But when he finally spoke through the open window, the last thing she’d expected to hear was, “Start your car, Ms. Arnold. You’re going back to Elko. I’ll be right behind you. When we reach the first exit, follow me into town.”

So he did know Buck and had decided to take her to him.

Catherine experienced a moment of triumph to realize she’d be able to fulfill one of Terrie’s dying wishes. For herself she’d been waiting months to confront the amoral male who’d taken advantage of Terrie’s youth and naïveté, then discarded her so cruelly, never worrying if there’d be consequences.

“I’ll see you there, then,” she responded quietly.

With a mixed sense of anxiety and anticipation over what she would learn, Catherine turned on the motor, willing to cooperate with this enigmatic man who held the keys to Buck’s whereabouts.

Once she’d made contact, and had satisfied herself he couldn’t care less how many children he might have spawned in his selfish need for gratification, she’d be able to carry out Terrie’s other wish.

A wish that had become Catherine’s raison d’être.

Evening had come to the Rubies, prompting Cole to turn on his headlights. The woman at the wheel in front of his power wagon drove at a fast clip, forcing him to concentrate while he made a couple of phone calls, the last one being to his brother.

“John? Hold down the fort, will you? I’m on my way to Elko to take care of some important business.”

“I saw you leave a little while ago. Anything I can do to help?”

Cole’s thirty-two-year-old married brother was a rock he could always lean on in an emergency. They’d shared pretty much everything in life, but not this time. Not until Cole knew if their little brother had truly fathered a child.