Delores Fossen - Lone Star Nights

Responsible for anything, for that matter.

“Cassandra Weatherall,” Della greeted, pulling Cassie into a hug. “You haven’t changed a drop. Well, except you’re dressing more comfortably these days. Nothing wrong with that.”

Cassie frowned when she looked down at her skirt and shoes. Something she’d done several times in the past hour. Of course, her clothes were catwalk-ready compared to Mackenzie’s.

“I was so sorry to hear of your grandmother’s passing,” Della added to Cassie. “Dixie Mae always did treat Lucky all right, so that made her all right in my book, too.”

“Thank you.” And Cassie repeated the process when Stella hugged her and offered her own condolences.

Lucky hadn’t been aware that the housekeepers would even remember Cassie since to the best of his knowledge, Cassie had never been to the house. Still, it was Spring Hill, where everybody knew everybody.

Along with everybody’s business.

By now, what had happened would be all over town—along with some embellishments to the gossip. Lucky didn’t care about that gossip when it came to himself, but he doubted Cassie would appreciate it, what with her status as a celebrity therapist.

“It’s about time you came home,” Della said, looking at him.

That was the only scolding he got because Della turned her attention to the car’s back door when it opened. She gave a big, welcoming smile when Mia stepped out. As did Stella. He could practically see the fantasy they were weaving in their heads about him, Cassie and the cute kid.

Then Mackenzie stepped out.

Della and Stella actually dropped back a little, and just as fast as their mental fantasy had come, it went. Good thing. Lucky didn’t want anybody playing matchmaker here, and Della and Stella were prone to that since they often said he didn’t choose wisely when it came to female companionship. Which he didn’t. And he intended to keep on choosing unwisely.

“Uh, I thought you were getting sisters,” Stella said. “Children sisters,” she clarified.

“They are children,” he assured her. He still intended to check Mackenzie’s birth certificate, though. “This is Mia Compton,” Lucky said pointing to her. “And that’s her sister, Mackenzie. This is Miss Della and Miss Stella. They pretty much run the place.” Something they managed to do even when Logan was there.

Della recovered from the shock before Stella did, and she managed an inkling of the smile that she’d had before her eyeballs had been widened by Mackenzie’s appearance. “Well, welcome to the McCord Ranch. I hope you feel right at home here.” She extended that to Cassie.

Then to Lucky.

It was a nice chain-yanking kind of reminder that he should come home more often. Lucky expected to hear that a lot in the next twenty-four hours. He grumbled that he wasn’t very pleased about it, but then because he knew it would make her smile, he winked at her. It worked. Stella smiled, then giggled.

“What’s with all the vehicles?” Lucky asked, hauling out the girls’ suitcases.

“Wedding stuff. Claire, Riley, Ethan and Livvy are here. Plus, Riley’s having a meeting with the horse trainers in the office. Oh, and there are two fellas from a magazine, and they’re taking some pictures and talking to Riley about an article they’re doing on Logan.”

The latter seemed to be a monthly occurrence, but maybe the other things were temporary. In other words, maybe they’d all be leaving soon.

“Riley is Lucky’s brother,” Della went on, talking to the girls now. “He’s marrying Claire, and Ethan’s her little boy. Claire’s a wedding photographer.”

Mackenzie showed no interest whatsoever, but Mia seemed to hold on to every word.

“She’s got a little boy?” Mia asked.

Della nodded, tapped Mia’s nose. “Cute as a button, just like you.”

“Right,” Mackenzie grumbled. “Because all buttons are sooooo cute.”

Since that sounded like something Lucky would have said twenty years ago, he tried not to laugh.

“Oh, and Livvy’s here,” Della added. She glanced at Cassie. “She’s Claire’s business partner.”

Livvy was also one of Lucky’s ex-lovers, and with the side glance that Cassie gave him, it seemed she’d already picked up on that. Then again, she would probably give him a side glance because she thought he’d slept with every woman in town but her. He hadn’t, but that particular gossip thread had been exaggerated at lot.

“Are they nice ladies?” Mia whispered to Lucky.

“Very nice. But they might make you eat vegetables. Is that okay?”

Mia gave it some serious thought. Nodded. But it garnered some disapproval from Big Sis. “She doesn’t have to eat anything she doesn’t want to eat,” Mackenzie declared like gospel. “And I don’t want her compared to a stupid button.”

Lucky had no idea how he was supposed to respond to that, but sounds good to me probably wasn’t the way to go here. Even though that had been his philosophy about life for a while now. Don’t eat anything you don’t want to eat. Don’t do anything you don’t want to do.

Don’t be like his brothers.

It kept things simple and meshed with his smart-ass outlook on life.

Lucky braced himself for the chaos he was sure to find inside. Good thing because there was indeed chaos. The moment he stepped in, Ethan zoomed past him, running so fast that he was practically a blur, and it took Lucky a moment to realize the toddler was chasing a cat. Judging from the looks of it, it was the same cat Lucky had given him three months ago. It had grown almost as much as Ethan.

He saw Livvy next. She was teetering in needle-thin heels on a stepladder. She was as skinny as a zipper except for those massive boobs. Today, her hair was turtle green with tiny gold star decorations scattered over her head. Most women couldn’t have pulled off the look, but Livvy had the personality to pull off anything. Including his clothes.

Something that wouldn’t happen again, of course.

Now that Riley and Claire were getting married, it seemed too risky to sleep with a woman so close to his brother’s wife. A two-night stand was one thing, but a long relationship had a hundred percent chance of failing, and Lucky didn’t want any bad blood lingering around that he’d have to face every time he came back to town.

It took Lucky a couple of seconds to spot Claire. She was holding some kind of chart-looking thing while studying the layout of the living room furniture. “I think we’re going to have to move everything out of this room.”

Livvy made a sound of agreement, went up another step on that ladder and clicked off some pictures with her camera phone. But there was another guy there, too, taking pictures—of Riley and one of the horse trainers—and he had a real camera, not just his phone. The man chatting with them had to be a reporter.

“Well, looky who’s here,” Livvy called out. “Lucky McCord, you look good enough to—”

But she froze when she saw Cassie. Maybe because Livvy thought they were together. Or maybe she stopped because of the girls. In any case, it probably wasn’t a good idea for Livvy to finish saying what she thought he looked good enough to do.

“Lucky!” Claire squealed when she saw him. She hurried to him, waving her hands in the air until she reached him, and then she hugged him. “Welcome home.”

Leave it to Claire to make it feel as if that welcome were marginally true. Riley was getting one in a million with Claire, and Lucky was glad his usual fool of a brother had come to his senses and seen that. Of course, Riley had had to get out of the Air Force to make all this happen, and Lucky still wasn’t sure how he was dealing with that, but once he had Claire wedded, things would all fall into place.