The Maverick Cowboy(48)

"You okay?"

"Sure! Why wouldn't I be?"

"I don't have to come with you."

She stopped walking. "You don't have to come if you don't want to."

For a moment they locked gazes until Blue sighed. "This is stupid. I want to come, but not if it's going to make things awkward for you."

"Things will be awkward anyway. They don't understand what I'm doing out in Morgantown, and Lily will have just made everything worse." She puffed out a breath. "Come with me. We might as well get it over with."

"How about I just call Chase and give him the details of our chat with Big Mike and then I'll text you to see if you want me to join you?"

"Blue . . ."

She looked way too vulnerable. He turned away to unplug his phone from the recharger they'd borrowed from the front desk. Apparently guests left them behind all the time.

"You'd better go. I'll catch up with you later, okay?"

She bit her lip and he resisted the urge to go to her, hold her in his arms, and make everything right for her. He was learning that sometimes he had to let other people work shit out for themselves. And this was definitely one of the occasions when she needed to face her fears without him butting in.

She slammed the door on her way out, so he guessed she didn't feel quite the same way. He called Chase, who was also on California time, and gave him the bullet points about the meeting with Big Mike. In return he found out that Jake was doing okay and was out of intensive care, so that was good.

Reassured that Chase would get on tracing the hotel records, Blue sent Jenna a text and quickly received a reply.



We're at the breakfast buffet. Come and join us.





Blue went down in the elevator and into the crowded restaurant. He soon spotted Jenna's burnished hair and made his way through the packed tables to her side. She shot to her feet when he approached.

"Mom, Dad, this is Blue Morgan."

Blue studied Jenna's adoptive parents. Mr. McDonald looked very like his brother Ron and wore a polite smile as he held out his hand to shake Blue's. Mrs. McDonald was blond and petite and radiated positivity and energy. She went on tiptoe to kiss his cheek and then patted his arm.

"It's good to meet you, Blue. Lily told us all about your lovely family ranch."

She waved him to the seat beside Jenna and they spent the next few minutes ordering drinks and getting up to check out the offerings on the buffet, which turned out to be excellent. It wasn't until everyone was seated again and tucking in that Blue answered her.

"It's not my ranch. It still belongs to my grandma, but we all take an active part in helping it prosper." He smiled. "It's our family business. Jenna's been a real godsend these past few months."



       
         
       
        

Mr. McDonald smiled. "So I hear from my brother. It was kind of her to step in and help out for a few months."

Ah, the first salvo had been fired. Blue forked up a sausage. "Well, we're hoping to persuade Jenna to stay on much longer than that."

Beside him Jenna cleared her throat. "Chase, Blue's brother, offered me the job of full-time vet on the guest ranch."

"How super sweet of him," Mrs. McDonald exclaimed. "I'm not surprised, though, you must be the most educated person in that neck of the woods."

"I'm certainly the most recently qualified vet around, but as I keep telling you, there's nothing like the knowledge you gain on the job, and that only happens with experience."

Blue nodded slowly. "You know, Jenna's got a point. There's no denying she's as smart as a whip, but Big Mac's been practicing in our valley for over forty years. He knows everything a man needs to know about doctoring cattle, and Dave's almost as good with the horses."

Jenna stared at him, her fork frozen midway to her mouth.

"And Faith's coming back next year, so we'll have someone with an even more up-to-date degree around, won't we?" Blue smiled at the McDonalds. "And with my multimillionaire Stanford-educated brother Chase at the helm, there's no shortage of brainpower or experience in our valley."

Mrs. McDonald put down her knife. "Are you suggesting that Jenna wouldn't be the best person for the job?"

Blue shrugged. "I thought I was just agreeing with you."

"Jenna is an amazing and talented vet."

"Sure she is."

"Any veterinary practice or ranch should be glad to have her!"

Blue took a sip of coffee. "Exactly."

"Including yours."

"I couldn't agree more." Point made, Blue rose to get more food and took his time before returning to the table.

Jenna was refusing to look at him. Blue smiled at Mr. McDonald.

"So what do you do with your time, sir?"

"I'm a professor of theology at UCLA."

"Which means you do what, exactly?"

"I study the theory and history of religion."

"Oh right." Blue considered what to say next and realized he had nothing. "And how about you, Mrs. McDonald?"

"I have a doctorate in psychiatry and run a large medical practice treating mainly adolescents with mental health issues."

"Useful." Blue nodded.

"I understand you were in the Marines."

She made it sound like he'd been part of a terrorist organization rather than one of the few and the proud. 

"Yeah, I just came out."

"Were you ever stationed in Afghanistan or Iraq?"

"A few times."

"What was it like?"

"Hot and dusty." He shrugged. "Boring most of the time."

"I doubt that," Mr. McDonald murmured.

"Lily said you enlisted."

Jenna stirred. "Mom . . ."

Blue kept his attention on Mrs. McDonald. "That's correct. At eighteen."

"Did you ever attempt to become an officer?"

"Why would I want to do that? I made gunnery sergeant, and that was good enough for me."

The McDonalds were looking at him as if he came from a different planet. He didn't care. He felt the same way about them.

"Blue served with honor and came back in one piece. Maybe instead of questioning his choices, Mom, you should be thanking him for his service."

At that moment, Blue wanted to kiss Jenna very badly. It was interesting that she'd happily stand up for him and not for herself.

"We're grateful for everything our military does to protect us, but-"

"But nothing, Mom. If he'd wanted to be an officer, he would have done so. He sure is smart enough. He scored higher than me on his APs and SAT." Jenna turned to Blue. "I apologize for my parents, okay?"

"There's no need. It's nothing I haven't heard before. My grandmother was furious when I chose not to take up any of my scholarship offers, and went down to the local recruiting office."

"You turned down scholarships?" Mrs. McDonald said faintly.

"Yeah, sports ones mainly for UCLA, Berkeley, and Stanford." He grinned at Mr. McDonald. "Hey, you could have been one of my professors."

Mr. McDonald finally smiled back at him. "So tell me more about your family ranch."

* * *

"You done yet?"

Jenna glanced across at Blue as he sat beside her in the taxi, which was taking them back to the ranch. It was early evening and the sun was just dipping down toward the horizon. It was still hot outside and the air-con was set to high.

"Done with what?"

"Sulking. You haven't said a word to me for hours," Blue said.

"I am not sulking. I've been thinking."

"Yeah? Looked more like you were planning how to end my existence."

She stared at the back of the taxi driver's head. "I was going to kill you, but then I worked it out."

He draped one arm along the back of the seat, his long fingers curving around her shoulder.

"You somehow managed to get my mom to agree that me working at the ranch would be a good thing."

"I know." He grinned at her. "Your face was a picture, by the way."

"I still don't understand how you did it."

He shrugged. "How do you think I survived the Marines?"

She rolled her eyes at him. "Not by using your brains."

He pouted. "I think I'm hurt."

She poked him in the ribs.

"Ouch."

"You deserved that."

He rubbed the spot. "Especially when you defended my military service."

"Yes, I did, didn't I?"

"I wanted to lean over that table and kiss you stupid."

"I wish you had."

He held her gaze. "Really? Damn. I was trying to make a good impression on your parents."

"My dad liked you."

"Don't worry. I'll bring your mom around."



       
         
       
        

"To me working at the ranch?"

His smile deepened. "And the rest."

She hurriedly looked out of the window. He shifted closer, his hand closing over hers.

"What's up?"

"I want to stay here."

"Good."

She waited, but he didn't say anything else. The taxi pulled up at the exterior gate of the ranch. Blue got out to unlock the gate and let them through. When he came back inside, he spoke to the driver.