A Cowboy To Keep. Karen Rock

He straightened and studied the remains of a campfire. “Someone stayed here. Only one set of tracks. Whoever it was didn’t stick around, though.”

      If Smiley was on his own, did that mean he and the other guy, maybe Everett Ridland, had split up? If so, an explanation could be that Smiley’s partner worked on the ranch and would be able to hide in plain sight as long as he used an alias.

      She blinked rapidly. “Could be a camper. We adjoin the Pike National Forest. Sometimes people get confused and pass through.”

      He poked at the cinders with a twig, his gaze sweeping the bare dirt patch. “That’s a nice theory.”

      “You don’t know him.”

      “I hope to know him, soon.” He pointed at a set of fresh tracks leading away from the campfire onto a small footpath. “Where does that trail lead?”

      Her large eyes traveled from the foot impressions to the small trail. “The ranch.”

      “Where, specifically?”

      “Excuse me?”

      “Where does it come out?”

      “Behind Tanya’s cabin.”

      “Huh.”

      A deep rumble sounded above them and he instinctively dove for Dani. He swept her into his arms and covered her just before the first rocks of the avalanche rolled down the bluff and smashed into his shoulder, head and back, the dirt rising up around them in a blinding cloud.

      The horses neighed as the stone shower continued on and on, his mouth, his nose, his lungs filling with gritty, bitter earth. As for his heart, it bumped hard in his chest. Drummed in his ears. Then, suddenly, all was still and quiet.

      Dani’s clutch on his shoulders eased and he felt her stand. He shoved to his feet but couldn’t see anything, his eyes now burning.

      “Good girl, Storm. Pokey. Luckily the horses were just out of reach.”

      He nodded, unseeing.

      The crunch of Dani’s boots on the stone-filled area grew louder as she approached. “What’s wrong?”

      “Nothing.” He rubbed his eye, clearing away the grit.

      “Can you see?”

      “Not at the moment, exactly.” A couple more swipes and Dani’s outline swam into focus. Her brow furrowed as she stared directly at him, her gaze questioning.

      “You didn’t wipe your left eye,” she observed.

      He jerked, realizing his mistake, and brushed dirt off his eyelashes and lid, the damaged nerves there making it less sensitive, according to the doctor who’d treated him.

      “Can I ask you a personal question?”

      His hands stilled then dropped to his sides. “Can I stop you?”

      “Probably not.”

      “Okay. Shoot,” he answered, guessing what she wanted to know...information she might figure out sooner or later.

      “Are you blind in your left eye?”

      Tension coiled between his shoulder blades as he braced for the pity his brothers had given him after the injury. “Legally blind, but I can see some,” he muttered through clenched teeth. “Still want me as a wrangler?”

      His jaw worked at the memory of his brothers making unconscious allowances for him, how that’d made him feel less than he’d already felt after letting the family down in the worst way a man could. His chest burned. At last his good eye cleared and her features popped into sharp focus. Instead of looking sympathetic, a line appeared between her lowered brows.

      “I never wanted you to begin with. With that scowl, you resemble an extra in a Coen brothers’ movie—one that doesn’t end well. And you clearly have an issue with authority, but your skills...” She trailed off and looked upward at the cliff. “You know how to handle a crisis. Thanks for saving my skin.”

      A strange sensation swelled in his chest. “I like Coen brothers’ movies.”

      She headed for the horses, glanced at him over her shoulder and grinned. “Why am I not surprised? We’d better go. I need to tell grounds keeping about this.”

      He nodded, studying the outcropping. It looked stable enough. What had set off the avalanche? “How often do those happen?”

      “It’s the first one I’ve seen since I started here. Why?”

      “Just thinking.”

      “Do you believe someone started it?”

      “I don’t know, but I’ll find out,” he said grimly. He gestured toward the horses. “After you.”

      He needed to get Dani out of the area if his target lurked nearby. Once he spoke to Tanya, he’d explore the foot path and see if he couldn’t flush out his quarry.

      He swung his leg over Pokey, settled in the saddle and followed Dani. If an armed, reckless Smiley skulked this close to the ranch, Jack’s job here had just changed. He wasn’t just hunting on the property anymore, he thought, eyeing the graceful sway of Dani’s back as she rode ahead. He was now protecting it, and the woman who both irritated and fascinated him, too.

       CHAPTER FIVE

      DANI KNOCKED ON Tanya’s door an hour later, Jack by her side. The cowboy’s proximity made her senses fire to life and become acutely aware of the hard brush of his biceps against her shoulder, his looming height and rugged good looks. She inhaled the scent of him—a slight hint of woodsy pine, horses, leather and bar soap, a cowboy’s version of fancy aftershave that worked on her.

      Not that she had any business noticing a man who looked like the kind of trouble she avoided. The old Dani would have flirted up a storm with this dangerous man, but her new, wiser self knew better than to trust her attraction.

      The aroma of fresh-baked corn bread seeped through a window screen, breaking her from her thoughts, and Smiley came to mind. He usually ate at least one pan himself and declared the dish his favorite. Had Tanya baked it for her runaway boyfriend?

      She sealed off the traitorous thought. Tanya was good people. Smiley, too. If he’d been caught with drugs, there had to be an explanation. Maybe he’d been wearing someone else’s coat or driving their car. Whatever the reason, this must be a mistake. Still, she’d promised to introduce Jack and ask Tanya for the information he needed.

      Was she betraying her friend? Yes.

      Did that make her a hypocrite? Yes...considering her own past.

      The door swung open and Tanya appeared in the frame. Her quick smile faded when she glimpsed Jack. She tucked her dark hair behind her ears, slid her tank top strap up her thin arm and fidgeted with one of her leather bracelets.

      “My first visitor. It sure is good to see you. How’ve you been, girl?” Despite her friendly tone, her eyes kept darting to Jack. Knowing him, he read everything into her uneasy expression. Yet Dani knew Tanya. Her friend was the worst liar, one of the reasons Smiley never let her play poker with them on weekends. Her twitchy right eye always gave her away, as did her tendency to repeat herself when she was nervous.

      No.

      Tanya was trustworthy, as was Smiley. But he might be hiding out because he didn’t want to be charged with a crime he didn’t commit.

      Hadn’t she done the same when she’d fled to Colorado to reboot her off-the-rails life and avoid bringing trouble, aka her incarcerated ex and the pending charges against her, to her family’s doorstep?

      The news item that’d shown the composite sketch of her face with her misspelled name flashed before her eyes. And she