Buch lesen: «A Cowboy To Kiss»

Chapter One

Kenzie Grant had only one thought on her mind when she walked out the front door that morning: frozen semen.

The way she had it figured, it was her best shot. She’d tried other forms of semen and they simply didn’t take or the specimen would be rendered useless before she’d even had a chance to use it.

Semen was funny that way, she thought, just as unpredictable as the stud who provided it.

“Are you confident this will work?” she asked her younger sister, the only doctor Kenzie trusted with their future. Coco wore a straw cowgirl hat over her short-cropped dark hair, a deep blue T-shirt, stretch jeans, and high work boots that laced up the front. Kenzie never could understand why anyone would prefer those to slip-on Western boots, but Coco rarely wore anything that didn’t lace up. She was the tallest of the four sisters, exactly six feet tall in her bare feet, and usually carted around a Yorkie named Punky. Today, Punky had to stay home. Apparently he was busy keeping a tiny kitten company that someone had recently left on Coco’s doorstep. Among Punky’s many virtues, he was an excellent babysitter to just about any creature in need, and that included cats of all sizes.

“At this point, it’s your safest bet,” she told Kenzie, her gaze on the Teton Mountain range off in the distance. It was a particularly beautiful morning in Idaho’s Teton Valley, the crisp blue sky dappled with billowy white clouds and the sun bursting through, sending rays of golden sunlight streaming down to the ground in columns of warmth. The temperature had finally risen and Kenzie had dressed for the part in a brown T, boot-cut jeans, her favorite tan boots and a wide belt held in place with the All-Around Cowboy buckle she’d won four years ago at the local ranch rodeo, the belt and buckle riding low on her hips.

Work gloves and her phone were stuffed in one back pocket, and a packet of spicy beef jerky in the other just in case she had to miss lunch, which had been almost every day last week. She was hoping this week would go easier.

Dora and Dolly, the family’s yellow Labs, sniffed the ground as they searched for any new scents that may have dropped from the sky overnight, happy to chase after whatever moved in the expanse of grass that surrounded the ranch house.

Never taking these perfect moments for granted, Kenzie pulled in a deep breath, drinking in the fresh, early morning scent that surrounded her. She only wished she had more time to enjoy these long lazy days like she’d had when she was a kid, when the hours seemed endless. She was hopeful that once the family ranch was lucrative again, an occasional lazy afternoon might be possible, but until then, Kenzie had no time for anything other than work and worry.

All ten of her mares were in various stages of estrus or heat, a situation she’d purposely planned for. Granted, the mares were as ornery as June bugs caught in a net, but once they were impregnated, they’d calm down. At least that was the idea. Now all she had to do was inseminate them, and with her sister’s help, next summer her mares would be part of the first annual colt auction on the Grant ranch. She hoped to double that count in twelve months’ time, and onward until she brought it up to about thirty or forty workhorses for sale each year.

She didn’t like to admit it, but full-time ranching was taking its toll. She knew it would be hard from having grown up on the family spread, but now that her dad had handed over the reins, Kenzie wasn’t so sure she wanted to handle them entirely on her own. Her parents now depended on her almost 100 percent, which was fine, but the burden of it sometimes weighed her down more than she ever dreamed that it would.

“Good, ’cause I’ve ordered the semen from a quarter horse ranch out of Canada. Their workhorses are known throughout the country as being some of the best stock,” she told Coco.

Coco gazed over at her, her eyebrows knitted together with concern. “I wish you had consulted me on this order first. I thought we decided on a distributor in Colorado. I’ve recommended them before to other local ranchers and they’ve been dependable with their deliveries. They’ve already done all the customs paperwork for you.”

“Sure, but what could be better than going directly to the source, right?”

“I’ve heard there could be problems with customs, causing major delays.”

But Kenzie wasn’t listening. She’d stopped walking, pulled her deep brown cowgirl hat down low to shield her eyes from the sun and stared at the white three-quarter-ton pickup. The truck was pulling the exact seventeen-foot horse trailer that Kenzie had lusted over just last month when she was in the market for a new one. The price tag had been a little too rich for her, so she’d had to settle for one that was used and half the price.

The thought flitted through her head that perhaps her dad had decided to splurge and had secretly bought it, but that thought was quickly dashed. She knew her dad would never undermine her financial plan for the ranch. He respected her decisions too much.

Still...

“Do you know what this is all about?” Coco asked, nodding toward the fancy rig heading for them.

“No, but maybe Mom does. Now that their anniversary is less than two weeks away we’ve been getting all sorts of weird things delivered to the ranch. Mom is getting more and more giddy over the ceremony. I’m so glad we were able to convince them to celebrate forty-five years with a real wedding celebration. Who knew they’d never had one?”

“I don’t think Dad’s excited about all the fuss, but this means so much to Mom that he’s coming around. He’ll do anything for Mom, we all know that,” Coco said. “Her whole face lights up whenever she talks about any of the details. I’ve had so much fun helping her plan.”

“We all have. Just yesterday an older man arrived with four white doves. Mom wants them released during the ceremony. Did you know, they’re actually homing pigeons? Anyway, we did a practice run, and the birds squawked the entire time. It wasn’t pretty. Or rather, it didn’t sound pretty. You can imagine her reaction.”

Coco nodded. “She must have been annoyed.”

“She was. The man apologized and assured her it had never happened before and would never happen again, but Mom thought it was a bad omen. It took all day for Dad and me to convince her that their wedding ceremony isn’t doomed. You know how she’s always felt about elaborate weddings. Nervous that something major will go wrong. Where she got that idea she won’t say other than it’s just a feeling. Of course, it didn’t help that Kayla’s first and second weddings were disasters. And Carson’s wedding was strange, at best.”

Their mom and dad had gotten married at the courthouse in a simple ceremony with no guests. She had insisted it be held that way and had always associated a big wedding with a catastrophe.

“Exactly, and with the Grant track record, who can blame her?”

Their sister Kayla had left not one but two separate grooms standing at the altar, and their brother, Carson, had planned a fancy church wedding with a woman who had already dumped him.

“Callie and Joel’s wedding turned out okay,” Coco reminded her.

“Except for Great-Uncle Peter streaking through the back of the church in his birthday suit during the vows, everything else went off beautifully.”

“Oh, yeah, I forgot about Great-Uncle Peter. Will he be coming?”

“Yes, and Great-Aunt Beverly promised to keep a tight rein on him this time.”

“Isn’t she the one who tried to do a pole dance during the reception, and I had to treat her when she slid too fast, fell over and bonked her head?”

“Yes,” Kenzie answered, remembering Great-Aunt Beverly circling the pole with her undies showing, singing “I’m an Old Cowhand.” “Mom might be right.”

“So, I wonder what this is? Maybe Mom and Dad want to ride in on special horses? White Arabian horses to go with the white doves, maybe?”

Kenzie snickered and shrugged. “Who knows? She’s been springing these changes on us for the last couple of weeks. She’s also thinking of handing out white helium balloons to everyone to be set free once Mom and Dad say ‘I do.’ For someone who doesn’t believe in elaborate weddings, she’s really all in for this one. I’ve stopped trying to second-guess what she’s thinking up next. I just go along with everything. It’s simpler.”

As the rig came closer, Kenzie’s stomach began to feel queasy, like the bacon and eggs she’d downed in a hurry that morning weren’t sitting well. Or perhaps it was the instant coffee she’d made in the microwave before her mom put on a pot?

It didn’t help that the dogs seemed skeptical of the intruder as well, their tails still as they sniffed the air for any strange scents.

“That’s a Montana plate on the front of the truck. I can’t believe she had to go all the way to Montana to find a horse. Something else must be going on,” Kenzie offered.

“I know the Scotts are driving in for the wedding. Maybe Jan and Fred decided to show up early?”

Henry Grant, their dad, and Fred Scott had served in Vietnam together, and had a long-standing friendship. The two men would do anything for each other, and over the years, the Grant family and the Scott family had spent time on each other’s ranches. For the most part, those visits had been fun, but there was one member of the Scott family Kenzie never wanted to see again. One cowboy she hoped would stay home on the family ranch where he belonged.

The screen door behind them squeaked open, then banged shut. “Right on time,” Kenzie’s father, Henry, said.

“Dad knew about their early arrival and didn’t tell us?” Coco asked her sister. “I would have changed some of my commitments around. As it is, I can’t stay. I’m already late for my next appointment.”

“I think there’s something more to this than just an extended visit from Jan and Fred. When have they ever stayed longer than a few days? And why would they bring along some horses? No. Something’s up, and I’m getting a bad feeling about it.”

Kenzie glanced back at her mom who’d stepped out on the porch to join their dad. “I better make up another batch of bacon, and throw on some more flapjacks. Prob’ly drove all night and they’ll all be as hungry as a bear.”

“Why are the Scotts here so early, Dad?” Kenzie shouted back to her dad.

She couldn’t imagine why he hadn’t told her, especially since it now appeared as if they’d be staying on the ranch. The guesthouse hadn’t even been cleaned out yet. Kenzie had planned to have it done by the end of the week. It was on the top of her priority list, along with several other critical items. She’d been storing some combustible supplies in the guesthouse to keep them away from the livestock. She intended to move them to one of the sheds. Plus Carson had been promising to move all his equipment to his own shed at his rented house for weeks now. The timing of their arrival couldn’t be worse.

“Ain’t the Scotts, at least not all of them. Just one,” her dad finally said in that raspy morning voice of his.

Coco raised an eyebrow and caught the look of concern on Kenzie’s face. “What’s wrong? You look sick.”

Kenzie pressed a hand to her stomach and ignored her sister’s question.

Instead, she asked her dad, “Which one? I mean, which Scott?”

The words jumped from her mouth in a rush of adrenalin. There was only one member of the Scott family who got under her skin, one Scott who annoyed her to distraction and caused her blood to boil. Over the years, their rivalry had grown into a full-blown war. The last time they met up Kenzie was sixteen, and somehow that conniving, underhanded Jake Scott had managed to get her to kiss him. She hadn’t kissed a boy before that, and Jake knew it as soon as their lips met.

He’d laughed.

Right there in the middle of the kiss, he’d up and laughed.

It was possibly the most embarrassing moment of her life, and because of it, she’d stopped visiting the Scotts. And Jake, thank you very much, never showed up on the Grant Ranch after that. So it couldn’t be Jake Scott inside that pickup. It just couldn’t. She’d made it as clear as sunshine that she never, ever wanted to see or talk to him again as long as she lived.

“I’m not exactly sure,” he told her with that fatherly tone he took on whenever he didn’t want to be questioned further.

“I’ve got to run,” Coco said after she glanced at her watch. “Call me with the details. Sounds like our dad has something up his sleeve... Who knows? Maybe it’s a surprise for Mom for their anniversary. Think positive.”

Then she dashed off to her red SUV parked near the horse barn, started it up and drove past the Scott rig on her way off the property, sticking an arm out and waving at the driver.

Kenzie watched as the Scott truck and trailer came to a stop a few feet away from her. She waited, telling herself that Jake wouldn’t dare show up on the Grant ranch with so much time before her parents’ anniversary wedding, not after he hadn’t shown up for her sister Kayla’s three weddings or Carson or Callie’s weddings. He could have at least shown up for one of them. His parents and his brothers, Curt and Lucas, had been there for all of them.

Though Kenzie had never married, she’d heard that Jake was married in a private civil ceremony, but no sooner had that news come through that it was known he’d gotten a divorce. It seemed only fitting. No woman in her right mind could live with the likes of Jake Scott, who was no doubt a scoundrel.

She took a deep breath, and headed for the rig, just as the driver’s door swung wide open, and a pair of muddy Western boots hit the gravel. The man who wore those boots also wore an open crumpled long-sleeved black-checked shirt, with the sleeves rolled up; a tight black T-shirt that caressed a chiseled chest and a flat stomach; faded jeans, and a cream-colored Western hat that he slipped on his head. A big grin spread across a scruffy chin, and eyes the color of emeralds peeked out from under the wide brim of his low-slung hat.

Dora and Dolly ran to greet him, now excited about this new visitor. The cowboy bent over and gave them both a warm welcome.

Her darn knees went weak just looking at him, and for a brief moment, she felt swept up in the vision of pure cowboy walking toward her.

“Is that little Kenzie Grant?” the man asked, his deep voice searing her senses.

All she could do was nod.

“Darn, girl!” he said, “C’mon, bring it in closer.”

Then he held open his arms and waited for her to step in next to him.

But she didn’t.

They stood there for an awkward moment, neither of them really moving.

Everything was happening so fast, it made her dizzy with confusion. She could barely speak, much less allow him to take her in his arms.

“Don’t tell me you don’t recognize this ol’ cowboy? It’s me, Jake Scott, the kid you used to follow around like a motherless calf. Look at you.” His gaze quickly swept over her body, not in a lascivious way, but in a genuinely friendly way. But she still didn’t like it. “All grown up into one fine woman. Still playing cowboy with your fancy hat and your rodeo buckle. And will you get a load of those boots.” He whistled while gazing down at her feet. “Must be handmade with all that fancy work going on. Good gracious, you look like that doll you used to carry around in your back pocket.”

She resented his disparaging attitude.

“And you look like you slept in your truck.”

He tugged at his wrinkled shirt, smiling. “As a matter of fact, I did. But hey, I hear you’re runnin’ this ranch just like you told me you would. Always did admire that about you.”

Kenzie let out the breath she’d been holding as the fuzzy lens slipped from her brain and she could think clearly again. “Admire what?”

“Your spunk. You got it goin’ on in spades.”

“Thanks, but coming from you, I can’t tell if that’s a compliment or a barb.”

His deep laugh rumbled through her, as his eyes sparkled with the same amount of tease he had when they were kids. “Then nothing’s changed between us.”

“Should it have?”

“Absolutely straight it should. Come on over here and give this ol’ cowboy a big kiss.” He stepped in closer, and whispered, “I’m hoping you’re a little better at it than you were when you were sixteen.”

Kenzie could feel the blood rushing through her veins, could feel the anger exploding in her gut. She wanted to push him away, lash out, tell him what she thought of him, maybe even say something to wipe that grin right off his downright adorable face. Instead, she narrowed her eyes, and said, “I wouldn’t kiss you, Jake Scott, if my very next breath depended on it.”

“Glad we got that settled right up front, ’cause I was worried you’ve been pining over me all these years, seeing as how you’re still single and all.”

Kenzie heard her dad step off the porch. She glanced back at him as he headed toward them. Unlike Kenzie, he looked genuinely happy to see Jake.

“Why don’t you keep on going where you’re going? We already have a pugnacious bull on this ranch. There’s no room for another one,” Kenzie told Jake, a hand resting on one of her hips.

“Can’t. First you and me have a little business we need to take care of.”

She had no idea what he was talking about, and from the look on his face, he seemed adamant about staying. She folded her arms across her chest.

“You must be mistaken. I don’t have any business with you, now or ever.”

“Sure you do, and from what I hear, it might take some considerable time to accomplish.”

She moved in closer to this misinformed cowboy, so much so that she could smell his musky skin, and feel his breath on her face. Jake Scott had always been taller than she was by at least six or seven inches, but now as she stood not two inches from him, she realized that gap had shrunk to a more perfect fit. Being this close to someone she’d sometimes fantasized about caused a momentary hesitation in her resolve.

Despite her burning rage, she couldn’t help the desire that raced through her. She’d always had a thing for Jake, ever since that first summer when they met on his family ranch. That “thing” was more that she’d wanted to be like him: confident, surefooted, smart and perfectly adorable. He even had a small dimple in the center of his chin, from what she could see under all that sexy scruff.

She didn’t know why she’d been so attracted to him, or why in some secret way that “thing” still burned bright. Maybe it had something to do with those emerald green eyes of his or that perfect nose, and those tempting lips. Whatever it was, she had no intention of ever giving in to her emotions again...like she had when she was sixteen and she kissed him.

Mistake.

Big mistake.

He smirked and murmured, “Can’t keep away from this cowboy, can you? Maybe we should try that kiss again. Might be better now that you’re all grown up.”