The Maverick Cowboy(34)

"Cool." Dave returned to his typing. "Tell me when you want me to move, okay?"

She dropped a kiss on the top of his head. "Thanks, Dave, you're a star."

"You can thank me by introducing me to your friend Yvonne again."

"Will do."

"Not only is she great to look at, but she cooks like an angel."

"She's smart as a whip, too."

Dave sighed. "Don't say 'whip.'"

Jenna ruffled his hair and escaped into the pantry where the large industrial freezer hummed away. Some of the vet's clients paid in kind, so they always had meat and vegetables to spare. She grimaced, as she had to move half a cow carcass out of the way to get to the lasagna. Amy had written clear instructions on the bag, so she was all set.

She had a feeling that Blue would prefer red meat, but she had no idea how to cook it. If in the future he wanted to indulge his carnivore instincts, he would have to sort it out himself.

Dave had turned the oven on, so she unwrapped the lasagna, checked the instructions again, and put it in to bake for an hour. The rest of it would have to wait until Dave left the table, which gave her plenty of time to take a shower.

* * *

Blue knocked on the back door of the fancy new log cabin – style McDonald home and waited and then waited some more. He'd showered and put on a new checked teal shirt and his most decent pair of jeans and boots. Eventually, he tried the handle and let himself in. The fragrant smell of browning cheese wafted along the hallway.

"Anyone home?" Blue called out.

"Dude!"

His heart sank as Dave strolled toward him wearing PJ bottoms with skulls on them and a vintage Star Wars T-shirt.

"Hey. What's up?"

Dave shook his hand. "It's all good. You coming for dinner? Jenna didn't say anything, but there's plenty of food." He put an arm around Blue's shoulder. "Come on in."

Blue glanced down at his new shirt. Maybe he'd misinterpreted Jenna's invitation and he was now going to be inspected by the whole of the McDonald clan. The vets vetting the vet. That was almost funny.

There was no sign of Jenna in the kitchen, but the table had been set for two with napkins and place mats and flowers in the middle. Blue turned back to Dave, who was grinning. 

"You and Jenna always make this much fuss when you eat?"

"Yeah. We're real fancy, like royalty." Dave elbowed him in the side. "Nah. I'm off to bed. See you in the morning, lover boy."

Jenna came bursting into the kitchen from the pantry, two bottles of wine and a six-pack of beer clutched to her chest.

"What do you think he'll drink, Dave?"

"Ask him yourself." Dave backed out of the kitchen, his laptop in his hand. "Night, Jenna. Keep the noise down, kids, okay?"

Blue rushed over to rescue the beer from Jenna's faltering grasp and set it on the table.

"Hey."

She smiled up at him and suddenly everything was all right.

"Was Dave trolling you?"

He shrugged. "I wouldn't expect anything less."

"I tried to make him go out, but he was really tired, and it is his home."

He tucked a strand of errant brown hair behind her ear. "It's not a problem."

When she put the wine bottles down, he took a quick appreciative breath. "You look great. I think that's the first time I've seen you in a dress."

She smoothed a hand over her green patterned skirt. "I don't own many. They don't work very well with what I do. But I'll have to wear one for January's wedding. She asked me and Yvonne to be her bridesmaids."

"Nice. Chase asked me to be his best man."

"That's awesome." She searched his face. "Isn't it?"

"I was shitty to him for a lot of years. I didn't expect him to forgive me so easily." He sighed. "He's a lot better at that forgiving thing than I am."

"You're just different people."

"But I always made such a big deal about being right about everything and refusing to change my mind. I'm starting to realize that there are a lot of grays in between those black and whites."

"Which means you can change." She held his gaze. "I always thought my birth mom would stay an addict, but you know what? She overcame that and went back to school to become a nurse and a trained counselor for substance abusers."

"Sounds like Billy. He's sober now and proving to be one heck of a grandfather to Maria." Blue shook his head. "I never in a million years thought he'd do that."

She stood on tiptoe and kissed his mouth. He took the invitation and kissed her back, wrapping one hand around her waist to keep her right where he wanted her.

Her stomach growled and he lifted his head.

"We should eat. You're going to need all your energy later."

"There's lasagna in the oven, so I've just got to make a salad and some dressing. Can you cut the bread?"

He did as she asked, appreciating her efficiency in the kitchen and the way she cleaned as she went along, meaning they wouldn't have to spend hours on cleanup when they could be doing far more interesting things.

"Do you want some beer?"

She glanced up from measuring the olive oil. "I'd rather have a glass of red wine. Can you open the bottle and let it breathe a bit?"

"Don't have to worry about doing that for a beer." Blue demonstrated. "It just slides down fast and real nice."

The timer pinged. Blue was rewarded with the sight of Jenna's nice rounded ass as she bent down to take the lasagna out of the oven. Remembering his manners, he cleared a space for her on the countertop for the bubbling cheesy dish.

"That looks awesome. Did you make it?"

"It was Amy. I'm not a great cook, to be honest."




       
         
       
        
"I'm not bad." Blue picked up the large serving spoon. "Not that Ruth lets me try out my talents in her kitchen. She prefers to do it all herself."

"She is an amazing cook."

They loaded their plates with lasagna and headed for the table, where Blue lit the candles. Although the lasagna would've been improved with some meat, Blue still enjoyed it. Even better was the chance to sit and talk with Jenna without any ranch matters intruding. She was smart, funny, stubborn yet vulnerable and . . . jeez, he'd never met anyone like her.

"There's ice cream if you're still hungry?" Jenna said as she gathered the plates.

"I'm good. Tell Amy that lasagna was spectacular." He rose to his feet. "Let me do that."

"You can load the dishwasher while I make some coffee, okay?"

"God, I love dishwashers." Blue rinsed and stacked the plates and bowls. "When we were kids, doing the dishes was our job and I hated it."

He'd just about finished when his cell buzzed. "You okay if I check who this message is from?" he asked Jenna. "Chase has just flown out of town, so I'm in charge at the ranch."

"Go ahead."

He wandered back into the den and fished out his cell. There was a voice mail sign flashing, so he held the phone to his ear to listen.

"Hey, it's Ry."

Frowning, Blue pressed Return Call and waited until his younger brother picked up.

"What's up?"

"Nothing much." His brother wasn't known for being talkative. He left that to his twin. "I'm coming to the engagement party."

"You are? That's awesome."

"HW won't come."

"Okay. Do you need a ride or some kind of ticket, because-"

"Nope. I'm good. I'll see you there. Later."

The connection went dead and Blue stared at his phone.

"Everything okay?" Jenna called from the kitchen as she brought in the coffee.

"Yeah, actually. Ry's coming to the engagement party."

"Ray? Is that one of your brothers?"

Blue sat on the couch and patted the seat next to him. "It's not Ray, it's an 'R' and a 'Y' from his initials and yeah, he's the ten-minute older and much quieter of the twins."

Jenna set the tray on the coffee table. "Does he have another of those weird TV cowboy names?"

"He does, which is why he goes by Ry. I can't believe he's decided to come out here for the party."

"I got the impression from January that the twins never visit." 

"They took against Chase for a long while." Blue grimaced. "A lot of that was my fault, seeing as the reality was that he practically brought us up. Somehow we all ended up resenting him for that, which was totally unfair."

She curled up against his side and rested her head on his shoulder. "I know how that feels. I was the oldest, and when my mom wasn't . . . present, I had to try and bring up my siblings. They all hated me."

"I've been working on the twins for the last few months to get them to come back to the ranch, and I know Ruth has been, too. Ry was always the more thoughtful of the two, so I'm not surprised he's the one who's decided to check out the lay of the land."

"Does he look like you or Chase?"

"The twins are identical and are fair-haired like my grandfather, with a lot of reds and golds mixed in there like a field of wheat."

"Are they easy to tell apart?"

"Nope. They used to switch identities all the time. It drove everyone nuts."

He poured out two mugs of coffee and handed one to Jenna.