Wyoming Heart

by Diana Palmer

  Mina’s life was better, after the funerals. She had horrible memories about the past few miserable years, but she put one foot in front of the other and went ahead in spite of her pain.

  Her cousin had a ranch of his own, much bigger than Bart’s, and he’d been keeping the Michaels ranch going for several years, with men and money that Mina’s vicious mother couldn’t touch. The men he’d had on the ranch answered to him, not to Anthea, so the ranch stayed solvent. Mina learned from him how to buy and sell cattle when she was barely in her teens. She used that knowledge after graduation to help with expenses. The cowboys were patient with her and helped teach her how to keep the ranch going in Cousin Rogan’s absence. One of them, an older cowboy named Bill McAllister, was her part-time foreman. She learned a lot from him. He’d worked on ranches all over the West, and he knew ways of doing things that saved both time and money. Her friend Bart was one of his other employers. The little profit that she managed from her efforts was more than enough to pay the utilities and grocery bills and even give her a little extra to spend on clothes. She loved cattle.

  But what Mina wanted to do more than anything on earth was to be a writer. She loved romance novels. She was also crazy about soldiers of fortune and people in law enforcement. She found a way to combine those preferences and put them into a book. The first one she tried to market wasn’t well received. She put it away and tried again, slanting the book more toward romance than hard fiction. And she made her first sale.

  Two years later, after her graduation, Mina was selling novels and garnering praise from reviewers and readers. Her old-fashioned attitude and small-town slant on life, besides the realistic action scenes, gave her a unique voice that went over well with her reading public. She’d attracted a group of mercenaries through a friend who gave a copy of her book to its leader. The group adopted her and taught her all about covert ops, even taking her on missions with them. She achieved a realism in her novels that made them stand out, especially when her research group was known.

  It was like a dream come true, especially considering what her life had been like. Her cousin Rogan was proud of her. So was Bart.

  So now at twenty-four, Mina was selling novels to a major publishing house and she was hitting bestseller lists. Her latest novel, about a gunrunner who reformed, had made the USA Today bestseller list. She was hoping that it would move to other lists as well. Reviewers had been kind. She had a bright future.

  It was just that her past haunted her. That mean cowboy who was staying with Bart made her angry every time she thought of him. He was handsome and attractive and looked as if he knew more about women than she did. He made her uneasy, because she knew she’d be fair game for such a man if he turned up the heat. So she was going to avoid him like the plague. Because she was never going to let a man into her life. She knew what men were like from the ones her mother had brought home, especially Henry. She knew that when men drank, they were dangerous. She’d had quite enough of dangerous men. Well, except for her tutors, she mused.

  CHAPTER TWO

  “BUT YOU CAN’T go to a party looking like that,” Sassy wailed as she studied Mina. “You just can’t! Mina, there will be society people from all over the county at the party. You have to look the part of an upcoming, successful author!”

  Mina bit her lower lip. She was wearing a simple black dress, very modest, with black pumps. But her hair was in its tight knot and she wore no makeup at all. “Sassy...”

  “Look, just let me improve you. Only a little. Please? I brought my makeup kit with me...” She stopped and looked repentant.

  “You planned this. You didn’t just happen to stop by,” Mina accused, but gently.

  “Yes, I did,” Sassy confessed. “I don’t want you to be gossiped about. And you don’t want that, either,” she added firmly. “‘Willow Shane’ has to look good for her readers!”

  Mina’s mouth pulled down at the corner. “I suppose I’ve had enough gossip to last me a lifetime,” she agreed. “Well, I guess...”

  She stopped because there was a hard knock at the front door.

  She went to answer it. There was an older cowboy standing there, one who worked on the ranch part-time as her foreman. Mina shared him with Bart, who had the same sort of financial issues she had. Neither of them could afford a full-time foreman, but Bill was perfect for the job. She smiled. “Hi, Bill, what is it?”

  He had his hat in his hand. He grimaced. “Sorry for the interruption. Oh, hi, Mrs. Callister,” he said, nodding at Sassy, who nodded back. “We’ve got a fence down,” he continued. “Damned...darned bull ran through it to get to another bull. They had a real bad fight and the young bull’s crippled. May have to be put down. I need permission to get fencing materials at the hardware and call the vet to look at our bull.”

  “You have permission for both. Tell them I said it was okay.” She grimaced. “It was Old Charlie, wasn’t it?” she asked with a sigh. “That will be the second young bull he’s crippled. I’m afraid this is going to be the last time. We can’t keep a bull who’s that aggressive. He’s showing his age, too.”

  He sighed. “I was afraid you’d say that, Miss Michaels. You’re right. It’s just, well, I’ve got sort of attached to Old Charlie...”

  “Then take him home with you,” she said suddenly. “You’ve got several cows of your own and you lost your bull. You can have Charlie. That will solve my problem and yours, too.”

  His face brightened as if it was facing sunlight. “Miss Michaels, that’s the kindest thing...thank you!” He hesitated. He knew her financial situation. The bull was a purebred Black Angus, from a known bloodline. “You know, you could sell him for a good bit of money...”

  She smiled. Her face changed. It was pretty when she smiled, but she did it rarely. “Bill, if I sell him, I’m putting some other poor rancher’s livestock at risk. What if the new owner got mad and sold him for beef?”

  Bill grimaced.

  “So we’re not doing it. You take Charlie home with you, and you’re welcome. Okay, go get the part-timers started on that fence. I have to go to a party in my honor,” she said with a grimace. “Mrs. Simpson is giving it. She’s read my latest book, SPECTRE, the one that’s on the USA Today bestseller list, and she wants to introduce me to some people.”

  “I was invited, too,” Bill said, flushing. “Guess I’ll show up later when I get the fence fixed. And I’ll bring the trailer for Charlie in the morning, if that’s okay.”

  “That’s fine. I’ll see you at the party, then.”

  “Nobody will dance with me, but I’ll go drink punch and eat finger sandwiches anyway,” he chuckled.

  “I’ll dance with you, Bill,” she said gently.

  He flushed more. “That would be kind of you. Otherwise, I guess I’d just be a wallflower.”

  “Me, too,” she laughed. “But you’re the only man I’ll be dancing with.”

  “So now I’m really flattered.” He knew about her past. Most local people did.

  She didn’t mind Bill knowing. He had a soft heart. What a shame that he’d never found another woman to appreciate it. He’d lost his wife and daughter to tragedy. He drank infrequently and Mina was fetched to get him safely home. He’d follow her out of a bar like a lamb.

  “Party starts at seven,” she added when Bill started to leave. “If the boys aren’t finished by then, leave them to do it and come on over to Mrs. Simpson’s house, okay? It’s Randy and Kit working today, and they’re trustworthy.”

  He brightened. “Okay. Thanks again.” He tipped his hat and walked off the porch, his spurs jingling.

  Sassy turned back to Mina. “Okay, chicken,” Sassy said. “Sit down and be improved. You might attract a nice young man.”

  “I don’t want a man, young or old,” Mina said quietly as she sat down in a chair and let Sassy go to work on her. “I don’t want a man at all, ever.” She cros
sed her arms over her chest as if she felt a chill.

  “Not all men are like your mother’s boyfriend,” Sassy said gently. “Or like that horrible man who tried to paw me when I worked at the local feed store.”

  “But how do you know what they’ll be like behind closed doors?” Mina asked miserably. “Henry yelled. He always yelled before he hit me. I had so many bruises. I had to always wear long sleeves and long skirts or slacks to school so the bruises wouldn’t show. And he said he’d kill me if I told.”

  Sassy put a gentle hand on her shoulder. “You should have talked to that nice psychologist in town.”

  “I can’t talk about private things to people I don’t know,” Mina said miserably. “I just can’t.”

  Sassy took a long breath. She didn’t know what else to say. So she went back to work on her friend.

  The result was stunning. Mina looked like a different woman, even with just a touch of makeup and her hair long around her softly tanned, bare shoulders. She looked fragile. Breakable. Lovely.

  “You’ll break hearts tonight,” Sassy said with a smile.

  “Not on purpose. Are you coming?”

  “Yes. John, too. And a few other local people.”

  Mina’s eyes blazed. “Bart’s coming, but he’s bringing that friend of his along. I don’t like the man. He’s rude and arrogant, and he looks at me as if he could see my underwear...” She stopped and swallowed, hard. She hadn’t meant to let that slip out.

  “He’s a rounder,” Sassy said, confirming her suspicions. “I don’t know him, but John does. He met him at some cattle convention he went to before we married. He says the man collects women like a car collects pollen in the spring.”

  “I guessed that already,” Mina said, the remark about Cort Grier at a cattle convention going right over her head. She was looking at herself in the mirror. Except for her big brown eyes, which wore an expression of perpetual sadness, she looked almost pretty. She was shocked. She’d never taken time to do makeup. She hadn’t wanted to encourage any of her mother’s boyfriends, at least one of whom tried to get her mother to let Mina do a threesome with them. Her mother had laughed and given Mina a sardonic smile. Mina had hidden outside in the woods until the man left. It was one of many experiences that haunted her.

  “Bart will make him behave,” Sassy promised.

  She let out a long breath. “Do I have to go?” she asked miserably.

  “Yes.”

  “Okay. I’ll drive myself to the guillotine, then.”

  Sassy laughed. “It’s not going to be that bad. Really. You might actually enjoy it.”

  “I might learn to fly.”

  “Spoilsport.”

  “I’d rather groom my new horse.” She smiled broadly. “He’s a palomino. He’s absolutely gorgeous! I named him Sand.” Her eyes were dreamy. “His last owner died. They said he’d been grieving, but when he saw me at the auction, he came right over to the fence and lowered his head. I knew he was mine. I couldn’t afford him but Cousin Rogan bought him for me for my birthday.”

  Sassy laughed. “Your cousin is one of the sexiest men I’ve ever seen, and one of the biggest woman-haters.” She shook her head. “Aren’t you lucky that you’re first cousins? He likes relatives.”

  “He hated my mother,” Mina pointed out. “Actually, so did his mother,” she added. “They were sisters, but they never spoke. Aunt Sallie died of cancer years ago, and Uncle Fred followed her the next year when he got kicked in the head by a horse he was trying to treat. I’m the only relative Rogan has left.”

  “It’s like that with my family, too,” Sassy confided. “It’s just my mom and me and Selene.”

  “Does she still want to be a fighter pilot when she grows up?” Mina asked with a gentle smile.

  “Yes. She’s been studying every book she can find on Raptors. F-22s,” she added when Mina gave her a blank look. “She knows all about them.”

  “She’ll be an amazing pilot.”

  “Oh yes.”

  Mina looked in the mirror again. “How did you do that?” she asked, fascinated.

  “I’ll show you another time. You’d better get started over or you’ll be late. I have to go by the house and get John.”

  “So I’ll see you there.”

  Sassy nodded. “And don’t be nervous. Most of these people have lived here all their lives, just like you.”

  “I never traveled in those circles, though,” Mina said. “High society, I mean. I’m just a cowgirl.”

  “You’re a famous writer, Willow Shane,” she teased, “growing more famous by the day. And SPECTRE is going right to the top, you mark my words. I love your books, but this latest one is astonishing!”

  “Thanks. You can have as many as you want,” Mina laughed. “I get boxes of free copies.”

  “You’re sweet, but you need to let me buy my own so you get royalties,” she teased.

  Mina just shook her head. “Money never has mattered to me, except that time my mother forced me to work as a waitress so she and Henry had money for groceries. If it hadn’t been for Cousin Rogan, the whole ranch would have gone on the auction block. He loved my father. It broke his heart when Dad left my mother for another woman.”

  “Do you ever hear from him?” Sassy asked.

  “No.” Mina drew in a breath. “Mama said she wrote and told him that I never wanted to see him again or talk to him, that I hated him.” She looked down at her hands. “I did say it. He left me at her mercy and never looked back. I understood why he didn’t stay. But he threw me to the lions. I couldn’t forgive him for it.” Her face tautened. “She hated me my whole life. I still don’t know why.”

  “It’s never wise to look too closely into the past,” Sassy advised. “You’re going to be fabulously wealthy and well-known, and I can say I knew you when you were a skinny kid in third grade!”

  Mina laughed. “So you can! I hope you’re right, about that prediction. I don’t really want to be fabulously wealthy, but I’d love it if the book topped the New York Times list, just for the guys. They’ve been so good to me.”

  “You and those commandos,” she laughed, shaking her head. “I can’t imagine running through the jungle in camo carrying an automatic rifle.”

  “Actually, it’s a .45 auto,” Mina corrected. “Took me forever to learn how to use it, but the guys were persistent. I spent hours and hours on the gun range.”

  “You’re lucky you don’t get shot on those missions.”

  “I did, but only once, and it healed nicely,” Mina replied with a smile.

  Sassy rolled her eyes. “Just remember, you’ll be more famous alive than dead.”

  “I’ll tell the guys.” She sighed. “I really would love to see SPECTRE get to the top,” she added. “I dedicated it to my team, you know. Well, just their first names. They still go incognito in a lot of places, so I had to limit what I said about them.”

  “They sound like a good bunch of guys.”

  “They are. The very best.”

  “Okay, there you go,” Sassy said as she finished with the brush. “And don’t you touch your hair when I walk out the door. You leave it down, just like it is.”

  Mina made a face. “It looks, well, wanton...doesn’t it?”

  “You have beautiful hair. There’s nothing vulgar about it. Or about your very conservative dress. Stop worrying! You’re Cinderella, and tonight is the big ball!”

  Mina smiled blandly. “With my luck, the big ball will roll right over my foot and break it.”

  Sassy just made a face and left her there.

  * * *

  THE MANSION WHERE the party was being held was ablaze with light. It was in the rich part of Catelow, where the wealthiest citizens lived. A huge, two-story building with a flat face sitting on about two acres of land with lodgepole pines framing it against the dist
ant mountains, it was the sort of house Mina’s characters would have lived in.

  She gave the keys of her little VW to the valet, grimacing as she noted the new Jaguar XJL that stopped just behind it. Well, she wasn’t rich. She wasn’t sorry, either. Her little car might look out of place here. But then, so did she.

  In her black dress, a nicely marked-down sale item from a clothing store, she was hardly going to raise any eyebrows. This crowd would wear couture, and the women she met as she walked in the door certainly didn’t buy their dresses off-the-rack.

  She’d never seen such beautiful dresses. She felt dowdy by comparison. But then, she saw a few other women who were dressed much like she was. How obliging of the leading citizens to invite the working poor, she thought wickedly, and smiled as she went down the receiving line. She didn’t know a single face, but a tall, handsomely dressed woman came to speak to her.

  “You’re Willow Shane,” the woman said gently, using Mina’s pen name. “I’m Pam Simpson, your hostess. I’ve read that copy of SPECTRE that you gave Bart three times already! He was such a doll to loan it to me. It’s going all the way to the top of the New York Times list, I just know it! I’ve bought copies for all my friends!”

  Mina flushed. “Thanks so much. I’m glad you liked it.”

  “The realism. Wow! You actually go out with commando groups to do the research?”

  “I actually do,” Mina confessed. “It’s an ongoing adventure.”

  “Well, I love the way you write. And I’m so very proud that you came! You must have invitations from everyone, but you chose to come here.”