Wildcat Cowboy (The McCabes of Texas #2)

by Cathy Gillen Thacker

  “Oh, yes.” Meg nodded. She swept a hand down the side of her pastel yellow evening gown. “When I walked in and saw you and Wade standing together—” Meg shook her head in awe “—I’ve got to tell you. I’ve known him for years and I’ve never seen him look quite so dazzled by any woman,” she finished softly.

  Josie knew she couldn’t take complete credit for that, even though she had wanted to look her best for Wade that evening and done her hair and makeup with care. “It’s the gown Mother sent.”

  Meg shook her head, disagreeing. “It’s you.” She smiled warmly. “But as long as we’re speaking of Bitsy.” Meg paused, took a sip of her own punch, then leaned close and whispered confidentially, “Was your mother able to track you down before the party?”

  Josie shook her head. She felt a tad guilty about that. “She called a few times the past couple of days and left messages on my machine, asking me to call her back, but I haven’t had time.” Josie frowned. Even as she had done that, she knew it was a mistake. No one ignored Bitsy for long.

  Meg scanned the crowd casually, then turned back to Josie. She took another sip of punch. “But you do know she’s back in Laramie again, right?”

  “What?” Josie was so startled she almost dropped her punch.

  “Oh, yeah. She got in late this afternoon. She stopped by the hospital to see if I could give her the lowdown on what had been going on with you.”

  “You didn’t tell her we’d struck oil out there, did you?” Josie asked, horrified, knowing that more than anything would have sent her mother straight for Josie.

  “Yes. I did. But I also told her you were giving a party for a friend this evening and probably wouldn’t be back at the site till sometime tomorrow morning.”

  Thank heaven for small miracles. “What did she say to that?”

  Meg smiled. “She was happy you were helping someone throw a party.”

  Which wasn’t surprising, Josie thought, given the premium her mother put on entertaining and socializing in general. “Well, at least I have a little time to prepare for our confrontation.” Which would probably happen first thing tomorrow morning, Josie thought with a sigh.

  “You think she’s going to be that upset?”

  Josie rolled her eyes. “When I tell her—now that I’ve had success in the oil business—that I have no intention of working at the Corbett Foundation ever again? You bet she’ll be upset.” She would probably lecture Josie nonstop for several hours on the error of her ways.

  Meg smiled at Josie sympathetically. “But she’ll be happy you found oil and have fallen in love with an up and corner like Wade McCabe.”

  Josie grinned, unable to hide her happiness about that. “Who said I was in love?” she chided, amused.

  Meg laughed softly. “You didn’t have to say it,” she teased. “It’s written all over your face.”

  The question was, Josie wondered, did Wade feel the same way. He hadn’t come out and said the words yet. But he sure was acting as if he was. And that fact alone made her heart sing.

  Meg’s eyes clouded. “Uh-oh.”

  “What?” Josie said, alarmed by the look of concern on her friend’s face.

  Meg stepped protectively in front of Josie, blocking her from view. “Don’t look now, but your mother’s here,” she said in a low concerned tone. Meg shook her head. “And you are never going to guess who she’s got with her.”

  “SO WHAT DO YOU THINK about the sudden upswing in the price of technology stocks the last couple of days?” Travis asked Wade as the four McCabe brothers gathered around the architectural model of the new hospital wing that was going to be built in honor of their parents. “Is it worth moving some of the money I’ve got in bonds over to those stocks?” Travis continued curiously. “Or should I keep my money where it is?”

  Wade blinked. He forced himself to concentrate on his cattle-ranching brother. “Technology stocks went up?”

  Travis’s brows rose in surprise. He looked at Wade in concern. “There was a 10 percent jump across the board in the last three days.” He paused, clearly stunned, as everyone in the McCabe family knew how often Wade checked his stock prices. It was practically a religion with him. Travis continued to study his younger brother. “You didn’t hear about it?” he asked, stunned.

  Wade shook his head, surprised at how unexcited he was by the news he had just upped his net worth another hundred thousand or so. “I haven’t had time to even get on the computer or watch the news the last couple of days.” What was more telling still was the fact he didn’t mind not knowing what had been going on with the market.

  Maybe he had changed.

  Travis, Jackson and Shane exchanged looks. “You’ve got it bad, Brother,” Shane drawled as all eyes turned from the architectural model of the new hospital wing to Wade.

  Wade grinned. He knew he was in love with Josie. Before the night was out, she’d know it, too.

  “Better watch out,” Travis continued, teasing, “or before you know it you’ll be getting married, too.”

  Wade knew that was true. In fact, given his druthers he’d run away with Josie tonight to say their I do’s. And that was amazing, too. But true.

  Lilah joined her sons. She was dressed in a beaded pale pink gown. There was warm color in her cheeks and happiness in her eyes. “You boys all look so handsome tonight.” She beamed at all of them with motherly pride, then turned to Wade and shook her head slowly in admiration. “I don’t know how you pulled this off—”

  Wade smiled, glad he finally had the means to do what they all had wanted to do for his parents and the entire Laramie community for years.

  “The party is wonderful!” Lilah continued, admiring the stage band playing swing and jazz and country-western tunes.

  “Josie gets the credit for that.” Without her, Wade didn’t know what he would have done. It certainly wouldn’t have been much of a party from a flowers, food and entertainment standpoint, anyway.

  Lilah’s smile softened and her eyes sparkled romantically. “She looks beautiful tonight, doesn’t she?”

  Yes, Wade thought, she did. And it was more than the sexy lavender-mauve gown she wore or the feminine way she’d done up her hair—in fancy curls pinned to the back of her head—and makeup. She was beautiful from the inside out tonight, glowing with an inner happiness and contentment only loving could bring. His only complaint was she’d been so busy playing hostess she’d hardly been at his side. But the evening was still young. They had plenty of time to get in some dancing and maybe sneak in a few kisses somewhere, too, before they headed back to his place for a night of wild and wonderful loving.

  Lilah looked around and frowned. “Where is she, by the way?”

  Wade scanned the room and did not find her, either. But maybe that wasn’t surprising. He consulted his watch. “She’s probably back in the kitchen, talking to the caterers. They’re going to start serving dinner in a few minutes.” He paused, aware none of the details of entertaining seemed to come as naturally to him as they did to Josie. “I better go see if she needs any help.”

  “Good idea.” Lilah smiled. “Give her a kiss for me when you find her.”

  “Will do,” Wade promised easily. His pulse picking up in anticipation of the soft surrender of her lips beneath his, he threaded his way through the throngs of people his parents had helped over the years, stopping to talk to Gus, who was visiting with a retired toolmaker. Then met Ernie and Dieter midway. They were well into the appetizers and champagne. “You guys doing okay?” Wade asked, figuring he should do his bit as host, too.

  “We’re having a great time,” Ernie said as he surveyed the vast array of appetizers that had been put out for the guests.

  “Yeah. Never figured we’d be getting to go to something like this when Josie hired us,” Dieter agreed, helping himself to some more champagne. “But then it’s been a month of surprises, hasn’t it, Ernie?”

  Ernie nodded.

  Wade blinked as the meaning of their words
sunk in. “Big Jim didn’t hire you?” Wade asked, sure he had misunderstood, but wanting it cleared up, anyway.

  Ernie shrugged and popped a miniature meatball into his mouth. “Never met him.”

  A warning chill slid down Wade’s spine. He had never known anyone to work on Big Jim’s crew without interviewing with Big Jim personally first.

  Ernie speared several pieces of coconut shrimp and placed them on a small crystal appetizer plate. “We almost weren’t sure we wanted to hire on with Wyatt Drilling when we found out we’d be working for a woman if we took the job.” Ernie added cucumber spears and a dollop of ranch dip to his plate, too. “But Josie convinced us she knew what she was doing. And why wouldn’t she—considering the fact she’d been learning the business from her daddy almost since the day she was born.”

  “So it’s worked out for you professionally?” Wade asked casually. Even if he himself had taken the brunt of the risk financially, he thought angrily.

  Ernie nodded. “Oh, yeah. Josie’s taught us a lot about the part gut instinct plays in this business.”

  Dieter agreed. “And so has Gus.”

  Too bad she hadn’t shared any of the truth with him, Wade thought.

  Ernie elbowed Dieter, who in turn elbowed Wade. “Hey, there she comes now.”

  “She sure does look pretty tonight,” Dieter drawled as Josie threaded her way, almost surreptitiously, through the crowd of five hundred plus elegantly clad guests.

  Ernie nodded. “Like Cinderella at the ball.”

  Seconds later Josie joined them. Not surprisingly, Wade noted, she looked flushed and uneasy as well as damn beautiful. And somehow worried to boot. The question was, why hadn’t he noticed earlier? Had he been that besotted? Or had something happened in the few minutes they’d been apart to change everything? Besides him finding out the truth. Damn it, how could she have kept such a secret from him? He wondered, incensed. And how many more were there?

  Josie scanned the crowd behind them, then looked from Dieter and Ernie to Wade. Obviously she had picked up on the tension in him, Wade thought. Which meant she was a lot more observant about what was going on with him than he had been about what was really happening with her. “What’s going on?” she asked.

  Wade forced a smile. “Ernie and Dieter were just telling me how glad they are that you—and not Big Jim—hired them.”

  AS WADE’S COOLLY UTTERED WORDS sank in, Josie felt all the blood drain from her face. So much for taking risks, she thought miserably. Catching a fleeting glimpse of her mother threading her way through the crowd, she grabbed Wade’s wrist and tugged him behind a large potted plant. “I can explain,” she said hurriedly. She only hoped he would give her a chance.

  Wade stood, legs braced apart, arms folded in front of him. “I think I already know.” He regarded her with grim confidence.

  Josie paused, her heart racing in a painful, jerky rhythm. She stared at him in confusion. “You do?” How was that possible?

  “In your eagerness to prove yourself worthy of a drilling supervisor position at Wyatt Drilling, you overstepped your bounds and took charge at the site.”

  Josie swallowed. That was part of it. “You’re right,” she said in a low voice, aware this was most definitely not the time or place, or the way she had ever wanted to get into this. She propped her hands on her waist, tilted her chin at him and hitched in a trembling breath. “I did.”

  A muscle ticked in his cheek. “And that’s it—that’s all you have to say?” he demanded roughly.

  No, of course it wasn’t, Josie thought, as she saw her mother edging ever closer. But there was also no time to spare. She darted past Wade. “I’ve got to go.”

  He caught her by the arm and swung her around to face him. “What?”

  Josie put up her hands to stave him off. There was still a chance for this to work out right. But it would take a peaceful setting and a great deal of privacy—two things they didn’t have. “I don’t have time to explain,” Josie said hurriedly, wishing like heck she did even as she spoke. She stepped away from him. “But everything’s all set,” she told him, hanging on to her composure by a thread. “The dinner’s about to be served, the orchestra is going to fill in with recordings when they are on break, and the bartenders have an unlimited supply of champagne, punch and various soft drinks, as well as a bevy of drivers on standby for anyone needing rides home.” She dashed around the potted plant.

  Wade dashed after her. “I want you with me tonight.”

  “And I want to be here.” Tears pricked Josie’s eyes. “You don’t know how much. But—” Josie caught sight of her mother again. In a panic she ducked into the supply room, taking Wade with her. She shut the door behind her, being careful to make as little noise and attract as little attention as possible. “I just can’t.”

  Wade narrowed his eyes at her. Without warning, he looked just about out of patience. “Why are you behaving so strangely all of a sudden?” he demanded.

  Josie gulped, very much aware she was on the verge of losing everything. And would if she didn’t handle things right. “I’ve got some important things to do.”

  His hands moved to her waist. He pulled her against him and held her close. Beneath the confusion in his eyes was the love. “This evening is important, too.”

  Guilt flooded her anew. “I know but I just can’t be here. Something’s come up, and I’ve got to take care of it.”

  His lips tightened and the expression in his eyes grew colder. “What aren’t you telling me?” he demanded, knowing by now it was something.

  She took a calming breath but it didn’t help. “I...it’s...complicated.”

  “So?” He pushed an impatient hand through his hair. “I can understand complicated things.”

  “I don’t have time.” Josie held up her hands beseechingly. She knew under the circumstances she had no right to ask, but she was going to do it, anyway. “Would you please trust me to be able to make the right decision here?”

  Sadness and uncertainty warred in his eyes. “Josie, damn it—”

  “I’ll talk to you later.” Josie broke away from him and turned toward the door. Grasping the doorknob with a clammy hand, she opened it a sliver to peer out, then groaned as the person on the other side of it caught a glimpse of her—and her memorable dress—and pushed it open all the way.

  “I knew she was hiding from us!” Bitsy Corbett fumed. Like the rest of the guests there, she was attired in an evening dress. The same could not be said for the giant of a man next to her who was clad in jeans, a plaid shirt and leather vest and a battered straw cowboy hat.

  Josie groaned as she realized several of her nightmares were coming true simultaneously. “Mother, please. Not here and not now.”

  But it was too late. Wade had already done a double take at the larger-than-life figure standing beside Josie’s mother. “Big Jim?”

  Big Jim extended his beefy hand and engulfed Wade’s palm in a hearty handshake. “Nice to see you, McCabe.”

  Wade blinked. “I thought you were in South America.”

  “I was,” Big Jim admitted, “till Bitsy moved heaven and earth to get a message to me and let me know we had a crisis on our hands.”

  Josie looked at her parents. The two had never seemed a more incongruous couple than they did at that instant, Josie thought miserably.

  Still looking very glad to see him, Jim quirked a brow at Wade. “I hear congratulations are in order—you struck oil at the Golden Slipper Ranch?”

  Wade nodded happily. “Thanks to the help of Josie here, yeah. I have to admit I was inclined to just pull the plug on the whole operation when I found her in charge. But she talked me out of it, and of course now I’m glad she did.”

  As Josie listened to the exchange, she found herself getting redder and redder.

  “I know that wasn’t quite what we agreed upon when you left for South America,” Josie told her father nervously.

  “Isn’t that the understatement of the year,”
Big Jim shot right back, giving her a very definitive look.

  “But we can talk about it elsewhere,” Josie amended hastily, doing her best to conceal her panic.

  “You’re dam right we’re going to talk about it,” Big Jim fumed as Josie stood there rubbing her temples. “If you’ll excuse us, McCabe, Bitsy and I’d like a word with our daughter.”

  “Daughter!” Wade echoed furiously.

  He looked at Josie, clearly stunned. “You introduced yourself to me as Josie Lynn Corbett!”

  “It’s Corbett Wyatt,” Bitsy supplied with equal parts helpfulness and censure.

  Hating the hurt and betrayal she saw in Wade’s eyes, Josie nodded jerkily at her parents. Stage band music floated in from the large party room beyond, giving the scene an almost surreal aura. “Since they were getting divorced, they wanted me to have both of their last names,” she explained numbly. She wished she had pockets to hide her trembling fingers in. Since she didn’t, she clamped her hands together behind her. “They figured it’d be easier for kids at school and so on, and it was.”

  “Not to mention when she went to work at the Corbett Foundation,” Bitsy said, all too glad to explain further.

  Unfortunately, the last thing Wade needed—in Josie’s estimation—was another surprise. Wade turned to glare at her sharply. “You’re related to those Corbetts? The Dallas, Texas, Corbetts?” Wade asked Josie in dismay. “That’s the foundation you worked for? The Corbett Foundation?”

  “Don’t tell me Josie didn’t tell you she’s an heiress, either!” Bitsy fumed.

  “Mother, please!” Josie said miserably. She turned to Wade. “I was going to tell you all, just as soon as I could.”

  “Were you.” Wade shook his head in silent censure of all that had happened.

  “Just like you were going to tell me you were using funds from your trust fund to finance the continued drilling on the Golden Slipper Ranch?” Bitsy reminded unhappily.