Mav said nothing, just leaned on his elbow and stared after him. But who cared what was going on in Mav’s brain? Most of the time, that bear was half crazy.
* * *
Bonnie took advantage of the quiet of the late afternoon to go out to the stables and see the horses again. This time, hopefully, without Jess around.
The McAllister brothers had a truly beautiful arrangement of horses, in a high-end barn equipped with everything a horse could need. They had beautiful Arabians, quarter horses, stock horses, and thoroughbreds.
Bonnie’s training with large animals had been her favorite part of vet school, but Seth had wanted to open a clinic in the city, where most of the pets were dogs and cats and other domestic small animals.
Still, sometimes Bonnie thought being a vet somewhere like this, on a farm or a ranch, breathing all that wild mountain air and spending time with beautiful, majestic horses, would be the ideal situation with her.
Then Seth’s voice would echo in her ear, reminding her they were made for each other, always had been, and they were civilized people in a civilized world and should stay close to the city and their families.
Bonnie had never cared as much about image as Seth did. She sighed as she walked along the stalls, looking each horse over. She was smart enough to know the most beautiful horse wasn’t the best to ride. Beauty was on the inside; anyone who’d been around them much knew that.
“You looking to take a ride?” A deep voice boomed out, echoing in the barn.
Bonnie turned around to see Maverick, the youngest and roughest of the McAllister brothers, striding toward her. As usual, he was dressed in dirty, worn denim and a cowboy hat that shaded his already dark eyes. He took it off when he reached her, revealing shaggy, dark hair.
“I was thinking about it,” she said. “I haven’t ridden much, though. Didn’t get a lot of time in New York.”
“I can pick one for ya,” he said.
She thought about it. Maverick leaned on one hip lazily, but she didn’t miss the shrewd glint in his eye. Maverick had been the one to lure her friend Ruby out here under false pretenses, and even if that had worked out fine once Ruby found her husband, Bonnie still didn’t really trust Maverick.
But he was the lead trail runner and the one who took the visitors up on the horses on rides through the wild Montana mountains. Perhaps this was the one thing in which he could be trusted.
“Who would you recommend?” she asked.
She saw the corner of his mouth quirk, a triumphant light in his eyes, and knew he was up to something. Still, she’d give it a chance first. She really did want to go for a ride if possible, and she’d take Maverick’s company over Jesse’s. Jesse made her nervous. He made her feel things she never had. Things she had no business feeling when she was going to be engaged again to another man.
Even if that man never made her nervous to see him.
It was an odd thought.
“Here, this is Willow,” Mav said, pointing to a beautiful grey mare that was tall and graceful. Her mane was dark grey and her dark eyes flashed as Bonnie came close.
Bonnie always got the idea that animals could see straight into you. As a vet who had cared for them, she’d often found it unnerving how much emotion seemed to show in their eyes at times.
She looked into Willow’s eyes for another moment and liked what she saw. Screw Maverick and whatever he was trying to pull.
“Is she trained for trail riding?” she asked.
Maverick raised an eyebrow, looking a little taken aback by that. “Well, I wasn’t planning for you to go alone,” he said.
“Hm,” she said, flattening her lips. “Let me guess. You were thinking I would go with Jesse?”
He got a childish smile on his lips and shrugged. “Mebbe.”
She laughed and leaned in against Willow, who snorted but stayed close. Willow seemed happy to have human company. She wondered how often each of the horses were ridden. According to Ruby, it was a slow season for the ranch right now.
“I know you all are desperate to marry,” she said, stroking the horse's beautiful neck. “But you can leave me out of that. I have a man.”
“You mean the fruitcake?”
She gasped and swatted at Maverick, who stepped back. “How dare you! You don’t know anything about Seth.”
Mav shrugged again. He had a way of making the whole world seem irrelevant with those big shoulders. “Fine. But where is he now? Didn’t come with you, did he?”
“He’s busy with work,” Bonnie said, pushing away her uneasiness.
“You ran out on him, and he didn’t follow you. Is that it?” Mav asked, folding his burly arms.
She felt a blush coming on. Curse her stupid pale, redhead complexion. “No. He wasn’t supposed to.”
“But any good man would, right?” Mav shook his head. “You don’t send your woman off to the Montana wilderness alone. It’s like sending her off with wild bears.” He looked pleased with his joke, and Bonnie felt a spark of nerves as she looked back and into his eyes.
Then she turned back to the horse. She didn’t know how much Maverick thought he knew, but she wasn’t going to dignify any of his guessing with a response.
She’d kept her secret too long to be throwing it away on the likes of him.
Judgmental country bumpkin who needed a haircut.
When Harmony came down in a few days, she’d show Mav what for.
“Don’t you think he should have come, though?” he asked. “If it were my woman—”
“You don’t have a woman,” she said. “And you and your brothers only want one to save the ranch.”
Ma nodded. “Could be true. But like Shane, maybe we could come to want one for different reasons. I like your friend Harmony. Sassy mouth. Hot lips.”
“She doesn’t like you,” Bonnie spat, trying to be mean. She didn’t like the idea of Harmony with this hooligan, and Harmony had exactly the kind of wrong taste in men to fall for him.
Mav just laughed and put his hands behind his head. “Naw, she likes me.” He grabbed riding equipment off the wall and walked over to Willow. “Should I get her ready to ride?”
Bonnie nodded. “But you said I’m not going alone, and I’m not going with Jesse. So what, then?”
“I’ll take you,” Mav said, jerking his head at the tall horse in the stall next to Willow. “Maple’s due for a ride and would like the air.”
She glowered at him, wondering what his angle was.
“No funny business. I promise,” he said. “I’m just taking you on the trail, as is my job. I’m not interested in you anyway.”
“Good,” she said.
“I mean, if you wanted to ditch fruitcake, I’d be willing to make a woman out of you to save the ranch, but you ain’t my mate exactly.”
She tried to keep her lip from curling any farther in disgust. “No thank you,” she said firmly.
Maverick said nothing. Not much could ruffle him. He was better at ruffling the feathers of others. Jesse seemed to be the only one with an impact on the big bear of a man.
The thought of Jesse made her weak in the knees again, and Mav jerked his head up, eyes narrowed.
“You like him,” he said.
She blinked. “Do not.”
Mav grinned. “You didn’t even ask who I meant,” he said. “What if I was talking about fruitcake?”
“That’s a really offensive term,” she said.
“I’m not PC,” he said. “Don’t have to be.”
“And what exactly do you mean by it?”
He opened his mouth as if to blurt out something and then took a deep breath and, using more restraint than he probably had in his entire life combined, closed it. “I don’t know.”
“Exactly,” she said.
“But I do think he’s not a man if he doesn’t chase after his woman when she’s in trouble.”
“I’m not in trouble,” she said.
“He don’t know that,” Mav grumbled. Then
he opened the stalls and led the fully saddled horses out. He handed Bonnie a pair of reins when they got outside. “You okay getting up into the saddle?”
“Sure,” she said, putting a foot into the stirrup and swinging up over the top of the horse. Willow nickered and then settled as she got used to the Bonnie's weight on her back.
“Let’s ride out,” Mav said, getting on his horse and starting out beside her. He looked beyond comfortable, at home in the saddle, and Bonnie wondered how many years of riding it would take to look like that when one rode.
She followed Mav off the main path in front of the lodge and toward some trees that grouped up over a road that headed up to wind around the front of the mountain after going through a wide, grassy plain.
As they walked, she enjoyed the clomp-clomp of the hooves and the gentle side-to-side sway of riding. It had been too long. Maverick made awesome, quiet company, and she guessed this was exactly what she needed.
As they progressed farther on the trail, she felt the sun occasionally hidden by clouds and an occasional gust that felt cool. She looked up at the gray clouds above her and wondered if maybe they should head back. They’d ridden for at least an hour, and it would take time to get to shelter.
She didn’t know how Willow would take to getting caught in the rain, and Bonnie didn’t feel confident enough as a rider to guide her through it.
She turned in her saddle to ask Maverick whether they should go and gaped when she saw nothing behind her. Just a wide-open plain in front of her and trees all around. She couldn’t even make out the lodge in the distance, and she wasn’t sure exactly the right direction to turn in.
Her heart pounded in her chest as she considered her predicament.
Maverick had left her.
Chapter 3
Jesse beat his hat against his leg in frustration as he walked out of the office where he’d just had a conference call with one of his restaurant managers.
He didn’t know why he’d gotten into the business in the first place, except that he wanted to raise cattle fairly and humanely and sell high-quality beef without cutting corners or hurting animals.
But at times like this, when the whole thing just seemed like a load of trouble and he couldn’t get the image of a pair of wild green eyes and soft pink lips out of his mind, he needed to go to the stables.
The animals there calmed him. Seemed to sense his unease and want to do something about it, not that it was their job. He felt in his jacket pocket for sugar cubes he would feed to the horses. He liked the feel of their grasping lips scraping eagerly over his palm. Liked the way they seemed happy about the smallest things.
Unlike humans, who seemed like nothing could make them happy.
He was surprised to see Maverick headed back toward the barn, leading one of their gentle horses, Maple, by the reins.
Jesse gave him a once-over, wondering what was up. Mav never took the trail horses out without a customer. “What are you doing?” he asked.
Mav looked up, startled, at Jesse’s words, and for a moment, he forgot to hide the guilty look in his eyes.
Jesse’s guts tightened in suspicion. “Where’s Bonnie? You seen her around?”
Maverick scratched his head and tried to get around Jesse to get in the barn. “Maybe.”
Jesse’s jaw went taut and he got in front of his brother, blocking him off with his large form. Mav was big, but Jesse was massive, and he wasn’t going to let Mav get out of his sight until he explained.
“She wanted to ride,” Mav said, sliding Jesse a shrewd look as he handed him Maple’s reins. Mav then folded his arms and looked up at the sky. “Looks like rain.” His dark eyes met Jesse’s. “Hope she heads back soon.”
Jesse scented the air and faintly caught wildflowers after a summer rain. Bonnie’s scent. He reached out and grabbed his brother by the collar. “What did you do?”
Mav struggled to get free halfheartedly. “Nothing. I put her on Willow. She’s a good horse. She’ll be fine.” He eyed the skies. “Provided someone gets her back here soon.”
Jesse let him go with a shove and ran a hand through his blond hair. “Where did you take her?”
Mav shrugged. “I didn’t say I took her anywhere. You jumped to that conclusion on your own.” He turned his back on his brother, and Jesse could almost sense his self-satisfaction.
Damn Maverick, always doing stupid things and thinking he was right about it.
“I was just saying I think someone should go after her,” he said, raising his hands innocently. “Maybe it oughta be you.”
Jesse sighed in resignation. He didn’t mind going out after his mate—the woman he wanted for his mate. It was just that he didn’t need Maverick interfering and messing things up. And he definitely didn’t need him to put Bonnie in danger.
He caught Maverick by the arm and swung him around, getting right up in his face and finally making Mav lose the smirk he’d been sporting. “I’m going after her, all right. But I don’t need your help to do it, and if anything happens to my mate because of your stupid trick, you’re worse than dead when I get back.”
Maverick just laughed nervously, shook himself free, and walked off. “You got a mate to catch. I’d hurry if I were you.”
Jesse looked at the sky and then down at the reins in his hand. Then he cursed, mounted the pony, and kicked lightly on the sides, urging it forward in the direction of Bonnie’s scent.
If anything happened to her…
But he’d find her. And he had to do it quick, before the rain fell, obscuring her scent or startling her horse.
Jesse already knew he cared about Bonnie, but it was never clearer than at that moment.
There was a particular kind of fear at thinking your mate was in danger, and right now, it was slicing Jesse straight to the bone. He didn’t know what he’d do with her when he got back, but he’d get her back all the same.
“Hah!” he said, and the mare took off at a gallop.
* * *
Bonnie held the reins in her hand and gently but persistently tried to lead Willow back in the direction she thought they’d come in.
“Come on, girl,” she said. “The sooner we get back, the sooner you’re safe and warm in your stall.”
The horse didn’t seem to care what Bonnie said, and the rain that had been a light drizzle began to fall more heavily as another crack of thunder sounded overhead, booming over the remote land around them.
Bonnie sighed as Willow pawed at the ground, tossing her head. She was getting antsy, and she’d only get worse if the sounds got louder. But she was digging in when Bonnie tried to lead her. Bonnie guessed she might as well try to ride at that point, but when she swung a foot into the stirrup and was about to get on, a louder crack of thunder boomed and the horse whinnied and reared, dropping Bonnie to the ground with an, "Oof."
Bonnie rolled to her side and raised her hand to shade her eyes from the rain just in time to see Willow galloping off in the distance, presumably in the direction of home.
At least Willow probably knew where she was going and would get home safely soon.
That thought made Bonnie feel better, despite a sharp pain in her ankle that made her wince as she tried to move it. Just a sprain, she thought, as she tenderly moved it with her hand. And it would be gone in a few hours for someone of her species.
She was no bear, but she had shifter healing all the same.
She pushed herself to her feet and limped toward the trees where the horse had disappeared but felt her foot give out underneath her as she tripped forward onto the tall grass in front of her.
Tears bit her eyes as she put both hands on the ground and considered her predicament. She was really and truly alone.
And Maverick was right.
Seth didn’t care if she was in trouble.
She could die out here on this grass and no one would know. Well, that was overdramatic. She would hopefully be fine, despite the ever increasing rain and the louder and closer lightning
and thunder.
She decided lying down flat so the trees were a better target than her was a good idea, at least while she waited for her foot to heal, and she put her hand over her eyes to stare up at the sky.
If one had to be stranded in the middle of a field alone, feeling like no one cared, they might as well be looking at a beautiful Montana sky with great, thundering storm clouds rising like grey, powerful ships in a stormy blue sky. Smaller, smoky clouds swirled around the big giants, and in the distance, the huge mountains around the ranch rose up as if trying to reach the sky.
Rain fell over her face, wetting her, cleansing her of any silent tears of self-pity, and she found a kind of peace as she lay there, listening to the pitter-patter of the drops.
She was so involved in listening to the rain that she didn’t hear the approach of hooves in the distance.
Not until she heard the thud of someone dismounting nearby and running toward her. She didn’t have time to sit up before huge, soaked arms wrapped around her and hugged her against a warm chest.
“Thank goodness you’re all right,” a gruff, masculine, familiar voice said. The scent of pines and smoke surrounded her. Jesse.
She put her hands around him tentatively, thinking that if someone was going to come find her after all, it was odd it had to be him.
Then again, maybe Maverick had planned it this way after all. She was going to give that big bear a piece of her mind when she got back to the ranch.
Jesse pulled her into his lap, brushing her soaking wet hair out of her face. Rivulets of rain ran down around his perfect nose and curved lips as his solemn, pale-blue eyes studied her. “You okay? What were you doing out here?”
“I hurt my foot. I was just waiting in a low position until it felt better and then I was going to go back to the ranch.”
His eyes met hers, and they shared a look of knowing something no one else did. About what she was. “You haven’t even told Ruby, have you?” he asked.
She shook her head.
“You know you could, now that she knows about us bears.”
Rancher Bear: BBW Bear Shifter Romance (Bear Haven Book 2) Page 2