by Amy Woods
“Ryan, is this—”
She looked up and the smile that spread across his handsome face brought one to hers. He didn’t even have to answer her.
“Do you like it?” he asked. “It’s my family’s land. It would have come to me eventually when my parents pass, but my father said there wasn’t any reason for it not to be used now and, well, it’s perfect for a new campsite, don’t you think?”
She could barely speak, her mouth open wide in awe.
“This expansion is much larger than the museum’s old campground, so it requires a full staff.”
Katie nodded, normal human speech still eluding her. “That means that—”
Ryan smiled. “Yes,” he said. “Everyone from the museum will have a job here if they want one. We’ve already hired on several of your coworkers, and we’re expecting a few more to sign on soon. Plus,” he said, pride filling his features, “we’ve got a full-time nurse now, in case anybody decides to get ahead of themselves and go to a Pumpkin Fest when they should be staying home, resting.”
She gave his arm a little jab, and he grasped her hand, pulling her in close.
“All employees have full benefits packages and we’ve doubled their salaries.”
Katie pushed her face into his shirt, so overwhelmed by joy that she couldn’t do much else.
He tucked a finger under her chin, urging her to look into his eyes. “I did this for you, Katie,” he said. “I know you hate that the museum is gone, but I’m hoping this will make you feel a little better.”
She pulled back a little, so she could get the full view around her.
The campsite was amazing. Blue skies stretched out for miles and there were places for kids to do just about anything fun they could imagine. Horseback riding, swimming, roasting marshmallows over a campfire...it was all there.
Ryan was right. A little part of her would always miss the museum and her old job, but, when she was ready to go back to work, it looked as if there would be plenty to do at the new place for years to come. “Do you like it?” Ryan asked.
“Oh, my gosh, Ryan, it’s perfect. It’s the most amazing thing anyone’s ever done for me!”
His eyes lit up at her compliment and he moved his face toward hers, pulling her close for a long kiss.
“Mom!” Shelby’s shout snapped them apart.
“What, sweetheart?”
“There are horses! So many horses! Black ones and white ones and brown ones...”
Katie laughed and let her daughter lead her away as Ryan picked up Michele’s carriage to follow.
“Go on ahead,” he called out. “I’ll catch up, don’t worry.”
Shelby dragged Katie to the stables by her hand, not slowing down until they ran into Alvin, who looked particularly well and pleased to have such a fine new facility for the animals he loved so much.
After Shelby had met her new equine friends, Ryan took them all over to the dining hall, where the new chef made hamburgers for their family. They went horseback riding and Ryan played a game of basketball with Shelby, while Katie and Michele looked on from the sidelines.
When night fell, they toasted marshmallows over a campfire, making s’mores out of graham crackers and chocolate that the chef provided. Katie delighted in Shelby’s sticky mess and even Michele let out a high-pitched squeal at seeing her big sister’s face covered in chocolate as though she’d grown a beard.
Ryan had brought everything the family needed to spend the night there, and after they’d tucked in Shelby, Katie carried a sleeping Michele out onto the front porch of the cabin they’d chosen and sat next to Ryan in a porch swing.
He patted her thigh and snuggled in close, and Katie remembered the night they’d gone swimming, stark naked in the river at the old campground. She laughed out loud.
“Penny for your thoughts?” Ryan asked.
“I was just thinking about that night we went skinny-dipping.” She gave him a saucy look across the bundle in her arms. “I can’t imagine what I was thinking, almost twenty weeks pregnant with this one. I had no business doing a striptease...outside! I was so nervous!”
Ryan laughed. “Nervous? I never would have guessed, not in a million years. You looked like you knew exactly what you were doing, and—” he leaned in close to whisper in Katie’s ear “—you did a damn fine job.”
Katie pressed her lips together in a straight line to keep from giggling and waking the baby. “Yes, nervous! I didn’t exactly make a habit of shucking my clothes and jumping into rivers with half-naked men, you know.”
Ryan wordlessly took Michele from Katie’s arms, placing a finger over his lips as he gently rocked her before walking back into the cabin.
Katie leaned back in the porch swing and looked up into the night sky. It was a deep, deep blue, almost black, and there were so many stars that they lit up their background almost as well as the sun. The moon was full and pale yellow, and Katie sent up a thank-you to the universe.
Everything she’d ever wanted was in the cabin behind her.
Ryan, Shelby, Michele...a family.
It was almost unbelievable how quickly her life had changed from daunting and filled with uncertainty to what could only be called perfection.
She rested her head against the wooden swing, kicking her toes against the ground to push it back and forth.
Ryan returned a few moments later, his arms empty.
He clasped her fingers with his own and she smiled at the gleam of their new wedding bands as he pulled her from the seat by both hands, leading her away from the building and down to the water.
Katie hesitated and Ryan paused. “I know what you’re thinking,” he said. “But we’re still close enough to see the cabin just fine, and I brought this.” He smiled and pulled their baby monitor’s parent unit from his pocket before squeezing her hand and continuing to walk.
Once they got to the shore, he removed her shirt and shorts slowly, his fingers gliding over her skin, waking up every inch of her body.
“I know you said you don’t make a habit of swimming with naked men,” he said, his cheek pressed against hers, lips close to her ear. “But I’d really like it if you would consider doing just that.”
Katie reached down to grasp the bottom of his shirt, pulling it over his head in a single motion. “I’ll think about it,” she said, teasing as she unbuttoned his jeans.
When they were both undressed, Ryan counted to three and they jumped into the water, gasping and laughing as they recovered from having the wind knocked from their lungs.
As they swam under the starlight, their kids tucked safe inside, Katie knew that, no matter what came, no matter what challenges surfaced for her, Ryan or their children, they had everything they needed to make it through anything.
They were a family.
* * * * *
Keep reading for an excerpt from A MATCH MADE IN MONTANA by Joanna Sims.
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Chapter One
“Man...” Lieutenant Wolf checked his watch. “I can’t believe I got stuck working overtime the day I’m supposed to start my leave.”
“Don’t worry about it...I’ve got this. Why don’t you take off?” Officer Cook asked.
“I appreciate it, but I d
on’t feel right cutting out early. I’ll just give my friends a call and let them know that...” Logan stopped midsentence, his attention was drawn to a silver car speeding their way. “Wait a minute...wait a minute...how fast are they going?”
Logan stepped closer to the side of the road, aimed his radar gun at the car, and clocked it breaking the speed limit by twenty-one miles per hour. Logan acted on pure instinct, sprang into action. He jumped onto the road, jerked his arm to the left, finger pointed at the side of the road.
“Pull over! Now!” Logan yelled at the driver. He stood his ground with his feet planted on the black asphalt until he saw the driver slow down and turn on their signal.
“That’s reckless, right there...” Cook came up beside him.
“Sure is.” Logan nodded.
Logan handed the radar gun off to his partner, grabbed his clipboard and pen, and then headed across the two lanes separating him from the car he had just flagged down. Giving this driver a well-deserved ticket was the last thing he was going to do before he went on leave.
Josephine Brand glanced over her shoulder to see the motorcycle cop striding across the lanes in her direction. She went back to frantically riffling through her glove box to find her most current insurance and registration information. She always kept everything together neatly in a labeled envelope in the glove box on top of the car manual. But...it wasn’t there!
“I can’t believe this is happening...” Josephine shut the glove box and went back to searching in her wallet.
She was already late, and she hated to be late so she made it a point never to be late. But she had gotten into an argument with her boyfriend, Brice, the night before and their disagreement had followed them into the next morning. They rarely fought, but when they did fight, it was usually a knock-down, drag-out affair. She was exhausted from lack of sleep, emotionally drained from fighting, and now she was going to get her first speeding ticket in years.
“Great...” she muttered. “Just great.”
When the second search through her wallet was unfruitful, Josephine let out a quick, frustrated sigh and shoved the wallet back into her purse. License out and ready to be handed over, Josephine rested her head in her hand and waited for her inevitable ticket.
“Afternoon, miss.” Logan had already surveyed the car and the driver as he crossed the street. Nothing looked suspicious, so he intended to treat this like a routine traffic stop.
“Good afternoon, Officer,” she said respectfully and extended her license to him.
Logan positioned himself by the side-view mirror, his body facing oncoming traffic, his feet out of the line of the tires. He accepted her license, clipped it to the clipboard.
“Do you know how fast you were going?”
“No.” Josephine slipped her sunglasses to the top of her head so he could see her eyes. “I’m sorry...I don’t.”
She had been stressed out about being late to the airport, and her mind had still been distracted by the fight with Brice, so she just hadn’t been paying attention.
From the beginning, Logan had noticed that the driver was an attractive woman, much in the same way he had noticed the model of car she was driving. It was his job to notice everything about his stops. And taking inventory of drivers and passengers was routine. So, yes, he noticed that her hair was long and golden-brown, that the hair framed her oval face, and that her frowning lips were naturally pink. But when she lifted her sunglasses and looked up at him, he was temporarily captivated by her stunning aqua-blue eyes.
Annoyed that he had allowed himself to be distracted from his purpose, Logan shifted his weight and refocused his mind on the task at hand. He had a job to do and he needed to get it done.
“The posted speed limit here is thirty-five. I clocked you at fifty-six miles per hour,” Logan said. “Twenty miles over the posted speed limit is considered reckless driving.”
Josephine’s eyes widened, her lips parted slightly. “Reckless driving? No. That can’t be right. I swear to you, Officer, I wasn’t speeding intentionally,” Josephine explained quickly. “I haven’t had a ticket in ten years. When you look me up, you’ll see. I have a perfect driving record...”
She could tell by the lack of expression on the officer’s face that he wasn’t remotely swayed by her explanation. He waited quietly for her to finish, then he asked for her proof of insurance and registration.
“I don’t have them...” Josephine admitted. “I always keep them right there in my glove box...” She gestured to her glove box. “I just received my new registration. I think I must have just forgotten to put the envelope back in the car. But, I promise you, I have a current registration and valid insurance.”
The officer gave one slight nod of his head, wrote something down on his clipboard, then walked to the front of her car to write down her tag number.
“I’ll be back,” he said to her before he headed back to his motorcycle parked in the median.
Josephine hit the steering wheel with the palms of her hands and dropped her head back. Now she was really late, and if this cop wanted to be a real jerk, he could easily cite her with reckless driving! Why couldn’t she flirt her way out of stuff like some of her friends did? She’d never been good at flirting or using her femininity to get her way. She always felt stupid when she tried to flirt and it usually backfired anyway. So she didn’t bother to try anymore.
While she waited for the cop to return, she called her twin sister, Jordan.
“I’m running a little late, Jordy.” She didn’t offer a reason why and she was glad when Jordan didn’t ask.
“Don’t worry about it. The plane can’t leave without you.” Unlike her, Jordan had never been uptight about sticking to a schedule.
Josephine noticed the cop heading her way and tried to rush off the phone. “I’ve got to go, okay? But, I should be there in fifteen or twenty minutes.”
“It’s all good,” Jordan said before they hung up the phone. For once, her sister’s cavalier attitude about being on time came in handy.
“I’m going to have to give you three citations today, Ms. Brand. One for lack of proof of insurance, one for failing to produce your vehicle registration, and one for speeding.” Logan handed her the clipboard and a pen. “I’ll need to get your signature on the bottom of all three citations.”
Josephine felt the blood drain from her face; her heart beat faster. She’d never gotten that many tickets at one time! She had a spotless driving record, and yet this cop couldn’t show her even one little ounce of mercy? All of her internal frustration flowed into her tense fingers; she gripped the pen so tightly that her knuckles turned white. The lines of her signatures were heavy, dark and smudgy.
When she was finished, she slapped the pen onto the top of the first citation, handed the clipboard back to the officer and then slid her sunglasses back down over her eyes. Since she couldn’t, at the moment, look at the officer with the respect she felt his uniform deserved, she didn’t want him to be able to see her eyes at all.
Logan quickly finished the transaction, separated her copy of the citations from his, handed them to her with her driver’s license.
“You’ll note that I didn’t cite you with reckless driving,” the officer said. “And, once you show proof of insurance and current vehicle registration, the other two citations will be dropped.”
Well, that was something at least; he’d dropped the reckless driving charge. Josephine folded the tickets neatly in half and tucked them into her purse. It sounded, to her ears, that the officer sounded almost...sorry...that he’d had to give her that many tickets. But it certainly hadn’t stopped him from throwing the book at her!
When she turned her face back to the officer, she noticed that he had taken his sunglasses off. She was immediately drawn, naturally drawn, to his eyes. They were such a dark, rich brown that they were very nearly as black as his pupils. His gaze was direct, and there was a moment, a flash second, when she thought that she had caught a glimpse of this
man’s soul.
“On a personal note, are you related to Jordan Brand?” the officer surprised her by asking.
“She’s my sister.” Josephine replied stiffly. “You know her?”
“I actually pulled her over downtown about a year ago,” Logan explained.
“I’m not surprised.” Josephine retorted. “Unlike me, Jordy speeds all the time.”
“Well...” Logan hadn’t missed the sarcasm. “All I can say is that I’m sorry that we met under these circumstances and it’s actually ironic because...”
“Look...” Josephine cut him off. Was this guy really going to try to pick her up when he’d just written her three tickets? “Am I free to go? I’m really late...”
“Yes. You’re free to go.” The officer put his sunglasses back on and stepped away from her car. “Drive safely, Ms. Brand.”
* * *
Josephine ran through the private airport, lugging two overstuffed carry-on bags on each shoulder, and dragging one oversize rolling suitcase behind her. She had never been to Montgomery Airport in San Diego before, but she had printed out a map of the facility the night before and highlighted the quickest route to her destination. She had been raised on a Montana ranch, but she had learned how to run in high heels years ago. Up on the ball of the foot and full steam ahead!
“I’m so sorry I’m late!” Josephine called out to her sister, Jordan. Jordan was standing in front of her fiancé’s private jet, occupied with her phone.
Jordan looked up, spotted her, and smiled brightly. Her sister jogged over to greet her with a warm hug.
“Relax, sis!” Jordan said. “You know that nothing’s set in stone for me.”
Jordan slipped one of the bags off her shoulder, and the bag dropped to the ground with a dull thud. “Uh...wow, Jo. What in the heck did you pack?”
“Textbooks.” She would be a third-year law student in the fall and the suggested summer reading list had been pages long. “I hope I brought enough.”
“Trust me, you brought enough,” Jordan said teasingly. “I just hope your bags don’t put us over our weight restriction. We might have to make a tough choice between you and your books.”
