The Rancher's Redemption (The Millers of Morgan Valley Book 2)

by Kate Pearce

  “Ouch!” She grabbed the dog again and laughed. “Just trample all over me to get to him, Grace, why don’t you?”

  “Fine by me,” Cauy said. “I don’t usually cause a stampede.”

  “Can I ask you something?”

  Cauy nodded.

  “Do you like me?”

  “Yeah, of course I do.” He gestured over at the chair. “Lady, I had you half-naked about a week ago.”

  “That was different. That was just sex.” Rachel’s cheeks heated, and she flapped a hand in front of her face.

  He sat on the floor keeping the dog between them, his hand buried in her fur. “As in do I want to have a relationship with you?”

  “Exactly.”

  He sighed. “Do you want the long answer or the short version?”

  “Whatever works for you.”

  Cauy tried to gather his thoughts. “I didn’t come back here to start a new relationship. I came to save the ranch, and this place sure needs a lot of help.”

  “So you’re saying you don’t have time for a relationship?”

  “I suppose I am, and”—he hesitated—“I’m not great boyfriend material.”

  “Why do you say that? You’re kind, and I find you very attractive or else I wouldn’t be sitting here right now making a fool out of myself.”

  “You’re no fool. I’m the one who screwed up a marriage.” Cauy paused. “I suppose you could say I’m still gun-shy.”

  “Okay, so this isn’t a good time for you. I get that.” She fidgeted with the dog’s collar. “It’s not great for me, either. I need to get a job, and I’ll only be here for another month.”

  Cauy chose his words with care. “Maybe we should admit the timing sucks and stay friends?”

  “Maybe we should.”

  She held his gaze as he leaned in like an idiot; his gaze fixed on her lips, and he kissed her. She opened her mouth to him, and he delved inside, his tongue tangling with hers, and it was spectacular like the Fourth of July fireworks. She was the first to pull back.

  “That was your good-bye kiss?”

  Cauy shrugged. “I like kissing you.”

  “But you don’t want a relationship right now, and neither do I.” Rachel patted the dog as if her life depended on it, aware that her and Cauy’s fingers sometimes met and intertwined in the dog’s fur. She was reluctant to mention it in case he pulled his hand away.

  “Exactly.”

  “Okay, we stay friends, you save the ranch, and I’ll go off and find a new job.” Rachel paused. “Then maybe one day when we’re both older and wiser we’ll get around to dating.”

  His fingers stilled in Grace’s fur right over hers, and his thumb caressed her palm sending shivers of pure lust up and down her spine.

  “Yeah, that’s a great idea.”

  She waited. He didn’t say any more, but his hand remained firmly in hers until she reluctantly eased her fingers free. She could do this. She was a mature, confident woman with thousands of choices ahead of her. If she and Cauy could realize it wasn’t a good time to have a relationship why couldn’t other people? It would save a lot of heartache if people were honest with each other.

  She scrambled to her feet and went to wash her hands. “Do you want to show me how Jackson’s room looks now?”

  Cauy remained sitting on the floor with the dog. “You’re quick to tell me when I’m avoiding a subject, but you’re pretty good at it yourself, Rachel.”

  She turned to look at him. “I’m not avoiding anything. I told you how I see things, and so far you haven’t disagreed, so I assumed we were moving on.”

  “You think it’s that simple? That we can just turn off ‘that’”—he brushed his mouth with his fingers—“and be friends?”

  “You don’t think you can handle it?” Rachel crossed her arms over her chest and hoped he didn’t notice her very perky nipples. “Wow, and you’re older than me, and much more experienced.”

  “Meaning I’ve learned that wanting someone like this”—he slowly let out a breath—“doesn’t happen very often.”

  She was torn between delight at his admission and fear about what he was going to say next.

  He looked her right in the eye. “It scares the crap out of me.”

  “Oh,” Rachel said faintly. “Good. I think.”

  “All I know is that I want you, and for many reasons I can’t have you.” He moved the now sleeping dog off his lap and placed her in her crate with the door open before slowly standing to face Rachel.

  She shrank back against the sink, but he kept his distance.

  “It’s okay. I’m a grown man, not a stupid teenage boy who doesn’t keep his promises.”

  “I already knew that.” Rachel sighed. At least she had her answer. “It’s sad though, isn’t it? That we can’t get it together.”

  “Yeah.” He shoved a hand through his hair. She couldn’t help but notice he was as aroused as she was. “Now, do you want to see what I’ve done in Jackson’s room or not?”

  Chapter Thirteen

  “Welcome home, Bro.” Cauy clapped his brother on the back.

  “Wow, what happened?” Jackson turned a slow circle taking in the ranch house and dilapidated outbuildings before bringing his attention back to Cauy.

  “Dad didn’t take care of the place after Mom left with you guys.”

  “I knew that.” Jackson frowned. “But the last time I came out here things weren’t this bad. Even then all Dad did was complain about the price of everything, and talk shit about the Morgans.”

  Jackson hoisted his kit bag on his shoulder and followed Cauy into the house. “At least it’s warm in here.” He dropped the bag in the mudroom along with his boots and came through into the kitchen. “Not much has changed.”

  His keen gaze swept the kitchen and alighted on the dog crate and its occupant.

  “Who’s this?”

  Cauy went over to open the crate. “This is Grace. A friend of mine rescued her, and I agreed to take her on.” He shrugged as Jackson made a fuss of the dog. “A ranch needs dogs.”

  “This ranch needs every bit of help it can get,” Jackson said, ruffling Grace’s fur. “How many cattle was Dad running?”

  Cauy handed his brother a mug of coffee. “None.”

  “What the hell?” Jackson shook his head. He looked nothing like Cauy, being tall, dark and broad-shouldered. Serving in the Air Force had added confidence and strength to his sunny demeanor. “How about the horses?”

  “I found two strays and brought them in.” Cauy sat at the table. “I checked the farm office for the accounts. In the last year he sold off everything that wasn’t nailed down.”

  Jackson took a swig of coffee. “Then what did he do with the money?”

  “I have no idea. For some reason he named me as his executor. I can tell you straight out that when I checked he didn’t have more than a hundred bucks in his bank account.”

  “Maybe he had another account somewhere?”

  “If he did, I haven’t found any evidence of it yet,” Cauy said. “Basically, he left me the land and not much else.” He paused. “I don’t know why he left it to me when you were his favorite son.”

  “Jeez, I don’t want it.” Jackson held up his palm as if to ward Cauy off. “I’m happy to come back here and work as a rancher for a while, but I don’t want this dung heap—pardon my French.”

  “You sure?” Cauy held his brother’s gaze. “Because if you think it should be yours—”

  “Nope.” Jackson grinned at him. “It’s all your problem.”

  “Damn, I thought you might say that.” Cauy smiled back at his brother. Jackson was one of the most definite people he’d ever met and years in the military had only intensified his straightforward no-shit personality.

  “I’ll help out, I promise. I’d like to learn how to run a place like this so I can eventually buy my own.” Jackson finished his coffee, and Cauy offered him more. “I’m not intending to re-up with the service. I’ve done m
y time.”

  “Ten years is enough,” Cauy agreed. Like Blue Morgan, Jackson had joined up right out of school, and was roughly the same age as the Morgan twins. He was somewhat surprised his brother hadn’t decided to become a career soldier but he wasn’t going to ask questions. “You’re more than welcome to stay here and help me put this place to rights.”

  “You’re planning on staying? Mom seemed to think you might sell it off to the Morgans.” Jackson shuddered. “Which Dad would’ve hated.”

  “I wouldn’t sell to the Morgans.” Cauy hesitated. “I kind of made that promise to Dad. I saw him just before he died.”

  “You saw him?” Jackson’s mouth fell open. “Jeez, you two hardly spoke after you left home. Dad wouldn’t even let Mom mention your name around here for years.”

  “Yeah, he got hold of Mom and said he wanted to speak to me.” Cauy fidgeted with his coffee mug. “I didn’t want to go, but after the accident and coming so close to death myself, I thought maybe I owed him something.”

  “And you promised not to sell the ranch to the evil Morgans.”

  “That was basically all he wanted to see me for.” Cauy considered his brother carefully. “I was hoping he might tell me who my real father was.”

  Jackson just looked at him, and Cauy raised an eyebrow.

  “You knew?”

  “I . . . wondered,” Jackson said, grimacing. “He was so goddamn mean to you all the time, and for no reason at all.”

  “And if it’s true, are you still sure that you don’t want the ranch?” Cauy asked slowly. “If you are his only son . . .”

  “No. It’s yours.”

  “If I can make it profitable again, you, Amy, and Mom will get a percentage of the take.”

  “Awesome. You do the work and I’ll sit around and be one of those trust fund babies you read about.”

  “Not sure how many of those there are in ranching, but you’re welcome to try.” Cauy heaved himself to his feet. “Let’s get your stuff into your room.”

  Jackson looked up at him, his blue gaze searching. “How are you doing?”

  “I’m good.”

  “You look a lot healthier than you did a year ago. I can hardly see any of the scarring on your face or neck.”

  Instinctively, Cauy reached up his hand to cover the damage. “Thanks.”

  Jackson stood and stretched. “My back is killing me. I hate flying.”

  “You were in the freaking Air Force!” Cauy held the door open for his brother, gladder of the company than he was willing to admit.

  “Bro,” Jackson said, winking. “That’s exactly why I hate other people flying me.”

  * * *

  A couple of hours later Cauy’s cell buzzed, and he checked the text before going to knock on Jackson’s bedroom door.

  “Hey, do you want to earn your keep?”

  Jackson opened the door. “What’s up?” He’d changed into jeans and a plaid shirt and already looked like he belonged.

  “Roy’s coming over with the horses. I’ll need some help getting them in their stalls.”

  “Roy who?”

  Cauy paused to think. “I don’t know his last name, but he’s the foreman at Morgan Ranch.”

  “Oh, that Roy.” Jackson whistled. “He’s still alive? He must be about ninety.” Jackson pulled on his boots and produced an Air Force baseball cap to put on his head. “Hang on. Why’s he bringing Morgan horses here?”

  “I agreed to rent them some space over the winter while their new barn is being built.”

  “That was . . . neighborly of you. Dad—”

  “Dad would’ve let their horses die in the snow, yeah, I know, but I need the money,” Cauy said. “Their hands are going to stick around and help me reconstruct the rest of the outbuildings.”

  “Got it.” Jackson shivered as they left the warmth of the house and crossed over to the barn. “God, I’d forgotten how cold it gets up here in the winter.”

  “This is only the start of it.” Cauy put on his gloves.

  The roar of a big vehicle climbing the drive up from the county road caught his attention and he hurried into the barn. He flicked on the lights and paused to pat his two horses he hadn’t turned out because of the upcoming turmoil.

  “How many are you expecting?” Jackson asked, his chin buried deep in the folds of his fleece, muffling his voice.

  Cauy eyed the remaining stalls. “This many.”

  “About a dozen, then.” Jackson peered out of the barn into the fog. “There are two trucks with trailers coming in so that would be about right.”

  “From what I’ve seen the Morgan horses are all well trained. I’m not expecting any problems.”

  “Good, because I haven’t got my cowboy on for about ten years,” Jackson said. “And I don’t want to look like a complete ass.”

  Cauy walked out to greet Roy, who was hopping down from his gigantic truck like a sprightly elf.

  “Morning, Cauy.” Roy nodded at him and then turned to Jackson. “You must be Jackson.”

  Jackson nodded. “That’s me.”

  “Yup, I remember you. You look like your father.” Roy looked Jackson up and down and returned the handshake. “You’ve grown a bit.”

  Jackson grinned. “I should hope so seeing as I was only eighteen last time we met.”

  “You were in the same school year as the twins.”

  “Yeah, how are they doing? I see HW became quite the rodeo star.”

  “He’s back home now. They all are. With the ranch changing and growing we’ve needed all hands on deck.”

  “Cauy was telling me about the dude ranch side. How’s that going?” Jackson inquired as they walked toward the first trailer, where two guys were already letting down the ramp.

  Roy jerked his thumb at the trailers. “Good enough that we had to train up another dozen horses and build a new barn.”

  Jackson chuckled and Cauy marveled at how easily his brother always got along with people. They weren’t very alike, but had bonded over their shared resentment of the way Mark had treated their mother.

  Roy nodded at the men who had gotten out of the second truck. “This here is Luis, Santiago, and Chester. They’re going to be helping out today, and they’ll be the hands coming back to take care of the horses every morning.” Cauy shook hands with all three guys. “After they’ve finished with the horses, you can get them to help out with whatever you need doing around here—as long as they’re back at my ranch by midday.”

  “Got it,” Cauy nodded. “I appreciate the help, gentlemen.”

  He received smiles and nods in return, which suited him fine. The less talking he had to do the better.

  Roy walked up the slope of the trailer. “Okay, let’s get this done.” He untied the first rope from the bar on the side of the trailer and led the horse down the ramp. “Any particular order you want us to put them in?”

  “Nope. Just take any vacant stall.”

  With five of them working together it didn’t take long at all to get the dozen horses into their newly prepared homes. Cauy and Jackson went round making sure every horse had fresh feed and water while Roy wrote the names of the horses on the whiteboards on each door.

  With fourteen horses now in the barn the place warmed up considerably and Cauy was soon sweating. The Morgan Ranch hands weren’t a chatty bunch, but they were efficient and worked hard, which made Cauy very happy. He even managed to have a quick word with Santiago about rebuilding the chicken house when he discovered the guy was apparently a great carpenter.

  Roy capped his marker and turned to Cauy. “Looks good in here.”

  “It does.” Cauy hesitated. “Would you guys like some coffee?”

  “That’s mighty kind of you, but we have to get back,” Roy said. “I’ll send Ry over to see how things are going this evening, but if you have any problems just text me, okay?”

  “I will.” Cauy shook Roy’s hand again.

  Roy pointed to the dilapidated shed beside the
barn. “I suggest you start work on that one first so that Em from the feed store can deliver the winter supplies you’ll need. Chase has already set up a separate account with her for Lymond Ranch.”

  “Good to know.”

  Cauy already had an account, but the Morgans insisted on thinking he was penniless, and he wasn’t going to get into an argument about it. He’d pay his share.

  Roy clapped him on the back. “Then we’ll leave you to it.” He started walking back to his truck and then turned around again. “My blasted memory. Chase said to tell you that he’s got some really interesting images of the mine from the GPR units if you want to come over and see them.”

  “Thanks. I’ll touch base with him.”

  “And Rachel was telling us about how well you were taking care of the dog.” Roy winked. “She’s very impressed with you.”

  Cauy raised an eyebrow and pointed at Roy’s truck. “Didn’t you say you had to go?”

  Roy was still chuckling as he got into the driver’s seat with Santiago, leaving Luis and Chester to take the second vehicle.

  Cauy watched them leave and then went back to the house. Jackson followed him, a frown on his face.

  In the kitchen Cauy gulped down the coffee like a lifeline, enjoying the immediate jolt to his cold system. Jackson joined him.

  “Who’s Rachel?”

  Inwardly Cauy sighed. Jackson had always been the smart one of the family.

  “Rachel Morgan.”

  Cauy could literally see Jackson work through the possible ramifications of that on his face.

  “Chase has a kid?”

  “Actually, BB has a kid, but Rachel is their sister.” Cauy decided he might as well put it out there before Jackson drew his own conclusions.

  Jackson choked on his coffee. “The baby who disappeared? The one Billy Morgan supposedly killed in a drunken rage along with his wife?”

  “Yeah. That one. Apparently, Annie Morgan ran away with one of the ranch hands, ditched him, and went on to live her life under a different name. She took Rachel with her.”

  Jackson sat down at the table with a thump. “You’re kidding me.”