Westin Legacy

“Least of all you?” she said.

“Least of all, me.”

“But—”

“If your mother had run away with some cowhand while you were still a little kid, would you have spent a lot of time worrying about her?”

“I guess it would depend on why she ran.” Echo gasped as the gelding made a small but jarring leap across a gully. “Understanding that very basic thing seems important to me.”

“Not to me.”

“My stepfather mentioned your mother sent a postcard after she left. From Canada, I think he said. Did anyone track it down? Why don’t you try to find out where she went or if she’s dead or alive?”

Reaching the top of the ridge, he once again waited for the gelding to catch up. When Echo was beside him, he met and held her gaze. “Get this straight. My mother died for me a long, long time ago. She chose life with a guy named David Lassiter over a family who loved and needed her. Now, if you want to ride with me, I think we should change the subject, don’t you?”

Her black eyes flashed irritation. The gelding, apparently sensing her mood, pawed at the ground and snorted again. “I’m beginning to remember what you were like, Adam Westin. We always had to do everything your way, you always had to be the boss.”

“I was older than you.” The horse was turning in a circle now, making ominous guttural sounds in his throat. “Echo, be careful—”

“If your whole family is as sanctimonious about your mother as you are, no wonder she ran away!”

“Forget my mother for a minute. Calm down. Your horse—”

“I will not calm down. Maybe the two or three years between us was a big difference when we were little kids, but it’s nothing now,” she continued. “I have half a mind—”

The horse had had enough. He bolted. Going fast.

And in the wrong direction.

Chapter Two

“Whoa,” Echo shouted. She yanked on the reins automatically but all that seemed to do was make the horse toss his head. She looked down at the ground and wished she hadn’t. A blur of flying hooves, rocks and grass made her dizzy. Any half-baked idea she’d had of abandoning the saddle went away.

Thank goodness the horse had the good sense to stay in the open. At least so far…

Think. No way did she want Adam to save her although it probably beat plunging off a cliff.

Should she try pulling on the reins again? Both reins at the same time? One harder than the other? Help!

She couldn’t think straight. Her insides were bouncing around like ice cubes in a cocktail shaker. She was lost in panic mode just like the horse…?.

So calm him down….

Snatches of long-ago lessons finally fought their way through the electrical flash points in her brain. She needed to center herself in the saddle or she was going to go right over the gelding’s head the next time he tossed it. She managed to thread her fingers through a handful of mane down by his withers. Gulping with fear and effort, she attempted what seemed impossible, working to find a rhythm to the horse’s thundering gait and adapt herself to it, to stop fighting him. Give him time. All she had to do was stay on his back until he decided he’d had enough.

Gradually it seemed the horse’s surges decreased. She gently but firmly squeezed her knees, concentrating like crazy on relaxing into his stride. She was suddenly aware of Adam riding the big red-gold horse alongside her and had no idea how long he’d been there. He didn’t try to grab anything, just little by little began backing his horse off and that, too, seemed to reassure the gelding.

At last the gallop became a trot and the trot petered away to a nervous, staccato walk. Echo gently patted the gelding’s hot neck and made soothing sounds until he came to a full stop.

Adam slowly got off his horse and took the gelding’s reins. She slid out of the saddle. Her knees buckled when her feet hit the ground. Adam caught her and for a few seconds, she leaned against him and breathed heavy.

“Are you okay?” he muttered against her hair.

No voice yet to answer.

“I had no idea Bagels would respond to rider inexperience like that,” he said. “You did good, I mean for someone who doesn’t know what they’re doing.”

“The compliments just keep rolling off your tongue,” she muttered. Now that it was over, she’d turned into a jellyfish. Eventually it occurred to her that Adam Westin was not stiff like his father or her stepfather, not at all. He was firm and lean, yes, but he was also incredibly tender and his arms supporting her were strong. Warm. Sexy.

She pushed herself away, embarrassed to have such thoughts about him.

He tipped up her chin and smiled down at her. The leap her heart took into her throat was so disconcerting she twisted her head away.

He released her at once. “Take the reins. We’ll walk the horses for a while to cool them off.” He smoothed the gelding’s long nose. “You okay now, Bagels? Got it all out of your system?”

He started leading his horse up the path and she followed with Bagels, relieved her legs were working again. “I wish I’d known what to call him when he was running off with me,” she said.

“I don’t think it would have helped.”

“Probably not.”

They continued on in silence. Bagels pressed his muzzle against her neck every once and a while as though trying to make up and she patted him. The sound of the horses’ hooves against the rocks and the birds overhead began to meld together.

The adrenaline rush was gone and now she felt woozy, her feet like granite. “Tell me about this cave we’re going to,” she called, hoping for a diversion. “For starters, how much farther?”

“Well, you and Bagels very cleverly took us by a different route than the one I had planned,” he said, glancing at her over his shoulder, his gray eyes amused. “We’ll be coming in the back way now. I guess we’ll walk a half hour or so and then ride an hour.”

“It’s a distance, isn’t it?”

“I tried to warn you.”

“And when we get there?”

“We check the lock I put on the entrance.”

“What exactly was taken?”

“There’s no way to know for sure because the contents have never been documented. Apparently, the tribe that used the cave summered here in the high valley. When one of them died, their body was wrapped in blankets and laid to rest inside the cave where there are dozens of fissures. Sometimes amulets or relics of one kind or another were buried with them. My great-grandfather came across the cavern a long time ago and since then, we’ve all been caretaking it. About thirty years ago, my father made it clear we were all to stay away from it.”

“Did you?”

“Not really. My brothers and I just stopped telling him about our adventures. For the most part, we did respect the burial cavern. It was the prospecting shafts we mainly took an interest in, and they’re in the main cavern. We didn’t advertise our activities to Dad.

“Then last winter Pierce came back to the ranch when Cody was called away and I was hiking in Hawaii. Princess Analise showed up and for some reason they were both pretty vague about, he took her to the cave.”

“I read about a cave in the newspaper stories that followed their exploits. The article didn’t say anything about burials or relics.”

“That’s because we kept those facts to ourselves. But at that time, Pierce noticed activity. Since then, I’ve been keeping a closer eye.”

“Are these artifacts valuable?”

He shrugged. “Not overly so, not intrinsically, anyway. Nothing worth a fortune but none of it should have been lost. I’ve been asking my father to allow me to invite the university in to excavate and preserve the site for years, but he likes things the way they are.”

“So it’s on Open Sky land?”

“Absolutely. Our family has known about it for generations. I’m surprised Uncle Pete never mentioned it to you.”

“Is your father the chatty type?”

Adam laughed. “God, no.”

“Neither is Pete. I guess it runs in your family except now that I say that, you can talk when you want to.”

His lips twitched and he shook his head.

They climbed a series of rocks, their horses picking their way behind them. Adam turned every so often as if to see if she needed help. She made sure she didn’t. Her femme fatale episode was behind her now. Onward and upward.

He was quite a bit ahead of her when she noticed he’d stopped. Shading his eyes with one hand, he was peering up into the sky. “It’s getting late,” he called. “Let’s get to the top of this bluff and ride again. It’s a little rocky so go slow.”

“Slow is my new middle name,” she mumbled, and when she finally returned to the saddle, she did so with a smile on her face if not one in her gut. But Bagels seemed as happy as she was that the drama was over and plodded along behind Adam’s mount like a good horse.

“It’s over the next ridge,” he said at last. They’d actually climbed high enough that snow still existed in shady pockets of land and the temperature dropped. They were soon over the ridge and coming down the far side toward the mountain that was apparently their goal. Echo breathed in big gulps of pine-scented air and marveled that it didn’t seem so remote and lonely here after all.

It took her a second to notice Adam had stopped his horse dead in his tracks. She stopped as well, and for a second, admired the way Adam looked sitting in his saddle, the man and the horse in total harmony and striking against the green trees and brilliant blue sky. Eventually it occurred to her there was something ominous in the way he stared down the mountain. He was so still and vigilant…?.

It began to unnerve her. Even the birds seemed to have stopped chattering in the treetops and both horses stood with their ears perked forward.

Waiting…

Just when she was about to crack, Adam turned toward her. “Someone is down there.” His voice was very soft.

The leather saddle creaked as he leaned forward and unsnapped a strap on a long holster that held a rifle, although he didn’t take the weapon out of the scabbard.

Okay, this was unnerving. And exciting. Really, she’d been positive she’d die of boredom over the next twenty-four hours and already she’d survived a runaway horse, enjoyed some banter with a good-looking relative and now they were going to catch a grave robber.

“Adam?”

“Shh,” he said.

She lowered her voice. “I assume you’re talking about a bad guy?”

“I think the odds are pretty good. Come on, stay close to me.”

Try to get rid of me….

Maybe instead of cooking shows she should divert into true-life action documentaries. The construction of coq au vin, while interesting, didn’t get the pulse pounding like this…?.

They got off the horses again and walked them partway down the hill. Every twig they trod upon sounded like a thunderclap. Adam finally stopped at a flat spot and tied both horses to a tree. “That looks like an ATV down there. I’m going to check it out. You can stay with the horses.”

“That’s okay.” She fully intended to stay near the gun.

He pulled out the rifle and handled it as though he knew what he was doing. She crept along behind him.

The battered old scooterlike thing sported more rust than paint. It had obviously been parked in an out-of-the-way spot with some attempt at concealment. That kind of shouted nefarious goings-on to Echo, and her spine tingled between her shoulder blades.

He leaned in very close to her, one hand on her shoulder, his breath warm against her ear. The juxtaposition of this intimacy and the tension of the situation really set the sparks flying.

“I’m going to see who’s in that cave. I want to catch him red-handed.”

Me, too! she thought but didn’t say. No way am I missing this.

Where was a camera crew when you needed one?

More creeping through the trees until she finally saw where they were headed. Even she could tell the doorlike thing over the mouth of the cave was ajar.

“I’m going in,” he said, turning to her. She’d been plastered to his back so they ended up nose to nose. “You stay here. If you hear shots or see someone come running out of that cave, stay hidden behind these rocks. Don’t try to help me. Don’t try to stop them. Just hide.”

“I’m going with you,” she said.

“Just listen to me, will you?”

“Stop bossing me around.”

“I should have tied you up with the horses.” With that he slunk away.

She lost sight of him for a few minutes, then he emerged next to the cave opening. In an instant, he’d slipped inside.

How could she bear standing outside waiting for something to happen? Besides, he might need help.

She started slinking down the trail. When she heard a muffled sound coming from the cave, she broke into a run.

Chapter Three

The lock was neatly sawed in half.

Adam patted his pockets for his flashlight as he stole through the door, then stopped. Whoever was in here had already lit the wall torches. The light wasn’t great but it was good enough to make his way.

Last March, Pierce had told him that he had found fuel in the torches which he’d assumed Adam or Cody had put there. They hadn’t. After they had proof that the burial chamber had been violated, Adam had made a point of emptying them, but obviously someone had come along after him and filled them again.

Damn. This place was just too remote to adequately safeguard now that someone was intent on robbing it. His father would need to see this for what it was or three generations of Westin stewardship was going to be for nothing. Maybe this thief was going at it slowly, but sooner or later, greed would get the better of him and all this history would disappear forever.

But why now, why after all these years? Who knew about it and how had they found out? Who had told?

Adam paused for a second as a new sound came from the cavern up ahead. It sounded like rocks falling but not enough for an avalanche. Hugging the wall, he waited a few minutes. The sound continued but now he could tell it wasn’t falling rocks. He held the rifle down at his side, ready in case he caught someone unprepared and that someone panicked, but not anticipating he would need to use it.

The cave floor was rocky and sloped toward the large main cavern. Two main tunnels led from this cavern; one traveled on to the burial chamber. The other emptied into one of several prospecting shafts.

He paused for a few seconds near the rocks that would give him cover before turning into the main cavern. Then he slowly and methodically rounded the rocks.

The torches had been lit in this cavern, as well. The floor was covered with stalagmites; stalactites descended from the ceiling. This time of year, they dripped steadily, forming rivulets through the main cavern.

A man was working on the distant side, near the out-cropping that led to the burial chamber tunnel. He wielded a pickax, apparently breaking up the rocks to create a larger and more direct opening. His movements near one of the torches threw giant wild shadows onto the walls.

Adam’s fingers tightened on the rifle. He remembered the metal cart Pierce had discovered in this chamber. They’d talked about what it was used for—neither remembered it being there years before. Now Adam speculated that this man had hauled it here, probably during the winter months when Pierce found the tampered lock on the gate near the BLM lease land. It currently appeared this guy was widening the entrance of the tunnel so he could use the cart for the wholesale looting of the chamber.

Adam swallowed hard. The noise from the man’s activities undoubtedly masked Adam’s infuriated advance across the cave, but Adam almost welcomed a confrontation. He wanted to know who this bozo was, catch him and haul his ass into town for the sheriff to deal with.

Something of his presence must have filtered through the man’s consciousness. The pickax stopped midswing and he turned abruptly. He wore a big tan cowboy hat and a bandana up around his face all the way to his eyes like the old bandits in the television shows wore. Between his getup and the terrible quality of the torch light, it was impossible to tell who he was although he wasn’t a huge guy.

None of the Garvey men were very big. Could this be a brother of the late Lucas and Doyle? Since the Garveys blamed the Westins for their deaths, could they feel justified in robbing this cave? No wait, the looting had started before they died. Still, it was possible Lucas had heard something of its existence and passed it along to his family.

“Stop what you’re doing,” Adam yelled.

The pickax clattered to the rocks, but just as quickly, a shotgun appeared. Adam ducked to the side as a blast whizzed past him. Behind him, he heard a scream.

Adam turned and scanned the cavern as he threw himself behind a forest of stalagmites.

It had to be Echo. He couldn’t see her at first because she wasn’t at the entrance. She’d traveled halfway around the perimeter of the cavern and was close now to the mine shaft. The thief saw her too and let off a blast in her direction. Echo screamed again and disappeared from sight. The man charged the exit, leaving Adam with a split second to make a decision—he either found out if Echo was hurt or he followed the thief.

He knew what he wanted to do. He also knew what he had to do. With a sinking heart, he kept low but he needn’t have bothered—the thief’s footsteps rumbled against the earth as he ran up the tunnel toward freedom. Hopefully he’d be so hell-bent on escape that he wouldn’t take time to look for their horses. Otherwise, Echo—and he—were in for a long walk home.

ECHO LAY ON HER BACK IN THE pitch-black. Thoroughly winded, she wasn’t sure what had happened except she’d fallen, hard, landing on her back, and now was working just to catch her breath.

There wasn’t a single inch of her that didn’t throb in pain.

And she’d seen Adam so she knew he knew she was there and if she could have heard anything over her own pounding heart and sharp intakes of breath, she imagined it would be him coming to scold her.

That roused her enough to pat the damp ground around her. Rocks, gravel, dirt, some mud…

“Echo?”

Adam. “Did he get away?” Her voice was a croak.

“What do you think?”

A light flashed over her face and she winced. It appeared to originate about ten feet over her head and now that her eyes grew accustomed, she could see she’d fallen down a shaft. To make matters more humiliating, a ladder descended right next to her. Well, if she ever moved again, she could at least climb out of this hole by herself.

Except it wasn’t a hole. It was a tunnel. Narrow and shored up with boards, it disappeared into blackness after a few feet. It felt deep and dank and she was sure it was full of unimaginable horrors.

“Are you okay?”

Wasn’t that the second time he’d asked her that since they met again? “No,” she snapped, but found her breath came a little easier. “I’m fine, really. I’ll move in a minute.”

“I’ll come down—”

“No, please don’t. Throw me the flashlight—go after the bad guy.”

“Are you sure?”

“Yes.”

The light spun toward her and she caught it with one hand by flexing her wrist. Not bad.

“I’ll be back very soon,” he called but she could already hear his rapid steps leading away from the hole. That was fine with her.

She stayed still for several more minutes, then wiggled various limbs and appendages to make sure everything still worked. Nothing appeared to be broken. Using the sides of the shaft and the ladder, she drew herself to her feet. A quick inspection with the flashlight revealed cuts and scrapes acquired on the way down, rips in her clothing, a little blood and swelling. She took a breath that hurt her ribs, but not as though they were fractured.

Now to climb the ladder.

That took a while, but eventually, she hauled herself out of the shaft and crawled onto the cave floor. Just in time, too, because a tall, dark shape was approaching and she was pretty sure it was Adam.

She sure as hell hoped it was Adam.

“Is that quivering mass of womanhood lying on the floor my little cousin Echo?” he said.

She made herself sit up. “Very funny.”

He bent at the knees next to her. “The bad news is he got away. The good news is he didn’t have time to scatter the horses so you don’t have to walk home.”

Instead, she got to ride Bagels the wonder horse who would probably lay back his ears and take off like the wind.

“You’re kind of quiet. Hurt anything?”

“Everything. I’m fine, though.”

“Good. While you contemplate standing and walking, I’m going to go see what damage that jerk did and figure out a way to keep this place safe tonight.”

“Do you know who it was?”

“No.” He stood and walked off in the direction the man had been attacking with a pick. She closed her eyes, tried her first actual deep breath and lived through it.

By the time he returned, she’d managed to get to her feet and hobble a ways toward the lighter oval that represented the way out of this cave. “Find anything?”

He held out his hand. Two charred red shotgun shells rested in his palm. “Aren’t you a little glad you fell when you did?”

She swallowed hard. “Yes. Did he take anything?”

Adam extinguished each torch as they left the cave. “The burial chamber looks relatively unchanged from a few weeks ago, but judging from what he was up to today, I think he’s getting ready for a major haul.”

Limping alongside him, she did what she knew she had to do. “Adam, I’m sorry. If I had stayed outside the cave like you asked me to, you might have found out who he is.”

“Hmm,” he said, looking down at her. “That thought crossed my mind, too.”

“On the other hand if you’d just let me come with you, none of this would have happened.”

He didn’t answer.

“Do you always have to do everything yourself?”

“Echo, I swear—”

“But it’s also possible,” she interrupted, “that if I hadn’t diverted his attention and drawn his fire, he might have shot at you again. I might have saved your life.”

“Honestly. If we weren’t related—”

“We’re not. Not in any way.”

“Well, maybe not technically…”

“Not in any way,” she repeated. “If we were, would I do this?” And with that she grabbed his arm, turned him to face her and kissed him.

He backed away at once. “What are you doing?”

“Just what you’ve been wanting to do since you ogled me in your driveway.”

His eyes grew wide, the whites glistening in the poor light. “You are certifiable, do you know that?”

“Maybe I’m just honest.”

He shook his head again and clutched her elbow with an iron grip. She would have liked shaking him off, but the support helped. After dousing the last torch in the cavern he spoke again. “So, did you strike gold on your little prospecting tour of the mine shaft?”

“I didn’t have time,” she grumbled, thoroughly self-conscious now that she’d given in to the impulse to kiss him. She wasn’t used to men backing away from her. He was acting like nothing had happened. She knew she should act the same but her pride was a little wounded.

It took a while, but eventually they made it to daylight. It was like being reborn, this coming out of the dark into the light through a small opening, and it felt pretty wonderful. Echo took the deepest breath she’d managed yet.

“How are you going to keep him out?” she asked as he looped the chain through the door.

“I reinforced the burial chamber exit but who knows how long that will work. First things first. You need a medic. Your backside is a bloody mess.”

“If I were him, I’d come back tonight while you’re all asleep.”

“He’s not ready yet,” Adam grumbled, and she let it drop.

The reality of her backside occupied almost every moment of the long return ride. Thankfully, Bagels plodded along as though bored with the whole thing until he smelled the other horses or recognized the trees—hard to say how he knew they were home, but he did. His pace picked up, she bounced around harder and through it all, clenched her teeth and didn’t utter a single sound. By the time she slithered out of the saddle in the ranch yard, she was pretty sure she deserved a Purple Heart.