Authors: Isadora Montrose
Tags: #General Fiction
“Uncle Gil had a job for me,” Patrick said. “I had to fly out to Washington State to get it sorted.”
“Oh. How is Uncle Gil?”
“Happy. He and our new aunt seem to split their time between French Town and traveling. They were just back from a trip to Maine.”
“He’s not going to change his mind about making you the CFO of B&B?” she said in alarm.
Patrick’s lips firmed. “No. Uncle Gil has turned the company over to me and Cal. He doesn’t plan to alter that.” He put his arm back around Laura and faced Steve. “You know, I do appreciate you giving in to Edgar Thompson. Neither Cal nor I wanted to have to find new jobs. Or lose our inheritance.”
“You could have quit the reserves,” she said quietly.
“No.” His words came fast and hard. “Not while our country is at war.”
“Huh.” She paused and tried to spread oil on the water. “Well, as you see, I have solved my marrying problem,” she waved a hand at Steve and smiled at Pat’s handsome face. But her placating words had no effect on the adamantine cast of her cousin’s features.
* * *
Steve assessed Cousin Patrick. So this was the major’s twin brother. He was mighty upset. He had seen that exact expression on the major’s face. Mostly before an operation. It wasn’t a pleasant look. Patrick Bascom was gunning for bear. And he was the bear. Had Cousin Patrick wanted Laura after all? Because he was prepared to take him out, if this feller came between him and his mate.
“Laura honey,” Steve said quietly. “Why don’t you go get ready for bed? I’ll be along as soon as I have a word with your cousin.”
He could see Laura hesitate, but after a moment she shrugged and left the room. “You guys have to get along,” she said. “I can’t have my brother and my husband at odds.”
“Brother?” Steve asked.
“Laura may be my third cousin, but I think of her as my sister,” Patrick said flatly. “Aunt Brenda and Uncle Freddie pretty much brought Zeke and me up with Cal and Luther. And Bethany and Laura.” He stood like a man getting set for a little hand to hand.
Steve braced himself for a brawl. He was pretty sure he could take a fellow who wore a prissy pink shirt with a little alligator on the breast pocket and plucked his eyebrows. But on the other hand, Patrick Bascom was a full four inches taller than he was, and a bit wider.
Patrick hadn’t relaxed his broad shoulders and for all he looked more smooth and civilized than big, scarred Major Bascom, Steve could see the resemblance between battle-hardened Zeke and his twin. Besides, in his shoes, Steve would want to put the fear of God into the man who planned to marry his kid sister for her money.
“I’m pleased to meet you too,” Steve drawled. “I’ll take good care of Laura. I have sisters too.”
Patrick scowled. “You had better. My brother told me a bit about you, Holden. Laura isn’t some dame you picked up in a bar for an evening’s fun. And she is for damned sure going to sign a watertight prenuptial before you get married. Is that understood?” he barked.
“She took me to Denver to meet her lawyer,” Steve said peaceably. “Fellow called Carmichael. He drew up a contract.” He reached into his hip pocket and brought out the folded document.
Patrick opened it and began to read. His stony face got stiffer and stiffer. He turned to the last page. He looked straight at Steve. “You’re marrying her for her money, this makes it plain just how much,” he said through his teeth. “Makes it hard to believe that you are planning to look after Laura.”
“She hasn’t paid me a penny yet,” Steve said. “And I don’t intend to take her money. But the thing is, Laura wouldn’t marry me without me signing that thing.”
Patrick snorted. “Easy to say. But actions always speak louder than words. You understand you have signed away all community property rights?”
“That’s right. Whatever is Laura’s, stays Laura’s. Whatever is mine, remains mine.”
“I get it.” Patrick’s eyes narrowed. “You’re hoping to get in the back door via the kid. You better remember that Carmichael is not the only good lawyer in Denver. I can guaran-damn-tee you that I personally will see that this custody arrangement is enforced. You’ll be lucky to get out of this with your stud fee.”
Steve shook his head. “I wouldn’t agree to leave my children and just move on. Where I come from that’s pretty much the working definition of pond scum. No decent man abandons his babies, even to a woman who will be as good a mother as Laura will be.”
Patrick suddenly seemed to have steam coming out of his nostrils, His mouth parted as if he intended to bellow. His shoulders expanded. In fact, he finally looked more like a bear than a lawyer. Steve looked around at the comfortable, oversized furniture, the tall lamps, and the fancy sculptures of horses that he had decided might well be real Remingtons. It would be hard to slug a fellow who looked so much like his former superior officer, and he didn’t want to.
He shook his head again. “Laura won’t thank us for having a fistfight in her house.” His voice hardened, “And this is her house.”
Patrick closed his mouth with an audible snap, like a bear denied its prey. He returned to perusing the contract. “If I have anything to do with it, you’ll never see a penny more than she’s agreed to.”
“I don’t intend to take even that much,” he repeated. “And I can promise you that I intend to honor my vows and stand by Laura. We believe in a bear bond where I come from.”
“Idaho,” There was contempt in the word. “I hear your people are poorer than dirt.” Patrick’s brown eyes were scornful. “You fucking planned this didn’t you? I knew Thompson shouldn’t have contacted you.”
“I see Clive’s lawyers have been confiding in you, Cousin. But you have no call to speak ill of my family,” Steve retorted. “We’re poor but we’re not trash. We may not have much in the way of money, but we know how to value our women and look after them. But I didn’t come to Colorado looking to marry Laura. I came to see if I wanted a bunch of tomcats as cousins.”
“Huh.”
“Your father is on what? His sixth marriage? Chasing women younger than his kids. No man in my clan would carry on that way. Now that I’ve found Laura, that’s it. My bachelor days are done. And whatever my reservations about the Bascoms, I don’t see I’ve got much choice. Laura’s kin will be my children’s kin.” Steve rolled his shoulders.
“So you’re going to turn down your inheritance?” Patrick’s voice could have sliced stone.
Steve shook his head. “I’m not a fool. I’ll take the smooth with the rough. But I’ll take nothing from Laura.”
“Have you told her you are cousins?” Patrick asked.
Steve winced. “Third or fourth – I haven’t quite figured it out. But no, I haven’t told her. Not yet. But what difference does it make? If I have money, then I can scarcely be accused of marrying her for hers. But I’d like a chance to get her to trust me.”
Patrick folded his arms across his chest. “You want to marry a woman who doesn’t trust you?”
“I want Laura any way I can get her,” Steve said simply. “She’ll figure out sooner or later that I’m going to stick by her. We’re mates. Given time she’ll love me back.”
“Huh.”
“Bears mate for life,” Steve said. “I don’t know what was up with your father and Clive, but I never heard of bears acting like that. No round heels in my clan that’s for damn sure. If I left my wife and babies – and right now Miss Laura probably has a belly full of cub – no one in my family would ever speak to me again. Not my father, not my brothers or sisters, not my mom or my uncles. That’s not how we do it in Idaho. We Holdens look after our own. And when we find our mates, that’s it.”
Patrick’s brown eyes widened and then he was frowning again. “You think Laura’s already pregnant? At her age?”
Steve smiled. “Laura is a bear. Fertile. Beautiful. And my mate. How the hell is she not pregnant? And if by some chance she’s not, she soon will be. Look to be an uncle in another nine months.” He tried to keep the pride out of his voice. No point in waving a flag at this bear. But facts were facts.
But Patrick smelled more scared than angry. “You think it happens that fast?” he said snapping his fingers.
“Yeah. Bears are plenty fecund.”
“What the hell?”
* * *
Steve woke to blazing sunshine coming through the open California shutters. Laura was still asleep in his arms. He kissed the top of her head and breathed in her fragrance. He reveled in the sharp scent of their lovemaking. They both needed a shower, but he knew he was a real primitive who liked the aroma of his mate’s body. She was an early riser. He could rouse her for a little romp before they got cleaned up for the day.
His caresses made Laura move even closer to him. Her hand explored his chest and her fingers buried themselves in his fur. He heard himself moan and purr at her touch. “Hi,” she said shyly.
She was blushing like sunrise over the foothills, all apricots and pinks with the wild tumble of her blonde hair providing the golden streaks of the sun. “Hey,” he whispered back. “Want to play?”
He kissed her slowly. A leisurely sampling of her delights. She tasted of woman and bear. Like homecoming and peace. For sure she was his one and only.
He kissed his way down to her gorgeous breasts. They were large and plushy and filled his big palms to overflowing. He loved the way the large pink areoles puckered at the touch of his lips and turned plum as they distended. He pulled them one at a time into his mouth and sucked hard on the stiff little cones. Laura bucked beneath him and moaned deep in her throat.
He had never heard anything quite as sexy as those breathless, pleading moans. He covered her mound with one hand while he paid equal homage to the other one. Laura went stiff beneath him and where his palm covered her muff, he felt her orgasm pulsing through her body.
“Are you ready, sweetheart?” he asked.
She was hot and tight and wet. Her strong legs twined around his loins as he rode her to completion. She matched his vigorous and demanding rhythm as if they had been lovers for years instead of a day. He was glad his morning erection was able to withstand the fierce squeezing of her passage. He kept his pace steady until she had reached her peak twice more. Only then did he let himself take his release to the sound of Laura chanting his name.
CHAPTER NINETEEN
Steve got into his clothes and ambled out to the breakfast parlor. It was going to take some getting used to living in the Laura’s house. Where he came from, you didn’t have a different room to eat breakfast. You ate all your meals in the same room. Come Thanksgiving and Christmas, everybody gathered around that same table and mom got you to bring in the kitchen table if you needed extra space. Which they always did, especially now that his sisters had started having kids.
While three years of working for Hugo Sarkany had accustomed him to the trappings of wealth, those years had not made it seem normal. He had been in and out of Sarkany’s palatial homes, but he hadn’t exactly called any of them home. Presumably, unless he wanted a fight on his hand, this rustic mansion was now his home.
Patrick Bascom was sitting at the table beside his father. He was wearing a navy suit and a pinstriped shirt and tie. His eyes met Steve’s neutrally. Steve nodded cordially. “Good morning,” he said.
Freddie looked up from his eggs and tortillas. “Good morning,” he returned. His grin was sly and encompassed both Steve and Patrick. “I see you two have met. I hope you slept well, son.”
Steve felt his face heat. He guessed he wasn’t really sophisticated enough to casually sit down to table with Laura’s father the night after he moved in with her. He cleared his throat. “I slept very well, sir, thank you,” he said stiffly.
Teresita came into the breakfast room with a loaded tray in one hand and a coffee pot and the other. She poured him a cup of coffee and handed him the cream jug. “Thank you,” he said. “But I never take cream.”
“Yes, sir.” She placed the basket of tortillas on the table and a plate with eggs, sausage cooked up with vegetables and salsa before him.
Steve wondered if Laura was going to leave him here sitting at the table awkwardly with her father and Patrick.
“I thought you were going to hang around for a few days,” Freddie said to Patrick.
There was a moment’s silence. Patrick grimaced. “I have to get back to Denver,” he said. “Something’s come up.”
Freddie nodded at Patrick. “I’ll see you at supper, Steve. Right now I have three hundred calves that need to be vaccinated.”
* * *
“Better him than me,” sniggered Cory Saunders.
“Shut up,” a man hissed back. Steve guessed it was Bryce Eldon. Bryce was in his forties and not one of Saunders’ fans.
Saunders snickered louder. “You must’ve wondered what the Boss is like in the saddle,” he continued. “You think she likes it from behind? With her ass as wide as the Rockies?”
Steve heard boot heels thump on the concrete as the other half of this dialogue removed himself. He ambled into the next aisle and stood over Saunders who was halfheartedly mucking out Buddha.
“You going to tell us if the Boss likes it in the butt?” Cory taunted.
Steve didn’t answer. Saunders had used up all his chances. He found himself up against the wooden walls of Buddha’s stall. Steve’s elbow pressed into his Adam’s apple just hard enough to make the other man freeze. Saunders’ eyes remained full of impotent hate as his mouth opened and closed soundlessly.
“That’s no way to speak of a lady,” Steve said pleasantly. “Let alone the Boss. You’re done, Saunders. Go to the office and speak to Rhonda. Tell her you don’t work here anymore. She’ll do your paperwork.” He released the other man and hooked a foot around his ankles. Cory sprawled at Steve’s boots.
Cory made no attempt to get up. “Just because you’re screwing the Boss, don’t mean you run things around here. You can’t fire me.”
“No, I can’t,” agreed Steve in the same calm, implacable voice. “Which is why you’re on your way to quit.”
Cory gathered himself to spring, but Carlos’ voice was like a whip. “He can’t fire your sorry ass, Saunders. But I can. Get your papers. Tell Rhonda I said you get two weeks’ severance. Go.” He indicated the office with his head.