Patty's Homecoming, page 5
part #1 of Montana Wranglers Series
Seeing her father just waiting there, she smiled and walked to him. “Whatever she’s making, I want two servings of it. God, it smells so very good. I swear that the food in New York was nowhere near as good as that smells.”
“It’s all the clean air here, lets you actually appreciate the smells around you. None of that smog crap clogging you up,” he said. His gaze moved past her and then pinned her again. “Is there something I should know, Patricia?” He paused just long enough to make her nervous. “About you and Blake? Is there something going on?”
“Yes.” She couldn’t lie to her father. Not now. “Is that going to be an issue, Daddy? I hope not because I’ve been running from my feelings for too long now. Are you going to be okay with it?” She didn’t bring up Corbin as well, that was a bridge she would cross with her father at a later time. “Because I love that man, Daddy, and I can’t walk away from that.”
“No it’s not an issue, child.” He glowered at her. “It’s about damned time, Patricia. Jesus, girl, I thought that boy was going to have to go running through the streets of New York naked to get your attention.” Leaning in, he kissed her cheek and turned to walk up the hall. “Corbin will be thrilled to hear you’re home for good as well. Go wash your hands, dinner’s in twenty.”
She just stood there, looking at him with her mouth gaping. “What? Wait.” She took off after her father and then let out a frustrated sigh when the damn man caught up with the new housekeeper to chat. She frowned when he shot her a look of unbridled glee, and shook her head. How in the heavens did he know? What the hell was going on if she could keep how she felt from the men she loved, but not her father? Turning and muttering something about fathers, she headed for her room to wash up and get ready for dinner.
Chapter Four
Dinner had been wonderful, filling and delicious. The new housekeeper knew what she was doing and seemed to enjoy doing it. She did get flustered by the compliments, though. The woman’s face had been red nearly the entire meal. When the door opened Tish looked up to see Blake stepping in with his hat down at his side. “Your father sent me in here with some cryptic-ass comment. What the hell was he going on about, Tish?” He tossed the hat onto the chair in the corner as he moved closer to her.
“He knows.” Patty didn’t prevaricate or try to act as if she didn’t know, because she did. “He asked me what was up between us and I told him that I had finally admitted to my feelings. But he knew. How he knew I have no clue, but he knew.” Patty wrapped her arms around Blake’s middle when he moved to stand before her and lay her head on his chest. “He knows about Corbin as well,” she added quietly.
Blake was silent while he put his hands on her hips. “Well, that’s slightly disturbing, but makes it all easier. I’m assuming that he’s not upset, given the grin he was wearing all through dinner. I’m slightly creeped out now but definitely happier that we don’t have to figure out a way to tell him.”
“Yeah, you and me both, on both counts.” Patty rubbed her cheek against the flannel of Blake’s shirt and sighed. “All right, nice hot bath for me and then you can see the damage and put the rub on me. Did you need to go and get anything so that you can shower in the morning before leaving?” Not that she wanted him to go, but she also knew that if he was in the bathroom with her, she might just attack him because of the pent-up desire and need she had stored for this man.
“Nope, I grabbed a bag of stuff before I came up. You go crawl into the tub and I’ll get my bag. Which I have to do anyway since the rub is in there. Don’t use anything in your water though, the rub can react with some things you don’t want it to. You don’t need a rash on top of it all.”
“I never do. I hate strong smells, you know that.” She had been teased as a kid from time to time because she hated perfumes and heavy scents on her skin. The other girls at school just didn’t understand that. Hell, to this day some of her closest friends in New York didn’t get it either. “Okay, well if you come in the bathroom no cussing ’cause you know how sound travels in this place.”
“I know it well. How do you think we found out so many of your secrets when you were young?” He grinned down at her. Chuckling when she smacked his arm, he leaned in to kiss her. “Go, I won’t be long. I’m going to try Corbin again and hope he’s finally in an area to get service. I’ve been trying him off and on all night, so I don’t hold much hope. Though, if all else fails, I’ll touch base with him tomorrow around lunch since I know just where he’s to be. Or rather, where he’s supposed to be.”
“When is he supposed to be relieved next, and who is it supposed to be?” She hoped it wasn’t Blake, because if so she would be the one cussing. “And has the cell phone company been talking to Dad about putting a tower on the ranch? Last I knew they were nearly salivating to get one up out on the back forty because of the height and the coverage it would add to their service.” Cell phone service had always been spotty in their area. One of the ranchers finally broke down and let the company add a tower to his land and the coverage increased, but they needed another and they all knew it, so they had been after her father for a while now.
“He’s coming in tomorrow night, should be here just after dinner. I promised to save him a dish of whatever was on the menu. And Carson’s going out tomorrow afternoon to take over.” He grinned slightly. “Your father is still in negotiations with them. He has them sweating big time. Suits figured they would be able to just roll over your old man but he’s got them jumping through hoops. If he gets what he wants, the tower will go up in about a year, give or take.”
That had her snickering and she shook her head. “They thought he would fall as easily as old man Wilson did.” But her father was nothing if not a man who would get the best end of a deal time and time again. The man was a genius when it came to business negotiations—hell, any kind of negotiations. He could turn a profit on a pile of dirt and that was the God’s honest truth.
“The looks on their faces when he said no the first time was funny. But even better were their expressions when he handed them his terms. Which, since it’s his land, he has the right to do. Plus, the fact your brother drew up the terms, you know that it’s all in your dad’s favor.” Blake stepped back slightly. “Get in the bath, we’ll keep talking once I know you’re soaking.”
“Good point. My brother has a way with words.” And with him being an attorney, that came in handy indeed. “All right, I will be in the tub in like two minutes. Come in after that?” If she was lucky, she would be able to hide the worst of her injuries from him, the bruises on her lower stomach, ass, and thighs.
“I’ll give you two minutes.” He nodded. Reaching out, he cupped her cheek and leaned in to kiss her hard. “Don’t try to hide anything from me, Tish. Remember that I’ve known you nearly your entire life. I can read you like an open book.” He stared at her a moment longer. Then, dropping his hand, he turned and slipped out of the room.
Damn that man! He could read her far too well. Sighing, she shook her head and walked into the bathroom. With the hot water going, she stripped out of her clothes and tossed them into her hamper before turning on the cold water to help temper the heat of the bath. When there was just enough water at just the right temperature, she waited. No use getting in the tub now when he wanted to see all of the damage done to her.
The outer door opened and shut. The sound of something hitting the floor, his bag likely, was next, and then silence. He was in the open doorway a moment later and staring at her. His jaw was tight, his nostrils flared, and if looks could kill, someone would be nothing but ash. “Turn around,” he said in a tight voice.
“Remember, no cussing.” She said quietly as she watched him. Patty gulped. The look on his face was one that promised retribution. She wasn’t afraid of him, but for him. Damn, he would walk into hell and kill the devil himself if that look was anything to go by. When he nodded tightly she turned around, allowing him to see the worst of the damage and saying, “The rape kit was negative, so that’s a positive, right?” She had to look at the bright side or she would allow the fear and pain to drag her happy ass down where it shouldn’t be.
She felt him move closer, his movements silent. “There’s not much positive about this, Patricia,” he said. His voice sounded strangled. His fingers touched her right arm and turned her around to face him again. “While I’m glad the…” He bit off the word with a growl. “While I’m glad you weren’t raped, eternally grateful actually, this is not acceptable. Get in the tub, love,” he said quietly. She could see he was fighting with himself.
Holding his hand and allowing him to help her into the tub, Patty bit back a gasp of pain but eased into the heated water all the same. Settling back against the tub, she closed her eyes for a moment and sighed. “The water does feel so very nice,” she said with a smile. “Now, what were we talking about?”
“Whatever you want,” he told her. Easing down, he sat on the floor, an elbow on the edge of the tub as he watched her. “I’d prefer this asshole’s name, address, and any other pertinent information so finding him and disposing of the body will be expedited. But I understand that you’ll likely feel the need to avoid that discussion, so you pick a topic.”
“Yes, I very much want to avoid that topic please.” Patty closed her eyes and sighed. “So the place you and Corbin bought, what made you choose it?” It would be their home. She liked that idea too. A lot. “Did you and Corbin go together to buy it, or just you?”
“I bought it, but he bought into it so it’s now half and half,” he said. “I chose it because of how close it is to your dad’s place. It’s far enough away that there’s privacy but close enough to easily still work here. We spent the first couple years fixing up the house and getting it ready. It’s still pretty much a blank slate so you’ll have something to do if you want. All we have is a table, a couple chairs and beds. But we’ve never really spent a night there so it needs pretty much everything you can think of and then some. It used to be Mr. Wheeler’s place, or part of it anyway. Your dad bought up the rest of the land but isn’t planning on doing anything with it except selling it to the boys if they want a chunk. It’s lush and green, the piece we have has a little pond and stream. It even has an orchard, half on our land and half on your dad’s. It’s kinda cute and quaint, very quiet.”
“Sounds wonderful.” She had to think for a minute and then smiled. “I remember that place.” She did now. “And years, you guys bought it years ago? Good lord, Blake, why in heaven’s name did you never once let on to me that you wanted me? If I had even a small inkling, I would have stayed right here and by now we would have one and a half kids and a dog.” She wasn’t kidding either. Sadly. She wanted that life with him, with him and Corbin, but had been afraid to seek it for fear she would get her heart broken.
“Because you needed to get out.” He shrugged, his attention on some point near his outstretched feet. “You were going crazy here, wanting to do something that was all your own. Corbin and I knew that if we kept you here, even with love, you’d eventually resent us if you didn’t at least have a chance out on your own. We made a deal and were not going to give you more than eight years. Any more than that and we’d have gone crazy with want and need. But we also knew that eight years would give you plenty of time to do what you wanted, establish yourself and maybe, just maybe, to realize that home on the farm is where you always truly belonged.”
“I realized eight weeks after I left here that I belonged here,” she admitted to him. “But I stayed away because I didn’t think that you guys wanted me. If I had only known. If only I had known, everything could have been different.” It was her fault. The signs had been there, she just didn’t pay attention to them.
He looked at her then, one of his hands coming up to touch her cheek with the backs of his fingers. “This isn’t your fault, Tish. We wanted you to have a chance to live your life, spread your wings, and the rest of that ABC special crap. Ranching is a hard life, one you grew up with, and we knew you had big dreams. If giving you eight years was what it took, we were more than willing to suffer for that long. Had you given us even the smallest clue you wanted to stay, well, darlin’.” He smiled slowly. “We’d have kidnapped you right from under your daddy’s nose and held you hostage to our wicked whims right quick.”
“God, I love the way that sounds,” she whispered honestly and licked her lips. “And I would have let you. I would have let you boys kidnap me and start our lives off the way that we should have.” She knew that ranching was a hard life, but it was also in her blood. She loved the ranch and work. “It’s honest work. Backbreaking and hard, but it is worth it, too. Knowing that, as you look out over the land, it’s yours, and that the animals and land are prospering because of you. It’s a great feeling.”
Smiling, he nodded and took her hand in his. “Some days I have to wonder why I’m still doing it. Then I look at your dad, or one of the younger hands or even a newborn foal and I know. It’s the joy of it all. Not the days spent in the mud rescuing an animal too stupid for its own good. It’s not the days spent under the sweltering heat of the sun mending fences. It’s for the little things. That and the water fights we have, those make it much more entertaining and enjoyable.”
“Exactly.” Patty smiled and brought his hand to her cheek again, rubbing her cheek against his hand lovingly. “And coming home to me every night hopefully will be something that will make the hard days bearable,” she teased him. “But we totally have to get someone to cook for us. I can clean, but cooking is beyond me.”
“Corbin cooks,” he said, then laughed when she sat with her mouth open, staring at him. “I can too, to a degree. Nowhere what he can manage. But yeah, he cooks and is actually very good. Not five-star New York dining of course, but I’d give him a good five-star Montana rating.”
“Wow.” She was impressed. “What made him take cooking classes?” And then it hit her. “He did it because he knew that I could burn water didn’t he?” And she could. Patty couldn’t cook. She could, however, make great fires out of absolutely nothing in the kitchen.
“He did it because he knew you could char bread without even removing it from the packaging,” Blake said, his tone dry. His eyes were laughing at her though. They’d all witnessed her efforts to cook for the hands over the years. All horribly dismal failures. But the men had choked down her offerings somehow and praised her for the good attempts. “He also did it because he found it relaxes him and he enjoys it. Thank God,” he added, his eyes shooting skyward for a moment.
“No kidding.” She shook her head and laughed. “All right then, we won’t need to have a live-in so that’s a very good thing.” That way they could all run around naked on the rare days that the men could stay home with her, very rare she knew. “Well I’m just glad that you boys thought it out and figured out what to do because I didn’t have the first clue, to be honest.”
“Well, even if he couldn’t cook, there are these wonderful new inventions that aren’t entirely horrific in nature. Microwavable meals. Thankfully, he can cook and we won’t need to suffer any of those for any length of time. There are a couple I don’t mind but they just are not very filling.”
“Well I have lived on those things and takeout since I left home, so I really could do very well without those meals for a very long time if you don’t mind. Like tonight’s meal. Marvelous. Goodness, I wanted to lick my plate clean because it was so stinking good. So it’s good that I don’t have to have any more of the microwave meals and all that fun stuff.”
“No more of that,” he said softly. Drawing her hand to him, he pressed a kiss to her fingers. “Are you really sure you want to give up your New York life?” he asked softly. She saw in his face and eyes that he’d accept whatever her answer was. But she knew, in her gut, he’d fight her if she said she was going back.
“God, yes,” she breathed honestly, and leaned in closer to him. “I only want to be with you boys. I don’t want to worry about anything or anyone else. I had a great life there and a great business, but it’s time for me to come home. That is where my heart is. Besides”—she shrugged—“if I really wanted to I could run my business here. I have a staff that works for me. If I wanted to, I just would need to get a secure internet connection and be able to have video chats with them. Maybe once a year make a surprise trip there but honestly, I just want to be home. I want this life, Blake, I need it.”
“Good.” He relaxed and leaned in to kiss her lips. “We can arrange for the connection if you are of a mind to keep it all going. But if you go back there I’ll be coming with you. I’d say Corbin but we both know how he feels about flying.”
“Yeah, poor guy.” Patty shook her head and grinned. “And you better bet your cute ass that if I go back you are coming with. I never, ever want to be without you again. Yes, I know there will be days, but you know what I mean.” There would be days when he wouldn’t be able to make it home because of an animal giving birth or having to be out on the back forty for the night. She hoped they would be few and far between, but she knew that was part of the life and accepted it.
“There will always be days and nights where we won’t get home to you. But you damn well know we’ll be thinking of you,” he said. He shifted on the floor and shot her a look. “You about ready to get out, darling? Cause I need to shower and hit the sack soon, otherwise I’m not going to want to get up at four.”
“Yes, I’m ready. Will you grab me a towel?” She felt bad now. He should have already been asleep but was going to go without because of her. She was going to have to seriously check herself in the future. Letting the water out, she rose to her feet and waited. He had already seen her body, so there was no point in being shy now.
He held the large towel out for her even as he helped her step from the tub. Wrapping it around her, he drew her into his arms. “Get the guilty look off your face,” he said before dropping a kiss to her lips. “Go dry off, Tish. The rub’s on the side table so you can do your front. Treat it like lotion but keep it away from any open sores, you don’t want to have that particular fire going off. I’ll shower and be out in a few minutes all right?”
