Authors: Hope Navarre
* * *
A
FTER
A
MORNING
of wearing her professional hat, making phone calls, touching base, contacting companies she'd once consulted with, Ellie needed a break. A long one. As soon as Walt had disappeared across the pasture on his four-wheeler, she'd spent time communing with the horses, who enjoyed having their ears and necks rubbed, then decided to tackle house-shopping phase one: the small stuff. She'd have to travel to Bozeman or Butte to properly shop, but the long distances to and from the major Montana cities were more than she wanted to take on at the moment, so she'd settled for exploring Glennan.
The town boasted the chain grocery store and a smaller market, a couple hardware stores, two restaurants, an antiques/thrift store that was closed and a few boutiques aimed more at tourists and travelers than locals.
She wandered in and out of the boutiques as she made her way down the main street, thinking that she might at least find something decorative. She found a couple colorful throws, some pillows and a set of dishes she thought Angela would like in the funky gift store next to the café. Then she wandered on, planning to return and make the purchase on her way back to the car. She went into the fishing shop just because she'd never been in one and was happily ignored by the two elderly gentlemen in deep conversation over a tray of fishing flies. She left the store, paused at the tiny art gallery, then moved on to the last store on the street: a children's store. Ellie hesitated before going inside.
She still felt like a stranger to this baby business.
She stopped inside the door and was overwhelmed by cuteness. There were bunnies and chicks, giraffes and hippos emblazoned over bibs, overalls, Onesies. Ruffled dresses and tiny motorcycle jackets.
Ellie reached out to touch the jacket, marveling at the details. It was a work of miniature art. But then so were the amazing smocked dresses. Boy or girl? Which was she having?
The doctor said they'd do an ultrasound the next visit. Try to see what's what and hear the heartbeat. An overwhelming idea. This child would be in the world before she acclimated herself to the idea of being its mother.
“Shopping for a gift?” the young woman behind the counter asked as she pulled pale pink thread through a piece of cloth stretched in a small embroidery hoop.
Ellie shook her head, pulling her hand away from the smocked dress.
Just coming to terms with reality.
She wandered over to the quilts, feeling ridiculously self-conscious even though the proprietress was busy with her embroidery and politely letting Ellie shop. Feeling a bit dazed, Ellie left the boutique a few minutes later, calling a quick thank-you to the woman behind the counter. She stepped out into the sun and then headed for her car.
“Ellie.”
Her heart skipped as she turned toward the direction of Ryan's voice. He was halfway across the street and coming toward her, looking way too good for her peace of mind. He also looked stressedâmaybe even more stressed than he'd looked when he'd realized the calves were out. Not that the picture of him standing on the porch bare chested in his jeans was burned into her brain or anything. Or that she'd ever thought of him kissing her before they parted company.
“Hi,” she said, for want of anything else to say. “I hadn't realized you were already in town.” By seemingly mutual agreement she and Ryan had avoided each other over the past several days, but she was always aware of where he was. She'd assumed when she'd seen him take off with Walt earlier that morning in the ranch truck that his business was taking place later in the day.
“I am,” he said simply. “But I'm heading back as soon as I talk to my mom.”
“She's here in town?”
“Owns that shop over there,” he said, pointing at the black-and-gold sign that read Crowning Glory. “She's in the middle of a foil job.”
Ellie couldn't help smiling. “Familiar with beauty procedures?”
“Lived with them all of my life. Kids came to me to find out what was going on around town. Anyway, I was waiting in my truck for her to get done and saw you wander down the street.”
And into the baby store. She shouldn't feel self-conscious, but she did. If she'd planned to get pregnant, she would have embraced baby shopping, but having it happen the way it had... She was uncomfortable embracing itâat least publicly.
“I needed to get out of the house,” she said.
“Cabin fever?”
“Depressing job search. Tight market. A lot of âI'll let you know if I hear of something' type of stuff.”
“I can see where you'd want to take a break from that.” He looked down at his boots for a moment, then back up at her. “You busy tomorrow?”
The question startled her. “No,” she said cautiously.
“Want to go to a rodeo?”
A day alone with Ryan?
Her first instinct was to say no, to protect herself, but the word died on her lips as she took in his taut expression, the tense lines around his eyes.
Something's happened to him. Something bad.
She'd have to be thickheaded to not pick up on it.
“I've...never been,” she said, even though it wasn't an answer.
He gave a too-casual shrug. “I wouldn't mind some company on the drive and I figured that you might like to get off the ranch for a while.”
“Company?” she echoed.
“Yeah,” he said, his mouth tightening an iota. “Just...company.”
“When would we leave and when would we get back?”
“Early tomorrow morning and we'd get back tomorrow night.”
For a moment she studied his face, trying to pinpoint what it was that made her feel so strongly that he was dealing with something other than waiting to talk to his mother. The breeze blew her hair across her cheek and she pushed it back.
“All right,” she said quietly. “I'll go to the rodeo.”
The corners of his mouth lifted slightly, almost self-consciously, before he said, “Can you be ready to go at four-thirty?”
“In the morning?” Again she brushed back the hair that drifted across her face. She really needed to stop clipping it up and go with the unprofessional ponytail. “If I sleep in my clothes I ought to be able to make it.”
“Great.” He lifted his chin, looking over the top of her head at his mother's shop. “Her client just came out. I'd better get over there if I'm going to catch her.” He looked down at Ellie and she could see from his expression that he needed to get over to that shop. Now. “See you at four-thirty?”
She hoped.
“I'll meet you at the truck...but feel free to knock if I don't show.” She rubbed a casual hand over the side of her neck, remembering the last time he'd gotten her up with a knock. “I'll, uh, take extra care with my buttons if you do have to get me out of bed.”
“And I'll tell you if you don't,” he promised wryly, his mood a touch lighter than when he'd flagged her down. “See you then.”
* * *
L
YDIA
WAS
WAITING
for Ryan at her chair. “Is this a backroom talk?”
“Of the highest order,” he said. His mother's face instantly sobered and then she turned to lead the way down the narrow hall to the most private room in the placeâher minuscule office.
Ryan closed the door after them and got right to the matter at hand. “Mom, has Montoya offered you some kind of deal?” Lydia's chin went up and he saw color stain the tops of her cheekbones.
“Why?”
“Because he offered me a deal.”
“Take it,” she said.
“You don't know what it is.”
Lydia raised her eyebrows an iota. “I imagine it's a lot of money.”
“Yeah.”
“That's money he owes you. Take it.”
“He threatened you a couple weeks ago, didn't he?”
“He thought I was the reason Matt knew about you.” She gave a soft, disgusted snort. “And that really aggravated me. I spent all those years being quiet because I didn't want to hurt people. His wife. His other son. They were innocent.” She rubbed her fingertips across her forehead as if erasing a memory. “And that's how he rewarded me. Threats. He said he'd ruin my business if I talked.”
Ryan felt his blood pressure rise, but he remained silent.
“As if he could,” Lydia said with another snort. “No one does a weave in this town like I do.” She tilted her head as she regarded her son. “But I'd had it. I called him a few weeks ago, told him that if he paid the child support he owed you growing up, he'd never have to worry about either of us saying anything.”
“You're blackmailing him?”
Anger flared in her eyes. “I wish I was. That would be fun, but my conscience won't let me. The confidentiality agreement makes it all nice and legal. We keep quiet, you get what he owes you.” Lydia's shoulders drooped. “I should have done it a long time ago, but I didn't want to share you. I was half-afraid that if I pushed him, he'd take you away just to show me who's boss. I was young and dumb and intimidated.”
Ryan leaned his palms on the desk. “Did you ever think about what might happen if I didn't want to sign the agreement, Mom?”
Lydia blinked at him. “Are you ever going to tell anyone he's your father?”
“I seriously doubt it.” He had nothing to gain by hurting Charles's wife.
“Then sign and get what's coming to you. What you should have had all along.”
Ryan pushed off the desk. “I need time to think,” he said.
“I figured you would,” Lydia said quietly. “And since I didn't raise no fool, I assume you're going to make the right decision.”
CHAPTER TWELVE
E
LLIE
WALKED
OUT
of the house at exactly 4:25 a.m., yawning as she stepped into the cold Montana morning. Her hair was in a low ponytail instead of a French twist, her shirt fully buttoned. She had a thermos of tea and a pocketful of granola bars. Ready to roll and nervous as hell.
She wasn't even sure why she was so nervous, but it had to do with Ryan. With the unknown. After kissing her that night, he'd backed off as promised, but she still felt uneasy. Something to do with a gut-level attraction, no doubtâand the fact that part of her couldn't help thinking how much she wished she'd met him before she'd hooked up with Nick...which was kind of dumb. If she'd met Ryan before, she wouldn't have hung around the ranch long enough to get to know him to any great lengths. She would have found him attractive, maybe even slept with him and then gone back to her own world.
She was
still
going back to her own world. The ranch was a good hideaway, but it held nothing for her in the long run.
The trailer was hooked to the truck, which was idling in front of the barn, the scent of diesel exhaust heavy in the damp early-morning air. The lights went out in Ryan's house as she stepped off the flagstones onto the gravel drive, and a few seconds later he came out carrying a cooler. He looked her over, then said, “You might want a more substantial coat.”
Ellie set the thermos on the front seat and headed back to the house. By the time she came back out, Ryan had turned the truck and trailer around and was waiting at the end of the walk.
“Have you ever been to a rodeo?” he asked after she'd stowed her coat and fastened the seat belt.
She shook her head. “Last night I watched some YouTube videos to get an idea as to what to expect, however, the rules escape me.”
He smiled a little. “I can explain a few things.”
“That'd be nice,” Ellie replied, without looking at him. The sun hadn't yet topped the mountains and the rolling meadows were still a dark bluish-gray. They drove through the gate the calves had escaped through, down the road, past Walt's place, past the Garcias'. Ellie sat stiffly in her seat, her head turned slightly away from Ryan as she stared at the scenery, telling herself it was just a two-hundred-mile drive followed by a day at the rodeo.
“Relax,” Ryan said.
“I'm relaxed,” Ellie replied, her clipped tone belying her words. She let out a breath. “All right. I'm nervous.”
“It's just me. What's to be nervous about?”
You.
“I'm just kind of stressed,” she said, glad that she had a truthful reason for being tenseâa reason besides her overwhelming awareness of him. “I had my first OB appointment, and the job search turned up practically no leads.”
Ryan kept his profile to her, but she could see his frown. “Did you apply for anything?”
“Several things.” Long shots every one. Most of the companies she had connections with were reducing forces, not hiring.
He nodded, his eyes still fixed on the road. “How long do you think it'll take to hear?”
“There's no telling. It's not the best market.”
Ryan nodded, frowning slightly as he focused on the road. He was listening to her, but he was also deeply preoccupied.
So what's up with you?
She wanted very much to ask the question, to find out what had put that troubled expression on his face when he'd asked her to come with him yesterday, giving her the impression that he didn't think he'd be able to stand his own company.
Instinct told her that now was not the time. Ryan was holding tight to whatever it was that was eating at him and she wouldn't pry. It was his business...just as her problems were hers. He'd asked her along for company, so the least she could do was be decent company.
“Explain to me some things about the rodeo,” she finally said, choosing the safest subject she could think of. She pulled out her phone and settled deeper in her seat as she turned it on to see if she could stream any of the video that had made little sense to her the night before. “I'll ask questions and you tell me what you know.”
He glanced over at her and a second later a half smile formed on his lips. “Sure. Fire away.”
* * *
R
YAN
PULLED
HIS
trailer into a space at the edge of a field filled with trucks, horse trailers, horses and cowboys. Lots and lots of cowboysânone of them as good-looking, or probably as patient, as the man who'd just spent most of the long drive going over the various events with her while she looked up video on her phone when the connection was available.
She opened the door, the smell of damp earth, crushed grass and fresh horse manure hitting her nostrils as she stepped out into the crisp air. Instantly she thought of the early-morning dressage lessons at boarding school. She hadn't been as nuts about horses as Kate had been, but she'd grown fond of her mount and had enjoyed the discipline of dressage. Horses simply hadn't been part of her big plan.
“Breakfast is that way,” Ryan said, pointing toward a food truck. “I'd go with you, but I have to check in.”
“Want anything?”
“No. I'll meet you back here in ten or fifteen minutes.”
Ryan got back to the trailer at about the same time Ellie returned with the coffee and doughnuts. Many doughnuts.
“The line was brutal,” she said, setting her foam cup on the truck's running board.
“Are you sure you got enough to eat?” he asked with a half smile, nodding at the bulging white bag she carried.
“I'm good for an hour or two.” What could she say? She liked doughnuts and living at the ranch had not allowed her to indulge herself. And she was eating for two. “I'll share.”
“That's all right, but thanks.” She stepped back as Ryan opened the rear trailer door and led his big black horse out. The animal stopped as soon as all four of his feet were on the ground, raised his head high and let out a long whinny that flared his nostrils and made his entire body vibrate. An answering whinny soon came back.
“He has lots of buddies he sees on weekends,” Ryan explained as he tied the horse to the trailer.
“I didn't know horses made friends.”
“Herd animals,” Ryan said. “They hate to be alone.”
“You have a lot of horses. How do you decide which one to bring?”
“PJ here is my rodeo horse. Most of the other horses are for practice.”
“Don't you have to practice on him, too?” Ellie asked.
“Only enough to keep him tuned up. I can't afford for him to go sore or lame on me.” Ryan ran a hand over the horse's neck, smiling a little as he said, “He likes what he does and I want to keep it that way.”
“Makes sense. The only time I've hated my job was when I had to do the same thing too often.”
“And the only time I've hated mine is when it's forty below and I have to feed. But I like it again once I get inside.”
“I don't know that I'd do well with forty below.”
“Nobody does well at those temps...except maybe Walt. He seems to be impervious to cold.”
Somehow Ellie wasn't surprised.
Ryan tied the gelding to the trailer and Ellie perched on the trailer fender, sipping coffee as she watched him first brush then saddle his horse, his movements quick and automatic. Cowboys rode by, many of them nodding at him as they passed. Ryan nodded back and Ellie reflected on the fact that not many words were exchanged, but there was a sense of camaraderie one didn't normally find in her line of work.
“I have to warm up,” Ryan said after stowing the brushes. “I rope in the last section, and then I can join you, but by that time the rodeo will be almost over.” He turned toward the rapidly filling stands and scanned the crowd with a slight frown. “I was hoping to find somebody you could sit with.”
“I'd rather sit alone,” Ellie said as she slid off the fender. She wasn't in the mood for chitchat. She wanted to watch Ryan do his thing, to figure out the rodeo by herself.
“You sure?” He seemed surprised that she'd prefer to watch without company.
“I do a lot of things alone.” She'd thought that was fairly obvious.
“But do you like it that way?” he asked. “Alone?”
Ellie frowned at the unexpected question. “I'm okay with it,” she said, although truthfully sometimes she wasn't so okay with it.
“If you're sure.” Ryan mounted the black gelding as he spoke. He gathered the reins, then frowned as something behind her caught his attention. Ellie looked over her shoulder to follow his gaze, which was fixed on a couple standing near a trailer fifty feet away. The man was balanced on crutches, his leg in a blue cast that extended up to his hip. The woman, who was busily grooming a small bay horse, wore a dazzling pink-sequined shirt, making Ellie wonder if it was the woman or the man that had Ryan staring so intently.
“Someone you know?” she asked.
“You could say that,” Ryan said, tearing his gaze away. “You asked about Matt Montoya. That's him.”
Ellie brushed the hair back from her face. “No longer your fiercest competitor, I see.”
“Not in the traditional sense,” Ryan agreed. He smiled tightly. “I'll catch up to you later. In the stands.”
“All right.” Ellie tugged up the zipper of her sweatshirt against the breeze. “Good luck.”
“Thanks.” He trotted away and Ellie glanced back at the couple, noting from their body language that they were just that. A couple. And truth be told, even though it wasn't in her future, Ellie felt a twinge of jealousy.
* * *
R
YAN
TROTTED
PJ
to the warm-up area, barely aware of his surroundings. Matt's girlfriend was wearing a mounted-drill-team outfit, so that was probably why his brother was there. And he'd be okay with that if he hadn't seen the Montoya Ranch pickup driving into the parking lot a few vehicles ahead of him when he'd turned off the highway.
It might not be his father. One of his ranch hands could have been driving the rig. It didn't mean that Matt and Charles were meeting, plotting against him...although he could see where Matt would be in favor of Ryan being bought off. The payoff wasn't worth what a third of the Montoya Ranch might be worth if he could challenge the will. And Matt was superprotective of his mother. Yeah. No doubt he was fully in favor of Ryan signing away all rights.
Damn.
Had he known he was going to run into these assholes, he wouldn't have brought Ellie to the rodeo. But he had, and he was going to have to muscle through. Roping hadn't felt all that important to him of late, what with worrying about Walt's future and lawyers and shit like that, but today...today he felt his focus coming back. There was no way his father and brother were going to steal this win away from him.
“Hey, Madison.” Ryan glanced over at Tommy Walking Dog, who had urged his horse up to canter beside PJ as they circled the arena. “Buy me another coffee this morning? Seems to give me good luck when you do that.”
“You're going to need more than luck today,” Ryan muttered.
Tommy laughed. “If you say so.”
“I know so.”
* * *
R
YAN
,
AS
IT
turned out, didn't need the luck Ellie had wished him. When the last section of roping began, just after the second section of saddle bronc, he came blazing out of the box on his black horse and to Ellie's untrained eye, it appeared as if he was off his horse and running toward the calf almost before he'd finished throwing the rope. He tossed the animal onto the ground and after a few sweeps of his hands, three legs of the calf were tied and Ryan stood, hands in the air.
“Shee-it!”
the guy seated in front of her in the crowded stands said. Ellie silently echoed his sentiments. So this was why Ryan practiced so much. To dominate. And somehow, seeing him do what he did so well made him seem even sexier.
Just what she needed.
Ellie shoved the thoughts aside as she stood and made her way through the crowd to the steps. By the time she approached the trailer, he was already there tying his horse. PJ's chest was covered with glistening sweat, but Ryan was the picture of cool detachment. There was no air of victory about him, even though Ellie was certain he was going to win this event. None of the cowboys that had gone before him had even come close to his time. He patted the black gelding's neck and started to unsaddle him, his expression oddly distant, as if he was going over things in his mind, and Ellie didn't think it was roping.
“Hey,” she said softly when he didn't seem to realize she was there. His gray gaze snapped up, met hers, making her breath catch with its intensity.
“You're missing the rodeo.”
“I saw the best part,” she said.
Ryan smiled but it didn't reach his eyes. Didn't come close. If anything he looked even more stressed than he'd been the day before.
“You want to talk about it?” she asked.
“What?” he asked on a note of surprise, dragging the bridle off the gelding's head, expertly catching the bit with one hand as it slipped out of the horse's mouth. Ellie barely refrained from rolling her eyes. Why did guys always think they were so inscrutable?
“Whatever's on your mind?” He frowned more deeply and she abandoned her mission. “Never mind.” She wasn't going to push. She didn't like it when people did it to her and she wasn't going to do it to him.
* * *
R
YAN
REGARDED
E
LLIE
for a long moment before buckling the halter and tying PJ to the trailer. A slight frown pulled her eyebrows together, as if she was seriously trying to read his mind, and maybe she was. He hadn't realized he'd been so transparent. He'd figured she'd be busy with her own problems and wouldn't notice that he wasn't quite himself that day. Hell, he'd hoped having her along would make him feel more like himself.