“We found him.” He caught her as the last of her strength deserted her. “He’s in the house.”
“Thank God,” she said and burst into tears.
He wrapped his arm around her waist, and she leaned heavily on him, appreciating his strength. They walked her back to the house. Sierra would have preferred to run but her bones had yet to solidify.
“Where was he?” she asked feebly.
“My mother has him.”
“Your mother! Why?”
“I don’t know. I didn’t ask. I was just so glad to find him.”
Well, Sierra was going to ask. And Blythe had better have a damn good reason for putting Sierra through hell.
She and Clay went directly to the living room. Blythe sat in a wingback chair, Jamie on her lap. Several people—strangers, all of them—surrounded her and bent over Jamie, speaking to him in baby talk. He fussed and writhed and made unhappy faces. While getting better, he was still leery of people he didn’t know.
Sierra broke away from Clay. The second Jamie saw her, he opened his arms to her. “Ma, ma, ma.”
Her throat closed. This was the first time he’d called her Mama. He must have been just as scared as she was.
“Hi.” Blythe greeted her warmly. “I hope you don’t mind—”
Sierra lifted Jamie off Blythe’s lap and clutched him to her chest. She wouldn’t let him out of her sight ever again, no matter what.
“How could you take him and not tell me?” she demanded, her voice cracking.
Blythe’s jaw dropped. “I’m…sorry. I didn’t think—”
“Obviously, you didn’t.” Sierra stroked Jamie’s back, as much to reassure him as herself.
“Sierra,” Clay said. “It’s okay.”
“No, it isn’t. She had no right to take him.”
Twin spots of color appeared on Blythe’s cheeks. “I meant no harm,” she said stiffly. “I just peeked in your room to show Lil and Beverly how cute he is, and he was awake, standing up in the crib. I brought him out here. I didn’t think you’d mind.”
“I do mind. Very much.”
The half dozen pairs of eyes that had been fastened on Blythe switched to Sierra. She could feel the disapproval, the silent consensus that she was making a huge deal out of nothing.
She probably shouldn’t have snapped at Blythe in front of her friends. But Blythe shouldn’t have taken Jamie from his crib without telling Sierra.
“I apologize for losing my temper,” she said. “I was upset to find Jamie gone.”
“All you had to do, my dear, was look around.”
Sierra bristled at Blythe’s condescending tone. “I did look around. I didn’t find him.”
“Perhaps I should go give my respects to the brides and grooms.” Blythe rose from the chair, tall and slim and dignified.
In comparison, Sierra felt small, and not just in stature.
“Mom, wait.” Clay reached for his mother, then said to Sierra, “This is just a misunderstanding. Let’s not blow it out of proportion. Not today. Jamie’s safe. No harm, no foul.”
A misunderstanding? Sierra thought it was more than that.
Clay was right, however, about her brothers’ wedding not being the time or place to discuss it. She would take the matter up later with him, and he could talk privately to his mother.
“Excuse me, please.” Blythe slid past Clay, a thin smile on her face.
“It’s all right,” one of her friends soothed while casting Sierra an accusatory glance. “I’ll come with you.”
Fine, blame her. Sierra didn’t care.
Okay, she did care. She didn’t want her family’s friends thinking badly of her.
“Mom,” Clay said, his voice low but firm. “Sierra has a right to be upset. Don’t be angry with her.”
Blythe halted. “I’m not angry.”
“Maybe angry isn’t the word.”
“She overreacted. I’m the boy’s grandmother. Can’t I pick up my own grandson from his crib when he’s awake?”
“No one is saying you can’t pick up Jamie.” The look Clay gave Sierra was kind, not condoning. “She’s been through a lot lately. More than you know. And if you did know, you wouldn’t think she overreacted.”
He was defending her. Taking her side. In front of his mother and her friends.
Gratitude vanquished the last of her anger, and she smiled at him.
He pinched Jamie’s cheek. “Do you think this little guy’s old enough for some wedding cake?”
“Plenty old enough.”
She turned, intending to make amends with Blythe, only she and her friends were gone, and a heavy silence had descended over the room.
Terrific. Sierra had gone and spoiled her brothers’ wedding.
Chapter Nine
Sierra answered the phone, a smile in her voice. “Good afternoon, Duvall Rodeo Arena. How may I help you?”
Clay sat in a visitor chair observing her at work, his open laptop computer balanced on his knees. Her first day on the job and already she sounded as if she’d been at it for months.
“Yes, I can get that for you. Hold on a second.” She opened a three-ring binder containing the rodeo arena’s rates and policies. “Are you interested in just bull-riding or also bronc-riding?”
Clay returned his attention to the monthly financial reports on the laptop screen, keeping one ear tuned to Sierra’s conversation. They’d spent an hour when she first arrived at the office going over the types of calls she could expect and how to respond. Clearly, Sierra was a fast learner and not bragging when she’d referred to herself as the “go-to” assistant at her former job.
She’d spend the majority of yesterday moving into the casita and rearranging it to suit her tastes. He’d wanted to be more involved, his curiosity admittedly piqued. It was her father’s help she’d enlisted, not Clay’s, so he had yet to see the changes she’d made.
Frankly, he couldn’t care less. He was just pleased that she and Jamie were here.
As if detecting his thoughts, his son banged his toy pony on the side of the playpen.
“Ba, da, da.”
Clay put a finger to his lips. “Hush, son. Your mommy’s on the phone,” he said softly.
Jamie grinned, displaying yet another new tooth.
They’d set the recently purchased playpen up in the corner. Sierra had protested, not at the location but that Clay had refused to let her pay for it. He’d also purchased a full-size crib for the casita. In hindsight, he should have taken Sierra with him to the store. But then they probably wouldn’t have agreed on which was the best brand. He and Sierra did have a tendency to take opposite sides of every issue.
Except for his mother removing Jamie from his crib during the wedding reception. His mother had been wrong, and he fully intended to discuss the subject with her when she came by in a little while to join him, Sierra and Jamie for dinner.
It had required almost no coercion on his part to convince both women to accept his invitation, and Clay was glad they seemed eager to make amends.
Before dinner, however, he needed to have a different discussion with his mother, this one about what his father had told him at the Saddle Up Saloon. Between kissing Sierra and the wedding, he’d gotten understandably sidetracked.
Jamie’s banging escalated, and he emitted a loud shriek.
Sierra grimaced, though her tone remained pleasant. “Thank you for calling,” she told the potential customer. “We’ll see you tomorrow morning.” Hanging up the phone, she sighed. “Baby, you have to be quiet.”
Jamie grabbed the side of the playpen and rattled it.
“I think he’s getting a little tired of being cooped up,” Clay said.
“Yeah.” She eyed Jamie worriedly, her thoughts clear. Their son was only going to get bigger and louder.
“Give him a chance,” Clay said. “He’ll settle down. Get used to the routine.”
She didn’t reply, merely got up from her chair and gave Jamie a toddler bi
scuit.
Clay hoped she’d eventually be agreeable to day care or a sitter, the sooner, the better. Her anxieties would be debilitating, for her and Jamie and Clay, too. He was counting on the counseling sessions to make a difference.
Sierra had been upset when she’d first learned she couldn’t bring Jamie with them into the sessions and parenting classes and had almost backed out. Whatever argument her attorney had employed had had a positive effect. She’d consented to having Wayne accompany them to watch Jamie in the waiting area.
It was a step, and Clay was proud of her. When he’d told her so yesterday, she’d blushed. Very prettily, he might add.
He closed his laptop and got to his feet, purposefully distracting himself. This wasn’t the first time he’d thought of Sierra as more than just the mother of his child. It wasn’t even the first time today. He needed to get a grip on himself, and fast, before she sensed the change in him, panicked and moved out when she’d only just moved in.
That girl deserves your name, too.
Clay swallowed, his father’s words ringing in his ears.
He wanted nothing more than to be the best dad in the world to Jamie. He would be the best dad. Did that require he marry Sierra? He found her attractive, desired her, thought there couldn’t be a more caring and devoted mother for his son. But he wasn’t ready to walk down the aisle with her. Not until he’d fully healed from the wounds Jessica had inflicted.
His gaze went to Jamie, his heart swelling with love. How could Jessica have been relieved to lose their baby?
How could Sierra have given theirs up?
“I’m heading outside,” he told her, wanting to clear his head. “Conner’s delivering some of the mustangs from Sage’s sanctuary, and then Mom will be here. Will you be okay flying solo?”
“As long as Jamie’s quiet. He’s usually napping by now. I think he finds the office too interesting.”
“I like that he’s taking an interest in the business.”
Sierra laughed.
Clay didn’t. If she decided to stay more than the three months they’d agreed to, this could truly be a family business.
He bent and kissed Jamie on the top of the head on his way out the door.
In the main arena, several pairs of team ropers were practicing, reminding Clay he should have Sierra confirm the herd of weanling calves scheduled to arrive this week. Also, check on the rental contract for the three bulls and seven bucking horses they would be sending to the Helzapoppin Rodeo in Buckeye next month. Batteries Included, his best bucking horse, had already earned enough money to support the rodeo arena through May. At this rate, the large gelding could easily qualify for the National Finals Rodeo in December.
He’d be Clay’s first stock animal to qualify for a world championship event and could potentially bring in a slew of new contracts.
Not bad for being in business less than two years. If things kept on the way they were, Clay really would have something of value to leave to his children.
Children? As in plural?
He’d always envisioned himself with two or three. The head of a large, boisterous family. Being an only child, he’d missed having brothers and sisters. That was probably one of the reasons he’d been so close to Ethan and Gavin and had considered Powell Ranch his second home.
His son deserved siblings.
What if Sierra met someone and got married? What if she and her husband had children?
Clay didn’t like that idea. He’d marry Sierra himself first, whether he was over Jessica or not.
He slowed his steps, slowed his racing thoughts.
Better to hold off, see how this co-parenting arrangement progressed. He’d married once in haste and entered into an affair in haste. Each time, someone had walked away hurt. He wouldn’t make the same mistake a third time.
* * *
TEN MINUTES LATER, Clay rounded the corner of the main horse barn and spotted Conner’s truck and trailer. His friend and fellow best man was at that moment unloading a pair of feral mustangs, one bay, one buckskin.
“Need some help?” Clay hollered, quickening his steps.
“Sure do. These two boys have yet to learn any manners.” Conner opened the rear gate on the trailer. “Watch out!” he yelled a scant second before the buckskin kicked.
Clay ducked, the lightning-fast hoof missing him by inches. “I see what you mean.”
Once out of the trailer, the horses behaved marginally better. They allowed Clay and Conner to lead them to a small pasture behind the main horse barn and well away from the other livestock.
Conner opened the gate. “Ethan sure has his work cut out for him when he and Caitlin return from that resort in Sedona.”
Gavin and Sage were also on their honeymoon—at a five-star hotel in Palm Springs. Clay got a kick out of imagining his rough and rugged buddies in the lap of sophisticated luxury. Then again, they were newlyweds and were probably staying in their rooms till noon. Clay would if it were him.
He and Conner walked the young geldings along the pasture perimeter, acquainting them with the fenceline before removing their halters. Immediately, the horses galloped in circles, bucking and rearing playfully before investigating the feed and water troughs.
“They are a bit ornery,” Clay agreed.
He and Ethan had decided before the wedding to bring these two horses to Clay’s place as a first step in moving the mustang sanctuary from Powell Ranch. When Gavin and Ethan returned, they’d transport the rest of the horses and continue training.
“How ’bout you and me head to the Saddle Up for a beer and burgers?” Conner asked on the walk back to his truck. “My treat.”
“Can’t. Mom will be here any minute. She’s having dinner with Sierra and I.”
“Another one bites the dust,” Conner grumbled.
“Why don’t you come by this weekend? We’ll grill some steaks and watch the basketball game.”
“You sure Sierra will let you off your leash?”
“It’s not like that,” Clay insisted as his friend climbed in behind the wheel.
“Yeah, right.” Conner started the engine. “See you Sunday.” He slammed the door shut and, with a wave, drove off, the empty trailer making a clanging racket as it bumped over the rough ground.
Was it like that?
Things had definitely changed these last few weeks. Before Sierra came home with Jamie, Clay would have gone out with his friend in a heartbeat. Now, he had chicken and vegetables in the slow cooker and was trying to remember if he’d put out clean towels in the hall bathroom.
Wasn’t all that different from being married.
Except he didn’t get to wake up next to Sierra every morning.
A memory surfaced, one where he had woken up next to her at the Phoenix Inn. She’d been naked, save for a tangled sheet covering her shapely form. Her mussed hair had fallen appealingly over her sleepy eyes, and her tanned skin glowed from their long hours of lovemaking.
She’d never looked prettier or sexier.
He could think of worse things than waking up beside her every morning.
His cell phone rang. Nothing like the sight of his mother’s number on his caller ID to banish all inappropriate thoughts of Sierra.
“Hey, Mom.”
“I’m running a bit behind,” she informed him.
“No problem. See you soon.”
Clay conferred with his barn manager on the way to the house. He tried not to dwell on dinner. Just because Sierra and his mother had agreed to come didn’t guarantee the evening would go smoothly. His mother pulled up just as he reached the driveway.
“Where’s Sierra and Jamie?” she asked, kissing his cheek and handing him an apple pie to carry in.
“At the office.”
“How’s she doing?”
“Great. She’s catching on really fast.”
“No, I meant how’s she doing after…the wedding?”
“She hasn’t mentioned you once, if that’s what you’r
e wondering.”
“It is.” Blythe sighed wistfully. “I’m hoping she and I can put all that unpleasantness behind us.”
“Me, too.”
They made their way inside where Clay put the pie on the kitchen counter and checked on the chicken.
“How soon till she’s finished work?”
He added water to the slow cooker. “About an hour.”
“Do you have to rush back to the office or can we visit?”
“Actually, I was planning on you and I visiting.” He attempted to keep his tone light.
His mother saw right through him. “What’s wrong?”
Clay propped his back against the kitchen counter. “I spoke to Dad last week.”
“Did you?” Blythe sat at the table. “You know I’ve always hated that you and he were estranged.”
“No, Mom, I don’t. I can’t remember you ever telling me anything like that.”
She hesitated, as if carefully considering her answer before responding. “That was a long time ago. I’ve moved on. I’m glad to see you’re doing the same thing.”
“My conversation with Dad was far from amiable.”
“Oh, dear.”
Clay crossed his arms. “He mentioned something. About you. Something that was news to me.”
Her eyes grew wary. “What was that?”
“He said he sold the Powells’ land because you forced him to. That you wanted your share of the marital assets and wouldn’t wait. The only way he could come up with the money was to exercise the clause in his loan contract with Wayne.”
She stared fixedly at her clasped hands. “He said that, huh?”
Clay’s stomach dropped to his knees. It was true. He could read it in her expression. “How could you?”
“I didn’t force him to sell the land. What assets he liquidated was his choice.”
“What other assets were there to liquidate? He’d already sold the cattle operation.” And given Clay half the proceeds, which he’d gladly accepted.
If only he’d realized his parents would be divorcing a few months later he’d have refused the proceeds in order to save the Powells’ land. By then, however, he’d already purchased the property for the rodeo arena.
“I had no clue what other assets,” Blythe said testily. “Your father handled all our finances. He told me only what he thought I needed to know.”
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