Rough, Raw, and Ready (Rough Riders 5)

“Bullshit.”

Colt finally looked at her. “Excuse me?”

Chassie whapped him in the chest with the envelope. “Is it a coincidence this just happens to be the exact amount of money we need to guarantee a bank loan for Gus’s land? And isn’t it another coincidence you just happened to remember my brother—who never had two nickels to rub together—gave you exactly the same amount of money to squirrel away for him?”

At least Colt had the decency to look sheepish.

Pride caused Chassie to snap, “I don’t want charity. Especially not from the McKays.” She stuffed the check in his outside coat pocket and spun on her heel, humiliation vibrating in every fiber of her body.

Lightning fast, Colt stepped in front of her. “Hey, now, wait a darn minute and listen to me.”

“No way. I am so pissed off at you right now, Colt McKay, it isn’t even funny.”

“Hear me out. Please.”

Chassie glanced up at him. The last time she’d seen him so distressed was after he’d heard Dag died. Pain and regret and…tears? shimmered in Colt’s bright blue eyes.

Dammit. She was such a sucker. “Fine. After you answer a question for me.”

“Anything.”

“Did you honestly believe I’d be that gullible? Just take the check and skip to the bank not questioning my sudden good fortune?”

“Ah, actually, yeah, I had hoped that’d be the case.”

A growl-like snarl escaped and she sidestepped him.

“But I expected you’d at least hear me out and not be as stubborn as your daddy.”

Chassie whirled, tired, angry, frustrated and ready to pop him one square in the mouth.

Colt grinned at her. “Knew that one’d get your back up, Sassy Chassie.”

Her old nickname brought a smile. “Funny, Colt the Dolt.”

“Now that that’s out of the way, will you at least listen to me?”

She sighed. “I suppose.”

“First off. What I said wasn’t a complete lie. At one time Dag did send me money. I don’t recall how much. Coupla hundred bucks probably. Anyway, when I heard how badly you wanted Gus’s place, but couldn’t swing the down payment, I thought this was the least I could do to help you out.”

“Why do you want to help me?”

“I could give you a bullshit answer and say because you’re family. But the truth is, Dag and Uncle Harland died leavin’ you holdin’ an empty bag with no means to refill it and that don’t seem fair.”

“Your family’s always had more money than us, Colt,” she said tactfully. “I don’t begrudge you for it like my dad did.”

“You should. At least my ma squirreled away the money Granddad West left us.”

“What money?”

Colt’s face was troubled. “Granddad West left each grandkid ten thousand bucks.”

Chassie’s mouth dropped open. “You’re joking.”

“No. Ma deposited ours in the bank and wouldn’t let us have it until we turned twenty-one. I told Dag when I got mine. So Dag asked Uncle Harland about his, and…”

Ugly, thick pause.

“Dad spent it all, didn’t he?”

Colt nodded. “I’m sorry. Dag found out Uncle Harland blew every bit. My understandin’ was that was the last straw between them. Dag didn’t so much care about his inheritance, but yours was a different story.”

She felt ill.

“See you were doomed to fail before you got outta the gate, Chass. It ain’t your fault,” Colt said hotly. “I don’t want you to fail, ’cause I know all about failure.”

“Colt—”

“I’ve felt like a failure most my adult life. Cord is the oldest and a natural born rancher. Colby is the rodeo star. Cam is the hero.” Colt squeezed his eyes shut briefly.

“Cam is even more a hero now. Carter is the smart college boy. And Keely is the long-awaited girl. Which leaves me as the f**k-up, the ne’er do well middle child, the charmer, the womanizer, the drunken fool. I lived up to that bad reputation because it was all I had. All I ever saw myself as.

“My brothers’ve done noble things while I’ve done nothin’ worth mentionin’ and done plenty of things I’m ashamed of. Here’s a chance to make things right for someone besides myself.” His vivid blue eyes were beseeching. “This is something I wanna do, something that’ll let me feel as if I’m lookin’ after you like Dag might’ve wanted me to.

I’m payin’ off my debt to the past by helpin’ you to secure the future you’ve always deserved, Chass, is that so wrong?”

“By givin’ me your hard earned money?”

“How else are you gonna buy Gus’s land and increase the size of your operation?”

Chassie frowned. “But I thought your family wanted that section?”

“Fuck my family. Maybe it’s time they realized they can’t always get what they want just ’cause their last name is McKay.”

His vehemence surprised her.

Colt paced. “Do you really think we need another coupla thousand acres? No. But McKay Ranches would snap it up just because they could. That acreage won’t take a nickel away from our livelihood, but it sure as hell will make a huge difference in yours and Trevor’s. And honestly, I’ve done enough shitty things to people I care about to last me a lifetime. Jesus, Chassie, you’re one of the few that’s not on the list of folks I’ve wronged and I’d like to keep it that way. Takin’ this land out from under you feels wrong.”

Chassie placed her hand on his arm, stopping his nervous activity. When Colt looked at her, Chassie finally understood this offer was about more than money. It wasn’t about charity. It wasn’t really about guilt. It was about Colt proving he’d changed, probably when no one in his family believed he could. Proving that same streak of decency running through his brothers ran through him too, even if he and Chassie were the only ones who were aware he’d acted on it.

Colt’s problems with his family were not her issues, but a niggling voice pointed out by Colt coming to her, he’d taken on the responsibility of helping her overcome her family issues—chiefly financial, by bucking his own family’s best interests.

“If I take the money, what will you want in return?”

Colt blanched. “Nothin’. I swear.”

“No unlimited grazin’ rights? Water rights? Mineral rights? Huntin’ rights?”