The Cowboy's Lady

“Still, I never thought I’d see the day that someone who would pitch a fit if she broke a nail would end up cooking on a ranch in Clayton.”

“I’m hoping I’m a little older and wiser now,” Vivienne said, closing the suitcase and zipping it shut.

“With a lot more clothes and makeup.” Brooke pulled up the handle for the suitcase and grabbed Vivienne’s oversize cosmetic bag.

“Speaking of makeup, what’s with Cody and his little sister?” Vivienne followed her sister out of the bedroom, bumping the cases down the narrow stairs.

“Okay, that leap in logic makes perfect sense,” Brooke joked.

“Work with me, sis. Bonnie asked me to help her with makeup and I thought Cody was going to have a coronary. He told me specifically to stay away from her.” Vivienne grunted as she got the last suitcase to the bottom of the stairs. “I get the impression he thinks I’m a bad influence.”

Brooke shrugged as she rolled the suitcase through the living room. “From what I hear, Cody is pretty protective of his little sister, though I’m not sure why he would think you’re a bad influence.” She shot a mischievous glance over her shoulder. “Unless you’ve picked up some evil vices in New York or Paris I’ve never known about.”

Vivienne was about to give her sister a snippy retort, but the front door burst open and a little boy came toddling through, his little feet pumping as he headed directly to Brooke. He had a baseball cap on backward and his T-shirt was stained with chocolate, as was his ear-to-ear grin.

“Book. Book,” he babbled, reaching up for her.

“A.J., stop running,” she heard a deep voice call out from behind him.

Brooke’s face softened as she let go of her sister’s suitcase and bent over to pick up the son of her now-fiancé.

Gabe Wesson stepped into the house and, without breaking stride, walked straight to Brooke.

Vivienne felt a twinge of envy as she watched this tall, smiling man rest his hand on her sister’s shoulder, then bend over and brush a light kiss over her mouth. Though she hadn’t been around when Brooke and Gabe started dating, it hadn’t been difficult to hear the change in her sister’s voice whenever she called. And when she met Gabe and his little boy, A.J., ten days ago when she moved back into the old frame house she and her siblings had grown up in, she understood why.

A.J., now secure in Brooke’s arms, batted his father’s face with one chubby hand, his grin even wider.

Gabe dragged his attention away from Brooke and A.J. and frowned as he saw the suitcases surrounding the two of them. “So who’s moving out?”

“Vivienne got a job on the Circle C. Working as a cook.” Brooke shifted A.J. in her arms, giving him a quick hug.

Gabe’s one eyebrow lifted in disbelief. “Really?” he drawled, his incredulous tone telegraphing his opinion of that situation.

“What? You think I can’t do that?” Vivienne asked, planting a hand on her hip.

Gabe raised his hand. “Sorry. Wasn’t implying anything. It’s just you lived in New York, and I can’t see you cooking on a ranch—”

Brooke placed a fingertip on his lips. “And you should stop now,” she said with a wry smile.

“A good chef can adapt the menu to the patrons,” Vivienne said, grabbing a suitcase handle in each hand and lifting her chin in defiance.

“Of course you can,” Gabe said with a placating tone, reaching for the other suitcases. “And it looks like you’re well equipped to head into the fray.” He grunted as he dragged the suitcases down the stairs, Brooke and A.J. right behind. Vivienne brought up the rear, then groaned as a deputy sheriff’s car pulled up in front of hers. Great. Just what she needed. More comments from yet another family member.

Zach Clayton eased himself out of the car, and when he saw Gabe toting the suitcases, he frowned.

“Who’s going on safari?” he said, sauntering toward them.

“If I have to hear one more comment about how many suitcases I’ve packed or doubts about how I’ll survive on that ranch, I’m hitting somebody,” Vivienne muttered, her suitcase bumping over the sidewalk to the waiting car.

“No hitting,” A.J. cried out, sounding alarmed.

Brooke patted his back soothingly. “Aunty Vivienne was just teasing, honey.” She shot her a questioning glance. “Weren’t you?”

“Barely.”

“So, my little sis is going to be a ranch cook,” Zach said as he helped Gabe heave one of her heavier suitcases into the trunk of her car. “Great advertisement for that fancy cooking school you went to.”

Vivienne ignored him as she opened the back door of her car and laid her smaller suitcases inside. “I like how everyone is so confident of my abilities and so supportive of my decision to actually make some money while I’m waiting for Grandpa’s money to come through,” she snapped as she slammed the car door shut. “I’d like to think it shouldn’t be hard to feed a bunch of cowboys. I’m not the prima donna everyone seems to think I am.”

She spun around and faced a sheepish-looking Zach and equally embarrassed Gabe.

“Sorry, sis,” Zach said, with a light shrug. “Just having some fun with you. We know you’re an amazing cook, and that’s why it seems like a stretch to see you working out there.”

Vivienne knew that and she knew she was being touchy. She also knew her lack of confidence was tied up in the reason she was fired from her previous job.

“Well, I could be working at the resorts—”

Zach held up a hand. “Not a chance, girl. That pass over the mountains to get there is too dangerous.”

In spite of her pique with her family, Vivienne felt a flush of affection at her brother’s protectiveness. She knew it was because he cared, and it had been a while since she’d had that.

“Anyhow, this is what I chose to do,” she said, tempering her stern tone with a smile. “And I’m sure I’ll be seeing you all again.”

Zach pushed his hat back on his head and heaved out a sigh. “That’s one of the other reasons I came here. I still haven’t heard anything more from that private investigator I hired to find out what’s happening with Lucas. He said he would let me know if I should send in help, but nothing. I wish I knew what to do.”

“Our mother would say that we should pray,” Vivienne said with a melancholy tone, leaning back against the car. She hadn’t prayed in years. Not since she left Clayton. As far as she was concerned, God had died when her mother had. She hadn’t talked to Him since.

“I have been,” Brooke said, cuddling A.J. close as if to protect him from the trouble Lucas was involved in. The information the family had received so far was that their cousin was trying to rescue a child orphaned by a drug gang deep in the Everglades. The bits of information were confusing and frightening and no one knew what they could or should do. Lucas wasn’t in direct contact with any of them.

“If I don’t hear anything in the next week or so, I’ll have to make a decision about getting the police in Florida involved,” Zach said, heaving a heavy sigh.

Vivienne wished she knew what to do to help her brother and Lucas. Zach had always been the one to take care of her and Brooke. Their father, distracted by work and the ongoing feud with his uncle Samuel’s side of the family, was an absent father. And when he died in a car accident that also killed his brother—their uncle Vern—Zach had taken the role of protector to Vivienne and Brooke. It had made him older than his years, but it had also brought the three very close.

“Should I take this job then?” she asked, suddenly concerned. “Or should I stay around to help find Lucas?”

Zach gave her a tight smile and shook his head. “There’s not much any of us can do, sis. So just go and work. We’ll keep you informed.”

“I can come back whenever you need me,” she said. She suspected that Cody Jameson might not mind if she decided to quit. He seemed reluctant enough to hire her.

Zach patted her shoulder. “We’ll keep in touch. Cook good at that ranch and make us Claytons proud,” he said, giving her a quick, hard hug.

The various paraphernalia of his police belt dug into her waist as she hugged him back, its heft and weight a grim reminder of Zach’s ongoing responsibilities as deputy sheriff of the town.

Then he strode back to his car and was gone.

Vivienne watched him go, then turned to her sister and Gabe. “I should leave, as well.” She hugged her sister and gave A.J.’s cheek a quick stroke. “Love you, little guy.”

“You’ll stay in touch?” Brooke asked, shifting A.J. to her other hip like a seasoned mother. She had grown up quickly in the past few months, Vivienne thought. Her little sister no longer.