The Ranch Stud

by Cathy Gillen Thacker

  Patience couldn’t say why exactly but it helped somehow, knowing Josh grieved as deeply for Max as she did. “Perhaps everyone assumed you already knew,” she theorized quietly.

  Josh nodded, accepting that explanation, as he tossed the soiled towel in the laundry bin. His expression grim, he swung around to face her. “How did it happen?”

  Ignoring the mesmerizing depths of his gray eyes, Patience focused on the uncompromising way he had braced his shoulders against the wall. “Cisco said it was his heart, that it simply gave out on him.”

  “Where did it happen?”

  “In Cisco Kidd’s law office.” Patience swallowed around the knot of emotion in her throat, and because Josh seemed as hungry for details as she had been, she tersely related what she knew. “Max had gone there to work on his will. He videotaped everything, so there’d be no question that these wishes were his later, and apparently the strain of doing it all at once was too much for him. For no sooner than he had completed it, he—” Tears filling her eyes, Patience flailed around looking for the right words and finally settled on a gentle western phrase she knew would have satisfied and amused Max. “He left us with his boots on, so to speak.”

  Josh was silent a long moment, reflecting, Patience guessed, on the unfairness of fate. “Couldn’t the paramedics do anything?” he asked finally, his frustration evident.

  Patience shook her head sadly. “It was over in a flash, before they even arrived, Cisco said. Which was as Max would’ve wanted it to be.” He had always lived life on the edge. He would have wanted his death to be the same way, swift and sure, with no lingering, half-strength finales, Patience knew. Max could never have survived for long in an invalid’s bed. He was an all-or-nothing type of person, just like Patience. And Cody. And Trace. And all the rest of the McKendrick clan.

  His strides long and purposeful, Josh made his way back to Mandy’s stall. Glancing over the door, he looked at the feed bucket and saw the quietly ailing mare had finished about a quarter of her evening feed but no more. “You took Cisco’s word on that, I suppose?”

  Sharing Josh’s restlessness, Patience shoved her hands in the deep pockets of her dress. She paced back and forth, too, the soles of her soft suede boots making muted thuds on the concrete, the long skirt of her denim dress swirling femininely around her. “I’ve got no reason not to trust Cisco.”

  Josh smirked in response and made a rude, dissenting sound.

  “Why do you not like Cisco?” Patience persisted, withdrawing both hands from her pockets. She was disturbed he would try to shake her faith in Max’s attorney, who was also her old friend.

  “Let’s just say I can tell when someone is hiding something,” Josh murmured enigmatically, his silver eyes narrowing. “And that guy has plenty of secrets. Speaking of which…” Josh let his voice trail off as he jerked his head toward the other end of the barn.

  Patience turned and saw Cisco Kidd coming toward them. Though she hated to admit it, she knew exactly what Josh meant. She and her brothers had often wondered about Cisco’s rather murky past, too.

  Despite his tailored western business suits, fancy boots and trademark Stetson, Max’s protégé had always been a little rough around the edges. Of course, that in itself was not necessarily a problem, Patience reminded herself sternly. In fact, Max had always admired Cisco Kidd’s rough-and-tumble, from-the-streets quality and the way he had become sort of an adopted brother to Patience after her failed engagement, protecting her as fiercely as her real brothers, Cody and Trace. But there was no reason Josh Colter had to know the true nature of her relationship with Cisco, she thought, particularly if it would serve to keep them apart for the next forty-eight hours or so.

  Patience smiled at her uncle’s attorney and glanced at the package in Cisco’s hand. “What have you got there?” she asked curiously.

  At Patience’s welcoming manner, Cisco seemed to relax. “It’s the third part of Max’s will.”

  Aware he was watching them both curiously, Patience turned to Josh and explained, “My brothers and I already heard the first videotape an hour ago in the Fort Benton Gentlemen’s Club.” And the first installment, which she had yet to relate to the unsuspecting Josh Colter, had been disturbing enough.

  Patience turned back to Cisco with trepidation, hoping for a clue as to its contents. “I didn’t know there was another part.”

  His expression serenely matter-of-fact, Cisco handed over a videotape marked Last Will And Testament Of Max McKendrick, Part Three. “This tape is just for you and Josh.”

  That didn’t necessarily bode well, Patience thought, recalling the depth of her Uncle Max’s eccentricity. In fact, it probably meant she should be even more on edge. “What about part two?” Patience asked impatiently.

  “That was for Cody. Part four is for Trace.”

  “Oh.”

  “I suggest you both listen to that immediately,” Cisco continued, indicating the videotape. He motioned Patience aside. Once out of the earshot of Josh, Cisco continued, “Regardless of how you and I feel about Josh, Max liked him a lot. He really took him under his wing. And, I think you should know, the two of them talked about you a lot.”

  Patience felt a shiver of uneasiness ghost down her spine. “What are you trying to tell me, Cisco?” She paused, and when no immediate reply was forthcoming, she plunged on curiously. “Are you trying to tell me you don’t trust him?”

  Cisco shot another wary look at Josh. “I don’t know what to think about him, Patience. I don’t really know him well enough to decide if I should trust him or not. But Max did. And as you are about to discover for yourself, Max thought very highly of Josh. So you and I are going to have to go with Max’s gut feeling on that. I just want you to be very careful.”

  “You think he could hurt me, don’t you?” Patience probed, sensing there was something else going on here, too. Something else Cisco knew, or perhaps just suspected, but wasn’t telling her.

  Cisco shoved his hands in the pockets of his westerncut suit pants. “I’m not saying Josh’d necessarily mean to, given how highly Max thought of him, but yeah, the possibility is there. So take care. And keep your eyes open. In the meantime, you’ve got my pager number, Patience, so you know how to get a hold of me if you need me.”

  Patience nodded thoughtfully. “That I do. Thanks, Cisco.”

  Telling them he had another tape to deliver, Cisco said goodbye, then turned on his heel and left. Reluctantly, Patience turned back to Josh.

  “What was all that whispering about?” Josh demanded.

  Patience shrugged. She was well used to all the men on the Silver Spur going overboard to watch out for her. “Cisco is just trying to protect me,” she replied matter-of-factly, not wanting to let her old friend’s uneasiness get to her.

  Josh grimaced as he ran his palm gently down the white blaze on the ailing Mandy’s forehead. “Protect you or plant seeds of doubt?”

  “Josh!” Patience reprimanded, shocked.

  He shrugged his broad shoulders without a hint of apology and continued petting the mare. “It’s an honest question. It deserves an honest answer.”

  That did it, Patience thought, still clutching the videotape. “He was trying to protect me,” she repeated, feeling her temper start to rise at Josh’s subtly provoking gaze, even as the woman in her appreciated the tenderness with which he was treating the mare. “After all, you haven’t been around long, from what I understand. Just a couple of months. Cisco doesn’t really know you.”

  “Nor am I sure the two of us want to get to know each other,” Josh countered harshly, giving her a level look. “But that doesn’t mean I am not a trustworthy person,” he added as he dropped his hand and stepped away from Mandy.

  His words struck a nerve. “No, of course it doesn’t,” Patience amended a little guiltily, lifting her glance to Josh’s face. And in that instant, as he stepped toward her, as their eyes met and clashed, Patience was in for the shock of her life. For in Josh Colter’s ey
es, she swore she saw something more than just the similarity of color she had already noticed. She saw something…a hint of deeply ingrained gallantry or masculine possessiveness…that very much reminded her of Alec Vaughn, the only man she had ever loved, the man who had heartlessly jilted and humiliated her seventeen years ago.

  “It can’t be,” Patience murmured emotionally, swaying unsteadily on her feet.

  NOTING PATIENCE LOOKED as if she were going to faint at any second, Josh clamped a steadying arm around her waist. He’d thought maybe he’d overdone it at first, trying to show Max McKendrick’s sassily independent niece precisely how much her electrifying presence did not affect him. But now that he actually had her in his arms, the playacting was over.

  The impact of having her slender body so close to his was devastating. It had been years since he had been anywhere near her. During that time, so much had changed, and so little.

  Her hair was still the same shimmering gold of a wheat field on a cloudless summer day. She wore it longer now, to her shoulders, where it tumbled in soft, loose, silky waves. Her long-lashed eyes were still a brilliant cornflower blue, her lips as full and soft. The curves on her tall, lithe body just as sweetly sensual. Holding her so close made it difficult to catch his breath.

  And that in turn made Josh feel both uncomfortable and disloyal as hell. It was because of him that Patience had been suffering the way she had all these years. But sensing this was not the time, if ever there would be a time, to tell her that, he kept his secrets to himself. “What can’t be?” he growled, struggling to keep a hold on his own mounting desire just to say to hell with his plan to rescue her from her own unhappiness and tell her everything now.

  “You don’t even look like him,” Patience muttered, more to herself than him. “Alec was lanky and blond and bespectacled in that sort of sexy, bookish way. And you’re so tall and dark and…and brawny, so you can’t possibly—oh, dear heaven!” Patience stammered with a great deal more emotion than Josh cared to hear at that moment.

  Their mutual problems were difficult enough without her turning all trembling and weak and needy on him. Or looking up at him with those vulnerable eyes. Eyes that he remembered so well. Eyes that had haunted his dreams.

  “I hate to tell you this,” Josh shot back gruffly, working to keep his own emotions at bay as he tore his eyes from the soft, sensual contours of her full lips, “but you’re not making any sense.” At least she wouldn’t be, he added mentally, if he didn’t already know damn well what she was talking about.

  Patience passed a hand over her brow in the age-old signal of a female in distress and clung to him all the more. “Tell me about it,” she moaned, wrapping her arms around him tightly.

  “Maybe you’d better sit down.” Josh swept her off her feet and up into his arms, carried her back to the washroom, set her down in the lone straight-backed chair in the room and leaned over her to look her in the face. “You okay?”

  Patches of pink were now highlighting the ivory color of her skin.

  “Fine. It’s just…” Patience balled her hands into fists and shook herself slightly. Her teeth raked her soft lower lip. “I guess it’s been a stressful couple of days.”

  He waited for her to go on. To both his relief and his disappointment, she didn’t. “I’m sorry,” Josh said, finally figuring it had to be the grief that was making her act so crazy. At least they could blame it on that later, if the subject of her almost recognizing him ever came up. “Your Uncle Max was a great man,” he said sincerely, meaning it from the bottom of his heart.

  Patience nodded. Looking abruptly afraid her grief would get the better of her again, she brushed a hand through her hair and said, “Shall we listen to the videotape?”

  Josh nodded. Maybe that was a good idea. “Right away.”

  TOGETHER, THEY WALKED over to Josh’s office. To her relief, Patience was feeling much better by the time Josh had settled her in one of the thick leather chairs, got her a cold drink to help revive her and put the tape into the machine they kept around to show horse buyers videotapes on the farm practices and procedures.

  To her trepidation, part three of Uncle Max’s videotaped will began much as part one had. Her Uncle Max, clad in his trademark fringed buckskin jacket, mustard yellow chaps and silver spurs, appeared on the screen. As before, there was no sign of his impending departure from this world. His skin was a deep, leathery tan beneath his long, Lone Star mustache, his white, shoulder-length hair thick and shiny clean. Though he was nearly as old as the hills when the tape was made, he was still as energetic as the day was long.

  On-screen, Max began to speak. “Hello, Patience and Josh. I imagine you’ve had your first meeting by now, which was—unless I miss my guess—as full of sparks as a sparkler on the Fourth of July.”

  “I wouldn’t exactly put it that way,” Patience mumbled, still feeling embarrassed about the way she had first quarreled with Josh, then nearly fainted in his arms.

  “Max would,” Josh murmured back, tongue in cheek.

  “And you’re probably anxious for me to quit jawin’ and cut to the chase, but before I get started, I’ve got something of a personal nature to say. Patience, I think you know that for a long time now, I have blamed myself for your situation. Many a time I’ve thought if I had just agreed to go to your wedding to Alec Vaughn, you would already be happily married and bringing up a passel of kids. And the fact you never got seriously involved with another fella after your broken engagement sort of intensified that feeling on my part.”

  Patience blushed fire-engine red, knowing everything Max had just said was true.

  “So a couple of months ago, I called in all my markers with a few of my World War II buddies, who, though retired now, still have ties in the intelligence community. And I asked them to find out what they could for me.” Max paused, his expression becoming abruptly mournful. “I’m sorry to say Alec Vaughn died of complications from pneumonia, about five years after he jilted you, in his native state of Louisiana.”

  While tears started in Patience’s eyes, Max shook his head sadly. “I had hoped for a better outcome to my search. Still,” he went on firmly, “it’s better to know one way or another.” He paused, all the love he had ever felt for Patience reflected in his blue eyes. “I hope this closes the circle for you and enables you to go on with your life. I always have and always will want only the best for you.”

  Josh touched her arm. To Patience’s surprise, Josh looked as shocked and upset by what Max had just disclosed to them via videotape as she felt. “You okay?” Josh whispered.

  Patience nodded. With a little help from Max in heaven above, she would be.

  “Anyway,” Max continued soberly, “it’s time to get back to the business of sorting out my legacy. So here’s the deal….” He energetically slapped his buckskin-clad knee before going on.

  “Patience, honey, I know you want a baby more than anything in the world, and I want that for you, too. But if you’re going to do somethin’ like this, you need to do it right, and that starts by picking out a fine daddy to sire your child. Josh Colter is such a man. In fact, I think you two would make a fine pair. Which is why I am leaving Patience the log cabin home, complete with writing studio, along with the substantial parcel of land the horse-breeding business is situated on. Naturally, you’ll need a veterinarian to help you run things, and that being the case, as I said in my previous videotape, you might as well marry the fella and bring more than baby horses to life, if you catch my meaning. As I said before, he’s handsome and smart and willing—”

  “I never said any such thing! The two of us only talked about me running the ranch!” Josh interrupted heatedly. He turned to Patience, incensed. “In fact, the subject of me being your stud, Patience McKendrick, was never even broached!”

  He didn’t have to act so opposed to it! Patience glared at Josh and clapped a hand across her chest. “Like I requested you? For heaven’s sake, we never even met! To think that I—we—” S
he blushed and couldn’t go on.

  “You’ll also need someplace bigger to raise that passel of kids you’ve always wanted, so Lost Canyon is yours, too. I’ve set aside money for you to build a dream home there. If you get started on it right away, it’ll be finished by the time that first baby of yours is born.”

  On-screen, Max continued with the down-home affability for which he was famous. “Naturally, Josh will want to get something out of this besides a new boss and a baby, so I am deeding him half interest in the horse-breeding business.” Max’s expression became more sober. “I don’t imagine this will sit too well with you, Patience, having a man underfoot after all these years of you being more or less on your own, so I put a few conditions on this inheritance of mine.”

  “Of course,” Patience murmured.

  “Should you refuse to marry Josh, you will lose all rights to the land, your fifty percent share of the horse business, your rights to Lost Canyon and the funds to build your dream house, maintaining only the log cabin home containing your writing studio—which is, of course, located right next to the horse-breeding ranch complex.

  “Should Josh refuse to marry you, he will get nothing from my estate. I don’t think that will happen, mind you. Josh is a smart fella. He knows if he just sticks with my plan, he will be set for life, with a great job and a great place to live. And what are forty-eight hours and a wedding, after all?”

  “In this case, an eternity,” Patience muttered.

  “I’ll second that,” Josh added as the videotape continued.