Snowed In With the Maverick (Montana Mavericks: Behind Closed Doors #4)

Chapter One

Andrea Spence grabbed her water bottle from the makeshift worktable and took three long gulps, then paused to catch her breath.

She wiped the light perspiration from her forehead with the sleeve of her T-shirt, then stood back to inspect the progress she’d made over the last forty minutes. Not bad for a crew of one.

She wiped a hand across her forehead again, smearing a streak of dust, and surveyed her progress.

This kind of grunt work was exactly what she needed.

There was something deeply satisfying about the destruction—the catharsis of peeling back layers, tearing things down to their foundation.

It felt better than therapy, a perfect outlet for emotions she still couldn’t quite name, let alone process.

For the first time in a long while, she was reclaiming pieces of herself—bits she thought she’d lost when life had ripped the rug out from under her two years ago.

And now, standing alone in the foyer of her new home, a former working ranch just outside Tenacity, Montana, she was starting to feel like her old self again, even though everything in her life was brand-new.

Andrea slipped her protective eye gear back on and grabbed her multi-tool.

Her plan was to remove one more wall in the front entrance of what would eventually be the reception area of the guesthouse she was planning to open early in the new year, and then call it a day, but just as she was about to turn on the whirring blade, her phone started ringing from the workbench.

An unfamiliar number appeared on the screen, but she’d been getting calls from all kinds of people she didn’t know, returning her inquiries about construction-related estimates and permits. She tapped the screen to accept the call. “Hello?”

“Hello, is this Andrea Spence?”

“Speaking,” she said.

“Seth Taylor here. I’m a developer,” he said.

His voice was deep and smooth. Maybe he was calling to see if she was planning to flip the place, and needed an agent to help her resell.

Or maybe he’d heard she was opening a vacation property, and wanted to inquire about renting it out for a company retreat or something.

“I understand that you’re new to the area,” he continued. “And that you’re a paleontologist?”

Andrea flinched. How could this perfect stranger possibly know that, especially since she’d so purposefully left the fact out of the conversation anytime she’d met a new member of the Tenacity community over the past two months?

People were friendly, like any small town, but they seemed to respect her polite vagueness when she sidestepped questions about what had brought her to this remote corner of eastern Montana, far away from the embers of her past life.

Looking for a change of scenery, she’d tell them. I’ve always wanted to run a vacation property. Barn to Boutique, she’d say, evoking the name of the popular renovation show. I’ve seen every episode!

They’d nod politely, and wait for her to continue, but she was a master of deflection, and within seconds, they’d be spilling their life stories, and the life story of every Tenacity family member that came before.

So how did this complete stranger know a part of her that she’d come to Tenacity to bury in the past?

“Are you still there?” Seth said.

Andrea swallowed. “I’m here,” she said. “And yes, I’m… I was a paleontologist.”

“You’re in short supply in this corner of the state. Listen, I was hoping to ask you a few questions, if you’d be open to it.”

“Sorry, but can I just ask how you found me?” Andrea said.

“My brother Daniel told me. Well, I’ll backtrack there.

Daniel doesn’t know about your profession.

We work in property development together, and he mentioned that he’d heard about the person who’d bought this ranch.

And your name rang a bell. I’ve been researching the names of all the paleontologists who live in the state, and I looked you up online, and sure enough… ” He paused.

Daniel. She wracked her brain, trying to remember meeting a Daniel, but she’d shaken more than a couple of dozen hands since she’d arrived in town, following the moving truck she’d hired to cart her belongings from Denver to Tenacity.

Regardless, it still didn’t answer the question of why this developer agent had any interest in her past career.

Seth cleared this throat. “I’m not sure if you heard about the bones that were discovered here in Tenacity, about a month ago in a field on the other side of town” he said. “It was on the local news.”

“I hadn’t, actually,” Andrea said. Which was a lie.

When she’d packed up and left Denver, part of her plan was to stay far away from anything dinosaur and museum--related for as long as possible, so when she’d overheard someone at Tenacity Grocery talking about the dinosaur bones that a local had found in a nearby field, her flight instinct kicked in.

In the frozen foods aisle in front of the ice cream case, she’d turned her cart around and walked away, the sting of breaking from her past life still too fresh and alive.

“I’m wondering if the bones—they’re not sure what kind they are yet—aren’t the only ones out there.”

Andrea paused. “It’s possible,” she said. And of course it was possible. No one needed an expert to deduce that where one fossil was found, there might be many more, especially in this part of the state, one of the richest regions in the world for fossil discoveries.

Seth was quiet for a moment, clearly waiting for her to offer more information.

But Andrea was tempted to hang up. She felt exposed in a way she hadn’t felt in months.

Moving to Tenacity had felt like a breath of fresh air, a new start, and now the honeymoon was over.

Her attempt at building a new life was seemingly at an end before it had really even begun.

“So that’s where I’m hoping you can help me,” Seth continued.

“I can’t seem to shed this funny feeling that there’s a lot more to be found out where those bones came from.

And you’ve been in Tenacity long enough to know that it’s not exactly the most prosperous of towns.

But if my hunch happens to be more than just a hunch, this town might be sitting on a gold mine.

And that could change the fabric of this place in a very positive way. ”

“You said you’re from Tenacity?” Andrea asked.

“Bronco Heights, actually,” said Seth. “But I’ve been paying attention to the area recently.

I can see the potential here. So, like I was saying, given the fact that in this very area there have been discoveries of several T.

rexes, not to mention triceratops, ankylosaurs, hadrosaurs and edmontosauruses… ”

“You think there’s more to be found in that field.”

“Exactly.”

“So, what is it that you’re looking for from me?” Andrea said, closing her eyes. Seth clearly knew some fundamental facts related to archeology. But hearing the terminology churned something in her stomach. Was she ready to even dip a toe back into this world again?

“I’d like to meet you in person to discuss it one day, if you’re open to it,” said Seth.

Part of Andrea was intrigued, and part of her felt like hanging up and blocking his number.

But as always, the scientist’s instinct in her won out, and an offer to speak with him was on the tip of her tongue.

“I think this could be really intriguing,” he continued.

Andrea hesitated. “I’m pretty busy these days, unfortunately.”

There was quiet on the other end of the line for a moment. “Listen, why don’t I text you a few photos of the discovery. There’s an article from area newspapers too. You can have a look, and then maybe we can chat sometime soon,” he said.

“Sure,” said Andrea.

“I appreciate it.”

Andrea slid her phone in her pocket, then slid down the floor and sat down, head in her hands.

What was she thinking? Sure? Why had she said sure?

It wasn’t like she had loads of free time suddenly materialize.

Maybe she could just…not respond to the texts?

No, that would be rude. But engaging felt… fraught.

She sighed. This was probably nothing, just a casual offer. Still, a knot of unease tightened in her stomach.

She knew exactly why she’d agreed. Because try as she might, she missed her work deeply, and even the distraction of the construction wasn’t enough to fill the void of what she’d walked away from not too long ago. It had been her choice, but somehow, she’d felt powerless to make any other decision.

It had all started two years earlier, shortly after Andrea was promoted to senior curator of vertebrate paleontology at the Colorado Institute of Natural History, a position she’d been vying for over several years, which would add a new dimension to the research and teaching she was doing at the University of Colorado Boulder.

She absolutely loved her work, and was so energized every morning as she walked through the doors of the museum, greeting her team in the collections and fossil preparations departments and the tour guides and museum volunteers, all fellow dinosaur enthusiasts so excited to share their passion with the visiting families and school groups, to alight minds of all ages with the absolute astonishing wonder of knowing that these majestic beasts had once walked the earth right where they were standing.

Through decades of scientific research and the development of new tools and techniques, humankind was privy to more knowledge about them than ever before.