Cowboy 12 Pack

by Cynthia D’Alba, Paige Tyler, Elle James, Donna Michaels, Shoshanna Evers, Randi Alexander, Cora Seton, Beth Williamson, Sabrina York, Sable Hunter, Lexi Post, Becky McGraw

  She needed to concentrate. She needed to take things one step at a time. First she would show Daniel he hadn’t crushed her when he took her money and ran. That meant finishing Jamie’s house, showing it to Carl and landing the Whitfield contract. Next, she needed to sort out Morgan and send her back to Canada. No matter what Ethan said, she wasn’t becoming part of her family.

  Last, she needed to make a decision about the rest of her life. When she had time to think it through—away from Jamie and everyone else.

  Jamie.

  She stroked Storm’s neck as she considered the man at the center of all the chaos in her life. Why couldn’t he be the man she needed him to be? Why couldn’t he be faithful?

  Rose said she thought he was ready to be part of a lasting relationship. That he was one hundred percent committed.

  Could his proposal possibly be serious?

  No, that didn’t make sense—it was all part of that practical joke—the face goo, the stupid note, and his proposal in front of all his friends. Even if by some crazy chance he had been serious, it didn’t matter.

  Jamie didn’t have staying power, no matter what Rose said. She had no doubt a wedding with him would be wonderful and the honeymoon spectacular. But the marriage… How long before another woman caught his eye and led him astray? She wouldn’t live through that kind of betrayal.

  Let everyone think she didn’t care enough about Jamie to marry him. She knew the truth.

  She cared far too much.

  Chapter Seventeen

  ‡

  “WHO’S THAT?” AUTUMN said. Jamie turned and held his hand up to shade his eyes from the strong morning sunshine. He was collecting the picnic Autumn and Rose had packed them to take along on today’s ride. He’d distribute the food and drinks among everyone’s saddlebags and warn them not to get into it until noon.

  Rob had been more than willing to ride along and spend the evening with them, too, when Jamie asked. He promised he’d hang out at his cabin until midnight, then go to intercept Jamie’s would-be lover.

  “I’m more than happy to take one for the team,” was the way he’d put it when Jamie warned him that the guest who met him there might expect him to put out. Jamie just bet he was, after his long drought.

  An unfamiliar car pulled into the drive and parked near the Big House. A woman in her early thirties got out. There was something familiar about her dark hair and strong jaw, but it wasn’t until she turned to face them straight on that Jamie realized who it had to be.

  “Morgan,” Autumn said, echoing his thoughts.

  “Yep.” He scanned the surroundings, hoping Claire was still in the stable.

  Autumn walked down the front porch’s steps. “Can I help you?”

  “I’m looking for Ethan Cruz.” Morgan came to meet them. Dressed in jeans, a t-shirt and cowboy boots, she could have been a local, but Jamie detected a slight accent in her voice. Nothing he could put his finger on, exactly, but enough to set her apart as different.

  “I’ll go get him.” Autumn shot Jamie a look, and went back inside.

  “Why don’t you have a seat,” Jamie said.

  “I’m not sure I’m staying long enough for that to be practical,” she said and smiled. “Hi, I’m Morgan. I don’t know if you’ve heard of me.”

  He nodded. “I sure have. Claire gave me an earful last night after she got home.”

  “Did she tell you what happened? With that guy, Daniel?”

  Daniel. Jamie frowned. “No. What happened?”

  The anger in his tone must have made her wary. She looked him up and down. “Who are you, again?”

  He stuck his hand out. “I’m Jamie Lassiter. An old friend of the Cruz’s and now part-owner of the ranch.”

  “And you like Claire.”

  Taken aback, he let his hand drop. “She tell you that?”

  Morgan smiled again. “It’s plain all over your face, cowboy.”

  “So what happened with Daniel?”

  She moved over to one of the rattan chairs that dotted the wide verandah and sat down. “I’d better not say if she didn’t tell you herself. But he’s a mean sonofabitch. I think she needs to watch out for him.”

  Jamie narrowed his eyes, but before he could press her further, the door opened and Autumn came back out onto the porch, followed by Ethan.

  Morgan stood up. “Ethan. I’m Morgan. I’m…your sister.”

  “NO. ABSOLUTELY NOT,” Claire hissed when Ethan cornered her in the stable and told her that Morgan was joining her and Jamie and their guests for the trail ride and picnic today.

  “I already told her she could come. Don’t make a scene in front of our guests; we’ve already kept them waiting too long this morning.”

  “Whose fault is that?”

  “Mine. I take full responsibility. But now it’s time to get going.”

  “Why does she have to come with me? Why can’t she go with you?”

  “Because I’m going with you, too. Now shut up and help me saddle Charlie.”

  Claire counted to ten before leading Storm out of the stable and leaving her brother behind. Let him saddle his own damn horse, and as far as she was concerned he could entertain their unwelcome half-sister, too. She sure as hell wasn’t going to talk to her.

  But when she joined the rest of the group milling around on horseback at the front of the Big House, she realized she didn’t need to. Jamie was already deep in conversation with the interloper. As she watched, he threw back his head and roared with laughter at something Morgan said.

  Rob pulled up Monty beside her and leaned over. “Damn, Claire, seeing your sister is uncanny. She’s like you, only pretty.” He chuckled and moved away into the center of their female guests. Claire fought the urge to hurl something at his retreating back and wheeled around, waiting for Ethan to appear. She couldn’t wait until this farce was over.

  Things only got worse from there, however. She found herself stuck at the end of the line while Ethan and Jamie vied for Morgan’s attention. Ethan was acting like Morgan was their long lost…well…sister or something, while from the way Jamie couldn’t stop talking to her, she figured she didn’t have to worry about his unwelcome advances anymore.

  Somehow that left her feeling lonelier than ever.

  Rob flirted with each and every one of the guests, making his way up and down the line with the ease of many years spent in the saddle. He should take on her job when the week was done. He’d be far more successful at it than she was. No one wanted to talk to her.

  Why would they when all she’d done all week was mope? As she rode along, the distance from her troubles was giving her clarity. She had a condo filled with tiles, floor coverings, cabinets and more—far more than she could use for ten log houses. She needed to make some decisions and send the rest back. She needed to get her finances in order.

  She needed to figure out what she wanted to do with her life.

  Her gaze strayed ahead of her to Jamie where he rode easily, chatting and laughing with Morgan, Ethan and Christine, who’d come up behind them. His laughter and good spirits had been a part of her life as she’d grown up on the ranch. His constant presence and his unerring desire to get her attention—and keep it—made it all too easy to discount him as anything special.

  But he was special, much as she hated to admit it. Who else could pick out the perfect horse for her when she hadn’t ridden in over a decade? Who else worked beside her so easily—never trying to boss her around or second-guess her decisions? Who else put up with her temper and moods?

  Jamie had seen the worst of her. She closed her eyes as her cheeks heated. The best of her, too. He knew her in a way no other man did. Should she give him a chance?

  No—she’d been ready to give him a chance the night she came to tell him she’d been a fool for years. She’d been on fire that night to get everything out in the open, to tell Jamie she’d finally seen him for the man he was. And he’d been getting it on with Hannah O’Dell.

  H
e was a flirt and cheat. Always would be.

  Right?

  Rose’s words crossed Claire’s mind, and this time she considered them more seriously. How had Rose put it? Being a flirt was different than being a cheat.

  Was Jamie a cheat?

  He hadn’t cheated on her when he was with Hannah. She’d given him the cold shoulder for years at that point. Did she really think he’d stay celibate all that time when she certainly hadn’t? She’d never given him the barest encouragement—not the slightest hint that she was interested. What right did she have to be angry when he wasn’t sitting home alone, waiting for her?

  That night, staring in his window while he undressed Hannah, she’d felt just as hurt as when she’d caught her mother and Mack together. But Jamie wasn’t married. He was a single man who’d found someone else to be with when she refused him over and over again.

  Had Jamie ever cheated? She thought back to the various women he’d dated over the years. All strong, independent types who were just as capable of playing Jamie as of being played by him. Women who wanted a boyfriend to squire them around, but weren’t interested in settling down. She couldn’t remember anyone shedding any tears over him.

  Jamie liked women, no doubt about that. Was he a flirt?

  Yes, definitely.

  Was he a two-timer?

  Maybe not.

  Did Jamie truly want to be with her? Was he husband material?

  She narrowed her eyes as Morgan reached over and put her hand on Jamie’s arm. Talking as if no one else was around. What the hell did those two find to connect over? Why couldn’t he take his gaze off of her?

  She decided she needed to find out.

  AS THE TRAIL narrowed, Jamie let Ethan move ahead of him.

  “Claire’s coming,” Ethan said in a low voice as he passed.

  Jamie turned to look over his shoulder. Yep, here she came. Probably ready to blast him for fraternizing with the enemy.

  “Hi, Claire,” Morgan called out.

  He hoped Claire would at least nod at her half-sister, but she didn’t. She didn’t say a word.

  “What’s up?” Jamie asked her as Morgan fell behind them.

  “Just decided to check in. Getting a little sick of eating dust.”

  “Want me to take the rear for a while?”

  “You in a big hurry to get away from me?”

  He looked up at her sharp tone. Heck, was Claire a little jealous of the attention he’d been giving to her sister? Morgan was nice, and pretty, but she wasn’t Claire—not by a long shot. “Nah, I can stand you for a little while.”

  He just caught her distress as she turned away. Shit. Usually she could take anything he had to dish out and give it back twice as bad. “Hey, I’m joking. You know I’d spend every minute with you if I could. You’re the one keeping us apart, honey.”

  “I just got dirt in my eye.” She straightened her shoulders as if bracing herself to perform an unpleasant duty. “Sorry for yelling last night. I was upset.”

  “I can see why.”

  “You don’t seem to have any problem talking to her.”

  He glanced over his shoulder to make sure Morgan couldn’t hear them. “Why should I? She’s not my kin.”

  “What did she have to say?”

  “That she took a week off of her job to come see what happened to her mother. That she still can’t believe she’s gone, but she’d known something awful must have happened since she never came back. That really she’s been mourning her for months.”

  “She seems pretty cheerful for someone who’s in mourning.”

  He stifled the urge to call Claire on the cattiness of that remark. “I’d say seems about covers it. I think she’s pretty shaken up. She’s trying not to spoil everyone else’s day.”

  Like you are, he left unspoken.

  Claire pressed her lips together in a thin line. “I don’t want to hear how broken up she is.”

  “Then we’ll talk about something else,” Jamie said easily. “Did you know that she works at a winery in Victoria? She helps manage it—oversees the grapes growing and the distillery. She wants a vineyard of her own someday.”

  “Hmmm.”

  “If you weren’t so busy trying to hate her, I think you’d like her,” he said. “Maybe you should ask her to stay at the ranch for another week. Get to know her better. Didn’t you ever wish for a sister?” A glance over his shoulder told him Rob was flirting with Morgan now. Claire probably wouldn’t like that.

  “As far as I’m concerned, the sooner she leaves, the better.”

  Jamie cocked his head. “You want to tell me what happened with Daniel yesterday?”

  “Nope.” She clicked her tongue at Storm and left him behind.

  “WE SHOULD HAVE left Claire back at the ranch. She’s being damn rude,” Ethan said thirty minutes later as they hobbled the horses and checked them over. Jamie looked up and scanned the hillside where they’d stopped to eat lunch. Morgan sat in the midst of the female guests chattering away. Claire was busy taking the food out of the saddle bags, slamming the containers and plastic silverware around, making it all too clear she was unhappy with the situation.

  “She’s upset that Morgan came along for the ride.”

  “I guess I can understand that. I thought I’d be angry, when I heard that Mom…well, you know,” Ethan said. “I was for a little while, but not anymore. Now I’m curious. Morgan’s grandparents and Mom and Dad are all gone.” He shrugged. “Seems like those of us that are left should be able to work things out.”

  Jamie considered this. “Claire took it harder than you—all your Mom’s comings and goings.”

  Ethan frowned. “She never said anything.”

  “She didn’t have to—what she did said everything she needed to say.”

  Pausing with one hand on Storm’s withers, Ethan nodded slowly. “All those fights? The running wild? Yeah. I guess so. But that’s water under the bridge now.”

  “I don’t think it is for Claire. Morgan being here is like salt in her wounds. Think about it this way—when your Mom went away it was to be with Morgan. Every time she left, it was Morgan’s fault.”

  “Like she was cheating on Claire with another daughter,” Ethan said and laughed shortly. “Okay, I see it now. Claire’s really mad at Mom, but Mom’s gone, so…”

  “So she’s taking it out on the only other target left.”

  “So we kick Morgan to the curb?”

  Jamie patted the gentle mare that Adrienne was riding today. “That’s the easy solution, but I don’t think it’s the best one. We’ve got to throw those two together, let them go at it and hope they fight their way through the problem to the other side.”

  Ethan looked skeptical. “That sounds messy.”

  “Life is messy.”

  When Ethan took a long moment to answer, Jamie figured he was thinking of his own recent history. “Yeah. You got that right.”

  Jamie’s thoughts returned to the spark of jealousy Claire’d shown when he spent too much time around Morgan on the ride. So far he’d done a crap job of seducing her. He’d hoped that by interesting her in the projects that interested him—his house and the guest ranch business—he’d convince her she wanted to spend more time with him. Since that hadn’t worked, it was time to step things up a notch. Claire avoided him as much as she could. He’d always taken that for disinterest. What if he was wrong? What if that signaled an abundance of interest?

  Time to test that theory out.

  CLAIRE WATCHED IN dismay as Jamie stuck to Morgan like burrs on a mule for the remainder of their lunch break. He sat next to her at lunch, his leg almost pressed against hers as they shared a log for a seat. From across the way, she heard them discuss the food, the ride, the guests, and the prospects for buying breeding stock this year, in a general, disinterested way. She couldn’t accuse him of flirting, but damn it, that was exactly what he was doing.

  Morgan was eating up his attention and why shouldn’t she? A good
looking, capable man like Jamie was hard to find, especially one with a head for business and a desire to settle down and raise a family.

  With a lurch of her heart, Claire realized she was jealous of Morgan. Jealous because she wanted a good looking, capable man. A man with a head for business she could settle down and raise a family with. She was sick of holding back, sick of being alone, sick to death of focusing on revenge instead of on her future. Now that she knew what kind of man Daniel really was, getting back at him seemed less important. Let Edie have him and good riddance.

  As long as Jamie was available she’d felt like she’d had all the time in the world to get around to him, and little inclination to do so. Seeing Morgan cozy up to him brought that illusion crashing down. If she kept guarding her heart so carefully, she would never find out what Jamie’s intentions really were, and she risked someone else—someone like Morgan—coming along and snatching him away from her.

  She couldn’t be sure if Jamie really cared for her, or if he was just playing an increasingly elaborate practical joke, but the thing she was coming to realize was that she had to find out—whether or not that meant getting hurt.

  She wanted Jamie. She wanted to stop playing games and say yes to his proposal. She wanted to look him in the eye and learn the truth.

  Should she admit that to him?

  No. In spite of her realizations, she wasn’t ready to lose their bet. In fact—she straightened as a new idea hit her—tempting him to lose it sounded like so much more fun.

  When they saddled up for the return ride, she let Ethan lead the pack and fell back to ride alongside of Jamie.

  And she stuck by him for the rest of the day.

  Jamie didn’t acknowledge this new arrangement, but he didn’t fight it either. She figured he was waiting to see what she did next. Fine. She’d keep him guessing.

  She saw Adrienne and Liz exchange a glance at one point, but with Ethan and Rob along, none of the ladies seemed too put out by Jamie’s abandonment of them.

  Claire kept alert for any overt sign he was flirting with her, but although Jamie was warm and interested in everything she had to say, he didn’t touch her once—even though they were certainly close enough on this narrow track.