Once a Father

“Mary, Mary,” he whispered.

“Never contrary.” She closed her eyes and inhaled the spicy scent of sage and wood smoke.

Logan hooked his arm behind her head and opened his mouth over hers and stole her next breath with the kiss she wanted, the kind that gave back and kept on giving. She welcomed him, her tongue touching his, her lips taking the measure of his. Full and moist, they took the lead in a sexy slow dance meant to bring more dancers to the floor, meant to get things going up and down their bodies, bundles of nerves dying to become entangled in utterly wild ways. In the end he touched his forehead to hers, and they mixed breath with breath and sigh with sigh.

He lifted his head. “Would you like to stay with me tonight?”

Dear Reader,

What animal do you associate with romance? For me, it’s the horse. Whether he’s a knight in shining armor or a cowboy in well-worn blue jeans, my heroes ride horses. It’s no surprise that I fell in love with my own Indian cowboy during a summer filled with horseback rides across miles of rolling prairie.

So join us under the vast South Dakota sky for the story of a man and a woman who come from two very different worlds that are “just down the road” from each other. What brings them together? The Double D Wild Horse Sanctuary and a competition for horse trainers. Logan Wolf Track is “the best there is,” and so is Sergeant Mary Tutan. But Mary trains dogs. This is a story about neighbors becoming friends, friends becoming lovers, and families built on love.

Once again, come with me to a place where wildness reigns and love conquers all.

All my best, always,

Kathleen

KATHLEEN EAGLE published her first book, a Romance Writers of America Golden Heart Award winner in 1984. Since then she has published more than forty books, including historical and contemporary, series and single title, earning her nearly every award in the industry. Her books have consistently appeared on regional and national bestseller lists, including the USA TODAY list and the New York Times extended bestseller list.

Kathleen lives in Minnesota with her husband, who is Lakota Sioux. They have three grown children and three lively grandchildren.

ONCE A FATHER

KATHLEEN EAGLE

www.millsandboon.co.uk

Dedication

To Honor the Memory of

Barbara Eagle

Author Note

This story is set in southwestern South Dakota, near the Black Hills on a Lakota (Sioux) reservation. I have purposely not tied the story to a specific reservation, but I have made every effort to portray Lakota culture accurately.

If you’re a horse lover like me, check out the Black Hills Wild Horse Sanctuary online at www. wildmustangs.com. Douglas O. Hyde founded the program in 1988, and it is the inspiration for the Double D Wild Horse Sanctuary.

Chapter One

The barefaced loner with the long, brown hair and the distance runner’s body was a woman apart. She was no fence-sitter, no small-talker, no crowd-joiner. She had come for the horses and nothing else.

Logan Wolf Track liked her already.

He would likely change his mind before the day was over but being drawn to her at first sight counted for something. His hard-earned instincts rarely failed him. He knew a kindred spirit when he saw one. Whether he could work with her, kindred or otherwise, was something else. Twenty thousand dollars worth of something else, he told himself as he approached the woman.

He had come for the horses and the money.

South Dakota’s Double D Wild Horse Sanctuary was filled to capacity with horses the Bureau of Land Management had placed in the care of sisters Sally Drexler and Ann Drexler Beaudry, but the horse-loving women—particularly Sally—were hell-bent on making room for more. A bottleneck in the BLM’s wild horse adoption program—plenty of adoptees, few adopters—had the ever-resourceful Sally coming up with a plan for every letter in the alphabet.

Logan wanted in on her latest production. Thanks to Ann’s rich brother-in-law, Sally had found a sponsor for “Mustang Sally’s Makeover Challenge.” Trainers had three months to show the world that wild horses could be made into excellent mounts. The reward had Logan’s name written all over it. Not only the cash, but the cachet. His way with horses was like no one else’s, and he’d written a book on the subject. Not that he’d sold many copies, but that didn’t mean it wasn’t a great book. All his training method needed was a little publicity, and winning Sally’s contest could bring him that.

Unfortunately, Sally had thrown him a curve.

In the shape of an hourglass.

“Did they turn you down?” he asked the woman’s back. He knew her first name, but she would have to give it to him before he’d use it. She was watching a dozen young horses chase each other around in a holding pen. Another handful had just been released into a nearby pasture, which put the captives in a tizzy.

The woman turned and drilled him with a look. Killer eyes. She knew it, too. She held Logan’s gaze long enough to let him know he’d interrupted something. Then she looked down at the crumpled paper in his fist.

“Sally’s right. I’m not qualified to train a wild horse.” She looked up. That quickly the color of her eyes had gone from icy gray to cool blue. “It sounds really exciting, but realistically, I don’t have that much time.” She squinted against the sun. “What about you?”

“I’m too qualified.” Logan gave half a smile. The woman wore a reserved expression on a pleasing face. No makeup, no pretense, nothing fancy. A good face, easily read. Her time in the sun had not been spent on the beach. She took care of herself, but pampering was not on her schedule. And she kept a schedule. “Sally tried to pull some conflict of interest excuse on me, but I know better.”

The woman tipped her head to the side, genuinely curious, still squinting. Logan’s straw cowboy hat shaded his face. He had the advantage. He could see her just fine. “What are you interested in?” she asked.

“Training horses. But I’m on the Lakota Tribal Council—Lakota Sioux—and I guess you could say we’re supporting Sally’s training competition in a roundabout way. We just decided to lease a bunch more land for the wild horse sanctuary. It’s true I talked it up and voted for it.” He turned to watch the horses. “But I still don’t see it. The Tribe isn’t putting up prize money or judges, nothing like that.”

“If she’s gonna be that picky, she won’t have anyone competing.” She turned, too. They stood side by side, nearly shoulder to shoulder, sharing a common disappointment. “I train dogs,” she reported.

He knew that. He suspected he had the advantage there, too. On the heels of his rejection, Sally had pointed the woman out to him through the office window. His wasn’t the only application she couldn’t approve, but she hated to turn good people down flat. Where there was a will, there might be a way.

“If you’re good at it, that’s experience in my book,” Logan allowed. “Which one do you like?”

“That one.” She pointed to a gelding the color of river water. His dark mane, tail and dorsal stripe were signs that his mustang ancestry went way back. “He doesn’t want to be here, any more than the rest of them, but he’s here, and he’ll deal with it intelligently. You can see it in his eyes.”

“You think he’s intelligent?”

“In his world he is. He’ll take cues from someone who knows how to give them.”

“What would you use him for?” He met her quizzical glance with more test questions. “That’s what the competition is about, right? Making him useful?”

“I’d ride him. I’d gentle him so that a child could ride him.”

“Do you have one in mind?” He glanced away. “A kid to show the horse at the end of the competition.”

“I just meant he’d be that gentle. Gentle enough for anyone to ride.” Her voice softened. “It’s been a long time since I’ve been around children.”

“Where’s your dog?”

“Halfway across the world.” She turned to him, shoulders squared, right hand his for the shaking. “Mary Tutan. Sergeant Mary Tutan, U.S. Army. Home on leave.”

“Logan Wolf Track. Home to stay.”

“Lucky you.” Her hand slid away. He wasn’t a shaker. In his world hands greeted without pressure, palm to palm. He liked her friendly smile. “Sally and I have been friends since we were kids, and I really love what she’s doing here. Just so you know, whatever her side is, I’m on it.” Her straight hair flew back from her face as she turned it into the soft summer wind. “That paint is nice, too. And I like the pretty red roan.”

“You wanna win this thing, or not?”

She gave a quick laugh. “If I were in it, I’d be in it to win it.”

“The paint’s too narrow across the shoulders, and that roan is walleyed.” “Wild-eyed?”

“Same thing. In this case you’re not lookin’ to see the whites of their eyes. Same with dogs, right? All you wanna see in the eyes is color.” Forearms braced on the fence rail, he glanced past his shoulder and met her studied gaze. She was taking mental notes. He nodded. “I like your first choice.”

“Me, too. If wishes were horses, that’s the one I’d ride.”

“I can make that wish come true for you. If you’re serious.” Her eyes questioned him again. “Your friend Sally has something up her sleeve. Maybe you know what it is.”

“An arm.” She smiled. “Sally plays by the rules. She doesn’t pull tricks. I’m sure she’d love to—”

“That’s exactly what she said. She’d love to have me compete, but she wants me to take on a partner, and she strongly suggested you.” Surprised? Check. Nothing up Mary Tutan’s short, unrestricted sleeve. Open for further explanation. “You apply for the competition. You train the horse. I train you.”

“She said that?”

Recalling his own reaction—less surprise, more irritation—Logan chuckled. “I think she’s making up the rules as she goes along, which makes it easy to play by them if you’re Sally. Thing is, I like Sally and I might just be willing to give her game a shot. How about you?”

She searched his face for signs of sense. “I only have thirty days.”

“I have whatever it takes.” He smiled. “And then some.”

“That makes you an interesting man, Mr. Wolf Track.”

“Logan.”

“With an interesting proposition,” she allowed, which surprised him. “But what’s in it for you?”

He lifted one shoulder. “My regular fee or a share of the prize money, whichever way you wanna go.”

“I doubt that I could afford your fee. And I wouldn’t do it for the money.” She turned her attention to the gelding. “I love horses.”

“Perfect. You do it for love. I’ll do it for money.” She laughed. He didn’t. “I’m serious.”

“Yeah, well, I’m—”

“Sergeant Mary Tutan, who says she wishes she could ride that horse. I’m saying I can make your wish come true if you’re willing to put the prize money where your mouth is.” She stared. He smiled. “And I can do it in thirty days.”

“What about the other sixty?”

“That’s for the kid.” She frowned, and he elaborated. “The one we’re gonna get to show the horse.”

“I can’t. I’d love to, but I just…” Here it came. The backpedaling. “I really just came to see my mother. I can’t stay. I don’t know why Sally would suggest that you partner up with me.” She hit a rock and stopped pedaling. “Something to do with my father?”

“I don’t know your father.”

“Dan Tutan? He has a ranch right up the road. He leases Indian land.”

“You think I know every rancher who leases Indian land?” He glanced away. A little disingenuous, there, Wolf Track. Some of the tribal land Dan Tutan had been leasing was about to become part of the Double D Wild Horse Sanctuary. “I know who he is. That doesn’t mean I know him. All I know about Sally’s suggestion is that she vouches for you personally, and she thinks you’d like to, love to enter ‘Mustang Sally’s Makeover Challenge’ but you need a horse trainer. I’m the best there is.”

Mary stared at the house, shook her head and muttered, “Sally, Sally, Sally.”

“So how about you fill out the papers and we get started?”

“Just like that?”

“You’re the one who’s only got thirty days.”

She gave him one of those little head shakes peculiar to women. I would, but there’s this problem. “I’d want to be able to show him myself, and I’m not the best rider.”

“We’ll train him for Western pleasure. I don’t care who shows him.”

“You want to win this thing or not?” she mimicked.

He shrugged. “We don’t win, I get nothing. You give me the money, honey, I’ll put in the time.”

“What about the love?”

“That I can’t help you with.”

“You don’t have to. I really would love to do this. It would be…” She crossed her arms and hugged herself. “I’m feelin’ it already.”

“Well, there you go.”

“Where?” She leaned closer. “Where do I go? I mean, where would we do this? And how would we—”

He laid his hand on her shoulder. “You sign the papers and leave the rest up to me.”

The Drexlers’ rambling old house had long been a second home for Mary. As a girl she’d sometimes pretended it was her first home. And then she’d thought about Mother and mentally flagellated herself. Even with those days long gone, she entered the mudroom through the squeaky screen door and boxed those old, familiar feelings around. Ah, yes, the door—oh, damn, it isn’t mine. She was greeted by a sweet yellow dog, ignored by an old calico cat.

“Come on in,” called a beloved voice.

“It’s me again,” Mary called back as she signaled the dog to stay and the man to come.

“In the office, you again.”

Mary led the way through sunny kitchen, comfy living room and dim foyer to present herself in the doorway to Sally’s office-by-day, bedroom-by-night. She took a parade rest stance.

“Okay, girlfriend, just what are the rules for this contest you’ve got going here?”

Sally spun her ergonomically correct chair away from the computer desk and grinned. “I see you two found each other.”

“Surprise, surprise. You said I wasn’t qualified to enter, but then you told…” Mary stepped aside, ceding the doorway to her companion.

“Logan,” Sally prompted, “that he couldn’t have a horse because he’s on the Tribal Council, and they lease us a lot of land for which we are enormously grateful. And I told him you’re somebody who’s interested in the challenge and might be able to get a horse, but you’d need to work with somebody who knows horses.” Sally bounced her eyebeams between visiting faces. “Perfect Jack Sprat kind of a deal, don’t you think?”

“I have to be in Fort Hood in thirty days.”

“So, you’d be in Texas. It’s not like you’d be on the moon. Not quite. I’ve got applications from as far away as…” Sally snatched a paper from one of three wire baskets—red, gray and green—on the corner of her desk. She adjusted her glasses and focused on the top of the page. “Here’s one from New York. Now that’s a different world. She says she lives on a reservation. Are there real Indians in New York?”

“All kinds,” Logan said.

“Good. I want all kinds of distribution. Geographical, cultural, economic, the whole barbecued enchilada. Nothing like wild horses to drag in all kinds.” Sally shot Mary a suggestive look. “Maybe they can drag you back from Texas on weekends.”

“That wouldn’t make a lot of sense.” She had to hear herself say the sensible thing. One crazy indulgence—possible indulgence—was one more than her limit. “But right now.. just so we’re clear…”

“Like the woman said,” Logan put in. “About those rules.”

“There are rules, and then there are…considerations.” Sally tossed the New York application aside. “I’m working with Max Becker out of the Bureau of Land Management’s Wyoming office. He’s the wild horse specialist there, and he helped me get the competition approved. We worked together on the application you both filled out. We don’t want anyone crying foul and giving wild horse and burro protection a black eye. Any more budget cuts and the program will go from a shoestring to a single-thread operation.”

“If we don’t qualify, we don’t qualify,” Mary said.

“Separately you don’t qualify. But I don’t have a problem with the entrant getting help from an experienced trainer.” Sally turned her eyeball-to-eyeball considerations from Mary to Logan. “And there’s no reason the trainer can’t be on the Tribal Council.”

“Are you making this stuff up as you go along?” Logan sounded more bemused than troubled.

“When we get into the gray areas I’m making most of the calls. Max is pretty busy. Plus…” Sally gestured toward the baskets. “…qualified applications aren’t exactly flooding in. See, these are my ‘In’ boxes.”

They were labeled “Ifs,” “Ands” and “Buts.”

“Which ones have been rejected?” Mary asked.

“Those.” Sally pointed to a metal trash can. “What does the army call ‘File Thirteen'?”

“They don’t even get a rejection letter?”

“Annie’s handling that end of it. She writes such nice letters, we even get donations back from some of the rejects.”

“I haven’t gotten any letter,” Mary told Logan. “Have you?”

He shook his head. “Must be in the ‘But’ pile.”

“You’re both ‘Ifs.‘ Together you could move from gray to green.” The look in Sally’s eyes went from that of woman on top to woman in love. Mary and Logan turned to see the cause.

Hank Night Horse stood in the doorway ready with a handshake for each. Mary’s came with a cowboy salute—touch of a finger to the brim of the hat—and Logan got a slap on his shoulder. “How’s it goin',

Track Man?”

“Have you figured this woman out yet?” Logan asked jovially. “Which box are you in?”

Hank and Sally exchanged affectionate glances.

“No conflict of interest there,” Logan said to Mary. “No ‘ifs', ‘ands’ or ‘buts’ about it.” Mary stepped to one side.

“Just so we’re clear, I’m not competing. I’ve got my hands full right now.” And to prove it Hank crossed the room, planted himself on the window seat behind his woman and rested his big hands on her slight shoulders. “But this guy’s the best there is, Sally. He’ll have his horse telling jokes while you clear the ring for the next contestant.”

“I don’t do stunts,” Logan said. “A horse is a horse.”

“Of course, of course!” Sally chimed in. Giddiness looked good on her. “And I want you to do what you do so well. I want this competition to generate some wonderful stories. Like the one about the Lakota horseman and the warrior woman. That’s going straight to Horse Lover’s Journal”

“Warrior woman,” Mary echoed with a chuckle. “I guess that’s better than ‘dog soldier.'”

“Why?” Hank asked. “Dog soldiers were the Cheyenne’s best warriors. Just lately they started up again. My sister got married to one, up in Montana. Anybody calls you a dog soldier, you take it as a compliment.”

“I do. I’m good at my job, too, and I prefer ‘dog soldier’ to ‘dogface’ but canine specialist has a better ring to it.”

“You don’t wanna be called a whisperer?” Logan asked. “Everybody’s whispering these days.”

“Got that, cowboy?” Sally slid Hank a playful smile. “You whisper, I purr.”

“I know.”

“Sweet,” Logan teased. “Rumor has it he can sing pretty good, too.” “I know,” Sally said.

Mary looked at Logan and cocked an eyebrow. “You get the feeling we’re in the way here?”

“I’ll get out of the way when I get what I came for,” he said. “You sign up for the horse, you got yourself a trainer.”

She glanced at Sally, who beamed back at her. Beaming you up, old chum. They’d spent precious little time together since Mary had enlisted, but the years fell away instantly because Sally was…Sally.

No more sidestepping. No looking down. There was only the man at her side and the chance at hand. She looked him in the eye. “What’s this gonna cost me?”

“A fair share of the prize.”

“How much of a share?”

“Depends on what you contribute time- and effort-wise. You gonna pony up, Sergeant?”

With the help of some army training, Mary had learned to welcome a good challenge, especially when it came from a worthy challenger. “Half,” she said. “Half is fair, and we split the expenses down the middle, win or lose.”

“We can’t lose. This is one of those win-win deals like you read about. Who’s gonna write the story?”

“Which…?” Sally was so deep into their game she was practically falling out of her chair. The look of a sidelines fan suddenly hit with the ball earned her a laugh. Sally being Sally, she took it in stride. “Oh, we’re gonna have all kinds of stories. That’s the whole point. We need to get the word out about these horses.” She glanced toward the door and smiled. “I think I’ll put Annie in charge of that little detail.”

“What little de—Mary!” Sally’s younger sister surged into the room and greeted Mary with a hug. “Are you home for good? Stateside, at least? My God, you look wonderful.”

“So do you.” Smaller. Happier. How long had it been—five or six years? Oh, the nicknames she and Sally had hung on little Annie when they were kids. Chubby Cheeks. Mary glanced at the tall, dark and handsome cowboy trailing “Cheekers” and gave herself points for not blurting that one out. “This must be your new husband. Congratulations. I’m Mary Tutan.”

Zach Beaudry offered a tentative hand. “Tutan? As in…”

“As in Damn Tootin’s daughter.”

“And my best friend forever,” Sally said emphatically. “Dan Tutan has nothing to say about that.”

“Oh, he has plenty to say. He’s a difficult man, my father. Nobody knows that better than I do.” Mary offered a shrug and sigh. “Nobody except my mother. And my brother.” She gave an apologetic smile. “And our friends.”

“We had a very small wedding,” Ann said quickly. “At a lodge in the Black Hills. Very few guests. Mostly family.” Ann had to reach up to put her arm around Mary’s shoulders. “Of course, if you’d been here.”

“I don’t blame you for not inviting him. If I were having a wedding, I wouldn’t invite him either. He’s.” Mary glanced at Logan. “.difficult.”

“You know how he feels about the horses and the sanctuary,” Sally said. “That’s the problem.”

“With my father it’s not about feelings. It’s about having things his way. That’s what he lives for. His way puts food on the table, so that’s a good thing. As long as you like to eat what he likes to eat.”

There was an awkward silence. Mary let it play out, a buffer between revealing more than she meant to—not quite as much as she wanted to—and taking a deep breath of fresh Drexler air.

She turned to Logan. The challenge was more important to her now than it had been an hour ago. “How does half sound?”

“What are you willing to do for your half?”

“Learn. If you’re as good as they say, I’m willing to be your apprentice.” She smiled. “I know how to take orders.”

“I don’t give orders. You watch and listen, maybe you’ll learn from me, maybe not.” He glanced at Sally, whose grin was all atta boy. He folded his arms and turned back to Mary. “So, what else?”