Almost a Cowboy by Em Petrova Read Free Book Online Page A

ass.
    For a long minute, he stood there, breathing heavily. Finally he picked up the chair and dropped into it again. “Give me the file.”
    Wordlessly, Tom passed it to him. When Utah opened the folder, a dark-haired, blue-eyed child smiled up at him. His unknown brother. Utah felt nothing but disgust when he looked at the kid.
    He flipped the photo over. On the back, written in a feminine hand was Bennett Davies .
    “Goddamn him.” Utah’s words were a burning oath.
    There was a beat of silence, and then, “I realize this will be shocking to the family. I’ll do whatever I can to help you search for these siblings. We’ll postpone the reading of the will until you can bring them all here. But we should try to do this as quickly as possible.”
    With a sharp pain in his stomach, Utah nudged the photo aside. Below Bennett’s photo was another little smiling child. This one with dark shaggy hair and glasses. Utah didn’t want to know the kid’s name.
    “How old are they? Are they minors?” Caroline’s shock sounded in her voice.
    “My guess is that some of them are,” Tom said.
    Utah shut the file and looked at the lawyer. “How am I supposed to find them? You have addresses? Phone numbers?”
    Tom darted a look at Caroline as if drawing her into his alliance in case Utah snapped. Irritation fed into Utah’s veins. “No, that’s all we have. Pictures and names.”
    “Fuck.” Utah shoved the file across the tabletop, and the pictures spilled from the manila folder. One of them was a girl.
    He had a goddamned sister.
    Jumping from the chair, he stomped through the house and out the door. The scents of sweet grasses greeted him but didn’t calm him. This was worse than he’d ever imagined. He was supposed to drop his life and go on a wild sibling chase?
    What life? In the back of his mind he admitted he’d simply been existing. Now he had Caroline, and that was worth all the trouble his father had left.
    When he felt her soft hand slip into his, he turned and gathered her to his chest, holding on to the only thing that would keep him afloat. She wrapped her arms around him. “It’s going to be okay,” she said.
    “You think? Jeezus, Caroline. What the hell kind of man has twelve other kids? They can’t be to one woman.”
    She quivered, maybe from the force of his tone. “Probably not.”
    He lifted his hands to her face, cradling it and staring into her eyes. “You have to help me find them. Caroline, I can’t—” His voice broke, and he hated that his pa had done this—stripped away his control.
    Tom appeared in the doorway, and they pulled apart. “I’ve left the files on the table along with my card. Call me if you need help. I’d be happy to assist you in any way I can. I know the number of a good private investigator.”
    Without releasing his hold on Caroline’s hip, Utah extended his other hand and shook Tom’s.
    Determination broke over him. He’d find every last one of these children who shared Utah’s DNA. He’d damn well bring them together at the ranch, and they’d hear Hollis Davies’s last requests.
    Then Utah would be quit of the whole business. He wouldn’t need to have any further contact with his siblings.
    As he and Caroline watched Tom walk to his rental car, the breeze fluttered her hair against his arm. He caught the tendril and pinched it between his fingers.
    She tilted her head to look at him. “Of course I’ll help you.”
    His throat tightened. He buried his nose in her hair. “Thank you.”
    “C’mon.” Grabbing his hand, she towed him back into the house. The dining room no longer felt so oppressive but somehow alive with the energy of the past. Caroline dropped into Hollis Davies’s chair that Tom had vacated and opened the folder.
    Utah took a seat as she spread the twelve photos on the table like some kind of twisted bingo game. A crazed laugh burned in his chest, but he locked it in. Once twelve pairs of eyes stared up at him, he and Caroline