by Tina Leonard
“Again, you could just go say hi.” Pete stood, stretching. “Anybody for banana fritters?”
Gabriel frowned. “Fritters? Who’s going to make those?”
“Laura said she would since she was coming over. It’s either that or we grill burgers. I offered burgers because I’m not exactly a banana man. She said the choice was yours since you’d been through a lot lately. We all agreed that was the case.”
His life was out of control, hijacked by people he didn’t really know that well. He was thinking about the past, and everybody else seemed happy to go along with the cards Pop had dealt them, singularly unsuspicious about the old man’s true motives.
“Burgers,” he said, “and I guess I’ll ring the damn dinner bell.” Feeling almost relieved, he jerked open the door. Ben jumped to his feet, startled, and Laura stared at him with shock.
“Morgan,” Penny said, a sweet smile on her face.
“Are we bothering you?” Laura asked. “Pete and Dane said we could come inside, but we prefer to sit outside. It’s a lovely evening.”
“Ben,” Gabriel said, “what the hell are you doing on my porch, anyway?”
“Got no place to go at the moment.” Ben didn’t seem too concerned by that. “Your dad bought my place. This is as close to home as I can get.”
“But where were you before that?” Gabriel demanded. “You were somewhere, weren’t you?” He looked at Laura, who didn’t seem that disturbed by his bad manners. Stepping around him, Dane and Pete went to brush leaves and blown dirt off the picnic table and set up the grill for burgers.
Ben scratched his head. “Well, I’ve sort of been in this town and that town looking for work. Then you boys came back, and I pretty much figured it wouldn’t hurt if I hung around here a bit.”
“You tried to shoot me.” Gabriel wasn’t sure how he was supposed to forget about that. Turning the other cheek in this case would be a trifle hard.
“Didn’t try too hard, son. I really didn’t give it my best shot. And I was under the influence of some booze and self-pity, I don’t mind admitting.” The old man scratched his head and rubbed his chin ruefully. “Sorry I scared you, though. Won’t happen again. I gave your brothers my word.”
“I wasn’t scared. It’s against the law to take potshots at people.” Gabriel felt annoyance rising inside him. This was not a Hallmark card moment, never would be for him. Anger and mistrust were wrung up together inside him. Why did he get the feeling that this new family was being thrust upon him? “I don’t trust you, Ben, to be perfectly honest.”
“I respect that,” Ben said calmly, “but on the bright side, it’s not like I’m in the running to be your father-in-law or anything.”
Pete and Dane swung around to stare at them. Laura’s eyes went huge. The words hung silent and awkward in the twilight air.
Ben glanced around at everyone. “Well, I’m not,” Ben reiterated, “so there’s the bright side, right?”
It would be hell having Ben for a father-in-law. Whatever foolish daydreams he’d had concerning Laura were blown to dust. He should never have kissed her, should never have toyed with her affections.
Now that she and her father were coming to some type of reunion, he could excuse himself from the picture-perfect moment he didn’t want to be painted into. “Think I’ll go check on the horses. Good night.” He headed off, leaving everyone else to enjoy what had become a family picnic.
Almost.
* * *
LAURA STARED AFTER GABRIEL, disappointed by his reaction. She could feel his withdrawal from the gathering, from her. Even from the children, and that hurt the most. He was big and strong and caring, and she had kept him at arm’s length. There were reasons for that, but she didn’t want him resenting her, or her father.
Although it was easy to resent Ben. He had lost his temper. No one would forgive someone who shot at them.
“I’ve made a mess of this,” Ben said sadly. “I’m never touching another drop of drink.”
Dane and Pete went back to scrubbing off the grill. It looked like it hadn’t been scrubbed properly or even used in years. “Listen, Ben,” she said, sitting down on the porch beside him, “it’s great that you’re not going to drink anymore. It’s great for you, it’s great for the kids. You might even consider some counseling or A.A. In the meantime, don’t worry about Gabriel. There was nothing to mess up.”
“I was just so mad thinking Josiah had cheated me. I always hated getting cheated.” Ben sniffed, rubbing his nose on his shirt. “Josiah is a tricky one, too. He’s a smart man. He didn’t get so wealthy by being a sucker.” He sighed deeply. “Unlike me.”
“This is the time to stop feeling sorry for yourself, don’t you think, Ben?” She shifted Perrin in her arms; Penny sat quietly between them. “If you see yourself as a victim, then you’ll be one.”
He slowly nodded. “I guess I fell into that trap when your mother went away. I thought she was happy with me. Never dreamed she’d go off.”
Laura had read the letter from her mother many times over the years. She’d long since made peace with the fact that her mother hadn’t been able to handle life with a drifter who moved from town to town. She’d gone back north where she had friends. It wasn’t that she didn’t love her baby, she’d said in the letter. She just felt Ben would be the better parent.
It had been like being given up for adoption. Painful in the growing years, hard as a teenager and probably contributing to Laura’s desire to marry a kind, gentle man who seemed solid as a rock, someone who’d be there for her forever. “Ben, it’s all right about Mom. We did fine on our own.”
“I’ve been an ass.” He looked down at Penny, who stared up at his whiskered face without judgment. “I’m sorry I was hard on your husband, Laura. When he died, I relapsed. I blamed myself for letting my stubbornness get between us.”
The familiar knife of pain went through Laura at all the time wasted between them, when Dave had been alive, when her father could have been part of their family. It was time that could never be replaced.
“And now I’ve shot at your new boyfriend and ruined things for you,” he said. “He’s never going to want me around.”
“Gabriel’s not my boyfriend,” Laura said firmly, “and if you’re sincere about quitting drinking, I want you around and that’s all that matters.”
He nodded, glancing at Penny and Perrin wistfully. “I am.”
“And no more feeling sorry for yourself.”
“No.” He shook his head. “I’ve got a lot to live for now.”
“And you forget about that oil business you think Josiah pulled over on you,” she said sternly.
A grimace wrinkled his face. “That’s a little more difficult. A man hates to have something taken from him.”
“I don’t think there’s anything here. There’d be drillers out here if there was. And do you know what the start-up costs on an operation like that would be?” She looked at her father sincerely. “Unless it was an oil find the size of, I don’t know, something in the Gulf, it probably wouldn’t be worth the drilling costs.”
He blinked. “You’re right.”
She nodded.
He thought about that for a minute. “But why’d he give you all that money for the kids if it wasn’t guilt money?”
“Because Mr. Morgan was a nice old man.”
Ben shook his head. “No, Josiah Morgan is not.”
“It doesn’t matter, does it? He felt like he could help our family when Dave died. That’s a good thing, isn’t it?”
Ben glanced over at Dane and Pete. “He couldn’t get along with his own family, though. Never did understand how that came to pass.”
“It’s none of our business. People probably say the same thing about us.” She kissed Perrin and Penny on their heads.
“Hamburgers? Or hot dogs?” Pete asked. “What does everyone want?”
Laura stood, feeling awkward. “I’m not sure we should stay for dinner. Gabriel made his fe
elings about our presence pretty plain.”
Pete grinned at her. “Gabriel was always the slow child among us. He’ll cool off in a bit.”
Dane laughed, overhearing his brother’s comment. “Besides Jack, he’s definitely the most temperamental.”
She sat Penny at the picnic table. Somewhat sheepishly, Ben sat down beside Penny.
“It’s awfully nice of you boys to forgive me,” Ben said.
“You don’t have to sing for your supper, Ben,” Dane said kindly. “Let’s just enjoy the wonderful summer evening.”
“Every one of us here is a sinner,” Pete added, plopping a big juicy burger in front of Ben. A hot dog followed for Penny, and then a burger for Laura. Perrin sat in her lap, watching everything with big eyes and his fist in his mouth.
“It’s a bit charred because we overfired the grill. We’ll get better in time,” Dane said.
Dane and Pete served themselves, then sat across from Ben and Laura. “I’ll say a blessing,” Pete offered, and they all bowed their heads until they heard the back door slam.
They glanced up to see Gabriel standing in the doorway.
“The prodigal brother returns,” Pete said. “Grab a burger.”
Gabriel looked at the picnic table, divided with Laura’s family on one side, the Morgans on the other. He had no appetite, except maybe for Laura, something he’d discovered that was growing in spite of his objection to those emotions. “I don’t think I’m going to be able to stay here.”
They all stared at him.
“Tonight?” Pete asked.
He couldn’t meet Laura’s steadfast gaze. “At all.”
Chapter Seven
Laura’s heart sank at Gabriel’s words. He obviously had a problem with her family. He definitely did not want them there. She couldn’t blame him, either. She held Perrin tighter to her. Maybe she’d made a bad judgment call, believing that because Mr. Morgan had welcomed them, his sons would, too.
“Ben,” Gabriel said, “how are you at doing odd jobs on a ranch?”
Ben looked at him. “Could do a good-sized bit of work in my day.”
Gabriel folded his arms across his chest. “Are you wanting a job?”
“Depends.” Ben jutted out his chin, letting everyone know his pride was at stake.
Gabriel’s gaze briefly flicked to Laura. “We’ve got one open here. This place needs a lot of work.”
Ben’s jaw sagged. “Do you mean it?” He glanced around at Pete and Dane, whom Laura noticed were staring at Gabriel with approval.
Gabriel nodded. “My brothers feel you could be helpful. You have good knowledge of a working ranch.”
It seemed Ben’s eyes shone brighter. “I’ll take you up on that offer, then.”
Gabriel nodded. “You’ll have to ask my brothers the particulars of where you should start.” He glanced around at the gathering. “Laura, Ben, thank you for coming by.” He fondly tousled Penny’s and Perrin’s hair, surprising Laura. “I’ll be heading out.”
They all watched in silence as Gabriel left.
“Uh, anybody want pickles with their burgers?” Dane asked to cover the awkward silence. Penny ate her hot dog, and Perrin strained to get down and crawl on the ground. Laura had the strangest sensation that she was missing something in Gabriel’s words. He sure hadn’t seemed happy. “Can you watch my kids, Ben?” she asked her dad.
“Sure,” Ben said, happy to be asked.
Laura handed Perrin to her father, then hurried around to the front of the house so she could catch Gabriel before he departed. He’d said he wasn’t going to stick out the year on the ranch—something was bothering him. Badly.
She had to know it wasn’t her—or her family.
“Gabriel, wait.” She hurried across to where he was backing his truck down the drive. “What is your problem?”
He gazed at her, his eyes pensive. “If I have one, I’m keeping it to myself.”
Wasn’t that just stubborn as a mule? She shrugged. “I think something’s on your mind.”
He resumed backing down the drive. She let him go this time, hating his withdrawal. Hiding your emotions was too easy.
She watched him stop his truck, then pull slowly back up the drive, like a magnet moving toward her.
“Maybe we should talk,” he said.
“As long as it’s your idea,” she said sweetly, and got into his truck.
“It wasn’t my idea to offer your father a job,” he said, heading away from the ranch.
“I thought not. Why did you?”
“My brothers thought we should. And I’m not exactly objective about the situation, considering I don’t completely trust him.”
“Nor should you,” Laura said, not hurt in the least. “He hasn’t always been trustworthy.” She took a deep breath. “If it makes your decision any easier, I’m taking some leaps of faith where Ben is concerned these days, as well.”
“I don’t think I’d be able to be friends as easily with my father if he suddenly came back.”
She figured that hadn’t been an easy admission to make. “I have children, Gabriel. Ben deserves a chance to be a good grandfather, even if he didn’t agree with my choice of life partner. That’s always going to hurt, but he regrets it now. And I can’t wish those years we spent apart never happened, because they did.”
“That’s one of the things I like about you. You’re steadfast.” Gabriel glanced toward her briefly. “I just don’t think I’ll ever be close to my father, especially now that he’s got us all tied here for whatever purpose.”
“Parenthood isn’t easy at any age.”
He stopped the truck outside a roadside ice-cream stand. “Would it bother you if you were part of a setup?”
“No, because I don’t see myself that way.”
Gabriel looked at her. “Even though Josiah gave your kids money, even though he asked me to look after you, you don’t see this as part of a grand scheme?” He sighed. “I do. I resent the hell out of it.”
She felt prickles run over her skin. “You’re safe from me.”
“Oh, I know that. You’ve got an honest-to-God electric fence up around you.” Gabriel stared at her so intently she felt her bones turn to water. “It would almost be easier if you didn’t.”
“Meaning you could sleep with me and then move on? As easily as you’re going to move on from your father’s request?” She lifted her chin. “I didn’t see you as the type of man who looks for the easy way out. Even Ben’s got more spirit than that.”
Well, that little minx, Gabriel thought. How dare she decide he was spineless? If she knew how badly he wanted to kiss her, shut those pretty lips up so they’d stop taunting him, she’d jump right out of his truck and run back to her safe little family.
He hated indecision, despised fear and inaction. Strength for a man lay in his stubborn attachment to his ideals, and she was shaking every one he had. He hadn’t wanted to hire Ben, but part of him knew he’d win approval from her for it. Now he realized how desperately he craved that approval.
But he didn’t want to feel this way, not so deeply. About any woman, and no million dollars was worth it. A man worth his salt earned his own damn money, he didn’t get paid to go to the altar.
That’s what he felt like. That’s what he’d really meant when he’d said he might not stick out the year. As ticked as he was at his brothers for making him hire Ben—a problem lodged in his own brain because Pete and Dane seemed to think it was a brilliant plan—he really didn’t want to admit his father was controlling his life.
His choice of bride. His will to marry.
Dane, he’d noticed, had to feel the same because he didn’t give two flips about who this mysterious Suzy was. “Do you know a Suzy in this town? I believe she may have a few children.”
Laura turned big eyes on him. “Suzy? Don’t you know, since you’re asking about her?”
Gabriel shrugged. “Pop left Dane a letter about someone named Suzy.”
“Oh
.” Laura seemed surprised by that. “She’s not exactly his type.”
“Really? What type is Dane’s?” He watched her, obviously interested in her reply. What made her think she knew his brother at all?
“She has twin baby girls. I’m not certain any of you Morgans would want to take on parenting duties,” Laura said slowly, then shook her head. “I see what’s bothering you. Your father seemed to have planned to get you brothers women with ready-made families.”
“Would be awful devious of him.”
She nodded. “What I think you’re underestimating is that he wanted grandchildren and doesn’t mind adopting them into his family. I don’t think he’s actually crazy enough to assume he can induce four hardened bachelors to get to the altar.”
“Yeah, Pop is that ornery.” He nodded. “As least your father only took a shot at me. Mine’s trying to shoot holes in our lives.”
“You probably learned a lot about being bulletproof in the military,” she said smoothly. “But your father wants the same thing mine does—to be close to his family. And if he uses money or connections to make that happen, can you blame him? He’s not getting any younger.”
“I prefer the direct approach.”
She shook her head. “No, you don’t. You’ve been running from me ever since you kissed me.”
That was certainly direct coming from a young widow with children. “I’ve been trying not to do it again. You didn’t seem too happy about it, and a gentleman respects a lady’s wishes.”
“I do appreciate you hiring my father, Gabriel. I saw something come into his eyes I haven’t seen in years. I think it was hope. He seems to be changing.”
“Wasn’t easy. He’s made an ass of himself.”
She tapped his hand, which was resting on the steering wheel. “All of us probably have. I doubt he’ll let you down, though.”
“Hope not,” he grumbled.
“So you’ve done what your father asked of you. You’ve watched out for me, employed my dad. You can go on with your life now and not worry about me.”
“It’s not that easy,” Gabriel said with reluctance. “Your kids have gotten under my skin.”
