Serious Cowboy (Cowboys of Duncan Ranch #2)

Chapter 18

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

Callie didn’t know why going out to the Duncan Ranch property felt like such an adventure, but it did. Maybe it was because she’d be lifting the curtain of what her man did for a job all day. Maybe it was because the Duncans were such prominent citizens here in Rocky Ridge. Or maybe it was just somewhere she hadn’t explored yet.

But her pulse thrummed with excitement as she pulled up beside Zeke’s new ride. New, of course, was in the eye of the beholder because Zeke didn’t really believe in doing the traditional thing of going to a dealership and buying something off the lot. Oh, no. He’d scoured the internet until he found a vehicle that interested him, made sure it ran, then little by little, rebuilt it piece by piece.

She had to admit that this particular pickup was super cool. It was a 1939 Hudson Big Boy pickup that looked like a cross between a small pickup and a huge car from the same time period that reminded her of noir detective shows and movies. It had rounded fenders and headlights, white-walled tires, a spare on the passenger side right behind the door, and a tiny two- section windshield. It was fascinating to study, and though the exterior was in rough shape, it drove fine.

The ride was actually quite smooth.

So far, he’d replaced about three quarters of the parts on it. It took time not just because he couldn’t work on it twenty-four/seven but because he had to order the unique parts and wait for them to ship. He’d been lucky enough to track down everything he’d needed so far, and once he had the mechanical bits the way he wanted them, he planned to shine up all the chrome and give it a brand-new cherry red paint job. The color would be a bit out of character, but it would be really cool.

Before meeting Zeke Callie couldn’t have cared less about antique vehicles, but his enthusiasm incited her own. She looked forward to surveying the finished product. And riding in it. His original International pickup had always drawn curious gazes, and she was sure this one would do the same.

“Wow,” she exclaimed as Zeke strolled with her out toward the acreage where the cattle roamed. He’d shown her the barn where he worked, the various equipment he’d repaired, the paddock where Josh Duncan trained his horses, the main house with its giant tree in the backyard, and then the freshly tilled soil where some guy was putting in what appeared to be a garden. “This place is enormous.”

“It is” Zeke agreed. “The acreage essentially doubled in size a few years back when they were able to make the next rancher over’s property their own.”

“Where does it end?”

“Oh, the property lines out beyond our view.”

Callie blinked at him. “They own that much land?”

He chuckled at her. “Yes. They need that much land to grow all the heads of cattle they tend to as well as breeding them. It’s a big organization.”

“I see that,” she told him, still in awe. She’d never visited anything like this place. “What’s that guy doing here after hours?”

“Oh, that’s Cody, the new hire. He’s an organic farmer who specializes in growing grains, special grasses, corn, oats, and barley on their property to reduce the costs of cattle feed. Bryce hired him to help out the ranch’s bottom line, I bet. It’s not much of a sacrifice to dedicate that part of the pasture to something else, and if it works out like the Duncans think it will, it’ll be worth it.”

After walking her around the area around the main house—they didn’t go in so as to not disturb the family—he guided her back out to the barn. There, under the protective cover of the roof, was a collection of off-road all terrain vehicles. Zeke went right over and started one up, patting on the seat behind him.

Callie hopped on, her pulse wild again. He drove them sedately at first, then once they were further out in the wilderness, gunned the accelerator until she whooped with glee. This was amazing.

“Faster,” she yelled, and he obliged her, careening over a flat hard patch of road that encircled the property. “This is fun.”

Zeke twisted around so she could view the smile on his features that stretched from ear to ear. That made this even better. They passed cattle and the occasional grazing horse, groves of tall trees, and rolling hillside. They even passed several ponds and a stream that filtered down along one side of the property.

Callie had never thought of herself as a country girl, but after this, she believed she might be willing to convert. Being out here surrounded by greenery and that gigantic blue Montana sky above them was magical. And despite it being July, this late in the afternoon meant the temps were already dipping into a much more comfortable degree mark.

She didn’t know if Zeke was merely taking her all over the place by the seat of his pants or if he had a specific location he was heading toward, but she was here for it either way. She’d had to wrap her arms around his middle and hold on tight, and having him against her like this was surprisingly intimate. Even once they stopped, her heart continued pounding in her chest.

Once she peered about at the landscape surrounding them, she knew why. He’d pulled them up to the edge of a cliff that looked out upon a valley down below. Inside the valley lay a series of teeny tiny residences and commercial buildings, and if she wasn’t mistaken, that might even be the town square.

“Is that Rocky Ridge?” she asked him.

“Sure is. Can’t see this vantage from the original property the Duncans owned. This view once belonged to Levi Mason’s land. But now that they own this property, too, they have this little benefit. Quite the sight, isn’t it?”

“My gosh, Zeke, it’s beyond words. I always knew Montana was a big place, but from here, it’s like I can understand more of the scale. It’s truly impressive.”

“Thought you might like it,” he said, his voice soft. Thoughtful.

“It’s gorgeous out here.”

“Not as gorgeous as you.” Zeke had her captured in his gaze, and as Callie took the outstretched arms he offered her, she allowed him to wrap those arms around her.

A summer breeze blew gently through the surrounding trees and birds chirped overhead. The scent of something sweet floated over to them and the buzzing of bees from some nearby wildflowers provided a tranquil soundtrack to the beating of her own heart. She shifted her head against his head so she could also hear his, that thump-thump, thump-thump that she almost lost.

She gave him a squeeze, then peered up into those midnight blue orbs, half mystified by them. As Callie opened her mouth to say what had been burgeoning up within her for a long time now, so did Zeke.

“I love you,” they said in unison, and the coincidence and power of the moment made Callie blink.

“You do?” she asked him.

“Do you?” he replied back. She nodded just as he did, and as she felt her mouth curving into a smile, she watched as the same expression lit Zeke’s features.

It was then that she knew beyond a shadow of a doubt, that they were not only together, but that they always would be.

She leaned into him rising so that her lips could meet his, and as they kissed it was like this culmination of all that had come before or would ever come in the future. The beginning of something vital and life changing. The start of a new life.

Callie had never felt so secure in the knowledge that she was doing what she was supposed to be doing with the man she was meant to be with. It was a bone-deep understanding that she couldn’t have explained even if she’d wanted to. But what it amounted to most of all was this overall sense that everything would be okay.

And she’d never felt so content.