The Cowboy's Forever Family

He shrugged, trying to make light of her comment, even if it was a direct strike to his ego. “Don’t knock it until you try it.” He met her gaze, speaking without words. Or knock me when you don’t even know me.

She glared right back at him, and her gaze was no less telling. It stated clearly that she knew him well enough to judge him and find him wanting.

“Consider the cookies and milk the least we can do as your reward for a job well done,” Carol said, grinning mischievously and seeming completely oblivious to the silent war brewing between her two guests.

“If I’m going to get cookies and milk every time I’m good, you can count on me to rescue fair damsels every day of the week.”

He was joking, of course, and the Becketts chuckled along with him, but instead of joining in the laughter, Laney frowned.

“I am neither fair nor a damsel in distress,” Laney remarked. Slade wondered if Carol and Grant could hear the ice in her tone or if she only sounded cold to him.

Apparently he was the only one who’d interpreted her frostiness because if anything, Carol’s eyes sparkled not with surprise, but with concern for the woman. “We’re just grateful you’re here with us, Laney. We only wish the circumstances were better.”

Laney’s expression fell and for a moment even Slade felt sorry for her. She looked thoroughly devastated at the reminder of Brody’s death. He’d known his fair share of female deceit in his life, but could a woman fake that kind of pain?

“Speaking of,” Slade inserted, seeing an opening to ask what was really on his mind. Maybe it was wrong of him to take advantage of the moment, given Laney’s current vulnerability, but he wasn’t sure how else to bring up the subject. It was now or never. “How long are you staying, Laney?”

Hmmph. So much for casual. He couldn’t have sounded worse if he’d tried. Every eye in the room turned on him in surprise. He wished he had figured out a more tactful way to ask the question, but he was as good at being tactful as the proverbial bull in a china shop, bumping around and smashing things—feelings—with his words.

“Didn’t she tell you?” Grant asked, scratching his red-blond beard. “She’s staying in Serendipity for good. This is Laney’s permanent home now.”

As a matter of fact, she hadn’t mentioned anything about her future plans, not that he had asked. He was relieved to hear it all the same. How else would he be able to be a part of Baby Beckett’s life?

Of course, that meant he’d have to deal with Laney on a regular basis. But he’d do what he had to do. The baby was that important to him.

“Nice of you to give her somewhere to stay for now,” he acknowledged. She’d probably be looking for a place of her own soon. Maybe he could help her find something, extend the olive branch, so to speak.

“Oh, no.” Carol shook her head, her white curls bobbing. “You misunderstand. It’s the other way around. It’s nice of her to give us a place to stay.”

“What?” Slade’s pulse roared in his ears and his voice rose. His gut turned wildly and lurched in nauseating waves. “What are you talking about?”

“Brody never told you?” The depth and restraint in Carol’s tone suggested Slade had better calm down before speaking again. He recognized the mother tone of her voice when he heard it and took it as the warning it was. He inhaled deeply, trying to calm the whirlwind in his mind.

“Sorry,” he muttered, though he wasn’t really feeling it. He stared at the ground as if a hole would open and swallow him, which might be the better way to get out of this sticky situation. “I shouldn’t have raised my voice. You just caught me off guard.”

Which was the understatement of the century.

Carol rolled cookie dough balls in her palms as if it was every day that she said things to him that turned his whole world upside down and backward. “It’s in the will. Black and white, just as we expected it to be. There are no surprises here, Slade. Brody left everything to Laney.” She smiled at him without an ounce of anxiety or regret showing in her features, and then her warm, compassionate gaze shifted to Laney. “She owns this ranch, part and parcel.”

* * *

If glowering were an art form, Slade McKenna would have made a million dollars out of it. At the moment, his face was an alarming shade of red, almost as if he were being choked with the effort of holding his temper in check. He clenched his fists into tight knots and Laney could see his pulse hammering in the tense lines of his neck. She didn’t even want to know what was running through his mind right now, but she suspected she was about to find out.

“Brody. Left. Her. Everything?” He separated each word into its own unique sentence, each one with more emphasis, more power, than the last.

Laney felt the unfathomable urge to duck beneath the counter to avoid the coming explosion. Clearly Slade was doing everything in his power to contain his words, but she had little faith in his self-control. He was too much like Brody, only more volatile in temper. Just as recklessly, foolishly impulsive, with no restraint. If he was this angry, then sooner or later—likely sooner—he’d snap.

The prospect was distinctly unsettling. The man was downright scary in his current state. He looked completely mad, poised to snort and kick in every direction.

But no matter how she was quaking on the inside, she didn’t allow herself to do so much as flinch. She wouldn’t give him the pleasure of knowing he had affected her in any way, much less that he had intimidated her. She straightened her spine and squarely met his gaze, ready for whatever fireworks were about to explode.

Except they didn’t.

He was clearly affected by the news that she was the new owner of the ranch. He glared at her. He swept in a long, ragged breath and tunneled his fingers through his dark hair.

But he didn’t yell. Didn’t fume.

In fact, he didn’t say a word.

His reaction—or lack thereof—was far more frightening to Laney than if he’d ranted and raved. The fact that he could contain his emotions suggested an entirely unexpected strength of character. The thought would be more comforting if that strength didn’t seem so focused on hating her.

His eyes were spitting fire, his gaze accusing her of a myriad of offenses.

She tipped her chin, unwilling to give him an inch in this silent war of wills. She had no reason to back down. He was the one making all of the incorrect assumptions here, not that she needed to explain herself to him. She’d done nothing wrong.

Anyway, it was none of his business.

“I don’t understand. How was the ranch Brody’s to give?” Slade’s gaze shifted to Carol, and Laney observed the immediate change in his demeanor. Tempered. Respectful. Deferential. Everything he wasn’t whenever he spoke to her. “Not to put too fine a point on it, but doesn’t the ranch belong to the two of you? I guess I just assumed—”

Grant held up a hand to staunch Slade’s flow of words. Slade actually looked relieved that he hadn’t had to finish his sentence. As well he should be.

“We aren’t getting any younger,” Grant explained in a no-nonsense tone. “We spoke to Brody about the ownership of the ranch right after we found out he’d married Laney. He told us he was planning on raising a family here. It seemed only right to pass the reins along while we were still alive to see it.”

Slade winced visibly and Laney wondered what he was thinking.

Carol moved to Laney’s side and placed one arm around her shoulders and her opposite hand on Laney’s belly. It would have bothered Laney had a stranger been so intimate, but she already considered Carol a mother to her. “And now you can see just how right we were to make that call when we did. We couldn’t possibly have known about the baby at the time, but the good Lord had it safe in His hands. Now Brody’s family will be able to live and thrive on this ranch. It isn’t quite the way we envisioned it, but—” Carol’s voice cut out with emotion “—at least Laney and the baby will have the ranch to help get them by.”

“What about y’all?” His question was directed to Carol and Grant but his eyes were on Laney.

She hated how Slade was able to make her feel as if she’d done something wrong when she hadn’t. He had no right to even think such negative things about her, never mind hint his suspicions aloud. She had left a perfectly good career in business management at a large marketing firm in order to honor Brody’s memory and raise his son or daughter the way Brody would have wanted. In the country. On the land. Did Slade imagine she would heartlessly throw Brody’s parents to the curb after all that?

The Becketts were already family to her, and as dear to her heart as her own mother and father. They had welcomed her and embraced both her and her unborn child. They had never once questioned her relationship with their son, as complicated as that had been. She was perfectly aware she owed them more than she could ever repay.

But she would, of course, give them every courtesy she could to make their lives easier in any way she was able. So why did she feel the need to justify herself to Slade?

“Laney has been nothing but kind,” Carol assured Slade, her tone brooking no argument from him.

“I’m sure she has been,” he responded, sounding as if he believed exactly the opposite. “But still—you have to understand why I’d be worried about your future.”

Only the fact that Slade sounded genuinely concerned about the Becketts kept Laney from pelting something at him. He seemed to be missing the point—or rather, all of the points. It was high time to set him straight.

“There’s nothing to worry about. Grant and Carol are staying right here. I may technically own the ranch, but in a very real way they have taken me in when I needed them most. I can never begin to repay their generosity, but I’m certainly going to try.”

Slade brushed his palm across the stubble on his jaw and gave Laney’s belly a pointed look. He appeared to be debating something in his mind.

She tensed, ready for the worst he could give.

His gaze shifted to Carol. Without warning, he strode forward and enveloped the older woman in a big, affectionate bear hug, dwarfing Carol and causing her to giggle like a young girl. “You know I love you both.”