The Trouble with Texas Cowboys (6 page)

“How does that work?”

“The land from Fiddle Creek west for more than twenty miles belongs to the Gallagher families, and the whole thing makes up River Bend. Granny still lives in the main house with her youngest son, my uncle, and his family. That's where we're going for dinner today. Kinsey is my sister and has a part-time job as a paralegal in Gainesville, but she helps me out on my ranch too. I hate paperwork, so she takes care of that, and she's good at it,” Quaid explained.

“And the whole family is going to be there today?” she asked.

“Everyone that took up our side of the church.” He smiled. “Just lookin' over at you makes my heart jump around in my chest. You are gorgeous this morning, Jill. Your sweater is the same color as your mesmerizing eyes.”

It might not be the best pickup line she'd ever heard, but it wasn't too bad, and he did seem sincere.

“And here we are.” He pulled the truck under a covered circular drive, handed the keys off to a short fellow in a heavy coat and a cowboy hat, and hurried around the front of the truck to open the door for her. The guy didn't look like a butler or a valet, but evidently he was serving as both, because he opened the double front doors for them when they crossed the wide veranda.

“I'll put it close by, Mr. Quaid,” he said before he trotted back to the truck. A glance over her shoulder showed that the pasture beside the house was filled with vehicles of one kind or other, with the majority going toward trucks.

Quaid ushered her inside with a hand on her lower back, helped her remove her coat before he took his off, and handed both to an older woman who said, “Welcome to River Bend, Miz Jill. We're glad to have you here. I'm Rita, one of the housekeepers.”

Double doors were opened into a massive room to the right where people had already gathered. The aroma of food mingled with scented candles in the middle of at least a dozen round tables with snowy white cloths. A potluck, her ass, this was a full-fledged party, even if there was every kind of food imaginable lined up on tables over there against the wall.

A tall woman with black hair and eyes almost that dark crossed the room and held out her hand to Jill. “I'm Mavis Brennan. Welcome to our little place. You should have brought Gladys with you. She and I go way back.”

“Thank you. Aunt Gladys is going back to the hospital to stay with Aunt Polly. I'll tell her that you asked about her,” Jill said. “You have a lovely home. Everything looks and smells wonderful.”

Mavis nodded. “I love it when I can gather them all home, even if it's only for dinner. Declan, darlin', come meet Jill. This is Declan, my grandson. He and Leah live here with me. And please give my best to Polly. We'll be praying that she gets along all right with this ankle. At our age, we don't heal like you young folks do.”

Declan nodded and said something about being pleased to meet her, and then he was gone.

Quaid's arm slipped possessively around Jill's shoulders. “I think it's almost time to eat. We have a place at the head table with Granny.”

“Yes, you do. I want you to sit right beside me. You tell Polly to do what they say, because if you ever sit down at our age, you wind up moldin' and dyin'. We'll hope to see you often here at River Bend.” Mavis smiled. “I hear you are working at the bar and the store while she's out of commission. I'm sure you'll see lots of Quaid at Polly's. My husband's old granddaddy would have had a fit if he'd known one of his kin was in a bar, but times are changing.”

Quaid tapped a water glass with a knife, and the whole room went silent. “Granny, will you say grace?”

“I'm going to ask Declan to do that for us today,” she said.

Declan bowed his head, but Jill caught the look on his face and the way he rolled his eyes before he closed them. So the Brennan family had a black sheep, and its name was Declan.

With his hand on her lower back, Quaid steered her toward the table with Mavis and half a dozen other family members. Seated between Quaid and Mavis, she felt like a heifer at the county fair. All eyes were on her, and she was expected to perform well so she'd win the big trophy and a bunch of blue ribbons.

“Jill, this is my uncle Russell. He's Leah and Declan's father, and they live here in the big house with Granny,” Quaid said.

Jill smiled and nodded at them. “Pleased to meet you all.”

Like Sawyer told her, she assigned animals to each face. She couldn't think of a single animal that Mavis would resemble, with her height, her round face and thick neck, blue eyes, and black hair right out of a beauty shop bottle. She didn't need to, because Mavis wore confidence as well as she did that tailor-made royal-blue suit and that sparkly set of wedding rings that would rival the crown jewels. She'd never forget her name.

A tall, lanky kid that hadn't grown into his height made his way from the back of the room to their table and whispered in Mavis's ear. She turned scarlet and slapped the table with such force that the water glasses shook.

“She's gone too damned far,” she said through gritted teeth.

“Grandma?” Quaid said softly.

“My hogs are gone. They vanished in the damned air while we were in church this morning. Every single one of them.” Every word got louder, until she was yelling at the end and the whole room went silent.

“Maybe they got out and they're runnin' around on the ranch,” Quaid said.

The kid shook his head. “Daddy said to tell Miz Mavis that we checked the whole place. There isn't a single gate open or break in the fence. There's not even any hog footprints around the place showin' where they got out. All we got is cattle prints. It's like they grew wings and flew.”

Mavis was on her feet. “Russell?”

He was already pushing back his chair when he said, “You going with me, Mama?”

“Yes, I am. You will all excuse us. Please finish your food and enjoy the afternoon.” Mavis didn't even try to lower her voice as she and Russell stormed out of the room. “That damned Naomi Gallagher will pay for this. She did it while we were all in church and the ranch was unprotected. Dammit all to hell! Well, as of right now, we'll be standin' guard, and she'd better watch out, because I'm not takin' this layin' down.”

“Is she going to be all right?” Jill asked.

“She will be,” Quaid said. “The Gallaghers shouldn't have messed with her pigs. She doesn't trust anyone to take care of them but Adam and his daddy. They know pigs better than anyone in these parts, except for those folks who live down in Salt Holler. Granny hates store-bought meat with a passion.”

“This is personal, and Naomi is in deep shit,” Kinsey said from the far end of the table. “Grandma is liable to jerk every hair out of Naomi's head when she confronts her.”

“Dear God,” Quaid groaned. “I'd best go make sure Uncle Russell can handle them both. I hate to do this, Jill, but…”

“I'm going with you,” she said.

“This is not the way I expected our first date to go. I'll make it up to you, I promise,” he said.

She laid her napkin on the table and stood up. “No problem.”

Quaid made a phone call on his way to collect their jackets, and the truck was waiting in front of the door when they arrived.

Mavis shook her head and her finger at the same time. “What in the hell are you doin' here? You've got a date.”

“Where are you going?” Quaid asked.

“I'm going to shoot Naomi Gallagher,” Mavis said.

“Then I'm going to keep you out of jail.”

“How can you do that? You aren't a lawyer. I'd do better with Kinsey.” Mavis buckled the seat belt and crossed her arms over her ample bosom.

“Well, you've got me,” Quaid said.

Russell turned to his nephew. “One of the others can go. You've got plans.”

“I'm the one who's here. We need any more help, someone will be there in ten minutes,” Quaid said.

Russell nodded. “Sorry about this, Jill. You'll have to come back another time. Let's go see if we can straighten this out. She's liable to have a stroke and really shoot Naomi if she finds out for sure that she's behind this.”

“Why would your grandma think the Gallaghers stole her hogs?” Jill asked as she settled into the passenger's seat and Quaid started the engine.

“It's a long story. Our families have feuded for more than a hundred years.”

She pretended to not know anything. “Like the Hatfields and McCoys?”

He nodded. “Modern day. So far none of us have murdered each other, but it might be comin' if Naomi stole Grandma's pigs.”

“Why would she do that, anyway, if she does turn out to be the thief? And, besides, wasn't she in church this morning? How could a little old lady do that?”

Quaid's jaw worked like he was chewing bubble gum. “She wouldn't, but her family would. This is horrible. We shouldn't be following Grandma out to Wild Horse Ranch to confront Naomi on our first date.”

First date, hell. It was their last date. She didn't want to be mixed up in any of this shit. To top it all off, she'd be there with Quaid, with all appearances saying she was supporting the Brennans, and she had a supper date with Tyrell Gallagher. She couldn't wait to get home and tell Sawyer all about it. Come to think of it, he was at the Gallaghers right now, having dinner with them. Did that mean they were on opposing teams?

They reached the stone entrance into Wild Horse, and a man held up a hand to stop them from crossing the cattle guard. Russell and Quaid both rolled down their driver's side windows and leaned out.

“Mama has come to talk to Naomi,” Russell shouted.

“Brennans don't come no closer, and they do not cross onto Wild Horse. Read the sign.” He pointed.

“Trespassers will be prosecuted. Brennans will be shot,” Jill read aloud. “Do they mean it?”

“We've got one on our fences, only it says that Gallaghers will be shot,” Quaid said. “We mean it. We assume they do.”

“We just want Naomi to tell Mama that she had nothing to do with her hogs going missing this mornin',” Russell said.

“Granny is entertaining dinner guests. Y'all go on back home.”

“Did the Gallaghers steal our hogs?” Russell asked.

“You call the sheriff. He can come onto Wild Horse and check every square inch of our property. You won't find a single hog here. We don't raise those filthy things, and we damn sure don't want them on our place. They stink worse than Brennans.”

The passenger side door opened, and Mavis crawled out. She marched right up to the stone entryway, but she didn't put a foot on the cattle guard. “I know Naomi is behind this, and those hogs were worth enough that this will draw someone some jail time when I find them. You tell her that she's going to wish she'd never been born.”

“Get on out of here, you crazy old woman,” the man said.

Russell pushed out of the truck and marched right up to the man. “You don't talk to my mama like that.”

“Well, you don't accuse my granny of thievery,” the man yelled back in his face.

“You better hope she didn't instigate this, or she'll spend the rest of her years behind bars. I don't give a shit if she's an old dingbat who steals pigs,” Russell yelled.

The man threw the first punch.

Jill sat there in stunned silence.

Quaid groaned and slung open his door, left it hanging in the cold wind, and ran onto Wild Horse property to separate the two men rolling around on the ground in their Sunday best. The first person he had to get control of was Mavis. She was kicking, hitting, and slapping the Gallagher grandson like a madwoman.

Since she was his date, Jill thought that she really should go help Quaid, but she didn't want to be accused of fighting for either side. She heard him yell her name, and she bailed out of the truck.

“Sit with Granny in the truck while I get a handle on Daddy. I swear he will be in the hospital with chest pains over this,” Quaid said.

“Damn rotten Gallaghers. Lower than chicken shit. I swear they should be wiped off the face of the earth,” Mavis cussed as she strapped her seat belt. “Dammit to hell!” Mavis hit the dashboard hard enough to wince. “Now I'll have a bruise on my hand, and that's her fault too. Next time I see her outside of church, I'm going to scratch her old eyes out and feed them to the coyotes.”

Russell was huffing and puffing when Quaid finally pulled the two men apart and guided his father back to the truck. The grandson had taken his phone from his pocket and was making a call as they drove away.

Jill checked the clock on the dashboard. The whole thing hadn't lasted fifteen minutes, but when it was going on, it seemed like a month. Maybe she should have kept right on driving to Wyoming or Montana instead of coming to Burnt Boot. There were ranches there that could always use help.

* * *

Betsy sat on one side of Sawyer with one of the Gallagher cousins, Eli, on Sawyer's other side. Naomi Gallagher, the queen of the Gallagher clan, was on the other side of Betsy. It was easy to see where Betsy got her red hair and her spiciness. When she was seventy years old, she'd probably look and act just like Naomi. It wouldn't surprise Sawyer if Betsy didn't grow up to be the next Gallagher matriarch who carried the feud flag for the family.

The salad was crisp. The potato soup scrumptious. The steaks out-of-this-world tender. Then there was dessert, which was turtle cheesecake served with good dark coffee. He'd barely gotten the first bite into his mouth when Betsy's hand slipped under the floor-length tablecloth and started at his knee and made a slow journey to his thigh.

He cut his eyes over at her to see that she had turned to say something to her grandmother. Evidently she caught him looking at her from her peripheral vision, because she gave his thigh a gentle squeeze and moved on up to start massaging what lay beneath his zipper.