Montana Homecoming

by Jeannie Watt

  “There are signs of that.” Travis took a drink as the flicker disappeared into the trees near the barn. “But she’s kind of reverting back to her old self as we work together.” Or rather ping-ponging back and forth. Sometimes she was the Cassie he’d grown up with, and then, as if she caught herself being herself, she was back to wearing her administrator hat. He didn’t like that hat and felt a striking urge to knock it off.

  “Probably no chance of her deciding not to go back.”

  Travis shook his head. “She seems committed to her career.”

  “Careers can be modified.”

  Travis gave his grandfather a sideways look. “You know that you can’t give Rosalie a smooth path in all things.”

  “Nope,” Will agreed affably. “But where I can, I will.”

  “It probably won’t happen in the Cassie arena.”

  A few seconds of silence ticked by, and then Will said, “Do you want her to go back?”

  Travis gave his grandfather a sharp look. “What kind of question is that?”

  Will met his gaze placidly. “A reasonable one, given the circumstances.”

  Travis pulled his gaze away and searched the trees for the flicker while he dealt with his grandfather’s question. He wanted to ask what circumstances, but decided it was better to let the matter drop.

  Will was not of like mind. “My feeling is that someone can’t set you off like that unless there’s some kind of spark between you.”

  “What if it’s the spark of irritation?”

  “Is it?”

  Travis scowled at his grandfather. “You aren’t going to let this drop, are you?”

  “It’s dropped.”

  Will focused on the barn, leaning back in his chair, the picture of nonchalance.

  Travis did the same, but he was pretty darn certain that he could hear the old man humming under his breath.

  * * *

  MCHENRY’S GOLD WALKED the peripheries of her new enclosure as Cassie coiled the lead rope and halter. The horse had loaded with only a minor amount of balking that morning, which gave Cassie hope. The mare was smart and maybe with a few Travis lessons, she’d be good to go. If not, then Cassie had spent a whole lot of money keeping Travis from having something he wanted. Something he probably couldn’t afford to buy from her, since he’d given up bidding and let her win the horse.

  “Thank you for doing this.” She hung the halter, which was old and had spent a lot of time out in the weather, over the fence post so it would be available when Travis needed it.

  “Looking forward to seeing what she can do.”

  Cassie didn’t doubt that. Travis had a way with horses, just as she had a way with high school kids. She’d enjoyed her emergency substitute stint in the high school English department. There was a lot of energy, angst and flat-out goofiness. Several of the kids in the AP class had a deliciously dark sense of humor and they’d played off each other nicely after she’d established who was in control of the classroom. It wasn’t the job she wanted to do eight to ten hours a day, but it’d been nice to know that she hadn’t lost her knack with kids.

  “Do you like working in an office?” Travis asked conversationally. “Being indoors all the time.”

  “It keeps the rain off.” Travis took hold of the handle and rolled the gate open. When the squeaking wheels came to a halt, she asked, “Why?”

  “You seemed more...I don’t know...relaxed...when we were fixing the fence yesterday.”

  It had been pleasant working in the pasture with the sun on her back, the scents of grass, pine and damp earth filling her lungs. “I enjoyed it, but trust me, I can relax in other circumstances.”

  “When?”

  “When you aren’t around.”

  He shot her an amused look and she felt like smiling back until he said, “Why haven’t you been home for a significant visit in the past years?”

  Not an attack, she reminded herself. Merely a question—on an issue she was touchy about.

  Cassie ran a hand over her opposite arm. “To begin with, I was on a probationary period with my job. I couldn’t come home.”

  “And when it was over?”

  She dropped her hand. “Things happened. You have no idea what it’s like having so many irons in the fire.”

  “I don’t,” he agreed easily. “But I know what it’s like to be in the moment instead of plotting minutes, hours and days ahead.”

  “I think you’ve done your share of plotting, or you wouldn’t have been so successful in academics,” she pointed out.

  “But I can also do something that hasn’t been written into my daily goals.”

  “As can I.”

  “Once upon a time you could, but can you still?” He raised his hands. “Not sniping. Just asking.”

  No. He was trying to get her to demonstrate.

  Cassie tucked her hair behind her ear. “I’ve worked hard to rein in my impulsiveness, but that doesn’t mean it’s not there.”

  “Merely lying dormant?” His lips formed another fascinating half smile.

  “Unfortunately,” Cassie replied; she glanced down at the gravel, wondering how in-depth she wanted to get with this man who put her so on edge, and why she felt twitchy about answering questions she would have freely answered had anyone else asked.

  She wasn’t secretive about the changes she’d made as she worked her way into a management position. She had always been organized to the max, and been driven to succeed, but she’d also sabotaged herself by not being shy about sharing her opinion or taking action without fully considering consequences. It’d taken a while to understand that there were other ways to achieve a goal than full-frontal assault.

  She shifted her weight as she brought her gaze up to his. “Being impulsive, firing off my mouth without thinking, jumping into the fray without a plan of action, tended to get me into trouble professionally, so it seemed wise to adjust to circumstances. Now it’s a habit.”

  “I kind of like impulsive you.”

  “Do you? I always thought that impulsive me was the bane of your existence.”

  “It was. Once.”

  “What does that mean?”

  “I think the meaning is clear.” He turned to face the interior of the barn, leaving Cassie to fight a sudden urge to grab him by the shoulders and turn him back toward her and demand a real answer.

  The real answer doesn’t matter. He’s just saying something—again—to put you off-balance.

  And it’s working.

  Cassie rolled her shoulders as if physically shaking off the thought. “We should get to it.”

  “Right.” He jerked his chin in the direction of some dilapidated wooden storage bins propped against the wall on what was his side of the barn. “Let’s get those out. I’d like to load them onto the trailer while it’s empty.” He’d backed a utility trailer close to the barn at some point.

  “Right.” Cassie pulled her gloves out of her pocket and buttoned the top button of her chambray shirt. Two days in the barn had taught her to keep everything buttoned as closely as possible to keep the fine dust that coated everything from clinging to exposed skin and drifting in through open collars.

  Together they manhandled the first set of bins out the door, making it almost to the refuse trailer before one of the boards gave and it fell, pitching Travis sideways. He regained his footing and took hold of a more solid support.

  “Good to go?”

  He nodded and they awkwardly carted the broken storage unit the rest of the way to the trailer. “One down.”

  And only one to go.

  The second was wobblier than the first, but they got it to the trailer without incident.

  “What’s next?”

  “More awkward stuff.” He pointed to the pieces of an antique hay rack and other bits of equipment that would
never again see service. “Grandad says he’s going to put the rake together and use it as a lawn ornament.”

  “Nice idea.”

  “Still strongly in the idea stage.”

  Cassie smiled, then made her way to the tangle of curved metal tines, some still attached to the framework, others lying nearby. Concentrate on the task at hand, not the man who created so many conflicting emotions.

  She was concentrating so hard that when she turned to pick her way out of the jumble of tines, she caught her pant leg and pitched forward. Travis made a grab for her as she went down, somehow catching her before she hit the metal rake frame. She clutched at the front of him as he hauled her upright.

  “Are you okay?” he asked gruffly.

  “My foot is still caught.” She pulled it free from the tangle of metal, using her hold on the front of his shirt for balance. His grip tightened on her arms, sending a curl of warmth through her.

  “You good now?”

  “Uh-huh.” But as their gazes connected, she found she wasn’t in any hurry to let go of the front of his shirt. Almost as if you’ve been looking for an excuse to touch him. Her heart started beating double time as he studied her face in a lazy way, then his gaze slid down to her mouth and there was no mistaking the direction of his thoughts.

  “Well?” he asked softly.

  “Well, what?” Cassie asked, somehow pushing the words out of her throat. What would it be like to kiss that mouth, which drove her to distraction? That mouth, which was now curved into an overly confident half smile. Really? “Do you think I’m going to kiss you?”

  “I hope you’re not going to bite my nose.”

  Cassie shoved her hands against his chest, sending him stumbling backward. He caught hold of a wooden upright before going down.

  She gave him an unsympathetic look as he regained his balance, but her heart was hammering. He’d read her perfectly and she wasn’t ready to be read like that. “You are one cocky man, Travis.”

  “Just calling things the way I see ’em.”

  “Tell me how you ‘see ’em.’”

  “There’s a reason you keep watching me.”

  Prickly heat warmed her cheeks. “I’m watching you because we’re the only two people in the barn. Who else am I going to look at?” She gritted the words out from between her teeth. “Besides, I feel bad about your eye.”

  “I think it’s about more than my eye.”

  He lifted his eyebrows, silently encouraging her to unburden herself, but Cassie’s survival instinct, honed during many, many meetings in which she had to keep her personal feelings to herself, kicked in. She wasn’t going to utter a word until she knew exactly what she wanted to say, and since logical thought escaped her, that could be a while.

  The silence stretched on and it began to feel as if the atmosphere between them would crack before either of them made a move. Finally, as Cassie was reaching her breaking point, Travis shifted his weight and glanced past her to the junk behind her. “We’d better get to work.”

  The atmosphere didn’t crack. It diffused, leaving Cassie feeling oddly deflated, but her heart was still beating too hard of a rhythm against her ribs.

  “Yes.” For once she was happy to leave unfinished business unfinished. And she was not going to look at him today. Not unless it was in the line of duty. She straightened her shoulders, and settled her hands on her hips, doing her best to look as if she’d had enough of this nonsense and it was time to go to work.

  Travis stuck his thumbs into his front pockets, looking so much cooler than she felt, but looks, she reminded herself, could be deceiving.

  “Opposite sides of the barn again?” she asked.

  He nodded. “Seems safest.”

  “No thanks to you.”

  He tilted one corner of his mouth up into a yeah-right smirk, then reached for the gloves in his back pocket. Cassie did the same before turning and striding off to her side of the barn.

  She only hoped the time passed quickly so she could get out of here and back to her own ranch, where she could indulge in some primal scream therapy.

  CHAPTER NINE

  BY THE TIME eleven o’clock rolled around, Travis was covered head to toe with the powdery dust that permeated old barns. He beat his hands on the front of his chest, raising a small cloud.

  “Quitting time?” Cassie wiped the back of her hand over her forehead, leaving a smear. It was the first time either of them had spoken since they’d retreated to their neutral corners, which had its benefits. They both had stuff to work through, and it had kept them from arguing about who started what.

  “A little after.”

  They still had a ton of work to do, but a lot of junk had been moved out of the building, including the hay rake and the jumble of tines, as they wrestled with their private demons.

  “I think we should work together tomorrow,” Cassie said as she pulled off her gloves. “I have stuff over here I can’t handle alone.”

  She hadn’t asked for help with anything that she could tug, pull or push at least an inch at a time, and she’d extended him the same courtesy as he’d strained to maneuver a grain barrel full of traps and other metal miscellanea out the door.

  “I’m good with that.”

  She lightly slapped the gloves into her palm. “You took me by surprise earlier.”

  “It wasn’t an ambush.”

  “No. You were right. I have been watching you.”

  He’d wondered as he’d worked if Cassie planned to recap the situation before she left, or if she was going to let it slide into the never-to-be-discussed realm. Now he had his answer.

  “And you’ve been watching me,” she added.

  He’d thought he’d been pretty slick about that, but apparently not slick enough. Was that heat creeping up his neck?

  “Don’t want you sneaking up on me.”

  “Right. And I’m only concerned about your eye.” She gave him a long, thoughtful look, one that put his nerves on edge. “What if by some crazy happenstance I do find you physically attractive? Where does that leave us?”

  He bit the inside of his cheek, wondering if he was stepping into a trap. “Exploring new territory?”

  She slowly shook her head.

  “So be it,” he said. “You won’t find me pushing.”

  “I’ll believe that when I see it.”

  “I don’t push.”

  She put her hands on her hips and in a mock deep voice said, “Stand back, little lady, while I handle big bad Ray Quentin.”

  “Funny.” He started to touch the sore spot on his face, then realized what he was doing and dropped his hand. “I was trying to protect you.”

  She let out a breath as she fixed him with another thoughtful gaze, as if wondering what to do with him. Or rather with whatever feelings he stirred up in her.

  “You know, we can pretend none of this is happening,” he said, “but it isn’t going to solve anything.”

  “There’s nothing to solve.”

  He let out a choked laugh. “Dream on.”

  She rolled her eyes. “I can’t believe this.”

  “Kind of took me by surprise, too.”

  Her gaze crashed into his. “That’s not what I meant.” She let out a sharp breath. “It’s time for me to go.” She started toward the bay door.

  “I don’t think you should leave until we settle this,” he called after her. It seemed that for once in her life Cassie was retreating in the face of a challenge.

  “Look, if you need thinking time—”

  She stopped dead under the frame of the bay door.

  “You want to settle things?” she asked as she gave him the challenge-accepted look he knew so well. Eyes narrowed, mouth tight. “Do you?” She sounded like Dirty Harry facing down a punk kid. “Shall we get the inevitable kiss over with?”


  “Well, when you put it like that—”

  She closed the distance between them with quick steps, took his face in both hands and tilted it down so that she could meet his lips in a full-on closed-mouth kiss. A totally fake kiss, meant to make a point.

  A totally fake kiss that stirred his blood.

  When she released him, he managed a cocky half smile.

  “That’s all you got?” he asked, knowing full well he was treading into dangerous territory.

  To his surprise, instead of exploding, Cassie gave him a look he’d never seen before—and he’d thought he’d seen every expression she was capable of during their years of competition.

  “Oh, no,” she said in a low voice that made him distinctly uneasy. “I have this, too.” She reached up then to slide her palms over his cheeks before pulling his mouth down to hers, only this time her hands were gentle and her lips were soft and warm, inviting in a way he hadn’t expected.

  They were both breathing in less-than-perfect rhythm when their lips parted minutes later. For one long moment they stared at one another, then Cassie stepped back, still holding his gaze as she said, “I think that’s enough exploration for one day.”

  “All right.” An inadequate response, but his brain was still coming up to speed. Cassie, however, seemed to be back on her A-game.

  “Let me rephrase,” she said briskly. “That is enough exploration for all the days we’re working on this barn.”

  He gave her a dubious look.

  “And things will not be awkward between us.”

  Did she really think they could regulate such things?

  “Right.”

  “I’m serious.”

  He let out a small scoffing laugh. “Do you think we can kiss like that, then just walk away?”

  “I do and we are.”

  He shook his head and then gave her a rueful half smile. “Good luck on that, Cassie. I don’t think it can be done.”

  She gave him a look. “I think it can.”

  “Let the games begin.”

  CHAPTER TEN

  “HOW WAS YOUR DAY?” Katie asked as she took a seat at the table where Cassie was coloring with her little nieces. Cassie’s shoulder muscles stiffened at the innocent comment and she made a conscious effort to relax them.