The Maverick Cowboy(4)

Jenna clinked her mug against his. "As long as the younger Morgan brothers keep away, I think I'll do just fine."





Chapter Two

Blue sucked in a great big lung full of Morgan Ranch air.

Home.

The place that had kept him sane through all the years of deployments and the terror and boredom of modern warfare. Whenever it had gotten too much for him, he would let his mind wander to the lush green pastures, the craggy heights of the Sierra mountain range, and the crisp bite of the morning air.

His still-healing ribs gave a twinge of warning, and he carefully exhaled. Sure he'd thought he was leaving it all behind forever when he'd left to join the Marines, but all he'd done was make the place more vivid in his memories. The bad times were almost forgotten, and the good ones replayed endlessly when he needed a boost.

Separating from the military was even harder than leaving home. He'd accumulated a lot of leave because for some reason Uncle Sam didn't like soldiers taking a few days off in the middle of a war zone. He'd got five days at the ranch now, and then he had to go back to his desk for another week. He hated that desk so much he was thinking of setting it on fire on his last day.

Sitting around on his ass had never worked well for him. He got up to mischief.

He took a turn around the wooden porch, checking the dainty Victorian railings as he passed. On his last leave he'd repaired and painted the deck. Now he needed to start on the rest of it. Chase had offered to pay for a crew to come in and fix everything, but Blue preferred to do it himself. He needed to be busy, and he'd always found working with his hands very soothing.

Ruth said the saying "the devil finds work for idle hands" had been written with Blue in mind. Even as a kid he'd always wanted to know how everything worked, a curiosity he'd taken with him into the Marines, which had gotten him into and out of some fairly hairy situations.

"BB?"

He turned to see Ruth at the kitchen door.

"You want some bacon?"

He grinned at her. "Roy's pigs are already producing?"

"Not yet. They need some fattening up first. Jenna says it will take a while."

Blue followed his grandmother inside the homely kitchen, where nothing much had changed since he was a kid. "Jenna McDonald's taking care of the pigs?"

"She's taking care of most of the stock these days since Big Mac decided to retire. Although as Ron's only in his late fifties, I don't know what he plans to do with the rest of his life. Golf, I suppose. He and Amy love doing that. I've never fancied it myself. Walking around hitting a little ball with a stick into a hole." Ruth went back to flipping bacon in the cast iron skillet. "Want some eggs?"



       
         
       
        

"Three would be good, please. I know Big Mac is semi-retiring, but what about Dave?"

"He still comes out occasionally."

Blue got himself some coffee and sat back down at the scarred kitchen table. "How's Jenna doing?"

Ruth turned to look at him. "In herself or with the workload?"

Blue narrowed his eyes. "With the work. From what I remember, she's a slip of a thing."

"She's taller than me, and I've never met a cow or a horse I couldn't master," Ruth retorted. "Why don't you come out and say that you don't think she's up to the job?"

"I didn't say that. I was just asking how she was coping. She's only just qualified, right?"

Ruth put a plate with six pieces of bacon, three eggs, and four pieces of toast on the side in front of him.

"She was working for a couple of years at some horse racing stables near Sacramento."

Blue dug into the plate of food. "So what made her come out here?"

"When Ron had his knee replacement surgery she came to help Dave, and she fit right in. I like her. She's good with the animals and she listens to her elders and betters." Ruth pointed the spatula at him. "Some people could learn a lot from her."

"I've been listening to officers for years, and I can't say it did much for me." Blue chugged down some coffee and then attacked his second egg. "But I promise I'll be nice to her, okay?"

"You'd better be. She's going to be helping you choose the horses for the guests."

Blue hastily swallowed his mouthful of food. "She is?"

"Can't think of anyone better." Ruth turned back to the stove. "You want more eggs?"

Blue eyed his plate. "Nah, I think I'm done. Thanks, Ruth. Where's January this morning?"

"She's around here somewhere. She was talking to Roy about where we're going to put all these guests who'll be turning up in a year or so."

"Where are you thinking?"

"There are the old bunkhouses, for a start."

"Hardly luxury accommodation."

"That's what January said, but they would work if we did school trips and for volunteers. She's thinking about detached log cabins or something fancier for the real paying guests."

"Sounds expensive."

"Chase can afford it." Ruth wiped out the cast iron pan and left it sitting on the back of the stove to cool down.

"So you're happy to take his money now?"

Ruth winked at him. "Sure, it's for a good cause-Morgan Ranch." She looked past Blue to the door. "Morning, Billy." 

Blue tensed and stayed where he was as his father made his quiet way into the kitchen. After twenty years away, Billy's sudden reappearance at the ranch still set Blue's teeth on edge. Walking out on four young sons after confessing to murdering your wife and baby made one hell of a mess of your kid's head. Sure, the murder was unproven and there was renewed hope that his mother and sister were actually alive, but still . . .

"Morning, BB."

Blue briefly met his dad's eyes as Billy sat opposite him and then rose to his feet.

"I've got to get on." He picked up his plate and mug. "I'm still catching up on Chase's chores."

"I could do those for you, son," Billy offered.

"It's okay." Blue rinsed his plate under the faucet and put it in the dishwasher. "I've got it covered."

"You be careful now," Ruth warned. "That nice doctor said your ribs still weren't healed."

Billy half rose from his seat. "Are you sure-?"

"I'm good." Blue kissed Ruth's cheek and headed for the door. "I'll be down in the barn if anyone wants me."

Apart from my father, who I'd rather not see at all.

He put his boots on in the mudroom and walked across the wide circle and down to the barn on the opposite side. With his newly approved budget from Chase he'd already started adding new horses to the old twelve-stall barn, which was now filling up nicely. January said they'd probably need to build another smaller, family barn at some point, but until things got off the ground the original would have to do.

His ancestor, William Morgan, the original landowner, had built the barn in the 1850s. Blue loved it in there. The slightly lopsided hand-sawed beams, the birds nesting in every tiny crevice swooping down to grab corn or nest-building material from the unsuspecting horses below. The chicken coop was at one end and the manure heap on the continuing slope that made things a lot easier to dispose of.

On the far side of the barn, January, his brother's fiancée, was standing with Roy, the ranch foreman. She had a clipboard in one hand and was gesticulating wildly with the other. Blue fought a grin. It had taken him very little time to decide he liked January and that she was perfect for his nerdy older brother. She was as straight as they came and had no compunction in telling him and Chase where they were going wrong. She was also as passionate about the ranch as he was.

"Hey," she called out to him and beckoned him over. The humongous engagement ring Chase had given her caught the sun and almost blinded him.

He pretended to stagger and shielded his eyes. "Damn, that diamond's big."

"It's obscene," January said proudly. "I told Chase to take it back."

"And?"

"He said it was ethically sourced and that if I gave it back I'd be depriving a village in Africa of a new school."

"That's remarkably specific."

"That's Chase for you." January shrugged. "You know what he's like. He probably flew out there, mined the diamond, and built the school himself." She said it with such goofy fondness that he had to grin back at her.

"Yeah, knowing my bro, he probably did." Blue gestured at the clipboard. "What are you planning now?"

"Where to put the guest cabins." She pointed down the slope. "We've got to keep them away from the pigs and the manure heap, but close enough to the barn and house for the guests to easily get up here to eat and ride. I was thinking the natural slope down toward the creek would work well."



       
         
       
        

Behind him he heard the sound of an approaching truck and instinctively turned toward the noise, seeking the nearest shelter. Old habits died hard. He wasn't sure if he'd ever be able to walk down a street without expecting the worst.

"How many cabins are you planning to build?" He forced himself to act like a normal person having a normal conversation while still hating having his back turned to the approaching visitor.