The Convenient Cowboy

by Ann B. Harrison

  “It’s an amazing work of nature, that’s for sure.” Joy wriggled closer so their bodies touched. “Bradley always said that if Mother Nature intended for us to mess with her design, she would’ve done it herself to begin with. Guess that’s why he was so much into the organic movement. Liked to see things work with nature, not against it.”

  “I can see where he was coming from. The way we run the world though, doesn’t always work out to be profitable or easy. Guess it’s a fine balancing act.”

  “Much like a marriage.” Joy rolled over onto her side and slid her arm over his belly, sending waves of energy through his body. “I know what you’ve been thinking, Nate. I can read your face. Don’t use Ryan as an excuse to tear us apart when things are just getting started. You and me, we have a future if we let it happen. I know we do.”

  Nate turned toward her; the stars reflected in her eyes. “I want to believe that too, Joy. Thing is, I’ve learned never to expect anything because it only ends in disappointment.”

  She pouted. “You shouldn’t think that way. Haven’t you heard that if you think positive, you’ll draw that energy to you?” She swiped her tongue over her bottom lip. His pulse spiked. “If I didn’t think that way, do you think I would’ve ever done what I did? I had to believe that a marriage between us would work, that you’d be a good father for Toby.”

  Nate unfolded his hands from behind his head and wrapped his fingers around hers. “Way I figure it, less I believe in dreams, the less I’ll get hurt.” He squeezed. “Don’t want to try to disillusion you, Joy, but real life isn’t all pretty stars, hearts, and flowers. You should know that anyway.”

  “Don’t you think I already know that? Losing my husband wasn’t anything I would’ve chosen to go through. But here’s the difference between you and me, Nate. I loved him, always had, but instead of seeing myself as a poor widow with a child and a ranch I couldn’t handle, I choose to see myself as the lucky woman who had the most incredible husband possible. Even for that short time, I was blessed. More so when Toby came along. Sure, things are rough now, but I’m a glass half full kind of girl.” She wriggled over more and rested her cheek against his chest. “What if I’d never had Bradley or Toby? Look what I would’ve missed out on. Imagine going through life knowing what might’ve been if only my attitude had been different. Imagine what I would’ve had to endure if all I thought about were the negatives in my life.”

  He swallowed. She spoke words of wisdom. What if he started thinking the same way? Would that make their marriage a loving stable one or would he still be the guy who didn’t deserve a wife and family because his normal routine was to flit through life and women without thought?

  “I can hear your brain ticking, Nate. You think you don’t deserve better, but you do. We all do.”

  She made sense; still, it was hard to let go of his old ideas and move on. Harder yet to open his heart to the possibility that someone might love him for himself.

  A movement from the corner of his eye snagged his attention. A bright shooting star streaked across the sky. He bolted up, pointed to the sky, his other arm around Joy. “Look. Look at that.” He pulled her close. “My first shooting star. I don’t believe it.” He wanted to shout out loud, share the joy of such a simple pleasure. To feel, just once, like he was worthy of what Joy was offering him. But a niggle made him pause.

  “You have to make a wish. You know, wish on a star,” she urged.

  A wish. He could wish for anything he wanted. Didn’t mean it would come true, but it was nice to believe if only for a moment.

  Chapter Seventeen

  Nate cracked his whip and hurried the cattle through the pasture. He wanted to separate the heifers and calves to do a general health check, something Joy hadn’t been able to manage on her own. He kicked his horse gently and pushed them through the gate and into the smaller pasture.

  After he shut the gate, he took off his hat and wiped the sweat on his forehead with the dusty bandanna around his neck.

  “Looks like you’re finally doing some hard work for once in your life.”

  He perked up. “Crease, what’re you doing here?” He’d better not be here to give him another lecture.

  Crease shrugged and climbed up on the fence, swung his legs over, and placed his butt down. “Thought I’d come and see what you’re doing. See if you need any help.”

  Nate nudged the horse over to the fence. It sniffed at Crease’s shirt and then snorted.

  “Thanks.” His little brother wiped his hands over his shirt. “Can’t you teach this animal some manners?”

  Nate leaned on his pommel and grinned. “Never did manage it with you. Not gonna happen with the horse, I suspect.” He loosened the reins and the animal dropped its head to nibble on the grass. “What’s going on, really?”

  His little brother blushed under his hat. He’d never been able to keep a secret or hide his emotions.

  “Talk around town.”

  Nate’s heart sank. It was bound to happen, but still, he’d thought the local folks would at least give him credit for standing up when Joy needed someone. “Do tell.”

  “Old man Mitchell says you’re a thief. Stole his poor dead wife’s momma’s ranch and he’s gonna take you to court and get it back.”

  “Maybe, maybe not.” The horse swiped at flies with its tail and shook its hindquarters.

  “He’s saying some pretty mean things about Joy, too. Things no man should be saying.” Crease chewed on his lip. “Real mean stuff, Nate.”

  “Spit it out.” He listened, his anger building as Crease repeated what he’d heard.

  “You can’t go facing off with him, not really.”

  “Oh, and why is that? I ought to ride into town and knock some manners into that man, despite what I promised the sheriff.” He gripped the pommel of his saddle tighter to keep his seat.

  “’Cause you’ll make things worse. Least that’s what Sadie is saying.” He wiped a hand over his face and tilted his hat back, staring at Nate. “Said I shouldn’t tell you because you’ll only burr up, and that won’t help Joy.”

  Nate looked out over the ranch, focused on the hills on the horizon topped with early snow. The gall of the man, saying things like that about family. Oh, Nate knew why he was saying it. Trying to get him to retaliate and cause a ruckus, make things easier when it came to court by dirtying his name. It wouldn’t take much to sway the judge if Nate came out fighting. While not technically damaging, it would go a long way to making the judge think Joy had taken the wrong path by marrying him when she had family ready and willing to step in and help her. It’d cast seeds of doubt in the court’s mind.

  At least, that was what Sadie thought would happen. The agenda she called it. If Ryan could prove that Joy was better off with family by her side, the new will might hold the winning hand if he was willing to let her stay on the ranch.

  “What’re you going to do?”

  Nate looked back at Crease. “Nothing. I have a job to do here and I’m going to do it. If you’ve got nothing better to do, you can help me.”

  Crease’s face lit up. “Sure thing. What can I do?”

  “We’re doing a general health check. I want to feed the heifers with calves through the cattle race and give them all a good going over. Check out the ones who haven’t dropped their calves yet as well. Mark any that might need a better look at and run them into the round yard for now. You up to it?”

  “Heck, yeah.”

  *

  “I had a visitor today.” The excitement in Sadie’s voice made Joy sit up.

  “Yes?”

  “Mr. Watson, Sr. He went to school with Ryan and had some interesting things to tell me. Said I should talk to one of the retired doctors about how he treated his wife and mother-in-law and see how that affected her mental well-being.”

  “Do you think he’ll tell you? Isn’t there client privilege or something that prohibits a doctor talking about clients?”

  “Yes, but only if
that client is alive. I’m not asking him about her medical history per se. What I want is someone of note like a doctor who can tell me if he witnessed any parental abuse or coercion between them. I think it’s all we’ll need to overturn this latest will.”

  Joy’s heart beat faster. If only it were this simple.

  Sadie continued, “I didn’t know Bradley’s grandmother, but I can’t for the life of me understand why she’d leave the ranch to him and then turn around and change her will if what people are saying is true.”

  “She didn’t like her son-in-law that much. It was pretty obvious to me and Bradley. We moved in here and looked after her before she passed on. Never had a good word to say about him, from what I remember. Mind you, he could’ve done his dirty work when I wasn’t home. I worked in the bar until I got too big with Toby. She’d passed away by then though.” Joy wiped her fingers over the smudge on the doorframe. Toby’s sticky fingerprints were everywhere, it seemed. “Anyway, if the doctor can help, that’s wonderful. I don’t want to lose the ranch, Sadie. Not after everything Bradley went through.”

  “I know, honey. I understand that. But I’ve been in touch with the lawyer who drew up the last will, and he insists that the will is legit. His client wants to go ahead with court proceedings if you don’t voluntarily hand over possession of the ranch. I suspect more to make you a laughingstock than anything else because there’s a really good chance you’ll lose unless we find some compelling evidence that backs up your case.”

  “Hand it over?” She slid down to sit on the small toddler chair near the door.

  “Which I told him you will not do. I don’t care how much he tries to bully you, you stay put until the court rules on this. Do you hear me, Joy?”

  She closed her eyes and took a fortifying breath. “Yeah, I hear ya.” Fancy thinking he could scare her off.

  So typical of the bully he was. Trouble was, the more this dragged on, the more she wanted to give in. She’d lose the ranch, but along with that would go the money worries, the constant headache that set in by five p.m. Waking up before the sun, wondering how the heck she was going to get the work done and take care of her son at the same time. As much as it would hurt to walk away, some days it seemed like the easiest thing to do. No more battles. She was tired of fighting.

  But Joy wasn’t going to say that out loud to anyone, even her lawyer. Certainly not after telling Nate how much of a glass half full kind of girl she was.

  “Right. I’m going to go visit the doctor and I’ll let you know how it goes. Have you had a chance to look for any letters or diaries that may have belonged to Bradley’s grandmother? I need anything you can find, Joy.”

  She’d forgotten she’d promised to look in the old bookcases loaded with magazines and journals, old stock records, and a mismatch of books that Bradley couldn’t bear to part with. So much of his grandmother’s belongings had become their own when she passed away.

  “I’ll do it now, promise.” Once she fed Toby some lunch, she’d go room to room and then try up in the attic if she had no success. There had to be something somewhere they could use to prove the old lady had every intention of leaving her ranch to Bradley.

  Sadie hung up and Joy leaned around the corner of the door and stared at the jumble of books in the lounge. Two great, hulking bookcases filled to overflowing with books and magazines they couldn’t stand to throw out when Gran went into the hospital for the last time. So much to go through, but would it give her anything to save the ranch?

  Chapter Eighteen

  “Take a walk with me outside.” Nate grabbed Joy’s hand and pulled her up off the floor of the lounge where she sat surrounded by dusty old books and a mess of loose papers. Since lunch, she’d been going through the books, pulling out loose pages, only stopping to make dinner. He wanted her to have a break if only for a short time.

  “But Toby…”

  “Is fast asleep already. Crease wore him out. Nothing is going to wake that little guy.”

  A hint of color touched her cheeks. “I should keep going here.”

  “How about I take Toby into town with me tomorrow and you can do more then? Have to order more ear tags for the calves we sorted through today. Only a couple left in the barn and its not going to do the number we have. Does that work for you?”

  “Okay.”

  Nate pulled her away from the pile of old books and dragged her out the front door, across the porch, and over to the post and rail fence. He turned his back to it and pulled her into his arms. Joy leaned against him, her breath warm on his chest.

  “What did you want to talk about?” She fiddled with a button on his shirt.

  “I wanted to tell you about what Crease heard in town today.”

  She slumped in his arms. “Don’t tell me. I’m a horrible person, a slutty girl for marrying you, and my father-in-law is going to run us out of town because I cheated him out of the ranch. How did I do?” She pulled away and looked at him, hurt in her eyes.

  “Yeah, about right. But that’s not what I wanted to say.” He swallowed, stared past her, and took a breath. “I care about you, Joy.”

  She smiled in the low evening light. “I care about you, too, Nate.”

  “And that’s why I think you should rethink the idea of taking up his offer of help.” The last thing he wanted was to see her run off the ranch if there was another way out of it.

  Joy grabbed his face in her hands and placed her lips on his. The smell of coconut and strawberries teased his senses, while the softness of her lips resonated through his brain, a warm fuzz building in his gut. He slid his arms around her slim waist and pulled her closer. For the second time in months, his body reacted with a will of its own. Her fingers moved into his hair, tugging him closer as she opened her mouth to him.

  Nate’s hands slid to her butt encased in denim. A moan escaped her lips as he rolled his hips against hers. This was his wife, and he had every right to kiss her. So why did it feel wrong?

  He pushed her away and held her at arm’s length. “I’m sorry.”

  Joy bit her bottom lip, confusion in her eyes. “What’s really going on, Nate? You bring me out here under the stars, kiss me, and I know there’s a connection between us. You can see it as much as I can, so what the heck are you pushing me away for?”

  He winced at the pain in her voice. How could he tell her he didn’t feel worthy taking her dead husband’s place? It made sense to him, if he didn’t question himself too much. Having to explain it to Joy made it sound like an excuse.

  “You’re overthinking things. I can tell.” She cupped his cheek and ran her thumb over the bristle on his cheek. “Bradley was the same. Nothing was black and white to him. Always had to dissect things and torment himself over his decisions.” She gave a throaty laugh. “You know, those lines between your eyes gives you away.”

  He rubbed at the spot. “Do you blame me?”

  Joy leaned in further and wrapped her arms around his neck. “What happened today to give you this much angst, Nate?”

  His arms went around her again and she snuggled against him. “Crease told me about the gossip in town. Ryan’s been spouting off about you, like I said, and it got me to thinking.”

  “We’ve been through this before. He’s going to do everything he can to get me off this ranch. He’s a bully, Nate, plain and simple. He doesn’t need the land.” She blew out a breath. “God knows this little parcel of a ranch won’t do squat for his production. Not even the water I have will make that much difference to him.” She frowned and stared at him. “Did you know this ranch was Grandma’s before she married Grandpa?” Joy squared her shoulders. “She inherited it from her pa before Grandpa was even a person of interest to her. She worked hard to keep it, too. Brought up their three girls here, and when Grandpa started buying up more land and wanted to move into a bigger house, she kept this place going, separate from Grandpa’s. Almost like she had an inkling that it was going to be her safe place.”

  “Why wo
uld she need one?” Nate held her against him while she talked.

  “Because Ryan married the eldest girl and started pushing his weight around before Grandpa died. Grandma knew what he was like, and no matter what she did, he went his own merry way and railroaded everyone, including his wife. Bradley said Grandpa thought he was just spirited and keen. He was proud of the way he came into the family with nothing and worked hard.”

  “Guess you can’t complain when someone works hard. It’s what this country is built on.”

  “Yeah, I get that, but she could see something he couldn’t. Grandpa was poorly a lot of the time, and it was easy for him to let Ryan take the reins and run the ranch. When he died, Grandma moved back here against Ryan and her daughter’s wishes. She paid him no mind and left him to run the family ranch. Being as he was the only son-in-law, she didn’t seem to care. Anyway, when Bradley was born, he seemed to gravitate to her and spent a lot of time here. I guess she thought it made sense to leave him something being as he was the eldest grandchild and his brothers would get their share of the big ranch anyway.”

  “I wonder if it goads Ryan that he never got his hands on this parcel, or is it more that he never got the upper hand on his mother-in-law?”

  Joy rested her head against his chest. “Bit of both, I suspect.”

  He held her closer. “After what you’ve been through, you deserve to have an easier life. Ryan throwing his weight around doesn’t leave a nice taste in my mouth.”

  “He’s not going to win if I have anything to say about it.” Joy looked into his face. “When you go into town tomorrow, can you take some papers to Sadie for me?”

  He sucked in a breath. “Have you found something?”

  She pursed her lips. “Yes but no. Nothing that will blow Ryan out of the water but little hints at how manipulative he was. Just side notes, really, in letters she’d written to Bradley that he kept. I’m still hoping for the wow factor, but I don’t know if I’m going to find it.”