Читать книгу Should've Been a Cowboy - Vicki Lewis Thompson - Страница 9

WHAT ROTTEN LUCK. Alex Keller ended the phone call, tucked his phone in his jeans pocket and nudged Doozie into a canter. He needed to get back to the ranch house and figure out what the hell to do now that the country band he’d hired wouldn’t be showing up tomorrow. He couldn’t expect to get a replacement at four o’clock on a Friday afternoon, which meant no live music for the open house. Damn.

The open house had been his idea. Two months ago, after accepting a job as the first-ever marketing director for the Last Chance, he’d proposed the event to increase the ranch’s visibility and establish it as the premier place to buy registered paints. Technically he was up to the challenge. He held a degree in marketing, and although he’d spent most of his career as a high-profile DJ in Chicago, he’d also been instrumental in the radio station’s marketing campaigns.

But this was his first event for the ranch, and he needed it to go well. The Chances were family now that Alex’s sister Josie had married Jack Chance, so the ranch’s bottom line had personal significance. The Chances weren’t in immediate financial danger, but spring sales had been slow. Alex had been hired to fix that.

He’d saddled Doozie earlier that afternoon, figuring a ride might settle his nerves. Instead he’d ended up with a phone call that added to his growing list of problems. Most of the issues involved keeping the invited guests dry. Rain-filled clouds hovered on the horizon and only one of the three canopies he’d ordered had shown up. Now he had no band, either.

Live music would have gone a long way toward setting the tone for tomorrow’s open house, even if it rained. Sure, he could rig up a sound system and use canned music and his DJ abilities, but it wouldn’t have the same feel as live music, and he couldn’t be stuck behind a microphone all day.

At this point on Friday afternoon, nothing could be done about either of those glitches. He’d spent all his life in Chicago and was used to its vast resources. If one band canceled, you hired another, and if one delivery of event canopies didn’t work out, you went with a different company. Jackson Hole, Wyoming, was a whole other situation, and he was screwed.

He had to make this work, though. All three of the Chance brothers—Jack, Gabe, and Nick—had put their faith in him, and he’d do his damnedest. Everyone knew Alex Keller was a hard worker, especially his ex-wife, who’d wanted him to work less and play more.

Oh, well. Crystal was back in Chicago cavorting with her new boyfriend, and he was out here in God’s country, working his butt off because that’s who he was. And he couldn’t complain. The ranch’s location, west of a little town called Shoshone in the Jackson Hole region, was spectacular.

Following his divorce last summer, he’d left Chicago and found a combination DJ/marketing director position with a radio station in Jackson. But he’d spent more time out at the Last Chance than at his apartment in Jackson and had, to his surprise, gone country. When the offer came to work for the Chance brothers, he’d jumped at it.

Slowing Doozie to a trot as he approached the barn, he glanced over at the massive, two-story ranch house, a log structure that had grown as the family had grown. Its front windows faced north with a view of the state’s scenic crown jewel—the perpetually snowcapped Tetons. The acreage was worth millions, and the family wanted to keep every square foot of it, which meant the Chances were land rich and cash poor.

From what Alex had heard, Jonathan Chance Sr. had been comfortable with that, but after his death, his three sons had taken stock of the situation. They’d decided on a more aggressive breeding and sales program for the ranch’s registered paints to give the operation a bigger financial cushion.

Alex could see why. A ranch this size had a fair amount of overhead, including a payroll for several regular hands and a few seasonal ones, all of whom had to be housed and fed in addition to their wages. On top of that were maintenance and utility costs for the large ranch house, the bunkhouse, the heated barn and various other outbuildings.

Dismounting by the hitching post beside the barn, he answered a greeting from Emmett Sterling. The ranch foreman, a seasoned cowboy in his late fifties, paused on his way into the barn. “Want me to take care of her for you?”

“Thanks, but I’ll do it.” Alex had bonded with this bay mare, who’d put up with his beginning riding mistakes without complaint. Doozie had arrived in Jackson Hole last summer about the same time Alex had. They’d both been in need of sanctuary, and the Last Chance had provided that.

Doozie wasn’t a paint, so she couldn’t be part of the breeding program, but she’d been allowed to stay, anyway. Alex thought it was appropriate that she’d been assigned to him, because he wasn’t a cowboy, but he’d been allowed to stay, too. Doozie would never become a paint, but damned if Alex hadn’t started to feel like a cowboy.

After settling Doozie in her stall with Hornswaggled, a goat who was her constant companion, Alex headed for the ranch house, where a cold bottle of Bud was calling his name. These days he drank beer instead of wine, just as he wore jeans instead of chinos.

A guy couldn’t hang out in a living room with a wagon-wheel chandelier and Navajo rugs on the walls and keep wearing city-slicker clothes. The unwritten dress code for logging time in the cushy leather armchairs in front of the giant rock fireplace included faded jeans, boots and a Western shirt.

Alex had complied. The day he’d bought a Stetson and settled it on his head, he’d bid a permanent farewell to the Chicago city boy he used to be.

His boots echoed hollowly on the porch as he crossed to the large front door and pulled it open. No one was in the living room, which always smelled faintly of wood smoke even if the hearth was cold, like now. He turned left down a long hall. His route to the kitchen took him through the dining room with its four round tables that each sat eight people.

At this time of the afternoon the tables were empty, but three hours ago the place had bustled with activity. The Chance brothers had continued their father’s tradition of eating lunch with the hands so everyone could exchange information about ranch chores. Sarah, Jonathan’s widow, usually joined the group, and now her three daughters-in-law were included, too.

When Alex heard Sarah’s laughter coming from the kitchen, he knew she must be talking to the cook, Mary Lou Simms, who was as much a friend as an employee. Alex wished he weren’t the bearer of bad news. He’d worked hard to make this event tomorrow successful, but now he wasn’t sure it would be.

Sarah needed to know that, even if it spoiled her good mood. He could talk to the Chance brothers over dinner. Friday night was family night at the big house, a way to stay connected now that all three pairs of newlyweds lived on different sections of the ranch’s vast acreage.

Taking a deep breath, Alex walked into the kitchen and found Mary Lou and Sarah pulling baby stuff out of a mail-order box. Gabe’s wife, Morgan, was eight months pregnant, and soon-to-be grandma Sarah had obviously gone catalog shopping.

Sarah was the kind of woman who seemed ageless even though she’d let her hair go white. She wore it in a sleek bob, and her high cheekbones and flawless skin made her look years younger than she was. Her mother had been a runway model, and Sarah took after her.

Alex had heard that Mary Lou had been a blonde bombshell twenty years ago, but now she enjoyed her own excellent cooking and didn’t seem to care about a few extra pounds or the state of her unruly gray hair.

Sarah glanced at Alex as he came into the kitchen. “What do you think?” She waved an impossibly tiny shirt in a red bandanna print. “Since Gabe and Morgan won’t tell me if they’re having a boy or a girl, I’m going with unisex clothes, which is probably better because they can be handed down.”

“Cute.” Alex hoped that was the appropriate response, because he’d never given much thought to baby clothes. Crystal had been fanatic about birth control during their years together, and he’d had no burning desire to be a father, especially after the marriage began to sour. Baby clothes were foreign objects to him. “Mind if I grab a beer?”

“Help yourself.” She held up a one-piece deal that was supposed to look as if the baby wore jeans and a Western shirt, although it was printed on stretch terry. “Is this adorable or what?”

“Sure is!” Alex crossed to the refrigerator and opened it. Maybe once he’d wrapped his hand around a cold beer, he’d be able to find a gentle way to introduce some gloom and doom into this happy little baby scene.

Sarah was understandably excited about the impending arrival of her first grandchild. Alex had been the DJ for Morgan and Gabe’s wedding reception last August, and Morgan had stated clearly then that she didn’t plan to rush into motherhood. Yet within a couple of months she’d turned up preggers and was apparently thrilled about it.

Thoughts of Morgan’s wedding always reminded Alex of Morgan’s younger sister, Tyler, who had agreed to spend a memorable few hours in the hayloft with him following the reception. Alex couldn’t smell fresh hay without remembering the feel of Tyler’s soft, willing body and her muted cries of pleasure. They’d taken care not to make too much noise so they wouldn’t draw any unwanted attention.

She’d left the next day, returning to her job as activities director for a luxury cruise line headquartered in L.A. She’d confessed that constant traveling didn’t leave much room for relationships. Just as well, he’d told her. He was still recovering from his divorce.

True enough, but watching Tyler leave hadn’t been easy. That night in the hayloft had been perfect, at least from his viewpoint. He’d tried to talk himself out of that assessment but hadn’t quite succeeded.

He’d resisted the urge to ask Morgan about Tyler in the months that followed. He was pretty sure nobody knew that he and Tyler had spent the night together in the hayloft. The Chance family had been too preoccupied to notice, and Alex somehow doubted Tyler had confided in Morgan.

If she had, he would have seen it in Morgan’s eyes or felt it in her treatment of him. So maybe the night had meant nothing more to Tyler than a champagne-flavored roll in the hay. Somehow he doubted it, though.

He’d sensed that she’d been as deeply affected as he’d been. Then again, she’d been his first since the divorce, so maybe his perception hadn’t been accurate. In the following months he’d dated a couple of women from the Jackson Hole area, but they hadn’t inspired the gut-level response he’d had to Tyler.

As Mary Lou and Sarah continued to coo over the baby clothes, Alex reached for the longneck. He’d curled his fingers around it when Morgan called out a greeting from the kitchen doorway. He hoped the baby clothes weren’t supposed to be a surprise.

“Look who’s here!” Morgan sounded breathless. “My world-traveling sister just flew over from L.A. to surprise me!”

Alex straightened up so fast he banged his head on the door of the refrigerator. Praying nobody had noticed, he held his bottle of beer in a death grip and slowly closed the refrigerator door. His heart hammered as he turned to face the woman who’d played a prominent role in his dreams for nearly ten months.

His memory hadn’t done her justice. She was even sexier than he’d remembered, with her ebony hair curling around her face and down the back of her turquoise dress. Dark eyes that reflected her mother’s Italian heritage met his. She seemed as shocked to see him as he was to see her.

Although she looked nothing like Crystal, who was blonde with Scandinavian ancestry, Alex couldn’t help noticing surface similarities to his ex-wife. Obviously Tyler spent time and money on her hair, nails and clothes.

She wore a dress that revealed a little cleavage and high-heeled sandals that showed off her pedicure. And she smelled amazing, like a bouquet of peach-colored roses. Although he’d fully embraced the country life, he’d been a Chicago boy first, and all that careful grooming still had the power to turn him on.

But it was more than that. One glance into those eyes and he knew that what they’d shared in the hayloft had been more than just sex. Whether they were prepared to deal with it or not, they were emotionally involved. Still.

“Hey, Tyler.” He managed what he hoped was a nonchalant smile. “How’re you doing?”

TYLER HAD BEEN DOING just fine until she’d walked into the Last Chance’s kitchen and found Alex leaning into the refrigerator, his tempting buns encased in well-worn jeans. She hadn’t expected him to be at the ranch, and she certainly hadn’t expected him to have transformed himself into a cowboy. Judging from his denim shirt, snug jeans and scuffed boots, that’s exactly what he’d done.

Ten months ago he’d been a hottie who’d tempted her into one night of wild sex. She’d tried to convince herself it had been about superficial pleasure, but there was nothing superficial about the feelings flooding through her now. She’d had casual affairs. This didn’t qualify.

And God, did he look good. Apparently Wyoming agreed with him. The cute city boy had been replaced with a ruggedly handsome man. The dark blond hair he’d worn short and preppy now touched his collar. His face was leaner, his gray eyes more piercing, his body more ripped than she remembered. In ten months he’d gone from hottie to hero.

And what they’d shared had definitely been more than just sex. This man had made wonderful love to her, and she wanted him to do it again. Her skin warmed and her heartbeat quickened at the memory of his caress, his kiss, his gentle words. The time they’d been apart shrank until she felt as if she’d lain naked with him only hours ago.

On that cool August morning she’d forced herself to leave without a backward glance, although she’d mentally glanced back more than she cared to admit. Now she had even more reason to avoid a relationship, but she wondered how on God’s green earth she’d be able to resist him.

“Tyler, you remember Alex.” Morgan seemed to think her sister’s silence meant she needed prompting. “He was the DJ at our wedding reception.”

“Right.” Tyler smiled at him. “I thought you looked familiar.”

He cleared his throat. “There was a lot going on that night.”

Especially in the hayloft. “It was a memorable evening.” Tyler forced her gaze away from his before someone figured out just how well she remembered the guy who’d played the music, the guy who had a really talented mouth, clever hands and a way of stealing a girl’s heart when she wasn’t looking.

“I adored my wedding.” Morgan seemed oblivious to the undercurrents swirling between Tyler and Alex.

“The ceremony on horseback was certainly unique.” Tyler focused all her attention on her hormonal and understandably self-centered sister, who looked as if she’d stuffed a basketball down the front of her green paisley dress. Morgan had a month to go before she delivered, which meant this would be a large baby, because she looked ready to give birth at any moment.

Anyone who saw dark-haired Tyler and redheaded Morgan and knew they were sisters would understand why their parents had decided to combine last names and create the O’Connelli surname to honor both the Irish and the Italian sides of the family. It had been a quirky solution from a certifiably quirky couple.

“And there was Jack’s incredible toast at the reception,” Sarah added. She’d managed to shove into the box whatever she’d been holding when they’d arrived. “I’ll never forget that toast.”

“Me neither.” Morgan sighed. “The whole event was so romantic and happy that I think it helped bring Jack and Josie back together. Was that when they decided to have a double wedding with Nick and Dominique?”

“I think the four of them did come to that conclusion sometime during the reception.” Sarah moved in front of the box sitting on the round oak table, as if wanting to block it from Morgan’s view. “We were lucky to get their ceremony planned and completed before the first snow.”

Tyler suspected the box was full of baby things. She had quite a few in her suitcase, too. She’d managed to finagle this short leave from work, knowing she’d be in the middle of the Mediterranean when the baby arrived.

She glanced at Sarah. “So how does it feel, having all three of your sons married?”

“Very empty nestish,” Sarah said. “I hope you can stick around for a while. We have plenty of room upstairs now and I’d love the company.”

“She might be happiest here,” Morgan said. “I’d love to have her sleep at our house, but with the construction still in progress, and only the master bedroom finished, it’s sort of—”

“Like camping out.” Sarah laughed. “Tyler, you’ll want to take one of the upstairs bedrooms and leave the newlyweds to their chaos. I told them all to wait and move when the houses were done, but all three couples insisted they wanted to rough it in their new digs. I’ve tried not to take it personally,” she added with a grin.

“I can sleep wherever,” Tyler said. Except the hayloft. “But if there’s a room available upstairs, that sounds wonderful.”

“Great.” Sarah beamed at her. “How long can you stay?”

“I have to fly back next Wednesday.”

“Wow.” Sarah blinked. “That’s hardly enough time to unpack.”

“But at least she’s here, which is totally awesome.” Morgan’s happy gaze met Tyler’s.

“I had to see the new mommy-to-be.” And her sister’s enthusiasm made the effort so worthwhile. Alex’s presence was a small complication she’d work through.

“Tyler about gave me a heart attack,” Morgan said. “I didn’t know she was coming until she called me from the L.A. airport and said she was on her way.”

“I wasn’t sure I could get off until the last minute, and I had to sign in blood that I’d be back on Wednesday.”

Morgan regarded her sister with obvious pride. “That’s because Tyler’s the activities director for a world cruise that sails from L.A. a week from today. If she gets a good evaluation at the end of it, she’s been promised a promotion to cruise director, which means she’ll be the head honcho next time out. How cool is that?”

“Very cool.” Sarah gazed at Tyler with obvious respect.

“Good for you, Tyler,” Mary Lou added.

“Thanks. If I get this promotion, I’ll be the youngest cruise director in the history of the company.” Tyler found herself basking in Sarah’s and Mary Lou’s approval. Her parents, who claimed to care nothing for status or worldly goods, hadn’t been particularly impressed by her rapid rise in the business. She hadn’t thought she cared whether they were impressed or not, but maybe she did.

“That’s terrific.” Alex lifted his unopened beer bottle. “Can I get drinks for anyone? We should toast Tyler’s success.”

“Well, I don’t have the promotion yet.” But maybe it was good that the subject was on the table, so that Alex knew that she was still fully immersed in her career and excited about the next big step.

Or maybe he wouldn’t care. Maybe he was over his ex and had hooked up with somebody from around here. All her worries about resisting him might be for nothing if he was otherwise occupied.

“I’d love a beer,” Mary Lou said. “Move aside, Alex, and I’ll see that we all get something cold to drink and happy-hour munchies. Sarah, I know you’ll join me in a Friday-afternoon beer. Tyler, what will you have?”

“The same, thanks.” Maybe a cold beer would settle her nerves. She’d expected she might see Alex while she was here, considering that he was Josie’s brother and part of the extended Chance family. But she hadn’t planned on running into him first thing out of the gate and immediately having to deal with her emotional reaction.

“Root beer for me, please,” Morgan said.

“I know, honey,” Mary Lou said. “I have it right here.” She opened the refrigerator and began passing out bottles.

Sarah quietly removed the box from the table and tucked it out of sight before swinging into hostess mode. “Everybody have a seat. I’ll get us some chips and dip. The rest of the gang will probably show up pretty soon, and if I know my boys, they’ll be ready to toast the beginning of the weekend with a cold one.”

Tyler chose a seat at the opposite side of the table from where Alex stood. She couldn’t help sneaking glances at him, and every time she did, he was looking back. Not the usual behavior of a man who had a girlfriend.

He could still be unattached, and if so, she’d have to be very careful. As if her memories of his lovemaking weren’t enough to make her heart race, he’d turned into every woman’s fantasy—a broad-shouldered, lean-hipped, yummy cowboy. She wondered if he’d bought himself a Stetson.

In no time Mary Lou and Sarah had the impromptu party organized with drinks all around. Bowls of chips and several kinds of dip sat on the table along with a stack of napkins.

Sarah took a chair and raised her beer bottle. “Here’s to your world cruise, Tyler, and the important promotion I’m sure will follow.”

“Thank you.” Tyler began to understand why Morgan loved being a part of this stable, loving family. Morgan, Tyler and their six siblings had lived a vagabond lifestyle, traveling the country in a psychedelic van with their New Age parents.

They’d spent a few months in Shoshone back when Morgan and Tyler were teenagers. For Tyler, it had just been one stop in their constant travels, but Morgan had loved it and had vowed to come back. Although Tyler had inherited her parents’ wanderlust, Morgan had yearned for roots, and now she had them. Her baby would represent the fourth generation of Chances living on this ranch.

“I guess that means you can’t be here when the baby’s born,” Mary Lou said.

“Exactly, which is why I came now. When that little tyke arrives, I’ll be somewhere in the Mediterranean. On the way here from the airport I tried to talk Morgan into setting up Skype in the delivery room, but she wasn’t buying it.”

Morgan made a face. “Sorry, but I have this image of the entire crew of the Sea Goddess gathered around your computer watching me give birth. I’m even thinking of having the baby at the ranch, to keep the moment more private and special.”

“You thought I’d invite people to see the birth on my laptop?”

“Well, maybe not, but—”

“Shoot, I’d put it up on the big screen in the movie theater!” As Morgan’s eyes widened, Tyler nudged her in the ribs. “Gotcha.”

“No, you didn’t. I knew you were kidding.”

“Did not. You should have seen your face. Are you really thinking of having a home birth?”

Morgan glanced at Sarah. “I’d like to.”

“And Gabe and I are trying to talk her out of it,” Sarah said. “Maybe if we were five minutes from the hospital, I wouldn’t worry, but if something goes wrong, it’s a long trek into Jackson.”

“Nothing will go wrong,” Morgan said. “My mom had all of us in the back of the family van.”

“Yes, but dad said he always parked it next to the hospital.” Tyler was inclined to agree with Gabe and Sarah on this one. She looked across the table to where Alex sat peeling the label off his beer bottle. Maybe he wasn’t all that comfy discussing the birthing process.

Giving birth wasn’t her top priority, either, but she found herself longing to hear him talk. During the reception last summer his voice had seduced her long before she’d suggested they share a bottle of champagne in the hayloft. “Ever seen a baby being born, Alex?”

He stopped peeling the label and looked at her with his intense gray eyes. “Can’t say that I have. How about you?”

That voice, honed by years of radio work, gave her goose bumps. “Yes, and it’s an awesome experience, so I was hoping for a Skype’s-eye view of my big sister’s event.” She was still curious about why he was at the ranch this afternoon. He seemed completely at home, as if he lived here, and yet she was sure he’d planned to rent a place in Jackson once he started his job there.

“So how are things at the radio station?” she asked.

“Oh, he left that job, Tyler,” Morgan said. “He’s the marketing director for the Last Chance now, and he lives out here.”

Tyler could have used that information earlier, before she’d walked into the kitchen and been struck dumb by the incredible backside of Alex Keller. But Morgan would have no reason to tell her. Morgan didn’t know about the night in the hayloft.

Alex leaned forward. “And speaking of my job, I’ve run into a couple of snags for tomorrow’s event.”

“What event?” Tyler had a feeling that Morgan had neglected to mention several important items during the drive from the Jackson airport. Tyler couldn’t blame her, though. Morgan had spent the drive talking about her plans for the baby’s room, assuming it was completed in time for Morgan to add the decorating touches she had in mind.

“I’ve set up an open house,” Alex said. “I’ve had to operate under some tight time constraints, but I wanted to catch people at the beginning of the summer with the idea that if it goes well, we can do it again in August.”

“It will go well,” Sarah said. “We’ve invited everybody who might be a candidate for buying one of the Last Chance paints, and we should have a good turnout because June is when the summer tourist season gets rolling. We’ll have tours of the barn, cutting-horse demonstrations, plenty of food—”

“Sounds great,” Tyler said. “I’m not a prospective buyer, but I’m sure I’ll enjoy all that, if I’m invited, that is.”

Morgan touched her arm. “Of course you’re invited! You’re family!”

“Thanks.” Tyler was surprised by how pleased she was to hear that. She loved her carefree life and didn’t mind that home was a sparsely furnished efficiency apartment in L.A. with no live plants and a refrigerator that was usually empty. But she wouldn’t mind borrowing the nurturing environment of the Last Chance for the next few days, providing she could control her urge to snuggle up with Alex.

Her fantasy man leaned back in his chair. “The thing is, I’d hoped to establish the mood with live music, but the country band I’d hired just canceled a half hour ago.”

“What about Watkins?” Mary Lou set down her beer. “That cowhand plays a decent guitar if you could talk him into doing it.”

“It’s a thought, but that’s not the only issue. I also ordered three event canopies because we’re supposed to have some rain, but only one showed up. I’m a little worried that—”

“Say no more.” Tyler leaped into the breach automatically, a learned response from handling this kind of crisis all the time on cruises. “It’ll be fine. I’ll help you figure out some alternatives.” Belatedly she realized that her offer would throw her into direct contact with the man she’d decided to avoid for the duration of her visit.

Alex sat forward, hope in his eyes. “You will? That would be great.” Then he seemed to catch himself. “Wait a minute. You’re on vacation. You shouldn’t have to—”

“Don’t kid yourself,” Morgan said. “She loves this kind of thing. It’s her job to coordinate all the onboard entertainment, so parties are her deal. I had to hold her back or she would have planned my entire wedding from her stateroom on the Sea Goddess.”

“Then I accept.” Alex blew out a breath. “I don’t know what kind of magic you can work, but whatever it is, I’ll take it.”

Magic. That was the exact word she would use to describe the night they’d spent together in the hayloft. She was realistic enough to know how much she’d be tempted to make love with him again, but that was a really bad idea. Considering the emotional tug she felt every time he looked at her, they could end up in a no-win situation that would break both their hearts.