The Cattleman (Sons of Texas Book 2) (14 page)

Shannon began gathering silverware from a cabinet drawer.

Amanda picked up the conversation about Pic running the ranch, glad for the opportunity to elevate her guy in the eyes of his new sister-in-law. “Pic’s always lived in Drake’s shadow, but now, I think he’s finally stepping out of it. He’s been the general manager for about seven months. I suppose he’s still in a learning mode, but except for when he was in college, he’s never lived anywhere but the ranch. He’s always had responsibilities, so becoming the general manager isn’t a steep learning curve for him.”

“Given the size of the Double-Barrel, that job must be equivalent to any CEO’s.” Shannon handed Amanda a stack of placemats. “Want to put these on the table?”

“It certainly consumes enough of his time,” Amanda said and inside, she hoped that statement hadn’t sounded bitchy.

As she placed the mats on the table in front of five chairs and set the silverware, it dawned on her she had not heard one word about the baby’s gender. “What sex is the baby?”

Shannon and her grandmother brought the plates and the food and set them on the table. “We don’t know,” Shannon answered. “We still haven’t made up our minds if we want to find out or do things the old fashioned way and be surprised. I have a hunch, though, that Drake will soon cave and want to know.” She grinned. “He likes to be in charge of things, you know.”

Amanda laughed. “Sounds like he
getting married hasn’t changed him a bit. He was like that when we were all in school.”

“He’s starting to relax though. A lot of things have happened lately that were out of his control and he’s had to roll with the punches.”

No doubt,
Amanda thought. Number one being fatherhood. “Is he going to do the birthing classes with you and all that?”

“That’s the plan. But I notice he turns a little green every time anyone talks about it.”

“Why? He grew up on a ranch. He must have seen birth a thousand times.”

“That’s what
I
said. But he just says, ‘You’re not a cow.’ And we drop it.” Shannon straightened and looked over the table. “Okay, I think we’re ready. I’ll go tell the guys.”

The men soon trouped in and they all sat down to eat. The conversation was light and pleasant with frequent references to Shannon’s pregnancy. She sat adjacent to Drake and Amanda couldn’t keep from seeing that Drake often reached for her hand. The looks they sometimes exchanged were filled with so much heat, Amanda had to look away. No question they had a sexy relationship
and where there was smoke, there was fire. Amanda knew Drake’s reputation with women. Only a sensual woman would please him. But were they truly in love?

Amanda and Pic were long past the stage where they couldn’t keep their hands off each other in public or in the company of other people. Compared to Shannon and Drake, she and Pic were the ones who seemed like old married people. The thought made Amanda both sad and glad.

Anticipating a heavy evening meal, she limited herself to one crepe with the cream cheese filling and two strips of bacon. At the end of the meal, Shannon left the table and returned with a cake that had HAPPY BIRTHDAY AMANDA written across the top. “I want you to know, I baked this myself,” she said, a huge grin on her face. “I hope it tastes better than the writing on the top looks.”

As they ate the cake, Pic said, “They’re having a playday at the coliseum today. We’re gonna go to the Cowgirl Hall of Fame, then stop in and watch Troy ride Pistol’s Darling. She’s a mare out of the ACHA Futurity winner a couple of years ago. I
told Troy he and Kate should talk to the owner about breeding her to Kate’s stud that’s out of that King Ranch horse. If y’all aren’t doing anything else, you should go with us. When’s the last time you saw Troy ride?”

“Last December in the Futurity pre-lims.” Drake looked at Shannon. “What do you think?”

“I’d love to. I’ve never seen a cutting horse perform.”

“What else are you doing up there?” Drake asked.

“Going to a movie downtown, then to supper at Texas de Brazil. Mandy’s got a thing for that restaurant.” He grasped Amanda’s hand and gave her a smile and a wink.

“All of that sounds like too much for us,” Drake said. “We’ll follow you and get with you at the museum, then we can watch Troy ride and come home.”

Soon, they were motoring toward Fort Worth in a caravan—Shannon and Drake following them, then Marcus and Drake’s security person, Steve Logan, in separate vehicles. “This is ridiculous,” Amanda said, looking behind them.

“Don’t think about it,” Pic said.

They rode in silence for a while. Then Amanda said, “That was fun. Shannon and her grandmother are so down-to-earth. Shannon is nothing like the woman I thought Drake would marry.”

“I know,” Pic replied. “I figured if he ever got married at all, he’d end up with one of those snooty ice queens he always hung out with.”

“I’ve never seen Drake like he is with her. He seems…softer, somehow. Not so edgy.”

“He’s a different guy, for sure.”

“Was it just me or were both of them thinking about sex the whole time we were eating?”

Pic gave a low laugh. “I caught that, too. Knowing my big brother like I do, that’s probably what was going on.”

****

Raps on the front door startled Xochimilka awake. She threw back the covers, hurried over and peeked through the blind on the window, saw the maid, Johnnie Sue. Being naked, she yanked the sheet off the bed and wrapped it around herself. She opened the door and was nearly blinded by bright sunlight.

“Morning,” the skinny maid said, looking her up and down.

“Hi.”

“Just get up? Mr. Lockhart and I were getting worried about you. It’s nearly noon.”

“Oh, my God, I didn’t realize. I wasn’t able to go to sleep until late.”

“Strange bed, huh? That happens.”

“That wasn’t it.” “There was this, this”—she splayed stiffened fingers of one hand for emphasis—“howling and—”

“Oh, that’s coyotes.” Johnnie Sue flopped her hand at her. “Just ignore them. They howl every night, but they don’t come around. We think there’s a den not too far away. L
isten, Mr. Lockhart and I had breakfast several hours ago, but I’m getting dinner together now. If you want to eat, I’ll probably get it on the table in about half an hour.”

“Dinner?”

“You know, food? The noon meal?”

“Oo
oh. I see. Lunch.”

“I’ve got a roast in the oven and I’m throwing some vegetables together. Since Pic ain’t here, Mr. Lockhart and I eat pretty light.”

“Oooh, Pic. He’s still gone?”

“You know Pic?”

“Only what his mother told my mother about him. She said he’d be happy to help me find things to photograph.”

“Humph. Well, I guess you’ll have to wait. I don’t look for him to get back before tonight or even tomorrow.”

“Can I ask you something?”

“You can ask. Don’t know if I can answer.”

“Mrs. Lockhart told my mom Pic isn’t married. Is he engaged or anything like that?”

Johnnie Sue
didn’t answer. A level look came from her hazel eyes magnified by thick glasses lenses. Xochimilka felt as if she had been sliced open and insides revealed. After a few beats, the maid said, “Sometimes Mrs. Lockhart takes a lot for granted.”

“What do you mean?”

“Pic’s got a girlfriend in Drinkwell. They’re real crazy about each other. Everybody figures they’ll get hitched one of these days.”

“Oh,” Xochimilka said, deflated. “Well…I just wondered.”

The maid looked at her a few seconds more, then said, “Come on over to the ranch house when you get ready.” She stalked off, mounted a green golf cart and drove away.

Well, that was strange.
The woman certainly hadn’t liked being asked about Pic’s personal life.

Xochimilka
started for the shower. Did the Lockharts have someone who would come and clean the guesthouse and make the bed? Or would Johnnie Sue do it? Xochimilka couldn’t quite put her finger on what Johnnie Sue’s position was. She behaved as if she ran things, but Xochimilka was sure she was just the maid.

After her shower, she stood in front of the cheval mirror in the bedroom studying her nude body. She might be thirty-five, but she didn’t look it. She knew several women younger than she who didn’t have bodies nearly as good as hers. For one thing, she hadn’t given birth. She was a tiny bit overweight, but she wasn’t fat. Her boobies were still perky and her tummy flat. And everyone envied her olive skin and thick hair. Those features certainly should be good enough to attract a country boy.

****

In Fort Worth, Amanda, Pic, Drake, Shannon and Marcus and Steve Logan strolled through the Cowgirl Hall of Fame, a museum Amanda had wanted to visit for years. Having someone else who knew something about cowboys and western history to share it with made it all the more interesting and fun. It was also fun explaining it all to Marcus and Steve, both East Coasters, who knew little about cowgirls and their history.

When they finished, the
six of them strolled toward the Will Rogers Coliseum located within walking distance of the museum. Many cutting horse shows and rodeos took place in the coliseum’s arena, they explained to Marcus and Steve.

The minute they entered the coliseum, someone called to
Pic and waved. Many said hello in passing and a few stopped and shook hands. Going to a horse show with Drake and Pic was like going with celebrities. In this venue, the Double-Barrel ranch was well known and so were the Lockhart brothers and Kate.

Over time
with Pic, Amanda had met celebrities ranging from business people to rodeo stars to movie and music stars. They had sat with Kix and Barbara Brooks and watched one of their horses perform. Another time, just outside the arena, she had met Tanya Tucker, who sometimes did her own riding.

Amanda had accompanied Pic and Troy once when they had taken Michael Keaton to dinner and they had talked about his ranch in Montana. He had introduced himself as Michael Douglas, saying he wanted to be known in the horse community by his real name.

The conversation among all of them had usually been about horses—the breeding, the training, the value. Pic never seemed to notice that any of them were celebrities. He treated them no differently from the people he dealt with every day.

Someone else started up a conversation
with Drake and Pic both when a tall, fairly good-looking dark-haired guy Amanda didn’t recognize came toward them, hanging on to a blond woman’s hand and pulling her along. Both were dressed in jeans and boots, as was every single breathing human being in sight, but the closer he got, Amanda could see that he was anything but a cowboy. Funny how she could spot that. If she didn’t know Pic and his brothers, who were
real
cowboys, she probably couldn’t.

“Is this someone you know?” she asked Pic in a low voice.

Pic glanced toward where she nodded and a scowl crossed his face.

Drake, too, looked up. “Shit,” he said.

The man came straight for them and put out his right hand. “Pic. Haven’t seen you in a long time, buddy.”

The man behaved as
if he and Pic were old friends, but Amanda felt Pic tense and withdraw. Still, he shook hands. “Jordan,” he said curtly.

Pic had no enemies. Or at least not any that Amanda had ever seen. He was too laid back, too open-minded. But obviously, no love was lost between him and this guy.

The man turned and offered his hand to Drake, who shook it, but barely. Shannon shrank behind Drake, hanging on to his arm. As if he had a sixth sense, Steve Logan stepped closer to Shannon.

“Shannon, you’re looking well,” the man said. “Haven’t seen you since the TCCRA ball last year
. You wowed all of us with that gorgeous gown you had on. How’s business?”

Drake shot him a look that would melt
the North Pole. The air teemed with tension. Pic placed a hand on Drake’s shoulder.

“Uh, busy,” Shannon said.

Was Drake jealous? Who was this guy? An old boyfriend of Shannon’s? Someone Shannon knew from the real estate business? Amanda was caught in the middle of some kind of drama.

“Good, good,” the new arrival said. “You got that Benbrook deal wrapped up, then?”

“Yes. Yes, I did,” Shannon said.

“That’s good, that’s good.” The man’s gaze volleyed between Drake and Shannon.

Pic placed himself between the man and Drake. His hand landed on Amanda’s back and she felt herself being nudged forward. Jordan and the woman with him fell in step beside them.

“What are you doing here, Palmer?” Drake asked across Pic.

“We’re getting together with Troy and his date after his ride. That’s a good horse he’s riding today by the way.”

Instantly, Amanda wondered who Troy’s date was, but she had yet to be introduced to this stranger, so she said nothing.
She had never been so in the dark about what was going on around her.

“All of Troy’s rides are good horses,” Pic said.