Lone Wolf didn’t comment. He couldn’t say for sure but it sounded as though Julia’s undying loyalty and love for her father had clouded her judgment. He thought there was a strong possibility that a clandestine affair might have been going on, whether Julia wanted to accept it or not.
“Adam and I were determined to hold the ranch together, but it hasn’t been easy. Incidents of rustling began not long after Papa died. We had no substantial proof that our neighbor was involved, but he was our prime suspect. He seemed to hate us.”
Julia continued. “To complicate matters, our neighbor’s daughter was our childhood playmate, and he refused to allow her to associate with us. Still the affection between his daughter and Adam remains. She grew up loving my brother and he has always felt the same way about her.”
It sounded to Lone Wolf as if history was trying to repeat itself. Julia’s bitter neighbor, however, was having none of that. Not after he had lost his wife to another man. The prospect of losing his daughter to the son of his wife’s lover was obviously intolerable. Especially if Adam was using his charm on the neighbor’s daughter to retaliate.
“I know what you’re thinking,” she surprised him by saying.
“Do you? Then you would be the first,” he countered drily. “I try very hard not let anyone know what’s running through my mind. It’s bad business when dealing with cutthroats who like to get the drop on you.”
“You’re thinking Adam is trying to get back at our neighbor by turning his charms on his daughter,” Julia guessed correctly. “But you couldn’t be more wrong. Maggie and Adam were childhood friends, and then they became sweethearts. That was long before the hint of scandal.”
“Maggie?” Lone Wolf grew very still. His focus settled intently on Julia.
“Maggie Griffin. Sol Griffin’s daughter,” she explained, unaware of the suppressed emotion roiling through Lone Wolf.
Tormenting memories flashed through his mind, then exploded like fireworks. Old hurt and the raw pain of rejection threatened to swamp him. For a moment he was transported back to a time when he had been a weak, desolate and vulnerable teenager.
“Despite Sol’s unfair decree, Maggie and Adam continued to see each other secretly,” Julia reported. “Maggie has rejected every marriage proposal that Sol approved. When she stood up to him and informed him that if she couldn’t wed Adam then she would never take a husband, Sol sent her to Saint Louis to stay with his cousin’s family. She has been home for two months and she and Adam have gotten very good at sneaking away so they can be together.”
“Maggie must have a great deal of determination and gumption,” Lone Wolf remarked.
Julia bobbed her head and smiled fondly. “She does, in her own ladylike, dignified way. Which is why we are steadfast friends and always have been.”
“And Sol Griffin is one bitter, obstinate man,” he murmured.
When Julia stared curiously at him, Lone Wolf shrugged as nonchalantly as he knew how. “I know of Sol Griffin.”
Know of him? Hell, he was Sol Griffin’s blood kin, a fact that he would not acknowledge or accept under the circumstances. Sol had made that known eighteen years ago.
“If you know of Sol, does that mean you won’t help my brother and me because you don’t want to get on his bad side?” she asked anxiously.
“I was born on his bad side,” Lone Wolf muttered under his breath.
“Pardon?”
He clenched his teeth, stifled the onrush of resentment, and said, “I don’t allow personal sentiment to get in the way of business. If I decide to take an assignment, then I represent the client who is paying me. No one else.”
“You will be exceptionally well paid if you agree to take this assignment,” Julia assured him. “I want that sniper brought to justice for the murder attempt on my brother’s life. If the man I saw firing his rifle at Adam is remotely connected to Sol, I want to see them both locked in jail with no chance of parole— Oh, God… Maggie…”
Her voice trailed off and her shoulders slumped in frustration. “I can’t get word to her about what happened to Adam. And though she resents Sol’s demand to keep her distance from Adam, I doubt she will believe her father would go so far as to have Adam shot to end their courtship.”
She raked her hands through her hair and sighed. “I’m sorry. I feel as if I’m telling you all my problems. It’s bad enough that I practically bled tears on your shirt. I don’t expect you to figure out how I’m going to break the bad news to my dearest friend.”
“Not a problem,” he said with a casual shrug of his broad shoulders. “I get paid to solve other people’s dilemmas. That’s difficult to do without all the facts.”
Julia glanced at the powerful-looking bounty hunter who sat a horse so impressively. He seemed detached, even more distant than before. And why shouldn’t he be? He wasn’t embroiled in the upheaval of her life.
She was just another prospective client to him.
Her thoughts trailed off when she spotted the glow of lights in the distance. Almost home… Soon she would find out if Adam had survived his gunshot wound.
With tension coiled inside her, she promptly picked up the pace. She had her horse in a full gallop by the time she reached the dirt path that led to the ranch house.
Lone Wolf was right on her heels. When she skidded her horse to a halt and bounded from the saddle, his lean fingers closed around her forearm to waylay her. She looked up at his inscrutable expression and wished she possessed the same iron-willed self-discipline. She felt as if she were on the verge of scattering in every direction at once, while he was a bulwark of physical and emotional strength.
“Take a breath, Julia,” he ordered firmly. “A deep one.”
She did as she was told.
“Again,” he demanded.
Julia sucked in a huge gulp of night air and tried to get herself under control.
“You won’t accomplish a damn thing by walking in there and falling apart. Whatever happens, I’ll be here to take care of things. Save the tears and tantrums for later. Do you understand? Don’t give your brother or your employees something else to worry about right now.”
She peered into his angular face, into those intense hazel eyes that bored straight into her. “Does that mean that you will take this assignment?” she asked hopefully.
When he nodded, Julia embarrassed herself by flinging her arms around his neck and practically squeezing the stuffing out of him. She buried her head against the solid wall of his chest and savored the sense of security that overcame her. Although she was aware that he didn’t reciprocate—except to drape his brawny arm awkwardly around her shoulder—she absorbed his strength. She clung to him for comfort and support for several moments, wondering why she had developed an instant attachment to a total stranger.
Maybe it was because she had poured her heart out to him and he had listened, then agreed to help. Maybe it was because she was desperate to anchor herself to something strong and solid.
Vince Lone Wolf was definitely that. Rumor had it that he was hell on outlaws, ruthless when necessary and unyielding as granite. Legend also had it that no one that he was sent to apprehend ever walked away to brag about escaping from him. He was the justice system’s last resort, and he accepted the difficult challenges no one else wanted.
This was definitely the man Julia needed on her side.
Summoning her composure as best she could, Julia stepped back, then wheeled toward the front porch. When she opened the door and was met with silence, another wave of apprehension swooped down on her. She took comfort in Lone Wolf’s presence as he hovered over her, close as her own shadow.
She headed