Thunderbolt over Texas Read online

  “Can you say no to her?”

  “Why would I want to say no to her?”

  “Not ever?”

  “Not ever.”

  Cole folded his arms over his chest. “Don’t you ever need to just put your foot down and lay out the logic?”

  Kyle laughed. “You’re joking, right?”

  “How can a man live with somebody orchestrating his every move?”

  “Are we talking about Katie or Sydney?”

  “Katie’s helping Sydney. And we’re talking about women in general.”

  “And your fear of them.”

  “Don’t be absurd.”

  “Then why are you freaking out over Sydney’s idea?”

  Cole peered at his brother, squinting in the dying light of the sunset. “Are you seriously suggesting I marry a stranger and give her the Thunderbolt?”

  “She’s from a museum, not some crime family. I’m only suggesting you hear her out.”

  Katie appeared in the doorway, a big wooden salad bowl clasped in her hands. “Hear who out?”

  “Sydney,” said Kyle.

  “Oh, good,” said Katie. “We’re just in time.”

  Sydney appeared behind her with a basket of rolls, and Cole did an involuntary double take. She’d removed her jacket and her silk, butter-yellow blouse highlighted the halo of her rich, auburn hair. Her rounded breasts pressed against the thin fabric, and a small flash of her stomach peeked out between the hem of her blouse and the waistband of her skirt.

  “Can you open the wine?” Katie asked Cole.

  “Uh, sure,” said Cole, with a mental shake, telling himself to quit acting like a teenager. He reached for the corkscrew.

  “I was the high bid on Night-Dreams,” he said to his brother, not so subtly changing the direction of the conversation.

  Kyle shot him a knowing grin but played along. “Planning to use Sylvester as a sire?”

  Cole popped the cork on the bottle of merlot. “Come next spring, it’s the start of a whole new bloodline.”

  After Sydney set the rolls down on the table, Cole automatically pulled out her chair. She accepted with a smile of thanks, and the scent of her perfume wafted under his nose.

  “That reminds me,” said Kyle from the other side of the table. “I need your signature on a contract with Everwood.” He transferred the sizzling steaks from the grill to a wooden platter. “Gave me my price. He’ll take all the beef we can supply.”

  Cole masked a spurt of frustration by focusing on the wine-pouring. He hated that Kyle had to run to him for every little signature. His brother was an incredibly talented cattleman, and the tradition that put the ranch solely in the name of the eldest son was archaic and unfair.

  “Way to go,” he said to Kyle, setting out the glasses. “You always were the brains of the outfit.”

  Kyle scoffed. “Yeah, right.”

  Cole pulled out his own chair and held up his glass in a toast to his brother’s advantageous deal. “I’m dead serious about that.”

  “Are we going to talk shop all night?” asked Katie, sitting down.

  Simultaneously, Cole said yes while Kyle said no. They both sat down.

  Sydney leaned forward. “Maybe we could talk about my shop.”

  “I’m deeding you half the ranch,” Cole said to Kyle, without so much as glancing in Sydney’s direction.

  Those words had the effect he was looking for. The air went flat-dead silent. The barbecue hissed once, and a sparrow chirped from the poplar trees.

  “I talked to a tax lawyer in Dallas last week,” Cole continued, reaching for a roll. “About our options.”

  “Cole,” Kyle cautioned.

  “I figure we can subdivide along Spruce Ridge, then follow the creek bed to the road.”

  Kyle planted the butt of his steak knife on the wooden table. “Stop.”

  “I’m going to do it,” said Cole.

  “Oh, no, you’re not.”

  “You can’t stop me.”

  “Boys,” Katie interrupted.

  “Oh, yes, I can,” said Kyle. “I won’t accept.”

  “It’s not up to you.” Cole took a breath. The guilt on this one had been burning inside him for a long time. He wasn’t about to back off. “Sometimes a man has to put his foot down and make decisions that are in the best interest of his family.”

  “Was that a slam?” asked Kyle.

  “No.”

  “It sounded like a slam.”

  Cole dropped the roll to his plate, regretting his choice of words. “I didn’t mean that. I meant, a man needs his own land.”

  “Kyle?” Katie tried again. “Cole?”

  “You saying all these years I haven’t had my own land.”

  That threw Cole. “Of course not.”

  “There you go.”

  “What about your kids?”

  Kyle clenched his jaw but remained silent.

  Cole hoped that meant his brother was running low on arguments. “You need to build a legacy for your kids.” He rushed on. “You need to leave them something. If you won’t think of yourself, think about your children.”

  Sydney’s hand touched Cole’s thigh. His muscle immediately convulsed and he shot her a stunned look.

  “Let’s move on,” said Kyle, a steely thread to his voice.

  Cole looked back at his brother. “Let’s agree to go to Dallas and talk to the lawyers.”

  Sydney’s fingernails tightened, jolting Cole’s nervous system.

  What the hell was she doing?

  “It’s not just you anymore,” Cole said to Kyle. “You have a family—”

  Sydney pinched him. It actually hurt.

  He swung his gaze back to her, but caught Katie’s expression on the way.

  He stopped.

  He stared at his sister-in-law’s white lips. “Katie?”

  Kyle pulled back his chair as Katie started to tremble.

  Katie stood and Kyle rose with her.

  “What?” Cole jumped up. “What’s wrong?”

  Katie gave a little shake of her head and waved away their concern. “I’m fine.”

  “You’re not fine,” said Cole.

  She placed her hand on Kyle’s arm. “I’m really okay. I’m just going to get a glass of water.”

  Kyle put an arm around her shoulders and gave her a little squeeze. “You sure?” he whispered.

  She nodded. “Really. The less fuss, the better. I’ll be right back.”

  Kyle watched her disappear into the kitchen.

  Cole raked a hand through his hair, trying to sift through the turn of events. “I’m sorry,” he said. “What the heck…”

  “Can I help?” Sydney asked Kyle.

  Kyle closed his eyed and dropped back into his chair. He shook his head. “It’s the talk of kids.”

  Cole slowly sat, opening his mouth to ask for an explanation, but Sydney’s fingers closed on his thigh again.

  He felt like a bull in a china shop. What was he missing here?

  “She hoped to be pregnant by now,” said Kyle.

  Cole went cold.

  Sydney tossed her napkin onto the table. “I am going to make sure she’s okay.”

  Both men rose with her.

  After Sydney disappeared, Kyle moved restlessly to the rail, taking a long, steady swig of his wine.

  Cole followed, not sure of what to say. He and Kyle didn’t exactly have heart-to-heart talks about their sex lives, never mind their sperm counts. Was this a medical problem? Did they need to see a doctor?

  “Are you…” he began. “Uh, do you…”

  “The doctor thinks it’s stress,” said Kyle. “But we don’t know anything for sure, and Katie’s worried she’ll never have kids.”

  Cole could have kicked himself. “And I was a big help.”

  Kyle snorted out a dry chuckle as he gazed out over the Blue Hills. “Next time, watch my expression and grab a clue.”

  “Next time I’ll pay attention when Sydney mangles m
y thigh.” Cole regretted his bull-headed stupidity. “Is there anything I can do to help?”

  “Get married and have some babies so Katie doesn’t have this whole dynasty thing on her shoulders.”

  “That would be a trick.”

  “Hey, you’ve got a bona fide offer in my kitchen.”

  “We could have a bona fide con artist in your kitchen. Besides, Sydney doesn’t want babies, she wants the Thunderbolt. I’m pretty sure this is a platonic offer.”

  Kyle turned to face Cole. He braced his elbow on the rail and a speculative gleam rose in his eyes.

  “What?” asked Cole, dragging the word out slowly, trepidation rising.

  “You wouldn’t really have to have babies with Sydney,” said Kyle. “You’d just have to let Katie think you’ll have babies with Sydney.”

  “That’s insane.” And even if it wasn’t, Katie knew why Sydney was here. There’s no way they’d ever convince her they were having babies together.

  “No.” Kyle shook his head. “It’s brilliant. You pretend to fall in love with her, pretend to marry her for real. She gets the brooch and Katie relaxes enough to get pregnant.”

  “And I get a wife I don’t know, who doesn’t love me, won’t sleep with me but takes my jewelry?”

  Kyle took another swig of his wine. “I’m sure you’re not the first guy that’s happened to.”

  Cole snorted.

  Kyle clapped him on the shoulder. “You get the satisfaction of knowing you put your foot down and made a decision that was best for your family.”

  “Somehow I don’t think this is me putting my foot down.”

  “So you’ll do it?”

  “I never said that.” How could Cole justify getting married on the off chance it would help Katie get pregnant? Then again, how could he justify not getting married if there was a chance it could help Katie get pregnant?

  “We’d be lying to your wife,” he pointed out to Kyle, looking for some loophole that didn’t make him the bad guy.

  “No, we wouldn’t. We wouldn’t have to say a thing. Katie’s a hopeless romantic. Trust me, she’s going to throw you and Sydney together no matter what you and I decide. All you’d have to do is hang around and look besotted.”

  “I don’t do besotted.”

  “Just look at Sydney the way you were looking at her before dinner.”

  “I haven’t—”

  “That was more aroused than besotted, I’ll admit. But it should work.”

  “You’re out of your mind.”

  “She’s a babe, Cole. It’s not like it would be this huge hardship.”

  Alarm crept into Cole’s system as Kyle’s words started to make some kind of bizarre sense. He couldn’t consider this. Then again, he couldn’t not consider this.

  “This is the dumbest plan I’ve ever heard,” he said. “Take Katie on a vacation. She can relax on the beach. I’ll pay.”

  “She’ll worry about you.”

  “She doesn’t have to worry about me.”

  “I know that, and you know that, but Katie…”

  It was Cole’s turn to gaze at the dark hillsides across the lake. “You know, this morning things were looking pretty good for me. I’d just bought a new mare. I was minding my own business, thinking about shoeing, thinking about building a new hay shed, maybe buying a combine…”

  Kyle started to laugh.

  “Then along comes Sydney Wainsbrook and suddenly she’s taking over my life.”

  “Kyle?” Katie called from the kitchen.

  “Yes, sweetheart?” he called back.

  “Do you think it’s too late for Sydney to drive to Wichita Falls all by herself?”

  “Of course it’s too late.” Kyle waggled a victorious eyebrow at Cole. “It’s way too late.”

  “She’s going to stay over,” Katie called.

  “Sounds good.”

  “I haven’t agreed to anything,” Cole muttered to his brother.

  “You have the easy part,” said Kyle. “Just hang around and look besotted.”

  “I’m going home.”

  “Come back for breakfast.”

  “Nope.”

  “I’ll send Katie after you.”

  “Good luck with that.”

  Three

  Cole was steadfastly chowing down on hotcakes and coffee when a knock came on his cabin door.

  “Come in,” he called gruffly, ready to take on Kyle or Katie or both.

  But it was Sydney who poked her head around the door. “Hey, Cole.”

  Cole cringed, cussing inside his head. Low blow, Kyle. “Good morning, Sydney.”

  She gestured inside. “May I?”

  No, never. “Of course.”

  Her lips curved into that brilliant, sexy smile. “Thanks,” she breathed, messing with both his equilibrium and his libido.

  Katie had obviously lent her some clothes. Instead of her impractical suit, Sydney wore a tight pair of faded blue jeans, a short T-shirt, and her hair was pulled back in a perky ponytail. Her makeup was more subtle than yesterday but, if anything, it made her sexier.

  “Coffee?” he asked, finding his voice and rising from his chair.

  “Love some.”

  “It’s a little better than yesterday.” One cup of coffee. That was it. And no matter what, he wasn’t letting her talk him into going back to the house for breakfast.

  Kyle’s plan might be crazy, but Cole knew he’d cave—even if there was only a slight chance it would help Katie get pregnant. Because Katie without babies was positively unthinkable. She’d be the greatest mother in the world.

  “Yesterday’s coffee was fine,” said Sydney.

  “You lie,” said Cole.

  She shrugged. “I’ve had worse.”

  “Don’t know where.” He put a fresh, steaming mug on the table in front of her.

  “Sherman’s on West Fifty-second. Ever been to New York?”

  “Never have. You hungry?”

  “Katie made eggs.”

  He nodded and sat back down. “How’s she doing?”

  Sydney wrapped her hands around the mug. “Sad, I think.”

  Cole nodded, trying not to feel like a heel.

  “You know your brother’s come up with a plan to fix this, right?” she asked.

  Every muscle in Cole’s body contracted. His brother had brought Sydney into the loop? Why, that low-down, sneaky…

  He bought a few seconds by taking a swallow of his coffee. “What kind of a plan?”

  “He said he’d explained it all to you last night.”

  Of course he did. “What did he tell you?”

  “That my timing couldn’t have been better. That you and I should get married and let Katie think we’re expanding the Erickson dynasty.”

  It was a conspiracy. It was a bloody conspiracy. “You actually think Katie will fall for it?”

  Sydney gazed knowingly at him from under her thick lashes. “You don’t think she’ll believe you’re interested in me?”

  “Fishing?”

  Her smile turned self-conscious and she gave a shrug. “Maybe.”

  “Or cornering me, perhaps?”

  Her smiled widened then. “Maybe that, too.”

  Cole sighed. “I meant no disrespect to you.” He simply didn’t want to marry a stranger. Was that such a horrible thing?

  Sydney was assessing him with those gorgeous green eyes. “Okay, I’ll go first. You’re a good-looking, sexy guy. It’s not a big stretch for Katie to think I might go for you.”

  Cole’s chest tightened on the word sexy.

  It was Sydney who wrote the book on sexy. The way she moved with such fluid grace. The way her husky voice caught on that trembling laugh.

  He could still feel her touch on his arm, on his thigh. Okay, so the thigh one wasn’t the most pleasant memory in the world. But it was still sexy. Which was pretty pathetic.

  “Cole?”

  “Hmm?”

  “I think it’s a good plan.”
<
br />   “Of course you do.”

  “If we’re lucky, it’ll help Katie. It’ll definitely help the Laurent—a respected public institution, I might point out. So where’s the harm?”

  “Don’t you have places to go? Things to dig up?”

  “That’s archeologists. There’s nothing higher on my priority list than the Thunderbolt.”

  Cole pushed aside his pancakes.

  She wanted to take this seriously? Okay. They’d take it seriously for a minute. “What about your family? You’d lie to them about getting married?”

  She waved a hand. “Not an issue.”

  “You’re not close to them?” That surprised Cole. She was such a smart, perky, good-natured woman. What kind of a family wouldn’t want to stay close to her?

  A shadow crossed her face. “My foster parents died five years ago.”

  Cole’s stomach clenched in sympathy. He knew what it was like to lose parents. “I’m sorry to hear that.”

  She shook her head. “It’s okay.”

  “What about brothers and sisters?”

  “None.”

  His sympathy rush escalated. Now he had a sexy, vulnerable little orphan Annie challenging him to do right by his sister-in-law.

  He stood up and took his dishes to the sink.

  She followed. “Cole?”

  “Yeah.” And there was that elusive scent again. He didn’t dare turn around.

  “Why are you hesitating? We can draft whatever legal documents you want to protect the Thunderbolt.”

  “It’s not that.” Well, actually, it was that. At least, that was part of it. He didn’t know Sydney, and he’d be a fool to trust her.

  But there was more to it than the legal risks. It was a marriage, a marriage to a woman he didn’t love, didn’t even know. Maybe he was an old-fashioned guy, but he just couldn’t bring himself to do it.

  “The Laurent is a very reputable institution,” she said.

  “I believe you.”

  “Is it lying to Katie, then?”

  Cole turned. And there was Sydney, mere inches away. A slight movement of his hand and he’d be touching her. A tip of his head and he’d be kissing her.

  “It’s lying to Katie,” he said. “Lying to Grandma. Lying to God.”

  “We could have a civil service.”

  “Not a possibility.”

  She tipped her head, looking perplexed.

  He moved in, just a little, pressing his point, hoping he could make her understand and give up on this ridiculous idea. “We’re talking about my family here, and they know me very well. They know that if I loved someone—if I truly loved someone—I sure wouldn’t say so in a civic office in front of a clerk and two impartial witnesses.”