When she swayed on her feet, Grady stepped closer, but she steadied herself, then took one last, scathing look at Jesse Oldham and turned to leave.

“Let’s get out of here before I’m sick to my stomach,” she said. She touched Kenny’s tearstained cheek. “Thank you for having the courage to tell us what really happened tonight.”

“Hank, how about sticking around here till we can get the sheriff over here?” Grady asked. “Somebody ought to keep an eye on things.” He lowered his voice. “Make sure Oldham doesn’t do anything to that boy, all right?”

“I’ll stay with him,” Dooley said. “He’ll need a way home.”

Grady nodded. “I’ll call the sheriff. Then I’m taking Karen home with me.” He glanced at her for a reaction, but her face was expressionless. He took that for agreement, or maybe she was simply too wiped out to object.

“We’ll see you in the morning,” he told the two men. “And Dooley, thanks for helping me out tonight. You be sure and tell the sheriff how helpful Kenny was.”

“No problem. I just hope a court can distinguish between a mixed-up boy who set that fire and the man who put the notion into his head.”

Grady nodded. “We’ll see that they do.”

He led Karen to the car and settled her inside, then felt his heart clutch at the despair on her face. He couldn’t help feeling he’d set all of this into motion by making it so plain to one and all that he intended to buy her ranch. Maybe that was what had set off Jesse Oldham’s paranoia about those water rights.

“I’m sorry,” he said.

She glanced up, clearly startled. “Why? You didn’t have anything to do with this.”

“Jesse might not have tried anything if he’d thought his water rights were safe,” he said.

She shook her head. “This started long before you came into the picture. He didn’t trust Caleb to honor them either, remember?”

That was true enough, Grady supposed, but it didn’t seem to lessen his own sense of guilt. He was silent for the entire drive to his ranch, though he couldn’t help sneaking a glance at Karen from time to time. He’d never seen her looking quite so lost.

At his house, he led her inside, then pointed out the master bathroom. “Take a warm bath, why don’t you? I’ll call your friends and let them know what happened and that you’ll be staying here for a bit. There’s a robe on the back of the door. It’ll be too big, but it’ll keep you warm enough.”

She nodded, then retreated into the bathroom and closed the door. Feeling unbearably tired, he stood there listening to the sound of water running. Only when it had cut off and he heard the subtle splash suggesting that she’d climbed into the deep tub did he go back to the kitchen and put a pan of milk on the stove. Maybe a cup of warm milk would help both of them get some sleep.

Then he called Cassie’s house. He was relieved when Cole answered. He explained what had happened.

“We can be over there in an hour if she needs us,” Cole said.

“I think she needs a good night’s sleep more. Come in the morning, why don’t you?”

“We’ll be there,” Cole promised. “Cassie and I will call the others.”

“I’d appreciate it,” Grady said, relieved not to have to go through the explanation of the night’s events again and again.

“Grady?”

“Yes?”

“I’m glad you’re there for her. She’s going to need you.”

“I’m not so sure about that,” Grady said. “I can’t help thinking that when she thinks it through, she’ll blame me for setting it all into motion.”

“No,” Cole said. “She’s going to blame herself for not protecting Caleb’s legacy. It’s up to all of us, you included, to make sure she understands how wrong that is, that this was out of her control.”

With Cole’s words still echoing in his head, Grady was less surprised when Karen walked into the kitchen, her face drawn, her eyes dull. She accepted a mug of warm milk, then sank wearily onto a chair.

“I’ve been thinking,” she said dully. “I have to rebuild. It’s what Caleb would want.”

Grady wanted to shout that Caleb was dead, that his wishes no longer mattered, but he couldn’t. She wasn’t ready to hear that.

Instead, he simply asked, “What do you want?”

She blinked in surprise at the question. “To rebuild,” she said a little too readily.

“Really?”

“Of course.”

He started to point out that the ranch was draining the life out of her, just as it had from Caleb, but he kept silent. She wasn’t ready to hear that, either. To his deep regret, he realized that maybe she never would be.

Karen spent the night wrapped in Grady’s arms. He didn’t make love to her, as if he understood that her emotions were too fragile right now to bear it. She loved him for understanding that much about her. In fact, she loved him for being beside her all during the long ordeal of the fire and its aftermath. The truth was, she would probably go on loving him forever.

Unfortunately, she couldn’t tell him that, or be with him. She had a duty to Caleb to honor first. It seemed she might never be free of that terrible sense of obligation.

In the morning, when Cassie, Cole, Gina and Emma arrived together on Grady’s doorstep, she was passed from embrace to embrace. She felt as limp as a rag doll, but she forced a smile to reassure them all that she was okay.

“Okay, then, what are your plans?” Emma asked briskly as they sat around the table, while Gina instinctively moved to the stove to whip up a hearty breakfast.

Grady looked at her across the table. “You can stay here for as long as you like,” he said.

She was tempted. Oh, how she was tempted, but she shook her head. “There’s another room in the bunkhouse. I’ll move in there while the house is being rebuilt.”

When everyone stared at her incredulously, she returned their gazes with a touch of defiance. “What?” she demanded.

“Why are you doing that?” Cassie demanded. “You know you don’t want to.”

“Of course, I do. Caleb-”

“Is dead,” Cassie snapped, then cast a belligerent look at the others. “I’m sorry, but it’s true and it’s what the rest of you are thinking.”

“Still, I owe it to him,” Karen insisted. A glance at Grady made her sigh. He looked resigned. No, worse than that, he looked unbearably sad.

“I’m sorry,” she added in a whisper meant for him alone.

He gave a curt nod. “I know.”

No one seemed to know what to say after that. Gina’s breakfast cooled on the plates in front of them, until she finally stood impatiently, gathered up the plates and scraped the leftovers into the trash.

“Leave the dishes,” Grady said. “I’ll do them later.”

“Then I guess we should be on our way,” Cole said, casting a sympathetic look at Grady and a worried one toward Karen.

“Can you give me a lift home?” Karen asked him.

“I’ll take you home,” Grady said tersely.

“But-”

“I’ll take you,” he repeated.

She nodded, then hugged the others. “Thanks for coming over.”

“If you need anything, anything at all, call us,” Emma said fiercely. “And I expect you in town later today to go shopping. You’ll need some clothes.”

Karen realized that hadn’t even occurred to her. She didn’t own so much as a toothbrush. Suddenly it was all too much for her. The last bit of stoic resolve collapsed. The tears she’d been battling since last night poured down her cheeks. Great, gulping sobs welled up deep inside.

It was Grady who gathered her in his arms. Grady who murmured soothing reassurances when the others reluctantly left. Karen cried until there were no tears left, until Grady’s shirt was soaked and her face was swollen.

“Oh, God, I must look awful,” she said with a hitch in her voice.

“You look beautiful,” he said.

“Liar.”

“Not about that,” he insisted. “You will always be beautiful to me.”

She lifted her gaze to his, saw his heart in his eyes. “I love you,” she said. “But I have to do this. Please tell me that you understand.”