Montana Hearts

by Darlene Panzera

  Gavin signaled for his group to move on, and as he rode his horse past her, he smirked, and taunted softly so only she could hear, “You don’t have what it takes to keep him.”

  Alicia blew Jace a farewell kiss off her hand and with a sinking feeling Delaney feared the rival outfitter might be right.

  Chapter Six

  “ONKLE JACE SAID Rio is a rodeo horse!” Meghan squealed, twirling around the bathroom in her palomino-­print dress. She’d wanted to wear a dress because she’d seen Delaney wear a dress at dinner the night before, and had also seen how much Jace had liked it.

  “Jace is not your uncle,” Delaney corrected.

  Meghan stopped twirling, came over to look in the mirror Delaney was using to put on her makeup, and frowned. “He gives high fives and piggyback rides like Onkle Uke.”

  Yes, she’d seen him do that the evening before when everyone was walking out to toast marshmallows around the bonfire. He’d pretended he was a horse and Meghan had giggled more that night than she had in a long time.

  “Uncle Luke,” Delaney corrected, trying to help her with her speech. “And just because Jace plays with you doesn’t mean he’s your uncle. Jace is not related to us. He’s not family.”

  Meghan gave her a dubious look. “He’s my friend?”

  “Not even that.”

  “Who is he?” Meghan asked, looking confused.

  Delaney set her tube of lipstick down on the sink. “Just a cowboy.”

  Meghan smiled. “Cowboy Jace?”

  “Yes.” Cowboy Jace. That’s all he would ever be to both of them.

  Delaney glanced in the mirror and smacked her lips together. She had been unable stop her father and brother from taking Jace out on a hunt, even though she’d tried telling them they should all be in church this fine Sunday morning instead of out in the woods killing things.

  She only hoped plan B had more success.

  JACE FOLLOWED JED and Luke Collins on horseback along the trail between their ranch and the property next door to their right. Sure enough, the new outfitter had brought in a mobile trailer unit to act as a temporary office, and already had hunters lining up for business. The owner, Isaac Woolly, who sported a white woolly beard to match his name, introduced himself as they rode by.

  “Odd time of year to be settin’ up, don’t you think?” Jed asked, coming to a stop beside Isaac. “In a few more weeks the snows will arrive and you’ll need a plow to get anyone in or out.”

  Isaac shook his head. “We’ve got a plow ready to go and next week we’re bringing in snowmobiles. Woolly Outfitters is going to be a year-­round outfitting facility.”

  “Maybe we should look into getting some snowmobiles,” Luke said under his breath as they continued riding. “Collins Country Cabins could be a year-­round facility, too.”

  “Do you know how much those things cost?” Jed argued. Then he glanced back at Jace and his scowl changed into a friendly grin. Too friendly as he asked, “What do you think, Jace? Would you recommend we stay open, too? Do you think that would attract more customers?”

  “Not with subzero temperatures and two other outfitters nearby,” Jace said truthfully. “You’d spend more money in fuel for heat and gas for the vehicles than you’d make on cabin rentals. A few adventurous souls might come out, but most ­people fly south for warmer vacations during the winter months.”

  “Exactly what I thought,” Jed agreed.

  “Unless we got ourselves some good advertising with a good endorsement,” Luke suggested, and he rode on ahead of his father, giving the older man a quick grin along the way.

  Jace chuckled, knowing it was his endorsement they were after, just like so many others over the years who wanted him to endorse this product or that. He found the whole fame thing a nuisance. Only his mother, sister, and his friend Buck seemed to like him for who he really was these days.

  Next they passed the property belonging to Gavin McKinley, and he, too, had hunters lined up in front of his large western-­style lodge wearing their orange caps and vests, and looking at each other’s newfangled bows.

  Back at the ranch that morning, Jed had offered him a compound bow, but Jace pulled his own sixty-­pound recurve bow and quiver full of thirty-­inch broad-­tip arrows out of the back of his truck. Both Jed and Luke had given him a look of disbelief as if he were crazy. Most every hunter used a compound bow for its arrow speed and accuracy, but those weren’t qualities Jace was looking for today.

  “Well,” Luke had said, still looking skeptical, “there are a few guys out there who claim using a recurve allows them to draw back their arrow faster.”

  Not that Jace intended to do that either.

  Farther down the trail, right before it branched off into state forest, Jed pointed to a cattle ranch with several sheds, a stable, and a small, single-­story house. “That’s the Triple T ranch owned by the Tanners.”

  Jace studied the property. “I didn’t realize they were so close.”

  “About twenty minutes if you use the road and drive around,” Luke informed him. “But Ryan usually takes the trail and can ride his horse over in about ten.”

  “This trail connects all four properties to state forest land?” Jace asked as they turned into the woods.

  “Don’t forget Sammy Jo’s property on the other side of us,” Luke added. “We all grew up riding these trails together and know every inch. But there is one place in particular we’d like to show you, a place where Dad and I always find the best deer.”

  “I’m sorry Delaney didn’t bring you out here yesterday,” Jed said as the wooded trail circled an open meadow. “She’s a little confused right now. Her divorce messed her up some and she doesn’t know what a man wants. She doesn’t realize sometimes a guy needs to get into the backcountry and hunt.”

  “What’s that over there?” Jace said, pointing.

  It looked like a bright blue shirt peeking out from beneath a bush. He wouldn’t have known what it was except for the sleeve. Only a keen eye could have spotted it, but he’d always had the vision of a hawk. A pink pair of pants lay in the brush a few yards ahead. Child-­sized. He scanned the trail circling the meadow and spotted several other articles of clothing of various colors and sizes wadded up and tucked beside logs, piled on rocks, and hanging from tree limbs. It looked as if someone had cleaned out their closet. Who would do that? Litter the land with clothes?

  Now that he’d pointed them out, Jed and Luke saw them as well, and from the look they gave each other it was clear they also knew who the items belonged to.

  “We won’t find any deer around here,” Jed barked, his voice gruff. “Not with the human scent on all these clothes stinking up the place. We’ll take you to a different spot.”

  Jace nodded and followed them along the outside rim of the forest. Once they reached their location of choice, Luke tied the horses to a high hitch line between two trees and Jed took Jace up toward an outcropping of rock with a view of the wispy golden fields below.

  “The deer come out here to feed on some of the leftover wheat,” Jed told him, and sure enough, about an hour later, a big ole six-­point buck came into view. Jed moved aside, giving him room, and said, “He’s all yours.”

  Jace had agreed to come, hoping he could talk to them about the poachers in the area, but hadn’t discovered anything. He wasn’t in the mood to hunt. Hadn’t intended to hunt. That’s the real reason he’d brought along the recurve instead of the compound bow. But Jed put the pressure on by issuing instructions like a drill sergeant and looked at him expectedly as if he couldn’t wait to see him take the shot, making him once again a hard man to refuse.

  Raising his bow, Jace drew out an arrow, placed it along the notched rest, drew back the string, and was ready to let the arrow fly when all of the sudden the buck reminded him of another deer. The young doe he’d seen Delaney release from her secret
animal shelter hidden in the grove of trees along the edge of the Collins property.

  He also remembered Meghan saying the dog liked hamburgers, too—­right after Delaney tried to convince him she’d eaten hers in about two seconds flat. It occurred to him he’d never seen her eat meat. The night before, she’d only dished salad onto her plate. Geez, Delaney was probably a vegetarian!

  Then there was the horrified look on her face when he’d shown up for the trail ride—­with her father’s gun and the way she’d shoved the camera in his hands and gushed about the precious wildlife. And the image of all the clothes, filled with human scent, leaped forward with vivid clarity. The pink child-­sized pants. Obviously, they’d been laid there on purpose by Delaney.

  She didn’t want him to hunt for sport.

  Jace slid his aim to the left and released the arrow just short of the buck’s hind end, effectively scaring the animal off into the trees so Jed wouldn’t try a shot with his own bow.

  “Looks like I missed,” Jace said, inserting a note of disbelief into his tone. Then he turned and leveled his gaze on Jed, who no doubt guessed the truth, and a silent understanding passed between them. Dropping his bow down to his side, Jace added, “I think it’s best we don’t tell Delaney about this.”

  Jed almost looked relieved. “No,” he agreed. “We won’t tell Delaney.”

  Upon their return, Jace scanned the ­people milling about the ranch but there was no sign of Delaney. She was probably hiding, unable to bear the sight of him bringing in a fresh kill. He wanted to tell her she needn’t worry, but he caught sight of Meghan playing with Boots, the black-­and-­white puppy, and walked over to her first.

  “Hi, Cowboy Jace,” Meghan greeted, pushing the puppy off her lap so she could stand up to give him a high five with a slap of her hand. “I have to call you Cowboy Jace because Mommy said you aren’t my onkle or my friend.”

  “She did, did she?” Jace asked, and scooped the toddler up into his arms. “Who do you think is a friend?”

  Meghan reached up and pulled the tip of his hat down over his face. “Someone who plays with me.”

  Pushing his hat back up on his head, Jace grinned. “Don’t I do that?”

  Meghan giggled. “Yeah. You’re my friend.”

  “We’ll be secret friends,” he said, setting her back down. “But you can still call me Cowboy Jace.”

  “Okay,” Meghan agreed, and smiled up at him with those incredible blue eyes she’d inherited from her mother. “Maybe if you play with Mommy, you can be her secret friend, too.”

  Jace laughed. “Yeah, maybe. Do you know where I can find her?”

  “She’s right here,” a voice said from behind.

  Jace spun around and watched her gaze search the area around him. “No luck today?” she asked, obviously referring to his hunt.

  “Not until now,” Jace said, taking her hand. “I guess I’m only lucky when I get to spend time with you.”

  DELANEY DIDN’T KNOW what to make of Jace’s bold flirtatious statements. No one had ever been so persistent in pursuing her before. She didn’t know if he really meant it, or if he was teasing, or if it was a game he played to see how uncomfortable he could make her. Because whenever he said she was beautiful, or that he wanted to get to know her better, or that he was lucky to spend time with her, she didn’t know what to say, how to act, or how to even breathe.

  She blushed on a regular basis now. All Jace had to do was look at her and heat would shoot up into her cheeks, then cascade over the rest of her, making her feel all warm and bubbly inside.

  But as long as his fascination with her kept him from hunting, that was all that mattered. She’d been incredibly relieved when he’d come back empty-­handed after his trip out to the woods with her father and brother. Emptying her laundry basket to scare off the wildlife with both her and Meghan’s scent had been a desperate, spur of the moment decision. Apparently it worked. For a while anyway. Coming up with new strategies to keep Jace away from the animals was a constant struggle.

  He’d only been back a short time when Alicia, the sexy blond from Fox Creek Outfitters, rode her horse down the property line trail. Cupping her hand around her mouth, the woman called out, “Care to come on a trail ride with me this afternoon?”

  Delaney didn’t think she’d ever been bold enough to cut anyone off in midsentence before, but when Jace started to reply, she said, “He can’t.”

  Just two words, yet those two words had been firm and powerful, and got the job done.

  Jace glanced over at her with surprise, and if he had wanted to go with the blond, he could have. But he didn’t. He shook his head and gave Alicia an apologetic look. “Sorry, not today. I promised to give Delaney a lesson in archery. Isn’t that right, Del?”

  He’d called her by the shortened nickname only her family used. But she wasn’t going to correct him in front of Alicia. She had bigger concerns than what name he called her at the moment. “I—­I, uh, yes. I can’t wait,” she said, nodding her head vigorously. “And I’d be . . . very upset if you . . . canceled on me.”

  Alicia hesitated for a split second, then licked her lips and gave Jace a slow, ever-­widening smile. “Seems like I’ll have to take a number and get in line. Let me know when it’s my turn, cowboy.”

  If Delaney had her way, that woman would never get her turn. Not because of Alicia’s extreme sex appeal, or because she couldn’t stand the thought of Jace turning his attention on someone else, but because . . . well, because the woman worked for Fox Creek Outfitters. She was one of Gavin McKinley’s minions, sent to steal their endorsement. Yes. No doubt about it. That was the reason she didn’t want Jace to go off with Alicia, the only reason. After all, what other reason could there possibly be?

  She continued to glare at the woman until she rode out of sight, then realized Jace had said something. He waved a hand in front of her face to get her attention and she did a double take. “I’m sorry, what did you say?”

  He laughed. “I have to go into town for about three hours, then I’ll be back for your archery lesson.”

  “Three hours,” Delaney repeated. “Right. I’ll see you then.” Three hours happened to be the perfect amount of time for her to ride out to the woods and recollect her clothes.

  Later that afternoon, Bree came out to the stable to let her know Jace had returned, but when she went to meet him, Delaney wasn’t expecting to have to make her way through a crowd.

  “Ready for your lesson?” Jace asked, giving her a mischievous grin.

  She glanced at the row of archers lined up across their open field, shooting arrows at ten equally spaced round targets pinned to stacked hay bales. “What’s all this?”

  Jace shrugged. “While I was in town I thought I’d pick up some archery supplies.”

  Delaney stared at the assortment of bows, arrows, quivers, leather armguards, and targets their guests were using and tried to calculate the cost. She gave up after only adding the first few numbers. “You must have spent a fortune.”

  “Not that much,” Jace assured her. “The bows aren’t meant for anything other than target practice and the arrows have blunt plastic tips at the end. Except for Meghan’s. The ends of her arrows have big suction cups so they’ll stick to the special children’s target I bought for her and Cody.”

  “You even bought the kids a set?” Delaney glanced toward her daughter, who was having trouble holding on to all her arrows, but still having the time of her life. As were the guests who had rented cabins 6 through 8.

  She’d been worried about that group. They’d arrived a few days before, and consisted of three different families, but they’d been listlessly hanging around the ranch as if they had nothing interesting to do. Now they were all laughing and smiling like a completely different set of ­people.

  “Great idea for a fun afternoon,” the father of one family said. “I
haven’t shot a bow in years.”

  “I haven’t shot one ever,” said his wife.

  “Can we take them home?” asked one of the teenagers with them.

  Jace shook his head. “Sorry, but they belong to Collins Country Cabins. We need to keep them here for our other guests.”

  Delaney noticed he said “our,” as if he were a part of her family, but didn’t draw attention to it. She was just thankful he’d helped give their guests a good time. Because if they had a good time, chances were they’d tell all their friends and next year Collins Country Cabins might have even more bookings than this one. Which was exactly what her family needed.

  “If you give the receipt to Bree,” Delaney told him, “I’m sure she can write you a check to reimburse you.”

  Jace frowned. “This is a gift.”

  “Did you see that?” Cody called over to them, his eyes lit with excitement. “I just got a bull’s-­eye!”

  “Great job,” Jace called over to him, then he glanced at Delaney’s daughter. “Meghan, do you need help?”

  She threw down the bow and walked up to the target and stuck her suction-­tipped plastic arrow onto the special laminated circle that had come with her play set. Then she turned around, looked at them, and said proudly, “I got a bull’s-­eye, too.”

  Delaney laughed and then locked gazes with Jace. Her ex never played with Meghan as much as he did. Not ever. “Think you’ll ever want kids one day?”

  Jace nodded toward Meghan. “If they’re like her, then sure. Although my mother would faint from shock if she heard me say that.”

  “Doesn’t she think you’ll ever settle down?”

  Jace grinned. “My mother hopes.”

  A few more ­people from the ranch came out to watch and other families wanted to take their turns, which started a friendly competition between them.