Texas Hope: Sweetgrass Springs Stories (Texas Heroes Book 16) (11 page)

Rissa’s smile was sweet and sad. “Ian and my brother Jackson were best friends from babyhood, and my mother adored Ian. Treated him like a second son, and I guess if he needed a woman’s touch, Mama provided it. Ian was as devastated as the rest of us when she died.”

“I’m sorry,” Michael murmured.

“It was hard,” she acknowledged. “A rough time. My family is only now recovering from the effects. Losing a mother is…sorry.” She glanced away, blinking hard.

“And Ian was so young. How could a five-year-old understand? Hell, I don’t understand.”

“Don’t go,” Rissa urged. “Give Ian a chance.”

“His father sounds like one I’d like to have had. My father…” He shrugged. “Well, let’s just say I was a disappointment to him. I was supposed to be a high-powered surgeon like him.”

Rissa and Mackey looked at each other before she glanced back. “Jackson could relate. He’s only now in our lives again after a lot of years when we didn’t know where he was or if he was dead. All because my dad wanted him to love ranching, and Jackson never did.”

“Mackey said he owns a video game company. Which one?”

“Enigma Games. Started it from the ground up. You know their games?”

“I’ve put in my time with
Lone Assassin
. Your brother created that?”

“Yeah. Had lean years in there, but he got over it. Dude is crazy rich now,” Mackey replied. “He’s brought his company to Sweetgrass, at least the part of his staff he could lure away from Seattle.”

Michael chuckled. “I can only imagine the sales pitch that took. Do they think they’ve landed on Mars?”

They shared a laugh. “A bunch of them are still back there, but Jackson’s determined to woo all of them he can.”

“And he and your father?”

“They’re getting along now, but it took some big drama, including Jackson learning that he had a son he never knew about. None of us did.”

“Wow.” Michael thought a minute. “So I’m not the only one with missing chapters in my family history, huh?”

“Not hardly. Sweetgrass only looks like Mayberry. People are people.” Mackey tried again. “So let us take you to Ruby’s for a meal, then you come bunk with us tonight. Tomorrow you can decide what you want to do next.”

“I don’t want to cause trouble. There’s really no motel?”

“Jackson’s working on it, but right now the only bed and breakfast is full and Geek Central has some spare beds, but those guys work half the night and aren’t quiet about it.”

“Will it cause you problems with Ian?”

“It won’t be the first time Ian and I had a tussle.”

“No, then. I’m not going to—”

“He’s kidding. Behave, Mackey,” Rissa ordered. “I’ll go get Eric. Come inside with me, Michael, and I’ll show you where you can clean up.”

“I need to feed the dogs first and give the pup some exercise. He’s a handful.”

“Not now he’s not. I think he and our dogs tired each other out.” She pointed over to a pile of dogs near the barn door. Monroe sat beside them, patiently watching over his charge.

“We’ll handle them however you want, but Pablo won’t mind feeding them for you. Will the pup try to follow you?”

“He might try to head back to Austin to find Laken, but Monroe will ride herd on him.”

“Will you clear it with Pablo, Mackey?” Rissa tucked a hand through Michael’s arm and started walking to the house. “Laken, huh? Who is she? I sense a story here, and I get first dibs. Tell me everything. Don’t miss a detail. Penny and Scarlett will have my head if I don’t get it all.”

Mackey snorted. “Watch out, dude. Might as well go ahead and spill. She won’t hesitate to call for reinforcements, and our women…” He gave an exaggerated shudder. “Trust me, it’s easier to just get in line.”

Rissa rolled her eyes. “The day that Wild Mackey Boy falls in line, look for the sun to rise in the west.”

Mackey grabbed her around the waist and delivered a smacking kiss. Every line of their bodies spoke of their love.

Michael glanced away.

And tried not to miss his own stubborn woman.

Laken Foster strode along the downtown Austin sidewalk, Stella McCartney gym bag on her shoulder, stilettos clicking on the concrete. She felt good. Strong. She’d kicked butt in a meeting with a difficult opposing attorney, she’d snagged a new and highly promising tech client. She’d run this morning, she would take a little break for this gym time, then she’d go back and put in a few hours after the phones went silent for the day.

She would not go home.

Or if she did, she’d hit the club downstairs for a few hours. Dance off a few more calories from her lunch meeting.

Because no one would be there to greet her. No eager blond fur ball chewing on her beloved Manolos or decimating her sofa.

And no hot guy veterinarian with soulful brown eyes, whose shoulders were broad, his arms welcoming, his smile the pot of gold at the end of her day.

Because she’d driven him away.

“Laken,” greeted a familiar voice.

She looked up to see one of the senior partners in her law firm. “Edward, hello.” Of all the men on the management committee, she liked Edward the best, Edward, not Ed. Never Ed. She noted his own gym bag. “You’re ahead of me.”

He nodded. “Because you’re still working junior partner hours. Old guys get to slack off.”

She grinned. “The day you slack off, I’ll be looking for the sun to rise in the west.”

“Good move on the Barrett case, Laken. I hear you pulled off a miracle when everyone had given up on any agreement.”

Pleasure suffused her. “It only required a little talking. Keeping the lines of communication open.”

“Given that they were at armed warfare when you got the case, that’s impressive. You’re impressive, Laken. It’s a star in my crown that I brought you into the firm.”

Laken hadn’t blushed in a long time, but she felt her cheeks warm now. “Thank you. I love my work. I’m grateful to be here.”

“You’ll be chairing the management committee one day.” A quick grin. “I’ll come by after you’ve kicked me to the curb and guilt you into a cup of coffee.”

“I owe you a lifetime of steak dinners at a minimum.”

“You’ve earned your own way. I only opened the door for you.” He glanced at his watch. “Well, Beverly is expecting me home, so I’d better run.”

“Of course. Give her my best.”

“She deserves the best. She’s put up with a lot as I made my way up. I spent a lot of evenings working late while she did far too much raising the kids alone.”

That had been her mother’s lot, one Laken would never share. Sally Foster had been
summa cum laude
at USC, then she’d fallen for Laken’s father and given up her life and all her dreams to focus on his.

He had rewarded her by leaving her for a younger woman when Laken was thirteen.

“I’m sure she didn’t mind,” Laken murmured politely, then watched him go.
Not true. So not true
. That was never going to be her fate. She’d blown one impulsive marriage when she was nineteen and pregnant. Scotty had been sweet and charming and so…normal. His family was Mom and Pop and apple pie, and it had seemed like nirvana after years of growing up in a household full of bitterness and fury and accusations. She’d escaped as soon as she could and raced right into a life she could never have lived. When she lost the baby, it had been the confirmation.

Enough of the past. She yanked open the gym door and waved her key tag at the sensor, then strode to the back.

If only her friend Ava were here, but Ava was on a book tour. There were other members of their Book Babes reading group, but she wasn’t as close to any of them, and all were juggling more pressing problems anyway.

Just as well, really. Ava was far too insightful. She already sensed too much about Laken’s attraction to Michael. Happily married to her core, Ava had no clue how wrong marriage could go. She and Tom would be sickening to watch if they weren’t so reassuring.

And Ava hadn’t sold her soul in service of Tom’s career. Tom respected Ava’s talent and did everything he could to encourage her.

Michael might do that
, an insidious voice whispered.

But he might not. Yes, he was good and solid and kind and sweet…

And Laken could walk all over him—no, that was wrong, she knew it was. He was good. He was kind.

He was stubborn as an ox. Somehow he’d maneuvered her into opening her life to him. He’d brought her a dog, damn the man. Then he’d taken the adorable little miscreant with him when he left.

“Hey, babe,” greeted Milos, the gorgeous younger man who had his eye on Ava.

“Ava’s out of town. She’s not for you, anyway.” Wow, could she growl a little deeper?

“Bad day?” His killer smile matched his killer eight-pack. “We could go somewhere after.”

How much time had she spent with losers like him? How many hard bodies had pressed up against hers? How many men had she led around by the balls?

Her eyes filled suddenly. Only Michael had resisted her. Had seen through her.

She missed him like the breath in her body, the blood now flowing sluggishly through her veins. She wanted to go after him, but then what? He wanted land and animals, not her loft above a nightclub or her life in the midst of the buzz.

And if they had children, he would have to be the one raising them, while she would be the one working the long nights to get ahead. She couldn’t consider doing otherwise—she’d fought too hard for the ground she’d gained, the control she’d wrested from life.

He’d be an amazing dad, but she hadn’t the first clue how to be a mother a child deserved.

“What do you say, babe?”

When she pictured taking this gorgeous guy home to wreck the bed as she had any number of times with any number of gorgeous men…

She didn’t want him. She wanted teasing brown eyes and shaggy hair that had never seen a hair product, strong hands that cradled puppies and sent her soaring.

But she couldn’t have Michael. For his own sake, as well as hers.

“Thank you, but no.” She headed across the gym for the elliptical.

Alone was better.

Alone was awful.

She couldn’t seem to sleep anymore, not without Michael and his three-legged dog and the puppy who couldn’t be trusted outside his crate but whom she desperately wanted to cuddle at night in her lonely bed.

But she’d sent all of them away.

Alone sucked.

But alone was…how it had to be.

By the time Ian had finished up his evening chores and driven into town with his dad, they were later than he’d intended, and Scarlett would be in the middle of the dinner rush.

He wanted to grab hold and steal her away, go make love with her and cuddle and talk out all he was feeling. Instead, he had to walk inside and face the town and all who would have heard.

As they entered the cafe, which was bursting at the seams, it was clear that pretty much everyone had learned about his surprise. He cast an automatic glance at the pass-through, searching for the top of Scarlett’s head. She was so small that she couldn’t see over it without a stool, and neither could Ruby.

He should fix that. Why hadn’t he? Because he kept assuming that at some point Scarlett would slow down, turn things over to others like Henry.

Yeah, right. His New York girl had acclimated to Sweetgrass in some ways, but she was hardwired to work full speed.

“Hey, QB,” hailed Mackey as he strolled up, studying his friend. “You okay?” He glanced at Gordon. “Hi, Mr. McLaren. How’s it going?”

“I’m good, son.” Gordon squeezed his shoulder. “I’m not the one fixing to go postal on everybody.” He was smiling, but his look at Ian held concern.

Ian exhaled. “He’s here, don’t tell me.”

“Listen, I’m sorry I bollixed things up today, and yeah, we brought him here to eat. He worked hard to help that colt, Ian, and you know how difficult Blaze can be. He’s good, really good, as a vet, and he’s a solid guy. He offered to leave town, but how could we send him off with no food and no place to stay when he’s as dog-tired as the rest of us?”

“You couldn’t,” Gordon responded when Ian didn’t.

Ian was too busy studying the man in question, across the room smiling as Jackson told a story. As if he sensed Ian’s presence, he looked up and came to his feet, nodded as though resolving something.