Page 64 of A Sweet Chat for the Cowboy

And if Wynona was May, and she had lied about where she lived, and she had also misled him about the reality of closing hunting season, then Wynona really wasn’t someone he ever wanted to lay eyes on again.

Even as he had the thought, he caught her staring at him. She looked incredibly sad. She didn’t look like some master manipulator pulling on puppet strings.

So maybe she wasn’t to blame. And maybe she wasn’t May either.

Tucker couldn’t take anymore. He turned toward the door and started to fight his way through the crowd. He needed to get outside. His lungs needed fresh air. His boots needed dirt. His nose needed to smell pine. His eyes needed to see the sky.

After a short, restless nap, Tucker and Sundance pointed the grill of his pickup toward Katie’s Gulch. He needed coffee. Lots and lots of coffee. Stopping would make him late.

He decided he didn’t care. He pulled into a Sinclair’s for some liquid magic.

It didn’t help.

Even Sundance looked tired, and he’d slept most of the day away.

But when Tucker opened the truck door, Sundance leapt out like he was raring to go. Tucker surveyed the dwindling crowd. They’d lost a lot of volunteers. Holden had warned him that this was going to happen, and he couldn’t blame them. Why would they stay up all night if itwasn’tgoing to result in an opening day for archery season?

Wynona headed his way, and he didn’t want to look at her. He still hadn’t decided whether she was May, and if she was, he wasn’t going to be okay with that.

“I’m sorry,” she said, and he nodded. She’d already texted him that twice. She’d tried to call too, but he’d let it go through to voicemail. She hadn’t left a message.

Sundance tore out of the woods to greet her, and she scooched to fawn over him. She looked up at Tucker as she continued to scratch Sundance’s cheeks. “It looks like we lost some of our force.”

He folded his arms across his chest and tried not to get angry. “Yep. And it shows how much FWS cares about this.” He scanned the woods. “Look at all the extra people they’ve sent.”

“They’re on their way,” she said tersely. She stood up and stared at him. “They’re not going to teleport here.”

He nodded. “Good enough.” He grabbed his pack out of the truck. “You ready?”

“You know, you don’t have to do this.”

He stopped. Was that true? Could they do this without him? He looked back at the small crowd. No, he couldn’t bail now. Gunner was still here. If he left, then Gunner might leave too, and then what? She’d have three Bannon ranch hands, Martin, andCraig—wait ... “Where’s Craig?”

She and Martin exchanged a look.

“He’s not coming.”

He’d never heard her sound so irritated. It would have been cute if he wasn’t so mad.

Tucker waited for an explanation.

After giving Wynona plenty of chance to provide one, Martin stepped up. “He sort of quit because people are mad at us.” Martin glanced at Wynona with fondness in his eyes. “That’s why they put her in charge and not him.”

“That’s enough,” Wynona said.

“He quit because people are mad at you?” one of the ranch hands broke in.

It was a valid question. What were they, in second grade?

“We’ve received some not very nice messages,” Martin said.

Not very nice. Yep, second grade.

Martin looked at Wynona uneasily. “Threats and stuff.”

Tucker stepped away from the truck. “Threats?”

“I’m sure no one will do anything,” Wynona said quickly.

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