All Jacked Up (Rough Riders #8)(42)

How sad for him. She wondered if his dad’s attitude played a role in driving Jack from the family farm. “Well, the years I lived in Denver or I was on the road, my parents never suggested getting rid of Rosa.”


“Isn’t it unfair to expect them to take care of her?”


“They’ve bred her and made enough from the foals to cover her boarding costs. But even if she hadn’t dropped a single colt or filly, they would’ve kept her. Eventually I’ll build my own place and have room for her and the stud Jessie keeps for me.” She grinned. “My current landlord is a real hardass about me keepin’ pets in the building.”


“Funny.”


Keely snagged her Stetson off the hat rack and slung her messenger bag over her shoulder. Halfway to her truck she realized not only hadn’t she said goodbye to Jack, she hadn’t asked him to come along.


The day was unseasonably hot and she’d overdressed. By the time Keely finished her ride with Rosa, they were both sweating.


Keely brushed Rosa down and treated her to some oats before turning her out into the pasture. She straightened the tack, cursing her dad for leaving it such a mess week after week.


Growing up the only girl in the McKay family had been a test of her mettle. Her father’s and brothers’ first instincts were to stash her in the house, under her mother’s watchful eye. Sure, Keely wanted to learn to cook, can, sew and figure out how to wield charm to get her way like her mother did. But Keely also wanted to help with calving, branding, haying and butchering. She wanted to learn how to fix fence, shoot predators and rope strays.


Carson McKay and his sons worked hard so Keely didn’t have to. The men in her life preferred her to be pampered. To know enough about horses and horsewomanship only to win rodeo queen pageants and hook a decent husband.


Ugh. Keely McKay had never aspired to the title of queen of the rodeo, much to her father’s dismay.


From an early age, Keely smiled prettily and followed her own agenda. Her brothers and cousins blustered and threatened but always gave in to her wheedling when she begged them for help. A mix of bribery and blackmail was how Keely learned to run the haying machine and other equipment from Cord.


How to rope, ride and tie from Colby. How to birth a breech calf in the dead of night from Colt. Cam taught her how to fix fence. Then he dragged her off and taught her how to fish. Carter showed her how to read the stars, start a fire from flint rocks and whittle. Kade taught her about vaccination and how to pick a good bull. Buck taught her how to dress a deer. Quinn and Ben showed her how to pregnancy-check cows. Chase let her climb on the back of a bull. Luke snuck her into the bar and taught her how to play pool. Brandt shared his extensive knowledge of horses. Tell and Dalton taught her to ride dirt bikes and how to use a beer bong.


Even her males cousins on the West side of her family furthered her life education. Her cousin Dag taught her how to chew tobacco and spit. Dax forced her to learn to water ski. Chet and Remy demonstrated how to run power tools. Nick patiently showed her how to reload ammo. Blake let her bottle feed lambs and shear sheep. Harris and Lief drilled self defense moves into her. Sebastian offered educational and financial advice.


All important things. Things her dad wouldn’t have taught her.


But he taught you other things. How to two-step. How to shoot. How to break a horse. How to drive a car—a manual transmission truck and a four-wheeler. How to play cards. How to cheat at cards. How to laugh.


Mostly, her father showed day in and day out, what it meant to love. Carson McKay worshiped the ground his wife walked on. From the time Keely was a little girl, she knew she’d never settle for anything less than that type of man. That type of undying love.


So yeah, her dad purposely messed up the tack and the barn just so she’d come out on Sunday and straighten it up. That was the gruff rancher showing love. Then he’d convince her to play a game of cribbage or poker. Or to ride out to check on a pump or a horse or a sick cow. Or to sneak a piece of pie or a bowl of homemade ice cream and sit with him on the porch listening to the wind. He’d come up with all kinds of reasons to get her to stay a little while longer. And she always did.



Which is why she’d felt guilty keeping her purchase of the building in Moorcroft a secret from him.


Now she was lying to him about her engagement to Jack. Although her dad would rejoice when it ended.


Keely originally figured she’d have the same wahoo! sense of relief, but now, she wasn’t so sure. Jack Donohue had more layers, sides and facets to him than she’d imagined. He’d acted sweet and sour, kind and mean, gruff and gregarious, concerned and aloof. Maybe she’d misjudged him.


Or maybe the rocking sex is clouding your judgment.


Yeah. That had to be it.


She put thoughts of Jack and her father out of her mind as she mentally planned her week. She heard tires crunching on the gravel, but it didn’t sound like her mother’s Lincoln Town Car. She stripped off her gloves and hung them to dry on the hook embedded in the wooden support beams. The door squeaked as she ventured out of the barn.


Shielding her eyes from the sun didn’t help cut the glare. “Dad? Mom?”


“No. It’s me.”


She froze. “Jack? What’re you doin’ here?”