grinned, breaking the tension between them. “They know. And what’s more, they said they can’t wait to show us around.”
* * *
Excitement propelled West to be the first one off the train in North Dakota, though he did turn back to help Vienna down the narrow steps and onto the depot platform. It was more than anticipation that their long day of travel was at an end. He hadn’t been back here in eight years, and in many ways, it felt like coming home.
The Custer Trail Ranch had been a home of sorts to West, and Howard, Alden and Willis Eaton as well as their hired hand and horse doctor Alexander “Alec” Russell were like family. West had exchanged letters with Alec and Howard in the years since leaving North Dakota. But they couldn’t compare to an actual visit back to the ranch that had been so instrumental in shaping his life.
“They’ll have sent someone with a wagon,” West reassured Vienna.
She looked tired, her forehead lined with weariness. “All right.”
“West!” he heard a familiar voice call out.
He turned to see Alec striding toward them. Grinning, West met his best friend halfway across the depot, where they clasped hands in a hearty handshake before clapping each other on the back. “You came to collect us yourself?” He’d half expected someone with fewer responsibilities around the ranch to drive into town to fetch them.
“Howard insisted,” Alec said with a matching grin. “So I didn’t have to wrangle up an excuse, though I was prepared to do so when I found out you were coming. How are you?”
West nodded. “I’m well.” Especially now that he was back here again, his dream of owning a dude ranch closer than it had ever been.
“Where’s this prospective business partner of yours?” Alec glanced past West.
He led his friend over to where Vienna stood, the handle of her valise clutched between her hands. “Vienna, I’d like you to meet my good friend and the Eatons’ right-hand man, Alec Russell. Alec, this is Vienna Howe.”
“How do you do?” Vienna said politely.
Alec lifted his cowboy hat, revealing his dark blond hair underneath. “Ma’am.” He threw West a puzzled look. “What about your business partner...”
“Vienna is my prospective business partner.” He’d left off telling them he was bringing a woman to the ranch, not wanting anyone to read more into his and Vienna’s relationship than was actually there. “She and I are thinking of starting up a dude ranch together.” He hurried to add, “Vienna was recently widowed and is looking for a way to revive her ranch back in Wyoming.”
His friend’s blue-gray eyes still widened with obvious shock. “Well, there you go. A potential business partner and a pretty one at that. Not to mention rather brave if she’s willing to work with you.” Alec chuckled at his own joke.
Vienna blushed, but unlike with the train porter that morning, she didn’t look uncomfortable at the flirtation. A tiny smile appeared on her pink lips as she ducked her chin. West felt a jolt of irritation shoot through him, though he wasn’t sure why. It wasn’t as if she was interested in his friend...was she?
“Where’s the wagon?” West asked, eager to end the unsettling moment.
Alec pointed a thumb over his shoulder toward the opposite end of the train station. “Parked it out front. May I help you with your bag, ma’am?”
“Yes, thank you.” Vienna relinquished her valise to Alec’s care, then trailed them across the depot to the waiting wagon.
West quickly stowed his bag in the back so he could be the one to help Vienna this time. Offering her a hand, he assisted her onto the middle seat of the buckboard. When Alec took up the reins, West joined him on the front seat. As they drove away from the station and out of town, he couldn’t help staring at all the farms that had cropped up in his absence.
“It looks so different from the last time I was here.”
Alec nodded. “There’s a lot more homesteaders now.”
“When was the ranch built?” Vienna asked as she leaned forward.
Turning slightly toward her, Alec answered, “Howard started here in 1879. And he’s built up a fine reputation for the place. Even Vice President Teddy Roosevelt counts the Eatons as his friends.”
“Really?” Her tone suggested a touch of awe. “Does the ranch’s clientele usually consist of famous people?”
Alec pushed up his hat. “Typically, the ranch’s guests are from wealthy families back east. Like mine, for instance, or even Wes—”
“I’ve got a story to tell you about Roosevelt, Vienna,” he interjected, cutting Alec off. He managed to maintain his usual unaffected air and easy smile, but that didn’t stop the sweat from collecting beneath his collar and hat.
No one in Wyoming, including Vienna, knew where—or more accurately, what sort of life—he’d come from before leaving Pittsburgh for good. His family was every bit as prestigious and wealthy as Alec’s, but unlike his best friend, West had been cut off from his family and his inheritance after he’d decided to become a cowboy against his father’s wishes.
Some of the old envy he’d once felt for Alec returned. It was partly the reason West had sought to find a job elsewhere, rather than staying on indefinitely with the Eatons. He had found it increasingly difficult to keep working alongside his best friend, witnessing constant reminders that Alec’s family had not only accepted their son and his choice of employment but had encouraged him, too. They had even paid for Alec to attend college to become a veterinarian doctor, and now West’s friend saw to the health of all the livestock on the Custer Trail Ranch.
Back home in Pittsburgh, West had seen how people reacted when they learned he was the only son of one of the richest men in the city. And he’d hated it. He wanted to be known for his own character and successes—not forever wondering if someone wanted to get to know him or hire him based solely on where he’d come from or how they could wield him for their own purposes.
That was why, when he’d left North Dakota for Wyoming, he’d chosen to keep his wealthy background to himself. He was no longer the heir to Lawrence McCall’s great fortune, nor did West want or need it, so he wanted to be known simply for who he was—West McCall, a poor but hardworking cowboy and horse trainer.
“What’s the story?”
Vienna’s question broke through West’s troubled thoughts about the past. “Right, the story.” Alec threw him a curious look. Ignoring it, West turned to half face Vienna. “The story goes that one time while Roosevelt was staying in a hotel, he shared a room with several cowboys. In the middle of the night, he was woken up by some men holding a lantern and a gun aimed directly at him.”
“How scary,” Vienna murmured.
“He probably was scared until he heard the men say that he wasn’t the one they were looking for.” West smiled, warming to his story. “Then they turned to his bedfellow and told the cowboy to come quietly. Which the man did.”
Vienna shook her head. “What did they want with him?”
“I
