Page 18 of Unforgettable Cowboy (Montana’s Rodeo Cowboys #1)

The truck started despite her shaking fingers having trouble getting the key into the ignition and she watched in the rearview mirror as Chance struggled to his feet.

He’d be right behind her, so she couldn’t turn in the direction of the Tree Fork Ranch.

Instead, she turned the opposite way, heading for Jim Reed’s place, fully expecting the red Chevy to appear in her rearview mirror at any moment.

Did she want to lead an angry man to Jim’s place?

Did she have other options?

But the Chevy didn’t appear in her mirror and when she slowed at Jim’s mailbox, she realized that she had the road to herself. Well at least she wasn’t going to be responsible for Chance taking his anger out on her mom’s farming partner. Taking one last look behind her, she turned down the drive.

There was no one at home at Jim’s place, but like most rural homes, the door was unlocked.

Feeling like a thief, even though she had a very good reason for breaking and entering, she stepped into the kitchen.

There was a yellow landline mounted to the wall, old as the hills, but it had a dial tone.

Hayes’s number was in her phone, which was back at the homestead, so she flipped through the phone book, found Wade’s number and dialed.

Hayes answered and Bailey felt like melting into a puddle on the floor as relief swamped her.

“Hayes? Chance came to my place.”

“What the fuck? Are you okay?”

“I’m okay, but I’m not going home.”

*

Hayes’s blood pressure spiked as a red Chevy sped past him toward Marietta, the opposite direction Hayes was traveling. It was all he could do not to turn around and chase the asshole to town, where he could get a piece of him. But first he had to make certain that Bailey was okay.

Bailey who’d better damned well be chilling at the Reed Farm like she’d promised.

He roared down the drive to the Reed Farm, where he found Bailey sitting in her truck. He pulled to a stop next to her rig and she got out. He’d never seen her so pale, but the first words out of her mouth were: “I’m okay.”

Hayes didn’t argue with her. Or mention that she looked like she was in shock. Or that she was shaking when he pulled her into his arms. She knew.

“Reaction,” she said against his chest as a shudder went through her. Her body stilled after that, but Hayes kept his arms around her.

He stroked her hair, closed his eyes, wondered if he might be shaking himself as he contemplated what he was going to do to Chance Meyers.

“No one home here?”

“I haven’t seen anyone. I don’t think they’ll care that I let myself in.”

“No,” he said on a choked laugh. “I doubt they will.”

“Don’t,” she said, pulling back so that she could see his face.

“What?”

“Smear Chance into the ground.”

“What makes you think that I’m thinking that?”

She managed to smile, that Bailey I-can-handle-anything smile. He was not fooled, but he was impressed that she was snapping back. The thing was that snap-backs were often followed by relapses.

“You got him in the jewels?” He’d found a deep measure of satisfaction in her explanation of how she’d escaped the man.

She nodded before stepping out of his embrace. He let his hands fall loosely to his sides, knowing that she needed to handle this in her own way.

“He curled up like a bug.” She gave a sniff, then looked in the direction of her place, hidden by a thick belt of timber. “I don’t know if he left. I thought he’d follow me, so I didn’t go to your ranch.”

“You should have.”

“Then he would have seen Dakota and had you guys arrested or something.”

“Bailey—”

“I’m not giving him the horse. Especially not now. But I will get her off of your property. I mean, he wouldn’t come looking on my place again, right? I could—”

“Leave her right where she is.” Her gaze slowly came up to his. “Maybe Chance will stop by my place, and we can…deal with the matter.”

“Not physically, right?”

“No promises, Bailey.” His jaw shifted sideways as he stared down at her. “Don’t make me promise, okay?”

She shook her head, then pressed her lips together. “What if he’s still at my place, waiting?”

“He passed me on his way to Marietta.”

She gave an audible sigh. “Good.” She swallowed and then leaned her head against his chest. “Will you go home with me anyway?”

“That slides directly into the stupid-questions slot,” he muttered, and he felt her shake with what he hoped was laughter. He leaned back and tipped her chin up, telling himself he wasn’t going to kiss her, no matter how badly he wanted to. Not the time. “Let’s go see what’s what.”

And then he’d talk her into coming back to the Tree Fork with him because there was no way he was letting her spend the night in a trailer on her isolated homestead.

*

The trailer was just as she’d left it. The jewelry she’d been polishing was still beside her lawn chair.

The piece she’d been engraving was still in the ball vise and even her phone lay untouched on the counter near the mini fridge.

There was no sign of a revenge rampage and that made Bailey almost more nervous than coming back to a trashed trailer.

“Glad he didn’t pee in here or anything.” She was only half joking.

“Maybe his nuts were too sore.”

Then her eyes strayed to the panel in the wall beneath the table, which was now slightly ajar.

“Oh no.”

“What?” Hayes was instantly on alert, his hand settling on her shoulder as he waited for her to explain.

She knelt down and crawled beneath the table to pull the panel clear, revealing the narrow and very empty compartment behind it.

“No.” She whispered the word as her head dropped. Hayes dropped down to crouch beside her. She couldn’t breathe. Couldn’t think. Months of work. Gone.

“You kept your silver in there?”

She didn’t know if she could answer.

“Bailey?”

Jenna wasn’t a crier, and neither was she…but Chance Meyers had found a way to break both of them.

She backed out from under the table, bumping into Hayes, who took her hands and pulled her to her feet, wrapping his arms around her. She, who didn’t need anyone, needed someone. She was glad it was Hayes.

“He knew about the compartment?”

“Jenna owned this trailer before me. I bought it when they got a newer model.”

She closed her eyes, drawing in Hayes’s scent. His arms tightened. He was there. She was okay. Except for her livelihood. He’d stolen her silver. She had only the pieces that were in her polishing box. Half a display maybe.

All that work. Gone.

“You’re not staying here. We’ll move the trailer to the Tree Fork.”

She pulled back. “Chance will—”

“I don’t care.”

Bailey was about to push the hair away from her face when Hayes beat her to it, his touch gentle.

She closed her eyes and a second later his lips touched hers in a tender caress.

When she opened her eyes a second after his lips left hers, his expression was one of action.

He took hold of her elbow and together they got to their feet.

“Do you want to call the sheriff and report the burglary as well as the suspect?”

Bailey thought about it, then shook her head.

“He knows I won’t.” How could she? It would be a he-said, she-said situation. He stole my silver. She stole my horse.

To her surprise, Hayes didn’t argue with her.

“Let’s hook up this trailer and get it over to my place. You can sleep in it there as well as you can sleep in it here.”

“Good point,” she said. Hayes had the advantage, one because she was shell-shocked, and two because his plan made sense. “I really wish I’d been able to get a dog.”

“You still wouldn’t be staying here alone.”

She wanted to argue but if positions were reversed, or if it was Jenna rather than her, she would have insisted on the exact same thing.

It only took a matter of minutes for Hayes to guide Bailey as she backed her truck to the trailer and then dropped the hitch onto the towing ball. Once done, Hayes came to her window. “Are you okay to drive?”

“I’m not incapacitated.”

Hayes gave a slow nod. “I have a bottle of decent Scotch. We could remedy that.”

She touched his face, the stubble on his cheek teasing her palm. “Perfect plan, Hayes. Let’s get drunk and plot strategy.”