Page 10 of River Legacy (Powder River #5)
B rand suggested his brother show Victoria around the ranch. “I can handle the work that needs to be done today,” he said, letting Ryder know he would owe him big-time. “Saddle up Susie for her and go for a ride.”
“Susie?” she asked as they finished breakfast and got ready for the day ahead. “She sounds sweet. I’d love to ride her.”
“Thanks for suggesting that, Brand,” Ryder said, knowing he was never going to live this down. Nor was he ever going to forget how much his brother was enjoying his discomfort.
Since Victoria was dressed for riding, they headed out to the stable where he saddled Susie and his own horse.
Taking the reins, he walked Victoria through the basics of horseback riding even as he told himself this was a terrible idea.
If he got her killed, Wendell Forester would end up owning this ranch.
“I think I’ve got the knack of it,” she said after his instruction. With that, she stepped to the horse, swung up into the saddle and reached for the reins he was holding.
“You’ve done this before,” he said, nodding to himself.
She grinned. “I learned to ride at the boarding school I attended.”
“Of course you did. Do you have any other surprises for me?”
Her grin broadened. “I should hope so.” She took the reins he handed her and gave him a look that told him he was in for a long weekend.
This was a game to her, something she could tell her friends about when she went back to her real life.
He told himself that he could get through the weekend.
At least he hoped so, but only if she quit flirting with him. That was what she was doing, wasn’t it?
Ryder swore under his breath. He wasn’t good at games, especially with the opposite sex. He knew horses better than women. Worse, he’d never met one like Victoria Forester.
They rode out across the ranch. The feel of the horse beneath him, the sunshine and the smell of summer in the Powder River basin made him forget everything as he rode. His earlier annoyance with Victoria quickly evaporated too as he noticed what a good rider she was.
He pointed out things that might interest her as they went. His mood got better as she showed an appreciation for the country from the river bottom to the mountains and the badlands in between.
It was one of those Montana summer days that made people fall in the love with the state. Puffy white clouds floated in a sea of deep blue above the treetops. The air smelled fresh and clean, just cool enough this beautiful morning to make the ride even more enjoyable. He loved mornings like this.
But today he couldn’t help being distracted by the woman with him. She seemed so different here, her face flushed, her eyes bright. He had to keep reminding himself that she was the same woman he’d seen in the photograph of her coming out of a nightclub after clubbing with friends.
He also had to remind himself that she was Wendell Forester’s daughter. The man’s princess. He watched her take in the view for a few moments before he asked, “Why does your father want to buy my ranch so badly?”
Vicky seemed surprised by the question. “I have no idea. But when he sees something he wants, he buys it.”
“There are a lot of ranches in Montana, a lot of them larger and considered much prettier, with rivers more famous than the Powder. What is it about this ranch that makes a man like him want it so badly when he can afford to buy anything?” It was a question he’d asked himself many times as Forester had become more relentless in his attempts to purchase the Stafford Ranch.
“I honestly don’t know,” she said. “There must be something about this place in particular that makes it worth owning. He doesn’t just collect things unless they have a financial value to him.”
“Such as?”
“He recently bought several ranches in North Dakota because they had oil on them.”
“We have coalbed methane.”
“Did he send a geologist out here?”
“Not that I know of.” It dawned on him that a man like Forester didn’t have to send anyone.
“We have a local geologist, Alfred “Tick” Whitaker, who works for the gas company. He has already surveyed the ranch when my brother CJ hired the CH 4 company to drill for methane. Tick would know what is here.”
“There you have it,” Victoria said. “The geologist must have found something that would be of interest to my father.” She seemed entranced by the wide-open spaces. “I love the way the river winds through the valley,” she said as they stopped on a hill to admire the view.
“That’s the Powder River. It begins in Wyoming and travels more than a hundred and fifty miles to empty into the Yellowstone River to the north of here. We’ll go along the river on the way back.”
“I’d like that,” she said and tucked a lock of that copper hair behind her ear as she had this morning.
He found himself mesmerized by the simplest things this woman did.
There was such a confidence in her. How many women would proposition him in the Billings airport, let alone make some enticing offers just to get him to pretend to be her fiancé?
Most women wouldn’t come to the ranch for the weekend either—not having a clue what she was getting into.
That she was brave to the point of being reckless hadn’t escaped him. No wonder her father wanted to get her married off so he didn’t have to worry about her.
As they rode toward the river, she asked about the area’s history, if his family had been one of the first to settle the land and what it was like to have those kinds of roots.
“I can’t imagine the first settlers who came here to homestead the land,” she said as she looked out across it. “Such strong, brave women and men. I’ve never had roots like you do—never mind family living all around me.”
He told her about his two sisters, Tilly and Oakley, and their husbands Cooper and Pickett. “Once you meet my sisters, you might change your mind about wishing you had family close by.”
“Pickett. I love that name.” She asked about Tilly and when she was due to have her baby. “Another generation on this land. I can’t imagine what that’s like for you. What a sense of pride you must feel to be part of it.”
He’d never thought of the ranch quite that way, but seeing it through her eyes he did feel it. “It’s just what we do. Ranching and living out here are all I know.”
“You’ve lived here your whole life,” she said as if in awe. “I’ve never lived in a place long enough to feel like it was home. My father’s always on the move. I think he was better at staying put when my mother was alive, but I don’t remember it. She died when I was twelve.”
The trees seemed to open up before them, and there was the Powder River.
The moment Victoria spotted the clear water that flowed through the rocks, she was off her horse and kicking off her boots.
He laughed as he watched her peel off her socks and roll up her jeans to wade out into the shallow water to a large flat rock at the river’s center.
He was tempted to take a photograph of her in the middle of the Powder River and send it to her father. He pulled out his phone and took the photo, but changed his mind about sending it to her father as he quickly dismounted and, removing his boots and socks, waded out to join her.
“The river isn’t what I expected,” she said with a laugh. “But I like it. It’s... gentle but determinedly steady.” Her gaze went to him. “Reminds me of you.”
He chuckled at that. She thought she knew him after such a short time together? He couldn’t say the same. This woman was still a mystery to him. Every time he thought he had her number, she surprised him.
“The Powder is said to be a mile wide, an inch deep and runs uphill,” he told her. “The joke was always that it was too thick to drink and too thin to plow.”
“Why Powder River?” she asked.
“Captain Clark of the Lewis and Clark expedition named it Redstone River. But the Native Americans called it Powder River because the black shores reminded them of gunpowder, and that stuck.”
She leaned back against the warm rock. She looked content. He suspected it was the breakfast that she’d put away like one of the ranch hands.
“I have to ask,” he said. “Your father’s bodyguards. Are they just for show?”
She glanced over at him. “I can see why you would ask that. You didn’t threaten to kill my father, did you?”
Ryder shook his head. “If he’s been trying to strong-arm other Montana ranchers, though, then I would imagine one of them could have threatened him. But the bodyguards are something new?”
She nodded. “He pretends it’s nothing, but he’s been getting death threats.
Says he took on extra security for me and will keep them until he can get me married off so he knows my husband will keep me safe.
” She rolled her eyes. “I have a feeling he’s more worried than he lets on, because I haven’t seen him without the guards since he received the first threat a few weeks ago. ”
“Threat, like a real death threat?” he asked, remembering that he’d told Forester that he’d shoot the next person the man sent to buy his ranch.
Turning her head to look at him, she said, “Most people who meet my father want to kill him. Seriously, I know he’s made enemies.
I wouldn’t be surprised if Claude doesn’t hate him.
My father seems to be getting worse, as if he can’t buy enough.
I don’t think it makes him happy. He just likes to win.
What will you do if he makes another run at your ranch? ”
“I already threatened to shoot the next person he sends with an offer,” Ryder said, smiling to let her know he was kidding, kind of. “I doubt he’ll come himself, so he should be safe.”
“I wouldn’t put it past him to show up here. Best keep your gun loaded,” she said and chuckled, but he wasn’t sure she was joking.