Page 2 of Cowboy's Sinful Bargain

That was an unusual request.

I shut the door and walked farther into the room, taking a seat across the desk from Monty. My eyebrows lifted a bit when Monty got up and walked over to the shelf on the side of the room and grabbed a bottle of whiskey and two glasses without using his cane.

After a stampede where he'd had his legs trampled, Monty had had to use a cane to get around. It was one of the main reasons I had taken over as foreman. As much as Monty loved the ranch, he wasn't physically able to be in the saddle all day long.

Monty poured us each a glass of whiskey then handed one to me. The man did not sit down. Instead, he carried his glass over to the window and went back to looking out at the pasture land.

"You never met my father, did you?"

"No, sir." The old man had died before I arrived on the ranch.

"He was a hard man, a cold man, but I always knew he loved me in his own way. It was never anything he said really." Montychuckled. "He didn't say much actually, but the knowledge was there when he'd look at me at times."

I wouldn't know. Both my parents died before I was an adult. I missed my mom, but my father could rot in hell as far as I was concerned. Monty had been more of a father to me than he ever had.

"I was in the Marines twenty-six years ago, stationed in Okinawa, Japan when news came in that my father was ill. I flew home, believing that I would be here for a little while and then go back, but then he died and I was tasked with taking over the ranch and ensuring my mother was cared for." Monty glanced back at me. "Since I was an only child, I was the only one who could do it, you understand?"

I nodded.

"I never went back to Japan." Monty turned to look out the window again. "The Marines let me out and I started running the ranch." Monty drew in a deep breath. "And I never went back."

I squinted at the guy. He'd said that twice. "Monty?"

"I have a son," Monty replied. "A son I knew nothing about."

"Holy fuck!"

Monty chuckled, but it wasn't a happy sound. "Apply put."

"Where is he?" I asked. "Is he still in Japan?"

"He's actually on his way here."

My mouth dropped open. "He's on his way here?"

Monty nodded before taking a large drink of his whiskey. "Mitsuaki's mother died when he was born and he was raised by his maternal grandfather, who passed away last week. The family doesn't want him there, so they are sending him here."

Wait, that didn't sound right.

"Who cares what the family wants?" Monty's kid had to be at least twenty-five, which meant he got to make decisions about his life, not his family.

"That's not the way things are done in Japan, at least not in traditional families, and Akari's family is very traditional." Monty snorted out a rude sound. "Hell, I'm surprised they even let Mitsuaki live."

"What?"

Monty grimaced as he looked at me. "Half-American bastard child. I doubt he was greatly accepted by Akari's family. They were very much into the traditional Japanese way of life. They had her whole life all planned out for her from the day she was born, right down to who she would marry, and it wasn't an American Marine from Montana."

I leaned back in my chair and then lifted my glass to my lips and took a sip, and then I took another one. A bigger one.

I needed it.

"So, your son is coming here then?"

Monty nodded. "He's already on his way here."

Right, he'd said that.

I had worked my ass off for the Cross Creek Ranch, planning to spend the rest of my life on this little plot of land. Now, I wasn't sure if that was going to happen. It ignited an anger in my gut that I might have to rethink my plans.

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