Not the Marrying Kind (21 page)

“Hold on, will you?” Joshua said as he swung
down from the saddle. “In the first place, you know I haven’t been
to the ranch today.”

“Oh, yeah, right. I know.” He nodded
vigorously. “And that gal is sure as hell mad about that.”

“I reckon so.”

“Take my word for it, Joshua. She’s madder
than a wet hen.”

Joshua led Bronco toward the corral. “How
would you know?”

“She was here earlier.”

“Kat was here?”

“That’s what I just said, isn’t it? Yeah,
she was here, and she wasn’t too happy with you.” Cody followed
Joshua to the corral. He leaned on the fence, hooked his thumbs in
his suspenders, and let out that crazy-sounding chuckle he had.
“Nope, she weren’t happy with you at all, cousin. Said you’d let
her down and that she had no use for a man who didn’t live up to
his obligations.” He chuckled again. “By the way, you’re fired now,
you know.”

“I was expecting that.”

“She said she’ll shoot you if she ever sees
you again.”

“All talk, Cody. All talk.” He rubbed Bronco
down, whistling as he worked. When he’d finished tending to the
bay, he turned, surprised to see Cody still standing at the fence.
The mirth was gone now from his eyes, and truth be told, he looked
downright worried. “Something wrong?” Joshua asked, alarmed by the
puckered look on his cousin’s face. Cody wasn’t the sort who ever
worried too much about anything.

He scratched at his jaw, puckered his mouth
a little more, then nodded. “Yeah, reckon there is.” Letting out a
deep breath, he drew himself up, squared his shoulders and took a
step toward Joshua. “It’s that gal, Joshua.”

“Like I said, don’t worry about her. She’ll
get over it.”

“I’m not talking about that.” He reached
around to scratch the back of his neck. “Damn lice,” he
muttered.

“I told you, Cody, you need to clean this
place up.” He shook his head. “Never mind. Won’t be long now before
we’re all moved in to the ranch house.” Joshua gazed off in the
general direction of the Rocking P, soon to be the Circle B. “You
won’t have to worry about lice. Kat will take good care of
you.”

“I’m not so sure about that, Joshua. I got a
good look at that gal today, and frankly, she doesn’t look like
much of a woman, really.”

“She was wearing trousers, right? And a work
shirt?”

“Sure enough, she was.”

Joshua nodded. “Clothes don’t really make
the man, or the woman, in this case. Trust me, underneath,
Katherine Phillips is all woman.”

“How do you know that?” The pupils of Cody’s
eyes narrowed to slits. “You been messing with that gal?”

“No, of course not. But even if I had been,
why would you mind? I thought you were willing to share.” Joshua
slung an arm over his cousin’s shoulder and prodded him forward as
they headed toward the cabin.

“You know, I’ve been giving this matter a
lot of thought,” Cody went on, wincing a bit as he supported
Joshua’s weight. The man made a fine crutch, actually. “I hate to
look a gift horse in the mouth, you know, and it’s right nice of
you to go to so much trouble for my benefit, but damn it all, I
don’t think that gal is qualified to be a wife.”

“You make it sound like she’s applying for a
job.”

“Well, isn’t that what being a wife is?”

“Good point.” The skin on the back of his
neck suddenly itched and Joshua pushed away from his
vermin-infested cousin. “You got some vinegar, don’t you? You need
to scrub your lousy head.” He shoved Cody toward the cistern.
Later, he’d do the same thing.

But Cody stood his ground. “Not yet. First,
I want to get a few things straight. Now, I may be a bit on the
skinny side, but you know I love my grits and gravy, and I do have
a healthy appetite. Can that gal cook?”

“She makes the best apple pie this side of
heaven.” Joshua’s mouth watered at the mere thought.

“Well, then, what about sewing?” Cody jerked
his elbow up, showing the rip in his sleeve. “I’m rough on my
clothes, you know.”

“She’s a woman, Cody. All women know how to
sew. It’s a skill they’re born with, I think.”

“I hope you're right. And what about
cleaning? I don’t want things
too
clean, Joshua. It’d be
just awful if she put everything away all the time and I couldn’t
find what I was looking for. Course, it might be nice if she did a
bit of dusting, maybe a little polishing. Or waxing.”

Joshua opened the cabin door, then shut it
again. He couldn’t sleep in that place another night. “I’m going to
stay in the shed, Cody.”

“Suit yourself.”

He went inside only long enough to gather
his belongings.

Later that night as he bedded down inside
the shed, he thought about Cody’s concerns. Usually, when a man
looked for a wife, he thought first about other attributes—like a
woman’s hair, her eyes, her figure. On those counts, Kat Phillips
would please just about any man.

Well, maybe some men might think her a bit
too flat-chested, but his buddies often joked, anything more than a
mouthful was a waste anyway. He nearly drooled at the thought of
tasting Kat’s sweet little breasts with their delicate nipples.

Damn it, get your mind off her tits. You’re
fixing her up with Cody, not taking her for yourself.

But his mind stayed fixed on Kat Phillips.
Her breasts, her narrow waist, those long legs, that fiery-red
hair. He closed his eyes and gave in to his desires, imagining
those long legs spread open in invitation, ready to take him in.
His hands closed around his erection, and he moaned softly as he
stroked, slowly at first, then harder, faster. All the while,
visions of Kat played through his head. Naked. Beautiful. Glorious
Kat.

His body thrummed with pleasure, her name on
his lips. Then, sated, at last, he let his head fall back on the
pillow. Joshua closed his eyes.

Damn but Cody was a lucky man. What a shame
he didn’t even realize it.

He had his work cut out for him, Joshua
thought as he finally rolled over to go to sleep. Now, he not only
had to convince Kat to marry his cousin, he also had to prove to
Cody that she possessed all the skills a good wife would need.

“Reckon you’re a mite upset with me.” Joshua
stood before Kat Phillips, his hat in his hand. He refused to lower
his gaze even though he figured he’d look more contrite if he did.
In truth, he felt downright awful about what had happened, but damn
it! It was
not
his fault. He’d done what he’d been
instructed to do. Of course, Kat didn’t know that.

Now that he’d heard exactly what had taken
place during his absence, the little plan he and Dirk Phillips had
hatched between themselves no longer seemed like such a good idea.
How was Joshua supposed to know the man would go riding off after
his stubborn daughter? Guess the old fellow hadn’t counted on Kat
being quite so determined to manage on her own.

She stared wordlessly back, silent anger
blazing from her deep blue eyes. Finally she muttered something he
didn’t catch and turned away from him.

“Wait, Miss Kat! At least give me a chance
to explain.”

What the hell was he talking about? Exactly
what sort of explanation did he plan to offer? He couldn’t tell the
girl the truth yet, not anything even close to it, so whatever he
said would be an outright lie. Joshua had never been one for lying.
Folks got themselves in a heap of trouble once they started
spinning stories. Sure, he’d fibbed a bit now and then—everybody
did—but those little falsifications weren’t real lies. Mostly they
were for social purposes, like telling a woman how pretty she
looked because it was something she needed to hear, or assuring a
gift-giver that he sure was thankful to have another
whatchamacallit
that he actually had no use for
whatsoever.

Kat was in no mood to listen.

“Nothing you say would make any difference,”
she told him, not bothering to turn around. “You’re fired, Mr.
Barron. I won’t be needing your services as foreman any longer.”
She looked him up and down. “Not that you were much of a foreman to
begin with.” She turned and walked away.

“What’s going to happen now?” Joshua noticed
that she slowed her pace a bit, allowing him to catch up with her.
Obviously she
did
want him to hang around a little longer,
otherwise she would already have gone inside and slammed the door
in his face. “With the ranch, I mean,” he said. Even that simple
question made him wince inwardly. Deception had never come easily
to him, and asking something when he already knew the answer didn’t
set well with him. But sooner or later, Kat had to come to terms
with the future and the inevitable changes that lay ahead. She had
to face the truth.

Her family would be leaving the ranch and
moving into Sunset. Kat would have to find a husband. What she
didn’t know was that her father had already found a buyer. The deal
was all but done.

“You know damned good and well what’s going
to happen to the Rocking P,” she said, whirling around to face him.
All the while she’d remained silent, her temper had obviously been
simmering. Her emotions had heated up, and now all her anger boiled
over. “You knew from the start how important it was for me to make
this work, and you swore you’d help me. You said I could count on
you. I should have known better. I don’t know why my father hired
you in the first place.” She cast a sharp glance toward his leg.
“It’s obvious you can’t keep up—”

Her face paled. Her hands clenched into
tight fists. Her eyes closed.

“Miss Kat, are you all right? You’re not
going to faint are you?”

She opened her eyes and looked at him,
tilting her chin up. “I’ve never fainted in my life,” she snapped.
“I’m not that sort of woman.” She folded her arms over her chest
and rocked back on her heels. “It’s all starting to make sense,”
she said, her voice laced with disgust. “I know what’s going
on.”

“You do?”

“I should have suspected it. In fact, I
should have
expected
this to happen. Emily warned me.”

“Your sister?” Still holding his hat in one
hand, Joshua reached to scratch the back of his neck with the
other. Conversing with a woman—especially one with a stubborn
streak—could be worse than pulling teeth. A man had to push, prod,
poke, and nudge just to find out what was on her mind. Damned hard
work. And more than a mite confusing. What did sweet, innocent
little Emily Sue know about the deal he and Phillips had made?

“She came to me one evening, told me Pa
planned to sabotage my plans. I guess I was awful stupid, wasn’t I?
I mean, in the first place, I didn’t think my father would stoop
that low, and in the second place, I didn’t see any way he could
interfere.”

Kat Phillips was anything but stupid.
Trusting, yes. Stupid, no. She loved her father and didn’t believe
him capable of duplicity.

The fact that Joshua was part of the man’s
deceit made the conversation all the more challenging. He had no
desire to antagonize Kat. Quite the contrary. He wanted her to
believe he was on her side, that he agreed with her and supported
her right to make her own choices.

In a sense, he truly
was
on her side,
and everything he did was for her benefit as much as for his own.
Although things were up in the air right now, once the dust
settled, he’d own the ranch, she’d be married off to Cody, and the
two of them could come live on the place with him. Kat would be
right back at home, exactly where she wanted to be, Cody would have
a wife to look after him, and as for himself, Joshua would have the
wide-open space of the territory to call home, along with the
freedom to come and go as he pleased. He’d hire some good ranch
hands to help with the physical labor, and everybody would be
happy, damn it! That was the plan.

Leave it to Kat to throw a kink into things
by trying so hard to succeed at her own little scheme.

To the east, the morning sun climbed higher
in the sky, moving above the tops of the tall trees. Now its
brilliant rays streamed down upon them, illuminating the earth, and
casting Kat and Joshua into a circle of warm, golden light.

“I’m sorry, Kat,” he said, not exactly sure
what he was apologizing for, but knowing somehow that the words
needed to be said. “Is there anything I can do to make things
better?”

She looked more vulnerable than ever when
she shrugged and walked toward the corral. Leaning against the
fence, she smiled back at him. “I can’t think of anything, but
thanks for asking.”

He limped across the yard to join her. “All
right, let’s put our heads together and see what we can come up
with.”

“I’m not asking you to fix my problems, Mr.
Barron. There’s nothing you can do.”

“Understanding a problem is always the first
step in finding a solution.” He plopped his hat on his head, held
up his hands, and ticked his fingers as he said, “First, your
father’s made up his mind to sell the ranch, and second, he’s got
it in his head that you should marry that Kendrick fellow. Third,
you’re not too happy with either option, am I right? Fourth, you
don’t hanker much to live in town.”

“I hate the thought.”

“Which one?”

“All of them.” Kat laughed, then sighed.
“It’s nice to joke about things. It helps me forget for a minute,
at least, how serious this is.” Crossing her arms over her chest,
she turned toward Joshua. “Why couldn’t you have told me? If I’d
known you weren’t going to show up yesterday morning…”

“You would still have gone riding off with
Benjamin, your father would still have come after you, and we’d
still be standing here having this same conversation.” If Dirk
Phillips weren’t already sick and hurting, Joshua would give the
man a good, swift kick in the rump. He was the one to blame for all
Kat’s misery, as well as for his own perilous physical
condition.