Gone Country: Rough Riders, Book 14

by Lorelei James

  “So it looks like all the McKays help each other throughout the year?” Gavin asked Charlie.

  “Carson has enough hands with his boys that he hasn’t needed much help. Same with Cal’s twins. None of them wanted to deal with Casper so he made his boys do everything on their own. Same with me’n Quinn and Ben and Chase if he was around. Brandt, Tell and Dalton increased the size of their herd and bought more land after Luke died so Quinn and Ben have been helping them and they help us.” He shrugged. “It works out.”

  “Can I ask about the bad history between Casper and your brothers?”

  Charlie remained quiet for so long Gavin suspected he was dodging the question. Then he scratched his chin with the back of his gloved hand. “I wish I could say there was some defining moment when it all fell apart, but it ain’t that simple. As twins, Carson and Calvin have always been two peas in a pod—no one was surprised when they married sisters.” A ghost of a smile appeared. “My dad wasn’t happy they were West sisters but that’s another story. Anyway, I think Casper had middle child syndrome. Dad had high expectations for his oldest boys and Mom doted on me as the youngest because I was a sickly kid. Casper got lost in the shuffle. He became a wild man and took hell raisin’ to a new level. Hard to look at him now and see it, but Casper had the type of good looks and charm the ladies loved.

  “We were all shocked when he married Joan Tellman. I’ll admit I wasn’t a supportive brother to Casper then, because that was right around the time Vi moved away. I moped for a few months. Then I thought; screw it, I’m the last single McKay and I’m gonna cut loose. I screwed any woman who’d have me, figuring that’d erase Vi from my mind, but it never did.

  “Then my dad had a heart attack. He recovered but couldn’t head up the ranch. He put my oldest brothers in charge, moved out of the ranch house, giving it to Carson and Carolyn—and we set him up in a trailer between Carson’s and Calvin’s place.”

  “Wait a second. Were you living in the house with your dad when he had the heart attack?”

  Charlie nodded. “I was the one who found him out in the yard. At first he refused to go to the hospital. Swore he’d rather die on McKay land. I called Casper and we got Dad loaded up and hauled to town.”

  “He sounded like a tough old bird.”

  “Oh, Jed McKay was an asshole or an angel, depending on your point of view and the day. Anyway, we’d just bought this place, a couple thousand acres on the far south end of McKay land with two houses. Casper and Joan claimed one place and I took the other. Around that time, Casper had turned into a raging asshole. Everything changed in the family dynamic because I felt that Dad and my brothers were punishing me, making me live by Casper.”

  “Did Casper know you felt that way?”

  “Probably. Another year passed and Dad had another heart attack. He couldn’t live by himself. Logically he should’ve moved in with Casper and Joan. But Dad refused and insisted on living with Cal and Kimi. Casper took it as Dad would rather live with a West family enemy than live with him. Made him even more bitter and I didn’t blame him. Meanwhile, we’re all workin’ the ranch and Carson is buying land up closer to where he lives. Ticked me and Casper off because we knew we’d never get to use those grazing areas and technically, the acreage belonged to us too. Then our neighbors the Burkes wanted out of Wyoming and didn’t offer the land to us first. Not only is that an unwritten western tradition, but the Burkes sold it to a couple from out of state.”

  “The Wetzlers,” Gavin inserted.

  “Yep. They were an odd lot. So I gotta be honest, even though it’s been a long time comin’, I’m happy the biggest chunk of that land is finally in McKay hands.” Charlie shot him a sideways glance. “So to speak.”

  As much as the McKays had wanted that section and the discord it’d caused when he’d bought it, no one had approached Gavin on utilizing it. And he was such a greenhorn he had no idea how to offer it.

  “For a few years me’n Casper worked together. That’s why I’m more tolerant with him than Carson or Cal. Then Vi returned to Wyoming. I hadn’t seen her in four years and I knew the reason I hadn’t found a woman to share my life with was because I was waiting for her to come back.”

  Gavin didn’t know what to say. He wouldn’t have believed Charlie was capable of telling him something so intensely personal.

  “Most people think they know what kind of woman Vi is. She’s bossy, nosy and opinionated. But that ain’t what I see. That ain’t who she is with me or to me. Back then or now.” Charlie scratched his chin again. “Probably TMI as Sierra would say, huh?”

  He laughed softly.

  “I know you and Vi had words, Gavin. Alls I’m gonna say is you need to figure out a way to deal with it and her because I hate to see my wife hurtin’.”

  “Have you always been so protective of her?”

  “Yep. Wasn’t your…”

  Gavin watched the rancher struggle to ask about the man who raised him.

  “Wasn’t Dan the same way?”

  “My dad had a lot of great qualities. But being a protective husband wasn’t one of them.”

  Charlie didn’t respond. He just kept focused on Quinn and Ben’s activities.

  So Gavin kept talking. “He wasn’t faithful to my mother. As a kid I didn’t know. When I started working for him, I noticed he took long lunches. Wasn’t smart, but I followed him. He’d gone to some woman’s apartment. When I confronted him he told me all men cheat.”

  “Bullshit,” Charlie spat. “I’ve been married to Vi thirty-eight years and not once, even when we hit rough patches, did I consider climbing into another woman’s bed. A man loves a woman, he loves her. Period. He cares for her and he protects her. Not because that’s his job but because he oughta want to.”

  “I agree. It was a point of contention for us up until the day he died. His excuse, or explanation, or whatever, was that as long as he provided for my mother, she didn’t mind.”

  “Did you believe that?”

  “No. I saw it hurt her, but she never told him to stop. Never threatened to leave him.” Gavin poked at loose splinters on the wooden post. “When I found out my wife was cheating on me? I was more pissed off than hurt. I knew it wasn’t my goddamn fault that she cheated. My mom was the most vocal person in encouraging me to divorce her. She said cheaters don’t ever reform.”

  “You were close to Grace?”

  It didn’t escape his notice that Charlie didn’t refer to Grace and Dan as Gavin’s mom and dad. He obviously considered Gavin his son, not theirs, which was fucked up on a number of levels that neither of them had begun to address in the last two years. “Yes. Not to get off on a strange tangent, but my adoption was more her idea than his.”

  Charlie looked at him sharply. “Why’s that?”

  “My mom was forty and my dad was forty-eight when they adopted me. He was busy running his…affairs—” Charlie snorted, “—and having a baby gave her something to do. I never felt neglected or anything growing up—I had a great childhood—it’s just an observation I made after I had a child of my own and was so much more involved in raising her. Like I said, my dad had a lot of great qualities, but he wasn’t much of a family man.”

  “Then in my opinion, he wasn’t much of a man,” Charlie said.

  “Dad,” Quinn shouted, “I need that help now.”

  Charlie slipped through the gate without another word.

  Gavin wasn’t as bothered by the conversation as he feared he’d be. Charlie deserved to know what kind of father Dan Daniels had been to him. Not that Charlie could do anything about it and Gavin wasn’t looking for reassurance that Charlie would’ve raised him differently. The best thing Gavin had learned from his father was that he never wanted to be that type of father to his own child. And maybe some small part of Gavin wanted Charlie to know he was more like him.

  He noticed when Charlie spoke to his sons and nephews, they listened. He remembered being so rapt with his father, hoarding his pearls of wisd
om. Thinking the man could do no wrong. After learning his dad had continually cheated on his mother, Gavin wondered if he cheated in business too—which led Gavin to diversify the business after he’d inherited it.

  Once the semi was loaded and closed up, Quinn parked it down the road and backed up the other semi-trailer to the loading chute. Took less time to load cattle into the second one than the first.

  Quinn motioned him over. “You’re riding shotgun. Ben and Tell are ready to roll.”

  Gavin looked over to see if Charlie wanted to speak to him before he left, but he was helping Dalton with the horses.

  Maybe they’d said everything they needed to say.

  Sierra stood at the kitchen island fixing a snack when she heard a series of thuds on the front porch. She slipped into the dining room and glanced at Sadie, curled up, snoring in her doggie bed. Did that mean she knew who was at the door at seven on a Saturday night, so she wasn’t worried for Sierra’s safety?

  Or…Sadie was a lousy guard dog.

  The heavy wooden door in the foyer didn’t have a peep hole. As she weighed her options about checking out the noise, two raps sounded.

  “S-s-sierra, it’s B-b-boone.”

  She opened the door quickly. “Boone? Omigod! What are you…you’re covered in snow.” She grabbed the lapels of his coat and jerked him inside, and they nearly tumbled to the floor.

  Boone righted himself. Then he was shaking really hard as he leaned against the door and it slammed shut. “Th-thanks. S-s-sorry if I interrupted s-s-something.”

  “What are you doing here?” Her gaze swept over him. He didn’t move. His eyes blinking drowsily.

  “Boone? Have you been drinking?”

  “No. I…d-d-damn.” His teeth chattered like crazy.

  After all her dad’s lectures about frostbite and the dangers of hypothermia, Sierra recognized the signs immediately. She didn’t think; she just acted. She tugged off Boone’s gloves. His hands were as hard and cold as icicles. Her gaze moved to his face. He wore an Elmer Fudd hat which covered his head and ears. It also had a pull-down face mask so only his eyes and lips were visible. “I wouldn’t have opened the door if you’d had this over your face.”

  “S-s-smart ch-choice.”

  Sierra placed her hands on his cold cheeks and he made an odd noise, so she snatched them back. “Okay. I’ll leave your hat on.” She unzipped his coveralls. “You’ll have to move if you want to get out of these clothes and warm up.”

  “K-k-kay.” Boone leaned forward.

  She stripped the coveralls off his arms and then pulled them to his ankles. “Kick them off.”

  He fell back against the door as he kicked the wide-legged coveralls aside.

  “Don’t move.” She ran to the linen closet for bedding, grabbing a heavy wool blanket and a down comforter. She wrapped the blanket around his shoulders, gathering the edges in front of his chest. “Can you hold on to this?”

  “I’ll t-t-try.”

  Sierra dropped to her knees and brushed the snow off the laces of his work boots. It took several tries until the frozen leather would cooperate.

  Boone shifted feet so she could pull the boot off.

  She curled her hands around his foot. At least his socks weren’t wet and his feet weren’t blocks of ice. By the time she’d finished removing the second boot, he’d stopped shaking so hard. She stood and eyed him. “You warmed up enough to walk to the fireplace?”

  He nodded.

  “You sure? Because I can’t carry you.” She smirked. “Although, I could probably knock you over and drag you.”

  “I can walk.”

  He followed her into the living room. She dragged a chair directly in front of the fireplace and ordered, “Sit.”

  Boone sat.

  She tucked the comforter around his front side. He watched her every move without speaking, his eyes locked on her face, and it made her nervous.

  “How about if I make you hot tea.” She practically ran to the kitchen. Her face was on fire, forcing her to rest her forehead on the cold marble to cool down. Okay. She’d acted like it was no big deal…while she’d freakin’ stripped Boone West.

  The water took forever to heat. She grabbed a teabag from Rielle’s cupboard and squirted a bunch of honey into the hot water in case the tea tasted like crap.

  Back in the living room, she noticed Sadie had parked herself in front of the fire, her happy little doggie mug resting on Boone’s feet. His eyes were closed.

  She nudged his shoulder. “Boone. You’re not supposed to sleep if you’ve been chilled.”

  He mumbled, “Tired.”

  “Tough. Wake up.”

  No response.

  She shoved him harder. “Boone. Wake up right now or I’ll call your ambulance buddies here to haul your cold ass to the hospital and wouldn’t that be embarrassing?”

  “You’ve got a mean streak, McKay.”

  Good. He knew who she was. Sierra was peering directly into his face when those long lashes lifted. He gazed into her eyes so deeply her belly fluttered. Man. He had the prettiest eyes, even when they seemed slightly vacant.

  “You want a hot drink?”

  “No. Just water.”

  “Be right back.”

  Upon returning she saw Boone had stirred, removing his hat and lowering the comforter to free his arms. He stroked Sadie’s fur.

  “Here.” She handed him the water.

  He gulped a couple mouthfuls and wiped his lips with the back of his hand. His eyes were more alert. “How’d an Arizona girl recognize hypothermia symptoms and know treatment procedures?”

  “My dad has been grilling me on this since the first week we moved here. He, ah, knows I’d probably walk out in the snow in flip-flops, without a coat, so he’s been horrifying me with worst-case scenarios. I’d tell him that I remembered everything and helped you, but he’d gloat too much.”

  “Smart man, teaching you that stuff. Most people who move out here don’t have a clue.” He took another drink of water. “Is your dad around?”

  “No, he went to an auction with my uncles and Rielle is in Laramie.”

  “I wondered if you’d be here. Didn’t see any cars when I walked up.”

  “Walked up? Did you have car trouble or something?”

  “I was riding my motorcycle home and the gas gauge must’ve broken or something because it said I had half a tank when I left town.”

  Her mouth dropped open. “You were riding your motorcycle in this weather? Why?”

  He looked directly at her. “Because I don’t have a car.”

  What? Didn’t everyone have a car?

  “The bike quit about a mile from here and I pushed it to your barn because I remembered seeing cans of gas.”

  “Wait. You pushed your motorcycle a mile, in the dark, in subzero temperatures?”

  “Yeah. While I filled the tank outside the barn, exhaustion set in and I sort of…”

  “Passed out?”

  “Phased out,” he corrected. “I don’t know how long.” Boone squinted at the clock. “It’s seven-thirty? I left Sundance at four.”

  Sierra got right in his face. “You are lucky you aren’t dead, Boone West.”

  “Probably. I was confused when I woke up but I remembered I had to tell you I’d borrowed some fuel. Didn’t want anyone to think I stole it.” He smiled and lightly bumped his forehead to hers. “I wouldn’t want to add to the bad blood between the Wests and McKays.”

  “Thoughtful. Except can you imagine how much worse it’d be if you’d been found dead on McKay land?”

  “I thought your name was Daniels,” he teased.

  She whapped him on the shoulder. “Smartass.”

  “Could I hang my coveralls over the chair so they dry out before I head home?”

  Of course tough guy Boone would ride his motorcycle home after a close call with hypothermia. But she wouldn’t have his stubbornness on her conscience. “Sure. But before you leave here, promise me you’ll
call your dad or your uncles or someone, and tell them exactly which way you’re going, so if your bike breaks down again, they’ll know where to look for you.”

  “Or we could skip all that shit and you could just give me a ride.”

  “I promised my dad I wouldn’t go out of the house under any circumstances except for fire.” God. Boone probably thought she was such a baby.

  Warm fingers lifted her chin. “Hey. It’s not a big deal.”

  As soon as he removed his hand, she blurted out, “Are you hungry?”

  “You’re always trying to feed me.” He patted his stomach. “Do I look like I need fattening up?”

  No, you look perfect. But maybe you should lift your shirt anyway so I can see your six-pack abs just to make sure.

  “If you’re not hungry you can come into the kitchen and watch me eat because I’m starved.”

  “Twist my arm. I’ll put another log on the fire.” He smiled. “You can cook me up some bacon and some beans.”

  “What?”

  “You know…that’s a line from that Tompall Glaser song?”

  “Never heard of him. Is he local?”

  Boone shook his head. “He was with the Outlaws. Your musical education is sorely lacking, McKay.”

  Sierra heated leftover angel hair pasta with basil cream sauce in the microwave. Boone watched as she diced a tomato and grated parmesan. She gestured to the cupboard with her knife. “You wanna grab plates?”

  “Sure.”

  She divided the pasta in half, and sprinkled cheese and tomatoes on each pile. “Dig in.”

  Boone wound a good-sized bite around his fork and popped it in his mouth. “That is fantastic. Eating here is like dining at a fancy restaurant. You should be a chef.”

  “I don’t know what I want to do after high school. How about you?”

  “I’ve got a good idea.”

  He didn’t elaborate.

  Sierra wasn’t as hungry as she’d thought and Boone ended up polishing off her plate of pasta too.

  “Thanks for an outstanding meal. I feel like I oughta leave a tip.”

  “How about if you do the dishes?”

  “Deal.” He cleared the plates. When he opened the door to the dishwasher, she said, “Nope. Not that dishwasher. This one.”