The Cowboy's Gamble: Destined For Love Series

by Denison, Janelle

  Refusing to dwell on the bitterness of the past, and the fact that his own father had disinherited him for reasons that proved how spiteful and unforgiving David O’Connor could be, Seth mounted his horse, determined to keep a clear focus on his future—which included Josie as his wife, and the Golden M as his new home.

  Turning Lexi north, he headed toward Paradise Wild and the unpleasant task ahead.

  Chapter Three

  Seth found his brother in the spacious office located in the back of the main stable. The door was open, but since Robert seemed engrossed in the open journal on his desk and hadn’t heard him enter the building, he knocked on the wooden frame so he didn’t startle him.

  Robert glanced up, wire rimmed reading glasses framing his hazel eyes. “Where have you been?” he asked, his tone tinged with a hint of annoyance. “You missed Sunday dinner.”

  “Sorry ‘bout that.” Usually, he was courteous enough to let Robert’s wife, Sarah, know when he wasn’t going to be around for breakfast, dinner or supper so she didn’t prepare extra, and they didn’t wait on him. Though Seth lived in one of the two cabins located on the ranch, eating with Robert’s family was part of his wages as a hand. It worked for him, considering what a lousy cook he was. “I didn’t think I’d be as long as I was.”

  Robert’s gaze flickered over his tousled hair, noted the absence of his Stetson, then narrowed speculatively. “I noticed Lexi was gone. Were you out checking fences or something? If so, you know you don’t get paid for working Sundays.”

  “I wasn’t working,” he assured his brother, tamping down the spurt of bitterness surging to the surface. He hated being treated like an employee on the very land that should have been half his. He wanted to believe he’d gotten over his father’s slight, but there were times, like now, when he felt the lash of David O’Connor’s punishment straight to the core. “I was over at the McAllister’s.”

  That snagged his brother’s attention. He closed the journal in front of him and pushed it aside. “Doing what?” he asked tentatively.

  Drawing out the moment of victory, Seth folded his frame into the dark brown chair in front of Robert’s desk, making himself comfortable. “I was claiming the Golden M, which I won in a poker game against Jake McAllister.”

  It took a few extra seconds for the importance of his statement to sink in. Seth knew the exact moment it registered—when selfish retribution glittered in Robert’s eyes. “No kidding? You won the Golden M?”

  “Lock, stock and barrel,” Seth confirmed. Prime cattle, fertile land, and a feisty woman who hated him enough to threaten his life with a rifle . . . all his in the span of one night, he thought wryly.

  “Well I’ll be damned!” Robert slapped a hand on the surface of his desk, a wide, gleeful grin splitting his face. “If that isn’t poetic justice, I don’t know what is.”

  “Yeah, it’s ironic all right,” he agreed mildly, “considering how we lost the land so long ago.”

  Leaning back in his squeaky chair, Robert began spouting plans for Seth’s winnings. “We can join the property again so it’s all O’Connor land, as it should be. We’ll combine the livestock-”

  Every muscle in Seth’s body coiled tight. “No.”

  Robert looked taken aback by Seth’s refusal. His brows snapped together, emphasizing his displeasure. “What do you mean, ‘no’?”

  “The Golden M is mine, Robert.” His tone was low, undeniably firm, and a trifle dangerous. “And it’ll remain separate property.”

  “Why?” Robert challenged. Standing abruptly, he braced his hands flat on his desk and leaned toward Seth, glaring. “That’s O’Connor property! It always has been. It should remain in the family as a whole.”

  Under normal circumstances Seth would have agreed. Considering he’d been stripped of his rightful inheritance, he wasn’t about to share what now belonged to him. “It hasn’t been in our family for over seventy-five years. There’s no reason why it needs to be part of Paradise Wild again.”

  Robert’s mouth thinned in anger. “So, you’ll be competing directly against me then?”

  “I’ll be competing with no one but myself. You’ve got a fine breed of cattle, and there are plenty of buyers to accommodate both of us.”

  “I can’t believe this!” Robert’s temper exploded and his face turned a bright shade of red. “Dad is probably rolling over in his grave right about now!”

  “Probably, considering he left me with nothing, and I’ve acquired what he always wanted.”

  A sneer curled the corner of his brother’s mouth. “If you wanted half of the Paradise Wild, then you never should have messed around with Josie McAllister.”

  “Of course you’re right,” Seth graciously conceded to what had been the single most stupid mistake of his life. His brief affair with Josie had cost him so much . . . a chunk of his youthful pride, his half of the Paradise Wild, and the inability to give any other woman what he’d given her. His heart.

  Refusing to dwell on past mistakes, he casually added, “Just so you know, I’ll be marrying Josie by the end of the week.”

  Robert’s eyes nearly bugged right out of their sockets. “What?” he wheezed.

  A satisfied smile quirked Seth’s mouth and he decided that he enjoyed having the upper hand for a change. Very concisely, he explained the stipulation Jake McAllister had added to the deed to the Golden M, which included offering his daughter the benefit of marriage in order for her and his granddaughter to remain on the ranch.

  Robert’s blistering curses filled the office, and he paced the length of space behind his desk. “And you actually agreed to those outrageous terms?”

  Refusing to be baited, Seth shrugged nonchalantly. “I’d be a fool not to. I want the Golden M.”

  Robert stopped his agitated pacing and whirled to face Seth. His stare turned hard and bitter. “Yeah, you’re a fool all right. An idiotic fool for marrying that little tra-”

  “Don’t say it,” Seth interrupted, the chilling tone of his voice menacing enough to make Robert reconsider his derogatory remark. He stood and faced his brother squarely. He was taller than Robert by at least three inches, and more muscular from the physical labor of working the ranch and herding cattle.

  Now, he used that superior strength to send a silent, but unmistakable warning. “In fact, I’d appreciate it from here on that you keep any insulting comments about Josie to yourself.” As much as Seth had his own personal grudges with Josie, he wouldn’t tolerate his brother, or anyone else for that matter, slandering the woman who would be his wife.

  “Good God, Seth,” Robert breathed incredulously. “You’re not still hot for her, are you?”

  Oh, Josie made him plenty hot, all right—in ways that becoming his wife would certainly appease. “She’s a means to an end,” he said, stating a fact. “However, since she’ll be my wife, I’ll expect you to give her the same respect you would any other woman I would have married.”

  Robert shook his head, his eyes wide and wild, as if he were searching for a way to make Seth see reason. “Are you totally and completely out of your mind? You can’t marry a McAllister!” He spat the word like an expletive.

  If Seth wasn’t on the verge of letting his own anger get the best of him, he would have found his brother’s ire amusing. But he didn’t care for the ominous slant of their conversation, or the hostility burning in Robert’s gaze. For crying out loud, it wasn’t as though Robert had to marry Josie.

  He let out a deep breath that did nothing to ease the tense muscles in his body. “I can marry a McAllister, and I will.” His brusque tone left no room for debate. “I suggest you get used to the idea.”

  Robert raked him with a scathing look. “You’re going to marry her, even after what she did to you?”

  Seth didn’t want to think about Josie’s deceit, knowing if he dwelled on that aspect of their time together it would eat him alive. “What happened in the past has nothing to do with the present.” Josie was a business deal, pa
rt of the package for the Golden M, which he wanted so badly he could taste the sweetness of freedom owning his own place would provide.

  “She used you, Seth!” Robert pointed an angry finger his way for emphasis, but didn’t dare actually jab Seth with the offending digit. “And she tried to pawn off that brat of hers as yours after sleeping with God only knows how many guys!”

  Seth’s jaw clenched. Unbidden, visions of Josie’s daughter filled his mind, momentarily taking the edge off his rising temper. The timid young girl looked just like Josie, with curly auburn hair and big green eyes. Nothing about her physical appearance gave any indication as to who her father could have been. Seth wondered if Josie even knew who’d fathered Kellie.

  Shoving the disturbing thought out of his mind, he decided then and there that he wouldn’t punish the girl for her mother’s past indiscretions. It just wasn’t fair.

  He headed toward the door, ready to end their discussion, but paused in the threshold to glance back at Robert. He leveled his steady gaze on his brother, who looked absolutely livid at the turn of events. “That ‘brat’ is going to be my step-daughter, and your niece. I’ll expect you to treat her with the same kindness I give your own two children, or you’ll answer to me.” With that, Seth left the office and headed down the long corridor to the entrance of the stable.

  “Don’t expect me to be at the wedding!” Robert yelled furiously after him.

  Seth shook his head. He hadn’t realized until that moment how his brother’s spiteful attitude was so much like their father’s. David O’Connor hadn’t cut anyone any slack, especially not a McAllister, and he’d allowed old resentments to fester until it had totally consumed his life. Robert was on that same collision course, straight to emotional destruction.

  And there wasn’t a damn thing Seth could do about it.

  As he walked out of the stables and felt the warmth of the sun on his face, Seth had the invigorating thought that he was no longer under his brother’s thumb, no longer an employee of the Paradise Wild.

  He grinned. He was a free man with a spread of his own.

  And it felt pretty damn good.

  The heartache was already beginning, starting with the letter Josie’s father had left for her.

  Sitting on the wooden bench just outside the barn, she read the brief correspondence Jake had scrawled on a scratch piece of paper. She read his words over and over, trying to understand why he’d risk the Golden M in a poker game, add an outrageous stipulation that would ruin her life and bind her to Seth O’Connor, when he knew there was every chance of losing to the last man in Montana she would have chosen for a husband.

  But his letter provided no answers. Just verification that the deed and stipulation were indeed real and binding, and an apology for what he’d done, for failing her and letting his gambling addiction force him to resort to desperate measures, though he’d done his best to secure her future. He knew she’d be disappointed in him, angry even, and couldn’t bear to face her condemnation, so he’d decided it was best if he left. The note ended with the hope that she’d finally find happiness, and that he loved her and Kellie, and not to hate him too much for what he’d done.

  There was nothing about him returning, and that tore her up the worst, because she couldn’t stand the thought of never seeing her father again.

  The hot tears welling in her eyes finally spilled over her lashes. Tears because she would miss her father. Tears because she was so afraid of what her future would hold.

  “Oh, Dad,” she whispered around the ache in her heart. She was upset, yes. But she could never, ever spurn him, despite the fact that he’d sold her soul to the devil himself. Together they could have figured a way out of this mess. Alone, she had no way of defending herself from someone as formidable as Seth. He wanted the Golden M, and he wanted the ranch bad enough to marry her for it.

  Oh, what a doozy fate had delivered! If she wasn’t so devastated, she would have been laughing hysterically at the twist.

  She heard the screen door to the house slam shut, and glanced up to see Kellie heading across the yard. She stopped and picked up Seth’s hat, paused briefly to consider the hole in the crown, then continued toward the barn, carrying Josie’s trophy piece with her.

  Quickly, Josie wiped away the wetness on her cheeks and reached deep for some much needed fortitude to explain what changes lay ahead. She had to be strong, for Kellie, because she was all her daughter had.

  She stopped in front of Josie, a frown creasing her delicately shaped brows. “He made you cry,” she accused.

  Her daughter looked so fiercely protective, Josie couldn’t help but smile. “No, Mr. O’Connor didn’t make me cry.” She’d come close a few times, out of frustration and fury, but these tears had been for the man who’d raised her so lovingly. A man she feared they would never see again.

  Kellie didn’t look convinced. “What did that O’Connor man want?”

  Our land. Our house. Everything I’ve worked so hard to nurture over the years.

  She patted the space beside her on the bench. “Sit down, sweetie. We need to talk.”

  “I don’t want to sit.” The stubborn thrust of her chin didn’t do much to mask the more uncertain emotions Josie saw shining in her daughter’s eyes.

  Not wanting to upset Kellie any more than she had to, she stood and forced a bright smile that felt as phony as it probably looked. “Okay,” she said easily. “Then how about we go for a walk?”

  Taking Seth’s ruined hat from her, Josie set it on the empty bench. Without waiting for another refusal, she draped a comforting arm around Kellie’s shoulder and started walking along the white fence bordering the west pasture.

  There was no easy way to broach the subject, so she just jumped right into the middle of it. “How do you feel about having a dad?”

  “What do you mean?” Kellie asked skeptically.

  Josie threaded her fingers through her daughter’s sun warmed hair. She loved this child so much, wanted so much more for her than she was about to give her—like a “dad” who would love her unconditionally. She didn’t know if Seth was capable of accepting her daughter without past resentments and rumors getting in the way.

  “Well, you’ve asked me before why I don’t get married so you can have a dad,” Josie said, trying to sound optimistic and cheerful. “And I was just wondering if you still felt the same way.”

  Kellie’s slim shoulders lifted in a reserved shrug. “Yeah, I guess I do.”

  She closed her eyes for a few extra seconds, ignored the dread churning within her, and just let it out. “Well, Mr. O’Connor and I are going to get married.”

  Kellie jerked away from her, her expression horrified. “But I don’t want him as a dad! He’s mean!”

  Josie realized she had the choice of agreeing whole-heartedly with Kellie and tainting her daughter’s perception of Seth right from the get-go, or she could make this transition for Kellie as smooth as possible. She might not like Seth, but there was no reason for Kellie to fear or hate him so vehemently.

  The dirt drive had given way to a grassy knoll with patches of wildflowers. Josie stopped before they strolled too far away from the house and reached for her daughter’s small hand, giving it a reassuring squeeze.

  “Mr. O’Connor really isn’t so bad.” In fact, at one time he’d been charming and sweet, but that had all been a ploy. “When he came over today he was upset, and so was I. The Golden M is his now, and in order for us to stay here, I have to marry him.”

  “Oh.” Josie’s explanation seemed to pacify her daughter and chase away the worry in her gaze. Kellie titled her head, regarding Josie speculatively. “Do you love him?” she asked quietly.

  The unexpected question knocked Josie for a loop, considering she’d once given Seth her heart and a piece of her soul. Thank goodness the fence was right behind her, because she found she needed it for support. Once she’d gained her composure and calmed the erratic beating of her heart, she said very firmly, �
��No, I don’t love him.”

  “But maybe someday you will?” Kellie asked expectantly.

  Not likely, but she found she couldn’t crush her daughter’s simple hope for a bright future. “Maybe.” It was a stretch, but “maybe” was as close to a promise as she was willing to offer.

  “Okay.” Kellie seemed satisfied with that. And relieved. “If you have to marry him, and he’s going to be my new dad, I’ll try my best to like him.” She chewed on her bottom lip, and Josie could see the wheels in her mind clicking. And then the tentative query came. “Do you think he’ll like me? Maybe just a little?”

  Josie’s chest tightened and she found it hurt to breath. How quick her daughter was to accept Seth! “What’s not to like? You’re beautiful, smart, and sweeter than sugar.” She lovingly ran her finger down the pert slope of Kellie’s nose, and made a silent vow if Seth so much as hurt her daughter by rejecting her, she’d make every day of his life a living hell.

  Kellie laughed and spun around happily, arms spread wide. Her cascade of auburn spiral curls shimmered in the sunshine, and then she turned her lovely smile Josie’s way. “So, when are you guys getting married?”

  Josie wished she could drum up even half the enthusiasm her daughter possessed. “Probably Friday.”

  “Wow!” Bending down, she plucked a wildflower from a patch, then another, gathering a pretty yellow bouquet. “Can I be one of those girls who stands beside you and holds flowers?”

  Josie managed a smile. “I’d love for you to be my maid of honor.”

  Kellie’s eyes glowed with anticipation. “And will there be a big cake and a fancy dinner and dance afterward?”