The Maverick’s Legacy (Montana Mavericks: Hidden Gems Ranch #2)

Chapter One

Carly Hawkins stared at the large ranch home, wondering for the hundredth time what on earth she’d been thinking when she’d bought it.

No. She knew exactly what she’d been thinking. She had stopped by her sister Amy’s house to see her almost year-old niece and had been hit with…feelings.

As she’d watched her sister cuddle baby Josephine, something foreign had slammed into her. An idea that maybe life had more to offer her other than the rodeo circuit.

The truth was she was getting tired—exhausted from the nonstop grind of performing.

When she’d first started her career, she’d been obsessed with becoming as successful as possible.

Her fear of failure stemmed from a turbulent childhood in the foster system, spending many years with nothing but the secondhand clothes on her back to call her own.

And for the most part she’d met the goals she’d set for herself.

Her family were world-famous rodeo stars.

She and her sister Elizabeth had toured Australia for years.

That was before the tragic loss of Elizabeth’s husband.

Her sister had decided she needed a fresh start, so she’d moved herself and her twins back to the States.

Carly had missed them like crazy after they’d left.

A part of her thought Elizabeth would return, but she eventually met a widower and got a second chance at happiness.

Carly was overjoyed for her. If anyone deserved to find love again, it was Elizabeth. But that left one single person in the family. Carly. Which…she was fine with.

She had more important things to worry about than a husband and babies.

Like becoming the biggest rodeo star in the world.

At least that had been her dream. Because in the back of her mind, there was always the lingering fear that everything could be taken away again. She had enough money now that, if she was careful, she never had to work again. She could walk away from her current life if she wanted to.

After discovering her boyfriend, Fletch, had been cheating, and enduring the media storm their breakup had caused in Australia, Carly knew she needed a change.

The injury she’d suffered in Perth had already shaken her, and this was the final push.

She flew to Montana to spend time with family, stopping first in Bronco for a period before heading to Tenacity to see her sister Amy.

On the way, she spotted a For Sale sign, and before she knew it, she’d bought herself a house.

Speaking of family…

A truck pulled down her long gravel driveway. Carly’s wayward thoughts were instantly muffled as she recognized her parents’ vehicle, pulling a horse trailer. Her beloved horse, Nieve, let out a loud neigh that could be heard over the crunch of the tires.

“Hello, darlin’,” her dad called out as he pulled the truck close to where she stood. “Where do you want me to put your baby?”

“I have a stall all ready for him,” Carly replied, waving at the barn a short distance away. As her mom got out of the vehicle, Carly moved to the side of the trailer to check her horse over.

Nieve was a true beauty, with a shimmering white coat and soft pink nose. They’d been all over the world together. It had been painful for Carly to be away from him, but she’d had to keep the horse at her parents’ while she’d gotten her things moved into the ranch.

Carly reached up to touch him through the open window of the trailer. “Hey, my sweet boy.”

The horse bumped his nose against Carly’s palm in response, letting out a soft snort of air. She smiled in response, her heart overflowing with love for the stallion.

As soon as she was brought into Suzie and Arthur’s home, an angry foster kid at eight years old, they’d thrown her onto a horse to work out her issues.

And it worked for the most part. For the first time in her young life, she’d felt safe openly loving another sentient being.

She’d poured herself into caring for each horse her parents owned.

Though she loved and appreciated every one of them she worked with, there was something magical about her bond with Nieve.

“We’ll go for a ride soon, okay?” she promised him, and he gave her that look that assured her he understood and he’d keep her to it.

“He was as good as gold,” her mom said as she walked over to them. “Considering he hates everyone but you and his fans.”

Carly laughed as she stepped back from the trailer. She tapped the side of her dad’s truck, and he continued toward the barn.

Her mom hugged her tight once the vehicle was a safe distance away. “It’s so good to have you home, honey.”

Carly pulled back, taking in her mom’s peach-colored complexion, her soft blue eyes, and her ash-blond hair that was more silvery than Carly remembered.

“You act like I’ve been gone forever.” Carly grinned. “I’ve been back several times in the past few years, what with Elizabeth marrying Jake and Amy having Josephine.”

“But that was just a quick stop, a few days here and there. Now you’re home and I’ll get to see you all the time.”

She gave her mom an amused look. “You live in Bronco. That’s not exactly around the corner.”

Suzie waved that away dismissively. “Yes, but it’s a much easier drive to get to you than flying halfway across the world.”

“You and Dad are the ones who introduced us to this life,” Carly reminded her. Her father had once had a successful career in rodeo riding himself until he’d busted his knee during one freak fall.

“And don’t think I haven’t had my moments of regret,” her mom replied. “But now I have all my girls within an hour and a half’s drive of each other.”

“Yeah,” Carly said, turning to look at her house once more.

It really was a gorgeous homestead. From the front of the house, it looked like a single-story ranch.

Large stones made up the base while the rest of it was covered in thick, dark wood boards.

But the home was deceptively bigger than it looked with a lower walkout basement that overlooked the mountains in the distance and woods that ran along the property.

“Uh-oh,” her mom muttered.

Carly looked at her, her eyebrows pulled together. “What?”

“I know that look.”

Carly crossed her arms across her chest. “What look? I have no look.”

“Are you regretting moving back?” her mom asked.

“No, not really,” she answered. “It’s just going to take some getting used to. Not being on the road. It’s all I’ve known for years.”

“Well.” Suzie wrapped an arm around Carly’s waist as they both looked at the house. “At least you bought a beautiful piece of property with a gorgeous view. Tenacity is booming. Hold on to this land for a while, and you’ll likely double your investment, if not more so.”

Her dad drove back to them, towing the now empty trailer.

Arthur got out of the truck and wrapped Carly in a bear hug.

The man was still the size of a grizzly despite getting on in age.

Ranch work kept him young. While his skin barely had a wrinkle in it despite the amount of hours he spent under the sun, his hair was starting to gray at the sides.

To her, though, he’d always be that quiet hero who’d shaken her hand solemnly the first time they’d met and promised her that as long as he was breathing, nothing would ever hurt her again.

He’d kept his word over the years too. She could never repay either of her parents for the love and support they’d given her since they’d taken her in. She owed them everything.

“You got yourself some nice land, Carly-bear,” her dad said after he finished hugging her.

“That’s what we were just talking about,” Suzie said, looking at Arthur with the same sweet warmth that she always did when she looked at her husband.

“What are your plans for that area?” he asked, pointing to an empty expanse of cement to the left of the barn.

“I’m not sure yet,” Carly said. “Why?”

“Nothing really,” he replied. “I seem to recall when you were little that you said you wanted to someday run a horse-riding school for kids in the foster system. That’d be a real nice spot to build an office.”

“Oh, yeah. That was the dream, wasn’t it?” Carly said.

When her parents introduced her to horse riding when she was a child, it had been so natural to her.

She would think about the few friends she’d made in the system who were missing out on the exhilarating freedom of riding a thousand-pound animal at top speed.

They’d never get to enjoy the feeling of being so out of control and in control at the same time, and it saddened her.

She remembered vowing after she won her first championship that she’d someday start a riding school so that kids in the system could have the same experience.

Carly pushed the thought aside before the little seed her dad had just planted could grow any further. “I don’t want to plan anything right now. I haven’t taken a vacation in years. All I have in my immediate future is a well-earned break. Especially after everything that happened with Fletch.”

“Never did like that man,” her dad grumbled. “He was too smarmy.”

“I know, Dad. You’ve told me that at least a hundred times.”

It never bothered her much that her family hadn’t liked her boyfriend of two years, which should have told her something. She and the attractive Aussie had been the it couple of the rodeo circuit, appearing in magazines across Australia. Sponsors couldn’t get enough of them.

She’d dated Fletch because he was fun to be around.

He’d dated her because being in a relationship with one of the Hawkins Sisters gave him the credibility that his daddy’s money couldn’t—despite his father owning the Australian Circuit she’d traveled in.

Together they were elevated to the international spotlight, and he’d loved it.

Carly hadn’t felt too heartsick the day she’d caught him cheating.

Was she humiliated? Yes. There had been a huge scandal.

It was one of the reasons she’d decided to come back to the States when she did.

But did she care otherwise? Not really. That should have been the biggest red flag to her that she wasn’t in love with the man.

If she’d stayed, they would have broken up eventually anyway.

She wasn’t sure if she’d ever truly been in love before. She’d been too focused on her career. She wondered sometimes if it would ever happen for her like it had her sisters. Until it did, Carly wanted to focus on her next steps if she ended up taking an indefinite break from the rodeo circuit.

“Anyway,” she said, changing the subject. “The house might just end up being a stopping point for me. A place I can stay in between tours. There’s no point in starting a business when I can’t maintain it.”

Her mom side-eyed her. “It’s something to think about. There are more options than rodeo out there.”

“What’s wrong with rodeo?” Carly asked, her stubbornness rising.

“You said yourself that you’ve grown tired of the constant traveling,” her mom replied. “Especially after your injury.”

Carly winced at the memory. A friend in Australia had asked her to take some photos on top of their horse.

They’d wanted some publicity for their new breeding stables.

Carly hadn’t realized that the horse had a fear of snakes, and she’d been distracted by the paparazzi nearby shouting at her about Fletch.

When a snake had slithered in front of the racehorse, the poor animal had startled.

Carly had done her best to control the situation, but she’d ended up with a couple of cracked ribs when the horse threw her.

She’d been lucky not to get injured any worse.

Thankfully she was already feeling better, other than the occasional twinge of pain.

Her mom continued, “I think you should consider all your options. The world is your oyster, you know. Maybe take Nieve for a ride around the property and enjoy your new home. A good ride always puts things in perspective.”

Carly nodded, and after a short visit, her parents headed back to Bronco. Deciding to take her mother’s advice, Carly headed toward the stables.

As she walked, she couldn’t help but think about what her father said.

She had plenty of room to build a riding school that could help kids in the system.

It would take a lot of work. She needed to rebuild several of the stables in the barn and repair the paddock.

She’d need to build an office to conduct business and have a public bathroom for her students and their foster parents.

There was room for outdoor classes, but she’d want to make sure they had a working indoor arena for bad weather.

She could already picture it in her head.

Stop that! You’re supposed to be relaxing. Not planning more work.

Well…she’d never been one to relax and sit still anyway. Her endless energy was what used to get her in trouble in foster homes before Suzie and Arthur took her in. But she didn’t like to think about back then.

It wouldn’t hurt for Carly to get some numbers together and make some calls. Maybe she could even look into ways to rescue horses bound for the slaughterhouse.

Nieve greeted her with a rambunctious whinny when she entered the barn. He was as anxious as Carly to get out and go for a ride. Riding always cleared both of their heads.

“Yeah,” she said, rubbing between his eyes. “Let’s get out of here.”

A short time later, they were slowly sauntering through the trails behind her house. She breathed in the fresh pine scent of the woods, watching with amusement as a squirrel chattered at her from the tree above before scurrying into its nest.

“I know,” she murmured. “I’m on your turf.”

Her earlier concerns about the direction of her life seemed to vanish as they continued down the trail, passing through a shallow creek. As much she loved Australia, there was nothing quite like the forest greenery of the States. She’d been all over the world now. Nothing quite compared.

As she stared at the canopy of leaves above her, she felt Nieve tense underneath her legs. Carly glanced down at the horse, noticing the snowy beauty’s ears had shot straight.

Carly reached down slowly for the bag attached to her saddle where she always kept bear spray for any predators that might try to creep up on her.

A twig snapped to her left, and she swirled in that direction.

Only to come face to face with the most gorgeous man she had ever seen.