Читать книгу Shotgun Bride - B.J. Daniels - Страница 9

“I say we settle this with a horse race.”

“The hell we will,” Dalton Corbett said, pushing his brother Jud out of the way in order to get to the bar in the main house on the Trails West Ranch.

Jud might have been the youngest of the Corbett brothers—three minutes behind his fraternal twin, Dalton—but in no way was he the smallest. Not at six foot three! The Hollywood stuntman was like all the Corbett brothers: tall and broad-shouldered, handsome as sin and wild as the West Texas wind.

Jud shoved Dalton back, and the two commenced pushing and jostling just as they’d done as boys.

“Hell, let’s just shoot it out,” Shane said. He stepped past the two to grab a glass and a bottle of bourbon from behind the bar before settling into one of the deep leather chairs. He looked out a bank of windows onto the rolling prairie of Montana. Only the purple silhouette of the Little Rockies broke the wide expanse of open range.

Shane wondered what the hell his father had been thinking, moving here. Grayson Corbett hadn’t been thinking clearly, that was the only thing that could explain it. That and the fact that his father, at the ripe old age of fifty-five, had fallen in love again.

“The only fair way to do this is to have the oldest brother go first,” Lantry Corbett suggested, since he was the second to the oldest and the divorce lawyer.

Russell stood up from where he’d been sitting. “We’ll draw straws.” He was the oldest of the five Corbett brothers and considered the least wild of the bunch, which wasn’t saying much.

Jud and Dalton quit wrestling to look at Russell. “Straws?” they asked in unison.

“Why not beans?” Shane suggested, thinking of the Texas Rangers who were caught in Mexico back in the 1800s. “A white bean, you’re spared. A black bean, you’re not.”

“Drawing straws is the only fair way,” Russell insisted, ignoring Shane’s sarcasm. “We leave it up to chance.”

“Or destiny,” Jud added.

“Destiny? You’ve been hanging out with those Hollywood types too long,” Lantry said. He grabbed a beer from behind the well-stocked bar and pulled up a chair in front of the window next to Shane.

“What do you say?” Lantry asked him.

Shane was disgusted with the whole mess. He poured himself a glass of bourbon and downed it before he finally spoke. “This is emotional blackmail, and I don’t want any part of it.”

His brothers all looked at him in surprise.

“It was our mother’s dying wish,” Russell said.

“Yeah, and bad karma if we ignore it,” Jud said.

“Destiny? Karma?” Shane scoffed.

“It isn’t just about Mom,” Russell said quietly. “Can’t you see what this is really about? Dad wants us here in Montana with him. He’s not always going to be around.”

“Well, I think he was a fool to leave Texas,” Shane said.

Russell shook his head. “He did it for Kate. He loves her and would do anything for her. Look how happy Dad is. All those years of being lonely without Mom. I’m glad he found Kate.”

“Kate found him,” Shane corrected. “Just to keep the record straight.”

This marriage and the move to Montana had been all her doing. Anyone could see that. She’d gone to Texas to find their father, playing on the one thing they had in common—Grayson’s deceased wife. Kate and Rebecca had grown up together on this ranch.

No one was fool enough to think that buying the Trails West Ranch in Montana hadn’t been Kate’s idea. The ranch had been in her family for decades, until her father died and it was lost.

“Kate isn’t the only one with history here,” Russell argued. “Let’s not forget that our mother was born and raised here.” Rebecca Wade’s father had been the foreman of the ranch. She and Kate had been like sisters. “This place means a lot to both Dad and Kate and should to all of us, as well.”

“We’re doing this for Dad,” Russell continued. “And Mom. It’s what she wanted.”

Shane shook his head as he watched Russell step over to the bar, pick up the knife their father had used to slice up limes for margaritas, and proceed to cut five straws into five different lengths.

Taking another drink, Shane swore under his breath as a hush fell over the room. He couldn’t believe they were really going to do this.

Russell mixed up the pieces in his hand, leveling off the cut straws at the top, hiding their lengths in his massive fist.

“This is crazy,” Lantry said, looking to Shane for help. Shane knew that he was considered the sensible brother. After all, he was the Texas Ranger. Or at least had been.

Russell held out the cut straws. “Who wants to go first?”

“Not me,” Jud said quickly. “I’m leaving mine up to destiny. I’ll take the last straw.”

“Hell, I’ll go first,” Dalton said, and drew one, palming it until the others had drawn.

Lantry went next, although he didn’t seem any happier about it than Shane. Part con artist and charmer—if there was a way out of this, Lantry, the lawyer would find it.

“Shane?” Russell held his closed fist out to him.

“I don’t want any part of this,” Shane said with a curse.

“If you get the longest straw, you have five years before you have to do anything,” Russell said, always the pragmatist. “By then Dad may be gone, too. You can ignore both of their dying wishes and do whatever the hell you please. In the meantime, take a damned straw.”

Shane snatched one of the cut straws from his brother’s hand, tossed it on the table without looking at it and poured himself another drink.

“You lucky bastard,” Dalton said. “Shane got the longest one.”

Russell turned to the youngest of the brothers. “Well, Jud, you still sure you want to go last?”

Jud stared down at the tops of the two remaining straws. “Yeah.”

Russell drew one, and Jud took the only remaining straw.

“Okay, let’s get this over with,” Lantry said. He held out his straw to compare it to the others.

Shane was the only one who didn’t join in. As he took a drink, he heard Jud swear and smiled to himself. The youngest of them had drawn the shortest straw. Maybe there was something to this karma business after all.

“Can’t argue with destiny, Jud,” he said. His brother collapsed into a chair beside him to brood or, more than likely, try to figure out an angle to get out of this. The brothers all had that in common—they all looked for a way out of whatever situation they found themselves in.

Shane had gotten the longest straw. Not that it mattered. This whole thing was ludicrous, and he wasn’t going to be blackmailed into anything—especially marriage.

“Okay,” Russell said. “Jud, you have one year in which to find a suitable wife. Lantry is next, then Dalton, me and Shane.”

“I say we do it over. Best two out of three,” Jud suggested. All four brothers turned on him. “Okay, okay. I suppose it’s time I started thinking about settling down.”

They all laughed. Of the five of them, Jud was the wildest when it came to horses—and women. The Hollywood stuntman settle down with one woman anytime soon? Not likely. On every film he was involved in, he usually had a couple of girlfriends.

“I told you this wasn’t going to work,” Shane said. “It’s not the way to find a woman to spend the rest of your life with.”

“Come on, none of us would marry unless forced to,” Lantry said with a laugh. “Look at Dad. After Mom’s death, he had all kinds of chances to marry, and he didn’t.”

“Not till Kate,” Jud said.

“Maybe Kate reminds him of our mother,” Dalton said.

Russell shook his head. “Kate is nothing like our mother.” As the oldest at thirty-two, Russell had the best memory of their mother. “Anyway, Dad always said there was no one like Mom.”

Shane said nothing. He’d only been around Kate at the wedding, but there was something about her that had made him suspicious, even before she talked their father into selling his place in Texas and moving to this isolated part of Montana to buy back her family’s home ranch.

Kate was a woman with secrets. Shane had been a lawman for too long not to recognize it. Kate was hiding something. Something big. And Shane feared that when the truth came out, Grayson Corbett would be devastated.

“I’ll have you know that I’ve already found the perfect woman,” Jud announced. “Her name is Maddie Cavanaugh. She’s exactly what mother said she wanted for us—a Montana girl.”

The rest of them laughed, but Shane watched his little brother, thinking he might actually be telling the truth. Jud did attract women the way magnets attracted tacks. And Jud had been in town for over a week now.

“Dad and Kate are going to love Maddie,” Jud said with a grin. “I predict wedding bells in the very near future.”

Shane got to his feet. He couldn’t take any more of this. “Have you all lost your minds? Who gives a damn what’s in some stupid letter? Our mother didn’t live long enough to know any of us well enough to determine what kind of woman we should marry. Why should we let her tell us how to live our lives from the grave?” He shook his head.

JERILYN DROVE as far as she could. She’d been running on fear and large doses of caffeine. Now after fifteen hours at the wheel her nerves were fried and she had the jitters so bad she was forced to stop for what was left of the night.

She pulled over beside a park in some small town and climbed into the back of the car to sleep, telling herself that she’d put enough miles between her and Earl Ray. There was no way he could find her, especially without a car and without knowing which direction she was headed. She’d never told him about the daughter she’d been forced to give up at sixteen. She’d never told anyone.

And she was sure he hadn’t called the cops. No, Earl Ray would call some of his low-life buddies and probably get drunk. That was his answer to everything.

It was when he sobered up that she would have to worry. Then he’d be hungover and furious. But why come looking for her at all? He could just pick up another down-on-her-luck woman at any bar. Those were the only kind of women who put up with Earl Ray.

Her stomach growled, but with gas being so expensive, she had gone without food. In the morning, though, she’d have to get something to eat. She had to take care of herself if she hoped to get to Montana.

As she curled up to sleep, she thought about her little baby girl. Jerilyn tried to picture what Maddie would look like now and hoped her daughter had blond hair and blue eyes just like her real mama.

Jerilyn wished she could get some new clothes before she met her and maybe even buy her daughter a gift. Flowers, maybe, or chocolates.

Her stomach growled again, and she tried to sleep, but every little sound startled her. Finally sometime before dawn, Jerilyn fell into a deep sleep and dreamed about her reunion with her daughter.

GRAYSON CORBETT stood at the window watching his wife. His wife. He smiled at the thought. Falling in love had come as a surprise.

He’d never thought there would be anyone but Rebecca. In all those years since her death, he never met a woman who stirred his heart or tempted him to remarry.

Until Kate.

She’d come into his life so late. That was his only regret. At fifty-five, he hated that he wouldn’t have an entire lifetime with her. But if Rebecca had taught him anything, it was not to count on more than this moment in time.

He and Rebecca had married young and started a family right away. They’d both wanted lots of kids, but Grayson lost the love of his life right after the twins were born.

He’d never expected to love again.

As he studied Kate’s slim back now, he ached at the sight of the way she hugged herself as she looked out across the land—her family’s land.

He’d hoped getting her family ranch back would take away that haunted look he’d sometimes glimpsed in her eyes.

But there was more to her sadness than the loss of mere land. Something powerful had a hold on her. Whatever it was, Kate kept it to herself.

Grayson hoped he could gain her trust and that she would open up to him. So far that hadn’t happened.

“Dad?”

Grayson turned to find his youngest son standing in the doorway. He motioned Jud in, smiling in spite of himself. Having his sons all under the same roof again, even for a short period of time, brought him more joy than they could imagine.

“I thought you’d want to know we talked and came to a decision,” Jud said.

Grayson held his breath, worried that his foolish plan hadn’t worked. He was torn between guilt and hope.

“We drew straws,” Jud said.

So like his sons. He smiled. “Straws, huh? How did you come out?”

Jud shook his head, grinning. “Wouldn’t you know it? I got the shortest.”

“What do you plan to do?”

“What choice do I have?”

Grayson hated forcing his sons into this, but if he hoped to live long enough to see grandchildren, what choice did he have?

“Think of it as a nudge,” he’d told Kate when he’d revealed his plan to her after finding the letter.

“Oh, Grayson,” she’d said, looking worried. “Are you sure about this?”

Hell, no. But he knew his sons too well. Threats and bribes wouldn’t have worked. All five sons were successful, and telling them they’d lose their inheritance if they didn’t marry wouldn’t work. Making an old-man’s plea to them wouldn’t have worked, either.

He’d raised strong-willed, highly independent men. They were all more like him than Rebecca.

It wasn’t until he found the letters Rebecca had left to be given to each son on his wedding day that Grayson seized on the idea. For years, he hadn’t touched anything of Rebecca’s. Not until the move to Montana. He’d been shocked to find the letters—and grateful. Rebecca, even from the grave, had helped him decide what to do about their wild, incorrigible sons.

Along with a letter to each of the boys, Rebecca had left him a letter, as well. In it, her dying wish had been that the boys marry before the age of thirty-five. She half jokingly had said she hoped that they would marry a Montana cowgirl—just as their father had.

“Don’t look so guilty,” Kate said when he’d told her he’d called the boys to Montana for a family meeting. “You only want the best for your sons.”

Grayson hadn’t been so sure. He’d felt as if he was being selfish by using Rebecca’s dying wish.

“Honey,” Kate had said. “Your boys are like you, strong—stubborn and independent to a fault.”

He knew she was right. The boys had grown up without a mother and in a house without a woman’s touch. They’d seen him live for years without the love of a good woman and with everything on his own terms.

But since he’d fallen for Kate, he’d come to realize how important love and marriage were for a man. He wanted the same for his sons, and he wanted his sons to settle in Montana, close enough that they could be a family again.

“How are they taking all of this?” Grayson asked his son.

Jud laughed. “As expected.”

He laughed, as well. “I can just imagine.” Russell would take command as the oldest. Lantry would look for a loophole. Shane would rebel. Dalton would try to charm his way out of it. And Jud…

Grayson studied his youngest son. The wildest one. What would Jud do?

A TRAIL OF DUST rose on the horizon. Kate Wade Corbett watched the three riders cut across the wide prairie.

The Corbett brothers were racing each other to the corrals. Competition was in their blood.

All five brothers were so much like Grayson. No wonder none of them wanted to settle down. She hoped that her husband’s plan worked, but she couldn’t help being doubtful.

“Hello.”

Kate smiled as he felt Grayson’s warm breath on her neck. As he put his arms around her, she leaned back into him and breathed in his masculine scent.

“The boys drew straws to see who would get married first,” Grayson whispered.

Boys. He still thought of them as boys, but they were grown men. Too bad they often didn’t act like it, she thought as dust billowed up, and the breeze carried their shouts and laughter.

“Jud got the shortest straw,” he said. “He says he’s met someone he thinks we’ll like.”

She sighed and chuckled softly. “And you believe him?”

“Still skeptical, huh?”

Kate turned in his arms to cup his smooth-shaven jaw and look into those incredible blue eyes. “Wouldn’t it have been easier just to tell them the truth?”

He shook his head, smiling down at her before gently giving her a kiss. “I just want them to be as happy as I am,” he said as they turned to watch the finish of the race.

In a cloud of dust and cheers and curses, Dalton reached the corrals first. Lantry and Russell finished neck and neck. As the dust settled, Kate spotted Shane sitting in the shade of the bunkhouse. She hadn’t noticed him before, but she now had the distinct feeling that he’d been watching her and his father.

Shane, she feared, saw more than the others. Of the five, he worried her the most.