Chapter One
“I like these.” Rafe Banner leaned against the slanted back of an Adirondack chair and stretched his booted feet toward the warmth of the fire pit. October nights were chilly, which suited him. “Still don’t know why we had to get eight, though. We only need seven.”
“They were two-for-one.” Leo drained the last of his hard cider.
“But we didn’t have to take the eighth one because it was free.”
“Doesn’t hurt to have an extra.”
“I’m with Leo on that.” Garrett set his bottle on the ground beside his chair and got up to tend the fire. “Even with eight, we don’t have enough on nights the women show up.”
Rafe didn’t comment. The subject of women was a touchy one for him now that he and Kate weren’t getting along.
“Figured I’d find you jokers back here!” Nick came around the end of the bunkhouse and headed down the well-worn path. “What’s this? Real chairs?”
“End of the season sale in Great Falls,” Leo said. “Couldn’t pass it up.”
“I approve.” Nick pulled one off the stack and put it next to Rafe’s. “But why’d you get eight?”
Leo exchanged a look with Rafe. “Two-for-one.”
“Did they make you take the eighth one?” He grabbed a bottle of cider out of the ice chest nearby.
“Of course not, but why wouldn’t we?”
“Because we only need seven.”
Rafe smiled at Leo. “See? I’m not the only one who thinks that way. When everybody’s here, we’ll have an empty chair.”
“So what?”
“The group looks incomplete, like we’re missing somebody.”
“Exactly.” Nick sat down and twisted off the bottle cap. “I like them, though. The seat fits my posterior.”
“Glad you’re pleased,” Rafe said, “since we’re billing you one-seventh of the cost.”
“Fine with me.” He sighed and gazed up at the stars. “Beautiful night.” His tone oozed happiness.
Rafe was glad for him. He really was. “Good to see you, bro.”
Nick grinned. “You just saw me this morning for barn duty.”
“You know what I mean.”
“Yeah, I do. It still feels a little strange, not living in the bunkhouse, but—”
“I take it Eva’s hosting her friends tonight?”
“Yep.” Nick sipped his drink. “I’d forgotten about it or I would’ve planned on having dinner with you guys.”
“Did you eat?” Garrett was big on making sure everyone stayed fed.
“I did, thanks. Got a burger to go from the Moose and ate it while I drove. The ladies said I could stay, but girls’ night is important to Eva. And hanging out here is important to me. It’s all good.”
“How’s Fiona doing?” Leo might think he sounded casual, but he failed miserably.
Nick gazed at him. “She’s fine. But she—”
“Never mind. Forget I asked.” He lifted his bottle in Nick’s direction. “Here’s to the only one of us who made the bachelor auction work for him.”
“I’ll drink to that,” Garrett said.
“Me, too.” Rafe touched his bottle to Nick’s. “You did good.”
“I was damn lucky.” He leaned back in his chair. “These are way better than our chummy stumps, but you can’t leave them out all winter like those stumps. They’ll be ruined. It’s not like we have storage space in the bunkhouse, either.”
“I thought we’d stack them on your bed,” Leo said. “Since you won’t be using it.”
“Hey, it’s not just me who’s moved out. Pile them on Matt’s bunk. Or Jake’s. Or CJ’s. Those guys won’t be using theirs, either, unless they totally screw up.”
“We probably should ask Henri about the extra beds,” Rafe said. “Makes no sense to have eight of them and three wranglers using the space.”
“I did ask her.” Nick took another swig. “When I told her I was moving in with Eva, I mentioned all the empty bunks. She’s not ready to reconfigure the setup. They’re built-ins, for one thing.”
Rafe glanced at him. “Did it sound like she might hire more hands? Because we don’t need—”
“I didn’t get that impression. Even if some of us aren’t sleeping in the bunkhouse anymore, we still work for her.”
Leo nodded. “She’s not short-handed. Especially when we’re heading into the winter season.”
“Which means we can stack the chairs on the vacated bunks.” Rafe glanced at Nick. “Including yours. Problem solved.”
Nick frowned. “I’m not crazy about having you put heavy wooden chairs on my bunk.”
“Rafe’s pulling your leg,” Leo said. “He wouldn’t really—”
“Why not? Just pile all the unoccupied mattresses on one bed and put the chairs on the other four. It might look a little unusual, but—”
“It’ll look terrible!” Leo sat forward. “I’m not living in a furniture warehouse, bro. We’ll have to find—”
“Yeah, yeah, we’ll figure out something else.” Rafe grinned. “I wasn’t serious. Although they’d be handy if we had a balmy day in January. We could haul ’em out, no problem.”
“And the rest of the time the bunkhouse would look like a storage shed.”
“We don’t have to solve this tonight,” Garrett said. “This weather’s supposed to hold for another week or two.”
“I hope so.” Rafe gazed up at the clear sky. “The leaves have been amazing this year. They—” His phone pinged with a text. “’Scuse me a minute.”
“If that’s Henri, ask if she’d like to come on down,” Leo said. “I’m in the mood for s’mores.”
Rafe stared at his phone. “It’s not Henri.”
“Who?” Nick turned to him, his expression alert. Concerned. He had a sixth sense when it came to trouble brewing, especially for anyone in the Brotherhood.
“Kate. She wants to see me. Says it’s urgent.”
Nick met his gaze. “I thought you weren’t talking.”
“We’re not.”
“So what the hell?”
“Don’t know.” He stood. “Guess I’ll go find out.”
Technically he could have walked, but he hopped in his truck. It was about a three-minute drive from the bunkhouse to the three-bedroom cottage where Kate lived. Walking would have taken ten.
Her use of the word urgent made his stomach hollow out. She wouldn’t have contacted him unless something was terribly wrong. Their last private conversation two months ago had been a disaster. He’d proposed. She’d said no. Definitively. They’d avoided each other ever since.
Adrenaline pumping through his veins, he parked next to her truck and climbed out. She’d lived alone since Millie, the housekeeper for the guest cabins, had moved in with Jake.
Would she have called him if Millie still lived here? When she’d been hired to cook for the ranch guests, she’d moved into the cottage with Millie and they’d bonded. What if this urgent problem was an issue she and Millie would have handled together, like a flooded bathroom or a snake that had found its way inside the house?