Page 27 of Unforgettable Cowboy (Montana’s Rodeo Cowboys #1)

H ayes had hoped to catch up with Chance before he reached the ranch. He figured that seeing Hayes’s truck in the rearview mirror might cause Chance to rethink whatever it was he had planned. But instead of catching up with Chance, a deputy sheriff caught up with him.

Hayes muttered a curse and Bailey leaned toward the window to look into the side mirror.

“Really?” She let her head fall back on the seat rest. “Of all the times to be caught speeding.”

Hayes had definitely been speeding, but to his surprise, the deputy didn’t light them up. And when Hayes turned off the highway, he followed.

“Now he’s going to stop us.”

But the deputy surprised him again.

“Huh.” Hayes kept checking his mirror and the deputy kept following, just far enough back to stay out of the dust.

Bailey looked at Hayes, who returned her frowning look. Who’d called the law? And why? The only reassuring thing was that he wasn’t traveling fast, so it wasn’t an emergency. But still…

Five minutes later they crossed the cattle guard leading to the ranch, the deputy still on his tail. In the distance, Hayes could see Chance’s truck and trailer as well as several figures—three if he wasn’t mistaken, which meant that Wade was out of the house.

Shit.

Hayes pulled to a stop as did the deputy, who beat both him and Bailey out of the truck. The expression on Chance’s face was one of righteousness, as if, finally, he had backup and Hayes had been the one to bring it to him.

He approached the deputy. “I’m glad you’re here. I have reason to believe my stolen horse in on this property.”

Chance had called the sheriff?

The deputy gave Chance a professional I-hear-you nod. “What makes you think that, sir?”

Chance shot a look at Bailey. “This woman works here. She’s friends with my wife and they stole my horse.”

“Your wife. Is the horse joint property?”

Chance’s certainty faltered for a split second. “Yes, but she’s keeping the animal from me, so that’s theft, right? Theft of half of a horse.”

The deputy’s eyebrows went up. “Half a horse.”

Chance’s mouth twisted in frustration, but other than shifting his weight, he gave no response.

The deputy looked at Wade, who shrugged. “I don’t have either half of his horse.”

“Ask if you can search the place,” Chance challenged.

“Search away,” Wade said. Jordan, standing silently beside him, nodded his joint approval.

Hayes wished that they hadn’t called the bluff like that. The deputy wouldn’t have been able to search without a warrant, but now…

It didn’t take the deputy long to go through the barn and the outbuildings and to check the corrals where the other horses were quietly eating. “A palomino, you say?”

The veins were starting to stand out in Chance’s neck. “Yes. A damned palomino.”

“I don’t see a horse of that description.”

Neither did Hayes and he was, frankly, mystified. Had they taken the mare to Bailey’s place?

“They have her tied in the timber. Or in a far pasture. She’s here.”

The deputy let out a long breath, one hand resting on his utility belt. “The rodeo is in town, sir. I have other duties to attend to.”

Chance sucked in a breath, exhaled again, clearly dissatisfied with the way his ambush was working out.

“Do you have time to search Mr. Meyer’s vehicle for my missing silver?” Bailey’s words cracked the silence that had fallen over the group.

“That’s not going to happen without a warrant,” Chance snarled. But he didn’t seem at all disconcerted by the mention of the silver, which told Hayes that Bailey’s jewelry and buckles were long gone. “Oh, hell. Search.”

Hayes put a hand on the small of Bailey’s back, letting it fall away again after the deputy had finished a cursory search of Chance’s truck and trailer.

“The horse is on her property,” Chance said, unwilling to let it go. “Next door.”

Bailey glanced at Wade, but got no sign from the older man. She must have decided that no sign was a good sign. “If you want to waste the deputy’s time, I’m good with that. All you’ll find are broken-down corrals and a barn that’s about to fall down.”

The deputy nodded again. “I think we’ll end this here.”

“What they’re doing is illegal,” Chance sputtered.

“I’m not sure that they’re doing anything.”

The deputy was starting to sound impatient, and Hayes couldn’t blame the guy.

It was Jordan who put a cap on things. “Why don’t you ask Mr. Meyers to leave our property and we’ll call it a day.”

Chance’s face went dark as the deputy said, “I’ll follow you to the road, sir.”

He got into his truck without a word, revved the engine after he started it, then tore out of the driveway, his trailer going airborne as it went over the cattle guard. The deputy shook his head, then turned to the small group. “By the way, I’m Rafe Mendoza.”

“Mendoza,” Wade said thoughtfully.

“Estelle is my aunt.” The deputy answered the question no one asked.

“Chance didn’t call you?” Bailey asked.

“Nope. I got a recent tip that there might be trouble on this ranch, and I followed up.” He smiled a little. “If anything else goes down, just give me a call.” He started for his SUV then stopped. “There isn’t a stolen horse on this property is there?”

Wade shook his head. “There is not.”

“Good.” He got into his vehicle and started the engine.

Hayes waited until the SUV crossed the cattle guard before turning to his uncle. “Where is the horse?”

“I don’t know.” Wade cracked a little smile. “But I did notice Dylan and Trev loading a palomino mare into their trailer this morning.”

Bailey and Hayes exchanged glances.

Dylan’s trailer was at the rodeo grounds. Dakota Sunshine was hiding in plain sight.

*

The truck had barely rolled to a stop at the rodeo grounds before Hayes was out and sprinting toward the chutes, his injured knee putting a hitch in his gait.

Bailey watched him go as she walked around the hood of the idling truck and got into the driver’s seat, thinking that he ran pretty good in cowboy boots.

She put the truck in gear and started for the outer regions of the crowded parking area.

Bailey had been relieved that they hadn’t caught up with the deputy on the breakneck drive to town, because that would have surely slowed them down.

Hayes had given up hope of getting back to the rodeo grounds in time for his event, but Trev, curious as to where he was, texted and had assured his brother that if he got his ass in gear, he could make it.

He had, and now if Bailey could just get the truck parked somewhere in this sea of vehicles, she’d be able to watch her cowboy do what he did so well… Okay, one of the things he did so well. There were others.

She pulled into a quite possibly illegal spot at the end of a long row of cars and trucks, parking with the wheels dangerously close to a ditch. So be it.

She locked the truck and started speed walking toward the arena as the announcer thanked the mutton busters for showing so much gumption and then encouraged the audience to get ready for the saddle bronc event, which would immediately follow arena maintenance.

Never had Bailey been so thankful for mid-rodeo arena raking.

As a spectator, it always seemed that the tractor took its sweet time grooming between events, but now she hoped the driver took his sweet time smoothing the dirt.

Hayes was up fourth, so he had time to prepare his gear and Bailey had time to swing by her table where Estelle seemed very much at ease discussing the merits of two necklaces—one engraved, one plain sterling with a pattern of tiny garnets.

The customer glanced at Bailey as if she were competition, then said, “I’ll take both. ”

Estelle beamed and boxed the jewelry. When she saw Bailey, her eyebrows lifted in a silent question and Bailey gave her a discreet thumbs-up. All was well. Thank you.

“I’ve almost sold out,” she said after the customer had moved on to the next vendor. “I know that’s not good news for your next show—”

“It’s fine,” Bailey said, waving off the woman’s concern. She was used to late-night engraving sessions. “I met your nephew.”

Estelle’s lips twitched as her eyebrows lifted in mock surprise. “Did you?”

“Yes. I liked him.”

“I take it you had a satisfactory discussion?”

“I think,” Bailey said thoughtfully, “that the discussion turned out as well as it could.” She smiled. “Thank you.”

This time it was Estelle who waved off the words. “You should find a place if you’re going to watch Hayes’s ride.”

Bailey almost asked, “Are you sure?” out of politeness and gratitude, but one look at the older woman’s face told her that was not necessary. “Thanks,” she said instead. “I’ll be back right after.”

The rail was crowded, but Bailey spotted two familiar cowboy hats and headed that way.

“Glad you guys made it back,” Trev said as he scooched sideways to make room for Bailey to squeeze in.

“As am I,” Bailey said, her eyes on the gate from which Hayes would soon emerge. “How’d you do?” she asked, trying to bring herself back to a feeling of normality, which was no easy task with everything that had happened over the past twenty-four hours.

“Out of the money, but glad for the experience.” Trev’s mouth twisted ruefully.

“Somebody missed the heels.” Since Dylan was the header, Bailey was pretty certain she knew who had missed the heels.

“Jordan filled me in about the adventure on the ranch. Everyone seems okay on that end. How are you doing?”

Honestly, she didn’t know. She needed time to sort through things. Her feelings for Hayes, the threat of Chance coming at her again. She gave a half-answer. “I don’t think Chance has given up, but I don’t think he’ll return to the Tree Fork.”

If she was lucky, he was already on the road to Texas, and she and Dakota would be gone before he came back to the Marietta area looking for what wasn’t his.

“That’d be a waste of time on his part. What he wants isn’t there.”

Bailey smiled as she met his eyes. “I’m thankful to the people who arranged that.”