The Texas Rancher's Vow

“I’ll give you ten thousand dollars per bronze, as long as I get a royalty on any copies that are sold.”

That ego again!

“Why don’t I do the first one—the one we decided on last evening—and see how happy you are with that before we go any further?” she proposed.

Emmett grinned, looking like his old self again. “Trying to raise the price on me?”

“Not at all.”

“Good thing,” Matt said, sauntering into the room. Ranch dust clung to his sweat-stained clothing. A touch of sunburn highlighted the handsome angles of his face. Jen figured he hadn’t shaved since the previous morning, which made the black scruff on his jaw all the more pronounced. And he smelled to high heaven, yet she was ridiculously glad to see him.

“’Cause I’d have something to say about that,” he continued in his lazy, provoking drawl.

“Good to see you, too,” Jen murmured, rolling her eyes. Not.

Ignoring his presence, she looked at Emmett and continued their conversation in a crisp, businesslike tone. “Everything that was shipped to me arrived by noon, but there are still some things I’m going to need for my stay. So if it’s okay, I’m going to call it quits for today and head into Laramie to do a little shopping and get some dinner.”

“We’d be happy to hold the evening meal for you,” Emmett said.

She lifted a hand. “No need for that.”

It was time to start setting limits with both father and son.

She smiled and gathered up the photos for further study.

Ignoring Matt’s intent appraisal, she headed for the door. “You all enjoy yourself this evening. And I’ll get started setting up a temporary sculpting studio tomorrow.”

* * *

FIVE HOURS LATER, Emmett said in a worried tone, “Jen should have been back by now.”

Matt looked up from his laptop computer. He’d been doing the ranch books. Or trying. Hands shoved in the pockets of his khaki trousers, Emmett had been pacing the front of the house, looking out the windows, for at least forty-five minutes now.

“Did she give anyone a time to expect her?”

“No. But a storm is brewing. And I don’t like the idea of her driving unfamiliar back roads in the dark and the pouring rain.”

Matt had been thinking the same thing.

Then cursed inwardly for allowing himself to worry. Jen Carson was not his problem.

Except when it came to keeping her from taking advantage of his father.

“I’m sure she has driven in rain before, Dad.”

“In the city. Where she probably knows the roads, and the location of all the low water crossings to avoid.”

He had a point there. “If she takes the farm-to-market road straight to town, she’ll be fine.”

“But she won’t be if she drives the shortest route, which is on the back roads. A lot of which are not well marked.” Emmett grabbed his hat off the coat tree in the front hall and planted it on his head. “I’m going to go out and look for her.”

Matt studied his father’s wan complexion. Although his dad was loath to admit it, these days he tired easily.

Matt supposed it was to be expected, though.

After all, his dad wasn’t getting any younger.

Reluctantly, Matt put his laptop aside and followed him out to the porch.

If Jen hadn’t wanted to handle another stressful family dinner with the two of them, Matt couldn’t wait to hear how she would like being tracked down during her “free time.” Eager to avoid a situation she was likely to consider an intrusion, he asked casually, “Have you tried calling her cell?”

Emmett nodded grimly, squinting at the rural highway barely visible in the distance. Overhead, no stars were discernible. Along the horizon, there were violent flashes of jagged yellow light, and the wind had started whipping up, making the cattle nervous.

“I imagine her phone is either turned off or she’s out of range of a tower.”

She was fine.

It wasn’t like she needed him to rush to her rescue and wrap his arms around her. Even though, Matt admitted to himself, that was a tempting fantasy.

Aware that his dad was still weighing the advisability of going after her, Matt consulted his watch and tried to talk sense into him. “It’s only nine-thirty, Dad.”

It just seemed as if she’d been gone forever.

Emmett rubbed his wrist, as if it were hurting him. “The stores all close at nine.”

“Maybe’s she grabbing a late dinner.”

Or avoiding an early return by taking in a movie or hanging out at the Lone Star Dance Hall in Laramie. Both were pleasant ways to while away a stiflingly hot summer evening. The latter, especially, if Jen was looking for a little action….

Emmett took his car keys out of his pocket with a hand that shook slightly. “I’m going to go out and drive the road to town, anyway,” he announced with typical gallantry.

Matt didn’t want to think about his dad driving in the rain, with the moon all but obscured by the heavy cloud cover. The faint but distinct rumble of thunder was now audible. He shoved his own reluctance aside. “I’ll go. You stay here and man the phones in case Jen is in some kind of trouble.”

“Drive the entire route,” Emmett ordered. “Both of them!”

Matt nodded. He would, if only to keep his dad from getting further entangled.

* * *

I SHOULD HAVE checked the radiator before I left. At the very least refilled all the water bottles, Jen thought.

But she hadn’t.

She had simply hopped in her van and driven thirty minutes into Laramie, in the scorching hundred and ten degree heat. Her carelessness, coupled with the evaporation in a van that had been sitting in the full sun all day, with a growing leak in the radiator, had triggered the Check Engine light.

Halfway back to the Triple B, Jen had been forced to pull over into the nearest safe place—the middle of a field, just off the highway—and lift the hood, lest the van catch fire.

It was as she feared. The radiator had been bone-dry, the engine sizzling hot. Jen had poured the half bottle of water she had with her over both, then tried to call for help.