Home on the Ranch: Wyoming Cowboy Ranger

by Rebecca Winters

  Porter made a clicking sound and released the tension on the reins. Dash automatically moved forward. Lily rode at his side and they walked their horses at a slow pace for about ten minutes. “Are you noticing any difference yet?”

  He shot her a glance. “I’m shocked how smooth the ride is. You’ve already convinced me this horse lives up to all the things you’ve told me.”

  Lily nodded. “A Trotter can canter or do the gaited fox-trot like it’s doing now. Because of its sliding glide, you could be comfortable for hours at a time. They’re especially sure-footed in the mountains over rocks and roots where it’s steep.”

  “How often has Dash been ridden?”

  “Every day, either with the staff, my parents or myself. So far he hasn’t sold because the buyers haven’t been your height and weight. You’re welcome to keep riding him until you feel a hundred percent and decide what kind of a horse you want.”

  They rode for another twenty minutes while she extolled the virtues of the breed. He felt no discomfort and his body relaxed in the saddle.

  “How are you feeling now?”

  “Like I could keep going for hours,” he answered.

  “I said the same thing to the therapist in Salt Lake City who took me riding for the first time. I couldn’t believe I had no discomfort after what I’d lived through. In fact I’m embarrassed to admit I broke down for happiness. Even if I couldn’t ski again, I could ride. That meant everything to me.”

  Glancing her way, he said gently, “I can only imagine. It’s a shame what happened to you.”

  “It could have been worse. Now I have a different career because of it.”

  “One you do brilliantly,” he reminded her. “Just so you know, I trust your judgment, Lily. Next week I’ll ask my boss to take a ride on Dash to show him the difference. He owns an Arabian. If he has proof that this horse will help me do my job, he might be willing to make the purchase for me. That is if Dash is for sale.”

  “He is.”

  They started back. “After this ride, I’d be afraid to get on another breed in case it did damage.”

  She turned to him. “Promise me you won’t try it. Not for at least another month.”

  He pulled to a stop. “What is your plan for me for next week?”

  “The same as this one. Monday, Wednesday and Friday ten-o’clock sessions.”

  “And horseback rides in the evenings?” he asked hopefully.

  “We can if you’re feeling up to it.”

  She had no clue how ready he was to spend hours with her, but he knew he mustn’t push it. “What about you? Your dedication to your patients doesn’t give you much time to yourself.”

  A small laugh escaped her lips. “I like to stay busy. Last night I gave a baby shower for a friend. Last weekend I attended a conference in Jackson Hole.”

  “What about this weekend?”

  “I ride with the Wind River Women’s Brigade. We’ve been called on for all kinds of searches. This time we’re on a hunt for a downed single-engine plane in the Bridger-Teton forest up by Glimpse Lake. The first shift went out yesterday. Tomorrow our second group will relieve them.”

  Porter was stunned. “I didn’t know you belonged to that group. Do you stay out all night?”

  “Usually.”

  An image of the culprit who’d made his escape the night of the accident flashed into his mind. He might still be out there somewhere. Was he involved with Melissa in some way? “That could be dangerous.”

  “We’re well-trained and each of us carries a weapon, so it’s not a problem.”

  He cleared his throat. “Lily, I’m going to tell you something I shouldn’t, but I don’t want you or your friends to get hurt.”

  “What are you talking about?”

  “Just remember that hunter could be up there somewhere, so be careful. The sheriff has put out an APB on him. One of the reasons I want to get back to work is so I can go after him. There’s been no sign of him.”

  “Do you think he’s armed?”

  “I kept his rifle, but he might have found himself another weapon.” He clenched his jaw. “That’s what has me worried.”

  “You have my word I’ll be careful,” she told him. “Do you have a physical description of him? I can give it to our captain to make everyone aware.”

  Porter told her everything he could remember before he saw that Helen had arrived. The last thing he wanted to do was leave Lily. After he got home he’d phone her to make sure she understood how dangerous this situation could be.

  He led Dash to the stool and followed Lily’s instructions for dismounting. He felt a little stiff, but there was no pain. When he handed her the reins, he closed his hand over hers. “Thank you, Lily. Not just for this evening, but for everything. I’ll see you on Monday.”

  He patted Dash’s rump affectionately and took his time walking to the car, worried because Lily would be going into the mountains tomorrow. On the drive to his ranch with Helen, he broke out in a cold sweat.

  If anything happened to Lily, it would destroy him.

  Chapter 6

  Marjorie Austin, the fifty-year-old captain of the women’s brigade, faced them on her roan. Lily had already phoned their captain and told her what Porter had warned her about.

  “Good morning, ladies! Welcome to Glimpse Lake. This is our rendezvous point. A word of warning first. A wanted fugitive could be hiding up here having nothing to do with the downed plane. We don’t know if he’s armed or not. He’s in his mid-twenties, five feet nine, thin, overly long dark hair with a full beard and a surly nature.

  “Take extreme caution and report anything unusual to me. You’re all armed so I know you have protection. Now that you’ve been given a master grid, study it carefully to see where you and your partner are assigned.”

  “I’m glad we’re paired together,” Deedee whispered to Lily.

  “Me, too.”

  Deedee was a barrel rider in the rodeo and engaged to be married. She’d been one of the girls at the baby shower for Millie. They’d all ridden together for years and enjoyed each other’s company.

  “Gals? The second you find anything, phone in to me. We’ll all come together again at five thirty and set up our overnight camp. Let’s pray we find that plane today. Off you go and good luck!”

  The two of them headed toward their area where a number painted on a post indicated they were in the right spot to begin their part of the search in the heavily forested ground cover. They’d brought food and water in their backpacks. The day had turned out warm and beautiful, but Lily was sad to think a plane had gone down here and people had died.

  After three hours of going back and forth on one side of the grid, they’d found no parts of a plane or anything else. By now they’d reached the ten-thousand-foot level near the Crow’s Nest, where Porter had suffered the accident on his horse.

  They dismounted to eat lunch. With him constantly on her mind, she walked over to Deedee while munching on a sandwich. “I have something important to tell you.”

  “That sounds serious.”

  “It has to do with the announcement Marjorie made to us about a fugitive. Yesterday one of my patients who’s a ranger with the forest service was driven to the ranch to try out one of our Trotters for therapy.”

  “Is he cute?”

  Great. Not Deedee, too.

  “Cute doesn’t accurately describe him, but that’s not what’s important.”

  Deedee finished off her own sandwich. “In other words, he’s a hottie, right?”

  “Deedee—” she cried in frustration.

  “Oh, boy. You have it bad. Go on.”

  She took a drink from her water bottle. “I need to give you a little background. He turned up at the clinic after being thrown from his horse in the middle of the night right up here by the Crow’s Nest. H
is horse broke a leg and had to be put down.”

  “Oh, no!”

  “It had to have been horrible, but there’s more.” Lily told her the rest of the story.

  “So that’s the creep who got away from him and could still be out here?”

  “It’s possible,” she confirmed. “The police haven’t found him, not even with an APB out on him.”

  “He’s probably armed.”

  “I agree. The ranger took away his rifle, but he could have other weapons. I told him if I saw someone matching his description, I’d phone him. That’s why I told Marjorie.”

  Deedee nodded. “I’ve been keeping a lookout.”

  “I have, too. Hopefully he’s not anywhere around.”

  “Are you ready to do the other side of our grid?” the other woman asked.

  “Let’s go. What a shame we haven’t found any evidence of the plane to help those grieving families.”

  “Maybe we still will.”

  They walked back to their horses and mounted. Within ten minutes they came across signs of a small campfire that had been abandoned. “Stop for a minute, Deedee. Maybe this is the place where Porter tangled with that lowlife.”

  She shot Lily a smile. “It’s Porter now, huh?” she teased.

  “Will you give it up?” But she chuckled as she said it before riding Trixie around.

  When she didn’t see anything out of the ordinary, they kept moving through the dense forest. “We need to be careful our horses don’t step in that woodchuck burrow. It’s around here somewhere.”

  After five minutes they came across evidence that someone had built another small fire. Deedee shook her head. “What gives with people lighting fires in a no-fire zone?”

  “It’s especially odd considering we’re still close to the fire lookout tower.” This time Lily dismounted in order to examine the remains, which had to be recent. She sifted her cowboy boot through it. Finding nothing, she turned to get on her horse and saw something in the vegetation a few feet away.

  “Well, what do you know.” Her heart raced. “Two cigarette butts.”

  “What’s so important about that?”

  “Porter said the perp had been smoking and they took the butts to the forensic lab to be analyzed. It turned out they were cigarillos. I’m going to take these with me.”

  Lily reached in her backpack for the empty baggie that had held her sandwich. Using her neck scarf, she picked them up and put them in the baggie before sealing it. “I could be wrong, but I bet that creep is still hanging around here for some reason. I’ve got to let Porter know!”

  After taking pictures with her phone, she put everything in her backpack and they continued to scour the area. Around four they both received a text message that the fallen plane had been spotted in another grid. The search was over.

  “Thank heaven it’s been found,” Lily murmured soberly.

  “Amen. Ted will be thrilled I don’t have to stay out here overnight. With our wedding in two weeks, we don’t have much more time to make all our plans.”

  “I hear you.” But in truth Lily’s mind was on Porter, who needed to know what she’d discovered ASAP.

  When they reached Glimpse Lake and checked in with Marjorie, Lily loaded her horse in the trailer, said goodbye to Deedee and drove her truck back to town. She headed straight for Porter’s ranch. Maybe he wouldn’t be there, but she knew this was a vital find.

  This was police business. She had a legitimate excuse to approach her patient. That’s what she had to keep telling herself.

  * * *

  Porter had just come home from work when his doorbell rang. Tonight he wasn’t expecting friends. It was a good thing since he wasn’t in the mood to be sociable.

  Lily was up in the mountains, where that lunatic might still be. Knowing she could be in danger, he’d grown restless and wouldn’t sleep until she got home safely tomorrow.

  He’d decided not to answer it, but whoever it was rang it again. It could be any one of the guys and they wouldn’t give up. Letting out a frustrated sigh, he slowly got up from the chair and walked with care through to the living room to answer it.

  When he opened the door, he was blown away by the sight of the most beautiful woman he’d ever known adorned in her cowboy hat and Western attire. She’d never come to his ranch before, but seeing her here was a dream come true.

  “Lily! I thought you were up in the mountains with the brigade.”

  “I was, but the plane was found. I realize I’m the last person you expected to see, but I’ve brought you something that couldn’t wait.” She held what looked like a sandwich baggie in her hand.

  “Come in.”

  “I wouldn’t bother you, but this could be important so I’ll come in for a minute. Thank you.” She moved past him.

  He closed the door and invited her to sit down on the couch.

  “I will after you do.”

  Porter smiled and did as she asked with care. “What has brought you here?”

  “Today Deedee and I came across two dead campfires near the Crow’s Nest, where we were searching for the plane. At the first one I found nothing, but at the second one I found these. More cigarette butts.” She handed him the bag. “I used my neck scarf so my fingers wouldn’t come in contact with them.”

  Porter took it from her, so astonished that she’d come, it took a minute to register what she’d brought him. He lifted the bag and examined them.

  “Do they look like the cigarillos you told me about last week?”

  “Only Cyril will be able to tell, but it’s more than possible,” he answered. “Which means someone is still up there lighting illegal fires, maybe even the culprit. You’re amazing, you know that?”

  She blushed but he could tell his praise resonated with her.

  “Stay right there while I call Holden.” He reached for his cell on the end table. “I need to get on this immediately.”

  “I’d better get back to the ranch,” she said, rising. “Trixie is still out in the trailer.”

  “Then you go ahead. I’ll follow in a few minutes in my car because we need to talk.”

  “You’re not feeling discomfort from driving?” she asked.

  “As long as I’m careful, none.”

  She looked hesitant before nodding. “I’ll see you soon then.”

  He watched her hurry out the door while he got his friend Holden on the phone.

  “This could definitely be the break we’ve been waiting for, Porter. Your therapist is in the wrong line of work.”

  “Oh, no, she isn’t—otherwise we’d never have met.”

  “If you’re saying what I think you’re saying, nothing could make me happier.” He paused. “By nightfall a trap will be set for whoever it is. In the meantime I’ll come by your ranch and collect the evidence.”

  “I won’t be here. I’m driving over to the Owens ranch, but I’ll leave the door unlocked and put the baggie on one of the end tables in the living room.”

  “Perfect.”

  His adrenaline surged as he made his way outside and got into his car the way Helen had taught him. After starting the engine, he left for her family’s ranch. When he drove around back, he found her parked near the barn.

  He got out and paced himself as he walked inside. “Lily?”

  “Back here.”

  Porter followed her voice and found her hatless in Trixie’s stall, brushing her down. “Have you even had dinner yet?”

  “No. I was in too big a hurry to show you what I’d found to stop for anything else.”

  “Then as soon as you’ve put your baby to bed, let’s go out for a meal to talk. I owe you big-time for a lot of reasons.”

  Her soft chuckle warmed him. “That sounds good. One bologna sandwich six hours ago didn’t quite do the trick.” After stuffing the h
ay net and providing water, she hugged her horse’s neck and they left the barn.

  She hurried to get in his car. So far his patience had paid off to the point that she was willing to go to dinner with him. Porter was determined that this was only the beginning.

  “Because of your quick thinking, Sheriff Granger is already planning to hunt down and bring in the person responsible for that second illegal campfire. With those cigarette butts headed for forensics as we speak, we’ll know shortly if the same person is responsible.” If the culprit was Melissa’s brother... “You may have helped us solve this problem sooner than I would have imagined. I’m indebted to you, Lily.”

  “Don’t give me any credit. I was already up there with Deedee looking for that downed plane.” She was modest, too. “Thank goodness it was found.”

  “Agreed, but I’m talking about the fact that you listened to everything I told you when I first showed up at the clinic. For you to notice those cigarette butts at the other campsite was a brilliant find.”

  “I couldn’t help but remember, not after what happened to you and your poor horse.”

  He pulled in to The Wok, a local Chinese restaurant, and escorted her to a booth. She sat across from him.

  “How’s your back?”

  “I’m good.”

  After their order was taken, she pulled out her phone.

  “I took some pictures of the campfire and surrounding area. Maybe they won’t be helpful.” Her presence of mind continued to impress him. She scrolled to the photos and handed it to him.

  “Forensics will want to see these. Mind if I forward them to the sheriff right now?”

  “Of course not.”

  After he’d sent them with an accompanying message, their food arrived. Judging by the way her meal disappeared, she really was hungry. She finally sat back. “That hit the spot. Thank you.”

  It thrilled him to be sitting here with her like this. “If anyone needs to be thanked, it’s you. I was worried the minute I knew you’d be searching for the plane up there.”