Whitewater Wooing (River's End Ranch Book 4) Read online

  Copyright © 2016, Caroline Lee

  [email protected]

  ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. This book contains material protected under International and Federal Copyright Laws and Treaties. Any unauthorized reprint or use of this material is prohibited. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system without express written permission from the author.

  First edition: 2016

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  Cover: EDHGraphics

  Contents

  CHAPTER ONE

  CHAPTER TWO

  CHAPTER THREE

  CHAPTER FOUR

  CHAPTER FIVE

  CHAPTER SIX

  CHAPTER SEVEN

  CHAPTER EIGHT

  CHAPTER NINE

  CHAPTER TEN

  SNEAK PEEK

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  Whitewater Wooing

  River’s End Ranch

  Book Four

  Dedication:

  For Indy, a truly remarkable dog.

  CHAPTER ONE

  “Ugh. Pizza again?” Kelsi Clapper rolled her eyes theatrically as she stomped into the kitchen of the café. “Don’t you get sick of it?”

  “Nope. And I even ordered one with that pile of hot peppers you like to call ‘toppings’.” Will blew his younger sister a kiss from his spot by the ovens, where he was pulling out stacks of take-out pizza that had been warming. “Although you’ll be the only one to eat it. I don’t even think that husband of yours can stand the level of spicy you can.”

  “Nope!” Kelsi’s perpetual cheerfulness could grate on anyone’s nerves but her favorite big brother’s. “Shane tries his best, bless his heart.”

  “So, how’s life?”

  “Stressful!” Kelsi lowered her voice and peeked over her shoulder at the open door. “Since Liz and Jess quit the diner, I need about eight arms. But I’ve got two new gals starting this week, and I think they’ll work out well.”

  “Awesome! I hate it when you’re frazzled, you’re harder to tease.” Kelsi made a face at him, so Will decided to start in on her right then. Nonchalantly, he asked, “And how’s married life treating you?”

  Take-out pizza called for paper plates, and Will found some in one of the cabinets. Bob Blakely, who ran the café’s kitchen when it was open to the public, would’ve been irritated by how freely Will poked around, but it was either that or wash dishes, soo…

  “About the same as the last time you checked, last week.” Kelsi sighed dreamily. “Wonderful.”

  “And any progress on that whole ‘making me an uncle’ thing?”

  Kelsi blushed a bright pink, just as Will had known she would, and he hid his grin by piling the plates on top of the pizza boxes. “I mean, since it’s going so wonderfully and all.”

  His younger sister slumped against the counter and put her face in her hands. “I can’t believe you’d ask me that. Do you have any idea how mortifying—”

  “Hey, I like Shane. And I like that he likes you. And that you like him.”

  She peeked between her fingers. “I love him.” Her voice was muffled by her palms.

  “Okay, sure. Love. Whatever.”

  “Come on!” Kelsi lowered her hands slightly. “I know you believe in it. Me and Shane? Mom and Dad? Jess and Jake? You see true love all around you!”

  True love? No matter what he believed in, he couldn’t let her go around spouting ridiculous fairy tales like that without poking fun at her. Will crossed his arms in front of his chest and propped one hip against the counter opposite his sister. “I believe that you believe in it.”

  She gave up all pretext of being embarrassed and dropped her hands to her hips. “Will Weston! I know that you know—” She broke off when she saw his smile grow. “You’re teasing me again, aren’t you? You’re a terrible big brother!”

  “I’m the best.”

  “The best what?” Wyatt stood in the doorway and Will raised a brow to hear their normally taciturn older brother voluntarily join in on the conversation.

  “The best big brother… Obviously.”

  He’d said it with a chuckle, but Wyatt was impossible to tease. Instead, he just glanced between Kelsi and Will and gave a noncommittal “Hmm.”

  But their sister sure wasn’t done. “Will’s saying terrible things about me, Wyatt.”

  “I’m sorry.” Wyatt’s tone and expression didn’t change a bit. “You want me to punch him?”

  Will burst into laughter, and swore he even saw his brother’s lips twitch. “You’re welcome to try, old man!” Wyatt was four years older, at thirty, and Will never missed a chance to rib him about it. “But for now, how about you come over here and help take dinner out to the starving masses?”

  “We’re having pizza again,” Kelsi chimed in, and then stuck her tongue out at Will behind Wyatt’s back.

  “Oh. Yay.”

  Will snorted at Wyatt’s bland tone as he handed him three warm pizza boxes. Kelsi came over to try to help, but Will hip-butted her out of the way and jerked his chin at the stack of paper plates. He picked up the rest of the pizza boxes and followed his brother out of the kitchen, leaving Kelsi sputtering in his wake.

  “Pizza again?” Dani’s complaint nearly matched Kelsi’s own. They might be identical, but Dani’s cropped hair and loungewear proved that the twins tried their best to appear different, but…

  “Sometimes it’s uncanny how much you too sound alike.” When Dani stuck her tongue out at Will—exactly the same way Kelsi had—Will laughed and dropped the pizza stack on the table in front of her.

  “If you got anchovies on at least one of these, I’ll forgive you.”

  “I know.” Will whisked the second pizza out of the stack to hand to her with a waggle of his eyebrows. “You always do.”

  Dani’s ice-blue eyes—the only thing that all the Westons shared—snapped with something between exasperation and humor as she took the anchovy-laden pizza over to one of the booths. Since their family had expanded with the addition of Shane and Jake, they’d gotten too big to all sit together at their Sunday family meals. But they all still gathered as close as possible in the booths, and teased and laughed and caught up.

  That’s what family did, after all.

  After the prayer, the noise level increased as everyone began to bicker over which pizza they wanted, and Will was happy to just stand back and watch. Their family was huge, but he couldn’t be happier than he was when surrounded by their craziness. Wade was the oldest, and managed the entire River’s End Ranch, the family business they all worked for and hoped to own stakes in one day. Then came Wyatt, who’d discovered at a young age that the ranch’s horses didn’t require conversation, and was happy to oblige. Or as happy as anyone could tell with Wyatt. Wes was next at twenty-eight and seemed to always be smiling. Will—the youngest brother—used to tell Wes he appreciated the constant smiling because he made up for Wyatt’s complete lack of humor. Will admired both of them, though, and figured they balanced each other out. The four of them had grown up pushing and shoving and helping each other, and Will knew he was lucky to have
them.

  It was their baby sisters, Kelsi and Dani, who gave the four brothers the biggest headaches, though. And their cousin Jess, who had lived with them for years, since her parents’ death. Now, with two of the girls married, the brothers had less to worry about—as Wes often joked, they were Shane and Jake’s problem now!—but they would always be family. And family was still the most important thing in the brothers’ lives.

  True love. Hah. Will didn’t quite snort, but it was close. He saw in-love couples all around him, sure, but just because you found a perfectly nice person to spend the rest of your life with didn’t mean you went around forsaking your family. Luckily, the Westons were the kind of family who welcomed everyone…they didn’t lose Jess and Kelsi—they welcomed Shane and Jake into the family. Yeah. That’s how it was supposed to work.

  “What are you looking so serious about?”

  Wade was sipping a root beer when he moved to prop his hip against the same table Will leaned against. At thirty-two, he was the most level-headed and responsible of the Westons, a personality flaw that made him about as opposite from Will as two brothers could be.

  “Nothing important. Why?”

  “Just wondering if you were thinking about that manager you were supposed to be hiring.”

  Ah. He should’ve guessed that Wade would give him grief about that little issue. Will was in charge of the aquatics program at the ranch, and no one seemed to think that he could handle it. “It’s taken care of, big brother.”

  “What’s taken care of?” Wes ambled over, talking around a big bite of pizza, and handed Will a plate with a slice from one of the all-meat pies on it. Will nodded his thanks; he and Wes shared an appreciation for the finer things in life, like grilled-meat selections.

  Wade answered for him. “Mom and Dad sent Will an ultimatum.”

  “About the aquatics staff screw-ups?”

  Will ignored them and chewed. His entire family knew of his faults when it came to managing “his” staff, and treated them with varying levels of frustration or tolerance.

  “He’s got ‘til the end of this month. They want to see a full week of no dropped shifts, no empty spots, and no pool closings or trip cancellations.”

  The Italian sausage just wasn’t as good as usual tonight. Or maybe it was the sourness on Will’s tongue that made it taste that way. He tried not to be irritated that Wade sounded so officious, or that Wes was looking at him with pity.

  “Man! That’s only a few weeks to get them all whipped into shape. Plus, you’ve got your own trips to run, so you don’t have time to…you know.”

  Oh, he knew. Even if he had the time to sit in an office and manage paperwork, Will would rather chew off his own arm. Who wanted to be stuck in an office in front of a computer when there was the prettiest country on God’s green earth to enjoy? He began to pick off the sausage and leave it on the plate to give to Indy later. She, at least, understood him.

  Wade—Mr. Still-Wearing-His-Button-Up-Shirt-To-Family-Pizza-Night—answered for him. Again. “Will and I sat down last month and decided that the best course of action was to hire a manager.”

  “Well, that might work; hope he can work under pressure. What happens if there is a screw-up by the end of the month, and shifts are dropped again?”

  From the corner of his eye, Will saw Wade make a slashing motion across his throat, and Wes blanched. Yeah, that’s right. Mom and Dad will cut me out. Some days, it didn’t seem like such a bad idea. If his parents didn’t think he was competent enough to manage even a portion of the ranch, they’d remove him from the will and he wouldn’t need to worry about all this paperwork and spreadsheets and whatnot. But then he’d think about all the hours he’d spent building the aquatics program, and the years he’d spent on the river and lake, and think of how much this place meant to him… and he knew it was in his blood, and it would hurt too much too lose it all.

  No, he owned part of River’s End Ranch just as much as Wes or Wyatt, and deserved his chance at it. But Will knew his limitations, which was why he’d begrudgingly agreed to Wade’s not-at-all subtle hint to hire someone to manage it. But rather than giving his oldest always-knows-best brother the satisfaction of hearing that, he pushed away from the table without saying a word.

  “Where are you going?” Wade obviously wasn’t done talking the situation to death.

  “Getting more pizza,” Will said around the crust he’d stuffed in his mouth. “I figure you two are doing well enough carrying on my side of the conversation.”

  “Oh, don’t get pouty.” Wes’s smile didn’t ease the sting of his teasing. “So what are you going to do?”

  Wade answered for him yet again. “He’s only got four weeks—starting tomorrow—and at least one of those has to be perfect. I figure if he starts advertising—”

  “Already done.” Will had a new slice of carnivore pizza, determined not to let his brothers ruin this treat for him. “Right after we talked about it.”

  It was kinda satisfying, the way Wade’s brows rose in surprise. Surprise, and maybe a little bit impressed. “You did? Any responses?”

  Will snorted. “Yeah, and he’s showing up tomorrow. Elliot Somebody-or-Other.” Elliot Redfern, but he didn’t want to let his worry-wart of an oldest brother know that he wasn’t completely incompetent all the time. Might be too much of a shock.

  “You’ve already hired a manager, and you don’t know his name?”

  “Why bother?” Will asked around a big mouthful. “It’s not like I have to fill out his paperwork or anything.”

  It was hard not to grin at the look of disgust on Wade’s face when he rolled his eyes. “Yes, you do! That’s the whole point! That’s why Mom and Dad put you in this position, Will. You’re head of aquatics! I shouldn’t be filling out that paperwork; they’re your employees. How are you ever going to learn…” He trailed off when he saw Will’s wide-eyes and even wider grin and realized he was being jerked around. “You know this already,” he said in disgust.

  “Yep.” Wade was just too easy to mess with.

  “Hey, go easy on Will.” Wes didn’t like to see his brothers fight, but it was galling when he felt like he had to stand up for Will. “He knows what he’s good at, and sticks with it. Does a darn fine job of it, too. Sometimes I’m jealous that—”

  “No.” Will cut him off. Jealous? Of him? Who hadn’t finished a book since high school, and who got headaches from trying to make sense of Wade’s scheduling software? “Just, no.”

  Wes didn’t push him, but shrugged instead. “Well, you’ve already got a guy coming to take care of it?”

  “Yeah.”

  Wade was back to looking impressed. “I gotta say that I didn’t expect you to handle it so easily. Where did you—“

  “Jace explained the Internet to me years ago, man.” Jace was his best friend outside of the Weston clan. “And it wasn’t hard to figure out where to post job notices. This dude’s coming in from Los Angeles. He knows it’s a four-week position, and that he gets paid regardless. Gwen has set him up with a room in the main house, and I’ve comped one meal a day.”

  Wes began to chuckle. “Look at Wade’s face. You blew him away.”

  “I’m not completely incompetent.” Suddenly the sausage pizza didn’t taste so bad anymore. Maybe there’d just been something wrong with that first slice. “And once this guy straightens out the staffing issues, I promise I’ll learn how to do scheduling or whatever. Or I’ll delegate.” Wade snorted. “Look, you guys are stuck with me, okay? I’m not letting Mom and Dad take away my stake in this place.”

  That last bit came out sounding a little more fervent than he’d meant it to. So much for trying to convince his family he didn’t care. Judging from the slight pitying look in Wes’s eyes—an ice-blue identical to Will’s own—he knew the truth.

  His oldest brother clapped him on the shoulder. “Good, because things wouldn’t be the same around here without you.”

  Wes nodded. “Wade would get si
ck of all the free time he’d have if he didn’t have to bail you out of another catastrophe.”

  “Oh, ha-ha.” But when his brothers started to chuckle, Will felt his lips twitch.

  “Hey, Will!” Jess was snuggled up next to Jake, who looked like he was trying unsuccessfully to get Wyatt talking. “Does Indy still eat crusts?” She held up one of the two on her plate, and Will grinned.

  “She’d love you forever.”

  Jess snorted. “She does already. And I’ve told you to limit her bread intake.”

  Will ambled away from Wes and Wade. “And I told you that she only gets crusts on pizza night."

  “Which is like, what? Every other day?”

  “Once a week. Maybe twice, tops.”

  “Too much bread, Will.” Her exasperated tone told him she wasn’t serious about the scolding. “But she can have mine if she wants it, because I like spoiling her.”

  Instead of answering, Will pursed his lips and gave a distinctive two-tone whistle that cut off all conversation in the café. He didn’t do it to gain his family’s attention, though; in seconds, the back door slammed and a streak of black-and-white fur hurtled through the kitchen to halt, quivering, beside him.

  Kelsi shrieked. “Did you just let that dog into my kitchen?”

  Will was already bent over, giving Indy her well-deserved snuggles and Jess’s crust of pizza. “Not your kitchen anymore, baby sister. And what Bob doesn’t know won’t hurt him.” He saw Shane drop a kiss on Kelsi’s brow, and she settled back into her booth with a frown.

  As conversation picked up again around them, he realized she wasn’t ready to let the topic go. “Seriously, Will. I know it’s not your…” she waved her hand dismissively, “thing, but if the health inspector ever caught a Border Collie back there…”

  “Fine.” He straightened, leaving a very pleased puppy thumping her tail against the tile. “I’ll teach her to open the front door instead.”