In The Cowboy's Arms. Vicki Thompson Lewis

the door. “I’m delighted she’s here and she’s not going anywhere until I’ve told her exactly what I think of how she treated you.”

      “No!” Matt blocked Cade’s progress. “Nobody’s going out there except me. All I need is the keys to the truck. She doesn’t know the area so I feel an obligation to make sure she gets back to town okay and has a hotel room. Then I’ll make damn sure she knows that she has to leave in the morning.”

      “Matt.” Rosie sent him a look of reproach. “The woman traveled all the way from Los Angeles to see you. I realize you’re annoyed with her, but shooing her away after she’s made that kind of effort isn’t good manners.”

      He stared at his foster mother. “She showed up uninvited. That isn’t good manners, either.”

      “True, but two wrongs don’t make a right. Sending her back where she came from might give you temporary satisfaction, but it’s not the gracious thing to do.”

      “But—”

      “Is she an evil person?”

      “No.”

      “Has she deliberately harmed you in any way?”

      Matt sighed. He’d lived with Rosie long enough to know where this was going. “No.”

      “Then you need to take the high road, son. Invite her to join us and I’ll offer to put her up.”

      Every instinct told him that this was a bad idea. “I don’t want her here, Mom.” He clenched both fists. “Whatever nastiness happened in LA stays in LA. I don’t want you and Dad involved. Or anyone in my family, for that matter.”

      Rosie studied him for a moment. “I understand that and I appreciate your desire to protect us. That’s very gallant. I can tell you’re very angry that she’s come here, but let’s think about why she did. Her job is to make you look good, right?”

      “Supposedly, but I don’t like her plan or the fact she came to my home uninvited. I’m going to fire her.”

      “Do you have a replacement lined up?”

      “Not yet.”

      “Considering you need a PR person to guide you through this incident, you might want to hold off ditching the one you have. I agree that you shouldn’t apologize for something you didn’t do, but she’s on your turf now.” Rosie smiled. “You don’t agree with her plan for handling things, but now you have a golden opportunity to change her mind.”

      Cade nodded, a gleam in his eyes. “And I have a golden opportunity to give her a piece of mine. Yeah, let’s invite her in. Can’t wait.”

      “Cade Gallagher.” Rosie pinned him with her gaze. “You will not ambush someone who’s a guest in this house. In fact, I’m going out there to issue the invitation myself. You boys stay right here. And once she walks through that door, you’ll be on your best behavior with her at all times. Is that clear?”

      “Yes, ma’am,” Matt and Cade said in unison.

      Lexi’s muffled snort was the only sound in the room as Rosie turned and left.

      * * *

      Geena reasoned that she hadn’t completely lost out. Matt was enough of a gentleman to make sure she found her way back to Sheridan and that she had a place to stay. While she could handle everything herself, she’d accept his help because it would give her a chance to accomplish what she’d come for.

      Sometime during their interaction she’d apologize for assuming he’d accosted Briana. Then she’d make her case for having him come back to repair the damage to his reputation. Grabbing a few moments on the fly wasn’t ideal, but at least her trip wouldn’t be completely wasted.

      God, he’d been angry, so angry that his blue eyes had glittered like a pair of Fourth of July sparklers. The effect had been thrilling, actually, seeing him go into protector mode concerning his home and family. Now wasn’t a good time to think about it, but that cowboy turned her on.

      When the front door opened she expected him to come out bringing all his Matt Forrestness with him.

      Instead, a plump woman with blond hair walked out on the porch and down the steps. She approached and held out her hand. “Hello, Geena. I’m Rosie Padgett, Matt’s foster mom.”

      “Foster mom?” Geena heard herself and cringed. “Sorry, that was rude.” She accepted Rosie’s firm handshake. “It’s just that from the way Matt talked about you, I thought he was your son.”

      “He is. They all are. Many years ago Herb and I started taking in boys with nowhere else to go. Most of them ended up calling us Mom and Dad, which pleases us no end. We couldn’t have kids of our own and now we’re blessed with a huge family. We love it.”

      “Wow. So this ranch used to be a foster home?”

      “Sure did, although once again, the boys usually dropped the word foster after they’d been here awhile. The ranch was just home.”

      “That’s wonderful.” She was beginning to realize how little she knew about Matt. But she doubted Rosie had walked out here to give her a quick history lesson.

      “It has been. Listen, I know you’ve had a long trip. I’ll bet you could use some food and something to drink. Why don’t you come in?”

      Whoa. Talk about falling down the rabbit hole. “Uh, because Matt doesn’t want me to?”

      “You’re right, he doesn’t. He’s embarrassed about the mess with Briana Danvers and hates how it’s affected his life. He made the trip without going back to his apartment because he didn’t want to be waylaid. He asked me to shop for him today so he’d have a few clothes and some toiletries.”

      “Poor guy.”

      “He’s hurting, that’s for sure. And he doesn’t want any of it touching his family.” Rosie paused. “But unless you have paparazzi hiding in your SUV, I can’t imagine how bringing you inside would involve us in the scandal.”

      “I promise I’m not dragging a gaggle of reporters behind me. Sheridan isn’t the easiest place in the world to access by air. Matt’s not a big enough story to warrant suffering through long layovers and tiny planes.”

      Rosie laughed. “I love that about this town. But in spite of the inconvenience, here you are.”

      “Because I really have to talk to him.”

      “I’m sure you do. Just because Matt doesn’t go online doesn’t mean I haven’t. I’ve sent that woman an email letting her know what I think of her shenanigans, not that she’ll ever see it.”

      “No, she probably won’t. I’m sure her PR people filter out the negative ones. I do the same for my clients. If I thought this would go away I’d ignore her, but she’s escalated the attack. That’s why I need to discuss it with Matt.”

      “Then let’s make that happen. You’re lucky we were having a party or we all might have been in bed.”

      “Oh! I didn’t think of that!”

      “I’ll bet nobody goes to bed at ten in Los Angeles.”

      “Not anyone I know. Plus it’s an hour earlier there. I forgot about the time change, which isn’t like me. I apologize.”

      “As it turns out, it doesn’t matter. But I should warn you that ranch folks get up at dawn so we don’t tend to be night owls unless it’s a special occasion.”

      “Then I won’t stay long. And I really don’t need someone to lead me back to town and find me a hotel. I can manage.”

      “No reason for you to do that. We have plenty of room.”

      Geena was stunned. “You’re suggesting I stay here?”

      “I am.”