Cowboy in My Pocket (22 page)

Sighing, she took a long, cool drink of water, whistled for Bob the Dog to follow and headed back to work.

TAG WATCHED as Lee slipped her gloves back on her hands and headed back to the branding with Bob the Dog hot on her heels. She’d worked her cute little tail off day and night for the past two weeks. A cute little tail wearing his plaid boxer shorts. Some days that image kept him so riled up he could hardly wait until night . . . when she gave him a taste of heaven he’d never imagined possible.

To think this had all started out as a scam to trick his grandmother. He wondered how Lenore was doing, how her health was. He hadn’t heard much from Coop and Lenore since moving to the upper ranges. Just the occasional note about ranch business when Coop sent supplies to the men. There’d been a happy-face sticker on the condoms he’d requested.

Tag wondered if Lenore and Coop were still in love.

Tag had love on his mind a lot lately.

Damn, he hadn’t wanted this to happen, but he was almost certain he was falling in love. If only Lee knew her past. It hung over him like the Sword of Damocles, not knowin’ if there might be a man somewhere lookin’ for her.

Tag didn’t think he’d be able to stand it, wondering if some strange dude might drive up to the Double Eagle one day and ask what Tag was doing with his wife.

Oh, Lord. The Double Eagle. Tag tugged back on the reins in dismay. Nitro snorted, reared and pawed the air. Tag barely noticed. Lee didn’t know. He’d never told her the truth. She still thought the reason Tag had wanted to hire a bride was to get his grandmother to stop her matchmaking.

Lee had no idea he’d been lying to her from the get-go. As sweet and honest as Lee had been with him, telling him up front she didn’t have a clue about her past even though he knew she was afraid he’d run her out . . . hell, if she ever learned the real reason . . . Tag shuddered, imagining Lee’s reaction when she finally learned the truth.

No way in hell could Lee Stetson love a man who’d used her to scam a little old lady, a dying little old lady, out of her ranch. It hardly mattered that, once he’d found out about Lenore’s health, winning the Double Eagle hadn’t been nearly as important as making his grandmother happy. No, Tag was absolutely certain Lee wouldn’t want any part of a relationship that had begun with a lie as selfish as his.

He also knew that, somehow, he’d have to tell her the truth. He wasn’t a man who could live with lies . . . he’d learned that the moment he and Coop had put this stupid plan into action.

Nitro dodged to the right, momentarily jolting Tag out of his misery. Tag gave Nitro his head and the big stallion expertly cut between a skittish little white-faced calf and its bawling mother, neatly separating the youngster and moving him toward Lee and the calf table. The stud had proven to be an even better cow pony than Tag had dreamed. He patted the animal’s muscular neck. At least something was working right in his mixed-up life. It was all going to go wrong the minute he had that talk with Lee.

MICHELLE TIGHTENED the cinch on Chief’s saddle and led him away from the small corral. Tag was giving final instructions to the half dozen cowhands who would be staying up at the summer range to break down the temporary corrals and pack up the equipment for the next roundup.

A gust of wind almost whipped the Stetson from her head as Michelle mounted the big horse. She jammed the battered hat down tightly over her eyes as she settled into the saddle. Chief skittered to one side and she expertly controlled his movements with just enough pressure of her knees and a mere tug on the reins. The big horse calmed immediately, shook his head and settled into what Michelle had dubbed his waiting mode.

She’d explained to Tag early in the first week that when Chief cocked one hip and shuffled his front feet, he wasn’t really relaxing, he was actually getting ready for takeoff. He hadn’t dumped her yet, but a girl couldn’t be too careful about a lot of things. Michelle patted Chief’s neck and sighed.

She still couldn’t believe she understood this damned horse. She couldn’t believe the roundup was almost over. The first few days in the summer range had been so overwhelming she’d thought she’d never survive. Not merely the physical labor and excruciating exhaustion of working the cattle, but the psychological toll of learning her true identity and keeping it secret, of coming to terms with the fact she loved a man who had sworn never to allow himself to fall in love.

She only wished she could be so strong. Tag was the strongest, most honorable man she’d ever known. He’d been up front with her all along, explaining the reason for the sham marriage, the reasons he never planned to marry. Once their relationship had become physical, something she’d wanted every bit as much as Tag, he’d protected her without complaint or comment.

Honest to a fault, respected by his men, loved by one terribly flawed woman. Michelle wondered how she’d been able to face herself in the mirror each morning.

Actually, she did know. She’d been able to face herself because she was too damned selfish to ruin a good thing. She thought of their lovemaking the night before and blushed. Tag definitely had an imagination. Imagination and endurance. She’d have to include those attributes in her next romantic hero.

Michelle’s shoulders slumped. She might as well get used to the fact her only heroes from now on were going to be the ones she invented. She had to tell Tag the truth. Today, after she had a chance to get her things together so she’d be ready to leave the minute Tag threw her out.

“Ready to go?” Tag brought Nitro to a halt a few paces from Michelle and Chief. “Ramón says he’ll bring Dandy and Daisy down with the rest of our stuff in a couple of days, so we can just enjoy the ride home.” He looked up at the gathering clouds. “That is, if we don’t get soaked before we make it back to the ranch.”

He drew closer and leaned over to kiss Michelle fully on the mouth, right in front of Ramón and the other hands. “I don’t know about you,” he whispered against her lips, “but I’m lookin’ forward to that great big bed waitin’ for us. Not that I haven’t enjoyed sleeping real close together . . . in fact, last night was downright inspirational.” He straightened up, winked, and whistled to Bob the Dog. Before Michelle could catch her breath, he turned Nitro around and headed the white stallion down the trail.

It wasn’t fair. Just one kiss from the man turned her insides to jelly. Michelle ran her tongue across her lips, tasting him. A single raindrop spotted her jeans and she glanced up at the dark clouds, swirling overhead like an ominous foreshadowing of her immediate future. Sensing the worst, she closed her eyes against anticipated pain, tapped Chief’s sides with her heels and followed Tag home.

COOP HUNG the phone up just as two horsemen crested the windswept hill north of the ranch. He couldn’t be certain from this distance exactly who the riders were, but he recognized Nitro and Chief.

“If that’s Miz Michelle Garrison riding Chief, then I guess her little research trip has been successful,” he muttered with grudging admiration. “That horse can be quite a handful.”

“Now, Coop, you promised.” Lenore walked quietly into the room and laid her hand gently over his shoulder. “Who was that on the phone?”

Coop sighed. He’d almost hoped Lenore hadn’t heard the damned thing ring. “That was a fella name of Mark Connor. He’s Miz Garrison’s New York editor. He’s over ta Will’s right now. Came out here as soon as the police called him to report Miz Garrison missing. Will suggested he call here since I’d helped pull the car out of the river. The man’s worried sick about her.”

“Oh, no. You didn’t tell him she was . . .”

“That I did. I’m tired of all the lies, Lenore.”

“You promised me you wouldn’t say anything to Tag.”

“Doesn’t really matter now, does it? He’s gonna find out soon enough.” Coop stood up and slapped his hat down on his head. “They’re just ridin’ into the yard. I’m goin’ out to meet ’em.” He leaned over and kissed Lenore on the cheek. “I promise not to say a thing about Lee’s real name just yet. It’ll take that Connor fella at least half an hour to get here, what with the directions I gave him. Maybe by then we’ll think of somethin’.”

Lenore smiled understandingly and patted his hand. Coop bowed his head. “I couldn’t do it, Lenore. I couldn’t lie to her editor. For all I know, the man loves her. He was real worried.”

Tag and the woman dismounted near the corral just as Coop stepped off the porch. Coop wasn’t quite sure how to think of her, as Lee Stetson or Michelle Garrison. For all he knew, she really did have amnesia. Maybe she still thought she was a cowgirl. If that was the case, he didn’t want her any more confused than she already was.

She certainly sat a horse like a real cowgirl. Her Stetson perched real pretty on her dark red hair and she didn’t look bad in a pair of tight jeans, either. As Coop walked closer, he noticed something else. Damned if Tag wasn’t looking at her with his heart on his sleeve.

This wasn’t going to be easy. Coop had been right about one thing. Her editor had told him Miz Garrison had come to Colorado to research cowboys.

Considerin’ the request Tag made for the damned rubbers, the research had gotten pretty thorough. Coop practically forced himself across the yard. He needed to talk to Tag, get a feel for how things were settin’. He wanted to sit down with the boy and tell him the truth right now, and he would, except Lenore’d made him give his word. Damn, that woman could frustrate a man.

“Hey, Coop, you old buzzard!” Tag straightened up from loosening Nitro’s cinch, but instead of the usual thump on the shoulder he enveloped Coop in a tight, emotional hug.

Oh, Lordy. Coop awkwardly hugged him back. This was worse than he’d imagined.

“Hi, Coop.” Lee, busy loosening the cinch on Chief’s saddle, smiled tentatively over the horse’s back. “It’s nice to see you.”

For the life of him, he couldn’t welcome her. Instead, Coop tipped his hat. “Ma’am,” he said. She stared at him, her green eyes sad and understanding. Coop felt like he was reading an open book. She knew. She knew who she was, but she hadn’t said a word to the boy.

“I’m going up to the house for a minute,” she said, holding Coop’s gaze a moment longer. “Do you mind taking his saddle off? I’ll come back and brush Chief after I’ve seen Lenore.”

She kissed Tag full on the mouth before she left. The boy absolutely glowed. Coop felt like a pile of horse manure.

Tag watched as Lee quietly left the barn, Bob the Dog trotting along at her heels. Rain fell steadily now, after the intermittent showers they’d had on the way home.

Lee’d been unusually silent all the way down the mountain, but after the time they’d had last night, she had every right to be tired. He grinned. Just thinking about her made him hot. “It has been an absolutely incredible two weeks,” he said, spinning around to face Coop. “Remember what you told me, Coop? Before the wedding? If I played my cards right, something might just work out for real? Coop, this woman is my royal flush.”

“Now, Tag, there’s somethin’ . . .”

“I know.” Tag felt like all the air’d just been squeezed out of his lungs. “And you’re right. It’s a pretty big somethin’. I haven’t told her the whole truth yet. I don’t know how I can tell her and not lose her.”

Tag slipped the saddle off Nitro’s back while Coop grabbed the one off Chief. They carried the equipment through the barn and on into the tack room at the back.

This was just the opportunity Tag had hoped for, a chance to talk to Coop without Lee around. He might be almost eighty years old, but Coop never seemed to run out of ideas. Right now, Tag figured he needed all the help he could get.

MICHELLE WAS halfway across the muddy yard when she admitted to herself she was running away. Avoiding the truth wasn’t going to make it disappear, especially since she was almost certain Coop knew her true identity. He’d had questions written all over his weathered face.

More important, Tag had been honest with her. The least she could do was be honest with him.

She reached down and patted Bob the Dog, then turned on her heel and headed back to the barn. It took her eyes a moment to adjust to the dark but she followed the sound of Tag’s voice to the tack room at the back of the building.

She heard her name and halted, uncertain whether to go on in or slip quietly out the back. The unhappiness in Tag’s voice kept her feet planted.

“She still thinks the marriage was set up to get Gramma to quit matchmakin’,” he said. “I just haven’t been able to tell her the truth, that this whole mess was a scam to get the Double Eagle. If I tell her, she’s gonna leave. I know it. She’s an honorable woman, Coop. I don’t think I could stand . . .”

“Don’t worry about the ranch, boy. That’s the least of your problems. Your grandmother’s already deeded that over to . . .”

Michelle felt like she might throw up, right there in the middle of the barn. This whole thing was a rip-off, a marriage of convenience to defraud a dying old lady of her ranch! Anger boiled deep and hot, blinding her to anything but Tag’s duplicity. To think she’d been so upset about not telling him her real name once she knew it! Her lies were nothing compared to what Tag and that old man were up to.

Fuming, she clenched her fists and barged into the tack room. “I can’t believe what a low-down, dirty, rotten, scheming . . .”

“Now, sweetheart.” Tag spun around, his hands held out in supplication. “I was gonna tell you the truth, honest.”

“Don’t you ‘sweetheart’ me. You lied to me. You said you just wanted to stop her matchmaking, not steal her ranch. You’ve turned me into a thief! And you . . .” She rounded on Coop just as Lenore rushed into the barn. “You’re just as bad, knowing Tag was swindling the woman you claim to love. Men!” she sneered. “You’re all a bunch of lying, thieving . . .”

“That’s enough, Michelle.” Lenore’s calm voice took the wind out of her sails. Michelle went hot and cold all over, but this time it was humiliation, not anger.

“Michelle? Who’s Michelle?” Tag asked.

Lenore merely placed a paperback romance on top of a bale of hay. She flipped it open to the back page. Absolute silence filled the small tack room.