Chapter Five
Levi
T he guest cabin wasn’t far from the main house, which was good, because it was also a respectable distance from the bunkhouse where Levi stayed through the week, therefore removing him from temptation.
Low solar lights lined the path to the cabin, offering enough of a glow for them to see where they were going, but thankfully, not enough to have a clear view of their faces.
His, he was sure, reflected confusion and a truckload of regret. She’d never expressed any sexual interest in him before, and it had caught him completely off guard. He contemplated the if nots of this situation.
If not for the Shannahans. If not for Tanner being a good friend. If not for the glaringly obvious fact that Dana was working through issues even greater than Tate’s, because between this, and accepting a drink from a stranger the night of the rodeo dance, he had to ask himself—what the hell was going on in her head?
Whatever it was, he had no intentions of becoming a mistake she couldn’t face in the morning. Grief did strange things to people, and he wasn’t taking advantage of hers.
But he couldn’t deny that turning down temptation was hard . Especially when the temptation was Dana.
He had no trouble imagining how good it would be. The first time would be quick, to take the edge off, and get any first- time awkwardness out of the way. Then he’d work on slow and thorough, so they could get to know each other better, and figure out what things they each liked. He was partial to exploration. He loved women’s bodies and discovering where they liked to be touched. What made them eager. He’d take the whole night to find out.
His jeans grew uncomfortably tight. He now understood how it felt to purchase a major prize-winning lottery ticket—then either run the ticket through the laundry by accident or give it to the barista at the Wayside Café as a tip by mistake.
“Here we are.” He opened the cabin door and found the light switch. A lamp in the corner burst to life.
The cabin was a large, single room with a comfortable-sized bathroom attached. Ryan’s wife, Elizabeth, had decorated it. To Levi it looked like a tequila sunrise, all bright reds and yellows, and deep shades of orange—from the scattered rugs on the wood floor to the abstract art on the rough-hewn, log walls. The overall impression was of comfort and warmth, made rustic by the natural wood.
Tangerine curtains clung to a large double window that reflected evening right now but in daylight, overlooked miles of green and purple alfalfa fields, aspen, polar, and cottonwood trees, and the rocky spires and pinnacles of the badlands off in the distance. Multi-hued cushions splashed across the wide window bench.
“It’s lovely,” she said.
“Wait until you see the view in the morning.”
He tried hard to pretend that the queen-sized bed with the burnt-orange spread taking up most of the space in the room didn’t exist. Since it was too big to ignore, he was only fooling himself. Or making a fool of himself. It could go either way.
Meanwhile, she looked cool and pretty as ever. No one would ever believe that she’d just propositioned him. Or that he’d turned her down. The throbbing ache restrained by his jeans left no doubt in his mind as to what had transpired.
“Thank you for everything,” she said. “I really didn’t want to drive to Billings tonight, then have to turn around and return in the morning to speak with Otto.”
“It didn’t make sense for you to have to. I’m not sure what’s up with Otto on that.” He suspected the old man hadn’t felt up to negotiating and hoped to be in better form for it come morning.
Levi had decided he wasn’t going to get involved by helping either one of them get the best of the other. He wasn’t their mediator. Their business was between them.
He set her overnight bag on the floor. “Well. See you in the morning,” he said, except he doubted he would. She’d haul her trailer out while she thought he was sleeping, and he planned to be up and at work long before dawn.
He lingered in the doorway. This was it. The last time he’d see her. The last chance he had to take her up on her offer. Otherwise, any exploration he’d be doing tonight would be on his own.
“Good night,” she said, as politely as if this was the first time they’d ever met, and he’d made zero impression on her.
Then, she closed the door on him.
*
Levi was in Ryan’s office at the main house the next morning, involved in a discussion about the benefits of registering the DNA of their first calves, when the landline rang. He recognized the brisk voice on the other end—Handy, one of the ranch hands—when Ryan picked up.
Handy skipped the formalities and got straight to the point. His voice, loud and clear, carried. “Levi still there?”
Ryan, who wasn’t much for pleasantries either, wordlessly passed the receiver across the pristine desk to Levi, who hoped this call was important. Ryan also wasn’t known for his patience.
“Dana Barrett’s here,” Handy said, which made no sense to Levi. It was almost eight o’clock. She should have been at Otto’s long before this.
Suddenly, he had a bad feeling. “And?”
“She rode across country. She says to tell you Otto needs you straight away.”
Levi’s bad feeling shot through the roof. Cross country would be faster than hauling a trailer on a bumpy back road. This was a medical emergency, then. His fingers tightened on the receiver, and he leaned forward, Ryan’s presence forgotten. “Have you called an ambulance?”
“For Otto?” Handy’s tone suggested Levi had lost his mind, and rightly so. The only way they’d get Otto into an ambulance was if he was dead.
Ryan, correctly assessing events, abandoned his desk and disappeared from the room, shouting for Dallas, another one of the owners. Dallas, a family doctor, ran a free clinic that belonged to the ranch, and he hadn’t yet left for work.
“Tell Dana to wait there,” Levi said to Handy.
“She’s already gone.”
Levi hung up the phone and followed Ryan into the common area of the mansion. The common area separated the offices from the owners’ individual living quarters. Dallas burst from his apartment just as Elizabeth O’Connell, Ryan’s wife, emerged from theirs.
Elizabeth, a tiny social worker who managed the group home for the ranch, was a serene, unflappable redhead. She carried their sleeping baby in her arms, its wispy coils of coppery hair bright against the shoulder of her fluffy white housecoat.
Dallas, in a white shirt and charcoal-gray dress pants, was already dressed and ready for work. His black curls were always too long to be tidy, no matter how often he had his hair cut, and he had electric-blue eyes that shone with kindness. He looked more like a graduate student than a doctor.
Elizabeth had stopped in the doorway. “What’s wrong?” she asked, rocking the baby.
“Some kind of emergency with Otto,” Ryan said.
Dallas shifted to business. He pulled keys from his pocket and tossed them to Levi. “Go get my car. I’ll grab my bag.”
Ryan started after Levi. “I’m coming too.”
Dallas stopped him. “No. Otto hates you. I don’t want him more agitated than he likely already is.”
“He doesn’t like you either,” Ryan argued, at which point, Levi was through the front door and couldn’t hear anything more. He ran for Dallas’s SUV, parked near the garage.
He hoped Otto was okay but braced himself for the worst.
*
Dallas won the argument with Ryan, and Levi and Dallas arrived at Otto’s cabin without him. Then Levi won the argument with Otto, who was in no shape to fight, and Dallas took charge.
Levi stepped outside to give the old man his privacy and leave him some dignity, too. Getting old wasn’t easy on anyone, and for Otto, who was so independent, it was harder than most.
Dana’s truck and trailer were parked in the yard. The trailer was empty, meaning she’d ridden Lady rather than take one of Otto’s horses, which further explained why she hadn’t returned yet. She’d take a gentler pace now that help had been summoned.
He needed to busy himself to take his mind off his worry. He checked to make sure Otto’s horses had water while he waited for Dallas to finish with Otto. Nova and Tanoa grazed together, as usual. He rubbed Nova’s poll, ruffling her forelock with his fingers, and wondered how she’d manage alone after Dana took Tanoa away. He didn’t like to put pressure on Otto, especially now, but he had to understand that it was time to sell his herd off.
And Levi would give up a limb to own Nova. Otto had never given him a straight reason as to why he couldn’t buy her from him, but Levi had always suspected it was because Otto liked having him visit and worried the visits might stop.
Dana rode in just as he was heading back to the cabin to check on Dallas and Otto, because Dallas’s assessment was taking too long, at least from Levi’s perspective.
Dana, with loose, wind-blown curls, rosy cheeks, and fine, dark brows pinched in concern, looked lovely on Lady and his heart kicked his chest. The two of them made an eye-catching team. Not much wonder crowds loved them.
She swung from the saddle with the grace of a ballerina. He met her at the doorstep of the cabin just as Dallas emerged.
Dallas wore a frown along with the stethoscope dangling from his neck. “Are you a relative?” he asked Dana.
“No,” Dana said. “Concerned party.”
“He doesn’t have any family. Not that I know of,” Levi amended, because he wasn’t sure. He’d never seen any signs of them, but with Otto, that didn’t mean much.
“You should find out,” Dallas said. His frown didn’t ease up. “I can’t give you a medical report without his permission, but I will say that he shouldn’t be left alone.” He exchanged glances with Levi. “The Endeavour can line up a private nurse for him—if he’ll agree—but all he really needs is someone to keep him company and take care of the place. I’m not sure for how long. A few days—probably no more than a month.”
Levi tried to breathe. Otto was dying. He’d known this day was coming but hadn’t been as prepared for it as he’d assumed.
“I could do it. Or take turns with someone.” He said it half as a question. He wasn’t related to Otto, so any time he’d have to take off from work would be up to the Endeavour.
“I’ll speak to Ryan. Otto’s a neighbor. We’ll work something out,” Dallas said.
Dana’s expression reflected confusion, as if she hadn’t quite come to terms with what they were talking about. “I don’t—Where is the…” Her words and thoughts stumbled over themselves, getting mixed up. She paused, then tried again. “Where is the ambulance? Aren’t you going to take him to the hospital?”
“He’s not incapacitated, and I can’t force treatment on him,” Dallas said kindly. “He’s agreed to pain medication, but that’s it. I’ll write a prescription and Levi can get it filled.”
She finally figured it out. Her eyes filled with tears that dripped onto her lashes and she blinked them away.
The men gave her a polite moment.
Dallas spoke to Levi again. “He asked if you’d call George Cooper for him. You should tell George I said it’s an emergency.”
The weight on Levi’s lungs gained a few extra pounds. George Cooper was an estate lawyer in Grand. “Can you call him? There’s no cell service out here and I don’t want to leave Otto.”
“I’ll stay with him,” Dana interrupted.
A moment was all she had needed. Her tears had dried, and her voice was steady. Her self-control, seemingly back in place.
But she’d been acting out of character of late, and Levi had doubts about the wisdom of leaving her alone with an old man who was dying, no matter how steady she looked. She hadn’t handled Tanner’s death especially well. The circumstances might be different, but the outcome was the same, and she didn’t need the reminder.
He didn’t feel good about it, that was for sure.
“That would work,” Dallas was saying to Levi before Levi could find a nice way to say no to Dana. “He won’t take anything for pain until after he’s spoken to his lawyer, which is smart. Call George and tell him it’s an emergency, then drive into town and get his prescription filled. It’s an opioid so I can’t phone it in.”
He had no choice. Dallas had patients waiting for him, and he was Levi’s ride. But Levi was almost as worried about Dana as he was about Otto.
Almost.
He spoke to Dallas. “Mind if I have a quick word with Otto?”
“Not at all.”
The cabin’s interior was as fastidious as everything else Otto owned. He took the term minimalist to the extreme, but his home was his castle and it showed. He’d rigged a Murphy bed against one wall with a narrow wardrobe beside it. There was a sturdy armchair and a table, kitchen cupboards and a sink. He’d added plumbing at some point, but there was no hot running water. He boiled it on a squat wooden stove that also served as the cabin’s primary source of heat. A sturdy washtub hung from a hook on the wall. A set of flowered porcelain dishes graced a plank shelf above the sink, next to polished pots and pans. He’d inherited them from an aunt—or so he claimed.
The old man lay on the bed with his eyes closed. The drawn cheeks and fine lines pinching his mouth indicated how much pain he was in. He turned his head in Levi’s direction at the sound of his boots against the wood floor.
“Nova’s yours. Promise me you won’t let my other horses go to anyone who doesn’t deserve them,” he said, without opening his eyes. “And make sure that O’Connell bastard doesn’t get his hands on my land.”
Otto was going to name him executor of his estate, then. Relief and guilt warred over the news that Nova was his in return for such a small favor. He cleared his throat. It felt as if he’d been chewing on glass.
“Good to see you’ve got your priorities in order,” he said. “I’ll be gone for a few hours, and I’ll pick up the meds Dallas prescribed, but you should let him give you something for pain to tide you over until I get back. There’s no need for you to suffer like this.”
“I’ll take it after I talk to George. I’ve got a few relatives left on my mother’s side I want to take care of. Pitiful bunch. I won’t have them trying to claim I’m not of sound mind. Dallas Tucker might be friends with that bastard O’Connell, but he’s a decent man. He says he’ll swear I’m not senile, but if I take painkillers, they’d have a legal reason to squabble over my will.”
“I’d swear you aren’t senile, too,” Levi said.
“I know. But it’ll carry more weight coming from a doctor. No offense.”
“None taken.”
“I’ve also asked Dr. Tucker to send over that bastard O’Connell so he can witness the changes,” Otto said.
“You’ve asked Ryan to witness them for you?” The world had come to an end. “Now I am offended. You hate him.”
“Sure, I do. But would you take an argument into court over a will he says is valid?”
“You’ve got me there. But since we’re on the topic of you getting things down on paper… I wish you’d let me record some of what you know about breeding.” What a loss this was going to be to the horse breeding world. What a loss for himself. He’d miss their talks and Otto’s insights.
“Quit nagging me. Can’t you see I’m dying?” Otto opened both eyes for a second and mustered a grin. “Besides, I’ve given you lots of information over the years. Set the book learning aside and rely on common sense now and then. Trust your instincts.”
Lots of older ranchers thought the same way—that experience trumped education. While Levi didn’t disagree, he believed equally strongly that science and hands-on experience were symbiotic. One built off the other.
“I’ve got to go,” he said, even though he’d rather not leave, but Dallas was waiting, and the longer he lingered, the longer Otto had to go without medication. “Dana says she’ll stay with you until I get back. Think you can be nice to her for that long?”
Otto peeled one eyelid back. “Pretty girl like that? Easier than being nice to you, that’s for sure.”
Outside the sun shone, unobstructed by a light skiff of cloud that couldn’t make up its mind as to where it should settle, unperturbed by the morning’s events. Dallas and Dana leaned on the fence, lost in conversation.
They’d turned Lady loose in the pasture with the main herd. She hung close to the humans. Horses were social animals but tended to be as cliquey as people as far as newcomers were concerned. She grazed quietly, occasionally lifting her head to check out Otto’s chestnut stallion as it attempted to cover a mare in a nearby pen.
Otto’s stud was one of the reasons Levi was so interested in his breeding methods. The placid stallion had very little aggression in him, while the mares were a great deal fierier, personality-wise. He’d be good with older mares. One like Lady. Which made Levi wonder if Otto’d had plans to include Lady in the deal for Tanoa. The old man was smart.
Unlike himself. He could have spent last night with Dana. Instead, he’d lain awake until just before dawn, listening to men’s snores rather than the contented sighs of a satisfied woman.
At least he could live with himself this morning. He’d far rather he was the one experiencing morning-after regret.
Dallas saw him approach and pushed away from the fence. “I hate to rush you, but I have patients waiting.”
Levi didn’t want to leave Dana here, but someone had to keep Otto company and she made a much better distraction for him.
“You sure you’re going to be okay out here alone?” he said to her.
“I’m not the one you should be worrying about right now,” she pointed out.
Fair enough.
“I’ll be back as soon as I can,” he said.