Her Montana Cowboy

by Jeannie Watt

  He didn’t have to ask why she assumed it would be a drunken trip. What kind of sober person would do this to themselves? “It was part of a going-away party gag gift.”

  “Are you going somewhere?” she asked politely, although he also read a hopeful note in her voice.

  “I worked my last shift at the bar last night. Now I’m full-time manager here.”

  An odd expression flickered across her face, there, then gone. “On the ranch.”

  “Yes.”

  She finally lifted her cup to take a drink. Seconds ticked by and Gus found himself gripping the edge of the counter.

  “Where are you from?”

  “A smallish town not far from Austin, Texas.”

  “That’s quite a distance. How long did it take you to get here?”

  “Several days. I took it slow.” She looked out the window at the bare branched trees edging the yard. “Do you mind if I step outside?”

  “Not at all.” At least he couldn’t think of a reason to object. He didn’t trust her, though. Not even a little bit. This whole “air of mystery” thing was getting old, but Thad would be there in less than half an hour and maybe then he’d have some answers. In the meanwhile, he’d shut off the tractor, have another cup of coffee and wonder what the hell Lillie Jean Hardaway was up to.

  * * *

  MONTANA SMELLED GOOD. Lillie Jean would give it that. There was a cold snap to the air that made her feel like shivering as she drew in the scent of evergreens and moist earth. Wrapping her coat more tightly around herself, she walked down the concrete steps leading from the back door to the broken sidewalk. The front entrance was slightly grander, sporting an actual porch and wooden stairs, but the newels were leaning a little and as she walked further into the yard, she could see that the porch roof needed replacing.

  Fine. She wasn’t there for the house.

  She made her way to the driveway and walked toward the big green tractor parked there. When she was midway between the house and barn, she turned back toward the house, fairly certain she’d catch Gus Hawkins watching her through the window. Sure enough, there he was. He made no effort to step back or to appear as if he wasn’t keeping an eye on her. He didn’t trust her, and, truly, she couldn’t blame him. If positions were reversed, she wouldn’t trust her, either, but she wasn’t going to let anything slip until she met Thaddeus Hawkins. If there was bad blood between Thaddeus and her grandfather, why hadn’t one of them sold his part of the ranch to the other and walked away? Or sold it to someone else? There had to be a reason for that.

  There also had to be a reason that her grandfather never once mentioned the ranch to her. Considering the fact that she was his lone surviving relative, that was borderline amazing. And hurtful.

  Her nerves jumped when she saw a truck come over the hill in the distance. The problem with her current situation, as opposed to yesterday when she’d tried to drive to the ranch, was that she had no means of escape. Right now, escape sounded good.

  Sucking in a breath of crisp air, she turned and walked back to the house, pushing her hands deep into her pockets as she walked and trying very hard to remember just why she thought this might be a good idea.

  Answers. She wanted to know why she hadn’t known about this place. Who Thaddeus Hawkins was and why she’d never heard about him. And she wanted to know if Thaddeus would buy her half of the ranch. She needed the money to start a new life, a new business, a new everything. It’d be a lot easier and faster to unload it to the man who already owned the other half.

  CHAPTER THREE

  GUS HAD HAD no idea what to expect after Thad parked his pride and joy—a ’72 Ford F250 that guzzled gas as if it had a hole in the tank—next to the tractor and made his way to the house. He came in the back door as usual, then stopped dead when he caught sight of the woman sitting at the table, still wearing her coat.

  “Lillie Jean Hardaway?” he asked, as if there might be another woman in the house he didn’t know.

  “Yes.” She got to her feet, squared her shoulders, then crossed the room to hold out a small hand. Thad swallowed, looking as if he was half-afraid to have Lillie Jean touch him. They shook hands, and then Lillie Jean clasped her hands in front of her and Thad stuck his deep in his pockets. For a long moment he stared at her, as if trying to convince himself that she was real.

  “I wouldn’t mind some coffee,” he finally said in a low voice.

  Thad looked like he needed more than coffee, but without waiting for Gus to acknowledge his coffee request, he pulled out a chair and sat, motioning Lillie Jean to sit opposite him. Once she was seated, he said, “How is your grandfather?”

  “He passed away three weeks ago.”

  Thad’s forehead crumpled. “Sorry to hear that.” The comment was perfunctory, but Gus could see that the news impacted his uncle deeply. He set a cup of coffee in front of Thad, then moved back to his vantage point on the other side of the kitchen. He’d give them some space, but he wasn’t leaving his uncle alone with this woman. Not unless he received a direct order.

  “Yes. It was peaceful. He’d been having health issues, but we didn’t expect him to go so soon.” Lillie Jean glanced down, pursed her lips as if gearing herself up for some big announcement. “There was some trouble finding the will. Lawyers’ offices moving.” She waved a hand. “When it did surface...he left me his half of the ranch. I found out about it last week.”

  “I hadn’t heard anything,” Thad said in a low voice. “No one’s been in contact.”

  “They will be.”

  Gus’s back jerked straight as the meaning of the conversation became clear. “Wait a minute. Half of this ranch?”

  “Yeah.” Thad met his gaze, his expression solemn. “Lyle and I started this ranch as partners.”

  Thad had a partner? With the exception of the time he’d spent bull riding, Gus had lived on the ranch since he was fifteen, and he and his uncle had always been close—so why the hell was this the first he’d ever heard about the ranch having dual ownership. “So he’s like what? A silent partner?”

  “I guess you could call it that.” Thad turned back to Lillie Jean, leaving Gus to stare at him. “I have a little money in the ranch account that will be yours, too.” Thad smiled grimly. “The accountant sent Lyle a yearly check. It was never that much, but we only went in the red a couple of times over the past few decades.”

  “Decades.” Gus realized that his mouth had fallen open and quickly shut it. Funny how you could get out of bed one morning and everything was fine and a little more than twenty-four hours later, you find out that the truth as you know it, isn’t the truth at all.

  “How do we know that Lyle Hardaway is really your grandfather?”

  Both Thad and Lillie Jean looked his way, but before either could speak, he said to Thad, “Doesn’t it seem kind of unusual for you to get no word of your partner’s death and then she shows up out of the blue, saying that she’s your new partner?”

  “I have identification.” Lillie Jean spoke coldly.

  “In this day and age, that doesn’t mean a lot.” Maybe he was being rude, but from the moment he’d set eyes on this woman, she’d been secretive. Maybe he’d tended bar for too long, but her story just didn’t smell right. “Why hasn’t Thad heard from the executor?”

  “I told you they just found the will.” She glanced over at Thad. “You’ll get your copy soon. Everything except his car was designated transfer-at-death.”

  “Did you bring a copy?” he asked.

  “I did.”

  “Tell you what,” Thad said to Lillie Jean. “Why don’t you let my nephew and me have a few minutes and then I can take a look at the document?”

  “Sure.” Lillie Jean pushed her chair back and stood, leaving her barely touched coffee sitting on the table. “I’ll take a walk.”

  “It’s cold out there.”


  “I don’t mind.”

  The little dog looked like he minded. When Lillie Jean pulled her coat off the chair, he gave her a startled “Again?” look, but trotted after her when she headed for the mudroom. Gus waited until she stepped outside and pulled the door shut behind her before turning to Thad and saying, “I had no idea you had a partner.” He sounded harsh, but then he was feeling harsh. All the times they’d talked about Gus taking over the operation of the ranch and never a mention of a partner. And now that partner was dead and who knew what his heir was about to do?

  “Not something I talk about.”

  “Obviously, but if I’m the manager of the place, don’t you think it would have been good for me to know there’s someone else involved?”

  “It’s only been on paper.”

  “Kind of more than paper now.” He turned to the window, watched Lillie Jean pace near the trucks, giving them the privacy he needed to process this gut-wrenching turn of events. “What kind of agreement did you and Lyle make?”

  “A thorough one.”

  “Can she sell?”

  “Yeah.” The answer came out on a short definitive note. “If her claim is legitimate, she can sell.”

  Gus let out a breath, pushed his hands over his forehead. Cursed under his breath. So much for the business plan he’d drawn up. And the comfortable feeling of knowing his future.

  “I don’t blame you for being mad,” Thad said.

  “I’m not mad.” He had no right to be mad. He didn’t own any part of the ranch. He’d lived there, worked the land, managed the animals since he was a teen. It felt like his place...but it wasn’t.

  “Yeah. You are.”

  Yeah, he was. But more than that he was stunned that Thad had never told him any of this—and hurt. Mad felt a whole lot better than hurt.

  Thad was studying him with a tight look on his face, waiting for a response of some kind. Gus did his best to focus on the main issue in front of them.

  “This woman showing up out of nowhere concerns me. She could be anyone.”

  “I’m pretty sure she’s Lyle’s granddaughter.”

  “Why?”

  “Well, for one thing, his name was Lyle Gene. Her name is Lillie Jean.”

  Gus stared at his uncle. “I hope you have more than that.”

  “There’s a resemblance,” Thad said in a low voice.

  “How long’s it been since you’ve seen this guy?” When Thad gave him a questioning look, he added, “Memories fade.”

  “Some don’t.” There was a tone in his uncle’s voice that brought a frown to his face. “She doesn’t look like Lyle...she looks like her grandmother.”

  “You know her well?”

  Thad gave a small snort. “You could say that...we were married for three years.”

  That was the point where Gus felt the need to sit down. “You were married to Lillie Jean’s grandmother?” It was no secret that Thad had divorced long ago, before Gus had been born.

  “Yeah. Married Nita and started the ranch the same year. Three years later, Lyle and Nita left for Texas, and I had the ranch all to myself.”

  “Son of a...” Gus blew out a breath. Shook his head as if to clear it. “But you guys remained partners.”

  “We communicated through accountants and lawyers. I couldn’t afford to buy Lyle out.”

  “In all these years.”

  Thad turned his coffee cup in his hands. “It was something I’d always meant to address...but never did. I let the days slip by. Sent him a check every year.” He raised his gaze in a quick jerk. “I never had enough to buy him out, okay?”

  But he’d managed to buy the pub they now owed together. That was telling.

  Gus tilted his head toward the window where Lillie Jean was walking near the barn. “Even if she is a carbon copy of your ex-wife, you still don’t know she’s who she says she is. Maybe she’s a niece or something. Someone who doesn’t have claim.”

  “You’re right.”

  The words didn’t ring true. Thad was already convinced of Lillie Jean’s identity.

  “Get some ID and take a long hard look at that will. Better yet, let your lawyer take a long hard look.”

  Thad nodded, but his gaze was still fixed on the table. “Lyle never asked anything of me...he felt guilty because he and Nita fell in love.”

  “Must have been a hell of a guilt to have let that much money lay fallow for so many years when he had the right to sell.”

  That seemed highly unlikely. Yeah. There was a lot to be ironed out, checked out and generally dealt with. Although...maybe this did solve one mystery.

  “Is this why you moved to town?”

  “I never liked it here after Nita left. The place felt empty. Sad.”

  “But you kept it.” He could have sold for a major profit in recent years, but hadn’t. Instead he’d bought the bar, poured his time and energy into it, building it from nothing while Salvatore ran the ranch.

  Thad gave him a fierce look. “I worked like hell to keep my head above water for years. Just to show Lyle and Nita that I could do it without them. I was angry. Bitter. Buried myself on the place. Went a little nuts I think. I didn’t realize just how bitter I was until I had that accident. Didn’t know if I was going to make it back to the ranch.” He gave a laugh. “I had a lot of time to think as I dragged myself back to the trail.”

  The accident had happened right around the time Gus had been born. Thad’s horse had lost footing on a steep trail, rolled down the mountain, landed on Thad and broke his leg. Tough old Thad pulling himself back up onto the trail was part of the family lore.

  “I realized that I had to get off the ranch, find a new purpose. I hired Salvatore, bought the bar and moved to town.”

  Thad and Sal had continued to do the seasonal work—haying, branding, moving cattle—together, but he spent most of his time making the Shamrock Pub the most popular bar in Gavin. And because he didn’t care about the ranch, it had slowly gone to seed.

  Gus drummed his fingers on the table, then abruptly stopped. He needed time to work this out. Needed to know if Lillie Jean was legit and if she planned to remain a partner or sell. From the way she shivered every time she hit the Montana air, he was guessing she wasn’t planning to take up residence. He met his uncle’s gaze. “I don’t know what to say.”

  “Nothing much to say. This is the way things have been since long before you were on this planet.”

  “Still kind of a shock.”

  “Yeah.”

  “Tread lightly,” Gus advised, not liking the way Thad was watching Lillie Jean through the window, looking as if he was staring into his past. Judging from his expression, the bitterness he might still feel toward his ex-wife, Lillie Jean’s grandmother, was tempered by another, softer, emotion. Thad was only a month shy of turning eighty, and while he was mentally as sharp as ever, Gus couldn’t help but wonder how the old guy was doing emotionally. Was he at a point where sentiment might overshadow logic?

  “I’m not about to lose my head, if that’s what you’re thinking.” Thad ground the words out in a gruff tone. “I’m just...processing.”

  So was Gus.

  “I’ll do some digging while you pull her rig out of that muck hole.”

  Gus raised his eyebrows.

  “I’m old. I’ve had a shock. But I’m not stupid. I’ll get hold of the lawyer that we sent the checks to—I just gotta find his address. Usually Betts takes care of that.”

  “Maybe call Betts.”

  “If I can get her. She tends to turn off her phone during tax season.”

  Gus let out a breath as he watched Lillie Jean pull her coat around her and duck her chin inside. “Do what you can. I’ll take my time pulling out the car.”

  * * *

  LILLIE JEAN HADN’T had a clear picture of
what a Montana ranch looked like when she’d left Texas. Born and raised in a suburban environment, her limited knowledge of ranching came from watching television, reading novels and visiting a friend’s ten-acre ranchette in high school. None of those experiences had prepared her for the reality of her inheritance.

  She didn’t know a lot about ranches, but she knew a run-down property when she saw one. The outbuildings were old and weathered. The house hadn’t seen a new coat of paint in many years. The yard was wild and fences that weren’t made of wire were made of long poles instead of flat planks. Any fanciful thoughts she’d had of keeping her part of the ranch and moving to Montana, thus putting a lot of miles between her and Andrew and all reminders of her failed engagement and stolen business, evaporated early that morning when the sun had risen and she’d gotten a good look at the H/H in the light of day. This was not a place she wanted to live.

  The sound of the door opening brought her head up. A second later, Gus Hawkins emerged from the house, heading toward her like a man on a mission. And that mission was to get her off the ranch. Great. They had the same objective.

  “Thad needs some time to work through things,” he said as he drew closer. “In the meanwhile, we’ll get your car out of the mud.”

  She leaned down and scooped up Henry, who was pressing against her legs while keeping an eye on Gus. “All right.”

  There wasn’t much else she could say. She lifted her chin to meet Gus’s less than friendly gaze, hugging her dog a little closer. Do not show weakness. Bullies thrived on weakness. She didn’t think that Gus was a bully, per se, but he was protective of his uncle and his ranch and had made it clear that he didn’t trust her one bit.

  Fine. She didn’t trust him, either. He was tall and good-looking and probably used to getting his way. He thought he’d be able to run her off the property, get her away from his uncle—and she was leaving, but not because of anything he’d done. She’d wanted to meet Thaddeus Hawkins, learn her grandfather’s secrets, before putting her part of the ranch up for sale.

  She started toward the truck they’d traveled in the night before, but Gus called her name and she stopped, looked at him over her shoulder. He jerked his head toward the tractor. “We’ll take that.”