by Tina Leonard
“You’re asking why I didn’t coddle you boys since I had so much money. Why I kicked your asses instead of giving out hugs. Why I tried to make men out of you instead of pansy-assed good-for-nothings who were always looking for a handout.”
“In so many words,” Gabriel said, “I suppose you just gave me the answer.”
“Kids who have everything handed to them generally don’t fare well. You boys were already a little wild. You had no mother to soften you. I was busy running things and couldn’t mother hen you. I figured if you had it in you to be successful, you’d get there on your own. And if you didn’t, you’d only have yourself to blame.”
Gabriel nodded. “I see your point.” He saw it, but that didn’t address the affection part of the parenting equation, the pleasure of enjoying your child. “So the reason you’re spoiling Penny and Perrin is—”
“I can enjoy being a doting grandfather if I want.”
“I can’t speak for my brothers, of course, but seeing the softer side of you—”
“I’ll tell you something, Gabriel. Since you’re being honest, and since you hung around, which frankly shows some of what I was trying to teach you boys sunk in—which is to face the hardest parts of life bravely—I liked watching you kids struggle. I liked seeing you get tough. Raising men is a hard thing. Raising whiners is easy.” He kissed Penny on the forehead and handed her another cookie. “But in case you feel left out—and I suspect you do or you wouldn’t be trying to improve my parenting skills—I’ll tell you a little secret.”
“Shoot,” Gabriel said dryly. “I’m all ears.”
“Now, this is just between you and me—”
“Absolutely,” Gabriel said. Who the hell would he tell?
“I put the million dollars that you would have received for staying here one year into a bank draft in your name this morning.”
Gabriel looked at his father. “What’s the hook?”
Josiah laughed. “There is no hook. You proved yourself. You came here, and you would have stayed. You alone cared enough to try to patch up our differences. I see in you a son I can be proud of.”
That meant more to him than the money. “Thank you.”
Josiah nodded. “Jack didn’t even bother to show up. He doesn’t give a damn. He’ll still get his chance, but—” Josiah shrugged “—he and the rest of your brothers have to live under the same rules you played by.”
“Okay,” Gabriel said, “did you come home because you wanted to see us, or was it all just a test?”
Josiah grabbed a red ball, scooted near the fireplace and rolled it to Penny, who rolled it back. He then rolled it to Perrin, who couldn’t roll so well, so Gabriel helped him.
“When Laura let me know you had come home, I chose to come home,” Josiah said. “It was a test, maybe, but I also wanted very much to see you.”
“Laura?” Gabriel frowned.
“Did you think I was psychic?” Josiah grinned. “Laura had instructions to let me know if any of my sons returned.”
Gabriel wondered what else she was keeping to herself. “Guess she did her job.”
“I’m leaving in the morning.” Josiah stood, his shaggy hair bushing out around his shoulders. “I have to get back to work. It keeps a man alive, you know.”
“I hope so.” It was all he had right now. “So what are your plans for this place?”
“You’re here. You can take care of it. You have the money to do whatever else you like, but I wouldn’t tell anyone, if you want to know if they care for you.”
Gabriel wondered if that was a veiled reference to Laura, but he didn’t think she was fixated on money or she would have said yes to him instead of backing out on him when her father had chest pains.
“There’s an account and books for the ranch specifically. I know I can trust you with the running of it.”
“Ever thought about selling?”
Josiah shook his head. “Nope. I love my place in France and I’m thinking on buying one in Florida, but this ranch represents what I believe is best about life. Feel free to make it your home as long as you want.”
“And if Pete and Dane come back?”
Josiah shrugged and headed up the stairs.
“Jeez,” he said to Penny and Perrin. “He’s got me stuck right in the middle.”
Penny smiled at him. “Morgan,” she said, enjoying saying the name.
“That’s me,” he said, and wondered why he suddenly felt okay with that.
* * *
WHEN LAURA CAME TO PICK up the kids that night, Gabriel had a surprise for her. “Chicken on the grill, canned corn and a salad. Not as good as you made me when I first arrived in Union Junction, but as good as I can do. I know you’re probably worn out.”
“I’m all right.” She glanced at the food. Penny and Perrin were seated at the table. Somewhere Gabriel had found a small chair he’d sort of roped Perrin into; sailor’s knots held her son’s roundness into the chair. Mashed peas decorated the table in front of Perrin. “It’s hard babysitting when you’re not used to it.”
“It’s good practice for me. And Dad’s been helping.”
She slid into the chair. “Thank you. It looks delicious.”
“So. This is what we’ll look like every night if you keep my proposal in mind.” He lit two candles in the center of the table with a flourish. “I’m just saying.”
“I can’t.” Laura shook her head. “Ben is just too upset about it. And I can’t go through that again. I’m sorry, Gabriel.”
“You have no idea what you’re passing up.” He’d thought a lot about it, and he wasn’t about to let this woman go just because Ben was having a coronary. If anything was killing the man, it was his own bitterness.
Steps sounded on the stairs. Josiah came into the room, his laugh booming when he saw the children at the table. “You two don’t need to eat. You need to see a pony!”
“Yay!” Penny jumped up from the table.
“Young lady!” Laura shook her head. “Mr. Morgan, they must excuse themselves.”
“All right. Excuse us all,” Josiah said, rescuing Perrin from his sailor’s knots. “We have to go walk a pony, and then I need to do some things in town. I’ll only be gone a couple of hours, Laura, so don’t get jittery. You and Gabriel enjoy the food. He’s been cussing at the grill for an hour.”
Gabriel nodded. “It’s true. I am not the griller that my brothers are.”
“Looks like you did a fine job,” Josiah said, looking at the meal, “but the kids and I are having ice cream for dinner. Even Perrin can have ice cream instead of those peas, can’t he?” he asked, nuzzling the baby as he carried him out. “And I saw my son feed you that nasty meat stick thingie from a jar earlier. If I was you, Perrin, I’d complain. Come on, Penny, honey, you and I will have a swirl with candies on top.”
The door closed behind them. Gabriel shook his head. “I didn’t even know he knew that there was a roadside ice-cream store that offered swirls with candies on top.”
“He’s always been this way with my children.” Laura seemed resigned to it. “The gifts are getting bigger, however.”
He’d just had a huge one tossed into his life. He wasn’t sure how to take the fact that he now had a million dollars to his name, free and clear. He didn’t even have to live here, didn’t have to put up with Josiah, didn’t have to take care of Laura.
He was free.
“So, Laura,” he said, “I understand you’re the little birdie who let Josiah know I was here.”
She hesitated as she served them corn. “Yes, I did.”
“You weren’t going to tell me.”
“No. Do you have a problem with that?”
He grinned. “I probably should, but I like that mysterious edge you’ve got going on.” Reaching over, he captured her hand in his. She dropped the spoon into the corn as he pulled her into his lap. “Suddenly, this dinner doesn’t seem as inviting as what I’ve got in my lap right now.”
He ki
ssed her, and Laura had no desire to pull away. She knew her father would be so angry—Ben really thought he was looking out for her best interests—but just like before, she was falling for the man and not the approval. Gabriel kissed differently than her husband had and she relished that. She wanted everything about this to be different.
It was important that she never look back. She didn’t ever want to feel the same. She wanted this, and more and everything Gabriel wanted to give her—except marriage. She couldn’t do that. She knew that now. Ben falling ill had convinced her that she had agreed to marriage for all the wrong reasons. She was agreeing to marry for stability, when all she really wanted was to feel alive again.
Gabriel moved his hand to her waist, and then along her sides to her breasts. Her breath caught. She sensed him waiting, asking permission. Gabriel was a gentleman; he would never override her wishes. But she wanted him, wanted what he was offering her and so she kissed him back, letting her hands move down his chest—and then lower.
His breath hitched, and she knew he wanted her the way she wanted him.
“You’re making me crazy,” he told her.
“I want to.”
“I’m going to drive you crazy, too,” he said, “and then make you the happiest woman on earth.”
He already was. Her blood steamed in her body, her skin craved his touch. But she feared Josiah and the children would walk in and see them.
Gabriel carried her upstairs, laid her in his bed. Kissed her inch by inch, her entire body, chasing away her fears. Made her know that everything about this moment would be different from anything she’d ever known—and when he finally claimed her, Laura knew she’d never be the same again.
Hunger had been born inside her, and only Gabriel could satisfy it.
* * *
“GET OUT OF BED, OLD MAN.”
Josiah looked down at his nemesis, allowing his lips to curl. Ben’s eyes flew open—then he grinned at Josiah.
“I’m quite comfortable, thank you. Appreciate the visit, though.” Ben glanced around. “What brings you? An apology?”
“Hell, no. What would I apologize for?”
“For trying to kill me when you learned I took Gisella to the airport. I was trying to do a neighborly deed, caught between a rock and a hard place was I—”
“Let’s not live in the past,” Josiah snapped. “Forgiveness isn’t one of my more saintly qualities.”
“I’ll say.” Ben shuddered. “They’ll not be putting your name forth for beatification no matter how much money you give away.”
Josiah sighed. “The kids want to see their sad sack of a grandfather. Right now, they’re eating fruit cups in the cafeteria with a nurse friend of mine. You and I have something to discuss.”
Ben glared at him. “I’m on my deathbed.”
“You’re throwing a pity party, and I want it to cease. Or I’ll consider myself invited.”
Ben wrinkled his face. “You’ve never been much fun at a party.”
Josiah laughed heartily. “Now, listen, old man, you think you’re playing me and everyone else like a well-strung fiddle. But you leave Gabriel and Laura alone.”
Ben’s gaze narrowed. “Why should I? He’s trying to marry my daughter, and that just ain’t gonna happen.”
“Thanks to you, it probably won’t.”
“I see no reason to mingle my blood with yours, Morgan. It would dilute the purity of my good name.”
“Ben, you sorry ass—if you weren’t connected to an IV, I’d kick your selfish butt.”
Ben shrugged. “And everybody would say look at poor Ben being picked on by that awful Josiah Morgan.”
“No, they wouldn’t. They’d say poor Josiah Morgan, having to put up with that conniving Ben Smith.”
“Damn you!” Ben looked like he wanted to hop out of bed and take a swing at Josiah. “I’m not a conniver! No more so than you, Josiah Morgan!”
“You are if you’re lying in this bed making your daughter feel guilty about wanting to be with my son.”
“How the hell do you expect me to feel? After you cheated me?”
Josiah grimaced. “I didn’t cheat you. You think you put one over on me, and I’m letting you gloat on that, but if you don’t give my son your blessing, I’m going to put an end to your game.”
Ben looked at him suspiciously. “What are you talking about?”
Josiah tapped him on the arm. “Old friend, I’m talking about that false rumor you put about that there was oil on your property.”
Ben blinked. “Don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“Sure you do. You told everyone you thought there might be oil. Then you asked me to buy your land at an inflated price. Then you ran around screaming about how I’d taken advantage of you. I knew there was no oil, I knew there was little value to your land and that you were hard up for cash. What happened to that cash, by the way?” Josiah asked, a gleam in his eyes.
“It’s…in a safe.” Ben waved a hand. “Anyway, it’s none of your business.”
“Funny how you’re shacking up in my foreman’s house if you have the money somewhere. Over a half million dollars, and you don’t even buy your grandchildren a trip to the county fair. Yet I hear you going all over town about how I cheated you.”
“Probably you did, Josiah. You always get the best of a person.”
Josiah’s white brows raised. “Did you gamble away that money?”
“No!”
“Did you drink it up?”
“No!”
Josiah leaned close. “Then tell me what happened to it.”
Ben sighed. “I put it in a vault in the bank so it couldn’t be traced to me for taxes.”
Josiah frowned. “You would have had to report the sale of your land.”
“That’s why I tell everyone you cheated me. So I won’t have to pay capital gains.”
Josiah wondered if the man truly didn’t understand the law. “Do you understand that few people cheat Uncle Sam and get away with it?”
“Do you understand that that is the only time I’ll see that much money? Do you know how hard it is to make it as a farmer?” Ben crossed his arms. “I’m not giving one cent of it to the government. I’ve paid taxes for years. When did the government ever help me?”
Josiah scratched his head. “At the very minimum, when you get caught, you’ll have to pay interest on what you owe.”
“I’ll be dead by then.”
Josiah shrugged. “And your estate will still have to pay. I’m not sure what you’ve done helps Penny and Perrin.”
Ben sighed. “It was just hard to give up any of that dough. I wanted money all my life, just a little something in the bank that gave me security. Something I could pass to my daughter without everybody thinking I’d been a failure all my life.”
“Don’t you think she’d have been just as happy with you being honorable?”
Ben shook his head. “I can take care of her, and my grandkids, without asking anybody for a dime if we ever fall on hard times.”
“Laura seems independent to me. Besides, Ben, sleeping in my foreman’s shack isn’t exactly living the high life.”
“It’s free. Seems like a bargain to me, and I’m satisfied with that.”
Josiah had to admire the man’s desire to keep what was his. “But you’ve just about done in your ticker.”
“That’s because your son is trying to take my daughter away from me.”
“You’re just trying to keep her away from me.” Josiah sat down near his nemesis. “Be honest and don’t juggle facts for a change.”
Ben snorted. “I don’t completely cotton to Morgans, I’ll admit. Some are better than others.”
“But is that fair to your grandchildren?” He leaned close to stare Ben down. “Gabriel would do fine by them.”
Ben’s gaze slid away. “Not sure about that. But if it’ll make you quit harping on me, I promise to pay the taxes on the money you paid me for the land.”
&n
bsp; Josiah sighed. “Don’t get me back on that. This entire matter is between you and me, and you need to butt out of Laura’s life. You nearly got yourself sidelined for good, you know. Interfering is not healthy.”
“Says the greatest interferer I ever met.” Ben’s eyes closed. “Anyway, you don’t even like your own sons. Why should I?”
Josiah shook his head. Ben had it all wrong. He clearly didn’t understand the Bible’s instruction: What son is there whom a father does not chasten? The way he’d raised his sons was the only way to raise good men. But Ben was so stubborn it was hard to move him. Laura probably had some of those stubborn genes in her, which didn’t bode well for Gabriel, who was pretty mulish himself.
Josiah wished he could make it all better, but he couldn’t. The die had already been cast. He went to get Penny and Perrin to sneak them in to see their grandfather—no kids allowed in this area, especially past visiting hours—but he figured what the hell. He’d given enough money to the hospital to buy beds for a new wing. One day, it might be him lying in one of these beds, and he sure hoped Ben would care enough to sneak the kids in to see him.
Maybe he would, and maybe he wouldn’t. Josiah couldn’t divine whether forgiveness lay in store for him, from anyone. But life was all about family, and Josiah was doing his damnedest to try to build one.
Chapter Thirteen
The moment he made love to Laura, Gabriel was even more determined to romance her until she couldn’t say no to his marriage proposal. But he was aware this wouldn’t be easy. He moved her arms above her head, trapping them against the pillows, then languidly licked each nipple. He loved the gasp he pulled from her.
“Gabriel,” she murmured, a slight protest, and since he knew she was going to use going to visit her father as an excuse, he slid inside her, keeping her with him for a few more minutes.
“Yes?” he asked.
