"I'm sorry, Ned," Idalee said. "I know you said you wanted to talk to Jessica yourself, but...well, I care about her, too, and...."
When Ned cocked a quizzical eyebrow at Idalee, she clasped her fidgeting hands to still them and lifted her chin a little.
"Oh, hell," she admitted around a little puff of breath. "All right, I was curious as to how Jessica reacted when you told her about the diaries. But I do want to see Storm and Jessica as happy as Elias and I are."
"Diaries?" Jessica asked.
"You haven't told her yet?"
Ned shook his head. "Not that part, just who Storm's father was. Go ahead and tell her the rest, Idalee. I was just about to."
"My mother kept diaries all her life, Jessica," Idalee hastened to explain when Jessica frowned at her. "After she died, I put them away. I guess I just didn't feel right prying into her life after she was gone. But when Ned started asking Elias questions about Storm, Elias told him he should talk to me. After all, Storm and I grew up together on the Lazy B."
"So the diaries were what confirmed Ned's suspicions?"
"Yes, Jessica. My mother and Mary, the woman who raised Storm for the first five years, were very close. Mother nursed Mary through a couple miscarriages and she said in one diary that Mary knew she wasn't going to make it after the last one."
Idalee shook her head. "Mary felt guilty over what she'd done — taken her sister's son and kept him from his father — but she'd lost so many babies and Storm was all she had. Mother wrote it all down, in case Storm wanted to know some day. When Father adopted Storm, he asked her to wait until Storm was older to tell him. It's all there — even the fact that Mary's sister's name was Caroline Russell. We haven't had a chance to tell Storm since I dug out the diaries a few days ago."
"When you tell him," Jessica said quietly, "make sure he knows he had a wonderful father. And make sure he knows that Uncle Pete never gave up looking for him."
"I think you ought to be the one who tells him, Jessica," Idalee said sternly. "After all, you're obviously the one who loves him."
Not wanting Idalee to see the ravagement stealing over her face, Jessica whirled to put her back to the other woman. "And Prudence is the one he's going to marry, Idalee. She can't tell him as easily as you can, can she?"
"Jessica, that can't be true...."
"Maybe I can't communicate the way you're learning to with Prudence, Idalee, but I can understand her. And this evening she only confirmed what Storm had told me earlier about their marriage plans."
"Well, this is the first I've heard of it," Idalee said huffily.
The sound of hoofbeats interrupted their conversation and the three of them turned to see the paint stallion disappearing around the side of the barn. A second later, Elias joined them.
"Storm says he's going to stand guard tonight," Elias informed them. "I told him I'd take a shift, but he almost bit my head off. Do any of you know what put a burr under his saddle?"
"I want to talk to Prudence," Idalee said, shooting Jessica a perplexed look.
"She's already asleep," Elias said. "She's been holding up pretty well, but she's really exhausted. Storm spent a few minutes with her before he settled her into her bedroll, and I think we ought to turn in, too, Idalee."
Idalee sighed in compliance. "I guess it can wait until morning." She allowed Elias to take her arm and walked away with him.
"Elias is right, Jes," Ned said. "We're all tired. Let's turn in and we'll get an early start in the morning to find this mine."
"I'll be along in a minute, Ned."
As soon as she was alone, Jessica gripped the railing again and stared up at the hill behind the ranch. She thought she caught a flash of white from Spirit's rump on the hillside before a cloud scuttled across the dim light of the waning moon. She scanned the crest of the hills after a while, hoping to see the outline of a horseman along the ragged ridge, though she knew Storm would be foolish to give away his presence while he stood guard.
After she finally gave a tired shrug and turned away to walk toward the barn, a sensation crawled up her spine, much like when she had taken the peaches out to her hands. She resolutely straightened her shoulders and kept walking. His ghost would be with her always, she knew. And she had lied to Ned. There would never be another man in her life after Storm.
"I think Pete would want you to be there, Jes."
"I know, and I will, Ned. But please come with us. I just...I don't want to be alone with...."
"All right, Jes. I'll get my horse ready."
As Ned moved away, Jessica poured the dregs from her coffee cup into the fire. The flames sputtered and hissed for only a second before the heat evaporated the moisture and they blazed merrily again. If only she could pour out the misery in her heart and get rid of it that easily.
An unpleasant chill stole over Jessica and she whirled to find Storm standing within a few inches of her. The flat stare in his black eyes chased away the morning warmth, intensifying the icy fingers on her spine.
"Ned told me he's going with us," Storm said in a harsh voice. "What's the matter? Did you think I might steal your precious map and keep the mine for myself?"
"Of course not, Storm," Jessica denied, confusion at his obvious distrust of her crowding her mind. "Why on earth would I think something like that?"
"I've had a long time to think — all night. I guess some women might enjoy a little adventure with a man they think's an outlaw. But when it comes right down to letting the whole world know they've been consorting with a man who's an ex-convict, that's a different story."
"You know I don't believe you're the one who hurt Prudence!"
"Doesn't matter, does it? A thing like that follows a man all his life, even after he clears his name. I know how people are."
"Ned says he's ready," Elias said as he walked up to them. "How long do you think you'll be gone, Storm?"
Storm tore his eyes away from Jessica's astonished gaze and shrugged his shoulders. "Probably not more than two or three hours, Elias. By the way, keep your rifle with you. I saw some tracks out there this morning that I don't think came from our horses. They're probably from that horse Red was riding — it's been wandering around here. But keep on your toes."
"Right."
Storm turned and strode away.
"Aren't you going with them, Jessica?" Elias asked.
"You're damned right I am! How dare he act like this whole mess is my fault because I'm some snippety fool who can't see over my turned up nose?"
Elias took a step back when Jessica turned her furious, gold-flecked eyes on him for a second before she stomped after Storm.
"Whew," Elias breathed after Jessica got out of hearing. "Maybe Storm should marry Prudence instead. I wouldn't want to try to keep a saddle on that filly if she didn't want to be ridden."
"Your saddle's already spoken for, Elias," Idalee said as she placed a hand on his arm. "And don't you forget it."
"Morning, honey," Elias said as he dropped a kiss on her lips. "I thought you were still resting."
"I've been talking to Prudence," Idalee told him. "Well, not talking. Communicating with her, I guess you'd say. I knew I was right. Somehow Jessica's got the wrong idea about Prudence and Storm. And as soon as they get back, I'm going to have a talk with our new friend, Miss Jessica Callaghan."
Ned pulled his gelding to a halt to give it a breather and turned to Jessica when she stopped Cinnabar beside him.
"What the hell ails him, Jes? He's gonna kill these horses if he keeps going at this pace."
"I guess he just wants to get us out of his hair as soon as he can, Ned. The anxious bridegroom, you know."
"Well, I ain't killin' my horse for no man. Storm!" Ned called when Storm drew Spirit to a halt to look back at them. "We need to rest these horses!"
"You can rest them over here," Storm called back. "Come on!"
Ned growled a soft oath under his breath, but lifted his reins to urge the gelding forward. When he and Jessica rode up beside Storm, Ned looked down the hillside and shook his head.
"This is a far as I'm going. These horses will never make it down there, and neither will this leg of mine."
Jessica stared down the shale covered area before them. A rock slide had washed out the trail, and several large boulders blocked their path. The horses couldn't possibly make their way around them.
"Is there another way to where we're going, Storm?" she asked.
"Where we're going is just about a half mile past this slide. If we ride around, it'll take us another hour or two. There's canyons on both sides of us."
Jessica dismounted from Cinnabar and handed her reins to Ned. "Then I guess we better leave the horses here with Ned and get going. I wouldn't want to hold you up any longer than we need to."
Besides, she told herself a moment later as she slipped and slid down the shale covered slope, as soon as they got to the mine site, she was going to have a private talk with Mr. Storm Baker...or Russell!
She followed Storm down through the slide zone, gritting her teeth each time he held out his hand to help her around a rough spot. Once they had made their way to the bottom of the canyon, Storm led her around a bend and further into the depths of the canyon. A small stream ran by their feet, but left plenty of room for them to walk beside it.
"Wait up, Storm," Jessica finally said. "I'm thirsty."
She leaned down and cupped a handful of water to her lips. As she started to reach down for another swallow, she heard Cinnabar neigh behind her and turned. She couldn't see around the bend to where Ned waited.
"I guess he's having some trouble keeping those two stallions apart. We should have thought of that and tied them instead."
Storm shrugged and moved away without answering her, leading the way down the canyon before he began scaling the side of the wall.
A lot sooner than Jessica would have thought possible, Storm halted and knelt beside a scattering of small, smooth stones. He picked one up and and rubbed it between his fingers, then ran his eyes over the other stones lying around him.
"Someone's been here before us," he told Jessica.
"How do you know?"
"These stones were a claim marker. And right over there's your mother lode. I guess your uncle rolled that big boulder in front of his diggings so no one would notice them. He probably started that rock slide years ago, too, so the stream wouldn't wash the gold down to lower ground."
"Why would he do that?"
"That's usually how men locate a mother lode, Jessica. They find flakes or even nuggets downstream and follow the stream up into the hills to see where the gold came from. Pete made sure no one would find this one until he was ready for them to."
"But that boulder's just lying against another bunch of rocks."
"Not there, Jessica. The boulder slipped in a mud slide. That's probably why someone riding by here could see the excavation. It's up there."
Storm climbed a few more feet up the slope and pulled at some dead branches on the hillside. When they fell away, he stepped back so Jessica could see past him into an excavation dug into the ground. He held his hand out, and Jessica allowed him to pull her up beside him.
"Look in there, Jessica. You can see the sun falling on that streak in the rock. It's almost pure gold. No telling how far back into these hills it goes."
Jessica pulled her hand free and moved a step away from Storm. "It's very pretty. Or at least, I guess it will be when it's turned into coins or jewelry. I assume we're still on Tobias's land?"
When Storm remained silent, Jessica glanced at him to see him studying the hillside around them. A frown marred his face for a moment, then he walked a few paces inside the excavation. Striking a match, he held it over his head as he peered around and traced his hand along the dull, yellow vein in the wall of stone. The match burned down and he dropped it to the floor before he reemerged from the excavation.
"If I'm right," he said when he rejoined Jessica, "that's Lazy B property on the other side of this hill. We'll have to study the map at the land office, though, to be sure."
"Then you think the vein runs that way."
"Hell, I'm no mining engineer, but I've been in a few gold mines in my life. I'd say it's a real possibility."
As Storm turned sideways to scan the stratums of rock on the hillside, Jessica studied his profile. Images of her Uncle Pete swam in her mind and now she could see the resemblance Ned spoke of. She had seen Pete stand like that in the fall when he gazed westward toward his beloved wandering grounds. He always had the same proud tilt to his head and the beard on the old mountain man's face never covered his straight nose.
Suddenly she had an image of Pete sitting by the fireplace one night when she had crept back downstairs after being awakened by a clap of thunder. He had sat in front of the fire with his hands on his knees, his head bent. When he heard her approach, she had caught an instant of the pain in his deep brown eyes before he managed to cover it up and hold his arms out to her. She had seen that look of pain before — in Storm's eyes. Storm's eyes — so much like Uncle Pete's.
Jessica felt a wrench in her heart as she gazed around her. How close had Uncle Pete come to finding Storm in his wanderings? Cross county, instead of the circuitous route she had taken, it couldn't be more than an hour's ride to the Lazy B ranch house.
"I guess I'll never know," Jessica mused.
"No, you won't," Storm agreed, startling Jessica for a second. "You'll be safe and sound back on your ranch in Wyoming if this mine ever gets started. Safe and sound, with no ties to Montana."
"Damn it, Storm," Jessica flared. "You're the one who kept telling me to go back to Wyoming all along! You've been trying to get rid of me since the first time we met. Well, don't worry. I won't hang around and complicate things for you!"
"Complicate things for me?" Storm fired back at her. "How in hell could my life get more complicated? I've still got a rape charge hanging over my head, and even if I manage to get out of that, there's still the charge for escaping prison. That's against the law, too, even if I'm proven innocent on the other charge."
"You'll be able to work it out, Storm," Jessica said as she tore her gaze away from his ravaged face. "Ned and I agreed to get Frederick to help you."
"I don't need any help for your old lover!" Storm spat. "I'll handle things alone — like I always have!"
Tears filled Jessica's eyes, blurring his image in front of her. She clasped her hands across her stomach and turned her back to him to hide her face. Alone? No, he wouldn't be alone. She would, though.
Storm knotted his fists at his side to keep from reaching out to her. But when her small shoulders started to shake, he couldn't keep from stepping close to her.
"I'm sorry I yelled," he said quietly. "I want you to be happy, Jessica. Wherever you are, I want you to know that I wish that for you."
Jessica only shook her head and sniffed loudly, her tear-clogged throat making it impossible for her to answer him. She felt something flutter beside her cheek and unclasped one hand to reach for the bandanna Storm held over her shoulder. She wiped at her streaming eyes, then held it close to her nose for a moment, breathing in the scent of him.
"Can...can I keep the bandanna, Storm?" she asked when she could control her sobs.
"Oh, pretty lady," Storm breathed. "Don't you know I'd give you the world if I could? I'm just sorry my love isn't enough, since it's all I have right now."
Slowly Jessica turned as she felt his arms go around her. She tilted her head up to see his face drawing close to her own and pushed gently on his chest.
"We...we can't, Storm."
"Can't we?"
He gently claimed her lips at first, then more fiercely when he felt her surrender to him. He pulled her close, holding her as though he could never let her go. And how could he? She was his world — his reason for living. She chased the darkness from his life and brought in light and hope again.
Storm cupped the back of her head and tangled his fingers in her sable tresses to hold her face up to his when he wrenched his lips away. He was shaking so hard, he gritted his teeth and clenched his hand in the back of Jessica's blouse, willing his trembling to stop. When she reached up a tentative hand to his cheek, Storm buried his face in her neck.
"I can't do it," he groaned. "I can't let you go. I love you so damned much. There has to be some way...."
Jessica rubbed her cheek against his dark hair and sighed softly. "I'll always love you, Storm. I want you to know that."
Storm jerked his head up and stared down at her, his brow creased in puzzlement. "Then why? For God's sake, why are you leaving before we can work this out? How can you just throw away what we could have? Listen, Jessica, I'll accept your Frederick's help, if that's what it takes to clear me. And I'll make you proud of me somehow."
"Storm, you've got it all wrong. I could never be ashamed of loving you. But...but what about Prudence?"
"Prudence? I don't see...."
"Well, isn't this a tender scene? Are you two planning what all you can buy with that gold behind you?"
Jessica stared wildly over Storm's shoulder, meeting David Baker's icy gaze. She felt Storm's fingers tighten reflexively in her hair for a moment before he gently loosened his hold and turned while pushing her behind him.
"What the hell are you doing here, David?" he said in an ominous voice.
David leveled the rifle at Storm's chest and worked the lever to pull a shell into the chamber. "Don't try it, Storm," he said when he saw Storm glance at the rifle he had propped against a rock. "I might just have to shoot your friend there if you lunge for that rifle."