Joshua and the Cowgirl Read Free Page B

coming?”
    “I suspect his sudden hurry might have had something to do with my offer to build him his own place out here, so I could watch my great-grandbabies grow up.”
    Joshua grinned reluctantly. “That would do it.”
    “I don’t know why the man’s so stubborn,” she grumbled. “It makes perfect sense for him to live out here. I know I could convince Marilou, if he’d just give me a little time to work on her. She likes the sense of family continuity here.”
    “And you’re perfectly willing to use his wife’s weakness for family ties to manipulate Cal. No wonder he’s run for his life. I’d be surprised if he ever brings Marilou and the baby back again.”
    Mrs. McDonald scowled at him impatiently. “I might have known you’d stick up for him. Can’t any of you see that this place will all be his one of these days? He needs to know how to run it.”
    “Cal certainly doesn’t need it and he says he doesn’t want it.”
    “Stubborn fool. He’s ignoring reality. I am not about to change my will at this late date. If nothing else, he should think of his children.”
    “He can provide for his children well enough and I suspect he comes by the stubborn need to do so naturally.”
    The observation drew a nod of reluctant satisfaction. “I expect he does at that. I suppose I ought to count it as a blessing that he’s not some namby-pamby sort I can push around.”
    “You certainly should,” Joshua agreed, though less than ten minutes ago he’d been wanting to shove Cal around a little himself. “So, why am I here? Are you hoping I’ll be more amenable to your whims?”
    She chuckled. “That’s not a label I’d pin on you, young man. You’re worse than that grandson of mine. Cal insisted on dragging you out here, though. Took one look at the books and nearly went into cardiac arrest. He snuck off to call you right after that.”
    “I set up a very simple bookkeeping procedure for you the last time I was here. Didn’t you use it?”
    She waved a gnarled, bejeweled hand indifferently. “More or less.”
    Joshua groaned. “What about the accountant in Cheyenne I contacted for you? Why didn’t you call him?”
    Her chin rose. “I didn’t like him.”
    “Why?”
    “He was too young.”
    “He was nearly sixty.”
    “I didn’t like that awful after-shave he used. Smelled all prissy to me. How can you trust a man who douses himself with scent like that?”
    Joshua muttered an oath, forgetting that Mrs. McDonald’s hearing was sharp as ever. She stiffened. “Young man, I do not tolerate language like that in my house.”
    “Sorry,” he said automatically. “I don’t suppose it crossed your mind that you’re looking for excuses to keep Cal around and involved in things?”
    She sniffed indignantly. “Well, of course I am.” She sighed. “Not that it’s doing me any good.”
    “How’d he convince you to let me come back?”
    “He didn’t ask.”
    “I could leave,” he offered, possibly a shade too enthusiastically. She settled a sharp gaze on him and shook her head.
    “You might as well stay, now that you’re here. I’ve put you in the same room at the top of the stairs. If you need anything, just ask Elena. You should be comfortable enough there for the next few weeks.”
    An immediate knot formed in the pit of his stomach. “Weeks?” he repeated.
    “According to Cal, that’s how long it’s likely to take to straighten out the mess we’ve made of things. Garrett tries, but she has too much to do around here as it is. We both sort of figured if there was money in the bank accounts at the end of the year we’d done okay.”
    Joshua listened to the casual tone and detected the false note at once. Mrs. McDonald had not survived all these years as a widow in this hard, unforgiving environment with an attitude like that. She’d probably counted every penny, then squeezed the last cent of value out of each and every one.
    He met her gaze head on. “You’re an old fraud,