The Maverick Cowboy

by Kate Pearce

  “Which is exactly why I want your input.” January patted her arm. “I need to make sure that my non-meat-eating guests—and that includes half of the commune folk who are coming with my mom—get properly fed.”

  “Mrs. Hayes at the hotel is lending me her kitchen,” Yvonne said, “and I’ve asked a good friend of mine from catering college who works in San Francisco to come and help me with the savory stuff, so we’re all set. All we need is a menu and a budget.”

  January opened her file and took out some papers. “Here you go. What do you think of this?”

  * * *

  “Have you got a minute?”

  Blue looked up from the form he was completing and beckoned Chase to come in. He was sitting at his old desk in his bedroom, enjoying the view out over the barn and the rolling foothills of the Sierras.

  “I’m just finishing up some paperwork about pensions and stuff like that. I think I’m nearly done,” Blue said. “I have to go back for one last week, and then I’m officially separated.”

  “Do you have to go into the reserve?” Chase asked.

  “I could, but I don’t have to. My name goes on the IRR list, the Individual Ready Reserve, for five years, but unless aliens wipe out our entire military I’m unlikely to be called in. And if that’s happening, we’ll have bigger problems than me being redeployed.”

  Chase came and sat on his bed. “Will you miss it?”

  “The Marines? Some of it.” Blue shrugged. “Some of it not so much. I lost some good friends, but I wouldn’t be the man I am now if I hadn’t joined up.” He closed the paper file and swung his chair around to face his brother. “What can I do for you?”

  “I’ve got a verified address for Big Mike. How do you want to deal with this? I can send someone from the agency to question him about what happened to Mom and Rachel, or we could do it ourselves.”

  “You’re getting married. Don’t you want to wait until after that?”

  Chase looked down at the floor. “With our luck, I’m worried that he’ll be gone before we get to see him.”

  “What about the other guy?”

  “Red Williams?”

  “Yeah. The one who was in prison in Sacramento.”

  “Well, I thought that if you were considering going to see Daniel Lester, you might consider talking to Red as well.”

  “I don’t know if seeing Lester would be a good idea. At the moment, I’d still like to kill him.”

  “But if you did go . . .”

  “I’ll talk to Red.”

  “Thanks. If Red agrees to see you, I can arrange all the permissions with the state and the authorities.”

  “But that still leaves the problem of Big Mike. Do you want me to go see him as well?”

  “I’d rather we did it together.” Chase’s blue eyes, which were so like his, met Blue’s. “I have a gut feeling that Big Mike is the one who’s going to tell us what we need to know. Red Williams is just a possibility to be discounted.”

  “I agree.” Blue shifted in his seat. “So when do you want to go down there? I’ll have to be free and clear of the Marines just in case I lose it and end up in jail.”

  Chase grinned at that. “Makes sense. I know we’ve waited a long time to solve this mystery. I just want it to be over. I want to know the truth.”

  “Yeah.” Blue hesitated. “You know that not everything is always cut and dried? Sometimes when I was on a mission people didn’t come back, and there was no way of piecing together exactly what had happened to them or why.”

  “Intellectually I understand that, but emotionally?” Chase grimaced. “I’m still a little boy who wants to know what happened to my mom and sister.”

  Blue had nothing to say to that.

  Chase cleared his throat. “We’re having the engagement party next week and the wedding a few months after that. We’re having trouble settling on a date that works for everyone. I suggest we try and get down to San Diego sometime in between the two events and after you get out of the military.”

  “Sounds good to me.”

  “There is one more thing.” Chase rubbed a hand over the back of his neck. “I wanted to ask if you’d be my best man.”

  “Me?”

  “Yeah.”

  “What about Matt and Jake?”

  Chase shrugged. “You’re family.”

  “That’s . . . really unexpected.”

  “It’s okay, you don’t have to do it.” Chase stood. “I get that we’ve had our differences, and that you might not feel—”

  “Hold up.” Blue put up his hand. “I would be honored to stand up with you.”

  “Really?” Chase’s grin was infectious.

  “Yeah.” Blue went forward and wrapped his arm around his brother, his throat suddenly tight. “Really, bro. I would be thrilled.”

  Chase’s arm came around him and they hugged each other hard.

  “Thanks, little Boy Blue.”

  “You’re welcome, Trampas Chase Morgan.” Blue stepped back. “Now all I have to do is persuade the twins to like you again, and we’ll be a real family.”

  “Especially if we locate Mom and Rachel.”

  Blue slapped his brother on the back hard enough to make him rock in his boots. “When Billy turned up sober I decided miracles can happen, so dream on, brother, dream on.”

  * * *

  “Dave?”

  “Hey, what’s up, Jenna?”

  Jenna smiled sweetly at her big cousin, who was sitting at the kitchen table typing in some notes on his laptop while eating a handful of chips. She sat opposite him and his expression changed to wary.

  “What?”

  “I was wondering if you were planning on going out this evening?”

  “Not really. Mom and Dad are staying at the golf place tonight, so I thought I could slob out in front of the TV and watch some horror flicks.”

  “I’d really appreciate it if you went out.”

  “Why?”

  She raised her eyebrows. “Because I wanted to cook dinner for a friend?”

  “Hey, is Yvonne coming over? Because I’ll stick around for that. She’s super hot.”

  “No, it’s not Yvonne.”

  “Well, it can’t be Nate because he says he dumped you.”

  “He did not dump me! I dumped him.”

  “Anyways”—Dave made a dismissive gesture—“so who is it?”

  Jenna took a deep breath. “Blue Morgan.”

  “Hell.”

  “What’s wrong with Blue?”

  “Nothing. It’s just that if you want to hang on to him, offering to cook probably wasn’t your best idea.”

  “I can cook.”

  “Horrible piles of veggie burgers and stinking tofu.”

  “Actually, I was planning on liberating something from Aunt Amy’s freezer and just adding my own little touches like bread and butter and salad.”

  “Sounds like a plan. And I bet you’ll claim you cooked it all as well. Sweet.”

  “I wouldn’t do that.”

  He gave her a skeptical look.

  “I wouldn’t because I know the moment my back was turned you’d tell him the truth.”

  Dave pressed a hand over his heart. “Cos, you wound me greatly. You’re family. I wouldn’t rat you out.”

  She fixed her gaze on him and fluttered her eyelashes. “So you’ll do it? You’ll go out?”

  “Hell, no.”

  “Dave.”

  He grinned at her. “I will, however, take myself upstairs and promise not to intrude or notice what time Blue leaves the house, okay? I’m worn out, Jenna. I’ve been out on call three nights in a row. Another night out, even a good one, will kill me.”

  “Okay.”

  It was his family house, after all. She was still the interloper.

  “I promise I won’t tell the parents.”

  “Thanks.”

  “But you owe me.”

  “Definitely.”

  She checked the time and shot to her
feet. “I’d better start cooking. There’s vegetable lasagna in the freezer, which would do nicely. And Amy has that organic lettuce and stuff in the refrigerator. I can make a salad dressing.”

  “Cool.” Dave returned to his typing. “Tell me when you want me to move, okay?”

  She dropped a kiss on the top of his head. “Thanks, Dave, you’re a star.”

  “You can thank me by introducing me to your friend Yvonne again.”

  “Will do.”

  “Not only is she great to look at, but she cooks like an angel.”

  “She’s smart as a whip, too.”

  Dave sighed. “Don’t say ‘whip.’”

  Jenna ruffled his hair and escaped into the pantry where the large industrial freezer hummed away. Some of the vet’s clients paid in kind, so they always had meat and vegetables to spare. She grimaced, as she had to move half a cow carcass out of the way to get to the lasagna. Amy had written clear instructions on the bag, so she was all set.

  She had a feeling that Blue would prefer red meat, but she had no idea how to cook it. If in the future he wanted to indulge his carnivore instincts, he would have to sort it out himself.

  Dave had turned the oven on, so she unwrapped the lasagna, checked the instructions again, and put it in to bake for an hour. The rest of it would have to wait until Dave left the table, which gave her plenty of time to take a shower.

  * * *

  Blue knocked on the back door of the fancy new log cabin–style McDonald home and waited and then waited some more. He’d showered and put on a new checked teal shirt and his most decent pair of jeans and boots. Eventually, he tried the handle and let himself in. The fragrant smell of browning cheese wafted along the hallway.

  “Anyone home?” Blue called out.

  “Dude!”

  His heart sank as Dave strolled toward him wearing PJ bottoms with skulls on them and a vintage Star Wars T-shirt.

  “Hey. What’s up?”

  Dave shook his hand. “It’s all good. You coming for dinner? Jenna didn’t say anything, but there’s plenty of food.” He put an arm around Blue’s shoulder. “Come on in.”

  Blue glanced down at his new shirt. Maybe he’d misinterpreted Jenna’s invitation and he was now going to be inspected by the whole of the McDonald clan. The vets vetting the vet. That was almost funny.

  There was no sign of Jenna in the kitchen, but the table had been set for two with napkins and place mats and flowers in the middle. Blue turned back to Dave, who was grinning.

  “You and Jenna always make this much fuss when you eat?”

  “Yeah. We’re real fancy, like royalty.” Dave elbowed him in the side. “Nah. I’m off to bed. See you in the morning, lover boy.”

  Jenna came bursting into the kitchen from the pantry, two bottles of wine and a six-pack of beer clutched to her chest.

  “What do you think he’ll drink, Dave?”

  “Ask him yourself.” Dave backed out of the kitchen, his laptop in his hand. “Night, Jenna. Keep the noise down, kids, okay?”

  Blue rushed over to rescue the beer from Jenna’s faltering grasp and set it on the table.

  “Hey.”

  She smiled up at him and suddenly everything was all right.

  “Was Dave trolling you?”

  He shrugged. “I wouldn’t expect anything less.”

  “I tried to make him go out, but he was really tired, and it is his home.”

  He tucked a strand of errant brown hair behind her ear. “It’s not a problem.”

  When she put the wine bottles down, he took a quick appreciative breath. “You look great. I think that’s the first time I’ve seen you in a dress.”

  She smoothed a hand over her green patterned skirt. “I don’t own many. They don’t work very well with what I do. But I’ll have to wear one for January’s wedding. She asked me and Yvonne to be her bridesmaids.”

  “Nice. Chase asked me to be his best man.”

  “That’s awesome.” She searched his face. “Isn’t it?”

  “I was shitty to him for a lot of years. I didn’t expect him to forgive me so easily.” He sighed. “He’s a lot better at that forgiving thing than I am.”

  “You’re just different people.”

  “But I always made such a big deal about being right about everything and refusing to change my mind. I’m starting to realize that there are a lot of grays in between those black and whites.”

  “Which means you can change.” She held his gaze. “I always thought my birth mom would stay an addict, but you know what? She overcame that and went back to school to become a nurse and a trained counselor for substance abusers.”

  “Sounds like Billy. He’s sober now and proving to be one heck of a grandfather to Maria.” Blue shook his head. “I never in a million years thought he’d do that.”

  She stood on tiptoe and kissed his mouth. He took the invitation and kissed her back, wrapping one hand around her waist to keep her right where he wanted her.

  Her stomach growled and he lifted his head.

  “We should eat. You’re going to need all your energy later.”

  “There’s lasagna in the oven, so I’ve just got to make a salad and some dressing. Can you cut the bread?”

  He did as she asked, appreciating her efficiency in the kitchen and the way she cleaned as she went along, meaning they wouldn’t have to spend hours on cleanup when they could be doing far more interesting things.

  “Do you want some beer?”

  She glanced up from measuring the olive oil. “I’d rather have a glass of red wine. Can you open the bottle and let it breathe a bit?”

  “Don’t have to worry about doing that for a beer.” Blue demonstrated. “It just slides down fast and real nice.”

  The timer pinged. Blue was rewarded with the sight of Jenna’s nice rounded ass as she bent down to take the lasagna out of the oven. Remembering his manners, he cleared a space for her on the countertop for the bubbling cheesy dish.

  “That looks awesome. Did you make it?”

  “It was Amy. I’m not a great cook, to be honest.”

  “I’m not bad.” Blue picked up the large serving spoon. “Not that Ruth lets me try out my talents in her kitchen. She prefers to do it all herself.”

  “She is an amazing cook.”

  They loaded their plates with lasagna and headed for the table, where Blue lit the candles. Although the lasagna would’ve been improved with some meat, Blue still enjoyed it. Even better was the chance to sit and talk with Jenna without any ranch matters intruding. She was smart, funny, stubborn yet vulnerable and . . . jeez, he’d never met anyone like her.

  “There’s ice cream if you’re still hungry?” Jenna said as she gathered the plates.

  “I’m good. Tell Amy that lasagna was spectacular.” He rose to his feet. “Let me do that.”

  “You can load the dishwasher while I make some coffee, okay?”

  “God, I love dishwashers.” Blue rinsed and stacked the plates and bowls. “When we were kids, doing the dishes was our job and I hated it.”

  He’d just about finished when his cell buzzed. “You okay if I check who this message is from?” he asked Jenna. “Chase has just flown out of town, so I’m in charge at the ranch.”

  “Go ahead.”

  He wandered back into the den and fished out his cell. There was a voice mail sign flashing, so he held the phone to his ear to listen.

  “Hey, it’s Ry.”

  Frowning, Blue pressed Return Call and waited until his younger brother picked up.

  “What’s up?”

  “Nothing much.” His brother wasn’t known for being talkative. He left that to his twin. “I’m coming to the engagement party.”

  “You are? That’s awesome.”

  “HW won’t come.”

  “Okay. Do you need a ride or some kind of ticket, because—”

  “Nope. I’m good. I’ll see you there. Later.”

  The connection went dead and Blue stared
at his phone.

  “Everything okay?” Jenna called from the kitchen as she brought in the coffee.

  “Yeah, actually. Ry’s coming to the engagement party.”

  “Ray? Is that one of your brothers?”

  Blue sat on the couch and patted the seat next to him. “It’s not Ray, it’s an ‘R’ and a ‘Y’ from his initials and yeah, he’s the ten-minute older and much quieter of the twins.”

  Jenna set the tray on the coffee table. “Does he have another of those weird TV cowboy names?”

  “He does, which is why he goes by Ry. I can’t believe he’s decided to come out here for the party.”

  “I got the impression from January that the twins never visit.”

  “They took against Chase for a long while.” Blue grimaced. “A lot of that was my fault, seeing as the reality was that he practically brought us up. Somehow we all ended up resenting him for that, which was totally unfair.”

  She curled up against his side and rested her head on his shoulder. “I know how that feels. I was the oldest, and when my mom wasn’t . . . present, I had to try and bring up my siblings. They all hated me.”

  “I’ve been working on the twins for the last few months to get them to come back to the ranch, and I know Ruth has been, too. Ry was always the more thoughtful of the two, so I’m not surprised he’s the one who’s decided to check out the lay of the land.”

  “Does he look like you or Chase?”

  “The twins are identical and are fair-haired like my grandfather, with a lot of reds and golds mixed in there like a field of wheat.”

  “Are they easy to tell apart?”

  “Nope. They used to switch identities all the time. It drove everyone nuts.”

  He poured out two mugs of coffee and handed one to Jenna.

  “What do they do now?”

  “They both went into the rodeo business.”

  Jenna shuddered. “Ugh.”

  “Yeah, I know: injuries guaranteed both to the animals and the riders. I’m not sure exactly what they are doing right now, but HW used to ride saddle broncs and Ry the bulls.”

  “Both crazy, then.”

  “Exactly. But if we can convince Ry that Chase means him no harm, and that we all want to be a family again, maybe HW will come along to the wedding as well.”