Page 65 of Cowboys Next Door

Rose’s face softens. “So do I.” She steps closer, and my pulse quickens as she puts her hands on my face. “That’s why I’m not going anywhere. Can’t you get that through your thick skull?”

I smirk lightly and shake my head. “No. It’s too thick.”

“Clearly.” She brushes her lips against mine and steps back. “Will you please go keep Gran company until I get back?”

“You know I will—as long as she promises not to bring out the cards again. Last shift, she handed me my ass in blackjack.”

“Gran?” Rose’s jaw drops. “You’re kidding!”

I shake my head. “Maybe you should bring her to the casino when you get back.”

“I learn something new about that woman every day, don’t I?” she muses, laughing as she skips backward. I watch her shapely legs as she whirls toward Katherine’s dilapidated truck, twirling the keys around her fingers. Abruptly, she pauses. “Oh… do you want anything from the grocery store?”

“Just you,” I reply, licking my lips. She winks at me and blows me a kiss before climbing into the driver’s seat and backing out of the gravel driveway.

Wiping the sweat from my forehead, I back away from the construction site but marvel at the handiwork that the four of us have put in over the past month. Even with Katherine’s illness, we’ve still managed to make great progress.

No one is touching this land,I think calmly.

Hudson and Eli had leads on lawyers in Helena who they are supposed to meet in the upcoming week about the MVP letters. And with Rose going to Seattle, maybe we will have some happy news before fall hits and all the neighbors sell out and we find ourselves in the middle of a stadium build—or whatever nonsense MVP has in store with the government blessing.

I find Katherine in the living room, sitting in her favorite chair. She grimaces when she sees me. “This is getting moderately ridiculous now. I distinctly heard the doctor order exercise for me.”

“Once you’ve fully recovered from your stroke, yes,” I agree. “For now, you’re on bed rest.”

“It was barely a stroke,” Katherine insists, her speech a notch slower than it was before but still as stubborn.

“Well, I was there when the ambulance carried you away,” I insist. “And I was also there while you were at the hospital, so I beg to differ.” I flop down on the sofa and drape my ankle over my knee. “Anyway, you’ve got hot guys and a doting granddaughter waiting on you hand and foot. What are you complaining about?”

“Just wait until you get old, Connor Adams. You’ll see what a burden it is when no one leaves you in peace.”

I smile, refusing to be undone by her crankiness. I understand how she’s feeling, the desire to get up and do something squashed by Rose’s insistence that she remain immobile, at least for the week. Still, it is uncharacteristic of Katherine to be so crabby, and I try to charm her, even though I’m distinctly unhappy with Rose’s upcoming trip.

“I could let you beat me in cards again,” I offer sweetly.

“Oh, stop,” she snaps. “You don’t want to be here, either. You’re only here chasing my granddaughter. It’s not like you have any stake in the BB like the others.”

The grin remains on my face for a moment, her words not striking me at first.

“Chasing your granddaughter? I don’t think Rose is the sort who does well with others on her tail,” I reply lightly. Katherine stiffens suddenly, and she looks away, but the second half of her sentence hits me then. “And what do you mean by ‘a stake in the BB like the others’?”

“Nothing,” Katherine mutters. “I’m old. I say things sometimes.”

I sense her lie. “No… you meant something by that. What is it?”

“It’s nothing, Connor.”

“Ma’am, I have always done the courtesy of being honest with you. Please extend the same to me.”

I stare at her deadpan until she releases a long, pained sigh.

“They never told you? Really?” Katherine sounds dubious but also embarrassed, her hands working nervously at the wool blanket in her lap.

“Told me what?” I ask pleasantly. “Who has stakes in the BB? Rose?”

My mind whirls. It would make sense that Katherine would write her granddaughter into her will, but it feels like she is talking about something else here.

“I’ve just included Rose as my benefactor, yes,” Katherine agrees, fully shifting her eyes away from me. “Can you get me a glass of water, Connie?”

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