Serious Cowboy (Cowboys of Duncan Ranch #2)

Chapter 12

CHAPTER TWELVE

Aaron had traveled to the most remote corner of the ranch in search of a heavily pregnant heifer. No one had seen her in a day or two, and he sincerely hoped she hadn’t managed to get herself in dire straits somehow while out of earshot. Most of their gravid cattle delivered without issue, but there were times when one would end up in distress.

It’d been Brock’s job to keep an eye on this section of pasture. What he should’ve done was bring the creature closer to the barn so Pete could easily see to her if necessary. Why Brock hadn’t, Aaron had no idea, but it didn’t exactly surprise him to have the weekend off only to discover that Brock had been the one to lose track of this female.

Brock was the one off today, so Aaron had taken it upon himself to see to it everything was as it should be. Which it wasn’t.

Fortunately, Aaron found her and her freshly delivered calf beneath a small grove of Englemann spruce trees. Immediately dismounting from his all-terrain vehicle, he scrambled over to check on her.

“Hey Mama, looks like you’ve got yourself a new baby.”

He spoke in calming tones, edging closer and closer. Nothing appeared to be amiss, thankfully. But he still carefully herded the two all the way back to the barn. Pete liked to examine every freshly delivered mother and new calf.

It was when he was about halfway there when his walkie-talkie buzzed to life.

“We need all ranch personnel to the main house pronto. That’s all ranch personnel to the main house, now .” The voice had been Bryce’s and while the overall head of the Duncan Ranch could be short with people at times, Aaron had rarely heard this level of sharpness from him.

Something was wrong.

“On my way,” Aaron reported in, then pushed the pair of animals along as fast as he could.

Once he’d settled the two in the barn he raced for the main house. The majority of the large staff and members of the Duncan family were already inside, and despite the expansive size of the downstairs living space, it was standing room only.

Aaron didn’t know if he was the last to arrive, but as soon as Bryce made eye contact with him, he began.

“Whitney went into labor a few hours ago again. Sam’s taken her to the hospital, and it seems she’s going to have to deliver this time. It’d put her and the babies in danger not to.”

There was dead silence for a beat, then…

“Wasn’t she on bedrest?” Bobby Dean asked. Aaron knew Whitney and the most elder ranch hand had often worked directly together.

“She was,” Lindsey picked up the narrative. If she wasn’t out running Sensational Shindigs and Soirees, her party planning business, that probably meant that she was making this family emergency her priority right now.

That more than anything else had Aaron’s heart pumping overtime.

“Everyone else at the hospital with them?” he asked, meaning the rest of the Duncan clan.

“Yes,” Bryce spoke up again, closing the distance between himself and Lindsey until she gripped his forearm. It was a small gesture, but it told Aaron just how scared the family was. “Maddie and Lilliana have left their classes with subs so they can go, too.”

It was all hands on deck, then.

Bryce tended to be a serious—often read grumpy—guy on a good day, but the lines scrunched up between his eyebrows were positively grim.

The question Aaron didn’t ask was if Whitney was far enough along to successfully deliver the babies and have them be healthy. It’d been several weeks since she’d initially been put on bedrest, but it was still early. He counted up the weeks in his head from where he knew she’d been the last time he’d heard Sam discuss her pregnancy.

She’d be thirty-six weeks now. Would that be long enough?

“We wanted to keep everyone updated, so you’d know what was going on,” Bryce said. “Lindsey and I are heading up to Billings now, as well, so look to your direct supervisors like Aaron if you need anything.”

As they left, Lindsey caught Aaron’s eye almost apologetically, but he knew the drill. Stepping in during a crises was part of his job, and he would do whatever he could to help while the Duncans were otherwise occupied.

Taking it upon himself to personally speak to every remaining ranch hand, he made certain all vital duties had been seen to and taken care of. When he discovered a few of the hands struggling to finish up moving some equipment into the barn, he hopped on over to assist them.

It was after he’d sent the last of these hands off to go home that he heard two voices chatting in another section of the barn. From where he stood behind the backhoe, Aaron knew he couldn’t be detected, even though he’d never set out to hide. In spite of this, however, based on what he heard, maybe it was a good thing that he remained concealed.

“He said the newbie’s been shirking his duties and leaving early whenever he wants now,” said one of them, someone who sounded an awful lot like Keifer.

“That’s not true,” said the other guy, someone who’d been working there for about a year named Tyler. “If anything, Aaron stays later to wrap things up from what I’ve seen.”

Aaron stayed behind the backhoe but shifted in order to make out the two speakers. Keifer simply shrugged.

“Just what I heard.”

“From who?” Tyler asked. Aaron didn’t know Tyler very well, but he was a good man and hard worker from everything Aaron had ever witnessed.

“Brock.”

Yep. That tracked. Aaron’s blood boiled at what this meant. Brock had been spreading rumors and essentially talking smack about him to the other hands behind Aaron’s back.

“Well,” Tyler scuffed the bottom of his boot across a nearby board as if to knock something off the bottom. “Brock can say whatever he wants, but Aaron’s in charge now. And if I were you, I’d take everything out of Brock’s mouth with a grain of salt.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Keifer demanded. The guy had always been a lightweight in the brain department along with being a hothead. No wonder he’d gravitated to Brock of all people.

“It means that the only man I think Brock is in support of is Brock. He’s the type who likes to stir the pot just to create animosity and drama. I guess he believes trashing others makes him look good. It doesn’t. I’d watch my back around him, if I were you.”

With that, Tyler tromped out of the barn leaving Keifer in his wake. Keifer followed after him a few seconds later, his movements chaotic and fidgety as if aggravated. Likely because Tyler refused to be fooled by Brock’s nonsense. Or that of his apparent crony.

Over the next few days, Aaron had a ton on his plate, but he made it a point to keep tabs on whatever part of the ranch Brock wound up on. Far too often, he saw him lollygagging where he wasn’t supposed to be or taking far longer than he should’ve been to finish a simple task.

Because he had so much to do, he didn’t take the time to confront Brock about any of this, instead, he maintained a running tally of infractions to be dealt with later.

Whitney gave birth on Tuesday to a tiny baby boy and a just as tiny baby girl. They each had to be kept within the confines of the NICU due to their lung capacity not quite being up to par. The newest Duncans weren’t out of the woods—wouldn’t be for weeks—so Aaron had his folks peek in on Whitney and Sam to provide support and give him updates.

He didn’t want to bug any of the Duncan brothers at a time like this.

Besides, he had so much to keep him busy that he honestly didn’t have the time to do anything but manage the ranch. With four main personnel missing—five, really, since Whitney was among them—it left a lot on Aaron’s shoulders just to keep up with the regular order of things.

But that didn’t mean that he’d forgotten the conversation he’d overheard between Keifer and Tyler.

It was Friday and right outside the main house when he heard his name in Keifer’s mouth again, only it wasn’t his name. It was “the newbie” said in the nastiest of sneers.

Of course, it was.

“Think the newbie will be off this weekend like usual?”

“Sure, he will. He thinks he’s above the rest of us, that’s why he insists on getting that special schedule.” This came from Brock.

It was also utterly untrue.

As Aaron had risen through the ranks, he’d worked weekends like everyone else. It had only been since his very recent promotion that he’d been given every weekend off. And most of that came due to him needing to be at the ranch for important deliveries and other duties that took place only Monday through Friday.

Aaron and the other members of the staff were well aware that technically, the Duncan brothers were off on the weekends yet often ended up working if something came up.

That was just ranch life.

“I figured,” answered Keifer.

“See, he’s got ‘em all fooled. He’s convinced the Duncans that he’s some dedicated golden boy who deserves to lord things over the rest of us, but really, I think something’s happening under the table. Bet Sam would’ve given the position to me instead, if I’d offered to pay him off like the newbie did.”

Pay him off ?

What in the world did Brock think he was saying? For one, Aaron would have to have money to pay Sam off, which he didn’t. And two, and more significantly, Sam didn’t run the ranch that way. None of the Duncans did. They had above-board business practices and were respected by everyone in Rocky Ridge.

Well, everyone but Brock, it seemed.

What did Brock ultimately think he would accomplish by slandering not only Aaron’s good name but Sam Duncan’s?

Fury leaped into Aaron’s blood and seared through his veins. It took a lot to make him mad, but talking hogwash about Sam was enough to do it. He’d been aggravated by Brock’s behavior before, sure. But straight up lying about Sam and how he’d been supposedly manipulated by a payoff that Aaron couldn’t afford to offer in the first place?

And to do it while the Duncans were in such a state of worry and concern?

That crossed the line from dirty to reprehensible.

“ Brock ,” Aaron shouted. It was rare for him to raise his voice, but it was even more rare for him to feel quite this incensed. “Get over here.”

The instant Keifer caught a glimpse of Aaron, his eyes went wide and fearful. Then, he sprinted for the hills like the coward he was. That left Aaron alone with his former bully, the man who just didn’t seem to know how to behave like a decent human being.

“What?” Brock said, all uncowed bravado. No wonder weaklings like Keifer followed him. He could be brazen, that much was for sure.

“I heard what you said to Keifer.” Aaron waited, wanting to know what Brock’s next move would be.

“I say plenty to Keifer.”

So, that was how it was going to be.

“That’s slander. Spreading falsified information about me and Sam is slander, and you know it.”

Brock smirked at him, one hundred percent unrepentant arrogance. “I’m afraid I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

Aaron had been standing maybe ten feet away from the man, but now he took enough steps forward to have no more that a foot and a half between them. For the first time, Brock’s stance became slightly less obnoxious as his complexion paled by a shade or two. Aaron lowered his voice to just above a murmur.

“Since you so clearly have a problem being here, I’m suggesting that you go find employment somewhere else. The Duncans have enough on their plates without you pulling stunts on their ranch. Especially when all you’re trying to do is stroke your own ego.”

Brock’s expression went apoplectic, the perpetual look of scornful disdain he gave Aaron filling with rage. “How dare you? You’re nothing, newbie. Nobody. And you certainly can’t fire me.”

“Actually, I can,” Aaron kept his tone mild. Totally tranquil except for the beam of steel underneath it as he kept his eyes locked on Brock’s. “I overheard you myself, and I have a witness willing to make a written statement about the specific brand of horse manure you’ve been spreading. Don’t think I’ll hesitate to use those means to get rid of you. And I don’t just mean from the Duncan Ranch. I mean from the entire town. I’m sure the powers that be in Rocky Ridge would be fascinated to hear your word against someone like Sam Duncan’s.”

Sam had a pristine reputation with the town, and if anything, Whitney had an even better one. Everyone in Rocky Ridge had looked up to the Duncan family name ever since Jim and Maggie had built something from nothing decades ago.

Aaron held Brock’s gaze without so much as blinking. He’d already gone to Tyler a couple days back. If Brock pressed the issue, he’d find out extremely quickly that he had precisely zero legs to stand on. Someone like Keifer didn’t make for a strong ally. He would no doubt fold like a bad hand of cards.

Brock maintained eye contact with Aaron for maybe three seconds longer before twisting on his booted heel and storming off. He gunned his engine in park for long enough to leave a nasty column of black smoke from his engine—talk about a toddler throwing a temper tantrum—then roared out of there so recklessly that he nearly hit a fence post.

Good riddance.

Buoyed by having this unfortunate duty over with, he called Joy.

“Hey, it’s so good to hear your voice,” he said, the moment she answered.

“Awww, you’re sweet. Long day?”

“The longest.” But just as he made his reply, he could hear her doorbell on the other end of the line.

“Hang on just a sec.” Aaron didn’t think anything of Joy going to the door until he heard her gasp. “Wayne…” Wait, Wayne ? As in her former husband Wayne? “Y-you’re… Wh-what are you doing here?”

“Joy?” Aaron spoke her name. She’d told him about this guy and how he’d been a drug addict. The last person he wanted around Joy—and Kara—was someone like that. “ Joy ? Are you all right?”

And that was when the line went dead.