A Cowboy Worth Loving (Canton County Cowboys 1)

by Charlene Bright

  Chapter Nine

  Lucy sat at the table in the inn with her untouched plate of breakfast off to one side as she worked on her laptop. It was after eight a.m., and until Gavin or Kayla fired her, she was going to keep working on their case. She’d been up since six researching more land laws. She was looking for something that Gavin might not object as strongly to as the Adverse Possession law, but so far she hadn’t been able to find it. Short of disproving the faulty survey, that law was as close to perfect as they were going to get. It fit Kayla and Gavin to a T. Kayla didn’t seem to have any issues with it, but she would have a long way to go in convincing Gavin. The problem was that she needed to get these motions filed prior to them going to court next month, and that didn’t leave her much time. After last night, she wasn’t even sure he’d talk to her about any of it.

  “Good morning, sunshine.” Lucy heard the voice, but she didn’t look up. She continued her internet search and acted like she didn’t know Heath was there. She could feel him standing there for quite some time, but she still didn’t make any motion to acknowledge his presence. As stubborn as his father and unable to take a less than subtle hint, he bent sideways so that he could look at what she had up on her computer. That was when she slammed it down and said, “I’m working, Heath! What do you want?”

  “I just wanted to say good morning,” he said, flashing his too-white teeth.

  “Good morning, okay? Now please go away. I’m busy.” Instead of doing as she asked, he dropped down into one of the empty chairs at her table. He crossed his long legs, and she could see that, as usual, he was wearing a six hundred dollar pair of shoes and a tailored, designer-label suit. It was obvious that he didn’t plan on doing his own grunt work out at the ranch. She picked up her computer bag and stuffed her laptop inside of it.

  When she stood up he said, “You aren’t leaving so soon? You haven’t touched your breakfast.”

  “I lost my appetite.”

  “Lucy, I thought we were friends. Just because things didn’t work out romantically for us doesn’t mean we aren’t friends.”

  She turned on him with a vengeance then. “We were never friends. We were attracted to each other, and I made the mistake of believing there was more. I realized later on, maybe when I saw you in your office with that woman Milton was representing for killing her husband’s lover on her knees in front of you, that there had never been anything else. Your philandering gave me a valid reason to walk away, and I’m thankful for that. You disgust me, and the next time I see you, I want it to be in court. Stop following me around town.”

  He smirked. “I’m not following you, Lucy. You do flatter yourself, don’t you? I’m staying here at the inn, remember? I had no way of knowing you were staying here, too.”

  Lucy rolled her eyes. She didn’t believe him for a second, and she wasn’t the least bit flattered by his attentions. “Why are you staying here? Why aren’t you staying with your father? Is it just because you like to annoy me?”

  He chuckled and said, “I admit, I do like to see you with your dander all up. You’re really cute when you’re angry. But no, that’s not the reason. I’m not staying at the ranch because, well, I don’t think I have to tell you how well Father and I get along.”

  No, he didn’t. Tuck and Heath’s arguments had gone so far as to turn physical in front of her once or twice. The first time had been when Heath caught Tuck coming on to her. Remembering how Tuck treated his son caused her to have just a smidge of empathy for her ex-fiancé. She tried a different tactic and said, “Why is he doing this, Heath? He has plenty of his own money. Why does he always want to take something away from people who worked for it their entire lives? How can he live with himself, and you, Heath, why would you help him?”

  Heath shrugged. “You know Dad. He sees something he wants and goes after it. I’ve never been able to understand him. Why he would want a burned out old ranch is beyond me. As for your other question, I’m not helping him, I’m working for him. Everyone is entitled to representation, even my father. If he wasn’t paying me to represent him, he’d be paying someone else. I’m a new partner at my firm. This case will generate revenue, which is what I need to prove myself.”

  “Did he ask for your representation before or after he found out I was working for the Walkers?”

  “I have no idea,” he said. She doubted that, too. “Like I said, this is Dad’s fight. I’m only providing a service that someone else would be here providing if I wasn’t. I can’t help who he is, and once again, you know that I’m not even proud of it.”

  “Yet you’ve spent your life reaping the rewards. You always go back.”

  Heath gave her a look that said he couldn’t believe she’d said that. “Reaping the rewards? My father is a miserable, mean man who loves nothing more than to emotionally abuse me. He lives for it, and anything I ever took from him was because I deserved it for putting up with him.”

  “I’ve seen you fight against him when it benefits you,” she said. “You should try fighting for someone else once in a while.”

  “I’m not my father’s keeper. The people he is taking from, as you put it, are welcome to fight back. I have no reason to step in and fight for them. They can hire an attorney or whatever they need to do. Either way, father always gets what he wants.”

  “Almost always,” she said. Something dark crossed Heath’s face, and she knew right away that was still a source of contention between the men.

  He narrowed his eyes and said, “Yes, almost always.”

  She turned and left then. She could feel his eyes on her as she walked out the front door. She found a quiet spot at the far end of the porch and resumed her work. She’d only been there maybe five minutes before Miss Hildie found her. Lucy looked up to see the older woman standing there holding a cup of delicious looking fresh fruit in one hand and a glass of tea in the other.

  “You didn’t touch your breakfast, dear.”

  Lucy smiled. “I’m sorry, Miss Hildie. It looked delicious. I was just so wrapped up in my work.”

  “If you’re going to work so hard, you have to keep your strength up. Here, I had Sylvie fix you one of her famous fruit parfaits. I know it’s early yet, but I brought you some sweet tea to wash it down. It’ll give you energy.”

  Lucy sat her laptop down and took the fruit and tea. “Thank you. It looks yummy.” She realized Hildie was waiting for her to take a bite.

  She started to when Hildie said, “You let me know if you need anything else. It looks like you have company.” Lucy squinted against the sun and looked in the direction that Hildie was looking. She saw an old pickup coming in their direction. She recognized it at once.

  “Oh bloody hell!” she said. It was too early in the morning for Gavin Walker, and didn’t the man own a phone? She didn’t realize she’d cursed aloud until she heard Hildie laugh.

  “They sure are some trouble, aren’t they?”

  With her face hot and probably red, she said, “Who’s that, Miss Hildie?”

  “The handsome men who keep insinuating themselves into your life. They should all come with warning labels. I could feel the tension between you and the one inside, and I can see you’re not overly thrilled to see the one coming this way.”

  “Yes, they are some trouble,” Lucy said with a sigh. “But I guess I’d take this one over the one inside any day.”

  “I wish I could tell you that when the right one came along, he wouldn’t be any trouble, but my Mr. was a whole heap of trouble.” She looked at Gavin fondly as he stepped out of his truck and waved. He waved back. Before stepping back inside, she said, “You have to decide what level of trouble you’re willing to accept. Once I sorted that all out, I found out that he was definitely a cowboy worth loving.”

  Lucy smiled. It was obvious Hildie had loved her husband very much. She told Lucy her first day there that she was a widow, and she mentioned her Mr. at least once a day. Sylvie said he had already been gone for ten years, but Hildie talked li
ke he was just there yesterday. Lucy started to tell her now that finding a cowboy to love was the furthest thing from her own mind, but Hildie was gone and Gavin was suddenly standing in front of her. She had to put her arm up to block the sun when she looked up at his face.

  “Good morning,” she said.

  He nodded at her and said, “We need to talk.”

  “Okay, have a seat.” Or use the phone!

  He sat down and before she could say anything else, he asked, “Are you working for Tuck Stevenson?”

  “What? No, of course not. That would be a conflict of interest. I take my job very seriously.”

  “It could be very lucrative if Tuck Stevenson wins this case, I’m guessing. I know he has to be making money off of it somehow, and if he said he would share with you…”

  Lucy put the fruit cup down and sat up straighter in her chair. “I worked hard to get where I am. I would never put my legal career in jeopardy for money. I took an oath. I believe in it.”

  “You never know what people will do for money,” he said. He had a faraway look on his face, and she didn’t think he was talking about her anymore. She wondered what secrets he was hiding behind his pretty eyes. Finally, he said, “I spent the past two hours that I should have been working arguing with my sister about you. She believes you when you say you want to help us, even after I told her you seem to be overly acquainted with Tuck’s son.”

  “I’m sorry that I didn’t tell you about that. When I first met you, I saw right off the bat that you were going to have a hard time trusting me. I didn’t think that would help my credibility at all.”

  “Well, you had that much right,” he said. “But lying about it was worse. Did you date that guy?” He asked her that like it gave him a bad taste in his mouth.

  “Yes, but it’s been over for a long time, and it has nothing to do with this case.”

  “Nothing?” he asked with a cocked eyebrow. Lucy wished again that he was ugly or at least not so damned hot. She was usually so articulate, but when he had those beautiful hazel eyes trained on her, she felt like her tongue was too thick to speak.

  “When I was dating Heath,” Damn it, Lucy, tell him the whole truth. “I didn’t just date him--we were engaged.” Gavin looked like the very thought of her being engaged to Heath Stevenson made him nauseous. He had to be wondering about her taste in men. She took a breath and went on to say, “I got to know Tuck, and more than once I saw him take advantage of someone who didn’t deserve it. I didn’t like him, and I did my best to stay away from him. His son doesn’t much like him either, but he remains loyal to him. Their relationship is complicated to say the least. The bottom line here is that I watched my father lose everything when I was a child. I was powerless to do anything about it, and it hurt me to just have to watch. Being around Tuck when I first got my law degree actually helped me realize that, although I couldn’t help my father, other people were going through the same kinds of things he did at the hands of people like Tuck or the government. I was finally in a position to help those people come out the other side of it. My father’s losses had devastating consequences for both of us. I want to do all I can to keep other people from suffering that same way.” Lucy felt the sting of tears beginning at the corners of her eyes when she finished talking. Her work was something she felt very passionate about, and the mention of her father always made her want to cry.

  However, Gavin’s face was emotionless as he said, “Okay then. My sister doesn’t want to fire you, so we’ll move forward with this. As long as every piece of paper you draw up is looked at and approved by myself or my sister before it’s filed.”

  Lucy drew her brows together and said, “That’s just going to slow things down a bit. I don’t have a car right now to get back and forth to the ranch. The insurance people and rental companies are talking right now, so we’ll see. Besides, like you said, you’re taking time from work you need to do in order to deal with this. Most people hire an attorney and rely on them to do what’s best.”

  “I’m not most people, and I’m not as naïve as my sister. I know that most people are looking for what they can get out of any given situation before they’re looking to help someone else for no return. I won’t trust you’re on our side until I see it firsthand.”

  Lucy didn’t bother arguing that point with him again. She would probably have more luck with the wall behind them. Instead, she just said, “Okay. I’ll call you each time we need to file something.” She knew he would get tired of it. “I’m working on the adverse possession paperwork as we speak.”

  He didn’t look happy about that, but he didn’t tell her not to do it, so that was good. “It would be easier if you just came out and stayed at the ranch,” he said.

  “Excuse me?”

  “Since you don’t have a car anymore, and I don’t have time to run into town every day, you should just stay at the ranch. Kayla has two extra rooms in the ranch house. I know she wouldn’t mind.”

  “I don’t know…”

  “Well, suit yourself,” he said, standing up. “Like I said, I have work to do.”

  “Wait, I didn’t say no. Do you have internet?”

  “No, but we have two cans and a stick that work pretty well.”

  Lucy rolled her eyes. “Let me talk to Miss Hildie. I feel bad just leaving her like this. I’ll get my things together after I do that. I don’t have much. Can you give me an hour?”

  Gavin looked like it just might kill him, but he saw another opportunity to be sarcastic. He pulled his iPhone out of his pocket and looked at the time. She rolled her eyes again and saw him stifling a smile. “I suppose I can wait for you,” he said. He sat back down in the rocking chair and picked up her iced tea. He held up the glass like he was inspecting it and asked, “Have you drunk out of this?”

  “No, are you a germophobe?”

  “I’m not a germophobe I’m just careful. Do you mind if I drink it if you’re not going to?”

  She laughed and said, “Sure. There’s some fruit there too. Help yourself.”

  “Did you use the spoon?”

  Chapter Ten

  Lucy and Gavin rode all the way out to the ranch without a word between them. He had already stated his case to Kayla this morning, and Kayla had listened. Always diplomatic, she had to tell him that he had a good point, and Lucy should have been honest with them about knowing Tuck. Then, she went on to say that she didn’t think it made any difference in Lucy representing them.

  “How could it not?” he asked. “She had a personal relationship with his son.”

  “Who she is not dating or engaged to or whatever any longer. That in itself might work in our favor. I just have a good feeling about her, Gavin. I like her.”

  “She’s not one of us, Kay. She doesn’t know what it feels like to own a piece of land that your family has lived on forever.”

  “She doesn’t need to know that in order to be a good lawyer. She’s a good lawyer, and I think we’re lucky to have her.”

  “All right, well when you call her--”

  “I’m not going to call her,” Kayla exclaimed.

  “Surely you don’t expect me to call her?” he retorted.

  “No, I expect you to go talk to her in person. I think you two need to talk face to face.”

  “I don’t have time to go into town. I still have to feed.”

  “I’ll do it. You go on. Just hurry back,” she said over her shoulder as she headed out the back door. “There’s work to do around here.”

  Gavin cussed her all the way to town, but he’d gone. He knew that was why she bossed him around the way she did--she always got her way.

  On the drive back to the ranch, Gavin thought about what Lucy told him about her father. She hadn’t given him any details, but he had gotten the impression from the tears in her eyes that maybe she did know what it felt like at least a little bit. When they got to the ranch, he left her and her things on the porch of the main house and went to work. Kay would take care
of whatever needed to be taken care of today as far as the legal stuff went. He had work to do, and he wasn’t in the mood for any of that nonsense. He drove to the cottage and backed the truck up to the barn. As he was hooking up the trailer, Brance came out of the house carrying his shirt.

  “There aren’t any women around here, you can put it on.”

  Brance grinned at him and slipped the t-shirt on over his head. “Whatcha doin’?”

  “I have to run out to Grayson’s and pick up a couple of colts he wants broke.”

  “Can I help?”

  “God yes, I thought you were going to lie around on your ass the whole time you’re here.”

  “I considered it,” Brance said. “But then I remembered how pretty it is and decided I might need a little exercise to keep it that way.”

  “You’re ridiculous,” Gavin told him.

  “I’m gonna grab my boots and my hat. I’ll be right back.”

  On the drive out to Grayson’s place, Brance said, “There’s a roping event this weekend at the fairgrounds.”

  “Cool, are you entering?”

  “I was thinking about it. Why don’t you sign up with me?”

  “Nah, I don’t think I’ll have time. Too much to do around here.”

  “You can’t just work all the time. When was the last time you were out?”

  “Did you notice the black eye when you first got here?”

  Brance laughed. “Oh, I thought one of your horses got you.”

  “No, but the guy who did probably packed a better punch than one of them would have.”

  “We’re you hittin’ on his girl?”

  “Why does everyone just assume that?”

  “Because before you became the Gavin who doesn’t do anything but work, you were the guy who everyone else’s girl wanted to be with--except me, of course. Just in case though, I think I’ll date your sister.” Gavin slammed on the brakes, and Brance’s head nearly went through the windshield. “Damn it! I was kidding! Jeez!”