He greets me with a familiar pat on the shoulder, and I see his formerly jet-black hair is now heavily streaked with grey. Just then Bill walks through the paddock, making his way to where Jessie is corralled beside Freckles.
I watch him go and notice a hitch in his stride. Sylvia’s words are on my mind, He’s not as young as he used to be. At some point he’s either going to have to sell this place or give it to one of us.
As if reading my mind, he lets out a mellow growl. “Damnedest thing about getting old…” He passes a hand over his thick grey mustache, eyes twinkling with mischief.
“What?” I follow to where he’s watching Jessie stamp around on fresh hay.
“Starting over with a new colt feels like a shit-ton of work to do. Getting bit, getting thrown… Hell,” he sighs. “I don’t know if I’m up to it.”
Looking over his shoulder, I watch the little filly at the back of the stall. She’s feisty like her mother, itching to run and full of spirit. At the same time, she’s a beautiful horse. She’d bring a decent price if she were trained and sold.
I rest my forearms on the top rail beside him. “Mariska wants to learn to train a horse. She’s got her eye on this one.”
“That so?” He steps back, and somehow I get the feeling he knew what I was going to say before I started.
“I said I’d teach her the ropes. Unless you’ve got other plans for her.”
“Mariska?”
My eyes narrow. “The filly.”
He slaps my shoulder and laughs. “I think Mariska would make a fine horsewoman. It would save me a lot of trouble, too. Have at it.”
Turning my attention to the colt, I make a clicking noise with my mouth. She shakes her head but doesn’t try to get away. Bill steps up beside me and rests his arms on the stall door. His collar-length grey hair is thick and swept back from his face, and a tan Stetson is on his head.
“You’re planning to stay through the summer?” he asks.
Looking down, I think about the right answer. My mother guilt-tripped me into coming here on the premise that my uncle needed my help running the place. Mariska is out of school for the summer, and my business partners are relaxed enough to let me take an extended vacation. It helps that one is my younger brother Patrick and the other is my former commanding officer Derek Alexander.
“We’ll stay a few weeks,” I finally reply. “As long as you need me.”
He nods and pushes off the door. “I got a meeting in town with Evan Robertson this evening. He wants to discuss grazing fees for letting his cattle on our land. Feel like tagging along?”
“Sure.”
With a nod, he heads toward the door. One thing my uncle and I have in common, we don’t waste words. I study the horse a few minutes longer, a smile nudging at my lips when I remember how excited Mariska got about the idea of training her. She bounced up and down like a little kid with a new toy. Only she’s not a kid. She’s a beautiful, sexy woman, and I’ve been thinking about her body all day, since I woke up alone in bed this morning.
“Play nice with my lady,” I say under my breath before turning to go.
We’ll stay for now, but I’m not moving to Great Falls. I have no intention of derailing Mariska’s studies or dragging her out here to the middle of nowhere to be a rancher’s wife. It’s a hard life she’d have to tell me she wanted first.
2
Unexpected
Mariska
I step out of the jetted, sunken bathtub and lift the plush towel from the rack, patting the water off my skin before picking up my silk robe. My hair is piled on top of my head in a messy bun, and I walk over to the long vanity.
Stuart rode into town with Bill for some meeting about the neighbor’s cows or something, leaving his mother Sylvia and me at the sprawling ranch house to fend for ourselves. The design of the massive wood-and-stone home is a U-shape, with the kitchen and living area in the center and two long halls of bedrooms and master suites on each side.
I left Sylvia discussing our dinner plans with Winona, Bill’s cook, and slipped away to relax in the tub. I get so tired in the evenings now, and losing sleep after my nightmare has me even more exhausted.
Turning to the side, I let the robe fall open so I can see my stomach. It looks the same as it always has—flat. My lips twist, and I tilt my head to the side as I slide my palms over the tight skin trying to imagine how it will look stretched and extended with our little baby. I poke it out hard, but it only makes me laugh.
“We’re going to have a baby,” I whisper, grinning. A family… I think, and my eyes warm. In addition to being exhausted, my emotions are all over the place now. I cry at the drop of a hat. Hormones. Still, for the first time in my life, I’ll have a real family.
Growing up, it was only Yaya and me. My mother died before I could remember her, and I never knew my dad. I pick up the white-gold engagement ring that was once Stuart’s grandmother’s. It’s designed like a little flower lying on its side, and I loved it the moment he gave it to me.