Montana Hearts by Darlene Panzera Read Free Book Online Page A

and sister seated in the living room. He went straight to his mother’s side.
    â€œHow are you feeling?” he asked, giving her a hug.
    â€œBetter,” his mom assured him. “I don’t know why I let that letter shake me up like that.”
    Jace’s studied the pale, gaunt expression on her face and his throat ran dry. “What letter?”
    Natalie took a folded piece of paper from an envelope on the coffee table beside her and handed it to him. Assorted letters from the alphabet in all different fonts and sizes had been cut from advertisements and pasted together to form one sentence in the middle of the page.
    Step down from the candidacy if you want to live.
    â€œThe letter was sent to her in a box with a dead rat inside,” Nat added. “A dead rat in a rat trap. We figure it’s from one of the poaching rings she claims she’ll abolish when she’s elected governor.”
    â€œDid you call the police?” Jace asked. “What did they say?”
    His sister shrugged. “They’re looking into it.”
    â€œI could stay here for a while, until the election is over,” Jace offered.
    â€œNo, absolutely not,” his mother exclaimed. “I won’t have you alter your own plans.”
    â€œMy plans are already altered, due to my recent mishap in the arena,” Jace said, taking a blanket off a nearby chair and tucking it around her.
    â€œMishap? Dragged around the arena and almost killed is what I heard,” his mother scolded. “Jace, it’s time you took better care of yourself, settled down. There’s more to life than rodeo.”
    His mother never did share his love of adventure. Or bulldogging. Or horses. That was probably the reason she sold their family’s ranch and moved to Bozeman a few years after his father died. But by the age of seven, Jace had already been bit by the rodeo bug and continued to spend as much time as he could after school and on weekends at Bucky’s ranch.
    Unfortunately, his sister didn’t. Natalie had never even ridden a horse. Claimed she didn’t want to, which was maybe one more reason why they’d never been extremely close. While he and Bucky were riding and wrestling steer, she’d be at the library with her friends attending writing classes and reading books.
    â€œMom’s also been contacted by some animal rights activists,” Nat said, her tone holding a note of accusation. “They claim rodeos should be banned and are using your accident as a prime example of how the sport endangers animals.”
    His mother nodded. “They call themselves Montana Wildlife Rescue and several offshoots of the group have branched out across the state. One of them is located in Fox Creek.”
    Jace took a seat across from them. “Is it possible they sent you the threat?”
    â€œThey do lead protests from time to time, but I doubt they’re dangerous. Mostly, they find homes for abandoned horses, nurse injured wildlife back to health, and write articles to promote public awareness.”
    â€œI was invited for a two-­week stay at a ranch in Fox Creek,” he said, wondering if he should speak to this group, try to get them to leave his mother alone.
    â€œA ranch in Fox Creek?” For a moment his mother looked startled. Her eyes widened and she sat straight up in her chair, dropping the blanket he’d tucked around her to the floor. “ Which ranch?”
    â€œCollins Country Cabins.”
    â€œI’ve heard of them.” His mother’s expression relaxed, but her tone remained wary. “They’re a small ranch with big trouble. Earlier this summer the husband and wife team they’d hired as their ranch managers embezzled their money and fled in the middle of the night when the three adult Collins children came home. They’ve had trouble staying open for business ever since.”
    He didn’t know about the embezzlement. Poor