The Wranglers' New Chef [The Wranglers of Bear Mountain 1] (Siren Publishing Ménage Everlasting) Read online

  The Wranglers of Bear Mountain 1

  The Wranglers’ New Chef

  Soon to be homeless, Billy Jean Simmons swallows her fear of horses to accept a position as chef at a guest ranch in Montana. Laramie and Laredo Marshall don’t know what hit them when they get a taste of her cooking. What’s an amazing chef like her doing out in the wilds of Montana?

  While Laredo believes they should be concentrating on getting the ranch up and running instead of flirting, his brother is convinced they can do both. It doesn’t take long for Laredo to climb onboard with his brother to woo Billy Jean into their arms. But there’s something going on with their sensuous chef. She’s got a secret and they’re determined to coax it out of her.

  A little PTSD and a world of misunderstanding lands the brothers in a pot of boiling water where Billy Jean is concerned. It might take two to tango, but three can work things out if they will just take the time to listen.

  Genre: Contemporary, Ménage a Trois/Quatre, Western/Cowboys

  Length: 54,308 words

  THE WRANGLERS’ NEW CHEF

  The Wranglers of Bear Mountain 1

  Marla Monroe

  MENAGE EVERLASTING

  Siren Publishing, Inc.

  www.SirenPublishing.com

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  A SIREN PUBLISHING BOOK

  IMPRINT: Ménage Everlasting

  THE WRANGLERS’ NEW CHEF

  Copyright © 2014 by Marla Monroe

  E-book ISBN: 978-1-62741-134-9

  First E-book Publication: January 2014

  Cover design by Les Byerley

  All art and logo copyright © 2014 by Siren Publishing, Inc.

  ALL RIGHTS RESERVED: This literary work may not be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, including electronic or photographic reproduction, in whole or in part, without express written permission.

  All characters and events in this book are fictitious. Any resemblance to actual persons living or dead is strictly coincidental.

  PUBLISHER

  Siren Publishing, Inc.

  www.SirenPublishing.com

  Letter to Readers

  Dear Readers,

  If you have purchased this copy of The Wranglers’ New Chef by Marla Monroe from BookStrand.com or its official distributors, thank you. Also, thank you for not sharing your copy of this book.

  Regarding E-book Piracy

  This book is copyrighted intellectual property. No other individual or group has resale rights, auction rights, membership rights, sharing rights, or any kind of rights to sell or to give away a copy of this book.

  The author and the publisher work very hard to bring our paying readers high-quality reading entertainment.

  This is Marla Monroe’s livelihood. It’s fair and simple. Please respect Ms. Monroe’s right to earn a living from her work.

  Amanda Hilton, Publisher

  www.SirenPublishing.com

  www.BookStrand.com

  DEDICATION

  To all the staff at Lone Mountain for the insight into ranch life and not rolling your eyes at all of my endless questions. It was an experience of a lifetime with a wonderful and amazing group of people.

  Thank you to the wild bunch who hung with me and kept me entertained during the trip. This book is for you. I hope to meet up with you again one day.

  THE WRANGLERS’ NEW CHEF

  The Wranglers of Bear Mountain 1

  MARLA MONROE

  Copyright © 2014

  Prologue

  “Mom. Why didn’t you tell us things were this bad?” Laramie asked. “We could have come home sooner.”

  Laredo Marshall watched his mom as she smoothed down the covers of the freshly made hospital bed. She turned and leaned back against the bed with a soft smile.

  “Honey, your dad didn’t want to interfere with your dreams. You know how your granddad treated him when he wanted to change the ranch from sheep farming to horses. He gave Frank all kinds of hell over that till the day he died. There was no way your father would ever treat his children the same way.” Betty Marshall walked over and pulled Laramie, his twin into her arms. “He’s so proud of you boys.”

  “How long will he be gone to therapy, Mom?” Laredo asked, pushing away from the wall where he’d been standing.

  “When he goes down to physical therapy or occupational therapy, it’s about an hour. When they come here, it’s about thirty or forty minutes at a time,” she said.

  “Then there’s plenty of time for you to go downstairs and get some fresh air. When is Lacy coming back?” Laredo asked.

  “She’ll be here this afternoon. I’m fine. I don’t need to go anywhere.”

  Laredo started to argue with her, but Laramie, ever the peacemaker, wrapped his arm around her and walked her toward the door.

  “Come on, Mom. You need a break. Go on and grab a cup of coffee. We’ll be here in case he gets back early.”

  Laramie nodded at his brother in appreciation. They needed to talk without their mom present. She needed to get out and walk around some. She’d been cooped up with their dad in the rehab facility for three days nonstop now. Laramie was still pissed that no one had bothered to call them and get them home sooner.

  “Well, okay. I’ll bring snacks back with me. I shouldn’t be long.” She paused at the door and turned back. “I love you both so much.”

  Before either Laramie or Laredo could return the sentiment she had walked out of the room, closing the door softly behind her. It took all of his discipline to keep from kicking the bed. They should have been there to help. Instead, she’d had to handle everything until their sister, Lacy had gotten there. She was seven months pregnant and had a three-year-old son as well. Thank God her husband was a good man and had kept their son for her so she could stay with their mom.

  It had taken him and his brother four days to get home once they’d been notified that their father had had a debilitating stroke. He and Laramie had been on assignment in a third-world country under the radar, so getting them out had been tricky. When you’re not supposed to be somewhere, it’s kind of hard to rush to get back out unnoticed.

  “What the hell are we going to do, brother?” Laramie asked.

  Laredo watched as his brother tapped his toe on the floor, a clear sign of how worried he was. He rarely got upset or angry over much of anything, so Lar
amie knew his twin was seriously worried.

  “We recon, assess, and overcome. We don’t have all of the facts yet. Once we have time to go through the books and talk to the hands, we can figure out the best plan of action.” Laredo believed in following a plan and sticking to a tried and true method as opposed to going off half-cocked.

  “Mom seems to think they’ll lose the ranch no matter what. I can’t believe they kept this from us all this time. We could have come back and taken the stress off of Dad. Then maybe he never would have had the damn stroke.”

  Laredo let Laramie have his say. His brother did better when he was moving around and letting off steam. He, however, handled things differently. For identical twins, they were as different as night and day. Where Laramie was the more relaxed and easy-going of the two, Laredo tended to be less demonstrative, keeping much of the way he was feeling inside. He was much more like their dad in that regards. His twin’s mechanical skills were almost scary they were so good. He could shoot just as well as Laredo, but it was Laredo who had always been the leader in everything they did.

  “What’s done is done, brother. We focus on what we can change now and not what is behind us. As soon as Lacy gets here, we’ll go home and find out the damage. Once we have all the facts, we can focus on our choices.”

  “Mom said the last sale they made of stock was before Thanksgiving. If they haven’t had anything coming in for the last six months, they’re bound to be low on funds. Want me to go ahead and see about freeing up some funds so they’ll be ready when we need them?” Laramie asked.

  “That’s a good idea. You know which account to work from. I’ll concentrate on going through the books when we get home. You can talk to everyone and find out what they know.” Laredo wanted to have all of the facts to work with by dinner so they could start figuring their options.

  Time was going to be crucial. They needed to have a plan in place before their dad was released from rehab. He didn’t want either his mom or his dad to worry about anything. If they already had it taken care of, then his dad wouldn’t fuss about whatever they did. Laredo just prayed they would be able to come up with a way to keep the ranch somehow. It had been in their family for over five generations.

  He and Laramie discussed what all they needed to check on and who they needed to contact for another thirty minutes before Frank Marshall, their father rolled into the room in a wheelchair being maneuvered by an extremely tall and muscular African American man of about twenty-five. Laredo and his brother were six foot three, but this man had to be nearly six and a half feet tall with a linebacker build to him.

  “Here we are, Mr. Marshall. Looks like you have company,” the big man said as he helped their father to stand up and transfer over to the bed.

  “Sons. Laredo and Laramie,” their father said by way of introductions.

  “I’m Peter Walters. Pleasure to meet you two.” Peter finished settling their dad in the bed before turning to hold out his hand. “He’s doing great. Making good progress.”

  “Thank you for taking care of him for us.” Laramie shook the man’s hand then Laredo.

  “I’ll see you tomorrow morning bright and early, Mr. M. Remember to stretch before going to sleep tonight.” Peter nodded at them then rolled the chair out of the room.

  “Where’s your mom?” Frank asked.

  “We sent her down for some fresh air,” Laredo told him. “How are you feeling?”

  “Tired, but good. They pretty much wear you out when they take you down to the dungeon,” he said with a grin.

  Laramie chuckled and patted his dad on the shoulder. Laredo hated seeing his dad in the bed like that. He looked weak and, somehow, smaller than he’d ever remembered seeing him look before. To think of his dad as fragile broke every rule in the book for him. They’d looked up both figuratively and physically to their dad all their life. Even when they’d enlisted in the Marines all those years ago, he’d been larger than life to them. Now Laredo had to swallow hard to keep from losing control of his emotions. The one thing they’d never contemplated was catching up with all of them now—age.

  “Son, you okay over there?” his dad asked.

  Laredo smiled and walked over to sit on the edge of the bed. “Yeah. Just wishing we had come home instead of signing on for another tour.”

  “Nonsense. It was what you loved and wanted to do. If I had thought for one second you didn’t like what you were doing, I would have told you to come home. Don’t try and take on everything, Laredo. It’s what landed me in this damn bed. I should have sold last year when I had the chance, but I thought I could handle one more year so you boys could decide what you wanted to do. Now?” He shook his head and used his strong hand to situate the weaker one on top of the covers.

  “Doesn’t matter one way or another, Dad. We’ll take care of everything. All you have to do is concentrate on getting strong again.” Laramie crossed his arms over his chest.

  “Boys, no matter what happens, you make damn sure your mom’s furniture doesn’t get sold off. That’s been in her family for generations. It would break her heart to lose it.” Frank’s voice shook with emotion.

  “That’s not even a possibility, Dad. We’ll get things straightened out. No more worrying over anything. Laramie and I will handle everything.” Laredo took his dad’s good hand and squeezed it.

  “Oh, you’re back, dear. How was therapy?” Their mom rushed into the room and took Laredo’s place on the bed next to her husband.

  “Fun and games, sweet Betty Lou. Fun and games. That Peter has a new trick every time I go down there.”

  “Did you tell the boys about him?” their mom asked.

  “You tell them, dear. I’m a bit tired. I think I’ll take a nap before dinner.” Frank squeezed their mom’s hand with a tired smile.

  She kissed him on the cheek and made sure his covers were pulled up before she moved over to one of the chairs and sat down.

  “Peter was a weight lifter on the US Olympic team until he had a car accident and ended up with a metal plate in his hip and screws in his back. Now he can’t compete professionally anymore, but he was a smart young man and had been going to school to be a physical therapist. So even though he was training for the Olympics, he had something to fall back on afterwards. Says he has an all-new respect for the profession after needing them for six months.” She took Laramie’s hand and then Laredo’s into hers. “I’m so proud of you boys. No matter what happens, that won’t change. You remember that, okay?”

  “Nothing’s going to happen, Mom. Don’t go borrowing trouble,” Laredo squeezed her tiny hand in his. “Just let us go through everything and see what the options are. You don’t worry about anything except taking care of Dad. We’ll handle the rest.”

  “I plan to do just that.” She frowned and lowered her voice. “Don’t worry Lacy about anything, boys. She’s had a really tough time with this pregnancy. I know you didn’t know she had a miscarriage about a year ago. Then with all the problems she’s had with this one, I just don’t want her to overdo. Nothing is worth our health, Laredo. Okay?”

  He frowned. Why hadn’t anyone told them about Lacy losing her baby? It had taken her and her husband a long time to conceive little Rick. He knew how much she loved children. That had to have been terrible for her.

  “Don’t worry, Mom. We aren’t going to burden her with any of this either. Laramie and I can handle whatever needs doing.” Laredo kept his voice low and even.

  “We’re Marines, Mom. Nothing can stand in our way. You just take care of yourself so you don’t end up sick. The one thing that might do us in is handling Dad when he’s sick,” Laramie teased.

  She laughed softly. “I never took you two for cowards before.”

  “Where Dad is concerned? We shake in our boots. The thought of telling him no over something he had no business doing scares the crap out of us. We’ll leave that to you, Mom,” Laredo said.

  She snorted and smiled up at them. “I’m so glad you’re
both home. We’ve missed you both so much. I don’t think I can handle your dad and everything else as well, boys. Thank you.”

  Laredo swallowed down the lump that formed in his throat. He refused to allow his mom to see him lose it. She needed them strong right now. He would be what she needed as long as she needed it. He and Laramie had come home to stay and make their place there. It looked like it was time—past time really, for them to be there. God, he just hoped it wasn’t too late.

  Chapter One

  Billy Jean Simmons stared at the advertisement for a long time. The fact that it was in Montana was bad enough, but that it was on a ranch, which implied that it would have horses, was the kicker.

  Face it, Billy Jean. I can’t pick and choose where I want to live or what I won’t do anymore. I’ve got to have a job. Like yesterday.

  She rubbed her face with both hands before dropping them to the keyboard and entering her information in the online form. Each keystroke felt as if she was signing her death warrant. While the good thing about the job was that if she got it she would be overseeing the kitchen and could make decisions about what got cooked and how, but the bad thing was that it was all the way in Montana and it was on a ranch. There were horses on ranches.

  Billy Jean had just graduated the year before with a degree in culinary sciences and gone on to intern with a company that had prestigious restaurants all over the world. They moved her from place to place while she worked and learned from the best chefs in the business. Unfortunately, the owner’s son had expected her to sleep with him in order to secure a position with the company. When she wouldn’t, he made sure she lost any chance at becoming one of their up-and-coming chefs.