“Maggie wasn’t feeling well this morning, so I took the day off.”

“How’s she doing?”

“She’s feeling better—or she was,” Caroline said pointedly.

“I’d like to talk to her if you’d let me, so I can apologize.” He wasn’t sure he knew how to talk to a five-year-old, but he didn’t want her cringing in terror every time she was out at the ranch. She was a sweet little girl and Savannah was deeply attached to her.

“I don’t know if she’ll talk to you.”

“Ask her, will you?” His hand tightened around the receiver while he waited. In the background he could hear Caroline reasoning with the child. He was somewhat amused when he heard her compare him to the beast in Beauty and the Beast. He made a lot of loud noises and sounded mean, Caroline said, but deep down he was really a prince who’d been put under a spell.

Caroline returned to the phone a couple of minutes later. “I’m sorry, Grady, but I can’t convince her to give you a second chance.”

“I can’t say I blame her,” Grady said with a sigh. “I was pretty rough when I answered.”

“She called to tell Savannah she had a tummy ache.”

“My kind of sympathy wasn’t what she was looking for, was it.”

The sound of Caroline’s half chuckle did more to lift his spirits than anything had that day.

“I guess you could say that,” she said softly.

“I have been a beast, haven’t I.”

“You could say that, too.”

“Since she won’t let me talk to her, will you tell Maggie I’m sorry? I promise I won’t shout at her again.” He didn’t know if it would do any good, but it was the best he could manage. The next time Maggie visited the ranch, he’d try to square things with her.

“I’ll let Savannah know you phoned,” he said, reaching for a pen. If he didn’t write it down, he’d forget, and he didn’t think Caroline would be willing to forgive him that on top of everything else.

They exchanged goodbyes and he replaced the receiver.

With an effort he glanced down at the ledger and reached for the calculator, determined to make good use of his time. He couldn’t laze in bed until noon like his worthless brother.

***

Laredo assumed he’d find Savannah in the rose garden, but she was nowhere in sight. Nor was she in the house. He’d done everything short of knocking on her bedroom door.

Grady had disappeared, as well, but that was more a blessing than a matter of concern.

Unsure where to search next, Laredo headed back to the barn. It was one of the last places he expected to find Savannah. A niggling sense of fear refused to leave him. She’d looked pale that morning, and although he hadn’t been eager to clash with Grady so soon after their last confrontation, he wasn’t about to let him harass Savannah.

The barn door creaked as he pushed it open. Light spilled into the interior and Savannah spun around. Her eyes instantly widened with guilt.

Laredo had no idea what she’d been doing, but clearly it was something she didn’t want anyone knowing.

“Savannah?”

“Hi.” Her smile was a bit sheepish.

“What are you doing in here?”

“Nothing. I was—”

“Savannah,” he said, and held out his arms, needing to reassure her. She didn’t hesitate, not so much as a second. He brought her into his embrace and hugged her. “Don’t ever play poker, sweetheart. Your expression’s a dead giveaway.”

Her arms circled his waist and she pressed her face to his shoulder. “I’m so sorry about what happened last night,” she said.

This was the first chance they’d had to discuss the incident, but Laredo preferred to drop the entire thing. He’d been at fault, too, eager to put her brother in his place for embarrassing Savannah. And he’d been angry after his chat with Hennessey, knowing Grady had instigated the sheriff’s questioning.

“Let’s put it behind us, okay?”

He felt her deep sigh. “Is that what you want?” she asked in a solemn voice.

“Yeah.”

“I’m willing to forget it—except for one thing.” She tilted her head back and gazed at him with wide adoring eyes.

“What’s that?” Laredo didn’t know what he’d done to deserve having such a beautiful woman look at him that way.

“I could put the...incident behind me if Grady hadn’t cheated me out of my sweetheart dance.”

“Not all of it.”

“I begrudge every second he stole from me.”

Laredo kissed the top of her head and reached behind him to take hold of her hands. “Don’t you hear the music?” he asked.

“Music?” Her eyes narrowed as if she was straining to hear before she realized what he was doing. She smiled then, and it was all he could do not to cover her mouth with his.

“I believe there is music in here,” she said, her face alight with happiness.

“There must be.”

Laredo danced her about the barn floor, making turns so wide that her skirt flared straight out as they whirled around. Savannah threw back her head and laughed with such pure joy Laredo was soon smiling himself.

They whirled faster and faster until they were both winded and ready to collapse with laughter. Savannah pressed her hand to her throat as she drew in a deep breath.

“Okay, confess,” he said once he’d caught his own breath. He leaned against the wall and watched as the amusement left her.

“Confess?”

“What were you up to earlier?”

He watched as she shifted her feet a couple of times before she lowered her head. “You’ll be angry with me.”

Laredo didn’t think that was possible. “Why?”

“I was about to break the promise I made you. I—I’m sorry....”

Then it dawned on him. She’d been gathering equipment to sneak away to that damned ghost town. He exhaled sharply, grateful he’d found her when he had. He was disappointed, too. He’d expected Savannah to be a woman of her word.

“I’m sorry,” she said again, with such genuine regret that he couldn’t help forgiving her. “Richard and I were talking about Bitter End this morning, and I felt this urge to go there again. Now. Today. I have to, Laredo. Because of the roses.” She glanced down at her feet. “And I didn’t want Richard to know. Or Grady. I wasn’t sure where you were...and I’ve got to leave quickly.” She raised her head to look at him. “Can you come with me?” she asked, her expressive eyes filled with hope. “It won’t take much time. I’ll leave Grady a note and explain.”

Grady might owe him a favor, but Laredo didn’t feel ready to collect it quite this soon. Then he changed his mind.

“All right,” he said, “we’ll do it.”

She clapped her hands, then forgetting herself, leaped forward and kissed him on the mouth. “I’ll pack up a lunch and afterward we can have a picnic.”

He hadn’t the heart to disappoint her, but his idea of how he wanted to spend the day wasn’t sitting in some field full of bluebonnets, lingering over sandwiches. Not even with Savannah... He thought of all the chores that awaited him. Chores Grady counted on him to do.

“How long will we be?”

“Not too long,” she promised. “All I want to do is walk around and see if there are any other roses. We won’t stay.”

He nodded.

“There’s a lovely spot a few miles down the road where the river bends. We can have lunch there.” She wasn’t about to drop this picnic idea of hers, and really, he supposed, it was a small thing to ask.

With their plans set, Laredo loaded the shovels and other tools into the back of the pickup. As he did, an uneasiness settled over him. Apparently what Grady had told him about the place had made a stronger impact than he’d realized. His uneasiness grew into dread and refused to leave him.

They weren’t even off the ranch yet, and already he was convinced they shouldn’t go.

Eight

The truck pitched and heaved, first left and then right, as they neared Bitter End. Savannah hung on as best she could, but her shoulders continued to slam against Laredo’s, jarring them both. Thankfully they were able to follow the tire tracks from her last visit, otherwise she wasn’t sure she could have located it a second time.