Page 73 of The Rancher’s One and Only

“But there’s very little out here. And already putting a resort out here is kind of improbable. I feel like adding a museum… Can we even support the foot traffic of it all?”

“I don’t know. But I think having everything as close to the actual site as possible would be amazing. And then we could do tours out to the footprints, and I just think there’s something to this. Because of the significance of what I found. I don’t know if I’m right. Maybe it’s something we need to talk more to different local people about. But I just think… I think there’s a possibility here. And I’d really like to explore it.”

“And how are you going to float this to…? Who do you even float an idea like this with?”

“The museum. I would propose it as an offshoot, funded by our museum. Small, honestly, and maybe we would rotate displays, and share what we have with the Oregon Museum of Natural History and Science. But there are some great museums in small, out-of-the-way areas. If you’ve never been to the aviation museum near Corvallis, you really should go sometime. You would be amazed at how much of a hidden gem it is, and people go to it. I know it’s not your world, but it is mine. And I think there’s a real possibility of something happening with all this.”

“I think if you think that…that would be great.”

And it would be another place for people in their job program to work. Their job program. He didn’t really know what he was thinking. He was probably getting too tangled up. Ernestine wasn’t staying. She wasn’t going to work at a museum out in the middle of nowhere. It didn’t make any sense. It would never make sense. But then, what she was suggesting was potentially a great idea for the property. It would give people a reason to come for the day, and it might even be something fun for people who live here.

“I would have to talk to Rowdy and Dakota, obviously, but I can say with certainty that they’re going to be on board with it. Anything we can do to add value to the location.”

He was trying to get a read on whether she was excited about it. If it was something that she wanted. It would link them, in a way. But there was no chance that they wouldn’t be linked. He would always be her first.

It made his chest tighten. Because being her first made it seem like it was inevitable there would be more. There would have to be. Ernestine was too wonderful to spend her life alone. She deserved everything. Always. And maybe she had just needed a little bit of a confidence booster to claim that for herself. He was happy to provide it, sort of. There was a little bit of jealousy at the thought of the men who would have her after.

And yet, he knew that companionship was what she deserved. And he certainly couldn’t provide it. The best-case scenario was him sending her off with a better outlook. With more possibilities, not fewer. And in that way, they would always be connected. So why not be connected through this? This discovery. There would be a plaque with her name on it, and it would exist on this ranch. And whatever footnote was written about it and whatever text or publication it was in, his ranch would be mentioned. Maybe his name. He didn’t care about that as far as notoriety. It had more to do with being connected to her. He liked that idea. He liked it a lot. And maybe that was the best he could hope for. That he could improve her life in some small way, whether that was by having her dig on the ranch in the first place, or, if he wanted to be full of his own self-import, being the one to introduce her to passion, to show her what she deserved in that sense.

“Would you like me to talk to them now?”

“Oh. I mean, that would be all right. If you don’t mind.”

“Why don’t you come with me. You can talk to them. Tell them what you’re thinking. I know that it isn’t actually going to come together until you can get back to the museum, but still.”

When they pulled up to the house, there was a Jeep parked in the driveway. It was a nice Jeep, in mint condition, and sparkling clean. He put his truck in Park, just as a woman got out of the driver’s seat. She was in pristine condition—just like her vehicle.

And he didn’t even have to ask who it was. He just knew.

And then when he looked at Ernestine, he was even more certain. Her mouth was open, and he could see she was struggling to speak. She looked like an outraged guppy. He wasn’t going to say that, though. Because he was still paying penance for the rodent-energy commentary.

“I’ve got this,” he said.

He got out of the truck, and put his hands in his pockets. “Hey, can I help you?”

She turned to face him. Yeah. She was pretty. And he could imagine that in the industry that they worked in, it was extremely notable. Not because her features were shaped more advantageously than Ernestine’s; it was the way she presented herself. Her hair was artfully styled, her clothing perfectly fitted to her body. Her makeup was done in that sort of perfect way that managed to make a woman look like she didn’t actually have makeup on. At least, that was his perception. He knew men were notoriously bad at identifying how much makeup a woman was actually wearing. But he could see why Dr. Haley Boesch was a glittering gem in the paleontological field.

“Yes. Are you the owner of the property?”

“One of them. My name is Jax Noble.”

“Dr. Haley Boesch. I’m a paleontologist.” And he decided he would go ahead and let her do her whole spiel. Even though he had already decided he was going to send her packing. She might be pretty; she might be smart. She might be a whole lot of good things, but the one thing he knew was that she had stolen from Ernestine. That was something he couldn’t abide by. Something he wouldn’t tolerate.

“I have reason to believe that your ranch is a good place for me to continue digging.”

“Is that a fact?”

“Yes,” she said. “It is a fact.”

“What led you to that conclusion?”

She went blank for a moment, nothing behind her brown eyes as she seemed to consider this. “Data. That I have been working on.”

“I see. So data has led you to believe that the place you’re currently digging isn’t the best place.”

“Yes.”

“The data that you received wouldn’t happen to be information that another paleontologist was digging here, would it?”