A Cowboy for Christmas

by Cat Johnson

  Casey located the pictures of the ranch on the phone. The first picture was of Bonner with Misty. She’d taken it the day before she left. Just looking at his picture, his blue eyes piercing under the brim of his hat, took Casey’s breath away.

  She handed the phone to Courtney. “Here you go. Make sure to share with your sister.”

  “I will.” Wide-eyed, she cradled the phone in both hands and stared at the screen.

  Jody glanced over her daughter’s shoulder at the picture of the cowboy in the blue shirt with the black and white dog. “That him?”

  Casey let out a laugh. It was no use trying to hide it. “Yeah.”

  “Kitchen. Now.” Jody spun on one heel and strode to the doorway.

  Kent stood to come look over the girls’ shoulders. He cocked one brow when he saw the picture. “You really do have a cowboy fetish, don’t you?”

  As Casey watched Courtney become totally engrossed in the photo of Bonner, even zooming in on it to see him closer, Casey laughed. “I wouldn’t get so cocky if I were you. Apparently so does your daughter.”

  “Daddy. Can we go to Colorado?” Courtney glanced up as Jenna tried to grab the phone.

  “Yeah, I’m starting to see that.” He grimaced and then leaned down closer to his daughters. “We’ll talk about it later. Now what other pictures does Aunt Casey have on there? Are there any cows?”

  Smiling, Casey made her exit, only to find Jody tapping her foot in the kitchen waiting for her. “So…”

  “So his name is Bonner. He’s a former state rodeo champion and now he runs the Maverick ranch. He’s an honest to goodness cowboy, Jody. He straps on his spurs and chaps and hops on a horse to head to work in the morning the way most men grab their briefcases and get on the subway.” Now that Casey had started to talk about Bonner, it seemed she couldn’t stop.

  “Age?”

  “Early thirties.”

  “Single?” Jody was like a prosecutor and Casey was the hostile witness on the stand.

  “Divorced ten years ago. He got married young. The bitch made him quit rodeo at the peak of his career and then left him.” Casey found it very easy to be jealous of the woman Bonner had given his name to, and she’d never been the jealous type. Interesting.

  “Is he looking to get married again?”

  That question gave Casey pause. “I don’t know.”

  Jody studied Casey intently for a moment. “Are you interested in getting married?”

  Casey opened her mouth to give her rote answer, the one she’d been giving friends, relative and colleagues for most of her life, that she was focusing on her career. But it seemed she couldn’t say the words today.

  “Oh my God. You are!” Jody had never looked happier.

  Sputtering, Casey didn’t know what to say to undo the damage. Before she knew it, Jody would likely have their mother on the phone announcing her engagement to a man she’d had a week of incredible sex with but hadn’t spoken to since.

  She took a steadying breath and gathered her thoughts. “Jody. First of all even considering a relationship with him would be nuts. He’s a real live cowboy. I’m a New Yorker.”

  Jody pursed her lips while considering that. “I am having some trouble picturing you living on a ranch. And you’d probably die if you were away from the city for too long.”

  The truth that she and Bonner were from two different worlds and because of that would never be together for more than casual sex a few times a year when she visited the ranch, hurt a little too much. Casey needed to lighten this conversation before Jody saw that she’d already started to fall for a man she had no future with.

  “You don’t know the half of it. You should have seen me using the outhouse.”

  Jody nearly spit her mouthful of wine out at that. “That I would pay to see. All right, so I see the difficulties. But tell me you at least had a little fun with him. I’m sure your cowboy, unlike that Cody doll you wanted, was anatomically correct. Right?”

  “Jody!” Shocked, Casey still couldn’t stop the grin. “And yeah. He was. Very.”

  Both were both giggling when Kent came into the room carrying Casey’s phone. He handed it to her. “A text just came through, Casey.”

  “Thanks.” She opened the text and as she read the words, the whole world seemed to tilt.

  “Everything all right?” Jody touched her arm.

  “Um, it’s a confidential message from the CFO of Maverick Western. He needs me to write an official press release ASAP.” Casey put her wine down and leaned on the kitchen counter. Feeling in shock, she glanced up at her sister and her husband. “Jake Maverick died earlier today of a massive coronary.”

  Chapter Eleven

  Dazed, Bonner sat in a leather chair in the waiting room of the offices of Stern & Wiseman—Jake’s attorney.

  The days following Jake’s sudden death had passed in a surreal swirling mash-up of events, beginning with Bonner finding him lying on the sofa in front of the television Thanksgiving Day and culminating now, with his summons for the reading of the will.

  “Mr. Boyd.”

  Bonner glanced up to find a balding man wearing a suit extending a hand toward him. “Yes, sir.”

  “Harold Stern. I’m Jake’s attorney. It’s a pleasure to meet you. Jake spoke very fondly of you.”

  Not really knowing how to respond to that, Bonner simply shook the man’s hand and nodded.

  “Come on in to my office. The others aren’t scheduled to arrive for a while yet.” The attorney turned and led the way into a paneled office dominated by a wall of books and a huge wooden desk. “Please. Have a seat.”

  There was plenty of seating to choose from, from the leather sofa to the two chairs that matched the one Mr. Stern lowered himself into behind the desk.

  “I understand you were the person who found him?”

  Bonner glanced up at the question. He had to swallow the lump from his throat before he could even attempt an answer. The loss of Jake was still too fresh. “Um, yeah. After dinner Thanksgiving Day.”

  He’d finished helping Mrs. Jones with the leftovers and had gone to find the old man in the TV room. Jake was lying on the sofa. It had looked as if he were asleep, but when Bonner tried to wake him to watch the game and have the pie he’d been so excited about, he realized something was very wrong.

  “No one else was there?”

  “Not in the room with me, no. But Mrs. Jones, the housekeeper, was right in the kitchen.” Bonner frowned. Surely the man wasn’t accusing him of something. Another thought hit him—why was he here before the rest of Jake’s family? Hell, why was he here for the reading of the will at all?

  “Mrs. Jones was the only other one in the house at the time?”

  “Yes, sir. The other hands who usually take meals with us were away that day.” Bonner may not have much experience with attorneys or even wills, but each question the lawyer asked increased his suspicion that something was odd here.

  “No family members were at the ranch visiting for the holiday?”

  “No.” Feeling defensive, Bonner sat straighter in his seat. “What’s this about, Mr. Stern?”

  The man narrowed his eyes for a moment before he answered. “Jake came to me about a month ago. He wanted to make changes to his will. Major changes. I wasn’t sure I agreed with him at the time, but I’m beginning to think I was wrong.” The man stood and walked around to the front of the desk. He pushed the button on a flat screen television Bonner hadn’t noticed hanging on the wall. “Jake made a video while he was here with the instructions that upon his death it would be shown to you, in private.”

  “Uh, all right.” Bonner’s brows rose. A video? To be watched by him alone? He drew in a deep breath as Mr. Stern hit another button and Jake’s image appeared on the screen.

  The first sound of the old man’s voice had Bonner’s eyes beginning to blur with unshed tears. He blinked the misty haze away and tried to concentrate on what Jake was saying.

  “…if you’
re watching this, it means I’ve finally kicked the bucket. I’m hoping at least I was doing something fun at the time. If not, feel free to make up a good story for the boys.”

  Bonner smiled, even as he wiped at his eyes.

  “Anyway, there’s something I probably should have told you long ago. Hell, I should of told your father too, long before we lost him to the cancer, but I guess it’s too late for regrets. Anyway, most everyone involved is dead now so I think it’s time you know the truth.

  “A long time ago, believe it or not, I was a young handsome man. A real charmer. At that time, my father’s ranch manager was Michael Boyd. One day he came home with a pretty young thing, Sara Bonner was her name and he was planning on marrying her. Well, Sara and I, let’s just say we took a shine to each other and we did things we shouldn’t. A week before the wedding she found out she was pregnant. There was no question the baby was mine but she wouldn’t even consider shaming her family by backing out of the wedding and admitting the truth. She married Michael as planned and never told him that their only child John, your father, was really my son.”

  As Bonner sat stunned, Jake laughed on camera. “Damn baby came out looking so much like a Maverick I couldn’t believe everyone didn’t see it. But people see what they want to, I guess.

  “Anyway, I went away to school for a few years. Eventually, ten years or so later, I got over Sara enough to find a woman I could spend my life with and I married her. Josephine Smith was sweet as pie for every one of the years she walked this earth. She gave me Jake Junior the year we married. Then you know the rest. Junior, God rest his soul, married and gave us our first grandkids, Jake the third—J.J.—and Joselyn. And eventually, they made me a great-grandpa three times over now. But what you never knew was that you’re my grandson too, Bonner, and you have been since the day you came out of your mama all blue and gasping for life. I was there in the hospital the day you were born. My first grandchild, though no one knew it. And of all my blood kin, you’re the one who’s stuck close your whole life. You’re a true Maverick, in blood and in your heart. Remember that, when the others try to push you around, and I’m sure they will. Never forget, you’re a Maverick even if you don’t carry the name.”

  The screen went black but Bonner kept staring at it, trying to take it all in. Finally, he turned to the lawyer. “This is all true?”

  “According to Jake, it is.”

  “How can he be so sure my father was his son?”

  The lawyer shrugged. “He wouldn’t say, but he was unwavering on that point. Although I don’t think it mattered whether or not you are his blood. You live on the ranch. He’s known you since the day you were born. You’ve been working for him for years. You spent more time with him than any of his family members. It’s obvious it’s because of all that he named you in the will.”

  That brought Bonner’s head up. “I’m named in the will?”

  “Yes, you are. I can’t give any specifics until the others arrive for the reading, but I will tell you this, I expect J.J. and Jocelyn might try to contest it.”

  “Contest it?” This was all more than Bonner could absorb. He shook his head. “They can have it all. I don’t need anything. I don’t want the old man’s money. Hell, all I want is to keep my job running the herd. I don’t need anything more than that.”

  “Maybe that’s just it, Mr. Boyd. Jake was afraid if the grandchildren have complete control of the future of the estate, there might not be a herd to run any longer. He was afraid they’d sell.”

  “The ranch has been in the family since Jake’s grandfather’s time.” Bonner couldn’t wrap his head around the idea. The Maverick ranch had been a part of the Colorado landscape for generations.

  “And Jake knew you’d appreciate that history and do anything you could to preserve it.”

  Bonner nodded. Seeing a “For Sale” sign on the Maverick gate would break his heart. He wouldn’t let that happen.

  All right, so Jake must have left him part of the ranch. Okay. That he could handle. He’d just tell J.J. and Jocelyn he’d run it for them the best he could. He could forward their share of any profits to them. Though the way ranching went, it was by stashing away the profits from the good years that sometimes was the only thing to keep you afloat in the lean years. He’d have to convince them of that. Running a ranch wasn’t like running a corporation like Maverick Western.

  “You all right, Mr. Boyd?”

  “Yeah. It’s a lot to take in, is all.” Bonner was barely aware of the distant sound of a door slamming.

  “I know it is.” The lawyer drew in a deep breath. “Well brace yourself, because the others are here. Oh, and one more thing. Don’t be surprised if they demand a DNA test. My advice to you is to not offer it up willingly. Make them go through the Surrogate Court to get it.”

  Confused, reeling, and dreading the storm that was about to come, Bonner blew out a long slow breath. “All right.”

  A possible court battle against cousins he never even knew he had. DNA tests. A video confession. Just last week Bonner’s biggest worry had been if they’d cut enough hay to last the herd for winter. Well that, and how soon Maverick Western’s sexy little Director of Marketing would be traveling back to the ranch. Now…now his whole world was changed.

  Mr. Stern slipped into the outer office and returned much too soon with Jake’s grandson and granddaughter. They’d both just arrived in Colorado today, so this was the first time he’d seen them since Jake’s passing.

  Bonner stood and extended his hand to each in turn. “J.J., Jocelyn. I’m very sorry for your loss.”

  J.J. nodded. “Bonner. Good to see you again. Just wish it were under better circumstances.”

  Jocelyn smiled sweetly. “It’s very nice that my grandfather included you in his will. I know you meant a lot to him. I wonder what he left you. I bet it was that horse of his. He had a real fondness for that horse. What was his name again?”

  “Hercules. And actually we had to put him down about two years ago. Nearly killed Jake, losing him, but it was time. I picked him up a beautiful Paint to replace him, but it wasn’t the same.” Bonner watched Jocelyn lose interest about halfway through his story about the horse.

  “Oh, well then I don’t know what he could have left you, but I’m sure whatever it is, it’s lovely.” She perched her suit-clad behind on the leather sofa and turned toward the lawyer, and Bonner was more than happy he wasn’t required to speculate further. He had a feeling Jocelyn was not going to be happy with today’s revelations.

  “So, shall we get on with it?” J.J. sat in the other chair next to Bonner. “We left both my daughter and Jocelyn’s two children with my wife Kara back at the ranch.”

  “All right, let’s get right down to it.” The lawyer slid on a pair of glasses and referred to the paper on his desk. “I, Jake John Maverick, being of sound mind and body, hereby devise, bequeath and grant all my real property as follows: forty-nine percent of the homestead currently known as Maverick Ranch, including all deeded acreage, buildings, equipment, livestock, water rights and all leases to grazing land, to be shared equally between my grandson, Jake John Maverick the third and my granddaughter, Jocelyn Josephine Maverick Montgomery. The remaining fifty-one percent and controlling interest including all decision making power will go to my grandson Bonner Michael Boyd.”

  There was a gasp from Jocelyn. “What?” She looked from the lawyer to her brother, to Bonner, who’d been prepared and had braced himself for something like this.

  “In addition,” The lawyer continued reading, the only indication he’d heard Jocelyn being the slight increase in his volume. “I do further bequest all my personal property to Bonner Boyd, including my share of Maverick Western, Inc. and its profits. I name Bonner Boyd my successor as President of Maverick Western, Inc. The remaining family members will retain all currently owned shares…”

  His eyes wide, Bonner’s gaze snapped to the lawyer. The old man hadn’t just left him control of the ranch, but c
ontrol of the company too? What the hell had he been thinking? Bonner didn’t know shit about running a company. Had Jake started to go soft in the head near the end?

  “…Those known to the world as my family have strayed too far from the original concept of John Maverick whose genius and hard work founded this corporation over one hundred years ago. Bonner is the man I was at his age and he is the best man to represent Maverick Western and lead the company into continued success for the next hundred years. The future of Maverick Western, and the decisions from here forward, lie in Bonner’s hands. The great-grandchildren will be taken care of with trusts set up for their education and future in the following amounts…”

  The document went on to list the names of the three great-grandchildren and the amount of the trusts, but Bonner was pretty sure the children’s parents didn’t hear a word of it. They sat in shocked silence.

  When the lawyer stopped reading, J.J. laughed bitterly and shook his head. “I knew I should have been around more. This is his way of punishing us for not living the kind of life he wanted us to.”

  “No, I think someone’s been influencing his decisions. Someone close enough to him to convince a lonely old man he was actually his grandson.” Jocelyn shot Bonner a look ripe with accusation.

  Mr. Stern removed his glasses. “Jake had a feeling you’d react like this. He wanted me to assure you that Mr. Boyd knew nothing of his blood connection to the family or his being named in the will until he was informed today and that Mr. Boyd has never enacted any undue influence upon him. In fact, I think Jake’s exact words, or near enough were, ‘that boy does nothing but keep his head down, work hard and try to live his life the best way he can. He’s a true Maverick and he’ll run things right.’”

  Bonner bowed his head and closed his eyes as emotions threatened to overtake him.