Page 4

T hree

L AZY J R ANCH, M ONTANA

P RESENT D AY

Y OU BEST SKEDADDLE on over to the mess hall, greenhorn.” The old cowboy reached out to take the reins Chase handed over. “The way them cowboys was eatin’ when I was there, it’s a good chance won’t be nothin’ but bones left by now.”

Chase grinned at the old man. “That would be a shame, missing out on Miss Fern’s cooking.”

Whitey returned the grin, displaying a gap where his front top teeth should have been. “Damn straight. It’s roast chicken tonight and she’s made corn bread and chili beans, too.”

Though the main dish varied from day to day, the old cook made corn bread and chili beans so often, it had Chase missing the MREs he’d carried in his army pack.

Not that he’d ever give voice to that thought.

Everyone on the Lazy J knew how Whitey felt about Miss Fern.

The two of them had been an item for the last forty years.

A twinge of envy flickered through Chase. He couldn’t think of too many things he wanted more from life than to find his own Fern.

Chase headed out of the barn and into the cold night to do exactly as Whitey had suggested.

The familiar smells of the dining hall filled his nostrils as he opened the door, assuring him he wouldn’t go hungry after all.

No thanks to the wild horses he’d hunted since early morning.

They’d made sure he’d earned his pay this particularly cold and blustery winter day.

Still, he felt good about bringing them in.

They were destined for a new home in Colorado with a fellow who’d made himself a name for his excellent care and breeding of horses.

These ponies that would end up at the Seun Fardach Ranch were some of the lucky few. Chase just wished some of their luck would rub off on him.

Inside the door he remembered the hat he wore, pulling it off his head to stuff under his arm.

“You’re sure pullin’ a late one tonight, Chase,” Miss Fern called from behind the serving table. She looked up as he neared. “What the hell happened to you?”

His hand flew to his forehead. He’d almost forgotten the incident.

“Paying more attention to one of those ponies I was chasing than to the land I chased him through. Low-hanging branch got me.” Chase shrugged, feeling foolish.

“Don’t look all that bad up close, I guess.” She peered over the top of her thick reading glasses. “Grab yourself a plate and fill ’er up, boy. I was just getting ready to put stuff away for the night.”

Chase hurried along the table. “Thank you, ma’am. Smells wonderful, as always.”

Miss Fern beamed and plopped an extra-large helping of chili beans on his plate. He might be grateful for the job, the two square meals a day, and the honest, friendly people, but he’d be a seriously happy man if he never saw another chili bean again.

Chase took a seat across the room, his back to the wall as usual.

The opportunity to work here had fallen in his lap just when he’d needed it most. Two months working in construction outside Seattle had convinced him he needed a more solitary occupation.

He hadn’t minded the hard work; far from it.

That had been the only part of the job that had kept him sane.

What he’d hated was the congestion of the city, the cars, the noise. It wasn’t where he belonged.

Then Jay Jones had entered his life, recruiting cowboys. Jay had hired him in spite of his lack of experience, and he was determined not to disappoint the Lazy J or its owner.

Ranching wasn’t where he belonged, any more than construction or the army had been, but it was as good a place to be as any while he waited for his destiny to find him.

After he finished eating, he stacked his dish with all the others, nodded to Miss Fern, and made his way back out into the night, more blustery now than it had been half an hour earlier. The damp, biting promise of snow was definitely in the air.

As he stepped onto the porch leading to his room, he glanced up just in time to see a shooting star pierce the inky black of the opening between banks of clouds.

“Good sign,” he murmured to himself as he mounted the two steps and entered his room.

Soon, the breeze whispered back.

His imagination was playing tricks again, likely because his father had always claimed shooting stars were signs of a Faerie promise kept. He shook his head at his flight of fancy as he tossed off his rain slicker and then went into the bathroom for a nice, hot shower.

If the Faeries intended to set him on the path to his destiny, they’d better get a move on.

After all these years, all his searching, he was close to losing faith it would ever happen.

Had his father really promised him his life would be changing soon that day at the Fairy Falls?

Or was it only his imagination promising what he wanted to hear?

The things he sought were no more than any man would want: a home where he belonged and a woman to share it with him.

Not just any woman, but his own SoulMate.

It was what his father had promised awaited him.

And if those promises ended up being nothing but a dream, then it would be up to him to make that dream come true.

He got into the shower, allowing the hot water to wash away the long hours spent in a saddle.

The bump on his head stung as the water hit it, but not bad enough to worry him.

His mind was still filled with thoughts of what he should do next in life.

The world was a big place and he wasn’t getting any younger.

Sooner or later he’d need to let go of the dreams his father had given him and pick a course on which to steer his ship.

That was perhaps the biggest drawback to his solitary occupation: too much time spent inside his own head.

“Not a tidy place to be at all,” he mused, tipping his head back and scrubbing his fingers through his hair.

When he was done, he dried off and then wiped the steam from the mirror. One glance confirmed the limb had left him quite a colorful reminder of their meeting. And that he needed a shave and a haircut.

He ran his fingers over the bump, knowing he’d get a shitload of ribbing from the other ranch hands over how he’d managed to miss seeing a whole tree out in the pastureland. That was okay. He could handle their good-natured teasing.

The shave he’d deal with in the morning, and as for the haircut, well, that would have to wait until his next trip into town.

After the years he’d spent in the military, he couldn’t remember the last time his hair had been long enough to cover his collar.

Might look a little scruffy, but it felt kind of nice.

If he let it grow a little more, it might help to keep his ears warm this winter.

For now, all he needed was eight hours of uninterrupted rack time and he’d be good as new.

He could hear the wind picking up outside as he climbed into his bunk, but his little room was warm enough that he needed nothing more than a pair of boxers and a thin blanket. The Lazy J bunkhouse was nicer than most of the motels he’d stayed in over the years.

I T FELT AS if he’d just laid his head on the pillow when Chase awoke to a gentle breeze brushing over his chest. His groggy confusion told him he’d been sleeping deeply, but it did nothing to help him identify the source of the insistent green light flashing in the room.

He sat up and scrubbed his hands over his face, scanning the room for evidence of entry.

His door was closed and he certainly hadn’t left any windows open. It made no sense at all, a breeze blowing in his room like this. No more sense than the brilliant shots of light sparkling around him.

Tossing his covers back, he climbed from his bunk and struggled to stand as the floor heaved under his feet.

“What the hell?” he muttered, completely awake now.

Arms outstretched for balance, he attempted to cross to the door as the floor rolled like an angry sea beneath him. Earthquake? They had them up here, but he’d never experienced anything like this.

He’d barely made it two feet before a gust of wind whipped past him, battering at his bare skin. The lights changed to a brilliant green splattered with a million colored twinkles, sparkling and dancing, shooting around the room like angry shards of rainbow.

A second heavy gust toppled his chair and knocked him from his feet, battering his ears as if with words shouted from afar. He held up his arms to cushion his landing as he fell, but the floor he expected to hit had disappeared.

Instead, he felt himself tossed into the air and slammed forward into an endless void, the incessant chant of “Now, now, now!” ringing in his ears as his mind faded to black.