tell you how much I’ve missed you and Beartooth. So fill me in on everything that’s been going on,” he said as he moved through the apartment.
She loved nothing better than telling him what she knew about Beartooth. He was especially interested in the latest about Maddie Conner and her tender, and Fuzz Carpenter’s speculation that Branch Murdock was dead—murdered—up in the Beartooths.
“I didn’t know anyone was still running sheep up there,” J.D. said distractedly as he moved to the front window and glanced out.
“Maddie’s the last, and if Branch is dead, well, this will probably be her final year. So what do you think of the apartment?”
J.D. turned to smile at her. “I love it.”
As she watched him pull out money for a week’s rent, Nettie couldn’t help but wonder what he was really doing back in town. J. D. West wasn’t the kind of man who got homesick. He was the kind who’d put Beartooth in his rearview mirror years ago—and never looked back.
* * *
TO MADDIE’S SURPRISE, the deputy offered to saddle his own horse. “You ride?”
“Before I moved to the city, my family had horses.”
She raised a brow. “What kind of horses?”
He hesitated just long enough that she knew they’d been fancy, expensive horses. “Thoroughbreds.”
She chuckled. Didn’t he realize how obvious it was that he came from wealth? Apparently not. How interesting that he wanted to play it down.
“Did your family race them?” she asked as she hefted her saddle up onto the horse’s back.
“No. My sister was involved in some jumping competitions. I preferred to just ride the horses.”
As if that made him less of an elitist. She could hear the Ivy League education behind his words. “Harvard? Princeton?”
“Harvard,” he said as he clinched up his saddle. “Law school. I was an attorney at my wife’s father’s firm for ten years before becoming a cop.” He chuckled and looked up at her. “Aren’t you going to ask how I ended up a deputy sheriff in Big Timber, Montana?”
She’d noticed the pale line on his ring finger and the way he nervously touched the spot when he thought she wasn’t looking. The missing wedding band was like a phantom limb, she thought. It was still there in a way he couldn’t seem to get past. She assumed its loss was too fresh. Which she’d bet explained what he was doing in Montana.
“Nope, that’s sufficient information,” she said.
He laughed. “It seems only fair you tell me something about you.”
She shook her head. “I only asked you those things because I just needed to know if you could ride a horse and were smart enough to stay out of my way,” she said as she swung up into the saddle. “Ready?”
“I’m ready if you are,” he said as he mounted the horse.
“I hope so,” she said, glancing over at him. “We have a long ride ahead of us.” She had no idea how far they would have to go. It would depend on where Branch had last made camp with the sheep. She knew where they should be, but she wasn’t betting on anything at this point.
Just as she doubted the deputy was any more ready for what was ahead of them than she was. But it was clear that neither of them was turning back.
* * *
“WHO WAS THAT?”
On the porch of the general store just after lunch, Nettie turned in surprise to see Sheriff Frank Curry standing behind her. She hadn’t heard him drive up. For a moment she was so happy to see him that she didn’t even register the disapproval in his tone.
“Don’t tell me that was who I think it was,” he said, sounding upset.
“Well, if you think it was J. D. West, then you’re right.” J.D. had professed to love the apartment, paid in cash for a week and told her again how wonderful she looked.
Then he’d bought her lunch, bringing sandwiches over from the café so the two of them could sit on the store porch and eat them. Just moments before the sheriff had appeared, she’d been watching J.D. drive away, warmed by his return to Beartooth.
“What’s he doing in town?” Frank demanded, frowning after J.D.’s pickup.
She definitely didn’t like his tone. “Visiting his family.”
“How long is he staying?”
“As long as he wants to.” Her hands went to her hips. “What’s with all the questions?”
He blinked before turning his frown on her. “He’s trouble.”
“You haven’t seen him in years. Maybe he’s changed.”
Frank scoffed at that.
It had been weeks since she’d seen Frank. This wasn’t how she’d hoped things would go when he stopped by the store again.
“Well, I’m willing to give him the benefit of the doubt,” she said, feeling her indignation as well as her temper rise.
“Of course you are.”
He was making her mad now. “What does that mean?”
“It means, Lynette, that you have always had a soft spot for J.D.” Frank was the only one who called her by her given name. Normally just the sound of it on his lips would have made her day.
“Frank Curry, that’s not true! That was more than thirty years ago, but you were always the one who—” She caught herself before she said, “—I was soft on.”
“You can bet he’s here for more than a visit.” Frank’s gaze narrowed at her. “What did he want with you?”
She bristled. “Maybe he just stopped in to say hello or buy something.”
Frank shook his head. “He’s a lot cagier than that. Believe me, he wanted something.” He shoved back his Stetson, his gaze on her face. “What did he want?” Clearly he was determined to wait her out. She realized he must have overheard J.D. saying he would be back.
“You’ll find out soon enough anyway, I guess,” she said with a sigh. “He asked about renting my apartment.”
“I hope to hell you didn’t rent it to him.”
“As a matter of fact, I did.”
Frank swore again. “What were you thinking, Lynette?”
“That maybe he deserves a second chance? People change, you know.” She knew this was aimed more at herself and Frank and had little to do with J.D. It was she and Frank who deserved a second chance. Why couldn’t he see that?
He eyed her warily. “What are you getting so mad about?”
