Willow strolled the great room, looking at photographs. She touched an old saddle and glanced at Austin.
Heath grinned. “That’s Pop’s old saddle. Dad’s is up on the bannister. You die, your saddle will get to come inside the house too.”
Austin laughed. Was his old saddle still in the barn? “You’ve really transformed this place. I can hardly believe it.” How had Heath moved past their experiences growing up in this house?
“I’ve worked day and night to renovate the place.” Heath led them to the kitchen. “There’s a roast cooking in the Crock-Pot.”
“Smells good,” Willow said. “We don’t want to interrupt if you have work to do.”
“I’m usually hands-on with guests most days. Everyone left this morning with our ten guests to head up to the backcountry camp in the wilderness area. They’ll be there for two nights. I’m staying here this time. Good thing, too, or I would have missed your call. It’ll be suppertime soon. You’ll join me, won’t you?”
How could they refuse? Austin looked to Willow for that answer.
Her warm and friendly smile said it all. “We’d love to.”
“I’m a little leery of your pot roast. I don’t remember you being any good at cooking.”
Heath’s laugh made Austin smile. Relaxed him. Coming here had been the right thing to do. He had the urge to take Willow’s hand and squeeze it. She’d encouraged him to come to the ranch when he’d wavered.
“I guess you’ll just have to take a chance.” Heath opened the Crock-Pot and poked around inside. “I think it’s about done. I didn’t eat lunch and I’m hungry. Mind if we eat a little early?”
“Of course not,” Austin said.
“Is there anything I can do to help?” Willow walked around the counter. “I’d be happy to set the table.”
“Thank you, but no. I want you to make yourselves at home. You’re my guests here. Have a seat at the table. Be warned it won’t be anything fancy.”
Austin studied his brother as he prepared the roast and arranged potatoes and carrots on a platter. Gathered the dishes and glasses and offered them drinks. Who was this guy, anyway?
Sure, Austin had looked up to him growing up. Heath had protected Austin any number of times against their father’s brutality, then he’d gone into the army and become a Green Beret. De opressor liber. The Green Beret motto that meant to free the oppressed. That totally fit Heath, who’d protected Austin.
Now he’d turned into a businessman, somehow freeing their dilapidated old ranch house and property from the shackles of the past and turning it into a vibrant, moneymaking ranch. Heath had renovated himself along with the house.
The table set, Heath took a seat and joined Willow and Austin. “Now let’s say grace.”
He bowed his head and heartfelt words of thanks escaped his lips. “Amen.”
With the food shared and plated, Austin slowly lifted the first forkful to his mouth. It smelled good enough. Both Heath and Willow looked on, waiting for his reaction.
He took a bite and chewed. Nodded his approval. “It’ll pass.”
“Oh, come on,” Willow said. “I’m sure it’s as wonderful as it smells.”
She took a bite and smiled. When she finished chewing, she said, “My compliments to the chef.”
“It’s elk.”
Willow’s eyes widened and she stopped chewing. Austin burst out laughing.
“It’s good, bro.”
She appeared to accept that she’d just eaten elk, angling her head.
“I’ve learned a few skills over the years,” Heath said around a mouthful of roast. “Some that would even surprise my brothers. But I must confess, I didn’t make the roast. I hired a woman I’ve adopted as my grandmother—Evelyn Miller. She takes care of things here in the house. Cooks and cleans and helps prepare meals for the guests too. I pay her, plus she has her own room in the house. I’d introduce you, but her back’s been bothering her. Her son’s in town to take her to the doctor, then downstate to visit family. She’ll be back tomorrow. That’s why I stayed behind today.”
“When was the last time you talked to Liam?”
That question might have been the wrong one. Heath pushed his plate away and frowned. “I called him and left a message the same day I called you. Haven’t heard back. I know he works undercover. He’ll call when he comes up for air. Maybe he’ll surprise me like you did and just show up in town.”
Austin nodded his understanding. He cast the ridiculous image of a happy reunion for all three of them together here at the ranch out of his mind and steered the conversation to the Emerald M Ranch. “Tell me what all you’ve done.”
“Why don’t I show you? In fact . . .” Heath hesitated, then directed his next words at Willow. “I have a proposition. Granted, you’re here on business, but why not stay here at the house?”
“No, I couldn’t. That would be too much trouble.” Willow eyed Austin, pleading for help.
Admittedly, that might be too much for Austin too. He needed to catch his breath before he stayed here in the home where he grew up. Though Austin said nothing, Heath appeared to understand his hesitation.
“All right then. How about this? I have a couple of cabins available. They’re newly built and not rented out until next week. You could stay there if you don’t want to stay here in the house.”
“Oh, we couldn’t put you out like that,” Willow said. “Besides, we’d have to pay for our room anyway since we’d be canceling so late.”
“It’s no trouble at all. Where’re you staying?”
“Cowboy Village.”
“I know the owner personally and can have a word with her so you’ll get off without a hitch. They’ll have that room rented within the hour this time of year. Just give me the word.”
Austin gauged Willow’s reaction. Was Heath putting too much pressure on her? Did she want to stay? Behind her long dark lashes, her hazel eyes held the same question for Austin.
He slowly nodded, answering for her. “Okay, but I insist on paying the going rate for renting your cabins.”
Of course he had to offer, even knowing Heath would refuse.
“Absolutely not.”
Throughout the rest of their conversation, Austin watched Willow as much as he watched Heath. She glanced between Heath and himself as they ate, admiration shining in her eyes for his brother. A sliver of jealousy found its way into Austin’s heart, but not because of Willow. Heath had obviously dealt with the troubles of their past, while Austin still struggled.
How had he let go and moved on?
Chapter twenty-five
THURSDAY, 6:09 P.M.
HOBACK COUNTY
Charlie was on a mission.
“Oh, come on, Bronc.” The clunker’s shocks protested as she steered down the bumpy logging road through the thick pine forest, crossing over the Bridger County line into Hoback County. Another risky move on her part. But she needed to search the old ranch house she’d shared with Momma. The house had been sitting empty for two months since Momma was murdered in cold blood right in front of her.
If she hurried, she might still be able to get to the house and search for answers before it got too dark.
Not like she hadn’t tried before. But she had to be careful. Couldn’t stay too long or let anyone see her coming or going. He could still be watching and waiting for her—the man who killed Momma wanted to kill Charlie too.
Why, she didn’t know. She wanted to find out but on her own terms. Not begging for mercy at the wrong end of a gun. She was determined to find out and hoped to come out on top and alive once she did. She turned onto a two-lane road and headed in the opposite direction of the cabin where she’d hidden in the mountains.
She’d lost track of time when she’d stayed too long training the horses at the ranch—a good, solid job at which nobody had to see her. She’d been riding Amber and gotten lost in her dreams of a life she wanted to live. The job—which her friend Mack had given her—wasn’t abo
ut the money, but about the freedom to live out in the open and be herself without the fear that someone would find and kill her.
That’s why she was on a mission. She suspected she knew the killer, but she had to prove it. There were only so many hours in the day.
She needed to get back into the house and search again. The bills hadn’t been paid, so the electricity would be turned off by now. Who knew what manner of vermin had taken up residence in an empty house sitting in a field in the wilds of Wyoming. Momma had made Charlie a co-owner before she died and, looking back at that now, Charlie had to wonder if Momma hadn’t had some kind of premonition.
Squeezing the steering wheel, she accelerated, causing the Bronc’s loud muffler to rumble. For a moment, she imagined what the truck had looked like in its glory days when some high school motorhead had owned it. She’d gotten it dirt cheap after selling both her and Momma’s cars so she would have something to fall back on until this was over. Then she could get back to her regularly scheduled programming, which meant going back to the University of Wyoming and finishing her last year. But honestly, that was the last thing on her mind. Grief and fear crippled her while at the same time empowering her to see her plan through.
With a killer still out there and her life at risk, she laid low but stayed close.
The house would be just over the next hill. She accelerated. With no electricity and nothing but a flashlight, she’d accomplish little if she didn’t get there before dark.
If only she hadn’t lost track of time.
Poor Rufus. She’d left the German shepherd alone for too long. He’d probably messed on the floor by now. Once she was done searching the house, she’d have to hike the trail back to the off-grid cabin in the dark.
Before she turned off onto the driveway to the house, she glanced in the rearview mirror.
Her palms immediately slicked. What was he doing on this road? Panic took hold. She couldn’t afford to have a panic attack while driving, but they came on stronger and fiercer now than before.
Breathe in. Breathe out.
Focus on the road.
The house—her destination before he appeared behind her—passed by on the right.
She couldn’t possibly stop there now. Not with Clyde Everett on her tail. Momma’s boyfriend. Charlie suspected he had killed her mother. Clyde and her mother had a heated argument that same day. After the funeral, he had followed Charlie. Grabbed her and left bruises. Stalked her. She tried to get a restraining order on Clyde, but Sheriff Silas Everett was not only Clyde’s cousin but also his alibi and claimed he was with him during the time someone had shot and killed her mother. Nobody would believe that someone wanted to kill Charlie too. She could only count on herself for protection, and well, maybe a little help from Mack, who had put her up in that off-grid cabin while she worked this out.
The grille on Clyde’s truck grew bigger in her rearview mirror.
Please let me get home safe tonight. Let him turn down another road.
And just like that, God answered her prayer—the very first time she could recall. The vehicle slowed and turned off the road.
Into the driveway leading up to Charlie’s house.
Chapter twenty-six
THURSDAY, 6:15 P.M.
EMERALD M RANCH
Willow picked her way around the biggest sagebrush she’d ever seen. Heath had given them the long tour of the Emerald M Ranch. He’d parked his shiny blue extended cab truck at the back of the permittee property in the Bridger-Teton National Forest and they’d walked from there.
Now Heath and Austin took turns throwing knives at a fence post that had taken a thousand hits in the past. Maybe knife throwing was a required skill living in Wyoming, though she wasn’t sure what use it would have since they weren’t living in the Wild West anymore. Heath guffawed, and the two men suddenly looked like young boys again, just killing time. Laughing together, they made their way back to Willow. She’d stood a few yards away from the circus act.
“A stay at the Emerald M will get you private cabins. Three meals a day. Canoes, kayaks, hiking, and fishing. Trail rides and a backcountry pack trip into the Gros Ventre Wilderness. Guests can take in views of the Teton and Wind River ranges. The Grayback River headwaters and canyon. And I can manage all this with only a handful of employees.”
“You’ve done well for yourself,” Austin said. “Dad made the right decision giving this to you.”
Heath stared off into the distance, where a significant barn stood next to a corral. A beautiful black horse and an appaloosa grazed in the meadow. He scraped a hand over his jaw and around his neck. “I sold off a few acres to the west, and from that money I was able to improve the property. I would have sold all of it and shared the proceeds with you and Liam, but you wanted no part of it.”
Austin shook his head. “To think, Dad could have done this. Made something of this place. I couldn’t be prouder of you.”
That put a huge grin on Heath’s face. He had dimples like Austin’s. “It’s good to see you. Don’t be such a stranger from now on, okay?”
“Okay.”
While the brothers talked about the horse barn and stables, Willow watched them together. It had been right and good to come here. She’d love to come back and visit the region some time when it had nothing at all to do with finding Jamie before her birth mother died. For the moment she allowed the scenery—the evergreens on the mountain peak lifting their arms to praise their creator, the sky and mountain reflecting in the pristine lake, the beautiful horses grazing in the meadow, woodsy cabins nestled in the trees, and majestic mountain ranges in the distance—to whisk her away to another world, and almost another time.
The place was beautiful and dreamy and wild. She sensed some part of that remained in Austin, no matter that he’d chosen to make his life far from Grayback.
JT’s voice resounded crisply in her thoughts. “Willow, we’re branches on a tree. We grow in many directions, but we’re always connected to our roots, whether we’re aware of it or not.”
As much as the brothers were different, they were the same. The Austin she knew was a professional, a former FBI agent, but here with his brother, he morphed into a man who looked like he belonged in the mountains of Wyoming. Why shouldn’t he? This had been his home, and no matter how much he wanted to escape his past, this setting stayed with him.
She followed the guys down to the barn, leaving the truck behind. Inside the barn, the musty smell of horses and hay met her. Austin stepped up to an old-looking brown horse in a stall and pressed his hand against the horse’s muzzle. “Hey, Jinx. It’s been much too long since I’ve seen you.”
Realization slowly dawned.
Austin . . . he was a cowboy. Her heart rate kicked up a few notches and the barn tilted, but she put her hand against a wooden rail to steady her fluttering nerves. This guy she once thought she might have loved . . . who was he?
As if to underscore her slow comprehension, Heath strolled up behind him and placed a tan cowboy hat on Austin’s dark-haired head. He startled and stepped away from the horse. Put his hand on the hat. “What?”
“It’s yours. Your saddle’s back there too.”
“You didn’t get rid of them?”
“Of course not.”
The two brothers shared a look—they had an understanding between them. No matter what, they were always brothers. Heath would never give up on that and neither would Austin. Willow had to look away. Maybe she shouldn’t be there. They needed time to reconcile on their own about whatever it was that had driven them apart to begin with. But she was here, so she steadied her runaway emotions while she took in the sight of the brothers.
When it came to appearances, Heath was a slightly older version of Austin. And they were very much alike in other ways. On the surface, Heath appeared to put on a good show. No doubt he had his act together. But she had this uncanny sense that he had the same way of holding it all inside—keeping his secrets close.
What
had happened in their family to make them this way?
With darkness approaching, they hiked back to the truck and got in. During the bumpy drive to the cabins, Heath and Austin talked about old times. The breeze filtered through the cracked window, bringing the heavy scent of pines, sagebrush, and horses.
Heath steered up to the first cabin situated twenty-five yards from the next one. “Here you go. These are the two new cabins I mentioned, in addition to the six already on the property. I haven’t named them yet. I could call them ‘The Austin’ and ‘The Willow.’ How about that?”
Willow laughed. “I’m good with that.”
“These are closer together than the other more private cabins in case a group of guests wants to stick close. Take a look and see what you think. I’ll bring up fresh towels and sheets.”
A new thought hit her, bringing along panic. “What about internet?”
His deep laughter could mean only one thing. “Are you serious? People come out here to unplug.”
Shoot. She should have stayed in Jackson. Both Austin and Heath had already climbed from the truck cab, and she slid across the seat and hopped onto the hard ground. She might need to get a pair of boots for this stay.
Heath waited while Austin went ahead to the newly built, rustic-looking cabin. “You can come back to the house if you need internet. I hope that won’t be too inconvenient for you.”
“Of course not. We won’t be staying that long. But I appreciate your hospitality. I’m sure Austin does as well.”
“I hope you stay longer than you planned.”
He hitched his cheek, revealing a half grin and a knowing look in his blue eyes, and she averted her own before he read the truth. One she knew he already suspected. The man was no fool and had seen through them. Sure they were there on business, but they’d had a relationship before—and now they were both pretending they’d moved on and let go. But their past together hovered over them, closing in on them, threatening to drag them down—and deep. Problem was, she wasn’t sure if that was a bad thing.
Never Let Go Page 14
