Big Sky Romance Collection

by Denise Hunter

  Abigail opened the door. “Hi, Maddy.”

  The girl looped the reins around the porch post. Her sloppy ponytail looked like it had been slept in, and dirt smudged her too-short jeans.

  “Want a soda? Aunt Lucy’s taking her Sunday afternoon nap, so we’ll have to keep it down.”

  “Sure.”

  Abigail let her in, wondering if it was normal around here to let an eleven-year-old girl ride all over creation on a big horse. What if she fell and hit her head or broke her leg?

  “Have a seat. You might have to move a couple dolls. Pepsi okay?”

  “Sure.”

  Abigail went to the kitchen for the soda and a glass of water. She’d been thinking about Maddy’s bike in church. Okay, so she should’ve been listening, but at least she’d gone. That’s more than she’d done in a long time.

  “That your horse out there?” Abigail handed Maddy the can.

  “His name’s Destiny.”

  Ah . . . Destiny. “I like that.”

  “Dad got him for me when we moved here.”

  “His hair’s the same color as yours. Do you take care of him? I’ve heard horses are a lot of work.”

  The pop of her soda tab sounded loud in the little cabin. Maddy sipped from the can. “I like taking care of him. When school’s out I can ride him all the time.”

  “Doesn’t your dad worry?”

  She made a face. “I have a nanny in the summer.”

  “But he knows you’re riding today?”

  “He’s helping the O’Neils today—they’re our neighbors. But Miss Greta knows I’m here.”

  “Your housekeeper, right?”

  “Yeah.” She pointed to the thin mat on the floor. “What’s that?”

  “My exercise mat. I was working out when you got here.”

  “Why don’t you just take a walk?” The confused crease between her brows made Abigail laugh.

  “Good point. Guess I’m just used to doing it the city way. Plus I’d probably get lost.”

  “You could go with me and Destiny if you want. I don’t have to be home for forty-five minutes.”

  “It would give us a chance to talk about your bike.” And maybe it wasn’t a bad idea to stay with the girl awhile. At least Abigail would know she was safe.

  “I was hoping you’d say that.”

  After changing into a pair of jeans and a clean T-shirt, Abigail joined Maddy outside where she was stroking Destiny’s nose.

  Abigail reached out to touch the mane, wondering at the texture, but drew back at the last moment, suddenly aware of the horse’s size. “Will he mind?”

  Maddy shook her head. “Most horses like people. You just have to be careful not to sneak up on them. That might earn you a good, hard kick.”

  “Duly noted.” Abigail touched the mahogany mane tenuously at first, then ran her fingers through the coarse hair. The horse tossed his head, and Abigail jumped back.

  Maddy laughed. “You really are a city girl.”

  “I’ve never even seen a horse up close.”

  Maddy untied the horse and they started off, Maddy leading Destiny. “I can teach you to ride sometime if you want.”

  “I’ll think about it.” The cool air felt good on Abigail’s heated skin, and her leg muscles were shaky from the intense workout. “Was your dad upset about your bike?”

  “Naw, he doesn’t get upset much. I told him you’d help me find it . . .”

  Abigail noted the uncertainty in her tone. “You bet I will. In fact, I was thinking about it this morning. Why would someone in a town this size steal that bike? Only a girl would want a pink bike with a white basket. If the thief intended to use it, you’d be bound to see it at some point, unless they painted it and removed the basket.”

  “Or sold it somewhere.”

  “Possibly. But if that were the case, there’d probably be other stolen bikes, and the sheriff said there hadn’t been any.”

  Abigail questioned Maddy about her friends at school. She wasn’t so far removed from childhood that she didn’t remember how petty girls could be.

  The green hills rolled out before them, and Maddy turned off the gravel road, heading up one of them. The spongy ground gave beneath Abigail’s tennis shoes. Their feet swished through the grass, and Destiny’s saddle creaked and clicked with his movements.

  “. . . So I guess there are two girls at school who really don’t like me,” Maddy was saying. “I don’t like them much either, but Miss Greta says I have to love everyone because God tells us to—even if they’re stinkers.”

  Abigail tugged her ponytail. “They’re probably just jealous.”

  Maddy gave a rueful laugh. “Of what?”

  “Your beautiful hair and twinkling green eyes.”

  Maddy turned a smile on Abigail that warmed her heart, reminding her that the girl didn’t have a mother to tell her such things. She wondered about Maddy’s relationship with her dad. Even as the thought crossed her mind, her foot caught on something and she stumbled. “Whoops.”

  Maddy reached out, but Abigail had already recovered.

  “The ground’s pretty uneven,” Maddy said.

  “I should probably stick to sidewalks.”

  “Good luck with that.”

  They walked in silence for a few minutes, Abigail taking care with her steps.

  “So, do you think Haley or Olivia might’ve taken my bike just to be mean?”

  “Did they know what it looked like?”

  Maddy rolled her eyes. “Everybody ’round here knows everything about everybody.”

  “Well, I wouldn’t count it out.” Abigail checked her watch. Going on five. “You know where they live? Maybe we could drive by their houses. We could do it now.”

  “I have a bunch of chores, and Greta said to be home by supper.”

  “Oh, that’s right. Well, tomorrow then?”

  “Okay. What should I say at school tomorrow?”

  “Don’t even mention your bike.” Last thing they needed was a bunch of drama. “If someone from school took it, we don’t want them aware we’re looking for it.”

  Maddy shrugged. “Okay.”

  They reached the hill’s crest and stopped. Abigail scanned the miles of green hills that stretched into distant mountains. “It’s so vast. So beautiful.”

  “I thought you’d like the view. It’s my favorite. That’s the Absaroka Range, and the river down there is the Yellowstone.”

  Abigail stared in silence for a moment, taking in the colors and textures of the land. It looked so much like a painting she wanted to reach out and touch it. Behind her, Destiny whinnied. Abigail checked her watch. “It’s getting close to suppertime.”

  “Yeah, I should get back. You want me to take you back to Miss Lucy’s?”

  “I think I can find my way.” They turned and headed toward the gravel drive.

  When they were halfway down the hill, Maddy darted a shy look at Abigail. “Thanks for helping with my bike.”

  She was only doing what was second nature. First nature really. “You bet,” she said.

  Wade was doing the bills when Maddy entered the office. In her pink pj’s with her hair hanging in wet strings, she looked like the little girl he rarely got a glimpse of these days.

  “Aren’t you supposed to be in bed, squirt?”

  “Do I have to go to school tomorrow?”

  He planted his elbows on top of the bills. “Maddy.”

  “We’ll only clean out our desks. We never do anything the last couple days.”

  “Enjoy your friends—you won’t see much of them till fall. Besides, there’s been a glitch with the nanny. Wouldn’t be anyone here to watch you and won’t be all summer if I don’t do some quick thinking.”

  “I don’t need a nanny.”

  Wade rubbed his wrist where a rope had burned through the skin when he heeled an ornery calf the day before. “Answer’s no, Maddy. To both.” He still had two days. He’d asked his neighbors and folks from church, b
ut their teenaged daughters had already lined up summer jobs.

  He might have to resort to an agency. Man, was he that desperate? Could he trust Maddy to a stranger? There was little time to check references. At least an agency would’ve done that already. “I’ll put a call in to an agency in the morning. In the meantime—”

  “No, Dad. I’ll wind up with some starchy old lady who makes me stay inside all day. Let me try the summer on my own. Please? I’ll be good.” She clasped her hands, begging.

  If he’d learned anything about fatherhood, it was that doing the right thing sometimes made you unpopular. “Sorry, Maddy. Mind’s made up.”

  His daughter dropped her hands, and her shoulders gave in to gravity.

  “If I’d known a few weeks ago, maybe I could’ve found someone around here. But everyone either has a job or doesn’t want—”

  Maddy straightened. “Abigail can be my nanny!”

  “Abigail . . .”

  “Miss Lucy’s niece. Remember, I told you about her, how she’s helping me find my bike, and she’s here for the whole summer and doesn’t have a job!”

  “Maybe she doesn’t want a job.” If she was Miss Lucy’s niece, she was probably old enough to be retired, which explained the extended visit.

  “It’s worth a try, Dad. I could ask her tomorrow after school ’cause she’s helping me with my bike again. Besides, she really likes me.”

  He couldn’t help but smile at her confidence. He saw little enough of that. Maybe he should talk to the niece first, or at least ask Lucy about her. If Lucy thought she’d be interested in a summer job, he’d talk to her then. “You can mention it to her. Mention. I don’t want her to feel obliged.”

  Maddy’s smile was stunning, and the sparkle in her eyes reminded him of Lizzie in the early years. “I’ll be very subtle.”

  He’d seen his daughter in action when she wanted something. Miss Lucy’s niece wouldn’t know what hit her.

  5

  That’s where she lives.” Maddy pointed down a long dirt lane.

  They’d already tried Haley’s house in town; now they were investigating Olivia’s.

  The one-story house looked miniscule in front of the mountains. Abigail was sure it was as small as Aunt Lucy’s cabin.

  She slowed the VW bug and turned down the lane. Clumps of grass dotted the dirt drive, and when they neared the house, she saw no one had gotten around to mowing in a while. Or painting. The flower bed spawned nothing but hearty weeds, and there were no cars in the drive. No bicycles either.

  Abigail eased the car along the side of the property, and a small shed came into view. Nothing there either.

  “Doesn’t look like they’re home,” Maddy said.

  “Hardly looks like anyone lives here. You sure this is her house?”

  “I’m sure. We were kinda friends in the third grade, and I came over a couple times. She lives here with her mom.”

  Abigail wondered what had become of Olivia’s father. She was starting to feel sorry for the family. “Well, that’s about all we can do for now. My aunt’s closing up shop, and I need to give her a ride home—seeing as how this is her car and all.”

  She smiled at Maddy, but the girl was looking out the window, forlorn.

  Abigail put the car in drive and headed back up the road. “Don’t worry, Maddy, I won’t give up. I’ll call the sheriff again tomorrow and see if he’s learned anything. And I called a used bike shop in Bozeman today. They haven’t seen your bike, but they said they’ll keep an eye out. Someone always knows something. It’s just a matter of finding the right person. So cheer up, okay?”

  Maddy worked her lip. “I actually wasn’t thinking about my bike. I mean, I’m worried about it and everything, but there’s something else.”

  “What is it?”

  “I have to ask something, and I don’t know how to say it.”

  “Just ask.”

  “Dad said I should be subtle.”

  Now Abigail was curious. “I’m more a fan of blunt, actually.”

  Maddy tossed her a relieved smile. “Oh, good. Blunt is my specialty.”

  Abigail laughed as she turned onto Main Street. “Out with it then.”

  “Would you be my nanny for the summer?” The words spilled out like a tipped carton of milk. “My dad says I have to have one, and the one he hired quit before she even started, and now he’s going to call some agency, and I just know I’ll get stuck with a dud for the whole summer!”

  Her nanny? Abigail tossed the idea around a little, trying it on for size. It wasn’t like she had other things to do. In fact, she’d been bored silly with her aunt working all day—and it wasn’t like Aunt Lucy needed her at the shop. Abigail would still be close enough to check on her.

  “You totally don’t have to say yes. I mean, you’ve already been so nice to me.”

  Maddy had kind of grown on Abigail in a short time. She felt a kinship with the girl, having lost a parent herself. Plus, didn’t Aunt Lucy say something about the main house having Internet? She’d be able to do research in her spare time without having to find a way into town.

  “Are you mad?” Maddy asked.

  Abigail pulled up to the curb in front of the Doll House and put the car in park. “No, honey, not at all. I was thinking it through. Does your nanny stay at the house with you?”

  “Yeah. Dad works late a lot, and sometimes things happen and he has to be in the barn all night.”

  “Your dad is okay with you asking me?”

  Maddy nodded. “He said I could. He’ll want to meet you and ask you questions and stuff. You could come over tonight after he’s done working. If you want to, that is.”

  Did she? Abigail envisioned a summer with Maddy, with research opportunity at her fingertips, maybe even a soft bed instead of her aunt’s lumpy, too-short sofa.

  She turned to Maddy, smiling. “Actually, I think I do.”

  Maddy punched a fist in the air. “Yes!”

  Abigail crossed her legs, adjusting the white crepe skirt over her knees while she waited for Maddy to return with a photo album. She was supposed to be meeting with the girl’s dad, but his work was keeping him late. Abigail knew all about that.

  Her mom would have a conniption if she took this job. And Reagan wouldn’t be too thrilled either. Abigail was pretty sure this wasn’t what her sister had in mind when she prescribed rest and relaxation. Still, being at the ranch with Maddy would be restful compared to her job in Chicago.

  She’d already met Greta, and the smells drifting from the kitchen were reason enough to take the job as Maddy’s nanny. Aunt Lucy’s culinary skills were limited to canned food, and Abigail never went far beyond macaroni and cheese and hot dogs.

  Maddy entered the room with a thick leather-bound album and plunked it on her lap. She opened the cover and ran her small hand over the glossy page. “These were taken at the Fourth of July festival. It’s so much fun. There’s a parade and games and fireworks and lots and lots of food.”

  “Looks like a good time.”

  “You’ll still be here in July.”

  “Sure will. Till the end of August, actually.”

  “Maybe we can go together. I can show you around.”

  “Sounds like fun.”

  As Maddy flipped the page, a male voice sounded in the kitchen.

  “Dad’s home. He’ll need to clean up, then he’ll be right in. That’s him right there.” Maddy pointed at the photo of a man somewhere in his thirties.

  He was very attractive. In the photo he’d turned to look at the camera with a guarded grin. He wore a brown cowboy hat low over his eyes. Abigail recalled Aunt Lucy’s declaration about Wade being named Sexiest Man Alive. The crazy notion didn’t seem so crazy suddenly.

  “This is my dad with one of his trophy buckles—he was the World All-Around Champion more times than anyone else.”

  “No kidding.” The photo showed a younger man, smiling wide, holding up his trophy buckle on a stage. In his Western shirt a
nd fitted jeans, Wade Ryan was any woman’s definition of a total hunk.

  Wade hung his hat on the peg and pulled off his boots, caked with dirt from an afternoon spent cleaning the corrals.

  “I know, I’m late,” he said before Greta could get on him.

  “Supper’s keeping warm in the oven, and your daughter’s entertaining your applicant in the living room.”

  “She upset?”

  “Not as I can tell.” Greta grabbed her purse from the low bench by the door, then slipped into her sweater and tied the belt around her thick middle.

  The smells wafting from the oven set a low grumble in his belly. “Thanks, Greta.”

  “See you tomorrow.”

  “ ’Night.”

  The screen clacked quietly into place. In the sudden silence of Greta’s departure, Wade heard his daughter’s voice.

  He went to the sink, rolled up his sleeves, and washed the dirt and grime off his hands and forearms. Snagging a towel probably not meant for hands, he followed the sound of Maddy’s voice to the living room doorway, stopping shy of the threshold.

  Around the corner, on the couch, he could see the bottom half of them, his daughter’s denims and the woman’s white skirt and sandals.

  Maddy was jawing about some rodeo and his finish. A lifetime ago.

  “Here he is in the newspaper after he won that All-Around,” Maddy was saying.

  “You must be very proud.” The woman had a soft, soothing lilt to her voice.

  “Greta says he’s the most eligible bachelor in all Montana. But he doesn’t date.”

  Enough of that. Wade cleared his throat and stepped into the room, and Maddy looked up from the photo album.

  “You’re late, Dad.”

  His eyes drifted to the woman beside his daughter. Miss Lucy’s niece, my foot. The woman couldn’t be a day past twenty-five. She had flawless skin and large eyes of questionable color.

  When she stood, her honey-colored hair swung over her shoulders. The top of her head reached his lips, which made her tall by anyone’s standards.