Cowboy's Conundrum (Culpepper Cowboys Book 3) Read online

  “You don’t love the mountains?” Joy asked with surprise.

  “Oh, I do! I just wasn’t raised here. Texas is still in my blood. Sometimes I think I should move back, but I have no one there anymore. No, I belong here with my boys and my mountains.”

  “And soon your grandbabies,” Kolby pointed out, his arm around Joy’s shoulders.

  Joy blushed, not really wanting to talk about grandbabies with her future mother-in-law.

  Linda nodded emphatically. “I’ll take three dozen of those, please.”

  Kolby laughed. “I don’t know. Joy wants fifteen of her own. That would be more like five dozen, wouldn’t it?”

  “I’ll take five dozen! No problem!”

  Joy smiled, leaning into Kolby, wishing he’d change the subject. “The wedding was beautiful.”

  Kolby laughed. “I think that’s my cue she wants me to shut up. I’ll go now.” Then he turned her face to him, and kissed her, right there in front of Linda. She was so embarrassed, but she wasn’t about to push him away.

  “I’ll see you after work tomorrow. We’ve been doing half days on Sundays.”

  She nodded. “Is it okay if we spend a little time at your house? I’d like to do an inventory of food and general cooking supplies, so I know what I need.”

  “Sure.”

  “And…this is going to sound weird, but I’d like to Skype with my parents tomorrow. I want you to ‘meet’ them before the wedding.”

  Kolby nodded. “I can do that.” He honestly hated the idea. He’d heard enough about her parents from her, and what his brothers had heard from her sisters, that he wanted nothing to do with them, but he’d honor her, and do what she requested. Kissing her softly, he got to his feet. “See you tomorrow afternoon.”

  After he was gone, she turned to Linda again. “You did good with him.”

  Linda smiled. “I did good with all four of my boys. They’re so different from each other, but they’re good men.”

  “I think so,” Joy said with a smile. “I want a quick finger food reception like Hope had, if that’s okay. Nothing much.”

  Linda nodded. “Sounds good. I’ll make a small wedding cake as well. Where do you want to have the wedding?”

  “In the yard, if you don’t mind. Kolby said you wouldn’t.”

  “Not at all! It’ll be nice to get the backdrop of the mountains in the wedding pictures.”

  “How on earth do you get anything done? I want to stand there and look at the mountains all day. I have no desire to work while I’m here.”

  Linda laughed. “Years of practice. When the boys were small, and I was keeping this house for my father-in-law, there was no time for anything but work. Now that there is, I find that I’m used to working.”

  “That makes sense.” Joy stretched, kicking her shoes off and tucking her feet under her. “Tell me about Rachelle.”

  “He told you something about her?”

  “Not much. I know her name, and I know she was an old girlfriend. What happened there?”

  Linda shrugged. “I don’t know a lot, and I don’t know if what I do know is something I should repeat. I will say she broke his heart. It’s the only heartbreak any of the four have ever had, and he was angry and miserable for a good long while. I think he’s ready to move on.” She frowned. “I’ll add that I never liked her. She wasn’t right for him, even though he thought she was. I’m glad she’s out of the picture, because you’re the right woman for my Kolby.”

  Joy smiled at the words. “Thank you for welcoming us so warmly. It’s nice to be accepted for who we are.”

  “You girls fill my heart with joy. I’m glad you’re here. And I’m glad you’re the one for Kolby. I’m not sure your sisters could handle him.”

  Joy hugged Linda and got to her feet, bending down to pick up her shoes. “I’m getting married in my bare feet, and I don’t care who protests.”

  Linda laughed. “That works.”

  “G’night!”

  Joy wandered off to her room, sitting on her bed. Glancing at the clock, she saw it was after nine. With the two-hour time difference, it was too late to call her parents to let them know Faith was married, and that she would be married on Monday. She’d tell them when she skyped the next day.

  Instead she sent a text message to her mother’s phone, knowing her mom would have her phone off while she slept. “Skyping you tomorrow at nine your time. Much love.”

  Setting her phone on her nightstand, she brushed her teeth, and climbed into bed. Her mind was spinning. In two days, she’d be married to the sexiest man she’d ever met. The man she loved.

  * * *

  On Sunday morning, Joy woke early and headed into town to go to church. She asked Chastity to attend with her, but Chastity had been out late with Chris, and didn’t seem to have any desire to go.

  The sermon from Brother Anthony was so different than any she’d ever heard at home. At one point in the middle of his talk on the love of Christ and what he did for his followers, he lost his place. After peering at the page in front of him for a moment, he called out to his wife in the front row. “Lovie? I lost my place!”

  Lovie, a gray-haired, always-smiling, slightly more than a little past middle-aged woman, hurried onto the stage and looked at his notes for him. “You’re right there, Tony. Read the scripture from John next!”

  “Yes, Lovie,” he said, smiling at her as she hurried off the stage.

  Looking around her, Joy could see no one even batting an eye, and she assumed Brother Anthony’s shenanigans were common-place.

  After church, people surrounded her, introducing themselves. Lovie hurried over and took over. “Oh, Joy, I want you to meet my grandson, Marcus. I hear you have two sisters still at home. They should come out here and meet my Marcus.”

  Joy blinked a couple of times, a slow grin spreading across her face. “That’s a lovely idea. What do you do, Marcus?”

  Marcus frowned at his grandmother. “I’m a lawyer.”

  “You are? What kind of law do you specialize in?”

  He shrugged. “I don’t do criminal cases, but I do pretty much everything else.”

  “I may ask you to look over a will. Would you be willing to do that?”

  “Only if I don’t have to marry one of your little sisters as payment.”

  Joy choked on a laugh. “I think you’d love my sisters, but whatever. Would you be willing to read it?”

  Marcus nodded slowly. “Maybe we could have lunch, and you could show it to me?”

  “Oh, I can’t.” She glanced down at her phone for the time. “My fiancé and I are having lunch together at noon. I need to get back out to the ranch.”

  Marcus frowned. “Fiancé?”

  “I’m marrying Kolby Culpepper tomorrow,” Joy said with a grin.

  “He’s a good man. I can see when I’m beat. Maybe I’ll meet one of your sisters after all.”

  Joy laughed and shook her head. “I’m trying to get them out here, so maybe we’ll make that happen.”

  “All right.”

  “I’ll have Kolby talk to you about the will. Does that work?”

  “Yeah, that’s fine. He’s got my number.”

  Joy squeezed his hand. “Thanks so much!”

  She hurried out the church after that, ignoring the long line of men who had been waiting to meet her. When she got back to the ranch, she parked Linda’s SUV in the driveway and hurried into the house to change before lunch. She liked the freedom to wear jeans she had in Wyoming.

  When she was dressed, she went out to find Linda and Chastity making lunch together. “I’m jealous that Chastity will have you all to herself after tomorrow.”

  “That’s why she’ll always love me best,” Chastity said, sticking her tongue out at her sister.

  “I really do worry about you sometimes, Chastity.”

  “You and the rest of the world.”

  Joy shook her head, but took the plates that were on the counter and set the table for fi
ve. The assumption was that Hope and Faith would eat with their husbands.

  Linda only seemed to use paper plates. When Joy had questioned it, Linda had responded that she had better things to do than stand around doing dishes all day. It seemed to be like the biscuit thing. She was going to make life just as easy on herself as she could.

  Joy had just finished setting the table when the back door opened. Kolby had obviously taken the time to shower after work, because he was dressed in clean jeans and a skin-tight T-shirt. Joy’s eyes traveled over him, liking what she saw. She walked to him and kissed him, forgetting there were other people there. Her hands were flat on his chest, and she kissed him with all of the passion pent up inside her.

  Kolby kissed her back, finally breaking away after a moment. “Much more of that, and Gizmo is going to insist I take you home and forget all about the fact there’s no marriage certificate,” he whispered against her ear.

  Joy blushed, stepping back. The back door opened again, and Chastity ran to Chris throwing her arms around his neck and kissing him.

  Joy rolled her eyes at the spectacle her sister was making of herself, and then she stopped. She’d done the same thing just moments before. She had no room to judge.

  5

  After lunch, Kolby took Joy to his house, and she rummaged around in his kitchen, making notes on her iPhone as she did. She made a list of things she needed to purchase.

  Kolby leaned against the counter and watched her. Finally, she turned to him. “You have almost nothing to cook with here.”

  “I usually just eat at Mom’s. She’s lonely.”

  “She’s lonely, or you don’t feel like ever cooking for yourself?” Joy asked.

  He walked into the kitchen putting his arms around her. “Well, you can interpret that how you want.” He kissed her softly. “Tomorrow night, I’m keeping you here.”

  She smiled, stroking his cheek. “That’s the plan.”

  He groaned, staring into her green eyes. “You know...I think we should head to town. I don’t know that being alone is good for us.” And Gizmo was already starting to protest.

  She laughed. “Let’s go then.”

  They went out to the truck, and while they drove, she told him about church that morning. “Marcus said you should call him, and he’ll read over the will for you.”

  “Why would he do that?” Marcus had never gotten along well with the Culpeppers. He’d been in Chris’s year at school, and he had always been jealous of the Culpepper’s success with girls.

  “I offered to set him up with one of my sisters.”

  Kolby let out a bark of laughter. “That man has always coveted the Culpepper women. Did he ask you out?”

  Joy blushed. “Not exactly.”

  “He did! I knew it! Well, if he’s willing to read over the will for the chance to be set up with one of your sisters, that works for me.”

  They ran into several people Kolby knew at the grocery store, and he introduced Joy to each of them as his fiancée. “Do you know everyone in town?” she asked as they walked away from his old high school principal.

  “Of course, I do. Karlan is the mayor of this town, and it was named after one of our ancestors. Colonel Culpepper was one of the first settlers in this area.”

  “I’ll have to find a book about him. He sounds interesting.”

  “Oh, he is. We studied him in school.”

  They walked to the checkout with Joy’s huge cart full of stuff. “I’m going to order the pots and pans I need online. I think it’ll be cheaper than finding them here.”

  He nodded. “Almost always.”

  The woman at the checkout squealed when she saw Kolby. “It’s been ages!”

  Kolby nodded. “How are things with you?”

  “Good. Just got back from California. We were visiting Rachelle and Neville. The baby is adorable.”

  “I hope you had a great time.”

  “Oh, I did. She asked about you.”

  Kolby looked at Joy. “I’m sorry, sweetheart. I didn’t mean to be rude. This is Abigail. She’s the sister of an old girlfriend. Abigail, this is my fiancée, Joy.”

  Joy smiled sweetly at the girl, feeling hurt that the first time he’d used an endearment with her, it had been because of his ex-girlfriend’s sister. “It’s nice to meet you, Abigail.”

  “Engaged! I heard a couple of your brothers got married. You too? I thought you’d never marry after Rachelle…” She trailed off, glancing at Joy. “I hope you two will be very happy together.”

  “We will. She’s an incredible Christian woman with strong morals. Thank Rachelle for me the next time you see her.” He paid for the groceries and headed for the exit of the store.

  He was moving so quickly, Joy had to practically run to keep up. “What was that about?”

  He shrugged. “Nothing. I was ready to get out of there. You know I prefer being outside.”

  She stood awkwardly, wishing she knew what had happened. Once they were in the truck, she tried one more time. “Will you tell me what happened with Rachelle?”

  He shrugged. “It wasn’t a big deal. We were dating, and I thought things were more serious than they were. A ranch on the other side of town had a photoshoot for male underwear models. When the women in town found out there were sexy men, they all ran to volunteer to help. There was a freak April blizzard, and they were trapped on the ranch for four days. Lots of weddings happened right after that. Rachelle’s was one of them.”

  Joy blinked a couple of times. What did he mean he’d thought things were more serious than they were? “Were you engaged?”

  He shook his head. “Nope. Not engaged.” He put the truck in reverse and pulled out of the parking spot. Within a minute or two, they were on the road, heading back toward the ranch.

  “Do you still love her?” Joy asked, her voice soft.

  “I honestly don’t think I ever did. Sure, I thought so at the time, but I couldn’t love someone who was so wrong for me, could I?” He wished she’d drop the subject, but he didn’t know how to tell her to leave it alone.

  Joy frowned, staring out the window. She was in love with him, and he didn’t seem to be over his ex-girlfriend. Not really the way she’d wanted to start her marriage.

  Instead of talking more, Kolby reached out and turned the radio up on his truck. The words of an old cheating country song filled the truck. It seemed appropriate, so he left it there.

  When they reached the ranch, he drove to his house, and carried in groceries while she put things away. His cupboards had been bare, so she was setting up her own system of organization, certain he wouldn’t care. She knew she was marrying a man who would expect her to bring him food and drink when he was hungry and thirsty. She’d never expected anything else from her life.

  “Why don’t I fix us dinner tonight? If you’d like, that is. I texted my parents and told them we’d Skype them around nine their time, which is seven here.”

  He nodded, seeming distracted. While she went about the business of cooking for them, he turned the television on, becoming involved in a baseball game.

  Joy wanted to know how to end the coldness between them, but she really had no idea.

  While the casserole she’d prepared was in the oven, she walked over to sit beside him on the couch. Instead of cuddling against him as she usually would, she left an entire couch cushion between them. “You don’t have to marry me if you don’t want to.”

  Kolby muted the television with the remote in his hand and turned to her. “I do want to marry you, but I think you know as well as I do that our marriage isn’t for normal reasons.”

  She nodded, swallowing hard. “I know it’s not.”

  “I have a lot of feelings for you, Joy, but they’re not feelings of love. I want you. I want to spend every night making love with you. I like the idea of having children with you. But love doesn’t enter into it, and I don’t know if it ever will. I would prefer if it didn’t, to be honest.” His gaze was steady and his f
ace serious. He didn’t want to hurt her, and he needed to be brutally honest with her to spare her any pain.

  Joy felt her heart shatter as she nodded, meeting his eyes. “I understand.” But she didn’t. Of course, she didn’t. How could she?

  “I’m glad.” He reached out and squeezed her hand, trying to take the sting from his words. He was glad they’d discussed everything.

  She watched him for a moment, wondering how she could go on. Would she be able to have sex with a man who didn’t love her? She sighed. She’d have to, wouldn’t she? She’d come out there unsure if she’d find love through Dr. Lachele’s machinations. Just because she’d found it so quickly didn’t mean that Kolby was required to.

  “Are you angry with me?” he asked finally, after she’d sat silently for what seemed like hours, but was really only a minute or two.

  Joy shook her head. “Honestly, I’m a little hurt. I’m not sure how I feel about marrying someone who told me he never wants to love me.”

  “Are you calling it off? I guess you could always talk to Chris—if you can pry Chastity’s lips off him, that is.” He was disgusted at the idea of her marrying his brother, but he couldn’t keep her tied to him if it was just going to make her unhappy.

  “Is that what you want?” she asked, her voice calm. Did he really care that little?

  He shook his head. “No. I picked the girl I wanted that first night. I’m very attracted to you. I want to spend my life with you.”

  Joy tilted her head to one side, trying to understand him. “So you’re attracted to me. You want to spend your life with me. You want to make love with me. You want to have children with me. But you never want to love me. How does that even make sense?”

  Kolby sighed. “I guess it doesn’t make a lot of sense, but it’s how I feel.”

  “All right. I guess I’ll just have to live with that then, won’t I?” She would never make a play for her sister’s man. It wasn’t in her. Besides, she was marrying the man she loved. Having her love returned would be perfect, but life was rarely perfect.

  After supper, she put the dishes in the dishwasher and reached for her iPad, moving over to sit beside him on the couch. “Are you ready to Skype?” she asked.