More Than a Cowboy (The Carmody Brothers Book 3)

by Sarah Mayberry

  “Let me guess—then he wanted to know if Pedro made it back okay,” Jesse said, standing and offering CJ a hand to pull her to her feet.

  “Bingo,” Casey said, rewarding Jesse with a big grin.

  Everyone laughed, the relief palpable in the room.

  “I’ll leave you to it, but just so you know, if he stays stable for the next few hours, we’ll transfer him to a normal ward sometime later today. And if that goes well, you can expect him home in a couple of days. Snakebites can be tricky, with some side effects not showing up for a few days, so we’ll want to keep him under observation,” Dr. Witten said.

  “Thank you so much for taking such good care of him,” Sierra said.

  “I’m thrilled I was able to give you such good news,” the doctor said, then she lifted a hand in farewell and slipped back out into the corridor.

  “Oh my fucking god,” Eva said, leaning forward and pressing her hands to her face. “He’s going to be okay. Hallelujah.”

  Sierra’s face hurt she was smiling so hard. She turned to Jesse. “You go in first to see him. We get to see him all the time.”

  Plus Jed and Jesse had only recently reconciled. It wouldn’t surprise her one little bit to learn that Jesse had been carrying an extra burden of regret and anxiety as he drove through the night to reach his brother’s side.

  “If that’s cool with everyone else?” Jesse asked.

  It was, and he left the room, eager to go see his brother.

  Mae stood, gathering her jacket and handbag and looking around to see if she’d forgotten anything.

  “You’re going?” Sierra guessed.

  Mae nodded. “I need to get back to Helena.”

  Sierra had been conscious of the other woman’s phone pinging a few times during their vigil. Each time Mae had tapped back a brief message, her expression unreadable, but clearly she’d decided it was time to get back to her life. And her fiancé.

  “You don’t want to just say hello to Jed? I think it would mean a lot to him that you came,” Sierra said.

  Mae’s face went pink but she shook her head. “I can’t. I have to go. Tell him . . . Tell him I’m really happy he’s going to be okay.” She blinked rapidly, then closed the distance to give Sierra a brief, fierce hug. Then she turned and hugged everyone else.

  “Thanks for letting me wait with you all,” Mae said with a small smile. “Stay well.” Then she escaped to the hallway.

  They were all silent for a moment. Then Casey said what they were all thinking. “Well, that is going to set the cat among the pigeons. Who’s going to tell him?”

  Sierra shook her head. She’d been thinking about it all night. “No one’s going to tell him, not yet. Let’s wait till he’s home and strong again. You know what he’s like—he hates being sick. He’d think she only came because she thought he might die. He’d see it as pity or something because he’s a big doofus idiot.”

  Eva was nodding in agreement. “Seconding this idea. Jed needs to be back on his feet first. It’ll hit him differently for sure when he’s feeling less off balance and vulnerable.”

  CJ cleared her throat. “You know there’s a chance Jesse’s already told him, right?”

  They all stared at each other. Then Sierra shook her head again. “Whatever. It’s small potatoes. He’s going to be okay. That’s the important part.” She turned to get Garret’s take, and he smiled at her and wrapped an arm around her from behind, pulling her back against his chest. She took comfort from his warm, solid presence, something that was quickly becoming a habit.

  A month ago, she’d have walked past him on the street with barely a flicker of recognition. Today, all her dreams were tangled up with him, and that was something she wouldn’t change for anything in the world.

  As if he sensed her thoughts, Garret tightened his arms across her chest and she felt him press a kiss to the crown of her head. She smiled to herself, then noticed CJ watching her with a small smile of her own. Sierra wiggled her eyebrows at her brother’s girlfriend, unashamed for her family to see how far gone she was. After all, she’d had to put up with all of them and their public displays of affection and heated glances. Turnabout was more than fair play.

  “Okay. Who’s next?” Jesse said from the doorway, and Sierra flicked a look toward Casey, her eyebrows raised in question.

  She desperately wanted to look into her big brother’s eyes, but she wasn’t about to deny Casey that comfort either.

  “You go,” Casey said, waving her off.

  Sierra threw him a grateful look, then turned and pressed a kiss to Garret’s mouth. “I won’t be long.”

  “I’ll be here,” he said, his gaze steady.

  Her heart felt very full as she made her way to Jed’s room. It felt strange just barging in now he was awake, even though they’d been going in and out all night, so she paused to knock briefly before opening the door. His head turned toward her, his mouth curving into a tired smile when he saw it was her. “Squirrel, I hear you may have just saved my life. Knew those flying lessons would pay off some day.”

  For a moment Sierra couldn’t speak. Her throat was so clogged with relief and gratitude and love. Then she rushed forward and threw her arms around her brother, managing to get tangled in the lines stuck to his chest along the way.

  “When I saw you lying against that tree . . . I swear, Jed, I thought we’d lost you,” she whispered, too afraid to say the words any louder in case she tempted fate.

  “It’ll take more than a snakebite to see me off,” Jed said, but there was a gruff note to his voice and when she lifted her head she could see he understood how touch and go it had been.

  Disentangling herself from the monitor leads, she sank into the chair by the bed. “How are you feeling?”

  “Like I got tackled by a rhino.”

  She smiled and took his hand, holding it in both of hers. “Last night I promised myself there were some things I wanted to say to you if I got the chance. Things I’ve never said to you before. So brace yourself to feel uncomfortable.”

  “Sierra, come on, you don’t need to—”

  “Yes, I do, Jed Carmody, because too many people go through life assuming that the people they love will always be around and that they understand how important they are to each other. When Mom and Dad died, you held our family together through sheer willpower. You gave up your education, you gave up Mae, and you took on all of us and the ranch as well, and you made it work, Jed. You filled the hole Mom and Dad left and made us feel safe and loved. You kept a roof over our heads and helped with my homework and put up with Casey’s terrible guitar playing.”

  “Don’t forget the bit where I made it impossible for Jesse to stay,” Jed interrupted, his tone flat.

  “I didn’t say you were perfect. And Jesse has his own share of responsibility to carry for that.” She squeezed her brother’s hand and looked him in the eye. “I love you so much. I’m so proud you’re my brother. Thank you for always being there for me.”

  Jed shifted his head on the pillow, casting his eyes to the ceiling, and she knew he was fighting a rush of emotion. After a second he met her gaze again, and she saw his eyes were shining with unshed tears. “I love you, too, Sierra. And I’m proud as a person can be to call you my sister. I’m proud of all of you. We’ve had some fuckups along the way, but we mostly we managed to make it work.”

  “Except for a few minor mishaps, like snakebites leading to near-death experiences. Little things like that,” Sierra said.

  “Exactly,” Jed said.

  She talked to him for a few more minutes, but she could see he was tiring and she told him to get some rest so he could stay on his doctor’s good side and get the transfer to the regular ward that had been promised.

  Then she let herself out into the corridor where she found Garret waiting for her.

  “Wanna go for a walk?” he suggested.

  She nodded and he ducked his head into the waiting room to let the others know they’d be back in te
n minutes or so. Then he took her hand and they made their way out of the hospital. Someone had had the foresight to plant a contemplation garden off to one side of the hospital grounds and they walked among the trees, soaking up the early morning sunlight and the fresh air.

  “He’s okay?” Garret asked after a moment or two.

  “He’s good. Tired and weak, but good.”

  “You know, I’ve been wondering where all the good luck was lately. Happy for Jed to hog the lion’s share,” he said.

  She smiled at him. “You telling me you didn’t get lucky when I agreed to cover for Jack when he hurt his back?”

  “That wasn’t luck, baby. That was destiny,” Garret said, and he used their joined hands to pull her closer.

  Stepping into the circle of his arms felt like coming home, and she lifted her face eagerly for his kiss. As always, the press of his lips and the stroke of his tongue lit a fire in her blood and it wasn’t long before she was regretting how public the garden was.

  She felt Garret’s mouth curve into a smile against her own.

  “Later,” he said.

  “For what?”

  “For the dirty thoughts you’re thinking right now.”

  She smiled in turn. “Is that a threat or a promise?”

  “It’s a commitment, which is better than both those things,” he said, and then he kissed her again and she lost the ability to think altogether.

  Epilogue

  Three Months Later

  “And then one last signature here, Gideon.”

  Garret watched from the doorway of the living room in his parents’ home as Alec Stone handed his father yet another document to sign. It took his father longer than usual to scrawl his name using his left hand, but he was getting better and better at using his nondominant hand every day, and although he still slurred his speech when he was tired, he’d been able to communicate effectively for several weeks now.

  Other progress had been much slower. He was still unable to walk, his weak right side creating too much drag to make it safe for him to move around independently. There had been some recent gains with grasp and release exercises with his right hand, however, and Garret’s mother remained hopeful that soon his father could progress to a walker.

  Garret had no idea if her optimism was founded or not. He’d been too immersed in saving the business to keep up with the day-to-day wins and losses of his father’s rehabilitation.

  It had been a rough three months, to put it mildly. Tate Transport had lost nearly thirty percent of its customers in the fallout from the commercial bribery scandal. Garret was hopeful he had stopped the slide at this point, thanks to a lot of reassurances, sharply renegotiated contracts, and new commitments to transparency and accountability.

  Perhaps not surprisingly, the clients they’d lost had been the ones who had participated in his father and Ron’s kickback scheme. There had been five cases the DA was able to prove in total. More than enough to attract hefty fines and jail terms, if the DA had chosen to go in hard. Fortunately for his father, there had been little appetite to lock up a man who had recently suffered a major stroke. It probably hadn’t hurt that his father had made multiple judicious political donations over the years either. Consequently, Alec Stone had been able to negotiate a settlement that kept his father and Ron out of jail. The fines would eat into the company’s bottom line for years to come, and there was no telling how long the shadow of this scandal would be in terms of the business’s reputation, but Garret was starting to believe that the worst was over.

  Finally.

  His father handed the pen to his mother as Alex took the final documents from the table.

  “All signed, like a good boy,” his father said, glancing over his shoulder to offer Garret’s mother a roguish smile.

  Some things never changed. Gideon hadn’t said it outright, but Garret suspected his father considered his current legal difficulties the price any astute, aggressive businessman paid for success. Gideon had rolled the dice, and for many years he’d won until finally he’d lost. C’est la vie.

  It was just as well he would never be in a position to act on his beliefs again—as part of the settlement with the DA, his parents had signed undertakings to ensure they would never again be officers of the company.

  It was all on Garret’s shoulders now. Over the past months, despite all the challenges and stressors he’d had to stare down, he’d come to realize he was happy about that. He could make a difference there, and with good people surrounding him, he was confident he could rebuild what was lost.

  His phone vibrated in his pocket, and he pulled it out to see Marco had texted him a picture of the warehouse in Seattle taking receipt of the latest shipment of espresso machines from Italy. Multiple pallets were piled high with stock. Gonna need a bigger warehouse! the message said. Garret smiled to himself and tapped back a quick response. This is where being the silent partner has its advantages.

  After much discussion with Sierra and his friends, he’d decided to hang on to his share of the business. It never hurt to diversify, and he still felt a sense of ownership even if he wasn’t in the trenches with Jay and Marco anymore. He wanted to see how high they could fly.

  He registered the time as he put his phone away and pushed away from the door frame.

  “I need to go pick up Sierra,” he told his parents before catching Alec’s eye. “We’ll be ready to take off for Helena in half an hour, give or take.”

  “I’ll be ready,” Alec said, his throat bobbing as he swallowed nervously. He’d white-knuckled it all the way during the flight from Helena this morning, and Garret suspected he’d white-knuckle it all the way back.

  Some men just weren’t meant to fly.

  “When will we see you again?” his mother asked, her expression hopeful.

  He and Sierra were based out of Helena permanently these days, the daily commute a thing of the past, and this was the first time he’d seen his parents in nearly two weeks. Not out of design, but he’d be lying if he said he felt the need for more contact.

  “Not sure. Maybe next weekend. I’ll let you know,” Garret said.

  He knew his mother felt the new distance between them. She was working hard to build a bridge and earn his trust again but while he appreciated the effort, he wasn’t sure he’d ever be able to let go of his wariness where his parents were concerned. The bottom line was that they lived by a very different set of values than he did, and he wasn’t about to put himself in a position where they could demonstrate that again.

  After saying his goodbyes, he let himself out the front door then walked to the garage and pulled on his leather jacket. Two minutes later he was zipping down the road on the Ducati, heading for the Carmody ranch.

  He’d ridden and driven this route a lot over the past three months, reprising the habits of his teen years. It had taken a while, but he’d managed to find the old, easy rhythm with the Carmody brothers during those visits, something he was grateful for, given all the potential roadblocks that had stood in the way of that happening.

  That didn’t mean they wouldn’t come hunting for him if he was ever stupid or careless enough to hurt Sierra. On that Garret was very clear, but that was fine with him because he knew he was the luckiest man alive, and he wasn’t about to risk what he had for anything.

  Sierra must have heard him coming because she was standing on the porch when he arrived. A cool breeze lifted her long dark hair off her shoulders, and she stood tall and slim as she watched him dismount. Then she took the porch steps two at a time as she came to greet him. The warmth of her body as it met his, the strength of her arms as they came around him, the press of her mouth on his . . . To the day he died, he would never get enough of her.

  “Hey,” she said when she’d finished kissing him hello. “How did it go?”

  “All signed. All we have to do now is pay the fines. And the legal bills,” he said wryly.

  “The easy part,” she said.

  He laughed,
because he knew she understood exactly how much he’d been hustling to find the money without cutting staff and going into steep debt. “Yep. So easy.”

  None of this had been easy. The press coverage had been every bit as brutal and thorough as Greg had predicted. The business repercussions had been scary and stressful. For a while there it had felt as though every day was worse than the last.

  But every night he’d come home to Sierra, and she’d provided the rock-solid base he’d needed to dig deep and endure. She’d made him laugh when he’d thought he couldn’t, and she’d distracted him in the best possible way.

  She’d loved him. Stood by him. Believed in him.

  Looking into her eyes now, he was hit with a sudden, dizzying thought. If his father hadn’t had his stroke, if Garret hadn’t been dragged away from the life he’d made for himself in Seattle, he might never have crossed paths with her again.

  He shook his head, needing to shake the thought loose. He didn’t want to imagine his life without her in it. Couldn’t, not now. She was a part of him, just as he was a part of her.

  He heard the bang of the front screen door and glanced over as Jed made his way down the front steps.

  “Garret,” Jed said, offering him a dip of the head by way of acknowledgment.

  “Jed,” Garret said, mimicking the action.

  Apart from a notable leanness and some deeper lines around his mouth and eyes, Sierra’s brother had recovered well from his brush with death, his stride long as he made his way to the barn.

  “I’m guessing he still hasn’t said anything about Mae?” Garret asked, even though he already knew the answer. Jed had been silent on the subject of his ex ever since he’d learned she’d visited him in hospital.

  “Not a freaking syllable,” Sierra said. “What more does the man need? She came to his bedside because she thought he was dying. Clearly there are still feelings there.”

  “But she’s still getting married in a month’s time,” Garret said. “That hasn’t changed.”