Yellowstone Deception (Yellowstone Romance Series Book 5)

by Peggy L Henderson

  Yellowstone Deception

  Book 5

  Yellowstone Romance Series

  By Peggy L Henderson

  Copyright © 2012 by Peggy Henderson

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination, or used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales, is entirely coincidental.

  All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any means without the prior written consent of the author.

  Acknowledgement

  Carol Spradling, my critique partner who started me on this journey, and one of my dearest friends now. It goes without saying that, without you, this series would never have come to life. You are ruthless with your opinions, fearless in pointing out my mistakes, yet always available when I need a shoulder to cry on when a page seems impossible to complete.

  Shirl Deems, my wonderful beta reader. You give me a no-holds-barred, honest, and up-front opinion from a reader’s perspective on every scene from start to finish. I knew I made the right choice when I asked you to beta read my books.

  Thank you, Ramona Lockwood, for creating the beautiful covers for this series! (http://coversbyramona.blogspot.com)

  The guys and gals who were gracious enough on the Yellowstone Up Close And Personal Forum to give me their input when I posed the question “if you could go back in time 200 years to change something in Yellowstone then that would have a negative impact on the park today, what would it be?” I’m sure I caused some raised eyebrows, but the answers and suggestions were not only entertaining, but also very educational. You all know your Yellowstone inside and out! Thanks to Randall for mentioning a name I had never heard of, which gave me the idea I needed.

  Dedication

  This book is dedicated to all my wonderful readers. I wish I could thank each and every one of you personally. Some of you I’ve gotten to know through interactions on forums, facebook, and from emails you send me. Maggie, Hazel, Joyce, Diane. Just to name a few. Thank you for sticking with me through this series, and giving this new author a chance. I wrote Yellowstone Deception because of the many requests I received for Jana and Dan to have their story.

  Chapter 1

  Jana Evans groaned loudly, and rolled onto her stomach. She pulled the covers up over her head, and buried her face in her pillow. None of her efforts managed to drown out the shrill ring of her cell phone. Reluctantly, she lifted her head and squinted to check the time on her alarm clock. Five-thirty in the morning!

  Jana worked her arm out from under the covers, and reached for her phone. Another ring or two, and it should go to voice mail. Other than someone from work, she couldn’t imagine who would call her this early in the morning. Today was her day off. She didn’t relish the idea of being called in if they were short staffed, but she knew she would go to work, if asked. Doctors didn’t like to rearrange their surgery schedules, and nurses were expected to be available at a moments’ notice.

  “Hello,” she mumbled, her voice raspy from sleep. Jana rolled to her side, and brought the phone up close to her ear.

  “Jana. Jana Evans?” The deep male voice at the other end of the line startled her, and her heart actually skipped a beat. It was not a voice she recognized, but something about him sounded familiar nevertheless. She was instantly more alert. It was definitely not someone from work.

  Jana rolled fully onto her back and raised herself to a sitting position. She didn’t know any male co-workers who would be calling her. And she certainly didn’t have a boyfriend at the moment. This had better not be a sales call.

  “Yeah,” she grumbled sleepily, rubbing her eyes with her free hand. She scooted backwards on her mattress and leaned against the bed’s headboard.

  “I hope this isn’t a bad time,” the man said. Bad time! Of course it was a bad time! Where the heck was he calling from?

  “Who is this?” she asked, and scrunched her eyebrows together.

  “Dan.” His reply sounded more like a question than an answer. Dan who? Jana waited for him to give his last name. Seconds passed in silence. She frantically searched her mind for any Dans that she might know.

  “Jana, it’s Dan Osborne. From Montana.”

  Adrenaline jolted her, and her arms went numb. She sucked in a lung full of air. Dan Osborne! She hadn’t thought about him in a while . . . she had wanted to, needed to, forget all about him. She’d put her brief and bizarre encounter with the ruggedly handsome park ranger out of her mind almost immediately after their one and only chance encounter a few months ago. Her chest heaved in a long sigh. Yellowstone National Park. A place that held both fond and bittersweet memories for her.

  A wave of sadness swept over her, and she blinked at the sudden stinging sensation behind her eyes. It was not a place she cared to visit again. It just wouldn’t be the same anymore without . . . Jana’s best friend’s face flashed before her eyes. Aimee Donovan. No, wait. She shook her head slightly. Her name was Aimee Osborne now.

  How long had Aimee been gone? Ten months now, leaving a deep void in Jana’s life. Aimee had made a choice to follow her heart and leave everything she knew behind and begin a fantastical new life. In this time, Aimee is long dead, Jana.

  “Jana? Are you still there?” The voice on the other end of the line jolted her out of her thoughts. Jana cleared her throat.

  “Yes . . . um, hi. What a surprise.” She laughed nervously. Her voice rose cheerfully. She rolled her eyes. God, I sound like some silly high school bimbo. She slapped her palm against her forehead. Can you sound any more lame, Jana? She had a distinctly annoying habit of getting tongue-tied around men she was attracted to. And she’d certainly been attracted to Dan Osborne. Instantly. The moment she first saw him. That was the main reason she’d left in a hurry after their surprise meeting two months ago. The circumstances were just too bizarre for her to take in at the time.

  “Listen, Jana, I need to talk to you about something,” he said, and from the way he hesitated with his words, Jana had the distinct impression he sounded uneasy. “It’s kind of important.”

  “Well, since you’re calling me at five-thirty in the morning, I expect it’s important,” she retorted, biting her lower lip. What on earth could be so urgent that he would even call her now, after two months? They barely knew each other. Of course, the approximately three hours they’d spent in each other’s company over dinner had probably forged a bond that wasn’t so easily broken. Not after the story Jana had told him. More like a family secret that he obviously knew nothing about. Had Aimee ever passed on her secret to her descendants?

  Jana chuckled quietly. She’d certainly let the cat out of the bag two months ago. He had probably regretted asking her to dinner, probably thought she was some deranged nutcase. It had taken more than a few bottles of lager before Dan had seriously started listening to her tale, and read some passages from the weathered old diary Jana shoved under his nose. Why on earth had she even told him? The shock of seeing him when he casually sat down next to her in the lobby of the Old Faithful Inn, thinking at first he was someone else, had prompted her to talk faster than the waters spilling over the Lower Falls of the mighty Yellowstone River. She’d needed to talk to someone about the things she knew.

  At first startled that a park ranger tried to engage her in conversation, she’d been completely taken aback after she’d gotten a good look at him. The fact that he was simply gorgeous had nothing to do with it. Seeing Dan, who looked so much like another man with the same name, he had seemed the obvious choice to spill he
r secrets to.

  “Yeah, sorry. I forgot about the time difference,” Dan answered.

  “It’s only an hour’s difference,” Jana reminded him. Why did she feel compelled to act so disagreeable? Dan Osborne was her living link to Aimee. Why the need to keep her distance? Aimee was her best friend. They’d grown up together like sisters. Done everything together. Maybe that’s why it felt so creepy. She had been attracted to her best friend’s descendant. Jana shuddered.

  “Look, if it’s a bad time, I’ll call back later. I’m sorry to have bothered you.” The sincerity in his voice dissolved her annoyance.

  “No, wait . . .Dan. It’s okay. It’s not a bad time. Really.” Jana pushed herself from the bed and onto her feet, and ran her fingers through her shoulder-length hair. She began pacing the floor, suddenly nervous. Why was he calling her, after two months?

  “Jana, I really need to see you,” he said quickly.

  It was the last thing she expected. She stopped in her tracks. “Excuse me?” Was this some kind of joke? Men didn’t call her out of the blue, from a thousand miles away, asking to see her.

  “Can you come to Yellowstone? I know this is rather sudden, but it really is urgent.”

  Jana’s eyebrows shot up, and she laughed. A sudden thought caused her limbs to flood with adrenaline. Her heart rate increased. “You didn’t lose the journal, did you?”

  There was a slight pause at the other end before he answered. “No. Nothing like that. It’s safe.”

  Jana expelled her breath in relief. Aimee’s journal. The accounts of her life in Yellowstone . . . 200 years ago. Her unbelievable experience with time travel, falling in love with a mountain man, and her decision to live her life in the past. It was all there, documented in her journal. For a brief moment, Jana wondered what had compelled her to give it to Dan. She’d read it several times, and committed some passages to memory. After meeting Dan Osborne, she thought he deserved to have it. It had belonged to his ancestors, after all. Jana laughed nervously. “I can’t come to Wyoming, Dan. I have a job--”

  “Aimee is going to die,” he interrupted, speaking forcefully into the receiver. Jana imagined his dark eyes glaring, his jaw clenched as he spoke. Another Dan - Daniel’s face - came to mind. What was he talking about? Of course Aimee would die. In fact, she was already dead.

  “She’s already dead,” Jana said quietly, echoing her thoughts. Her eyes pooled with tears.

  “No, Jana. You don’t understand.” If Dan had the power to reach through the phone, Jana was sure he would be gripping her shoulders right about now. “Aimee is going to die, in the past, very soon.”

  If she were having this conversation with any other person, Jana would have called for a psychiatric check-up at this point. Strangely enough, his words made perfect sense to her. She shook her head, and pinched the bridge of her nose with her thumb and index finger. She felt a massive headache coming on.

  “And how do you know this?” she asked, her hands suddenly sweaty. How could Aimee have died prematurely in the past? If that were so, there would be no journal. In fact, Dan wouldn’t exist. Her eyes widened. His urgency suddenly became clear to her. But again, how could he know something like this? Had time altered again? What things in history had changed because of Aimee’s time travel? Had something else occurred to alter her future . . . in the past? Jana groaned in frustration. This was too much to wrap her head around.

  “I did some investigating after you gave me that journal. I’ve been hiking the Madison Valley and the surrounding mountains, trying to find clues to my ancestors’ past. The area where their cabin stood is a parking lot now, as you know. But I finally found something.” He hesitated.

  “What?” Jana felt compelled to ask, even though she knew he would tell her at any moment.

  “Jana, I think I found Aimee’s grave. And it’s dated 1811.”

  *****

  Dan spotted Jana instantly. He could easily pick her out of a crowd, just like that first time he saw her. She walked quickly through the glass doors into the lobby of the Old Faithful Visitor Center, her long slim legs accentuated by the form-fitting jeans she wore. In one fluid motion, she removed the sunglasses from her face, and shook her head slightly. Her chestnut hair tumbled around her face. It was longer than he remembered when he saw her that one and only time two months ago. She’d looked so sad at the time, sitting in one of the couches positioned around the large fireplace that took up the center of the Inn.

  He’d just returned from a day hike, taking several of Yellowstone’s first visitors of the season on a trek to Shoshone Lake, south of Old Faithful. Dan enjoyed those hikes. They made his job as a seasonal park ranger and interpreter more pleasurable than duty at the Old Faithful Visitor Center Information Desk that he was assigned to at the moment. He would rather be out on the trail, backpacking the wilderness, or leading a group of eager hikers to learn more about Yellowstone’s ecosystem.

  Thankful that his colleague, Art Tanner, was dealing with the only visitor asking questions at the moment, Dan stepped out from behind the desk, and moved across the hall to meet the pretty girl from California. His heart rate actually increased. He’d only seen her once, two months ago, but the memory of her face had been engrained in his mind since that day, and he hadn’t been able to stop thinking about her.

  “Jana,” he called, a wide smile on his face. She turned her head in his direction. Recognition filled her eyes, and she hurried toward him. God, she was as gorgeous as he remembered her. He held out his hand. She hesitated for a second, then placed her dainty hand in his. She smiled, but it looked forced. Why did he get the distinct impression that he made her nervous? He’d gotten a similar vibe two months ago, but it was much more pronounced now. He wondered what her reaction would be when he brought up his reason for asking her to come back to Yellowstone.

  “I’m glad you could make it,” he said, leading her away from the middle of the lobby. Everyone wanted to talk to a ranger, and his uniform drew people to him quicker than bees to honey. After Old Faithful went off in about ten minutes, this place would be packed. Better to duck out of here now, while he still had the chance.

  “I’m taking a break, Art,” he called to his colleague at the desk. Art glanced up briefly. He held up his hand, indicating he had understood, then returned his attention to a map splayed out before him, pointing at various things to a tourist with a squirming toddler riding on his shoulder.

  Jana followed him silently out the back doors leading to the paved path to Old Faithful. Hundreds of people had already gathered to watch the famous geyser erupt. Dan guided Jana to one of several park benches overlooking the path in front of the visitor center, and motioned for her to sit.

  They sat in awkward silence for a few minutes, watching people rush by. Moms pushed strollers with screaming toddlers in them, dads fumbled for their cameras. Just another day in Yellowstone. What he wouldn’t give for some peace and solitude. His days off were spent hiking the backcountry, usually alone, but sometimes with fellow seasonal rangers who preferred the lesser traveled paths as much as he did. Someday, after he finished his master’s degree in Wildlife Biology at the University of Montana, he hoped to gain permanent employment in the park, not merely seasonal. Then he might not be relegated to desk duty most of the time. It was a nice dream. Full time ranger positions were few and hard to come by.

  “Okay, Dan,” Jana broke the silence. She held her hands clasped together in her lap so tightly, her knuckles turned white. She was definitely uncomfortable. “Where is this grave you say you found?”

  “Up on Purple Mountain. I can take you there, if you’d like.” He smiled and waited for some sort of response. She shook her head almost imperceptibly, confusion in her eyes. Did she even know the hike he was talking about? He’d made an assumption that Jana was a hiker, based on the boots and hiking pants she wore two months ago. But what did he really know about her?

  “I’ve got the next two days off, so you and I can discuss wh
at to do,” he continued. “Traded with one of my colleagues after you told me you’d be here today. How was the flight into Jackson?”

  “Fine.” Jana’s forehead wrinkled. “Thanks for getting me a room here at the Lodge. I’ve never actually stayed in a hotel here in the park. Aimee and I usually . . .” She didn’t finish her thought. She met his eyes briefly, and inhaled deeply. She looked past him, presumably to watch the herd of people rushing to see Old Faithful go off. At this point, the view would be so obscured by the hundreds of souls who had secured front row seats since the last show, it was hardly worth it. But that was just his opinion.

  The faraway, painful look in her eyes when she mentioned Aimee’s name spoke volumes. She obviously still missed her friend dearly. Hopefully he could use that to his advantage. He should just get right to the point with Jana, rather than make small talk. She might just walk away if he told her what he proposed to do.

  He cleared his throat. “Jana, I’m still trying to wrap my head around this time travel business. If Aimee . . . my great great great great grandmother . . .” he paused. Jana sucked in a deep breath. Perhaps he shouldn’t have referred to her friend as his ancestor. “If she died shortly after she went to the past, how can I be alive? How is it that I even exist?”

  Jana shook her head. “I’ve been wondering that myself, Dan. There has to be some mistake. That grave you found, maybe it’s not a grave.”

  “What if time altered again? What if something else happened than what should have happened originally?” He ran his hand through his short hair. “This time travel stuff is really hard to make sense of. But if time got changed somehow, when Aimee dies in the past, I won’t exist anymore in this time. Does that make sense?”