Valerie nodded.
Jeanie was swept up in a conversation with Jess and Willow about dating a bear.
“It’s fun,” Willow said smiling. “No one messes with you.”
“Almost no one,” Jess said. “So you must be something special if Ryan has taken an interest.”
Jeanie was glad it was dark out here or everyone would have seen her blush.
“He thought it would be helpful if I got to know the locals, you know, get to know what you thought of things,” Jeanie said hoping she sounded convincing.
“Right,” Willow said mocking her. She smiled and Jeanie knew she was joking with her.
The evening rolled along like a casual, well-oiled machine. People laughed and joked and had a good time. There were speeches at some point and food. Then there was dancing and more alcohol. It took a lot of beer to get Jeanie anywhere near the dance floor and then when she and Ryan kept standing on each other’s toes, they called it quits on that activity and went to sit on a hay bale under the stars.
“It’s really pretty out here,” Jeanie said feeling her nose start to run from the cold. Ryan put his jacket around her shoulders. “Thanks.”
“Can’t have you dislocating your wrist and catching cold, now can I?”
“Guess not,” she said.
Ryan put his arm around her shoulders and drew her to him. “You’re shivering.”
“It’s cold!”
“So you say,” he said and smiled. He seemed completely unaffected. “I’m really glad you came here, to Colorado.”
“Funny old world ain’t it?” Jeanie joked. “If Petersen wasn’t trying to kick you guys out of your homes, I might never have met you.”
“Yeah, funny old world,” Ryan said and tilting her chin up with his hand, he kissed her.
Jeanie would never say that she had been kissed a lot. Somehow being interested in science and always rushing off into the wild every chance she got, made it hard for most men to understand her enough to want to kiss her. But this wasn’t her first kiss ever. It was the best, by far. Ryan tasted of beer and something sweet and fresh. He smelled amazing and she wanted to melt into him. Eventually they had to surface and Ryan decided it was time to go home. Jeanie didn’t mind. They had a whole car ride together and then who knew what?
Jeanie was still all warm and floaty when they pulled up outside Grandma’s Inn. Ryan held her hand as they ran up the steps laughing like teenagers in love for the first time. She was so happy that she didn’t notice anything was off until the door was open and she and Ryan were standing in the lobby. Two men stood at the counter. They were speaking to a small old lady with grey hair and milky blue eyes. Mrs. Graham was looking uncharacteristically ruffled.
“I don’t have a presidential suite,” Mrs. Graham was saying. “You’ll have to make do with a luxury room. Both of you!”
“That will not be suitable,” one of the men said. He was shorter than the other and wore white. His hair was white, as was his skin and he had the same disconcertingly clear eyes that Calvin had.
“This is a small town,” Calvin said. Jeanie hadn’t seen him as she entered but she saw him now.
Her heart stopped. She knew these men; one so white he was like snow and the other grey as the light before dawn.
“Oh, no!” she said softly. “It’s too late. He’s here.”
The grey man turned at that moment and regarded her with a face devoid of expression.
“Mr. Petersen,” Jeanie said. She felt Ryan grip her hand tightly in his.
“Miss Buchanan, I presume.” Mr. Petersen looked down his thin nose at her. “And fraternizing with the enemy. That should be grounds for your removal. Calvin see to it.”
“Yes sir,” Calvin said. His face showed nothing but Jeanie thought he must be smiling on the inside.
“Fine!” Jeanie said hotly. “I just want to tell you a thing or two. Both of you. What you’re doing here is despicable! You are terrible excuses for sentient beings! How can you let a little personal issue cloud your judgement like this?”
“Remove her!” Snow said.
Calvin moved to grab Jeanie’s wrist. As his fingers closed over it Jeanie cried out. Of course he went for the injured one. But Ryan stepped forward and pried the other man’s hand from her.
“Leave her alone!”
“You can’t fight here!” Mrs. Graham cried out from behind the counter. She was holding a shotgun in her hands and sighting down the barrel. Her hands were steady as a rock. “I’ll call the cops on you! Bear and Wolf business can’t be sorted on human land. You all know that. Now get out! The lot of you!”
“But…” Jeanie began.
“You stay dear,” Mrs. Graham said kindly to her. “You’re human. These others know the law and they’d best remember I can shoot them on my land if they cause trouble.”
Ryan held his hands up. “Meant no disrespect Mrs. Graham. I apologize.” He stepped back towards the door, not turning his back and not taking his eyes off the three wolves.
Mr. Petersen regarded the old lady and then turned on his heel. “We have no need of you.” And he strode to the door. “And you Miss Buchanan, will never find work in your field again. I will see to it personally.” He left.
Mr. Snow followed but stopped to glare at Jeanie. He was sniffing her.
“You got a problem?” she asked, feeling brave with Mrs. Graham’s shotgun trained on him.
“No, but you do,” he said and left.
Calvin was the last to go of the wolves. He and Ryan never blinked, their gazes locked until the wolves had all gone. Then Mrs. Graham lowered the gun. “My word! Sorry about that, Ryan. I know you’re a good boy. Just had to get those men to leave.”
“I understand, Mrs. Graham,” Ryan said politely. “This business is best sorted on our land anyway. Jeanie I’ll see you in the morning.” He kissed her cheek and left.
Jeanie let her breath out and sagged. Mrs. Graham offered to make her a cup of chamomile tea but she refused. She had something she desperately had to do.
Up in her room Jeanie dialed George’s number. He answered but sounded asleep.
“Shit Buchanan! Don’t you own a watch? It’s two AM here!”
“Sorry George. Did you manage to find out about the rights and get the mineral survey for me?”
“You called me at this time of night about that? Hell you need to get a life!”
Jeanie sighed. She was getting one, that’s why she needed the information. “Well?”
“Fine. Fine, yeah I got it. I was going to send it on tomorrow. But since it is tomorrow I’ll just get up out of my nice warm bed and go send it to you. How about that?” He was being sarcastic.
“That would be great!” she said pretending she hadn’t noticed. “Hey George, I owe you a big one for this.”
“Massive!” George said and hung up.
Ten minutes later the Wetransfer link arrived in her inbox. As Jeanie waited for the download she paced to and fro. She was in for a long night.
Outside the wind picked up, blowing in loud gusts. Jeanie hardly heard it. When it started to rain, the drops pattering on her window, she looked up but didn’t really see them. She could do this. All the data said that her plan would work. All she needed was a little help and a lot of luck.
Her next phone call to George was at eight AM his time and he sounded more genial. “So?”
“So I have it. But I need you to do something for me, urgently.”
George listened as Jeanie laid out her plan. He gasped. “You sure you want to do this?”
“Yeah! It’s the only way.”
“Fine,” George said. “Get your report in now and I’ll take care of the rest. This is going to cost me every favor I have saved up, you realize that?”
Jeanie nodded and then remembered he couldn’t see her and said, “Yeah. Well, now I owe you a solid.”
“More than…”
“Much more. Just please get it through.”
“Hey I
’m Miracle George,” he said and hung up.
“You’d better be,” Jeanie said to her phone.
She was so tired but she couldn’t sleep, so she got in her SUV and with directions from Mrs. Graham drove out to Ryan’s house.
He lived deep in Sun Valley which was mostly dirt tracks and trees. There were open fields, a few small stores and other buildings but they looked more like they had sprung up from the earth herself than having been built by men.
She found his house, a log cabin on the edge of a clearing surrounded by tall spruce and pine trees. The weather was still grey and bitterly cold. She stopped outside his house and wondered if this was such a good idea. But she had to set her plan in motion now or it would be too late. But what if he wasn’t alone in there? What if he had played her just to get her to help them save their land?
“Morning.”
Jeanie jumped in surprise. Ryan was standing next to her window. He was dressed in jeans and flannel as usual and looked as fresh and well rested as ever. She was sure she looked like a train wreck but that wasn’t important now.
“Hey Ryan,” she said opening the door and hitting him on the legs with it. “Oh sorry. Listen I really need your help.”
They sat in Ryan’s living room. He had made instant coffee that Jeanie was chugging down like it was the only thing keeping her upright, which it was. Ryan listened as she laid out her plan. When she’d finished he leaned forward and kissed her. It totally derailed her thoughts.
“What was that for?”
“For being brilliant!” he said and his voice sounded husky and sexy. Jeanie bit her lip and smiled at him. He leaned in and kissed her again. Jeanie’s heart hammered in her chest and before she knew it, they were entangled, kissing pulling clothing off each other.
“Woah! Woah!” she cried. “We don’t have time for sex now. We have to go and get Marcus and the others. Come on!”
Ryan sighed and pulled his shirt back on. “Fine, but later you’re all mine.”
“Deal. Let’s just go save your home first.”
Time was of the essence, so Ryan sat on his landline phone calling everyone they needed. With that done they climbed into Jeanie’s SUV and drove back into town to City Hall.
When they arrived the place had just opened up and Mr. Jeff Headley was standing on the steps in his grey suit. “Your manager called me this morning at an unearthly time,” he told Jeanie once she’d introduced herself. “He said you had a counter proposal. Why this could not be conducted at a decent hour is beyond me.”
“I apologize for that,” Jeanie said trying not to shake with all the caffeine in her system. “But I’m eager to get this done.”
“As am I.” He led Jeanie and Ryan into a conference room. They had just sat down when Marcus, Paul and another lady, who was introduced as Eugenie, entered the room.
“This had better be good,” Paul snapped sullenly. “I’m missing my breakfast for this.”
“It will be worth it, Paul,” Ryan said.
Ten minutes later the rest of the human council filed into the room. Jeff Headley did the talking. He laid out Jeanie’s plan and she only had to interrupt him to correct him once or twice. But in the end even Paul was smiling.
“So you accept the terms?” Jeff Headley asked.
Marcus, Paul and Eugenie put their heads together for a moment and then smiled. They nodded. The paperwork was ready and they had all just finished signing and initialing when the door burst open.
Calvin strode into the room, looking angry. He turned his cold gaze on Jeanie. “What is going on here?”
“Council business young man,” Jeff Headley said smartly. “It doesn’t concern you.”
“I believe it does. If this has anything to do with Sun Valley.”
The door opened again and two men entered, one white, one grey. The atmosphere in the room became icy as a morgue. Wolves and Bears glared at each other.
Jeff Headley however smiled. “Welcome gentlemen, seems you’re too late.” He held up the document. “Seems these nice folks whom we all have known our whole lives, will be keeping their land after all.”
“But we had a deal,” Mr. Snow said. His voice was like an ice flow.
“Did we?” Jeff Headley asked. “I cannot seem to recall anything in writing.”
“We had a deal and you know it, Mr. Headley, and our lawyers will take you to the cleaners for this,” Calvin spat, waving his thick black finger under Jeff’s nose. Jeff removed it and smiled even more broadly.
“Well they can try, but since you were so insistent that there be no paper trail…” he spread his hands in supplication. “There is no proof, is there?”
“I demand justice,” Mr. Petersen said. His voice was quiet, calm but Jeanie could see something raging within him. “One of their number, a woman named Jess Lincoln, killed my son in cold blood. I demand justice for this outrage!”
Jeff turned to Marcus. “Is this true Marcus?”
Marcus nodded. “Yeah, she shot the sonofabitch,” he said. “But not before he attacked her. He followed her from New York and destroyed property, threatened her life and the life of a bear, Wyatt Wade. We were within our rights to handle this in the Clan.”
Jeff nodded sagely. “Well there you have it.” He said. “Clan law is clan law and you can all sort it out on your own land.” He sighed looking at the paperwork with a lot more affection than Jeanie thought a man should feel for pieces for dead tree. “I believe we’re done here.” He stood up as did the rest of the human council and they left the room.
Mr. Petersen and Mr. Snow watched them go.
The bear council put their heads together again.
“What’s going on?” Jeanie asked.
Ryan held his finger to his lips.
Then a moment later Eugenie, her hair in long braids turned to the wolves.
“You’ve called for justice as is your right,” she said. “So we will settle this the old way. The Pack will offer a warrior to face the Clan’s chosen warrior. It will take place at sunset today. We will give you directions.”
Petersen nodded, then he turned and left.
Jeanie watched with her mouth open and suddenly felt that she was out on a limb dangling over a hole in the world.
The bears called a clan meeting. It was held in the market field, where they usually had Christmas carols, farmers’ markets and other social gatherings. Jeanie was allowed to attend so that she could explain her plan to everyone and they could all thank her for saving them.
She really didn’t think she deserved all of that. After all it was a silly little idea that had turned into gold. And that was it really. Gold. The latest mineral survey that Snow had had done on the area showed a promising vein of precious metal. It was estimated to be enough to pay for Sun Valley six times over. All it took was a deal declaring that the Sun Valley residents would run the mine and the profits would be split fifty-fifty to pay for the land and then some. No messy relocations that the council would have to pay for, no law suits, everything could be done peacefully by people who had been raised together.
Bucking Bearback (BBW Shifter Cowboy Western Romance) (Bear Ranchers Book 5) Page 5
