by Roni Adams
Sara twisted on her bar stool and drained the rest of her beer. What was taking Buck so long to get back? She turned around to scan the room. There he was, talking to SueAnne Richardson. Sara bit back a smirk as she turned back to her beer. If he didn’t come back soon, she’d go rescue him. Then again, maybe she’d make him suffer. If he’d gone home with SueAnne last Saturday night, nothing would have changed between them. Now everything was...just weird.
Still, when another fifteen minutes went by and Buck hadn’t returned, she couldn’t help but glance back to the couple. The band started up and she almost fell off her barstool as Buck led the buxom brunette onto the floor.
Susan poked her in the shoulder. “Your mouth is hanging open like a trout.”
SueAnne tossed her head back and laughed in a high pitch squeal that made Sara wince before she turned away. “I should put him out of his misery—but he deserves it.”
She picked at the French fries she’d ordered, but couldn’t stop peeking over her shoulder as one dance led to two and then a third. Cole walked up to the bar.
“Wanna?” she asked, jerking her head towards the band.
He took a long swig of his beer and nodded. Setting the stein down, he clasped her hand. “You girls are going to wear me out tonight.”
Sara tossed her hair. “You love it and you know it. My sisters make you look good on the dance floor.”
Cole grinned. “That they do. I don’t know if it’s because we only see them once in a while or what, but they get more and more beautiful every time they come home.”
Sara nodded absently, her mind on the other side of the dance floor where Buck and SueAnne talked intently as if in a serious discussion.
“Doc’s making barbecue tomorrow night. Why don’t you join us?”
Sara glanced up. At some point in time, she’d have to tell Cole about her father’s Will. She’d even thought about asking Doc’s opinion, but gossip in this town spread faster than the flu and she wasn’t completely convinced Doc didn’t love to flap his jaw.
Cole pulled her closer. His muscular body brushed against hers as they danced. The only son of the local vet, he’d done his fair share of hard work. His father didn’t own a big ranch, but there was always plenty of hard physical labour to be done. She knew there was more than one local gal who’d love to catch Cole’s attention. Buck always called Cole ‘her boyfriend’, and while the two of them had dated for a couple years, they’d never been a couple. Still, he was a good friend, and it was only fair she told him what was happening at home. “Sounds good,” she agreed, the sooner the better. “What time?”
Cole smiled and squeezed her hand. “Why not come in the afternoon and we’ll take a ride. The horses could use the exercise.”
“Sure.”
Cole wrapped her hand around his neck so he could put both his arms around her. For just a moment, Sara let her head rest on his shoulder and hugged him back. She felt nothing as Cole held her tight—no arousal, no excitement, nothing. That had to tell her something. Someone tapped on Cole’s shoulder. When she lifted her head, Buck stood glaring at them.
Cole shrugged and handed her off as Buck indicated to cut in. Rather than make a scene, Sara slipped into Buck’s embrace as SueAnne danced away with Cole.
“Thought you didn’t want to dance,” he snarled.
“That was an hour ago. What’s your problem? You were dancing, weren’t you?”
Buck tried to pull her closer, but she kept her back rigid. She didn’t want to feel any part of his body against hers. Memories of last week flooded back. The kiss had been a huge mistake, it had gotten out of hand and they both had regretted it later. His large hand practically covered her back, the heat from his palm burning through her shirt. The scent of his deodorant soap drifted to her and she closed her eyes.
“Diane said you’re going to get a different lawyer to look at the Will.”
Sara was relieved to focus on something other than the muscles bunching in his shoulders under her palm. “It’s not going to make any difference. You heard Jackson. My father tied it up as tight as he could. When he wanted something to go his way, he always made sure there was no getting around it.”
“Maybe, maybe not. I think getting another opinion is a good idea.”
She nodded. “I will, but I’m trying to be realistic.”
Buck held her gaze for a long moment. “You really considering this insane idea?”
“I might not have any other choice.” Why didn’t he get that? “It’s just business, you have to stop getting so personal about it.”
“Is it going to be just business when you have to go to bed with him?”
Sara’s face flamed at the image he put in her head. Cord was as close to an older brother as she’d ever had, and she couldn’t think of anyone she’d be less likely to sleep with. She shuddered.
Buck laughed without humor. “Yeah, how’s that for an image? Think about it. This isn’t just a marriage on paper and you get to sleep in your own room and do your own thing. Cord isn’t about to tie himself to you without getting something in return and he wants kids.”
“You don’t know that. I haven’t even talked to him about it. I’ll make it clear that it’s a marriage in name only.”
“For fifteen years? You’re going to be married to one another for fifteen years without sex.”
“He can have sex with whoever he wants, what do I care?”
Buck’s eyes widened. “Are you listening to yourself at all? Do you hear what you’re saying?”
Sara stopped dancing. “Mind your own business. Who I do it with and who I don’t isn’t your concern.”
With a sinking heart she realized the band had stopped. The silence around her was worse than if someone passed gas in church. With a glare of warning at Buck, she stalked off the dance floor.
Chapter Six
Buck spotted Sara’s truck coming down the road leading away from the ranch. As he drove through the Double B arch, he thought she’d stop, but she simply gave a wave out the window and kept going. He frowned, wondering where she was off to this time of day. It was unusual for her to miss Sunday dinner, especially with her sisters home. Maybe she was only going to town and would be back.
He picked up his cell phone to call her then set it down again. He wasn’t her keeper. If she wanted him to know where she was going, she’d have said something. Last night, she’d left the bar before he did and he hadn’t seen her all day. She was avoiding him, and he had only himself to blame. If he hadn’t pulled that stupid poker stunt last week, then started arguing with her on the dance floor, she wouldn’t be so pissed. After their tiff, she’d stayed close to Cole all night, even going outside with him for a long period of time.
He drummed his hand on the open window of his truck. Was she thinking that she could marry Cord, keep the ranch and maybe have something with Cole on the side? Was that what was in her mind? Pritchard would never go for that. Then again, that boy thought Sara hung the moon. Nah, not Pritchard, he was way too straight an arrow. He’d never be involved in something like that. More than likely, he didn’t have a clue about the Will.
Toby Keith’s latest hit blared from the radio and he whistled along. As always, he kept an eye out for anything out of place in the fence lines or on the land. He loved the ranch, couldn’t imagine living anywhere else, but he didn’t have it in his blood the way his brother and Sara did. If he had to walk away tomorrow—if he could leave with Sara—he’d do it and not look back. What was he going to do if she married Cord? He figured he had two options: move to another part of the ranch—far enough away that he wouldn’t have to deal with the two of them very often, or stick around until...what? Fifteen years? Hell, both options left a bad taste in his mouth.
He parked in front of his house. As he stepped from the truck, Sam Grainer loped across the ranch yard. The ranch foreman grinned and held out his hand.
Buck jerked his head towards the kitchen door as he clasped Sam’s hand. �
�Hey old man, what’s for dinner?”
“Some fancy New York dish.”
“Flo’s not cooking?” It was a rare occasion when Sam’s wife wasn’t in charge of dinner.
Sam shook his head and shoved his hands in his pockets. “The girls wanted her to rest. It ain’t going over real good.”
Buck lifted one eyebrow. “They mean well.”
Sam nodded. “Yep, but I’ll hear about it all night.”
Buck dropped his hand on the shorter man’s shoulder. “I feel for you. What else is going on? Hey, where’d Sara go in such a hurry?”
“Doc’s place.”
“She’s not having dinner with her sisters?”
Sammy shrugged and looked away. “Maybe they’re getting serious.”
Buck crossed his arms over his chest. He had no clue if Sam and Flo knew about the Will or not. “Could be.”
Sam tipped his battered hat back on his head and Buck listened with amazement as the old man, who was usually stingy with his words, kept talking.
“You gonna let that happen?”
“Not much I can do.”
The longtime foreman shrugged and then spat chewing tobacco on the ground. “Always thought you were smarter than that.”
Buck eyed him right back. “That so?”
Sam nodded slowly. “Cole’s a good man, but Sara will lead that boy around by the nose.”
Buck grinned and leaned down. “Maybe he’s into that kinda thing.”
Sam shook his head. “Ain’t no man likes a woman who can push him around.” A grizzled old finger shot out in warning. “Nothing against Sara mind you, gal’s like a daughter to me and I want to see her done right by.”
“I hear you, Sam, I hear you.”
The old foreman tipped his head and pinned Buck with a steady gaze. “Heard some scuttlebutt talk about her Daddy trying to make her and Cord hitch up.”
Buck didn’t know what to say to that. “Can’t say, Sam.”
Sam nodded. “Don’t know what he was thinking.” He looked out in the distance and Sam spit again. “Cord’s a good man.”
Buck glanced at him and dropped his arms. “Yep.”
The older man held Buck’s gaze then turned as Flo hollered out the back door. Sam’s eyes lit up like a groom on his wedding night.
“Fifty years in June I’ve been coming when that woman calls. Good thing I wasn’t a chicken-shit, and told her how things was.”
Buck watched him walk away. If there was any man in the world he looked up to as much as his father and Sara’s father, it was Sam. He watched Flo frame the old man’s face in her hands and kiss him soundly. Buck grinned. Fifty years! It was a well-known fact around the ranch that the housekeeper and ranch foreman were still as hot for each other as ever. What must that be like, to have one woman your entire life who just adored you? He probably should say something to the others about this anniversary. Since Flo and Sam never had kids of their own, it was up to the children of their heart to throw them a huge party.
He turned away and headed into the house he shared with his brothers. Fortunately, none of them were around. He sure wasn’t in the mood to see Cord, and Teddy had left with some blonde around noon so he was spared dealing with all that. As for the youngest Weston, Tyler, it was anyone’s guess where he was these days. Lately, he’d taken to riding out to the most remote parts of the ranch and staying for days on end. He avoided the family more and more. Just one more concern to add to the pile.
Buck kicked off his boots, stripped from his jeans and shirt and dropped them in the laundry room. The house was smaller than the one Sara and her sisters were raised in. The main ranch house had been in the Sampson family for generations. His folks, on the other hand, had built this one when his father and Beau went into business together, long before the next generation was born. The house wasn’t small, but with four grown men living in it, sometimes even the ranch itself wasn’t enough room.
He had to admit there were times he envied Tyler and his escaping. He could get away from Teddy and his countless number of women. Get away from Cord. Maybe he should think about building his own place. With over 800,000 acres of land, there oughta be a corner he could put up a little shack and call it his own.
Standing under the hot shower, he couldn’t stop his thoughts from turning back to Sara. What was she doing out at Cole’s? She sure wasn’t helping Doc cook dinner, that’s for sure.
As the water flowed down his body, his mind went backwards. He could still feel her under his hands. She wasn’t wispy and delicate like Diane, and she wasn’t cute and petite like Susan and Beth. She was muscular, but still kept her feminine shape. Sara was strong and solid, and he felt like he could hold her tight and not break her.
Her face was soft, her eyes were bright and usually full of mischief to the point he chuckled just thinking about her. Then he remembered how those eyes looked after he kissed her last week, the fury, the hurt.
“Agh,” he growled shoving his head under the water.
Only one other time had he ever seen that look on her face, the night he and Cord sat her down and told her that her father had died. She’d sobbed in his arms all night, but the next morning as they addressed the ranch hands, she’d been completely in control and composed. She’d stood strong with her sisters through the service and the social obligations after. Only he’d seen her vulnerability, how lost and alone she was on the inside. And that was what he’d seen last week after he’d kissed her. He never wanted to see that look in her eyes again.
He turned the water off, and wrapped a thick towel around his waist. He’d do whatever he could to keep her from marrying Cord, he’d talk to her, he’d cuss, he’d yell, he’d pitch a fit. But the one thing he wouldn’t do was kiss her again. He wasn’t going to ever give her a reason to look at him like that again.
****
Sara leaned against the wall, yanked off her boots, then padded into the kitchen. She glanced at the clock on the microwave and groaned. She’d stayed at Cole’s way too late. She smirked, remembering one of Doc’s jokes. It had been good to relax and have some beers and barbecue with Cole and his father. Cole’s mother had died a couple years ago and she knew the two men were still lost without her and enjoyed having company for Sunday dinner once in a while. She rubbed her stomach. She’d pay for all the barbecue she ate later too, but man, Doc could cook!
Out in the hall, she wasn’t surprised to see a light under the den door. It wasn’t unusual for Cord to be in there working late at night. She was halfway up the stairs when the door creaked opened.
“Sara?”
She bit her bottom lip, wanting to ignore him, but turned anyway. “Yeah?”
“I was waiting for you. Got a minute?”
She frowned. Waiting for her? “I’m beat and I gotta be at the barn at 4:30.”
“This won’t take long.”
She hesitated, knowing what he wanted to talk about and sure she didn’t want to do this now after such a great afternoon. But his face told her he wasn’t going to let it go. Without bothering to conceal her reluctance, she came down the stairs and walked past him into the den.
He closed the door and waved his hand to indicate the small leather couch. The barbecue began to revolt in her stomach, but she forced herself to sit down. She kept on the edge though, no point in letting him think she was going to be there a while.
Cord sat down next to her, also staying on the edge. He didn’t appear confident and composed, which was unusual for him. “Diane told me she’s going to have the Will reviewed by another attorney.”
“Yep.”
“I don’t blame you. I think it’s a good idea to do that. But you know, Jake said there’s nothing to be done.”
“I know.” Sara drummed her fingers on the arm of the couch. “I told them that.”
She studied the portrait of her late mother above the mantle. Her mother had the painting done as a surprise for her husband, but she’d died before she could give it to him. F
lo had known about it and presented the precious gift to her father after the accident. Many times Sara had walked in here and found her father staring at it. She often wondered what he was thinking, what he would have liked to have told his wife. She never doubted the love her parents had for one another, it had transcended even death. What would Julia Sampson think of this insane idea her husband had for her daughter?
“When the accident happened,” Cord began, his voice gentle. “I’d just turned 20. I figured I’d quit college, come back home and take care of my brothers. I was scared to death. I wasn’t ready to take over my father’s half of the business. I’d no clue what to do. Your father didn’t even give me a choice. He stepped in, insisted I finish the last two years of college.”
Sara didn’t say anything. It was a day that was engraved on all their memories the same way their parents’ names were on the tombstone in the family cemetery. The plane that had carried her mother and Cord’s parents to Houston for the day had crashed shortly after takeoff. The only reason her father hadn’t died too was he had to stay home that day for a last minute meeting with a sales rep.
She looked over at Cord. The accident had bonded them all together in a way not many would ever understand.
“If your father hadn’t stepped in and took over raising us boys, I don’t know where we’d be today. I never thought I’d respect another man more than my own father, but in the past twelve years, your father became even more to me than my own had been.”
Sara nodded. She blinked back the tears that filled her eyes at the memory of the man everyone adored. Beau Sampson had a heart as big as the ranch he owned. There weren’t many men in the world who would have taken over raising eight kids, let alone eight teenagers.
Cord looked her in the eye. “Your father is the reason I’m the man I am. He’s the reason my brothers all have become good men. Even in his grief, losing his wife and his best friends in the same moment, he didn’t let it bring him to his knees. I owe him Sara and I would do anything for him.”
Sara lifted her chin and stared him straight in the eye. Yep he would. Even marry someone he didn’t love. Wow, what woman wouldn’t love that for a proposal? She bit back the nasty retort.