How to Rope a McCoy (Hell Yeah!) (28 page)

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

Three
and a half hours went by fast. Cato got Heath talking about sports and he
related more facts, figures and statistics than she could keep up with. They
did agree on an appreciation for the LSU Tigers, the Texas Longhorns and the
Dallas Cowboys. But they split on his allegiance to the Washington Redskins and
her fascination with the New England Patriots. Heath laughed and said she only
liked the Patriots because she thought Brady was good-looking and Cato had to
agree.

When
they pulled into Kingsville City Limits, he asked, “Where to first?” He wasn’t
familiar with this part of Texas, but if the balloon ride was any indication,
he had something to look forward to.

“We’re
heading to the King Ranch.” She gave him directions.

“Seriously?”
he asked, his eyes lighting up.

“That’s
what you said when you found out about the hot-air balloon ride.” Cato enjoyed
his exuberance. “You’ll find I’m always serious,” she warned him.

“I’ll
keep that in mind.” Right now, his troubles seemed faraway. He was in a place
he’d always dreamed of with a beautiful woman. Heath was determined to make the
best of it.

Just
needing to be close, she placed her hand on his hard thigh. “I’ve arranged for
a private tour of the ranch for you, someone who can tell us the whole history.
I told him you were a rancher also so you’ll get to see and do things normal
tourists don’t.”

Heath
was impressed…and touched. While Cato was watching out the window as they
neared the infamous ranch, he took a moment to study her. She was so different
from other women he’d known. She was giving and unassuming, gorgeous to look
at, plus she treated him like gold. If only…

“Look,
there’s the sign, the running W. You know no one knows for sure where it came
from, whether it stands for a rattlesnake or the winding Santa
Gertrudis
Creek which runs on the property or something
else.”

“You’ve
been studying this, haven’t you?” He looked at her with amusement.

“Yes,
I have.” She winked at him. “I’ll try to let the tour guide talk.”

“No.”
He grabbed her hand and kissed it. “I’d much rather listen to you. Tell me,
give me the short spiel.”

“Well…”
she began. He didn’t realize that asking her to speak on her research was like
saying sic ‘
em
to a dog. “The King Ranch is 825000
acres, the largest cattle operation in the United States. On its land was bred
the first American cattle breed, the Santa
Gertrudis
,
the first quarter horse and the King Ranch was home to a winner of the Triple
Crown. They invented the cattle prod, cured tick fever and in the late 1980s
there were more oil wells on the King Ranch than there were in all of Saudi
Arabia.”

“I’m
impressed…” He grinned. “You’re my walking little encyclopedia, aren’t you?”

A
look of abject sadness covered her face.

Heath
sobered immediately. “What’s the matter? What did I say?”

“Nothing.”
She shook her head. When he raised his eyebrows and waited for an answer, she
took a deep breath and answered, “I was alone most of the time as a kid and I
read the encyclopedias for company.”

Heath
knew it was wrong to hate the dead, but Cato’s mother had been some piece of
work. “Sorry, honey. I didn’t mean anything by what I said. I love the way your
mind works.”

“We’re
here.” Cato pointed at the impressive gate and the more impressive
Spanish-style mansion beyond.

“This
is going to be fun,” Heath said with an expectant look on his face.

“I
hope so.”

And
it was, in fact, it surpassed Cato’s expectations. After explaining who Heath
was, the gentleman in charge of the museum had agreed to take them up in a
helicopter. The bird’s eye view of the magnificent holdings was amazing. The
pilot flew them over vast herds of cattle, past functioning windmills and oil
pumping stations. They swooped down by peaceful rivers and rock formations that
rivaled those found in Arches National Park in Utah. It was hard to process
that this was one family’s private domain.

They
landed for Heath to take a close-up look at some of the bulls. He’d told Cato
about his and Jaxson’s ambitions of improving their breeding stock. She hung
back, just enjoying his enthusiasm and it didn’t surprise her at all that he
made arrangements to bring Jaxson back to check out a particular bull Heath had
his eye on.

Cattle
wasn’t all they saw, Cato was surprised by the citrus groves. The tour guide
informed them that the King Ranch was one of the major suppliers for the
largest orange juice producer in the nation. Heath was nostalgic about the
sugarcane fields and they stopped and cut down a stalk so Cato could taste. “I
can’t believe you’re from Louisiana and never ate sugar cane.”

She
winked at him as she took a bite of the sweet treat. “Lately I’ve been trying to
make up for a lot of stuff I missed out on.”

Before
Heath could react, the tour guide walked back up. “If you folks are ready, I’ll
take you up to the museum and the saddle shop. We’ve arranged to serve you some
of our BBQ too, so I hope you’re hungry.”

Heath
was hungry—for food and Cato. As they returned to the helicopter, he held her
hand. “Thank you for this. Next weekend is on me.”

“Make
it weekend after next and you’ve got a deal.” At his puzzled look, she explained.
“I’ve already made arrangements for something you won’t want to miss. If you’re
free, that is.”

His
family problems flew back to the forefront of his mind. “I’ll work hard to be
free.”

When
the helicopter touched down where they’d begun, Cato and Heath thanked their
guide and loaded back up in Old Red. The museum and saddle shop were in
downtown Kingsville so they drove the few miles back and parked under a shade
tree. While there were several of the exhibits she wanted to see for research,
there was one that had been especially altered just for them—the saddle
exhibit. Cato couldn’t wait to see if Heath would realize one of the saddles
had been especially crafted for him.

Making
their way into the red brick building, Heath wanted to see everything. Before
they started their tour, however, they took time to sample some of the BBQ and
sides provided for their lunch. Cato was amused that Heath could barely eat, he
was so anxious to get started. She’d known he loved stuff like this, but it
thrilled her to know she’d chosen an experience that would bring him joy.

There
were gun collections, an assortment of historic Texas flags, vintage carriages
and cars and many western sculptures. Lining the walls were photographs of the
ranch and the people who had given their lives to perpetuate it. While Heath
checked out a car made especially for one of the owners, Cato studied the
photographs. Many were taken back in the 1940s, but some were more recent. She
saw many of the landscapes they’d visited today and shots of round-ups,
brandings and rodeo events held on the ranch. One picture of a cowboy being
awarded a prize caused her to stop dead in her tracks with her mouth open. The
caption read: Jose Aguilera top King Ranch cowboy. But it wasn’t the man who
caused her pulse to pound, it was the woman standing by him. Cato moved closer,
needing to be sure. Yes, yes she was right. “Heath, come look!” she called and
he came.

“What’s
wrong?”

“Look,
I think I’ve found Noah’s mother.”

“Are
you sure?”

“Almost
positive. Should we call him?”

Heath
considered what to do. He went over to the information desk and had the curator
come back with him. “Can you tell us anything about the people in this
photograph?”

The
bespectacled man leaned closer. “Not without research, no. King Ranch employs
almost a thousand people. And this photograph appears to be taken somewhere
back in the 1980s or 1990s, I have no idea if this man is still employed or
not.”

“How
would we go about finding out?” Cato pressed for information, knowing how important
this was.

He
thought a minute. “Well, there are papers kept in archive, but you’d have to
have permission to view them.” The curator lowered his voice. “And permission
is hard to get. The Kings are very private.”

“This
could be important. The woman looks like a family member who has been missing
for years.” Heath explained without really explaining.

The
man looked from Heath to Cato and back. “Well, there are some old-timers
around, you might be able to find someone who remembers something. But I can’t
promise anything.” 

“Thank
you,” Heath said as the curator walked away. “I’ll take a few pictures of it
with my phone.” He stepped back to the photo and took several shots of it. When
he returned to Cato, he reassured her. “I’ll get it to Noah when we get back.”

Remembering
how concerned Jacob was about Noah being hurt, Cato couldn’t help but speak up.
“There’s a strange family dynamic going on, it’s like Jacob is frantically
trying to protect Noah from something. I don’t know if he knows something and
isn’t telling or if it’s just gut instinct on his part, but maybe you should
talk to him first.”

Heath
stopped to consider. “Why don’t I go to Aron? He’s the father figure for them
both, he’ll know the best thing to do.”

Cato
knew Heath related to Aron, they were in a similar position in their families.
She knew he would hope someone came to him before doing something that could
possibly hurt one of his brothers or sisters. “Good,” she agreed. “Maybe they
can get a private investigator to come down and compare photos and see what
they can figure out before they tell Noah.”

“They
don’t want to get his hopes up if she’s not the same woman.”

“I’d
swear she is,” Cato said. “I understand wanting to protect him, but the way
Noah acted the other day, he’s determined to find her and is tired of being
shielded by his big brothers.”

“Yea,”
Heath grinned, “we get a bad rap sometimes for trying to shelter our families.”

“Come
on, big brother.” Cato took his hand and led him to the saddle room. She
couldn’t wait for Heath to find her surprise. When they located the leather
exhibits, Cato had to admit that all of the saddles looked pretty much alike to
her. But not to Heath. He noted working saddles and dress saddles, Mexican
saddles with silver
conchos
and ones especially made for Mr. King and Mr.
Kleiburg
.

And
then he found it.

“What’s
this?” Heath knelt down to examine the saddle more closely. It rested on a
stand, right in the middle of other saddles made by the fine craftsmen employed
by the King Ranch. “This is my brand, the rocking H.” He ran his hand over the
smooth leather, noting the intricate tooling and the silver which had been
inlaid in the vine and rope pattern. But when he came to his own name, Heath
McCoy, carved in the area right under the saddle horn, he stood and whirled to
look at Cato. “You didn’t.”

She
smiled. “I did.”

“Why?”
Heath was flabbergasted. “Why…how did you even think of it?”

She
walked up and put her hand on his arm. “I just wanted you to have something to remember
me by and the good times we were having. Besides, a saddle is something every
cowboy can use. Isn’t it?”

The
man who’d made the saddle came forward, he’d been watching for them. “Are you
pleased, Mr. McCoy?”

Heath
went to shake his hand. “Shocked is more like it. I had no idea. The saddle is
fabulous. The workmanship is out of this world.”

Cato
hung back, she was relieved Heath liked her surprise. There would have been no
way she could have afforded it, but the Kings’ representatives had been gracious
enough to give her a good deal due to the work she was doing to honor the ranch
in the publications of the Texas Cultural Center. When they were through, a
couple of workers came and boxed up Heath’s saddle so it would be protected for
the rest of their journey. 

When
they were on the road, Cato gave him the address to the Bed and Breakfast near
Corpus. “I’ve only booked one night because of your home situation, but if you
want to we can extend our stay.”

“One
night is all I can spare, but I’ll do my best to make it memorable for you.”

Tingles
of awareness made her a little jumpy. She shivered as she sat by him and Heath
hooked his arm around her neck and pulled Cato close for a kiss. His blue eyes
shone with contentment. A desire to tell him how she felt almost overwhelmed
her. But she didn’t want to burden him with her feelings, not when he’d made it
expressly clear what the terms of their arrangement were. Instead she opted for
sexy talk to lighten her mood. “What other positions can we try? What’s your
favorite?”

A
vision of Cato on all fours and him running his hands over her perfect ass made
him instantly hard. “Honey, any sex with you is better than any man deserves,
but I sure would like to have you from the back.”

“I’ll
put that on our agenda.”

“Do
you have an agenda?” He was kidding, but she could read between the lines.

“Pleasure,
Heath, only pleasure.”

Heath
groaned, envisioning what the rest of the night would hold. “You said something
about having your way with me in the surf, don’t forget that.”

“Oh,
I won’t…” Their teasing was interrupted by Heath’s phone. “Phone,” he announced
when he saw her notice he was pulling it from his pocket. “McCoy.”

“Feel
like French food?”

“Jimmy!”
Heath exclaimed. “How are you?”