Montana Unbranded

Big-city cop rides the Wild West...

Tracking down another criminal is not how DEA special agent Joe Ferguson expected to spend his enforced vacation while recovering from an injury. But someone is harming the wild horses of Montana, and attorney Dani Jardine is desperate to stop the culprit. Joe admires Dani’s passion for the beautiful, free-spirited mustangs, so he steps up to help her.

While working together, Joe and Dani become closer, and their attraction grows stronger—until danger from his past threatens people they both love. Joe believes the sooner he returns to Providence, Rhode Island, the better. Because some things are meant to stay free...

“You coming to my lecture tonight?”

Joe leaned closer, drawing in the scent of her, the nearness of her, the warmth of her.

“You inviting me?” Dani said, concentrating on the plate she was drying.

She was smart and beautiful and sexy—and for some reason very peeved at him.

“I think you might find it very informative and educational.”

“Really,” she commented with complete indifference, adding the dried plate to the stack on the counter and taking the washed and rinsed plate he handed her. “You must think very highly of yourself, Detective.”

“I do,” he said, thinking that the sweet smell of her hair was like the elixir of life. “And if it scores me some points, I think very highly of you, too, Counselor.”

“Really,” she repeated in that same monotone. She added another dried dessert plate to the stack.

“I do.”

“Enough to stick around for a while?”

“Maybe.”

She glanced up at him, eyebrows raised. “Really?”

Dear Reader,

Montana Unbranded explores today’s wild mustangs, and takes us back to the Bow and Arrow Ranch in Park County, Montana, and to the cast of characters who brought this historic ranch to life in Montana Dreaming, Buffalo Summer and Montana Standoff.

No other animal embodies the untamed spirit of the West as much as the iconic mustang. In our hearts they will always gallop free, manes and tails streaming behind them. Unfortunately, their reality is far different. Today, wild horses roam an ever-shrinking habitat that also plays host to ranchers and farmers whose survival is driven by the bottom line. Unbranded horses are protected by the Wild and Free-Roaming Horses and Burros Act of 1971, which states they are to be “protected from capture, branding, harassment, or death; and to accomplish this they are to be considered in the area where presently found, as an integral part of the natural system of the public lands.” However, they are also subject to management by the secretary of the interior, and can be removed from their range by the Bureau of Land Management “to preserve and maintain a thriving natural ecological balance and multiple-use relationship in that area.” The conflicts are obvious.

While writing this story, news flashed across major media outlets that the BLM was planning to slaughter forty-five thousand wild horses being held in BLM holding facilities. Public outcry prevented this from happening, but the problem remains. Enter the Mustang Heritage Foundation. Their mission is to get these horses out of holding pens and into adoptive homes. To learn more, go to www.mustangheritagefoundation.org.

It was Virginia Woolf who wrote, “Blame it or praise it, there is no denying the wild horse in us.” I know it’s in me, and I bet it’s in you, too. Enjoy the ride!

Nadia Nichols

Montana Unbranded

Nadia Nichols

www.millsandboon.co.uk

NADIA NICHOLS went to the dogs at the age of twenty-nine and currently operates a kennel of twenty-eight Alaskan huskies. She has raced her sled dogs in northern New England and Canada, works at the family-owned Harraseeket Inn in Freeport, Maine, and is also a registered Master Maine Guide.

She began her writing career at the age of five, when she made her first sale, a short story called “The Bear” to her mother for twenty-five cents. This story was such a blockbuster that her mother bought every other story she wrote and kept her in ice-cream money throughout much of her childhood.

Now all her royalties go toward buying dog food. She lives on a remote solar-powered northern Maine homestead with her sled dogs, a Belgian draft horse named Dan, several cats, two goats and a flock of chickens. She can be reached at nadianichols@aol.com.

For Dan, my horse and my friend, who has the unbranded heart of a mustang.

Contents

Cover

Back Cover Text

Introduction

Dear Reader

Title Page

About the Author

Dedication

PROLOGUE

CHAPTER ONE

CHAPTER TWO

CHAPTER THREE

CHAPTER FOUR

CHAPTER FIVE

CHAPTER SIX

CHAPTER SEVEN

CHAPTER EIGHT

CHAPTER NINE

CHAPTER TEN

CHAPTER ELEVEN

CHAPTER TWELVE

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

CHAPTER FIFTEEN

CHAPTER SIXTEEN

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

CHAPTER NINETEEN

CHAPTER TWENTY

CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE

EPILOGUE

Extract

Copyright

PROLOGUE

EVER SINCE THE SHOOTING, his nights had been fractured with brief moments of consciousness, coming up out of the darkness to remember things he’d rather forget. The awful struggle to breathe. Marconi’s face bending over him. Marconi’s voice, taunting him. The taste of copper in his mouth and the smell of rotting garbage. The cold pelt of rain washing his blood into the city gutter. Rico finding him, the sound of sirens. Darkness and pain... How long that lasted, he didn’t know, but it felt like forever before the tormented struggle between life and death finally became a deep, healing sleep.

The ringing of the telephone brought him awake with an upward lunge, a movement that exploded in pain as his hand stabbed beneath his pillow for a weapon that wasn’t there. The room was dim. Shades drawn. The illuminated hands on the bedside clock read nine a.m. He’d been sleeping for twelve straight hours. Not possible, not in a hospital. He reached for the phone, his voice hoarse from sleep. “Ferguson.”

“Hey, it’s Rico, hope I didn’t wake you. I figured you’d have been up for hours, flirting with the nurses. Thought you’d want to know, the date’s been set for the court hearing. June 23. Thought you’d also want to know, Cap said you should get out of town until the hearing. Thinks it’d be safer. So do I. We all do.”

He moved his head on the pillow, back and forth, as if Rico were in the room. “I’m not running from those bastards.”

“I wouldn’t, either—I’d fly. A Boeing 747’d get you a whole lot farther a whole lot faster.”

“They won’t try anything now.”

“No? You dusted three of Marconi’s henchmen in that shoot-out, and it’s your testimony that’s going to put him away for life. You’re messing with the Providence family here, Joe. This is serious stuff.”

“Tell me about it. I’m the one lying here looking like a piece of Swiss cheese.” The door swung inward. A nurse entered briskly, opened the shades and gave him a brief, professional smile as she lifted the plate cover on his breakfast tray. He hadn’t heard breakfast being delivered. Slept right through it. Jesus, Marconi himself could’ve crept in here and smothered him with a pillow, except for the two badges stationed outside his door.

The nurse frowned at the untouched food before replacing the plate cover.

“What about that pretty red-haired sister of yours?” Rico pressed. “Stay with her.”

The nurse was taking his vital signs, jotting them on the clipboard that hung at the foot of the bed. He waited until she left before responding. “Molly’s busy planning her wedding. She doesn’t need her big brother hanging out.”

“Molly won’t have a big brother and your son won’t have a father if you don’t wise up.”

“Find Marconi.”

“We will. Meantime, go visit your sister.”

“I’ll think about it.”

“Time’s up. Dead men don’t make good witnesses. And, Joe? I mean it. Don’t tell anyone where you’re going, not even your mother. Cap’s hand-delivering a new ID for you this morning. He’s making the flight reservations and providing transportation to the airport.”

Rico hung up. The nurse had returned with a syringe in her hand and was preparing to draw blood, something nurses did 24/7 and seemed to enjoy. She put a rubber tourniquet on his arm, swabbed briskly with an alcohol-drenched cotton ball, pinched him with the needle. Blood flowed into the tube, as if he hadn’t lost enough already.

“Rumor has it I’m being discharged today,” he said.

She tucked the syringe and vial of blood into a little tray. “Not if you don’t eat your breakfast,” she said with all the warmth of the military police, though she softened her words with a smile before departing the room. He lifted the plate cover to study the contents. Lowered it. Looked around the drab room he’d come to hate over the past two weeks. Rain streaked the window, blurring his view. It hadn’t stopped raining since the night he was shot. He was sick of the rain. Sick of lying in a hospital bed and counting the holes in the ceiling tiles. Sick of this city.

Maybe Rico was right. A few weeks in Montana with his baby sister might not be such a bad idea. She was always asking him to visit, and he’d always wanted to see just how much wild was left in the West.

CHAPTER ONE

“STOP YOUR FIDGETING, Molly. I promise I’m almost done.”

Dani Jardine deftly inserted three more pins into the cream-colored fabric gathered at her friend’s waistline, then rose to her feet and executed a slow walk-around, studying the drape of the gown. Molly Ferguson was standing with her arms obediently outstretched at shoulder height and had been for the past five minutes, but her patience was wearing thin. She met Dani’s eyes in the mirror, tossed her shoulder-length mane of red hair, blew out an impatient breath and dropped her arms to her sides.

“Well? Can you fix it?”

“There might be just enough fabric for me to make the alterations.”

“Will it look all right?”

“You’re going to be the most beautiful bride ever.”

“You don’t think I look fat?”

“Molly, you couldn’t possibly look fat.”

“I’ve gained five pounds in the past two weeks.”

“So stop eating all that corned beef and cabbage.”

Molly gnawed on a fingernail, turning sideways and eyeing herself in the full-length mirror on her friend’s bedroom door. “I wish it were that easy, but it’s more than just food.”

Dani met her friend’s eyes in the mirror. Molly’s were dark with unspoken pathos and shining with tears. For a few moments Dani wondered what could possibly be wrong, and then it clicked, and a big smile brightened her face. “You’re pregnant! I don’t believe it.” Dani hugged her friend impulsively. “You’re having a baby! Why didn’t you tell me?”

“I only found out this morning. All winter we’ve been crazy busy with the fund-raiser for Madison Mountain and I was so afraid we wouldn’t make Condor International’s deadline to raise the money. I was sick to my stomach all the time and I thought it was from the stress of it all. Then we made the deadline, we raised the money, we did it. The mountain was saved from that huge mining operation. I should have felt better but I just kept feeling squeamish. Then this morning, because Steven insisted, I went to see my doctor and...” Molly drew a sharp breath and the three recently inserted pins popped out of the fabric. The tears spilled over and Molly wiped them from her cheeks. “It turns out, I’m very pregnant.”

“That’s wonderful news, Molly! You always wanted kids, and in a few weeks you’re getting married to the man of your dreams. But you’re acting like the doctor just gave you a death sentence. What’s wrong?”

“Steven doesn’t know yet, and when my mother finds out she’ll disown me. She’s very Catholic.”

“Steven’ll be tickled pink and so will your mother. How far along are you?”

“Dr. Phillips thinks almost two months. Eight weeks! And I didn’t even notice missing my monthlies, that’s how stressed out I’ve been.”

“A December baby is perfect.”

“Why?”

“Because a baby has to be the most perfect Christmas gift of all,” Dani said, giving Molly another hug. “I’m so happy for you both.”

“But the timing couldn’t be worse—we don’t have any money, the practice is struggling, we’re living on a shoestring and...”

“You have each other and now you have a baby to celebrate. You’re the two luckiest people in the whole world.”

Molly wiped fresh tears from her cheeks and tried for a smile. “I know you’re right, Dani, but the baby part scares me. I’m not ready to be a mother and I don’t know how I’ll tell Steven. We agreed to wait a few years before starting a family.”

“Unless I missed something in high school biology, Steven had something to do with all this.”

Molly heaved another big sigh and more pins scattered to the floor. “Oh, Dani, I wish we still lived in the same town. I love Steven’s place and it’s close to our office, but I miss our talks over lunch. And right now I really, really miss those big, steady paychecks I got working for Skelton, Taintor and Abbot.”

“You’d hate yourself if you were still working for those heartless corporate sharks. The law firm of Young Bear and Ferguson is going to be a great success, and who knows where I’ll be in a year’s time. I might just have to move south to be nearby when you need a babysitter or a third partner.”

Hope illuminated Molly’s face. “I’d love it if you moved to Bozeman, but what about your house? What about Jack?”

Dani picked the pins up off the floor, avoiding Molly’s eyes. “Jack and I split up,” she said with what she hoped was an offhand shrug. “It was bound to happen, Molly. He was gone ninety percent of the time with his job and surrounded by beautiful stewardesses.”

Molly reached out and clamped on to her, all wild red hair and hazel eyes. “You mean, Jack’s gone? When did this happen? How could he just walk out on you like that? What about the house? The dogs?”

“The house was mine to begin with and he left me his dogs. He walked in one night about two months ago, told me he was in love with another woman, said I could have everything, not that there was anything of his here except for the dogs, and that was that. It was all very civil. Too civil, really. I didn’t cry or beg him to stay. I don’t think we ever really loved each other, not the way you and Steven do.”

“Let me get this straight. He walked out on you two months ago, and you didn’t tell me?”

“I didn’t want to upset you. Your wedding’s coming up and you were working so hard on raising the money to save Madison Mountain and...”

“Oh, Dani.” Molly embraced her fiercely, causing more pins to pop out. “How could he do that to you? You’re the smartest, sweetest, most gorgeous girl on the face of the planet and he’s the biggest idiot of all time. I’m so sorry it didn’t work out. Or maybe I shouldn’t be. You deserve a whole lot better and now you have the chance to find that person.”

Dani shook her head with a rueful laugh. “Not me. I’m done with men. Come on. Get out of that dress, very carefully, and I’ll buy you lunch.”

“I can’t eat for another month, remember?”

“You’re eating for two now, and don’t worry about your gown. I’ll alter it this week, but you might want to think about bumping the wedding date up.”

“I’d rather not,” Molly said with a shake of her head. “The invitations are in the mail. But I’ll think about it.”

Molly’s cell phone rang while she was in the midst of peeling out of the wedding dress, and in her haste the last of the pins scattered onto the floor. Dani rescued the gown and the pins while her friend rummaged in her purse for her cell phone. “Ferguson,” she said. Then, a heartbeat later, she squealed, “Joseph!” and her face lit up so bright that even if she hadn’t cried out his name, Dani would have known it was Molly’s beloved older brother.

“Joseph, saints be praised. Mom told me this morning you were doing much better! When are they letting you out of the hospital?” She paced across the room, then stopped abruptly. “You mean, you’re here? In Helena? At the airport? Here? Right now? Jesus, Mary and... Oh, Joseph, you should have let me know you were coming!” Another pause. “Well, you’re just lucky I’m in town because I don’t even live in Helena anymore.” After a brief pause, she continued. “Yeah, I’m only here because I’m visiting Dani. She took Friday off from work to alter my wedding gown.” Molly caught her eye and made a face. “I live outside Bozeman now, with Steven, about two hours away. But don’t tell Mom! She’ll have a fit. You’ll love Steven’s place—it’s really pretty and you’ll have your own bedroom and private bath and you’ll get to meet Steven and, oh, Joseph, it’s so good to hear your voice! Are you sure you’re really all right?” Another pause. “Well, you did the right thing, coming here. There’s no place like Montana. We’ll take good care of you. You’ll love it, you’ll see. You won’t want to leave. Dani and I will pick you up and then take you to lunch before heading south. Sit tight, we’ll be there in two shakes of a lamb’s tail!”

She hung up and spun around with an incredulous laugh, beaming. “Joseph’s here! His flight just got in. He was released from the hospital this morning and decided to come here for a visit! Can you believe it? Big-city cop from back east finally meets the Wild West!”

Dani held the discarded wedding dress in her arms and watched while Molly shimmied into her skirt and pulled on her blouse, fingers flying down the buttons. She made another face as she zipped the skirt. “I won’t be able to wear this much longer, either.” She slipped her feet into her leather pumps and reached for her handbag. “Come on, Dani, you have to meet my big brother. He’s the coolest, handsomest and nicest guy in the whole world.”

“You told me Steven was the coolest, handsomest and nicest guy in the whole world.”

Molly laughed. “They’re the two coolest, handsomest, nicest guys in the whole world.”

“He must have made a miraculous recovery. Just last week he was in critical condition and you were ready to hop a plane back east and hold his hand while he died.”

“He’s a Ferguson, tough as they come. It’ll take more than a few bullets to keep Joseph down. Come on, he’s waiting!”

Dani shook her head. “You two have a lot of catching up to do, and I should stay here and get to work on this gown.”

Molly took the gown from her and tossed it over the nearest chair. “You’ve got a whole month to figure out how you’re going to alter the dress. I want you to meet my brother. Now that Jack’s out of the picture, I think Joseph would be perfect for you. You’ll get along great. And so you know, he’s unbranded, just like those wild horses you dote on. Doesn’t belong to anyone. Footloose and fancy-free. Let’s take him to our favorite deli for lunch. Like you said, I’m eating for two now.”

* * *

TEN MINUTES LATER Molly was circling her bright red Mercedes sedan past the terminal looking for a place to pull over and park. She huddled over the wheel, scowling with impatience. “I’ve never seen so much traffic at this airport. I can’t double-park—I’ll get a ticket for sure. Dani, jump out here, run inside the terminal and bring him out, would you? He’ll be at the Delta gate and he already knows you look just like Julia Ormond in Legends of the Fall—I’ve told him a dozen times.”

“What does Joseph look like?”

“He’s tall, dark and handsome, a rugged Tom Cruise type, you can’t miss him, and he always wears a dark leather jacket and looks a little dangerous.”

“Does he have red hair like yours?”

“No, I’m the only one in the family who was cursed with that. Quick, get out, I’m holding up traffic. I’ll drive around again and pick you up.”

Dani obeyed reluctantly. She entered the terminal and headed toward the Delta gate, where she spotted Joseph easily, seated in a corner chair just outside the gate, back to the wall, forearms resting on denim-clad knees, hands holding a paperback. Head down, reading. Dark glossy hair. Dark leather jacket. Had to be him.

“Joseph?” He glanced up from the paperback and she felt a jolt clear to her soul. Dark eyes, sharp and wary, measured her in a split second and deemed her safe. “I’m Dani Jardine, Molly’s friend. She sent me in to find you because she had to stay with the car—there’s no place to park.”

He stood and shoved the book into his jacket pocket. “The name’s Joe,” he said, extending his hand. “Molly’s the only one in the family who calls me Joseph.” His handshake was warm and firm.

“Do you have any luggage?”

He shook his head. “Spur of the moment trip.”

They exited the terminal together and stood at the curb. Dani was relieved when the red Mercedes appeared almost instantly. Molly slowed as she drew abreast of them and then stopped abruptly with a chirp of brakes. She jumped out, leaving her door ajar and ignoring the driver behind who laid on his horn. She raced toward her brother. “Joseph! Sweet Mary, Mother of... What have they done to you? Oh, Joseph, you look like death warmed over.” She plastered herself against him and burst into tears.

“I’ll move the car,” Dani offered, and beat a hasty retreat to the driver’s side, slamming the door and pulling ahead of the stopped traffic. She drove around the circuit, and by the time she drew near the terminal again, Molly and her brother were ready and waiting. She double-parked, brother and sister climbed aboard and she drove off.

Molly sat in the back and made Joseph sit in the front. “There’s more leg room,” she explained, and she blew her nose as Dani pulled back into traffic. “I can’t believe they let you out of the hospital, Joseph. Mom said you were much better. She lied!”

Joe hitched himself carefully sideways to look at his sister. “I’m just tired, that’s all. It’s a long flight to the Wild West. Where’s this deli you were talking about?”

“I bought a rotisserie chicken for dinner last night. How about we go to my place and I’ll fix us chicken sandwiches,” Dani said, wondering just how much more activity Joe was up for, considering the injury he was still recovering from and the journey he’d just made.

Molly dabbed at her eyes and blew her nose again. “I think that’s a much better idea, if you’re sure it’s no trouble, Dani.”

But of course it turned out to be big trouble, because Dani hadn’t considered the fact that she’d not done any real grocery shopping since Jack moved out. She had no bread, no lettuce, no mayonnaise and nothing to drink except tea, but Molly was too distraught to notice and her brother was too polite to do anything but thank her for the cup of hot tea she handed him, along with half the cold chicken sliced and arranged as artfully on the plate as she could manage, with a garnish of two dill pickles, one on each side of the plate. “Do you take sugar in your tea?” she asked.