Ambush At Dry Gulch

Jake met Carolina’s steely gaze. “I’ve been way out of line. I jumped to conclusions and made a fool of myself.”

She gazed at him, the anger subsiding as a look of pleading burned in her eyes. “I don’t care what you think of me, Jake, but I’m begging you to contact your father, soon, before it’s too late. It would mean the world to him—and to me.”

Jake’s insides twisted. It was tearing him apart to look into her eyes and refuse her, but she had no idea what she was asking of him.

“I’ll think about it.” That was the most he could promise.

“Then I guess I’ll have to settle for that for now.” She turned away and resumed packing.

A protective urge hit him hard and fast. “I know I don’t really have a say in the matter, but I’d really like it if you’d spend the rest of the week at the

Silver Spur.”

“Why?”

To keep her safe. To keep her close. He wasn’t sure exactly which need was stronger at this moment.

www.millsandboon.co.uk

JOANNA WAYNE began her professional writing career in 1994. Now, more than fifty published books later, Joanna has gained a worldwide following with her cutting-edge romantic suspense and Texas family series, such as Sons of Troy Ledger and Big “D” Dads. Joanna currently resides in a small community north of Houston, Texas, with her husband. You may write Joanna at PO Box 852, Montgomery, TX 77356, USA or connect with her at www.joannawayne.com.

To my very patient and supportive editor, Denise Zaza, who believed in me enough to stand by me during recent health problems, and to my wonderful readers, who came to love the Lamberts and the Daltons (especially Texas rounder R.J. Dalton) as much as I do.

Contents

Cover

Introduction

Title Page

About the Author

Dedication

Chapter One

Chapter Two

Chapter Three

Chapter Four

Chapter Five

Chapter Six

Chapter Seven

Chapter Eight

Chapter Nine

Chapter Ten

Chapter Eleven

Chapter Twelve

Chapter Thirteen

Chapter Fourteen

Chapter Fifteen

Chapter Sixteen

Chapter Seventeen

Chapter Eighteen

Chapter Nineteen

Chapter Twenty

Chapter Twenty-One

Chapter Twenty-Two

Chapter Twenty-Three

Extract

Copyright

Chapter One

Carolina Lambert shifted in the porch swing so that she could look her neighbor R.J. Dalton in the eye while they talked. He rocked back and forth in his chair, sometimes looking at her, more often staring into space.

Her heart ached at the way his body grew weaker each day. He had already beaten the odds by more than two years, but the inoperable tumor in his brain was relentless. It was only a matter of time and yet there was a peace to his spirits that she envied.

He sipped his black coffee, his wrinkled hands so unsteady that it took both of them to hold his mug. “I reckon Brit told you that you better get over here and check on the old man while she took Kimmie in for her checkup.”

“No one has to coax me. Spending time with you is always my pleasure,” Carolina said truthfully.

But he was right. Even with a precious baby girl to keep her busy, his daughter-in-law Brit had pretty much taken over the job of coordinating the family’s schedule so that R.J. was never alone for more than a few minutes at a time.

“I swear you dropped off Saint Peter’s coattail, Carolina. You’re the best danged neighbor a scoundrel like me ever had. Best looking, too. Can’t believe you’re still running around single. Hugh’s been dead what? Three? Four years now?”

“Four and a half.”

“That’s a long time to put your life on hold.”

“My life’s not on hold. I’m busy all the time with my family, friends like you and countless projects.”

“Not the same as having a lover.”

“Now, what are you doing even thinking about lovers at your age?”

“I’m not dead yet. If I was thirty years younger and not playing hide-and-seek with the grim reaper, I’d be after you quicker than hell can scorch a feather.”

“You’ve done more than your share of chasing women, Reuben Jackson Dalton.”

“I caught a few mighty fine ones, too.”

“So I’ve heard.”

He smiled, the wrinkles around his eyes cutting deep into the almost-translucent flesh. “Lived life on my terms, sorry as it was. By rights I ought to be drowning in regrets. Wasn’t for taking your advice about what to do with my ranch, I would be.”

“I can’t take credit for you turning your life around.”

“You don’t have to take it, by jiggers. I’m a-givin’ it to you. I offered to give you the Dry Gulch Ranch free and clear. You turned me down. Didn’t leave me much choice except to try your idea.”

“I suggested you leave the Dry Gulch Ranch to your family. That’s not a particularly inventive idea.”

“Sounded like crazy talk to me. Leave this ranch and what lottery winnings I had left to a bunch of strangers who wouldn’t have tipped their hats if I’d passed them on the street.”

“Until they got to know you.”

He nodded and rubbed his weathered, bony chin. “Blessing was I got to know them. Listen at me, talking about blessings. You have really rubbed off on me. Surprise, ain’t it, after me being a worthless rounder most of my eighty-plus ornery years?”

“You were never worthless.”

“I done plenty of stuff I’m not proud of, but I must have done something good along the way, like pick the right women to birth and raise my kids. You gotta admit, I got me some real winners. Got the smartest and cutest durned grandkids on the planet, too.”

“Next to mine,” Carolina teased. “So you really do have no regrets?”

“I’d like to trade a few more years with my family for all the ones I’ve wasted, but I’m good with what I’ve got.” He turned to watch a woodpecker in a nearby pine tree. “Would be lying if I didn’t say I have one other regret, though.”

“What is that?”

R.J. scratched his chin, his fingers poking into the loose pads of skin at his neck. “I’d just like the chance to sit around the table and chew the fat with Jake, one-on-one. At least make a stab at getting to know my firstborn, find out why he’s so set against being part of the family.”

Carolina swallowed hard, feeling his pain and fighting her own swelling anger. R.J. hadn’t been much of a father to any of his children when they were growing up, but what kind of adult son could just turn his back on his dying father? She tried not to think ill of anyone, but Jake Dalton was the exception.

She’d gone so far as to call him herself last week, planned to beg if necessary to get him to pay R.J. a visit before it was too late. He’d been cool and aloof, until she’d pushed.

Then he’d struck out at her, accusing her of having done enough already to screw up R.J. and the rest of the Dalton clan. She might have found out what he meant by that if her temper hadn’t flared to the point that she’d hung up on him.

The man was arrogant, coldhearted and infuriating. If his mother was anything like him, no wonder R.J.’s first marriage had ended in divorce.

Of course, so had his other three marriages, so she definitely couldn’t absolve R.J. of fault.

“How’s your friend Mildred Caffey?” R.J. asked. “Has that no-good, wife-beater ex-husband of hers tried to get in touch with her since he got out of prison?”

“He hadn’t the last time we talked, but I know she’s worried that he will. It’s been good for her that she’s been so busy working on a project with me.”

“You don’t think she’ll go back to him, do you?”

“No. She’s much smarter and more emotionally stable now then she was when they were together.”

“Thanks to you.” R.J. swatted at a honeybee that had been flitting among the blossoms of the potted petunias scattered about the porch. “You go around rescuing every stray you see.”

“Only the ones who want my help. And Mildred isn’t a stray. She just made some bad choices along the way.”

“Sure as shooting, she did. I knew Thad Caffey was bad blood the first time I met him. Don’t know why a nice young woman like Mildred ever married a no-account skunk like that.”

“Love sometimes blinds people.”

“Reckon you’re right about...” He stopped midsentence, ran bony, knotty fingers through his thinning hair and stared into space.

He stayed silent so long Carolina feared he was fading into one of the spells he had far too often these days. Times when he drifted into another world, one where he didn’t recognize his own family. One where he visited a woman from his past or from his dreams.

Carolina imagined this phantom as a first love, one who had carved out a space in his heart and never fully let go. Perhaps someone he’d loved the way she’d loved Hugh.

Finally R.J. turned and looked at Carolina, his eyes clearer now, as if he’d returned from the secret caches of the memories that had claimed him.

“He’s gonna be out to kill you, Carolina.”

“Who?”

“Thad Caffey. I was in the courtroom the day the jury found him guilty. I saw the way he looked at you, his face contorted and his eyes wild like he was a panther about to spring. I figured he blamed you for her testifying against him.”

“If he thinks I encouraged her, he’d be absolutely right. I won’t be intimidated by Thad Caffey.”

“Or any other man around these parts.” R.J. sputtered a raspy, guttural sound that might have been a chuckle or a cough. “All the same, keep an eye out for trouble.”

Carolina looked up at the sound of approaching hooves and gladly let the topic drop as R.J.’s son Adam came riding up on a handsome gray mare. He tipped his hat and dismounted.

“Hope I’m not interrupting anything.”

“Absolutely not,” Carolina assured him. “Always good to see you.”

“And you. Hadley’s been talking about having you over for supper one night soon, but she says you’re jumping through hoops getting ready for that summer riding-camp program you’re organizing.”

“I have to be in Austin for their area training session starting tomorrow. This is a busy time.”

“Busy myself. Spring on the ranch,” Adam said, knowing she’d understand that said it all. He joined them on the porch, stopping to lean against the railing. “Just came by to see if you want to go check out a new foal that was born last night, Dad.”

“Long as you don’t expect me to ride that mare of yours to the barn.”

“Nope. We’ll take your truck.”

“Good. I’m about as steady as a cat on skates these days. Carolina can go with us. She’s always keen on any kind of baby.”

“Yes, but I have to beg out today,” Carolina said. “Too many errands on my to-do list. But I know you’ll be in good hands.”

She stood when R.J. did and gave him a quick hug and a kiss on his sallow cheek. Her anger swelled again at the thought of Jake Dalton and his refusal to pay a visit to the Dry Gulch Ranch and R.J. The loss was definitely his.

The Daltons were one terrific family—second in her heart only to her own.

She said her goodbyes and went back to her black Mercedes sports car. Her phone rang before she made it back to the highway.

“Hello.”

“Glad I caught you, Carolina. This is Jack Crocker, and I got a bit of bad news for you.”

“What’s wrong?”

“I’m going to have to back out of hosting that training session here on my ranch next week.”

Her spirits plummeted. The arrangements were all made. Ten new summer riding camps opened in two weeks, their first venture into the Austin area. If they canceled the training, they had to cancel the program and disappoint one hundred and fifty young teens from the inner city.

She’d known Jack and his wife for years. They were the first people she’d thought of when she decided to branch out to the Austin area.

“What’s happened?” she asked, struggling not to show her disappointment. “Are you sick? Is Betsy?”

“Nope. Me and the wife are fine. Just found out that all the kids and grandkids are coming to town to surprise Betsy for her seventieth birthday. No idea why they didn’t tell me before now, ’cept they figured I’d never keep the secret.”

“I understand,” she said, crushed, but already trying to figure out a plan B.

“Don’t you go frettin’ about it, though,” Jack consoled. “I wouldn’t leave you stranded in a ditch without a mule to haul you out. I gave a call to Aidan Bastrop. He took over from there.”

“Took over, how?” Aidan was a state representative and a friend, but this time she didn’t see how he’d be able to intervene. He didn’t own a ranch, and much of the training required that.

“Aidan worked something out with a neighbor of mine. You’ll have bigger and better facilities than what you’d have had here.”

The knots in her stomach relaxed. She should have known Jack wasn’t the type to blow a commitment lightly. The relief lasted for the two seconds it took for him to mutter the name of his replacement.

The last person on earth she would have asked for a favor.

Chapter Two

Jacob Edward Dalton worried the knot in his red-striped tie for about ten seconds before jerking it off and tossing it to a nearby chair. Texas State Capitol building or not, he was going casual. Mid-June and the humidity was already battling the temperature for record highs for this time of year.

He could kick himself for letting Aidan Bastrop talk him into volunteering the Silver Spur for some project he’d never even heard of before now. Nothing like a gaggle of women descending on a ranch to guarantee his wranglers would do more gawking than work.

Not that Jake was against helping out. He gave generously to several causes important to him. But he had a ranch to run and a teenage daughter to corral, neither of which was going particularly well at the moment.

His foreman had been thrown last week when a rattlesnake spooked his horse. Granger had suffered a broken leg and bruised ribs. The man would be limited in what he could do for the next couple of weeks, though Granger would keep abreast of everything going on around the Silver Spur.

As for his daughter, Lizette, he was considering shipping her off to the Arctic until she cooled down. Her latest state of rebellion had been fueled by his forbidding her to date Calvin Owens.

Calvin was the local bad boy, two years older than Lizzie, and already had a juvenile record for vandalizing the local high school and shoplifting. And that was just what they knew he was guilty of.

Now Lizzie was constantly pushing the house rules and the limits of decency in her wardrobe choices. If her denim cutoffs got any shorter, she might as well skip them altogether. She considered curfews irrelevant and her newly acquired driver’s license a proclamation of freedom.

She did a lot better when her grandmother was in the house. But Jake’s mother, Mary, was on a European river cruise with a few of the other widows from their church. She was almost eighty, yet some days Jake swore she had more energy than he did. She definitely had more skill in dealing with Lizzie.

Jake headed down the hallway and stopped at the door to Lizzie’s bedroom. He tapped softly and lingered a minute, though he didn’t expect a response. She hadn’t been up before noon once since school let out for the summer.

He took the wide staircase to the first floor and then followed the smell of fresh brew to the kitchen. “Good morning, Edna,” he greeted his housekeeper as he poured himself a mug of coffee. “You’re here early today.”

“Not a lot of use in hanging around my place by myself when I can be up here drinking your coffee and soaking up your air-conditioning.”

“Can’t blame you for that.” And it wasn’t as if she had far to come. Jake had built Edna a cabin on his spread after her husband died almost three years ago. The tall big-boned woman had been with him ever since he’d turned his back on a promising medical career and taken over the ranching business right after...

Nope. He was not going there this morning.

Edna handed him a cup of coffee. “You don’t look like you’re planning to do a lot of ranching today.”

“No, but I should be. Instead I’m off to Austin and the capitol building for some meeting that I don’t have time for.”

“Seems like all those politicians do is meet. What are they yakking about this time?”

“Some project that Aidan Bastrop enlisted my help with.”

“I thought you had more on your plate than you can handle with Granger hurt.”

“Yep, but this is an emergency of sorts.”

Edna opened the refrigerator and started pulling out breakfast items while he finished his coffee. “What is it you’ve volunteered for? Giving a talk about ranching? Sponsoring an event? Making a donation?”

“I’m donating, all right. Unfortunately it’s not just money. It’s the ranch.”

She looked at him as if he’d lost his mind—which he probably had, at least temporarily. “Donated the ranch? What in blue blazes are you talking about?”

“Actually, it’s only the use of the ranch, our horses, corrals and some meeting space. And only for five days, starting Wednesday.”

“Who borrows a ranch?”

“A group of about thirty women. But don’t start having conniptions. You won’t have to do a thing.”

“Humph. A bunch of strange women taking over the place and no extra work. That’ll never happen.”

“I’ll see that it does,” he promised, though he wasn’t fully convinced of that himself. “The house is not included in the loan.”

“What are all these women training for, some kind of trail ride?”

“Nope. It’s called the Saddle-Up program, or something like that.”

“Never heard of it.”

“Nor had I, but then it involves teenage girls, so it’s outside my realm of expertise. I have enough trouble managing Lizzy.”

“Exactly what do they do with these teenagers?”

“According to Aidan’s persuasive argument, they give inner-city girls from high-poverty areas one month on a real working ranch over the summer. They teach them to ride, work as a team, take responsibility—that sort of thing.”

Edna’s hands flew to her ample hips. “Well, why didn’t you just say that in the first place? Those kids need a summer on a ranch. When does this training start?”

“Officially—Wednesday.”

“This Wednesday? As in two days away?”

“Yes, but like I said. You don’t have to do a thing.” As if there was a chance Edna wouldn’t be in the middle of things.

“You can’t ignore guests,” Edna said. “It’s not the Texas way.”

“Maybe not, but I plan to give it my best shot.” Starting today. “A few of the women are coming out to tour the ranch this afternoon, just to get their bearings before the official training begins. If they show up at the house before I get back, give me a call and I’ll have one of the wranglers hook up with them.”

“You should be here for that,” she said. “You never know. Some of those women might be mighty fine-looking.”

“I’m sure the wranglers will appreciate that. If you need me, call me.”

“You’re not leaving without breakfast, are you? I can whip up some bacon and eggs before you finish your coffee.”

“No need. I’ll grab a bite to eat in town. Best to get on the road now before traffic becomes a pain in the butt. But you can remind my daughter when she finally crawls out of bed that I expect to see her at the dinner table tonight. On time.”

Edna stared at him as if he’d spoken in a foreign language. “Lizzie didn’t spend the night here last night.”

Irritation ground in his gut. “She was here when I went to bed.”

“She left you a note on the foyer table that she was spending the night with her friend Angie.”

“A note telling me—not asking. Another stunt like this and I’m going to take her keys away.”

“Maybe you should just sit down and talk to her first. Take her for a horseback ride and a little teamwork of your own.”

“See you at dinner,” Jake said. He turned and walked away before he said something he’d be sorry for.

Edna thought talking was the answer to every problem that came along, but she had no idea what he’d been through with Lizzie. If her mother was here...

The old pain swelled inside him, followed by a surge of crusty hardness that allowed him to keep functioning. It was the only way he knew.

When he reached the foyer, he picked up his daughter’s note. Angie broke up with her boyfriend tonight. Needs a friend. I’ll spend the night. See ya.

He’d been home. She should have asked him before she left instead of sneaking away. But then if she’d asked, he’d have said no. At sixteen, she was too young to be driving the dark country roads out to Angie’s at night.

If she’d even gone to Angie’s.

The sweet, adorable Lizette he’d known once had to live somewhere inside the stranger she’d become. Somehow he had to find a way to reach her.

Instead he was off to a meeting he could do without.

* * *

CAROLINA MARCHED UP the steps of the capitol building, fighting the growing agitation that she was forced to accept Jake Dalton’s help, mentally debating how she’d handle their initial meeting.

“Slow down,” Mildred said. “I’m out of breath trying to keep up with you.”

“Sorry. I guess I’m still blowing off steam.”

“You are going to be civil to Mr. Dalton, aren’t you?”

“I’ll try. That’s the best I can promise—which is more than he was with me when I called him about paying R.J. a visit.”

“You might have caught him at a bad time. Maybe this is his way of making it up to you.”

“I seriously doubt that. And if it was just a matter of timing, he’s had time to rethink it and contact R.J. Besides, he was the one who made this personal by insinuating I’d done something wrong.”

“If he’s still upset with you, he certainly wouldn’t have volunteered the Silver Spur for the Saddle-Up project.”

“I strongly suspect a little quid pro quo was involved. He probably owed a favor to Aidan Bastrop—or wants one from him.”

“Whatever his reason, I’m glad the training wasn’t canceled,” Mildred said. “Now I just hope I can continue to be part of it.”

Mildred’s voice hinted of angst. Carolina slowed and turned to face her. “Of course you’ll be part of it. You’ve already put in hours and hours of work.”

“I know, but...”

“But what?”

“Thad.”

Carolina’s irritation switched from Jake to Mildred’s abusive ex-husband. “Have you heard from him?”

“Last night, near midnight. He sounded as if he’d been drinking.”

“What did he want?”

“To see me. He said it’s urgent.”

“What gall. He almost beat you to death. You’re divorced now. You owe him nothing.”

“He admitted all that, but he begged me to give him another chance. He says he’s a changed man.”

“What did you tell him?”

“That it’s over and he should go on with his life. But I know Thad. He’s not going to accept that. He thinks I belong to him like a piece of property. He always did.”

Mildred was clearly disturbed and with good reason. She needed to talk this out, but the meeting was due to start in minutes. “Why didn’t you mention this at breakfast or on the drive from the hotel to the capitol?”