The Cowboy's Secret

by Riley Knight

  The Cowboy's Secret

  * * *

  Amazon Kindle Edition

  The Cowboy's Secret © Riley Knight 2019.

  Cover design by Ravishing Romance Designs

  All rights reserved. No part of this story may be used, reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means without written permission of the copyright holder, except in the case of brief quotations embodied within critical reviews and articles.

  This book is a work of fiction. The names, characters, places, and incidents are products of the writer’s imagination or have been used fictitiously and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to persons, living or dead, actual events, locale or organizations is entirely coincidental.

  The author has asserted his/her rights under the Copyright Designs and Patents Acts 1988 (as amended) to be identified as the author of this book.

  This book contains sexually explicit content which is suitable only for mature readers.

  First LoveLight Press electronic publication: February 2019

  http://lovelightpress.com

  The Cowboy's Secret is set in the USA and as such uses American English throughout.

  CONTENTS

  ONE

  TWO

  THREE

  FOUR

  FIVE

  SIX

  SEVEN

  EIGHT

  NINE

  TEN

  ELEVEN

  TWELVE

  THIRTEEN

  FOURTEEN

  FIFTEEN

  SIXTEEN

  SEVENTEEN

  EIGHTEEN

  EPILOGUE

  MORE FROM RILEY KNIGHT

  ONE

  Tilting his head to the side, Kyle looked thoughtfully at the man sitting across the desk from him. A man who was probably the most deeply repulsive human being that Kyle had ever seen, but who was, for all of that, the very first person who had walked through the door of his office with the intention of giving him money.

  The man, Wyatt Hart, as he had introduced himself, was short, but so was Kyle, so that wasn’t the issue. He was balding, but some men could rock a bare head, so that wasn’t it, either. His features were regular and symmetrical enough, so what was it about him that made him so repugnant to Kyle?

  Maybe it was the skinny little ponytail that the guy had made up of the few strands of hair that he had remaining, or the fact that it hung, in limp, oily waves. He could at least wash his hair, and the same sheen of oil was over his face, especially over his nose and forehead.

  More likely even than that, though, it was the look in his eyes, which were small and greedy and muddy. Or the cynical twist of his thin lips. Something about this man screamed that he wasn’t to be trusted, and Kyle felt his shoulders tense into tight bands as he looked at him.

  He really had no choice but to hear him out, though, and he raised his eyebrows at Wyatt as he leaned forward across the desk just a little, and then immediately regretted it and pulled back. Wyatt smelled of sharp, probably expensive cologne, but it couldn’t hide the body odor that lurked beneath.

  “What can I do for you?” Kyle wondered, glancing the man over. What was his deal? Maybe he’d been caught driving drunk. That seemed like his sort of thing. Whatever the deal was, Kyle knew that he would have to take him on as a client, if that was what the man decided that he wanted.

  A lawyer who was just starting out on his own, after all, could hardly afford to be picky, especially one with no real contacts, outside of his parents, anyway, who had helped him to lease this office. But he couldn’t expect them to keep paying his bills forever.

  Maybe what everyone had said had been right, after all. He had been so sure he could make it on his own, even while everyone had been telling him that the correct course of action would be to work for an established law firm while he got the contacts that he needed. But he’d had a feeling that he could do it.

  And so far, he’d been wrong. No one wanted a lawyer with no experience, and when he thought about it, that made complete sense. He’d been prepared for a slow start, but he hadn’t thought it would be six months without a single case, without anyone even interested in him.

  “Maybe it’s more what I can do for you,” Wyatt said, and for a guy with such a rugged, masculine name, he sure had a whiny, high-pitched, grating voice. It reminded Kyle sharply of nails scraping with agonizing slowness over a chalkboard, even though it was a sound that he hadn’t heard since he was in grade school.

  Kyle felt his face tighten and his eyes narrow slightly, bristling a little bit. Was this all just some guy trying to sell him something? Wyatt did have an air about him like some sort of sleazy used car salesman, so he wouldn’t put it past him.

  “Go on,” Kyle said, trying to keep his voice as neutral as possible until he knew what was going on. There was still a chance that this was going to be his first ever client, and before he let his temper get the best of him, he should probably hear the guy out.

  “Okay, let’s just cut to the chase,” Wyatt said. “You need clients. Money. A good reference. You need me, probably more than I need you.”

  That band of tension across Kyle’s shoulders drew up even tighter, pulling his shoulders back and raising his chin to try to combat a headache that he was getting. There was so much riding on this, but the best that Kyle could do was not say anything because the asshole was right. Damn him, but he was.

  The city was full of lawyers, all of whom had more experience than he did. So he just nodded sharply, but the fact that he didn’t just toss the slimy bastard out of his office spoke volumes.

  “I have a bit of an unusual proposition,” Wyatt informed him, a look of triumph in his eyes, as though he already sensed his victory. Whatever was coming next, he wasn’t going to like it. Kyle knew that instinctively. But he nodded again, reminding himself that the rent was coming due in just a few days and he was going to have to ask his parents for even more money, something which deeply rankled.

  “Go on,” Kyle echoed, aware that he had to sound like a broken record, but Wyatt was definitely waiting for him to say something. But Wyatt didn’t say a word, not right away, anyway. He just leaned across the desk, handing Kyle a plain, unremarkable white envelope. When Kyle peeked inside, he could hardly hold back a highly unprofessional gasp.

  “The first check is the standard retainer. I’ve done my research. The second check is the first part of your fee if you decide to take me on.” Wyatt spoke as if there could be no doubt about whether Kyle would or not, and for the amount that he was willing to pay Kyle, he was probably justified in his belief.

  “Okay.” Kyle took a deep breath, and there was this feeling looming over him suddenly like he was making a big mistake. Not that it mattered. He trusted his instincts and everything, but in this situation, where he was looking at being out of business if he didn’t take this risk, it seemed like he didn’t have a choice. “Why don’t you tell me what it is that you actually want from me?”

  His voice, he was pleased to hear, came out steady and unshaken, but the way that Wyatt looked at him, he wasn’t all that fooled. Oh well. At least he could say that he had tried, that he’d put up a show of strength.

  “My family owns a ranch out in Kansas,” Wyatt admitted as if he actually felt some shame about it. And he probably, Kyle realized, did. He had trained himself to notice every reaction, and there was a slight flinching in the muddy eyes of the other man as he spoke. Like he didn’t want to talk about it. “My dad’s dying, though, and he’s the one who keeps the whole thing going.”

  “I’m sorry to hear that,” Kyle replied automatically, and Wyatt waved the words off as if they were completely irrelevant. Which only put Kyle even more on his guard. What sort of man didn’t gi
ve a crap if his father was sick? Maybe Wyatt just was in denial, but he certainly didn’t seem that way.

  “Yeah. It’s very sad,” Wyatt said, and Kyle felt like he could actually see the insincerity dripping off of the words. “He’s going to leave me the ranch. The only problem is, he’s got it set up to split between my three brothers, too.”

  And Wyatt, it seemed clear, had no connection to the place at all. Kyle’s mind was already darting around, pulling the pieces of the puzzle together, and while he didn’t have them all yet, he had enough to be able to start to see the picture.

  “And you want to sell it,” Kyle guessed, only it wasn’t really a guess, more of a statement, and it didn’t shock him when Wyatt nodded, giving him a look that Kyle thought was at least a little impressed. “But your brothers don’t want to?”

  “You’re good,” Wyatt admitted and then shook his head. “But I think two of my brothers would be willing to at least consider it. Malcolm is the problem. He’s my oldest brother, and I can already tell you that he won’t want to sell. He’ll try to do it on his own, even though the ranch is losing money and has been for years.”

  As Wyatt spoke, Kyle just watched and waited, eyes slightly narrowed. Wyatt’s voice, never pleasant, turned even more whiny and grating. This man really was a worm, concerned about his inheritance before his father had even passed away.

  “I understand,” he finally said, his tone very formal and careful. He was probably going to have to deal with quite a few despicable people in his career, and it wouldn’t do for them to know that he felt that way. “But I don’t know what it is that you want me to do, Mr. Hart.”

  “Call me Wyatt,” the man offered, and Kyle nodded, though he really would have rather not. “And that’s simple. I want you to convince Malcolm to sell.”

  Kyle frowned and shook his head. That was ridiculous, not his job. His focus hadn’t even been in property law, and he sighed as he sat back from the desk, distancing himself from the envelope with the checks in it that he had put down onto the smooth wooden surface. He hated to turn his back on so much money, but it was better for it to happen now than later.

  “I’m not a real estate agent,” Kyle informed him. “I think you should probably send …”

  “No. Don’t you think I’ve tried? He’s turned every single person that I’ve sent down. I need someone with more authority. That means you.”

  Kyle sighed and tried to imagine doing as Wyatt wanted. He was supposed to go to Kansas, to leave Seattle, and fly halfway across the damn country to convince a cowboy to sell his farm?

  “I can see you have doubts, but if you want to succeed as a lawyer, you have to be willing to do what it takes. Besides, it’s best for all of us. It’s a big ranch, worth a lot, but the value is going to go down the longer that it’s failing. You’d really be doing him a favor. He’s stubborn as a mule.”

  Well, that was clearly a trait that Wyatt had in common with his older brother. When it came down to it, though, it just so happened that Kyle had the same trait. If he did take this on, and there didn’t seem to be much doubt that he would, he would do his best at it, even if it wasn’t what he had expected to do when he had been in law school.

  “Is the ranch doing that badly?” he asked, just to salve his conscience, and Wyatt nodded, a slight, oily, unpleasant smirk on his face as if he knew exactly what was going through Kyle’s mind.

  “It’s failing. Only thing is, it could take another five years for Malcolm to run it into the ground, and in that time, my other brothers and I will lose a lot of money,” Wyatt said. Kyle sighed and shook his head, that same feeling, like he shouldn’t be doing this, going through him.

  But what else could he do? There was hardly a flood of potential clients begging for his attention, and this was the only chance that he had of making it. He could use the money, and more than that, he could use the word of mouth support that this man could give him.

  “You’ll have to pay for me to fly out there,” Kyle said slowly, aware that he was speaking like he was going to take the job. “And for accommodations while I’m there.”

  “The plane ticket is no problem,” Wyatt replied, his voice practically dripping oily, slick self-satisfaction with every word. “But you’re not going to need a hotel. Remember, it’s my house, too. Even Malcolm can’t deny my right to have guests over to my own house.”

  A surge of burning bile rose into the back of Kyle’s throat, making him have to swallow down hard. He was going to be invading someone’s home. This Malcolm sounded stubborn, but that wasn’t a crime. And he was going to have to go there and do his best to harass him into selling his house, maybe the only house he’d ever known.

  It was either that, or he lost everything that he had worked for. Maybe even had to declare bankruptcy, he was so deeply in debt, and then what would he do? Go back and live with his parents at the age of twenty-seven? No thanks. Anyway, if he went, maybe he could make Malcolm see reason. If he said no, he was very aware that Wyatt would just send someone else, anyway, someone who might be less scrupulous about the whole thing.

  “Okay.” Kyle drew the word out a little, feeling like he was selling his soul. He immediately felt dirty the moment that it left his mouth like he had sold out in a way that he had never done so before.

  Because now that he had accepted the job, he knew he would have to do whatever it took to get it done. His ethics wouldn’t allow otherwise.

  And just like that, it was done. He was going to Kansas, of all places, he who had never left the state of Washington other than the one time as a kid when his parents had taken him to Disneyland. His friends were going to die laughing when they found out, but at least, he mused, as he looked around the office, nice and elegant, he thought, but also undeniably small, he would get to keep himself going for a while longer.

  This job could change everything, and he wished that he could get a little bit more excited about it. On the other hand, he knew that Skyler, his best friend and receptionist, was going to be thrilled. His job, after all, depended on this every bit as much as Kyle’s did. So he would focus on telling him, on the rare pleasure he knew would show on his too-serious face, and maybe that would give him the boost that he needed to get into it himself.

  * * *

  It took a surprisingly short time to completely heave his life up and hop a plane to a whole other state. Kansas. What he knew about Kansas pretty much all came from the Wizard of Oz. The boring parts, at the beginning and end of the movie, that were all in black and white. That probably didn’t bode that well for the state.

  At least Skyler had been happy that he was going, just as Kyle had suspected. That was something, right?

  The flight was long, or at least it seemed so to Kyle, and he spent it gripping the arms of his seat and trying to come up with a plan. In the end, though, what could he do but go there and suss out the situation? It wasn’t much of a plan, but he didn’t have enough information to go off of right now. Wyatt hadn’t been a lot of help, which made sense since apparently the man hadn’t been back there in years.

  Honestly, Kyle could sort of understand. Or rather, he could completely understand. Tired and sore from the uncomfortable airplane seats and sweaty and disheveled, Kyle hopped into his rental car and looked around without favor at the landscape as he zoomed past it.

  There was nothing all that exciting about the flat plains and the low, rolling hills. Not when he had grown up with the ocean and the mountains and thick green trees everywhere. Although to be honest, it wasn’t like he’d spent much time out in nature even in Seattle, which he was sort of starting to regret. But he’d always been too busy.

  His stomach clenched into a little knot of nerves, radiating out prickles of anxiety and sharp enough to spread through his whole body. He took a deep breath and let it out slowly as he neared the place where Wyatt’s family ranch was.

  It was a lot of land, that was the first thing that he noticed. And he was no expert, far from it, but it didn�
��t look like most of the land, at least what he saw, was being used for much of anything. Other than grass, of course. There was lots of that.

  As he got closer to the house, he mentally noted more signs of neglect. Fences that had been mostly knocked down, some of them hastily patched, others still fallen. Weeds tangled in wires. Wyatt hadn’t been lying, these were not the signs of a prosperous farm.

  Maybe he really would be doing everyone a favor by getting Malcolm to sign.

  He pulled up into the driveway, dry dust puffing under his tires and then under his feet, marring the subtle shine of his dress shoes. And it was too damn hot here, at least compared to Seattle, and he found himself starting to sweat from the moment that the late spring sunshine started to beat down on him without the mitigation of the air conditioning.

  There was no one there to meet him, even though he had made sure to tell Wyatt when he would be there and he was exactly on time. That annoyed him. He knew that he couldn’t expect to be treated like an honored guest, but this was ridiculous.

  As he stood there, a little uncertain, he watched the front door open and a pleasantly plump middle-aged woman stepped out of the house. Who was she? Once more, Kyle found himself wishing that he could have pulled more information about this place from Wyatt, but he had been uncooperative.

  “Look out,” she called, and that was where everything went to hell. When he looked over his shoulder at where she was pointing, he saw a horned, reddish demon, who seemed to stand well over ten feet tall, watching him with malice in its eyes as it lowered its head and snorted.

  Kyle screamed. It wasn’t something that he was proud of, in fact, he would probably need to drink his way into forgetting it completely, but he did scream, and it was the wrong thing to do. It only seemed to irritate the enormous creature, who let out an annoyed bellow and then started to charge.