Twins for the Rodeo Star
Auteur
Julianna Morris
Lezers
15,0K
Hoofdstukken
15
CHAPTER ONE
KELLY BEAUMONT REINED in her horse and looked down the small Montana valley where her mother’s Irish family had settled in the 1800s. Once the Flannigans had dreamed of owning the kind of vast cattle empire they’d heard about in Texas, but it hadn’t happened.
Kindred Ranch was enough, though, and she loved it...the way her father never had. Of course, he hadn’t been born here, he’d married into the Flannigan clan, but his lack of devotion was mostly because his first love was competing in rodeos. Everything else came a distant second.
Her mouth tightened and she urged Lightfoot into a trot. Usually she tried not to get annoyed with Harry Beaumont, he was what he was, but he’d arranged for one of his rodeo buddies to stay at the ranch for a few days.
Kelly didn’t like it.
Her twin sons were already thrilled by their grandfather’s stories about the professional rodeo circuit, and the last thing she needed was another beat-up bronco rider telling them tall tales of his glory days. It wasn’t that she had anything against rodeos—they were exciting and she admired the courage and skill of the contestants—but it wasn’t the life or career she wanted for her boys.
She rode into the ranch center and saw a late-model truck parked near the main barn, bearing an Alberta, Canada, license plate. At least this pal of Harry’s wasn’t entirely broke, and she’d have time to check him out before the twins got home from their after-school soccer practice. She could also ask that he keep his stories to himself.
A tall man moved in the shadow of the barn door and Lightfoot half reared, snorting with anger. The stallion didn’t take well to strangers.
“Whoa, boy,” urged a vaguely familiar voice. Kelly was busy keeping the Appaloosa under control and didn’t look up, but she spotted the newcomer’s hand reaching for Lightfoot’s head.
“Don’t touch him,” she ordered.
“Just trying to help. I breed and raise horses now.”
“You didn’t raise this one.” She leaned over and scolded Lightfoot in his ear. “Stop that, you big lug. You are not a watchdog.You’re a horse.”
The stallion let out another snort, but stood quietly as she got off and walked him into the barn. It wasn’t until Kelly had tied him to a post that she turned around and the breath was knocked out of her lungs.
Josh McKeon.
The most handsome and talented rodeo competitor she’d ever seen, the subject of her youthful romantic dreams...and though he didn’t know it, the father of her six-year-old sons.
“Hello, Josh. What are you doing at Kindred Ranch?” Kelly asked, proud there wasn’t the faintest quaver in her voice.
“A long time ago you invited me here.”
She narrowed her eyes. “The invitation was revoked when I found you kissing another woman.”
“Still upset about that?”
“Not in the least. It was a lucky escape and taught me a lesson I’ll never forget.” Kelly removed Lightfoot’s saddle and put it on a rack in the tack room. She’d been up since before dawn, working in the barns, then riding and repairing fences. She didn’t have the energy to go over old territory with an ex-boyfriend. Still, she knew Josh well enough to realize that if she immediately ordered him off the ranch, he’d wonder why she was in such a hurry.
“What lesson?” he asked.
“That Canadian cowboys can’t be faithful any better than cowboys from somewhere else.”
His jaw jutted, the way it used to look before he got on one of the broncos he was such an expert at riding. “It was simply an enthusiastic kiss from a fan, but you were looking for a reason to break up with me when you came back from the hospital. I wish I could have stayed while your mother was being treated, but it was the final round. I won a nice amount of money that day.”
“And I’m sure the blonde helped you spend it,” Kelly returned smoothly. “You married her not long afterward, didn’t you? But you’re wrong that I was upset about you competing instead of being with me at the hospital. I was upset that Harry didn’t stay while Mom was having emergency surgery. He’d been eliminated, but he still left to watch the finals. I’ll never forget the look in her eyes when she woke up asking for him, only to hear he wasn’t there.”
“I’m sorry.”
Kelly shrugged, determined not to reveal how much it had hurt. Sweet, gentle Kathleen Beaumont still believed that someday she’d become a priority in her husband’s life, but Harry was addicted to the adrenaline rush of competition. While he rarely won any longer, he kept trying, and sooner or later his obsession would likely kill him. The fees and travel costs had been sucking Kindred Ranch dry until Kelly had put an end to it after taking over management of the ranch.
Yet, in a way, Josh was right.
That day had reminded Kelly of the life she’d have if she stayed with a man who was so similar to her father. It had seemed romantic and exciting to fall in love with a rising professional rodeo star. But in reality it meant being dragged from one venue to another, no real home for months on end...and eventually watching him lose far more than he won, while he got thrown, kicked, stomped on, gored or even killed. And with a guy as attractive as Josh, there would have been no end of women competing for his attention.
Kelly had grown up in that life, but at least she’d had Kindred Ranch and her grandparents as a stable foundation during the school year. She’d only travel with her parents during part of each summer, particularly when they were closer to Montana.
“So, why are you here?” she asked, plying a currycomb over Lightfoot in firm, even strokes. Unlike some horses, he enjoyed all aspects of grooming. She would do a quick job now to make him comfortable, and return to finish...after Josh was gone. In the meantime, it allowed her to focus on something besides her unwelcome visitor.
“Your dad and I still see each other at rodeos and professional bull-riding events,” Josh explained. “He asked me to come for a visit, saying his health is bad and it’s time to begin making amends for the past. He never did anything that needed amends, but he was a big help to me when I started and I want to find out what’s bothering him.”
Kelly gritted her teeth.
Josh McKeon was the “old rodeo pal” her father had invited? She rested her forehead against Lightfoot’s neck for an instant. His warmth and scent filled her senses and she wondered how she could love one kind of horse so much and want nothing to do with the ones that were bred to buck men to the ground in a few seconds.
“Harry’s health isn’t bad,” she said finally. “He was diagnosed with slightly elevated cholesterol and mild angina a few weeks ago. That’s all.”
“I don’t know much about health privacy laws in the United States, but it’s possible you don’t know everything the doctor told him.”
Kelly took out a hoof pick and leaned into Lightfoot’s left shoulder. He obligingly shifted his weight off the leg so she could lift his forefoot to clean it.
“In case you haven’t noticed, Harry is a hypochondriac. He’ll ride a bull with three cracked ribs and a separated shoulder, but one sneeze and he’s convinced it’s bubonic plague. Mom overreacts, so I’m the one who takes him to all of his medical appointments. Mostly Dr. Wycoff wants him to stop eating fried foods and fatty meats, which is exactly the advice he’s been getting for the past twelve years—advice Harry hasn’t followed, at least when he’s on the road.”
She glanced toward the barn door, gauging the time of day by the length of the shadows. By her calculations, she had less than an hour to convince Josh to leave for Canada. Otherwise, when the boys returned home he’d come face-to-face with fatherhood; it was something she’d rather avoid. While she felt guilty for not telling him about the twins, his knowing would have complicated life for all of them.
Josh probably wouldn’t have believed her, regardless.
And he’d repeatedly said he didn’t want children until he could buy his own ranch. From everything she’d heard, he had won big over the years, yet he was still competing. Her father would periodically mention the winners at various events, and inevitably, Josh McKeon’s name would come up. He’d gotten top honors at the Pro Canada Series final multiple times over the past seven years, along with being the All-Around Cowboy champion on the National Rodeo Circuit. Curiously, she and Harry had never discussed Josh being the twins’ father and whether he should be told.
Was that the “amends” Harry hoped to make? She seriously hoped not.
It wasn’t Harry Beaumont’s secret to tell.
JOSH WATCHED KELLY working with the Appaloosa, automatically noting the animal’s strong, clean lines. The stallion was a beauty, mostly black, with a nice pattern of blurred white spots on his rump. He was large for a woman of Kelly’s petite size, but Josh knew she had a special love for the breed. They were popular with rodeo contestants, as well.
He’d first met Kelly when she was a gangly fifteen-year-old kid, all knees and elbows. Over the next four years she’d blossomed into a beauty, but it wasn’t until she turned nineteen that he’d really noticed. She’d come up from Montana to watch her father compete at Leduc, and one look from her intense blue eyes had taken his breath away.
Her flat chest had become sweetly rounded, her hips shapely, and her chestnut hair, like a flame in the sun, had drawn his attention, wherever she was sitting in the stands. The relationship had progressed from flirting and a few dates the first summer, to love the next. At least he’d thought it was love.
“So, how are you doing on your ranch plans?” Kelly asked, picking up a body brush and running it over Lightfoot’s coat.
The stallion nickered, plainly loving the contact.
“Actually, I bought a spread south of Edmonton three years ago. It’s called McKeon’s Choice. We raise cattle and have a small horse breeding program.”
“But you still compete.” It was a flat statement, rather than a question.
“Sure. Mostly in the Pro Rodeo Canada series. Some in the United States as well, especially the larger venues. The money is good and I like saving against a rainy day.”
“I’m sure the thrill of winning has nothing to do with it.”
Josh frowned at Kelly’s cynical tone. “I enjoy competing. There’s nothing wrong with that.”
“Except sooner or later you’ll start losing more often and the money won’t be so good. You’ll decide it’s just a bad year and the next one will be better. After a while it will cost a whole lot more to compete than you’re actually winning, but it won’t matter. You’ll keep going.”
“That’s my concern, isn’t it?” Josh asked, though he knew plenty of men and women like that, Kelly’s father included. Harry was a nice guy, and while he’d never become a top champion, he’d been one of the better-known names. Now he encouraged young competitors and accepted losing with grace.
“You’re right—it’s entirely your concern. But since I’ve assured you about Harry, why don’t you head back to Alberta?” Kelly suggested. “I’m sure McKeon’s Choice would benefit from your presence. Not to mention the daily training you need for your next rodeo.”
“Kelly, that’s no way to treat a guest,” Harry Beaumont scolded as he walked into the barn.
A strained look passed between father and daughter.
“I don’t have time for guests, Harry. Maybe the two of you could head for Canada together. You talked about going to Grande Prairie for the Pro Wrangler event.”
“That’s all right. I may give it a pass this year.”
“You never give it a pass. Besides, you haven’t gone up to the Bucking B for months. Doesn’t your foreman want to see you once in a while?”
“Forgot to mention—I sold the Bucking B to Rory and his son this winter. It was too much to handle, what with me being away so much, and they’ve always wanted it.”
Another unfathomable look passed between Harry and Kelly. She was far more closed and wary than she’d been at twenty, though it was inevitable that she’d changed. She wasn’t a kid any longer and had responsibilities. Harry didn’t say much about the family, but he’d mentioned that she ran Kindred Ranch for her grandparents. Josh hadn’t asked why Harry wasn’t in charge—much as he liked the older man, he wouldn’t have put him in charge, either.
“Then where are you going to do your bull and bronco training?” Kelly asked crisply. Obviously she didn’t expect it to be on Kindred Ranch.
“Bill Fenton has offered to let me practice with his training barrel. You’ve met Bill. He has that big spread near Medicine Hat. We stayed there a few times.”
“I remember. By the way, Josh is under the impression you have serious health issues.”
“The doc said my heart was bad. You heard him.”
“Dr. Wycoff said you have very mild angina and some cholesterol issues, that’s all. You’re supposed to eat smarter, take low-dose aspirin every day and carry those little pills in case you get pain in your chest.”
“Yeah, for my bum ticker,” Harry insisted. “And I got that rash on my arm again, the one that looks like poison ivy. Except I haven’t been near the stuff.”
Plainly it was a discussion they’d had more than once and Josh didn’t want to get in the middle. Until Kelly had mentioned it, he hadn’t thought of Harry as being overly concerned about his health, but it was true. Harry Beaumont had endured some of the worst injuries a rodeo competitor could face, yet he worried about everything from hangnails to the state of his stomach.
“Fine. Make an appointment with Dr. Wycoff.” Kelly’s face was tight as she ran a soft cloth over the stallion’s coat. “But this time give me more warning about when you’re supposed to see him.”
Josh shifted uncomfortably. She was more beautiful than ever, but he was in the wrong place, at the wrong time. “Maybe I should head back home.”
“Great idea,” Kelly announced at the same moment Harry let out an emphatic “no.”
KELLY COULDN’T BELIEVE her father was forcing the issue.
“Harry, can I have a private word?” she hissed.
“Now?”
No, next Wednesday, she wanted to scream, but sarcasm was lost on Harry. Instead she nodded curtly. “Yes, now.”
Once they were outside the barn, she glared at him.
“What do you think you’re doing?” she demanded, struggling to keep her voice down.
“Josh has gotten more settled. He’d be a good father to the boys. His marriage didn’t last more than a year. Now he’s talking about finding someone and starting a family.”
“So you decided to hand him one that was ready-made?” Kelly wondered if she’d ever stop being astonished at Harry’s thoughtlessness. “Or maybe you don’t think I should have any choice in the matter.”
“I just want you to be happy.”
“I am happy. Telling Josh is my decision to make, but as usual, you did what you wanted.”
Harry blanched. “I just thought it would be easier for you to have someone to share the responsibility. My parents are long gone and your mama’s folks are in their seventies. It could be hard on them to finish raising the boys if needed. What will Casey and Marc do if something happens to the rest of us? At the very least, I thought Josh should know.”
Kelly shook her head, still furious. “What happens if he files for custody?”
“He wouldn’t.”
“You don’t know that. We’re from two different countries and Josh just told me he bought a ranch near Edmonton. That’s around four hundred miles away. A little far for weekend visits, don’t you think? Or did you think at all? Even if Josh and I agreed to a custody arrangement, I’d never be comfortable letting him take the boys to another country for visits. It would be too risky.”
Abruptly her father looked twenty years older. “It’s just that my age is catching up with me and your mother has never been strong. I worry about the boys and their future. And I worry about you. Don’t you want to get married and share your life with someone? You were in love with Josh, once.”
Kelly resisted yelling at him. As a kid she’d idolized Harry, but growing up had taught her that somebody had to be the adult, and it wasn’t going to be her father. As for sharing her life with someone? Did Harry honestly think he’d shared his life with his family? They’d mostly been spectators, following him around while he did his best to dig himself an early grave.
The whole thing had made her resistant to marriage. A few weeks ago, she’d even turned down Grant Latham’s proposal. Grant was a veterinarian in the nearby town of Shelton; he was a decent, settled, hardworking man, yet she hadn’t been able to accept. There just wasn’t any spark with him. Sharing her life with someone was a nice thought in theory, but not with the wrong someone.
Spark or not, Josh McKeon was wrong in capital letters.
Even if he was more responsible than Harry, he was still a rodeo competitor. Not to mention a heartbreaker. She couldn’t deny being hurt when she found him in a passionate kiss with another woman, but ultimately, her common sense had made the decision to break up. He’d simply made the split easier by proving he couldn’t be trusted. And look how easily he’d transferred his affections. By the time she’d realized she was pregnant, he was married to someone else.
“It was a kid’s crush, nothing more, Harry. I can’t be sorry, I adore my sons, but it wasn’t love.”
Her father made a helpless gesture. “All right, I’ll get Josh to leave. But even if he stayed, he wouldn’t necessarily assume Casey and Marc are his kids.”
Kelly hoped that would be the case. She’d gotten pregnant right before her mother had collapsed with a perforated ulcer. On top of that, the boys had arrived two weeks late, which would confuse the issue if Josh calculated the dates.
As for Casey and Marc sharing his dark hair and eyes? Two-thirds of Shelton’s population had the same coloring.
JOSH HAD BEEN unsuccessfully trying to coax Kelly’s Appaloosa into accepting attention from him when Harry walked back into the barn with a discouraged expression on his face.
“Sorry, pal,” Harry murmured. “I thought my daughter had forgiven you for the past, but I was wrong.”
“I told her nothing was going on with the woman she saw kissing me. I’d never met Doreen Bigelow before that day.”
“Yeah, but you married her a month later. That doesn’t sit well with someone like Kelly. She’s real proud.”
It was ironic. Josh’s rebound marriage to Doreen Bigelow had been the worst disaster of his life. In the time they were together she’d cheated, connived and spent money as if it grew on trees. He’d filed for divorce in less than six months.
“Fine. Do you want to drive back to Edmonton with me?” Josh asked. “We should be able to get to Lethbridge and I have friends there who’ll put us up for the night. Or else we can sleep in my camper. Kelly is right about the event at Grande Prairie. You always go.”
Harry looked tempted. “I’d love to, but I promised my wife that I’d stop being away so much. She was still coming with me during the summer, but her folks are older and she’d rather stay home to help out.”
“With the ranch?”
“Heavens, no. We have a couple of cowhands and Kelly has a talent for running the place. She loves the land and animals. Ranching is in her blood. Don’t think I’ve ever seen anyone with her eye for breeding horses.”
Josh spared a glance for the Appaloosa. If Lightfoot was any example, Kelly was brilliant with horses. He would love breeding some of his mares with the stallion, but it was unlikely she’d agree, no matter what fee he was willing to pay. Maybe if she offered artificial insemination over the internet he could buy Lightfoot’s sperm through a third party.
They walked out of the barn and Josh saw Kelly forking hay into a feeding trough in the corral. Seeing her again had awakened memories he’d tried to forget—of her fastening bandannas around his neck for good luck and knowing she’d be there for a victory kiss when he won. Of laughter and first love. Yet whether she’d acknowledged it or not, in the weeks leading to their breakup, he’d sensed her withdrawing from him. Her excitement before his events had been replaced by distraction and hints of anxiety.
He’d urged her to train seriously for ladies’ barrel riding, because that way they’d both have a stake in rodeos where the event was offered. She’d learned the sport at her grandparents’ ranch and was a natural. The few times he’d seen her practicing had been amazing; she could have become a champion.
Instead she’d found a reason to end the relationship. To his knowledge, she’d never attended another rodeo in Canada, though her father had continued coming to them.
A devil in Josh made him walk to the corral. “Looks like I’m leaving after all. Sorry we couldn’t kiss and make up.”
Kelly jabbed the tines of her pitchfork into the ground. “I’m sure you have ex-girlfriends all over the US and Canada. If you’re desperate, some of them might be willing to kiss and make up.”
“I don’t have that many ex-girlfriends. Contrary to what you seem to believe, I don’t get involved with every woman I meet.”
“I’ll take your word for it. Have a safe drive.”
Josh tipped his hat. “Take care, Kelly.”
She nodded and he noticed she was watching as he got into his truck and backed around the end of the barn. It was probably to make sure he left, though it would be nice to think she had a lingering fondness for him.
While the gravel road out to the small country highway was well maintained, he drove slowly to avoid throwing up too much dust. An incoming truck approached, so he pulled over at a wide spot to let it pass.
He recognized Kathleen Beaumont behind the wheel. She waved and the youngsters next to her waved, as well.
Cute kids, Josh mused after they’d passed.
He continued and turned north at the highway. Thirty minutes later he drove to the side of the road and flexed his hands on the wheel.
Cute kids.
But whose kids?
Over the years Harry had said nothing about Kelly getting married or divorced or having children. While the boys might belong to one of the Kindred Ranch cowhands, Josh didn’t recall seeing any other residences aside from the large, rambling main house and what was obviously a small bunkhouse, no longer in use, judging by the weeds at the base of the door. Their cowhands must live elsewhere.
Nah.
It was ridiculous to question the situation, even if Kelly had seemed anxious for him to leave. Their relationship had crossed the line just once during their second summer together, but he’d used protection. It wasn’t that he hadn’t wanted a family, but starting one when he was still living out of his truck and going to rodeos all over the continent hadn’t seemed the best idea. Some years he’d driven fifty thousand miles or more, getting to different venues.
Kelly had agreed.
Well, he thought she’d agreed. Looking back, he wasn’t sure if she’d just decided not to debate the point. In the ranching tradition they both came from, kids were part of the life. Not that his father had ever achieved the dream of owning a ranch, instead growing prematurely old working someone else’s cattle. Now he bossed McKeon’s Choice. Having somebody he trusted implicitly to run the place gave Josh the freedom to compete whenever he wanted.
In his mind Josh envisioned the two faces he’d seen. Undoubtedly they were boys, alike as two peas in a pod, wearing small cowboy hats tipped back on their heads. Likely the same age, which would make them twins. But how old? Five? Six?
A chill crept through him.
Six was hazardously close to being an issue. Six could mean they’d been conceived up in Canada, in a cramped camper over an ancient pickup truck.
Jaw set, Josh checked for traffic in both directions and did a U-turn, heading back toward Kindred Ranch. Most likely it didn’t mean a thing, but he’d never have any peace of mind if he didn’t find out the truth.
