Flames climbed the barn wall faster than Nathan thought possible.
Dry timber.
Old hay.
Summer heat.
Everything that made a ranch barn useful also made it dangerous when fire reached it.
“Water line!” Nathan shouted.
Men came running from every direction.
Buckets.
Blankets.
Axes.
Eli sprinted toward the pump.
Mrs. Harlan grabbed Lucy around the waist.
“No!”
Lucy fought her.
“Coal is inside!”
Nathan turned.
The sound coming from the barn was horrifying.
Horses kicking stalls.
Metal latches banging.
Panicked whinnies.
Coal's voice rose above the others.
Nathan pulled his shirt over his mouth and ran toward the doors.
Eli caught his arm.
“Roof's going!”
“Not yet.”
“You don't know that!”
Nathan tore free.
“I know the horses are still inside.”
Two ranch hands followed.
Smoke poured through the entry.
Nathan could barely see.
“Open every stall!”
Men moved quickly.
The first horse burst out.
Then another.
Then three more.
Outside, ranch hands guided them into an open paddock.
Nathan reached Coal's stall.
The latch was jammed.
The stallion slammed against the door.
“Coal!”
The horse reared.
Nathan grabbed the latch.
Hot metal burned his palm.
He swore.
Smoke thickened.
Then he heard a voice behind him.
“Coal!”
Nathan spun.
Lucy stood inside the barn.
For one horrifying second, he couldn't understand what he was seeing.
Then rage exploded through him.
“LUCY!”
She ducked beneath the smoke.
Mrs. Harlan had apparently lost her in the chaos.
Nathan ran toward her.
“What are you doing?”
“He won't come out without me!”
“You need to get outside!”
Coal slammed the stall again.
Lucy slipped around Nathan.
Before he could grab her, she reached the door.
“Coal!”
The stallion stopped.
Even surrounded by smoke.
Even with flames cracking overhead.
He heard her.
Lucy made two clicking sounds.
Coal lowered his head.
“Back up,” she told him.
The stallion stepped backward.
Nathan grabbed a piece of broken timber and smashed the damaged latch.
Once.
Twice.
The wood split.
The stall door swung open.
Coal rushed forward.
Nathan expected chaos.
Instead the stallion stopped beside Lucy.
She grabbed his mane.
“Go!”
Coal moved.
Nathan lifted Lucy under the arms.
“I can run!”
“Not fast enough.”
He shoved her toward Eli.
“Take her!”
Eli carried Lucy out.
Nathan turned to the remaining stalls.
A beam cracked overhead.
“Everybody out!”
They barely cleared the barn before part of the roof collapsed.
Flames roared upward.
Lucy stood near the water trough with Coal beside her.
She was coughing.
Nathan ran toward her.
“Are you hurt?”
She shook her head.
Then Nathan did something he hadn't planned.
He dropped to his knees and pulled her against his chest.
For several seconds, he couldn't speak.
Neither could she.
Finally he pushed her back enough to look at her.
“Don't ever do that again.”
“But Coal—”
“I know.”
His voice broke.
He swallowed.
“I know.”
Lucy stared.
Nathan hadn't cried since his wife, Rebecca, died five years earlier.
He hadn't allowed himself.
But now tears burned behind his eyes.
“You scared ten years off my life.”
Lucy whispered, “I'm sorry.”
Nathan exhaled shakily.
Then Coal nudged both of them.
Lucy smiled faintly.
Nathan touched the stallion's face.
“You too.”
The fire burned until dawn.
Half the barn was destroyed.
All horses survived.
That should have been enough to call the night lucky.
It wasn't.
Sheriff Dawson arrived before sunrise.
He walked around the burned structure.
Then crouched near the rear wall.
Nathan followed.
“What?”
Dawson pointed.
A broken bottle lay near the foundation.
The smell remained unmistakable.
Kerosene.
Nathan's stomach hardened.
“Accident?”
Dawson shook his head.
“No.”
He stood.
“This was set.”
Lucy was sleeping in Mrs. Harlan's room.
Nathan looked toward the house.
“Amos?”
“Maybe.”
“Rourke?”
“More likely.”
Nathan clenched his jaw.
“What evidence?”
Dawson pointed toward tracks beyond the barn.
“Horse prints.”
“Half the county owns horses.”
“These came from someone approaching through the north pasture.”
“Can you follow them?”
“Already sent two deputies.”
Thomas Harris emerged from the house.
He looked exhausted.
“The fire wasn't just revenge.”
Nathan turned.
“What do you mean?”
Harris carried Samuel's ledger.
“This.”
“What about it?”
“Samuel kept duplicates.”
“Where?”
“His ranch office.”
Nathan understood.
“If Amos hasn't destroyed them.”
“Exactly.”
Harris continued.
“The estate ledger may prove not only that assets disappeared but where they went.”
Dawson frowned.
“You think they burned this barn because they thought the papers were here?”
“Possibly.”
Nathan looked around.
“Why would they think that?”
Harris considered.
“Rourke saw my saddle case yesterday.”
Nathan remembered.
The leather case.
“Maybe he assumed I brought originals.”
Dawson nodded grimly.
“Then they're getting desperate.”
Nathan walked toward Coal.
The stallion stood under a cottonwood tree.
Lucy had insisted he not be tied.
After the fire, nobody argued.
Coal watched Nathan approach.
“You had a rough night.”
The horse exhaled.
Nathan touched his neck.
“Me too.”
He heard footsteps.
Lucy stood behind him.
Barefoot.
Wrapped in one of Mrs. Harlan's blankets.
“You should be sleeping.”
“I woke up.”
Nathan looked at her.
“You okay?”
She nodded.
Then looked at the barn.
“Someone did that?”
He didn't lie.
“Yes.”
“Because of me?”
Nathan crouched.
“No.”
“But if I hadn't come—”
“Stop.”
Lucy looked startled.
Nathan softened his voice.
“You coming here didn't make anyone set that fire.”
“They were already bad people before yesterday.”
She stared at him.
Nathan continued.
“Never take responsibility for someone else's cruelty.”
Lucy looked toward Coal.
“I should go.”
Nathan's heart tightened.
“Where?”
“Anywhere.”
“Why?”
“If I'm gone, maybe they won't hurt your ranch.”
Nathan stood slowly.
“No.”
“Nathan—”
“No.”
He hadn't realized she had begun using his first name.
It felt strangely natural.
“This ranch has survived blizzards, droughts, cattle disease, bank trouble, and my terrible cooking.”
Lucy almost smiled.
Nathan continued.
“It can survive two crooked men.”
“What if they come back?”
“Then they'll find a sheriff, a ranch full of armed cowboys, and me.”
Lucy frowned.
“You can't fight everyone.”
Nathan looked at Coal.
“No.”
Then back at her.
“But you shouldn't have to either.”
The words stayed between them.
Lucy looked down.
“Grandpa used to say that.”
Nathan's throat tightened.
“What?”
“That strong doesn't mean doing everything alone.”
He smiled sadly.
“Your grandfather and I would have gotten along.”
By afternoon, the deputies returned.
They had followed the tracks to an abandoned line shack near the Sheridan road.
Inside they found something unexpected.
A saddle.
A coat.
And a torn piece of paper bearing Samuel Bennett's signature.
Thomas Harris examined it.
“This is from a legal document.”
“Which one?” Dawson asked.
Harris shook his head.
“Not sure.”
Lucy looked at it.
Then frowned.
“That's not Grandpa's signature.”
Everyone turned.
Harris stared.
“What?”
Lucy pointed.
“He always made the B like this.”
She traced a shape in the dust on the table.
Harris's expression changed.
“Do it again.”
She did.
Harris immediately opened Samuel's original will.
The difference was subtle.
But clear.
The signature on the torn paper curved differently.
Harris looked at Nathan.
“If this came from Amos's replacement will…”
“He forged it.”
“Yes.”
Dawson's face hardened.
“Then we have fraud.”
“And attempted destruction of evidence,” Nathan added.
Dawson nodded.
“Now we can arrest him.”
They rode to Sheridan before sunset.
Nathan stayed with Lucy.
He wanted to go.
Every part of him wanted to confront Amos.
But someone had to stay.
And surprisingly, Lucy seemed more disappointed than he was.
“I wanted to see his face.”
Nathan raised an eyebrow.
“When?”
“When Sheriff Dawson tells him.”
Nathan laughed despite himself.
“Remind me never to make you angry.”
She smiled.
The moment felt almost normal.
Then a rider appeared on the horizon.
Fast.
Too fast.
Eli reached for his rifle.
Nathan stepped onto the porch.
The rider approached.
It was one of Dawson's deputies.
He pulled up hard.
“Nathan!”
“What happened?”
The deputy jumped down.
“Amos is gone.”
Nathan's stomach dropped.
“Rourke?”
“Gone too.”
“When?”
“Hours ago.”
“Where?”
“No idea.”
The deputy looked toward Lucy.
“But they cleared out the stable.”
Nathan frowned.
“All the horses?”
“Almost.”
“Almost?”
“One was missing from the sale records.”
Harris stepped onto the porch.
“What horse?”
The deputy pulled a folded paper from his pocket.
“A bay mare registered as Willow.”
Lucy gasped.
Nathan turned.
“What?”
Her face had gone pale.
“Willow was Coal's mother.”
Nathan looked toward the stallion.
Coal lifted his head at the sound of the name.
Lucy whispered, “Grandpa said he'd never sell her.”
Nathan understood instantly.
Coal had been worth money.
But Willow?
If she carried Samuel Bennett's strongest bloodline, she might be worth even more.
And somewhere ahead of them, Amos Bennett and Caleb Rourke were fleeing with the last living piece of Lucy's inheritance they believed they could still turn into cash.
Lucy looked at Nathan.
“We have to get her back.”
Nathan stared toward the darkening road.
Then nodded.
“We will.”