A Cowboy Comes Home

“I see the way you’re looking at my sister,” Travis said in an undertone as he took the armchair opposite Caleb in the corner of the living room.

“I was thinking she suits it here,” Caleb responded, only half lying. He was thinking a whole lot of other things that were better left unsaid.

“She does,” Travis agreed, “but that wasn’t what I meant.”

“She’s a very beautiful woman,” Caleb acknowledged. He wasn’t going to lie, but he certainly wasn’t going to admit the extent of his attraction to Mandy, either.

“Yes, she is.” Travis set his glass of iced tea on the small table between them and relaxed back into the overstuffed chair.

Caleb tracked Mandy’s progress from the stovetop to the counter, where her mother was busy with a salad, watching as the two of them laughed at something Mandy said. He didn’t want to reinforce Travis’s suspicions, but his curiosity got the better of him “Did she and Reed ever …?”

Travis shook his head. “It was pretty hard to get close to your brother. He was one bottled up, angry man after you lit out without him.”

Caleb felt himself bristle at the implication. He hadn’t deserted Reed. He’d begged his brother to come with him. “It wasn’t my leaving that did the bottling.”

“Didn’t help,” said Travis.

Caleb hit the man with a warning glare.

“I’m saying he lost his mother, then he lost you, and he was left to cope with your father’s temper and crazy expectations all on his own.”

Caleb cleared his dry throat with a sip of his own iced tea. “He should have come with me. Left Wilton here to rot.”

“You understand why he didn’t, don’t you?”

“No.” Caleb would never understand why Reed had refused to leave.

“Because of your mother.”

“I know what he said.” But it had never made sense to Caleb.

Their mother was gone. And the legacy of the ranch land didn’t mean squat to Caleb. There was nothing but bad memories here for them both. Their father had worked their mother to death on that land.

The sound of female laughter wafted from the kitchen again. Caleb couldn’t help but contrast the loud, chaotic scene in this big, family house to his own penthouse apartment with its ultramodern furniture, crisp, cool angles of glass and metal, its silence and order. Everything was always in its place, or at least everything was sitting exactly where he’d last left it.

Maureen passed her husband, Hugo, giving him a quick stroke across the back of the neck. He responded with a secretive smile and a quick squeeze of her hand.

Here was another thing that wasn’t in Caleb’s frame of reference, relaxed and loving parents. He couldn’t remember his mother ever voluntarily touching his father. And his father had certainly never looked at his wife, Sasha, with affection.

Travis shifted his position in the armchair. “Reed thought you were afraid to stay and fight.”

Caleb straightened. “Afraid?”

Travis shrugged, indicating he was only the messenger.

“I hated my old man,” Caleb clarified. “But I was never afraid of him.”

That was a lie, of course. As a child, Caleb had been terrified of his father. Wilton was exacting and demanding, and quick with a strap or the back of his hand. But by the time Caleb was seventeen, he had a good two inches on his father, and he’d have fought back if Wilton had tried anything. Reed was even bigger than Caleb, and Wilton was no physical threat to Reed by then.

“Where do you think Reed went?” Travis asked.

“I couldn’t begin to guess,” Caleb responded, thinking Reed’s decisions were finally his own. He honestly hoped his brother was happy away from here.

He’d thought a lot about it over the past two days. Reed was perfectly entitled to live his life any way he saw fit. As was Caleb, and Caleb had become more and more convinced that selling the ranch was the right thing to do.

Reed could do whatever he wanted with the money. And, in the short term, Caleb was in no position to hang around Lyndon Valley and run things. And he sure couldn’t continue to depend on the Jacobses to help him out.

He supposed he could hire a professional ranch manager. But, then what? It wasn’t as if he was ever coming back again. And Reed had made his choice by leaving. If Reed had any interest in keeping the ranch, all it would have taken was for him to jot down a contact number in his cryptic note. Caleb would have called, and they could have worked this whole thing out.

Mandy swished across the room, a huge bowl of mashed potatoes in her oven-mitt-covered hands. She’d changed from her usual blue jeans to a pair of gray slacks and a sleeveless, moss-green sweater. It clung to her curves and brought out the color of her eyes. The slacks molded to her rear end, while her rich, chestnut-colored hair flowed like a curtain around her smooth, bare shoulders.

“I see the way you’re looking at my sister,” Travis repeated.

Caleb glanced guiltily away.

“You hurt her,” Travis added, “and we’re going to have a problem.”

“I have nothing but respect for Mandy,” Caleb lied. While he certainly had respect for Mandy, he was also developing a very powerful lust for her.

“This isn’t Chicago,” Travis warned.

“I’m aware that I’m not in Chicago.” Chicago had never been remotely like this.

“We’re ready,” Maureen announced in a singsong voice.

Mandy sent Caleb a broad smile and motioned him over to the big table. Then she seemed to catch Travis’s dark expression, and her eyes narrowed in obvious confusion.

“She’s a beautiful, intelligent, strong-minded woman,” Caleb said to Travis in an undertone. “You should worry about her hurting me.”

Travis rose to his feet. “I don’t care so much about you. And I’m not likely to take her out behind the barn and knock any sense into her.”

Caleb stood to his full height. “Does she know you try to intimidate guys like this?”

The question sent a brief flash of concern across Travis’s expression. Caleb tried to imagine Mandy’s reaction to Travis’s brotherly protectiveness.

It was all Caleb could do not to laugh. “Stalemate.”

“I’ll still take you out behind the barn.”

“I’m not going to hurt Mandy,” Caleb promised.

Not that he wouldn’t let Mandy make up her own mind about him. She was a grown woman, and if she offered a kiss, he was taking a kiss. If she offered more, well, okay, he didn’t imagine he’d be around long enough for that to happen. So there was no sense in borrowing trouble.

He deliberately took a chair across the table from Mandy instead of sitting next to her. Travis grunted his approval.

As dishes were passed around and plates filled up, the family’s conversation became free-flowing and boisterous.

“If there’s a competing interest lurking out there,” Mandy’s sister Abigail was saying, “I can’t find it. But it’s important that as many ranchers as possible show up at the first meeting.”

“We need a united front,” Hugo put in, helping himself to a slice of roast beef before passing the platter to Travis. “It’s suspicious to me that they’re calling the review five years early.”

“The legislation allows for a water use review anytime after thirty years and before thirty-five,” Abigail responded. “Technically, they’re not early.”

Seth, the eldest brother, stepped in as he reached for a homemade bun. “When was the last time the state government did anything at the earliest possible date? Dad’s right, there’s something they’re not telling us.”

“I’ve put in an access to information request,” said Abigail. “Maybe that’ll solve the mystery.”

“That won’t get you anything,” Hugo grumbled. “The bureaucrats will just stonewall.”

“You should catch Caleb up,” Mandy suggested.

“This is important to you, too,” said Travis, and Caleb waited for him to elaborate.

“Any decrease in the flexibility of our water licenses, will devalue the range land.”

“Devalue the range land?” Seth interjected. “Who cares about the land value? It’ll impact our grazing density. There are operations up and down the valley that are marginal as it is. The Stevensons, for example. They don’t have river access anywhere on their land. A couple of tributaries, but they depend on their wells.”

“Seth,” Maureen put in, her voice stern. “Did anyone ask you to bring your soapbox to the dinner table?”

Seth’s lips thinned for a moment. But then he glanced down at his plate. “Sorry, Mom.”

Maureen’s face transformed into a friendly smile. “Now, Caleb. How long do you expect to be in Lyndon?”

Caleb swallowed a mouthful of potatoes smothered in the best gravy he’d ever eaten. “A few days. Maybe a week.”

“We’re sorry you missed the funeral, dear.” Maureen’s tone was even, but he detected a rebuke. One look at Mandy’s expression told him he’d detected correctly.

“I was tied up with work,” he said.

“Did you know Caleb owns his own company in Chicago?” Mandy asked.

Caleb appreciated the change in topic, and silently thanked Mandy. The Jacob family would learn soon enough that he was planning to sell the Terrell ranch. Just like everyone would soon learn about Wilton’s will. But he was in no hurry to field the inevitable questions.

“Active Equipment,” he told them. “Heavy machinery. We’re making inroads into Asia and Canada, and we hope to succeed in the South American market soon.”

“That’s lovely, dear,” said Maureen, her quick gaze going from plate to plate, obviously checking to see if anyone was ready for seconds.

“Active Equipment?” asked Hugo, tone sharp and vaguely accusing. “The Active Equipment, loaders and backhoes?”

“Yes,” Caleb confirmed.

“So, you can get me a discount?”

Maureen scowled at her husband. Travis laughed, and Mandy’s eyes danced with amusement.

“Absolutely,” Caleb answered, unable to look away from Mandy. Her green eyes sparkled like emeralds under the chandelier, and he didn’t think he’d ever seen a more kissable set of lips. “Just let me know what you need.”

“Seth and I will come up with a list,” said Hugo.

“Happy to help out,” said Caleb.

Mandy’s lashes swept briefly down over her eyes, and the tip of her tongue moistened her lower lip. He didn’t dare glance Travis’s way.

Three

Mandy couldn’t help but stare at the tall, elegant, brunette woman standing on the porch of the Terrell ranch house. She wore a chic, textured, taupe jacket, with black piping along the neck, lapels and faux pockets. It had a matching, straight skirt, and the ensemble was layered over a black, lace camisole. Her black, leather pumps were high heeled, closed toed with an open weave along the outsides.

Her earrings were large—a woven, copper geometric pattern that dangled beneath short, stylishly cut hair. Her makeup was subtle, coral lips, soft thick lashes, sculpted brows and dusky shadow that set off her dark, hazel eyes. She held a black, rhinestone purse tucked under one arm, and a leather briefcase in the opposite hand.

How she’d made it to the porch dust-free was beyond Mandy.

“Can I help you with something?” Mandy belatedly asked.

“I’m looking for Caleb Terrell.” The woman’s voice was crisp and businesslike.

“I’m afraid he’s not here at the moment.”

The woman’s lips compressed in obvious impatience.

“Was he expecting you?” Mandy asked, confused and curious in equal measure.

“I was expecting him. Two days ago in Chicago.” The woman clearly had a close enough relationship with Caleb that she had expectations, and she was free to express frustration if he didn’t meet them.

A girlfriend? A lover? He’d said he had none, but evidence to the contrary was standing right here in front of Mandy.

“Would you like to come in?” she offered, remembering her manners, telling herself Caleb’s personal life was none of her business. “He should be back anytime.”

Sure, he’d made a couple of flirtatious allusions in their conversations. But they were harmless. He hadn’t even kissed her. She certainly hadn’t taken any of it seriously.

The woman smiled, transforming her face, and she held out a slim, perfectly manicured hand. “Forgive me. I’m Danielle Marin.”

Mandy hesitated only a brief second before holding out her own, blunt-nailed, tanned and slightly callused hand.

She couldn’t help but wish she was wearing something other than a plain, blue cotton blouse and faded jeans. There was some eyelet detail on the collar, and at least she didn’t have manure on her boots. Then again, she’d been sweating in the barn all morning, and her casual ponytail was certainly the worse for wear.

“Mandy Jacobs,” she introduced herself. “I’m, uh. I’ve been helping out on the ranch.”

“I’m sure Caleb appreciates that.” Danielle waved a hand in the air as she stepped into the house. “I have to say, this whole situation borders on the ridiculous.”

Mandy closed the door behind them. She couldn’t disagree. “Once we find Reed, things will smooth out.”

“Any progress on that?” Danielle asked, setting her purse on the side table in the entryway and parking her briefcase beneath. “Caleb told me you were spearheading the effort.”

Mandy didn’t know what to say to that. She didn’t want to share details with a stranger, but she couldn’t very well ask about Danielle’s relationship with Caleb without being rude.

Danielle strolled her way into the great room, gazing at the high ceiling and the banks of windows overlooking the river. “I assume you’ve already checked his usual hotels.”

Mandy followed. “Reed never traveled much. But I have checked hotels, hospitals and with the police as far away as Fort Collins.”

“Car-rental agencies?”

“He took a ranch truck.”

Danielle nodded. “Have you tried checking his credit-card activity?”

Mandy tried to figure out if Danielle was joking. Judging by her expression, she was serious.

“I wouldn’t know how to do that,” Mandy said slowly. Was she even allowed to do that? It sounded like it might be illegal.

“It’s not a service we could provide, but I do have some contacts …” Danielle let the offer hang.

Mandy didn’t know what to say. Was Danielle suggesting she could help Mandy break the law?

The front door opened, and a pair of boots sounded in the entryway. Mandy took a couple of steps back and crooked her head to confirm it was Caleb. Thank goodness.

He gazed quizzically at her expression as he strode down the short hall. Then, at the living-room entrance, he halted in his tracks. “Danielle?”

“Yes,” Danielle answered shortly as she moved in on him.

“What on earth are you doing in Colorado?”

“What on earth are you still doing in Colorado?”

“I told you it was going to take a few days.”

“That was a few days ago.”

“Two days ago.”

“Do you want this to work or not?”

Mandy scooted toward the kitchen, determined to get away from the private conversation. One thing was sure, if Caleb kept flirting with other women, his relationship with Danielle was definitely not going to work out.

“We have to be in Sao Paulo by the sixteenth,” Danielle’s voice carried to the kitchen. “We’ve made a commitment. There’s no cancellation insurance on this kind of deal, Caleb.”

“Have I done something to make you think I’m stupid?” Caleb asked.

Mandy wasn’t proud of it, but her feet came to a halt the moment she was around the corner in the kitchen, intense curiosity keeping her tuned to what was happening in the living room.

“You mean, other than moving to Colorado?” Danielle asked.

“I haven’t moved to Colorado.”

There was a moment of silence, and Mandy found herself straining to hear.

“You have to come back, Caleb.”

“I can’t leave yet.”

“You said you were going to sell.”

“I am going to sell.”

Mandy was forced to bite back a protest. For years, she’d fantasized about the two brothers reconciling, and they were so close right now. Whatever hard feelings were between them, she was confident they loved each other. And they were the only family each of them had.

“You can look at offers just as easily from Chicago,” said Danielle.

“And who runs the ranch until then?”

“What about that Mandy woman?”

“She’s doing me a favor just by being here.” There was another pause. “Mandy?” Caleb called. “Where did you go?”

“Kitchen,” she responded, quickly busying herself at the counter. “You two want coffee?”

“You don’t need to make us coffee,” Caleb called back.

“It’s no problem.”

She heard him approach.

Then his footfalls crossed the kitchen, his voice lowering as he arrived behind her. “You don’t need to make us coffee.”

She didn’t turn around. “You and your girlfriend should sit down and—”

“My girlfriend?”

“Talk this out,” Mandy finished. “But, can I say, I really hope you’ll give it some time before you sell, Caleb, because I know Reed—”

Caleb wrapped a big hand around her upper arm and turned her to face him. “She’s not my girlfriend.”

“Oh.” Then what was she doing here? Why were they making plans for a vacation in Brazil?

“She’s my financial lawyer.”

“Sure.” Whatever. It didn’t mean they weren’t romantically involved.

He lowered his voice further. “And why did your mind immediately go to a romance?”

“Because she’s gorgeous,” Mandy offered, counting on her finger. “Because she’s here. Because she just told you if you didn’t come back to Chicago, things weren’t going to work out between you.”

Caleb’s voice lowered to a hiss. “And what exactly do you think I’ve been doing with you?”

She was slow to answer, because she really wasn’t sure what the heck he’d been doing with her. “A harmless flirtation. I assumed you didn’t mean it the way—”

“I did.”

“I’d love some coffee,” came Danielle’s sultry voice from the kitchen doorway.

“Coming up.” Mandy quickly turned away from Caleb.

“She thinks you and I are dating,” he said to Danielle in a clear voice.

Danielle’s response was a melodic laugh. “Like I’d get you to sit still long enough for a date.”

“See?” Caleb finished before backing off.

“I’m setting up a corporation for him in Brazil,” Danielle explained. “Do you by any chance have an internet connection? A scanner?”

“In the office,” Caleb answered. “Up the stairs, first door on the right.”

When Mandy turned around, two stoneware mugs of coffee in her hand, Danielle was gone.

Caleb was standing in front of the table in the breakfast nook. “I’m not dating her.”

“Got that.” Mandy took a determined step forward, ignoring the undercurrents from their rather intimate conversation. “Brazil?”

“It’s a huge, emerging market.”

She set the two mugs down on the table. “Are you, like a billionaire?”

“I’ve never stopped to do the math.”

“But you might be.” No wonder he could give up the ranch without a second thought. He wasn’t quite the philanthropist he made himself out to be.

“The net worth of a corporation is irrelevant. All the money’s tied up in the business. Even if you did want to know the value, you’d spend months wading your way through payables, receivables, inventory, assets and debts to find an answer. And by the time you found it, the answer would have changed.”

“But you don’t need the money from the ranch,” was really Mandy’s point.

Caleb drew a sigh. “I’m giving the money to Reed because he earned it.” Caleb’s hand tightened around the back of one of the chairs. “Boy, did he earn it.”

“Then don’t sell the ranch.”

“I can’t stay here and run it.”

Mandy tried to stay detached, but her passion came through in the pleading note of her voice. “Reed doesn’t want the money. He wants the ranch.”

“Then, where is he?”

“He’s sulking.”

Caleb gave a cold laugh. “At least you’ve got that right. He’s off somewhere, licking his wounds, mired in the certain and self-righteous anger that I’m about to cheat him out of his inheritance. Nice.”

“Reed doesn’t trust easily.”

“You think?”

“And you’ve been gone a long time.”

“When I left, I begged him to come with me.”

“Well, he didn’t. And you have a choice here. You can make things better or you can make them worse.”

“No. Reed had a choice here.” Caleb’s voice was implacable. “He could have stayed.”

“He’ll be back.”

Caleb shook his head. “I don’t think so. And he’ll be better off with the money, anyway. He can go wherever he wants, do whatever he wants. He’ll be free of this place forever.”

“If he wanted to be free,” she offered reasonably, “he’d have left with you in the first place.”

Caleb’s eyes narrowed. “Why do you want him back here so badly?”

Mandy wasn’t sure how to answer the question. What she wanted was for Caleb and Reed to reconcile. She wanted the ranch to stay in the Terrell family for Reed’s children, for Sasha’s grandchildren. Reed had sacrificed ten years to protect his heritage. Caleb had no business pulling it out from under him.

Caleb watched the last of the dozen pieces of paper disappear into the ranch house office fax machine. The machine emitted a series of beeps and buzzes that indicated the pages were successfully reaching the Lyndon real-estate office.

“You did it, didn’t you?” Mandy’s accusing voice came from the office doorway. It was full dark, and the ranch yard lights outside the window mingled with the glow of the desk lamp and the stream of illumination from the upstairs hallway. Danielle had retired to the guest room half an hour ago. Caleb thought Mandy had already left.

“The Terrell Cattle Company is officially for sale,” he replied, swiping the pages from the cache tray and straightening them into a neat pile.

“You’re making a mistake,” said Mandy.

“It’s my mistake to make.”

She moved into the room. “Did you ever stop to wonder why he did it?”

“Reed or Wilton?”

“Your father.”

Caleb nodded. “I did. For about thirty-six hours straight. I called Reed half a dozen times after I left my lawyer’s office that day. I thought he might have some answers. But he didn’t call back. And eventually his voice-mail box was full and I knew it was hopeless.”

“Danielle’s office?”

“Different lawyer.”

“Oh.”

Caleb set down the papers and turned to prop himself against the lip of the desk. “I guessed maybe Reed and the old man had a fight, and leaving me the ranch was Wilton’s revenge.”

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