She Dreamed of a Cowboy

by Joanna Sims

  Halfway through the first herd of cows, the tractor stopped running.

  “What’s wrong?” The hood of his rain slicker had fallen back and his black hair was slicked back away from his forehead. He was squinting at her against the rain.

  “It just died!”

  She tapped several times on the fuel gauge, but it was an old tractor and the fuel gauge was cracked and didn’t seem to be operational. With a bad feeling in her gut, she twisted off the fuel cap and looked inside.

  “It’s dry as a bone in there.” She delivered the bad news to Hunter at the same time she was wiping drops of rainwater that were dripping down her nose.

  “No.” Hunter looked in the tank. “I put diesel in yesterday.”

  “It’s gone now.”

  “Damn.” Hunter kicked at a nearby rock, then stood with his hands on his hips, his head down. He had pulled the hood back up and water was cascading, like a waterfall, over the hood and in front of his face.

  “Damn,” he said again. “I’m going to have go back and get diesel.”

  “Can’t you call Bruce?” She ducked her head and tried to use the tractor as a shield from the wind.

  “By the time he gets here, I could be there and back,” he told her. “I’ll be fine. I’m worried about you.”

  “I can make it,” she insisted. “I’ll just do the marine march my dad taught me and I’ll be fine.”

  * * *

  Hunter had to admit that, even in the rain, Skyler had hung in with him. She had insisted on working in the rain and she had insisted on returning back to the tractor to finish the job they had started. He also had to admit that Skyler saved the job; she was able to crack the injectors to prime the air out of the lines to get the diesel back in the cylinders so they could get the tractor to crank. She had been grumbling and low-level complaining about the rain and the mud and the slipperiness of the ground. That grumbling shifted to unvarnished frustration when they made it back to the cabin.

  “I’m cold. Wet. Exhausted. Every muscle in my body hurts still.” Skyler stomped up the porch steps. “I’m stinky and dirty all of the time. I actually found sand in my ear.” She held out her hands. “I have this black gunk caked under every single one of my nails.”

  He followed her up the steps not saying a word; he’d been raised up to know better than to interfere with a woman when she was mad as a wet hen.

  “I’ve fallen in manure—that was fun.” She pulled at the snaps on the front of her borrowed raincoat. “My blisters have had blisters. I didn’t even know that was possible.”

  She sat down to yank off her muddy, wet boots. “I’ve been literally attacked by ants. I stink all of the time. Even that clinic strength deodorant I bought the other day has failed. Sometimes I’m so tired when I get home, I’m too tired to take a shower. I peel off my clothing—peel, mind you—and fall asleep on top of the covers just stinking to high heaven. What kind of life is this, anyway?”

  She looked at him as if to prompt him to participate in her seemingly one-sided conversation. But he wasn’t much in the mood to coddle her; in fact, he was pretty ticked off at how she had managed to spin his world right off its axis.

  “Suck it up, cupcake,” Hunter said.

  Skyler stared at him in disbelief before her eyebrows drew together; her lavender eyes turned a stormy amethyst. She stood up.

  “‘Suck it up, cupcake’?” she repeated as if she hadn’t heard him correctly. “Is that what you said?”

  “This is the life.” He crossed his arms over his chest. “This is what you wanted.”

  “Clearly delusional.” She walked past him, her soggy socks squishing on the wooden planks.

  “This is the life,” he repeated.

  She stopped, spun around. “I know! Don’t you think I know that by now? And I hate it! I. Hate. It! Reality does not live up to the dream—”

  “It never does...”

  “It’s hotter, wetter, muddier, more stinky and more buggy.” She pointed her finger at him as if it was his fault that the real Montana didn’t perfectly match her fantasy Montana. “And there weren’t any rabid ants in my dreams!”

  Chapter Twelve

  They had never quarreled before but Skyler supposed there was a first time for everything. In truth, it was probably a feat that they had managed not to fight for as many weeks as they had been thrown together, like two strangers forced to rely on one another on Survivor island.

  “Ready?” Hunter asked at the bottom of the porch steps. The rain had cleared up, for now, and so had the dark clouds on the cowboy’s handsome face.

  She could read from his body language that he wasn’t sure which version of Skyler he was going to encounter when she walked out the door to greet him.

  She had a backpack slung over her shoulder. “Ready.”

  Daisy was lounging on the top porch step, enjoying the heat of the sun. She trilled when she saw Skyler, turned upside down, curled all four of her paws and gazed at her with love.

  “I love you, too.” Skyler bent down to pet the cat. “I left you plenty of food and water. And you can always go in the barn.”

  She stood up to find Hunter watching her as he seemed to like to do, his expression a bit guarded.

  “Will she be okay while we’re gone?”

  “She’ll be fine,” he reassured her. “I asked Bruce to check on her when he comes to take care of the horses.”

  Hunter was pulling a horse trailer behind his truck. They were heading to the northernmost part of the ranch to move a herd to a new pasture. The grass was so dry from the lack of rain that the family had decided to rotate pastures early.

  “Throw your gear in the back and I’ll show you how to load the horses.”

  Skyler descended the steps quickly, threw her backpack in the bed of the truck and then walked to the barn. Hunter slowly pulled up the barn, parked and asked her to bring Dream Catcher out to the trailer.

  “Just walk her straight on in, like there’s nothing in the world wrong. If you’re tense, she’s going to think something’s wrong and not want to load.”

  “Walk straight in?”

  “Straight in and then turn around and put the guard bar down.”

  She looked into the trailer, rehearsed the directions in her head and walked Dream Catcher away from the trailer to get a straight shot in, then walked a line to the trailer. Dream Catcher didn’t hesitate or stop; she walked right into the trailer behind her.

  “Just like that.” Hunter secured the rear guard behind Dream Catcher so she wouldn’t back out.

  “Did you see that?” Skyler put down the guard and gratefully pet the mare on the forehead. “We did it!”

  Hunter walked the gelding named Tricky Dick out of the barn and got him loaded in the trailer. Tricky Dick wasn’t as flashy and handsome as Zodiac; he was dark brown with some bleached spots on his coat from the sun and his mane and tail were black and scruffy. Hunter had said, “He’s not much to look at, but he’s one of the best cow ponies Sugar Creek has ever seen.”

  “What’s in here?” Skyler pointed to the door behind her.

  “That’s the camper.”

  She raised her eyebrows with a question.

  He opened the door and Skyler was hit with a blast of hot, stale air. Inside, it looked like a mini RV—there was a bed up on a platform, a small kitchenette, a bathroom and a small two-seater dining table.

  “I bought this rig from my brother Gabe when he upgraded. Chase and I used to take this on the rodeo circuit.”

  Hunter shut the door behind them. “This rig’s seen some things.”

  “I bet.” She took his offered hand and hopped down to the ground. “Do you guys plan to do any more rodeos together?”

  “Naw.” Hunter frowned. “I’m pretty sure Chase’s rodeo days are over.”

  Skyler took her sp
ot in the cowboy’s truck, certain from his last comment that he was well aware of Chase and Molly’s whirlwind courtship. She knew and he knew. And yet neither one of them had wanted to say a word about it.

  * * *

  The ride to the northern corner of the ranch was a winding, at times bumpy, trek. For Skyler, the trip was an opportunity for them to move past the dustup that had happened between them on the porch. She was a let’s-move-forward kind of woman and, luckily, it seemed that Hunter was of a like mind.

  “This is a beautiful ride,” Skyler sighed, feeling some of the tension of the morning drain out of her body as she breathed the fresh air deeply into her lungs.

  A small half smile, one that she had grown to love even more than she had loved it on the reality TV show, appeared on his face, but he kept his eyes on the road. The trailer was heavy with the extra weight of the horses, and Hunter had already let her know that there were several spots on the back ranch road that could be challenging.

  She breathed in deeply again and exhaled slowly, leaning her head back and letting the breeze from the open window and the sun filtering through the trees warm her skin. She felt disconnected from the morning when everything seemed so daunting. Now she felt content and relaxed, loving the scenery and peacefulness unfolding all around.

  Hunter switched to four-wheel drive, took the rig across a narrow, shallow creek and then around a corner to a clearing. Skyler inhaled again—her breath was taken by the majesty of the mountain. It was closer than she had ever been. Up until now, these glorious peaks had been far off in the distance; now, the mountain was directly before her. She swallowed hard, several times, as she was overwhelmed by the sight before her. This was the Montana she had thought about for so many years. This was it. And, to be here, experiencing it with Hunter Brand, was beyond a reward for all of the months she fought so hard to survive.

  “This is still Sugar Creek?” she asked, in awe.

  “Brand land.”

  “Incredible.” She pushed open the door and stepped out.

  Skyler helped Hunter set up the small traveling corral for the horses beneath a shade tree that would give them some shade and shelter. Hunter had loaded the trailer with water for the horses, but they were also close enough to a stream should their stock run out. The camper part of the trailer had been outfitted with solar panels and had a generator to run the appliances, lights, climate control and, most importantly to Skyler, the water heater.

  “It’s really nice in here.” She sat down at one of the bench seats at the dinette. “I’ve seen apartments in the city about this size.”

  “I thought you’d prefer this to camping.”

  She didn’t want to say that he was correct, but he was correct. Sleeping on the ground, as she discovered when she had fallen asleep the night of their first date, was not her thing.

  “You can decide sleeping arrangements,” Hunter said, taking off his hat and hanging it on a hook just inside the door.

  Skyler stood up; she didn’t like the distance her outburst had caused between them. She only had a finite amount of time with her dream cowboy. And even though ranch life had not lived up to the fantasy... Hunter had. He was strong, handsome, sexy and funny. He was a gentleman. A cowboy.

  “I would be lonely without you in bed with me.” She slipped her arms around his waist and rested her head, as she liked to do, on the part of his chest that housed his heart.

  Wordlessly, Hunter wrapped his arms around her shoulders, hugged her and pressed a gentle kiss on the top of her head. He let out his breath and that was when she realized that he had been holding it.

  “I’m sorry about...earlier,” she said, not lifting her head. This was one of those moments she wanted to savor, burn in the memory bank of her mind and hold on to for the rest of her life.

  “I’m sorry.” He rested his chin lightly on the crown on her head.

  “Our first fight?”

  “Bound to happen.”

  “But we’re moving forward.”

  “That’s what I want.”

  She felt him give a little nod in agreement. After a moment, she lifted her head so she could see his eyes.

  “I don’t really hate it here.”

  “I know you don’t. You’re overwhelmed by reality here.”

  The fact that Hunter understood her made it easier for her to move past her embarrassment over her mini breakdown. Yes, she was overwhelmed by the daunting reality of ranch life. She was also disappointed. Her Montana experience had been a jumble of incredible highs and muddy, smelly lows. It had been a shock to have her much-loved image of Montana life shredded and patched back together to create a more realistic picture.

  Hunter titled up her chin and kissed her gently on the lips. She closed her eyes and melted in his arms, savoring the warm, comfortable, safe feeling of being in the cowboy’s arms.

  “We’d better finish setting up camp,” he murmured into her neck.

  It would be too easy for both of them to get lost in each other’s arms. It would be too easy to slip out of their clothes and slip into the nearby bed.

  “Something to look forward to?” she asked with a small, intimate smile on her well-kissed lips.

  Hunter seemed, like her, to need just one more kiss. It was a down payment, a promise, of the lovemaking to come. No one had ever made her feel so desirable, so sexy, so womanly. In the cowboy’s arms, she had found a part of herself she hadn’t know existed.

  Suddenly, Hunter swung her into his arms and walked them both toward the bed.

  With a laugh, she hung on to his neck. “We have work to do, remember?”

  “It’ll wait,” Hunter said with that deep growl in his voice that made her feel excited with anticipation of the pleasure to come. “This can’t.”

  * * *

  The horses, in shadow, were busy eating their hay in the nearby corral. Hunter had given Skyler the choice of cooking in the trailer or building a fire. Skyler chose the fire. She enjoyed watching Hunter in his element—he was manly and capable and that reminded her of her father. Her father was a man’s man; Chester wasn’t a cowboy and he had never ridden a horse, but he was a United States Marine and a diesel mechanic. He was blue collar and showered after work, not before. Her father had always made her feel safe and cared for—that was the same feeling she had when she was with Hunter.

  They were the only people for miles, sitting together at the edge of the fire, with glittering stars, bright and plentiful, strewn across the expansive blue-black sky. The day had ended on a warm note and the warmth lingered in the air, but was slowly being overtaken by a cool breeze coming from the mountains.

  “This is what I will miss.” Skyler was leaning back against Hunter, her face tilted up to the sky. “You can’t see the stars like this back home.”

  She felt Hunter’s arm tense around her. “I’d better check on the horses.”

  They had just fed them and watered them, and Skyler had the distinct feeling that Hunter needed to put some distance between them.

  “Okay,” she said quietly.

  Their relationship had been like fireworks on the Fourth of July—a sudden burst of sparkling lights in the night sky. But, like fireworks, their relationship was, in her mind and perhaps in Hunter’s, destined to be explosive, brilliant and over way too fast.

  Hunter returned and stopped next to where she was still sitting by the fire, her knees tucked up to her body, her arms hugging her legs tightly. The cowboy held his hand out to her. “We’d better get some rest. Big day tomorrow.”

  Skyler put her hand in his—would any other hand ever feel so comfortable to hold? Could she really go home and carry this love in her heart for the rest of her life? Their relationship was still so new, still so fresh, that it didn’t seem reasonable to dwell on the end of summer. They had right now and that had to be enough.

  And yet there
was a voice inside her brain, a voice that couldn’t be silenced. She didn’t believe, deep down, that she would ever have enough of the cowboy. Could she see herself leaving the city—leaving her friends, her father—and forever exchanging people for trees? She had always believed that she was a ranch girl trapped in a city girl’s body. This trip had proven that false. She was a city girl. As much as she loved the endless sky and the fresh air and the babbling, clear streams, it was difficult to appreciate the glory of the landscape when she was wading through cow manure or feeding a herd of horses hours before dawn in a torrential rainstorm.

  Hunter had agreed with her let’s-take-it-one-day-at-a-time strategy; he hadn’t discussed after the summer was over. If he asked her to stay, if he asked her to make Montana a more permanent way of life, what would she say? Was the cowboy worth giving up everything she realized she loved so much about her life in New York?

  Yes. The answer was yes. Could she make Montana her home if that home included Hunter?

  “Yes,” she said aloud even though she meant to only say it in her mind.

  “What was that?” Hunter asked, half-asleep next to her.

  “Nothing.” She curled up on her side and scooted back so she was tucked into the curve of his body. “Good night.”

  Hunter mumbled something, sneaked his arm around her and pulled her more tightly into his body, like he was holding on to a stuffed animal.

  “I love you, Hunter.”

  “I love you.”

  * * *

  The next morning, Hunter let her sleep just past dawn and awakened her with a campfire breakfast.

  “How’d you sleep?” He handed her a cup of coffee.

  “Actually, not too bad.” Once her mind had finally settled down, her body soon followed.

  She finished her breakfast quickly; Hunter was already saddling the horses and getting ready for them to ride out to the herd. They had practiced herding cattle several times during her time in Montana, and Skyler was feeling confident in her ability when she mounted Dream Catcher. The most important thing she had learned was when Dream Catcher started to keep a cow from straying, tapping into her natural instinct as a quarter horse, tacking right and then left, Skyler just held on to the saddle horn for dear life and let the horse do her job.