The New Cowboy

“Hey, Matt—”

“Zane? What’s going on? I thought you were out on a case and couldn’t be reached for a while.”

“That sting produced results at long last and now I’m coming home.”

“For how long?”

“Permanently.”

Zane could hear Matt’s mind turning things over. “What kind of permanently do you mean? Is that good or bad?”

“Oh, it’s good. After cleaning up a drug ring that had been plaguing the area for a long time, the transfer I asked for came through to work in the Pryor Mountains area. The lead state ranger in Billings just phoned to let me know I’ve been assigned to the Billings office. They’ve added a bonus I never expected.”

“What’s that?”

“I’ll be running a satellite station for the BLM Law Enforcement Division right here at the ranch.”

After being in the grasslands around Glasgow at the northern end of the state, the thought of going home to the mountains thrilled him. He’d missed three-year-old Ryan and the ranch so badly he could taste it. Their latest Skype session that had included Avery had been hard on him.

“You’ll be working from the ranch?” Matt wasn’t one for drama, but after hearing about the transfer, he let go with a long ear piercing whistle. “That’s the best news I ever heard.”

Zane smiled. “No. I’m pretty sure the best news came the day your rodeo champion daughter married Connor Bannock. But now I’ll be on hand to do the ranching with you more often.”

“You’ll be just in time to help me calve out the heifers from the herd.”

“Yeah? I’m looking forward to it more than you know. How’s Millie?”

“She’s going to be higher than a kite when she hears this.”

“I’m pretty happy, too.” The opportunity to buy the Corkin ranch where Sadie had been raised had come at the same time he’d left the SEALs to work for the Bureau of Land Management—both changes had turned his life around. With two viable careers, one of them ranching in the area of Montana he loved, he could plan for his future and put down roots. “How are the lovebirds?”

“Which pair of newlyweds are we talking about?”

Zane chuckled. “Both!”

“I do believe Lizzie and Sadie have found their soul mates.”

“That’s a fact.”

Zane hadn’t been so lucky. Besides being in a marriage that had grown troubled, his wife, Nedra, had been unfaithful to him. He’d retired from a ten-year stint in the Navy SEALs and divorced her. After that his older brother, Tim, his only living blood relative, was killed in a car crash. That left Tim’s pregnant wife, Eileen, Sadie’s mother. But after giving birth, Eileen soon died unexpectedly of heart failure.

Too many deaths...

Together he and Sadie took care of little Ryan. Just eighteen months ago, he’d been jobless, homeless and womanless. He hadn’t known what direction to take with his life. Then fate had stepped in to change everything.

“You should see Sadie,” Matt went on. “She has blossomed with her pregnancy. Once Jarod found out they were having a boy, you can imagine the grin on his face.”

Sadie’s husband wasn’t the type to grin. It told you everything. Jarod and Sadie were raising Ryan as their own and now a new son was on the way.

With a smile he asked, “How’s the Queen of the Rodeo?” That was what Avery’s brother, Connor, called his wife, Liz. The famous five-time World Steer Wrestling Champion was crazy about his new wife.

“She and Connor have started advertising their feral stud farm. Talk about two people meant for each other. They built their new house near Jarod’s and will be moving into it this Saturday. Ralph Bannock is so happy these days, he’s put on some weight and gets out every day. Having both of his grandsons home and married has given him a new lease on life.”

“That’s a miracle.”

“It sure is. When you and Sadie flew here with Ryan for her father’s funeral a year ago May, Ralph couldn’t get out of bed. So much has changed since you came to Montana for Corkin’s funeral—it’s unbelievable.”

Everything had changed, including Zane. He had one more question and had been saving it for last, but his pulse was pounding. “How’s Avery these days?” The Avery she’d always kept hidden from him. Those Bannock brothers had a beautiful sister who’d knocked him sideways the first time he’d met her.

“She’s fine, but we don’t see much of her.”

That sounded like Avery. She was an elusive creature with brown hair and unforgettable crystalline gray eyes. The nature of his work had made it impossible for him to be around her on a regular basis and really get to know her.

When he did get some time with her, she seemed nervous around him. He didn’t understand her reaction because he knew deep down she was attracted. There were times he felt her eyes on him when she thought he wasn’t looking. Now that he was coming home, he planned to get to the bottom of it and was determined things were going to change.

He was so deep in thought about her, he didn’t realize Matt was still talking to him. “Zane? Are you still there? Can you hear me?”

“Yes. Sorry. I got distracted for a minute. I’ll be driving in sometime tonight, probably around seven-thirty.” The distance to White Lodge, the nearest town to the ranch, was a good three hundred and forty miles. “I have to make a stop in Billings first.”

“Be sure to drive safely because we’ll all be waiting for you.”

“Thanks, Matt.”

He clicked off and increased his speed. While he’d been in Glasgow, he’d constantly wondered if Avery might have fallen for someone he didn’t know about. But Sadie, who was close to her sister-in-law, kept in touch with him by email and she hadn’t said anything to that effect.

During his Skype sessions with Sadie, which let him talk to his nephew and see how he was growing, he always hoped Avery was there. Occasionally she happened to show up. On Monday, he’d devoured her with his eyes as they talked. Every time they spoke, it made him hungrier for her.

She’d been the only woman to stir Zane’s senses since his divorce. But as he’d found out on the day of Daniel Corkin’s funeral, her guard went up around Zane. He figured she’d seen him as an outsider at first and that was why she didn’t let him in. Yet when she was around her brothers, she was a completely different person, warm and loving.

He found it unbelievable that such a desirable woman wasn’t involved with someone special. In talking with Sadie he’d learned that Avery had dated a little in high school. Evidently she preferred to be off riding in the mountains and spending time on the Crow Indian Reservation. After high school she went to Montana State University in Bozeman for her undergraduate degree. Later she received a graduate fellowship from the anthropology department at Berkeley in California.

Zane could only speculate about her social life during that six-year period before she returned home to work these past two years. His thoughts flew back to the time he’d lived at the Bannock ranch house for two weeks. Sadie and Jarod had spent their honeymoon on the Corkin ranch so they could be near her half brother, Ryan, while the Hensons helped tend him.

Zane had moved out temporarily to accommodate them and took over Jarod’s bedroom on the second floor down the hall from Avery’s bedroom. During those two weeks, Zane shared his meals with Avery and her grandfather in the morning and evening.

They’d mostly discussed ranch life and her work with the Crow people who lived on the reservation. Not only was she intelligent, she had a great love for the Crow culture, no doubt due to Jarod’s deceased Crow mother.

Connor and Avery shared a different mother. After Jarod’s mother died, his father met another woman and married her. Two children came from that marriage, Connor and Avery. From the beginning it was clear Avery worshipped her older brothers and the three of them were tight in every way.

Avery had depths he hadn’t found in other women. She did ranching chores with her brothers and could ride a horse like Sadie and Liz. In fact she could do a lot of things a vet could do. Her remarkable talents and the desire for academic learning that had earned her a master’s degree made her exceptional in his eyes.

During those two weeks they’d played cards with Ralph and were starting to get to know each other better when his application to join the BLM was approved and he was sent to Georgia for law enforcement training. After being in the SEALs, it was like déjà vu.

But in one day Zane had to pack his bags and go. When his training was over, he was temporarily assigned to the field office in Glasgow, cutting off his chance to spend more time with her. Though his instincts told him she wanted to be with him, something was holding her back from expressing her interest openly. She was a mystery that wanted solving.

He picked up lunch at a drive-through before entering the field office in Billings. While he ate, he listened to the noon news.

...And there’s still no news about the explosives heist. Last week we reported that five hundred pounds of explosives had been stolen from a locked federal storage facility near Billings, Montana. Federal officials do not believe it’s terrorism-related, but it has raised security issues.