A Cowboy for Mom (2 page)

This was also the
only time they employed their personal lawyers because no one
but
 
a
lawyer could
understand the crap that was passed along to them to sign. Legal jargon was not
Carson
’s strong
suit. He knew horses, cows, bulls, and the in’s and out’s of ranch life. His
sister did, as well, but these days she was more into managing her art gallery
than farming. Neither of them understood legal matters, so they’d found a firm
they could trust through good, old-fashioned determination and their own gut
feelings.

They also watched
everything very, very carefully. While they might not understand the talk, they
knew the almighty dollar, and recognized when they were being yanked around.
That much their mother had taught them in regard to managing finances
,and
it was something they utilized on a regular basis.

He rinsed out his
mug,
then
grabbed his thermos and the breakfast
burrito he’d made the night before. Heading out into the chill of the morning,
he snagged a heavy down jacket and shrugged into it as the two cattle dogs came
round for their morning scratch. “Daisy, Duke, how you both doing this
morning?” he asked them as they sat down at his feet.

Grinning when they
eyed his burrito, he shook his head. “Not for you two mutts,” he said. “Come
on, let’s get to the barn and get busy.” He’d heat the burrito up in there and eat
while he started feeding the horses. The hands would be around later in the
morning to clean the stalls and work all the horses through their paces.

“So, I hear tell
that we’ve got company coming out,” he commented to the dogs as he let them and
himself into the barn.
“Couple of city slickers wanting to
learn to be cowboys for some movie or another.
Bet you two biscuits each
they think it’s a lot easier than it really is. No? No takers?” he chuckled.
“Didn’t think so,” he murmured. Heading into the tack room, he stuck his
breakfast in the microwave and dug out the dog’s food dishes.

Filling them up
and changing out the water, he left them to their breakfast as he collected
his. He sat on a hay bale and watched them chow down and had to wonder yet
again just how the ever-loving hell he’d let his old buddy Mathew talk him into
helping out these
Hollywood
folks for three
weeks. Oh, right, his evil baby sister and
her
fucking
threats to come live with him again, despite the fact that her career and her
husband were in
New York
.
If it weren’t for that promise of hers to lay the hell off him, he was a grown
man after all as he’d pointed out, there wasn’t likely a force on the planet
that would have made him agree to Mathew’s screwy-ass plan. “Hope they’re ready
to use muscles they never knew existed,” he muttered.

Oh yeah, he was going to work them. Grinning, he snickered.
If they didn’t pass out before their heads hit the pillows each night that
first week, he’d eat his hat.

Chapter Two

It had been fifteen years since she had been back home, a
very long time since she stepped back onto the streets she ran as a kid. Oh,
she hadn’t forgotten one single thing about the town, and it was still the same
little town it was when she was thrown out of her house so long ago. No, this
homecoming was not one that she wanted, that was for sure. This homecoming was…well,
it was a
bitch
. Utter, complete,
bitch
.

However she had an ironclad contract for Rancher’s Affair
and couldn’t get out of it. And she had tried.
Hard.

“I can’t believe you brought me here, Monica,” the fourteen-year-old
beside her said.

Deep and calming
breath, deep and calming breath,
Monica
thought to herself. “It’s Mom, Carrie, and you damn well know it.” Her name
wasn’t really Monica, but she wasn’t that fifteen-year-old child that had been
run off by her parents all those years ago either.

“Yeah,
Mom
.”
The word dripped sarcasm. “So I get in a little trouble
and you decide to take me from the city to this freaking place? I can’t believe
you are that evil. That mean. I mean seriously?”

“You burnt down your dorm room, Carrie. I would say that’s
a little more than a
little
trouble.
I asked you to stay in school just for one semester and then we would be back
together again and instead you decide that it’s time to rebel?
Seriously?
You are all that I have, Car, and you know it.”

“Yeah, yeah, and you don’t want the sins of your past to be
copied by me or whatever bullshit that Dr. Know-it-all told you.”

“Honey, I just want better for you. You have always known
that. You have always known that everything I do, I do for you and you alone. I
could give a flying rat’s ass about the money or the fame. I do this so that
you don’t have to live with the danger or the pains that I had,” she reminded
her. Carrie was so freaking damn much like her father that it made her heart
hurt. Add to that the fact they were coming back to the town, hell, the fucking
ranch, that Carrie’s father owned. Yeah
,life
was going
to be great.

Monica had tried, though. When she found out she was
pregnant, she had tried to get in touch with
Carson
but he wouldn’t respond to her at all.
His sister was the one who came to meet her and told her that
Carson
wanted nothing to do with her. She was
the one who threw the money at her and told her to leave town.

Yep, showing up on the ranch was going to be great—not.
And
she had her daughter with her.
Their daughter.
A child who was the
spitting image of Carson MacDonald’s momma.
The only good thing was that
she legally had ensured that Carrie couldn’t be taken from her.

Pulling the vehicle onto the long drive up to the MacDonald
farm, she turned to look at Carrie and said, “Remember I told you that your
father lived in these parts?” She sighed at her daughter’s expression. “He
lives here,” she said softly. “Just remember that I love you and we are
perfectly fine on our own.”

“Wait.” Carrie turned and looked over the land. “Are you
freaking telling me that no-good piece of shit lives here?”

“You know that he is not that. He’s not a no-good and I won’t
have you talking about him that way.”

“O-M-G.”
The girl
spelled the letters out. “You are still in love with him, aren’t you? You still
have a thing for him? That’s why you never date.”

“I never date because I have the best date at home waiting
for me. You! You are my world,” the woman the world knew as Monica said softly.
She wasn’t Monica, though. To this town that didn’t even recognize her, she was
Jennifer MacElroy. But she hadn’t been that woman for a very, very long time.
The moment she was signed for her first contract her
name
 
and
her life changed. She had a good
life, no, she had a great life. She had people now that helped her, people who
ensured that she was always taken care of. It had been
a
stroke
of luck meeting her agent, a man who took her under his wing and
helped her career explode.

“Yeah, whatever.
So
tell me about this asshat that broke your heart?”

“He didn’t break my heart, but yes, this is his ranch. And
do not, I repeat, do not say a word to him about who you are. Let’s hope and
pray that he won’t remember me.”

If the world was good, it wouldn’t remember her. So far
even her mother hadn’t even recognized her, so if her luck held out
Carson
wouldn’t either.

With that in mind, she headed out to the ranch house and
prayed that she really had changed
enough
 
and
if she could, she would hide
Carrie so that he also wouldn’t see her. Yep, life was about to get complicated
as hell
,especially
when her co-star seemed to think
that they had a
thing
together
.

* * * * *

Looking up at the sound of a vehicle in the drive,
Carson
moved to the edge
of the paddock. Frowning, he leaned his elbows on the top railing as the woman
lifted a hand to knock on the screen door.

Tipping his hat back further, he watched as Esther, his
fifty-eight-year-old housekeeper, cook, and adopted aunt, answered. She spoke
to the woman for a time, nodded, and then waved toward where he stood. He
didn’t move, though, as the woman looked his way but he didn’t miss the glance
she shot to the vehicle she’d arrived in. Squinting, he could just make out
another person in the passenger seat through the glare off the windows.

The two women talked a moment longer before she walked off
the porch and went back to her vehicle. He let out a grown when he saw her dragging
suitcases out
..
Fucking
great, they were here
.
Or rather, the
first ones were here which meant the others wouldn’t be far behind.
There
was only one woman in the group, the lead actress, Monica something-or-other
,so
she’d be staying in the house.

The passenger door of the car opened and then slammed. He
frowned. She’d brought either a very young assistant with her or some relative.
But the double finger salute he was thrown from the kid behind the woman’s back
shocked him.
What the ever-loving hell
was that about?

Monica didn’t even realize what Carrie was doing. They got
into the house and she put their luggage on the bed. “At least it’s big enough that
we both can sleep on it.”

Carrie fell down in one of the chairs and snorted. “Goodie,
sleeping with Mommy again,” she grumbled.

“Look, child, I’m about to beat the snot out of you.”

“Whatever, Monica, you know you wouldn’t raise a hand to
touch me.”

Damn, the child
was so right.
“
You going
to be okay in here for awhile?”

“At least they have Wi-Fi,” Carrie said and put her earbuds
in.

Sighing, Monica shook her head, grabbed her hat, and headed
out into the heat of the day.
Might as well grab the bull by
the horns.
Lifting her hand, she walked toward the stables, and toward
Carson
freaking
MacDonald.

She lifted her hand and waved.
“Hi
there.”
She knew she had lost her accent a long time ago and that was
damn good. “So these are the horses you’re going to teach us to ride?” She knew
how to ride, and she was damn good at it, but she couldn’t let anyone know
that.

He was frowning at her and looked slightly confused before
he gave a shake of his head. “Yes, ma’am,” he nodded, his eyes narrowing
slightly as he stared at her. “Some of them anyway, others are out getting
their workouts. We didn’t realize you’d be bringing a friend along,” he said,
his lips twitching slightly. “If you need a second bedroom, ask Esther for one.
All the men that will be coming out will be living in the bunkhouse, so you and
your friend will pretty much have the run of the main house.”

“That’s okay. She and I have slept together before so it’s
not a big deal,” Monica said as she watched the horses. “It’s been a long time
since I’ve seen an animal other than a dog or cat up close and personal. It was
a zoo opening or something like that,” she added, as if she were a brainless
twit.

His eyes got impossibly narrower as he stared at her.
“Uh-huh,” he said. “Well, the offer is still there. Esther will give you the
schedule that you and the others will be on while you’re here. You should
probably get that from her before you get too gungho. I know for a fact that
your lead actor is, oh, how did his agent put it, ‘extremely put out’ by it.
And, like I told that gentleman to relay to his client, ‘tough shit’.
This is a working farm and if you are here, you work for me. Dinner’s at six if
you want to get some rest.” He adjusted his hat so the brim shaded his eyes. “I
have
work
to get back to, ma’am.” He flicked the brim
before turning to stride away.

Monica shrugged. She had worked a ranch before. In fact, her
parents’ ranch was right next door to his. “Never been afraid to work, besides,
it will help me get into character.” She adjusted her hat and shrugged.
“However, you might want to get that stick out of your ass,” she muttered
before turning around and walking away from him, leaving him watching her (and
she knew he was watching).

“As soon as you come clean,” he called out. When she shot
him a look, he grinned, the white of his teeth evident against the tan his skin
held. “Until then, suck it up buttercup, and get ready for the worst three
weeks of your life.” Chuckling,
Carson
kept
 
walking
through the paddock, this time whistling an oddly familiar tune.

She gritted her teeth and walked on.
Come clean, my ass.
Nope. He
didn’t know who she was and if the gods were watching her, she would damn well
get through these three weeks without anyone the wiser. Or so she prayed.
Dammit!