More Than a Cowboy (The Carmody Brothers Book 3) Read online

  “It’s going to be a long road,” Garret cautioned. “Which brings me to the reason for my call. Given he’s going to be in rehab for a while, Mom’s asked me to step into Dad’s shoes for the foreseeable future.”

  There was a profound silence on the other end of the line.

  “Well, I appreciate Nancy thinking about the business when she’s got so much on her mind already, but neither of you need to worry about anything up here in Helena while you’ve got your hands full with Gideon. That’s what I’m here for,” Ron finally said.

  “I appreciate that, but it’s unlikely Dad’s going to be returning to work for a while, and even if he does it would only be part-time. Given the circumstances, she wants to cause as little disruption to the business as possible. Obviously it’s going to be a steep learning curve for me, coming in cold, so I’ll be relying on you and the rest of the team to show me the ropes and get me up to speed,” Garret said, keeping it as light as possible.

  “Maybe I should have a word with Nancy, reassure her that I’ve got the situation covered up here. Gideon and I worked hand in glove. No one’s better situated than me to keep things moving forward.”

  Or take over as CEO more permanently. Ron hadn’t said it, but Garret didn’t need to be a mind reader to guess where Ron’s ambitions lay. A difficult ambition, given this was a privately owned, family-run business.

  “I’d prefer for you not to bother her with this right now. As you said yourself, she’s got a lot on her mind,” Garret said. “She’s spoken to the lawyers, and they’re drawing up a contract. This is what she wants.”

  His father’s general manager treated him to another long silence.

  “I’ll do whatever your father needs me to do,” Ron finally said, his tone cool now.

  “Like I said, I’ll be relying on you to help me get up to speed. My plan is to fly in to the office first thing Monday,” Garret said. “I’ll commute back and forth so I can support Mom here in Marietta.”

  It was Friday now. That would give Ron the whole weekend to untwist his panties. “All right. I think it’s unnecessary, but it’s not my name on the company letterhead, so you suit yourself,” Ron said.

  “I’ll see you next week, Ron. Have a good weekend,” Garret said.

  Ron ended the call without responding and Garret made a rude noise in the back of his throat.

  So that went well.

  After so many years with the business, Ron was entitled to a little umbrage, but it wasn’t as though Garret planned to storm into the building and start restructuring—something he hoped Ron would work out pretty damned quickly because Garret had enough going on in his life right now without getting into a dick-measuring competition with his father’s right-hand man.

  He flicked off the light, then pulled the hangar door shut. It wasn’t until he’d done so that he registered his father’s helicopter still sat on the helipad. He knew it was Jack’s habit to hangar it when it wasn’t in use, but clearly that was not going to happen tonight. Well, there wasn’t anything he could do about that either. He’d seen Jack hangar the helicopter dozens of times over the years, but he didn’t have the first clue how to go about doing it himself.

  He headed into the house, making his way directly to his father’s study. Sitting at the desk, he opened his laptop and went straight to his inbox. Jay and Marco, his business partners in Seattle, had been more than generous when he’d filled them in on his situation. Between the three of them they’d decided to redistribute Garret’s workload for a month, freeing him up to do what needed to be done in Montana. When those four weeks were up and Garret had a better idea of the lay of the land, they planned to get together to discuss ways and means of going forward. The most likely outcome at that point, Garret suspected, was that his two buddies would offer to buy him out. But no one knew better than Garret how tight their margins were as they moved into this crucial growth stage of their business, so Garret’s counteroffer was going to be that he remain a silent partner in the business.

  He still hadn’t worked out if that was because he didn’t want to expose his friends and partners to more risk, or if he wanted to maintain a link to his former life.

  Maybe time would tell.

  He was just finalizing an email summarizing outstanding tasks and projects for his buddies to take over when he heard the sound of a car arriving outside. The engine was too loud to be his mother’s refined sedan, and curiosity brought him to his feet to look out the window.

  It was Jack’s SUV, returned to its usual spot beside the hangar. As he watched, Sierra Carmody climbed out, her slim, long-legged form outlined by the SUV’s interior light. After beeping the car locked, she crossed to the hangar and slid the door open.

  He frowned, wondering what she was doing. Then the lights flicked on inside and outside the hangar, flooding the helipad, and a few seconds later she appeared with the electronic tow cart Jack used to move the helicopter in and out of the hangar.

  Clearly she intended to put the helicopter away for the night. Garret headed for the front door, making his way down the flagstone path to where she was positioning the cart to slide it beneath the helicopter.

  “Hey. You need a hand with that?” he asked as he approached.

  She flicked a quick smile over her shoulder. “Nope. All good, thanks.”

  “How’s Jack doing?” he asked as she squatted to install clamp-on wheels to the rear of the helicopter skids.

  “He’s had his tablets, which he seems to think are a magical cure. I left him flat out in bed, his daughter fussing over him.”

  She switched on the cart and Garret watched with growing respect as she jacked up the nose of the helicopter, pushing the weight onto the wheels she’d just fitted before towing the helicopter into the hangar with the ease and confidence of long practice.

  “So I’m guessing you’ve done this before,” he said as she detached the electric cart from the helicopter and plugged it in to charge.

  “Just a few times. I help Jack out whenever I can. Payback for him teaching me how to fly.” She patted the helicopter’s windshield fondly and Garret realized she meant she’d learned to fly in his father’s Bell 407.

  For a moment he was surprised his father had been so generous. Not that Gideon couldn’t be when it was called for, but his generosity was almost always strategic and there was no strategy in helping a young woman gain her pilot’s license. Then it hit him that Sierra wasn’t just any young woman, she was a Carmody. Garret could easily imagine his father salving his conscience by being magnanimous toward Sierra—that seemed infinitely more in character than unmotivated beneficence.

  He felt a little guilty for the cynical thought, given his father’s current condition, but his father’s stroke had not erased the past thirteen years of history between them. He still knew the things he knew about his father, and he couldn’t unknow them.

  “How long have you been qualified for?” he asked.

  “About eighteen months,” she said, walking around the helicopter as she gave it a quick but thorough visual inspection.

  It was impossible not to notice her long legs as she moved, showcased by faded, work-worn denim. The last time he’d seen legs like that, they’d belonged to a supermodel.

  “All right. I think she’s good for the night,” she said, dusting her hands together and turning to face him.

  “Lucky I was here to offer my valuable assistance,” he joked.

  “Oh, definitely,” she said, flashing him another one of her bright smiles.

  The combination of her big green eyes and straight white teeth was more than a little dazzling.

  Added to the appeal of her long legs, it was a pretty heady mix.

  “I’m going to leave Jack’s car keys in the desk drawer. Tally said she’d drive him over tomorrow morning to pick it up,” Sierra said.

  “Sounds like a plan,” he said, watching as she slid the desk drawer closed and headed for the door.

  He was so busy enjoyi
ng the way she moved he didn’t realize she was preparing to leave until she stopped near the light switch and gave him a quizzical look.

  Right. She probably wanted to get home. To her boyfriend or husband or whatever.

  He took his cue and walked past her into the cool night, then blinked in the sudden darkness as she killed the lights. She exited seconds later and pulled the door shut.

  “I’ll text Jack when I get home and let him know his baby is all tucked in,” she said.

  “Thanks for taking care of that for us,” Garret said, because it was clear she’d gone out of her way to come back here.

  She waved a dismissive hand. “Least I can do, given the hours I’ve clocked up in the Bell.” She pulled a set of keys from her front pocket. “I was really sorry about what happened to your father. I hope he’s doing okay.”

  “He’s getting there. But it’s going to be a long road, I think. I know you were with him when it happened. Thanks for everything that you did.”

  “Jack did the hard bit,” she said, shifting the keys in her hand. “Anyway. Good to see you, Garret.”

  “Yeah. You too.”

  Her gaze scanned his face briefly, as though she was trying to work something out. Then she turned and strode to her rusty old pickup. For the second time that day he stood and watched her walk away.

  Weirdly, he was aware of a sense of disappointment. Which was nuts, because although he’d once spent a lot of time hanging out with her brothers, that had been a long time ago now and he and Sierra were essentially strangers. He didn’t know her, and she didn’t know him.

  Unsettled, he restrained himself to a brief nod when she reversed her pickup and prepared to drive off. Then he turned toward the house, determined to put their encounter behind him.

  Chapter Three

  Sierra spent the whole weekend alternating between fretting over Jack and speculating about Garret Tate. It had been a long time since she’d last seen him and either he’d gotten a lot hotter while he was off in Seattle living his life, or she’d been too young to notice last time he’d been around. Either way, her curiosity was pointless, since it was highly unlikely their paths would cross again.

  She was cutting vegetables for dinner on Sunday afternoon when Jack’s daughter, Tally, called.

  “Sorry to bother you,” Tally said, sounding more than a little weary. “Do you have five minutes to talk?”

  “Of course,” Sierra said, setting down the tomatoes she’d just taken out of the crisper. “Is Jack all right?”

  “No, he’s not. Surprise, surprise. I have been at him and at him to go to the doctor all weekend, and he finally agreed after nearly passing out when he had to go to the bathroom. So we went to the clinic, and they took one look at him and sent him for X-rays. Long story short, he’s got a bulging disk. The doctor said he’ll be on bed rest for at least six weeks, possibly longer.”

  “Oh, wow. I’m so sorry to hear that. How is Jack taking the news?”

  “About as well as you’d expect. Dad being Dad, all he’s worried about is letting the Tates down. Apparently Garret’s stepping into Gideon’s shoes, which means he’ll be doing the Marietta-Helena commute on a regular basis, and Dad feels they really need him right now. I told him he should just let the Tates sort this out for themselves—he’s sick, for Pete’s sake, he shouldn’t have to worry about replacing himself—but he doesn’t want to serve up another problem to them when they’re already under the pump.”

  “That sounds like Jack,” Sierra said, all her spider senses tingling. She had a bad feeling she knew where this conversation was heading.

  “He’s hit up a few flying buddies already to cover for him, but they’ve all got their own businesses and they can’t just abandon them for a couple of months. I told him he had the perfect person on his doorstep—you. He’s always talking about what a great pilot you are, and you learned to fly in the Bell, right? But he doesn’t want to make trouble for you with your family, since he knows how they feel about the Tates. He said he would never put you in that position. So that’s why I’m calling, Sierra, because I have no shame, and I know it will be a load off Dad’s mind if you could cover for him for those six weeks.”

  “Oh, boy,” Sierra said. She pushed her hair off her forehead, her brain going a mile a minute. The last thing she wanted to do was to let Jack down, but what he’d said about making trouble for her with her family was accurate—her brothers hated the Tates. For years they’d ground their teeth over the lessons Jack had given her in the Tates’ helicopter, barely tolerating the arrangement. She could only imagine how they’d take it if she announced she was stepping in to fill in for Jack, all so the Tates wouldn’t be inconvenienced.

  But this was Jack, and he’d been a good friend to her over the years. He was the reason she was a pilot, no bones about it. There was simply no way she would have been able to afford to pay commercial rates for all the flight hours required to gain her license without his generosity.

  “Is that an ‘oh, boy, yes,’ or an ‘oh, boy, maybe, let me think about it,’ or . . . ?” Tally asked.

  Sierra squeezed her eyes shut, warring loyalties and concerns ricocheting around in her mind. Six weeks was a long time for her brothers to cover for her on the ranch, especially when they were already juggling things to accommodate Casey’s band commitments.

  But none of that counted against the fact that Jack, her dear friend, needed her, and she was in a position to help him.

  “I can do it,” she said, because there was really no other answer.

  She was rewarded with a relieved sigh from Tally.

  “Thank you. I knew you’d come through for us. I’m going to hang up now and go tell Dad the good news. Once he’s done tearing me a new one and telling me I overstepped by calling you, you’ll no doubt hear from him with detailed instructions on just about everything under the sun.”

  Sierra couldn’t help smiling at Tally’s wry words. “That sounds like Jack. I’ll stand by.”

  “You’re a lifesaver. If I wasn’t done with having kids, I’d name my next daughter after you,” Tally joked.

  Sierra’s smile faded as she ended the call. It was great to be in a position to help Jack out and return the many kindnesses he’d shown her, but her chest was already getting tight with anxiety over breaking the news to her brothers.

  It’s only six weeks. Between us we can make this work.

  But it wasn’t losing her labor on the ranch that they’d object to—there were ways and means to get around that, including hiring a ranch hand for a couple of months—it was the fact that she was going out of her way to help the Tates.

  “Damn it,” she said, tossing her phone onto the counter.

  Because she always thought better when she was working, she started chopping tomatoes for dinner. She’d already planned on making her mother’s meatloaf, a perennial family favorite, but she mentally added an apple crisp to the menu because she was not above using food to set the stage for her announcement.

  By the time the meatloaf was in the oven, she’d had a brainwave and she ducked out into the yard to make a quick phone call to her friend Cara, who happened to have a younger brother who might be in the market for some casual work. A quick conversation with first Cara and then Cara’s brother, Davey, eased some of the tension banding her chest.

  Davey was up for six weeks of work, if it was available. Sierra told him he’d be hearing from her brother shortly, then ended the call.

  She had a solid solution to replacing her labor on the ranch. Now she just had to tell her brothers.

  Even though she’d decided to just get it over and done with the moment her family appeared in the kitchen for dinner, she chickened out as Eva and Casey set the table and again when they all sat down to eat. Eva shared a funny story from her day, much to Jed’s and Casey’s amusement, and Sierra smiled when she was supposed to and pushed her food around her plate to make it look like she was eating when in reality she was rehearsing her announ
cement over and over in her head and bracing herself to speak up at the end of the meal.

  Or maybe after they’d done the dishes.

  You’re totally turning this into something it isn’t. You know that, right?

  The problem was, while the Carmodys enjoyed a good squabble, they were generally always on the same page when it came to the big stuff. She was happy to give Jed and Casey a hard time when she thought they deserved it, but she didn’t relish sowing discord in her family, especially when it touched on the memory of their parents and the dark days after the accident. She didn’t want to be on the receiving end of her brothers’ disapproval.

  And she really didn’t want to disappoint them.

  She was so preoccupied with her thoughts she didn’t realize Jed was talking to her until he gave her foot a nudge under the table.

  “Hey. You still with us?” he asked, giving her a curious look.

  “There’s something I need to tell everybody,” she blurted.

  Not exactly the way she’d planned to introduce the subject, but what the hell.

  “Let me guess—you’re pregnant,” Casey said, helping himself to another serve of apple crisp.

  “Don’t joke about that,” Jed said.

  Eva nudged Casey with her elbow. “Sierra doesn’t even have a boyfriend.”

  Sierra could see the conversation was about to get hijacked.

  “Jack went to the doctor today and apparently he’s got a bulging disk. They’ve told him he’s looking at a minimum of six weeks of bed rest, possibly more, and his daughter, Tally, asked if I’d be prepared to take over his job with the Tates until he’s recovered. And I said yes.”

  For a moment there was nothing but silence. Then Casey let the serving spoon drop into the crisp dish with a loud clang. “What the hell, Sierra? Why on earth would you go out of your way to do the Tates a favor?”

  “The favor is for Jack,” she said.

  “They’ve got more money than god. Let them find themselves another pilot,” Casey said, his lip curling. “Why should we bend over backward and make do without you to accommodate them?”