Montana Royalty. B.J. Daniels

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      Deputy Griffin Crowley stood against his patrol car, arms crossed over his chest, a frown on his face. He glanced at his watch as she approached, then back up at her with obvious irritation.

      Rory had completely forgotten about her call to the sheriff’s department yesterday morning when she’d discovered the tracks in her ranch yard. The sheriff had been unavailable. The dispatcher had promised to give someone the message though.

      And here was Deputy Crowley. He’d certainly taken his sweet time getting there.

      But that didn’t bother her as much as the fact that she was going to have to put off the shower and dry clothing awhile longer.

      “Rory,” Griff said with a nod as she swung down from her saddle. He was a big man, with a head of dark blond hair and a thick mustache that curled around his thin lips. He looked like the boy next door, more boyish than handsome.

      “I heard you called. The sheriff’s off to some lawman’s seminar in San Francisco. I got here as soon as I could. I was getting worried.” He studied her openly. Almost as if he knew that she’d spent the night in the line shack with a fancy-dressed foreign groom.

      She and Bryce Jones had double-dated with Griff and his girlfriend back in high school when the boys had been football stars, taking the team to state all four years. The two men had been close friends. She’d always suspected that Griff hadn’t forgiven her for breaking her engagement to Bryce anymore than Bryce had.

      But Griff and Bryce weren’t such close friends that the deputy hadn’t asked her out soon after the breakup and after Bryce’s leaving town. She’d turned Griff down all four times he’d asked her out since. To her relief, he’d finally quit asking.

      Unfair or not, Griff reminded her of Bryce, which was the kiss of death as far as she was concerned, not to mention she couldn’t forget the way Griff had tormented her when they were kids.

      “Sorry. Let me put my horse up.” Needing a moment, she led her horse into the barn, slipped off the saddle and tack and hung everything in the tack room.

      On the ride back to the ranch, Rory had told herself that she’d put last night behind her. It was over and done. No reason to beat herself up over it. And no one had to know about her lapse in judgment. Or whatever it had been in the middle of the night during the storm. The groom had no doubt been fired by now and was probably on his way back to whatever country he’d come from.

      She filled the mare’s bucket with oats before turning to find Griffin standing in the doorway watching her.

      “Early morning ride?” he asked.

      She knew her hair was a mess as well as her clothing, and saw no reason to lie. “Got caught in that storm last night. I had to spend the night in an old line shack.”

      He raised an eyebrow. “I didn’t know you had a line shack on your property.”

      “I don’t. The one to the west was closer than trying to make it back to the ranch,” she said avoiding his gaze.

      Fortunately, he let it drop. “Well, at least that explains why I couldn’t reach you when I called last night and again this morning,” he said. “I was worried about you out here all alone after you called the department. That was a pretty bad storm last night. Temperature dropped quite a bit. I’m surprised you didn’t freeze to death.”

      She’d always been a lousy poker player, every emotion showing in her face. “It wasn’t bad in the line shack,” she said, turning her whisker-burned face away.

      Out of the corner of her eye, she saw him frown. “Isn’t that line shack on the old Miller place? I thought that land was bought by—”

      “That’s the reason I called you,” she cut in. “Someone has been hanging around the ranch. I think it’s my new neighbors, that Duke—”

      “Prince. He’s a prince.”

      “Whatever.” She just wanted to cut this short and get a hot shower and into some dry clothes. “He’s been trying to buy my property and since I’ve made it clear I’m not selling—”

      “You’re telling me that the prince has been sneaking around your ranch? Come on, Rory, that’s the craziest thing I’ve ever heard.”

      This was exactly why she hadn’t wanted Griff responding to her call. “What are those people doing in Montana anyway? Do you even know? They could be infiltrating our country to attack us.”

      Griff shook his head as if he couldn’t believe this. “A prince and princess?”

      “How do you know that? Have you checked their identification? What do you actually know about these people?” She could see that he didn’t know any more than she did. Maybe less since she doubted he’d been over there, while she had.

      “Shouldn’t someone try to find out exactly what these people are up to given they have soldiers over there carrying semiautomatic weapons?”

      “How do you know what kind of weapons they carry?” he demanded.

      She said nothing, not about to incriminate herself further.

      Griff let out a long sigh. “First off, because they are royalty of course they are going to have armed guards. Second, you don’t have to sell your land to them. Just ignore the offers.”

      “What about whoever’s been on my property snooping around?” Rory saw his expression. “You’re not going to do a thing, are you? Why am I not surprised?” She started to turn away from him, too angry to have this discussion with the pigheaded, son of a…

      “Hold on, now,” Griff said grabbing her arm and turning her back to face him. “I’ll have a look around, okay?”

      She jammed her fists on her hips and said nothing.

      Apparently he seemed to think it best to follow her example and stepped past her to circle the house.

      She thought about going into the house and letting him do his job, but she knew Griff. Tailing after him, she watched him wander around her ranch yard, looking bored and annoyed. He glanced back once to see if she was watching him. She was.

      After a few minutes, he stopped his pretense of investigating and came back to where she was standing, her arms crossed over her chest.

      “There’s some tracks where someone has been hanging around, all right,” he said.

      “I believe I’m the one who told you that,” she said, trying to contain her temper. She was cold and tired and couldn’t wait for him to leave. It would be a cold day in hell before she called him out there again. Maybe when the sheriff got back…

      The deputy sighed. “Look, I’ve been meaning to talk to you about this very thing. I don’t like you living out here alone. I’m worried about you, Rory.”

      She shot an eyebrow upward. “Why? Since you’re so sure I have nothing to worry about with my new royal neighbors…” She couldn’t help the sarcasm. His concern apparently only went so far.

      “Damn it, Rory, you have no business СКАЧАТЬ