The Cowboy Next Door: Includes a bonus novella (Montana Strong Book 2)

by R. C. Ryan

The rest of the wranglers were too busy eating to speak, but they gave her nods or a thumbs-up as she topped off their mugs of coffee.

  “Since I was up early anyway, and I had all those leftovers, I figured you and the other men have earned a special breakfast. I call this my kitchen sink omelet.”

  That brought a rumble of laughter from the wranglers.

  “No matter what you call it, it’s tasty,” Ed Whittier called. “A breakfast like this will hold me until supper tonight.”

  “You keep on feeding us like this,” another man said, “and we’ll be standing in line to work the Monroe roundup every year.”

  Across the table Mac grinned and lifted his mug of coffee. “That’s music to my ears. I’ll drink to that.”

  When he finished his meal, he put an arm around Penny’s shoulder and leaned close to say, “Thanks for your comforting words last night. I guess I was letting my nerves get the best of me.” He nodded toward Otis, just polishing off the last of his omelet. “I’ve asked Otis to drive you back to the ranch. He’ll wait until you finish cooking, and drive you back up in time for supper. And he’ll repeat that each day until this drive is over.”

  “I don’t like taking him away from his work.”

  Mac gave her a smile. “He’ll be grateful for the break. Otis works as hard as any man on this ranch, but at his age, he can use a rest, and the chance to sleep in his own bed for the next few nights will definitely recharge his batteries. And he can lend a hand with Clive out in the barns.”

  “All right.” She returned Mac’s smile. “Thank you. In truth, I was a little worried about navigating these hills by myself.”

  “Whenever you’re not comfortable with something, you need to let me know.” He gave her a steady look. “Are you good with that?”

  She nodded. “Yes. Thanks, Mac.”

  When she turned, she saw Sam watching.

  As his father walked out the door, he crossed the room and tugged on a lock of her hair. Bending close he whispered, “I’d kiss you, but there are too many eyes.” In a loud voice he called, “Stay safe, Money.”

  She absorbed the quick rush of heat that put fresh color on her cheeks. She hoped her voice wouldn’t betray her emotions. “You, too, cowboy.”

  Within the hour, Otis was at the wheel of the truck, while Penny sat beside him, white-knuckling the ride and trying to remember to breathe.

  In the back of the truck were the empty pots and pans and assorted trays that would be cleaned and filled with fresh hot meals in time for supper. That is, if they made it back safely. Here in the hills the snow was several feet deep, and the wheels of the truck often slipped and slid when they couldn’t gain traction.

  “Have you ever seen a storm like this before, Otis?”

  The old man grinned. “Since coming to Montana, I’ve seen plenty of ’em, Miss Penny.”

  “When did you come here, Otis?”

  “Oh, more’n thirty years now.”

  “Were you lured to Montana by a dream of becoming a cowboy?”

  He chuckled. “Now I have to admit, I never saw myself riding a horse, let alone riding the range. But life has a funny way of happening while we’re busy making other plans.”

  “What were you planning for your life, Otis?”

  He kept his hands steady on the wheel. “I was living on the south side of Chicago. And I planned on being the best husband and father in the world.”

  “You have a wife and children?”

  “Had.”

  Penny heard the pain in that single word. Before she had a chance to react, he said, “I was so proud and happy. I’d just landed a good job that would allow us to move from our cramped upper room of a tenement to an apartment in a better part of town. That night my wife and I celebrated our good fortune and started reading ads in the newspaper for two-bedroom apartments. Sometime just before dawn, while I was sound asleep, someone firebombed the place where we were living. I heard a loud boom, and found myself lying in the street, my clothes on fire, my wife, Ruby, and my two little boys dead.”

  Penny lifted a hand to stifle the cry she couldn’t hold back.

  When she found her voice, she asked, “Did the authorities find the person who committed that horrible crime?”

  He shook his head. “I never heard. For the next few weeks I was in a dark place in my mind. It shames me to admit that one night I drank myself into a fog and stumbled off toward the railroad tracks.”

  Penny’s eyes went wide. “Oh, Otis. You weren’t thinking of…?”

  He shrugged. “I wasn’t thinking at all. But I fell into an empty boxcar, and when I woke up, sober and hungry, I was hundreds of miles from home. My first thought was to get a job so I could eat and find a place to sleep. And I did, but I couldn’t seem to settle. As soon as I’d find work in a town, I’d move on. I knew I didn’t want to return to Chicago, so I just kept hopping into empty boxcars, wondering where I’d end up. And finally I found myself in this place, which is as far removed from my hometown as a place can be. To a city boy like me, Montana was the other side of the moon. More cattle than people. No traffic jams. Hills covered with wildflowers. Streams so clean you can drink from them. And when I walked up to the Monroe ranch to ask for a job and a place to spend the night, Miss Rachel, Mac’s wife, bless her, fed me and said I could stay in the bunkhouse. Not for a night, or until a job was finished, but for as long as I wanted to stay on and work. And I never looked back. Mac and his boys and Roscoe and Zachariah are my family now. This place is heaven on earth. This is my forever home.”

  Penny had to blink away the tears that welled up. “I’m so glad you found your home, Otis.”

  “I didn’t find it. It found me. I believe that’s the way of life, Miss Penny. Some of the things that feel like they happened by accident are really part of a heavenly plan. We just have to be patient enough to keep riding that train until there it is, right in front of us.”

  When she was able to compose herself, Penny turned to Otis. “Thank you for sharing your story with me.”

  He gave her a gentle smile. “We’ve all got a story, Miss Penny. Anyone who’s ever lived has one.”

  When they pulled up alongside the ranch, Otis took her hand and helped her from the truck. The two of them plowed through the snowdrifts to the back porch.

  Otis stopped and looked around. “Looks like Clive shoveled the snow from the porch.”

  Penny nodded. “Or maybe Finn and Zachariah finished with the trial early.”

  “Maybe.” He returned to the truck to carry in the empty pots and pans, while Penny stepped inside.

  “Becca.” She hurried over to hug Ben’s wife. “How did you make it here from town in all this snow?”

  “The same way you made it here from the hills.” Becca gave a laugh. “Ben offered to drive me here before he started work so I could spend the day giving you a hand with all the cooking and baking. When I found the house empty, I figured I’d come all this way for nothing.”

  “Oh, I’m so grateful you stuck around.”

  When Otis walked into the kitchen, he found the two women hugging and laughing.

  “Miss Becca, I’d say you’re just what the doctor ordered.” He turned to Penny. “As long as you have an assistant here, I’ll give Clive a hand with the barn chores. If you two ladies need anything at all, just holler.”

  “Thank you, Otis.”

  When he was gone, Penny located an apron and began assembling ingredients for the day’s meal.

  While she and Becca worked together, Penny said, “I’m so glad Otis was able to drive me back. Without our time together, I’d have never known what a remarkable man he is.”

  Becca looked over. “He told you about his past?”

  When Penny nodded, Becca said, “He told me about it when we were working in his garden last fall.”

  Penny paused. “When I heard his story, he had me in tears.”

  Becca measured and stirred under Penny’s direction, while nodding her understand
ing. “I had the same reaction. It’s heartbreaking.”

  Penny nodded. “When I watch Otis tending his lush garden, or laughing with the others, he gives no hint of the pain he’s suffered.” She kneaded a lump of dough before setting it aside and picking up a second one. “He said everyone who’s ever lived has a story. And he believes that nothing that happens is an accident, but rather part of a heavenly plan.” Penny paused to look over at her friend. “Do you ever wonder if your life was planned?”

  Becca shrugged, and in reply told her an abbreviated version of her own story.

  “My father made up his mind years ago that Ben was nothing but trouble, and he was determined that his only child was never going to be allowed to spend time with that ‘hell-raiser,’ as he called him.” She shook her head, remembering. “When I think how opposed my parents were to Ben, and how hard they worked to keep us apart, I can’t help thinking we were fated to be together.” Seeing the look of concentration on Penny’s face, she gathered her courage. “How about you, Penny? I can sense that something’s wrong.”

  Penny finished kneading the last loaf and covered it with a clean linen towel before filling the kettle. “Let’s take a break with some tea.”

  Minutes later the two women sat across the table from one another, and Penny admitted her horror at seeing her little brother drinking and gambling.

  “How old is Curtis?” Becca asked.

  “Twenty-one, and in charge of his own life, he reminded me.”

  “And so he is. But he’s young, Penny. If I had to admit to all the mistakes I made at that age, I’d be so embarrassed.”

  “That’s pretty much what Sam said to me. But of course he would defend Curtis, since Sam is doing much the same things.”

  Becca shook her head. “I’m not going to defend Sam just because he’s Ben’s brother, but you have the wrong idea about him. He rarely drinks more than a longneck or two, and never when he’s shooting pool.”

  “But you do admit he shoots pool for money.”

  “Of course. For Sam, it isn’t so much a gamble as a hobby. He’s just very good at the game, and he loves to challenge himself by playing against the best pool players around.”

  “No matter what you call it, it’s gambling. And in Curtis’s case, it cost him an entire paycheck.”

  “After he loses a couple of times, he’ll learn to either stay sober when he’s playing or quit altogether.”

  “Oh, I hope you’re right, Becca.”

  Becca broke open a biscuit and nibbled before deciding to change the subject. “Now tell me how it felt being caught in a blizzard up in the hills with an army of wranglers.”

  Penny chuckled. “I thought I’d feel really awkward having to sleep in a range shack with a bunch of men. But Sam made it easy for me. I sat outside drinking coffee and enjoying the beautiful scenery until all the men were asleep. Then Sam came out and said it was safe to come in.”

  “And that’s it?”

  Penny stared down at her tea. “I did feel uncomfortable knowing Sam was sleeping in the bunk right below me.”

  “Yeah. That would be awkward.” Becca sipped her tea. “I’m sure you’ve noticed that whenever you’re around, Sam can’t take his eyes off you.”

  Penny felt the heat rise to her cheeks. “That’s his reaction to any female.”

  “If you think that, you’re kidding yourself.”

  “Becca, when I first came here, Finn bragged about his brother’s appeal to women. All women.”

  “Oh, they’re attracted. No doubt about it.” Becca smiled. “But he seems immune to all of them. Except you. He acts different when you’re around.”

  “Different how?”

  Becca shrugged. “He loves to joke and tease, but with you, there’s a sweetness to his teasing. Like that nickname he gave you. Money. There’s a tone in his voice…” She shook her head. “I can’t describe it, but it’s almost like a kiss.”

  “Now you’re being silly.” Penny started to push away from the table, but Becca reached across and laid a hand over hers.

  “Yes. Exactly. His teasing is like a kiss, only with words instead of lips.” She paused, then forged ahead. “Has he…Have the two of you…?”

  Penny gave a long, deep sigh. “He’s kissed me.”

  “And…?”

  Penny swallowed. “And I’ve kissed him back.”

  “All right.” Becca was practically rubbing her hands together in glee. “Well? Were there fireworks?”

  After a very long pause Penny couldn’t contain herself. “Yes. Were there fireworks the first time you kissed Ben?”

  “Uh-huh.” Laughing, Becca rounded the table and gathered Penny into a warm hug. “And I wanted more. What about you?”

  “Oh, Becca.” Penny joined in the laughter. “I’m scared to death of what I’m feeling. But it’s good to know it’s happened to you, too.”

  As the two women put aside their tea and returned to their chores, Penny’s heart felt lighter than it had in days.

  She’d missed this. In order to chase her dream, she’d severed all ties and moved far from her childhood home in a small town. She’d left behind all her old friends with whom she could talk openly.

  It was so good to have a friend she could confide in here on this ranch, so far from all she’d ever known.

  Otis had said there were no accidents in life.

  If someone told her Becca Monroe had just been dropped from heaven, she wouldn’t argue. Right now, Becca was her angel. Sharing her load in the kitchen, and sharing the secrets of her heart, as well.

  Whenever worries about her little brother began to weigh her down, she would cling to these simple facts.

  It was so good to have a friend.

  It was also good to have a job that, though it wasn’t the one she’d planned on, was satisfying and fulfilling.

  For the moment, life didn’t get much better than this.

  Chapter Thirteen

  The next days passed in a blur of hard work from dawn to dark. Each day, after endless hours of cooking, Otis drove Penny into the hills in time to deliver hot suppers to the wranglers before driving her back to the ranch to start all over the next day.

  The few times she saw Sam, he was hot and sweaty and working alongside the wranglers at a furious pace. But all he needed to do was wave his hat in the air in a salute, or tease her in front of the others, and her face would go all hot. Sometimes he would lean close to say something more intimate, and she could feel the quick rush of heat through her veins. She could feel him watching her as she set up the meal, and again when she and Otis were loading up the empty trays and pans for the trek down to the ranch. Whenever she looked over, he would be wearing that rogue smile that did such strange things to her heart.

  Though there was no time alone, his very presence made her feel special.

  Often in the night, alone in the privacy of the big guest room upstairs, she would replay in her mind the things he’d said that day. Each thought, each simple word stirred longings in her.

  Oh, the restless longings he stirred in her.

  Then she would remind herself that she was nothing more than an interim employee here. After all, teaching had been her goal for a lifetime. It was what had driven her to study so hard. It had been the reason she’d struggled with college and two jobs. It was why, after her brothers were grown and gone, and her great-aunt buried, she’d sold the family house, paid off the last of her father’s debts, and took a job far away.

  Even though it hadn’t yet worked out, she knew that someday a teaching position would finally become available, and she was determined to enjoy the fruits of her labors. She would leave the Monroe ranch and begin the future she’d planned. And no sexy cowboy would change her mind.

  She often fell asleep wondering why that thought no longer brought her the sense of anticipation it once had. Instead, it left her with a vague feeling of sadness and loss.

  “Well, Miss Penny, the day’s finally come.” Otis help
ed Penny load up the hot breakfast she would serve before the wranglers began the final push to bring the herd down.

  “I can’t believe I’m going to be allowed to watch a real roundup.”

  “It’s something to see.” Otis smiled. “I remember my first roundup. To a city dude like me, it seemed like a lot of blood, sweat, and tears trying to wrangle a bunch of ornery cows that seemed to want to go anywhere except where they were supposed to.” He gave a shake of his head. “At first it looked like mass confusion. But in no time I sorted things out and just moved along with the rest of the wranglers behind the herd. And when it was over, and the cattle were all safely in their winter pasture, I enjoyed the satisfaction of a job well done.” He looked over. “Just remember to stay out of the way. Those cowboys have a lot going on. They can’t allow for distractions.”

  “I’ll remember.” She climbed into the truck and stared out the window at the spectacular sight of the predawn sky streaked with ribbons of pale pink, mauve, and deep purple.

  Her heart beat faster as she thought about the day to come.

  Or was it the fact that she would see Sam?

  She pushed aside the thought and concentrated on the meal she would serve.

  At first light they reached the range shack Mac referred to as the staging area. From here they would begin the long trek to the lower range.

  The wranglers were already busy saddling their mounts and checking their equipment when Penny and Otis set up a hot meal on the long porch of the cabin. Within minutes the men gathered around, filling their plates with fried chicken and scrambled eggs and thick slices of sourdough toast. They downed steaming mugs of coffee before picking up bottles of water on their way to climb into the saddle.

  Sam paused beside Penny and touched a hand to her shoulder. “I see you brought the warm weather and sunlight with you.”

  She looked up at him with a bright smile. “And here I thought you did that.”

  He glanced at the line of cowboys already moving out. “I wish there was time…”

  “Let’s go, Sam.” Mac’s shout carried above the din. “Get a move on.”