Cowboy Dad

by Cathy McDavid

  “You sure?” Alice came around the counter. “Because you look like somebody just died.”

  “Shiloh’s father wants to abdicate his rights.” The words tumbled out before Natalie could stop them. She blamed her distressed state of mind.

  “Hurray,” Alice said snidely. “Good riddance to bad rubbish.”

  “You’re right.” Natalie rubbed her forehead. “But—”

  “But what? You kicked him to the curb last spring. This simply makes it official.”

  She couldn’t explain without sounding stupid. It was one thing for her not to want Drew around because he hadn’t shown himself to be good father material. Another thing for him to completely sever all ties to their daughter.

  Natalie had always assumed that one day Shiloh would ask about her father. She might want to contact him, establish a relationship with him. Natalie was prepared to accept that even if she didn’t like it. And who knew? Drew might one day change his mind and want to make their daughter a part of his life.

  Family medical history was also a consideration. Children sometimes got sick. Biological relatives were needed for transplants or information or…or…

  Natalie had trouble focusing.

  “Consult a lawyer before you agree to anything,” Alice advised. “I’m sure the family trust attorney will help you, though you may want to hire an expert in the field.”

  “I suppose you’re right.”

  “You don’t want to give up something important, like child support.”

  “He doesn’t pay any now.”

  “Oh.” Alice’s frown smacked of disapproval.

  “I don’t need it,” Natalie answered hotly, compelled to defend herself.

  “Not now. But what if things change? You could fall and break your legs and not be able to work for a year. The Tuckers aren’t going to support you forever.”

  True. Her six-week paid maternity leave had been generous, but she couldn’t expect them to take care of her indefinitely if something serious happened.

  A small moan escaped her lips. “I need time. To think.”

  “Absolutely. Don’t make any rash decisions. And let me know if you need anything.”

  Natalie’s head shot up at Alice’s last remark. She actually sounded sincere and concerned for once. As if she cared.

  “I will. Thanks.”

  Alice may not have been Natalie’s first choice for someone to confide in, but doing so had a calming effect. Enough so Natalie could start planning a course of action. Come lunch break, the phone calls would commence.

  Further conversation between Natalie and Alice was postponed by the door to the lobby opening and the appearance of a stranger. He strode purposefully toward the reception counter.

  Natalie stood and put on her best greet-the-customer face. “Good morning.”

  Alice gave him a thorough up and down.

  He reached into his jacket pocket and produced a business card. Smiling, he gave the card to Natalie. “Jalen DeLaine. I’m a field inspector with Waterford Insurance.”

  The name rang no bells with Natalie but obviously did with Alice.

  She stepped forward. “I’m Mr. Tucker’s assistant. Can I help you with something?”

  “Is he available?” the man asked, giving Alice a card as well.

  “He hasn’t arrived yet this morning.”

  Jake lived in a small house on some acreage a few miles up the highway. Ellen was supposed to move out when their youngest graduated high school, enabling Jake to return to the ranch and his home. If for any reason she left prior to that, Jake would automatically get full custody of his daughters.

  Though many would consider the arrangement strange and wonder why Jake would leave the ranch, Natalie knew it was important to her boss that his children grow up in the same home he had, enjoy the same country lifestyle, remain near the close-knit Tucker family. She’d been blessed with the same privileges herself and intended to pass them on to Shiloh as well.

  “Can you reach him for me?” Jalen DeLaine asked, his smile polite yet devoid of warmth.

  “I’ll try. Is he expecting you?”

  “This is an unannounced inspection in response to a call we received.”

  Alice gave a tiny jerk but recovered quickly. “Excuse me a minute. I’ll be right back.” She disappeared into her office, shutting the door behind her.

  “Can I get you some coffee while you’re waiting?” Natalie asked automatically. Her mind was still on the letter from Drew’s attorney.

  “No, thanks. I had two cups already on the way up here.”

  She read his business card and noted his office was located in Phoenix.

  “Would you care for a seat while you’re waiting?”

  “I’d prefer to stand, if you don’t mind. Two hours behind the wheel is plenty for me.”

  Alice emerged from her office and approached the reception desk, visibly disconcerted. “I’m sorry. Mr. Tucker is having outpatient surgery this morning in Payson. He won’t be in all day. His cousin, Carolina, another one of the owners, asks if you can reschedule.”

  Outpatient surgery? Jake hadn’t mentioned anything of the kind.

  Alice, chewing on a thumbnail, appeared every bit as surprised as Natalie.

  “If I rescheduled,” Jalen Delaine replied smoothly, “it wouldn’t be an unannounced inspection.” His smile dimmed. “Is there another family member I can meet with?”

  “Not anyone who can be here quickly. The senior Mr. Tucker is teaching at Gila College. Millie Sweetwater is at her store in Payson. Her other two daughters don’t live on the ranch. I can try to locate Rachel.”

  “What about Aaron Reyes?”

  Natalie’s stomach gave a little jump. Alice’s reaction was considerably stronger. “I don’t know where Mr. Reyes is this morning,” she said crisply.

  “He does live on the ranch?”

  “Um…yes.”

  “Call him.” Jalen DeLaine’s tone cooled by a good twenty degrees.

  Alice looked at Natalie, her lips pressed tightly together. Her expression said she didn’t want Aaron taking Jalen DeLaine around the ranch. Not without Jake present.

  Their visitor placed his hands on the reception counter and leaned forward. He was a big man with the ability to intimidate. “Unless you arrange for one of the owners to take me around the ranch in the next fifteen minutes, I’m going to file a report with the carrier.”

  Alice retreated a step, beaten. She turned to Natalie. “See if you can find Aaron.”

  Natalie picked up the phone on her desk and called the stables. She got one of the hands, who told her Aaron and her father were behind the barn, overseeing the hay delivery.

  “Give him a message,” Natalie said. “Tell him to drive up here to the main lodge on the double.”

  “Something wrong?”

  She snuck a discreet glance at Jalen DeLaine. “Yes.”

  Fifteen minutes later, Aaron’s old pickup truck chugged to a stop in front of the lodge. While waiting, Jalen DeLaine had paced the lobby, leafing through ranch flyers and studying the oil paintings adorning the walls.

  At the sound of tires on gravel, Alice flew out her office. “I’d be more than happy to accompany you and Mr. Reyes around the ranch.”

  “Thank you, but that won’t be necessary.” DeLaine grabbed his briefcase off the old leather couch and nodded at the two women. “Appreciate your help.”

  The second the door closed, Natalie and Alice dashed to the window and spied through the green-checkered curtains like a pair of schoolgirls. Aaron stepped out of the truck and walked to meet Jalen DeLaine halfway. The two men shook hands and immediately engaged in conversation. A minute later, Aaron showed DeLaine to his truck.

  “Jake isn’t going to be happy about this,” Alice murmured as the men drove off.

  Natalie couldn’t agree more.

  First the letter from Drew’s attorney. Then Jake’s mysterious surgery. Last, the unannounced inspection from the insurance comp
any.

  All in all, it had been one unsettling morning.

  Chapter Six

  “What do you bet Aaron called the insurance company?” Jake muttered then squeezed his eyes closed when a sharp stab of pain sliced through him.

  “What do you bet he didn’t?” his cousin Carolina retorted. “If you remember, we did have Alice contact them about a rate break for using helmets.”

  “So now they want to see what other safety precautions we’re not utilizing and stick us with an increase.”

  “Or which ones we are utilizing and reward us with a discount.”

  “Why are you on his side?”

  “I’m on the ranch’s side.”

  Jake pressed a hand to his tender abdomen. His cousin was no dummy. She’d received the call concerning the insurance inspector about the time Jake’s doctor was administering anesthesia. She wisely chose to withhold the information until they were halfway home. If Jake had learned about the inspector’s visit while still in the surgical center, he might have ripped out his tubes and needles and demanded they leave that instant.

  One thing stopped him from urging Carolina to put the pedal to the metal. Every bump they hit, every twist in the road, triggered a wave of pain that would have sent him to his knees if he weren’t buckled in.

  “Go straight to the ranch,” he said through gritted teeth.

  Carolina took her eyes off the road long enough to gawk at him. “Are you out of your mind? You just had hernia surgery.”

  “I’m okay.”

  “The hell you are. You can’t stand up straight. You couldn’t even dress yourself without the nurse’s help.”

  “I want to meet with the inspector before he leaves. See what Aaron screwed up.”

  “How do you know he screwed up?”

  “Dammit, Carolina.”

  “Overdo it, and you’ll be right back at the surgical center,” she warned. “You heard what the doctor said.”

  “I like living on the edge. And don’t tell anyone about the surgery. Got it?”

  She grimaced. “Too late.”

  “Who knows?”

  “Just Alice. And only that you were having an outpatient procedure. Not what kind.”

  “I wanted to keep this quiet.”

  “Well, I couldn’t help it. The whole inspector thing threw me off.” She removed a bottled water from the cup holder beside her and took a sip. “Why do you have to be all secretive anyway? One look at you and everyone’s going to know something’s wrong.”

  “My health is my business. Nobody else’s.” When he’d scheduled the procedure two weeks earlier, he intended to tell a few people besides Carolina about it. That changed when Aaron showed up. Nothing was going to keep Jake away from the ranch for more than a few hours. Not while his former brother-in-law was there.

  “Those damn helmets,” Jake complained, “are going to—”

  “Those damn helmets are merely an excuse. If not for them, you’d find something else to argue with Aaron about.”

  “I have plenty of choices.”

  “Fine. He made a few mistakes. But so did you. So did we all.”

  Despite their nearly eight-year age difference, Jake had always been closer to Carolina than any of her sisters. She clearly reciprocated the feeling, treating him more like an older brother than a cousin. In a small way, she filled the void left by Hailey’s death.

  “He should have come to her funeral.”

  “And you should have made him feel included. Not like an ax murderer responsible for her death.”

  “Water under the bridge.” Jake held his gut and prayed for smoother road ahead—that, or a quick death to put an end to his suffering. Why hadn’t those pain pills taken effect yet?

  “It goes both ways.”

  “Okay. I’m a jerk. Enroll me in a 12-step program.”

  “You can be a jerk.”

  He grunted.

  Carolina’s demeanor softened. “But it’s because you care. We know that and adore you for it and we wouldn’t have you any other way.”

  “She married him for the wrong reasons.”

  “Since when is falling in love the wrong reason?”

  “Love had very little to do with it. She wanted a husband, and he wanted a free ride.”

  “You’re wrong, Jake.”

  “Am I?” He shifted in the seat, trying to minimize his discomfort.

  “Yes,” Carolina said firmly. “I didn’t meet Aaron until Hailey died, but I talked to her often before that. She was head over heels in love with him and happy. Really happy.”

  Jake said nothing.

  “And as far as the free ride goes, we both know the trust hasn’t been providing its members with enough income to live on for the past few years.”

  The quarterly payments would be a little bigger, thought Jake glumly, if Aaron had done the decent thing—the right thing—and forfeited his share back to the family.

  “I don’t like him hanging around Natalie.”

  “News flash, Jake. She’s hanging around him, too.”

  Carolina was right, and it irked him to no end. Natalie was vulnerable. Inexperienced. Susceptible to a man like him.

  “We should put a stop to it.”

  “There’s not much we can do.” Carolina shrugged. “They’re both consenting adults.”

  “She’s our employee.”

  “But that doesn’t give us the right to dictate who she sees and doesn’t see.”

  “I think it does.” An idea occurred to Jake. “We could modify our employee contract. Have it state that employees aren’t allowed to fraternize with members of the family trust. We already have a no-fraternizing-with-the-guests clause.”

  “We’d need a family vote for that.”

  “No, we wouldn’t.” Jake was liking his idea more and more. So much, in fact, he’d forgotten about his pain. “I have the authority to make the change.”

  “You’re nuts!” Carolina exclaimed. “Natalie will be livid, and rightfully so.”

  “If it prevents her from making another mistake, I’ll take my chances.”

  “Oh, please,” she scoffed. “I don’t believe for one second your priority is to spare Natalie heartache. And neither will she.”

  “I don’t care as long as it keeps them apart.”

  “Well, maybe you should care. Natalie’s not the meek little mouse you think she is. Her loyalty to you, to us, has a limit. Your plan to keep them apart might work, but it’s just as likely we’ll lose one of our best employees. Not to mention a good friend. And what about her parents? We need Gary.”

  “Natalie won’t leave the ranch.”

  “You said the same thing about Hailey.”

  Jake didn’t appreciate the reminder. He grunted sharply when they rounded a hairpin curve, and Carolina tapped the brakes. “Hey, watch it.” He felt as if he was being dragged by the ankle over a bed of sharp rocks.

  “Sorry.” His cousin’s apology had all the sincerity of a used-car salesman’s pitch.

  “You did that on purpose.”

  “Who, me?” she asked innocently, then broke into a truly devilish grin.

  AARON STOPPED at the reception counter and waited for Natalie to return a file folder to the cabinet drawer. When she turned slowly around, he smiled broadly. Damned if she wasn’t pretty. He almost told her so then thought better of it.

  “Hey, how’s it going?” he asked instead.

  “Okay. Jake’s waiting for you.”

  She didn’t smile back. Not a real smile. He got one of those fake responses reserved for guests who are annoying but must be tolerated.

  Hmm. What had changed between last night at dinner and today? Couldn’t be the insurance inspector. He’d had nothing to do with that except show the man around the ranch.

  Jake must have gotten to her again.

  Aaron make a conscious effort to defuse his anger. As much as he’d like to tell his former brother-in-law where to go, doing so would only worsen things for
Natalie, and he didn’t want that. Maybe he should follow her cue and back off their friendship for a while.

  Yeah, right. Who was he kidding? Their friendship was fast moving into a stage he wasn’t quite ready to explore.

  “See you later, then.”

  He circumvented her work area and headed to Jake’s office. This wasn’t the time or place to confront her with questions he himself couldn’t answer or feelings he shouldn’t be having. And unless he wanted to make life difficult for her, there might never be a good time or place.

  He knocked on the door and entered without waiting for a response.

  Jake laid aside the catalog he’d been reading and motioned Aaron in. “Tell me about the visit from the inspector,” he began without preamble.

  Aaron shut the door behind him and sat in the same chair he occupied the first day he’d arrived at the ranch. Was it only a week and a half ago? It seemed so much longer than that.

  “Everything went well, I think. Real nice guy.” He was suddenly distracted by Jake’s appearance. “Are you okay?”

  “Fine.”

  “You sure?” Aaron studied him closely. “Because you don’t look good.”

  Jake’s forehead glistened with a thin film of perspiration, and he moved as if his joints were fused together. His eyes, so much like Hailey’s in shape and appearance, were slightly unfocused and bloodshot.

  “I’m fine,” he repeated and wiped a hand across his forehead. “Where did you take the inspector? What did the two of you do?”

  Aaron decided it was just like Jake to come to work when he was sick. Control freaks refused to relinquish the reins without a fight. How it must gall him that Aaron was recruited to escort the inspector around the ranch because Jake happened to be gone.

  “We toured a couple of the guest cabins. Then I took him down to the stables. He also wanted to see the garage and the ATVs and to drive one of the trails.” Aaron spent five minutes filling Jake in on all the details. “The guy said we’d get a copy of the report in a week or two.”