Jeannie Watt - Her Montana Cowboy

“Have at it.”

She got out and went to the latch, where she realized she’d never seen anything like it before. There was a lever and a loop and, feeling a little foolish at having to take her time to study the contraption, she finally managed to pop the loop off the top of the wire gate and drag it open so that Gus could drive through.

“That lever is kind of counterintuitive,” she said as she got back into the truck.

“I’m not a fan,” he agreed.

Common ground . She brushed the thought aside. What did she care if he agreed with her or not? Especially when it was patently obvious that she was with him because he hadn’t wanted to leave her alone with Thad. What did he think she would do? Weave some kind of a hypnotic spell over his uncle?

No. He thought she might listen in on phone calls. A phone had been sitting on the table when she and Gus had returned to the house, as if Thad had been making or waiting for calls. She didn’t blame him. She would have done the same. She could have helped him do the same, but that was neither here nor there. They didn’t trust her, and she couldn’t force them to. Let Thad get his answers—then perhaps he’d give her some.

Gus drove across the grassy pasture to the tree line and then followed the narrow road through the deciduous trees that were just leafing out. They came to another field and then a fence. Gus turned to the truck to follow the wire along what was more of a trail than a road. The grass was short and slick with frost in the high area between the two ruts that the tires were following.

“Is it always this cold in March?”

“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.”