The Cowboy Wins a Bride (The Cowboys of Chance Creek) (16 page)

"Take that!" Maddy called, slapping her hands on the surface of the creek. He retaliated with a wall of water that broke over the crown of her head. Laughing, she surged forward, drumming her arms into the water and slamming into him. He caught her around the waist, but lost his footing and they both submerged. Underwater, bubbles streamed from her mouth as she continued to laugh. When they managed to stand up, she leaned against his chest, breathing hard. "I guess you win," she said, her sunny smile undeterred.

"Now you have to join our side," he said, all too aware of Maddy's shapely, bikini-clad breasts pressed against his skin. Shit, he was touching her. Good thing Claire wasn't here to see. He carefully detached himself and sighed in relief when she didn't cling to him. Instead, she pushed off and went after Christine.

Jake stumbled over to him, under assault by Adrienne. "This is what you do for a living, Jamie? Hell, I wouldn't mind your job."

"You couldn't handle my job," Jamie said.

Adrienne sent a sheet of water his way. "Get back on our side where you belong. You're supposed to be taking care of us."

He shouldered Jake aside and went after Adrienne himself. For a skinny woman she sure kicked up a heck of a lot of water. When another of her assaults caught him square in the face, he dove forward and dunked her, hard.

Unlike Maddy, Adrienne didn't find this funny. She surged to her feet before he could even get his bearings and jumped on top of him, forcing him back under the water just as he came up for air. She caught at his hair, wrapped her fingers around it and pushed him down again.

Flailing around, Jamie managed to get an arm behind him and take hold of her waist. Using his superior weight as a lever, he pulled her down and pushed himself up at the same time, exchanging their positions. She let go of his hair and scrabbled at his chest. When he finally let her go and they both surfaced, she hit him. "What the hell are you doing?"

"Making sure you don't drown me. What the hell are you doing?"

"Playing." She was breathing hard, her chest rising and falling – her breasts rising and falling. Heck, why couldn't these women be ugly?

"If you're going to play you better be sure you can take as well as you give," he said. He had no patience with crybabies. Claire had always kept up with the boys. Heck, she'd often led them.

"Oh, I can take as well as I can give, cowboy. You can be sure of that," she said, and brushed past him, her fingertips skimming down his arm. She squeezed his hand meaningfully, then let go, splashing her way back to the others.

Lord have mercy. Claire had better stay in town for the rest of the week or he was going to lose this bet before sundown.

He shouldn't have participated in the waterfight at all, now that he thought about it. Claire was right – he was nothing but a flirt.

Time to mend his ways.

* * * * *

"So you'll be going back to Victoria, now, right?" Claire asked. She stood by the door, itching to be on the other side of it, back in her car and on her way home. This visit had upset her even more than she'd imagined. All those years she'd longed to have her mother's undivided attention, and now she knew what had kept her on her months' long trips abroad. Somehow knowing she'd been spending time with another daughter was worse than thinking she was shacking up with another man. If she strayed from her marriage it was her husband's fault. If she felt the need to spend time with another daughter, had it been from some failing of Claire's?

No. Of course not. What a childish thought.

She felt like a child right now. She longed to see her mother again – to confront her. To have Aria tell her that she was the only daughter she really loved. To have her say that she loved her at all. Her mother had loved her, hadn't she? A familiar ache filled her chest at the knowledge she'd never see her again to ask.

Morgan was blinking back tears, too. "I can't believe she's gone," she said. "I can't believe she's been dead for months and I didn't even know. I always came second with her. She always put you and Ethan first. She loved you two so much."

Claire stiffened, anger quickly replacing her sorrow. "Are you kidding? She took off to see you all the time. She was never here when I needed her! Don't pretend you're the injured party in this."

Morgan's eyes went wide. "You think you have it worse than me? You have your brother still. You have the ranch. You belong somewhere. I have nothing!"

"You have your father and your grandparents."

Morgan shook her head. "My grandparents are dead and I share my dad with two other half-siblings who hate my guts. Do you know how hard that's been?"

"Do you know how hard it's been to have your mother leave for months at a time and not even know where she is?" Claire stood her ground. Morgan wasn't going to steal her right to mourn all that she'd lost.

Morgan pressed the heels of her hands to her eyes. "This is insane. We've both lost our mother. We're both heartbroken. We don't have to be enemies, you know. We could help each other."

"How?" Claire took a step closer to the door. She didn't want to have this conversation. She just wanted to go home and forget all about her brand new half-sister.

"We could start by piecing the whole story together – filling each other in on the details. There are a lot of things I'd like to know – about Mom, and about you and Ethan."

Claire stared at her. "You think we're going to be one big happy family now, don't you – now that my father's dead? You think we're going to hold our arms open and welcome you to the fold?"

Morgan looked stricken. "I just thought we could talk."

"No." Claire grabbed the door handle. "You thought a lot more than that. You thought you'd weasel your way in and become part of the family. One of us. A Cruz. Well, forget it. You might be Aria's daughter, but you'll never be my sister. Leave us alone."

She whipped through the door and slammed it behind her, running down the exterior hallway and concrete stairs to the parking lot. Propelled by the fear that Morgan would come after her, she picked up speed as she hit the pavement. She had almost made it to her car when a man intercepted her, stepping out from behind a pickup truck.

"Claire. I thought that was you."

She wanted to groan. Daniel. What was he doing here?

"Get out of my way," she said and tried to push past him. He caught hold of her elbow.

"Not so fast. I heard you're sniffing around my contract with Carl Whitfield. Do I really have to remind you what will happen if you poach any more of my clients?"

Had he followed her? "He isn't your client yet. He has the right to choose anyone he pleases. I was already on my own when I approached him." She tried to pull away from his grip, but he tightened it.

"Keep away from him."

"Keep away from me!" She shoved him with both palms. He overbalanced and fell back against a Chevy Malibu, but was on his feet and in her face before she could move. He clutched the fabric of her shirt at her throat and pushed her backward until she was pressed against a panel van.

"You don't scare me, Claire Cruz. You're a bitch and a know-it-all and the biggest shrew in Billings, but you're weak and pathetic and a washup as an interior designer. You have no style. How could you? You've never been anywhere except Montana. Your mother should have taken you with her on a few of those trips of hers. Oh, I forgot. She didn't want your sorry ass along for the ride. Too busy screwing other guys, right? Wasn't that your sob story? So freaking pathetic." He loomed over her, forcing Claire to crane her neck just to look him in the eye. She wanted to say something back – something just as biting and cruel, but words failed her. She'd never seen Daniel like this. Sure, he could be mean; he yelled like a sonofabitch when he didn't get his way. One time he'd even punched a hole in her kitchen wall. But he'd never pushed her around.

She tried to shove him away, and when that didn't work she kicked him in the shin, but she barely grazed him, he was standing so close. Daniel just laughed. He bent down and whispered in her ear, "I always wondered what it would be like to get a little rough with you. You're such a fighter. I bet you'd like it. What do you say? We could get a room."

"Bastard!"

"Leave her alone. Get off of her!"

Morgan appeared around the side of the van brandishing a baseball bat. When Daniel didn't move, she wound up and swung it at him, landing a solid thump on his back.

"You bitch!" Daniel dropped Claire and spun on his heel, grabbing for the bat. Morgan pulled it out of his reach, wound up again and swung. "Damn it!"

"Go. Away." Morgan hit him again. "I'll pound you into the pavement, asshole!"

Daniel warded off her blows with raised arms. "Keep away from Carl, Claire," he shouted as he darted toward his BMW. "You talk to him again and I'll be back." The sportscar's engine roared to life and he peeled out of the parking lot. Claire watched him go, stunned.

"Are you okay?" Morgan asked, rushing up to her and putting a hand on her arm.

"Yeah, I’m fine." She shrugged her off. "I'm totally fine. I could have handled that myself."

Morgan blinked. "You looked like you needed a little help." She leaned on the bat.

"Well, I didn't."

"Look, Claire. I know you're upset. I'm upset, too…"

"You don't know anything," Claire blazed, realizing as she said the words she was being entirely unfair. She didn't care. When had life been fair to her? "Just leave me alone, would you?"

This time she made it to her car and when she left the parking lot, Morgan stood back and watched her go.

CHAPTER FIFTEEN

"We'd better head back to the Big House," Jamie said to the women sunning themselves on the riverbank. "Autumn will have dinner ready for us soon. We wouldn't want to keep her waiting,"

Maddy sat up and began to gather her things, but the other women moved more slowly. He'd wager half of them had fallen asleep where they lay in the sunshine. The Mathesons were long gone back to their own ranch, after Jake and Ned made pointed comments about how hard he was working.

Let them envy his job. It wasn't turning out to be nearly as easy as he thought it would be, and he missed Claire today. Not that she was a whole lot of fun lately. He wished they could go back to their teenage days, just for a little while. Back then, Claire knew how to enjoy life. She'd pursued everything with a fearlessness that left him speechless with admiration. Unfortunately she'd pursued Mack just as fearlessly and he'd been more than a match for her.

Had Aria really slept with him? Was she so wanton? She'd always seemed so distant, so severe – such a force unto herself. She didn't mix with the ranch work. Just decorated her home, cooked up a storm when she was around, and spent a lot of time in her garden. He hadn't thought much about her when they were young and even less as he'd grown up. Ethan and Claire had always been closer to their dad than to Aria. But they'd loved her, both of them.

He hurried to help the women back on their mounts, eager to be back at the Big House, hearing about Claire's day. She was already wound up so tight. He hoped this new wrinkle wouldn't cause her any more pain.

Nearly an hour later, he'd finally gotten all the horses tended and the guests back up to the Big House. Ducking into his own cabin, he showered and changed, then headed up the path to join the rest of them for dinner.

"No way! I don't want to see her ever again!"

Jamie stopped in his tracks. That was Claire's voice, coming from the open back door of the bunkhouse. Who was she yelling at?

"I don't want to see her, either, but I think we have to."

Ethan.

He hesitated. It wasn't really his place to interfere, but his feet made up his mind for him and soon he was peering in through the screen door into the bunkhouse kitchen. "Everything all right?"

"No, it isn't." Claire crossed the room and let him in. "Morgan's an interloper. She wants something from us, I know it."

"You said she wants to talk about Mom."

"I already told her what happened. What more does she need to know?"

"I don't know. Maybe we should find out."

Their voices were rising again. Jamie held out a hand. "Hold up. Claire, tell me what happened."

She crossed her arms over her chest and leaned against the kitchen counter. "I went to Morgan's hotel room and told her that Mom had died. She cried. She knew all about Ethan and me. Turns out Mom got pregnant in college with a professor at the University of Victoria when she studied abroad. She had the baby there and left her with her fuck-buddy's parents to raise. All those trips she took to Europe were lies; she was visiting her. Him, too, probably. That man she slept with – Edward Tate. Morgan claims Mom didn't spend much money on her. She actually claims Mom worked while she was there – at the university with Edward – doing anthropology research, whatever that means. It doesn't make any sense. Of course that's where all the money went. She probably paid for his parents to raise her brat and never told Morgan."

Jamie had never seen Claire so furious, and he was pretty sure it wasn't about the money. He'd watched her chase after her mother for far too long not to know it killed her that Aria was off raising another daughter whenever she left home.