by Leslie North
“What’s this?” she asked, an inkling forming in her head.
Cal turned her to face him, meeting her eyes. “I was wrong when I told you that I could only be happy on the rodeo circuit. I was thinking too small, and I want to change that. I’ve bought this property to start my own place where I can train kids to become rodeo riders. I want them to love riding and rodeo as much as I do. It’s going to take some work to get it up and running, but I can do it.”
Amy watched his expression as he spoke. He was excited about the project.
“I want to stay here and make this a success. And I hope you’ll give me another chance. I love you, Amy, and I want us to be together. You, me, and Henry,” he said, continuing before she could tell him that she loved him, too. “I get that you might not want me back, but I’m here to stay regardless. I’ve found my place and my dream. It would be complete if I had you with it, but I’ll understand if that won’t work for you.” He squeezed her hand. “I’m hopeful, though, that you’ve got it in you to forgive me so we can share a life. I love you so much. I didn’t know I could love someone like this.”
“Cal, I—”
“And if you need more time, take it. Take as much time as you like but let me be part of yours and Henry’s lives while you decide.” Finally, he stopped talking. She opened her mouth to speak, to pour out that she loved him, too and wanted to be with him, but it turned out he wasn’t actually done.
“I know that I can never replace Luke,” Cal continued. “But I swear I’ll dedicate my life to making you and Henry happy. Whatever it takes, I’ll gladly do it.”
In that moment, Amy realized that Jake was right. Cal did have an unrealistic perception of Luke. She had to dispel that or Luke would always come between them. She needed to have that talk with Cal before she could tell him how she felt. But not here.
She gave a tug on his hand toward the barn door. “I have things to say, too. Come with me. I want to show you something.”
20
Cal followed Amy across the road to the farmhouse that had just been sold. She was silent as they walked, so he was, too. He desperately wanted to keep talking, to make his case why she should be with him, but it was her turn to talk and his to listen. She walked straight up onto the house’s porch and unlocked the front door with a key she took from her pocket.
“I’m in the process of buying this house so I can move off the ranch,” she said as they walked through the door into a formal parlor. “My offer’s been accepted, so the agent let me have the key so I could measure for furniture.”
“You bought a house?” Cal asked. “Why?”
She spun around to face him when they reached the second room. “I bought it because I don’t want you to think that you’ll always be living in Luke’s shadow, and that’s what would happen if I’d stayed on the ranch. I bought this beautiful old place so we could be together.”
Cal was stunned. She’d bought the house and he’d bought the barn across the street. Was this some kind of fate? He felt a surge of happiness well up in him. It was the best feeling he’d ever known, and he stepped closer to kiss her, but she held up her hand.
“There’s more, though,” she said. “I need to talk to you about my marriage to Luke.”
Cal’s heart instantly sank. Here’s where she’d tell him that she could never love him as much as she had her first husband, the perfect Luke. Could Cal accept that and stay in a relationship with her? He’d have to because he couldn’t let her go.
She half-turned away and looked around the room. She drew in a breath, and Cal waited for the inevitable.
“I fell in love with Luke when we were college students. We were young and immature, but happy, really happy. When I got pregnant, we married and came home to the ranch. I loved being there, but that didn’t mean my marriage was perfect or that Luke was a paragon. He could be a very difficult man at times, always insisting on things being done his way. I felt…I felt like I had no voice in our relationship. He was so used to being the golden boy, to having everyone adore him, that he got very defensive at any hint of criticism. He could never admit he was wrong. He could never consider someone else’s point of view. And he could never seem to realize that I had thoughts and feelings and wants outside of him. I began to dread the years ahead.” The words seemed to pour out of her. “I fell out of love with him. There were even times when I didn’t even like him. I realized my marriage was failing months before his death. I thought about leaving him, but I couldn’t do that to Henry, and the Thornes were so good to me, so I committed myself to dealing with a disappointing marriage and making the best of things.”
Cal saw that she was trembling with emotion and took her into his arms. “You don’t have to say any more.” She shook her head against his chest and pulled back enough to meet his eyes.
“I do. I felt so guilty when he died because I was actually a tiny bit relieved. That’s why I went to see the grief counselor. She was the only one to know about this until now, although I think Jake and Brian had their suspicions.”
The twins’ demands of Cal from the night before suddenly made sense. They’d seen how their brother had dismissed Amy’s feelings and wishes. No wonder they were so protective of her. They knew what she’d endured.
“So you see, you have nothing to live up to,” Amy said with a glimmer of tears in her eyes. “You’re not my second choice, Cal. You’re the love of my life. I was scared to leave town with you because I was afraid of making the same mistake again, of losing myself in a man. I realize now that wouldn’t happen with you. You’ve been so good to me, so caring and considerate of my needs. I want to offer the same to you, so if you need to spend a few months a year traveling with the rodeo in order to be happy, I get that. I’ll be here waiting for you to come home to.”
She was giving him a choice to keep the life that he’d loved for the past decade and have her, too. For a second, he was tempted by her offer. There was security in knowing the rodeo life was still open to him. But, somehow, traveling from place to place had lost its appeal. He was surer than ever that his priorities had changed, and he couldn’t see any reason to leave her.
He cupped her cheeks and brought her face closer to his. “I love you even more for being willing to let me leave, but there’s no happy ending for me that involves being away from you for months at a time.” He kissed her softly. “You’re stuck with me for as long as you’ll have me.”
“I’m going with forever.” Tears tracked down her cheeks and he flicked them away with his thumbs.
“I’m hoping those are happy tears,” he said, dropping kisses on her forehead and closed eyelids.
“Very happy. Ecstatic, even.”
He kissed her lips then in the home that would be theirs. He wished it were already furnished and they were moved in, but that would come in time.
“Can we go to the ranch?” he asked when the kiss ended. “I’d like to see Henry.”
“He’ll be thrilled to see you,” she said, and her face grew serious. “His one concern about moving off the ranch was that you wouldn’t be able to find him. I promised him that you always would.”
“I will.” Cal’s heart was so full of love he almost didn’t know what to do. “I want to make love to you tonight and sleep in your bed without having to lie about staying on the couch.”
“That sounds like a perfect ending to the day,” she said, taking his hand and walking out of the home where they’d spend the years ahead.
Epilogue
Cal walked through the crowd on the way to his event at the charity rodeo. From the look of things, it was an overwhelming success and the town would be building its new community center soon. The temporary arena was in the open air with bleachers surrounding it. A huge white tent was set up nearby with food and merchandise for sale. People looked like they were having a great time and spending lots of money.
“Good luck, Cal,” a voice called out and he spotted Rafael in the stands sitting with Jake and Br
ian. He waved to them and continued on. It was his final bronc ride, and he had expected to feel some sorrow or regret at leaving competitive rodeo. He felt pumped instead. The life he was making for himself was too damn good to have regrets.
He caught a look of surprise on a woman’s face and tipped his hat to her. He could guess what was going through her head. Some folks in town continued to give him a double take, thinking they were seeing Luke, but Cal no longer minded. Most of the community had come to know him for who he was, and the rest would in time. Cal Pierce, former rodeo rider and future owner of a rodeo training center. Word had spread quickly through the area that he was opening the facility and he already had interest from parents who wanted to enroll their kids. He figured by fall he’d be up and running and ready for students.
Soon enough, too, the people of Darby Crossing would recognize him as Amy’s husband. He told himself he had to be patient on that one. He and Amy had known each other for only a month, and he should give her time to be confident that he was sticking around. He never wanted her to doubt that. But he’d spotted the perfect ring in a jewelry store in a nearby town and bought it. It was hidden away in the tack room of his barn, but he couldn’t stop himself from pulling it out just to look at it all the time. He wanted to propose, get married, move into the farmhouse with her, and begin their life together.
Patience, he reminded himself. It would all come true in time. And for now he needed to focus on his event. Cal made his way to the chute and pulled his hat down farther on his head. He dropped into the saddle and the gate was flung open. The horse came out bucking, trying to unseat Cal by standing on his hind legs and coming down hard on its front end, but Cal hung on, ticking off the seconds in his head before kicking free.
He didn’t need the roar of the crowd to tell him it was a good ride, and he was happy about that. His name and reputation had been used to draw people to the event, and his rides throughout the day had been some of his best. As he got to his feet and waved, he acknowledged that that part of his life was over, but he smiled as he found Amy and Henry on the edge of the arena. Henry scrambled over the fence and ran toward him, and Cal swung him up onto his shoulders and headed for Amy.
“Nice ride, cowboy,” she said, giving him a pat on the cheek and a kiss. “Can you watch the last event with us?”
“Love to,” he said as they made their way to an empty space on the bleachers near the rest of the Thorne family. Cal put Henry on the seat between them, not that the boy sat still with the excitement of the rodeo all around them.
Amy smiled at Cal over Henry’s head and he remembered that she’d taken an emergency phone call from the mayor an hour or so ago. “What did the mayor want?” he asked. “Nothing bad, I hope.”
“Not bad, just surprising,” she said. “Diane is thinking about retiring at the end of her term. She thinks I should run for mayor. I’m not sure what I think about that.”
“Are you kidding? You’d be great at it,” he said. “You love this place and look at the amazing success of the event you put on.” He gestured to the people gathered for the rodeo.
“I’ll think about it,” she said, but she was smiling. He didn’t think it would take too much encouragement to get her to pursue being mayor. Damn, he was proud of her.
“Oops,” Henry yelled and dropped under the bleachers to pick something up. “Don’t want to lose my hidden treasure.” He came up, putting a shiny item in his jeans pocket.
“What was that?” Amy asked as Henry scrambled back to the seat. “Let me see.”
Henry dug in his pocket again and held out a diamond ring on his open palm. Cal gasped. It was the engagement ring he’d bought for Amy.
“Henry, that has to be valuable,” Amy said, reaching for the ring, but Henry closed his fist around it. “We need to find the owner. Someone is going to be looking for it.”
“I didn’t find it here,” Henry said. “It was in Uncle Cal’s barn. I was playing in the tack room yesterday, and I found it in the back of a drawer in a little box. Somebody must have left it there. Can I keep it?”
Amy’s eyes met Cal’s as she put two and two together. And she smiled. Cal searched for a sign that he was moving too fast, but all he saw on her face was happiness. If she looked that happy about the idea of being engaged to him, he wasn’t waiting another minute.
“Henry.” Cal leaned close and whispered in the boy’s ear. “I bought that ring for your mother because I want to marry her. You okay with that?”
“You bet I am.” Henry whispered back and handed the ring to Cal.
Cal hadn’t planned this, but it felt right. He dropped to one knee in front of Amy and reached for her hand. “Amy, this may be too soon for you, but I’ve never been surer of anything in my life. I love you and I’m asking you to be my wife.”
“I would be so happy to be your wife,” she said with no hesitation.
As he slid the ring onto her finger, a chorus of congratulations came from the people around them, but the loudest was from Henry. His wild whoop made heads turn everywhere in the crowd.
Amy hugged her son before bending to kiss Cal’s lips. “You make me happy,” she said so only he could hear.
“I plan to keep doing that for a long time to come.” He gathered her in his arms and didn’t intend to ever let go.
End of Cowboy’s Unexpected Family
Thorne Ranch Brothers Book One
Cowboy’s Unexpected Family, June 17, 2021
Sheriff’s Pregnant Ex, June 24, 2021
Rancher’s Pregnant Partner, July 1, 2021
PS: Do you loved rugged men? Then keep reading for exclusive extracts from Sheriff’s Pregnant Ex (Thorne Ranch Brothers Book Two) and The Rancher’s Inherited Family (McCall Ranch Brothers Book One).
Thank You
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About Leslie
Leslie North is the USA Today Bestselling pen name for a critically-acclaimed author of women's contemporary romance and fiction. The anonymity gives her the perfect opportunity to paint with her full artistic palette, especially in the romance and erotic fantasy genres.
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BLURB
Passion doesn't play by the rules...
As the local sheriff, Brian Thorne believes the safety of the whole town rests on his broad shoulders. So when the owner of the diner hires a troubled waitress to help out, Brian agrees to provide summer lodging for her new employee.
But to Brian's surprise, the waitress turns out to be his old college girlfriend, Caitlin Baker. The same Caitlin Baker
he shared a night of passion with, not long ago. Still, that's all in the past. He’s got a town to protect and no time to frolic. So why does he feel so disappointed when Caitlin agrees to keep things strictly platonic?
Caitlin spent most of her adult life trying to get away from a town filled with bad memories. She thought she was finally going to make it in the city, until her plans for opening a tattoo parlor went bust after her ex stole her life’s savings. Now, she’s back, and wondering if her feelings for Brian are strong enough to overcome the past…
It was just supposed to be one summer. But how can she leave behind the only man she’s ever loved?
Grab your copy of Sheriff’s Pregnant Ex (Thorne Ranch Brothers Book Two)
June 24, 2021
(Available for Pre-Order on June 17, 2021)
www.LeslieNorthBooks.com
EXCERPT
Brian Thorne tipped back the craft beer, a smooth porter produced by a local brewery. It hit the spot after the day he’d had, and he was probably going to have another and maybe some dinner before leaving the country bar. He glanced around him. The Friday night crowd was thick, and the music had the dance floor swinging with bodies in Stetsons and cowboy boots.