Page 63 of Rawhide and Ransom

“He must.” He gently dragged his lips over hers.

“Where’s Running Bear?” she murmured against his lips, almost afraid to ask.

“He’s fine.” He replaced the oxygen mask over her mouth and nose. “Just breathe. We’ll pick apart every detail of your latest escapade later.”

She wiggled impatiently beneath the blanket covering her, wanting to do so much more than breathe. She had a thousand questions burning on her lips, but she loved him too much not to humor him. At the moment, she was content to learn that Running Bear had been clever enough to evade Rosamund’s deadly clutches.

A nurse entered the room to check her vitals and pronounced them back in the normal range. Then she turned off the oxygen mask and removed it. “You’re looking so much better, Mrs. Dakota. How are you feeling?”

Annalee gave her a thumbs up. “Happy to be alive.”

“You’ve been through a lot.” The nurse picked up the patient chart hanging off the end of her bed and wrote a few things on it. “The attending physician would like to keep you a little longer for observation. He’ll probably order a repeat of your blood tests before he discharges you.”

Annalee nodded. “Whatever he recommends is fine with me.” She owed it to Miley and Hawk to be the healthiest version of herself she could be. As soon as the nurse left the room, she pinned him with a beseeching look. “Tell me everything!”

“Rosamund was arrested.” He gently brushed her hair back from her face. “She’s got a mile long list of charges against her. It’s not helping her case that I installed a security camera in the greenhouse. Everything she did and said to you in there was captured on video.”

Amazement flooded her. “When did you find time for that?”

He tapped a finger against her nose. “I’m a security guy, remember? After going to work for Lonestar Security, I installed cameras all over my property. Didn’t even bother to hide most of them. According to statistics, just having them is a deterrent to crime.”

She hurriedly asked her next question. “Has anyone been able to track down Running Bear yet?” She wanted to see for herself that he was fine.

Hawk glanced toward the door of her hospital room to wave someone forward. “It might be better if I let him do the talking for himself.”

Running Bear moved to her bedside.

“I was so worried about you!” Hawk leaned back so she could hold out her arms to their favorite councilman.

“Right back atcha.” He leaned over her bed to ever-so-gently embrace her. He kissed her forehead before straightening. “My heart is broken over what happened to Chayton.”

“Mine, too.” There was a strange sort of relief in discovering the truth about his death, though. It was the closure Annalee had so desperately needed. “He was a good man, a good husband, and a good father. He didn’t deserve to leave the world that way.”

“No, he did not.” Running Bear’s expression tightened. “It makes me all the more thankful for the time you and Miley got to spend with him. Now that I’ve gotten to know you both, I understand just how much joy you gave him. I only wish I could’ve spent more time with him myself.” He pointed upward. “But I live in the hope of seeing him again.”

“Me, too.” Her eyes swam with dampness.

He glanced at Hawk and exchanged a silent message with him. Then he started talking again. “I have some news that I think you’ll find welcome.”

She smiled through her tears at him. “Nothing you have to say will top the fact that you’re alive and well, but lay it on me.”

Adoration gleamed in his eyes. “The last thing my brother told me before he passed was that he’d changed his will again. Everything he owned…it’s a good thing you’re sitting down already.” She could practically feel the excitement vibrating through him. “It’s all yours.”

“Mine?” Her smile faded. “What about Edward?”

He shook his head. “Ace never mentioned him.”

A sense of sadness settled over her. “That hardly seems fair. From what I understand, Edward has been single-handedly managing Dakota Farm for a while now. He’s been doing a good job of it, too. What’ll become of?—”

“Dakota Farm is yours, my dear,” Running Bear repeated firmly. “You can do whatever you want with it.”

That didn’t sound right to her. “I don’t understand. My father-in-law could barely stand the sight of me.” Whereas he’d adored his stepson, hadn’t he?

“I suspect that leaving everything to you was his way of reclaiming Chayton as his son.”

“If it’s truly all mine,” she murmured, unable to wrap her brain around it just yet. Dakota Farm was more than an hour’s drive from the rez. “How in the world am I supposed to…?”Divide my time between here and there?She finished the perplexing question inside her head, not wanting to sound ungrateful. However, her life was here. Her heart was here.

Hawk had taken a seat beside her bed, giving Running Bear the floor to make all of his grand pronouncements. He leaned forward and reached for her hand again, meeting her questioning gaze. “Like you said yourself, Dakota Farm is already under good management. You might be able to negotiate some sort of agreement with Edward to keep him on board.”

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