It was the contrast that made it so clear to her. Yesterday, this morning, Tucker had walked with an air of gravitas about him. Even when he joked around or drank beer from the bottle, he made an impression. You wouldn’t want to tangle with this guy. She had the feeling if he went after someone, they wouldn’t know what hit them until the dust had long settled.
“What’s this?” he said as they got closer to the five-acre experiment. “How tall is that fence?”
“Seven and half feet. It’s not finished, though. But we’ll need to keep the deer out, so we had to go high.”
“What’s it guarding?”
“The future,” Annie said, her voice tight with anticipation of his reaction.
When he looked at her, sparks lit up all through her, but she decided they were a result of the project, not Tucker. “Show me.”
“Well, the view’s not impressive. Yet.” She urged Candy Cane into a burst of speed and led Tucker around the fence to the western gate. Of course, he could see through the wires, see that there was nothing but flat ground, not even plowed yet. But she wanted him to get a feel for how big the plot was, how big the idea was, so she slowed, dropped from her saddle and waited until he’d done the same.
They walked beyond the gate. “This is going to be a field of alfalfa,” she said. “Five acres. Before the tractor engine blew, we’d just started to amend the soil, so it won’t be ready for planting until next year. There are some issues with irrigation that need to be handled before we can truly make this work, but I know we’ll do it. All old school. No motors, no generators. Just wind to push the water through.”
“Huh,” he said, mostly to himself, turning his head as if trying to picture what this land would look like in five years. In ten.
“If it works, which it will, it’ll be the first of many plots growing feed. Not only to make Safe Haven more self-sustaining, but to help future interns learn about alternative agricultural methods. We want to train ranchers to be able to take care of their land using creativity to build and grow.
“This fence has been a large-scale project guided by the high school kids. They did all the fundraising and recruited the help they needed to get the fencing equipment. They’re still working on it, and maybe it’ll take more than a year, but I don’t think so. We’ve discussed making it a cooperative, so that other ranches might be able to start rebuilding. But that’s pretty far in the future.”
When he turned to her this time, his smile made her blush. There was no doubt that Tucker was impressed. More than she’d hoped. “This is remarkable. Really outstanding. It was your idea?”
“I’d mentioned it as a faraway dream, but Melanie and the students, they ran with it. She’s so committed to using the sanctuary as an educational resource that great ideas are all stacked up, just waiting to come to life. She’s amazing.”
“She isn’t the only one.”
Annie’s cheeks burned. She ducked her head and tucked her hair behind her ear. When she looked up again, though, something had changed. The smile had frozen on his face, and his gaze seemed troubled. A second later, the grin lifted, and if she hadn’t looked up at the right time, she would have missed it entirely. “Is something wrong?”
“Not at all,” he said. “I’m very glad you brought me out here.” He moved closer, and for a moment she thought he was going to touch her arm, but then he ended up running his hand through his hair. “You have any more surprises up your sleeve?”
“Nope. This was it.”
He nodded. “Maybe we should head back, then. I’ve got some phone calls I need to make, and I know you have things to do. We’ll figure out dinner arrangements on the way.”
“Sure, no problem.” Annie mounted her horse, unsettled and disappointed. The moment had been so perfect. What had changed? She couldn’t think of anything she’d done wrong, but then, she wasn’t always quick to see beyond her own enthusiasm. So much for her ace in the hole.
MARGE’S DINER WAS…A DINER. It wasn’t crowded. Only two men sat at the counter sipping from white mugs. Tucker nodded to them as he passed on his way to a booth in the back. A waitress appeared, poured the men refills, then brought him a menu along with a curious smile.
Strangers had to be infrequent guests in Blackfoot Falls. The interstate was an hour away, and the town was small. And, except for the Sundance, didn’t seem much like a tourist attraction.
He’d arrived early, but he didn’t mind waiting. He was still worrying over a moment of clarity he’d had when Annie had shown him the five acres. She’d swept him away, as thoroughly as if she’d been a magician. Standing there, he could see her vision of the future, her commitment to changing her slice of the world for the better. For one powerful moment, he’d been ready to take out his checkbook.
And then it had hit like an unexpected tackle. She wasn’t Annie Sheridan. He had no idea who she really was. Except that she had to be one of the best fundraisers he’d ever encountered. He didn’t give his money away, not without a lot of forethought and reason, but she could have taken him for a completely different kind of ride.
He didn’t doubt his intuition. He believed that there was far more to the story of Leanna’s skipping town than Christian had said, because she wasn’t the greedy, unscrupulous woman he’d described. Tucker had more faith in himself than to think his judgment was so far off. But that didn’t change the fact that he didn’t know. She could still be under someone’s thumb, still need money to get herself out of a desperate situation. Although that was a stretch. Running an animal sanctuary was the worst way he could think of to raise a lot of cash. And her enthusiasm for the place…she hadn’t been faking that.
He raised his gaze just as she walked through the front door.
She’d changed into a different pair of jeans, a fresh shirt. He couldn’t help wishing she’d worn a dress, something more sophisticated that would have shown off her tall, lean body, the way she carried herself. She must have amazing legs.
He stood as she approached the table, then sat when she slid into her side of the booth.
“You’re early,” she said.
“I’ve only been here a few minutes. It’s a nice place.”
She grinned as she looked at the row of uniform booths along the window facing Main Street and the old-fashioned counter with black vinyl and metal stools. “It’s the only place.”
“There are more restaurants in Kalispell. We could go right now.”
She picked up the menu, shaking her head. “Cocoa might foal tonight, so I can’t even be here for long.”
He picked up his menu, too, noticing straight off that they had a homemade beef stew featured. “You know, you never did answer my question about how you ended up in northern Montana.”
She studied him, her lips pressed together and her eyes grave. “Serendipity. I’d heard about Safe Haven when I was traveling. I’ve always been into horses, and animal sanctuaries were a passion. When I came to Blackfoot Falls, I never intended to take over Safe Haven. That just sort of happened.”
“Traveling from…?”
“Back east.” She studied the menu, then smiled up at him. “I haven’t eaten here much, but I do know about the popular dishes. The chicken fried steak is homemade, battered right here, and the burgers are supposed to be off the charts. Oh, and if you like crispy fries, Marge’s is the place.”
Instead of calling her on her subtle misdirection, Tucker found himself caught in her gaze. He leaned forward, aching to break down the walls that she’d built so well. There were