Love Under Two Benedicts(17)

Now Matthew wanted nothing more than to stay here in Lusty, settle down, and raise a family.

Grandma Kate always liked to say that things happened in their own time and in their own way. He couldn’t deny the truth of that as he thought about how his life had gone so far and especially when he thought about the arrival of Kelsey into his world.

There was no doubt in his mind that Kelsey Madison was the woman meant for Steven and him. He’d known it the first time he’d laid eyes on her.

She’d seemed so fragile the day she came into the restaurant to have her first look at the place. He’d felt a special kind of awareness the moment she’d walked through the door. One look at Steven, who’d been helping him finish up the painting and getting the restaurant ready for her, and he knew his brother had felt that instant connection, too.

He’d already known a bit about her past. The moment Susan suggested leasing the building at 32 Main Street to Kelsey, he’d done a thorough background check on her.

What he’d learned had not only broken his heart, it had put him on cautious alert. A woman with the kind of emotional baggage Kelsey carried would need special care.

Perhaps it had been a by-product of how he’d been raised with two dads and one mom, or maybe it was the family tradition of ménage marriages, but he considered women, all women, special, deserving of care and attention.

His instincts about her had proven true when, for the first several months, she hadn’t even seen either Steven or him as men.

Thinking about last night brought a wide smile to Matthew’s face. She sure as hell thought of them as men now.

He turned into the laneway of the ranch, drove on straight past the house to the barn. He knew his brother would be around the place. A creature of habit, Steven used Friday afternoon to fix any machinery or tack that needed repairs or worked around the house and yard performing upkeep.

Steven greeted him as he entered the saddle barn. “You on what they call bankers’ hours these days, bro? Good thing you’re going to be moving back here soon. You need to remember what it is to work for a living.”

A soft snort and puff of air caught his attention. He didn’t answer Steven right away, instead heading over to one of the stalls on the west side of the barn. As he approached, the palomino filly in that stall began to nod her head up and down, as if to tell him it was about time he’d made an appearance.

“Hey, Duchess. There’s my girl.” Matthew stroked the mare, a horse he’d had for more than six years. He made it a point to come out to the ranch and ride at least twice a week.

Once things were settled and he was living here again, he’d be able to do that more often. And, he conceded mentally, help out more with ranch work.

“Not my fault the sheriff’s office has a summer schedule. I get Friday afternoon off, as well as Tuesday morning. Then all day Sunday. So not quite bankers’ hours. Jealous?”

“Of a job in town? Hardly. You want to talk here or out there?” Steven nodded toward the range.

Matthew smiled. “Out there. Just let me toss a blanket on my lady here and grab a halter and some reins. We’ll be good to go.”

Before long, he and Steven were setting a brisk pace as they rode out away from the house and barn, deeper onto Benedict land. He loved these times, times when it was just him and his brother, the horses, and the land.

Matthew looked over at his brother, at the look of contentment on his face. Steven’s heart was in the ranch while his was in police work. Because they’d been there together yesterday and because he’d not visited his great-greats at the museum in some time, Matthew’s thoughts turned to the first Benedicts to ride this range. When he let his gaze take in the land, unchanged in the last century or so, he could imagine being back with his ancestors, with Caleb and Joshua as they took over a spread that had first been amassed by a man whose soul had been as black as sin.

“I wonder if they had to step cautiously with Sarah?” Steven asked, proving they were both on the same page. He brought his black gelding, Night Shadow, to a walk and turned, giving his attention to Matthew.

“Some, I imagine. I recall reading Joshua’s journal. They believed her married when they met her, which made things difficult all the way around, considering they both fell in love with her almost at first meeting.”

“I remember reading that, too. Even as they dealt with that small matter of eluding an assassin, it seemed as if they clicked right from the start.”

“Of course,” Matthew said, “we’ve never been allowed to read Sarah’s journal, so we don’t know the entire story.”