Montana Gold. Genell Dellin

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      He’d put his money in the bank since those first years on the rodeo road when all he’d had was that little old trailer he’d lived in with Andie Lee and Shane. Since then, he’d operated out of one friend’s place or another, usually whichever friend was boarding Tardy Girl for him. The now twenty-five-year-old mare he called Teege or T.G. was the only thing he’d managed to hold on to all his life.

      Except the saddle he’d made with his dad. The only dadlike thing his dad had ever done. He didn’t like to think about his old man but sometimes he did wish he could show him this ranch, after all the times he’d called him worthless and no-good and told him he’d never amount to anything.

      He slammed his mind shut on the memory of his dad’s voice and concentrated on looking at the snow-covered mountains. This had to be the most spectacular view in the state of Montana. The best view he’d ever seen anywhere, and he’d been all over the U. S. and a lot of Canada and to Brazil with Robbie.

      Chase, chilled to the bone, even though they were having a good spell of open weather, stood up and threw what was left of the coffee into a bush by the steps, set the mug on the table and gave his arms and shoulders a mighty stretch. His joints popped and his bones creaked, but at least he was all in one piece.

      The sun was warming things up and he should get out in it. Maybe the wind would become a chinook—after all, most of the snow was melting from the lower elevations.

      He would go change into running shoes and put in a mile or two. This afternoon, he’d lift weights and do a lot of crunches. Robbie’s Brazilian buddy, Paulo, did two thousand sit-ups a day. No wonder he was in perfect control of his body when he got on a bull. Of course, he was a lot younger than Chase.

      He turned to start for the door, but the grinding of wheels on gravel stopped him. He turned, waiting idly, to see who was coming. More workmen, probably.

      This was pitiful. He was so hard up for entertainment he was watching the builders drive in to work.

      Nope. He knew the pickup as soon as he saw it. Andie Lee, coming to see him.

      Only once before had she driven the hundred miles to his place from the Splendid Sky, the ranch where they’d met all those years ago. They’d been so young then. So young they didn’t understand the world they were in, happy in the rebellion of forbidden love: Andie Lee the princess, the owner’s stepdaughter, and Chase the saddle bum/drifter/colt breaker/wannabe rodeo champion.

      The one time she’d been here was to bring their son, Shane—well, technically, her son—to camp with Chase for a couple of days. That had been before the house was completed. What would she think of it?

      He didn’t really care what she thought of the house. Suddenly, he just wished he’d held on to her somehow so he wouldn’t be lonesome now.

      Lately she’d been dating just one guy, a guy she’d looked at with a million feelings in her eyes the day she introduced him to Chase. And, later, she hadn’t wanted to talk about him on the phone, so that had made him feel sort of shut out. They hadn’t been lovers for several years, but they’d been friends and they were accustomed to telling each other just about everything.

      Come to think of it, she’d been too busy for weeks now to talk to Chase much at all.

      If she was here, this was serious. It must be bad news. Shane might be in trouble again.

      She drove up to the center of the circle drive and parked in front of the steps. He took them two at a time to go meet her, hardly feeling the pain in his leg. Shane wasn’t with her.

      Smiling, Andie got out of the truck and walked into his open arms, lingering in his hug for a minute without saying a word. She felt so damn good. She smelled so familiar. Now, she could make this place a home. Why the hell had he ever let her go?

      “You must’ve hit the road before sunup,” he said. “Everything all right?”

      She pulled back and gave him that smile again. She couldn’t seem to stop smiling.

      “Everything’s wonderful. I’ve come to tell you my exciting news.”

      “Is it about Shane?”

      “About me,” she said. Then she turned away, took his hand, and started leading him up the steps. “Give me some coffee,” she said. “I finished mine just before I started down the mountain.”

      “Got a fresh pot.”

      She let go of his hand.

      “I want to see your house later,” she said, “but for right now, let’s sit out here. This view is fabulous. It’s even better than the one from Micah’s place.”

      “It might be too cold for you. Things’re just starting to warm up.”

      “Hey,” she said. “I don’t live in Texas anymore. I can take the cold.”

      When he came back with two full mugs, she was standing at the corner of the railing, looking in every direction. The sun made a halo of her hair.

      “You building a town here or what?” she said.

      “A little different from our Old Turkey, isn’t it?” he said, and stood very close to her after he handed her the cup.

      She held the look he gave her and he felt his heart beat in his chest. When they’d lived in that trailer, they’d been lovers. That was for damn sure.

      “That was a good old camper,” she said, smiling as she took a sip. “Think of the thousands of miles we put on it.”

      “And how many chaps and jackets you had to paint to buy the gas when I wasn’t winning,” he said.

      He loved her smile. He always had loved it.

      “Can’t you just see us? That old faded turquoise camper with the rusty red one-horse hooked on behind? How is Tardy Girl doing, by the way?”

      “She’s great. I’m keeping her in where it’s warm. We’ll go see her in a little while.”

      “Those were great days, Chase. I’ll never forget them.”

      “Sometimes I think we oughtta try it again,” he said lightly. “At least here in this house, you’d have a kitchen big enough to cook in and scratch your butt at the same time.”

      She almost sloshed her coffee out. “Chase! That’s not a very appetizing image.”

      But she was laughing. She was still smiling that smile.

      “Well, how about it? I ain’t had no good homemade cookies since we lived in that faded old turquoise trailer.”

      “You have so! I make you some for Christmas every single year!”

      “Or biscuits,” he said in a pitiful tone. “Or gravy.”

      He gave her his most soulful look.

      “Why don’t you just stay over tonight and cook my breakfast in the morning, Andie?”

      She СКАЧАТЬ