Cowboy Sanctuary

His mother laughed. “I was lunging a new filly I think will make a good mount for Molly. Logan’s set to break her next week.” Emma Morgan didn’t apologize for her appearance and Cameron didn’t expect her to. From the time she could walk she’d been riding horses. Having children or a husband didn’t slow her down for a minute. In this respect, Molly was slightly different. Although an accomplished barrel racer, Molly wasn’t as passionate about riding horses as her mother, preferring to go to college and learn more about what goes into making a good healthy horse.

“Did Molly tell you she made Dean’s List again?” his mother asked.

Cameron clapped a hand to his sister’s back. “So, does that make every semester so far?”

Molly shrugged, but a grin lit her freckled face. “Yeah. Gotta have top grades to get into Colorado State’s Veterinary School.”

“You’ll make it at that rate.” His sister was smart and determined to succeed, like every other Morgan on the ranch. They’d been raised to win. He wondered where he’d have been if he’d taken the football scholarship to University of Colorado, instead of tossing it all and joining the army. Not that he regretted joining the army. He’d learned more in his six years as a Ranger than if he’d spent the same six in college.

“Molly, why don’t you get your brother something to drink?”

“What’ll you have? Coffee, soda or beer? I’m legal now, you know.” Already on her way to the kitchen, Molly smiled over her shoulder. “What’ll it be?”

“Water would be great.”

As soon as Molly left the living room, Emma Morgan’s smile turned downward. “What’s wrong?”

His mother could always see through him and he wasn’t going to stall her as he had Logan. His mother would listen and if he hoped to get his father to hear and understand, he had to convince her of the danger and the need to be careful. “Prescott Personal Securities has come across some kind of conspiracy and we think it’s headed toward the border of the Bar M and the Flying W.”

The light died in her eyes and her lips thinned into a straight line. “Tell me about it.”

Molly returned with a glass of water and they sat on the brown leather chairs around the stone fireplace. For the next twenty minutes Cameron told them what he’d told the Wards.

“Wow. It’s all kinda scary. Do you really think we’re in danger?” Molly asked, a frown mixing the freckles on her brow.

Cameron nodded, his gaze focused on his mother’s worried, dust-streaked face. “Yes, ma’am.”

“I know you wouldn’t have come out to tell us if you didn’t mean it.” His mother patted his hand. “I’m just sorry it has to be bad news that brings you out.” She sighed. “Now, all we have to do is convince the men. I’m going to clean up for dinner. Your father will be in at any moment. Logan’s probably clued him in that you’re here.”

As soon as his mother left the room, Molly pounced on him with questions of her own. “How was Jennie? I haven’t seen her in so long. Are you two going to start seeing each other again? I think this whole feud mess is just stupid and we should tell Dad to just get over it.”

“Tell Dad to get over what?” The deep, rich timbre of Tom Morgan’s voice filled the room all the way to the exposed rough-hewn timbers in the cathedral ceiling.

Cameron rose from the chair and almost laughed out loud at his sister.

Molly’s eyes widened and she gulped. She stood and hooked Cameron’s arm, turning him to face his father. “Dad, look who’s here.”

His father dipped his head. “Son.” No hug, no smile. Just one word and it was as cold as a blue norther screaming down off the slopes. What did it take to melt the mountain of ice around his father’s heart? Would he ever forgive him for making his own choices and meet him halfway?

“Hi, Dad.” Not for the first time, Cameron regretted the loss of the closeness they’d shared in his teens. Cameron had never understood the rift between Tom Morgan and Hank Ward, and his father hadn’t bothered to enlighten him. The feud resulting from the rift had been the major reason he’d left everything he loved behind—the Bar M Ranch, his family and Jennie.

Logan entered behind his father and stood beside him.

“What brings you out of the big city?” His father slapped his hat against his thigh, a thin cloud of dust rising from the denim.

Cameron knew better than to sugarcoat anything for his father. “Trouble.”

Logan snorted. “Figures.”

“What kind of trouble?” his father asked.

“I think someone might be out to hurt either the Morgans or the Wards. Maybe both. I just came over from the Flying W. Someone took a shot at Hank Ward.”

“Good, the old man probably deserves it,” Logan said.

But his father didn’t respond immediately. His jaw tightened and his brown eyes burned. “You went to the Flying W instead of telling your own family first?”

He should have expected his father to react that way. Nevertheless the older man’s words rubbed Cameron wrong. Jennie had been his sweetheart, his first love.

Tom Morgan had never reconciled himself to Cameron seeing Jennie and viewed his association as defection to the other side.

Cameron opened his mouth to explain his reasoning and thought better of it. “Yes. I stopped at the Flying W.”

“You always were the black sheep. I never could get it through your head that Morgans and Wards don’t mix.”

Molly blew out a loud sigh and let go of Cameron’s arm. “While you men are conducting your pissing contest, I’ll put fresh sheets on the bed in your old room.”

“Don’t bother, Molly.” Cameron’s gaze met his father’s. “I’ll be staying at the Flying W.”

Chapter Four

Cameron held his breath, maintaining a poker face as his father’s chest filled like an overextended balloon. Instead of the explosive tirade Cameron fully expected, Tom Morgan spun on his booted heel and left the house, the door slamming behind him.

Logan shot an intense glare at Cameron and followed his father out the door, leaving Cameron and the women standing in their wake.

Cameron’s mother expelled a long breath and forced a smile. “Well, that went over well, now didn’t it?” She clapped her hands together. “What can I get you? Do you want to take your saddle? You might need it over there.”

“If you still have it, that would be great.” Cameron crossed the room and stood in front of his mother. “I’m sorry if I’ve made things uncomfortable for you and Molly.”

“And I’m sorry your father is so bullheaded.” She smiled up at him and touched a hand to his cheek. “I’m glad to see you, son. Don’t let your father’s attitude make you think any differently.”

He touched a hand to hers, pressing her cool, dry fingers to his heated skin. “You understand why I have to go to the Flying W, don’t you?”

“Yes.”

Molly stepped up beside him. “Me, too.”

“There’s another man from the agency, Jack Sanders, who is due to come out to stay with you and provide you with protection. I told him to give it a day before he came.” He sighed. “See what you can do to convince him.” Cameron jerked his head in the direction his father had gone.

“I will. If nothing else, we’ll keep Jack around the house for Molly and me.”

“Not that you can’t handle a gun or horse better than any man in the county. Of that I have no doubt. But it helps to have another pair of eyes looking out for you, especially while you’re working.”

“Thanks, Cam.” His mother pushed her hair back off her dirty face and smiled. “You better get that saddle and hightail it back to the Ward’s place. Hate to think of Hank being laid up and Jennie fending for herself.”

Cameron turned to go and thought again. “Mom, what happened to make Dad hate Hank Ward so much? No one’s ever bothered to tell us.”

His mother drew in a deep breath and let it out slowly. “It’s a touchy subject.”