Chapter 21
“Where is she?” Beckett roared as he strode out of the house. He didn’t care that his shirt was still halfway off and unbuttoned or that one of his suspenders was hanging down or that his boots were untied. Hyacinth was gone, and he needed to find her. That was the only thing that mattered.
Racing behind him, Sunshine was still in her nightclothes, her hair loose as she stepped out onto the portico. “I’ll have the servants check the house first.”
He gave a curt shake of his head. “She took her bag, which means she was leaving the ranch.”
“You don’t know that.”
On the top step, Beckett spun and nearly collided with the sweet woman.
He drew in a breath to calm himself, which didn’t work because he felt only crazier inside with every passing second.
“We had an argument last night, and she told me she was leaving me and going back to Colorado.” And she’d left her wedding ring.
His heart had wrenched in his chest at the sight of it abandoned on the bedside table.
“Oh, my dear Beckett.” Sunshine started to reach out to smooth his cheek as she’d done when he was little but then dropped her hand. “Hyacinth loves you too much to do that.”
“I’ll explain more later.” He hastened down the rest of the steps, waving an impatient hand at Cheno near the barn. “Right now, I need to go after her and stop her.”
“I understand.” Sunshine crossed her arms, holding her bathrobe closed. “When you do find her, make sure you apologize. It doesn’t matter who was right or wrong in your argument. If you always humbly apologize, you’ll win her heart every time.”
He nodded. He wasn’t so sure about that with Hyacinth. She wasn’t like most women. In fact, she rose far above everyone else because not only was she beautiful, but she was genuine and direct and sincere, and she had enough spirit and sass and spunk to keep him on his toes.
Course, he could hardly keep his hands off her lately, but did he finally need to admit he liked her for a whole heap more than just the physical attraction?
Cheno started jogging toward him. “What’s wrong?”
“My wife is gone this morning,” Beckett called. “Did she go to the barn and ask for a horse?”
“Haven’t seen her. But I’ll get information.”
“Find out all you can.” Beckett started toward the horse barn. “I’m riding to town.”
“I’ll assemble the armed guard to go with you.”
“I don’t have time for that.”
“You can’t go alone.”
“She went alone!” Beckett roared again, unable to hold back his frustration. “Now she’s out there by herself.” He didn’t wait for Cheno to ask him more questions. Instead, he raced to the barn, barking out orders and finishing dressing as he did so.
He knew he would cause a scene and that soon the entire Double T would know that Hyacinth had left him. Everyone would gossip about it and speculate that he wasn’t a good husband and that he was turning into his pa.
Beckett’s gut hardened at the prospect of anyone comparing him to Pa. That was the last person he wanted to emulate.
Even as that thought pounded through his head, he halted in the horse stall. Hyacinth didn’t want to be like her mother, and he didn’t want to be like his pa. He’d told her that they weren’t like their parents, but what if they were both more like their parents than they’d realized?
Maybe he hadn’t cherished Hyacinth and had kept her at arm’s length because he was avoiding commitment the way she’d claimed.
All along he’d tried to prove he was strong and fearless.
But in the end, he was nothin’ but a yellow-bellied coward, afraid of doing it all wrong and hurting her and getting hurt in return.
Yep, he’d been a coward with Hyacinth, had held himself back from her and hadn’t allowed himself to acknowledge his love for her. Because of that, she thought he didn’t love her or want her.
But that wasn’t the truth. The reality was that he’d never loved a woman the way he loved her.
The reality was that his love for her was so desperate, he was panicking at the thought of her leaving him.
The reality was that his love for her was so strong, he couldn’t imagine a life without her in it.
His heart picked up its pace, and his breathing turned labored. He didn’t want to be a coward in their relationship any longer. He wanted to be just as fearless in love as he was in everything else in life. But how?
“She’s not here,” came Cheno’s call from the barn aisle behind him. “No one has seen her.”
The news sent more panic shooting through Beckett. “Then let’s go.” He fumbled with the saddle even as one of the stable boys came rushing forward to help him.
“How long has she been gone?” asked Cheno as he opened the stall beside Beckett’s.
“I don’t rightly know.” Beckett had slept restlessly for most of the night but had finally fallen asleep for a short while. “Reckon it was in the early hours before dawn.”
“And you think she went to town?”
“That’s my guess.”
Cheno paused in saddling a horse and peered at him gravely over the top of the stall railing. “Let’s hope she made it.”
A part of Beckett hoped she hadn’t—that she’d gotten halfway and decided to turn around and talk to him. But why would she want to stay when he hadn’t loved her the way she’d deserved?
The truth was, she was more important to him than anything else—the Double T, his inheritance, the requirements, the land, and his wealth. He’d give it all up to keep her.
His racing heart came to a standstill. Was that what he needed to do?
Give up everything—not just the inheritance from Sargeant but his own half as well?
He couldn’t sell it, but maybe he could somehow give his half to Rodrigo.
He’d have to meet with Dickinson and check if there were any loopholes that would allow him to do so.
If there weren’t, he’d make Dickinson find a loophole.
Yep, that’s what he’d do. He’d sever his ties to the Double T once and for all. He’d let Rodrigo take control of his half. Sargeant’s nephew would still be involved, but at least Rodrigo could ensure the nephew didn’t hurt the people who lived there.
Once that was squared away, Beckett would return to Colorado with Hyacinth, build her a home, and keep proving to her every day that he was with her not for what he could gain from her but for the love he could give to her.
He wouldn’t be as wealthy anymore—would lose the income he’d maintained from the ranch and oil wells—but he would make her happy every day by loving her as well as he could.
With a new sense of purpose, Beckett finished saddling his horse with the stable boy’s help.
“Let’s go!” he called to Cheno as he began to lead his horse from the stall. It was past time to apologize to Hyacinth the way Sunshine had suggested, ask her for forgiveness, and beg her to stay married to him, this time without any underlying motives and only because he loved her.
Several other vaqueros were in the process of saddling up too, and as Beckett headed out of the barn, they were on his heels.
He was situating himself in his saddle when a horse and rider came thundering into view on the main road.
It was a young boy who was knee-high to a grasshopper and wasn’t wearing a hat or shoes. He clearly wasn’t a threat.
Even so, Cheno unholstered his gun as the boy drew to a halt near the group of vaqueros who were still in the process of mounting.
The boy lifted his chin belligerently, then spoke in Spanish. “I have a message for Mr. Thorpe.”
Beckett was tensing more with every passing moment. Who would send a boy at this early hour of the morning? And why? “Spit it out.”
The boy shifted his sharp gaze to Beckett. “Alvarado says he will do to your wife what you did to his brother.”
Alvarado? What did the gang leader have to do with his wife? Before Beckett could ask, the reality of the situation crashed into him, taking his breath away. Had Alvarado somehow captured Hyacinth?
Everyone milling around became motionless, their expressions serious.
Yep. That’s what had happened. Everyone knew it.
Alvarado was one of the rustlers that Pa had dealt harshly with during the Peeler’s War.
After a particularly bad slaughter of cattle along with the killing of several of their vaqueros, Beckett had been part of a small posse to go after the Alvarado gang and teach them a lesson.
They’d happened upon Alvarado’s camp with only a few men there.
Pa had ordered them to shoot everyone. Beckett had suggested taking them hostage instead, but Pa had insisted the only way to get Alvarado to stop was to be harsh.
It turned out one of the men they’d killed that day had been Alvarado’s younger brother, and Alvarado had been seeking revenge ever since.
Beckett wasn’t proud of anything he’d done during the war—the deaths were the source of his nightmares.
At the time, he’d thought he was protecting the Double T, the workers, and the cattle by eliminating the rustlers.
He’d also wanted to please his pa, but he’d realized soon enough that he’d never earn his pa’s favor, no matter what he did.
The day his pa had died, Beckett had finally stood up to him and told him he wasn’t going along on any more raids and was done fighting the war with bloodshed.
Pa had called him a coward, like he usually did.
That time, Beckett had forced himself to walk away.
It’d turned out that was the last time he’d seen his pa alive.
During the raid, Pa had been fatally shot.
Beckett hadn’t mourned the loss and had instead left Texas, even though Sargeant and Sunshine had pleaded with him not to. He’d needed to get away from the war and the guilt that had tormented him.
The trouble was, the guilt had followed him to Colorado, and he’d lived with the nightmares ever since. At least he’d been able to start over someplace where no one knew who he was or was angry at him or his pa.
Beckett had known coming back would draw out old enemies looking for revenge.
He just hadn’t expected it to be so soon or to involve Hyacinth.
Now that the Alvarado gang had Hyacinth, she was in terrible danger.
He’d never considered himself a begging man, had vowed he never would be.
But he’d find Alvarado and beg for Hyacinth’s life.
He didn’t care if that made him look weak. He’d do it anyway.
He dug his heels into his mount and started forward. “Take me to Alvarado. Now.”
The boy nodded and reared his old horse around to lead the way.
“It’s a trap.” Cheno directed his mount into step beside Beckett’s. “Alvarado is luring you out so he can kill you.”
“I don’t care. I’m going after my wife.”
“You won’t be any good to her dead.”
“You know he’ll kill her if I don’t come.”
When Cheno didn’t respond, Beckett steeled his backbone and prepared for the biggest fight of his life.