Page 26 of River Legacy
CJ Stafford? How could he possibly forget? He’d never heard of the Stafford Ranch before that phone call. He wound his way through the city, the car still behind him. Right now all he could think about was Victoria. “Are you calling from the ranch?”
“Yes, why?” CJ said, sounding a little annoyed.
“Did you happen to see my daughter? Is that why you’re calling me now?”
“Victoria? Yes, I ran into her going into my sister’s bedroom. She told me that she is Ryder’s fiancée.”
“Is she all right?” He hated how his voice sounded, winded, weak, afraid. Too many strange things had been happening. Was CJ calling to say that he had her? That he was holding her for ransom?
“She’s fine,” CJ said impatiently. “I didn’t call you to talk about your daughter. I called about the ranch. Are you still interested in buying it?”
He glanced back at the car behind him, trying to make sense of what was happening. This didn’t have anything to do with Victoria? She was safe at the ranch. Now CJ Stafford was offering him the property? “Your brother says the land isn’t for sale.”
“That could change. Just tell me if you’re still interested in buying it.”
That could change? “Yes, but let me call you back at a better time. I’m in the middle of something right now.” He disconnected, saw a yellow light ahead and pressed down on the gas. He knew he would get there before the light turned red. As he roared through the intersection, cars from the other direction were already pulling out.
Wendell just missed them as he sped through the light. Behind him, the car following him was forced to stop. He quickly hung a left, then a right, then another left. He looked behind him again.
He’d lost the tail.
But he was shaken. He wasn’t sure who was after him, but someone was. After the call from CJ Stafford, he was more anxious than before to get to Powder Crossing and the Stafford Ranch. He needed to make sure that Victoria was all right. He’d love nothing better if she was engaged to Ryder Stafford, but he had his doubts, which was why he was interested in seeing what CJ Stafford was offering.
With a little luck, he would get the ranch. At least he would get something he’d come to Montana for.
Then he and his daughter would get on his private jet and go home, leaving Claude to take a commercial flight in coach.
Victoria took her time getting ready. She’d found a little blue number and a pair of knee-high boots in the back of the Tilly’s closet. She’d wrangled hercoppery hair into a clip and found some mascara in one of Tilly’s drawers. She didn’t need blush: the sun had put a glow in her cheeks.
Looking in the mirror, she liked what she saw and hoped Ryder did too. She looked so... alive. She couldn’t help but wonder what her friends would have thought about this look. It was so different from how she would have looked on a date in Dallas or New York or Paris. That world seemed so far away, she thought, listening to the sound of the breeze in the cottonwoods along the river.
A date. That was what this was, wasn’t it? She smiled to herself, excited about tonight, actually more excited than she’d been about a night out in a very long time. This was such a different world. She had no idea what they would do if the town was as small as Ryder had told her, but she couldn’t wait to find out.
It isn’t the Wild West that has you so excited. It’s the cowboy.
She grinned at herself in the mirror. Nothing wrong with enjoying Ryder while she was here, right? Yet she felt she was playing with fire. This wasn’t her life. It was one weekend in Montana. She warned herself to be careful.
Victoria glanced at the clock beside the bed and hurried downstairs. As she reached the bottom step, she saw Ryder and stopped. He stood staring at her as if he’d never seen her before. This was so different from when he’d seen her at the airport. This look warmed her toes up and made her tingle in allthe right places. But it was the shocking current that arced between them that told her she was in dangerous territory.
She struck a pose and then laughed, wondering if he’d felt it too as he moved toward her, took her waist in his big suntanned hands and lifted her down from the last step to the floor.
“Aren’t you that woman I saw driving a feed truck earlier?” he said jokingly, but she could tell that he liked this woman too. Her heart beat a little faster as he helped her put on the only jacket she’d found in Tilly’s closet, a denim one. “You look great.”
She smiled, feeling buoyant as she let him escort her out to his pickup. She told herself not to get too excited about tonight—or the town of Powder Crossing. But she couldn’t help it. There was something in the air that made her feel more alive than she’d ever felt. She glanced over at Ryder. He was so handsome, so sure of himself, and he’d dressed up like it was a real date. He wore the Stetson he’d had in Billings, a green Western shirt that complemented his eyes, and new jeans—just like the boots.
So there, Claude, she thought. The man just hadn’t been putting on the dog in Billings. He’d come there to confront her father, not impress him. She liked that, she realized.
“So how was your first day on the ranch?” he asked.
She heard it in his voice. He wanted her to likethe place, and she did. “I loved every second of it. That horseback ride was amazing.”
He chuckled. “After you tricked me into thinking you didn’t know the front end of a horse from the back.”
She grinned over at him. “Sorry. I couldn’t help myself. But I wasn’t joking about never having driven a vehicle before.”
He laughed. “Oh, after a few minutes with you behind the wheel, you had me convinced—and Brand too. We about lost him off the back more times than I want to remember.”
Victoria smiled at the memory of finally getting the hang of it. “I loved meeting your sisters. I’m sure Oakley made your childhood fun.”
