Through the Mist (Gold Valley Romance Book 3)

by Liz Isaacson

  Her apartment sat near downtown, and she liked the bustle of the shops, the deli, the restaurants in the early evening. She parked, took her books and purse upstairs, and changed into a comfortable pair of shoes and a dark pair of jeans. She tucked her driver’s license and her debit card in her back pocket and headed back downstairs.

  The summer evening breeze played with her curls, and a carefree smile danced across her face. So what that Landon hadn’t called about the job? She was planning to be in town for a while, and if he hadn’t left Gold Valley yet, he probably wouldn’t.

  And your schoolgirl crush is pretty ridiculous, she told herself as she entered the coffee shop. She stepped up to the counter. “Maple waffle and a cappuccino,” she said. After paying, she settled with her dinner on the patio to watch the townspeople go about their lives.

  A sense of contentment washed over her as she sipped her drink and ripped off pieces of the maple-infused waffle. Sure, she’d left Gold Valley for college, but she’d never earned her degree. She’d worked as an elementary school secretary for a few years, then took those skills and moved into the corporate world.

  She’d met Eric through her job for a social media marketing firm, and his good looks, easy way with conversation, and polished personality had won her over in just a few short months. They’d been together for three years before he asked her to marry him, and if she hadn’t found out about her bank account only a few minutes after he’d been fired for laundering money that wasn’t his, she’d have married him last April.

  Her smile had faded into nothing and she downed the last of her coffee. As she meandered through the park, past the courthouse, and back to her apartment, she solidified her determination not to go all gaga over Landon again.

  Thursday morning, Landon rose only a hair past the time he would’ve to go planting. Jace had insisted he take the day to work closer to the ranch. He liked to rotate people out to the fields and back to the homestead, and though Landon didn’t need to be up at five-thirty to feed chickens, he was.

  He finished with the small animal feeding and came out of the barn, clapping his hands together to rid them of the dust. He froze as his eyes landed on a blue sedan in front of Jace’s cabin.

  No, not the sedan. The curvy, dark-haired woman currently moving away from the car and toward the porch.

  “Megan,” he called without thinking.

  She turned, seeking for the source of her name. When her gaze landed on Landon, she lifted her hand in a friendly gesture. He expected a smile but didn’t get one.

  Something snaked through him, but he couldn’t identify how he felt. Disappointment cut through him when she turned away from him and continued toward the cabin. Disappointment he didn’t understand.

  “Shoulda called her,” he muttered as he put his head down and walked to the administration lodge. He’d been toying with the idea of taking the job at the church. Thankfully, neither Jace nor Belle had brought it up again, and though he’d followed Megan around the church for an hour, he hadn’t committed.

  He tried to put his indecision from his mind, but he only succeeded in getting the church to fade behind the ranch he’d found in Utah on Monday evening.

  It featured one of the fanciest homesteads Landon had ever seen. He’d been in touch with the real estate agent. She’d told him about the sellers—a family that had lived on the land for over a century. Their father had passed away, and none of the children wanted the ranch. So the family was selling the land, the homestead, everything.

  It wasn’t a cattle ranch, and that appealed to Landon. He could finally focus on what he really wanted to do: train horses for the rodeo circuit.

  True, he was a cowboy, but at heart, he loved the rodeo. He loved horses more than cows. Loved summer more than winter. A half-smile quirked his lips. It would still be cold in Utah, but he also knew nowhere had snowdrifts as high as rooftops the way Montana did.

  And the fact remained that Landon needed a change.

  He pivoted on the bottom stair leading to the administration lodge and faced Belle’s cabin.

  “You need a change,” he said aloud, and he strode back the way he’d come. He marched right up the steps and knocked on the door. Long seconds passed before Belle opened it, and she fell back, surprised.

  “Landon.”

  “Is Megan here?”

  “Yes, we’re looking at carpet samples.”

  “I need to talk to her.”

  Belle stepped all the way back and swept her hand toward the kitchen, where Megan watched him with a pile of carpet samples stacked behind her on the table.

  Landon didn’t second-guess himself, didn’t rehearse what he should say. “Hey.” He crossed the room and stopped only a few feet from Megan. She blinked up at him, her long lashes framing her dark-as-night eyes. Eyes he could fall into if he wasn’t careful.

  Landon was tired of being careful too. “Do you still need a handyman?”

  A smile slowly spread her lips, and Landon thought he could lose himself to that mouth too. He shook his head to clear it as she said, “I just put up an ad yesterday afternoon for it.”

  “Oh.”

  “I’m interviewing everyone this afternoon.”

  A shockwave traveled through Landon, and new determination filled him. “What time should I come down to interview?”

  His sister’s giggle behind him made a flush of heat rise through his face.

  Megan stood and dug her phone out of her pocket. “Let’s see….” She thumbed through something. “How about you come by the church tomorrow morning, ready to start?” She grinned up at him. “The job’s yours if you want it.”

  Landon stared at her for a few seconds, not quite comprehending. “What—?”

  “She said you could have the job,” Belle said, her laughter filling the empty spaces in Landon’s mind. “You’ll probably need to let Jace know.” She sounded all innocent as she moved into her kitchen to refill her coffee mug.

  “Yeah, Jace.” Landon focused back on Megan, and he kicked a grin in her direction. That electricity he’d felt when she’d kissed his cheek last week leapt again. He thought he’d imagined the attraction between them, even went so far as to think her shoes had accumulated static electricity, but now, standing only a few feet from her and caught in a shared smile with her, he felt a connection with her that went beyond old friendships.

  “So we’ll start fresh tomorrow?” Megan asked.

  “Yeah,” Landon said slowly. “We’ll start fresh.” And for the first time in two years, Landon wanted a new friendship with a woman. And not just any woman—with Megan. The thought unsettled him as much as it excited him.

  5

  Landon pulled into the church parking lot the next morning, surprised to see half a dozen cars already there. He wasn’t sure why someone besides the pastor would be at the church on a weekday. He wasn’t entirely sure why he was there.

  But he’d spoken with Jace while Belle kept throwing him knowing smiles from the kitchen. He’d stayed for dinner, unsure of why he didn’t want to be alone with himself. Once he’d gone back to his cabin, his mind had spun out of control.

  Like it was now.

  He took a deep breath and centered his thoughts. He was just going to be sanding and staining and straightening. Megan probably wouldn’t even be around most of the time. She didn’t seem like the micromanaging type.

  After dinner last night, Belle had thrown around details about Megan while Jace scooped ice cream. Landon had listened to about three—“she’s detailed, and so kind, and she deserves to be happy”—before he’d tuned out his sister’s voice.

  He didn’t need the pressure of making Megan happy. He hadn’t quite figured out how to do that for himself yet.

  He pushed his way into the church and turned down the hall toward the offices. The pastor’s door was closed, and Landon continued on toward the meeting room where Megan had texted she’d be.

  Peering through the open doorway, he found Megan surro
unded by four other women. Notebooks and textbooks and pens covered the table between them. One woman, probably a decade older than Megan, spoke and pointed to something on a paper in front of another woman. “We’d need to have more classrooms than that in the evening.”

  “Do you really think we can get that many people to come?” she asked, peering over the top of her glasses.

  “In the evening, yes.”

  Landon leaned against the doorjamb and listened to the group talk about the possibilities for having more than one class. After a few minutes, he’d learned that the church—Megan, really—was organizing a class to teach English as a Second Language for the community.

  He lifted his hand to adjust his cowboy hat, and that caught Megan’s attention. Her chair scraped loudly against the floor as she hastily stood. “Hey,” she said, tossing a look to the rest of the group, who had paused in their conversation. “Can you guys give me a second?”

  She came out into the hall, and Landon fell back a few steps to give her room when he really wanted to stay and inhale the scent of her skin. As it was, he could barely detect any of her usual jasmine.

  Tucking a lock of hair behind her ear, she said, “Sorry, our meeting got started late.”

  “That’s okay.”

  She glanced toward the room and back to him. He drank in the slim cut of her black skirt, the height of her shiny heels, the way her bright green sweater complimented her dark eyes and hair. He swallowed hard.

  “We’ll probably be at least another thirty minutes.”

  “The church is doing ESL classes?”

  A glow entered Megan’s face, and Landon glanced down at his boots as a smile curved his lips. “Yes,” she said. “I’m starting several programs this summer, and ESL is one of them.”

  “What else you doin’?”

  “A sewing club and a recipe exchange,” she said. “A couple of other things.”

  “And you’re going to do them?”

  She laughed, and he lifted his eyes to hers, drowning in the joyous sound of her voice. “Heavens, no,” she said. “I’m using volunteers from the church. The more you get members involved, the more they feel like they belong to the church.” She shuffle-stepped toward him. “You want to get involved?”

  Fear bolted through him with the speed of a raging bull. “No, ma’am.”

  Her laughter bounced around the hall again. “Too late, Landon. You’re my handyman, so you’re already involved.” She flashed him an irresistible smile, and Landon returned it.

  “That I am.”

  She sobered. “I really do need to finish this meeting. Poor Mrs. Brooks doesn’t get out of the house that often, and I’d hate to make her come back another day.”

  Landon waved his hand. “No problem,” he said. “Take your time.” His phone sounded as he finished speaking, but he didn’t reach into his pocket for it. Whoever it was could wait until he wasn’t with Megan, because she required his undivided attention. “I’ll wait outside.”

  “You can sit in the chapel too,” she said, giving him a grateful glance. “I’ll come find you just as soon as I’m done.”

  He nodded and she ducked back into the room. He stared after her, like she might come back and give him another one of those cheek-kisses. His hand drifted to his face and he turned away. That had been an innocent gesture, nothing more.

  You just want it to be more, he thought as he moved swiftly down the hall. He burst back into the summer sunshine, arguing with himself about what he wanted with Megan. He parked himself on the bench under a tall pine tree, still trying to puzzle it through.

  This indecision was new for Landon. He’d always known what he wanted. He’d grown up around the rodeo, and when his father had gotten him into bull riding, it had fit like a glove. The professional rodeo circuit had always been in his future, and he’d done it without question. Even when he’d gotten injured and he couldn’t continue in the rodeo, he’d known he’d come back to Montana and get a job at Horseshoe Home Ranch.

  He’d never questioned that—until Lauren left. Then, he’d seriously called into question what he should be doing with his life. He felt like he’d been stumbling in the dark for two full years—until this past winter when he’d told Jace he thought he might like to buy a ranch of his own.

  Money wasn’t an issue for Landon. Winning bull riding championships for seven straight years and investing wisely meant he didn’t really have to work at all. But he loved the feel of fresh country air in his lungs. Loved being up before the sun. Loved working with a horse until it trusted him completely.

  He pulled out his phone and checked it. The real estate agent for the ranch in Utah had texted him back. Sorry to take so long to get back to you. We’d love to show you the ranch. When can you come to Brush Creek?

  He looked up from the phone and stared at the horizon. When he’d texted three days ago, he could’ve gone this weekend. Could he still go tomorrow? Would Megan mind if he delayed his work on the church until next week?

  His gut pinched with uncertainty. Focusing back on his phone, he typed, Is Monday too soon?

  Monday is fine. The answer came back quickly. I’ll send you an email with a pin for the address. Is that okay?

  Landon confirmed that yes, Shelly could send him an email and he’d see her on Monday at ten a.m. Peace filled him from top to bottom, and he hoped Brush Creek Ranch turned out to be as magical as it looked online.

  But one glance toward the church door as it opened and the ladies spilled out made Landon wonder what going to Utah would impact here in Montana.

  Gertrude Brooks could barely walk, and she shuffled a few inches forward so slowly, Megan thought she’d lose her mind before they made it through the exit. She hitched a smile in place and kept a firm grip on the elderly woman’s elbow. A fierce love for her overwhelmed Megan, and the patience she needed suddenly flowed through her.

  So Landon was waiting. Big deal. Megan wanted to make the church the hub of activity in Gold Valley, and she wouldn’t be able to do that by rushing anyone. She helped Gertrude all the way to her car and stood in the parking lot and waved as the woman drove away.

  Only then did she allow herself to relax, a huge sigh escaping her lips.

  “Tough meeting?”

  She twisted at the deep sound of Landon’s voice and found him loitering on the sidewalk several paces away. Heat rushed into her face at the glorious sight of him wearing that dark cowboy hat, his legs long and lean in those jeans, the sun haloing him like he was divine.

  “Just long,” she managed to say. She walked over to him and stepped up onto the curb, but he still towered several inches over her. “And I’ve got another one this afternoon with a couple of gentlemen who want to talk about gardening classes. One of them is your dad.”

  “Sounds fascinating.” He clipped a grin in her direction, but it came and went so fast she didn’t get to truly enjoy it. “Listen, something’s come up. I have to go out of town tomorrow. I’ll be gone….” He gazed over her shoulder, his expression almost haunted. Definitely lost.

  “You’ll be gone…?” she prompted.

  He gave himself a little shake. “Yeah, I’ll be gone for a few days. Don’t really know how long.”

  She wrapped her arms around herself as if cold. “Where are you going?” Eric had often disappeared for a “few days.” He’d told her he was going on business trips, or to a marketing conference, but he really went to Grand Cayman to check on his accounts, make withdrawals, and who knew what else.

  She’d asked him repeatedly if he had another girlfriend in his life, but he’d insisted he didn’t. Megan still wasn’t sure she believed him. After all, the rest of his life had been a sham.

  “Utah,” Landon said. “There’s a horse ranch there I’m interested in buying.”

  Her heart fell to her shoes and rebounded like the cement was a trampoline. “A ranch? In Utah?” She wished her voice didn’t sound like Alvin the Chipmunk.

  Way to be obvious, she
chastised herself. But when he said, “I can still do the repairs this summer. I wouldn’t move there for a few months, at least,” she realized she could’ve been squeaky and surprised by his purchasing of a ranch because she didn’t want to lose her handyman.

  Which was also true. But she could replace Landon in that capacity. No, she didn’t want him to buy a ranch and up and move to Utah, because she genuinely wanted to see if they could make something between them work.

  Ridiculous, maybe. But by the spark in his eye and the electric pulse she’d felt between them, Megan didn’t think a relationship with him was impossible, the way she once had.

  “Yeah.” Landon scuffed his feet, his pine-tree-colored eyes hidden by that delicious hat. “I’ve been thinkin’ about makin’ a change for a while now.”

  “Right. I remember that now.” Megan didn’t quite know what else to say. “Where in Utah?”

  “Brush Creek?” He brought his eyes to hers. “It’s in the Uinta Mountains. Northeastern Utah.”

  “Yeah, sure,” she said.

  His eyes crinkled and he chuckled. “You have no idea what’s in Northeastern Utah, do you?”

  “Do you?”

  His chuckle morphed into a laugh and it was the most delicious sound Megan had ever heard. She realized, standing there with him, that Landon didn’t do a lot of laughing.

  “No,” he admitted. “I don’t know what’s in Utah.” He turned his phone toward her. “But this property is there, and I thought I’d go check it out.”

  She peered at the pictures on his screen. They showed a gorgeous blue sky—though nothing like the wide open area in Montana—and snow-capped mountains, and miles and miles of green grass. “Wow, it has a pond,” she said, taking the phone fully from him. “And a riverfront view.” She glanced up, not really interested in seeing more. Somehow though, her eyes got pulled down again.

  “It’s gorgeous country,” she said, flipping through the pictures and reading the description. “Water rights, ten-thousand square-foot horse arena, three barns….” She gasped, and her gaze flew to his. “Two-point-three million dollars?”