The Cattleman's Proposal (The Men of Mulhany Crossing Book 1)

by Helen Lacey

  Her brows came up suspiciously. “It’s what I will have to give you in return that concerns me. You’re right about the business being rightfully mine—on that score I agree. And I’ll get it back on my terms and not because you’re making some clever and magnanimous offer because that’s what you think I want to hear.” Her shoulders dropped a little. “I’m a play-it-safe kind of girl, Nate. In my world, I don’t jump first without considering the consequences. Last Saturday night was completely out of character for me. I don’t really ever drink. Under normal circumstances, I would never throw myself at you. Not ever. So, if you’re asking me to go with you because you think I’m sort of, well, easy…you can think again.”

  Joley wondered if she sounded like the witless bird she felt like. The fact he was looking at her oddly only amplified her suspicions. Only, the odd look quickly turned into another kind of look. One she recognized instantly. Wanting. The kind of look that would normally have sent her running. But with Nate it only goosed her hormones and made her feel…what? Alive? Like a red-blooded woman? A woman who wanted exactly what he’d said. Marriage…children…a life.

  Sanity prevailed though. Sanity had to. She couldn’t possibly travel hundreds of miles to live with Nate in the middle of nowhere. He didn’t love her. She didn’t love him. It would be a disaster, right? How could two people who didn’t love one another…who didn’t know one another, possibly make a life together? The fact he had dangled her business in front of her nose like a juicy carrot only made her more determined to fight her feelings.

  “So, you can’t?”

  She shook her head and wondered why it suddenly seemed like she was making the wrong decision, a monumentally wrong decision. “I’m not in a position to risk myself. My life is here, and even though some days I might want something more, I can’t simply pack up and run away from who I am.”

  He looked at her with such intensity Joley’s skin burned. “Is it because of Patrick?”

  Patrick? Had she even spared anyone else a thought since Nate had walked into her life just days ago? “Patrick’s my business partner and friend. I have an obligation to—”

  “Pine after him for the rest of your life?” Nate said as he stood. “That seems like a colossal waste to me.”

  Joley jumped to her feet and squared off in front of him. “I am not pining after Patrick.”

  “Prove it.”

  The sexual challenge was undeniable. Suddenly there was no space between them. Just heat. Just wanting. Even in the cold light of day, Joley couldn’t deny her attraction for him. And it terrified her. Because memories of Dale were etched into that part of her, which she kept guarded from the world. The rush, the complete loss of senses, the slide into a kind of sexual daze driving into her like she never had before.

  Do I want that again?

  Of course not. Dale had taught her not to want that. And Nate…Joley suspected, might take her on a wild ride she wouldn’t recover from.

  “No,” she said and stepped back. “I’m not who you think…I risked myself once and it nearly ruined my life.” As soon as she said the words, Joley knew it was too much. Better, he knew nothing about her. The sensible thing was to skip the conversation and ask him to leave.

  Sensible. Right. No problem.

  Except she wasn’t the least bit sensible when she was around Nate Garrigan. “He was like you,” she blurted.

  “Like me?”

  Joley shrugged. “Yes. He had the same kind of…confidence. My weakness, as it turns out.”

  Nate’s expression remained tight. “Which explains your infatuation with Patrick Cohen?”

  “My feelings for Patrick—”

  “Keep you safe, right?” he asked as he cut her off. “And stop you from taking those risks you mentioned earlier.”

  His insistence that she was pining after Patrick really got on her nerves. She turned and marched towards the door. “Goodbye Nate,” she said as she flung the door wide open.

  He half-smiled and headed for the open door. “Goodbye, Joley,” he said and dropped a small card into her palm. “But if you change your mind and decide you want to take a chance …and get your business back…call me.”

  Never in a million years, she thought as she scrunched up the card and closed the door behind him.

  Chapter Six

  Joley was at the flying school early the morning Patrick returned to work two weeks later. When he sauntered through the door of her office, she couldn’t push back the uneasiness settling low in her belly. Had she ever been uncomfortable around Patrick before?

  Since he forced me to become business partners with a man I can’t stop thinking about.

  There’d been no word from Nate. But she’d sensed him around her. Especially in her dreams. He was, she knew, waiting for her to make the first move.

  Patrick looked obscenely relaxed as he perched himself on the edge of her desk. “So, miss me?”

  “Too busy,” she replied and passed him the daily run sheet. “My first lesson starts in fifteen minutes. I’ve already completed the safety check and induction. You can start at—”

  “Mad with me then?” he asked, cutting her off. “About Garrigan?”

  Color seeped from her face. “I have a right to be, don’t you think?”

  “It seemed like a good idea at the time,” he explained, shrugging.

  Joley’s temper kindled like fire and she drew in a breath. “Gabby’s idea, right?”

  He shrugged again. “I couldn’t see a way out. And with the wedding and everything…” His words trailed off. “I’m sorry, for what it’s worth. But I thought it would be like, you know, still keeping it in the family.”

  “It’s my family business,” she said, firmer this time. “Part of which my father and I trusted you with.”

  He pushed off the desk and stared at her. “I screwed up, I know that. But Garrigan will be a silent partner. We’ll run things like we always have—just you, me and your dad. He’s not interested in the business.”

  Oh, he’s interested all right!

  Joley stood up. “You have no idea,” she said quietly and grabbed her clipboard.

  “What does that mean?” Patrick asked and frowned.

  Her irritation turned into outright annoyance. “Nothing. It isn’t your concern.”

  He moved in front of her and blocked her path. “So it’s true? You did spend the night with him at the wedding?”

  “What?”

  Patrick did his usual one shoulder shrug. “My mother saw you leave with him the next morning.”

  Nancy Cohen—so that was Ella’s source? Joley raised her chin. “Drop it. Okay?”

  “You don’t sleep around,” Patrick said as though he had some right to an opinion about her life. “And you don’t get involved with guys like Garrigan. Well, not since…since…”

  Since Dale…

  Well, I haven’t felt like this since Dale. She didn’t say it. She didn’t want to acknowledge it. Dale was so long ago. And Nate was gone.

  “You don’t get to tell me how to live my life, Patrick.”

  “I thought you hated him?” he asked and frowned. “At least, that’s what you said the last time he was in town. And then—”

  “Stop,” she said and raised her hands and her voice. “The fact is you got us into this and now I have to find a way to get us out of it. If we couldn’t afford the new Cessna’s then we shouldn’t have bought them. You should have come to me and said how bad things were.”

  “I know.” He shrugged. “But I didn’t want to worry you.”

  Worry? Joley cast him a glare. “Well, I’m worried now. And I can’t stand that someone else owns a piece of this place.”

  “Maybe if we tell your dad—”

  “We’re not telling him anything,” she snapped, cutting him off. “I’ll tell him. I know he’s going to be devastated. He trusted you like I did.”

  “But I—”

  “What’s going on here?”

  Her fat
her’s voice cut through the air. Joley looked towards the doorway and managed to smile. “Nothing, Dad. Everything’s fine.”

  Ian McBride walked into the office. “It doesn’t sound fine. I could hear your voices all the way out to the hanger. It’s not like you two to argue.”

  No, it wasn’t. But a lot of things had changed recently. “Just healthy discussion,” she said and smiled again.

  But he wasn’t satisfied. “Is something going on that I should know about?”

  She felt terrible deceiving her father and knew she had to come clean soon. Her attempts to refinance the business had failed. Other than to secure a small second mortgage on her house, which still wouldn’t cover the amount Nate had invested when he’d bought Patrick’s share.

  She noticed that her father didn’t look well and moved towards him. “Are you okay?”

  He rubbed his middle. “Damned ulcer’s playing up. I ordered some Mexican take-out last night while your mother was out playing mahjong with Nancy.”

  Joley gave him a scolding look. “Dad, you know you shouldn’t be eating spicy food.”

  “Don’t tell your mother,” he said and winked. “And you two stop arguing. It’s bad for this old man’s health.”

  “We will,” she said, ignoring Patrick as she gave her father a quick hug.

  Joley’s temper had receded marginally by the time she arrived home later that afternoon. She avoided Patrick for the remainder of the day and happily missed wishing him a goodbye when she left.

  Back in her small house, she did a load of laundry and a few other mindless chores. But the uneasiness in her belly remained She didn’t know what to do. It didn’t help that Ella rocked up on her doorstep just after dinner time.

  She looked at her watch as her mother crossed the threshold. “It’s a bit late for a visit, isn’t it? Where’s Dad?”

  Ella squeezed passed her. “Watching cable. We need to talk.”

  Joley shut the door and followed her mother into the living room. “What’s this about?”

  “I know all about Patrick selling his share of the business,” Ella said with a gloomy look. “Nancy told me. Apparently Gabby confided in her. So, what are you going to do about it?”

  Joley took a moment and drew in a breath. “I’m working on it.”

  “Can you borrow against this house?”

  She shrugged. “I’m still working things out.”

  Ella didn’t look convinced. “Well, you need to do something quick. If your father finds out what happened he’ll be—”

  “He won’t,” Joley assured her mother. “I’ll fix this and get the business back.”

  “Then do it,” Ella said. “I won’t have your father worried. His blood pressure is already through the roof.”

  Joley’s heart stilled. “I didn’t know that.”

  “We didn’t want to worry you. But the doctor was concerned enough to put him on medication a few months ago. This is a stress he doesn’t need and with his ulcers too, I don’t want him upset. You know how he feels about the business, Jolene, for twenty-five years that place has been his life. I don’t want to think about what might happen when he finds out Patrick sold his share to an outsider.”

  He’s not an outsider…

  Only, she didn’t say it. It would only incur more questions from her mother. She wasn’t about to admit Nate had offered her the business back either—at a price. Right now she needed to focus, to plan. Silent partner Nate might be for the moment—but she was pretty sure that would change at some point. He was smart and certainly wouldn’t allow his substantial investment to flounder in Patrick’s hands for too much longer. She knew, without a doubt, that he would demand changes. Starting at the top.

  Her mother made an impatient sound. “Say something?”

  “Say what?”

  “Now is not the time to act like an ice-maiden,” Ella said pointedly and sat on the sofa. “I’m not an idiot, Joley. Even though you and your father sometimes treat me like one. It was obvious there was chemistry between you and Gabby’s brother. The big question is how are you going to use that chemistry to get the business back?”

  She should have been appalled. But Joley knew Ella. Her mother always spoke her mind. Ella didn’t know boundaries.

  “Chemistry isn’t enough,” she said flatly. She wasn’t about to confide in her mother about Nate’s offer. The less people knew about that the better.

  Ella’s arched brow rose up. “What are you waiting for? Some mythical white knight? If so, you’ll be waiting a long time. You’re too much like you’re father—set in your ways about everything other than his airplanes.”

  And boring, afraid, and as impulsive as a wet sock. Joley had heard it before. When at twenty-two, she’d refused a job in Dubai as a private pilot for an aging billionaire who’d taken one of their scenic flights and was so impressed with her flying skills he’d immediately offered her a two-year contract. And then when she’d given up on her relationship with Paul the moment he’d starting talking about engagement rings. Time and time again, Ella had complained about her lack of vision, her lack of passion for anything other than flying.

  Her one break out had been Dale. And her parents knew nothing other than how he’d been her flight instructor. They didn’t know she’d fallen head over heels and became his lover despite the significant age difference. Once the relationship was over, she’d poured herself in the business. A business she wasn’t about to lose. I can’t let that happen. It was time to take back what was hers.

  Her blood fired up and she gave her mother a long stare. “You’d be surprised how un-set in my ways I’m about to be.”

  Ella didn’t bother to hide her confusion. “What does that mean?”

  Joley marched across the room and opened the front door wide. “I’ll call you tomorrow and tell you all about it. Goodnight Mother.”

  It took Ella seconds to cross the room. “Make sure you do.” She warned and Joley waited until her mother was safely inside her small car before she closed the door.

  Joley grabbed her phone and snatched up the small card sitting on the side table. Her fingers shook as she dialled the number. He answered on the fourth ring.

  “Nate Garrigan.”

  Joley sucked in a sharp breath. “It’s me,” she said and wondered for a second if he’d forgotten all about her. When the silence stretched like elastic she was certain of it, figured she was the stupidest woman of all time and almost hung up.

  But then he said her name. “Joley. Hello.”

  He had such a sexy voice and her bravado dwindled a little. She forced some words out. “I was thinking tonight…about what you said.”

  “What I said?”

  Another breath, this time shallow. “Yes...your offer. Does it still stand?”

  “It does.”

  “You’ll give me my business back?”

  “I will.”

  Relief and fear coursed across her skin. “Well, I would like to…I mean I think I will…” She hardly dared to breathe. “I will come to Gwendonna Downs.”

  If he was surprised, he didn’t sound it. “I’m pleased to hear it.”

  “But I have two conditions.”

  “Okay,” he said after a moment. “I’m listening.”

  “Firstly, I’m bringing Red with me,” she announced and tried to stop her hands from trembling. “And secondly—sex is off the table.”

  ***

  Nate wasn’t used to being nervous. But waiting for Joley’s small Jabiru aircraft to touch down on the landing strip at Gwendonna Downs filled him with a kind of gut flipping apprehension. He watched as the airplane circled above before coming in to land and admired her flying skills, unsurprised she handled the job so well.

  Now, if only my hands would stop shaking.

  He plunged them into his pockets and snorted at his own stupidity. He’d had nearly a week to get used to the idea. A week to prepare for what it would mean having Joley in his home, and in his life.

&n
bsp; It’s only one month. Remember that. And she could leave at any time.

  That’s what women did, right? They left. They always left.

  Nate shook his thoughts off and waited as the aircraft came to a halt and she killed the engine. After a few minutes, the door opened and Joley emerged. Against the backdrop of the door and with the mid morning sun shining behind her she looked so naturally lovely, his heart skipped a beat. The jeans she wore sat low on her hips and enhanced her curves and the bright red shirt tucked into the waistband showed off every asset. Damn, she was sexy. She dropped down the steps and jumped off the second rung.

  Nate walked forward and grasped her hand. “Hello.”

  “Hi.”

  He kissed her cheek as perfunctorily as he could and tried not to think about the flowery scent coming off her skin. “How was the flight?”

  “It’s good weather for flying. But I’m late,” she said and stepped back. “Sorry. Have you been waiting long?”

  He wasn’t about to admit that he’d been at the airstrip for the past hour and a half. Or that he’d turned two of his cow hands around and told them to come back in an hour because he didn’t want them to see his eagerness. He felt like a big enough fool already. “Not long,” he said as he released her hand and pointed towards the empty hay shed a hundred meters away. “That should do as a hanger. My foreman and his nephew will be along shortly to tow her inside. Let’s grab your things.”

  She didn’t look convinced. “My plane will—”

  “Be fine,” he assured her and retrieved her bags from the small cabin. One case and a stuffed backpack later he pushed up the steps and closed the door. “Mike is a pilot. We use the helicopter to help muster and check the fence lines.” He grabbed the cases. “She’ll be in good hands.”

  An old truck came barreling down the dirt road just as he’d placed the bags in the back of his twin cab utility. “Here he is now. You can watch him put her away if you like.”

  “Thanks,” she said.

  To Mike’s credit he didn’t demonstrate any of his usual brashness. The fifty something ex-bronco rider shook Joley’s hand and then guaranteed that he’d look after the Jabiru as though she were his own. That settled, Nate ushered Joley into the utility and they set off for the homestead.