“Who told you?” Mike said, running a tentative finger across the wounds on his neck.
“I had a couple myself last night.”
“Whoa! What did I miss?”
“Vick and I ran into a mother grizzly and her two cubs yesterday in Glacier. They weren’t even out of sight when I got charged by the bear that attacked you. I saw my life flash before my eyes—twice.”
“You’re here in one piece, so I guess things turned out all right.”
“That grizzly couldn’t have been more than ten yards from me when Vick gave it a nose full of pepper spray. It stopped as though it had hit a wall. Then she shot it dead.”
“Victoria Grayhawk, lover of all things grizzly, that Vick shot the bear that attacked me?”
Rye nodded. “I couldn’t get my rifle off my shoulder fast enough to use it. When that grizzly charged, I thought my life was over. I didn’t get a scratch, but imagining what could have happened—recalling the damage that bear had done to you—woke me up a couple of times last night in a cold sweat.”
Mike nodded. “I wake up hyperventilating, smelling that bear’s foul breath.”
“By the way, that bear’s name was Goldilocks.”
“That’s just wrong!” Mike gestured at his mutilated head and face. “How am I going to have any cred in the local bars if I have to admit Goldilocks did this to me?”
Rye smiled. “I think your scars will do the talking for you.”
“Mom’s with Angus Flynn,” Mike said.
Rye froze at the sudden change of subject. He stared at his brother, his heart beating against his ribs. “What do you know about him?”
“I know he’s your biological father.”
“Shit.”
“Not that it makes any difference to me,” Mike said, rearranging the sheet at his waist and tucking it under his arms. Then he looked Rye in the eye and asked, “Are you going to be staying around here? Or leaving?”
“Why the hell would I leave?”
“I heard Flynn’s filthy rich. He’s acknowledged you as his son, so he’d probably give you anything you want. You wouldn’t be stuck with a piddly four-hundred-acre ranch like ours. Except, the Rafter S is really only a hundred acres, since the other three hundred are leased.”
“Don’t be an idiot,” Rye said, angry that his brother believed he could be tempted away from his home with the offer of something bigger and better. “I don’t need more land than we have. I don’t need more cattle or horses. I don’t need anything more than I already have except a woman to love. And I’m working on that.”
Mike lifted a brow and winced when it apparently hurt. “So who’s the lucky lady? Do I know her?”
“It’s Vick, of course.”
“There’s no ‘of course’ about it,” Mike said. “When did this happen?”
“While you’ve been stuck here in the hospital, Vick has been living in the house, taking care of Cody.”
Mike smirked. “I always knew you were in love with her.”
“How the hell did you know that, when I didn’t know it myself?”
“Since you started running into her in town this past year, you’ve made a point of not looking at her. I kind of figured you didn’t want to get drawn in by those pretty blue eyes, which followed you whenever you weren’t looking.”
Rye found that observation both intriguing and encouraging. “Why didn’t you say something?”
“It was too much fun watching the two of you dance around each other. How’s the big romance coming? Taken her back to bed yet?”
“That’s none of your business,” Rye flared.
“You have!” Mike said with a grin. “I gotta get out of this place. I’m missing too much of what’s going on.”
“You seem to know more than I do about what’s happening with Mom and Angus.”
Mike shrugged and winced again. “She asked last night if I would mind if she didn’t stay with me. I told her I was okay on my own.”
“That’s all she said?”
“Well, Angus was standing at her shoulder when she asked, and her face was so rosy, I had a pretty good idea where she was planning to spend the night instead.”
Rye’s lips flattened. “If he hurts her, I’ll make him sorry he ever set foot in Montana.”
“I wouldn’t be in too much of a hurry to wipe him out. I think Mom’s in love with him.”
“Why would you say that?”
“She named you after him, Rye. Angus Ryan Flynn. I Googled him,” he said before Rye could ask how he knew. “She must have cared a lot about the guy to do that. The instant he reappears in her life, she’s all gooey-eyed over him. And she kept the truth about you a secret, even from Dad, all these years.”
Rye tensed. “How do you know she kept Dad in the dark?”
“If Dad had known, he would have told you, because telling you would have been the right thing to do. Dad was pretty definite about right and wrong. With him, there was black and there was white and there was nothing in between.”
Rye nodded. “Mom was afraid he wouldn’t have loved me the same if he’d known the truth.”
“She might have been right,” Mike conceded. “So why did you come to see Mom? What is it you need?”
Rye was caught off-guard by Mike’s directness, but he realized his brother might be able to help him figure out the best approach to take with their mother. “Have you followed Mom’s relationship with Angus to its logical conclusion?”
“You mean marriage?”
Rye nodded. “Assuming they marry, where do you suppose they’ll decide to live?”
“Aaah,” Mike said. “I see where you’re going with this. Our ranch house is too small and simple for someone like Angus, who’s used to something a lot bigger and fancier.”
“I imagine the Coldspot would be gone the day after he showed up,” Rye muttered.
Mike laughed. “That refrigerator should have been gone ten years ago. I don’t understand your attachment to it.”
“The humming sound it makes provided the background for our whole lives growing up.”
“So keep the damn thing. That’s not the real problem, though, is it?”
Rye shook his head. “I haven’t had a boss for seven years, and I’m not looking for another one.”
“Me, neither.”
“Vick said maybe we can talk Angus into buying a spread somewhere near us where he and Mom could live.”
“I already have one,” a booming voice said from the doorway. “Your mother and I have been talking about that exact subject ourselves.”
Rye leapt to his feet and turned to face the couple, who’d slipped inside without him hearing them come in. Each had an arm around the other’s waist. Rye saw the same rosy flush of embarrassment on his mother’s cheeks that Mike must have observed, leaving no doubt with whom she’d spent the previous night or what they’d been doing in the dark.
“I own a ranch northwest of Whitefish,” Angus said. “I bought it so I’d have a place to stay while I was up here hunting elk. The house is small, maybe four thousand square feet, only eighty or so acres, but I think your mother and I could manage there just fine.”
Four thousand square feet is small? Rye thought. Angus Flynn really did live in a whole other world. “What about your ranch in Wyoming? You don’t need to be there to manage that?”
“I guess the time has arrived to pass it along to my eldest son, now that he’s about to marry and start a family of his own. Any other questions?” Angus said.
Mike grinned at Rye, then turned to the couple and said, “When’s the wedding?”
“We were married yesterday by a justice of the peace,” Angus replied. “Your mother wouldn’t have me any other way.”
“Good for you, Mom,” Mike said, wincing as his grin became
broad enough to affect his stitches.
Rye’s mother met his gaze, her heart in her eyes, as she waited for his judgment of what she’d done. A lot of feelings rioted inside him, and a painful lump grew in his throat. Mostly, he was glad for her. He crossed the room and shook Angus’s hand. “Congratulations, sir. Take good care of her.”
“I will,” Angus promised.
Then Rye turned to his mother, wondering if she could even see him through the tears blurring her eyes. He pulled her into his arms, hugged her tight, and whispered in her ear, “I love you, Mom. Be happy.”
“I HAVE THE ranch. It’s mine!” Aiden said as he caught Leah under her arms and lifted her high.
“Put me down,” she said with a laugh.
He slid her body down the front of him until she was standing on her feet, but he kept his arms around her. The April weather was surprisingly warm for Wyoming, leaving the ground muddy from melting snow. They’d met in the same clandestine spot between their two ranches where they’d carried on their romance when it had been a secret from their families.
“How did this miracle happen?” Leah asked, her heart beating like a captured bird inside her ribs. It was a toss-up whether she was more happy or scared. At least now they had a place they could call their own if King never gave her Kingdom Come. And it was a huge step toward their goal of merging the two ranches.
“Believe it or not,” Aiden said, his blue eyes sparkling with excitement, “my dad got married yesterday in Montana. He’s planning to live there from now on and has his lawyer busy transferring the ranch into my name, so I can manage it on my own.”
“Who did Angus know in Montana well enough to marry?”
Aiden pursed his lips. “His lover when he was married to my mom. Her name is Darcie Sullivan, and she has a ranch near Whitefish.”
“Have they been in touch all these years?” Leah asked incredulously.
“I don’t think so, but he told me they have a grown son together. Darcie never told her son that Angus was his father. His name is Ryan Patrick Sullivan.”
Leah gasped when she realized Aiden’s half brother bore Angus’s middle name.
“Ryan gave blood when his younger brother was attacked by a grizzly, which is how the secret came out. Once Ryan knew the truth, Darcie got in touch with Angus so father and son could meet. The rest is history.”
“What happens now?” Leah asked.
“We move in together at the Lucky 7. We live happily ever after.”
Could it possibly be that easy? Leah had no doubts about her own feelings of commitment, only fear about Aiden’s. What if, after they moved in together, he betrayed or abandoned her? What if he didn’t love her as much as he said he did?
Leah knew her feelings were foolish, that they had no basis in fact. Yes, her mother had walked away without looking back, but Aiden had been faithful to her for an entire year while she’d held him at arm’s length. He showed her every day how much he missed her, how much he cared for her. Her fear that he would abandon her was irrational, but she couldn’t seem to shake it, even when she knew it was keeping her from being happy.
That feeling of worthlessness, of not being good enough to be loved, had been woven into her psyche at a very young age. She’d tried shrugging it off. She’d tried reasoning it away. She’d tried believing that, because she was capable of love, she was a person worthy of being loved. She’d done the best she could to believe Aiden when he said she came first in his life, before anything or anyone else. But the doubt, the fear of being abandoned, had never gone away.
Leah had a perfectly good excuse to delay moving in with Aiden. Did she want to use it?
“King’s life is still hanging in the balance,” she blurted. “Telling him we’re already married and moving in together is going to be a shock.”
“Seeing you pregnant and believing you’re not married is going to be a bigger shock,” Aiden retorted. He let her go and took a step back, his face a picture of disappointment. “I know you wanted a second wedding, with all our family and friends there to see King walk you down the aisle, but there’s no telling how long he might be in the hospital,” he said in exasperation. “Or whether he’ll recover at all,” he added in a more somber voice.
She crossed her arms defensively over her chest. “I’m not ready to give up on our dream of merging the two ranches. I don’t want to give King an excuse to deny me Kingdom Come.”
Aiden pulled his Stetson low on his forehead. “We’ve been married for more than a year, Leah, living separately all that time. I’ve done what you wanted. I have possession of the Lucky 7. You have the hope of getting Kingdom Come, even if it isn’t yours quite yet. We can build ourselves a house someplace in the middle—on my land—and manage both ranches. Do you want to be my wife? Or not?”
“Of course I do!” she cried. “I just—”
“You just don’t want to give up your dream of owning Kingdom Come. Or is it that you don’t love me enough? Or trust me enough?”
Of course, it was a little of all three, Leah realized. Admitting to any one of them would hurt Aiden. But he was already unhappy, and she wasn’t sure what to say to take the discouraged look off his face.
“I need a little more time,” she pleaded.
“For what? To wriggle out of our marriage? You don’t need time for that,” he snarled. “I can let you go right now. I’ll have my lawyer file the papers this afternoon.”
She grabbed his arm as he whirled to leave. “Aiden, no!”
He turned his head, his jaws tight, his eyes snapping with anger, but he kept his body angled away from her. “I’m tired of being jerked around, Leah. I’ve been more patient than any man should have to be. I want to be there every day to watch our baby grow inside you. Or is that one more thing I’m supposed to experience from afar?”
“Please, Aiden—”
“I’ve had it, Leah,” he said in disgust. “I’m done waiting. Either be my wife, or let me put us both out of our misery.” He turned and headed for his pickup.
Leah let Aiden take two steps before she ran after him, her heart in her throat. She was quaking with fear, but she knew if she let him walk away now, she would regret it the rest of her life. “Aiden, stop. Don’t leave!”
He ignored her cries and kept moving.
“I love you.”
She’d expected those three powerful words to hold him in place. He not only didn’t stop, he walked faster, reaching his pickup and climbing inside and gunning the engine, his tires slinging mud as he swerved dangerously and sped away.
Leah stared after him, her eyes filling with tears of frustration and anger. She was learning something she hadn’t known about the man she’d married. His patience had limits. Did his current behavior justify her fears that he would abandon her someday? Or had Aiden proved his love by refusing to live separately from his wife for one more moment than necessary?
Either be my wife, or let me put us both out of our misery.
Leah hated ultimatums. The thought of coming to her husband as a supplicant, begging him to take her back, made the hairs on her neck bristle. Swallowing a little pride might be good for her character, but it went against everything she’d learned growing up as King Grayhawk’s daughter. Unfortunately, she was going to have to choose between maintaining her stiff-necked posture or bending a knee for the sake of love.
Leah had a sudden thought. She sniffed back her tears and swiped at her eyes. Maybe there was another choice somewhere in between.
JENNIE WAS IN the stable alone, relishing the familiar smells of leather and hay and manure, which she’d missed during her confinement in the house for the past three weeks. Warm sun shone through cracks between the boards of the old barn, and she could see dust motes in the air. She hummed an upbeat rock tune as she brushed her favorite mare in its stall.
She’d ask
ed Nathan if he wanted to join her, but he’d decided to stay inside and play a video game. She waved at a fly that landed on her forehead and hissed at the stab of pain caused by lifting her arm so high. She was pretty much healed from her surgery, but she kept forgetting she didn’t have complete range of motion and wouldn’t for a while yet.
Jennie smoothed her hand down the mare’s neck and said, “You’ll just have to settle for being half groomed, Lady, since I can’t reach your back.”
The mare turned to look at her, stomped a hoof as though in complaint, then went back to munching hay Jennie had put in the feed trough.
Jennie laughed and patted Lady’s neck in apology. She immediately thought about sharing the mare’s comical response with Matt, which surprised her. He’d left early that morning, planning to drive to Austin, about a half hour away, then take the family jet to Houston—a three-hour-long drive, but a very short flight.
Matt had explained he wanted to visit King at MD Anderson and asked if she would mind taking care of Nathan, who hated hospitals. She’d agreed without hesitation. It was only after Matt had left that Jennie realized she would have enjoyed going along, if he’d asked. She could easily have kept Nathan busy somewhere else while he visited King, and they could have had lunch at one of Houston’s great restaurants before flying back.
How the mighty had fallen.
Jennie not only didn’t want Matt gone from her ranch, she treasured the time she spent with him and didn’t want it to end. She’d been so determined, when he’d shown up on her doorstep, not to forgive him for the terrible wrong he’d done her. But during the time they’d spent together while she recovered from her surgery, he’d figured out ways to remind her why she’d been attracted to him in the first place.
Jennie was very much afraid she was in love with Matt all over again. Head over heels. Smitten like only a teenager could be. The funny thing was Matt made her feel young and silly and free, like the girl she’d been all those years ago. He’d done everything in his power to show her how wonderful their life together could be.
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