Authors: Lorelei James
Tags: #Romance, #Contemporary, #Adult, #Western, #Red Hots!, #Western Romance
Raising Kane (30 page)
“Yeah, see if you can’t round up some of them nipple clamps on a golden chain. And a satin pillow.”
He grinned. “For your knees.”
“As you wish.”
Two weeks later…
Kane was having a devil of a time keeping his eyes open. He yawned, knowing it’d be another long night out in the cold and snow. But at least he had this place to crash in.
Two years ago, the McKay “boys”, as their collective fathers called them, had all chipped in and built a bunkhouse. The structure wasn’t anything fancy, just one room with three sets of bunk beds, a big conference-type table, an old refrigerator and a small counter that held a hot plate, a microwave and a coffee pot. For warmth during the freezing-ass winter months, they’d bought several space heaters. For cooling off during the hot-as-hell summer months, well, they could leave the door open. A gas-powered generator provided electricity, but there was no running water, just a water tank. No bathroom either, just an outhouse in the trees. As far as amenities, it was damn primitive. Although it was out in the boonies, it was centrally located on the ranch. They’d even had an old-fashioned barn raising, building a small metal structure where they could keep equipment, and a place for calves to spend a night or two, if needed.
He kicked his chair against the wall. He hadn’t bothered to look at the schedule to see who he was working with tonight. The schedule was more or less a joke anyway. He was always here, Brandt was always here and Tell was always here. The others came and went whenever the hell they felt like it. Truth was, Kane didn’t begrudge them. This time of year was exhausting, but he looked forward to the annual birth cycle in a way he couldn’t explain without sounding like a sappy damn fool.
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Raising Kane
The door opened and shut quickly. But even so, Kane felt the rush of cold air. Boots stamped. Clothes rustled. He finally opened his eyes.
Colt stared back at him.
Fucking awesome.
So far they’d managed to avoid working with one another. It’d been a childish hope on Kane’s part that the avoidance would last through calving season.
“So if you’re gonna jump me again, I’d rather you got it out of your system now, instead of when we’re elbow deep in a cow’s birthin’ canal.”
Kane smiled, even when he didn’t want to. “But I like the element of surprise.”
“How well I know that,” Colt said wryly, rubbing his jaw.
Be the bigger man. This can’t go on with your cousin forever.
Kane picked up his mug of nearly cold coffee. “Look. I was an ass that day. I’m sorry. You didn’t deserve me comin’ after you and certainly not in front of your wife and kid.”
Colt poured himself a cup of coffee and refilled Kane’s. Then he sat across from him. “Well, it was as much my fault as it was yours. And fuck, Kane, I’m really goddamn sorry about Shep. If I’da known…”
“You wouldn’t have hit me back?” Kane supplied.
He grinned. “Oh, I wouldn’t go that far. We both know that fight had been building a long time.
That’s what happens when we don’t beat the tar out of each other on a regular basis. And lifting weights and hitting a punching bag is a poor substitute, ain’t it?”
“Yep. Shocks people that we still like mixin’ it up, don’t it?”
“Which is why we’ve always done it in private,” Colt muttered.
“We’re supposed to be mature. Solve all our problems with words.”
“I’m a family man, for Christsake. I should know better. But there are times…”
Colt didn’t have to spell it out. Kane understood. There was no substitute for the real thing, nothing like bleeding and hurting that really made you feel alive. That’s where they were alike. The only other person in their family who had that same impulsive, primitive need was Brandt and he’d always refused to talk about it. Kane knew it’d come to a head for Brandt one of these days, probably sooner rather than later.
“You were right,” Colt offered. “I fucked up. I forgot to do a whole buncha shit that week, and it wasn’t your fault. I took it out on you because I could. So it ain’t an excuse, but I’ve been so goddamn distracted lately.”
“What’s up?”
Colt ran his hand over the top of his head. “Indy’s pregnant again, for one thing.”
“Congrats, man.”
“Thanks.”
“You don’t sound too happy about it.”
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“I am. It’s just… There’s so much more to bein’ a husband and a father than I imagined. It’s like calving all the damn time.” Colt shot Kane a dark look. “And if you ever repeat that to Indy I will beat you bloody.”
Kane held up his hands in mock surrender.
“Just when I think I’ve got a handle on it all, the kid is sleeping through the night, the puppy is house trained, and I’ve got my sexy wife back…I find out I knocked her up again. And that day, when I looked at you, without all the damn worries about this family stuff, I was jealous of your freedom. It only lasted a minute or so, but it was there.”
He shook his head. “You’re a lucky man. Your life wasn’t such hot shit before Indy, remember? And I’d give my left nut to have those kind of family worries.”
“Speakin’ of…” Colt pinned him with a look. “What’s goin’ on with you and the fireball attorney?”
“Who the hell knows? One day it’s great. The next… I can’t get a bead on her.”
“Then it’s probably the real deal and she’s running scared.”
“Yeah, I’m pretty sure I’m not the type of guy she thought she’d end up with,” he said, hating he sounded like a fucking whiner.
Colt frowned at him. “What the fuck are you talkin’ about? You feelin’ like you’re not good enough for her? So she’s a lawyer. Big deal. That just means when you do something stupid and get your ass tossed in jail she can give you a helluva defense.”
Kane laughed. “Asshole.”
“Listen to me. Don’t be a dumbass and waste any more time. Do the adult thing and quit mopin’
around. It’s annoying as hell.”
“How the hell do you know I’ve been moping? You ain’t been around.”
“Like anything can be a goddamned secret for long in this family.”
Before he could tell Colt to mind his own fucking business, the door blew open and a whole mass of people crowded in. Kade, Cord, Colby, Cam and Quinn.
Kade spoke up. “We’re staging an intervention.”
Kane glared at Colt. “Was this your doin’?”
“Yep.” Colt smirked. “Payback’s a bitch, ain’t it?”
Unbelievable.
All the guys grabbed a cup of coffee and took a seat.
When he couldn’t take their amused stares and total silence any longer, he snapped, “What?”
Evidently Kade was the designated spokesman. “We’ve all been where you are, so we’re gonna give you the benefit of our experience.” Kade leaned forward. “Buy a goddamned ring and marry the woman.
Don’t take no for an answer.”
Heads nodded in agreement.
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Kane looked at his relatives like they’d all gone insane, because the road to happily ever after hadn’t been easy for any of them. “That’s your advice? That’s why you’re all here?”
Colby exchanged a look with Quinn and Colt and said, “Partially.”
“They’re using this ‘intervention’ as an excuse to avoid their wives, since they’re all pregnant,” Cam tossed in.
“Fuck off, Cam,” Colby said.
“But it’s true,” Cam argued.
“They’re all pregnant?” Kane asked. “Did you guys plan that or something?”
“No. Blame the last blizzard,” Colby said.
Quinn nodded.
Kade said, “Well, Skylar ain’t pregnant.”
Colt said, “And Indy was pregnant
before
the blizzard.”
“Far as I know, AJ ain’t pregnant.” Cord grinned. “
Yet
, but it sure ain’t for lack of tryin’.”
Cam sighed. “As for why they’re here tonight, they each told their missus that they had to talk some sense into you about Ginger. Which if they’re anything like Domini, they’re all teared up thinking we’re the greatest guys in the world, looking out for you.”
Kane snorted.
“As much as we do care about you finally strapping on that old ball and chain like the rest of us,”
Quinn said, “we are here for another reason.”
“Which is?”
Colby crossed his arms over his chest. “Poker.”
That jarred him. “What?”
“We know you’re playin’ poker regularly with Brandt, Tell, Dalton, Bennett and Chase. We’re pissed you didn’t invite us, and we want in.”
“Seriously?”
“Yep. We admire the hell outta you, Kane,” Cord said. “You’ve actually tried to fix the rift between our families and Uncle Casper’s. None of us could do it, even when we all wanted to. Hell, even when some of us tried.”
“So the next poker game after calving? We
all
expect an invite,” Cord said.
“Besides, if it was just supposed to be a gathering of the single McKays, then you’re gonna get kicked outta the club pretty soon, anyway,” Kade pointed out.
Kane muttered, “God I hope so.”
Cam threw a deck of cards on the table. “We’ve got an hour before we need to check cattle.”
“Love the way you said ‘we’, little bro, when you’ve got no intention of climbin’ on an ATV when it’s ten below outside,” Colt said.
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“Hey. I’m handicapped.”
Boos rang out, followed by laughter and trash-talking.
Kade leaned over. “Seriously. Don’t wait to tell Ginger how you feel about her until you think she’s ready to hear it. If she’s anything like Sky, and I suspect she is, she already knows how you feel. She just needs tangible proof.”
“Thanks for the advice, but I ain’t getting a tattoo.”
“Oh, you’ll be surprised what you’ll do in the name of love.”
“Are you two done sharin’ hairdo tips and secrets so we can play poker?” Colt rubbed his hands together with glee. “I’m feelin’ lucky.”
That reminded Kane he was wearing his lucky ball cap. It also reminded him that he missed Hayden as much as he missed Ginger. Rather than dwell on what he couldn’t change tonight, but what he was goddamned sure he was gonna change as soon as humanly possible, he readjusted his cap and grabbed the cards. “Ante up, boys.”
178
Ginger missed Kane. It was an odd feeling. She’d never had a man in her life that she cared enough about to miss.
And it’d only been a week.
Despite feeling lousy, Ginger allowed Hayden to invite his friends Kyler and Anton McKay for a sleepover. The boys amused themselves, but seeing Kyler reminded Ginger of Kane. The boy was all McKay with his dark hair, blue eyes and boyish cowboy charm.
Week two didn’t fly by any faster than week one had.
When Ginger threw up her breakfast, lunch and supper for three days straight, she knew she’d have to break down and make a doctor’s appointment. It’d been a lousy winter regarding her health, between the accident and the sinus infection that’d dragged on for a solid month. Her immune system was slacking; she’d caught every virus that’d come down the pike. Grateful as she was that neither Hayden nor her father had contracted anything from her, she was damn sick of being sick.
Doc Monroe ordered a bunch of tests. The worst one was the influenza A test, when the nurse stuck a tube up her nose to gather mucus. Urine and blood work were a piece of cake in comparison.
She sat in the exam room, staring at her sock-clad feet. She’d felt so rotten and off-balance the last three weeks she hadn’t even worn high-heeled shoes.
Ten minutes ticked by. She rolled down on the exam table. Even that simple movement sent her stomach churning. She curled into a ball, pulling the blanket under her chin. Maybe if she closed her eyes the room would stop spinning.
“Ginger?”
She jumped and sat up, completely disoriented. “Sorry, I fell asleep.”
“It’s okay. We’re overbooked today.”
Ginger rearranged the sheet across her thighs after she tugged down the hospital gown. She looked at Joely, flipping back and forth between pages in her medical chart. “So Doc, what’s the prognosis?
Influenza A?”
“No. You tested negative.”
“Shit. Is it swine flu?”
“You tested negative for that too.”
Lorelei James
When Dr. Monroe set the clipboard aside and pinched the bridge of her nose, Ginger had her first feeling of alarm. “What’s wrong with me?”
“A couple of questions first. You were on a ten-day cycle of antibiotics after your accident, correct?”
“Yes.”
“And then, according to your patient’s report, you filled a fourteen-day-cycle prescription of antibiotics for a sinus infection four weeks before that?”
“Yes. But it didn’t seem to work, so I refilled it again a couple of weeks ago.”
“First of all, you should’ve set up an appointment instead of getting a refill, an oversight I’ve corrected by canceling your standing prescription at DeWitt’s. I’m curious to know the details of your sinus infection symptoms, and why you didn’t feel the antibiotic worked.”
Ginger frowned. “Besides my head being stuffy? I constantly have a headache. My equilibrium is off and I get motion sick very easily. So I’m nauseous and dog-tired all the time.”
Dr. Monroe crossed her arms over her chest. “Ginger. You’re a smart woman. How could you not read the warning labels on the drug information sheet? I know you got them. I know you scour them if it’s Hayden’s medication. But you don’t do that for yourself?”
Not a good sign, getting her ass chewed by her doctor.
“Here’s the CliffsNotes version of pharmacology. Antibiotics can render birth control pills ineffective, especially the low dosage type you’re currently taking. I would’ve made a point of discussing it with you if I’d known you were sexually active—”
“This hasn’t ever been an issue before because I’ve been a freakin’ monk since I moved here.”
“When did your abstinence status change?”
“After my accident. When Kane stayed with us. It just sort of…happened.”
