Her Montana Cowboy

“Pretty much. The weather changes fast here. It might be balmy in a few days.”

“Define balmy,” Lillie Jean muttered.

“Not freezing.”

“Kind of what I thought.” She glanced over at him, but he kept his eyes on the fence. She had a sense of him wanting to say something, but holding back. Okay. He could talk when he was ready. She was certain he wasn’t going to say anything she wanted to hear, anyway. She’d gone with him for two reasons—to get a look at her inheritance, and to give Thad time to check her out. She hoped he did a lot of research while she was gone. Once he understood that she was on the up-and-up, then they could move forward.

The truck lurched and it hit a deeper rut, knocking her against the door, then shooting her sideways to bump shoulders with Gus, causing the seat belt to cut into her.

“Road gets rough sometimes.”

This isn’t a road. It wasn’t. It was a rutted track, working its way through a pasture, over and around rocks, through boggy spots. Gus was now driving so that the tires were next to the ruts, rather than in them, but every now and again, the truck slid into one of the deep Vs.

He pulled to a stop, put the truck in neutral and set the parking brake. “I’ll leave the heater on. You’ll be fine.”

“I’ll get out for a while.”

He gave her a “suit yourself” shrug and opened his door. While Lillie Jean stepped down into the crunchy frozen grass, he went to the rear of the truck and pulled out a bucket and an odd contraption. He walked to the fence, set them down and then went back for a roll of wire. For some contrary reason, Lillie Jean did not want to get back into the truck. Maybe it was because he thought she was too wimpy to stand out in the cold—and it was at least ten degrees colder here than it had been at the ranch. Altitude, maybe. Her lips twitched grimly. They didn’t have much altitude where she came from. Rolling hills, but no big changes that would drop temperatures ten degrees or so.

Gus set about connecting new wire to old, stretching it tight with the metal contraption, then crimping it off with a small tube and pliers. He did it for all five strands in a surprisingly short period of time, then loaded his tools back into the truck, which was still chugging away, sending up an exhaust cloud near the rear wheels. There was something satisfying about watching a guy do something he did well, or maybe there was something satisfying about watching a guy as good-looking as Gus do something he did well. And maybe it was just a little irritating that, due to circumstances, he was probably always going to view her through a veil of suspicion.

So be it. Some things were simply out of her control. Like the fact that she felt this crazy tug toward the man. Despite everything, he kind of fascinated her. Well, he was a Montana cowboy—the stuff of which legends were made. She wasn’t going to think about the fact that legends were made about Texas cowboys, too, and so far she hadn’t met a man from Texas who’d fascinated her like this guy was doing.

Time to get her mind back on the here and now. “Do you have deer on the ranch?” Mentally she rolled her eyes. Of course, they had deer. She’d seen them last night.

“Deer and elk and antelope. Moose.”

“Bears?”

“Yes.”

She wasn’t a big fan of bears. She’d never seen one in person and she didn’t want to.

Gus headed for his door, leaving Lillie Jean to wrestle with hers. Finally she got the thumb latch pushed in and pulled the heavy door open on protesting hinges. “You should put some grease to this thing.”

“I’ll see to it,” he said in a tone which indicated a lack of appreciation for her helpfulness.

“Just a suggestion.” Not trying to tell you your business or take over the ranch.

Nope. She had no intentions in that direction. She’d seen enough of the ranch to satisfy her curiosity, and now she was going to settle matters with Thaddeus, get her answers and drive back home. Once there, she’d find a job and a more permanent place to live than her friend Kate’s tiny house. And maybe, because of this quest and her time away from Serenity, Texas, she’d be better equipped to deal with the fallout of her broken engagement and the fact that A Thread in Time was no longer hers. Maybe some new scandal had rocked her community and she wouldn’t be on the receiving end of pitying glances and less than helpful reassurances that this had all happened for a reason.

But no matter what, it was going to sting to drive past her storefront, and it was going to suck to run into Andrew and her other ex-partner, Taia. The business stealers.

How had she not seen any of this coming?

The fact that she hadn’t, that she’d assumed that Andrew’s vague withdrawal had something to do with prewedding jitters, left her shaken. Half-afraid to trust her own judgment. And worse than that, it had affected her creativity. She hadn’t sewn or picked up her sketch pad in six weeks. And the way things were going, it didn’t look like she was going to reclaim her creativity anytime soon.

She let out an audible sigh, and then her eyes flashed open as she realized what she’d done. Audience. You have an audience.

But when she gave Gus Hawkins a furtive sideways glance, he appeared as lost in thought as she’d been, eyes fixed on the track in front of them.

* * *

LILLIE JEAN HUDDLED in the oversize coat, even though the heater was blowing full blast and Gus was starting to sweat, almost as if she was trying to disappear inside of it. Every now and again he’d hit a rut wrong or the tire would bump up over a rock and it would throw her sideways, but she always righted herself without a word. It was obvious that she didn’t have a lot of experience driving over rough terrain, because she didn’t have a clue how to anchor herself in place with strategic handholds. The truck was old and had lap belts instead of shoulder harnesses, and he couldn’t help but note that Lillie Jean needed a shoulder harness.

“You might want to grab the handle above the door,” he said after a big bump that almost brought her out of her belt. “It’ll keep you from bouncing around so much.”

“Thank you.” The words came out stiffly, but she took hold of the plastic handle.

“Not a problem.” His words were equally clipped.

The rest of the boundary fence in this pasture was intact, which would keep Carson off his back for a day or two. The man understood next to nothing about ranching, but that didn’t keep him from giving directives. Gus had felt sorry for the guy Carson hired to manage his place a few months ago, but the man quickly came to his senses and quit two weeks in. Now Carson ran the place himself and let everyone know it when they met at various public events.

“Do you own an interest in the ranch?”

Gus shot Lillie Jean a frowning look. He’d been so deep in his head that she’d startled him by speaking.

“I manage the place.”

“Are you Thad’s heir?”

He didn’t want to answer that question, but couldn’t come up with a reason not to. “The last I heard.”

“Does he have a will?”

“He does.”

“So this isn’t only about you watching out for your uncle. You’re watching out for you, too.”

He shot her a cool look. “Something wrong with that?”

“No.” She spoke lightly. “But maybe being in that position will help you to understand that I’m in the same boat.”

He didn’t have a lot to say to that. Did he resent her showing up out of nowhere? Oh yeah. But facts were facts, and if she was the silent partner’s heir, then he had to adapt. In twenty-four short hours his life had essentially been turned upside down by something that Thad had been aware of all along. Who would have thought quiet Thad would have been embroiled in such a soap opera?

But it did explain why he wouldn’t live on the ranch. It might even explain why he’d clung to his bachelorhood so tightly. He was afraid not to. And that kind of broke Gus’s heart. Decades of loneliness and now Lillie Jean shows up as a flesh-and-blood reminder of everything that had gone down. He hated that his uncle had to deal with this.

“Did it occur to you before you arrived that showing up as you did would upset Thad?” He tried not to sound judgmental, but failed.

“I wanted answers.” There was a tightness to her voice. “I wanted to see the ranch.”

“So, no.” Gus glanced sideways at his passenger, then let out a curse as the truck lurched sideways, yanking the steering wheel out of his hands. The frame of the truck hit rock as the front wheel slipped deep into a rut. Lillie Jean’s head snapped forward on impact, her forehead making solid contact with the dash.

“Lillie Jean—”

She pulled herself upright, one hand pressed against her forehead just over her right eyebrow, her eyes wide with shock. He gave another silent curse as he saw blood oozing from between her fingers.

“Keep your hand there.”