Claim Me, Cowboy Read online

Danielle looked down at the ring on her finger, then back up at him. “I guess it’s showtime.”

  * * *

  Danielle felt warm all over, no longer in need of Joshua’s jacket, and conflicted down to the brand-new shoes Joshua had ordered for her.

  But it wasn’t the dress, or the shoes, that had her feeling warm. It was the jacket. Well, obviously a jacket was supposed to make her warm, but this was different. Joshua had realized she was cold. And it had mattered to him.

  He had given her his own jacket so she could keep warm.

  It was too big, the sleeves went well past the edges of her fingertips, and it smelled like him. From the moment she had slipped it on, she had been fighting the urge to bury her nose in the fabric and lose herself in the sharp, masculine smell that reminded her of his skin. Skin she had tasted last night.

  Standing on the front step of this modest farmhouse that she could hardly believe Joshua had ever lived in, wearing his coat, with him holding Riley’s car seat, it was too easy to believe this actually was some kind of “meet the parents” date.

  In effect, she supposed it was. She was even wearing his jacket. His jacket that was still warm from his body and smelled—

  Danielle was still ruminating about the scent of Joshua’s jacket when the door opened. A blonde woman with graying hair and blue eyes that looked remarkably like her son’s gave them a warm smile.

  “Joshua,” she said, glancing sideways at Danielle and clearly doing her best not to look completely shocked, “I didn’t expect you so early. And I didn’t know you were bringing a guest.” Her eyes fell to the carrier in Joshua’s hand. “Two guests.”

  “I thought it would be a good surprise.”

  “What would be?”

  A man who could only be Joshua’s father came to the door behind the woman. He was tall, with dark hair and eyes. He looked nice too. They both did. There was a warmth to them, a kindness, that didn’t seem to be present in their son.

  But then Danielle felt the warmth of the jacket again, and she had to revise that thought. Joshua might not exude kindness, but it was definitely there, buried. And for the life of her, she couldn’t figure out why he hid it.

  She was prickly and difficult, but at least she had an excuse. Her family was the worst. As far as she could tell, his family was guilty of caring too much. And she just couldn’t feel that sorry for a rich dude whose parents loved him and were involved in his life more than he wanted them to be.

  “Who is this?” Joshua’s father asked.

  “Danielle, this is my mom and dad, Todd and Nancy Grayson. Mom, Dad, this is Danielle Kelly,” Joshua said smoothly. “And I have you to thank for meeting her, Dad.”

  His father’s eyebrows shot upward. “Do you?”

  “Yes,” Joshua said. “She responded to your ad. Mom, Dad, Danielle is my fiancée.”

  They were ushered into the house quickly after that announcement, and there were a lot of exclamations. The house was already full. A young woman sat in the corner holding hands with a large, tattooed man who was built like a brick house and was clearly related to Joshua somehow. There was another man, as tall as Joshua, with slightly darker hair and the same blue eyes but who didn’t carry himself quite as stiffly. His build was somewhere in between Joshua and the tattooed man, muscular but not a beast.

  “My brother Devlin,” Joshua said, indicating the tattooed man before putting his arm around Danielle’s waist as they moved deeper into the room, “and his wife, Mia. And this is my brother Isaiah. I’m surprised his capable assistant, Poppy, isn’t somewhere nearby.”

  “Isaiah, did you want a beer or whiskey?” A petite woman appeared from the kitchen area, her curly, dark hair swept back into a bun, a few stray pieces bouncing around her pretty face. She was impeccable. From that elegant updo down to the soles of her tiny, high-heeled feet. She was wearing a high-waisted skirt that flared out at the hips and fell down past her knees, along with a plain, fitted top.

  “Is that his...girlfriend?” Danielle asked.

  Poppy laughed. “Absolutely not,” she said, her tone clipped. “I’m his assistant.”

  Danielle thought it strange that an assistant would be at a family gathering but didn’t say anything.

  “She’s more than an assistant,” Nancy Grayson said. “She’s part of the family. She’s been with them since they started the business.”

  Danielle had not been filled in on the details of his family’s relationships because she only needed to know how to alienate them, not how to endear herself to them.

  The front door opened again and this time it was a younger blonde woman whose eyes also matched Joshua’s who walked in. “Sorry I’m late,” she said, “I got caught up working on a project.”

  This had to be his sister, Faith. The architect he talked about with such pride and fondness. A woman who was Danielle’s age and yet so much more successful they might be completely different species.

  “This is Joshua’s fiancée,” Todd Grayson said. “He’s engaged.”

  “Shut the front door,” Faith said. “Are you really?”

  “Yes,” Joshua said, the lie rolling easily off his tongue.

  Danielle bit back a comment about his PR skills. She was supposed to be hard to deal with, but they weren’t supposed to call attention to the fact this was a ruse.

  “That’s great?” Faith took a step forward and hugged her brother, then leaned in to grab hold of Danielle, as well.

  “Is nobody going to ask about the baby?” Isaiah asked.

  “Obviously you are,” Devlin said.

  “Well, it’s kind of the eight-hundred-pound gorilla in the room. Or the ten-pound infant.”

  “It’s my baby,” Danielle said, feeling color mount in her cheeks.

  She noticed a slight shift in Joshua’s father’s expression. Which was the general idea. To make him suspicious of her. To make him think he had gone and caught his son a gold digger.

  “Well, that’s...” She could see Joshua’s mother searching for words. “It’s definitely unexpected.” She looked apologetically at Danielle the moment the words left her mouth. “It’s just that Joshua hasn’t shown much interest in marriage or family.”

  Danielle had a feeling that was an understatement. If Joshua was willing to go to such lengths to get his father out of his business, then he must be about as anti-marriage as you could get.

  “Well,” Joshua said, “Danielle and I met because of Dad.”

  His mother’s blue gaze sharpened. “How?”

  His father looked guilty. “Well, I thought he could use a little help,” he said finally.

  “What kind of help?”

  “It’s not good for a man to be alone, especially not our boys,” he said insistently.

  “Some of us like to be alone,” Isaiah pointed out.

  “You wouldn’t feel that way if you didn’t have a woman who cooked for you and ran your errands,” his father responded, looking pointedly at Poppy.

  “She’s an employee,” Isaiah said.

  Poppy looked more irritated and distressed by Isaiah’s comment than she did by the Grayson family patriarch’s statement. But she didn’t say anything.

  “You were right,” Joshua said. “I just needed to find the right woman. You placed that ad, listing all of my assets, and the right woman responded.”

  This was so ridiculous. Danielle felt her face heating. The assets Joshua’s father had listed were his bank account, and there was no way in the world that wasn’t exactly what everyone in his family was thinking.

  She knew this was her chance to confirm her gold-digging motives. But right then, Riley started to cry.

  “Oh,” she said, feeling flustered. “Just let me... I need to...”

  She fumbled around with the new diaper bag, digging around for a bottle, and then went over to the ca
r seat, taking the baby out of it.

  “Let me help,” Joshua’s mother said.

  She was being so kind. Danielle felt terrible.

  But before Danielle could protest, the other woman was taking Riley from her arms. Riley wiggled and fussed, but then she efficiently plucked the bottle from Danielle’s hand and stuck it right in his mouth. He quieted immediately.

  “What a good baby,” she said. “Does he usually go to strangers?”

  Danielle honestly didn’t know. “Other than a neighbor whose known him since he was born, I’m the only one who takes care of him,” she said.

  “Don’t you have any family?”

  Danielle shook her head, feeling every inch the curiosity she undoubtedly was. Every single eye in the room was trained on her, and she knew they were all waiting for her to make a mistake. She was supposed to make a mistake, dammit. That was what Joshua was paying her to do.

  “I don’t have any family,” she said decisively. “It’s just been me and Riley from the beginning.”

  “It must be nice to have some help now,” Faith said, not unkindly, but definitely probing.

  “It is,” Danielle said. “I mean, it’s really hard taking care of a baby by yourself. And I didn’t make enough money to...well, anything. So meeting Joshua has been great. Because he’s so...helpful.”

  A timer went off in the other room and Joshua’s mother blinked. “Oh, I have to get dinner.” She turned to her son. “Since you’re so helpful, Joshua.” And before Danielle could protest, before Joshua could protest, Nancy dumped Riley right into his arms.

  He looked like he’d been handed a bomb. And frankly, Danielle felt a little bit like a bomb might detonate at any moment. It had not escaped her notice that Joshua had never touched Riley. Yes, he had carried his car seat, but he had never voluntarily touched the baby. Which, now that she thought about it, must have been purposeful. But then, not everybody liked babies. She had never been particularly drawn to them before Riley. Maybe Joshua felt the same way.

  She could tell by his awkward posture, and the way Riley’s small frame was engulfed by Joshua’s large, muscular one, that any contact with babies was not something he was used to.

  She imagined Joshua’s reaction would go a long way in proving how unsuitable she was. Maybe not in the way he had hoped, but it definitely made his point.

  He took a seat on the couch, still holding on to Riley, still clearly committed to the farce.

  “So you met through an ad,” Isaiah said, his voice full of disbelief. “An ad that Dad put in the paper.”

  Everyone’s head swiveled, and they looked at Todd. “I did what any concerned father would do for his son.”

  Devlin snorted. “Thank God I found a wife on my own.”

  “You found a wife by pilfering from my friendship pool,” Faith said, her tone disapproving. “Isaiah and Joshua have too much class to go picking out women that young.”

  “Actually,” Danielle said, deciding this was the perfect opportunity to highlight another of the many ways in which she was unsuitable, “I’m only twenty-two.”

  Joshua’s father looked at him, his gaze sharp. “Really?”

  “Really,” Danielle said.

  “That’s unexpected,” Todd said to his son.

  “That’s what’s so great about how we met,” Joshua said. “Had I looked for a life partner on my own, I probably would have chosen somebody with a completely different set of circumstances. Had you asked me only a few short weeks ago, I would have said I didn’t want children. And now look at me.”

  Everybody was looking at him, and it was clear he was extremely uncomfortable. Danielle wasn’t entirely sure he was making the point he hoped to make, but he did make a pretty amusing picture. “I also would have chosen somebody closer to my age. But the great thing about Danielle is that she is so mature. I think it’s because she’s a mother. And yes, it happened for her in non-ideal circumstances, but her ability to rise above her situation and solve her problems—namely by responding to the ad—is one of the many things I find attractive about her.”

  She wanted to kick him in the shin. He was being an asshole, and he was making her sound like a total flake... But that was the whole idea. And, honestly, given the information Joshua had about her life...he undoubtedly thought she was a flake. It was stupid, and it wasn’t fair. One of the many things she had learned about people since becoming the sole caregiver for Riley was that even though everyone had sex, a woman was an immediate pariah the minute she bore the evidence of that sex.

  All that mattered to the hypocrites was that Danielle appeared to be a scarlet woman, therefore she was one.

  Never mind that in reality she was a virgin.

  Which was not a word she needed to be thinking while sitting in the Grayson family living room.

  Her cheeks felt hot, like they were being stung by bees.

  “Fate is a funny thing,” Danielle said, edging closer to Joshua. She took Riley out of his arms, and from the way Joshua surrendered the baby, she could tell he was more than ready to hand him over.

  The rest of the evening passed in a blur of awkward moments and stilted conversation. It was clear to her that his family was wonderful and warm, but that they were also seriously questioning Joshua’s decision making. Todd Grayson looked as if he was going to be physically assaulted by his wife.

  Basically, everything was going according to Joshua’s plan.

  But Danielle couldn’t feel happy about it. She couldn’t feel triumphant. It just felt awful.

  Finally, it was time to go, and Danielle was ready to scurry out the door and keep on scurrying away from the entire Grayson family—Joshua included.

  She was gathering her things, and Joshua was talking to one of his brothers, when Faith approached.

  “We haven’t gotten a chance to talk yet,” she said.

  “I guess not,” Danielle said, feeling instantly wary. She had a feeling that being approached by Joshua’s younger sister like this wouldn’t end well.

  “I’m sure he’s told you all about me,” Faith said, and Danielle had a feeling that statement was a test.

  “Of course he has.” She sounded defensive, even though there was no reason for her to feel defensive, except that she kind of did anyway.

  “Great. So here’s the thing. I don’t know exactly what’s going on here, but my brother is not a ‘marriage and babies’ kind of guy. My brother dates a seemingly endless stream of models, all of whom are about half a foot taller than you without their ridiculous high heels on. Also, he likes blondes.”

  Danielle felt her face heating again as the other woman appraised her and found her lacking. “Right. Well. Maybe I’m a really great conversationalist. Although, it could be the fact that I don’t have a gag reflex.”

  She watched the other woman’s cheeks turn bright pink and felt somewhat satisfied. Unsophisticated, virginal Danielle had made the clearly much more sophisticated Faith Grayson blush.

  “Right. Well, if you’re leading him around by his...you know...so you can get into his wallet, I’m not going to allow that. There’s a reason he’s avoided commitment all this time. And I’m not going to let you hurt him. He’s been hurt enough,” she said.

  Danielle could only wonder what that meant, because Joshua seemed bulletproof.

  “I’m not going to break up with him,” Danielle said. “Why would I do that? I’d rather stay in his house than in a homeless shelter.”

  She wanted to punch her own face. And she was warring with the fact that Faith had rightly guessed that she was using Joshua for his money—though not in the way his sister assumed. And Danielle needed Faith to think the worst. But it also hurt to have her assume something so negative based on Danielle’s circumstances. Based on her appearance.

  People had been looking at Danielle and judging her as low-class wh
ite trash for so long—not exactly incorrectly—that it was a sore spot.

  “We’re a close family,” Faith said. “And we look out for each other. Just remember that.”

  “Well, your brother loves me.”

  “If that’s true,” Faith said, “then I hope you’re very happy together. I actually do hope it’s true. But the problem is, I’m not sure I believe it.”

  “Why?” Danielle was bristling, and there was no reason on earth why she should be. She shouldn’t be upset about this. She shouldn’t be taking it personally. But she was.

  Faith Grayson had taken one look at Danielle and judged her. Pegged her for exactly the kind of person she was, really—a low-class nobody who needed the kind of money and security a man like Joshua could provide. Danielle had burned her pride to the ground to take part in this charade. Poking at the embers of that pride was stupid. But she felt compelled to do it anyway.

  “Is it because I’m some kind of skank he would never normally sully himself with?”

  “Mostly, it’s because I know my brother. And I know he never intended to be in any kind of serious relationship again.”

  Again.

  That word rattled around inside of Danielle. It implied he had been in a serious relationship before. He hadn’t mentioned that. He’d just said he didn’t want his father meddling. Didn’t want marriage. He hadn’t said it was because he’d tried before.

  She blinked.

  Faith took that momentary hesitation and ran with it. “So you don’t know that much about him. You don’t actually know anything about him, do you? You just know he’s rich.”

  “And he’s hot,” Danielle said.

  She wasn’t going to back down. Not now. But she would have a few very grumpy words with Joshua once they left.

  He hadn’t prepared her for this. She looked like an idiot. As she gathered her things, she realized looking like an idiot was his objective. She could look bad in a great many ways, after all. The fact that they might be an unsuitable couple because she didn’t know anything about him would be one way to accomplish that.

  When she and Joshua finally stepped outside, heading back to the car amid a thunderous farewell from the family, Danielle felt like she could breathe for the first time in at least two hours. She hadn’t realized it, but being inside that house—all warm and cozy and filled with the kind of love she had only ever seen in movies—had made her throat and lungs and chest, and even her fingers, feel tight.