Sweet Montana Boxed Set 1-5

by Lisa Mondello

  Although she was cold, she lingered at the bottom of the steps. It was probably Dusty coming back from dinner at his parents’ house in the next town. But as the car came closer, she realized it wasn’t Dusty’s pickup. It was Kas’s Range Rover.

  Her heart skipped a beat. She had expected to see Kas tonight. But he was earlier than she’d expected. Now that he was here, she couldn’t contain her excitement to see him.

  “This is a surprise,” she said after he parked the Rover and climbed out. “I didn’t expect you this early.”

  His warm smile was wide and inviting. “I couldn’t wait for a chance to kiss you under the mistletoe.”

  Tabby snapped her fingers. “Too bad we’re fresh out of mistletoe.”

  She noticed the bag in his hand as he walked toward her.

  “Is that for Trip?”

  “I don’t think it would look good on Trip.”

  Her eyebrows stretched on her forehead. “Oh, really?”

  “Don’t worry. It’s not lingerie or anything scandalous, although I have to admit I toyed with the idea of getting you something like that. But I didn’t want to scare you off.”

  “Do I have to wait to see what it is?”

  “Don’t you want to do it inside the apartment?”

  She turned back to look at the barn. “The horses are talking. I really wanted to see Tenterhook first before I went upstairs.”

  “Then you’ll definitely need this if you stay out here any longer.”

  He opened the bag and pulled out a cowboy hat.

  “Oh, I love it! I’ve felt so naked without my hat since the accident.”

  Somehow, between being thrown off of Tenterhook and the ride in the ambulance, she’d lost her cowboy hat. Given her current condition, she hadn’t been able to get a new one.

  He brushed off the snow that clung to her hair and placed the cowboy hat on head, adjusting it a little until he got it right.

  “How does it look?”

  “Beautiful,” he said in a low voice.

  His gaze was intense, something she’d come to enjoy when he looked at her. He made her feel alive, like she was the only woman in the world.

  And he made her feel beautiful. He didn’t need to say the words for her to feel it.

  Feeling a little off balance, she said, “If you go saying that to all the girls you meet you’ll have them all falling for you.”

  “The only woman I care to say that to is you, Tabby.”

  Warmth spread through her, making her lightheaded. She didn’t wait for Kas to come closer to her. She moved toward him and fell into his arms. Lifting her face to him and feeling the snow hit her cheeks, she kissed him on the lips, letting her mouth linger for a brief moment before pulling away.

  “Thank you for this. For everything.”

  “Merry Christmas,” he said, smiling down at her. He glanced at the plate in her hand. “What’s that?”

  “Cookies and cake. They’re good. I have a piece for you, too.”

  “Why don’t we go into the barn and get warm. We can check on Tenterhook and have a Christmas cookie.”

  “Sounds like a good plan.”

  She hooked her arm around his and they walked to the barn together.

  “Sean Knight was by yesterday. He said Tenterhook should be ready to do some light training in a few months. Nothing big. Just enough so he can stretch his legs a little. He’s still not confident we’ll be able to compete again, but at least Tenterhook is going to heal.”

  “That’s good news. What did he say about you?”

  “What about me?”

  “Did he say anything about your foot?” he teased.

  She unhooked her arm from his and get it a light smack. “Very funny. I get my cast off tomorrow though. I can’t wait. My skin feels so itchy beneath this cast.”

  “I know the feeling. When I had my halo, I couldn’t move my head at all and it drove me crazy when I was healing.”

  The aisle light was on, as always, when Kas opened the barn door and moved aside so she could walk in first. She took off her new hat and shook off the snow that had accumulated on it. Kas did the same.

  “Tenterhook has been stall resting since the accident. But Trip has taken him out a few times for some hand walking. I can tell he’s getting restless. He likes to run.”

  “You’re wise to take things slow. I know you love that horse.”

  “I do.” They walked down the center aisle. Most of the horses greeted them as they passed by sticking their necks out over the top of the gate. “It was the last thing my parents gave me.”

  They reached Tenterhook’s stall, but Tenterhook hadn’t greeted her like the other horses had. Instead, her sweet horse stayed in the back of the stall and waited for her to open the gate before turning his attention to her. She put the plate of cookies and cake down on a milk crate that was outside the stall and walked inside.

  “How are you doing tonight, baby,” she crooned as she stroked Tenterhook’s nose.

  Nerves jumped inside her. Tenterhook seemed better yesterday when Sean had been there to check on him.

  “He seems a bit lethargic, doesn’t he?” she asked, turning to Kas.

  Her gaze went from the concerned look on his face to the item he was holding in his hand.

  “What’s that?”

  She knew what it was. But it seemed so out of place with Kas holding it.

  “A syringe,” he said as he inspected it.

  “Where did you get it?”

  “When you put the plate down on this crate, I saw it half wedged between the crate and the wall.”

  Her stomach turned. “Do you think it’s something Sean Knight dropped here?”

  “Medical waste is disposed of as hazardous waste. If Sean had given something to Tenterhook, he would have taken pains to dispose of it properly. He would have told you as well. Still, I’m going to ask him about this. There’s still some liquid in here. I’ll give it to Sean in the morning if he and Cella are still in town, and see if he can figure out what this is.”

  She didn’t want to leave Tenterhook. He could be tired. There could be a lot of reasons why he appeared sluggish. But something deep in her gut told her something was wrong.

  “Better let him rest,” Kas said. “He’ll be okay in here tonight. In the meantime, I want to dive into the goodies that are wrapped under this foil.”

  Tabby wished she shared Kas’s ability to let this go. Even if he was only letting it go for now. Her fear over Tenterhook not healing from his injury was renewed. After the vet visit yesterday, she’d actually breathed a sigh of relieve. She hoped that wasn’t premature.

  * * *

  “Sean went back to Las Vegas, but he called a little while ago,” Jesse Knight said.

  The two of them met at the local pub to talk about test results Sean had done on the horses at the Lone Creed Ranch and on the contents of the syringe he found near Tenterhook’s stall on Christmas night.

  “And? What did Sean have to say about it?”

  “Steroids. All of the stallions except for Tenterhook were given steroids.”

  Kas’s eyes widened. “No way! Trip wouldn’t give a stud steroids. I’d stake my life on that. He knows that would give them infertility problems.”

  Jesse took a pull from his beer. “Me, too. And I’ve already turned over every possibility that this could be an accident in my mind. It doesn’t add up. None of it.”

  “I’ve known Trip a long time. We’ve worked together for years as business partners with some of his stock. He wouldn’t sabotage himself and his reputation this way. ”

  “No, I can’t see him doing that either. When I was a kid, he and Tabby’s father were traveling partners. They showed up at every rodeo together. I remember them both. Trip loves animals. Not to mention he’d never put Tabby in harm’s way like that.”

  “What do you mean?” Kas asked.

  “I mean I don’t think Tabby’s accident at the rodeo was an accident at all. I tal
ked to Hunter Williams myself. He is a good farrier. Every farrier can make a mistake. We’re all human. But he’s good. He doesn’t do shoddy work and he’ll tell you straight up if there is something that needs attention with one of the animals.”

  Kas sopped up a wet ring on the bar with his napkin.

  “I talked to the farrier at the rodeo too,” Jesse said. “He said there was no way that Tenterhook should’ve thrown a shoe the way he did. Not if Hunter had put on his shoes properly. Do you know what I mean?” Jesse asked.

  “I know what you getting at. And I don’t like it.”

  Jessie shrugged. “That doesn’t make it any less accurate. But before we go jumping to conclusions and ruining a man’s reputation, a man both of us have the utmost admiration for, I’m going to talk to Hunter about exactly what he found when he changed Tenterhooks shoes. Tabby said Levon had suggested Hunter come out to the ranch. He found something stuck under the shoe after he’d had a sluggish ride and didn’t want to wait.”

  “She said the same to me. But after Hunter had changed Tenterhooks shoes, he had a prize-winning ride at the arena on Lone Creek Ranch. I saw it with my own eyes. He was in great form. Minutes after that we found Levon dead in the barn. So how do you explain something like that?”

  “I can’t,” Jesse said with a shake of his head.

  “There was a lot of confusion that day we found Levon,” Kas said. “The horses were restless and Mad Dog broke out of the barn. Not to mention how it shook everyone up when we found Levon.”

  “I can only imagine. I know how much it shook up Trip.”

  “Tabby as well. She’s known Levon ever since she came to the Loan Creek Ranch. Did your brother happen to do any DNA tests on Tenterhook?”

  “He’s still waiting on that one. Why did you ask for a DNA test?”

  Kas hesitated for a minute. It was only a hunch, and initial reaction to seeing Tenterhook for the first time.

  “Tabby told me on our first meeting that she bought Tenterhook from Levon. She said Levon bought the horse from a Bureau of Land Management auction.”

  “Finish your thought.”

  “Years ago when we were still competing there was a champion bronc named Silver Moon. Remember him?”

  Jesse shook his head. “I was overseas in the military for a while and wasn’t keeping up on things back here on the rodeo circuit.”

  “He was a beauty. He had markings that were very distinctive.”

  “What are you getting at?”

  “When I saw Tenterhook for the first time, he reminded me of that horse. Tabby said Tenterhook was a mustang and Trip and Levon worked to break him when he came to the ranch before Levon eventually sold the horse to Tabby’s father. Silver Moon was a stunning stallion and he was lost in some freak accident. The stud fees for what was left of the sperm they’d managed to capture skyrocketed. There are only a few horses who ended up being bred from his line. Only one of them is on the circuit now.”

  “You said Tenterhook was a mustang?”

  “That’s what Tabby told me.”

  “And we can’t ask Levon. We can ask Trip what he knows about the horse, especially since he was here when Levon purchased Tenterhook, and he trained him.”

  “I already did. Levon had the paperwork and gave it all to Tabby’s father when he purchased the horse. Tabby never thought to take it with her when she moved down to the ranch.”

  “How is it that you know so much about Silver Moon?”

  Kas shrugged. “I was hungry back then. An eager young businessman who was looking to invest while keeping my feet in the rodeo circuit. The deal never materialized because they lost Silver Moon and those who had more to invest than I did back then won the stud fee bids. I’d forgotten about Silver Moon until I came here. Seeing Tenterhook reminded me of how he died and his worth. If, for some reason, Tenterhook was part of Silver Moon’s lineage that would make for one hell of a graduation gift for her father to buy for Tabby.”

  “It would also make Tenterhook’s value go up considerably.”

  “That’s right.”

  “That gives motive for sabotage. But why would someone want to sabotage that horse?” Jesse thought a moment and then turned to Kas. “Let’s keep this to ourselves until I can talk to some people. There’s no way to check Tenterhook’s parentage without getting someone who has Silver Moon’s DNA report to compare to Tenterhook’s.”

  Kas smiled. “I had a copy of it in my office in New York and had it couriered to Sean when I asked him to check Tenterhook’s DNA. When I was interested in buying into Silver Moon’s lineage, I ordered a copy. It’s standard practice when buying into a horse line.”

  “I’ll get with Sean then and see if that DNA sample has come back from the lab. Have you told Tabby about this?”

  He shook his head. “There’s nothing to tell until we know something for sure. She’s spooked enough about everything that has gone on this far.”

  “Better stay quiet until we have something concrete.”

  Sweet Montana Sky: Chapter Eight

  They’d been avoiding talking about the inevitable. Kas’s parents had left for Arizona already. Tabby had had the chance to meet them briefly. But she didn’t see a point in trying to forge a relationship with them if Kas would be leaving too.

  One night after they’d had dinner alone in her apartment, they sat on the porch wrapped in a blanket and looked up at the stars.

  “When are you going back?” she finally asked.

  They both knew this wasn’t an endless vacation for Kas. It was just hard to admit it aloud.

  “I’ve been able to do a lot of business without ever stepping foot inside my office.” He chuckled. “Which doesn’t make me feel all that great. I like to think my employees actually need me.”

  “I’m sure they do. But you’ll go back eventually?”

  “That’s the plan. It was anyway.”

  “Was?”

  “Things change. Life changes. I’d forgotten how much I loved Sweet. How much I love looking at this big sky and seeing stars. You don’t get that in New York.”

  “I suppose you don’t. The stars here aren’t like they were in Missoula either. I don’t know why.”

  “As a kid I was itching to get out and rodeo all the time. I couldn’t stand being stuck here. And when I was told I couldn’t ride bulls anymore, the last place I wanted to come back to was Sweet. So I packed up and headed to a place where there was nothing to remind me of Sweet or rodeoing or what I couldn’t do.”

  “But you always came back.”

  “Yeah, I did.”

  “You still invested in rodeo stock and you even invested in a hockey team. That says something. You kept a hand on what you loved.”

  He looked at her and held her gaze. “I did that too. Sometimes I wonder who that man was who was itching to get out of here so badly.”

  “I get it.”

  “You do?”

  “I think so. I didn’t grow up in Sweet.” She tossed him a wry grin. “Something you seemed keen on reminding me the first day we met.”

  “I was just making a point.”

  “Point taken. After my parents died, Missoula didn’t feel like home anymore. I had friends there, but it wasn’t the same. Home wasn’t the same. You’re right, things change. And sometimes you can change with them. Sometimes you miss what you lost. Sometimes a lot. But I didn’t miss Missoula like I thought I would.”

  “Wasn’t it strange when you first got here?” he asked. “I mean, you’d never been to Sweet and suddenly you’re in a totally different type of environment living on a ranch.”

  “It was strange at first. I didn’t know Trip like I know him now. I didn’t know Levon or Dusty or Hal. But I got to know them when I got to know Tenterhook. He was my reason for coming, and why I stayed. He’s the last piece of my parents that I have.”

  “That alone can’t be the reason you stay in Sweet. You could take Tenterhook anywhere. There are farms not that far from New
York City.”

  “New York City is a bit out of my league,” she said with a chuckle. “For starters, where would I go ice skating now that I finally know how to and don’t have to do it with a cast?”

  “Central Park. I go there.”

  The shocked expression on her face made him laugh.

  “You do need to get out of Montana, Tabby. There is a whole big world out there.”

  Her expression changed. “I couldn’t leave Trip. Especially now that Levon is gone.”

  “Why not? You’re not family. From what I understand, Trip has family living in the next town. He wouldn’t be alone.”

  “He’s not my blood family, but he’s become my family. He gave me a place to call home when I had none. He’s done so much for me. He’s like that old uncle who gives you candy or slips a few dollars to you under the table when your parents aren’t looking. It wouldn’t feel right to leave him even if I could take Tenterhook across the country and settle someplace else like New York.”

  He knew what she was saying. He’d be leaving here eventually. He’d spent the last twelve years building something in New York that was hard for him to walk away from, even if Sweet wasn’t the same town that he thought was holding him back and reminding him of things he couldn’t have all those years ago.

  A noise in the barn pulled her attention away from what Kas was saying.

  “What was that?” she asked.

  Kas turned around and looked down the center aisle. “It’s probably Trip.”

  “No, he went to his sister Brenda’s house for dinner. He invited me to go with him but I said no because…”

  “Because of what?”

  She took a deep breath. “Because I wanted to be with you. You’re going to be leaving soon. And you have this annoying thing about just dropping by instead of calling to let me know you’re coming.”

  “I like the look on your face when you see me.”

  “You do, huh? Am I that obvious?”

  He brushed his finger across her cheek and smiled. His eyes were dark and filled with desire, something she’d come to love seeing when he looked at her.