Her Montana Cowboy

by Jeannie Watt

  “Thad’s putting out lunch.” Gus moved his head toward the kitchen. “We’ll eat. You can talk to Thad.”

  “You’re going to sit in?” Because he really had no right to do that unless Thad wanted him to be there—which he would, so it was a moot point. Judging from the expression on Gus’s face, he was aware.

  Two against one? Just as it had been when Andrew and Taia had ousted her from the business.

  Fine. Bring it on. Gus was going to find that she wasn’t one to roll over quickly and easily.

  * * *

  THE MICROWAVE WAS humming when Lillie Jean and Gus walked into the kitchen.

  “You hungry?” Thad asked as she crossed to the table where Thad had a legal pad and phone near his chair. He’d scribbled a lot of notes on the pad.

  No. “A little.” She needed to eat, even if her stomach said that it wasn’t one bit interested in food, and wouldn’t be until she’d processed the information Gus had passed along. Had she known her grandparents at all? Did one big lie by omission mean that she couldn’t trust any of her memories?

  “Have a seat, then.”

  Thad gestured toward a chair with a serving spoon and Lillie sat down. Henry pressed his body against her leg as Gus started pulling dishes out of the cupboard. “I’ve got this,” he told Thad. “Go sit down.”

  Thad made a low grumbling noise, but put the serving spoon on the counter and headed for the table. Henry met him at his chair. Apparently Henry had a new friend.

  “How are you feeling?” Thad asked Lillie Jean as soon as he was seated.

  “I’m doing okay.”

  “Your head?”

  “Probably looks worse than it feels.”

  The microwave dinged, and Gus used an oven mitt to pull out a tray of lasagna. The scent of bubbling tomato sauce filled the kitchen, reminding Lillie Jean of her own kitchen back home, and of all the prefab dinners she’d eaten while working late into the night creating her designs. Lasagna had been her go-to favorite. Only, this lasagna didn’t smell prefab and when Gus set it on the table, she could see that it had not come from the freezer section of the local grocery store. It was homemade.

  “Who cooks?” she asked, looking at first Gus, then Thad.

  “Gus likes to relax by cooking.” Thad looked at his nephew as if such a thing was beyond his understanding.

  “Beats starving,” Gus said, setting a stack of three plates and a fistful of flatware next to the lasagna. “Let it cool a bit,” he said to no one in particular.

  “What do you do in Texas?” Thad asked in an obvious bid to break the tension that settled over the table as soon as Gus had taken his seat on Lillie Jean’s right-hand side.

  “I’m between jobs right now,” she said. “I just sold my share of a business to my partners.” Almost true. “So I’m looking at starting something new.” She made starting over sound like an easy thing to do. Like she hadn’t been emotionally invested in the business she’d just lost and like her creativity hadn’t dried up.

  “What kind of business?”

  “Clothing.” And so much more. She didn’t want to get into it. She wanted to eat her meal, have an uncomfortable conversation with Thad, then head south—where she probably should be right now.

  “Ah,” Thad said. Gus said nothing, and Lillie Jean focused on her plate. She was hungry, but she didn’t feel like eating. Her stomach was in a knot and the sudden buzzing of her phone in her pocket didn’t help matters. How sad was it that she instantly assumed that a text was bad news?

  She forced herself to eat a couple of bites before asking Thad about his pub.

  The old man smiled politely, but the pained look in his eyes told her that she had turned his life upside down. “Maybe you should stop by before you leave. I’ll give you a tour.” He raised his eyes to Gus. “Speaking of the Shamrock, I have to head back pretty soon. Ben called in sick and I have to open.”

  Gus nodded. “You want me to come in?”

  “No. I’ll be fine. Ginny said she’d be in early to help with the heavy lifting.”

  Lillie Jean’s phone buzzed again and she reached into her pocket to turn it off.

  “You can look, you know,” Gus said. “We’re not big on phone etiquette here.”

  She pulled the phone out, looked at the screen and did her best to keep her expression from changing as she read the short message. Andrew wanted to talk.

  What little appetite she’d had evaporated.

  “Bad news?” Thad asked.

  She gave her head a quick shake as she hit the power button, darkening the screen. “Just the regular kind.” Where Andrew was involved, anyway.

  What on earth could he want to talk about?

  It couldn’t be anything good.

  “You okay?” Gus asked, ignoring her assertion that all was well.

  “Yes.” Her tone sounded strained and she made an effort to lighten her voice as she added, “I’m fine.” She turned to Thad. “I’m sure you want to know what my plans are.”

  “Yeah. I do.”

  “How much income did my grandfather get from the ranch?” Because maybe, if this place produced income, she wouldn’t have to instantly sell.

  “Not a lot,” Thad said. “The place kind of went to he...heck over the past few years. Sal was getting old and Gus was on the bull riding circuit. And I...I didn’t spend a lot of time here. I was busy with the pub.” He reached for the glass of water at his elbow. Took a drink. “Gus has plans to build the place back up. We’ll see an increase in income if the cow and hay markets and the weather cooperate, but it’s a slow process.”

  “I see.” Not exactly the words she’d wanted to hear, but the old man spoke so earnestly it kind of broke her heart. She pushed the lasagna around her plate, then set down her fork. “I need to sell. It’s the only way I can get back on my feet relatively rapidly after losing my business.”

  “I thought you sold your business.”

  Lillie Jean met Gus’s gaze dead on. “I got forced out by my two business partners, and thanks to my trusting nature, I didn’t get all that much in return. I don’t have nearly enough money to start again without getting a day job. Or two.” The thought of going through the agony of starting over was enough to give her an instant bellyache. But start over she would.

  “Or selling your part of ranch,” Gus supplied.

  “Yes.”

  “I’d hate to see this ranch broken up,” Thad said.

  The phone buzzed again in Lillie Jean’s pocket. Stress upon stress. Gus not only heard it, he exchanged a glanced with his uncle. Lillie Jean reached in her pocket to hold down the power button, completely turning off the phone—which she should have done the last time it vibrated.

  “I understand,” she said as if nothing had happened. “I’ll give you first refusal.”

  “Doesn’t mean a lot if I have nothing to pay you with,” Thad muttered.

  Lillie Jean let out a breath that made her shoulders droop. “I’m sorry things are what they are, but, Thad...I need the money. And I want to apologize for dropping in out of the blue. I wanted to find out why I didn’t know about this place.”

  “And your grandfather just died.” Thad’s voice was soft and understanding, despite her having just told him that she was going to mess up his ranch.

  “Yes.” She pressed her lips together. “That, too.”

  “How’s the rest of your family holding up?” The old man spoke the words stiffly, in an awkward tone that would have had her frowning if Gus hadn’t clued her in as to the startling truth about her family.

  “The rest of my family is me,” she said simply. “Both grandparents have passed away. My mother died of breast cancer. I never knew my father.”

  Another exchange of glances between Gus and Thad, and then Lillie Jean decided it was time to go. Coming here had been a mis
take. She wasn’t certain whether learning the truth about her grandparents was a good thing or bad. It was, after all, the truth and had always been the truth, but her memories of them were altered in a way that she wouldn’t be able to change.

  Yes, it was definitely time to go.

  CHAPTER SIX

  THAD WAITED UNTIL Lillie Jean retreated to the bedroom to gather her belongings before asking Gus, “What do you think’s going on?”

  Gus knew exactly what his uncle was getting at. Lillie Jean had gone pale after reading the phone text, like she’d received unwelcome news.

  “Not a clue.”

  “I think we should let her stay awhile if she needs to.”

  Gus’s jaw dropped. “What?”

  “You heard me.”

  “What makes you think she needs to stay?”

  “She’s got no family and just lost her business.”

  Gus glanced toward the hallway before saying in a very low voice, “Maybe she’s hard to work with, Thad. Maybe she deserved to lose her business.”

  “I don’t believe that.”

  Gus blew out a breath. “Are you sure this is a good road to take?”

  Thad motioned Gus into the mudroom. “I think it might be the thing to do. She wouldn’t have shown up here out of nowhere if everything was going well. She said she has no family, and you saw how she jumped whenever her phone went off.”

  “Maybe she’s a nutcase.” He didn’t think she was, but he tossed the idea out anyway.

  “The lawyer kid didn’t think so.”

  “I don’t know, Thad...”

  “She’s in our lives one way or another.”

  Gus pressed his mouth in a flat line. “This is Lillie Jean. Not Nita.”

  Thad’s face went red. “I haven’t lost my marbles yet.”

  “That’s not what I meant.” He rubbed a hand over his neck. “But they look alike, and it would be natural to kind of...” His words trailed off as he met Thad’s challenging gaze.

  “What?” his uncle demanded.

  “Making up your shortcomings with Nita by helping the granddaughter.”

  “And maybe,” Thad said, gritting out the words in a low voice, “we’d have a better chance of bringing Lillie Jean around to our way of thinking if she got to know us.” He gave another quick look over Gus’s shoulder. “Maybe,” he said, his voice even lower than before, “she won’t automatically sell if she stays for a while.”

  “And maybe that’s a freaking long shot.” But he had to admit that Thad had a point. If Lillie Jean was in Texas, dealing through lawyers, they’d have no idea what was going on.

  “I’m not saying that she won’t sell, but maybe if she sees how things are, she might hold out for someone we can work with.”

  “Or maybe she’ll fall in love with the place and decide to stay?” Gus asked darkly. He had a feeling that was another possible outcome on his uncle’s short list of happy endings.

  “I don’t see that happening,” Thad said. “Have you seen how cold she gets every time she steps outside?” He snorted. “And kind of hard to fall in love with a place when you get a head injury your first time out.”

  “I messed up,” Gus said. One minute all’d been well, and the next minute, the truck had bottomed out in the rut. Kind of like his life over the past couple days.

  Thad looked at his watch as the bedroom door opened. “Let’s talk to her right now.”

  Gus sucked in a breath and followed.

  Henry danced across the room and sat at Thad’s feet. The old man’s face softened as he crouched down to stroke the little dog’s ears, and then he stood again as Lillie Jean walked into the room, her gym bag in one hand.

  “Thank you for letting me stay.”

  “You could stay longer, you know.”

  Lillie Jean’s mouth fell open, very much as Gus’s had a few minutes ago. She shot him a startled look, then transferred her gaze back to Thad. “I... Why?”

  “Just throwing it out there as an option,” Thad said.

  Gus could see another “Why?” hovering on Lillie Jean’s lips before a faint frown creased her brow and she pressed her mouth flat. “Maybe it would be best to wait until everything is ironed out legally.”

  “Maybe,” Thad agreed. “But if you wanted to stay a day or two, rest up for the trip home, you’re more than welcome. Really, you are.”

  Lillie Jean glanced down at the floor, her shoulders dropping as if the weight of the gym bag was getting to her, although Gus had a feeling it was a weight of a different kind that was affecting her.

  “You’re welcome to stay,” he said in a low voice. Her eyes came up and Gus was fairly certain he saw a measure of relief in her gaze. She didn’t want to go back home. Not yet, anyway. “Thad has to head to town to open the pub, so it’d just be you and me.”

  “Is that a warning?” she asked.

  “Maybe.”

  A faint smile curved her mouth, lifting the corners just enough to let him know that she didn’t find the prospect of sharing the ranch with him all that intimidating—not compared to the prospect of going home, anyway.

  “I don’t know what to say.”

  Henry scratched at Thad’s pant leg with one stubby paw and Thad bent down to pet the little dog again. “You just do whatever you want, but this place is here and it isn’t like you’ll take up a lot of room that’s needed for someone else.”

  “You can see the operation,” Gus added. It was obvious that Lillie Jean was not used to being on the receiving end of hospitality.

  “That’s a good point.” She pressed her lips together and Gus could see that she was wavering. She wanted to stay. Or, perhaps more accurately, she didn’t want to go home.

  Lillie Jean validated his assumption by saying, “I wouldn’t mind a day or two before heading back.”

  “Then maybe you should put your suitcase back in the bedroom,” Thad said gruffly. Gus had the feeling his uncle was looking back through the years, but even if he was, he was also looking toward the future, which was why Gus had to agree that having Lillie Jean stay on the ranch wasn’t a bad idea.

  * * *

  “WHAT ARE YOU going to do?” Kate Tanner, Lillie Jean’s best friend, sounded worried. Lillie Jean understood the concern. A lot had happened in twenty-four hours and as she’d filled in Kate, it sounded kind of sketchy to her, too.

  “I’m going to stay for a day or two. It’ll give me a chance to see the ranch. Settle a few things in my head.”

  “The better to sell?”

  “Exactly.” She told herself that was the only reason. That staying had nothing to do with learning more about Gus Hawkins, who seemed to have taken up permanent residence in her head. There was something about the guy, beyond the good looks and rugged cowboy appeal, that made her want to know more, which felt kind of dangerous, but she couldn’t help herself. Maybe it was the way he was so protective of his uncle. Or the way he’d become flustered in the bathroom after applying the adhesive suture to her forehead.

  Or maybe it wasn’t so much about learning more about the guy as it was showing him that she wasn’t the person he seemed to think she was. She hated having the guy believe she was some kind of an opportunistic gold digger. That was so not her modus operandi.

  “Maybe your partner can buy you out.”

  “Maybe.” But she wasn’t getting that feeling. “If not, there are people—rich people—who invest in ranches. Unfortunately, this ranch is kind of run-down.”

  “How run-down?”

  “You know what the Howe place looked like?” The Howe place was a neighborhood landmark back in Serenity, with a house that had never been painted and deteriorating sheds in the backyard surrounded by old car parts and tires.

  Kate let out a low breath. “Really?”

  “A couple notches up fro
m that, but there’s work to be done. Thad’s nephew plans to revamp the place.”

  “Do you sell before or after the revamp?”

  “I’m going to sell just as soon as I am legally able. The land is still worth quite a bit.”

  “All I can say is that you deserve a little good luck after everything else that has happened.”

  Good luck for her. Bad luck for Gus.

  Lillie Jean felt guilty getting a windfall when Kate and her mother were struggling to get by on their part time jobs, but when she’d mentioned helping out, Kate would hear none of it. “It’s bad enough that Mom insists on paying rent,” she’d said. “I won’t be taking a handout from you, too.” Like it wasn’t Lillie Jean’s fault that Kate had quit her corporate job to go to work for A Thread In Time’s.

  Lillie Jean would try later, when she actually had something to offer.

  Which may not happen for a long, long time.

  Her inner voice made an excellent point.

  “I got a text from Andrew. He wants to talk.”

  Kate gave an audible snort. “Why haven’t you blocked him?”

  “Because I never thought he’d contact me.”

  “Block him now. The last thing you need is that slime puppy trying to wheedle his way back into your good graces.”

  “Like that could happen.” But having him contact her was unsettling. “I hate unfinished business, and his text makes our relationship unfinished—on his end.”

  “Maybe staying up north for a while isn’t that bad of an idea.”

  Lillie Jean paced to the window and looked out over the fields on the south side of the house. “If I don’t mind running from my problems.” Which was pretty much what she’d been doing when she left Texas. Yes, she’d wanted answers, but she hadn’t minded quitting the state one bit. The highway had been freeing, and then she’d come to a splashing halt in a mud hole and suddenly trouble started catching up with her again.