Yukon Cowboy

Nate spun and stared toward the shop. The front door was visible from this angle, though the rest of the stores on the side street were blocked from view. As he stared, she actually came outside. Even from this distance she could push his buttons. He swallowed hard and told his feet to march straight inside and not to look back.

“She’s still as pretty as ever,” Gage said.

Despite not wanting to have this conversation, Nate’s feet wouldn’t move. “Yeah, she is,” he admitted. “She really rented the space?” It was a stupid question, since Gage had just said the words.

“Looks like she’s staying.”

It did. She really was staying. Nate reached for the door when he preferred to head for his truck. Instead of pulling it open he let go, snatched his hat from his head and rammed his hand through his hair. Bethany always liked his hair.

The thought came out of nowhere, like so many others had the night before. He’d ridden a horse for hours after he’d gotten home to the ranch yesterday. But nothing had stopped the memories from tearing him apart.

“Are you all right?” Gage asked.

“Yeah, I’m fine.” It was a flat-out lie. He knew it and so did Gage.

“You know I’ve never been one to pry, but this could turn out to be a good thing, Nate.”

Nate shot him a scowl. “I’m not going to worry about it. She’ll do her thing and I’ll do mine.”

“Good luck with that.” Gage grinned and headed down the sidewalk. Nate watched him go, trying to get his thoughts together. She wouldn’t stay. She had wanted to leave too much when they were in high school. She was here for a reason he didn’t understand. But one thing was certain…he wasn’t all right, and he wouldn’t be until she hopped back on a plane and headed back to her life and her dreams. The ones he’d wanted her to have more than anything.

Even more than his own dreams.

Chapter Two

Feeling almost giddy with expectations, Bethany stood out in front of her new space and studied the whitewashed, planked siding. She loved it. Amy had been so completely right. The space was perfect, and Bethany had rented it on the spot.

There was an office area and plenty of room for her to display the various props and wares she offered when planning and staging a wedding. It was just around the corner from Main Street, and there was an apartment above it for rent, too. She wasn’t sure how long she’d stay in Treasure Creek, only time would tell; but right now she had a great feeling about it—despite her less than promising meeting with Nate the day before.

Hopefully, time would fix the strain their past cast on them, but for now she wasn’t going to dwell on it. She’d awakened feeling refreshed and excited about being in Treasure Creek. She was even thrilled about helping lead the family tour.

But getting her shop up and running was her first priority. She’d called the electric and phone service and those utilities would be on by the time she returned from the tour. Her things should have arrived by then, too. It wouldn’t take long to set up after that, once she knew how she wanted things placed. Walking back inside, she placed her hands on her hips and surveyed the long, narrow space. It had promise. The tour would keep her from getting impatient. She hated waiting.

From the look of things, she wasn’t going to be able to get unpacked quickly enough. There had already been five women who’d come by and made appointments for consultations. She was flying by the seat of her pants, using a wooden crate as a reception desk and a piece of notebook paper as an appointment book. These women were ready to get married.

She checked her watch. She needed to be at the tour company in less than fifteen minutes for her briefing. Amy had assured her that everything she needed would be packed and ready for her when they left, and all she needed to worry about were her jeans and tops. Boots, jackets, food and sleeping bags would all be ready. She smiled at that. After packing to come home to Treasure Creek, the last thing she wanted to do was pack some more. It was an easy plan, and she was really glad she’d agreed to go.

Yes, opening the shop was a priority, but there was just something about being back in Alaska that called her to the wilds of the breathtaking frontier.

She folded the paper with appointments on it, and was about to stick it in her purse when the door opened.

“Knock, knock. Anybody in here?” a sweet Southern voice with a raspy edge to it called.

Bethany turned to find a blonde of about forty peek her head through the cracked door.

“Well, hi-dee! There you are, standing in the dark!”

“Hi,” Bethany said, moving forward. The woman was smiling wide and warm and was as pretty as Dolly Parton. She even reminded Bethany of the country singer, with the cute way she’d greeted her and the smile that took over her heart-shaped face. And her big, blond hair was poofed and sprayed as heavy as any of Dolly’s styles. Bethany had worked with many, many wealthy mothers of the bride who’d looked just as overly coifed. Usually, she had the insane urge to sink her fingers into the stiff dos and shake hair loose from the lacquer holding it in place. Like all those other times though, she curbed the insane thought and held out her hand. “I’m Bethany. Can I help you?”

“Oh, honey, I hope so. Are you the new wedding planner?” she drawled, flushing slightly, as if embarrassed about something.

“That’s me,” Bethany said brightly.

“That’s just wonderful. I’m Joleen Jones,” she gushed. Extending a perfectly manicured hand, she shook Bethany’s hand gently. “I can’t tell you how excited I was to find that you were coming to town. I’m here to talk about my wedding plans.”

Bethany couldn’t help smiling at the cute lilt to her voice. “That’s great. I’m not officially opened and I have to be at the tour company in a few moments—”

“I understand. This won’t take a minute. I was hoping to get an appointment on the books.”

Bethany couldn’t say no, so she set her purse down and opened the paper where she’d been writing the brides’ and grooms’ names down. It was exciting to see business going great guns, even before there was a stick of furniture in the place. “I’ll set you up with an appointment for when I get back in town. I’m actually leaving on Wednesday to help out with a tour—I used to work for Amy James in high school, and I’m going to help out for a few days while I wait for my things to arrive.” She wasn’t sure why she was explaining so much, but the look in the woman’s eyes had her wanting to put her at ease about as much as she could. “You said your name was Joleen Jones. And the groom?” She wrote her name on the page. When Joleen didn’t say anything Bethany looked up and asked again, thinking she hadn’t spoken loudly enough, “And the groom is…?”

Joleen looked sheepishly at her, with big, long-lashed, amber eyes. “Harry Peters.”

The name was almost a whisper, but it had Bethany’s ears perked up. Harry Peters! “From The General Store?” she clarified, thinking, surely Joleen had said something similar to Harry’s name and she’d misunderstood. This woman and Harry were as far from what she would have ever matched up as any two people she’d ever worked with.

Joleen nodded. “Isn’t he the cutest thing you ever saw?”

Well, there you go—love was the weirdest thing sometimes. Bethany grinned, feeling Joleen’s delight roll over to her. “Congratulations. I think that is wonderful,” she said, sincerely.

“I just came to town a few weeks ago and he has just been so helpful. He is really a dear. Don’t you think so?”

“Always. When is the wedding date?” Pen poised to write she waited for the answer.

Joleen placed a long, red fingernail on her bottom lip and hesitated. “Um, there isn’t a date set. Yet. He hasn’t asked me out yet, you see. But I’m sure that he will.” Her words had started out hesitantly, but she ended in a rush, as if she were trying to convince herself of the fact. This was odd…two-in-a-row odd. There had been a lady in earlier, asking about planning a wedding for Christmas. That fancily dressed lady, Delilah Carrington, also hadn’t had a groom. But she was different than Joleen, she hadn’t set her sights on anyone in particular yet. Oh no, Delilah was shopping the field and ready to pounce on whomever proposed first. She’d set a deadline for herself to be married by Christmas, and she’d come to Treasure Creek to fulfill that deadline. She struck Bethany as the type who would get what she wanted. It was crazy, but it might be fun watching her in action.

Bethany certainly wasn’t here to judge anyone, her job was just to plan beautiful weddings and carry them off with grace and expertise.

“He hasn’t asked you out?” she asked, because she couldn’t come up with anything better to ask. And she was curious and hoping Joleen would explain.

Joleen bit her upper lip and blushed. “No. But it’s because he’s shy that way. I guess I’m jumping the gun here, trying to get an appointment. This probably sounds a little crazy, doesn’t it? No, wait, don’t answer that. I know it sounds crazy.”

“No,” Bethany began, then got honest, “actually it does…a little, but I’ve seen stranger things.”

Joleen smiled in relief and relaxed. “I guess I am ahead of myself. I…I do want you to know I will be using you sometime in the near future, though. Harry is sure to come around.”

Bethany’s heart tugged at the angst she could hear in Joleen’s voice. She knew all too well how it felt to love a man and not be able to have the happy ending she want—stop! She snatched her purse and forced her smile wide. “Joleen, I’m here when you need me. And as soon as I get up and running, you come by anytime you want and we’ll get details perfected, so when your special man does pop the question you’ll be all set. It takes time to get all the details right, so nothing says you can’t already be working on your special day.”

Her positive words must have seemed like music as they hit Joleen’s ears. She straightened, and a warm smile that was free of any hesitation blossomed across her pretty face. “You really wouldn’t think me too crazy to do that? I mean Harry, the sweet man, is just a bit slow on the uptake—if you know what I mean. He does care for me. I’ve seen the way he looks at me when he thinks I’m not looking. He’s the strong, silent type.”

Bethany almost choked. “I don’t think you’re crazy at all. Hey, I’m a romantic through and through, and this is very romantic, if you ask me. Harry Peters is a lucky man to have you, and he’d be smart to open his eyes and ask you out.” It was the truth. That dry piece of toast needed a gal like Joleen to top off his life like sweet jam.

Joleen startled her by embracing her in a big hug. “Thank you. You have absolutely made my day.”

“You’ve made mine. It was really nice meeting you,” she said, and meant it. As they parted and headed in opposite directions, Bethany hoped Joleen got her happy ending. Glancing over her shoulder, she watched Joleen round the corner and walk daintily toward The General Store. Bethany suddenly wished she were a fly on the wall so she could see the grumpy Harry Peters’s face when Joleen was around.

Before she realized what she was doing, she said a prayer that Harry would be the hero in Joleen’s life. It would be nice if the Lord chose to work that out for her.

She continued on toward the tour company, glancing across the street at the quaint church where children played in the playground. Bethany had spent many Sundays sitting beside Nate on the second-from-last pew of that church. Since moving from Treasure Creek, she’d not been in church on a regular basis. Her faith, like her heart, had taken a hit when Nate had told her he didn’t love her, and that she shouldn’t hang around town because of him.

Bethany’s dreams back then had conflicted with one another. She’d wanted to be successful in her own right as a wedding planner, and she’d wanted Nate. And she’d wanted children with Nate. In her naivety, she’d thought she could have it all. But there weren’t many weddings in Treasure Creek before the article.

Now she was just looking to have a lovely life. She wanted satisfaction and fulfillment. She wanted…something elusive that she hadn’t found with her career in San Francisco. Sure, she’d flown to Italy and Australia and other places to carry off the weddings of wealthy clients for the firm she’d worked for, and loved every minute of it. But now, at twenty-nine, with no husband and no children, she knew she wanted more. And she hoped that more was here in Treasure Creek.

She wanted to know that God had a plan for her life—a plan that she would understand soon. Maybe, being back in Treasure Creek, she’d find the faith she once had. The faith to believe that God really did have her in the palm of His hand.

A prayer for Joleen was a start.

Out in the wilderness, she’d always felt closer to God. Who wouldn’t? Maybe out there she’d feel the peace she’d missed.

“Nate, I want you to look around the cabin at point three on your tour, but I really don’t want you going to Klink’s Ridge,” Amy said, from across the desk in her office. “We both know no good can come of that. And if by some stretch of the imagination the treasure is in there, then it will just have to stay there, unless you find another entrance. I can’t imagine my great, great grandfather scaling the wall to hide something in such a dangerous place.”

Nate ran a finger along the crease of his cowboy hat. He planned to scale that ridge and find the cave that his grandfather had believed held the treasure. He’d tried it once and almost fallen to his death, just like his grandfather had. But Nate had made a careless mistake. He wouldn’t make that mistake again. He’d been thinking about it, and felt he owed it to his grandfather to figure out if he’d discovered anything before he plunged down the face of that cliff. Amy didn’t need to worry herself about it, though, so he kept his plans to himself.

“I’ll be checking around the cabin. When you showed me the map I realized—because the map leads me to believe the treasure is buried near a cabin—that maybe my grandfather thought the same thing. This opening on the face of Klink’s Ridge may be a cave opening he thought linked to a cave. I’m not sure what my grandfather was thinking. I may never know. But I’m going with my gut here and checking all this out.”

Amy nodded. “There are just some things in life only God knows the reasons for.”

Nate’s thoughts went instantly to the day he heard the doctor tell him he would never father children. After a mild case of the measles—despite his childhood vaccine—Nate had been shocked when his dad suggested the doctor test him during his checkup. He’d been nineteen, and when the test revealed that he was sterile his world had changed. He’d gone from being a man with everything to a man with nothing in an instant, knowing there was no way on earth he would be able to look Bethany in the eye and ask her to marry him. Why had this happened to him? He’d asked himself and God that question over and over again…with no answer.

God’s reasoning wasn’t something he thought about much anymore. He still went to church on occasion, just because in Treasure Creek it was expected. He’d be considered a heathen for certain if he never stepped foot in the church…and maybe yes, there was a possibility that he might hear something from the preacher that helped him process the reasoning behind his inability to give the woman he loved the children she wanted so badly. Even now the thought made him ache through and through.

“I’ve found the perfect guide to help you with this tour group.”

Amy’s soft voice broke into his deep thoughts and he pulled back from the mental road he’d been traveling on—it was a road that led him nowhere good. He was glad to have something else to think about. Before Bethany had come home, he’d pressed any longing for her he had deep into the most hidden recesses of his being so that he was able to cope. Coping. It was a double life he lived, but knowing she was living her dreams helped him. Now that she was here, coping was going to be a killer.

“Who’s going with me?” he asked. He liked all the younger tour guides. Most were just out of high school, ready to learn as much as possible so they could begin leading their own tours. None of them had ever been as great to have along as Bethany had been…she’d always given the tours a good twist. Her insights into the country and the animal life always added a fun element.

“The Taylors have adopted this little boy, and he’s pretty rambunctious and has a few attention problems. They requested a female guide to help lead the tour, because the mother felt she would be more comfortable, given the situation.”

Nate wasn’t surprised to have an extra guide on a family tour, especially since he was going to take a few private excursions in the hopes of finding the treasure. But a woman—who? The only woman guide they had at the moment was Casey Donner, and she was already out in the field. At least he thought so. “Who? Did Casey get back in early?”

“No. It’s someone new.” Amy tapped her pencil on the table, then let it drop as she pushed her chair back and got up.

She was acting differently. What was up, he wondered, as she crossed to the door, cracked it open and peeked out into the waiting area then closed the door. The last thing he wanted on this tour was to be breaking in a wet-behind-the-ears woman.

Turning, she settled serious eyes on him. “Okay, she’s here now. This is going to be great, Nate. Remember, I’m doing what is best for this family, and I expect you to do the same. Here at Alaska’s Treasures tour company we always think of the clients first.”

Nate wasn’t sure how to take Amy’s tone or the look on her face. But her words had his stomach feeling suddenly like hot mush. “Amy, what have you done—” he started, but she opened the door and beckoned someone inside.

The last someone he’d ever expected to see walk through that door as a tour guide. Bethany.

Chapter Three

Bethany walked into Amy’s office and stopped in her tracks. Nate jerked to his feet so fast, he sent his chair sliding into the bookcase behind it as he gasped in horror.

What had she done to make this man change toward her like he had?

“Amy,” she snapped, her temper at his attitude spiking. “I’m not sure I understand—or like this one bit.”

Nate positively glowered at Amy, looking like he could wring her neck. The man obviously had a problem, and it looked like Bethany was it.

Unaffected by either of them, Amy smiled breezily, as if Nate looked at her that way all the time. She drew Bethany into the room and closed the door. “Look, I didn’t think either of you would understand this. That’s why I chose not to tell you what I’d done until now. But, Bethany, the minute I heard you were coming to town I knew you both would be the perfect guides for this family tour. Remember, I’ve seen you work together before—you were the best team ever. And this family needs a compassionate woman like you along, Bethany. You are an answer to a prayer, coming back at the time that you did. I wasn’t sure what I was going to do. And they also need you, Nate, because I believe you have something to offer the little boy. He is seven years old, his name is Cody, and he needs strong male role models in his life. You are that in every sense of the word—” she dropped her chin to her chest and lifted a brow “—when you aren’t looking as if you just stepped barefoot into a pot of boiling water.”

At that, his jaw jerked and he started to say something. Amy held up her hand. “You can help this little boy by being a positive role model to him.

Believe me, I’m so thankful that Ben’s and my sons have so many of you men around to show them how to be good, strong Christian men. That’s what you can do on this trip.”

Bethany glanced at Nate. Nate glanced at her.

How could either of them refuse that?

This was not good. Bethany wanted to leave. She wanted to stay. She wanted to know what Nate’s problem was.

He thumped his hat against his thigh, looking like a trapped grizzly.

“I’ll do it,” she said. She wasn’t so sure about being an answer to a prayer, but if there was a chance she could help this little boy by being a kind and compassionate guide, then she would. Nate would just have to deal with it. Especially since it looked like he wasn’t going to be any of those things.

“I’m in, too,” he grunted, making his way past her to the door. He stopped beside her. “Can you still hike that kind of terrain? And when was the last time you rode a horse?”

“Nate McMann, I could outhike you any day of the week when we were in high school, and you know it.” The gall of the man! “And though I might not be able to break wild horses like you can, I can still ride with the best of them.” She had no intention of telling him that she hadn’t ridden a horse in nine years. Oh, no, she’d sit in that saddle like she’d been riding every day, just so she’d have the satisfaction of wiping that condescension off his face.

“I never said you couldn’t ride or hike,” he said, his tone sent shivers through her. Confused her. “We have our orientation tomorrow then Gage drives us out day after tomorrow at daybreak. Be there on both counts.”

He was gone the minute the words were out. Bethany watched him stalk down the hallway. The man still got to her. There was absolutely no denying that. It was maddening and crazy. But, maybe this was what she needed. Maybe this was the thing that would clear the air once and for all.

Nate had been living on the outskirts of her life like a larger-than-life memory. It didn’t matter that he’d hurt her, the memory of him was there. She’d stalled out in the dating world—no man since had lived up to that memory…and she’d dated some really great guys. If only she’d been able to love one of them.

“Is there anyone else on the tour?” she asked, turning away and closing the door.

Amy smiled knowingly. “I know I threw you for a loop, Bethany, and I’m sorry. Do you forgive me?”

They’d been friends for a long time. “Maybe. Okay, yes. But I’m not so sure he will.”

Amy walked around to her desk and sank into the chair that had once been Ben’s. She let out a long sigh as she glanced around the office. “He’ll get over it. He hasn’t been the same since you left, you know.”

That got Bethany. “He sent me away. Remember?”

“I remember. Still, something about the whole thing never rang true.”

Bethany didn’t want to dwell on her past. She’d gone over it and over it for years, and never came up with an answer. One day he’d loved her and the next he hadn’t. It was as hard and as cold as that. “I survived and am a stronger woman because of what happened between us. I asked you this yesterday, but didn’t get much of an answer. How are you surviving?”

Amy glanced out the window that had the blinds angled slightly downward, so they could see out but people couldn’t see in. Bethany sank into the chair Nate had almost knocked over. Amy’s weary, sad gaze came back to meet hers.

“I’m making it, Bethany. But sometimes I feel overwhelmed. Ben…” her voice rasped with emotion. She paused and drew herself up, forcing the emotion away. “He wrote me a letter basically asking me to remarry by Christmas if anything were to happen to him. Every man in the district is asking me to marry him. What was Ben thinking? Why would he ask me to do such a thing?”

It was the same question Bethany had been wondering about Amy. “He loved you and I’m sure he was thinking only the best for you.”

“Yes, I know,” she said, looking distant. “But even Ben can’t make me fall in love with someone—he isn’t an easy act to follow. How about you? Why haven’t you ever married?”

Bethany shook her head, unable to admit that she felt the same way about Nate McMann. Well, it wasn’t exactly the same thing. Ben James had loved Amy with his whole heart and soul. Not being able to forget a man like that was understandable. But feeling that way about a man who’d basically kicked her to the curb made her feel foolish. And she hated feeling foolish.