Mary Sullivan - This Cowboy's Son

“Load Master right back into that trailer,” she ordered, her tone so cold her tongue got frostbite. “Get out of here.”

“Nope,” he said, ignoring her as if she were of no more consequence than a flea. “I take my orders from Angus, not from a ranch hand.”

“What are you talking about? What orders?” Dread circled around her belly. Why would Angus be giving Matt orders? “Why are you here on the Circle K?”

“Angus hired me.”

No way. She stared at Matt. No freaking way.

“You’re kidding, right?”

“Nope.” He raised his eyebrows at her tone. “What business is it of yours?”

She’d gotten over him years ago, but she sure didn’t want to work with him. Never again. And what about Jesse?

Jenny leaned forward, getting into Matt’s space. He smelled good. He still used the same aftershave and it brought back memories. Those memories were tainted, though. They weren’t the gorgeous dreams she’d wanted with Matt when she was a teenager.

But then, adolescents weren’t always the smartest creatures, were they?

Matt had forced Jenny to become a realist overnight. To start planning. She would never again be a dreamer. “Angus wouldn’t have hired you without consulting me first.”

“Why would he ask you who he’s allowed to hire?”

“I’m ranch foreman.”

Matt’s jaw dropped. “You?”

“Yes, me.” She smiled meanly. “He didn’t tell you?”

“Why aren’t you still on the Sheltering Arms?”

What could she possibly say? That they’d worked there together for too many years? That after he’d run away it had hurt her to stay, to see him in every corner, to picture him on Master racing with her across the prairie? That she’d missed him every minute of every waking hour, and that they had all been waking hours?

She hadn’t eaten or slept much for weeks until she’d discovered she had something worth living for, worth fighting for. She’d gotten over Matt pretty damn quickly after Jesse was born.

When she left Sheltering Arms, Angus had given her a job on the ranch he’d bought after her parents had gone bankrupt all those years ago.

She’d come home.

“I wanted to come back to my ranch,” she said, finally answering his question. “Angus said nothing about hiring you.”

“Well, he did. I know Angus Kinsey well enough to recognize his voice on the phone.”

God, no.

Jenny turned and strode toward the house.

“Where are you going?” The deep timbre of Matt’s voice, flavored with anger, washed over her.

“To talk to Angus,” she called over her shoulder. “To get this straightened out.”

“There’s nothing to straighten out. Angus hired me and I’m staying.”

“Not if I can help it.”

“He owns this ranch. Even if you are foreman, why would he care what you want?”

She suddenly felt good enough to shout. Payback was so sweet. Matt had hurt her badly when he’d abandoned her. Let him hurt for a while.

Jenny paused on the top step of the veranda and turned around slowly, savoring the moment. With enough smug satisfaction to drown a prairie dog, she said, “In two weeks’ time, I’m going to marry Angus.”

Matt whipped off his sunglasses. She wasn’t sure what she saw in those blue eyes, but it wasn’t happiness.

Good. She’d gotten to him.

As if sensing his owner’s tension, Masterpiece stirred restlessly. Matt rubbed his hand down his neck and the horse settled.

“Angus is old enough to be your father,” he said, his voice little more than a growl.

“So what?” Jenny frowned. “He’s a good man. He’ll make a great husband.”

Take that and shove it up your nose.

She slammed the screen door behind her, shaken, letting everything that she’d just hidden from Matt flood through her, anger so piercing it wounded her, fear so deep it shredded her stomach.

Memories so shaming they burned.

This is sex. Nothing more. The cold-hearted bastard had been telling the truth. For him, it had never been more than sex. How could she have been so mistaken about Matt Long?

I love you. She’d heard him say it so clearly, but it had been a lie.

She stared at her trembling hands. If Matt had had to leave her after their night together, he should have had the good sense to stay away forever.

His timing couldn’t be worse.

But she couldn’t blame him for this, really. Angus had brought Matt here.

Standing in the hallway, Jenny forced herself to get control of her nerves or she’d rip into Angus with both barrels blazing. He didn’t deserve that. He’d been good to her.

Dread balled up in her stomach like undigested steak. Matt couldn’t possibly screw things up for her when she was so close to getting everything she’d always wanted in life. Could he?

She needed reassurance. She needed an Angus Kinsey hug.

She found him in the living room.

He stood in front of the lace-curtained window, one arm stretched high and braced against the wall. Obviously, he’d just witnessed the scene between her and Matt. He glanced at her over his shoulder.

Graying temples and the beginning of a soft middle betrayed his fifty-eight years.

He looked tired.

Angus owned the Circle K, but Jenny ran it. For two years, he’d been detached from the ranch. The death of a man’s son could kill a lot of things in him. Even the love of his land.

She liked Angus, cared for him deeply.

What she’d felt for Matt had only been lust. With Angus, it was different. They had respect and a deep affection. If her heart sometimes whispered that she wanted more than that, she ignored it.

Angus must have seen something disturbing on her face. He came away from the window and opened his arms. She rushed into them, burrowing against his big warm chest.

Hold me. Help me. Reassure me. I’m so scared.

“Why, Angus?” The question came out muffled, but she couldn’t pull away from him.

“Why what?” His voice echoed against her ear. “What’s got you so upset?”

“I don’t want Matt Long here.”

“Why not? I thought he was a friend of yours. I thought you’d be happy.”

“Why did you hire him?” she asked without answering his question.

“He owes me.”

Jenny pulled away to look at him. “Owes you? Because you were good to him when he was a teenager?”

“No. That was freely given. This is for paying the taxes on his land for five years while he was away. So he wouldn’t lose it.”

“You mean he still owns it?” That cabin she wanted to burn to the ground? The one that had witnessed the worst humiliation of her life? Part of her whispered, and the best night you ever had, but she suppressed it. The pain on the morning after had far outweighed the pleasure of the night before.

Angus nodded. “I’ve been paying his taxes, but now that you and I are getting married, I need to get my life in order. I’m organizing my finances and adding you and Jesse to my will.”

“So what if Matt owes you money? Why couldn’t he pay you back from Wyoming or wherever he was?”

Angus seemed puzzled by the stridency of her tone. “Ordinary is his home. He should have stayed here all along.”

He stepped away from her and led her down the hall to his office. “I’ll show you the paperwork. Matt’s going to work off what he owes me here on the ranch.”

“Didn’t you say once that he was doing well in the rodeo? Why can’t he pay you from his winnings?”

“He had an accident with a bull.”

What? Matt had been injured? By a bull? She’d always thought him…indestructible, but in confrontations between bulls and men, bulls always won. “How badly was he hurt?”

“Bad enough. Broken ribs. Ruptured spleen. Emergency surgery. His rodeo days are over for good. His winnings all went to pay his hospital bills.”