was rendered helpless.
Most of all, Shane remembered Lexie—the terror that had gripped him when he’d heard Aaron’s threat, not for himself but for her. If Aaron had touched his lighter to the straw where she was hiding, she would have died horribly, within seconds. He remembered the sight of her, crawling out of the hay with fury in her eyes, and how relief had almost overcome him as he realized she was safe. And then she’d wrapped Aaron’s leg to slow the bleeding. How much courage and compassion had it taken for her to do that? She was amazing, his Lexie, and today he’d nearly lost her.
It had taken forty minutes for the sheriff to arrive with the ambulance. Waiting together, with Aaron lying between them on the stable floor, they’d said little. But their eyes had met often, trading unspoken questions.
While the paramedics tended Aaron’s wound and readied him for transport to a hospital, Lexie told her story to the sheriff, who shook his head, praised her detective work, then scolded her for her reckless behavior. “You’re lucky to be alive, young lady,” he’d said. “If this cowboy—” Here he’d nodded at Shane. “If he hadn’t been in the stable, the whole place would’ve burned, and you with it.”
As the ambulance was getting ready to leave, Val had arrived home. Scolding and fussing like a mother hen, she’d ushered Lexie inside to clean her up and make her rest. Shane had stayed outside to coax the spooked horse back into its stall, which took some time.
For the rest of the day and evening, he and Lexie had had precious little time to talk. Val had been a constant presence, hovering over her sister and demanding to know every detail of what had happened that morning.
Sitting across the table at supper, Lexie’s gaze had been tender and questioning. Shane had ached with the need to talk to her, to tell her how much he loved her and how sorry he was that he’d kept her at a distance. Would she forgive him, or had he hurt her so deeply that she would never trust him with her heart again?
He’d waited, hoping for the right moment. But it hadn’t come. He would have to find it tomorrow.
In the stillness, he heard the bedroom door open and close. A pale shape flitted through a shaft of moonlight. Shane’s heart leapt. Could this be happening?
“Lexie?” he whispered.
“I’m here.” Her voice was as soft as the wind. Maybe he was dreaming.
“Are you all right?” he asked.
She stood next to the bed. “I can’t sleep,” she said. “Thinking about what almost happened today—I was so scared, Shane. I’m still scared. I . . .” She hesitated, taking a breath. “I think I need you to hold me.”
Heart pounding, he raised the covers and shifted to make room for her. Clad in a silky wisp of a nightgown, she slipped into bed beside him. He wrapped her in his arms, her body trembling, her skin like soft, warm satin against his.
And as he held her close, feeling her love and trust, all that he had yearned for, hoped for, and feared to lose forever became possible.
EPILOGUE
Seven weeks later
A WAXING CRESCENT MOON HUNG LOW IN THE EVENING SKY. ITS light shone through thin clouds, casting mottled patterns across the landscape. The windmill creaked softly, its vanes turning in the light breeze.
The three women sat on the porch, the light above the door turned off to discourage flying insects. The day had been long and tiring. Tess and Lexie had spent most of it with the beef herd, making sure the steers were ready for shipment. Tomorrow the animals would be loaded into a cattle truck and hauled to a feed lot, where they’d be fattened for auction.
Val, who’d always claimed she was allergic to cows, had spent the day painting the living room. She’d made it her project to refurbish every part of the tired old house, giving it a fresh new look in time for Lexie and Shane’s late-November wedding. The work had a long way to go, but she appeared to be enjoying every minute of it.
Still dressed in her paint-spattered work clothes, she tilted a can of Diet Coke to her lips. “Damn!” she muttered, lowering the can. “What I wouldn’t give for a beer!”
“Don’t even think about it, sis,” Tess said. “One sip, and you’d be on your way down that slippery slope. That’s why we don’t even keep the stuff in the house.”
Val pulled a face at her sister. Tess ignored her. Lexie giggled. From inside the house came the faint thump of Shane’s weight machine. He never missed his nightly workout. His last checkup at the clinic in Tucson had shown that he was making great progress. By now, he could drive around the ranch and backroads in his hand-operated ATV, and he’d ordered a custom saddle for riding. He was determined to live a full life. But he would never ride bulls again, and Lexie knew that sometimes that reality still hurt.
“I still miss Callie,” Lexie said. “I’d give anything if she could be here to see my wedding.”
“We all miss her,” Tess said. “But thanks to you, at least we know she was innocent of any crime.”
The sisters had ordered a simple marker of pink marble and laid it where Callie’s ashes were buried. Their stepmother had been far from perfect, but Callie had always acted with love toward her family.
Tess kicked off her dusty boots and stretched her long legs. “So what does everybody think of today’s big news?” she asked.
The call had come that morning from the PBR Director of Livestock. Whirlwind, who’d bucked off nearly every cowboy who settled on his back, would be going to the world finals in Las Vegas.
And there was even more good news. Shane had been hired by the sports network to sit in as a commentator. Lexie knew he was pleased. Even if he couldn’t ride, he could still be a part of the PBR family.
“We’ve all got to be there,” Tess said. “Even you, Val.”
Val’s expression froze. “Not me. I’ll stay home and tend the farm, thank you.”
“But why?” Tess asked.
“You know why. At least Lexie does.”
“Don’t be a wuss, Val,” Lexie said. “You’re bound to run into Casey sooner or later. You might as well get it over with.”
“No,” Val said, crushing the can in her fist. “Just no. I don’t even want to talk about it.”
Lexie took a deep breath. “Well, since you don’t want to talk about anything else, I have some news—something I haven’t shared with anybody but Shane.”
Her sisters stared at her. “What?” Tess asked.
Lexie grinned. “I’m pregnant!”
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
Special thanks to Jeff and Wendie Sue Kerby Flitton of Bar T Rodeo for their gracious hospitality and invaluable help in researching this story.