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“I also took his rifle before I led his horse back.”
Ryan snorted. “There’s the Wiz I know. I thought this story sounded a little incomplete.”
“It wasn’t a very comfortable experience because I had to lead the horse. Tom said it was new and not well-trained. Even without a gun, it was...nerve racking having him right behind and above me. He’s a very large man. If his ankle hadn’t been so badly damaged, I couldn’t have done it.” She hadn’t been in close proximity to a man for that long since her lousy ex left.
“But you did, Wiz.” Ryan’s voice was soft and sincere.
“I did.” Telling them even that much was almost as scary as leading Tom down the hill. But Erin and Ryan were good friends, and she trusted both of them.
Ryan raised a brow. “You can live your entire life locked away by yourself, but I’m not sure it’s living. Sometimes you have to take a chance. Sometimes you get lucky.” Ryan smiled at Erin, who returned his sweet smile. Ryan turned back to her. “I’m glad you did.”
She’d been lucky, but all too often, chances resulted in catastrophe. Look at how her marriage had turned out. Jeff was a disaster, even before her assault, but she’d put up with him. After, he was worse, and his friends had made her life miserable. Almost as miserable as those idiots who protected the identity of the man who’d assaulted her downrange. But she’d gotten her revenge on all of them. Wiz shook the gloom away, brought her empty glass to the counter, and pulled out her wallet.
Erin held up her hand. “Oh, no. Your money is never good here. I know what you did for me is worth way more than I could ever afford. And you saved Ryan’s life, which is priceless. And don’t you dare use this as an excuse to not come here, you hear me? I want to see you at least once a week, preferably every day.”
Wiz almost smiled but couldn’t. “Yes, Mom.”
Erin laughed. “Good. And I want you to come over for dinner on Friday night. Yes?”
She took a deep breath. Erin and Ryan were safe. She could stand it. “Okay. I’ll come Friday night. Should I bring something?”
Erin waved her away. “Nope. I got it. Just bring yourself.”
“Thanks. I’ll see you then.” She walked toward the door of coffee shop, but she couldn’t turn her back completely. So she strode along the side of the room, looking between Erin, Ryan, and the door.
Ryan stood behind Erin with his arms wrapped around her waist, his chin on her shoulder. “See you Friday.”
Wiz waved, left the building, climbed into her van, locked the doors, pulled out, and drove up the highway. Ryan and Erin were so lucky. Being in love was the most wonderful feeling in the world, even better than being loved, especially when the person you were in love with meant everything.
But betrayal was agonizing and the death of love like bleeding from a thousand cuts.
Later that afternoon, Wiz had fifteen tabs open on her browser. Article after article on Thomas Borde, Wall Street analyst, with a tall, beautiful blonde on his arm at one charity event or another. The earlier articles showed a variety of women, but for a period of three years or so, there was only the blonde, a fashion model named Evon. Her real name was Alice Walters, from a small town near Charleston, South Carolina. Mediocre school record, did well at finishing school, and then got picked up as a model in NYC for one of the mid-level firms, where she made a steady, if unspectacular, living as a model. She had dated quite a few mid-level celebrities early in her career, but her career and tabloid appearances had slowed just before she started dating Tom.
Thomas Pierre Borde was more interesting. Very good grades here in Marcus, good grades at University of Montana, resulting in a degree in Economics in three years, and a scholarship to Columbia University to get his Masters in Economics. Internships with J.P. Morgan and Goldman Sachs got him a very good job with Bear Sterns in their analysis division. He focused on fossil fuels, with a particular emphasis on the Northern Tier in Alaska and Canada.
He kept his nose clean, using a blind trust for his investments. Still, he did very, very well, becoming quite wealthy. Then suddenly, all the articles and society page gossip just stopped. She dug a little deeper.
Ah-ha. A little note in the business pages saying Thomas Borde had resigned from his position with Bear Sterns. And a month later, the blonde started showing up on other men’s arms. It didn’t take her long to move on.
Maybe the local papers would have more. She changed her search terms and found an article about the Borde family applying for a conservation easement, and subsequent articles about the approval, and more about a cooperative agreement with some local conservancy organizations. The Rocking B continued as a working cattle ranch, but the land couldn’t be broken up for subdivisions. It could only be sold in a single, large parcel. Which was one of the factors she’d considered when buying her house. More recent articles showcased their involvement in research on cattle grazing and the environment.
Tom had said his dad wanted to keep ranching the old way, but it was tough on the environment. Maybe he was trying to move them toward grass-fed-only methods? Some Montana ranchers had done that, but it was a niche market and required a lot of advertising. The production side was harder, too. She looked up some of the bigger ranches using natural and organic methods. Natural wasn’t a regulated term like organic was but generally seemed to mean mostly or all grass-fed, but the ranches could still use pesticides for weed control.
Some ranches went further and tried to use intensive grazing in small areas, the cattle moving from pasture to pasture rather than producing hay for winter feeding. But that took a lot of land, and Montana winters were pretty tough, so it wasn’t always practical.
It was interesting, and some claimed there were health benefits. She would have to order some meat from several different ranchers and do comparative taste tests. Maybe she would invite Ryan and Erin over to help. They’d done so much to help her with the house, but she’d never had them to dinner. That wasn’t very friendly. She couldn’t let her issues control her life to the point of being a bad friend.
Stretching, Wiz rose from her desk and walked to the windows facing the driveway. As her security system told her, Strawberry and her saddle were still there. Well, it had only been a couple of hours. But if the horse remained in the morning, she’d have to be more proactive.
Returning to her computer, she pulled the best society photo back up. The same man she’d met today but at first glance, it was hard to tell. The man in the society pages had a neat, fashionable cut, with his dark brown bangs falling just short of his deep, dark chocolate eyes. His face was a little rounder, and while the body under the very expensive designer suit was in good shape, he was slimmer. Probably spent a lot of time in a gym and ate a careful diet.
The man she’d found on the trail had longer hair, like he hadn’t made the time to get it cut, and several days of beard. His face had sharper planes, a few more lines around the eyes and mouth, and the body of a man who worked for a living—broad-shouldered and powerful, built by tossing hay bales and shoveling stalls. Which was interesting because they had workers. Or did they still call them ranch hands? And they had a tractor and other heavy machinery, too. But maybe he liked to do things the old way. Or maybe more of that was necessary than she knew, which was more than possible, since she knew nothing about ranching.
Both versions of Thomas Borde were striking, and both versions showed a man who appeared to be genuinely happy. He wasn’t pretty like a male model, or handsome like a Clooney, but he had something. Maybe it was his personality in concert with the looks; he exuded a kind of strength and confidence that not many men, or women, had. Not the overconfidence of youth or the super-rich who knew they could buy their way out of things, no, it was confidence in his own abilities and maybe a... moral compass. The vast majority of those society page pictures were at charity events. Evon/Alice showed up at clubs and parties but rarely with Tom. Unless his company sponsored the event.
She found a few more recent pictures, in and around Marcus, again at charity events. Mostly with his father, although there were one or two with her lawyer, Samantha Kerr. Interesting. They made a lovely couple. Wiz had met with Sam to incorporate her company in Montana and get a recommendation for a local financial adviser to act as her registered business agent. For a fee, of course. The majority of her investments and banking, she left in their existing institutions, but it was always a good idea to have assets and connections locally. And a lawyer. Strange things happened, and bad things more often. Locals could connect with locals, and negotiate rather than threaten legal action.
Tom’s latest picture was from the local youth home gala. Sam wore a lovely scarlet gown with high heels. Tom wore a designer suit with shiny cowboy boots, amusing her. Despite the constant invitations, Wiz had a very hard time picturing herself at such an event. Knives and guns weren’t generally acceptable at black tie galas, although this was Montana, so it could happen. She snorted. Why in the world would she picture herself at such an event, especially with Thomas Borde? She’d met the man once. Oh, and you were pretty much terrified, remember that part?
