In a Cowboy's Arms. Rebecca Winters

Surely you knew there had to be a life and death reason behind it.

      “Sadie?”

      Another voice and just in time.

      She tore her gaze away from Jarod. Zane was walking toward her, holding a fussy Ryan. “Here she is, sport.” The moment he put the little boy in her arms, Ryan calmed down. This child was the sunshine in her life.

      Zane smiled at them. “He was good for a while, but with all those unfamiliar faces, he missed you.”

      Sadie clung to her baby brother, needing a buffer against Jarod, who stood there looking too splendid for words. She finally averted her eyes and kissed Ryan. “I missed you, too.” She cleared her throat, realizing she’d forgotten her manners. “Zane Lawson, have you met Jarod Bannock, our neighbor to the east?”

      He nodded. “Liz introduced us.”

      At a loss for words in the brief silence that followed, Sadie shifted Ryan to her other arm. “I’m sorry I left you so long, sweetheart. Come on. There are a lot of people I need to thank for coming.”

      She glanced one last time at Jarod over Ryan’s head. “It’s been good to see you, too, Jarod,” she lied. Her pain was too great to be near him any longer. “Thanks for the wise counsel from your uncle Charlo. In truth I have come back to a mountain. Getting through the rest of this day will be like turning over that first stone.”

      As Jarod grimaced, Sadie hugged her brother harder. “Please give Uncle Charlo my regards the next time you see him. I always was a little in awe of him.”

      * * *

      AFTER EIGHT YEARS Jarod finally had his answer. She’d meant every word in the note she’d sent him. Not one phone call or letter from her in all that time. It appeared the sacred vow he’d made to her hadn’t touched her soul.

      Gutted by feelings he’d never experienced before, he watched the three of them walk back to the house. They looked good together, at ease with each other. Comfortable. Just how comfortable he couldn’t tell yet. Was there something in the genes that attracted the Corkin women to the Lawson brothers?

      But the girl he remembered with the long silky blond hair hanging almost to her waist was gone. Except for her eyes—Montana blue like the sky—everything else had changed. Her mouth looked fuller. She’d grown another inch.

      Blue jeans and a Western shirt on a coltish figure had been replaced with a sophisticated black suit that outlined the voluptuous curves of her body. The gold tips of her hair, styled into a windblown look, brushed the collar of a lavender blouse. And high heels, not cowboy boots, called his attention to her long, beautiful legs.

      There was an earthy element about her not apparent eight years ago. He hadn’t been able to identify it until she’d caught the towheaded boy in her arms. Then everything clicked into place. She’d become a mother as surely as if she’d given birth. He’d seen the same thing happen in the Crow clan—they watched out for the adopted ones. The experience defined Sadie in a new way. It explained the hungry look in the uncle’s eyes.

      Jarod was flooded by jealousy, an emotion so foreign he could scarcely comprehend it, and the flowers meant for his grandfather dropped to the ground. Not wanting to be seen, he stole around the side of the ranch house and had almost reached his truck when Connor caught up to him.

      “Jarod? Wait a minute! Where’s the fire?”

      His head whipped around and he met his younger brother’s brown eyes. Connor had been through a painful divorce several years ago, but his many steer wrestling competitions when he wasn’t working on the ranch with Jarod had kept him from sinking into a permanent depression. This past week he’d been away at a rodeo in Texas, but after learning about Daniel, he’d come home for the funeral.

      “Avery and I looked for you before the service.”

      “My flight from Dallas was late. I just got here. Come inside with me.”

      That would be impossible. “I can’t, but Avery will be glad to see you got here.”

      Connor cocked his dark blond head in concern. “Are you all right?”

      Jarod’s lungs constricted. “Why wouldn’t I be?”

      “I don’t know. You seem...different.”

      Yes, he was different. The passionate, stars-in-her-eyes woman who’d made him feel immortal had disappeared forever.

      “I promised grandfather I wouldn’t be long. He wants to hear about the funeral and know who attended. He has great affection for Sadie.”

      His brother nodded in understanding. “Don’t we all.”

      “How’s the best bulldogger in the state after your last event?” The question was automatic, though Jarod’s mind was somewhere else, lost in those pain-filled blue eyes that had looked right through him.

      “I’m not complaining, but I’ll tell you about it later. Listen—as long as you’re going back to the house, tell grandfather I’ll be home as soon as I’ve talked to Sadie. How is she? It’s been years since I last saw her.”

      A lifetime, you mean.

      “She’s busy taking care of her brother, Ryan.” That shouldn’t have made Jarod feel as if he’d been spirited to a different universe.

      Connor shook his head. “It’s incredible what happened to that family. Maybe now that Daniel’s gone she’ll have some peace. Avery told me on the phone she doesn’t have a clue what Sadie’s going to do now.”

      “I would imagine she’ll go back to San Francisco with Ryan and his uncle.”

      Connor looked stunned. “Do you think the two of them are...?” He didn’t finish what he was going to say.

      “I don’t know.”

      “He’s old enough to be her father!”

      “He certainly doesn’t look it, but age doesn’t always matter.” The way her eyes had softened when she’d looked at Zane Lawson had sent a thunderbolt through Jarod. “Why don’t you go inside and make your own judgment. I’ve got to leave. Grandfather’s waiting.”

      “Okay. See you back at the house.”

      But once Jarod had driven home, he went straight to his room and changed into jeans and a shirt. Before he talked to his grandfather, who was still asleep according to his caregiver, Martha, Jarod needed to expend a lot of energy.

      He’d made tentative plans to have dinner in town with Leslie Weston after the funeral. She was the woman he’d been dating lately, but he couldn’t be with her right now, not after seeing Sadie again. He would have to reschedule with her. For the moment the only way to deal with his turmoil was to ride into the mountains. He’d take his new stallion up Lost Canyon. Volan needed the exercise.

      Though he started out in that direction, midway there he found himself changing course. After eight years of avoiding the meadow, he galloped toward it as if he were on automatic pilot. When he reached their favorite spot, he dismounted and slumped into the bed of wildflowers. Their intoxicating scent was full of her.

      Jarod remembered that last night with her as if it was yesterday. After their time together, he’d followed her to make sure she reached the Corkin ranch safely. He’d felt great pride that she rode like the wind. She and Liz Henson had provided stiff competition for the other barrel racers around the county, until Sadie suddenly quit. When Jarod had asked her about it, she’d said it had taken too much time away from being with him.

      When he could no longer see her blond hair whipping around her, he’d set off the long way home, circling her property to avoid being seen. But before he’d reached the barn he’d had the impression he was being followed.

      * * *

      IN A LIGHTNING move he turned Chief around and bolted toward the clump of pines where he’d detected human