by Debra Kayn
“Jack loves Craig as his own. It couldn’t have been easy inheriting his nephew and being single, but Jack and Craig have you now. You’ve got yourself a sweet family, sis.”
“I know.” Chantilly pulled Margot closer and whispered, “I gotta ask you something, but not here…”
She nodded. “Okay, let’s walk outside.”
Chantilly patted her leg and made sure Chaser followed her through the door. Margot strolled farther down the sidewalk out of hearing range of the others milling around watching the group of men put up Val’s new sign on the front of the building. Margot stopped, gazed back at the bar and waited.
“Have you read Daddy’s letter he left you?” Chantilly leaned against one of the maple trees lining Main Street.
She shook her head. “Not yet. I…it’s too soon.”
“Did Val tell you what Daddy told her?”
“Not really. She just said reading the letter was like Daddy giving her one of his talks about life.” Margot leaned over and scratched Chaser behind the ear. “I’ll read mine, one day. Not now.” She lifted her chin. “Why?”
“I…” Chantilly shook her hair behind her back. “I read the one he left me.”
“Yeah?” She squinted against the sun. “Did you wanna talk about it?”
“Nah. I’m okay. I just wanted to tell someone who understood…” Chantilly’s smile wobbled. “He loved us, you know.”
Margot curled her fingers through Chantilly’s, comforting her in a way only siblings who’ve lost both their parents truly understand. “I’ve never ever doubted that.”
“Uh-oh. Jack’s coming this way.” She smiled over Chantilly’s shoulder before gazing down at Chaser. “You’re in trouble now, my friend.”
“What took you so long, cowboy?” Chantilly slipped her arm around Jack’s waist.
Jack nodded at Margot, and then grinned at Chantilly. “Craig called on my cell while I was paying our bill. He’s anxious to come home. He wanted to tell me he’s got everything lined up and should be here in three weeks.”
“He’s fulfilling Daddy’s wish?” Margot crossed her arms and smiled.
“Yup.” Jack nodded. “It’ll be nice to have him around for the summer. I’ll put him to work…give Chantilly a break.”
“Nuh-uh. I’m gonna be right beside you.” Chantilly scoffed. “Like I’d stay outta your way. Dream on, cowboy.”
Cheers broke out along the sidewalk. Margot turned around. Val’s new sign for the bar hung against the building. She stuck her fingers in her mouth, gave off a high-pitched whistle and cheered along with the others.
“I gotta go get Roy Lee. You guys will stick around for a few minutes, right?”
“Sure.” Chantilly pursed her lips. “Why?”
Margot walked away, but smiled over her shoulder. “We’ve got an announcement to make.”
Chantilly whooped. Chaser barked, and Jack nodded his head. She hurried over to Roy Lee’s side and whispered in his ear.
“Hot damn!” He planted a hard kiss on her lips. “’Bout time, sweetheart.”
She threw her arms around Roy Lee’s waist. “I know. We’re gonna celebrate as soon as I go get my other sisters out here.”
Margot laughed at everyone’s reaction. Folks she’d known forever stood scratching their heads with their mouths open catching flies. Obviously, her sisters had kept her wishes not to snitch her out to all their friends.
Jane and Tom Hanson, Roy Lee’s parents, came out of the bar smiling in her direction. She blew them a kiss. “Did you talk to your parents and have them come too?”
“Yep.” Roy Lee waved to his folks. “By the way, they want us to come over for dinner on the fourteenth after they get back from their trip to Helena. They’re leaving in a couple hours.”
“Again? I swear. They’re never home anymore, but it sure is good to see them enjoying life. Ranching is hard work. They deserve all the playtime that comes with retirement.” She smiled and waved at Jane and Tom.
Margot beamed as she glanced at her sisters, Roy Lee, and the crowd gathering around to hear what kind of news they were going to announce. Excitement bubbled up inside of her. This last year had too much heartbreak dealing with Daddy having ALS, and then his dying.
Good news helped heal, and the McDougals were giving their fair share of celebrations lately. Val and Chantilly had gotten married. She reached over and rubbed Val’s stomach. The baby was due in less than three months.
Roy Lee had informed her life would go on, grief lessens and she would keep on living despite the heartache. She never understood that reasoning until this moment.
Roy Lee tilted his hat back and laughed at heckles from the crowd to hurry up. His hand never left the small of her back. It wasn’t unusual for everyone to see Roy Lee with one or all of the McDougals. He was all the girls’ best friend, more than a neighbor, part of their family. Yet no one suspected the love blooming in the air right in front of them.
“What’s going on?” Bruce, the owner of the feed store, stood up on the back of someone’s pickup. “We don’t have trouble brewin’ in Pike, do we?”
Val laughed. “I have a feelin’ Pike will never be the same.”
“Careful, baby.” Roy Lee winked and tapped his badge on the pocket of his shirt. “No law against havin’ pregnant women in jail.”
“Pshaw.” She elbowed Jack. “Listen to him, talkin’ big.”
Roy Lee cleared his throat, raised his hand, and waited for the crowd to simmer down. “Listen up, folks. Last night—”
He stopped, reached down for the radio on his belt. The alarm code sounded, followed with Betty Ann’s call. “We’ve got a situation, Sheriff. Ol’ man Johnson is blocking traffic outta town again.”
He pushed the button. “Ten-four. I’m on it.”
Margot shook her head and groaned.
Someone in the crowd shouted, “What’s going on?”
“There’s no need for concern. We’ll make our announcement later.” He turned to Margot and kissed her forehead. “Sorry, sweets. I’ll hurry back, and then we’ll—”
Margot’s cell phone rang. She rolled her eyes at Roy Lee as she answered. “Ryan?”
Listening to the call, she covered the mouthpiece and shook her head. “Go. Emergency at the clinic.”
She mouthed goodbye to her sisters and walked to the truck. “I’ll be there in two minutes, Ryan. Stay there.”
She followed Roy Lee’s squad car two blocks in her pickup, veered off onto Oak Street and parked in front of the clinic. Grabbing the doctor bag she kept in the truck, she ran around the building to the back where she kept the farm animals still under her care for one reason or another.
Ryan stood inside Harley’s pen with his hands on his hips, staring downward with his ridiculous big-ass hat on his head. She opened the gate and stepped inside at the same time the three-hundred pound hog struggled to a standing position and rushed toward her.
“Whoa, Harley.” She scratched the roll of fat around the pig’s non-existent neck and peered up at Ryan. “Apparently, the hog has recovered?”
“What the hell?” Ryan swept off his hat and scratched his dark blond hair. “He was unresponsive for the last half hour.”
She held Harley’s head and peered at the pig’s pupils. “Heart rate?”
“Normal.” Ryan lifted his mud-caked hands and peered over his arms from shoulder to fingertips. “I swear, I nudged and finally used all my weight to try and wake him up and he didn’t even twitch an ear. I thought he might have fallen into a diabetic coma.”
She bit her tongue. It wasn’t Ryan’s fault he had no hands-on training with farm animals prior to moving to Pike. He excelled in small animal medicine, and soon he’d be a pro with the large animal care too, once he had some experience under his belt.
Margot groaned and pulled her booted foot out from underneath Harley.
Ryan brushed his hands together. “Sorry about calling you on your day off, Margot.”
�
�It’s okay. That’s what you’re supposed to do when you have questions or concerns.” She patted Harley again before unlatching the gate and holding it open for Ryan. “For your information, domesticated pigs and cows don’t develop diabetes the way dogs and cats do. The animals are bred to store energy for human consumption.”
“Oh.” Ryan’s shoulders drooped.
Margot led him back inside the clinic. She lifted her arm and glanced at her watch. “Go ahead and get cleaned up. It’s late enough now, you can go home for the night. I’m gonna run back to town and try to catch my sisters before they leave.”
“But…” Ryan stopped. “I’ve got an extra sandwich and an orange. Are you hungry? You can eat before you go…”
She stilled. Roy Lee was on a call, and if she returned now, everyone would want to know what kind of announcement they were going to make. As if on cue, her stomach growled. One thing was for sure, she wanted Roy Lee with her to share the good news with their friends and family.
Ryan motioned to the sink. “I’m going to wash up and eat before heading to my apartment. I don’t think I want to try to grab dinner at Valenciennes’ Place on a Saturday. There’s usually a full house. It’d be nice to talk to someone who understands me, if you want to stay and eat. I don’t mind sharing. In fact I’d love if you did stick around and keep me company.”
Margot checked her cell phone. She hadn’t missed any calls. Roy Lee must still be wrangling ol’ man Johnson, who no doubt had tied on one.
“I miss the camaraderie I had in Portland. There was always someone to hang out with on the weekends. Here, they don’t…” Ryan shrugged.
“Sure, I have time.” She smiled at Ryan and motioned for him to follow her. “It’ll be right nice to share your dinner with you. We can eat upstairs where it’s more comfortable, and we can sit at a table.”
Chapter Four
The wadded up napkin sailed across the room, bounced off the flipped lid of the garbage can, and landed dead center on the trash. Margot leaned back with a victorious smile. “That’s game. I win ten to six. You have on-call duty for next weekend.”
Ryan leaned forward, eyed the last few napkins on the table and made a grab for the pile. Margot slapped her hand down on top of the stack. “Ha! No way, partner. I won fair and square. Although, I would be willing to let you have the weekend off, as planned, if you wanna clean out my truck.”
He kept his hand over her fingers. She tried to tug her arm back, but he held her pinned to the table. She lifted her gaze.
Ryan leaned across the desk without letting her go. His face invaded the professional zone between coworkers. Unable to lean back with her hand captured, she wondered how long he’d been trying to grow a beard. Now that she was a foot away from him, she noticed a few differences besides the whiskers. He’d let his previously short blond hair—almost military cut—grow out too.
He moved closer. “Margot…there’s something I want to—”
“Sweetheart?” Roy Lee stood in the doorframe, filling the empty space.
She jerked her arm away from Ryan and stood up. “R-Roy Lee!”
Nothing about him looked pleased to see her. His mouth thinned to a hard, suspicious line, the way it often became after working long hours with drunks and calls to break up domestic arguments. She hurried over to his side, rubbed his arm and turned her back on Ryan. “You’re back.”
Roy Lee ignored her and gazed over her head to the other side of the room where Ryan stood. “Yup.”
“Good, then we can go back to Val’s bar.” She wiggled her fingers between his crossed arms, but he didn’t budge. “I bet everyone is still there. We can tell ’em the news.”
He finally lowered his chin and gazed into her eyes. “I just came from Valenciennes’ Place. I waited around for two hours for you. Your sisters decided to go home when you didn’t show back up.”
“You should have called me.” She waved her hand behind her. “I’ve been here the whole time. I figured you were busy, and I didn’t want to answer everyone’s questions about what we were going to tell them without you there to share in the moment. Ryan offered to share his dinner with me and keep me company while I waited for you. Why didn’t you call?”
“I did.” He stepped back and disappeared into the front office.
She glanced behind her. Ryan stood gazing out the window, giving her and Roy Lee their privacy. She inhaled swiftly. What is going on? Why is Ryan acting strange, and Roy Lee even stranger?
“Margot!”
She hurried out of the room, entered the office and came to a sudden stop. Roy Lee pointed at the main switchboard. She frowned. “How did that happen?”
“You tell me?”
The implications of what Roy Lee suggested hit her upside the head. She raised her brows. His unreasonable opinion of Ryan seemed unfair.
“No. He wouldn’t purposely shut down the switchboard.” She leaned down and turned the lifeline for emergencies back on. “He’s a veterinarian. He knows how important it is to be available round the clock. It was probably an accident. I might have even forgotten to turn it on myself.”
Roy Lee sighed. Loudly. “You know better than that. You check and recheck everything before heading out.”
“You forget that lately my life hasn’t exactly been easy. Half the time, I don’t know what I’m doing from one day to the next. Add you and my sisters into the mix, and my brain is scrambled more than Sunday breakfast.” She stepped out into the hall.
She wanted to change the subject and needed to get out of here and forget about what would make Ryan behave so peculiar. Roy Lee’s suspicious behavior toward Ryan had her a little freaked out, and she couldn’t shrug off Ryan’s rapid mood change prior to Roy Lee interrupting them. He almost acted as if he was going to kiss me!
“I’m heading out, Ryan. Do you wanna lock up or should I?” Margot gazed down the hall toward the bathroom after not seeing him in the kitchen. She shook her head. “Okay, I’m talking to an empty room.”
She grabbed her travel bag, shut off the lights, locked her door and led the silent Roy Lee outside. Her truck was parked beside Roy Lee’s cruiser, and it didn’t skip her notice Ryan’s little sports car was gone.
Margot turned and stopped Roy Lee. “Listen. I stayed and had a bite with Ryan because he’s lonely. That’s it. Don’t blow this into something bigger. No one gives him a chance around here. You’re right. He’s…from the city, but he’s trying hard to fit in. Just give him time. He’s a real nice guy, even if he’s different.”
He grunted while studying her.
She squeezed his hand. “I really am sorry about tonight. I was excited to tell everyone how much I love you, and we’re together.”
He pulled her into his embrace and sighed. “Yeah…me too.”
She laid her cheek on his chest. “Next time, make sure you call my cell. If I’m busy, it’ll at least go to my private voice messages and I’ll know you’ve called.”
“Florentine said you were out on an emergency. When I didn’t get you on the clinic phone, I figured you were still busy. I didn’t wanna bother you, but if this happens again, I will.” He leaned down and kissed the top of her head. “Let’s go to the ranch, but sometime this weekend, I wanna talk to you ’bout Cityboy…”
“Why can’t we drop it? Without him, I’d never have the weekend alone with you. I’d be staying at the clinic watching over the animals. Besides, it’s nice to have a partner to discuss my plans for the clinic or a specific problem with one of the animals. Pike isn’t exactly overflowing with people who’ve had Ryan’s education.” She raised her brows and gaped at him in disbelief. “What is it about Ryan that sets you off all the time? None of the other men around town bother you. You act like you’re jealous, which is ridiculous. He works with me.”
Roy Lee glanced away before pinning her with his gaze. “Trust me, sweetheart. No. I’m not.”
Margot pursed her lips. “Are you sure?”
His expression remained
the same. “Cityboy’s up to something, and I don’t have a good feeling ’bout it. I will find out what’s going on.”
Margot padded barefoot through Roy Lee’s house, pushing the hair out of her face. She peeked in the living room at the grandfather clock. Seven-thirty!
Why did Roy Lee let her sleep past chore time? She entered the kitchen and found Roy Lee standing beside the table, staring out the window with his back toward her. She tiptoed across the old wooden floor and snaked her arms around him from behind. “Mm…morning. You should have woke me up.”
He turned around and crushed her in his embrace. With his arms wrapped around her, he walked her backward until her bottom bumped into the table. She wanted to see what he was planning, but his mouth captured hers.
Kissing her hard, he danced his tongue with hers in a rhythm that had her lids closing and her hips tilting, arching and seeking contact. The memory of their lovemaking a few hours ago did nothing to sate her craving for more of his loving.
She kissed him again and again. A pleasant warmth grew in her core and stole her breath. He lifted his head. His smoldering, intense gaze matched the desire she had for him. She squirmed, but he didn’t move.
Needing him deep inside of her, she bit down on the hard sinew of his shoulder. He growled. She lifted her leg, hooked her foot behind his calf and stared into two-hundred and ten pounds of hard cowboy.
“You have a problem with me making love to you on top of the table?” He dipped his head to her breast and mouthed her nipple through the oversized T-shirt she’d thrown on before leaving the bedroom.
“W-why would I have a problem with that?”
“That’s the answer I wanted to hear, sweets.” His breath heated up her shirt as he gently nipped through the cotton with his teeth.
She arched her back, gave a breathy laugh and pulled his shirt, urging him on. “No. I definitely don’t have a problem using the table.”
