They’d been avoiding talking about the inevitable. Kas’s parents had left for Arizona already. Tabby had had the chance to meet them briefly. But she didn’t see a point in trying to forge a relationship with them if Kas would be leaving too.
One night after they’d had dinner alone in her apartment, they sat on the porch wrapped in a blanket and looked up at the stars.
“When are you going back?” she finally asked.
They both knew this wasn’t an endless vacation for Kas. It was just hard to admit it aloud.
“I’ve been able to do a lot of business without ever stepping foot inside my office.” He chuckled. “Which doesn’t make me feel all that great. I like to think my employees actually need me.”
“I’m sure they do. But you’ll go back eventually?”
“That’s the plan. It was anyway.”
“Was?”
“Things change. Life changes. I’d forgotten how much I loved Sweet. How much I love looking at this big sky and seeing stars. You don’t get that in New York.”
“I suppose you don’t. The stars here aren’t like they were in Missoula either. I don’t know why.”
“As a kid I was itching to get out and rodeo all the time. I couldn’t stand being stuck here. And when I was told I couldn’t ride bulls anymore, the last place I wanted to come back to was Sweet. So I packed up and headed to a place where there was nothing to remind me of Sweet or rodeoing or what I couldn’t do.”
“But you always came back.”
“Yeah, I did.”
“You still invested in rodeo stock and you even invested in a hockey team. That says something. You kept a hand on what you loved.”
He looked at her and held her gaze. “I did that too. Sometimes I wonder who that man was who was itching to get out of here so badly.”
“I get it.”
“You do?”
“I think so. I didn’t grow up in Sweet.” She tossed him a wry grin. “Something you seemed keen on reminding me the first day we met.”
“I was just making a point.”
“Point taken. After my parents died, Missoula didn’t feel like home anymore. I had friends there, but it wasn’t the same. Home wasn’t the same. You’re right, things change. And sometimes you can change with them. Sometimes you miss what you lost. Sometimes a lot. But I didn’t miss Missoula like I thought I would.”
“Wasn’t it strange when you first got here?” he asked. “I mean, you’d never been to Sweet and suddenly you’re in a totally different type of environment living on a ranch.”
“It was strange at first. I didn’t know Trip like I know him now. I didn’t know Levon or Dusty or Hal. But I got to know them when I got to know Tenterhook. He was my reason for coming, and why I stayed. He’s the last piece of my parents that I have.”
“That alone can’t be the reason you stay in Sweet. You could take Tenterhook anywhere. There are farms not that far from New York City.”
“New York City is a bit out of my league,” she said with a chuckle. “For starters, where would I go ice skating now that I finally know how to and don’t have to do it with a cast?”
“Central Park. I go there.”
The shocked expression on her face made him laugh.
“You do need to get out of Montana, Tabby. There is a whole big world out there.”
Her expression changed. “I couldn’t leave Trip. Especially now that Levon is gone.”
“Why not? You’re not family. From what I understand, Trip has family living in the next town. He wouldn’t be alone.”
“He’s not my blood family, but he’s become my family. He gave me a place to call home when I had none. He’s done so much for me. He’s like that old uncle who gives you candy or slips a few dollars to you under the table when your parents aren’t looking. It wouldn’t feel right to leave him even if I could take Tenterhook across the country and settle someplace else like New York.”
He knew what she was saying. He’d be leaving here eventually. He’d spent the last twelve years building something in New York that was hard for him to walk away from, even if Sweet wasn’t the same town that he thought was holding him back and reminding him of things he couldn’t have all those years ago.
A noise in the barn pulled her attention away from what Kas was saying.
“What was that?” she asked.
Kas turned around and looked down the center aisle. “It’s probably Trip.”
“No, he went to his sister Brenda’s house for dinner. He invited me to go with him but I said no because…”
“Because of what?”
She took a deep breath. “Because I wanted to be with you. You’re going to be leaving soon. And you have this annoying thing about just dropping by instead of calling to let me know you’re coming.”
“I like the look on your face when you see me.”
“You do, huh? Am I that obvious?”
He brushed his finger across her cheek and smiled. His eyes were dark and filled with desire, something she’d come to love seeing when he looked at her.
“Only to me,” he said.
“I don’t know about that. I think Trip has his own ideas about…”
She stopped again and listened. “I didn’t hear a car. Did you?”
Kas glanced over at the barn. “The light in the barn just went out.”
“It must have been Dusty or Hal,” Tabby said.
“No, I saw them head to the bunkhouse a while back. I didn’t see them come back here. Get inside. I’m going to go check it out,” Kas said.
“I’m coming with you,” she said, getting up quickly. The blanket fell to the floor, but she didn’t bother to pick it up.
“Tabby.”
“Don’t you Tabby me. I’m coming.”
She was thankful he didn’t argue with her further. She wasn’t going to feel right going to bed tonight worrying about who may or may not have been in the barn.
She stayed behind Kas and they made their way to the barn. As Kas said, the lights in the bunkhouse were blazing bright and she could see Dusty and Hal sitting at the table engrossed in a game of cards.
Her heart pounded as they got closer to the barn door, she heard glass breaking.
Kas turned to her quickly. “Go back to the apartment.”
She stepped in front of him. “My horse is in this barn. You’re not going to keep me from him.”
“Lord have mercy, I’m never going to win an argument with you unless I throw you over my shoulder.”
“And even then you’ll get a challenge.”
“Stay behind me.”
He opened the door and walked inside slowly. The horses were restless, making noise and stomping in their stalls. The light he’d seen on in the barn was now turned off. She moved back as Kas and rushed down the center aisle to Tenterhook’s stall. She got about halfway when a figure came out from the grooming room. It took a few seconds for her to register who it was. Not because she didn’t recognize him, but because he seemed out of place here.
“What are you doing here, Tanner?” she asked.
“I heard you talking about leaving here. Moving to New York. I wouldn’t go packing bags any time soon, Tabby. That horse isn’t going to New York State or anywhere else. He’s coming with me!”
“What? Tenterhook is my horse.”
“What did you do, Tanner?” Kas said coming up behind Tabby and standing in front of her. “Did you do something to Tenterhook? Did you give steroids to the other horses?”
Shocked, Tabby said, “Steroids?”
“You don’t get it, do you? You people with your fat bank accounts come in here and drop what amounts to chump change as investments in animals on the circuit and then you wait for people like me to do all the real work.”
“That’s no excuse for nearly killing, Tabby,” Kas said.
“What? What is going on?” She looked at Kas’s face and then at Tanner’s. There was ugly all over Tanner’s expression, something she wasn’t used to seeing in another human being.
Tanner pointed to Tenterhook’s stall. “This my horse. You know it. Don’t you Kas. You noticed it the moment you saw Tenterhook just like I did. He’s Silver Moon’s offspring. He’s pretty much the only horse competing on the circuit who is of Silver Moon’s line. And he was mine! I spent my entire life savings to get that horse. He was going to be my ticket to bigger things. I was going to get my own ranch. Be my own boss. I wouldn’t have to work for Darren Lacey and take his orders.”
“You killed Levon,” Kas said accusingly. “That was no random horseshoe that Mad Dog threw. He didn’t buck at Levon. Even the coroner’s report showed no other signs of trauma other than the head wound. Jesse Knight gave me the report.”
Confused, Tabby stared at Kas. When had all this happened? Why hadn’t he told her?
“Levon wouldn’t see reason,” Tanner said. “He told me what was done was done. The BLM deal was legal.”
“It was. I still have the title from the BLM showing Levon’s purchase,” Tabby said.
“You do?” Kas asked.
“Yes. Levon gave me the title and paperwork he had when he found out I hadn’t taken my dad’s paperwork with me when I moved here. Tenterhook was purchased legally from the Bureau of Land Management. He had no branding on him. He was a wild mustang.”
“He’s no mustang. Tenterhook is really Silver Buck. He came from Darren Lacey’s ranch. That’s where I was boarding him! Darren will tell you so.”
“Tabby said Tenterhook wasn’t branded,” Kas said.
“There wasn’t time. Silver Buck was just a nine month old stallion when that early storm came through. He was lost in that snow squall on the high pasture along with three other horses from the Lacey ranch. We found the other horse carcasses but never found Silver Buck. At the time we all assumed he was killed and dragged off by a grizzly in the mountains. But he’s alive. Tenterhook is my Silver Buck! You know it. I know you do. Levon knew it too but he wouldn’t let me even prove to him that Tenterhook came from Silver Moon. But I don’t need to anymore. You all did it for me.”
“What is he talking about Kas?”
Kas kept his eyes on Tanner, but reached back and squeezed her hand. “I had Sean Knight do a DNA test and match Tenterhook’s DNA to Silver Moon’s. It’s the same lineage. Silver Moon is Tenterhook’s sire.”
“But the deal with BLM was done,” Tabby said, feeling fear rise up her chest. “He can’t take Tenterhook now, can he?”
“No,” Kas said. “I checked with the BLM. There was a finite period of time for Tanner to make a claim. That was over years ago. Long before Levon sold the horse to your father.”
“I don’t care what the BLM said. They never had authority over my horse. Now that I can prove it’s really Silver Buck, I’m taking him and I’m going to make my fortune selling stud fees since this horse can’t compete anymore.
“How do you plan to do that while you’re in jail?” Tabby asked. “You tried to purposely injure my horse and me out of your own greed.”
“Don’t forget, it’s my horse! I now have the proof!”
“That doesn’t prove anything!” Kas said, taking Tabby by the hand and pulling her further behind him. “It only proves that he came from Silver Moon’s bloodline. It doesn’t show who the mare is who birthed him.”
Tanner’s face turned red and twisted into an angry scowl. “You people are all alike! I know who the mare is. I have the paperwork. You have the money and you think you get to pull the strings. I didn’t have anything left after I put all my money into that horse. I couldn’t fight it after I saw Tenterhook in competition. It was too late.”
“Okay, it was too late. Why try to hurt the horse and sabotage Trip’s breeding? You gave the other horses steroids that could have seriously harmed them.”
“Trip had big business here. Darren Lacey’s business. I went to Darren and told him what I thought about Tenterhook. He wouldn’t help me. So I went to Levon with my suspicions, he told me no one would listen to me. Well, when you business people with big bank accounts started coming up short when your horses didn’t breed, I got your attention all right. I got it good!”
“You don’t want to do anything rash, Tanner.”
“Yes, I do. I’m taking Tenterhook. I have my trailer at the end of the driveway and I’m going to load him into it.”
“No, you’ll injure him. He’s still on light walking. You can’t.”
“This horse is mine!” Tanner yelled. “I say what happens to him now. And I’m not letting anyone take him from me again!”
He reached into his jacket pocket and pulled out a gun.
“I killed once for it, I’ll do it again if I have to!”
“Tanner!” Trip yelled from the other end of the barn. “I’ve got a rifle that will put that twenty-two special to shame. You best get off of my property before the law gets here. I’ve already made a call to Caleb Samuel. He should be here any minute.”
She and Kas were in a precarious position between Tanner and Trip. Trip didn’t take his eyes off Tanner, but motioned with his head for them to move away. Tabby was frightened for the horses, and she was frightened for her and Kas.
“Don’t do it, Tanner. It’s not worth it,” Tabby said.
“Just give me the horse and I’ll be on my way,” he said.
“Drop the gun, Tanner,” Trip yelled. “Drop it now before I blow a hole in you so big—”
Gunfire erupted. Kas grabbed Tabby and pushed her into the empty horse stall, covering her with his body. It didn’t last long. But the sound impact was enough to muffle her hearing. She no longer heard the horses or anyone else.
Kas got up slowly and looked around. Tabby saw Tenterhook in the stall opposite them and she wanted to run to him. She waited for Kas to check the aisle before he opened the stall gate. She started to go to Tenterhook’s stall, but when she turned her gaze to the left, she saw Trip bleeding as he lay on the floor.
“Trip!”
She ran to him, fear squashing every bit of strength she had. He was awake when she got to him, but he was in obvious pain.
“Don’t die on me, Trip. Please don’t die on me,” she cried.
“It’s just a flesh wound, I think. Hurts like hell though.” He bit his lip and grunted. “Did Tanner get away?”
Kas came running up to their side. “Caleb caught him on the way out of the side of the barn. He’s in custody. He’s already called for an ambulance.”
“Good thing. I’m going to need some of those pain pills the doctor ordered for you, Tabby,” Trip said. “Oh, Lord, this twenty-two gage bullet wound is putting me to shame!”
* * *
Tabby brought chocolates to the hospital when she went to visit Trip. He never ate such things in front of her, but she knew he had a sweet tooth, and Brenda had told her Trip always kept a bag of chocolate bars in his desk drawer. She was glad she thought to bring them because his face lit up immediately when she took the box out of the bag.
“You spoil me,” he said.
“I could say the same for you.”
She forced a smile. She was truly glad to see that Trip was doing well, but the news she heard that morning from Kas about him leaving for New York in a few days had her emotions riding a roller coaster she couldn’t get off of.
He’d wanted to stay and said he would. For her. But that wasn’t fair to him. He had a life in New York.
Trip seemed to understand. “I think it’s time for you to fly the old chicken coop,” he said quietly.
“What do you mean?” she asked, propping him up with a pillow. “I just got here.”
“I don’t mean here. Kas came to see me earlier. I know he’s leaving Sweet again.”
“What did he say to you?”
“He didn’t have to say anything. I know.” Trip sighed. “I never married. I never had any children. I’m just an aging cowboy on a big ranch full of stock. The rodeo has been my wife and my life. It wasn’t until seeing your dad again for those months we were working with Tenterhook, and then having you come live on the ranch after your mom and dad died, that I realized what I’d missed.”
“It’s not too late. You can still find someone to share your life with. You’re not ancient.”
“Well, thank you very kindly for putting it that way. That made me feel about a hundred years older than I felt five seconds ago,” he said with a chuckle.
“I didn’t mean—”
“I know you didn’t. You say what’s on your mind. And you’ve brought a bit of laughter into mine because of it. But as much as you have added to my life since you’ve been on the ranch, it would be wrong for me to keep you back from your own life. You like this fella.”
She blushed. He made it sound so innocent and yet, what she felt for Kasper Dobbs was so much more than she’d ever felt for any man. She was in love with him. She was sure of it.
“He’s a good man, Trip,” she said.
“Did he ask you to go back with him?”
“No. I told him I didn’t want to leave.”
Trip gave her a stern look. “Why not?”
“Because. My life is here. And…I can’t leave the Lone Creek. It’s my…home.”
“It’s always going to be your home. Even if you leave and live your life somewhere else. Kasper Dobbs has strong roots in Sweet. He’s going to want to come home to them. He always does. And when he does, you will too. So if you think for one minute leaving here for New York means goodbye, you’d better think again.”
Tabby left the hospital filled with a myriad of emotions. Trip had become a surrogate father to her. She’d always wondered how she could get married to any man without her father walking her down the aisle. Kas hadn’t asked her to marry him. But if he did, she knew Trip would be the man who’d give her away.
* * *
She drove over to Kas’s family home on her way back from the hospital. Katie Dobbs was just leaving when she arrived.
“He’s packing,” Katie said. “He’s in a foul mood.”
“Kas? When is he ever in a foul mood?”
Katie rolled her eyes. “Are you sure we’re talking about my brother?”
She chuckled, even though she felt the weight of tears behind her eyelids.
“Be easy on him,” Katie said, giving her a wink. “I’ve got a date. I’ll see you at the bank.”
“See you.”
As Katie pulled out of the driveway, Tabby walked into the house and searched for Kas. She found him in the laundry room.
“Well, would you look at that?” Tabby said.
Kas’s face immediately brightened when he saw Tabby standing there.
“What are you doing here?” he asked.
“Watching you do laundry. Can I hire you?”
Abandoning the clothes he was folding on the dryer, he reached out and wrapped his arms around her. “Shh. Don’t tell my maid I do laundry. She’ll start to feel insecure.”
Her mouth dropped open. “You have a maid, too?”
“In New York. When I’m home I have to do my own chores, just like when I was a kid.”
She wrapped her arms around his shoulders and kissed him. “Your mother raised you right.”
“My sister made sure it was fair,” he said, laughing. “You try having Katie Dobbs as a sister. I got absolutely no breaks.”
“I would love to have Katie as a sister. I have no sisters.”
“Yeah?” He brushed her hair away from her face and smiled down at her. “How about as a sister-in-law?”
Tears filled her eyes. “I talked to Trip. He said you talked to him too. What did you say to him?”
“I told him I was in love with you and that I wanted to make you happy. I asked him for your hand in marriage.”
Shocked, her mouth dropped open. “You did not.”
“I did.”
“What did he say?”
“That I’d better ask you. I love you, Tabby. I’m sick about leaving Sweet without you by my side.”
“Me, too.”
“It could work, you know. We could go back to New York and bring Tenterhook with us. He’ll be happy in a ranch just outside the city. And you’d be able to see him whenever you wanted.”
“No. He can’t leave Lone Creek Ranch. He’s still healing.” She reached up and kissed him on the mouth to wipe away the disappointment she saw in his expression. “But I can come to New York. And when I come home to Sweet, I can see him. Promise me we’ll do it often?”
“I always planned on coming home to Sweet. I want to buy a big spread here and have my own ranch. I just need to tie things up in New York first. That may take a while. A year or two at most. I miss this big Montana Sky that I grew up with. But I’m going to miss you more if you don’t come with me.”
“Yes.”
“Yes, you’ll come with me?”
She giggled. “Yes, to it all. Promise me we’ll come back here to raise our babies and teach them to ride and rodeo and I’ll go to New York and be your wife.”
He lifted her up on her feet and twirled her around. “I promise. Oh, I love you so much.”
“I love you, too, Kas. Lone Creek Ranch has been my home for a long time, and it will always be my home. But I know I’ve found a home with you, too. No matter where we are together, I’ll be able to look up and see that Sweet Montana sky and feel love.”