Cowboy Take Me Away (23 page)

Chase stormed into the house, searching for Nate. He couldn't find him. His hands were clenched into tight balls, desperate to punch something,
anything
, but he fought to keep his cool.

“Nate!” he called.

He took a look outside and spotted him, with Ryder and Chloe, by the little corrals they'd used when they were kids. He jogged straight down to them, stopping before he got too close. Harrison was sitting up on their old pony, Whiskey, a grin on the boy's face so wide Chase was certain he'd see all his teeth if he was in the corral with him.
Damn it!
Nate was supposed to have waited for him to get back.

“Nate!” he called, not wanting to think about Harrison yet. He had to figure out what the hell had happened under their noses first, right here on King Ranch. “Ryder!” They both looked up and he waved them over, yelling out, “Chloe, can you look after the little fella a bit longer? His mom will be back soon and I need these two for a sec.”

She waved, smiling as she passed Ryder, kissing him before trading places and ducking through the railings so she was in the corral with Harrison. Chase could have stared at Harrison all day. He'd been so goddamn stupid. How the hell could he not have seen the similarities himself and worked out the time line?

“What's so urgent?” Ryder asked.

Chase frowned and dug his toe into the dirt. “Some asshole stole from us.”

Nate's face was like a thundercloud, his dark brown eyes turning a stormy shade of black. “Stole what?”

“The imported semen. It's all gone, dumped on the damn floor.”

“That's half a fucking million dollars' worth,” Nate growled.

“Someone did this, on our land?” Ryder was shaking his head, hands fisted tighter than Chase's. “Who the hell would have the goddamn balls to walk in here and do that?”

Chase shook his head. “No idea. Hope had some stored at the lab in town, so it's not a completely lost cause yet. We're gonna make each one count.”

Nate's arms were folded tight as he leaned closer, like he was trying to keep their conversation confidential even though there was no one within miles who could eavesdrop. “When we find the motherfucker who did this, there'll be no holding back. You two hear me?”

“Damn right,” Chase muttered at the same time as his younger brother.

They all stood, silent, the only noise Harrison's laughter from the corral. Chase couldn't help it, couldn't fight the pull to look at the boy and watch his every move.

“Cute kid,” Nate said with a chuckle.

Chase cleared his throat, pushed his hands into his pockets. “About what you said earlier.”

Nate laughed and slapped him on the back. “I was just fucking with you. I should have kept my big mouth shut. You know how I get.”

Chase blew out a breath. “You were right.”

“What?”

“Sorry, can you guys fill me in on whatever the hell you're talking about?” Ryder asked.

Nate looked pissed when he moved to stand in front of Chase, forcing him to drag his gaze away from Harrison. “You're telling me that Harrison”—he paused, looking over his shoulder and hooking his thumb in the direction of the corral—“is your son?”

“What the fuck?” Ryder's eyes widened when Chase glanced at him.

“Yep. It seems that the one that got away was pregnant when she disappeared.” Chase almost laughed, it sounded so insane. “So do I tell her to fuck off and take the kid, or do I man up and do the right thing?” He was talking like an asshole but the truth was the boy was his and there was no way he was going to let her go away, let alone tell her to.

Nate moved back to stand beside him. They were all staring at Harrison again.

“You know what you've got to do.”

“About Hope?” Chase doubted he'd ever be able to forgive her, not after what she'd done.

“No, about the child,” Nate said. “What you decide about Hope is your business, but if this boy is yours? Then he's a King, and there's no way he's not gonna be a part of our lives. He's staying in Texas and that's the end of it.”

Chase knew his brother was right. He just had to deal with one thing at a time, and right now that thing was catching out the asshole who'd stolen from them.

 

Chapter 13

Hope watched the last cow walk out of the crush. Everything had gone completely to plan, except for the volume of inseminations. The herd was settled and relaxed, they'd happily munched on hay, moved through while she'd worked on them, and now she was standing alone as they started to graze in the small adjoining field.

She rolled her shoulders as she stretched her neck out, yanking out her ponytail. There had been plenty of times in the past couple of months that she'd felt alone, but none so acutely as right now. Chase was nowhere to be seen, and she was preparing to head over to the house to collect Harrison. She just needed a few moments to herself to think, to try to figure out a plan. Being in Texas was great for now, it gave her the chance to earn enough money to build up her finances again, but staying wasn't her long-term plan. She wanted to go back to Canada when she could, once she could take out a big-enough loan to try to buy her ranch back.

“Hi, Hope.”

She turned around and found Randy walking over, his gaze trained on the heifers. A couple of younger ranch hands who'd been with him disappeared into a barn, and she wished she wasn't alone with the man she suspected.

“Hey. How you doing?”

He nodded, thumbs looped into his belt as he came closer. “Not bad,” he replied. “You been doing inseminations?”

Hope didn't care what Chase said; there was something about Randy that told her not to trust him as far as she could kick him.

“We've done some of the herd,” she said, not sure whether she should elaborate or not. “Everything went pretty smoothly.”

“Huh.” Randy stared at her, too long for her liking, before turning his attention back to the livestock. “When Nate said the canisters had been tampered with I thought this'd all have to be put on the back burner.”

Hope wanted to extract herself from the conversation. And fast. “Hey, it was great seeing you, but I'm beat,” she said, holding up her hand to stifle a very real yawn. She
was
exhausted, her body weary from working and her eyes burning from the tears she'd shed earlier. Not to mention she just needed some time alone, away from anything to do with the King family or ranch, to just figure everything out. “I'll catch you when I'm back tomorrow.”

Randy nodded and she left him standing there, one leg hitched on the fence rail. “See you later.”

Hope collected up her things and went over to her vehicle, systematically putting everything back in place and then jumping behind the wheel. She would usually have just walked over to the house, but she wanted to get Harrison and go.

As she was pulling away she saw Chase. He was standing by the barn, a solemn expression on his face as he stared in her direction. Tears burned like acid against her eyeballs, but she swallowed hard, pushed them away.
No more tears
. She'd promised herself that the day Harrison had been born, and the last thing she needed was to go back on her word now.

Hope raised a hand, staring at Chase as she drove past. There was nothing left to say—he'd worked silently alongside her until the last couple of heifers, then disappeared awhile, and he knew she was coming by again in the morning to check on them.

It only took a couple of minutes to reach the house and she jumped out, retrieving the boots she'd borrowed from Chloe before heading for the front door. She left them under the eaves so they wouldn't get wet if it rained and let herself in.

“Anybody home?”

Nobody answered but she heard voices and laughter and headed down the hall and into the kitchen. She paused at the doorway. Harrison was sitting on a barstool, his legs dangling as he drained a glass of chocolate milk, a half-eaten sandwich discarded on a plate beside him.

He was laughing at something Nate had said, and it wasn't until she moved farther forward that she saw Ryder had his head in the fridge, the three of them hanging out together. An all-too-familiar sensation of guilt passed over her, an icy haze washing through her body.

“Hey,” she said, forcing herself to walk into the room.

The laughter on Nate's face died, his stare cold as the Antarctic Ocean. “I was just giving the little guy a snack.”

“He'll eat you out of house and home if you give him the chance,” she joked, clearing her throat when Nate's expression remained unchanged. She put a protective arm around her boy, suddenly terrified at what she might be up against.

Nate had seemed like a big teddy bear the night before, tough on the outside and like marshmallow on the inside, but she was fast seeing why he was so damn successful in business, why he was so naturally capable of taking over the running of his grandfather's company. His stare was making her knees knock, and that was without worrying about the sheer size of him towering over her as he moved closer to them. Hope did a quick glance at Ryder—up until now his blue eyes had shone with laughter, his grin infectious, but that smile was long gone.

“We'll be seeing you again real soon, Harris,” Nate said, leaning over to ruffle his hair. “Today was fun.”

“Today was so cool,” Harrison said, eyes dancing when he spun around and almost toppled off his chair. “Chase came over before and took me outside, showed me some puppies. He said I could even pick one and choose a name and everything.”

Hope swallowed, her throat catching. She was finding it hard to breathe with Nate so close, and it was becoming clear to her that it wasn't just Chase she needed to be worried about. He'd obviously told his brothers the minute she'd confessed, and they weren't about to let their nephew walk out of their lives. And giving him a puppy? She got the hint that the puppy was going to be living here, which meant Chase was expecting to be seeing a whole lot of their son.

“Harrison, can you go grab your stuff? Double-check you haven't left anything around the house.”

“But, Mom…”

She touched his shoulder and dropped a kiss to his head before jumping him down from the stool. “No arguing, sweetheart. We have to go. You can tell me all about today in the car.”

She kept her shoulders back, refusing to be intimidated by the two men standing before her. So they were wealthy and powerful. So what? She was Harrison's mom, and if there was one thing she could never be criticized of it was being a damn good mother.

“I take it Chase told you guys,” she started.

Nate folded his arms across his chest and Ryder leaned back, both of them never taking their eyes off her for a second.

“He's a King,” Nate said. “Pure and simple, he's one of us.”

“And he's my son,” she said. “When Chase is ready to talk, we'll talk, but until then…”

“We all make mistakes and I know that better than anyone,” Ryder said, shaking his head when Nate gave him a sharp look. “Give Chase some time to cool the hell down, then work it out. This is between the two of you, and the only solution is to fix what's broke. Got it?”

“Bottom line is there's no way you're bringing that boy up without him knowing our family.”

Hope bristled at the commanding way Nate spoke to her, but she could see that Ryder was more compassionate than his older brother and she needed to keep her cool while he was giving her a lifeline.

Just as she was about to answer him, Chase walked into the room. He ran a hand across his stubbled jaw as he first looked at her, then walked straight past. Harrison came running into the room at high speed at almost the same time.

“I've got everything, Mom.”

She reached for his hand and took one of his Transformers so he didn't have so much to hold. “Thanks for having us last night,” she said, ignoring Chase and looking between his brothers instead. “Tell Chloe I'm sorry I didn't get to say good-bye.”

“See ya, Chase,” Harrison called out, waving to the others and breaking her heart all over again. “Can I come back and see the puppies again soon?”

Chase turned, dropping to his haunches. “You sure can, bud. I reckon you can come here whenever you want.”

“And play Transformers?” Harrison asked innocently.

“And play Transformers,” Chase said, his smile genuine as he reached out to touch Harrison's shoulder. “Definitely Transformers. I'll brush up on all the names so I can play better next time.”

“And ride Whiskey?”

Chase chuckled and Hope just stayed silent, heart breaking.

“We can do anything you want. I bet that old pony had the best day ever with you playing with him.”

“Come on, sweetheart,” she said, squeezing Harrison's hand and walking him out, forcing him to go past Chase.

She could fall to pieces later. Right now, she had to be strong for her boy.

*   *   *

“How you doing?”

Chase shrugged and pulled open the fridge door, staring at the contents and then shutting it again. “Is it too early to get rotten drunk?”

Ryder glanced at his watch. “Yeah, kinda. But then again you've just found out you're a dad, so maybe not.”

“I'm not a dad,” Chase muttered, opening the fridge again and pulling out a beer. A beer he could justify at this time of the day. He'd wait to start on the whiskey until after five. “I'm the kid's biological father.” Their dad hadn't deserved the title, and Chase was a firm believer in not taking that kind of term lightly, not without earning it. Their granddad had been their dad—maybe not technically, but by the way he'd taken over their care and raised them.

“He's a really nice kid,” Nate said, taking Chase's lead and grabbing a couple of beers. Chase watched as he opened them both and passed one to Ryder.