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Cody scuffed his little boots in the dirt, his mouth moving, repeating, “Rodeo man, rodeo man.”
The cowboy dipped his head, then nodded. “Back in the day, I was. Not any longer.”
Cody went silent, and Nina scrambled for something to say. For her son’s sake, of course, not because she wanted another taste of that Southern Comfort drawl saturating her senses. “Then what was that show all about?”
“Just doing my job, ma’am. This was actually a low-key session,” he said, his voice washing over her as he sat astride the horse, his muscular thighs at eye level...and his hips. Diamond Gem shook his head up and down, shaking the reins, a reminder that the horse, although calm now, was still unsettled. “Diamond Gem and I have been working together for a couple of weeks.”
That was an easy session?
“Do you miss the rodeo days?” she found herself asking, unable to stop herself from thinking of all the regrets Warren had lamented over after settling down.
The dusty cowboy scratched under his hat, then settled it back in place. “Let’s just say these days I prefer to spend my time communing with the animals rather than performing for people.”
“And this horse? You were communing?”
“This fella was confiscated by local animal control for neglect and...” He glanced at her son. “And for other reasons. Releasing him into the wild where he would be unable to fend for himself wasn’t an option. So he came here to us where we can socialize him. He’s a little green and gun-shy, but we’ve made progress.”
So he’d used the old skills to help this horse. Was he playing on her heartstrings as a part of some camp gimmick or was he as genuine as those blue eyes? She settled on saying, “That’s admirable of you to risk breaking a rib—or worse—to help the horse.”
The dimple twitched at his cheek again. “I may have enjoyed myself a little bit...” His eyes dipped down to the name tag stuck to her shirt. “Nina.”
Her skin prickled and heat flushed through her at the sound of her name coated in those whiskey tones. What harm was there in indulging in a light flirtation with a regular guy? No risk. She was only here for a week. Although she could be imagining his interest.
It was probably just his job as an employee to be polite to the customers.
“Well, my son certainly enjoyed it, as well. Thank you.” She backed up a step. “We should start unpacking or we’ll miss the lunch kickoff.”
“Wouldn’t want that to happen.” He touched the brim of his hat. “Y’all have a nice time at the HorsePower Cowkid Camp.”
Her skin flushed, heating at the sound of his low and rumbly voice soothing ragged nerves. How strange to be lulled and turned on all at once. But God, how she craved peace in her life. She treasured it in a way she never would have guessed a decade ago.
And watching the lumbering cowboy ride away, she had a very real sense of how smooth and sexy could coexist very, very well in one hot package.
* * *
For the first time in months, Alex McNair was stoked about the possibility of asking out a woman. He’d been telling himself for months he needed to move on after his cousin got engaged to the only woman Alex had ever wanted to marry. But the one-night stands he’d been having lately didn’t count as moving forward with his life.
He slung the saddle off Diamond Gem’s back and passed it over to a stable hand. Diamond Gem looked sideways at Alex from the cross ties and let out a long nicker. He preferred to brush and settle his own horses, but his responsibilities overseeing the Hidden Gem Ranch interfered more often than not with that simple work these days. He missed free time in the saddle, but his MBA was needed here more than his equestrian skills.
And the number-one priority today? He was due to meet his grandmother for an early lunch. That took precedence over anything else. He didn’t know how many more meals they would share, since she had terminal brain cancer.
With his grandmother’s illness, he had to step up to fill the huge void left by their McNair matriarch. Which probably made this a bad time to think about starting a relationship, even a short-term one, but the woman—Nina—intrigued him. Her curly red hair and soft curves snagged his attention, and the memory of her berry scent lingered in his senses.
And the protective way she watched over her son drew him in at a time when his emotions were damn raw. He didn’t want to overanalyze why she pulled at him. He was just glad as hell for the feeling.
It had taken him a long while to get over the fact that his cousin would be marrying Johanna. But he’d gotten past that. He had to. She would be in the family forever now. Family was too important for any kind of awkwardness to linger.
The family needed to stick together, especially with their grandmother’s cancer. They needed to support her, and had to make sure the McNair empire ran smoothly through this time of transition. Giving their grandmother peace during her final days was their most important task.
Still, he couldn’t stop thinking about the woman—Nina. He didn’t even know her last name, for God’s sake, but he sure intended to find out. He could see asking her to accompany him to his cousin’s wedding. How far did she live from here? People came from all over for the camp, but the bulk were local.
Regardless, distance didn’t really matter. Not to a McNair. He had the family plane at his disposal. And yet all that money couldn’t give them the one thing each of them really wanted.
Their grandmother’s health.
He strode toward the main house, veering off to the family’s wing where he was to meet his grandmother on the porch. His boots crunched along pine straw, children’s chatter and a banjo playing echoed in the distance. Branches rustled overhead. Some of those oak trees were older than him and he’d climbed those thick branches as a kid.
He neared the family porch where his grandmother—Mariah McNair—already sat in a rocking chair. A tray of sandwiches and a pitcher of tea waited on the table between the two rockers.
His gut knotted with dread over the day that rocker would be empty.
Her favored jean jumper and boots fit her more loosely these days. And her hair was shorter now. For as long as he could remember, she’d worn it long, either in a braid down her back or wrapped in a bun on her head. But she’d undergone a procedure to drain blood buildup in her head a few months ago. Her hair had been cut short and shaved away at the surgery site.
That made it real for him. She was going to die sooner rather than later, and not of old age. That damn tumor was going to steal her from them.
“You made it,” she said, clapping her hands. “Come sit beside me, load up a plate and let’s talk.”
“I’ll clean up and be right back down.” He worried about her getting sick on top of everything else.
“Now is better. A little dust and dirt isn’t going to make me keel over. Besides, I’ve seen you messier.”
“That you have.” He swept off his hat and hunkered down into the rocker beside her, resting his hat on his knee, thinking of how cute that kid Cody had looked passing it back to him. “How are you feeling, Gran? Do you want more tea?”
He reached for the pitcher, noticing she’d only nibbled at the corner of a sandwich.
“I’m fine, Alex, thank you. I have the sunshine, a glass of sweet tea and one of my grandchildren here. All is right in my world.”
But he knew that wasn’t really true. She didn’t have long to live. Months. Maybe only weeks. She’d been getting her affairs in order, deciding who would inherit what. Not that he cared a damn thing about the McNair wealth and holdings. He just wanted his grandmother.
He reached for a plate and piled on sandwiches, more to make her happy. His stomach felt as if it had rocks in it right now. “Thanks for lunch. It’s a chaotic day with all the campers coming in.”
“Stone surprised us all by starting that camp instead of taking over the jewelry enterprises, but in a good way.”
Alex touched his hat on his knee. “That he did.”
“His new life fits him. Johanna helped him see that path while she helped him with his inheritance test.” Mariah set her plate of uneaten sandwiches aside. “Alex, I want to talk to you about your test.”
“My test?” The rocks in his stomach turned icy. “I thought that was just a game to get Stone and Johanna back together.”
At least he’d hoped so as time passed and his grandmother didn’t bring up the subject of putting her three grandchildren through an arbitrary test to win their portion of the estate.
It wasn’t about the money. It was about the land. A mega-resort developer simply could not get a hold of Alex’s portion of the land. That, he definitely cared about.
“Well, Alex, you thought wrong. I need to feel secure about the future of what we’ve built. All three of you children have a stubborn streak.”
“One we inherited from you.”
“True enough.” She laughed softly before her blue eyes turned sad. “Much more so than my two children.”
Her daughter had been a junkie who dropped her child—Stone—off onto Mariah’s doorstep. Alex and his twin Amie’s father had been unmotivated to do more than spend his inheritance and avoid his wife.
Mariah had been more of a parent to Alex than his own.
He, Amie and Stone were like siblings, having grown up here at Hidden Gem together. Once they’d finished college, they all turned their attention to home, working to keep the McNair holdings profitable even after their grandfather died. Each one of them had a role to play. Alex managed the family lands—Hidden Gem Ranch, which operated as a bed-and-breakfast hobby ranch for the rich and famous. Until recently, Stone had managed the family jewelry design house and store. Diamonds in the Rough featured high-end rustic designs, from rodeo belt buckles and stylized bolos to Aztec jewelry, all highly sought after around the country. And Amie—a gemologist—created most of their renowned designs, even though the McNair jewelry company was now under new management, an outsider his grandmother had hired.
Gran rocked slowly, sipping her iced tea, her hand thin and pale with spidery veins as she set the glass back on the table between them. “Now back to what I’ve planned for your test.”
That damn test again. Stone had already passed his test to retain control of the jewelry business. Gran had made Stone work with Johanna to find loving homes for his grandmother’s dogs. Yet once Stone had finished, he surprised them all by proposing to Johanna and announcing he didn’t want to run Diamonds in the Rough after all. He didn’t want the all-consuming ambition. The camp had been Stone’s brainchild, shifting his focus to the family’s charity foundation, investing his portion of the estate into a self-generating fund to run the HorsePower program while a new CEO assumed command as head of Diamonds in the Rough.
“Seriously, Gran? You’re still insisting on the test? I assumed since Stone backed out and opted to live on his own portfolio you would pass the company along to Amie.”
“And leave the running of the ranch to you?”
He stayed silent. The land. This place. He’d put his heart and soul into it. But that was his grandmother’s decision to make. Money wasn’t a concern. He had his own. He could start fresh if need be.
Except he didn’t want to. He wanted his home to stay untouched by takeover from some mega-ranch theme park.
Mariah set aside her tea. “Alex, it’s a simple test really. There’s a competitor—Lowery Resorts—that has been quietly buying up shares of the McNair empire through shell corporations.”
Alarms went off in his head. This was the worst possible time for someone to stage a takeover. Stockholders were already on edge about his grandmother’s illness, concerned about the uncertain future of the McNair holdings. “A controlling percentage?”
“Not yet. But between my illness, Stone’s resignation as CEO and his replacement still gaining his footing, some investors perceive a void. If our loyalties split or if they continue consolidating, we could be at risk of having our haven turned into a sideshow resort.”
How the hell had this happened? His hands gripped the arms of the chair and he resisted the urge to vent his frustration. He bit back the words he wanted to spout and simply said, “How did they manage that?”
“When word first leaked of my illness, they moved fast and took advantage of investor fears. I should have seen that coming. I trusted old friendships. I was wrong. I need to move faster now. Time’s too important.”
He should have seen this coming. He should have thought beyond his part of the family holdings. “We could have Stone return as CEO until the crisis with the Lowery Resorts passes.”
“No, he doesn’t want it, and I need to see the company settled with our new CEO, Preston Armstrong, in control before I can rest easily. The board and I chose Preston because we believe in him, but he will need time to gain investors’ trust. So in the meantime, I need your help.”
“You don’t need to make it a test.” He patted her hand, then gripped it. “Just tell me what to do for you and I’m here for you, for the family.”
Smiling, she gave his hand a squeeze back, before her eyes narrowed with the laser focus that had leveled many in the business world. “The Lowery family has a vulnerability in their portfolio.”
“You want me to exploit it?” His mind churned with possibilities he wanted to discuss with Stone.
“Convince the Lowerys to sell back a sizeable portion of those shares bought by their shell companies and I’ll transfer all my shares of the ranch into your hands effective immediately.”
He waved aside the last part of her words. “It’s not about me accumulating a larger part of the homestead. It’s about our family. I will not allow our land to pass into anyone else’s hands.”
She nodded tightly. “There’s that old competitive spirit of yours. I was wondering if you’d buried it completely under that laid-back air you carry around these days.”
“Hmm.” He didn’t like reminders of that side of himself. He picked up his tea and drank. There was still a lot of dirt inside him to wash away from those rodeo days. Things he’d allowed his parents to push him to do. Things he regretted.
“You need to be aware, the Lowery family is going to be resistant. You’ll need to be careful and savvy in gaining the trust of the one chink in their armor. I’ve even given you a head start.”
He paused mid-drink, then set his glass back down carefully. “What do you mean by head start?”
Her thumbs rubbed along the arms of the wooden rocker. “The vulnerable shares belong to the Lowery grandson. His widowed mother is the executor, and she needs to invest wisely for the boy’s future—long-term.”
A kid? A widow? A creeping sensation started up his spine, as if he were about to get kicked by a horse or run over by a stampede. “Gran, what have you done?”
“I investigated all the Lowerys, of course. And when I found out the grandson adores all things cowboy, I made sure a brochure for our camp landed in his mother’s hands so we would have the chance to meet with them—away from the grandparents’ influence.”
Ah, damn. It couldn’t be...
“In fact, I believe you’ve already met her and her son.” She pointed a frail finger toward the corral, where she would have had a clear view of his morning activities.
Crap. He could almost hear that stampede gaining speed, ready to run him over.
“The lovely red-haired lady who watched you work with Diamond Gem.”
Two (#ulink_51ee3446-1493-5bdc-8328-5b04d539c739)
The sun was low and warm, piercing through the barn windows as Nina sat at a long wooden table eating supper with the other parents. A country band played twangy children’s songs, a group of young campers sitting clustered in front of the small stage. Cody rocked and flapped his hands in time, having already finished his macaroni and cheese. A little girl with a pink scarf over her shaved head spun in circles with a streamer. A little boy with cerebral palsy held his new friend’s hand as they danced. Three children ran up to the stage clapping.
She’d spent the morning unpacking, then eating lunch and attending camp sessions with her son, followed by pony rides, arts and crafts. They’d made belts and jewelry. And not just the children, but the adults had been included, as well. She touched the bracelet full of little charms, all Wild West themed, and a gem that was also her son’s birthstone.
Between the horses and the art, her son’s two favorite activities, Cody had been enthralled. The tiny sticker jewels he’d glued to the belt made an intricate repeating pattern that had even surprised the instructor.
Her son was happy, but tired from a good day. The best she could remember having in a long time. And she couldn’t deny that her mind wandered back to the morning and the dusty cowboy who probably hadn’t given her a second thought. But she’d kept looking for him in the crowds.
And she didn’t know his name.
She stabbed at her dinner salad, covered in strips of tender steak. The big grill outside had been fired up with a variety of meats, potatoes and corn for the adults. She was wondering how the fee they charged possibly covered such a high-end production. The McNair family, or some of their wealthy friends, had to be underwriting the expense. Her in-laws were always looking for tax havens. As fast as the thought hit her, she winced. She hated how cynical she’d become, but it was hard to feel sympathy for people who wanted to write a check rather than get to know their only grandchild.
Old anger and hurt simmered. She sliced through a steak strip, took a big bite and reminded herself to enjoy this great food and the break from always staying on guard as the only person to watch over Cody.
A shadow stretched across her, giving her only a second’s warning to chew faster.
“Would you like some dessert?” Warm whiskey tones caressed her neck and ears.
She set her fork down carefully and swallowed the bite before turning around. Sure enough, her dusty cowboy stood behind her, holding a plate of blueberry cobbler—except he wasn’t dusty any longer.
His chaps and vest were gone. Just fresh jeans and a plaid shirt with the sleeves rolled up. Her eyes were drawn to the sprinkling of dark hair along his tanned forearms. Masculine arms. Funny how she’d forgotten how enticing such details could be.
“Oh, hello, again.” Why had she thought she wasn’t attracted to cowboys?
“Dessert?”
She shook herself out of the fog before she embarrassed herself. “Not just yet, thank you. I’m stuffed from supper. I didn’t expect the meal to be this good, so I snacked earlier.”
He straddled the bench, sitting beside her. “What did you expect? Rubber chicken?”
The hint of man musk and aftershave reminded her of how long it had been since she’d had a man in her life. In her bed.
Shrugging, she twirled her fork in the sparse remains of her salad. “I thought since this is a kiddie camp, the cuisine would be all about catering to their finicky palates. And there certainly was plenty for my son to pick from. I just didn’t think there would be such a lavish adult course, as well.”
