The Maverick Cowboy

by Kate Pearce

  The sarcasm in his voice was edged with anger—something Jenna understood all too well.

  “Do you think he really wants to make things right with you?”

  “I don’t know.” Blue was back to pacing again. He had way too much energy to be confined in such a small space. “He’s definitely changed and he says he’s given up drinking.”

  “That’s good,” Jenna said cautiously.

  “I suppose so.” Blue half smiled. “I’m just all out of group hugs and family reconciliation moments right now. If he wants my trust, he’ll have to earn it.”

  “Here you go, BB.” Roy came through the door with a couple of cardboard boxes covered in cobwebs. “I got you the payroll and the daily ledger for the whole year.”

  “Thanks, Roy.”

  Blue put them on the table next to Jenna, who kept a wary eye out for spiders. When Blue wasn’t looking, she quickly used her tissue to clean them up a little. He perched on the edge of the table, reached past her shoulder, and opened the first box. Inside was a bundle of correspondence and bills and several notebooks.

  “Jeez, this is going to take forever.”

  “Get January to help you. She’s a historian. She loves poking around in old documents,” Roy advised. “Or I bet if Miss Jenna can read Big Mac’s handwriting, she can read anything.”

  “Jenna has a full-time job.” Blue talked over her head as he took several payroll books out of the box and flipped through them. “She’s not going to want to get involved in this clusterfuck.”

  “I wouldn’t mind helping.” Jenna spoke before she could talk herself out of it. “I quite like deciphering puzzles and I’m used to research work.”

  Blue looked down at her. “I’ve got it.”

  “But I really wouldn’t mind—”

  “Seriously, I’ve got it.”

  Jenna picked up her completed paperwork and put it neatly in the folder. “Not a problem.”

  She’d forgotten he was rather like her sister Lily—a type A personality who could do anything she set her mind to. Funny how she felt like she’d been firmly set in her place and how much it stung.

  “I’d better be off, then.” She smiled at Roy as she put her things away in her bag. “Let me know if you see any side effects from the vaccinations.”

  “Will do, Miss Jenna, and thanks for coming out here.”

  With a brief nod in Blue’s direction, Jenna headed out the door and lugged her bag over to her truck.

  “Hey.”

  She looked behind her to see that Blue had followed her out. He jogged to a stop right in front of her.

  “I didn’t mean to imply that your help wouldn’t be useful.”

  “I didn’t think that you did. You just assumed that you could do it better.” She inclined her head an inch. “And, hey, you’re probably right.”

  “Roy said—”

  “If Roy told you to come out here and smooth down my ruffled feathers, that was very sweet of him, but I’m a big girl.”

  “Hell, I was going to come after you anyway.”

  Jenna blinked at him. “You were?”

  “When I turned down your offer of help, you looked like I’d kicked your favorite puppy.”

  “I did not.”

  He shrugged. “Well, your least favorite puppy, then.”

  She stepped into his space, the toes of her boots touching his. “If you kicked a single puppy anywhere near me, I’d shoot you.”

  “You’d shoot me?”

  “Yes, Mr. Marine Officer and a Gentleman or whatever you are.”

  His mouth quirked up at the corner. “I enlisted. If we’re going to be formal here, I’m Gunnery Sergeant Morgan.”

  “That makes perfect sense. Aren’t sergeants the ones who shout at everyone?”

  “I’m not shouting, and I think you mean drill sergeants. I’m better at the more technical aspects of warfare.”

  “Like bossing people around and assuming you know better than everyone else?” she said sweetly. “I noticed that.”

  He sighed. “Look, all I wanted to say was I’m sorry if I was abrupt with you back there. I have a tendency to forget I’m no longer supposed to be—”

  “Bossing everyone around,” she finished for him.

  “Yeah. The thing is . . .” He hesitated. “This business with my mom? It’s kind of a sensitive issue for me.”

  “Don’t tell me, you have feelings?” Jenna asked.

  He nodded. “Yeah. Sensitive ones.”

  She held his gaze and slowly exhaled. “I’m the one who should be apologizing. Your family business is nothing to do with me, and I let my own personal issues dictate how I responded to your perfectly reasonable decision not to involve me.”

  “You what?” He angled his head to one side. “Can you run that by me again in English?”

  She glared at him. “My sister does everything so perfectly that I spent my entire childhood being told to butt out because I wasn’t good enough. Okay? I obviously have a residual issue about it.”

  “Ah, now I totally get it. Imagine what it was like growing up with Mr. Perfect Chase Morgan as an older brother.”

  “Your brother is lovely.”

  “Exactly.”

  “And you’re—”

  “Not.” He held her gaze. “I’m used to giving and receiving orders. Hell, I’m used to orders period, and after twelve years in the military, I’m just starting to come back into the real world. So if I’m being overbearing just tell me, okay?”

  Jenna stared at him. “Just tell you.”

  He nodded. “You have a problem with that?”

  “I just don’t believe you mean it. You can’t change who you are at your core.”

  “And as far as you are concerned, I’ll always be a dictatorial dumbass?”

  “I didn’t call you a dumb anything,” she protested.

  “I’m just paraphrasing here. You’d probably put it more nicely.” He took a step back and touched the brim of his Stetson. “So we’re good?”

  She nodded, and after a quick smile he turned and went back into the house, leaving her standing there like a fool.

  No one was that direct.

  Were they?

  She got into the truck, made sure her bag was closed tight, and started the engine. As she bumped down the uneven drive away from the ranch, she tried to imagine Blue in one of the innumerable family therapy meetings her parents had considered mandatory when she was growing up.

  They’d insisted that a healthy family dynamic needed to be worked upon, and to be fair, in Jenna’s family there had been a lot of passive-aggressive shit going on. She bet Blue Morgan didn’t do passive anything. He just told you how it was going to be and expected you to go along with it. Her parents would hate him.

  She was still smiling as she pulled into a parking space in Morgantown and found her small purse. There was at least half an hour before clinic hours, and after dealing with the Marine, she needed coffee and chocolate to make it through the rest of the day. The dark aroma of roasting coffee led her toward Yvonne’s café on Main Street, where she managed to find a small vacant corner table and settled into the comfortable chair.

  The small space was done up to resemble a Parisian coffee shop, with outside tables shaded with umbrellas and an opulent interior décor that mirrored the richness of the cakes and coffee the proprietor Yvonne produced. It also had excellent Wi-Fi, which made both the passing tourists and the locals very happy.

  “Jenna!”

  She looked up to see Yvonne waving at her. Yvonne wore her usual black dress with a prim white collar that made her look vaguely French maid-ish, which Jenna knew was the exact effect she was going for,

  “I wasn’t expecting you in today. Didn’t you have to go and see some pigs?”

  Jenna hastily withdrew her muddy feet from sight. “I did, but I had some time before surgery. Can I have a triple-shot cappuccino and a chocolate muffin, please?”

  “Of course you can,” Yvonne sa
id. “I’ll be right back.”

  Jenna filled her lungs with the soothing smell of coffee and melted chocolate and slowly relaxed. She was the calm one in her family. The one who stepped between her parents and siblings and offered solutions and practical advice and . . . Blue Morgan made her want to forget all about peace and just argue right back.

  But hadn’t she learned through all those years of enforced family therapy that arguing was the worst way to solve anything? Reasonable discussion, validating someone else’s point of view, and compromise were surely the ways to go?

  Did the Marine even have those words in his vocabulary? Somehow she doubted it. But then he’d probably argue that compromise had no place in the military. He’d probably argue about all of it. She just knew it.

  Yvonne slid into the seat beside her.

  “Hey, stranger.”

  “I was here three days ago.”

  “Exactly. With January all engrossed with that man of hers, I’ve missed talking to you.”

  Jenna grabbed her cappuccino and took a huge gulp. Luckily, Yvonne knew her well enough to make it super milky and cool enough to drink right away.

  “That’s really good, thank you. I’m sorry I haven’t been around much. I’ve been busy as hell helping out the Morgans.”

  Yvonne handed her a napkin and gestured at Jenna’s mouth. “You’ve got a foam mustache. It’s very fetching, but you might want to wipe it off before you go back to work.”

  Jenna mopped her top lip and then set about unwrapping the muffin and dividing it carefully into eight sections. She always ate the bottom four parts first, followed by the top.

  “Were you up at Morgan Ranch this morning?”

  “Yes.” Jenna crammed a piece of muffin in her mouth and chewed fast. “I had to vaccinate some pigs.”

  “Did you see January?”

  “Nope. She was busy writing her thesis or something.”

  Yvonne patted her upswept hair. “Was beautiful Blue Morgan there?”

  Jenna paused with a chunk of muffin halfway to her mouth. “Beautiful? Blue Morgan is pretty average-looking, in my opinion.”

  “You’re kidding, right?” Yvonne was staring at her. “He’s totally . . . fit.”

  Jenna shrugged. “He’s a Marine. I’d expect him to be fit.”

  Yvonne gave a delicious shudder. “I bet that man can go for hours.”

  “Talking? Yeah. He does love telling everyone what to do.”

  “That wasn’t quite what I meant, but I can’t say I mind a man who likes to order me around in bed.” Yvonne gave her a lascivious wink.

  “Then you’re probably a match made in heaven because that particular man loves to speak his mind.”

  Yvonne sat back. “You don’t like him?”

  “He’s . . . okay.”

  “Hang on, you like everyone.” Yvonne lowered her voice. “So what has Blue Morgan done to get you all in a fidget?”

  “He’s bossy and opinionated.”

  “And?” Yvonne made an encouraging gesture with her elegant, long-fingered, perfectly manicured hand.

  “And what? I don’t like being bossed around.” Jenna tidied the crumbs on her plate into a pattern with her finger. “Not that he’d ever try that with you.”

  Yvonne gave a happy sigh. “I think he likes me.”

  “Who doesn’t? You’re gorgeous.”

  Jenna said it without any rancor. Not only was Yvonne her friend, but it was obvious to anyone with a brain that Blue would want to date the tall, slender cake maker with the mysterious French accent. Jenna still couldn’t understand why Yvonne’s previous boyfriend had walked out and returned to France.

  “Blue has come in to see me a couple of times,” Yvonne admitted. “And he’s always been charming.”

  “Because he’s flirting with you.” Jenna ate another section of muffin. “He doesn’t flirt with me. I’m just the newbie vet he doesn’t quite trust to keep an eye on his horses.”

  “I’m sure he trusts you.” Yvonne patted her hand. “Did he happen to mention when he’s returning to the ranch full-time?”

  “I think Roy said it was officially another month or so, but Blue said it might be sooner because of accumulated leave.”

  “It will be nice to see him settled back at the ranch.”

  “‘Settled’ isn’t a word I’d ever use to describe that man. He literally hums with pent-up energy.”

  Yvonne rose to her feet. “As I said, I can’t wait to find out what he can do with all that energy.”

  Jenna met Yvonne’s gaze. “You really like him, then?”

  “Only if you’re okay with it.” Yvonne stopped smiling, her expression serious. “I’m not one of those women who thinks it’s okay to steal her friends’ boyfriends.”

  “Well, don’t worry. I don’t want him.” Jenna shuddered. “Much too high maintenance.”

  “Then as January has already snagged the town’s only multimillionaire, it’s only fair that I get a chance at his brother, right?” Yvonne winked as she picked up the empty plate. “Poor man won’t know what’s hit him.”

  “Go for it. If you can bring him to his knees and take his mind off the ranch a bit, I’d be extremely grateful.” Jenna finished up her coffee and put the cup down in the saucer. “I’ve got to run. Clinic starts soon.”

  “Then I’ll put this on your tab.” Yvonne waved her away. “Have fun!”

  Chapter Four

  “I’m trying to get in touch with Red Williams. Have you heard from him lately, ma’am?”

  Blue held the phone away from his ear as the enraged female on the other end said a few things about Red that weren’t at all complimentary. When she paused for breath, Blue tried again.

  “Do you have a forwarding address or phone number for him?”

  Another rant followed and then the call was cut off, leaving Blue in blessed silence. Red Williams had obviously been leading an exciting life since leaving the ranch. That was the third woman Blue had spoken to who had nothing nice to say about the man who was apparently a liar, a thief, and a two-timing bastard.

  Blue stared down at his notes. Red sounded just like the sort of man who might have done more than offer the owner of the ranch’s wife an appreciative smile. Had he charmed Annie into leaving with him and then dumped her as soon as she got tiresome? It would follow his usual pattern. Would he have wanted a baby around? Blue couldn’t imagine that.

  He crossed another name from the list of Red’s contacts and contemplated the last one left. The number had been given to him by the first of Red’s ex-wives, who had gotten over Red’s adultery and had kicked him out twenty-five years ago. He glanced at the kitchen clock and calculated the time difference to the East Coast. If the number really did belong to Red’s mother, she might well have gone to bed by now.

  Heaving a sigh, Blue pushed away from the table, stretched out his spine, and got himself more coffee from the old metal pot sitting on the range. It was strong enough to take the enamel off his teeth, but he needed the energy. He much preferred dealing with horses than with people. His phone vibrated as a text came in, and he glanced down at it.

  Are you home?

  He frowned at the unexpected message from Jenna and typed an affirmative.

  Can you meet me at the south boundary of Lymond Ranch?

  He didn’t bother to do more than type another yes before he was out of the house and saddling up Messi. The Lymond boundary ran alongside theirs for a mile or so. After about fifteen minutes riding cross-country to where the two properties met by the road proper, he spotted Jenna’s truck parked up in the shade and headed toward her.

  She waved as he approached and beckoned him to dismount.

  “Thanks for coming.”

  “What’s up?” Blue asked. After two weeks working together they’d gotten far more comfortable with each other. “Did your truck break down?”

  “No.” She swallowed hard. “I wanted you to see this.”

  She headed for the copse of
trees that shaded both the narrow track and the wire fencing that enclosed the ranchlands.

  Blue automatically felt for his weapon and realized he had nothing more threatening than his phone. With a soft curse, he followed Jenna, treading as quietly as he could over the uneven surface. Jenna stopped at the fence and was staring out at something.

  “Look,” she whispered as he came level with her.

  There were four horses in the field, which contained nothing else except a rusted bucket by the far gate. Blue narrowed his gaze on the foremost gelding.

  “What the hell’s going on? They look like they haven’t been properly fed for weeks.”

  “And there’s no shelter or any obvious food for them apart from the grass.” Jenna turned to face him. “Will you come up to the Lymonds’ with me and find out what’s going on?”

  “Sure.”

  “Thanks so much.” She patted his arm. “I didn’t know who else to call. Mark Lymond doesn’t like me very much.”

  “He’s an old grouch. Ruth’s had plenty of run-ins with him over the years.”

  “Uncle Ron said he was difficult, but lately he’s seemed a lot worse.”

  Blue had started walking toward the truck but stopped to look back at Jenna.

  “In what way worse?”

  She sighed. “Losing his temper over the slightest problem, threatening to sue us, you know the kind of thing.”

  “And Big Mac let you come up here alone?”

  She looked down at her boots. “Well, I haven’t actually told him what Mr. Lymond has been saying. I didn’t want to worry him and I didn’t want him thinking I couldn’t cope.”

  “Then I’m glad you called me. Come on. We’ll take your truck and leave Messi here.”

  “Will he be okay?” Jenna asked.

  “He’s trained to stand for as long as necessary. I’ll make sure he can’t trip over the reins.”

  “I can’t see Nolly doing that,” Jenna said.

  “Nolly’s a nightmare. He’d be following us up the drive and poking his nose into everything. I have no idea why Chase puts up with him.”