fantasy had gone up in smoke, Quin watched the seductive sway of Boston’s hips as he followed her into the house. He didn’t want to turn to one of the soiled doves who lived in the red-light district on the wrong side of the tracks, but he needed some relief. Perhaps the ten-mile trek to Wolf Grove for supplies was in order. Still, he doubted another woman would satisfy him when this spirited hoyden was the only one he wanted.



It didn’t take long for Adrianna to realize Elda’s assessment of Quin’s home was right on the mark. All of his sister’s clothing hung in her wardrobe and the room must have been left exactly as she had decorated it. The same went for Bowie’s and Chance’s quarters. Quin’s bedroom was neat and tidy but the master suite didn’t have that lived-in look.

Adrianna shivered uneasily. It was clear that Quin hadn’t moved on. She wondered if he had taken time to mourn the loss of his parents or simply harbored resentment against Leanna, Bowie and Chance.

She glanced discreetly at Quin as he led the way to the third-floor rooms that looked to be a play area for children and extra space for guests. She was sure Quin thought it was his duty and obligation to live his father’s dream. The man didn’t have a life of his own, she mused. He was the extension of his father’s desire to own half of Texas.

When they returned downstairs, Adrianna cast aside her insightful musings to stare appreciatively at the stone fireplace and mantel in the cozy den. “This is a very impressive room, Cahill.” She inclined her head toward the stuffed longhorn head hanging above the mantel. “A Hereford would look better, considering it is the breed of the future.”

Quin smirked. “You decorate your fireplace as you want and I’ll do mine as I want, Boston. I like it the way it is.”

“I’m sure you do,” she murmured as she wheeled toward the front door. “Thank you for the grand tour. I’d better be going. Tomorrow will be a long day. The shorthorn cattle I bought were delayed but they are due in tomorrow.”

She heard him mumble something about sticking to longhorns if she knew what was good for her, but she didn’t ask him to repeat it. With a wave to Elda, Adrianna stepped onto the porch to admire the view. She felt Cahill’s presence behind her, inhaled his scent and felt the stirring of undeniable desire. She wondered if she would be bold enough to carry through with her suggestion of a noncommittal tryst—to experiment with the brief moment of passion Quin had introduced her to that day in the grove of trees.

“Sure you don’t want to sneak back here after dark?” he whispered from so close behind her that his warm breath caressed her neck and made her weak in the knees.

Adrianna relied on the flippant responses she had used when aristocrats tossed propositions at her. “Not tonight, Cahill. I’ll let you know….”

He frowned down at her and she suspected he realized he had received a practiced response leftover from her days in Boston’s high society.

“I should go,” she murmured as she descended the steps.

“I’ll be here if you need me…for one reason or another,” he said softly, invitingly.

She halted to glance up at the brawny cowboy that sported a bristly beard and shaggy hair. He looked rough-edged and rugged…and those leather chaps always drew her attention to the crotch of his breeches. Adrianna inhaled a steadying breath and walked toward her horse. She wondered how much longer she would be able to control the unruly desire Cahill always managed to stir inside her.

No strings, she mused as she rode home. A simple experiment with passion. It was a man’s way so it was going to be her way, she reminded herself. After all, she had come to Texas to live without the infuriating restraints applied to women in the East. She just hadn’t expected her new philosophy to include sexual pleasure. But Quin Cahill was a hard man to resist.

She wondered if Cousin Rosa had had the same problem when it came to the brawny ex–Ranger.

Adrianna smiled to herself, wondering if that’s what Rosa had been talking about when she said that she and Lucas didn’t want to wait that long. She suspected she was beginning to understand what Rosa meant.