All Chase could do was pray the salt blocks did the trick. Cattle had a strong sense of smell and could pick up the scent of water five or six miles away. No doubt, the same was true of salt.

The faint sound of the train whistle signaled its imminent departure, and Chase’s already taut nerves threatened to snap. It would soon be directly in the path of the panicked cattle. The thought of Emily being on that train drove what felt like a steel knife through his middle.

Hopping onto the boardwalk, Chase pushed his way through the milling crowd. He looked for Cassie but didn’t see her. Nor did he see her son.

He held his breath as the rush of beeves thundered past the Welcome to Haywire sign and showed no sign of stopping.

One steer took the lead, followed by two others. Just when all looked lost, the leader reached the salt blocks and, at the last possible moment, set its hooves into a sliding stop.

The other cattle came to a standstill next to the leader, their dark, thick tongues all over the white, briny blocks.

A collective sigh of relief swept through the crowd. Chase turned and spotted Cassie with her little boy in her arms. Only then did he allow himself to breathe. Where the cattle were concerned, the worst was over.

Leaving the others to round up the beeves, he ran to his horse and threw himself into the saddle. “Giddup!”

Heart in his throat, he raced along Main, bypassing carts and wagons until he reached the train station, praying all the while that Emily wasn’t on it. Or if she was, that the train had been delayed.

No such luck. Just as he’d feared, the three o’clock train had already pulled out of the station on time. All that remained was a dark dot on the horizon, beneath a thin column of curling smoke.

35

It was dark by the time Chase started for home, the way lit by the pale light of a waning moon. He’d turned the town upside down, hoping against hope to find Emily.

Everyone in town knew who she was by now, and old wounds had been opened anew. Some had a few choice words to say about Harry Fields. Others wondered aloud how Chase could have married his niece.

Not that Chase could blame anyone for asking such questions. Fields had preyed on desperate people like Chase’s father, and all had paid dearly. Chase hated knowing that Emily was related to such a man. He’d let her into his house, his heart, and all this time, she had what?

Planned on hurting him? Been in cahoots with Royce all along? Chase didn’t even want to consider his uncle’s cattle-rustling theory. Had she made him fall in love only to break his heart?

God, he had to know; he had to know.

If his worst fears were true, it would kill him. But not knowing what was in her heart was killing him too.