Claimed by a Cowboy. Tanya Michaels

he consciously tried not to dwell on the past, he could still hear his mother’s oh-so-sincere tone when she’d dropped him off with his uncle. Just because I won’t be here every day doesn’t mean we aren’t still family. I’ll be back for you, Sammy. He had no patience for people who were related only when it was convenient.

       “Do you think family is just genetics?” he challenged Lorelei. “Because it meant a lot more than that to Wanda. You say you’re confused—well, so am I. And what I want to know is, just where the hell have you been for the past two years?”

       With that, he got up and stormed out, so ticked off that he temporarily forgot he didn’t even want the inn.

      THERE WAS A SHOCKED silence following Sam’s departure. No one was more shocked than Lorelei. She kept trying to reconcile the righteously indignant man who’d just given her an earful with the taciturn cowboy she’d first met. I think I liked him better when he was monosyllabic and uncooperative.

       She turned to Ava and Robert, Sam’s parting shot still ringing in her ears. “It hasn’t been two whole years,” she said. Immediately, she was annoyed both by the sudden need to justify her actions and how lame her attempt had been.

       Ava was far too gracious to roll her eyes. “We know, dear. Sam’s just…”

       “Just what?” Lorelei demanded in frustration. “I don’t even understand who he was to Mom.”

       “Maybe I should give you ladies a chance to talk privately,” Robert suggested. Beneath his suit jacket, his shirt clung to him in damp patches. Beads of sweat dotted his forehead, and he eyed the doorway like a hostage evaluating his chance for escape.

       Lorelei sighed. “I’m sure you can understand that it’s been a difficult day for all of us. Maybe we could talk next week, after I’ve had a chance to read through this folder you gave me?”

       “Yes, ma’am. Absolutely,” he said as he stood. “Call me anytime.”

       “Thank you. There’s coffee and lemonade and lots of delicious-looking cakes downstairs. You should try some before you go.”

       Nodding, he clutched his briefcase close and disappeared down the hall.

       Ava shook her head. “Five bucks says he clears the staircase and bolts out the front door in under thirty seconds.”

       Lorelei chuckled, and the other woman leaned forward to pat her cheek.

       “There’s the smile that reminds me of your mom,” Ava said approvingly.

       “I don’t look anything like her,” Lorelei said, too practical to pretend otherwise, even on a day like today, when she might take comfort in thinking she did.

       “Maybe not, but Wanda was all about looking at a person’s spirit, not just their face. I’d like to think some of her spirit lives on in you.”

       Lorelei expelled a puff of air. At least Ava wasn’t planning to have tea with her mother’s ghost. “You were pretty evasive the other day when I tried to ask you about Sam. Was that because you didn’t know how to tell me about Mom’s will?”

       Ava raised an eyebrow. “The only specific question I remember you asking was if they were romantically involved, which I believe I answered.”

       “Fair enough. I’ll try to be more specific this time. Who is he and why is he here?”

       “Sam was working on a nearby ranch during a real dry summer, helping with the horses, and a fire broke out. They got all the animals safely out of the barn, but we hadn’t had any rain in months and the fire spread. Once it was put out, he and about half a dozen others needed places to stay. Some of the local hotel owners offered up free rooms, and Sam ended up here. But he wasn’t comfortable taking one of the rooms without paying, so he did some work around the inn for your mom. He comes and goes from Fredericksburg, helping with various trail rides and taking different jobs throughout the region. They got to be close. I think Wanda looked on him like the son she never had.”

       That hurt enough to knock the breath out of Lorelei. Her mother had left her most valued possession to a man who was “like a son” instead of to the daughter she’d actually had?

       Ava tilted her head sympathetically. “Oh, honey. Your mother loved you. She was so proud of you.”

       “Yeah. I hear that a lot,” Lorelei said. What had Sam said when he’d found her sorting through her mother’s pictures? That Wanda had looked for opportunities to brag about her?