The Convenient Cowboy

by Ann B. Harrison

  Joy washed her face and straightened her hair. Time to go see how the workers were doing and offer them lunch.

  Chapter Eight

  “Tell me something about yourself.” They lay together on the bed for the first time that night, neither ready to slide under the blankets and touch each other. He’d been humbled and frightened when Joy showed him the empty bedside table and shelves in the closet for his own belongings. It explained the color in her cheeks when she’d come down to offer them lunch today.

  She expected more from him than he thought he could give, that much was obvious by the way she’d swept the room clear of her husband’s belongings. Nate had to prove himself up to the task of being the man of the house. Such a big step up from carefree Casanova he liked to see himself as. There’d be no talking himself out of this one in a hurry.

  “What do you want to know?” Joy held her hands clasped across her stomach. Nate itched to reach out and hold her hand, tap into some of her nervous energy.

  “Favorite food?”

  “Fried chicken. Ice cream for dessert, cookie dough for preference. Yours?”

  “Beef. Nice, big, thick, juicy steak with all the trimmings. And I have a weakness for chocolate cake.” He peeked at her from the corner of his eyes and saw the smile light up her face.

  “Just as well I like to bake then. Favorite movie?”

  Nate put his hands behind his head, easing into the sharing mood. “Not sure. Didn’t see many growing up. Never had the money or the opportunity, you know? Grandpa called them a waste of time. Now if we’re talking about television, I don’t reckon you can go past Deadwood. Us boys used to lay on the den floor, glued to the old set. It was our Sunday treat if we did our jobs. More often than not, we’d miss out because we’d get sidetracked and only did half of what Grandpa wanted us to do. But I saw enough to fall in love with that show.”

  “It must’ve been hard growing up without a mom or dad. You’re lucky you had your grandpa.”

  “Yep, we were. Just wish we’d appreciated him when we had him.”

  “He’d be proud of you if he could see you now, Nate. You’re a good man.”

  He turned his head to look at her. “Why? Because I married my way into the good life? He’d call me out on it. Claim I was taking the easy road.”

  Joy rolled over onto her side and leaned on her elbow to talk to him. “You’re not taking the easy road. Owning a ranch is hard work, and you haven’t even gotten into it yet. Apart from the physical stuff, you’re going to have to cope with the fallout from what we’ve done. Bradley’s father isn’t going to give in easily. My marrying you won’t stop him from trying to run me off the place.” She put a hand on his arm, her touch burning his skin.

  “Excuse me for asking, but is there more to this than what you already told me? I don’t understand why he’d care about this place so much. He has a huge spread of his own.”

  “He never wanted me to marry Bradley. Had someone else in mind apparently. I wasn’t exactly what he called good wife material. Didn’t have any land of my own, nor did my family leave any money when they passed on. He claimed I was out for what I could get. Refused to see how much Bradley and I loved each other.” She wiped her hand over her face and sighed. “We’d been together since high school. Joined at the hip almost until cancer took him from me. His father didn’t see how he could love someone like me, and he refused to be nice to me even when Toby was born. Always spoke down to me, throwing in nasty little comments cloaked in innuendo.”

  “Maybe he won’t bother you anymore now that you’re married.”

  Joy snorted. “Oh, you don’t know Ryan at all. He isn’t going to give up. Instead of greeting me with condolences at the funeral, the nasty man threatened me. Even went so far as to blame me for Bradley’s illness. Claimed I didn’t look after him properly. I hardly think because I’ve gone and married you, he’ll change his mind. Things will get nasty, Nate. Trust me on this. You’ll probably wish you hadn’t applied for this job.”

  “I don’t think anything will make me wish that.”

  *

  “Why didn’t you tell me, Joy? For goodness’ sake, I’m your sister. I deserved to know you were going to marry my boyfriend.” Cassie flounced into the kitchen with her hand on her hip, forever the person who had to be in the limelight. Word had a habit of getting around town with the well-oiled gossip mill.

  “He’s not your boyfriend. You had a couple of dates last year before he refused to take your calls. Stop making it out to be more than it was.” She was such a drama queen, always had been.

  Cassie pouted. “But he liked me. I know he did. Now I won’t have a chance because you’ve snatched him from under my nose.” The whine in her voice grated on Joy’s nerves. She might have known it wouldn’t take long for her sister to hear about it and come over to complain. Which meant that if Cassie knew, so did Ryan Mitchell.

  “Get over it. It was never going to work out between you two and you know it. You said so yourself, remember?”

  Cassie folded her arms and gave a bitter sigh. “It’s not fair. If Mom and Dad were alive, they’d be on my side.”

  “You can convince yourself of anything if you talk long enough, but I don’t agree. They’d be angry at me for what I’ve done, but I doubt even they’d have come up with a better solution.”

  “Bradley’s father still after you?” Her little sister frowned and put her arm around Joy’s shoulders. When things got tough, Cassie was a treasure, but more often than not, she wasn’t much help. Too focused on her own life, or lack of it. And she rarely cared if it hurt anyone either.

  “Yep. Stole my ranch hands one after the other, so I had no choice but to place that ad. Nate was the only one under fifty who was interested.” She patted her sister on the arm. “No choice, you understand? I’d be a fool to turn him down. He’s young enough, strong enough, and has a ranching background. I wasn’t doing it to spite you. You know I’m not like that. He was the best of a bad bunch.”

  Cassie pressed her forehead against Joy’s. “I’m sorry. I’m pissed you didn’t tell me. I had to hear it in town from that busybody.”

  The timer on the oven beeped and Joy grabbed a dishcloth, pulled a cake from the oven, and put it on the counter to cool. “I understand, but to be honest, it all happened so fast, it took even me by surprise.”

  “What does Toby think of him?” Cassie sniffed the cake, poked her finger at the hot chocolate crust, testing it.

  “He likes him. I mean, this is the first time he’s really been around another male; the other hands never gave him the time of day. Guess keeping a little boy happy wasn’t high on their list of jobs. Nate’s different. He helped Toby get eggs from that nasty chicken that always scares him and now he’s his hero. Toby’s down at the barn with him now, helping out while I clean the house and catch up on odd jobs.”

  “Mind if I go say hello?”

  “So long as you don’t go causing any trouble. I won’t stand for that, got it?”

  Cassie nodded. “Yep, got it.” She licked her lips, tucked a strand of hair behind her ear, and sashayed out the kitchen door like a floozie getting ready to meet her next date. Joy sighed and followed her, not liking the glint in her sister’s eyes. A wedding ring had never stopped her from going for what she wanted before, and with her past history with Nate, Joy didn’t trust her not to make a play for him.

  She’d seen her sister in action before. Wreaking havoc on anyone she got a mind to, regardless of whether he was a married man or not. Cassie had been on the wrong end of an angry women’s temper more than once because of her ways. Nate might be married now, but if Cassie decided she wanted to reignite the brief affair, Joy would be ready to defend her future against her sister’s whims.

  Chapter Nine

  “Toby!” The high-pitched voice grated on Nate’s ears, sending a wave of dread over him. It was a voice he knew and one he didn’t really want to hear so soon but inevitable when he’d just married her si
ster. He leaned over the railing of the hayloft.

  “Cassie. I was half expecting you.”

  She gazed up, one hand on her hip, the other holding onto her nephew’s hand. “Why, Nate. Fancy seeing you here.”

  Joy stepped inside and sent him an apologetic grin. “Don’t try and be coy. It doesn’t suit you.” She lifted Toby onto her hip and tickled him under the chin. “You helping Nate with the hay, young man?”

  Toby pushed his hands against her chest and scrambled to get down.

  “He’s a quick learner. We kept enough hay for the horses’ breakfast tomorrow. I’ll stack more later on.” Nate pulled off his gloves, jammed them in his back pocket, and made his way down the stairs. When he got to the bottom, Toby reached his hands up and Nate swung him up onto his hip like he’d seen Joy do.

  “You seem to have made an impression on more than my sister.” Cassie gave him a sour look. “What is it she has that I didn’t, Nate? The ranch, a ready-made family? I never would’ve taken you for the mercenary type, but that’s what folk around town will be saying. The ease with which you managed to slip yourself in here will be quite the shock of the century.” She wound a curl around her finger and fluffed it in place.

  “I don’t care what anyone says. This is between me and Joy, and it’s going to stay that way.” To think he’d been rethinking their brief affair only a couple of weeks ago, wondering if it was worth it to see if she wanted to date again. They’d had something but not enough to make him change his ways back then. Now he was glad he hadn’t had the opportunity. How did he ever find her attractive? Maybe he’d never noticed the mean streak running though her eyes before or the way her lips turned down at the corners like she’d tasted something bitter.

  “I told you to be nice, Cassie. If you’re going to disrespect Nate, you can leave now. I don’t have time to tear you two apart.”

  Cassie gave her sister a dazzling smile. “Oh, Joy, don’t fuss so. I’m not causing any trouble, merely testing the waters. Just you wait until your father-in-law hears about this. Now that’s going to give you grief. You mark my words.”

  “I’m ready for him. He’s done nothing but cause me problems since the day I married Bradley. He had his chance to be nice and have a part in Toby’s life, but I guess he’s not that interested in his own blood. Especially if it means he loses out on getting his filthy hands on my ranch.”

  Nate stepped forward and put a hand on her shoulder, ready to stop the wind up of emotions. “Don’t worry about him. I can deal with anyone who comes here and tries to cause trouble. If need be, we’ll get the sheriff out to have a word with him.”

  “You think that’ll stop him?” She lifted her head. Worry shadowed Joy’s eyes. “He doesn’t care who he steps on, Nate. So long as he gets his own way, he’ll keep going at me.”

  “Maybe you need to let Nate take care of it, Joy. I mean, if you married him to stop Ryan from hassling you, let him do it. Let him stand up for you and give Mr. Mitchell a mouthful. And yes, I agree with Nate. Let him call the sheriff if he doesn’t listen. You’ve put up with more than enough from him since Bradley died. The stupid fool needs to let go and move on with what he has.”

  Finally, her sister spoke sense, which in itself shocked Nate.

  “You’re right. I married Nate for a reason.” Joy rested her forehead on his chest and he slid his arms around her shoulders, feeling the warmth of her body. “I can’t do this by myself anymore.”

  He ran his hand over her back in circles, doing his best to calm her. He wasn’t ready for an all-out emotional breakdown. Sure, it was understandable after all she’d gone through in the last year or so. But now that he was in the picture, things were going to change around here. “You won’t have to. I’ll deal with him and anyone else that comes here throwing their weight around.”

  Cassie kicked the toe of her boot in the dust of the barn floor. “You know what? I think you will, Nate Hansen. I get that you and I didn’t connect like I wanted to, and I wish things were different, but I think you have your heart in the right place. Make sure you look after my sister, and if you let her down, you’ll have me to deal with.”

  As far as forgiveness or acceptance went, he suspected this was it. Not that she owed him anything, but he didn’t quite trust her. Cassie forgiving him was off the mark. She’d done nothing but cry foul to anyone who’d listen when he stepped back from their relationship. He’d expected more fuss from her, frankly, considering he’d married her sister.

  The other problem, as he saw it, lay in Joy finding out it was one of Ryan’s sons who sent him here, told him she was desperate for a ranch hand. How would that go down? Funny how it was starting to feel like a setup. Everything was falling into place too easily, and that didn’t gel. If Ryan was trying to get Joy off the ranch, he had a funny way of doing it.

  It’d pay to watch his back.

  Chapter Ten

  Nate unsaddled the horse and started to rub it down. Today had been a long day, but he’d needed to satisfy himself that the fences were all in good condition. Over the last year, Joy hadn’t been able to do much in the way of checking them herself, leaving that in the hands of the casual and not very reliable ranch hands. Nate didn’t trust their work was up to scratch so he had to take on that task himself. So far, the fence lines he’d ridden were good, with only a couple of minor repairs needed. Repairs he did on the spot while out riding.

  Once the horse was in its stall, he went about doing their nighttime feeds before heading up the house. A good hot shower was what he needed. And a cuddle from his little mate. Over the last week, Toby had come to rely on him, much to Nate’s pleasure. He helped tuck him into bed after a splash in the tub, and let the boy smother him in dribbly good-night kisses.

  He’d never considered himself father material, but things had a way of making you stop and think. He’d teach the child how to be a man, how to work and respect his mother. How to make the most of what his father left behind for him. It was Nate’s mission in life now that he’d been given a second chance, and there was no way he was going to fuck it up.

  He pulled the newly fixed barn door closed and headed for the house. It wasn’t until he was almost there that he noticed the truck parked in the shadows. It bore the name of the ranch Joy’s father-in-law owned. Horizon Ranch. His last place of casual employment.

  Crap. If it came out that Ryan’s manager sent Nate here, Joy might take it the wrong way. Nate should’ve told her in the beginning when he had the chance. He pushed through the door into the mudroom off the kitchen. A calm male voice and Toby’s giggles were all he could hear. Nate pushed through the door into the kitchen.

  Ryan Mitchell sat at the table next to Toby’s high chair. “Well, if it ain’t Nate Hansen.”

  “What’re you doing here, Ryan?”

  “Man’s got a right to see his only grandchild, don’t you think?” He stroked a hand over Toby’s head and the little boy giggled and slammed the toy he held into the high chair. Joy stood with her back to the kitchen counter, her face pale, lips set in a rigid line. She looked fit to snap. So far, there was nothing to indicate Ryan was doing anything wrong.

  “I’d appreciate it if you left, Ryan. You’re not welcome here.” Joy lifted her chin and stared at her father-in-law.

  “Now come on, Joy. Bradley wouldn’t want you to feel like this. I’m only trying to help you out. We’re family.” He glanced at Nate. “And just because you have Nate to take care of you doesn’t mean I can’t still see you and Toby. I’d be heartbroken if you push me away. Toby here is still my grandson. Ain’t that right, Nate?”

  This man wasn’t the angry person he was expecting.

  “Yes, sir. That won’t change. Blood is blood.”

  Ryan smiled at Joy. “See, Joy. Nate can see how things are. We only want to help you, honey. If’n you’d asked me instead of trying to be so independent, I would’ve sent help over long ago. Don’t like to see you doing it tough when I can ease your pain.”
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br />   “You are so full of it. Stop putting on an act and get out. I don’t want you around here.”

  The older man’s face crumbled and he dropped his head, shoulders drooping.

  This wasn’t fair. Joy had no reason to be so cruel to him. He was only offering to help her out. Nate didn’t understand her anger, but it wasn’t his place to step in.

  Ryan sighed and looked up. “Guess I was expecting too much from you, girl. Thought you would’ve gotten over your prickly moods by now. Understandable while Bradley was sick and all, but that’s in the past. We should’ve moved on by now. I’m sorry to say that you’re still seeing things with shutters on.” He stood up, pulled out a wrapped gift from his pocket, and placed it in front of Toby. “This here is for you, young man. A little gift from your loving grandpa.” He placed a kiss on Toby’s hair and then put his hat on.

  “If you change your mind about needing the family, you know how to get in touch. Nate, good to see you. Best thing my boys coulda done was to tell you Joy needed help, since she won’t take any from me. Damned if I don’t think you went a bit too far by marrying her though.”

  “I don’t think that was your call to make, Ryan.” Nate held the older man’s gaze.

  “Just calling it like I sees it.”

  “Whatever. But just so we’re on the same page here, please call before you drop over next time. You’re upsetting Joy.”

  A flicker of anger crossed Ryan’s face. “Don’t see that it’s your concern.”

  “Everything that involves my wife is my concern. If you go upsetting her, I’ll be obliged to call in the sheriff.”