Taming A Texas Bad Boy (Bad Boy Ranch Book 1)

by Katie Lane

  “Stay away from him, Pen. The Double Diamond boys will break your heart.”

  It was something Evie had learned well, and a warning Penny needed to remember. And yet, she couldn’t help wondering where he had spent the night and if he’d followed the doctor’s orders of how to care for his stitches.

  “Who’s Cru?” Daddy asked.

  “Chester said he’s one of the—”

  “Ranch hand,” Penny and Evie said at exactly the same time.

  “A ranch hand?” Daddy looked at her suspiciously. “When did Chester and Lucas hire a ranch hand?”

  Penny sent him an innocent look. “How would I know? I don’t have time to hang out with Chester and Lucas.”

  “And yet you want to invite them to stay in my house.”

  “You are, Aunt Pen?” Clint said. “That’s awesome. Then anytime you want you can listen to their cowboying stories.” He looked at Daddy. “They’re true cowboys.”

  Daddy choked on his sip of coffee. “What do you think I am?”

  Clint looked confused. “I thought you were a rancher.”

  “Ranchers are cowboys, son.” Daddy glanced over at Evie. “And if your mother would let you spend more time on the ranch, you’d know that. She should let you come here this summer and learn some good old-fashion country values.”

  “That would be so epic!” Clint looked at his mother. “What about it, Mom? Could I come and spend the summer with Grandpa and Aunt Pen?”

  Evie sent Daddy an exasperated look. “I don’t think that’s a good idea.”

  “Why not?” Clint asked. “You said yourself that you were worried about me staying at home this summer—worried that I’d get in trouble with Tommy. If I’m here, there will be no way I can hang out with Tommy.”

  “Who’s Tommy?” Daddy asked.

  “Just Clint’s friend,” Penny said before she turned to Evie. “It isn’t such a bad idea. We could use the extra hand and you wouldn’t have to worry about Clint while you’re at work. It would be like sending him to camp except with family.” And if Clint fell in love with the ranch, it would be that much easier to convince Evie to come home.

  “Come on, Mom. Ple-e-ease.” Clint glanced at Daddy. “Help me out, Grandpa. Talk her into letting me come.”

  Hank Gardener never begged, or even asked for that matter, but he did bargain. After only a few minutes thought, he spoke. “I’ll make you a deal, Evelyn Francine. If you let Clint come for the summer, I’ll let Chester and Lucas stay here for as long as they want. Not in the house, mind you, but in the bunkhouse. I might even send a few boys over to help them clean up after the fire.”

  The offer of help didn’t surprise Penny. Her daddy had a soft side. He just rarely showed it.

  Evie lifted her eyebrow. “Are you bribing me, Daddy? I thought Hank Gardener didn’t deal with bribes.”

  “I don’t take them, but I’m not above offering them if it gets me what I want.”

  It was as close as their father was going to get to saying he would love to spend time with his grandson, and Penny hoped Evie would recognize that and give just a little.

  Evie glanced at Clint. “Are you sure you want to spend the entire summer with your grumpy grandpa?”

  “And your sweet aunt,” Penny piped up.

  Clint laughed. “Hell yeah, I do.”

  Daddy laughed before sending him a stern look. “Watch your mouth in front of ladies, Clint.”

  “Yes, sir. Sorry, Aunt Pen. Sorry, Mom.” Clint sent his mom another beseeching look and she finally gave in.

  “Fine.” She held up a finger. “But only one month.”

  Clint held up two. Penny mimicked him. And Daddy followed suit.

  Evie shook her head. “Obviously, I’m outnumbered. Okay, two months. But that’s all.”

  Clint let out a whoop and held up a hand to high-five Daddy. Penny was surprised when her father complied. Evie rolled her eyes at Penny as Sadie walked back into the dining room carrying a large tray of food.

  “Now that that’s settled. Let’s have breakfast.” She set down the tray and picked up the plate of cinnamon rolls, offering one to Daddy. “See what a little compromise will get you, Hank Gardener?”

  Chapter Nine

  Cru was dreaming. He knew he was dreaming, but he didn’t want to wake up. Not when he was lying in a field of bluebonnets with Penny. It wasn’t a sexual dream. They weren’t naked or getting hot and heavy. They were fully clothed and lying on their sides looking at each other. But what he loved about the dream was that her expression wasn’t guarded. Everything she felt was written on her face and in her clear blue eyes. She was happy. And her happiness made him happy. Her soft smile made him feel like he could jump the moon.

  She reached out and cradled his jaw in her cool hand. “I’m here. I’m staying right here forever.” She leaned in and . . . licked his face.

  He blinked awake and stared in confusion at the roof of the barn before a horse’s head blocked his view and a long tongue gave him another wet kiss from chin to forehead. He pushed Misty away and sat up, wiping off the horse slobber.

  “Thanks for the good morning kiss, girl, but I prefer my women to use less tongue.”

  Misty shook her head as if to say she didn’t believe him.

  He laughed. “Fine. I don’t mind a little tongue, but from two-legged women.” He yawned and started to stretch, but stopped when pain shot through his shoulder. The pain reminded him of the fire and caused his good humor to fade.

  He had come back to the ranch the night before to see if he could savage anything from the fire, but all he’d found was a pile of ashes. Except for Chester’s old truck and the barn, Chester and Lucas had lost everything. Too depressed and tired to head back into town, Cru had taken a painkiller and bedded down in the barn with Misty. It was no wonder he’d dreamed of Penny. His last thought before he fell asleep was of her sad eyes right before the elevator closed. He knew she felt the attraction between them too. But it was too late. He’d already screwed things up. Looking back, he realized he and Evie hadn’t even had anything in common. He’d just been a horny teenager. But since there was no going back, he needed to accept the situation and move on.

  He got to his feet and tried to work out the stiffness in his shoulder. The open barn door caught his attention and he moved out of the stall and stood in the doorway. He hoped things would look better in the light of day, but the charred ruins of the house looked even worse in the bright morning sun. He pulled his cellphone out of his jeans pocket and dialed Logan’s number.

  “Hey, Cru.” Logan’s breath huffed through the receiver.

  “Did I catch you at a bad time?”

  “No. I’m just at the gym working out on the treadmill.” So that was the steady thump Cru could hear in the background. “How are things going? Last time we talked, it sounded like Lucas and Chester were doing better.”

  Cru rubbed the sleep from his eyes with his thumb and forefinger. “Yeah, well, they’re not doing quite as well now.” He paused before dropping the bomb. “Lucas blew up the kitchen.”

  The thumping stopped. “He what?”

  “He left the gas range on and the firemen think the water heater pilot clicked on and ignited it.”

  “Are they okay? Are you okay?”

  “We’re all fine. But it’s a miracle.” Cru relayed the entire story. When he was finished, it took Logan a moment to answer.

  “Well, hell. Where are Chester and Lucas now?”

  “I talked them into staying at the hospital for the night. Or not me as much as Penny and Evie Gardener. Those two girls can talk them into just about anything.”

  “Evie’s back?”

  Cru walked to the stall and sat down on a bale of hay to pull on his socks and boots. “Not for good. She came to make sure Chester and Lucas were okay.”

  Logan snorted. “Or more likely she and her sister saw a chance to get the Double Diamond Ranch for their daddy. Hank Gardener has always wanted to get his hands o
n the land.”

  “And Chester and Lucas should sell it to them. It would solve a lot of problems.”

  “They can find other buyers if they decide to sell. Hank is an asshole.”

  Cru laughed. “Don’t tell me you’re still holding a grudge against Hank for throwing us off his property when he caught us swimming at Mesquite Springs.”

  “Among other things,” Logan said dryly. The thumping started back up. “So what are Chester and Lucas going to do? They have to be devastated about losing their house.”

  Cru pulled on his boots, wincing when pain shot through his shoulder. “They’re pretty upset, and I can’t blame them. They lost everything. And the even sadder part is they let their insurance lapse so there’s no money to rebuild. But maybe that’s for the best. Maybe this will make it easier to talk them into selling the ranch and moving somewhere else. Somewhere someone can keep an eye on them.”

  “You’re right, but I just can’t see those two cowboys in some retirement home. They’ll absolutely hate it.”

  “What other choices do we have? I no longer have a home. You want them to come live with you?”

  “Chester and Lucas would hate my condo as much as a retirement home. The only place they’ll be happy is on the Double Diamond Ranch.” He huffed in and out for a moment before he spoke. “What if we could rebuild the ranch house and make it a little more senior friendly?”

  “Do you have money for that? Because I don’t.”

  “Most of my money is tied up in my business, but I’m sure I could scrape together a little. It won’t be enough to build a house, but it would be a start. And maybe I could ask some of the other boys to chip in too. Val seems to be doing pretty well with his bestselling thrillers. He should be able to help out. And maybe Sawyer, Linc, and Holden could too.”

  “And then what?” Cru couldn’t help pointing out that a new house wasn’t going to fix the biggest problem. “They still need help, Logan. They might not need twenty-four-hour care now, but they will. Right now, they need someone to cook their meals and make sure they don’t blow up the house. It’s too bad Penny can’t do it.”

  “I wouldn’t trust a Gardener as far as I could throw one.”

  “We could trust Penny. She’s a good woman.”

  Logan laughed. “A good woman? What happened to her being hot?”

  “She’s still hot, but she’s also a good woman.”

  The thumping stopped. “Okay, what’s going on between you and Penny? I’ve never heard you refer to a girl you find attractive as a good woman. You comment about their body or how great they are in bed, but you never comment about their character. You like her?”

  “So what if I do? I happen to like a lot of women.”

  “In a sexual way. You’ve never liked a woman for her character.”

  Logan had a point. Penny was different. Cru didn’t just like her looks. He liked what was underneath all that gorgeous red hair, azure blue eyes, and cute freckles. He liked her feistiness and the way she handled a horse. He liked that she didn’t act like a spoiled, rich rancher’s daughter when she talked to people in town and how she seemed to really care about them. He liked the kindness she’d shown Chester and Lucas. The love she had for the land and her ranch. And her loyalty to her family—even if it kept her out of his arms. Although maybe he didn’t like that as much as he respected it.

  “Penny is different from the other women I’ve known,” he said as he got to his feet. “Which is why I would totally trust her to take good care of Lucas and Chester. But she doesn’t have the time. She has a full time job working on the Gardener Ranch.”

  The thumping returned. “Well, I’m sure we could find someone in town who would be willing to do it if they got paid. I can probably get enough together to rebuild the house, but not to pay for help. Like it or not, Chester and Lucas might have to sell some of their beloved land.”

  “Now all we have to do is convince them of that. In fact, why don’t you give them a call? They might listen to you. Chester always had a soft spot for you.”

  “That was before I ruined his and Lucas’s plans to run the boy’s ranch.”

  “You ruined? What do you mean?”

  There was a long stretch of silence punctuated only by the thumping of feet on a treadmill. Finally, Logan spoke. “After we left that summer, I got a wild hair to go back. So I stole a car . . . I ran into Hank Gardener and we got into it. He called the sheriff and I had to spend a year in a juvenile detention center. I’m sure he also riled up the townsfolk and got them to sign the petition to close the Double Diamond boy’s ranch.”

  Cru was stunned. “So that’s why you hate him. Why didn’t you ever tell me?”

  “Because there’s no use talking about the past. You can’t change it.” The thumping stopped. “Listen, I need to get to work.”

  “Oh no. You’re not going to drop a bomb like that and not give me all the details. Whose car did you steal and how did you run into Hank if you were going to see Chester and Lucas? And how exactly did you get into it? Are we talking words or fists?”

  “You know I’ve never been as good with words as I am with fists. Now I really need to go. I’ll call you after I talk with the other guys. Do you need money before then? I didn’t think about new clothes and hotel accommodations.”

  They would definitely need a place to stay and new clothes. All Cru had were the clothes on his back, and the shirt wasn’t even his. The triage nurse had given him a green surgical scrub shirt to wear since his t-shirt had been ripped and covered in blood. But he refused to ask for money from Logan. He felt bad enough that he couldn’t chip in on a new house for Chester and Lucas. But he did have enough in his travel fund to cover new clothes and a hotel. Although if they had to stay in a hotel for longer then a month, he’d be screwed.

  “I got it covered, but thanks, man.”

  “You’re the one who should be thanked. I appreciate you being there, Cru. And I know Lucas and Chester appreciate it too. I’ll talk to you soon.”

  After he hung up, Cru stood there for a second before he shook his head. He knew Logan had a bad temper, but getting into a fistfight with Hank Gardener? No wonder the town had wanted to stop Chester and Lucas from bringing in any more delinquent boys to their ranch.

  A nudge from Misty reminded him that the horse needed to be fed. Once he’d fed her, he released her into the corral. Since the corral was made up of only a few posts and some broken down railing, the horse could’ve easily escaped. But for some reason, the old mare didn’t seem to realize that. Or maybe, like Chester and Lucas, she just didn’t want to leave her home.

  After Cru filled up her water trough, he drank from the hose and splashed the sleep from his face. He had more than a day’s growth of beard and wished he could shave, but his razor was somewhere beneath a pile of charred wood.

  Thinking about what else might be beneath the fire damage, he grabbed a shovel and started searching through the rubble. He found Chester’s shotgun, some of Lucas’s cast iron pots—including his old Dutch oven—some of their rodeo belt buckles, and a large metal lockbox. They were all covered in soot and he carried them into the barn to clean them up. As he wiped off the lockbox, he noticed that the back hinges had melted through. Curious as to what Chester and Lucas would find important, he opened the lid. He hoped he’d find gold or stacks of money inside. Instead, he found pictures of him and the other boys who had attended the ranch that summer. They were a motley-looking crew. He looked like an arrogant punk. Which was exactly what he’d been.

  His picture was stapled to a questionnaire with a short bio. He recognized Father Stephen’s neat, precise handwriting immediately. Cru’s chest tightened. He tried to ignore the pain, but his chest tightened even more when he read what Father Stephen had written.

  Cru Cassidy was deserted by his mother in a bus station bathroom when he was four years old. Upon his arrival at St. James’s, he was convinced his mother would return for him. When she didn’t, he grew an
gry and hard to handle—throwing uncontrollable temper tantrums that made it difficult to place him with a family. He’s outgrown that anger, and now hides his pain beneath a charming smile. He needs lots of understanding and encouragement.

  He dropped the papers as if they had caught on fire as memories of that scared, angry boy welled up from the dark place he’d tried to hide them. Once again, he was standing at the front window of the orphanage watching and waiting for a mother who never showed up and wondering what he had done to make her leave.

  The avalanche of emotions he’d tried so hard to hold back sucker punched him hard in the chest, knocking all the air out of his lungs. And try as he might he couldn’t pull it back in.

  Struggling for breath, he stumbled out into the sunlight. He took big gulps of air, trying to fill his lungs. But the extra oxygen didn’t make him feel better. It only made him feel worse. He grew lightheaded and dizzy. The world around him started to spin, and before he knew it he was on the ground with his cheek pressed against the hard earth.

  The last thought he had before he lost consciousness was that he didn’t want to die alone.

  Chapter Ten

  Penny felt happier than she’d felt in a long time as she rode toward the Double Diamond Ranch. Not only had Evie and their father kept from fighting for the remainder of breakfast, but Evie had also agreed to let Clint stay the summer at the ranch. And if Penny could get Clint to love the ranch and want to move back, she was sure she could get her sister to agree. Of course, she still had to deal with the entire marriage thing. But Evie hadn’t said ‘yes’ yet. And Penny could only hope it was because, deep down, she knew she couldn’t marry someone she didn’t love.

  It looked like Evie didn’t love Cru anymore either. At the hospital, they hadn’t shown any signs of still having feelings for each other. And Penny had been watching closely. The only one who had reacted like a love struck idiot was Penny. But she hadn’t been able to hide her concern when she heard Cru had needed stitches. Nor could she keep from feeling miserable when she and Cru had said goodbye.