Ginna Gray - The Ties That Bind

“Oh, there was never any doubt they’d make the deadline,” Willa muttered. “I’m sure they couldn’t wait to get here and claim the lion’s share of the ranch.”

“’Pears to me you oughta be glad ’bout that, ’stead of standin’ there looking like you just swallered a lemon. The way I heard it, if they hadn’t’a accepted the inheritance, you’d be out on your ear.”

Willa glared at the old man, but he paid no attention. With a huff she returned her gaze to the line of vehicles.

Pete had worked on the Rocking R for almost sixty years, even before Seamus had inherited the ranch. He’d taught her to ride and rope and brand, how to string barbed wire, build a campfire, inoculate and castrate cattle and the other myriad skills that ranch life entailed, skills Seamus either had not had the time, patience or inclination to teach her. When Willa had been a child Pete had been the one who bandaged her cuts and scrapes and dried her tears if her mother or Maria wasn’t around. He’d also given her backside a wallop a few times when he’d thought she deserved it. Willa’s temper didn’t faze Pete.

“Yes, well…that’s what makes it so galling. That and the fact that they have no to right to this place.”

“Well, now, I don’t rightly know as how I’d agree with you there, Willie, seeing as how they’s old Seamus’s grandsons, wrong side of the blanket or no. You’d best accept it, girl. Blood counts fer a lot, ’specially to a feller like Seamus.”

“So I’ve discovered.” She tapped one booted foot against the hard-packed ground, simmering inside. “Maybe they have the legal right, but they don’t deserve it. They’ve never put in so much as a day’s work on this ranch. While I was pouring my blood, sweat and tears into the place all those years, where were they? When Seamus needed them, where were they? They never bothered to call him or write to him or come for a visit their whole lives. Then, when he was so old it was obvious he couldn’t last much longer, they showed up with their greedy hands out.”

“You know that fer sure an’ certain, do ya?” Pete rolled his cud of tobacco to his other cheek and slanted her a glinty look out of the corner of his eye.

“Seamus said— Good grief! I don’t believe it! Look at all those children! One, two, three—why there’s five of them.”

“Looks like it,” Pete agreed.

“Just what we need,” Willa mumbled. “A bunch of chattering kids underfoot. They’ll be nothing but a nuisance.”

“Oh, I dunno ’bout that. When you was no bigger than a button you tagged after me or Seamus all the time, soakin’ up ever’thing like a sponge. Tell you the truth, I plum enjoyed it. Ya ask me, havin’ younguns around sorta brings a place to life.”

Willa made a noncommittal sound. It wasn’t so much the children who worried her, it was the adults, the five strangers with whom she would have to share her home. Her gaze zeroed in on Zach again. That one in particular bothered her. Just watching him, even from that distance, made her edgy and irritable. What was it about the man?

Willa watched as Maria bustled out the kitchen door onto the back porch, wiping her hands on her apron. The elderly housekeeper hurried down the gravel walkway and greeted the adults effusively then made a big fuss over the children.

She could see that Matt was having a difficult time persuading the oldest boy to leave the horses in the corral, but after a brief exchange the sulky child climbed down off the corral fence and stomped after the others.

Everyone disappeared inside, and Willa turned to go back into the barn but she stopped when she spotted a red pickup cresting the rise at the top of the road.

Visitors to the Rocking R were rare enough that Willa experienced a dart of surprise. Thanks to Seamus’s rotten disposition, with the exception of his grandsons, about the only outsiders who ever set foot on the property were George Pierce, the local veterinarian, and Edward Manning.

Shading her eyes with her hand, she squinted against the glare of the sun and watched the truck descend the road into the valley. It wasn’t one of theirs. All the Rocking R pickups were silver-gray. Willa couldn’t see who was behind the wheel, but the truck looked vaguely familiar. Who in the world…?

Recognition came with a jolt. Before the shock wore off, her legs were moving. By the time the truck came to a stop in the ranch yard behind the line of parked vehicles she was there to meet it.

“What are you doing here, Lennie?” she demanded, making no effort to hide the irritation in her voice. Not that it mattered. Lennard Dawson was much too self-involved to notice. The man had the sensitivity of a stump.

He flashed what he fancied to be a killer grin. “Why, I came to see you, gorgeous. I figured since Seamus wasn’t around to object anymore, I’d drop by and see if you’d like to go out tomorrow night.”

Willa barely stifled a groan. She might have known. Eight months ago she’d made the mistake of going out with Lennie. It had been only one date, and she never would have accepted that if Seamus hadn’t butted in and forbidden her to go.

Lennie was handsome and as the only child and heir of another local rancher he was probably the most eligible bachelor in that part of Montana. The trouble was, he knew it. Willa hadn’t liked him when they were kids, and in her opinion he had not improved with age.

In addition, there had been bad blood between Seamus and Lennie’s father, Henry Dawson, for years. Over what, Willa had no idea, as Seamus had refused to discuss the matter, but for that reason alone, had he given her the chance, she would have refused the invitation without a qualm.

Her entire life she’d gone out on only a few dates, and never twice with the same man. Somehow Seamus had managed to run off every male who had ever shown an interest in her. That night his high-handedness had been the last straw, and for once she’d defied him and agreed to meet Lennie in town for dinner.

She’d been ruing that rare act of rebellion ever since.

It had taken no more than five minutes in Lennie’s company for her to realize that she still could not abide the man, but he was too conceited to notice. Ever since that night, he’d been acting proprietorial toward her whenever they bumped into each other in town. She’d even heard that he’d been telling people they were a couple. Willa had taken him to task at the first opportunity, but Lennie had just laughed and brushed aside her ire, saying if it weren’t for Seamus, they would be. So far, nothing she said made the slightest difference.

Lennie reached for the door handle, but Willa stopped him. “Don’t bother getting out. My answer is no.”

“Look, we could drive over to Bozeman and take in a movie. Or just go out to dinner and see what happens after,” he said with a suggestive wiggle of his eyebrows.

“Nothing is going to happen, because I’m not going out with you. Will you get it through that thick head of yours that I’m not interested?”

Lennie hooked his left elbow over the window frame and gave her a coaxing look. “Aw, c’mon, Willie. Seamus kept you on a short lead from the time you turned fourteen and developed knockers. It’s past time you kicked up your heels, babe.”

“Don’t call me babe,” Willa snapped. “And trust me, if I ever decide to kick up my heels, it won’t be with you.”

Willa heard the back door open and close, and when Lennie glanced in that direction his cocky smile collapsed.

“Who’s that?” he demanded, scowling.

She looked over her shoulder in time to see Zach lope down the porch steps and head for his pickup. He glanced in her direction and nodded, but otherwise ignored them and began untying the ropes securing the boxes in the truck bed.

“That’s Zach Mahoney, one of the new owners of the Rocking R,” she said, unable to hide her resentment. “He and his brothers and their families arrived just a few minutes ago.”

“One of Colleen’s bastards, huh. Everybody in town in talking about them. Is he married?”

“No, just Matt and J.T.”

Lennie’s scowl deepened. “I don’t like it.”

“Don’t like what?”

“Him living in the house with you.”

“What? You don’t have the right to like or dislike anything that goes on here, Lennie Dawson.”

She could have saved her breath.

“Damn that Seamus. Don’t you see what that scheming old devil was up to? He figured he’d throw you and his bastard grandson together and let nature take its course.”

“Seamus may have been autocratic about a lot of things, but he wouldn’t go so far as to pick out a husband for me.”

“Why not? He tried to force Colleen to marry my old man. He and Seamus even shook hands on a deal. Dad would marry Colleen and take over the ranch when Seamus kicked the bucket.”

“That’s a lie! I don’t believe you.”

“Believe it or not, it’s true. Hell, Willie, the old coot was a control freak. It bugged the hell outta him that Colleen escaped, so he dangled the ranch in front of her bastards to rein them in. And you’re the honey that sweetens the trap. That’s the only reason he bothered to include you in his last will.”

The statement hit her like a slap in the face. Willa trembled with anger and hurt…and uncertainty. “Get out of here!” she stormed. “Get off this ranch this minute.”

“Willa?”

Her head snapped around, and she realized that her raised voice had drawn Zach’s attention. He tossed the rope he had just wound into a neat coil onto the tailgate of his truck and took a couple of steps in their direction. “Is there a problem?”

She didn’t know which stung the most—Lennie’s disgusting insinuations, or having Zach come to her aid.

“No. There’s no problem. Mr. Dawson was just leaving.”

Lennie’s mouth tightened and his face flamed an angry red. Clearly he did not take kindly to being dismissed. He stared at Willa for a long time, his gaze flickering now and then to the other man. Though Zach’s stance was deceptively casual and loose there was no doubt that he was braced for trouble.

“Dammit, Willa—”

“Goodbye, Lennie.”

A muscle twitched in his cheek. He swore and reached for the door handle again but hesitated when Zach moved closer.

“All right, all right. I’m going.” He twisted the key in the ignition and the truck roared to life. “You’re obviously too emotional to discuss this rationally. When you’ve calmed down, think about what I said. You’ll see that I’m right.”

“Don’t hold your breath.”

Lennie stomped on the accelerator and the pickup fish-tailed as he spun it into a U-turn. Gunning the engine, he tore out of the ranch yard, his tires rudely kicking up dirt and gravel.

Watching the truck shoot up the road at breakneck speed, Willa experienced an odd mixture of fury and disquiet. Lennie was a hothead. She and everyone else around Clear Water had witnessed his temper many times, but she had paid no more attention to his tantrums than she would a small child’s. This time, though, she had seen something wild and dangerous simmering in his eyes, and that glimpse had sent an icy trickle down her spine. It galled her to admit it, but she was certain if Zach hadn’t been there Lennie would not have let her order him off the ranch.

“Was that guy giving you a hard time, or was that just a lovers’ quarrel?”

The question made her jump, and she was even more startled to realize that Zach now stood just behind her left shoulder. Willa was shorter than most men, but he seemed to tower over her, topping her five foot three inches by almost a foot. She was suddenly, uncomfortably aware of his broad shoulders and lean, muscular build, that raw masculinity that surrounded him like an aura, and her nerves began to jitter.