скачать книгу бесплатно
“You know Cooper was framed for killing those horses, and all the charges were dropped.” Cait reached for her purse on the floor. “What else is bothering you?”
Sky had to be honest. “Not all the charges were dropped. He almost beat to death the man who framed him, and he’s still on probation for the assault. I don’t want a man with that kind of temper around my daughter.”
Maddie picked up her diaper bag. “I’d trust Coop with my kids any day of the week. I’ve worked with him and I know he’s a good man who’s had some bad breaks. Just cut him some slack.”
“I can’t believe you two.” Sky flung up her hands. “I ask for your help and you’re telling me to deal with him.”
“That’s it.” Cait glanced at her watch. “I’ve got to run. Judd has a decorator coming to give ideas on a nursery.” She slung her purse strap over her shoulder. “As if I need ideas, but I’ll cooperate because I’m such a good wife.”
Sky’s patience snapped. “If High Five needs Cooper Yates so badly, then I might as well not be here. I’ll pack my things and leave.” She glared at her older sister. “That’s my bottom line.”
“That’s just like you, Sky,” Cait shot back, just as Sky knew she would. Their relationship had always been volatile because they were so alike in their fiery temperament. “It’s your way or nothing.”
“It’s not about having my way. I can’t work with the man.”
“All right,” Cait shouted. “I’ll take over running High Five.”
“Cait!” Maddie was quick to come to her defense. “You can’t do that. You’re going to have a baby.”
“With Sky being so stubborn, I don’t see any other way. I’ll have to come back.”
Sky felt like a fifth grader, being mean for no reason. Except she had a reason.
“Cait…” Maddie trailed off as Gran walked into the room. Their grandmother’s hair was beautifully white and curled into a knot at her nape. In slacks, a multicolored blouse and sensible shoes, Dorthea Belle looked much younger than her seventy-seven years. Sky had often thought she had an ageless beauty, with a softness and a fragility that was very striking. Even in slacks Gran wore her pearls.
Southern manners had been instilled into her, and she tried her best to impress those views on her granddaughters. Somehow her teachings had missed the mark, but all three sisters were aware of Gran’s position on life, women and their roles. They respected her enough never to hurt her.
“What’s this I hear about leaving and coming back?”
Maddie hoisted the diaper bag higher on her shoulder and walked forward. Linking her arm through Gran’s, she asked, “Have you been listening at the door?”
“Certainly not.” Gran stiffened her shoulders. “A lady would never do such a thing.”
“Then how did you hear?” Maddie continued in her pleasant, soothing way.
“Cait and Sky were shouting, my baby. That’s how I heard.” Gran looked at Cait. “What’s this nonsense about you coming back to High Five?”
Cait stared at Sky, who wasn’t sure how to explain this to Gran. Damn Cooper Yates.
Gran patted Maddie’s hand. “Since your sisters seem to be tongue-tied, tell me what’s going on.”
As if it was the easiest thing in the world, Maddie started to explain. “Sky has a problem working with Cooper.”
“What? That’s ridiculous. Cooper is a very nice and polite young man.”
“We were trying to explain that to Sky, but she feels differently, and we have to respect her feelings. That’s the reason Cait offered to come back.”
“Respect, my ass,” Cait whispered under her breath.
“Cait’s not coming back to High Five to work,” Gran stated firmly. “She has a husband, a home, a baby on the way, and she doesn’t belong here, running a ranch.” Gran patted Maddie’s hand again. “Neither do you, so go home to your husbands. Sky and I will sort this out. If worst comes to worst, I can run the ranch.”
A collective gasp echoed around the room. Cait mouthed at Sky, I’m going to kill you.
“I can see you, Caitlyn,” Gran stated.
“Gran…”
She held up a hand. “Go home, my baby. That’s where you belong.”
“But you can’t run this ranch.” Cait couldn’t leave well enough alone.
Their grandmother bristled. “You don’t think I can.”
“Cait didn’t mean that.” As usual, peacemaker Maddie tried to soothe the ruffled feathers.
“Good.” Gran nodded. “Sky and I will talk about this. We’ll let you know how it turns out. Goodbye, my babies.”
“I’m going to kill you,” Cait muttered once again as she walked out the door. Maddie looked anxious, but followed her.
Don’t go. Don’t go.
As upset as she was with her sisters, Sky did not want to face her grandmother alone. Gran would pick away at her emotions like a buzzard gnaws at a carcass, laying bare every fear, every anxiety she kept hidden.
Gran took Maddie’s seat, her back straight, her hands folded in her lap. “Now, young lady, what’s the problem?”
Oh, God. When Gran sat as a proper Southern woman and called her “young lady,” Sky knew she was in trouble. However, she wasn’t a little girl or a teenager anymore. She was now an adult and able to handle her grandmother.
Yeah, a little voice mocked her, like when cows can vote.
She pushed the nervousness away and decided to be honest. “Gran…”
“Just so we’re clear.” Gran held up the forefinger on her left hand, and Sky noticed her platinum-and-diamond wedding rings. Sky had always loved them. When Cait married, Sky had felt sure Gran would give them to her, but Judd had had his own ideas for Cait’s rings, as Walker had for Maddie’s. Sky was the only granddaughter left, and she would never wed. She would never again open her heart to a scum like Todd Spencer, who had shredded her emotions like confetti.
“You are not leaving High Five.” Gran’s declaration broke through her musings. “Kira loves it here and you can’t keep uprooting her. She needs stability. It’s time to stand up to Todd’s parents, but that’s another discussion. Right now I want to talk about Cooper.”
For once Sky would rather talk about Cooper, too. Ever since Todd’s parents had found out about Kira, they’d wanted a paternity test done, in hopes of gaining custody of their only grandchild. Sky had been on the run since then. She would fight with her last breath before she’d let the wealthy Spencers take her child.
She forced Todd’s parents out of her mind. “Cooper doesn’t like me and I’m not that crazy about him, either. I don’t see how we can continue to work together.”
“How do you know he doesn’t like you?”
“He won’t speak to me and he avoids me. When I tell him to do something, he ignores me.”
“Well, that’s just rude.”
Sky blinked. Hot damn. Gran was on her side. She didn’t expect this.
“But, my baby, you’ve been rude to him, too. Cooper doesn’t even eat at the house anymore because of you and your intolerance. I’ve taught you better than that. Being part owner of this ranch gives you certain rights, but prejudice isn’t one of them.”
“Gran!” She could feel Gran stripping away all her defenses and her rights as she envisioned them, exposing a painful reality that wedged its way into her heart—she’d disappointed her grandmother once again.
Gran shouldn’t be able to ignite her guilt. But she managed to, because Sky loved her. Gran and Sky’s father had been the only stability she’d ever known in her life. And disappointing them had always taken a slice of her pride. Like now.
“But my granddaughter will not be treated that way. I will have a word with Cooper.” Gran slowly pushed to her feet.
Guilt screamed full blast through her conscience, awakening a barefaced truth. Since when had she needed anyone to fight her battles? This wasn’t Cait’s, Maddie’s or Gran’s problem. It was hers. And it was time to stop acting like a fifth grader and run this ranch with authority, as Cait and Maddie had. Cooper Yates would not make her turn tail and run.
“No, Gran.” Sky rose to her feet with confidence, stopping her at the door. “I’ll talk with Cooper. It’s my job and this time he will not ignore me.”
Gran fingered her pearls. “I wondered what had happened to your fighting spirit.”
She winced. “Momentary insanity.”
“Baby, give the man a chance. High Five can’t afford to lose him.”
“Cait said the same thing.”
“Well, then, enough said. Pull up your big-girl panties and get this done…the Belle way.”
Sky’s laughter echoed around the room. “Gran, you’ve said that since I was small, and I still don’t know what the hell it means.”
“But you get the gist? And no cursing, please.”
Sky wrapped an arm around the old woman’s thin shoulders. “Yes, ma’am.”
“That’s all that matters, and thank you. I really didn’t want to saddle up in the morning.”
Sky stopped and stared at her grandmother. “You had no intention of saddling up. You played me like a fine-tuned violin. You knew if you made me see how selfish I was being, I’d relent.”
Gran shrugged. “Whatever works.”
“Mommy. Mommy,” Kira called, running from the parlor, with Etta, the housekeeper, on her heels.
Before the child reached Sky, she fell headlong onto the hardwood floor. Loud cries filled the room. Sky immediately scooped her up.
Don’t ask if she’s hurt. Don’t ask.
Her four-year-old daughter had been diagnosed with juvenile rheumatoid arthritis, and the doctor warned about constantly asking if Kira was hurting. It would make the child paranoid and deeply aware of her condition. Kira would tell her if she was in pain. Still, Sky couldn’t help thinking about it constantly.
Kira’s cries grew louder. Sky rubbed her back. “You’re okay, precious. Shh. Mommy’s here.”
Raising her head from Sky’s shoulder, she wiped at her eyes. “I fall down.”
Sky kissed a wet cheek. “Yes, you did.” Kira fell a lot but the doctor said that was normal. There was nothing normal about her baby hurting, though.
Kira’s right knee was red and swollen this morning. Her child living in pain kept her on tenterhooks, and she tried not to let it show. She didn’t always accomplish that.
“How about a nap?”
Kira stopped rubbing her eyes. “’Kay. Is Georgie coming back?”
“Not today, precious.”
“I wanna play with Georgie.”
“Maybe tomorrow.”
“And we’ll have some chocolate pudding when you wake up.” Gran kissed Kira. “I love you.”
“Love you, too.” Kira rested her head against Sky’s shoulder again and all her motherly instincts kicked in, feelings she thought she would never have. But the moment she’d first held her baby, her whole personality seemed to change. Kira depended on her, needed her. Sky had never had full responsibility for another person and at first it had overwhelmed her. Now it was natural.
She stroked her daughter’s red curly hair, hair just like her own, as were her blue eyes. Very little of Todd was evident in Kira, and Sky was grateful for that.
Slowly, she made her way up the stairs to their bedroom. Kira really needed her own room, but Sky was afraid she wouldn’t hear her if she needed her during the night. Besides, it was just the two of them, and probably always would be.
After she gave Kira some children’s liquid Tylenol and settled her down for a nap, Sky planned to have an up-close-and-personal meeting with Mr. Cooper Yates.
And this time he wasn’t ignoring her.
WITH A KNOT in his gut, Cooper watched Cait and Maddie drive away. He strode into the barn, his jaw clenched. The redhead had called a family meeting and he knew exactly what it was about. She wanted to get rid of him.
If he knew Cait and Maddie—and he did, since he’d worked side by side with both—he couldn’t see them going along with such a plan. But they were sisters, and owners of High Five. He was just the hired hand. A cowboy.
He threw a saddle over his brown-and-white paint, Rebel, and tightened the cinch. The horse did a quick side step and reared his head. Cooper had just bought and broken the gelding, which was still fidgety. But he’d settle down.
The calluses on Cooper’s hands rubbed against the leather strap. He was a working man—work kept his demons at bay. Cait had understood that. So had Maddie. But the redhead wanted him gone, and he wondered if she’d get her wish. It didn’t matter to him. He didn’t know if he could continue to work for the woman, anyway. Maybe it was time for him to move on.
To what?
Dane Belle had given him a job when no one else would. High Five was his home now and the redhead wasn’t getting rid of him. Besides, he was on probation and couldn’t leave the county. He was here to stay. Once he made that decision the knot in his stomach eased.
But not for long.
The redhead was coming his way.
CHAPTER TWO
“MAY I SPEAK WITH YOU, please?” Sky was determined to be polite, using her best manners, as Gran would want her to.
“It’s a free country.” The deep drawl came from the other side of the horse, and the man made no move to look at her or to acknowledge her presence.
She gritted her teeth, but his insolence wasn’t going to cause her to lose her temper. “We have to work together so could you please look at me?”
He lowered the stirrup, raised his head and glared at her over the top of the saddle. For the first time, she noticed his eyes were a deep green, not brown as she’d thought. Green and cold as a frozen pond. She actually felt a chill and wrapped her arms around her waist.
“I’m guessing you want to talk because the meeting with Cait and Maddie didn’t go your way.” His voice was as cold as his eyes. Even so, it had a gravelly intone that would be attractive if it hadn’t been delivered with such an edge.
She bit her lip as fiery retorts zinged through her head. The cow dogs lay at his feet, but they were looking at her almost as if they were waiting for her next words.
