Cowgirl Up! (19 page)

Sam’s dad shook his head. “I’m not sure what to think. I have the greatest respect for both Jaime and George.”

“I know,” Sam said. “Sheriff Olson goes by the book and is so thorough with his investigations. But what if Pablo is right? Maybe he was set up to take the blame. If that’s the case, someone planned this in advance.”

“Premeditated murder,” Her dad murmured softly. “That’s hard to believe.”

Isabella rushed through the door.

“Sorry I’m late. My test took longer than I thought.”

Sam’s dad looked at his watch. “That’s okay. We have plenty of time to make it there by two.”

“Mason is in his room watching television,” Sam’s mom told Isabella. “We’ll be back right after the graveside services.”

A SHORT TIME later Sam and her parents walked into St. Ann’s Catholic Church in Fairview. It was fifteen minutes before the service and the place was packed.

Sam saw Cheyenne sitting in the front pew with several other men from the ranch. He was staring straight ahead and didn’t see her. Sam’s heart skipped a beat and she ached to have him hold her again, or at least talk to her. She sighed. Guess it was never going to happen and time for her to forget him and move on.

Right at two o’clock, the procession came into the church. Lance followed his wife’s casket to the front and then sat down next to Cheyenne. A short elderly woman with a tall stately man followed Lance in and sat behind him so Sam assumed they were family members. Sam didn’t know much about Marietta other than she was originally from the West Coast.

The priest started the Mass and it seemed odd to Sam to hear it in English because she’d heard it so many times in Spanish.

After the service ended, everyone proceeded out of the church and to the cemetery. There the priest prayed and gave his blessing over the casket while it was lowered into the ground. It was strange to Sam that there were no tears for Marietta. Although everyone was sad because of the circumstances of her death, there were no signs of mourning or grief among any of the congregation gathered around her graveside.

Sam kept her head down and thought about the lack of love in Marietta’s life. She certainly had none for her fellow man, and now at her last rites, none was felt for her. Sam couldn’t help it when a tear trickled down her cheek. She quickly wiped it away with her hand, but not before someone handed her a Kleenex.

“Thanks,” She said and looked up into the face of an extremely handsome man who was watching her with two enormous brown eyes. Sam recognized the dark curly hair and expensive suit and realized he was the man who had followed Lance into the church behind Marietta’s casket.

“You appear to be the only one here mourning my aunt’s death,” he said to Sam. The crowd was slowly dispersing and going back to their cars.

“Did you know your aunt well?” Sam asked him.

“I didn’t know her at all,” he answered. “She was my mother’s sister but they were estranged for years.”

“I should introduce myself. I’m Samantha Kendrick. I’m a local veterinarian and the Wilson’s are clients of my partner, Doc Howard. Actually, Marietta didn’t like me much. I had to put down one of her mares and she was upset about it so she kind of banned me from the ranch. I also accidentally spilt champagne all over her at a black tie fundraiser a month ago. To be honest, she didn’t like me at all. I was feeling sad because there weren’t any tears for her at her last rites and all of a sudden I was crying.”

Sam was blabbering like an idiot. Why couldn’t she stop talking? Maybe it was because this good looking, sophisticated man was smiling at her. And her damn rash was coming back.

“Well, it was nice of you to cry. I should introduce myself too. I’m Luke Maguire.” He reached out and shook Sam’s hand. “I flew in with my mother from San Francisco this morning.”

“It’s nice to meet you. Are you going back to California right away?”

“No. Originally my plan was to return in the morning, but my uncle invited us to stay for a few days so I think we may take him up on his offer. Are you going out to the ranch?”

“You mean right now?”

Luke smiled down at Sam. “Yes. Lance hired a caterer to set up a light dinner at the ranch for the funeral guests.”

“Oh, well I don’t know. I mean, I wasn’t planning on it…..”

Sam realized Luke was still holding her hand and gently pulled it away.

“I’d really like for you to come if you can. I don’t know anyone here and maybe you could introduce me.”

Sam saw her parents say a few words to Lance and then they turned and walked up to them.

“Mom and Dad, this is Luke Maguire, Marietta’s nephew.”

“Nice to meet you,” Sam’s dad said as he extended his hand. “I’m Tom and this is Sarah.”

“Luke invited us to the ranch to join them for a light dinner,” Sam told them.

Sam’s mom shook Luke’s hand. “I’m sorry. I wish we could but Isabella, our sitter, called and we need to get back home. She has to leave to help her dad with some research.” Sam’s mom turned to her. “Isabella asked me to tell you that she’s going to have to cancel your dinner plans for tonight, sweetie.”

“Well, since I’m riding with them I’ll have to decline your offer,” Sam told Luke.

“Nonsense. That’s not a problem at all. You can ride with me to the ranch and I’ll be happy to bring you home when you’re ready.”

Sam hesitated, but only for a moment. It would seem rude to turn down his offer, and besides, spending time with a gorgeous hunk like Luke was an enticing invitation and one she didn’t want to pass up. Especially now that she and Cheyenne had broken up.

“Okay. If you don’t mind that would be nice.”

Sam waved goodbye to her parents and then Luke escorted her to a woman standing by a waiting limousine.

“Mother, let me introduce you to Samantha Kendrick,” Luke said as he opened the door to the limo for them. “She’s a veterinarian who knew Aunt Marietta. She graciously accepted my invitation to join us for dinner at the ranch. Samantha, this is my mother, Margarite.”

Sam politely shook hands with the petite woman who didn’t look at all like her sister. While Marietta had been slender and frowned most of the time, Margarite was chubby and smiled continuously. She gave Sam a big smile and clasped her hand.

“It’s so nice to meet you. Thank you for coming.”

Luke held the door while his mother and Sam climbed into the limo.

“So, did you know my sister well?” asked Margarite as she settled herself next to Sam.

“Not really. I’m sorry. My partner, Doc Howard, is the main vet for the ranch so I rarely come out unless he needs assistance. I wish I could tell you more about your sister, but she was a private person and kept to herself.”

Margarite sighed. “Oh, you’re sweet to try and cover for her. I know she was a difficult person to get along with and didn’t have many friends. She didn’t have anything to do with us once she married Lance and moved to Colorado.”

Margarite looked Sam straight in the eyes.

“To be honest, I thought she was a big pain in the ass. There! I said it! We had a big falling out years ago when she wouldn’t come back to California to see our mother before she died. It was mom’s last wish to see Marietta. I was very angry and said things I shouldn’t have, but that’s in the past now. I hadn’t talked to Marietta since then. We wouldn’t be here now but Lance was so sweet to call and ask us to come. I’m Marietta’s only sibling so if we hadn’t come there wouldn’t have been any of her family here. That would have been sad and Luke couldn’t stand it.”

Luke climbed into the limo at that moment and gave Sam a sexy smile. God! Sam thought to herself. Everything about him was sexy!

“Is mother giving you all of our family history?” he asked.

“Only a little.”

“Lance is riding back with his crew from the ranch,” Luke told his mother. “He’s very close to them. That’s the only family he has now.”

“Most of them have been around for a number of years,” Sam told them. “I know Cheyenne, the manager, has been with him for over seven years. He thinks a lot of Lance.”

“Cheyenne is an interesting fellow. Do you know him well?” asked Luke.

“Cheyenne and I go way back. We grew up together and were in the same graduating class in high school.”

“Please don’t tell me you were high school sweethearts,” Luke said to Sam as they drove up to the front door of the ranch.

“No, nothing like that. We’re just friends.”

“That’s good to hear,” he told Sam as he took her hand and helped her out of the limo.

There was a large crowd at the ranch after the services. Sam did her best to introduce Luke and his mother to most of the guests.

“I believe you know everyone in this town,” Luke told her. “This is so nice of you.”

As they were going through the buffet line they ran into Cheyenne. Sam picked up a big spoon of potato salad and stifled the urge to fling a glob of it in Cheyenne’s face. Instead she politely introduced him to Luke.

Luke extended his hand to Cheyenne.

“I’m glad to meet you. I’ve heard a lot about you. Sam told me you two went to high school together.”

“Yes we did,” Cheyenne replied and gave Sam an intense look. He’d seen Sam walk in with Luke and for the first time in his life he felt the heat of jealousy totally envelop his heart. Sam was stunning in her simple black dress with her long blond hair flowing to her shoulders. He ached to hold her in his arms, but when he saw Luke put his arm around her waist as they moved down the buffet table his ache changed to anger. He was quick to hide his feelings when Luke turned to him.

“I heard from my uncle you’re leaving tomorrow for a horse show in the southern part of the state,” said Luke.

It was Sam’s turn to give Cheyenne an intense look. She was still holding the spoon of potato salad and Cheyenne eyed her cautiously before he answered.

“Yes. We’re going to Pueblo for the first show of the season. We’re anxious to see how our top stallion will do. You’ll probably be interested to know that Sam was instrumental in saving his life this past spring.”

“Oh, really? What happened?”

“It wasn’t all that much,” Sam said quickly and put the spoon down. “Doc was out of town so Cheyenne called me in. Someone had injected several of the horses with a Salmonella virus but we were able to save
Brio
, the stallion. Unfortunately I had to euthanize a mare.”

“Ah, that was the mare you were telling me about earlier. I didn’t hear the whole story, though. Why would anyone want to inject the horses with a virus?”

“It’s complicated,” Sam told him. “We’re not sure who did it or why, but the Sheriff is doing an investigation.” She was lying through her teeth. She knew Marcus did it, but she couldn’t rat on Mitch until he had a chance to talk his brother into turning himself in.

Lance came up and hugged Sam.

“So, how is the best vet in the state doing this evening?” he asked as he kissed her on the cheek.

It was obvious that Lance had a little too much to drink. His breath reeked of whisky. He didn’t look like a grieving husband to Sam. He looked more like he was celebrating instead of mourning.

“You better not let Doc hear you say that, Mr. Wilson,” Sam said with a slight smile. “We all know Doc is the best vet in the state.”

“Yep, Doc is the best. He’s coming out tomorrow to finish all the West Nile immunizations. I want you to come with him so I can talk to you about
Dakota Roja
. Cheyenne told me you were interested in buying him.”

“Well, I was. But I don’t think I could afford a horse like
Dakota
, and Ralph Anderson has offered to sell me his new colt when he’s weaned. I think it’ll be fun to raise and train my own horse.”

“Hell, it’ll be several years before you can ride that colt. You need a good horse now and I’ll make you an offer you can’t refuse.” Lance patted Sam’s shoulder. “And
Dakota’s
been trained by the best. Cheyenne’s been taking a lot of extra time with him lately. I’m sure it has nothing to do with you.”

“Oh, I’m sure of that,” Sam answered. She turned and smiled at Cheyenne’s frowning face.

Luke looked confused as he eyed the three of them.

LATER THAT EVENING, Luke borrowed his uncle’s Lincoln Navigator and was following Sam’s directions to her house.

“Thank you so much for bringing me home,” She told him. “I hope you don’t have any trouble getting back to the Lazy W.”

“Don’t worry. There’s a GPS system in this Lincoln so I think I’ll be able to find my way back.”

Luke turned through the gates of Evergreen. “Wow! This is some set up. Is that your big ranch house over there?”

“No. That’s my parent’s place. I live in our original home place in the back. My mom and dad renovated it for my grandparents some years ago. My grandma died when I was in college so my grandpa moved in with my parents. Then when I finished college and needed a place to stay, I moved back home. It works out great because I have my privacy but I’m also close enough to help with my brother.”