Count on a Cowboy Read online

  A flash of lightning followed by a crack of thunder that sounded like a mountain being split in two made him jump. The house went dark. Well, damn. What kind of guy marched into a house that had just lost power and announced he was taking off?

  He needed to go in and find out what he could do to help before he left. Climbing out of the truck, he ignored the rain pelting him as he walked around to the rear of his truck and opened the back window of his camper shell. Fortunately his battery-operated lantern was within easy reach of the tailgate.

  Lantern in hand, he sloshed through water and gravel and climbed the front porch steps. The cool, rain-scented air smelled of wood smoke, so a fire must be blazing inside. He unlaced his boots, toed them off, and peeled away his wool socks, which were soaked.

  When he came out — if he came out — he’d just wear the boots out to the truck and carry the socks. Taking a deep breath, he knocked on the door.

  It opened soon afterward. “There you are!” Olivia stood holding a brass candlestick with a lit candle. She looked like an angel. “Come in. I told everyone who rescued me and they’re all dying to meet you. Well, I guess Sarah has already met you.”

  “Briefly.” He remembered a stately silver-haired woman in her sixties who had a warm smile and kind eyes. Stepping into the entryway, he closed the door behind him. “I’m dripping. I should stand out here on the mat for a minute so I don’t mess up the hardwood floors.” The musical hum of female voices and laughter filtered in from the living room, along with the clink of glasses and the snap and crackle of a fire.

  “Maybe I should get you a towel.”

  “That’s not necessary. I really can’t stay.” He threw the comment out there, although his escape hatch was closing fast. “But I brought a lantern in case the power’s out for a while.” He held it up.

  “If the lightning hit a transformer, and Sarah thinks it might have, then the power will be out for the rest of the night.”

  “Doesn’t the ranch have a backup generator for emergencies?”

  “Yes, but it’s not working right now. The men were planning to buy the part in Casper and repair it after they came back. I guess this storm was a surprise to everyone.”

  “Oh.” Although intellectually Wyatt knew that the women on this ranch were unlikely to be helpless females who couldn’t look after themselves during a power outage, he still couldn’t picture himself driving away, knowing he’d left them in the middle of a blackout that might last until morning.

  “Sarah wants you to stay, and I think you should. Pam’s fine with it, and she won’t charge you for a night at the Bunk and Grub, either.”

  The escape hatch closed with a bang. “I’m happy to pay her, anyway, but yeah, I’ll stay. Although I don’t have anything with me like clothes and stuff. I left it all at the Bunk and Grub.”

  “I’m sure that can be worked out. A place with this many men on site always has some old clothes somewhere.”

  “I suppose.” Wyatt felt something warm and wet on his bare feet. Glancing down, he discovered a low-slung, brown and white spotted dog with floppy ears licking his toes. “Who’s this?”

  “Rodney, Sarah’s recently adopted dog. She got him from a shelter in Colorado, and he’s a mix, but he’s mostly Bassett hound.”

  “Not the kind of dog I’d expect on a ranch, but why not?” Wyatt crouched down and scratched behind the dog’s oversized ears. “How’s it going, Rodney?”

  “His full name is Rodney Dangerfield.”

  Wyatt lifted the dog’s muzzle and looked into his sad eyes. “Appropriate. Can’t get no respect, can you, Rodney?”

  The dog whined and wagged his white-tipped tail.

  “You and me, we’ll hang out tonight, buddy. We’ll find us a baseball game on TV—”

  “No power,” Olivia said.

  “Oh, right. No worries, Rod. With that face, I’ll bet you’re great at poker. We’ll play cards by candlelight.”

  The dog whined again.

  Olivia glanced up at him with a smile as he stood. “That’s enough of the stall tactics. You’ve stopped dripping, so it’s time to come inside and meet everyone. I told them how you rushed to my rescue, so I suspect you’re going to be the man of the hour.”

  Wyatt groaned inwardly. Just what he didn’t want. He followed Olivia into the living room with Rodney trotting at his heels. Wyatt wasn’t sure of his welcome with Jack, but at least he’d scored with the dog.

  Chapter Three

  Olivia guessed that Wyatt had agreed to stay because he was unwilling to leave a group of ladies caught in a power outage. If chivalry kept him here, that was fine with her. She wouldn’t mention that these were resourceful ranch women who didn’t need a man to babysit them in an emergency.

  But judging from what the women had said after she’d arrived, nobody should be out driving tonight, not even a can-do wilderness guide. Sarah’s battery-operated weather radio had predicted high winds and hail would follow on the heels of the heavy rain. They walked into the living room where a fire burned in the large rock fireplace and candles positioned around the room illuminated a comfortable collection of brown leather furniture and sturdy wooden side tables.

  Conversation stopped among the eight women gathered in the room. Eleven-month-old Sarah Bianca, Gabe and Morgan’s little girl, continued to babble to her stuffed dinosaur, and four-month-old Archie, Jack and Josie’s son, slept peacefully in his carrier. All other eyes turned toward Wyatt.

  Olivia understood why. Firelight and candlelight bronzed his wet T-shirt look with an erotic glow that was truly mesmerizing. The women had good reason to stare, especially after just hearing Olivia’s tale of being carried through the rain by this fine specimen of manhood.

  Sarah was the first to break the charged silence. “Good to see you again, Wyatt, but my goodness, you’re soaked!” She set down her wine glass and walked toward him, all smiles. “We need to do something about that before you settle in.”

  Olivia swallowed a bubble of laughter. What Sarah really meant was that if she didn’t reduce the sexual wattage of that impressive physique by giving him something dry to wear, everyone would be distracted the entire evening by the resident beefcake.

  “I have some of my sons’ old clothes I was going to take to a rummage sale in town,” Sarah said. “Come on back to the laundry room with me. Something should fit you.”

  “Thanks. I appreciate it.” Wyatt set his lantern on a side table and followed her down the hallway to the left with Rodney close behind, his short legs moving rapidly to keep up.

  “Whew.” Josie flipped her long, blonde braid over her shoulder. “Don’t anybody tell Jack I said so, but that guy’s hot. I had no idea. Jack just said he was a typical hiker type with sandy-colored hair.”

  Morgan laughed as she took the dinosaur her daughter handed her. “Of course he said that. You think he’s going to describe his half-brother, or any guy, for that matter, as good-looking?”

  “I wish I could have snapped off a couple of shots before Sarah dragged him away.” Dominique was a professional photographer who always had her camera handy. “But that would have spooked him, I’ll bet.”

  “Oh, you think?” Mary Lou shook her head and grinned. “You ladies better take it down a notch or he’s liable to spend the evening in a back room playing with the dog.”

  “That would be a shame.” Olivia had returned to setting up her mani-pedi station in a corner, but she glanced over at Dominique. “Still, I would have loved a picture of him in that wet T-shirt. I can see it framed and hanging in your gallery, too. You’d sell a few prints of those, girlfriend.”

  Dominique nodded, her eyes alight. “I think so.”

  “But you and Dominique would be the only ones who could get away with having that picture,” said Tyler. “I don’t think Alex would take kindly to me pasting it up on the inside of my closet door, if you know what I mean. Those days are over for this married lady.”

  Emily lifted her chin. “I don�
��t need a picture like that. I have Clay.”

  “Spoken like a woman who’s only been a bride for two months.” Morgan winked at her. “Just because we ogle once in awhile doesn’t mean we don’t adore our guys. There’s no harm in a little recreational voyeurism. Right, ladies?”

  “Right!” everyone chorused, except for Emily.

  “I can’t believe I didn’t recognize his name when he made his reservation at the Bunk and Grub.” Pam sipped her wine. “Sarah told me about his visit last summer, and you’d think I’d have remembered his name and made the connection.”

  “It’s probably just as well you didn’t.” Josie walked over to peek at a still-sleeping Archie before retrieving her glass of mineral water. “If Jack had known he was coming, that might have changed his plans for the Casper horse show.”

  “True,” Morgan said. “And I think it’s great that they all went and took so many Last Chance horses. Gabe was looking forward to putting on a cutting horse demonstration. It should provide excellent exposure for the breeding program and sell some horses, too.”

  “And Jack didn’t have time to get all discombobulated at the idea of Wyatt returning,” Josie added. “So I’m glad it didn’t occur to you, Pam. This is better.”

  “I’m certainly not complaining, either.” Olivia pulled her stainless-steel foot bath out of one of her zippered totes. She’d organized the area with a comfy chair and a small desk for manicures and a second cozy chair for pedicures. She’d roll back and forth on the office chair Sarah had brought out.

  “I’ll bet you’re not complaining,” Morgan said.

  Josie nodded. “Right. Olivia hasn’t been able to wipe that Cheshire Cat grin off her face since she walked in here tonight.”

  “He seems really nice.” As Olivia took inventory of the stack of towels Sarah had provided, she almost mentioned that Wyatt might even move his business here, but she thought better of it. He wanted to relocate, but he still didn’t know how Jack was going to react to his reappearance. He might not appreciate having her give out that information prematurely.

  “Yes, he does seem nice,” Josie said. “I hope that everything — well, never mind. I hear them coming back down the hall.”

  “So!” Sarah clapped her hands together as she walked into the living room with Wyatt and the ever-present Rodney Dangerfield. “Let’s get this party started!”

  Olivia straightened and turned toward Sarah and Wyatt. Whoa. She was more than ready to party, all right, but she wished it could be a private one featuring her and the hunk of burning love who’d just walked in. The wet-T-shirt had showcased Wyatt’s glorious muscles beautifully, and she hadn’t thought Sarah could improve on that.

  Oh, but she had. The yoked gray Western shirt was a smidgen too tight, and tucked into worn jeans that fit like a second skin… ooo, baby. Olivia licked her suddenly dry lips.

  A scuffed but serviceable tooled leather belt with a plain silver buckle brought her attention to the fly of his jeans, and she looked away quickly before she could be caught staring inappropriately. A pair of Western boots that showed some wear completed the outfit. He’d left the room a wilderness guide. He’d returned a cowboy.

  Sarah introduced Wyatt to everyone in the room, and he did his level best to keep them all straight. Josie, Jack’s wife, would be important to remember. Their baby, Wyatt’s new nephew, was named Archie, after Jack’s grandfather. Archie was asleep in his carrier, so despite Wyatt’s curiosity, he kept his distance so he wouldn’t wake him.

  Morgan, a busty redhead, was obviously the mother of a little red-headed tot named Sarah Bianca, SB for short. Morgan’s dark-haired sister, Tyler, had married Alex Keller, Josie’s brother. Wyatt decided when he had access to paper and pencil he’d write some of this down.

  Then he met Dominique, a tall brunette who was the third daughter-in-law, and Emily, a petite blonde who had just married the guy who ran the stud program. That took care of the women in his generation.

  He recognized Pam, a blonde in her fifties, from hearing her voice on the phone when he’d registered at the Bunk and Grub. By process of elimination, he knew that the gray-haired woman with the jolly smile had to be Mary Lou, the cook. Yes, he would definitely write all this down before he went to sleep tonight.

  But he should be okay for the evening, while the introductions were fresh in his mind. Maybe this wouldn’t be so awkward, after all. He’d thought he’d be uncomfortable wearing somebody else’s clothes, but he’d been wrong. These cowboy duds felt great.

  Sarah had offered him several shirts and pairs of jeans along with a few pairs of clean underwear tucked in with the rest of the clothes. Neither of them had talked about the need for underwear, but he was soaked clean through.

  Once Sarah had handed over the clothes, she’d waited outside the laundry room while he tried them on to see if they fit. He’d chosen the first things he’d put on for expediency’s sake. But the longer he wore them, the more right they seemed.

  When he’d asked her who the clothes had belonged to, she’d confided that they’d all been Jack’s. Now that Jack was relaxed, happy, and enjoying married life, he’d put on a little weight and couldn’t wear them anymore without straining the seams. She’d made Wyatt promise not to mention the weight gain to Jack, because he swore the clothes had shrunk in the wash.

  Apparently Wyatt was about the size that Jack had been a year ago, before he’d married Josie. Knowing they were so alike in build if not in coloring had pleased Wyatt. But meeting Jack while wearing his old clothes might be weird. Wyatt planned to drive back to the Bunk and Grub and change into his own stuff before Jack came home.

  In the meantime, though, he liked the way Olivia had looked at him when he’d first come into the room. He hadn’t thought about whether she had a soft spot in her heart for cowboys, but if so, he might decide to brush up on his riding skills and pick up some Western wear of his own. Recreating that sparkle in her blue eyes was worth the effort.

  Sarah finished the introductions and turned to Olivia. “So who would you like to do first?”

  In what looked like a purely unconscious move, Olivia glanced at Wyatt, and he swore he could read her X-rated response. Heat rocketed through him. Wow. He was definitely buying Western clothes before he left town.

  She turned bright red before she looked away. “Why don’t I start on Josie’s nails while little Archie is asleep?”

  “That’s fine with me, but don’t worry about waking him up,” Josie said. “Now that he’s fed, he’ll sleep for several hours. He sleeps through anything.”

  “I just thought of something.” Sarah looked worried as she glanced at Olivia. “You’ll want warm water for your finger bowl and the foot bath. The hot water heater’s electric, so we have hot water now, but we won’t for the rest of the evening.”

  “We can hang a kettle over the fire like people did in the old days,” Mary Lou said.

  Sarah brightened. “Sure we can. Problem solved. Let’s get that kettle going now so it’ll be ready when the water from the heater turns cool.”

  Talk of manicures and foot baths galvanized Wyatt into action. “I think it’s about time for me to take Rodney and vamoose.”

  “Oh, no, you don’t.” Mary Lou smiled at him. “Now that we’re in full swing, I could use some help getting the food laid out.”

  “We can help, Mary Lou,” Dominique said. “Morgan has her hands full with SB, but the rest of us can schlep things from the kitchen.”

  “Hey, I’m glad to do it,” Wyatt said. “I’m the party crasher around here, so it would make me feel better if I can be useful.”

  Dominique put down her wine glass. “Okay, but we can still help.”

  “Absolutely,” Tyler said. “I’m good at this kind of thing.”

  “Ladies, ladies.” Mary Lou held up both hands. “Your offer is much appreciated, but I think you should let this nice young man do the honors. I’ve had my eye on him since he walked in. I said to myself oh, good. There’s
our muscle.”

  Wyatt pretended not to hear the muffled laughter that followed that remark. “Then it’s settled. Everybody relax and I’ll handle it.” Considering how hungry he was and how many delicious smells had invaded the laundry room while he was changing clothes, he was more than willing to facilitate the food situation. He could always disappear after the meal part.

  “Great,” Mary Lou said. “Come on back and I’ll show you where the large folding tables are stored. We need a couple set up in the living room so we can create a buffet. That way everyone can munch whenever they feel like it. Since the stove’s electric, I need to move the hot food into chafing dishes and bring them out here.”

  “Sounds like a plan.” Wyatt was aware of everyone eyeing him with amusement.

  “Oh, and I’d appreciate it if you’d bring that lantern of yours into the kitchen, too.”

  “Sure thing.” Wyatt grabbed the lantern from where he’d left it and followed Mary Lou down the same hall he’d recently traveled with Sarah. The left wall was a bank of windows which now looked out on rain and streaks of lightning. But each time the lightning flashed, it lit up the other wall, which was covered with framed photos.

  “What are all those pictures?” Wyatt asked.

  “Family.” Mary Lou kept walking. “No sense in trying to show you now, though. We’d have to use your lantern, and we should probably conserve the batteries. But the entire history of the Chance family is there in those pictures.”

  “I’d like to study them.”

  “I’m sure you would. Come down in the morning and I’ll give you a guided tour.” Mary Lou kept walking, but she glanced over at him. “I wish you well, Wyatt Locke. Your mother caused a lot of pain in this family, but that’s not your fault. It took guts for you to come back here, and that tells me you’d fit in a lot better than your mother ever did.” She caught her breath. “Oh, I shouldn’t have said that. It wasn’t respectful of your mother. I’m sorry.”

  “Don’t be sorry. I know my mother’s not a popular person around the ranch.” He hesitated, torn between truth and disloyalty. “She’s a complicated woman. Being her son hasn’t always been easy.”