It had been Jessica whod found the spot one night after a fight with her father. Shed wandered down the creek bank for half a mile to an oxbow surrounded by tall trees. Shed crawled through the barbed-wire fence onto Chisholm landand realized shed found the perfect place for them to meet in secret, her father being none the wiser.
Colton slowed his steps as he saw the tops of the trees in the distance and remembered the anticipation hed felt each time he was to meet her all those years ago.
When he saw their secret spot, he stopped short. Jessica Granger had been his first real girlfriend, although theyd been forced to keep it secret because of her father. Sid Granger didnt want his daughter having anything to do with those wild Chisholm boys and no matter what Colton did, he couldnt convince him otherwise.
The spot didnt look as if anyone had been here in the past fourteen years since the land was posted and no one else had reason to come here. As he walked to the trees, stopping in the cool shade, he realized that the last person to stand here had probably been Jessica. His heart lodged in his throat at the thought.
For a moment he swore he caught a whiff of her perfume. The scent took him back. He could close his eyes and feel her in his arms as they lay entwined in the shade of these cottonwoods after making love.
I have a surprise for you and cant wait to tell you. Whatever it had been, he would never know, he thought as he looked around.
What the hell are you doing here? He pulled off his Stetson and raked his fingers through his sandy-blond hair. Did he think he was going to find Jessica waiting for him here? He laughed at the absurdity of it.
Hell, he couldnt even be sure she ever came here that night. Maybe shed changed her mind, sorry shed written him the letter, and had taken off on her own.
With a start, he remembered that Sid Granger had called the ranch that night.
Its Granger, his father
had said after answering the phone in the middle of dinner all those years ago. He wants to know if youve seen his daughter. Colton had given his father a miserable shake of his head. He hasnt seen her. They broke up.
Hed never seen Jessica again.
If only hed gotten the letter, he thought angrily. He would have run off and married her in a heartbeat.
Colton took one last look at the spot under the trees. Im so sorry, Jessica, he whispered on the warm spring breeze rustling the leaves on the branches over his head.
A part of him ached for what could have been. They would have run away together. He could have gotten a job on a ranch. She could have gotten a job cooking for the hired hands. Or maybe he would have made enough that she didnt have to work, especially if theyd gotten a place to live along with his job.
He sighed, realizing that they had both been kids back then. The chances of his getting hired on some ranch would have been slim. Not only that, Jessica didnt know how to cook and she would have gone crazy living on a ranch. Shed always yearned to kick the dust of Montana off her heels and live in some big city. She had this idea that she would be a model. Or even a movie star.
Im going to be famous someday, she used to say. Youll look back and say, I knew her when she was a girl. It used to make him sad when she talked that way because he knew he would never leave Montana.
What would he have done if hed gotten the letter?
He would have figured something out, he told himself. Hed have had to. With her family being the way they were, he was all she had. She depended on him.
As he started to turn away, his boot toe caught on something. At first he thought it was a small root from the new growth at the base of one of the cottonwoods.
But as he reached down to free his boot, he saw that it wasnt a root but a leather strap protruding from the dirt. It was attached to something buried under one of the exposed roots.
He pulled on the strap and a small leather shoulder bag came up out of the dirt. The leather was discolored, the design faded over the years, but he recognized it at once.
His heart pounded against his injured ribs. Jessicas purse.
Chapter Two
You want me to get that? the cook asked. Celeste was a thirty-something woman, robust, flush-faced and tireless. What she lacked in a sense of humor was made up by her work ethic. At least thats what Emma told herself.
No, I have it. Emma wiped her hands on her apron and walked to the wall phone in the kitchen. She picked it up on the third ring, praying it wasnt a repeat of the two other calls shed gotten since arriving here.
Chisholm Cattle Company, she said into the phone.
A beat of silence, then, Mrs. Hoyt Chisholm? The voice was a womans. She sounded elderly and according to the caller ID, a local number.
Yes. Emma held her breath, hoping the woman was someone from the nearby town of Whitehorse whod called to welcome her to the area and wish her well on her marriage.
You need to get out of that house before you end up dead, too. Your husband is cursed when it comes to wives.