Scotsman's Siren (Culpepper Cowboys Book 6) Read online

  Scotsman’s Siren

  Culpepper Cowboys Book 6

  Merry Farmer

  Contents

  Copyright

  Foreword

  Scotsman’s Siren

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Acknowledgments

  About the Author

  Also by Merry Farmer

  Copyright © 2016 by Merry Farmer

  All rights reserved.

  No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.

  Cover design by Erin Dameron-Hill (the miracle-worker)

  Foreword

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  Scotsman’s Siren

  By Merry Farmer

  From the day she was born, Honor Quinlan was forced to live up to impossible standards. Her twin, Grace, was always more feminine, more obedient, and more appreciated, while she was always reminded of how wicked and willful she was. So when she is given the chance to get away from her parents’ iron rule, to move out to the Culpepper ranch in Wyoming—where her older sisters had married the Culpepper cowboys—and to marry rancher, Angus MacFarlane she runs for it.

  But no one who was raised the way Honor was escapes unscathed.

  All Scotsman Angus MacFarlane has ever wanted is a large, loving family, unlike the one he was raised in. He would give his life for Linda Culpepper and her sons and their ranch, especially when it comes to thwarting the machinations of the dastardly cousin Travis. But when Honor sweeps into his life, everything changes.

  For Angus, it’s love at first sight. But can he help her overcome the scars of her childhood and teach her to trust him?

  1

  Angus MacFarlane owed everything to the Culpepper family. Seriously, everything. They’d given him a job, a home, and more affection than his own family could have drummed up if they had a kindness factory that manufactured respect, with a side of common decency, stacked next to all of the other factories in Glasgow. Angus was the last person anyone would expect to find on a ranch in western Wyoming. He was a Glaswegian, a city boy, definitely not one of those romance-novel-worthy Highlanders that the ladies seemed to love. Glasgow was industrial, not rural like Culpepper, and Angus had fled from the city, the country, and the continent as soon as he received his acceptance letter to study agriculture at the first American university that would give him a scholarship. He’d never looked back.

  He didn’t look back now as he strode across the spring-wet ground that separated the stables and the working part of the Culpepper ranch from the houses. Linda’s house in particular. He was on a mission—a mission born out of longing so deep he couldn’t name the place it came from. And there was only one person who could help him.

  His heart thumped with determination in his broad chest as he stepped up to Linda’s front door. He took a moment to wipe his boots on the doormat, run his fingers through his thick, ginger hair in an attempt to tame it, and to brush whatever dirt he could off of his lightweight summer work shirt before knocking on the door.

  A few seconds later, Linda’s voice murmured something on the other side before she threw open the door. “Angus! You know you don’t have to knock. You’re welcome in my house any time.”

  Angus smiled from ear-to-ear. “I wouldnae want to intrude.” He emphasized his accent just for Linda, and had ever since the day she confessed that she liked the way he talked. In reality, he’d been losing his Scottish brogue since the day he set foot on American soil.

  Linda cuffed him on his arm and gestured for him to follow her inside. “You’re right on time. I just finished making some sweet tea. You like sweet tea, don’t you?” The spark of mischief that lit Linda’s eyes was unmistakable.

  Angus grinned, feeling that same mischief himself. “Aye, I do.”

  “Well then, come on in and plop your butt down.”

  “Aye, ma’am.”

  Angus and Linda rounded the corner into the kitchen, and Linda gestured for Angus to take a seat at the kitchen table.

  “Actually, Linda—” It was still a challenge for him to call her by her first name instead of ‘Mrs. Culpepper’ the way his manners dictated. “—I’ve come to talk to you about a matter of some importance.” If Angus had a hat with him, he would have been twirling it nervously in his hands.

  “Some importance?” Linda shooed Angus toward the table and went to grab glasses and a pitcher of sweet tea from the counter. “That sounds serious.”

  “Well, it is. Probably more serious than I know.” He sat down, feeling, as usual, like he might smash the kitchen chair to kindling. He raked a hand through his hair, wishing it would settle down and lay flat. “I wanted to talk to you about women.”

  “Oh?” Linda’s brow flew up. She returned to the table with sweet tea and a wide grin. She set the glass down and squeezed Angus’s shoulder before sitting across from him. “Talk to me, cutie.”

  It was a term of endearment that his own mother never had and never would use with him, so Angus glowed. “I’ve been thinking about taking a wife.” He leaned his thick forearms on the table and put on his most serious face.

  Linda burst into a smile. “That’s fantastic. You got your eye on a young woman in town?”

  Angus winced. “No, no there’s not really time for dating with all the work that needs to be done these days.”

  Linda studied him, nodding. “True. Those underwear models really did a number on Culpepper’s female population.”

  “They sure did,” he agreed.

  “So what’s your plan, then?” Linda leaned closer. “Do you want me to give Dr. Lachele a call for you?”

  He scrunched his face and hummed. “I don’t know if it’s come to that yet. I was hoping you might know a fine young lady you could set me up with.”

  “Me?” Linda sat straighter, pressing a hand to her chest.

  “Aye, you.” Angus laughed. “I figure any girl who meets Linda Culpepper’s standards is good enough for me.”

  Linda blushed and waved off his compliment. “Shucks, Angus. I can’t remember the last time anyone said anything that nice to me.”

  “But it’s true,” Angus went on. “You’re a fine judge of character. If you say a woman is grand, then I’m sure she’s grand.”

  “Thanks for putting so much trust in me.” Linda beamed.

  “It’s well-deserved.” Angus nodded, then kept his head lowered, fighting the heat that came to his face. “And the fact is, well, I’m not the best with the ladies.”

  “Psht, I find that hard to believe,” Linda said. “A handsome and sweet guy like you?”

  The praise settled uneasily on Angus’s shoulders. “Oh, they like me well enough, but…well, I dunno. I’ve never been able to get anything to work out. At this point, I’d rather trust in someone else’s judgment.”

  “I see.” Linda settled back in her chair, gi
ving him a once-over. “And watching my boys get hitched through a matchmaker has turned you on to a whole new way to find a bride.”

  “If you want to put it that way.”

  She hummed and tapped a finger to her lips. “I’ve got an idea.”

  “You do?” Angus sat straighter. He knew it’d been a good plan to come to Linda.

  “You know that the quads have younger sisters, right?”

  “Aye.” He nodded. “I’ve heard your boys talking about them.”

  “Well, they’re coming out here in about a month. Joy has this idea that she wants Grace to marry our lawyer friend, Marcus Wells. That leaves Honor on her own.” She narrowed her eyes and studied Angus a bit more. “I think you would like Honor.”

  “Honor.” He spoke the name aloud, liking the way it sounded. “What do you know about her?”

  Linda shrugged. “Only that she’s a bit of a tomboy. She does woodworking and makes all the cradles for Faith’s doll business. Reading between the lines, I think she took the brunt of their parents’ scolding, but from what I can gather, that’s probably because she’s the most different of the girls.”

  “I see.” Angus leaned back in his chair, rubbing the coarse stubble on his chin. “Does Honor have an email account?”

  “One her parents don’t know about?” Linda added, guessing perfectly where his thoughts were going. “I’m sure Joy would know.”

  “Could you find out for me?” Angus was beginning to feel more excited than he’d felt in years.

  “Sure.” Linda grinned and reached across the table to pat his hand. “Hey, if everything works out between you and Honor and the two of you get hitched, you’ll be family for real.”

  Something huge and warm exploded in Angus’s chest. He would have given just about anything to be a real part of the Culpepper family.

  “I’ll email Honor and start talking to her right away.” He paused in the middle of getting up. “You don’t think she’d find me too forward, talking about marriage right off the bat?”

  Linda chuckled. “If the quads can get married at the spur of the moment because of a matchmaker, and if Grace is thinking of marrying Marcus because Joy says she should, then I don’t see why Honor wouldn’t be open to marrying you after a few emails.”

  That gave Angus hope. He finished standing. “We’ll see, then. But it sounds like Honor Quinlan and I might be just what the other needs.”

  2

  Honor Quinlan loved her twin and her cousins. She did. But if she had to spend another second listening to Grace, Patience, and Felicity talk about cookies and cakes and pies and setting up a bakery—not to mention singing show-tunes—she would either punch someone or pull in at the next donut shop and gorge herself until she was sick. She and Grace were twins and had shared just about everything since the womb, but at that moment, Honor needed to get as far away from her perkier, prettier, girlier twin as possible.

  So the second she pulled the car into the driveway at Linda Culpepper’s house on the ranch where her older sisters had come to marry cowboys, she cut the engine, leapt out the driver’s-side door, blond ponytail flying, and said, “I want to go see the stables.”

  Without waiting for a reply, she walked away.

  “Honor, where are you going?” Grace called after her. “We’re supposed to meet the Culpeppers.”

  Honor’s breath caught in her throat and her heart skipped a beat, but she didn’t stumble as she continued to walk. True, she was in Wyoming to get away from her parents. True, they didn’t know she wasn’t coming back. And also true, after a three-week email relationship with Angus MacFarlane, she’d decided to take the biggest chance of her life and get engaged to him without ever meeting him in person.

  But unlike Grace—always unlike Grace—Honor’s first priority was getting away. No, strike that, her first priority was going somewhere that had horses. Horses before husbands. Angus had been upfront about wanting to marry her from the very first email, but it wasn’t until he’d written at length about the Culpepper stables that Honor was certain she’d say yes.

  It didn’t take long to spot the stable. Kentucky was loaded with horses and stables, and Honor had seen enough from the side of the road, on the local news, and in pictures to know what one looked like. She gasped aloud at the sight of a gorgeous, tall, chestnut horse—she couldn’t tell if it was a mare or a gelding or a stallion from that distance with her untrained eyes—wandering out from the side of the whitewashed building into a wide paddock. Instantly, she picked up her pace to run.

  “Hello, you handsome devil,” she all but shouted as she made her way to the fence around the paddock, and climbed it without a moment’s hesitation.

  The horse lifted its head and snorted at her, curious but cautious.

  “Aren’t you just the most gorgeous thing I’ve ever seen,” Honor went on.

  She approached the horse with respect, hands outstretched, heart thundering. At last, at last, at last! Her big sister, Chastity, had probably felt this way about her wedding night. Honor had never given much thought to those sorts of things one way or another, but as she reached the horse, and as the magnificent thing stilled and sniffed, she spread her hands across its neck and had an idea of what orgasmic bliss was.

  “Oh, you’re wonderful.” She sighed with satisfaction, stroking the horse’s neck. She had to settle for stroking, although what she really wanted to do was wrap her arms around the beautiful animal’s neck and hug it within an inch of its life—like that cartoon character who squeezed the living daylights out of any fuzzy animal and called them “George.”

  The horse nickered and turned its head to watch her as she continued down its side, patting and stroking.

  “This is fantastic. This is amazing.” She breathed in the sweet scent of horse and dirt and clear Wyoming air. “This makes everything worthwhile. Heck, I don’t care who I marry if I’ve got you.”

  “Excuse me?”

  Honor jumped and whipped around to face the owner of the Scottish accent who spoke to her from the open stable door. He wore a puzzled expression on his strong, square-jawed face. And a gorgeous face it was too. Angus MacFarlane had sent her a few pictures through email, but they hadn’t done him justice. And they hadn’t shown how huge he was. Honor had to look up and up as he marched closer, approaching her the same way she’d approached the horse. He was well over six feet, and there she was, five feet if she was lucky. That didn’t stop her from raking her eyes over his muscular form. Heck, the man’s arms were probably as big around as her waist. He was definitely a ranch hand, and one used to doing the grunt work. Best of all, his unruly red hair glowed like an autumn fire when he crossed into the sun from the shade of the barn.

  His hair wasn’t the only thing that caught fire. Her important bits had an instant response to the tall man. She bit her lip before she could stop herself.

  To her side, her new chestnut friend snorted and bobbed its head as if laughing at her. That instantly snapped Honor back to her senses. No way. She would not be that girl. She would not be goofy over guys, like Chastity, or preen and prance, like Grace. Definitely not like Grace. Even though they had the same blond hair and startling eyes, she was the exact opposite of her twin, dammit. No one would lump them into the same box or assume they had the same thoughts or—

  “Cat got yer tongue, lassie?” The man—the Scotsman—Angus—stopped a few yards in front of her. He planted his hands on his hips and grinned.

  Simultaneously, Honor realized she’d been gaping, caught up in her thoughts.

  “Are you Angus MacFarlane?” she asked, her voice way too weak for her liking. She cleared her throat and planted her fists on her hips to counter his stance.

  “Aye, I am.” He nodded, his smile broad. “And you look exactly like your photos, Honor Quinlan.”

  Honor sized him up one more time. Yep, he was as big as the mountains around them, but a sort of gentleness radiated from him. Her heart and body went all melty, but her mind slappe
d them back into submission.

  “That’s me.” Another pause, then she extended her hand boldly and stepped toward him.

  Angus’s ginger brow shot up. His friendly grin dropped to amazement. It was his turn to give her the visual once-over, and as he did, the most adorable blush broke out on his rugged cheeks. He took her hand a beat too late. His hand was big enough to swallow hers.

  “You’re my bride,” he said at last.

  “Yep. It’s nice to finally meet you in person.” Honor gave him a bright smile, then peeked over her shoulder to make sure the chestnut horse wasn’t losing interest and wandering off.

  “Aye, but…you’re so tiny.”

  Honor’s attention snapped back to Angus, and she laughed out loud. “Me, tiny? You’re the mountain here, buddy.”

  “Well, I…” Angus let her hand go and glanced down at himself. When he straightened his shoulders, he smiled and shrugged. “I guess that’s just how we grow them in Glasgow.”

  Honor laughed, but beyond that, she didn’t know how to respond to the comment. Thank God she had an instant good feeling about Angus. Technically, she could have backed out of marrying him if she wanted to. They’d written as much a couple of times, and Angus continued to insist she could back out after meeting him, even after she’d written that she wouldn’t. Because rejecting Angus MacFarlane would mean going home to her parents, and with her other five sisters fleeing home the way they had, her parents would probably never let her see the light of day again.

  Nope, she was going to stay and marry Angus MacFarlane no matter what. She’d made up her mind about that after the second email. It was lucky for her that she liked him at first sight.

  “He likes you,” Angus said, reflecting her thoughts, nodding over Honor’s shoulder.