“I’ll find her,” he said finally.“She’s no part of what’s between you and me.”
Randall’s mouth worked.He lowered his arm and moved toward Rafe, stopping a few feet away.“I meant what I said in Casey Springs.”
Familiar anger coursed through Rafe.“You’re ten years too late, Randall.”
Randall flinched.“At least I can clear your name.”
“Can you also remove the brand?”
Randall’s eyes met his.“No, I can’t do that.”
Rafe felt his strength fading, along with the hatred and anger that had been fueling him.He tried not to let it show, but something flickered in Randall’s eyes.“Let me come with you.You might need me.”
“Like I need a rattlesnake.”But Randall was right, and Rafe knew it.Randall could bargain with a posse; Rafe knew he would be shot on sight.And then what would happen to Shea?
He looked down at the irons at his feet and kicked them away out of sight.He felt a sudden flash of relief when he did so, as if cool air had been pushed through the dark hot hell of his soul.When his eyes met Randall’s in the moonlight, he knew Randall realized exactly what Rafe had intended.
“I meant what I said,” Randall said.“I’ll tell what happened ten years ago.”
“It doesn’t matter anymore,” Rafe said wearily.“They were ready to hang me back there because of the brand.There’s no place I can go on earth without questions, suspicions, accusations.”He turned around.“Go ahead, pick up your guns.We’d better get moving.”
They reached the valley at dawn.Rafe didn’t think there was any chance that Shea might have found it.But it was a starting point.The only one they had.
He didn’t even care now that Randall knew its location.The only thing that mattered was Shea.They would rest their horses, then move down, hoping to find some sign of her.
The door of the cabin was open.Rafe didn’t pay any attention to Randall at all as he galloped to the front door.No one was inside, but a wildflower lay on the table next to some broken crackers.For Abner, he knew.
Rafe smiled.He didn’t know how she’d done it, but she had.And he knew exactly where she was now.
Randall came into the cabin and looked around curiously, anxiously.
“She’s safe, Randall,” Rafe said.
He whistled softly, and Abner crept out from under the bed, then streaked toward Rafe and ran up his trousers.Rafe took the mouse in his hand, stroking him as Randall stared at him with amazement.
“How do you know?”
“Wait here,” Rafe commanded.
“Why?Where’s my daughter?”
Rafe threw him a cold stare.“Remember trust,” he taunted.“Think about it.”He turned around and went out the door, not waiting to see whether Randall had obeyed him.He would have broken out into a run if his leg allowed it, but he knew he’d lost enough blood in the past forty-eight hours.His arm had bled continually throughout the night, and his leg was raw and burning.
He found her huddled against the rock overlooking the pool at the bottom of the waterfall, just as he knew he would.She was sound asleep, her brown hair tumbling over her cheek.
Relief, tenderness, something very close to love, assaulted him with such strength, he could only stand there, trying to comprehend the power and complexity of those feelings.That she had even tried to make it here alone humbled him, filling him with bittersweet anguish for what could never be.
That she had succeeded astounded him and spoke eloquently of that strength of spirit she had.
He didn’t want to wake her.He just wanted to watch.To relish the fact that she had risked everything for him even though it caused him an equal part of pain.
The morning birds started their sweet songs, and her eyes fluttered open, looked confused, then found him and flew all the way open.“I was looking for your fawns,” she said, though her eyes said something else altogether.
He opened his arms, and she rose and went into them, her own arms going around him, her head resting against his chest.He lowered his own head and let his cheek rest on her hair.
That was all they needed.
Jack Randall had followed Rafe at a distance.He stopped as he saw Shea go into Rafe Tyler’s arms.He remained frozen, half-hidden by raspberry bushes and pines.
