Gone Country: Rough Riders, Book 14

by Lorelei James

  “How are you feeling?” he asked.

  Sierra looked at Marin. “Much better now.”

  “Glad to hear it. Good to see you again, Marin.”

  “You too, Mr. Daniels.”

  “Please, call me Gavin. You girls need anything? Drinks? Snacks?”

  “Can you stay a little longer?” Sierra asked Marin.

  “Sure. It’s not like I’d rather be doing homework.”

  “Thanks, Dad, pizza rolls would be good.”

  “I’m on it.” He cut to the back staircase.

  “You know, Arizona, your dad is kinda hot.”

  “Eww!”

  A beat passed. “Know who else is hot?”

  “Who?”

  “Boone West.”

  Sierra sighed. “I’m never gonna live this down, am I?”

  “Nope.” Marin smiled. “Because you’ll have me around every day to remind you.”

  “Awesome.”

  “Admit it. You missed me.”

  “I really did.”

  Chapter Thirty-Two

  Late February…

  Gavin scanned the crowd at Ziggy’s. With more than half the damn men wearing black cowboy hats, he wandered through the entire bar before he saw Dalton, sitting at a table in the corner, far from the action. He took the chair opposite him. “Hey, Dalton.”

  “Gavin. Glad you could make it.”

  “I was surprised by the invite.”

  “Well, we haven’t had a chance to catch up…” Dalton sent him a sheepish smile. “I’m fresh outta drinking buddies, now that Tell and Georgia got hitched, so since you ain’t hitched either, you were selected.”

  Gavin grinned. No bullshit. He liked that. He ordered Crown and water from the cocktail waitress after she finished flirting shamelessly with Tell. “Vi told me Tell and Georgia flew to Vegas. Did you go?”

  “I stood up for Tell. I never turn down a chance to go to Vegas. That said, I wouldn’t get married in Sin City on Valentine’s Day, but that’s what they wanted. From there they flew to Acapulco. I hung around a couple days after, played some cards.”

  “Did you win?”

  “I won big enough one night they upgraded my room at the Hard Rock to the high roller’s suite. Immediately all sorts of lovely ladies volunteered to help me celebrate.”

  Gavin laughed. Dalton, like the rest of the McKays, had the rugged good looks women seemed to go for. He was a strapping guy, easily several inches taller than either of his brothers. Broader too. That baby-face was deceiving, according to Vi. Dalton McKay liked to fight. And he liked to win.

  Once the drinks were on the table, Dalton lifted his glass for a toast. “To the last two single McKays standing.”

  After Gavin drank, he felt the need to point out, “Since Rielle and I are in a relationship, technically I’m not single.”

  “Technically you’re not a McKay either.” Dalton laughed. “Sorry. Couldn’t resist. So it’s serious with you and Rielle?”

  “Wasn’t something either of us expected, but it’s…” He wanted to say she’s the best thing that’s ever happened to me, but that sounded sappy, so he said, “Good. We’re taking it day by day.”

  “Sierra is cool with it?”

  “She seems to be. Sierra’s been a bit of a humble Tigger since the accident, if you know what I mean.”

  “I’ve been there, as you well know.”

  He looked Dalton in the eye. “I don’t hold that intervention with Ben against you, Dalton. You did what you thought was right. You were looking out for someone you cared about.”

  Dalton turned his lowball glass on the cocktail napkin. “It sure opened my eyes about a lot of things.”

  “Mine too, to be honest. Anyway, Sierra and Rielle get along well. They like each other and spend time together, but I don’t force the issue. Might sound obvious, but I’m Sierra’s parent, Ree is not. It’d be easy to put expectations on her since we’re living together and because she’s a woman who’s been a single parent. We’re still figuring out boundaries.”

  “How did Rory react to Rielle being in a relationship with you?”

  “Not so well. Why?”

  Dalton shrugged. “I ain’t surprised. Bein’ an only child, she’s always been spoiled by havin’ all her mom’s attention. She ain’t gonna be happy sharing it, even when she’s old enough to know better.”

  That just reminded Gavin of how big a step it’d been for Rielle to keep her daughter out of the intimate relationship in her life.

  “Plus, it’s gotta piss Rory off that Rielle is involved with a McKay.”

  “Why’s that?”

  “Oh, I suspect the McKays offering to buy the Wetzler’s land over the years had some to do with it.” Dalton sipped his drink. “I suspect I had a lot more to do with it.”

  “Yeah? What makes you say that?”

  “It’s…complicated. I’ve always considered Rory a friend. But after that night in Laramie, she’d rather punch me—and she usually does—than look at me.” He paused. “Me’n Rory got into it the night she was at the Golden Boot with Sierra.”

  “Sierra didn’t mention it.”

  Dalton laughed. “That surprises me since your girl had to put Rory in a headlock to keep her from goin’ after me.”

  Gavin decided he’d be better off not knowing what else had gone down that night. “So you really called me up because you’re looking for a drinking buddy?”

  “Partially. Feelin’ sorry for myself. The other part is to ask if you’ve got any plans for the land you own that abuts your brother’s section?”

  “I’ll be honest, Dalton, after what happened before, I suspect it’s in my best interest to keep the family peace, to change the subject now, before you ask me something or tell me something I don’t want to know.”

  “How about if I share what’s on my mind but we’ll keep this discussion between us for the time being. That way, both our asses are covered.”

  “Deal.” Gavin leaned back in his chair. “So what’s going on?”

  “This fall we agreed to lease Charlene Fox’s place for two years, and at the end of those two years, we have first purchase option. Do you know what piece of land I’m talking about?”

  “Does it make me a greenhorn if I say no?”

  Dalton offered a wide smile. “Nope. The land is adjacent to your creek access.”

  Gavin frowned. “My creek frontage is only about thirty yards. Rielle’s section has most the creek frontage.”

  “Yeah, I know. But she’s—or rather Rory has—made it plain she doesn’t want cattle close by. But with your section adjoining Ben’s, there’s a chance Ben and Quinn will address leasing grazing rights from you.”

  “Leasing?”

  “Yes. Ben and Quinn are your brothers, and they wouldn’t expect to get the rights for free—but bein’s you are a greenhorn, their brother and rich in your own right, they’d try to get a deal and tie up the lease rights for years. The chunk you own isn’t the ideal piece of dirt, and it’s undeveloped, which means it’d be a lot of work on their part to get it cleared. So I’m wondering if that work load is beyond your brothers’ capabilities, since it’s just the two of them running things and they don’t have extra time or hands.”

  “But it’s not beyond your capabilities?”

  Dalton leaned forward. “No. We’ve got two extra set of working hands in Jessie and Georgia. Libby don’t help Quinn out as much as she used to on the ranch after their kids were born, and Ainsley ain’t the type to devote a month to clearing brush.

  “What I’m asking is to keep in mind we’re interested in leasing that land. We’re willing to do improvements on it—on our dime. We’re not at that point yet where we can consider signin’ a lease with you. But we will be in the next year. So it’d be a serious blow to us if you’d already signed a long term lease with Ben and Quinn. Me, Tell and Brandt will pay the highest going rate. I know your brothers won’t offer you that, so I’m pointing out ahead of time that doi
n’ business with us will be the better deal for you. And since it appears you’re in Wyoming for the long haul, we wanted to state our…offer—for lack of a better term—up front.”

  He allowed a moment to digest the information. But he had to admit Dalton impressed the hell out of him. Not playing on any type of family connection, laying out the facts. Appealing to Gavin’s practical side. “Out of the original 140 acres Rielle owned, she has forty. One hundred acres is a piss-ant amount in the scheme of McKay Ranches.”

  “Maybe, but the right hundred acres, adjacent to our four thousand acres, with creek frontage ain’t nothin’ to sneeze at.”

  “How many people underestimate you?”

  Dalton grinned. “A lot. Especially when I’m playin’ cards. They see my baby-face and assume…well, not many of them assume I’m a rookie anymore.”

  “Is that how you funded your land purchases? Through gambling?”

  Dalton hung his head. “Yes sir.”

  “Don’t even try to pull off contrite, Dalton.”

  He laughed. “Sorry. So as long as we’re swapping stories about how we made our millions—ha ha—I gotta know if all of yours was inherited.”

  Strange to think his brothers hadn’t asked him this question. But since Dalton had been honest with him, he owed his cousin the same courtesy. “My dad started a real estate development company in the 1960s. He did very well in the 70s, 80s and lost more than half when the credit market collapsed. He recovered, but never like during the heyday. He died when I was twenty-eight and I was already VP of the company, so I took over.” Gavin sipped his drink. “My father was a great guy, but I found out a few things he’d done that were shady and I worried his mistakes would come back and bite me in the ass.

  “So a few years after his death, I started buying cheap properties. Rentals in decent areas that didn’t require more than basic updates. Two properties turned into four, four turned into eight…and so on. Around that time, I’d had enough of my cheating wife and filed for divorce. Instead of letting that bitterness eat away at me more than it already had, I become more hands on, buying government foreclosures, houses auctioned by banks, any little gem I could turn fast. I’d go in and gut the place. There’s nothing more cathartic than beating the fuck out of stuff with a sledgehammer.”

  “Are you kiddin’ me?”

  “No. I worked out my aggression toward my ex-wife and started flipping houses at exactly the right time in the market. I made a killing. I reinvested it in rental properties. Daniels Development Group is still in business, I’m still a figurehead CEO, but with the spectacular crash of the housing market, the bulk of my business focus is Daniels Property Management. Since I’m not hands-on, ripping places apart, I can work from anywhere. Made it easy to move here.”

  “I had no idea. I gotta say. That’s impressive.” Dalton gave him a self-satisfied smile. “Everyone else in the family sees you as a suit, making real estate deals. From this point on, I’ll see you busting shit up with a chainsaw.”

  Gavin laughed.

  “So we have a deal?”

  “All right.”

  “This stays between us,” Dalton cautioned. “If anything changes on your end or my end, we’ll agree to meet to discuss it before making a decision?”

  “Sounds good.”

  Without missing a beat, Dalton said, “Now that that’s out of the way, you wanna play pool?”

  Gavin studied the too-innocent face. Pool shark as well as card shark? Probably. But Gavin still had a few tricks he could teach this pup. “Sure. But we’re not playing for money, right?”

  “How about if we play a few games and see how it goes?”

  “Sounds fair.”

  Two hours later Gavin went home three hundred dollars richer.

  He doubted Dalton would underestimate him again.

  Chapter Thirty-Three

  March…

  Rielle stormed into Gavin’s bedroom. “Do you know who I just got off the phone with?”

  “Publishers Clearing House?”

  “Not even remotely funny, Gavin Daniels. A trucking company based out of Denver just called, asking me when I’d be home to accept shipment for a greenhouse. Not a greenhouse kit, but a fully finished greenhouse.”

  He had a hard time containing his smile.

  Her gaze pierced him. “You wouldn’t happen to know anything about that, would you?”

  “Could you describe this greenhouse?”

  Rielle threw up her hands. “It’s a greenhouse! You know very well what a greenhouse looks like.”

  “Oh, right. Then that’s probably the greenhouse I bought you.”

  “Did I just hear you say you bought me a greenhouse?”

  “Is there an echo in here? Yes, I bought you a greenhouse. And I’m disappointed because they were supposed to deliver it last week.”

  “Oh. My. God. Are you serious?”

  “Completely.”

  “Who buys someone a fucking greenhouse?” she demanded.

  “I didn’t buy someone a fucking greenhouse, I bought you a fucking greenhouse,” he shot back. “Big difference.”

  “How did you even know I was pricing them?”

  Gavin cocked his head. “Rory told me.”

  “What? When the hell did you talk to my daughter?”

  “Last week she called to check on Sierra, when Sierra was sleeping, so I chatted with her. She apologized for being a jerk when she found out we were together. I confessed I’d been difficult to live with in the weeks after Sierra’s accident and I wanted to make it up to you.”

  “That’s your way of apologizing? You buy me a greenhouse?”

  “Yep.”

  “Jesus, Gavin. Why didn’t you just buy me flowers?”

  “In a way, I did. You can grow your own flowers in your new fucking greenhouse.” He grinned.

  “You are impossible. I can’t accept this from you.”

  Gavin scooped her up, threw her on the bed, and loomed over her. “You don’t have a choice. I custom ordered it. It’s on the way and it’s nonrefundable.” He studied her face. She had that determined set to her jaw, which meant arguing was pointless. So he kissed her.

  “No fair,” she panted after he slid his mouth between her breasts.

  “Say, thank you, Gavin, for such a thoughtful gift.”

  “I will pay you for it.”

  “Now you are starting to piss me off, Ree. I didn’t buy it out of guilt. I bought it because you needed it and because I could. I wanted to do something nice for you.”

  “This goes way beyond nice.”

  “I know. What I feel for you can hardly be described as nice. I love you.”

  That’s when she softened. When her pride took a serious smackdown from her heart. “I love you too. It’s just weird to have you buy me things. I don’t know if I’ll ever get used to it.”

  “Get used to it. And practice that saying thank you thing, because I had them toss in a new tractor with a trailer attachment.”

  Her mouth dropped open. “Did you really?”

  “Yes. But it’s just a little tractor, so a little thank you will be fine.”

  She laughed. “You are so ridiculous. That’s probably why I’m ridiculously in love with you.” She lifted up and kissed him. “Thank you, Gavin, for such a thoughtful gift.”

  “My pleasure.”

  “This greenhouse is enormous,” Ainsley said.

  “Tell me about it. It’s twice the size of the one I’d been saving for.”

  “And Gavin just bought it for you three weeks ago? Out of the blue? Was it a lucky guess?”

  Rielle unhooked a hose coupling. “No. He talked to Rory and she told him. I suspect she exaggerated just a bit about what I wanted.”

  Ainsley laughed. “How is Rory?”

  “Busy. We only get to catch up about once a week.”

  “So has she come around as far as you and Gavin being in a relationship?”

  “Actually, yes. She apologized to m
e and to Gavin, although he didn’t go into detail about what she said to him.”

  Ainsley’s eyebrows rose. “That’s progress.”

  “I thought so. I’ll admit I suspected Rory was trying to pull one over on me. Claiming she had accepted the relationship in the hopes I would confide the intimate details to her. She’s sneaky that way.”

  “Has she been hinting around she’d like to know more?”

  “No.”

  “Uh-oh. I recognize that contemplative look. What’s up?”

  Rielle twisted on the spray nozzle until it loosened and fell off. “What I don’t understand is even when everything is going so great between Gavin and me, why do I still feel like I’m waiting for the other shoe to drop?”

  “Ree. That’s natural. It’s completely normal that you’re afraid now you’ve found this incredible happiness, you’ll lose it or something will screw it up.”

  “Exactly! If it’s so natural and normal did you talk to Ben about this stuff at this stage in your relationship?”

  Ainsley squirmed and Rielle wished she could retract the question. Although Ainsley alluded to it, she never came out and said her intimate relationship with Ben was…more intense.

  “Not until Ben and I decided we wanted the same thing. We didn’t have the added pressure of kids meddling or trying to manipulate our emotions. So is Sierra completely accepting of your relationship with Gavin?”

  “Most days. She’s sixteen, though. One day she’s on top of the world, the next day she’s in the pit of despair. Everything is a crisis in her life. A bad hair day. A B minus on a test. If a friend ignored her in the hallway. Or she’s elated because her favorite song came on the radio. Or if she’s having a good hair day.”

  “Was Rory that way?”

  “Worse. I think most girls are like that. I’d forgotten how small things are such huge angst inducing incidents in teen girls’ lives. Things we dismiss as irrelevant are life changing events in their world. It boggles my mind, what event constitutes a major breakdown and then is easily shrugged off the next day.”

  “Now that you mention it, I remember being exactly like that,” Ainsley said with a groan.

  “Gavin handles it really well. He’s a great father. And I know this will sound weird, but his nurturing, unconditional love and fluid discipline style he shows as Sierra’s father is one of the reasons I was so attracted to him.”