Untamed Cowboy

by Maisey Yates

  On some days, Bennett found Wyatt’s overbearing manner to be a pain in his ass, but now, with his older brother handing out orders and giving direction at lightning speed, he found himself grateful for it. Wyatt would have no trouble keeping everyone on track.

  He had decided that digging post holes and stringing barbed wire on a new fence was the perfect activity for his nephew, and had sent Bennett and Grant right along with him.

  Kaylee had been assigned landscape work with Jamie, and he had heard Jamie muttering the whole way about asshat older brothers.

  Dallas, Grant and Bennett drove out to the north end of the property, across a few partially fenced fields to the new area for the cows. Wyatt wanted to have livestock on the ranch. Part of the appeal of Get Out of Dodge as a dude ranch was that it be a functioning ranch.

  But he also knew that guests didn’t necessarily want animals grazing near their sleeping quarters. He was aiming for a controlled rustic experience.

  So that meant designated pasture farther afield.

  The land had been clear-cut in the center years ago, creating grazing space, and now the property was hemmed in by what looked like a wall of pine. Tree-covered mountains rose up behind the trees, barricading the property from the rest of the world.

  After giving brief instructions on how to dig holes for the fence posts and string the wire between the posts, Grant and Bennett got Dallas set to work. They were each wearing heavy work gloves, wielding the barbed wire as carefully as possible.

  “I bet this violates child labor laws,” Dallas pointed out.

  “Then it’s a good thing Wyatt will probably pay you under the table,” Grant said, a ghost of a smile touching his brother’s lips.

  “That’s criminal.”

  “Didn’t you know?” Grant’s smile turned to a full-blown grin. “The Dodges are outlaws.”

  “It’s true,” Bennett agreed.

  “Seriously?” They were treated to a skeptical eyebrow from Dallas.

  “Hell, yeah,” Bennett said. “Stagecoach robbers. Going way back. They terrorized the pony express and all of that.”

  “Didn’t end well for some of them,” Grant said. “Obviously some of them survived or the line would have ended. But yeah, basically, they raised Cain all down the Oregon Trail. And camped out on the edges of all the little gold rush towns, taking what they could.”

  “This ranch was probably bought with a sizable amount of stolen gold way back in the day,” Bennett said.

  “No way,” Dallas said. “That’s actually cool.”

  “We don’t rob stagecoaches now,” Bennett said. “To be clear.”

  “I’ve never known anything about...my family or whatever,” Dallas said. “Not bad to find out they were Wild West outlaws.”

  “We’re respectable now,” Bennett said.

  “Mostly.” Grant paused. “Because there is Wyatt.”

  “True,” Bennett agreed.

  “Why isn’t he respectable?” Dallas asked.

  “He’s a bull rider,” Grant said. “And bull riders are idiots.”

  “Yes. And Wyatt is chief among them.”

  “Bull riders and outlaws. And veterinarians. And...” He looked over at Grant.

  “I’m a rancher now,” Grant said. “I used to work at the power company.”

  “Oh,” Dallas said, frowning. “Interesting.”

  “It’s not. I got married young.” The corner of Grant’s mouth lifted up on one side. “Had to get a good job. Health benefits and 401(k)s and stuff like that.”

  “Where’s your wife now?”

  “She’s dead,” Grant said, the words flat and bald.

  The late spring air kicked up, pushing out the warmth of the sun, and Bennett thought it matched the mood perfectly. He was about to open his mouth to try to smooth things over when Dallas spoke up.

  “I’m sorry.” And he really looked it.

  “Don’t be,” Grant said. “It was an honest question. And I’m not used to meeting people who don’t know the ins and outs of all my business. Hazards of a small town.”

  “I guess it would be.”

  “You’ll learn quickly enough. You won’t be able to do anything without the good people of Gold Valley reporting back to your dad.”

  Dallas and Bennett exchanged an uncomfortable look.

  “But yeah,” Grant continued, “now that I’m not married I can take some chances. Now, I’m investing in this place.”

  They spent the better part of the next hour explaining to Dallas exactly what the plans were for Get Out of Dodge. How they were going to run guest services there, the partnerships with the winery, tours, everything.

  “So...Jamie is going to give trail rides?” Dallas asked, clearly trying not to sound as interested as he was.

  “Yes. And for some guests she might even do endurance rides. Over fifty miles. Up in the mountains. It’s good stuff.”

  “I’ve never ridden a horse before,” Dallas said.

  Bennett frowned. “That’s going to change. I mean, if you want it to.”

  “Hell,” Grant said, “Dodges learn how to ride before they learn how to walk. I’m not even exaggerating. I think my dad put me up on the back of a horse for the first time when I was, like, eight months old. With my mom, of course, not by myself.”

  “We’ll teach you how to ride,” Bennett said. “Actually, Jamie will love that. We all love to ride, but it’s in Jamie’s blood. She’s a hell of a horsewoman.”

  “And Wyatt just rides bulls?” Dallas asked.

  “No. He rides horses too.”

  “He probably stays on the back of the bulls longer,” Grant said drily.

  Bennett chuckled, and Grant actually looked amused with himself, but they were interrupted by the sound of a clearing throat. They turned to see Wyatt standing there looking unamused. “Are you besmirching my horsemanship?”

  “Your horsemanship besmirches itself,” Grant returned.

  It was nice to see Grant smiling. Nice to see him participating in the back-and-forth. But then, they were coming out of winter. Grant didn’t do so well in winter. When the sun started to shine again, he always seemed a little bit more himself. At least, the way that Bennett could remember him being back before Lindsay’s death. Maybe back before he had started to love Lindsay. Because loving her had never been simple. Loving her, for Grant, had always meant contending with losing her.

  “Don’t listen to those sons of bitches,” Wyatt said. “They’re jealous because I’m a badass.”

  “Yeah, we’re really jealous,” Bennett said, keeping his face as serious as possible.

  “How goes the fencing?” Wyatt asked.

  “It’s going good,” Dallas said.

  “Very good,” Bennett confirmed. “He’s a quick study.” He felt a small, unexpected surge of pride go through him as he said that. It was true. Dallas had done a great job keeping up with them, and he wasn’t used to this kind of physical labor. Still, he was doing well at it. And he wasn’t complaining.

  “Great. Lunch is going to be in about an hour or so. That’s when Lindy and Beatrix are coming.”

  “Great,” Bennett said.

  “Sure,” Wyatt said. “Great, as long as it doesn’t turn into a brawl.”

  “You and Lindy are going to have to keep it in your pants,” Grant said.

  “That won’t be a problem. It will be her keeping her fist out of my face that’s the problem.”

  Grant shrugged, but didn’t say anything else.

  Wyatt left after that, and they continued to work until the lunch hour got closer. “I’m going to go wash up. See you down at the mess hall,” Grant said, leaving Dallas and himself alone at the fence.

  “How are you liking the work so far?” Bennett asked.

  “It’s work,” Dallas said.
/>
  “This is what we do. I know I’m a veterinarian, but this is the family business.”

  “After robbing stagecoaches.”

  “Yeah, but robbing stagecoaches wasn’t exactly a viable business long-term. In the end, even the Dodges were smart enough to realize that. Eventually.”

  “So...am I here for the summer? I mean, how long is this going to last?”

  “I told you,” Bennett said. “This is real. You’re staying with me.”

  “Why haven’t you gotten a paternity test done yet?” Dallas asked, the anger in his words sending Bennett back on his heels.

  “I’m going to get one.” Bennett crossed his arms over his chest. “We have to go do the family court thing and proving my paternity makes everything easiest. But from my point of view, I don’t really need one.”

  “Right. Because if you don’t get one then you can still back out.” Dallas crossed his arms in an unconscious mimic of Bennett’s stance, his expression looking mutinous. “Correct me if I’m wrong, but it’s just that you have plausible deniability now.”

  “I don’t want plausible deniability,” Bennett said, not sure how in the hell he had managed to walk into two conversations in the space of a couple of days that had landed his ass in such hot water.

  Kaylee had been bristly with him ever since their confrontation at the clinic the other night about Michael, whose name he remembered now since she had yelled at him about it. And now, somehow, something that had started out as a good conversation had ended up something else entirely with Dallas.

  “You’re wrong,” he said. “I’m not looking for an out. Hell, I’ll set one up tomorrow. If that’s what you need, then I’ll do it.”

  “Tomorrow is Sunday.”

  “And it’s a small damned town. I can probably arrange to have somebody come in on Sunday if I need to.”

  “Don’t do that,” Dallas said, suddenly looking uncertain.

  And then, Bennett had to wonder if Dallas was worried that Bennett might not be his father after all. He was never quite sure whether or not Dallas wanted to be with him. Never sure if he hated the small town he had landed himself in a week ago or not. But then Bennett kept coming back to the fact that Dallas had chosen to come to him. He had chosen to tell the social worker who his father might be. And he chose to stay now. Sure, his alternatives weren’t great, but nobody had tied him up and forced him to stay.

  It was easy to forget that underneath all that bluster, all that teenage bravado, was the heart of a little boy who had been wounded and abandoned more times than Bennett cared to think about.

  “I know you don’t have any reason to trust me. I know that nobody in your life has stuck by you. You’ve been exposed to some shady people. I’m not a saint, far from it. But believe me when I say I’m not doing you some great favor by keeping you with me. Sixteen years ago when your mother told me she was pregnant I was ready. I wasn’t ready, but I was, if that makes sense. I was ready to upend my life to take care of you. To quit school, to work at the mill. At the power company like Grant, because that’s what you do when you love somebody. You want to take care of them.”

  “My mother?”

  “No. You. I loved you before you were born. Right away. I was scared as hell, but I knew that I was willing to do anything for my kid. For the promise of that relationship. And the way I see it now, this isn’t any different. We don’t know each other. But all the possibilities are there. I don’t need to know you to know what I’m prepared to do. Anything. To give you the life that you deserve. It’s my responsibility because I’m your father. I’m sorry that nobody took responsibility for you when they should have at other times in your life. But it doesn’t mean that I won’t.”

  Dallas looked past Bennett, his frown deepening, the scowl line between his brows mirroring the line Bennett had seen growing deeper on his own face over the past few days.

  And Bennett realized right then that he had overlooked one crucial thing in that bit of rationalization he just gone through. Yes, he had loved Dallas before he had known him. Before he was born, before he had known if he was a son or a daughter. But Dallas hadn’t been wounded then. He hadn’t had fifteen years of being let down, time and time again. And now he did. It could never go back and be that exact thing it was all those years ago.

  Because Dallas could never be that same kid he would have been. Couldn’t go back and be not scarred by the life that he had led.

  Dammit. It was such a mess.

  “Kaylee told me...” Bennett cleared his throat. “She told me that your mom left you alone? For days at a time?”

  “You know what? I don’t want to talk about this. It doesn’t matter.”

  “It does matter. And if everybody could stop getting mad at me about things that they claim don’t matter, that would be great. If you’re mad, they obviously matter.”

  “What?”

  “Never mind. But if you’re going to be angry, don’t tell me it doesn’t matter. I told you that I was going to be honest with you, and I am. But I want you to do the same, Dallas. I want you to be honest with me. About what makes you angry. About all the things you think I did wrong. About all the things I’m doing wrong now. Be angry, that’s fine, but don’t bullshit me. Don’t just try to protect yourself. We can do better than that, we can have better than that. I believe it. But we’ve got to get through this first.”

  “We’ve got to get through this? This,” he said, waving his hand, “is my life. All the stuff you want me to get through, it’s all the things I know. Every last thing. You want me to just...not be who I am?”

  “That’s not what I meant.”

  “Maybe I don’t want to get over it,” Dallas continued. “Maybe I learned some things that I need to remember from it. You don’t get to just decide that I should feel different or be different. That’s not up to you. Yeah, maybe you loved me before I was born, when you thought I was going to be a precious baby. But that’s not what I am now. And I’m not going to be. I’m not going to be that kid that you imagined. Ever. It’s too late for that. So get the fuck over it.”

  And then Dallas stormed away from him, heading off toward God knows where. And Bennett was left feeling like he had failed at everything that mattered.

  CHAPTER NINE

  KAYLEE WAS STARVING. She and Jamie had spent the morning sweating and planting flowers, which was frankly not in either of their wheelhouses, and then they had ridden out to the far side of the property to take a look at some manzanitas that Wyatt thought could maybe be transplanted to give the place a kind of rustic, natural feel.

  Unnaturally. But he hadn’t been overly amused when Kaylee had pointed that out.

  Jamie had complained the entire way about how she was going to poison her brother at dinner.

  There’d been a lot of muttering about bull riders who were far too full of themselves to be of any use to anyone.

  There were burgers being served in the mess hall, grilled by the arrogant bull rider himself, so Jamie had to retract some of her earlier venom as she shoved a burger into her mouth and thanked her brother for cooking.

  “And thank you for planting flowers, Jamie,” Wyatt said, smiling. Then he looked up and his smile faded. It turned into something much different. Not a frown, but something sharp and extremely aware.

  Kaylee followed his gaze to the front door of the simple room and saw Lindy Parker and Beatrix Leighton walking in holding boxes of wine. It was Lindy. That was why Wyatt looked the way that he did.

  Interesting. When it came to the two of them hating each other, Kaylee wondered if they protested a little bit too much.

  Though, maybe not on Lindy’s end. Considering the nasty divorce she had gone through only a couple of years ago, and with a friend of Wyatt’s no less. But Wyatt... No, it did not look like his feelings for Lindy were entirely negative.

  “Whe
re should I put the samples?” Lindy asked.

  Beatrix was straining to hold the weight of the boxes, and Kaylee smiled to herself, since the last time she had seen Beatrix holding a box, it had contained a raccoon.

  “How is the baby raccoon, Bea?” Kaylee asked, moving across the room to take the box from the more petite woman’s arms.

  “Oh, he’s doing great,” she said brightly.

  Lindy looked pained. “There’s a raccoon living in my winery.”

  “He’s in my cabin, Lindy,” Beatrix pointed out.

  Lindy made a long-suffering sound.

  The door opened again and Dallas came in looking grumpy. He didn’t say anything; instead, he walked over to where the burgers were to make himself a plate. Then he looked over at Lindy and Beatrix, and she saw his focus stop hard on Bea.

  There was a definite flash of interest in his eyes as he looked at her. Beatrix remained oblivious, but then, that didn’t surprise Kaylee since Bea was in her twenties and wouldn’t be looking at a fifteen-year-old boy.

  Dallas was so focused on Bea that when he picked his hamburger up he lost a whole tomato and didn’t seem to notice.

  Kaylee groaned inwardly. There was that whole element to teenage boys. How fun for Bennett to manage. Not.

  She waited for Bennett to show up, but he didn’t. The group of them mixed together, talking about the various plans that Wyatt and Lindy had for cross-promoting events. Including the big grand opening barbecue they would have on the Fourth of July.

  “It would be nice if we could get some microbrews to come,” she said. “I’ll call Ace Thompson down in Copper Ridge and see if he’s interested in having something set up. I know they have a big event happening down there on the same day, but maybe he can send out an employee.”

  “Sounds like a great idea to me,” Wyatt said, clearly taking the nonverbal cue that he and Lindy were having some kind of a cease-fire so they could work on business plans.

  Kaylee couldn’t do things like that. She couldn’t draw lines. There had never been such a thing as business and personal to her. Everything just became personal so easily. But then, her body didn’t seem to understand the lines between friendship and romance either.