The Cowboy Next Door--Includes a bonus novella by R. C. Ryan

Author:R. C. Ryan
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Grand Central Publishing
Published: 2019-02-25T16:00:00+00:00

Ben’s small office felt even smaller when his entire family crowded inside.

Dex Cantrel glared at Curtis as he took the seat indicated by Ben. The two men eyed one another in sullen silence.

Finn, who had been in his office in town, had been apprised of the situation and joined the rest of his family.

Mac, Otis, and Roscoe dragged chairs from a back room and took their seats as far away from Ben as the small space would allow.

“Now.” Ben sat straight and tall in the leather chair behind his desk, knowing it gave him the advantage over his two unwilling prisoners. “Let’s begin at the beginning. As I understand it, you two put on quite a show at the Hitching Post. Word around town is you”—he turned the full fire of his gaze on Dex Cantrel—“won ten thousand dollars. And you”—he swiveled his head to shoot a look of disdain at Curtis—“were a willing party to this.”

Curtis nodded.

Ben’s voice deepened with authority. “You went into this game with full knowledge of the risks?”

Curtis swallowed before saying, “That’s right.”

“If you had won, you’d have demanded payment in full.” Ben fixed Curtis with a frigid look. “Is that about right?”

“Yes.”

“But when you lost, you were forced to admit you didn’t have enough to pay your debt.” Ben didn’t wait for a reply before adding, “What kind of fool continues gambling when he knows in advance that he can’t pay off his possible losses?”

Curtis’s voice was hardly more than a whisper. “A desperate one.”

“What made you desperate?”

Curtis clamped his mouth shut, refusing to answer.

Before anyone could react, Sam grabbed the front of Curtis’s shirt and pulled him to his feet.

Getting into his face, he snarled, “You can answer the easy way, or you can answer to me.”

Before he could land his fist in the younger man’s face, Curtis held up his hands in a sign of surrender. “All right.” He sucked in a quick breath before saying, “Before I came to Haller Creek, I was working at a ranch in Wyoming and got in with a rough crowd. I got sucked into some big-time gambling. Horses. Sports. Even when I couldn’t always pay, my bookie carried me and allowed me to keep on betting.”

“Why would he do that?” Ben demanded.

“I agreed to bring him more customers.”

“You were a shill for a bookie?”

Curtis shrugged and stared hard at the floor.

“Okay.” Ben’s harsh tone had the young man looking up quickly. “So, what changed? You stopped bringing him customers?”

Curtis shook his head. “I kept gambling, hoping to win enough to get him off my back. But I…kept losing.” He swallowed. “Finally, I owed so much, he threatened to go to my boss, so I quit my job and moved on to Montana, hoping to start over.”

Sam’s eyes were hard as ice. “Surprise. You didn’t really get away from your past. Your bookie found you.”

Curtis nodded. “I’d been ignoring his calls whenever I recognized his number. When I went in the men’s room of the Hitching Post, my phone rang.

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