She’d been so relieved when she’d heard that Holly Jo was safe—and so was Brand. That Brand and Birdie Malone had saved Holly Jo and had barely gotten out of that burning house still made her weak. She could have lost her son—if she hadn’t already, she told herself.
Her first impulse had been to rush to the hospital to see him, but she’d talked herself into checking on his condition instead. Brand was being released this morning. Ryder had said he would pick him up, and Charlotte had thanked him.
She had something else to do that she told herself was more helpful than racing to Billings and showing up in his hospital room. It would take a lot more than that to heal the distance between her and her son.
Pulling out her phone, she made the call. “Elaine, where are you right now?”
“I’m at the ranch. I brought Holly Jo from the hospital. She needed to see her horse and go for a ride. Pickett is back. That definitely made her day. I’m sure he’ll start the trick-riding lessons again.”
“The house? I heard it was a total loss.”
“It is, but you know Holden. He plans to build something bigger and better once he’s released from the hospital.”
“When is that going to be?” Charlotte asked.
“Not for a while yet. How are you doing?”
It was so like Elaine to think of her and ask. “I have an idea I want to run by you.” She glanced around her living room, feeling the silence like an accusation. She’d pushed everyone she cared about away. “I have this huge house over here that’s pretty much empty. I’d like to offer it to you and Holly Jo and Holden and anyone else who needs a place to stay.”
Charlotte took a breath. “It would be a lot handier for all of you than going back and forth from town. I would imagine you’d been planning to stay in the hotel,” she said, rushing on before Elaine could stop her. “I was thinking I could use some time away, so the place would be all yours. Ryder and Brand have their own wing and are always off working on the ranch and never around anyway. You’ll love my kitchen. Please, before you say no—”
“That is so generous, Charlotte.”
“I really would love it if you would take me up on my offer. You can all stay as long as you want. It would be closer to the McKenna Ranch while the new house is being built. You’d have the place to yourselves. But Ryder and Brand would be around if you needed anything.” At least, she hoped Brand planned to stay on the ranch. “It would give Holden a chance to get to know his son.”
Silence. Then Elaine said, “Let me talk to Holden about it. I think it’s a lovely idea. But where are you planning on going?”
“I haven’t decided yet.”
More silence. “I’ll let you know.”
Charlotte disconnected more determined than ever to make changes in her life. One in particular had needed to be made for years, she thought as she left the house.
*
THE TIMES BIRDIE sneaked onto the Stafford Ranch, she’d made sure that most everyone was away from the house or in bed asleep.
Even with Holly Jo safe back at the McKenna Ranch, she suspected everyone, including those at the Stafford Ranch, would be on the lookout for anyone on the property who shouldn’t be. That would mean her.
But she wasn’t going to the main Stafford Ranch house—or anywhere near Brand. She didn’t need to ask him what he would think of her approaching his mother’s ranch manager to prove that his mother was a murderer.
Before she’d left Elmer, she’d gotten the information she needed to find Boyle Wilson’s cabin. It was in a spot where he had privacy and could come and go at will unseen. Which also meant he wouldn’t have known if someone had seen him leave the night Dixon Malone was killed. He could have followed Charlotte to the McKenna house that night, since apparently he had a romantic interest in his employer. He could have witnessed the murder and kept it to himself to use later as leverage. According to Elmer, that was the kind of man the ranch manager was.
Boyle’s cabin was on the other side of the dense stand of cottonwoods, far away from the house and some distance from the bunkhouse. There was a path out the back door to the stables, but the front door faced the mountains in the distance. Out his front window was miles of ranch land and little else until the pastures rose to foothills and higher.
Realizing how isolated the cabin was made Birdie hesitate. She considered herself brave, but not foolish to the point of facing down death. Elmer, who was clearly afraid of Boyle, had warned her. She didn’t doubt that the man was as evil as the retired ranch hand believed him to be.
But this couldn’t wait, she told herself. Tonight, she might find out the truth. Once she did, there was nothing keeping her here. She thought about Brand and the silence in the pickup after Ryder had asked about them. They’d been a novelty in Powder Crossing, something to gossip about. Even after all they’d shared, how could they be more than that?
The sun had long set behind the mountains to the west. Twilight had settled over the Stafford Ranch. Long dark shadows had formed under the cottonwoods. As she approached Boyle’s cabin, keeping to the pockets of darkness, she heard voices. The closer she got, the louder they became. A man and a woman were arguing. At first she couldn’t make out what they were saying—until she reached the front of the cabin.
Through a partially opened window, she heard the woman say, “Boyle, I didn’t come out here to argue with you.”
She crouched down so she could see inside the lit cabin. Charlotte Stafford?
Boyle, a rugged, surly-looking man with a smirk on his face, took a step toward her. “You think you came out here to fire me?” He laughed. “If that was true, you would have called me up to the main house like you usually do. Queen-of-the-manor-like. But no.” He took another step. Charlotte held her ground. “You came down to my cabin for the very first time for a whole other reason, and we both know it.” He reached out as if to touch her, but she slapped his hand away.
“I wanted to look you in your eye when I fired you, and I didn’t want anyone else to hear this,” she said.
“Didn’t want anyone to hear? You mean family? Or staff. You don’t think I’ve noticed that you’ve cut your household staff down to nothing and your young’ins have scattered to the wind? This ranch is in trouble, Charlotte.”
“It’s Mrs. Stafford to you, Boyle.”
His head tipped back, and a roar of laughter came out. “Why don’t you admit it? How long has it been since you’ve had a man in your bed? A real man, not Holden McKenna, the man who used you and dumped you how many times?”
Her hand came up fast. Boyle didn’t have time to avoid her slap. The sound of it ricocheted through the small cabin. But he was fast enough to grab her hand and jerk her toward him. He caught her at her waist with his free arm and slammed her against him.
“You’re going to find out what a real man feels like,” he growled as he shoved her up against the wall, trapping her there with his body. Charlotte fought hard, but he already had one of her hands and grabbed the wrist of the other, trapping them both in his huge hand. Pinned against the wall, she struggled as he bent to kiss her.
Birdie had shot up from where she was crouched the moment Boyle grabbed Charlotte. She rushed to the door and threw it open as the ranch manager let out a cry and jerked back from the kiss. She saw that his lip was bleeding, his face a distorted mask of fury.
“You bitch!” He drew back, fisted his free hand and swung it at Charlotte’s face.
But before it reached its destination, Birdie grabbed his arm and cranked it down behind Boyle’s back. At the same time, she got a knee between his legs and brought him down hard on the wood floor. She knew she wouldn’t be able to keep a man his size and strength down, though, so she quickly jumped back, expecting him to rise and attack as he started to get up from the floor.
Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Charlotte pull a shotgun down from the gun rack by the door. She swung around, ratcheted a shell into the chamber and pressed the end of the barrel against the back of Boyle’s head before he could get to his feet.
He froze.
