The Cowboy's Bride

Chapter Six

Will set his coffee mug down on the aged pine kitchen table, with its scars and water rings from a thousand breakfasts like this one, witness to as many discussions about the ranch, as about their lives. About football, even. But this conversation was decidedly different.

He glanced at Izzy who had remained silent throughout and was toying with her scrambled eggs, pushing them from one side of the plate to the other.

“So that’s the story,” Liam said. “And we can’t make a final decision this big without your vote. According to Mom.”

A muscle jumped in Will’s jaw. “You all know I don’t really have any say in this, don’t you? I left this ranch years ago and abdicated my right to have a say about the future of this place then. My life is in Texas now. Not here.”

His brother slid an angry look at his mother. “What’d I tell you? Just like always.”

Will flinched, taking the verbal hit from his brother. “I don’t have the right to tell any of you how to—”

“Of course, you do,” Shay said. “The Hard Eight is your blood, just like it’s mine and Liam’s, Cami’s and Mom’s. Just because you’re in Texas or… or California or wherever you’re calling home at the moment, this place is part of you. It always has been, and it always will be.”

“Unless we sell it,” Liam said with a deadpanned look at Will.

“Well, what do you all want to do?” Will said. “What’s the consensus?”

“We’re in a bit of a quandary over it.” Sarah stood to bring the coffeepot back to the table. She refilled everyone’s cups, keeping her eye on Will. “One thing is for sure. We can’t go on the way we have. In the next few years, our profits will dip below our operating costs. That’s unsustainable. Your father, God rest his soul, somehow managed to juggle everything so we more than survived. For a long time, we thrived. His connections in marketing the cattle, unfortunately, didn’t survive after he passed.

Will shot a questioning look at Liam.

“That’s not your brother’s fault. Your father…” She flicked an uncomfortable look at Izzy.

Izzy got to her feet. “I should go.”

Will tugged her back down by the hand. “No. You don’t have to. This is nothing you can’t hear. What about him?” he asked Sarah.

“We’re not absolutely certain about any of it,” she began.

Liam said, “We’re pretty sure he was doing something under the table that he never told us about. And doctoring the books. He kept it even from me. Of course, I don’t have your fancy business degree from USC to get to the bottom of it…”

“Liam,” Sarah warned.

“What? He and Cami are the only ones who got off this ranch long enough to go to school and get degrees. And Cami teaches third grade, which is never gonna make her rich or get her outta here.”

“Cami has no desire to get out of here,” Shay reminded him. “But let’s not get into all that now. Now, we just have to figure out—”

“Why not now? Cards on the table, Will got to do whatever he wanted. Even though it was him that was supposed to inherit the job he stuck me with. And here we are. Will abdicating his responsibility all over again.”

“Liam,” Sarah warned again.

“He’s right,” Will said. “I was the one that got away. Went to school. Had a career in the NFL. Because the opportunity was too good to pass up. It should have been me here. But I never wanted it. You all know how it was between the old man and me. At least he gave a damn about you, Liam. You were his favorite son and I… I left you to it.”

“Oh, don’t make it sound like you did me any favors, Will. He abandoned this place, Izzy, is what he did. He left all of us. Shay, his twin sister who needed him—”

“Shut up, Liam,” Shay snapped.

“Me and Cami and Mom, too.”

“Leave Izzy out of this,” Will said darkly.

She got to her feet again. “I’ll just wait outside. You four have things to discuss.”

This time, Will let her go. He wouldn’t subject her to Liam’s resentment or his anger over things that could never be changed. Blame got a person nowhere and Liam was stuck, both in his life and on this ranch with feelings about Will that had never been resolved. He wanted to pass those feelings off to Liam’s age, but he was twenty-nine now, and well past the time when he should have figured things out on his own about his direction. If they wanted to sell, if Liam didn’t want this life anymore, then they should do it.

“Liam doesn’t speak for me,” Shay said.

Liam ground his teeth together, grabbed his hat, and walked out, leaving the door rattling in its frame. For a long minute, the others just stared at each other, unsure how to proceed.

Finally, Shay spoke. “I’m sorry for that. Liam is… frustrated. Look, no one blames you for taking that scholarship, or going to the NFL. Who gets a chance like that from Marietta? We’re all so proud of you. And for the money you’ve sent back here to keep things going. We’re grateful. It’s just that we need you right now. We need your input. Your feelings. Your vote. Maybe even your ideas about what we could do to save this place if that’s the direction we take.”

“Liam is right about one thing, Will,” his mother said. “You’re the only one with a business degree here. You’ve managed to make a success of your limo company and that education might help us here, now. If you were so inclined.”

“You all know I’d do anything to help you if I could. Anything. It’s not even a question. Is that what you want? What are you looking for?”

“It’s something to think about, darlin’. That’s all. Once Liam calms down, maybe we can throw ideas around about what we can do. All we know is the model this ranch has been operating on for a couple of generations doesn’t fit this new century’s demands. And it has to change or die.” She got to her feet. “But right now, you’re going to go out and apologize to Izzy for all this and try to make her feel welcome.”

“About her…” he began.

But Sarah cut him off. “Shay? You can help me with the dishes where I’d like to hear your explanation about this little subterfuge you and Liam employed to get Will here.”

Shay sent a guilty look at Will. “It was done with the most noble of intentions, Mom. Even Will knows that.”

He let out a long-suffering sigh that threatened Shay’s serious expression. “I’m just gonna”—he thumbed in the direction of the driveway where they could see Izzy wandering around, looking at rocks—“do some damage control.”

“I’ll get a room ready for you two,” Sarah said, picking up an armful of plates.

Will started to correct her but thought better of it, before walking out to join the woman he had, as it turned out, essentially kidnapped.

*

He walked besideher down the long driveway near the biggest of the two barns, away from the house, kicking at the gravel as they walked. Along the side of the road, wildflowers had sprouted everywhere with the warming up of the weather and blue lupines danced beside colorful strawflowers everywhere.

“That went south pretty fast,” he said when he finally spoke. “I’m sorry you got put in the middle of all that.”

“You know, I was thinking,” she began, “that my family has never once had a conversation like that. Never. And yes, Liam’s mad at you, for reasons I’m not really privy to, but at least he’s saying what he feels and not choking it all back into some passive-aggressive nonsense like my parents would. And your mom, she’s great. She loves you. They all do. You don’t have to apologize, Will, for being part of a real family. Liam didn’t offend me. I left because it seemed so personal to your family and not for an outsider to hear.”

Will stopped walking and suddenly took her hand. “You’re right about all of it. Liam and I have some old stuff to work out and he blows off steam like that sometimes when he’s frustrated. I get it. But I shouldn’t have put you in the middle of all this anyway. It’s not fair to you.”

Izzy glanced down at his hand in hers. “Do you want me to go?”

“No,” he said quickly. “I mean, that’s up to you.”

“Not entirely up to me, is it? If you want me to, I will. Of course. But…”

“What?”

“Well, I thought—never mind.”

“You thought what?”

That you might want me to stay. Ridiculous. Don’t be an idiot, Isabella.He was still holding her hand and suddenly it felt awkward and wrong.

She pulled her hand away. “I can go, if that’s what you want.”

“It’s not,” he said unequivocally, unexpectedly.

She met his gaze and realized they were standing close. Closer than only a moment ago. “No?”

“No. Look, I… don’t have the right to ask anything of you. The last few days haven’t been easy for you, I know, and you’re probably anxious to get to Seattle and your friend. But honestly, I’m not ready to put you on a bus or a train or a plane and send you far away where I’ll probably never see you again.” He held up two hands in his defense. “I’m not hitting on you.”

“You’re not?” A glimmer of a smile tilted her lips.

“No. Well, maybe a little.” He smiled back at her. “But, hey, you just ran away from the guy you were going to marry. And I’m not looking for a relationship.”

“Friendship?” she asked softly.

“Yeah. Friendships are good.” But his eyes fell to her lips and lingered there.

“So, a supportive friendship, then. Before I go on with my life and you go on with yours. And we say goodbye forever.”

His eyes met hers then and she couldn’t be at all certain what she read there in that look.

“Before we say goodbye forever,” he agreed softly.

Isabella cleared her throat and turned to look at the mountains now bathed in a violet morning light. Snow lingered at the crowns of the mountains and the valley below meandered between them like an old friend. “Then you’re staying here? For a little while?”

He nodded. “Isaiah won’t be happy, but I have to do what I can here.”

“About that, I’m just spit-balling here, and I know it’s none of my business, but you know, my friends from Dallas spend a whole lot of money coming out to places like this just to experience it. The cowboy life… the beautiful countryside, fishing, hunting, riding. All of it. I mean, a lot of money. And you have all this land and… and that barn and the cattle and horses. It’s probably impractical, and expensive, but I mean, I would pay good money to come here. Look at this place. It’s spectacular. There should be a romantic western movie score playing at all times!”

He grinned at her. “It is beautiful, isn’t it? And maybe we could strategically place speakers around the property, play movie scores everywhere.”

He was teasing now.

She sucked in a lungful of air. “It’s special, Will.” When she turned, she caught him staring at her before he looked away toward the horse pens.

“It is. And that’s a good idea. There are a few places like that here in Montana like that. Not sure they’d go for it. But beyond that, currently, there’s only one tiny problem.”

“Which is?”

“They all think you and I are… together. They assumed—”

“As they would.”

“Maybe it’s easier if they think we are.”

She tilted a confused look at him. “What are you suggesting?”

“That I don’t want to subject you to all of their questions about Theo and the wedding. Or our arrangement. That’s none of their business.”

“So, we pretend?”

“We pretend,” he agreed. “And we share the guest room. Not like we haven’t done it before. And then, we’ll both leave, get you to Seattle and they’ll never be the wiser.”

“I don’t like the idea of lying to your family. It’s dishonest.”

He looked off into the distance again. “I never told you, but I got a divorce a couple of years ago. My wife, Kaylee, left me after she realized my NFL career was over, which was the life she wanted, apparently. It was… a lot more complicated than that, but suffice it to say, it was over before that.”

“Oh, Will… I’m—”

“Those people in there”—he pointed back at the house—“particularly my mother and Cami, who you met, are overly invested in me getting on with it. Finding someone new. Shay’s the only one who hasn’t really pushed. And Liam… well, not him either. But to be honest, that’s one of the reasons I’ve kept my distance. If they all think you and I are together, they’ll not only leave you alone, they’ll leave me alone.”

“So, this is a selfish lie,” she said, teasing him.

“A little bit. Yeah.”

She nodded. “Okay. We’ll pretend. But that means we’ll have to pretend. I mean, you’ll have to… pretend kiss me. Now and then. Just for show.”

Will glanced back at the house to see his mother ducking back behind the curtained kitchen window. “Yeah?” He pulled her toward him, his hands gently cupping her face. His mouth hovered close to hers for a long moment as he studied her lips. “Should we try it now?”

“Mm-hmm,” she murmured, unable to enunciate more words.

She could feel his sweet breath, hot on her skin, and a flush worked its way up her neck. Anticipation tingled across her lips. Pressing the palms of her hands against the wall of his chest, she curled her fingers instinctively into his pecs, as he brushed his lips against hers, once, twice before claiming her mouth in a kiss she felt all the way down to her toes.

No pretend kiss, this, she thought wildly, as his tongue breached the seam of her lips and tangled with hers, but a hungry I’ve-been-wanting-this kind of kiss.

Honey.

She tasted the sweet honey he’d poured on his breakfast biscuits and then she forgot to even compare this Will-kiss to any other kiss she’d ever gotten, because what was the point? This was the best she’d ever had. All she could do was give in, wrap her arms around him, and pull him closer still.

He shifted position on her mouth once, twice, curling her toes as his tongue danced with hers before ending the kiss, taking a deep breath with his eyes closed.

“Sorry.”

“No. Wow.” Breathless herself, she wobbled backward out of his arms, unable to hide her surprise. At the window of the house, she spotted Sarah and Shay who’d been watching the whole thing. “I-I guess… just like that. Yeah. That should do it.”

His eyes had gone a dark, dusky blue and his mouth bore a smudge of her pink lip gloss. She lifted two fingers to brush the color off his lips and he caught her hand in his for a moment, glancing back at the house.

“We should get back,” he said.

“Right.” She swallowed hard and as she followed him back to the house, a hundred random thoughts flitted through her brain—

That was quite a kiss.

Did you mean that?

I’ve been wanting that kiss since that morning we woke up in each other’s arms.

Did you feel what I felt?

What idiot falls into another man’s arms days after nearly getting married to someone else?

But she said none of those things. Because to say them out loud would only ruin that perfect kiss. And she needed to hold onto that moment now without judgment or regret. That kiss was like a balm to her bruised heart, and she wouldn’t feel guilty about it.

His hand found the small of her back as he guided her through the front door and their eyes met for the first time since they’d started toward the house. He sent her an encouraging smile and she returned it as Sarah looked up from putting away the last of the dishes, as if she had no idea what had gone on between them outside.

“There you are! We were wondering what became of you two. Weren’t we, Shay?”

“Uh-huh,” Shay agreed with a secret smile.

Sarah colored up as she walked toward Isabella. “I hope you’ll forgive us for what happened at breakfast,” she said. “It’s not always like that, I promise.” She took Isabella’s hands in hers. “I’ve got a guest room just down the hall and if you two want to freshen up, we can bring in your luggage from the car—”

“We’re, uh, traveling light,” Will told her. “But I’m going to take Izzy into town for a few things if that’s okay.”

“So, no luggage?” Shay said. “At all?”

Isabella shook her head and Will’s mom and sister exchanged looks.

“Izzy, there’s a nice hot shower in there if you want,” Will said, ignoring them. “I need to go talk to Liam before we go into town. You’ll be okay?”

“A shower sounds good.”

He touched her hand and her fingers grasped for his. “I’ll be right back.”

*

Liam was liftingthe last bale of hay onto a flatbed truck as Will found him behind the big barn. With strength that belied his size, he tossed the heavy bale up with ease and tossed the baling hooks onto the nearby wooden table.

“Hey,” Will said.

“Hey, yourself,” Liam replied, getting into the pickup.

Will helped himself into the passenger seat to Liam’s surprise.

“What are you doing?”

“Coming with you. You already did all the hard work loading. You drive. I’ll feed.”

“I didn’t ask you to—”

“No. You didn’t. Drive.”

For the next half hour, they worked as a team, scattering hay to the cattle and the dozens of wild mustangs that lived on their ranch, courtesy of the Bureau of Land Management. Soon the grass would be thick enough to stop feeding them with alfalfa as the green shoots were just starting to poke through the thawing ground after a good wet winter and spring. For now, they gathered around the long row of hay to graze there.

In the wild, these same horses would eat any scrub grass or shrub they could find, running free mostly up in the Pryor Range. But since the wholesale slaughter of the mustangs stopped in 2018, the BLM paid ranchers like the Hardestys to keep them, care for them, and eventually adopt them out if they were young enough to be trainable. It was another income stream for the ranch, and something their family had always felt strongly about doing to save the wild horses of Montana.

The mustangs were Shay and Liam’s pet project. The herd was a rainbow mix of duns and paints, sorrels and palominos, and every color in between, and Will couldn’t help but admire their wild beauty. They didn’t mix with the ranch horses at all. They didn’t get shod or interfered with too much unless they were being readied for adoption or had some obvious health issue, which the BLM vets took care of. So, it was a win-win for the ranch.

All that, however, was at stake as well if the ranch folded.

Riding here with Liam felt like old times, and the land with all its long history rose up like a knot in his chest. It wasn’t that he missed it. He didn’t. It was what Shay had said. It was his blood and always had been. No matter how far away from this place he got, it wouldn’t quit him. It would always stay buried in him like a seed waiting for the sun. And no matter how he tried to deny it, this place stood waiting for him.

“So, all right. I’m sorry about the lie,” Liam said, when Will got back in the truck cab. “But you know it’s the only thing that could have brought you back here.”

Will braced a hand on the window jamb as Liam took off across the pasture. “You might be right.”

“I am right. But I’m sorry. It wasn’t fair to Mom.”

Will laughed and shook his head. “What is it you really want from me, Liam?”

Liam’s hands tightened on the wheel. “I guess I want to know how much you really hate this place. Or me.”

“I don’t hate you. The opposite. You’re my brother. My only brother. No matter what’s gone down between us, that will never change. I love you. That’s it.”

“Just curious then why you treat this place like it’s got a disease or something. You never come home. You stay away for years. That kills Mom, you know. Breaks her heart.”

Will turned to stare out the window, knowing Liam was right. No matter how upbeat his mom was now that he was home, his absence had hurt her. He needed to fix that.

“I know I left a lot of this on you,” he told Liam. “I hoped one day you’d forgive me for that.”

Liam cussed in a low grumble.

“I can see you haven’t.”

“Doesn’t matter.”

“It does to me.”

“Are you staying or not? Are you gonna help us or not?”

“Yes. Yes, I am. But we all need to sit down, without all the emotions jacking things up, and figure out what we’re going to do. Can we just put this—this old stuff—aside for now and figure this out?”

“Sure we’re not inconveniencing you and your girlfriend?” he said with not a little sarcasm. “By the way, how did you get here so fast from Dallas driving? Or were you already on your way somewhere else?”

Will hadn’t thought through the story he meant to tell them about the trip to Seattle but already he could tell this might get complicated. “We were… on our way to Seattle.”

Liam nodded as if he’d figured as much. “But, let me guess, you wouldn’t have stopped here if I hadn’t texted you. You wouldn’t have swung by on your way to see Mom.”

“I was… planning on stopping on the way back,” he said. Was that a lie? “Izzy was going to visit a friend in Seattle, and I would have stopped on the way home to Dallas.”

“Let me get this straight. You were driving her in your limo all the way from Dallas to Seattle instead of just flying.”

“Right. She, uh, wanted to see the country.”

Liam steered the flatbed through the pasture gate and parked it beside the barn. “Okay. Whatever you say.”

“Is that important, really? I’m here now. So just let it go.”

His brother exited the truck and headed toward the open barn doors. Will followed him as he began filling the stabled horses’ feeders with hay.

“Look,” he said. “I want to know what you want. More than anyone except maybe Mom, this place is yours, much more than mine. You must have some ideas. I want to hear them.”

“How’s this?” Liam answered, stabbing the pitchfork into the bale. “I want a life. My own life. I want a family and a life I create. I don’t want the old man’s life. Or yours. Or anybody else’s.”

“Okay. What does that look like for you?”

“You sound like a damned shrink.”

“I mean it. How is this place standing in your way of getting that life?”

He spread his arms wide. “This. Every day, this. The same thing over and over. I didn’t create it, I didn’t design it, I didn’t even want it. But I get to do it over and over and over until the day I die.”

“Then, you want to sell.”

He stabbed the hay bale again. “I don’t know. I want…” he began, “I want… something that’s mine. I want people, not just cattle. Or mustangs. I wanted… once upon a time, I wanted to be an architect. Did you know that? I wanted to build things with my hands. Create things.”

“I didn’t know,” Will said, taking the pitchfork from him and taking over the feeding. “Go on.”

“But you got the scholarship. And the degree. And the NFL contract. I got the ranch.”

“I guess it doesn’t help for me to tell you a lot of people would kill for that opportunity.”

“Nope. It doesn’t,” Liam replied. “Look at me. I’m twenty-nine years old and I’m still bitching about having a steady job. I’m still single without prospects, basically broke and I’m still holding grudges against my only brother whose life I freakin’ envy.”

Will braced his hand atop the pitchfork and stared down at his boots, now covered with ranch muck. “You know my career ended badly, that I’ve got a bum leg I nearly lost, and that my wife left me because I wasn’t the football star she thought she’d married. You know I’m not where I thought I’d be at thirty-one either, right?”

“I know,” he said. “But at least you made that life happen.” Liam blinked and seemed a little ashamed of himself for complaining.

For the first time in the conversation, he met Will’s eyes. Liam had their mother’s eyes. Hazel and gold and full of emotions that he rarely shared.

“It’s really not about you, Will. It’s about me. Me seeing my life rush by me without a backwards glance. I’m sorry. Lately, I—”

“Hey,” Will said, gathering Liam in a brotherly hug and clapping him on the back. “Shut up. I’m the one who’s sorry. We’re going to figure this out. Together. Okay?”

Liam took possession of the pitchfork again, back pocketing the vulnerability he’d nearly shared with Will. “You’d better get back to your girl. She’s probably feeling like she stepped in a snake pit.”

“You don’t know Izzy yet,” he said with a little smile. “She might just be a pretty good snake wrangler.”