CHAPTER FOUR

Deuce hadn’t allowed a lunch break, so they made good time reaching camp. As they crested a small rise, looking down into a lush, green, grassy meadow filled with fat sheep, Niki spotted the familiar wall-tent. An old man emerged as the horses approached. She slid off Storm, tossed her reins at Deuce and ran for her grandfather. Niki wrapped her arms around him, clung to his slight frame and buried her face in his chest to keep from crying.

She missed him so much when they were apart, though at the moment they didn’t have much choice. His life was herding sheep and she had to earn her own way. Niki hoped she could get a business started in a nearby small town before he had to retire and Deuce’s earlier comment made her feel pressured to make it happen soon. Niki knew her grandfather would never move to a big city and she was determined to care for him in his old age, just as he had taken care of her as a child.

“I’m leaving the pack horse.”

Deuce’s matter-of-fact tone brought Niki back to reality. She let go of her grandfather and watched as he limped toward Deuce, fearing maybe he had been right about her grandfather’s ability to continue working safely in a rugged profession in such a remote location. It worried her too when her grandfather was out here alone, but she had accepted the fact that it was his choice. His work had kept him as fit and young as possible and made him happy.

The two men shook hands and she was surprised to see Deuce smile. He had a wonderful smile and she missed seeing him happy. He had always been serious, even as a child, but when he did lighten up, her heart melted. As a boy and young man there had been something mischievous, but warm and comforting, in his grin and she hated the fact that she seldom saw that light anymore.

“With the military so close, I’d like you to take the sheep to the far end of our permit area for awhile. I don’t want them to start eyeing our mutton.”

“Or my granddaughter?”

Deuce ignored the old man’s comment as he checked the cinch on his horse. “I figure it’s a good idea to leave Niki’s stuff packed and load your gear up, so you two can head out this afternoon for a different grazing meadow.”

“Whatever you say, boss,” Bernie replied as he whistled for his mules.

Deuce made quick work of taking down the tent as he listened to Niki relay to her grandfather everything she’d been up to for the past year. She worked efficiently alongside the old man and Deuce couldn’t help but admire how the act of tearing down the camp and packing up seemed second nature to her¾tasks that would normally be foreign to a city girl.

He sneaked occasional glimpses of Niki as she happily organized the camp cookware, her ponytail swaying with each animated story she told her grandfather. She had gotten a promotion at work, had taken a trip to Florida with her friend Kate, volunteered at one of the many soup kitchens in Denver and had joined a women’s softball league. She made no mention of a man. Deuce wasn’t sure why he felt such relief. A young woman alone needs someone to take care of her, doesn’t she? He studied her familiar feminine figure bustling around camp.

Deuce continued to listen as Niki filled her grandfather in on the crisis sweeping the country. She explained the amassing of Iranian solders just across the border a few hundred miles due north, the rumor that some troops had already crossed into the U.S. and the concern over the politically connected colonel leading the IRGC forces. She then detailed all the economic fallout and told him about the layoffs at work, but assured him she would probably be one of the last to go.

“My job security is thanks to you,” Niki informed her grandfather as she gave him a smile Deuce wished was directed at him. “Our biggest client is this company that’s the largest retailer of farm and ranch equipment in the Rocky Mountain area and, believe it or not, I’m the most knowledgeable at our firm on the subject.”

“And I’ll bet you’re the prettiest too,” the old man replied.

Niki blushed, but kept working and talking to her grandfather. It always surprised her how little she forgot from year to year as she continued to dismantle camp. The hard work and sun on her back felt good and she relaxed. Despite the crisis underlying her thoughts, contentment filled her heart for the first time since she had left her grandfather at the end of the previous summer’s trip to return to Denver and a lifestyle she found little satisfaction in.

“The mood in the city is so gloomy I couldn’t wait to get out of there. And the best part of this year’s trip is my boss gave me a couple of extra weeks off. I can stay a month, so I’ll be here long enough to help bring the sheep in for the winter. I’ve always loved herding the sheep back to the ranch. It’s so much fun and the dogs are a thrill to watch in action.”

“Well, hallelujah,” the old man bellowed as he stopped what he was doing to give his granddaughter another hug. “It gets a little lonely out here sometimes and I sure do miss you when you’re away.”

“I miss you too, Papa.”

Deuce watched Niki beam with happiness at her grandfather’s words. They had always been close, but he hadn’t realized how difficult it was for them to be apart. He knew Bernie had tried to convince her to come live with him after her mother died, but she had been determined to finish high school with her class, go to college and take care of herself. He respected her for being independent, but still wished she would just stay where she belonged, in the city, and out of danger.

“Did you hear that, Deuce? We have Niki for a whole month.”

Deuce grunted his acknowledgement and kept breaking down camp. Whenever Niki was around his resolve weakened and when he thought of her out here with the old man, he didn’t sleep worth a damn—it was going to be a long month.

“I think he said he’s thrilled, Papa,” Niki laughed.

Deuce tried to look annoyed and had to fight the urge to smile. She lit up a room, or even a sheep camp, whenever she walked in. His pulse raised several beats when she was near, but he assumed the elevation was from annoyance and nothing more. When Deuce witnessed what his mom’s death did to his dad, he swore he’d never put himself in a position where grief could consume and nearly kill him. If he ever decided to marry, which he doubted, it would be to a sturdy western woman. But so far he’d never met a sturdy woman who he wanted to share his life with or who looked as good as Niki. When he dreamed about his future Niki was always in it and that just made him mad.

These mountains were no place for a small delicate woman like Niki. When she was out here with the old man every possible scenario ran through Deuce’s imagination, making it difficult to stay put at the ranch and get his work done. There were bears and cougars, she could fall off that ornery horse, fall in a creek or get sick. And out here, by the time they could ride back to the ranch and drive to the hospital in Sheridan, they were a good day or more away from a doctor if something bad happened.

“We can get it from here. You better mount up if you hope to reach the ranch before dark.” Bernie walked up to the pack mule where Deuce was cinching the sawbuck saddle.

Deuce nodded and allowed Bernie to help him lash the homemade wooden alforjas boxes to the sawbuck saddle. He placed the heavy canvas tent on top and the two men tied the load down with a diamond hitch, securing it for transport. Deuce preferred using canvas panniers, but would never question Bernie’s packing choices, nor did he take offense when the old man rechecked the mule’s double-cinches, breeching and breast collar. Real cowboys never trusted anyone else with their animals or their rigging, and Bernie was a true cowboy¾one of a dying breed.

“Frank and Joe should be back from moving the cattle to the high pasture in a couple of days and then we’ll get back on a rotation of sending one of them out every other week to bring you supplies.”

“Oh, that reminds me.” Bernie dug a crumpled slip of paper out of his front shirt pocket. “Here’s a list of some things I could use the next time one of them rides in.”

Deuce read over the list and laughed. “Since when do you drink chamomile tea, eat cinnamon bears and butterscotch kisses, roast marshmallows and read Cosmo and Budget Travel?”

The old man shrugged his shoulders and smiled. “She’s tougher than she looks, but I still hate her giving up all the usual trappings of civilization just to spend time with an old goat like me. Besides, what’s the good of going to your grandpa’s if he doesn’t have any candy for his little girl?”

“I’d much rather spend my time with an old goat than a horse’s ass,” Niki said as she came up behind her grandfather and wrapped her arms around him, giving Deuce an angry glare.

“I guess that’s my cue to leave.” Deuce stepped into a stirrup and swung his leg over the back of his young gelding.

He reined the horse around and watched as Bernie hobbled toward his mule. He glanced down at Niki and knew she had seen the limp too. “Think about what I said.”

She walked up to Traveler and ran her hand down the sorrel’s soft neck. Niki was a little sorry for blowing up at Deuce earlier, but wasn’t sure she had it in her to apologize. He was only worried about her grandfather’s well-being, but she would have much preferred a little kindness to his overbearing demand to bully her grandfather into giving up the job he loved. She took a few steps back, then reached out and slapped the gelding on the rear.

“Better make tracks. Tell Bob to give’m heck in D.C.”

Deuce watched as she strode away, head held high. He was sure she had wanted to say something else, but she was about as obstinate as he was and maybe more so than her grandfather.

“Niki?”

Deuce’s low deep voice stopped her mid-stride. She turned and looked at the handsome man on the horse and waited for him to speak.

“Be careful and take care of that stubborn old man.”

She was about ready to smile and say something reasonably pleasant back when he added, “Just don’t do anything dangerous or stupid.”

She turned, flipped him the bird and strode off after her grandfather.

“Maybe I have become a city girl,” she giggled, out of earshot of both men. “I’ve never even given a Denver rush-hour driver the finger and Lord knows most of them deserve it.”

She glanced back one last time. Even though Deuce was riding away, she could see his head shaking back and forth and had no doubt he was smiling.