Laredo tried not to be too judgmental regarding the Owen family, but the fact that Darcy Owen reminded him very strongly of Helena was not working in their favor. He glanced over at Bella. She was standing beside Smokey with the reins clutched so tightly in her hands that her knuckles were white.

“I’m very sorry,” Laredo said for what felt like the millionth time. “Smokey is not for sale.”

“Ten grand,” Buck Owen blustered again. “Come on. That’s twice what the mare is worth!”

“Apparently not, if you’re offering me that kind of money.” Laredo had dealt with men like this frequently in his business dealings. They were the ones that thought money was the only thing that made the world go round. “If you really want a kid’s horse, why don’t you just ask Aria to find one for you?”

Darcy Owen made a face. “I can’t believe you actually ride here. That woman is a horrible trainer. She doesn’t know what she’s talking about most of the time.”

“Oh. So, you rode as a kid?” Laredo bobbed his head but wasn’t surprised in the least when Darcy shook her head.

“No,” Darcy snorted. “I’ve never been on a horse. It’s not my thing. But I know a lot about riding. My family rode—or my sister, actually—when I was growing up. She was five years ahead of me in school. She lives on a ranch now. I suppose I could ask Helena to find us a horse, but she’s just so busy these days.”

Laredo felt his smile freeze. It was impossible. It had to be impossible. This woman was much younger than Helena. That was true. Helena had been one of those people who had grown up in an old family where the connections to Denver society were still strong, but the money was gone. They had aspired to a lot more than they had. After marrying Laredo, Helena had cut ties with her family.

Laredo cleared his throat. He really wanted this little interlude to end. But now, Bella was staring strangely at the woman named Darcy. She was going to open her mouth to say something about the connection and then the whole thing was just going to go downhill from there.

“Perhaps that’s the best idea,” Laredo agreed. He started to walk his black toward the barn. “Bella, let’s go put the horses away.”

“Wait.” Darcy was tapping her index finger against her lower lip. “What did you say your name was? I know there are a lot of Hernandez brothers, but one of you married my sister.”

“None of us are married,” Laredo told Darcy. “I’m sorry that I don’t know who your sister is.”

“Her name is Helena.”

“That’s my mom!” Bella burst out suddenly.

The way that Darcy and Bella stared at each other was nothing short of comical. Laredo sighed. Apparently, this situation was not going to be improving anytime soon. Why did this always happen when things in his life were just beginning to settle down?

“Your mother?” Darcy was staring so strangely at Bella. “I don’t see any resemblance at all.”

“I don’t look like my mom,” Bella said flatly. “I’m a Hernandez.”

That’s my girl. Laredo could not help but grin at that very matter-of-fact statement. Of course, now this whole thing was going to take on a new life of its own. They were about to get to the favor-requesting phase of this new connection. He could feel it.

“You’re my sister’s kid.” Darcy made a little moue with her lips. “Well, Helena has been living on a ranch near Boulder for a long time now. I’m sure you see her more than I do.”

“Actually, Helena has not visited with Bella since she left more than five years ago,” Laredo said smoothly. He was still trying to walk his black toward the barn. “We really do need to get these horses inside. I have a couple more to ride today.” Laredo attempted to break this off, but Darcy Owens was now intrigued.

“You say my sister hasn’t visited her kid since she left?” Darcy gaped. Then she stared down at Bella. “You poor thing. You should come and stay with us for a while so you can get to know our side of the family.”

Bella drew back closer to Smokey as though the mare was going to protect her from this possibility. “I like to stay here at Clouds End,” Bella said, glancing back and forth between her aunt and her father.

Buck slapped Laredo on the shoulder. “So, we’re brothers!”

“I have brothers,” Laredo said coldly. “Plenty of them.”

Speaking of brothers, Laredo watched another Hernandez Land & Cattle Company truck pull down the driveway and park in front of the barn. Darren and Jaeger got out and immediately started walking toward Bella and Laredo. Darren’s frown said that he absolutely knew the Owen family.

“Darren!” Buck said heartily. “So good to see you again after all that drama the other night.”

This was like an insane scene from a bad romantic comedy where all of the characters were weirdly connected by some outdated or obscure family tie that should have been obliterated when it happened.

“Darren Hernandez, look at you,” Darcy Owen purred.

Laredo felt his eyebrows launch right off his forehead. It was true that his younger brother Darren had gotten around quite a bit. The guy had been a football jock for years before settling down to teach gym and to become engaged to the very wonderful guidance counselor at Bella’s school.

Laredo gave Darren a very pointed look. “Where’s Maggie? It’s Saturday, right? There’s no school.”

“She’s at a dress fitting,” Darren explained. He looked far more comfortable about all of this than Laredo was, but then that was how Darren did things. “Our wedding is in less than a month, and she’s so excited that she can hardly talk about anything else.”

“I’m going to be the flower girl!” Bella announced to the group at large. “I get to wear a dress just like Maggie’s and everything!”

“Wait.” Darcy grabbed Buck’s arm and laughed until she snorted. “Darren Hernandez is getting married. No way! I don’t believe it!”

She was the only one laughing though. Bella and Jaeger were both looking at her as though she had grown a second head. Her own son had grown bored long ago and was currently over by a stand of little cottonwood trees trying to rip the branches off to use as swords or some other boy-friendly activity.

Buck gestured to Darren and then to Laredo. Laredo’s stomach knotted as he realized that this was not going to just magically go away. “As it turns out, we’re all related!”

“Is that right?” Darren pressed his lips together. Then he gave Darcy a long look of something that looked very near contempt. “As I recall, Darcy, your sister left my brother high and dry with a daughter to raise. As far as I’m concerned, that family connection is dead.”

Darcy grabbed Bella’s arm, which also succeeded in yanking poor Smokey practically off her feet. “But this is my niece! I want to know her.”

“Then I suggest you come out here and watch her lessons and cheer for her when she starts competing that horse,” Darren told Darcy. “Because I don’t see much else happening with that whole family connection thing.”

“You’re not being very friendly.” Buck looked uncomfortable for the first time in the conversation. “We’re offering to drop a large amount of money on a horse for our son. You should be thanking us, not censuring us.”

“Is that right?” Laredo had not felt this supported by his family in what felt like forever. It was very new and very—well, it was nice! Laredo gestured to their son. “I’m sure your kid is great. And I’m sure that with some more lessons, he’ll be a real winner. But maybe you should go and find someplace else to dump your money.”

Darren glanced at Laredo and then looked back at Buck and Darcy. “I was here the other night when you were threatening to sue Aria and Clouds End Farm. That’s not cool. You can’t talk like that, make threats, and then just come back a few days later and pretend it didn’t happen.”

“Oh, I see,” Buck fumed. “You Hernandez people, the Collins ranch, and now Clouds End Farm are all one big club. Is that right?”

Laredo did not pause to try and decipher the reason why Buck would be throwing Jesse’s name into this hat. Obviously, there was some other stuff going on here. “We all grew up together,” Laredo said with a shrug. “I suppose that’s what you’re referring to.”

“I grew up with you too!” Darcy protested.

Buck sliced his hand angrily through the air. “You know what? The Flying W crew is right about you all.”

“Excuse me?” Now Laredo was all ears. What was the Flying W ranch saying about the Hernandez bunch and their friends now? What new rumors were flying around? “What nonsense has Weatherby been spouting now?”

“It isn’t nonsense.” Buck pointed toward the ring where Aria was still teaching. “You’re all crooked. You steal other people’s stock and then turn around and sell it as your own. Half the rodeo stock you provide to the stock contractors is stolen,” Buck said with a pompous air of self-righteousness. “It’s all over town! Everyone knows that all three of these farms and ranches are in on it! It’s a conspiracy to fleece the whole county and probably the entire state.”

“We were willing to give you the benefit of the doubt.” Darcy picked up where her husband left off. She was also busy snapping her fingers at her son to try and get him to come back to them. Mason didn’t seem to care what his parents were doing. “But now,” Darcy continued, “I see what Weatherby was talking about! You’re all a bunch of snobs.” Darcy gestured to Smokey and the black horse Laredo was still trying to lead to the barn. “These probably aren’t even your horses. Half your stock is bred by Weatherby and then stolen from his property!”

Laredo gaped. He didn’t know what else to do. It was so preposterous to think that he was actually glad Darren had been here to witness this debacle so at least Laredo could know that it had really happened. These people were accusing Laredo, the entire Hernandez family, Jesse, and now Aria of one of the most heinous crimes in the West. Did they not realize that if this were actually true, it would have been dealt with decades ago? Come on! Where was the logic?

Darren moved closer to Laredo as they watched the Owen family go stomping off toward their overpriced SUV. From the corner of his eye, Laredo noticed that Bella was doing her best to give Jaeger a boost onto Smokey’s back.

There it was. In the middle of the insanity, here was the one moment that Laredo had been longing for his whole life. His daughter and his nephew were playing together and there was a horse involved. Had Laredo ever thought there was a snowball’s chance in hell of that happening?

“Wow.” Darren was the first to speak after the Owens’s vehicle roared off down the long gravel drive toward the highway. “That was—just—wow.”

Jaeger had finally made it up into the saddle. Bella was now leading him around. She came closer to Laredo and Darren and stared up at them. “Is Smokey really stolen?”

“No.” Laredo shook his head. “Someday you can ask your aunt, Jesse, to tell you the story of how Smokey was born too early in the middle of a snowstorm. Your uncle Cal fed her with a bottle for a very long time to keep her alive. That’s why she’s so friendly.”

“Oh.” Bella shrugged it off and then proceeded to give Jaeger the pony ride of his short life.

“You don’t have a helmet!” Darren called out to his son. “Hold on tight or you’re going to break your head!”

“I’m going to have to throw you both off my property for letting that kid ride around out here with no helmet on.”

The halfhearted growl came from Aria. She pulled her ball cap off her head and shoved her sweat-dampened hair behind her ears. Laredo thought she looked gorgeous. Her jeans were streaked with dirt. Some horse had left a smear of something green on her T-shirt. Her face was tanned from the sun, and she looked in need of a break. But to Laredo, she was a fashion queen.

He held out his arm and was thrilled when Aria immediately came toward him. She briefly laid her cheek against his chest and gave him a hug. Laredo kissed the top of her head. “You look like you could use a break.”

“Dare I ask what happened during that very long and very weird interlude with the Owen family? I’ll have to admit that it was really freaking me out to see you guys over here looking so chummy.” Aria looked from Laredo to Darren. She actually looked rather miffed. “Or is it a Hernandez family secret that I’m not allowed to know about?”

Laredo snorted. “If you ask them, we’re all one big happy family.”

“Crime family,” Darren corrected. “Since, apparently, that is the story that Weatherby is spreading now.”

“Oh, shit. Does this have anything to do with a rumor that we’re trading stolen stock?” Aria shook her head and buried her face against Laredo’s chest. “I had a really weird conversation this morning with a client, and now I understand why he was obsessing over a certain detail.”

“About what?” Laredo frowned. If people were giving Aria trouble, he was going to start knocking heads together.

“It was a boarder. I just sold him a new horse. He was demanding a certified bill of sale from a state stock inspector.” Aria shook her head as though she could not believe what was happening. At least that made three of them. “It was a horse I’d brought in for him from Jesse’s ranch. He told me he wanted proof that we were the actual owners and had the lawful right to sell the animal. He wanted to be sure that nobody else could claim to be the real owner. At the time, it made no sense to me. He kept saying he’d heard that Jesse Collins was shady. I didn’t understand what he was blathering on about. Now I get it. Weatherby must be spouting his crap in every feed store, tack store, and Western wear outlet in the county!”

Darren looked at Laredo. “You need to tell her the rest.”

“What rest?” Aria narrowed her gaze at Darren. “I’m really starting to hate it when you say crap like that!”

Laredo sighed. “Apparently, Darcy Owen is Helena’s older sister.”

“Holy shit!” Aria looked as though she’d just seen a ghost. “That is Helena’s sister?”

“What?” Darren teased. “You don’t see the family resemblance?”

“Is a crappy entitled attitude hereditary?” Aria asked mockingly. “I had no idea.”

“Hey,” Laredo said slowly. He felt like this needed to be said. “We didn’t mean to chase off a client. That’s not our right.”

Her smile made him feel as though the world were suddenly normal again. “I’ll admit that at first I was really pissed off that it seemed like you were over here making deals behind my back. But I think I’m just a control freak.”

“No!” Darren said mockingly.

Aria stuck her tongue out at him. “Now I realize you guys were actually taking a bullet for me with those people. So, I’ll trust you next time.” She seemed to be uncomfortable for a moment. “Trust isn’t easy for me.”

Thankfully, Darren didn’t spout off. Laredo nodded at Aria and tried to convey everything he was feeling in one look. He didn’t know if she got it all, but at least she smiled back at him. The whole world seemed to be losing its mind. Everyone in Denver now thought that they were all livestock thieves. And yet Laredo felt as though this were the best day he’d had in years. Perhaps the best parts of life happened when you figured the whole thing was on its way down the toilet anyhow.