Wyatt’s conversations with his mother weren’t much longer but considerably more personal. Or, they had been until their disagreement in the hospital.
“It’s actually not that sudden,” Wyatt said. “I had a lot of regrets about what happened. Nothing like an extended hospital stay, having the doctors tell you just how close you were to dying, to give those regrets new meaning. I’m sure you feel the same.”
“I did at first.” Jay picked up a pen and began tapping it on his desk blotter. “What young guy doesn’t dream of playing pro football?”
“And you were good enough.”
“We’ll never know. But, as you said, I’ve been doing well. The bank hired me right out of college and promoted me every few years like clockwork.”
“How’s Kerry Anne and the girls?”
Jay rotated his computer monitor, showing Wyatt the screen saver picture of his attractive family.
“Very nice.” Wyatt had two new regrets to add to his list: not attending his brother’s wedding and not being there when his nieces were born. “I can’t wait to meet them.”
“You’re coming to the party then?”
“It’s why I’m here.”
“Are you sure that’s a good idea?” Jay hedged.
“I thought you wanted me there. You sent me an invitation.”
“Even if I knew where you were, I wouldn’t have invited you. Not with the way Dad feels.”
Not invited him?
“Come on, Wyatt.” Jay gave a mirthless chuckle. “You know how it is.”
“No, Jay, I don’t. Tell me.”
His brother’s perfect-politician smile slipped. “I can’t have you making trouble while you’re here.”
“For Mom and Dad?”Wyatt looked again at the photo on his brother’s desk, at the plaques and certificates, at the nameplate with the title Vice President engraved after Jay Malone. “Or you?”
“Me?”
“You’re afraid I’ll tell people it was you and not me who ran Dad’s car off the road.”
All pretense was gone from Jay’s face. “Let it go, Wyatt. What difference does it make now?”
“Everyone in town thinks I’m responsible for your shattered kneecap.”
Everyone except Paige. Dinah Hart was also in the car. Only, like Jay, she’d been drinking heavily and didn’t remember what happened.
For twelve years, Paige had kept the secret alongside Jay.
“Who cares what everyone thinks?” Jay tossed the pen down.
“I don’t like people believing the worst of me. Especially Dad. Not anymore.”
“Why? It’s not like you live here.”
“I might be moving back.”
Wyatt was just as surprised as his brother at what came out of his mouth. Yet, the second it did, he realized returning to live in Roundup was what he’d wished for since those long months in rehab. Not just a reunion, or even a reconciliation, but a chance for a new life among the people he loved the most.
They might not accept him, still think of him as the rebellious teen who’d caused a tragic car accident.
“And do what exactly?” Jay asked. “Not much call for bronc riders.”
“I was thinking more along the lines of teaching bronc riding.”
Jay barked a laugh. “You can’t be serious.”
“Dead serious. I’m going to open a rodeo school. Might as well be in Roundup.”
What Wyatt didn’t tell his brother was that he’d already opened another school in Wyoming three months earlier. Helped open, to be more precise. He’d partnered with an old buddy. Although still in the startup phase, enrollment for the summer programs was steadily increasing.
“Where are you going to get the financing?” Jay asked. “Not at this bank.”
“I have financing already in place.”
Wyatt didn’t need a loan. He’d spent the first half of his rodeo career living on a shoestring. As the years passed and he did better, he stockpiled his winnings and modest earnings from a few endorsement deals. Turns out, he possessed a knack for managing money. While not rich, he’d succeeded in accumulating a decent-sized nest egg.
“Opening a rodeo school’s a risky venture.” A thin sheen of sweat had developed on Jay’s brow. “Take it from me. I handle a lot of loans, personal and business. You need a plan.”
“Got one.” And a partner, if Wyatt wanted to bring in his buddy Emit Gridley.
“A few world championships don’t qualify you to run a business. Do you even know the first thing?”
Wyatt changed his tactics. “I can’t rodeo anymore. I want to make something of my life. Like you have. Is that so hard to understand?”
“Why here?”
“Because the life I want to build includes a relationship with my family. Please, Jay. Help me. If I’m to have any chance of succeeding, I need my reputation intact.”
“You! What about me?” His brother’s complexion turned a dangerous shade of red, and his voice rose. “I have a job. A family depending on me. A position on the town council. If people learn I drove drunk, I’ll be ruined.”
“You were twenty.”
“It doesn’t matter.”
“You’re not going to lose your job over a mistake you made twelve years ago.”
“How do you know? You’re nothing but a washed-up cowboy. I’m not sacrificing my career, everything I’ve accomplished, just so you can feel better and make nice with Mom and Dad.”
The harshness of Jay’s outburst galvanized Wyatt. He rose from the chair slowly and deliberately.
“I understand where you’re coming from, Jay. But I’ve paid long enough for something that wasn’t my fault. I’m going to see to it the truth comes out.”
Jay also stood. “No one will believe you over me. You made sure of that when you left.”
“Then what are you so worried about, brother?”
“I’m not.” But the look of panic in Jay’s eyes said differently.
* * *
Wyatt flung open the heavy glass door, not caring about the commotion his heated exit from his brother’s office must have caused. He stood for a moment in front of the bank, debating. To the left was his truck, parked in the lot. Beyond that, the Open Range Saloon.
He wasn’t ready to face his parents, not until he calmed down. Instead, he started in the opposite direction, toward the center of town, intending to walk off his anger. He’d gone only a few steps when he came to a halt.
If his brother hadn’t sent the party invitation, then who?
He was quickly running out of possibilities.
Across the street he spied the local Western wear and tack store, owned by another of his childhood friends and fellow competitors on the rodeo circuit: Austin Wright. He could stop in for a visit with Austin, but then decided he’d drop by later, after his walk.
Crossing the street at a place where the freshly plowed snow wasn’t piled too high, he headed up the block. All at once, he noticed Paige coming out of the dry cleaner’s, her brightly colored scarf and hat hard to miss. She noticed him at the same time. To his relief, she smiled and waited for him to reach her.
“I thought you were at work,” he said in a way he hoped wouldn’t sound like he’d been spying on her comings and goings this morning.
“I’m off today, so I thought I’d run a few errands.” Her gaze narrowed. “Did you sleep okay last night?”
“Fine. Like a log.”
“You look a little…haggard.”
She knew him well, she always had. It pleased him that she still did.
“I just came from the bank. Jay wasn’t any happier to see me than Dad.”
“Oh, Wyatt. I’m sorry.”
“I’m beginning to think I should just go back to Wyoming. Forget trying to reconcile with him and Dad.”
“Is that what you want?”
They moved aside so a pair of elderly women could pass.
“No,” Wyatt admitted, catching Paige’s gaze and holding it. �
��I want to patch things up with—” he started to say her and changed it to, “them.”
“They’ll come around eventually.”
“Dad would come around sooner if Jay fessed up to what really happened. I did him a favor and took the blame. Dad wouldn’t let me near his car after that third speeding ticket. It was Jay who borrowed the car the night of the accident. Jay’s idea we go to the party and get hammered.”
“I remember,” Paige said. “You wanted to drive us home, but Jay wouldn’t let you. Said your dad would go ballistic if he caught you driving his car.”
“He was probably right, but I still shouldn’t have let Jay drive. We’re damn lucky we’re still alive after that crash.”
“I could back you up. Tell your parents the truth.”
“Thanks.” Wyatt was touched by her generosity. She’d kept quiet all these years because he’d asked her to, even though he’d disappointed her. Without thinking, he brushed a lock of hair from her face. Her skin was satiny smooth and surprisingly warm. “I really appreciate it. But I won’t get you in trouble with my parents.” He let his hand drop. “Not that I think Dad would fire you or anything. He’s more than capable, however, of making work difficult for you.”
“What about talking to Dinah?”
“She was drinking, too. She said back when it happened she didn’t remember much or even who was driving.”
By unspoken agreement, they started strolling toward the bank and the Open Range Saloon.
“Yeah,” Paige agreed hesitantly. “She might remember more now, though. We were scared after the accident. Afraid we were going to get in trouble.”
“You think she was lying?”
“No, Dinah isn’t dishonest. However, she might have pretended to remember less than she did. For you. She was your girlfriend, she’d have gone along with whatever you wanted.”
What Paige said made sense. “Do you think she’d talk to me?”
“Easy enough to find out. The sheriff’s station is right up the road. We can ask her.”
“She’s at the station? Is she in jail?” Dinah had been a lot like Wyatt back then, on the wild side. That commonality had thrown them together often and, more than anything else, accounted for their romance.
“Not in jail,” Paige said. “Though her office isn’t too far from it. She’s our sheriff.”
Wyatt gaped at Paige, almost tripping over his own feet. “Since when?”
“Last election.”
“Her brother Colt mentioned once she’d gone away to school.”
“Police academy.”
“No fooling.”
They walked the few blocks to the sheriff’s station, with Paige filling Wyatt in on Dinah’s transformation over the years from lawbreaker to law enforcer. He was impressed.
“I don’t suppose any of us is where we thought we’d be twelve years ago,” he mused aloud as they reached the station’s main entrance.
Dinah wasn’t on duty; Thursdays were her day off. Wyatt received another shock when he and Paige encountered Duke Adams, Dinah’s cousin and another of their high school cronies. Correction, Deputy Duke Adams. He informed Wyatt and Paige that Dinah was at Thunder Ranch, having lunch with her mother and brother, Ace.
They thanked Duke and, after a few minutes of catching up, left.
“I’ll go with you to Thunder Ranch if you want.”
“Are you sure? I don’t want to keep you from your errands.” Actually, Wyatt did want to keep her…from her errands and with him as much as possible.
“The dry cleaner’s was my last stop.”
Taking her elbow, he assisted her down the concrete steps. He didn’t immediately let go, not until they’d crossed the street. She didn’t try to pull away, either.
“We’ll take my truck.”
Fifteen minutes later, they were traveling the long driveway into Thunder Ranch. Not much had changed. The rambling house looked the same, as did most of the barns. Wyatt spotted a new building under construction.
“It’s a mare motel,” Paige informed him. “The Harts are expanding their rodeo stock contracting business to include a horse breeding program.”
They drove straight toward the main barn. Paige had placed a call on the drive over and learned Dinah and Ace were at the hospital pens behind the barn where Ace, a veterinarian, was treating a sick horse.
Wyatt parked the truck beside an SUV with the county sheriff’s department logo on the side. Dinah stood beside the pens next to Ace. Wyatt recognized her instantly and waited for his heart to race like it had when he first saw Paige yesterday.
Nothing happened.
Not until he cast a sidelong glance at Paige. Then, his heart not only raced, it soared.
“Oh, Wyatt! It’s great to see you.” Dinah rushed over the second he exited the truck and gave him an enthusiastic hug.
“Great to see you, too.” He gently extracted himself from Dinah’s grasp as Ace sauntered over to join them. “Ace, how have you been?”
Dinah’s oldest brother and head of the Hart family took hold of Wyatt’s extended hand and gripped it with the strength of ten men. He leaned in close until his face was inches from Wyatt’s and growled, “Hurt my sister again, and I’ll make you sorry you ever set foot in this town.”
Wyatt squeezed Ace’s hand in return. He hadn’t gotten to be a two-time world champion by backing down from a challenge.
Chapter Four
Paige gasped. Had Ace lost his mind? “Do something!” She looked worriedly over at Dinah, who rolled her eyes.
“Ace, honestly,” she said. “Release him now or I’m going to arrest you for assault.”
Ace stepped back—maybe an inch altogether. He didn’t take his eyes off Wyatt, who stood his ground with admirable courage. “He got you in trouble.”
“He did no such thing. I got myself in trouble just fine without any help.” She gave Paige a conspiratorial wink. “That’s what I get for confiding in my big brother.”
Paige was hardly amused. In fact, she was starting to panic. Wyatt’s hand, still gripped in Ace’s, had started turning blue. “I think you should put a stop to this. Now.”
“Come on, Ace,” Dinah insisted, more sternly than before.
“Look,” Wyatt said, “I apologize for any hurt I caused your sister and take full responsibility.”
Ace considered Wyatt’s statement for a moment, then released him. “See that it doesn’t happen again.”
Paige gave Wyatt credit for not rubbing his hand, which must be throbbing. “Are you okay?” She wheeled and confronted Ace, telling him, “Grow up,” in her best mom-has-spoken voice.
Dinah laughed.
So did Wyatt and Ace.
Paige fumed. “Not funny.”
“Sorry about your fall,” Ace told Wyatt. “You were making quite a name for yourself.”
“Sorry about your dad. Colt mentioned he died a while ago.”
“Thanks. Been nearly ten years.”
Wyatt’s gaze traveled from the barn to the nearby arena to the half-constructed mare motel. “Paige told me you’re expanding your rodeo stock contracting business.”
Exchanging smiles, Paige’s tentative and Dinah’s mischievous, the two women leaned against the pen railing, listening to the men talk.
“We are,” Ace answered. “Planning on purchasing some new brood mares and a stallion before breeding season starts in May.”
“You should check out Midnight.”
“The Midnight Express? The horse that threw you?”
“One and the same. I’ve kept track of his whereabouts since my fall. His owner got sick some time ago. Long story short, Midnight hasn’t been competed for nearly a year.”
“I heard. Also that the owner didn’t survive his illness.”
“Rumor is,” Wyatt continued, “there’s going to be a sale soon. All the old man’s rodeo livestock, including Midnight, will be auctioned off by his heirs.”
Ace’s face lit with interest, and the two
men continued discussing the horse Midnight, oblivious to Paige and Dinah.
“Go figure,” Dinah said, bumping shoulders with Paige. “At each other’s throats one second, best friends the next.”
“Yeah, go figure.”
“Jealous?”
“Of you? No way.”
“Of Ace. Weren’t you always Wyatt’s best friend? Wait a minute. Why would you think I was referring to myself?” Dinah’s eyes widened. “You like Wyatt.”
“Don’t be ridiculous.”
Dinah saw right through Paige. “If you’re worried about me, forget it. Whatever Wyatt and I had ended when he left. He might have had a crush on me, but you and he had a special connection.” Dinah bumped shoulders with Paige again. “There’s a reason for that.”
“We were close once.”
“Closer than he and I ever were.” Dinah leaned in and whispered, “Tell him.”
“Tell him what?” Paige feigned ignorance.
“How you feel. Before he leaves. Who knows, maybe he’ll change his mind.”
Wyatt stay? Paige didn’t think so. Not for her.
“It isn’t like that between us,” she protested.
“Really?” Dinah rubbed her chin thoughtfully. “Could’ve fooled me.”
Paige glanced in the same direction as Dinah and caught Wyatt watching her—her, not Dinah—with what could only be described as interest. The kind of interest a man shows when he’s…interested.
Dinah beamed. “You go, girl.”
* * *
“I know Dinah wanted to be more help.”
“Maybe she’ll find something in the files.” Wyatt shot Paige a dubious look as he aimed his truck in the direction of town. “But I’m not holding my breath.”
Wyatt had questioned Dinah about the night of the accident. She hadn’t been playing dumb for his sake or out of fear, she really didn’t remember much of anything. She did offer to research the incident records and see if anything in them proved useful.
“What are you going to do next?” Paige asked.
“I’m not sure.” Wyatt released a long breath. “Don’t know why I’m trying. It’s not like my family’s happy to see me.”
Wyatt: Return of the Cowboy Page 3
