No Getting Over A Cowboy

It shouldn’t have surprised Garrett that Belle felt as if she knew Nicky well enough to hug her. After all, they’d probably talked face-to-face to make arrangements for the lease. Later, Garrett was sure he’d hear all about how those arrangements had come to pass, but now that he had both of them together, he could get this sorted out.

“This has to be so upsetting,” Belle said. She broke the hug but kept her hands on Nicky’s shoulders. “I had no idea about the b-o-d-y being here.” She shuddered. “But Clay will sort this all out. He’s the police chief, and he’s marrying Sophie, you know? You remember Garrett’s sister, Sophie, right?”

“Yes.” Nicky’s voice sounded as unsteady as she looked. “Congratulations on your engagement.”

Sophie scrounged up a smile, nodded, thanked her and then excused herself so she could make her way to the kitchen, no doubt to check on Clay. Garrett would have liked for her to stay as his ally, but he could remedy this on his own.

Kaylee finally let go of Garrett and hurried to her mother. Or rather to Belle. She caught Belle’s hand.

“You and your daughter are both pretty as pictures.” His mother glanced around. “Where’s Loretta?”

“Upstairs, cleaning. She’ll be down in a minute.”

“Can’t wait to see her. We’ve got so much catching up to do.”

“Catching up will have to wait. Clay is bringing in a medical examiner,” Garrett explained to Nicky and his mother. “All of us are going to have to clear out.”

“Of course,” Belle agreed.

Finally, they were getting somewhere. But it wasn’t the direction Garrett needed them to go.

“Look at you,” his mother added to Nicky. Heck, Belle was smiling again. Definitely not a good sign. She leaned in, put her mouth closer to Nicky’s ear. “There’s a bond between people who were as close as Garrett and you were. I can see the way you look at him.”

Everything inside Garrett went still. He wasn’t sure how his mother had known about Nicky and him, but obviously she did. Things suddenly got a whole lot clearer. This wasn’t about providing a place for widows.

Belle was matchmaking.

And he was about to stop it.

“I’ll call some of the hands to get out here and help move the women’s things,” Garrett offered. Actually, it was more than an offer. It was a demand. There weren’t any hotels in Wrangler’s Creek, but there were some on the interstate back toward San Antonio. They could make their way there.

“No need. I’ve already taken care of that,” Belle assured him. “The men are on the way here now.”

Garrett blew out a breath of relief. But the relief didn’t last. Because he saw the look on his mother’s face, and he just knew in his gut that she was about to contribute to the shit storm.

“What did you do?” Garrett came right out and asked.

His mother patted his arm again. “Nothing that any other kindhearted woman wouldn’t have done. I called Roman and cleared it with him since the ranch house belongs to him and all.”

And then Belle added something that put the icing on this shit storm.

“The widows and Kaylee will be staying with us.”

CHAPTER FOUR (#uae2c159f-6e9b-5cff-a007-ef738a91a632)

“HAVE YOU LOST your sonofabitching mind?” Garrett asked his brother the moment Roman answered the phone.

“Some would say that I never had a mind to lose, sonofabitching or otherwise,” Roman calmly answered. “And now that we’ve gotten the profanity out of the way, I guess you’re calling about the widows?”

“You bet your ass, I am.” Garrett wasn’t through with the profanity just yet, and he shut the door to his office just in case some of those widows were around to hear him chew out his brother. “What the hell were you thinking when you told Mom she could let those six women stay here?”

“I was thinking the same thing I’m thinking right now with you. What’s the fastest way to get this person off the phone? Because I don’t have time for this. I’ve got a business to run, and I’m stomping out fires left and right while raising a tweenager with a bad attitude.”

That was the pot calling the kettle black. Roman had had a bad attitude since birth. According to their mother, when he’d come out breech, he’d immediately kicked the doctor in the balls.

Garrett wasn’t completely immune to Roman’s problems. Yes, his brother had them, but at the moment so did Garrett. “You need to call Mom back and tell her you made a mistake, that the women can’t stay here.”

“Now, you see, that would take time because Mom would plead her case for the women. I’d have to dig in my heels, and that would only make her plead more. That would then lead to multiple phone calls, and if she didn’t get her way, she’d show up here. Like I said, I don’t have time for that.”

Garrett was glad he’d shut the door because he cursed some more, throwing in some really bad words and insults. He cursed again when he looked out the window and saw some of the women pulling into the driveway behind the house. They had already started to arrive. And the first person out of the SUV was Nicky, of course.

“If you don’t rescind your offer, it’ll result in multiple phone calls from me,” Garrett threatened. “And at least one ass-kicking visit. I’m still your big brother.”

He couldn’t be sure, but he thought Roman chuckled. “Look, think of this as getting a lap dance. Just sit back, relax and enjoy it.”

That was the worst advice in the history of bad advice. “I can’t enjoy it. There’ll be six women in the house and a toddler. I can’t go to Z.T.’s place because it’s a crime scene.”

“Yeah, Sophie just called and told me all about that. Seems I can’t get off the phone today with people in my gene pool.”

“Well, you’re staying on the phone with me until we get some things straight. Do you have any idea how crazy things are here right now?”

Roman huffed. “I have an inkling. Sorry about the crime scene, the widows, the toddler and the inconvenience this will cause you and those plans you have to extend the ranch. But I’m not rescinding the offer because (a) it won’t be for very long, (b) Mom said some of the women don’t have any other place to go and (c) you can move to the guesthouse if you want to get away from them.”

“Sophie has her office in the guesthouse,” Garrett quickly pointed out. As CEO of Granger Western, she had an office in Austin, a huge one, but since getting engaged to Clay, she spent far more time at the ranch than she did in the city.

“Sophie’s not using the bedroom in the guesthouse since she’s sleeping at Clay’s. So, there’s your solution. Sorry that I can’t fix the delay on the ranch improvements, but it’s my guess that Clay’s not going to let you bring in digging equipment until he’s processed the scene.”

Roman was right about that. Nothing anyone could do about it. That still didn’t soothe Garrett any. There were only a few things he could control in his life, and the ranch was one of them. At least he had been able to control it until today.

“My advice?” Roman went on. “Since Nicky’s there, burn off some of your orneriness by having sex with her.”

That brought on more cursing. “How’d you even know Nicky was here?”

“Mom and Sophie told me. Plus, I ran into Nicky a few months ago at a rodeo in San Antonio, and she asked about Z.T.’s place.”

Garrett couldn’t believe what he was hearing. “A few months ago? You’ve known about it all this time?”

“If you were an engine, I’d say you were about to blow a gasket. No, I didn’t know she wanted to lease the house, but she did ask about it. Apparently, she’s always had a soft spot for the place.”

Hell. He hoped that wasn’t because she’d lost her virginity there. But what else could it be? He didn’t like the answer that came to mind.

“Did you take Nicky to Z.T.’s?” Garrett asked, and even though he didn’t add it, Roman knew what he was implying.

“No.” Roman stretched that out a few syllables. “You have a dirty mind, you know that? I liked Nicky, and I always felt a little sorry for her.”

“Because of what happened between me and her?” Garrett didn’t let him answer. “I’m tired of explaining myself when it comes to that. I met Meredith and fell in love with her. What was I supposed to do—stay with Nicky just because we’d had sex?”

“Again, you’re in dirty-mind territory. I didn’t feel sorry for Nicky because of what happened with you two. It’s because she always had this sad look in her eyes. Even before you, she had it. It reminded me of a wounded bird.”