Free Wild Is My Heart by Connie Mason

impossible.”
    “Why? Surely it’s within your power.” Sam knew that marriage between them was out of the question, with a jail sentence hanging over her, but she couldn’t resist the urge to test him.
    “The ranch was sold shortly after five o’clock last night.”
    Sam paled, groping for a chair. The shock of learning that someone else owned the land her father had fought the Indians for, combined with a lingering weakness from her wound, left her thoroughly shaken.
    Instantly contrite, Vern dropped to his knees before her. “I’m sorry, Samantha, I didn’t mean to tell you this way, or even for this to happen. It was Daddy’s intent to keep the property and present it to us as a weddin’ gift. A quirk of fate took it out of our hands. Both Daddy and I were out of the bank when a Mr. Steven Colter came in near closin’ time and expressed an interest in the ranch. That idiot of a clerk sold it to him without consultin’ eitther of us. Mr. Colter is now the new owner of the Circle H.”
    “Steven Colter,” repeated Sam woodenly. The name sounded strangely familiar.
    “Do you know him?” Vern asked sharply.
    “N…no, I’m sure I don’t. It’s just…” She faltered, choking on a sob.
    “Samantha, are you ill?” Vern asked with mock concern. “You’re so pale.”
    “I…need time to digest all this, Vern,” Sam replied, feeling weaker by the minute.
    “Where is Will?” Vern asked, suddenly aware that they were alone. “Come to think on it, I didn’t see that Mex Sanchez around when I rode in.”
    “They…went hunting,” Sam improvised, “but I expect them back soon.”
    Realizing they were alone, Vern rose and pulled Sam from the chair into the circle of his arms. “You didn’t answer me, Samantha. Will you marry me? It’s time you gave up your hoydenish ways, dressed like a woman, and thought about motherhood. You want children, don’t you?” he asked slyly.
    “I…of course, but…”
    “Then it’s settled. I’ll make the arrangements and we’ll marry one week from today. Daddy will be ecstatic.”
    “Sam isn’t free to marry.”
    Vern whirled. A dark, powerfully built stranger lounged in the doorway, a sardonic smile curving the corners of his full lips. “Who in the hell are you, mister?”
    Suddenly he spotted the distinctive badge that Colt had pinned on his chest when he recognized Vern Logan’s voice coming from inside the house.
    “Ranger Colt Andrews,” Colt volunteered, uncoiling his lanky length and ambling into the room with the sleek aggressiveness of a cougar.
    “Do I know you?” Vern asked, his light blue eyes narrowed thoughtfully. “Seems like I recollect you from somewhere. The name’s Vern Logan.”
    “We’ve not met formally, but you might have seen me in town yesterday,” Colt informed him. Then he turned tawny eyes on Sam, his next words bringing a gasp of dismay bubbling from her lips. “You were sleepin’ so soundly when I got out of bed this mornin’, darlin’, I didn’t want to disturb you.” Deliberately he made it sound as if they had occupied the same bed “What’s this man to you, Samantha?” Vern demanded angrily. “I can’t believe you’d sink so low when I offered you respectability and marriage. Are you lovers? I thought we had an understandin’.”
    “Vern, it’s not what you think,” Sam tried to explain, slanting a venomous glance in Colt’s direction. “Colt is—”
    “Is what? He made it perfectly clear what he’s doin’ here.”
    “Colt is here to take me to j—”
    “Explainin’ won’t help, Sam,” Colt warned.
    “Forget Ranger Andrews, Samantha,” Vern snapped, his voice ripe with disgust. “Because I love you I’m willin’ to swallow my pride and forgive your … er … indiscretion. Maybe I’m loco but I still want to marry you.”
    Vern was so anxious to be reinstated in his father’s good graces that he was willing to take damaged goods. Besides, no other woman excited him like Samantha