The Maverick Cowboy

by Kate Pearce

  She almost ran out of breath completing her way-too-complicated sentence. “I don’t need to hear it because I’m not stupid, and I’m not interested in you like that, okay? So maybe you should just go.”

  Yeah, like he would move before he’d said his piece. He was nothing but direct.

  “Jenna, I do like you.”

  “We’ve already established that. We make a great professional team.” She shot to her feet and headed for the door. “Can I show you out? I’m sure you’ve got way better things to do than sit here chatting with me.”

  He carried on speaking. “The thing is, I’m not in the right frame of mind to consider a serious relationship with anyone at this moment.”

  She turned to stare at him. His gaze was directed downward to his clasped hands.

  “It’s not on my schedule. I’m separating from the military and starting a new career at the ranch. I have to focus on those two goals before I even think about anything more personal.” He looked up, his blue eyes serious. “I’m not even sure I’m capable of having a long-term relationship. I’ve never been around long enough in one place to ever try one out.”

  He slowly rose to his feet and strolled toward her.

  “If I was the kind of man who wanted that—” He came even closer and she flattened herself against the door as he stopped right in front of her. “You’d be just the kind of woman I’d want.”

  Her breath hissed out as he cupped her chin and gently dropped a kiss on her lips.

  “Okay,” she muttered.

  His thumb smoothed over her jawline. “So, we’re good?”

  “Yes.”

  He stepped back. “Cool. I’ll see you tomorrow, then.”

  “Bye.”

  He was leaving and she didn’t think she’d ever be able to peel herself off the door again. Part of her wanted to run after him and ask him to repeat everything he’d just said. The rest of her would remember his words forever. With a soft sound she slid down the door and stared at the wall opposite.

  He liked her, and if he were in the mood for a permanent relationship he would be thinking about her . . .

  Jenna’s smile died. “The conceited ass! Why does everything have to be on his agenda? What about what I want? Maybe I don’t want him at all! What about if I want a relationship right now?”

  No one answered her, but one of the dogs out the back started to howl. She felt like joining in.

  How typical of Blue to have his “own schedule” and to kindly tell her he wasn’t ready, but that she would’ve qualified if he had been. He might as well have patted her on the head instead of kissing her. Now she’d be wondering things—like about how he’d kiss her properly and other more intimate hot, sweaty, naked things.

  “Hey. What are you doing down there?”

  She looked up to see Dave towering over her.

  “I’m thinking.”

  “Well, think somewhere else or we’ll be tripping over you all day.”

  Jenna took his proffered hand and was hauled to her feet.

  “Dave, do you have any friends who are single?”

  He put his bag down on the table and eyed her suspiciously. “Sure. All of them. Why do you want to know?”

  “Do you think one of them would be willing to take me out on a date?”

  “Well, a couple of them have asked me if you are available, but I’ve been telling them to back off.”

  “Thanks.”

  “You’re family. I don’t want any of those idiots messing with your head. And if you fell out with them, I’d have to stop being their friend, and that would suck.”

  “Nice logic.”

  “Makes sense to me.” Dave studied her. “You serious about this?”

  “Totally.”

  “How about Nate?”

  “Nate the deputy sheriff guy?”

  “Yeah. He’s the best of the bunch.” He took his cell out of his pocket. “Do you want me to call him?”

  “Not when I’m standing right here! What if he says no?”

  “He won’t. He’s desperate.”

  “Wow. Thanks.”

  “I meant he’s desperate to settle down and have a family. I have no idea why, but he’s boring the pants off the rest of us down at the Red Dragon every Friday night moaning about finding the right woman.”

  “He wants to settle down?”

  “Yeah.” Dave shook his head. “Poor fool. He’s obviously deranged.”

  “No, he’s perfect.”

  Dave held up his hand. “Hold on, cos, don’t crowd your fences. You haven’t even met him yet.”

  “Do you think he might be persuaded to swing by Morgan Ranch tomorrow, pick me up, and take me out for a drink?”

  “Tomorrow?”

  She smiled sweetly at her oblivious cousin. “Will you just ask him if he’d be willing to do that for me?”

  “Sure.”

  Jenna sat back down at the table and picked up her pen. She couldn’t wait to see how Blue Morgan would react to finding out she had an agenda all of her very own.

  Chapter Six

  “What’s Nate doing here?” Blue adjusted his grip on Messi’s halter and craned his neck to see outside the barn where a truck had just pulled up.

  “Nate Turner?” Jenna asked.

  “Yeah, the deputy sheriff. I hope there’s nothing wrong.” Blue led Messi back in his stall and slid the lock in place. “I’ll go see what he wants.”

  “Chase is at the house and so is Ruth. I’m sure they can take care of him.”

  Blue paused to look more carefully at his companion, who had been acting strange all day. He guessed she felt a little awkward around him after their conversation the day before, but he hadn’t called her out on it. In fact, she’d taken what he’d said right on the chin, which had relieved him greatly. He didn’t want her to stop coming to the ranch or not be his friend.

  She was already walking away from him, her bag in one hand, the other patting at her hair, which had been well mussed up by Nolly, who seemed to think it was edible.

  “Hey, wait up.”

  Jenna kept going so he increased his speed, jogged past her, and went up the porch steps to open the door for her.

  “Ma’am.”

  “Show-off.” She gave him a look. “And don’t call me that.”

  He grinned back at her. “Just being polite.”

  Ruth had Nate sitting at the table drinking iced tea while she grilled him about his family, who had lived in Morgantown for almost as long as the Morgans. Blue had gone to school with Nate and his brother Matt and had always liked him.

  “Hey.” Blue nodded at Nate. “What’s up?”

  Nate rose to his feet and shook Blue’s proffered hand.

  “Great to see you back at the ranch, BB.”

  “Hopefully for good this time.” Blue sat down. “You here on official business?”

  “Not this time. Thank the Lord.” Nate’s gaze shifted past Blue and came to rest on Jenna. “You ready, Ms. Jenna?”

  She smiled at him. “I just need to wash up and brush my hair and I’ll be right with you.”

  Nate sat back down. “Take your time. I’ll just be here catching up with Ruth and BB.”

  Blue looked from Jenna to Nate. “You two know each other?”

  “Yes, Dave introduced us quite a while ago,” Jenna said. “I won’t be long, Nate, I promise.”

  Ruth passed Blue a glass of iced tea and he automatically sipped at it. “Jenna’s not in trouble, is she?”

  Nate chuckled. “Not as far as I know, but I’ll see how our date goes.”

  “You two are dating?”

  “That is why I’m here, BB. I’m taking her out for lunch today.” Nate glanced from him to Ruth. “It’s hard to align our schedules sometimes, so this was the best I could do this week.”

  Ruth patted his shoulder. “That’s very sweet of you, Nate. Where are you going to take her?”

  “Just to the hotel. They do a really nice soup and salad lunc
h buffet there now. Mrs. Hayes says it goes down a treat with the tourists.”

  “So I hear. I’ll have to get Chase to take me one day.”

  “I’ll take you today, if you like, Ruth,” Blue offered. “We could all go together.”

  “And spoil Jenna’s date?” Ruth shook her head. “We’ll go another day.”

  “Sure,” Blue murmured as Jenna came back down the stairs and into the kitchen. She’d obviously availed herself of January’s makeup because her hair was glossy, her lips red, and her eyes rimmed with some kind of black goo.

  Nate shot to his feet. “You look great, Ms. Jenna.”

  “Thank you.” Jenna smiled. “Shall we go? I have to be back at three to talk to Chase.”

  Nate practically ran to her side and Blue couldn’t blame him. She looked good enough to eat.

  “Is it okay if I leave the truck here?” Jenna asked him.

  “Not a problem.” Blue held her gaze for just a bit too long. “Have a good time.”

  “I’m sure I will.”

  They walked out chatting, and Ruth topped up his iced tea. “They make a lovely couple, don’t they?”

  “Some couple,” Blue muttered. “I bet this is their first date.”

  “I don’t think so, dear, they looked very comfortable with each other. I thought January said Jenna was seeing someone, but I wasn’t exactly sure whom. But Nate is a very nice young man. He’s ready to settle down.”

  “How do you know?”

  “You can see it in his eyes.”

  Blue snorted. “Yeah right.”

  “Yes, you can. I always think men are like taxicabs, they drive around picking up passengers until one day for no apparent reason at all they pick up their last one and the light stays on.”

  “What the hell is that supposed to mean?”

  “You know.”

  “But you forgot to add that there’s always another one along in a minute.” Blue stretched out his legs and contemplated his feet. “I suppose I’m still cruising the streets, then.”

  “Seems like it.” Ruth put the jug of iced tea back in the refrigerator. “Although if you keep it up, all the good ones will be gone. You’re thirty now. Thirty’s a good age to settle down. I’d been married twelve years by then, and had a son.”

  “It’s different now, Ruth. Look at Chase. He’s only just met January and he’s older than me.”

  “Chase felt obliged to look after all of you instead of finding the right woman.”

  “And make millions of dollars. Don’t forget that. He’s like me. The idea of having a family scared the crap out of him.”

  Ruth sat opposite him. “Mind your language.”

  “Sorry, but come on, Ruth. Why would any of us want to get hitched when we lived through the clusterfuck of our parents’ marriage?”

  “It wasn’t all bad, BB, and don’t use that word again or I’ll wash your mouth out with soap.”

  “It wasn’t good, either.” Blue stood up.

  “Chase seems to have gotten over it.”

  “That’s because he’s the eldest and the perfect child.”

  “Or because he decided to let go of the past and move forward.”

  “And allow our father to hang around this place like some kind of ghoul?” A movement in the doorway made him look over his shoulder to see his father standing there. “Great. Perfect timing as always. Excuse me, Ruth.”

  He pushed past Billy and was halfway to the barn before he realized he’d forgotten to put his boots back on. Muttering a blistering curse that would’ve made Ruth give him a clout round the ear, he retraced his steps, opened the screen door, and turned toward the mudroom.

  “He’s right, Mama. I am just hanging around here.”

  Blue froze in the hallway as his father spoke from inside the kitchen.

  “It’s your home, too, Billy. Don’t ever forget that,” Ruth reminded him. “BB will come around.”

  “No, he won’t. He’s not like Chase. BB sees everything as black or white. I used to be the same way.” Billy sighed. “Roy’s been letting me help out on the ranch and Chase has tried to get along with me, but it’s hard for everyone, and that’s my fault. Maybe I should go back to San Francisco.”

  “And give up on your sons again?” Ruth sounded fierce.

  “The twins won’t even come and visit while I’m here.”

  “They’ll be here for the wedding. Promise me you’ll stay until then, Billy.”

  There was a long silence broken only by the hiss of coffee percolating. Even Blue held his breath.

  “Okay. I’ll do that,” Billy finally said. “Should I go and talk to BB?”

  “I’d leave him be right now. You know what he’s like.”

  At that point Blue crept toward the mudroom and put on his boots before escaping through the other door that led into the kitchen garden. It would take him a moment longer to walk around to the barn, but it was worth it to avoid his father and grandmother.

  Was he really so inflexible? He had goals and he worked toward them with single-minded purpose. No one criticized Chase for doing the same thing. Order was important in anyone’s life. It didn’t take a session with a therapist to work out that he sought order and structure because of the chaos surrounding his mother and sister’s disappearance during his childhood.

  “And what the hell is wrong with that?” he demanded of the mountain range. “Should I have let the rage out and become a drunk like my dad?”

  He’d tried it. Had spent his first few months in the Marines acting like a fool in the local bars and clubs, but he’d cleaned up his act because he hated the way he felt after a night screwing and boozing. Hated it.

  So he wasn’t sorry for the path he’d chosen even if he ended up alone. Blue opened the door into the feed store. Jeez. Ruth had made him feel like a loser. Or had that happened when he’d seen Jenna smiling at another man—a man who was ready to settle down, according to his grandma, who tended to be right about such things?

  Blue unlocked the lid of the chicken feed and scooped out a bucketful to mix with the table scraps Ruth had left out in a covered bowl. He still wasn’t buying the Jenna and Nate thing. It was way too convenient after his conversation with Jenna the day before. His hand stilled. Unless she really had taken his words to heart and moved on?

  She was smart enough to do that, and she might have moved fast.

  So, who exactly was the stupid one here?

  * * *

  “Thanks for coming to my rescue, Nate.”

  Jenna smiled at her dining companion as they settled back into their booth in the hotel dining room after getting their coffee and dessert. She’d spent the journey from the ranch into town telling him everything he needed to know about why he was taking her on a date. To her relief, he’d taken it so well she might have told him far more than she’d intended to.

  “Just doing my job, ma’am.” He handed her a new set of silverware wrapped in a napkin. “I’m not surprised BB’s being a pain. He’s usually the one overrun with choices.”

  “Exactly. Blue thinks I’m after him, and I just wanted to make it clear that I’m not.”

  “I get it—by pretending to go out with another man.”

  “No, by really going out with another man.”

  “Me?”

  Jenna gave him an encouraging smile. “Why not?”

  “Good question.” He winked. “I am quite a nice guy.”

  “Dave said you were the best of the bunch.”

  Nate winced. “Which considering our friends doesn’t mean much. But I’m glad he asked me. So what’s the story? I got the impression that we’re supposed to have known each other a while.”

  It was Jenna’s turn to look sheepish. “I’m sorry I sprang that on you at the last minute.”

  “Seeing BB’s face made it well worth it. He didn’t look happy at all.” Nate grinned. “He might say he’s not interested in you, Jenna, but he sure didn’t like me coming out to the ranch to take you out.�
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  “Do you think so?” Jenna shook her head. “Hang on, Nate. We’re not doing this for Blue’s sake. We’re doing it to see if we have anything in common and might want to start dating.”

  Nate sat back and considered her for a long moment. “I’m not feeling any spark between us. How about you?”

  “Don’t you think it’s a bit early to tell? It’s only our first date.”

  “Not for a Turner. We fall in love like that.” He snapped his fingers. “When I meet The One, I’ll just know.”

  “You really believe that?”

  “Why not?”

  “And it’s definitely not me?”

  “Nope, sorry.” He raised his glass to her. “That doesn’t mean we can’t keep pretending to go out together. I’m more than happy to help the course of true love for someone else.”

  “That’s really nice of you.”

  Nate shrugged. “Dave’s my best bud, and BB’s a conceited ass if he thinks he can keep you hanging until he’s ready to make up his mind. I totally agree with your strategy.”

  “It’s not really a strategy. I was just mad at him,” Jenna confessed as she dug into her strawberry cheesecake. “He literally patted me on the head and told me not to waste my time pining after him.”

  “Idiot.” Nate snorted. “But then he always was pretty definite about everything, even as a kid.”

  “He has an agenda, and falling in love and settling down isn’t currently on it.”

  “You see, if he was a Turner? He wouldn’t think like that. We know we have to be ready to find The One at any moment.”

  “Could be embarrassing if it was someone you were arresting.”

  “I have thought about that.” Nate chuckled. “It would certainly be a great story for the grandkids.”

  Jenna finished her cheesecake and then drank her coffee. She’d asked Mrs. Hayes how Duke the rabbit was doing and heard she was the proud mother of six and that Mr. Hayes had made a new cage for Stan so there would be no more mishaps.

  “So can we do this again?” Nate asked. “If you like I’ll take you out to the Red Dragon on Friday for a drink.”

  “That would be awesome. January said she and Chase were going there on Friday night.” Jenna hesitated. “Are you sure you’re okay with this?”