The Cowboy's Gamble: Destined For Love Series (5 page)

He hadn’t talked to her since, hadn’t been close enough to touch her . . . until today. And damned if he still didn’t want her with the same fierceness of his youth, and that irked him more than he cared to admit.

Seth scrubbed a hand over his jaw and let out a low growl of frustration. He hadn’t anticipated her seductive allure, the way her body had filled out with lush womanly curves that tempted and teased a man’s interest. She was an exciting blend of fire and spirit, and that fiery disposition made him burn hotter than any of the accommodating women he’d dated over the years.

Gruff laughter escaped him. After eleven years of trying to pretend Josie McAllister didn’t exist for him, he found it ironic that he was going to marry her. He didn’t doubt that once her temper cooled she’d agree to become his wife. Despite her fury over her father’s gambling loss, he was certain marrying him was the lesser of two evils when it came to giving up the Golden M. And marrying Josie was a small sacrifice on his part for gaining a prosperous piece of land to call his own.

Seth stood and headed toward his mare. He needed to tell Robert about this recent turn of events and let him know he’d be short a hand and would need to hire someone to replace him. He dreaded the discussion to come, suspecting that Robert was going to explode when he learned that a McAllister was about to become a part of their family.

Robert blamed the McAllisters for every misfortune they had ever encountered. In Seth’s opinion, which he’d always been smart enough to keep to himself, their family’s misfortune was a direct result of mismanagement and too much resentment. He supposed it was easier to blame the family’s nemesis, than face the truth that their father hadn’t cared enough to nurture the fertile land they’d lived on, choosing instead to spend his time at the local bar, which had left him drunk and in a surly disposition more often than not.

Refusing to dwell on the bitterness of the past, and the fact that his own father had disinherited him for reasons that proved how spiteful and unforgiving David O’Connor could be, Seth mounted his horse, determined to keep a clear focus on his future—which included Josie as his wife, and the Golden M as his new home.

Turning Lexi north, he headed toward Paradise Wild and the unpleasant task ahead.

S
eth found his brother in the spacious office located in the back of the main stable. The door was open, but since Robert seemed engrossed in the open journal on his desk and hadn’t heard him enter the building, he knocked on the wooden frame so he didn’t startle him.

Robert glanced up, wire rimmed reading glasses framing his hazel eyes. “Where have you been?” he asked, his tone tinged with a hint of annoyance. “You missed Sunday dinner.”

“Sorry ‘bout that.” Usually, he was courteous enough to let Robert’s wife, Sarah, know when he wasn’t going to be around for breakfast, dinner or supper so she didn’t prepare extra, and they didn’t wait on him. Though Seth lived in one of the two cabins located on the ranch, eating with Robert’s family was part of his wages as a hand. It worked for him, considering what a lousy cook he was. “I didn’t think I’d be as long as I was.”

Robert’s gaze flickered over his tousled hair, noted the absence of his Stetson, then narrowed speculatively. “I noticed Lexi was gone. Were you out checking fences or something? If so, you know you don’t get paid for working Sundays.”

“I wasn’t working,” he assured his brother, tamping down the spurt of bitterness surging to the surface. He hated being treated like an employee on the very land that should have been half his. He wanted to believe he’d gotten over his father’s slight, but there were times, like now, when he felt the lash of David O’Connor’s punishment straight to the core. “I was over at the McAllister’s.”

That snagged his brother’s attention. He closed the journal in front of him and pushed it aside. “Doing what?” he asked tentatively.

Drawing out the moment of victory, Seth folded his frame into the dark brown chair in front of Robert’s desk, making himself comfortable. “I was claiming the Golden M, which I won in a poker game against Jake McAllister.”

It took a few extra seconds for the importance of his statement to sink in. Seth knew the exact moment it registered—when selfish retribution glittered in Robert’s eyes. “No kidding? You won the Golden M?”

“Lock, stock and barrel,” Seth confirmed. Prime cattle, fertile land, and a feisty woman who hated him enough to threaten his life with a rifle . . . all his in the span of one night, he thought wryly.

“Well I’ll be damned!” Robert slapped a hand on the surface of his desk, a wide, gleeful grin splitting his face. “If that isn’t poetic justice, I don’t know what is.”

“Yeah, it’s ironic all right,” he agreed mildly, “considering how we lost the land so long ago.”

Leaning back in his squeaky chair, Robert began spouting plans for Seth’s winnings. “We can join the property again so it’s all O’Connor land, as it should be. We’ll combine the livestock-”

Every muscle in Seth’s body coiled tight. “No.”

Robert looked taken aback by Seth’s refusal. His brows snapped together, emphasizing his displeasure. “What do you mean, ‘no’?”

“The Golden M is
mine
, Robert.” His tone was low, undeniably firm, and a trifle dangerous. “And it’ll remain separate property.”

“Why?” Robert challenged. Standing abruptly, he braced his hands flat on his desk and leaned toward Seth, glaring. “That’s O’Connor property! It always has been. It should remain in the family as a whole.”

Under normal circumstances Seth would have agreed. Considering he’d been stripped of his rightful inheritance, he wasn’t about to share what now belonged to him. “It hasn’t been in our family for over seventy-five years. There’s no reason why it needs to be part of Paradise Wild again.”

Robert’s mouth thinned in anger. “So, you’ll be competing directly against me then?”

“I’ll be competing with no one but myself. You’ve got a fine breed of cattle, and there are plenty of buyers to accommodate both of us.”

“I can’t believe this!” Robert’s temper exploded and his face turned a bright shade of red. “Dad is probably rolling over in his grave right about now!”

“Probably, considering he left me with nothing, and I’ve acquired what he always wanted.”

A sneer curled the corner of his brother’s mouth. “If you wanted half of the Paradise Wild, then you never should have messed around with Josie McAllister.”

“Of course you’re right,” Seth graciously conceded to what had been the single most stupid mistake of his life. His brief affair with Josie had cost him so much . . . a chunk of his youthful pride, his half of the Paradise Wild, and the inability to give any other woman what he’d given her. His heart.

Refusing to dwell on past mistakes, he casually added, “Just so you know, I’ll be marrying Josie by the end of the week.”

Robert’s eyes nearly bugged right out of their sockets. “
What
?” he wheezed.

A satisfied smile quirked Seth’s mouth and he decided that he enjoyed having the upper hand for a change. Very concisely, he explained the stipulation Jake McAllister had added to the deed to the Golden M, which included offering his daughter the benefit of marriage in order for her and his granddaughter to remain on the ranch.

Robert’s blistering curses filled the office, and he paced the length of space behind his desk. “And you actually agreed to those outrageous terms?”

Refusing to be baited, Seth shrugged nonchalantly. “I’d be a fool not to. I want the Golden M.”

Robert stopped his agitated pacing and whirled to face Seth. His stare turned hard and bitter. “Yeah, you’re a fool all right. An idiotic fool for marrying that little tra-”

“Don’t say it,” Seth interrupted, the chilling tone of his voice menacing enough to make Robert reconsider his derogatory remark. He stood and faced his brother squarely. He was taller than Robert by at least three inches, and more muscular from the physical labor of working the ranch and herding cattle.

Now, he used that superior strength to send a silent, but unmistakable warning. “In fact, I’d appreciate it from here on that you keep any insulting comments about Josie to yourself.” As much as Seth had his own personal grudges with Josie, he wouldn’t tolerate his brother, or anyone else for that matter, slandering the woman who would be his wife.

“Good God, Seth,” Robert breathed incredulously. “You’re not still hot for her, are you?”

Oh, Josie made him plenty hot, all right—in ways that becoming his wife would certainly appease. “She’s a means to an end,” he said, stating a fact. “However, since she’ll be my wife, I’ll expect you to give her the same respect you would any other woman I would have married.”

Robert shook his head, his eyes wide and wild, as if he were searching for a way to make Seth see reason. “Are you totally and completely out of your mind? You can’t marry a
McAllister
!” He spat the word like an expletive.

If Seth wasn’t on the verge of letting his own anger get the best of him, he would have found his brother’s ire amusing. But he didn’t care for the ominous slant of their conversation, or the hostility burning in Robert’s gaze. For crying out loud, it wasn’t as though
Robert
had to marry Josie.

He let out a deep breath that did nothing to ease the tense muscles in his body. “I
can
marry a McAllister, and I
will
.” His brusque tone left no room for debate. “I suggest you get used to the idea.”

Robert raked him with a scathing look. “You’re going to marry her, even after what she did to you?”

Seth didn’t want to think about Josie’s deceit, knowing if he dwelled on that aspect of their time together it would eat him alive. “What happened in the past has nothing to do with the present.” Josie was a business deal, part of the package for the Golden M, which he wanted so badly he could taste the sweetness of freedom owning his own place would provide.

“She used you, Seth!” Robert pointed an angry finger his way for emphasis, but didn’t dare actually jab Seth with the offending digit. “And she tried to pawn off that brat of hers as yours after sleeping with God only knows how many guys!”

Seth’s jaw clenched. Unbidden, visions of Josie’s daughter filled his mind, momentarily taking the edge off his rising temper. The timid young girl looked just like Josie, with curly auburn hair and big green eyes. Nothing about her physical appearance gave any indication as to who her father could have been. Seth wondered if
Josie
even knew who’d fathered Kellie.

Shoving the disturbing thought out of his mind, he decided then and there that he wouldn’t punish the girl for her mother’s past indiscretions. It just wasn’t fair.

He headed toward the door, ready to end their discussion, but paused in the threshold to glance back at Robert. He leveled his steady gaze on his brother, who looked absolutely livid at the turn of events. “That ‘brat’ is going to be
my
step-daughter, and
your
niece. I’ll expect you to treat her with the same kindness I give your own two children, or you’ll answer to me.” With that, Seth left the office and headed down the long corridor to the entrance of the stable.

“Don’t expect me to be at the wedding!” Robert yelled furiously after him.

Seth shook his head. He hadn’t realized until that moment how his brother’s spiteful attitude was so much like their father’s. David O’Connor hadn’t cut anyone any slack, especially not a McAllister, and he’d allowed old resentments to fester until it had totally consumed his life. Robert was on that same collision course, straight to emotional destruction.

And there wasn’t a damn thing Seth could do about it.

As he walked out of the stables and felt the warmth of the sun on his face, Seth had the invigorating thought that he was no longer under his brother’s thumb, no longer an employee of the Paradise Wild.

He grinned. He was a free man with a spread of his own.

And it felt pretty damn good.

The heartache was already beginning, starting with the letter Josie’s father had left for her.