The Cowboy Wins a Bride (The Cowboys of Chance Creek) Read online

  "Ethan's doing the overnight shift at the Big House," Autumn said.

  Claire helped herself to tea and joined her at the table. They'd set up a cot in the small laundry room off the back entrance of the Big House and whoever took the night shift could sleep unless a guest needed them. It didn't seem right for newlyweds to sleep apart, though. Autumn took in her expression and laughed.

  "I'm too tired for cuddling, anyway. It's all right. Pretty soon we'll hire someone to do the night shift. We just don't want to spend too much money until we start making some."

  Claire nodded. "What's that?" She gestured to the envelope.

  Autumn sighed. "I'm not sure, but something told me not to give it to Ethan. I hope I'm not making a mistake giving it to you." She handed it over and Claire examined it.

  The paper was cream colored, the handwriting bold and sharp – but still a woman's penmanship. It was addressed to Aria Cruz.

  Claire's heart sank. "Ethan must have dealt with plenty of mail addressed to my parents after their deaths. Why not give him this one?"

  "All of your parents' business and personal correspondence went to their post office box in town. Mail isn't delivered out here – you know that. Look at the front of the envelope again."

  She did so, not understanding at first. Then she saw what Autumn meant. "There's no postmark."

  "But the return address says Canada."

  "I don't understand." Autumn was right, the return address was Canadian, but there was no name – only a street number and city in British Columbia.

  "I don't either, but I think whoever sent the letter hand-delivered it."

  "Meaning they're here in town." A shiver traced down her spine, she couldn't say why. "So why don't they know my mother is dead?"

  "Maybe they just got here. Maybe they haven't talked to anyone yet. We need to let them know what's happened." Autumn rubbed her forehead. "It isn't fair of me to pass this on to you, but Ethan's had such a hard time of it so far. I couldn't force myself to give it to him."

  "I know." Claire looked at the letter grimly. "You think I should open it right now?"

  Autumn shrugged. "No time like the present."

  She slid a thumb under the flap and tore open the creamy envelope. When she pulled out the pages inside, the same handwriting dashed thick, solid lines across the paper. She unfolded them and turned them over. The letter was signed, Morgan. Turning back to the front, she read:

  Dear Mom,

  Where are you?

  She dropped the letter on the table as if she'd been burned.

  CHAPTER TWELVE

  When the back door opened at five the following morning, Claire was still sitting in the kitchen, the letter in her hand. Autumn had read it, too, of course, but she'd gone to bed hours ago, casting concerned looks back over her shoulder when Claire kept her seat.

  Ethan's face registered his surprise when he saw her there, but he crossed to the counter and started the coffee maker. “Morning, Sunshine.”

  “Morning.”

  “I thought you might be over at Jamie’s.” Ethan grabbed a frying pan, put it on the stove and got a package of bacon out of the refrigerator.

  She shook her head dully. “It's not like that between us.”

  He grunted. “If it's not like that, then why'd you agree to marry him?” He spread the strips of bacon in the pan, then put some bread in the toaster.

  That brought her out of her reverie. She still couldn't fathom why Ethan was still pretending he didn't know their engagement was a farce.

  “I'm not in the mood for this.”

  "All right, all right. You guys have a spat or something?" When she didn't answer, he moved to the refrigerator and took out the eggs. "I think he'll make you a terrific husband. He sure surprised me when he bought a partnership in the ranch,” he commented. “Who would have thought a cowboy like him saved his pennies like that.”

  She played with the envelope, turning it over and over in her hands. “None of us really knows anyone else."

  He frowned at her bitter tone. “I wish I knew you better. You're the one who stayed away so long.”

  “I can’t stand the ghosts here.”

  “Ghosts?”

  “Yeah – ghosts,” she said. She flicked the envelope across the table so it slid to a stop in front of his place setting. "Mom wasn't who you thought she was. Hell, she wasn't who I thought she was and I knew far more about her than you did."

  "What are you talking about?"

  "Mom. Her trips. Spending all that money? You know she had affairs, don't you?"

  "What?" Ethan set down his spatula with a clatter on the counter and turned from the sizzling bacon and eggs. "What the hell do you mean?"

  "She slept around, Ethan. She slept with Mack and who knows who else. But that's not all she did. All those trips to Europe? They were fake. Turns out she never even went there. All those months she spent away from home every year? She wasn't traveling at all. She was spending time with her other family. Her real family."

  She'd never seen her younger brother at such a loss for words. No surprise there. The news was enough to flatten anyone.

  "Her real family?" he finally choked out.

  "Read the letter. It's from her daughter, Morgan. Her Canadian daughter. Wondering when the hell she's coming home." Claire's voice cracked and tears filled her eyes as the enormity of the letter's message finally sank in. She scraped her chair back, got to her feet and ran blindly from the room.

  * * * * *

  When the barn door opened, Jamie expected Claire to saunter in. Instead, it was Ethan, hatless, as pale as a ghost, clutching an envelope in his hands.

  "What happened?" It had to be something awful, judging by the look on his friend's face.

  Ethan leaned against the wall by the door and shook his head. Jamie didn't think he'd ever seen his friend outside without a hat on. It was like seeing him naked.

  "My mother," Ethan said. He shook the letter in his hand. "Ah, Jesus, Jamie. She…"

  Jamie's heart sank. Aria Cruz had already broken Ethan's heart more than once. By dying, and by drowning the family business in debt. How could she hurt Ethan more from beyond the grave?

  "She had another family," Ethan said, looking bewildered. "A daughter. A man, I guess."

  "Wait…hold up…another family?" That was the last thing Jamie expected.

  "I have an older sister. Another older sister. Half sister. Her name's Morgan."

  "How could your mother have another family?"

  "Autumn just helped me look Morgan up on the internet. We found her address and her birthdate. We figured out the timing of it all. I checked my dad's notebooks, too. As much as I can piece together, Mom spent a year at the University of Victoria when she was 21. She studied anthropology, if you can believe that. I think she always wanted more excitement than Montana was going to give her. She spent that year at UVic because they have a real top-notch anthropology program – but she was already engaged to my dad at the time. They'd been dating for years. He gave her a ring when they graduated high school."

  Jamie grunted. Pretty typical for these parts.

  "I think she had a fling with a professor, because a guy with the same last name as Morgan still works there in the Anthropology Department. She must have gotten pregnant right away and had the baby at the end of the school year. She didn't return to Montana until fall. Dad wrote that she was doing field work over the summer. That must have been the story she fed him."

  "She came home and left her kid behind?"

  "That's the part I can't figure out. Why would she do that? Autumn thinks it's because she loved Dad. She still wanted to marry him."

  Jamie thought this over. "This other guy – did he take the kid?"

  "Must have."

  "Hell."

  "All those trips. She wasn't going to Europe, Jamie." Ethan met his gaze. "She was with them."

  Jamie whistled silently. What a thing to find out about your mother.

 
"That's not the worst of it, either."

  It got worse?

  "Her daughter – this Morgan person. She's here in town. And she doesn't know Mom's dead."

  CHAPTER THIRTEEN

  Claire only managed to snatch an hour of sleep after breaking the news of her mother's duplicity to Ethan. Now, ready or not, she had to face another day of wrangling clients with Jamie, while trying to figure out the best way to handle the latest trouble her mother had brought to the family. She decided to check in at the Big House and find out from Autumn when the guests would be ready to ride, before heading over to the stables to help Jamie prepare. When she entered the Big House's kitchen, Autumn was hard at work. She looked just as tired as Claire felt. Autumn already had way too much on her plate, being pregnant and starting a business all at the same time.

  “Can I help you?” Claire said. "You should be resting more." She crossed the room and pulled out plates from a cabinet. At the very least she could set the table.

  “Just keep those women entertained and out of the house long enough for me to make up all the beds this morning,” Autumn said. “I couldn't sleep last night. Then Ethan got me up early. You know why.”

  Claire didn't feel like talking about that. “Did your guests offer to pay you to line up some dates for them with the hot local cowboys?”

  “Just about,” Autumn said. She sighed. “I can’t blame them, though. I can’t resist the local cowboys, either.”

  “You better be resisting all the local cowboys except my brother,” Claire said lightly.

  “You know it.”

  “You two are sickening, you know,” Claire said, putting out cups and glasses. She hoped her voice sounded normal, because she sure as hell didn't feel like herself. She felt like she was walking a tightrope over a chasm so deep she couldn't see the bottom. How could she have a sister she'd never met?

  “Just wait until you're married – you and Jamie'll be just like us. Now, come on, we can't ignore the elephant in the room any longer. Someone's got to go see Morgan and tell her the truth.”

  "She can go right back where she came from, for all I care." Claire yanked open the silverware drawer and grabbed a handful of knives and forks.

  "I'm sure she will go back where she came from, once she knows," Autumn said quietly. She was slicing potatoes methodically for home fries.

  "It's not my job to tell her."

  "Whose job is it? Mine?" The edge to her voice surprised Claire. Usually Autumn managed to keep her calm.

  "Sorry. I know I'm being a bitch," Claire said, "but what right does that woman have to come here and make things worse than they already are? I don't need this right now." She surveyed the table. Napkins next.

  "I know things have been hard for you."

  "You don't know the half of it."

  "You're right." Autumn put her knife down and leaned on the counter. Claire felt like a heel for being so cranky. "You hardly know me, so I don't expect you to confide in me, but I'm here if you need a friend, okay?" Claire appreciated the words, but the color of Autumn's face worried her. Although it was too early for Autumn to be showing, she'd suffered from morning sickness these last few weeks. Maybe all that energy she'd been projecting lately was entirely fake. She didn't look good this morning.

  "Look, I'll handle it," Claire found herself saying. "Don't worry about a thing. I'll drive into town and see her at her hotel. I'll tell her about Mom and make sure she gets back on a plane and leaves us alone. Please tell me you'll rest this morning when breakfast is done."

  "I need to do the bedrooms while you're out."

  "Let me make a few calls. We need more help."

  Autumn shook her head. "We can't afford more help."

  "You might not be able to, but I can."

  At least for now.

  * * * * *

  Jamie surveyed his future home with satisfaction. Now that the roof was done, the construction crew had begun work inside. The beautiful log cabin he'd envisioned had come into being, with a wide verandah and banks of windows to let its inhabitants drink in the view. It stood as one with the property, its log walls echoing those of the Big House, but it was far enough away from the main part of the spread to make a private home for him and Claire.

  He shoved his hands in his pockets and let his gaze run over the portion of the Cruz ranch that was now his. Well, it was all his in a way, since he was co-owner with Ethan, but these hundred acres were marked as his to do with as he wished. And what he wished was to marry Claire and raise a family here. Maybe others would think he was foolish to bet on a relationship that so far had gone nowhere, but one thing he’d learned during the prolonged battle with his father for control of his own life was that if he fixed his goal in his mind, things had a way of arranging themselves so he got there. His goal was to marry Claire and settle down in this house, then run the ranch with Ethan and Autumn, his kids and their kids growing up together the way he’d grown up with Ethan.

  First he had to get through the rest of this week, however. And pray the news about Aria's other child didn't send his intended into cardiac arrest. He urged Walter back around and galloped down the track toward the Big House. Time to get to work.

  Back at the stable, he and a very quiet Claire helped their guests saddle up for a ride over to the eastern pastures for the age-old chore of checking and repairing fences. He’d argued that no lady guest was going to want to participate in that kind of activity, but Claire overrode him, saying, “They wanted a ranch experience, they’re getting a ranch experience.” He had a feeling that the women’s attempts at flirtation, combined with this latest development, were getting on her nerves and she wanted to punish them. That was all right by him; her jealousy told him she had some kind of feelings for him, even if she wasn’t ready to admit them.

  The ride out to the pastures was calm enough. Even Liz seemed somewhat tired from the previous day’s activities, but as the sun climbed higher in the sky and temperatures rose, Jamie sensed dissension in the ranks.

  “This isn’t nearly as pretty as yesterday’s ride,” Adrienne said, flipping her white-blonde hair over her shoulder.

  “It isn’t a joy ride. We’re doing a job, right, Jamie?” Maddy said. “This is a working ranch, remember? We all agreed it’s what we wanted to do.”

  “We’re just riding in a line,” Adrienne said.

  “We’re riding in a line along fences,” Maddy said. “We’re making sure nothing’s broken. That’s an important job.”

  “She’s right,” Jamie said. “Nothing cuts down a ranch’s profits like losing a few hundred head of cattle. One rotten post or broken wire can cost a rancher a bundle of cash.”

  “And he can make it back by charging his guests a bundle of cash,” Adrienne said, just loudly enough he knew he was meant to hear the snide remark.

  “Ma’am, if you’re feeling poorly, I can take you back to the Big House,” Claire chimed in from further down the line, her tone barely respectful. Jamie tensed, knowing she was already at the end of her tether and liable to snap at a problematic guest.

  “I’m not feeling poorly,” Adrienne said. “I’m feeling bored.”

  Jamie bit back the urge tell her exactly how he was feeling. “Well, you’re lucky, then, because here’s our first stop.” He dismounted Walter and gestured at a post that was bent so far over it would have scraped the short range grass if the wires attached to it weren’t holding it up. After a quick rundown of the correct way to repair such a problem, he let the women take turns using the tools and together they reset the fence post properly. All of the women seemed to enjoy the chance to get their hands dirty, so to speak, except Adrienne, who remained surly throughout the process. Jamie shot Claire a pleading look when they all re-mounted and breathed a sigh of relief when she managed to get Adrienne aside. Maybe the woman was having female troubles.

  Or maybe she was just a spoiled bitch. Either way, he wouldn’t be hard pressed to keep from flirting with her. He couldn’t abide a whine
r.

  “Who wants to ride beside me and help spot the next problem?” he called and wasn’t surprised at all when Liz pushed forward.

  “Bet I’m good at it,” she said. “I can spot a mistake a mile away.”

  “I’m sure you’ll do fine,” he said gallantly, and glanced back at Claire again. She and Adrienne were talking heatedly now, the blonde gesturing widely.

  “I’m sorry this morning’s chore isn’t to your liking,” he heard Claire say. “I’ve already offered to escort you back to the lodge. I don’t know what else I can do.”

  “Jamie! Claire! Good to see you.”

  Jamie swiveled in his saddle to see Rob and Cab riding up.

  “Hi, Rob. Cab. Good to see you again!” Claire rode forward, probably happy to shelve her conversation with Adrienne for the time being. “Ladies, let me introduce you to more of Chance Creek’s most eligible bachelors, Rob Matheson and Cab Johnson. Rob’s family owns the spread next door to the Cruz ranch and Cab is the county sheriff. Rob, Cab, meet our very first guests. This is Maddy, Adrienne, Christine, Liz and Angel. The ladies are helping us ride fences this morning, but I’m just about to ride back to the house with Adrienne. She’s not too keen on fences.”

  “I’m fine with fences, Claire,” Adrienne spoke up swiftly, her gaze running up and down Rob’s body with open appreciation. “I told you, I was feeling a little poorly for a minute there, but I’m much better now.”

  Claire’s expression spoke volumes as Adrienne nudged her horse forward through the crowd to where she could shake hands with Rob and Cab.