The Christmas Cowboy Hero Read online

  He came up beside her and gazed down at the exposed engine. His eyes met hers. “May I?” he asked, pointing to the car.

  She shrugged and wrapped her arms around her waist. She didn’t want help from the man who was sending her brother to jail. Never mind that Brice had broken the law. But she knew Clayton wouldn’t be able to fix the vehicle. No one knew her car like she did.

  “Be my guest.”

  He bent at the waist, and Lord help her, her eyes went straight to his ass and the way the Wranglers molded to him. She pressed her lips together and looked away, but that lasted only a moment before she glanced back. She was pretty sure there wasn’t a part of Clayton that didn’t look superb.

  He tinkered with a few things. Then his voice reached her. “I don’t remember you from school.”

  “I’m five years younger than you.”

  A grunt was his response. It made her roll her eyes. She was thinking of all the ways she might try to earn extra money to pay off Brice’s debt so he wouldn’t go to jail when Clayton straightened, grease covering his fingers.

  “Try her out,” he urged.

  It would get her out of the wind. And that was the only reason Abby did it. She opened the car door and sank behind the wheel. She twisted the key, fully expecting nothing to happen, but the car roared to life.

  “Your open mouth tells me that you were sure I’d fail.”

  She turned her head to find him standing at her open door. Damn, but he moved fast. “I was.”

  “You’re still angry with me.”

  She glared at him in surprise and anger. “Of course, I am. He’s my brother, and I don’t want his life ruined because he’s stupid. Haven’t you ever been that dumb? Don’t you believe in second chances?”

  “Yes. And yes.”

  He caught her off guard with his response. She was so taken aback, that for a moment, she couldn’t reply. Then it hit her. If he believed in giving someone another chance, why hadn’t he with her brother? Before she could form the words, he was talking again.

  “Brice is at home,” he said and closed her door before moving to the front of her car and lowering the hood.

  She stared at him as he got into his truck and drove off. For long minutes, she sat there, letting his words sink in. Then she drove like a maniac to get home.

  Once there, she ran from the car and through the front door to find Brice in the kitchen starting dinner as Caleb set the table. She dropped her purse and slammed the door behind her as she rushed to her brothers, and the three of them hugged in the middle of the small kitchen.

  “It’s going to be okay, Abby,” Brice said.

  She squeezed her eyes closed in an attempt to stop the tears for the third time that day. Leaning back, she kissed Caleb’s forehead before looking at Brice. “What happened?”

  “Clayton went to see him,” Caleb said, not wanting to be left out. At fourteen, everything Brice did was something to be copied.

  Brice motioned to the table. “Sit.”

  Not once had either of her brothers ever cooked dinner, no matter how many times she’d asked them. They would cook for themselves, but not for her. So she wasn’t going to argue the point.

  Abby walked to the table and shrugged out of her coat before she sat and looked at Brice. “Clayton came to see you?”

  “Yeah. After you left. I was scared shitless, to be honest.”

  She watched as he continued to brown the meat while Caleb got out the pasta and the tomato sauce for spaghetti. The waiting to discover what had been said was killing her, but she’d already asked twice.

  Finally, the pasta was boiling in the water, and the ground meat and sauce were simmering, which allowed Brice to turn to her. “He offered me a second chance.”

  “There’s a catch in there somewhere,” she said.

  Caleb paused beside her while placing napkins on the table, “That’s what I said.”

  “There is,” Brice replied. “I’m to work off the debt at the ranch beginning tomorrow. I’ll arrive after school and do any homework. Then I’ll work until dinner. For the weekends and anytime I’m not in school, I have to be there at six in the morning and work until dinner.”

  Abby wanted to find some kind of flaw in it—mostly because she was still irked with Clayton. He could’ve told her all of this at the sheriff’s offices instead of remaining silent.

  But the truth was that this would be good for Brice. She’d wanted him to get a job for months now. Not to bring home money, but to teach him responsibility and keep him from the group of friends who were constantly getting into trouble.

  “I think I had that same reaction,” Brice said. “I kept waiting for him to demand something else, but they released me, and he drove me home.”

  Abby leaned back in the chair. “That’s good.” Wasn’t it? Yes, it was good. Actually, it was great.

  Suddenly, Caleb’s face was before her, his brown eyes twinkling as he smiled at her, something he rarely did since getting his braces. “He asked about you.”

  The thrill that went through Abby was unwanted, but there was no stopping it. Then she found herself asking Brice, “Did he really?”

  “Yep,” Brice said with a grin as he stirred the meat sauce.

  “I’m sure he just wanted to fill me in on things. But he didn’t say anything when I just saw him.”

  “You just saw him?” her brothers asked in unison.

  Abby nodded, looking between the two. “The Accord broke down.”

  “And it’s cold,” Caleb said, wrinkling his nose.

  Her brothers knew her so well.

  “I guess he was driving by,” she said with a shrug. “Anyway, he stopped and got it fixed before telling me you were home. Then he drove off.”

  A frown marred Brice’s young features. “I wonder why he didn’t tell you.”

  It was because she was being bitchy. It was his way of getting back at her—and it had been a smooth hit.

  “The work is going to be rough,” she warned Brice.

  His blue eyes met hers. “I’m actually looking forward to it. Oh, I know I’ll complain, but I’ve always been curious about what goes on at a ranch. Then when we took the cattle, I was fascinated with them.”

  “Where are the rest of the cattle?” she pressed. “And the bull? Do you know that animal is worth $100,000 by himself?”

  By the regret on Brice’s face, he’d known the animal was worth a pretty penny. “I can’t say.”

  “Can’t or won’t?” she demanded.

  He refused to look at her. “Can’t.”

  “You could save everyone a lot of trouble if you just tell Clayton where the cattle are and who was involved.”

  Caleb pulled out the chair beside hers and sat sideways, throwing his arm over the back of the seat. “He’s got that look, Ab. Brice isn’t going to say anything.”

  Yeah. She knew that look all too well. Brice was one of the most honorable people she knew. If he gave his word, he kept it. That would serve him well in later years, but right now, it irritated her.

  “I’m fixing my mess this time,” Brice said. “You’ve done enough for me. It’s time for me to be a man.”

  She wondered if it was her brother’s hours in jail or the time he’d spent with Clayton made him chance, because when he spoke, she could actually picture Clayton’s face as if the words were coming out of his mouth.

  Chapter 4

  Anger simmered and boiled in his gut. Clayton rubbed his tired eyes as he looked through the paperwork from their last CPA while in his father’s office. If felt strange to be sitting there. When his eyes began to cross, he rose and poured himself a shot of bourbon.

  He stood, looking out the window into the night. His mind should be on figuring out the mess the accountant left them, but he couldn’t stop thinking about Abby Harper. He really wished he could’ve seen her face when Brice told her the news.

  “You’re smiling. That must be a good sign.”

  He turned at the sound
of his mother’s voice. Looking into her soft brown eyes, he shrugged. “I wasn’t smiling.”

  “I know a smile when I see one,” she admonished.

  She walked to him and wrapped her arms around her thin frame. The thick navy robe she wore was one of her favorites that she’d had for years. In many ways, his parents had been born in the wrong century. His mother kept her hair long, the blond strands now showing some white, and it was always either in a bun or braided as it was now.

  “I’m guessing you haven’t solved the shit storm of the books?”

  He gave a shake of his head before finishing off the bourbon. “What happened?”

  “Bill retired,” she replied with a sigh. “He was our CPA for almost forty years, and his father worked for your grandfather, and his before that.”

  “Family business.” Clayton knew all about that.

  His mother walked to the couch and sat, tucking her legs beside her so that her robe covered her bare feet. “Nathan took over for his father as Bill had done with his. Nathan had been working with Bill for the past five years. We had no misgivings about allowing Nathan to continue on as every Gilroy has done for nearly two hundred years.”

  “Mom, I only took a few accounting classes in college, and as soon as I finished, I promptly forgot everything. We need to take this to Bill.”

  The remorse on his mother’s face said he wasn’t going to like what he heard next.

  “When the bank called because there were no funds to pay the bills, we went up there to figure out what was going on.” His mother rubbed her hands up and down her arms. “I thought it was some computer glitch that would be straightened out soon.”

  Clayton went back to the desk and sat in the chair. When he returned home, he’d immediately set about trying to find the cattle. It wasn’t until this evening that he attempted to look at the books—or talk about the disaster before them.

  “And?” he prompted when she paused.

  “They showed us how the money had been moved out of our accounts.”

  Clayton laced his hands over his stomach. “What about the investments? What about the savings account and the other business accounts?”

  “Gone.”

  There had been a part of him that thought—hoped, really—maybe his mother had exaggerated the family’s financial difficulties. Now, he knew she hadn’t.

  “How?” he demanded.

  Her shoulders slumped as the worry settled around her face. “Nathan had full access to our accounts to work our investments and move money as he saw fit. Just as his father and grandfather before him.”

  “Yeah,” Clayton said tightly. “I get that, but things have changed, Mom. Why would you give someone that kind of control of your money?”

  “It’s how we’ve always done things. We had no reason to think Nathan wouldn’t be honorable.”

  Clayton was having difficulty reining in his fury. He’d always thought his parents were smart and safe with their money. It never dawned on him to see for himself.

  As if reading his mind, his mother said, “I know you don’t want to be here. You haven’t since Landon died.”

  God. Why did everything always have to circle back around to his brother’s death? “No, I don’t want to be here, but it has nothing to do with Landon, and everything to do with me not being ready to return. Regardless, I’m here now, and we’re going to get this figured out.”

  “It was the thought that your father might be the one to lose the ranch that caused his stroke. He won’t admit it, but I know that’s the reason.”

  Clayton did, too, but Ben East was as obstinate as a mule. “I saved a lot over the years, and did some questionable investing that lost me a lot of money but netted me more. I’ve transferred money into the main business account and made sure all the bills that bounced have been paid. I also made sure Nathan was taken off all the accounts, so he no longer has any access.” He glanced at the stack of invoices on the corner of the desk. “I suppose those were things Nathan was supposed to take care of, as well?”

  His mother nodded slowly. “I pay our credit cards and things like that, but the Gilroys have always taken care of the ranch’s bills.”

  Based on the amount his family had been paying the Gilroys, it was no wonder the East Ranch was their one and only client. While most CPAs only handled taxes for LLCs and corporations and the occasional individual, the Gilroys had also handled Accounts Payable and Accounts Receivable for the East Ranch. That meant they knew everything there was to know about the Easts and the ranch.

  “Your father liked the invoices to come to him, and then he’d bring them to Bill and Nathan,” his mother went on to explain.

  Clayton ran a hand down his face. Much of his aggravation stemmed from the fact that these were things he would’ve known had he returned after college.

  They were things his brother would’ve made sure to learn before he graduated high school. Because Landon had wanted nothing more than to take over the ranch one day.

  Clayton shoved aside those thoughts and leaned forward to rest his forearms on his knees. “Here’s what’s going to happen. All the bills will get paid. We’re going to find the stolen cattle and Cochise. We’re also going to find Nathan. I’ve already put a call in to the FBI. One way or another, everything is going to work out. There’s no way we’re going to lose the ranch.”

  “Don’t use all your money on us, son,” she said, her brow furrowed deeply.

  “I’ve got more than enough.”

  The silence stretched between them. He knew what she was thinking even before the words left her mouth. Still, he held his breath, hoping that she’d let it go.

  He should’ve known better.

  His father was stubborn, but he had nothing on his mother. She was like a dog with a bone. Determined. Persistent. Tenacious. All of those words described his mother to a T.

  “Clayton,” she began.

  He sat up. “Don’t,” he warned.

  “My heart hurts that the first conversation you and your father have had in years ended in an argument.”

  It hadn’t exactly been a fight. More like a disagreement because there had been explicit instructions by the doctor once his father had been released from the hospital that nothing should upset him.

  “Dad needs to rest.”

  His mother pursed her lips. “Sweetheart, he’s been in charge of the ranch for so long that he doesn’t know any other way to be. He needs to feel as if he’s still part of it.”

  “He is.”

  She paused, her face falling. “So Ben’s right. You will leave.”

  “Let’s focus on what’s happening right now and all the problems facing us.” He wasn’t in the mood to talk about the future or why he couldn’t remain at the ranch.

  To his parents, it would always be about Landon. And his brother’s death did play a part in it, but it had gone beyond that. War had changed Clayton in too many ways to even try and explain.

  There wasn’t a night that he slept through. Each time he closed his eyes, he was assaulted by nightmares of the brothers in arms that he’d lost—and the men he’d killed in order to stay alive.

  “I won’t apologize for enjoying you being here,” his mother said. “Whether you want to believe it or not, the ranch is in your blood. It’s always passed down through family.”

  And it probably would have already had Landon not been killed.

  Two years older, his brother had been the one capable of doing anything he set his mind to whether it was academics, football, or ranching. Landon had been fearless in everything he did. And he’d excelled at all of it.

  He’d shone as brightly as the sun in Clearview. But there had never been any jealousy between the brothers. Clayton had been content to let Landon shoulder the responsibilities of the eldest who would one day take over the ranch because it allowed Clayton to goof off.

  But it had all come screeching to a halt one cloudless summer night.

  Unable to sit still any
longer, Clayton rose and returned to stare out the window. “The Harper boy will be here tomorrow.”

  “You think he’ll show?” she asked.

  Grateful that she’d allowed him to change the subject, Clayton nodded without looking in her direction. “I’m hoping I can earn his trust so he’ll tell me where the rest of the cattle and Cochise are.”

  “If they haven’t already been sold off.”

  “Not around here, they haven’t. That means they’d have to haul them somewhere. All the roads are being watched for just such activity.”

  He observed his mother in the reflection of the glass as she played with the end of her braid that fell over her shoulder. “So you believe the cattle are still here?”

  “I do,” he replied.

  “Then let’s hope it works. Those calves could go a long way to helping us pay you back.”

  His gaze shifted toward one of the barns and beyond. “I’ve set up men to watch the other herds. No more cattle are going to be stolen from the East Ranch.”

  “You can’t stop the thieves if it’s something they want badly enough.”

  He turned to his mother. “This ranch has pretty much stayed with the times, but there are other things that should be implemented right away.”

  “Like?”

  “Surveillance equipment.”

  Her soft brown eyes went wide. “We can’t afford that.”

  “The first thing I did when I arrived was ride around the ranch and mark the spots where someone could get onto the property undetected. Before I saw Dad, I ordered everything that is needed. Installation begins tomorrow.”

  His mother brightened. “So there will be people to cook for?”

  He’d never understood why his mother felt the need to cook for the masses, but it made her happy. And she was phenomenal at it. Then there was her baking, which was even better.

  “Yes, ma’am.”

  She jumped up, mumbling about items she would need from the grocery store. It didn’t take much to bring a smile to his mother’s face.

  His gaze drifted upward as his thoughts turned to his father. Things weren’t so simple there. In the four years since he’d last seen his parents, his father had aged greatly. The worry and stress of the ranch had taken its toll.