Excerpt of The Rancher's Redemption by Elise Mayr

"Stop!"

For an instant Kaya Cunningham wondered if she could make it to the private elevator only ten feet away. In the security mirror mounted high on the wall she caught an image of the guard rushing toward her. Even though the image was distorted by the curved mirror, she could tell that his hand rested on the gun strapped to his hip. Defeat surged through her. She had come so close.

"Young lady, where in tarnation do you think you're goin'? Didn't you see all the signs warning you that this here was a private area?" His eyes narrowed in suspicion.

"Didn't I see you in this building yesterday?" he demanded.

"Yes. I have to see Joshua Cunningham."

"You got an appointment?"

"No."

"Then I'm sorry, miss. You can't go up there without an appointment."

"But I have to see him! This is really important." Some of her desperation must have come through in her voice, because the guard's expression softened. Pleadingly she added, "I know this sounds like a cliché, but it really is a matter of life and death." Thinking of that small body lying in the hospital bed, Kaya lifted her hands in a gesture of mute supplication. "Please," she murmured, tears gathering in her eyes.

The guard cleared his throat. He avoided her eyes as if her emotional appeal embarrassed him. He probably thought she was one of Joshua Cunningham's women who had gotten the brush-off.

"Please," she said again. "I won't tell how I got up to the private floor. I won't get you into trouble. I promise I won't."

"Won't do you no good to go up there. He ain't there."

"But I was told he was!" she cried out, disappointment surging through her.

"He was, but he left a half hour ago." Glancing cautiously around him, the guard added in a low voice, "Seems to me I overheard somebody say he went back to the Diamond C. But you didn't get that from me!"

"No, I didn't. Thanks." Kaya flashed him a grateful smile and hurried out of the modern office building with the discreet plaque beside the front door identifying it as the Cunningham Tower.

The ranch. That made sense. Unlike some of the Cunninghams, Joshua had always preferred to spend his time there. Of course, that was before he became the head honcho of Cunningham Enterprises. Six years ago, when she had spent a few heaven-and-hell months on the Diamond C, he had been an honest-to-goodness cowboy, getting up at dawn, riding out with the men, not to return until evening, all sweaty and tired. Though his cool blue eyes and cynical smile had left her tongue-tied in his presence, Kaya had admired him for working so hard when he didn't have to.

The ranch was a long way from Abilene. Before she started the trip, she would stop at the hospital to see Natalie.

Even though it was hours until visiting time started, Sister Margaret pretended not to see Kaya as she headed toward her daughter's room. Kaya paused outside the door long enough to fix a cheerful smile onto her face. She heard the sounds of Saturday morning cartoons even before she entered the room.

Natalie lay on her back, her eyes closed. Not watching her favorite cartoon meant that her headache had started even earlier than usual. Kaya bit her lower lip to stifle the sob that rose in her throat. She had to be strong and cheerful and optimistic. As soon as she sat on the edge of her daughter's bed, the girl's eyelids fluttered open. The deep blue eyes lit up when she saw her mother.

"Hi, sweetie. How are you this morning?" Kaya stroked her daughter's silken brown hair.

"I'm okay, Mommy."

What a plucky little liar she was, Kaya thought, love squeezing her heart.

"Natalie, I have to drive to a ranch to speak to someone. I probably won't get back to see you tonight. Can you handle that?"

"A real ranch? With horses and cowboys and everything?" Natalie asked, perking up.

Kaya smiled. "Yes, with horses and cowboys and everything."

"Maybe you can take me there when I'm better. Maybe I could ride one of the horses. Wouldn't that be fun?"

"Yes, it would. We'll see. Have you had your medication yet?"

"I'm just bringing it," Sister Margaret announced, entering the room.

"I stopped by to tell Natalie that I had to make a short trip and probably won't be back before evening visiting hours are over," Kaya explained with a worried expression.

"That's okay. Natalie's a big girl. We can manage a few hours without your mom, can't we, honey?" Sister Margaret smiled fondly at the little girl.

"Sure," Natalie said, her voice brave. "I'm almost five." Kaya kissed her daughter's pale cheek. "I'll see you tomorrow then." It nearly broke her heart to leave the little girl lying there, sick and alone, struck again by a persistent, debilitating anemia, but Kaya had no choice. She could no longer take care of Natalie by herself. As bitter as it was to admit, she needed help now.

Heading southeast out of Abilene, Kaya rehearsed what she would say to Joshua Cunningham. No matter what words she chose, she ended up pleading for money. She, who had never begged for anything in her life no matter how hard times were, was reduced to begging now. But then, her daughter's life had never been at stake before. For Natalie she would beg, bargain and dance with the devil himself.

Though it had been nearly six years since she had driven to the Diamond C, she had no trouble finding the famous ranch. When she brought her compact car to a stop before the front porch, she heard the sound of the triangle, summoning the hands to supper.

Kaya slid out of the driver's seat. Her body felt stiff from the long drive. The wrist she had broken earlier that year in a fall ached the way it always did just before it rained.

Automatically she rubbed it. She took a deep breath before she gathered her courage and walked to the door.

What if Lily Cunningham was in residence? The mere thought of facing her former mother-in-law caused Kaya's mouth to dry up faster than a west Texas creek in mid-August. Lily made the Wicked Witch of the West look like a benign fairy godmother, but thinking of Natalie in that hospital bed gave Kaya the courage to ring the doorbell.

The house looked the same today as it had the day she had left it, her heart broken, her will to live almost nonexistent. She heard footsteps on the other side of the door and steeled herself. When Kaya saw the elderly cowboy, she expelled the breath she had been holding. "Hi, Clancy. I don't know if you remember me —"

"Course I do, Miss Kaya, even though I ain't laid eyes on you since before your husband was killed. Never had the chance to tell you how sorry I was about Derrick."

"Thank you," Kaya murmured.

"Well, heck. Where are my manners? Come on in."

"Is Lily here?"

Clancy snorted. "If her highness was visitin', you think I'd be allowed past the kitchen? Heck no. Four years ago Lily took her fancy French cook and her maid and moved to Dallas." Clancy grinned happily. "And none of us is sorry neither that she hardly ever comes back," he confided with a wink.

"Is Joshua here?"

"Yup. Got back a while ago from town, but when he heard one of the horses was sick, he went down to the stable. I expect he'll be back directly. Come to the kitchen. I got pies in the oven I need to tend to."

Kaya followed Clancy to the kitchen. His limp, the result of a fall from a bucking horse, seemed more pronounced than it had been, but other than that, he looked the same as the last time she'd seen him.

The huge kitchen was fragrant with apples and cinnamon. Clancy took two golden-crusted pies out of the oven and set them on the counter next to the ones already cooling there.

"I gotta take them pies down to the bunkhouse. All except one. Josh still has a sweet tooth." Clancy placed three pies on a tray.

He was the only one who ever referred to Joshua Cunningham as Josh. No one else dared. And that was as it should be, for there was nothing diminutive about the man. Not only was he physically large, he had a courageous spirit and a generous heart — at least toward those who were loyal to him.

Joshua Cunningham had taken over the Diamond C when he was in his early twenties, at a time when his father had just been diagnosed with cancer and the ranch was in serious financial trouble. It had taken years of hard work, but Joshua managed to put the Diamond C back on a self- supporting basis.

"You want some coffee, Miss Kaya?"

"Yes, thank you."

"Help yourself," he said, nodding toward the plugged in coffeemaker.

Kaya held the back door open for Clancy. Then she poured herself a cup of coffee. Leaning against the sink, she sipped the strong, bitter brew. She needed the stimulation of the coffee. The long drive, the short nights since Natalie had gotten ill, and the constant worry, suddenly had her feeling exhausted.

She had taken no more than three or four sips when she heard footsteps approaching the kitchen. Kaya didn't have to see the person to know to whom the determined steps belonged. She stood up straight though her knees trembled and her heart seemed to have jumped up into her throat.

When Joshua saw her, he stopped dead in his tracks, staring at her with his intense blue eyes as if she were a ghost. If anyone had told her that Joshua Cunningham could be rendered speechless, she wouldn't have believed them. Until that instant.

He was still wearing a gray suit, though he had loosened his red-striped tie and undone the top button of his crisply starched white shirt. He looked every inch the successful businessman. Successful Texas businessman, she amended, when she noted that he wore black cowboy boots. Kaya had to remind herself that as heir to the Cunningham holdings, that's what he was now. She was so used to remembering him looking like a working cowboy, that this new corporate executive image temporarily threw her into confusion. She couldn't remember a word of the speech she had rehearsed.

"My God," Joshua finally said, his voice filled with dis- belief. "I'd have sooner expected to see Julia Roberts in my kitchen than you."

She managed a small, rueful smile before she spoke. "Believe me, I never expected to be in your kitchen again, either."

"The way you ran out on Derrick, I'd think this is the last place on earth you'd like to be."

Kaya's smile died. "I didn't run out on Derrick."

A frown deepened the lines between Joshua's eyebrows. "Oh, no? How would you describe your departure?"

"Not being asked to stay."

"Is there a difference?"

"A big difference." With a dismissing gesture he said, "Word games." He slipped out of his suit jacket and draped it over the back of the nearest kitchen chair. "I could use a drink. How about you?"

"Coffee's fine for me."

"I'd forgotten that you never indulged. Still don't, huh?"

"I don't see any point in drinking alcohol when I don't like the taste." And couldn't afford it, she added silently.

"Besides, back then, I was only seventeen, too young to drink legally. Not that Derrick let that stop him."

Joshua grimaced. "Yeah. As soon as he got his driver's license he thought he should be able to do whatever a grown man could do."