Forever Wild: A Camden Ranch Novel

by Jillian Neal

Tucker stuck the tip of his tongue between his teeth laughing heartily. “I’d bet my profits on the entire back half of this farm you tried to tangle with Indie Harper and got your pretty boy ass handed right back to ya, didn’t you?”

  “City slicker didn’t think my sexy little cowgirl could fix his over-priced smoke box here.”

  “Figured that was it. Three things you need to know once you enter Lincoln county. One, cows and corn are everything. If you think they ain’t, you’re probably a vegetarian, and we got no time for the likes of you anyway. Two, what doesn’t kill ya will make ya stronger, everything ‘cept cowgirls ‘cause they’ll just kill ya. And three, never, and I mean never, contend with Indieanna Harper.”

  “If you think about it, rule two and three both apply when it comes to Indie,” Wesley considered. Tucker and Luke both nodded adamantly.

  “Fine, whatever. I do so enjoy how idiotic cowboys like to revel in their own blatant stupidity by spewing forth country wisdom like the shit that comes out of all of your precious cows. I’m calling a tow truck.”

  Tucker, Luke, and Wes all narrowed their eyes as they edged closer, letting their biceps and their egos bulge.

  “Come again, asslicker,” Tucker snarled.

  Seeming to realize that insulting cowboys in the presence of three men who slung hundreds of pounds of hay, heifers, and corn for a living might not have been his best idea, the idiot in question stumbled back until his ass smacked into the hood of his smoking car. He leapt forward when the heat scorched through his three-piece suit.

  “Go ahead and call your tow truck, fucker, but Indie ain’t fixing that car for you. Hope you make enough to buy another one of them things,” Luke gestured to the car, “because it’ll cost you at least that much to tow the thing to Ogallala.”

  “And if it’s still sittin’ on my property when we get back, we’re having a good old-fashioned cowboy bonfire with it. Put your skinny ass on the spit, too. If I was you, I’d get before you get gotten,” Tucker spat.

  A few minutes later the guy was yelling at someone on his cell phone, and Luke and Tucker were barreling down the road headed to Lincoln.

  “Is it bad that I can’t wait to get this whole fucking thing over with?” Tucker finally stopped gnawing on the inside of his mouth and spit out what was wrong. Tucker Kilroy had been Luke’s best friend for most of his life. They’d teamed up to terrorize their kindergarten teacher when she sent Tuck to the principal’s office for bringing a bullfrog to school in his pocket. They’d been a team ever since. They’d worked through everything from learning to ride horses and then women, puberty, and life in general.

  “Not as long as it’s the wedding you want over with and not the marriage.”

  “Nah, I never want that to be over with. But this whole damn thing with Carolyn making Mel crazy. I swear I wish she’d been living with me long enough that we were common-law or whatever that is. I don’t need her in a white dress. She’s beautiful in one of my t-shirts.”

  “I’d say that’s how you know it’s right. Tomorrow night it’ll all be over with. Things’ll calm down after that. I kinda want to see Indie in a white dress, so enjoy it while it lasts.”

  “You think she’s gonna stay this time? She looks mighty happy lately.”

  Luke grunted at that. “Swear to God, I never know what she’s gonna do. Thought I’d convinced her last night, but the girl makes her mind up just to change it.” That wasn’t true. Indie was terrified and she let the fear make her decisions for her, but Luke wasn’t going to voice that even to Tucker.

  “Don’t they all.”

  Luke chuckled. Maybe they did.

  “I’m pulling out all the stops trying to get her to stay. Carolyn sure as hell ain’t helping. Every time they’re in fifty feet of each other Indie’s right back to running.”

  “You expect Queen Carolyn to help you with anything you’re dumber than I thought.”

  When Luke finally made it back to the ranch, anxious to be outside a truck for a few hours before the barbecue, Brock and Grant were sitting on his front porch.

  Brock spun a football up in the air a few feet and then caught it with ease. “Figured we should practice a little before tonight. See if the Camden brothers still got it.”

  “We still got it,” Grant and Luke answered simultaneously.

  “Good, ‘cause I got something to prove tonight. First actual game I’ve ever played in where I was legal. Plus, I want to show off for Hope,” Brock readily admitted.

  “I’d had something similar in mind,” Luke agreed, thinking how much he might enjoy impressing the hell out of Indie on a makeshift football field.

  “Then let’s do this.”

  Chapter Nineteen

  After taking the world’s quickest shower, Luke toweled off and threw on a t-shirt and ratty pair of jeans. It was essentially just a backyard get-together with his closest friends and a football game. He’d been to a handful of rehearsal dinners as his brother and friends had married. This was by far the best kind to have to attend.

  “I plan on drinking tonight. You’re my ride,” Holly informed him when she hauled herself up in his truck.

  “I’ll drive you out there, but I’m driving Indie home … alone … without my little sister.”

  “Fine.” Holly rolled her eyes. “I might could help you with Indie, you know.”

  Genuinely humored, Luke fought not to roll his eyes. “Help me do what with Indie?”

  “Help you keep her, dumbass.”

  “Oh, I have to hear this. What does my baby sister think I should do to get Indie to stay here?”

  “It won’t be easy.”

  This time Luke made no effort to halt his eye roll. “How much is Dad paying for your psych degrees, Hol? I haven’t made it happen in fifteen years. I didn’t figure it’d be easy.”

  Holly’s glare said he should take his last comment back, but he didn’t. “You and your smartass-self have to convince her that she isn’t her mother.”

  Luke spit out the sip of Dr. Pepper he’d just taken as he headed through the first cattle guard between his land and Natalie’s. “What? Indie Harper is about as unlike her mother as you and that heifer.” He pointed to a grouping of cattle in a nearby field. “No, wait. You both have female reproductive organs. Okay, you and that bull out there.”

  Holly laughed at him outright. “I know that, and you know that, but we aren’t the ones you have to convince. Every single time she does anything that even remotely reminds her of her of Carolyn it terrifies her. She’s so afraid she might hurt you the way her mother hurt Ben she won’t even give herself the opportunity to hurt you. It’s fucked up, but that’s what Indie sees as the ultimate love. She’s sacrificing herself for you. Here’s the real kicker — she doesn’t even know that’s what she’s so afraid of. She projects her fear that she might be like her mother onto her mother, the mayor, and the town. She lumps it all in as one big terrorizing fear and runs away when she gets too close to considering putting herself right back in the middle of it. That is all coupled on top of her knowing she’s a kickass human being, but not particularly liking her body. Now, ask me again how much my degrees cost, dipshit.”

  “How the hell do you figure all that?”

  “You already knew about her issues with her perception of her weight, and I already know you’re working to prove to her how beautiful she is inside and out. I could run down a lengthy list of psychological terminology and concepts that explain the thing with her mother, or you could just take my word for it. Don’t you ever wonder why it seems like the only person you have to fight her for is her? She’s her own worst enemy, and it’s your job to show her that she’s nothing like Carolyn without saying that directly.”

  Fucking hell, she’s right. Barbed tension roiled in Luke’s gut, slicing him to shreds. Bile singed his throat. His muscles weighted with what seemed like a problem with a dozen possible solutions but only one outcome. She was leaving. How the hell was he supposed to show Indie she
wasn’t like her mother if she wasn’t even aware she thought she might be?

  “You may not be able to do this, Luke. She might have to realize it on her own.”

  “Yeah,” Luke swallowed harshly. “I’m aware.”

  Kilroy Farm was only a few miles from the ranch, so Luke and Holly spilled out of his truck a few minutes later. Natalie parked beside him. Grant had ridden with her. Austin, Summer and the babies followed. Brock had little Nathan’s seat in one arm and the other around Hope. He was leading them down the hill towards the party, followed by Ev and Jessie who were balancing several casserole dishes of food from Camden Ranch.

  A dozen discussions played out in Luke’s mind as to how to go about convincing Indie that she wasn’t her mother, but one was just as bad as the next.

  “Oh no.” Holly stopped in her tracks. Nearly bowling over his baby sister, Luke halted his pace and ordered himself to pay more attention. His entire family had stopped in their tracks.

  “What?”

  “Look.” Holly pointed out into the massive, empty field the Kilroy boys had rotated out for that planting season. Long folding tables they’d borrowed from the church were set up in rows. The smokers had been going all day. The delectable scent of barbecue filled the air. Buns, pickles, and a dozen different side dishes, all provided by ranching and farming families that lived nearby, overflowed from aluminum trays and casserole dishes lined up on the tables near the smokers.

  None of that looked out of place. However, Indie was up in her mother’s face screeching. Just behind the mayor and Carolyn were at least two dozen people, dressed in white uniforms carrying trays, white linens, and chair covers. Luke took off down the slight hill that led to the field. Holly’s rapid footfalls echoed just behind him.

  “Mother, how could you do this?!” Indie demanded hatefully.

  “What did she do?” Luke panted when he reached the showdown. He glared at Carolyn Harper for good measure.

  Pain and volatile fury broadcast from every beautiful inch of Indie’s face. It wasn’t quite as bad as the blunt-force, horrifying embarrassment that shown on Melony’s.

  “Tell them,” Indie ordered.

  If Carolyn had rolled her eyes any harder, they would’ve lodged themselves in her skull. “I felt certain that I explained to Tucker’s parents that the mayor’s daughter’s rehearsal dinner could not be some kind of after-football-game barbecue. I told Sandy I’d take care of everything.”

  Indie shook her head. “She decided to up and have Mel’s rehearsal dinner catered to her specifications. Hell, they even brought white table cloths and prime rib to the event.”

  “Carolyn, why do you do this?” This time it wasn’t Luke or Indie rebuking her mother. It was Ben. He and Diana made their way over from the parking area hand in hand. “This isn’t want they wanted. Why can’t you just leave ‘em be? Let them be who they are.”

  A devastated Sandy Kilroy was trying to appease everyone by offering to set up more tables to hold the additional food when, “I am not the mayor’s daughter!” erupted from Melony.

  Shock colored Tucker’s features, but he stood steadfast beside her. “I do not want some fancy dinner, mother! I told you this repeatedly. We’re having a party just the way Tucker and I wanted, and you know what, if you want us to go through with the wedding the way you planned it, tomorrow, you need to tell everyone that didn’t not receive an invitation from me that they need to leave. If you’d like to stay, you’re welcome to, but you’re not going to make me feel guilty or bully me into anything else. If you can’t deal with that, you need to leave as well. We can get married in Lincoln at the courthouse. I’m not negotiating with you anymore. This is my marriage, which is vastly more important than what takes place tomorrow anyway. That wasn’t something you ever quite figured out, was it? But guess what, I’m nothing like you. I already know the marriage is more important than the wedding. Seems like you haven’t learned one damn thing in the last thirty years.”

  Even the ever-constant Nebraskan wind that whipped through the cornfields abruptly halted its incessant blowing at that declaration. No one blinked. No one spoke. No one even breathed. Every mouth in the general vicinity hung open in shock.

  Red-faced and visibly fighting back tears, Melony grabbed Tucker’s hand. His eyes closed for a brief moment before he turned with her to the crowds frozen in place around them. “Thank you all so much for coming,” Melony voice caught. Luke noted Tucker’s hand squeeze hers. “We’re excited you’re all here. Thank you for bringing food and helping us celebrate. You all mean the world to us, so let’s have a barbecue.” She forced a grin and gestured to the awaiting food.

  Indie’s mouth finally closed and she locked her dumbfounded gaze on Luke. He offered her a grin and opened his arms beckoning her to come hide in him.

  Before she raced to him, Holly whispered, “Well, one of the sisters finally figured it out. Here’s hoping Indie’s next.”

  “I bet if you’d asked Luke to wear his old uniform, he would’ve just for you, Indie,” Megan and Cindy joined Indie on the sidelines of what the men had declared to be the game field. Indie laughed, still an odd sensation given her current company.

  “I should’ve. Definitely would not mind seeing him in that again.”

  “Tucker has this box with his old uniforms and letterman jacket and everything in it. He acts like it doesn’t mean anything to him, but if I move the box, he freaks out,” Melony giggled.

  “Oh, they’re all loving this. They’ve been talking about it for weeks,” Cindy vowed.

  “Brock is so excited he can’t see straight.” Hope, Brock’s wife, joined the ladies on the sidelines. Indie didn’t really know much about her. She was soft-spoken and kind, and Brock was clearly head over heels for her.

  “He never got to play for the Glen, and he always wanted to so badly,” Megan agreed.

  “Yeah, I know. I can’t really say I’m sorry about that, though, because I’m really glad he ended up in school in North Carolina with me. Fate was definitely on my side. He loves it so much here. I hate he didn’t get to finish growing up in the Glen, but I don’t think either of us would change how it all happened.”

  Indie considered that. She wasn’t certain she really believed in fate. And if fate even existed why did some people end up with a great life and others a shitty one? How had she and her sisters won the loathsome horrible-mother prize in the parental lottery? It just didn’t seem fair.

  “I didn’t realize you and Brock were high school sweethearts, Hope.” Cindy gave her a genuine smile. Indie still couldn’t quite negotiate the differences between Cindy Beltz in high school and her now. It seemed like she was potentially being punked, and it made her edgy.

  “We weren’t. It was a long, complicated road to us getting together, but it was worth every bump along the way.”

  Indie longed to demand that Hope define each and every ‘bump’ that had occurred, and if she was really sure they were all worth it. She wanted to know what Hope really thought of the Glen. She’d had a choice, it seemed. They could have stayed in North Carolina where they met, right? What had driven Brock home? Did Hope resent being made to live here?

  The customary male grunts and trash talk erupted from the field as they lined up for the first play.

  Before Indie could probe further, her father was upon them. “Indie, baby, I wanted to officially introduce you to Diana Wagner, my … uh … girlfriend.” Ben stumbled over those last few words. He was going to need to work on that.

  Ordering herself to breathe, Indie stepped forward and offered Diana her hand. The realization that she desperately wanted Luke by her side for this startled her almost as much as the welcoming warmth of Diana’s smile.

  “It’s so nice to finally meet you, Indie. Your daddy talks about you all the time. He loves you so much.” She beamed at Ben. “I’m gushing again, aren’t I? I’m so nervous.”

  Indie couldn’t help but grin. “Don’t be nervous, and, believe me, I love m
y daddy more than anything. It’s nice to meet you, too.”

  Her father was entirely too old to blush, but Indie noted the blood pooling in his cheeks.

  “Well, she’s always been my girl.” Ben winked at her.

  The wind picked up pace, whipping her long auburn hair across her face. She turned in time to see Luke throw a beautiful pass to Brock on the other end of the field. Her entire body lit with pride and excitement.

  Brock reached and picked the ball out of the air with the skill of a fantastic athlete. He tucked it and ran before Beau Riggins could take him down.

  The absolute bliss on Luke’s face spoke directly to Indie’s heart. She wolf-whistled and cheered with Hope.

  Luke blew her a kiss just the way he always had when he completed a pass in high school.

  The tension and outright fury she’d been clinging to after her mother’s stunt and Melony’s declarations to the crowd eased their vice grip. She willingly slipped into a younger version of herself yet again, and she welcomed the loss of the anger and confusion that had been her constant companions since she’d returned home.

  “And that must be Luke.” Diana grinned. “I haven’t really been in town enough to be able to tell all of the Camden boys apart. They all look so much alike.”

  But they didn’t. Indie wanted to argue that only Luke had those killer blue eyes and that sexy smirk that made her weak. Only Luke seemed to carry the weight of the entire world on his broad shoulders willingly and without complaint. Couldn’t everyone see how his very soul shown in his eyes? Couldn’t they tell that the color varied ever so slightly to reflect his emotions? Couldn’t they see how capable his hands were no matter what needed to be done? His brothers and cousin were all admittedly good-looking cowboys, but Luke … Luke was everything.

  “Oh, well, they’re used to being called by the other’s names. Trust me, I birthed them and I swear half the time I called Austin Holly or Brock Luke. I remember being so tired after Holly was born I think I called Grant one of our dogs names that morning.” Jessie sidled up beside Indie. Everyone joined her laughter at her own expense.