CHAPTER THREE
His phone rang as soon as Gilbert had left. Jeremy Bascom’s voice buzzed in his ear.
“I guess I could fly back to Colorado, Dad, if you think it’s necessary.”
“I do,” Jeremy insisted. “Laura is thinking of marrying her new stable hand. A fellow she barely knows. Your Uncle Freddie is delighted, of course. Freddie always was a fool. Steve Holden is just a fortune hunter. Laura deserves better. You need to talk some sense into her, or put the fear of God into that gigolo.”
Freddie was Jeremy and Gil’s age, and one of Clive’s grandsons, but their great-grandmothers had been different. But he and Zeke had grown up thinking of Freddie Bascom as an uncle. In fact, Patrick was a lot closer to Freddie than to his own father.
As soon as Gil had told him that Holden was one of Clive’s lost heirs, Pat had known there would be trouble. Not content with his own share, Holden was after Laura’s too. “I’ll do my best.”
“I have enough on my plate, the way Diana is acting,” Jeremy said.
Patrick sighed. His father was ditching his stepmother. Again. Since his mom had died, he had had four or was it five stepmothers? “Just let her have whatever she wants, Dad,” he said wearily.
Jeremy forgot all about Laura and began to argue his case. Patrick shut up and listened. This was why he never, ever wanted to get married. It was too damned messy.
He said goodbye to Zeke and was on his way to the airport in an hour. Laura’s troubles would have to take precedence over sorting out the mess with the Duprés and the Millers. Anyway, if he had to offer money to his one-afternoon stand, he preferred to do it after a cooling off period. He did not recognize the crazy feelings Heather had stirred in him. But he was damned if he would be tricked as Gilbert and Zeke had been.
* * *
“Did you hear that Uncle Bobby filed a lawsuit against the Bascoms?” Amber rolled her eyes.
Heather tried to smile. “Nope,” she said as cheerfully as she could. She kept filing sandpaper in the right cubbyholes. She didn’t know much, but she had heard that Patrick Bascom had left town the very day he had loved and left her.
Bobby Dupré’s lawsuits were legendary in French Town. But Heather no longer found them amusing. Not after the way he had cheated her and Amber. Aunt Debbie, who had been Judge Robichaud’s clerk before she married Gilbert Bascom, had told them that while Bobby’s scheme was dishonest, the paperwork Grandma Shirley had signed had made it perfectly legal.
She and Amber had loved Grandma Shirley – she hoped they would have taken care of her without any reward, but it hurt that Uncle Bobby had made fools of her and Amber. In five years, he had not said word one about owning Grandma Shirley’s house. Nor had he stepped up to help with the bills.
That was Uncle Bobby all over. Everyone said she and Amber should be grateful that he and Aunt Marlene had taken them in after her Mamma passed. But they didn’t know what it was like growing up with the burden of gratitude for the crumbs they had been spared in that house. And with Uncle Bobby all too happy to use his fists when they complained.
Amber broke in on her brooding. She was crowing. “I bet Uncle Bobby doesn’t get anywhere. He thinks he’s so smart, but for all he’s a surly beast, Patrick Bascom is nobody’s fool. Remember how he treated you?”
Only every minute of every day. “I didn’t exactly follow all he had to say. I swear, Amber, that fella doesn’t use a two-cent word if he’s got a twenty-dollar one handy. But he wiped the floor with me. Told me that money was in his discretion and he would see to it that I didn’t get a penny.”
Heather had returned from her confrontation with Patrick in a temper. As far as she could make out, Patrick had money from Shirley’s daddy that was supposed to go to her. Or, since Grandma Shirley had passed, to her heirs. If that didn’t mean her and Amber, who could it mean? Shirley had filled out the form from the store in her own handwriting, and she had put down Heather and Amber as the ones to get her money and her house.
But Patrick Bascom was a big city lawyer. If he said she and Amber didn’t get squat, there wasn’t much point in trying to fight him. She didn’t know if she was happy that Bobby was bound to lose his lawsuit, or sorry that Patrick would win. That mannerless son-of-a-bear was no sort of a man at all. Not like his brother Zeke, who was every bit as fine a man as her cousins Gideon and Asher Bascom. Her bear had plumb let her down.
* * *
Patrick was catching up on his paperwork in the living room of the Big House that his Uncle Freddie and Cousin Laura shared on the Double B. The side door opened and he heard Laura talking to a man. He sprang up as they came into the room.
“Hey,” Laura said happily. “I didn’t know you were coming, Pat.” She moved towards him with her hands out. “How’s it going?”
Patrick deliberately set down the papers he had been going through and laid his pen on top. He gave her a tight hug, evaluating her companion over the top of her head. He might have been looking in a mirror. Holden’s big square jaw and dark brown eyes were the mates of his own.
“I heard you were thinking of getting married,” he said directly. “I came to meet your bridegroom.”
Laura flinched. “This is Steve Holden,” she said softly. She showed Pat a rock the size of a marble. “We’re going to get married.”
Patrick took her left hand in his and moved it from side to side as he examined the diamond. His eyes went to Steve. “Nice stone,” he said levelly. “Did you pay for it yourself, Lauralee?”
“Patrick Bascom!” she chided. “Shame on you.” She exchanged glances the bruiser standing beside her. The son of a bitch looked ready for a fight.
“Seems like it’s the question of the hour.” Pat did not let go of her hand, and his tone was belligerent.
Laura touched his bandaged arm. “You got hurt,” she said. “How’d you hurt your arm?” She kissed his cheek. “Welcome home.”
“It’s nothing,” Patrick dismissed her concern. “Just a bit of shrapnel. I’m fine.”
“How did it happen?” she asked him. “Were you injured in combat? Does Uncle Jeremy know?”
“He does not. I haven’t seen him since I got back.” Patrick’s brown eyes were still raking over Steve.
She stroked the bandages on his forearm. “Well, I’m glad you’re home safe, Pat. Have you seen Zeke?”
He grinned at her, and kept her safe in his arms. “He sent his love. And I just sent about a million photos of your godchildren to your phone. They are huge. Walking already. Zeke and Jenna want to know when you’re coming to visit.”
Laura chuckled. “I don’t know that I have time to go out to Yakima Ridge until after roundup. How long were you there for?”
“Five days,” he said shortly. He gave her a last squeeze and let her go.
“Five days in the backwoods, Patrick Bascom,” she teased. “After seven months in Syria! And now you’re in rural Colorado. You must be pining for the luxuries of Denver.”
“Uncle Gil had a job for me,” Patrick said. “I had to fly out to Washington State to get it sorted.”
“Oh. How is Uncle Gil?”
“Happy. He and our new aunt seem to split their time between French Town and traveling. They were just back from a trip to Maine.”
“He’s not going to change his mind about making you the CFO of B&B?” she asked in alarm.
Patrick’s lips firmed. “No. Uncle Gil has turned the company over to me and Cal. He doesn’t plan to alter that.” He put his arm back around Laura and faced Steve. “You know, I do appreciate you giving in to Edgar Thompson. Neither Cal nor I wanted to have to find new jobs. Or lose our inheritance.”
“You could have quit the reserves,” she said quietly.
“No.” His words came fast and hard. “Not while our country is at war.”
“Huh.” She paused. “Well, as you see, I have solved my marrying problem,” she waved a hand at Steve. It was worse than he had feared. Laura was deep in love with this fortune hunter.
“Laura honey,” Holden said softly. “Why don’t you go get ready for bed? I’ll be along as soon as I have a word with your cousin.”
Laura hesitated, but after a moment she shrugged and left the room. “You guys have to get along,” she said. “I can’t have my brother and my husband at odds.”
“Brother?” Holden asked. He looked flabbergasted. Good.
“Laura may be my third cousin, but I think of her as my sister,” Patrick said flatly. “Aunt Brenda and Uncle Freddie pretty much brought Zeke and me up with Cal and Luther. And Bethany and Laura.” He squared his shoulders. He would throw this SOB out of the house tonight. He was four inches taller than Holden and a bit broader. He could take him.
But Holden didn’t meet his challenge. “I’m pleased to meet you too,” he drawled. “I’ll take good care of Laura. I have sisters too.”
Patrick’s scowl had no visible effect on the other man. “You had better. My brother told me a bit about you, Holden. Laura isn’t some dame you picked up in a bar for an evening’s fun. And she is for damned sure going to sign a watertight prenuptial before you get married. Is that understood?” he barked.
“She took me to Denver to meet her lawyer,” Holden said peaceably. “Fellow called Carmichael. He drew up a contract.” He reached into his hip pocket and brought out the folded document.
Patrick opened it and began to read. His stony face got stiffer and stiffer. He turned to the last page. He looked straight at Steve. “You’re marrying her for her money, this makes it plain just how much,” he said through his teeth. “Makes it hard to believe that you are planning to look after Laura.”
“She hasn’t paid me a penny yet,” Steve said. “And I don’t intend to take her money. But the thing is, Laura wouldn’t marry me without me signing that thing.”
Patrick snorted. “Easy to say. But actions always speak louder than words. You understand you have signed away all community property rights?”
“That’s right. Whatever is Laura’s, stays Laura’s. Whatever is mine, remains mine.”
“I get it.” Patrick’s eyes narrowed. “You’re hoping to get in the back door via the kid. You better remember that Carmichael is not the only good lawyer in Denver. I can guaran-damn-tee you that I personally will see that this custody arrangement is enforced. You’ll be lucky to get out of this with your stud fee.”
Holden shook his head. “I wouldn’t agree to leave my children and just move on. Where I come from that’s pretty much the working definition of pond scum. No decent man abandons his babies, even to a woman who will be as good a mother as Laura will be.”
A likely story. Patrick stared at Holden and did not bother to answer.
“Laura won’t thank us for having a fistfight in her house.” Holden’s voice hardened, “And this is her house.”
Patrick returned to perusing the contract. “If I have anything to do with it, you’ll never see a penny more than she’s agreed to.”
“I don’t intend to take even that much,” Holden repeated. “And I can promise you that I intend to honor my vows and stand by Laura. We believe in a bear bond where I come from.”
“Idaho,” Patrick said contemptuously. “I hear your people are poorer than dirt.” Patrick’s brown eyes were scornful. “You fucking planned this, didn’t you? I knew Thompson shouldn’t have contacted you.”
“I see Clive’s lawyers have been confiding in you, Cousin. But you have no call to speak ill of my family,” Holden retorted. “We’re poor but we’re not trash. We may not have much in the way of money, but we know how to value our women and look after them. But I didn’t come to Colorado looking to marry Laura. I came to see if I wanted a bunch of tomcats as cousins.”
“Huh.”
“Your father is on what? His sixth marriage? Chasing women younger than his kids. No man in my clan would carry on that way. Now that I’ve found Laura, that’s it. My bachelor days are done. And whatever my reservations about the Bascoms, I don’t see that I’ve got much choice. Laura’s kin will be my children’s kin.” Steve rolled his shoulders.
“So you’re going to turn down your inheritance?” Patrick’s voice could have sliced stone.
Steve shook his head. “I’m not a fool. I’ll take the smooth with the rough. But I’ll take nothing from Laura.”
“Have you told her you are cousins?” Patrick asked.
Steve winced. “Third or fourth – I haven’t quite figured it out. But no, I haven’t told her. Not yet. But what difference does it make? If I have money, then I can scarcely be accused of marrying her for hers. But I’d like a chance to get her to trust me.”
Patrick folded his arms across his chest. “You want to marry a woman who doesn’t trust you?”
“I want Laura any way I can get her,” Steve said simply. “She’ll figure out sooner or later that I’m going to stick by her. We’re mates. Given time she’ll love me back.”
“Huh.”
“Bears mate for life,” Steve said. “I don’t know what was up with your father and Clive, but I never heard of bears acting like that. No round heels in my clan, that’s for damn sure. If I left my wife and babies – and right now Miss Laura probably has a belly full of cub – no one in my family would ever speak to me again. Not my father, not my brothers or sisters, not my mom or my uncles. That’s not how we do it in Idaho. We Holdens look after our own. And when we find our mates, that’s it.”
Patrick’s brown eyes widened and then he was frowning again. “You think Laura’s already pregnant? At her age?”
Steve smiled. “Laura is a bear. Fertile. Beautiful. And my mate. How the hell is she not pregnant? And if by some chance she’s not, she soon will be. Look to be an uncle in another nine months.” Fucker was boasting about knocking up Laura.
“You think it happens that fast?” Patrick snapped his fingers.
“Yeah. Bears are plenty fertile.”
“What the hell?”