One Night with the Cowboy
Page 1
No need for a shotgun wedding this time.
They’re still married!
An impromptu trip to Vegas brings Brielle Channing face-to-face with her ex-husband. Except Caleb Gilmore has some news—the handsome cowboy never signed those divorce papers years ago. Still husband and wife, they rekindle their undying spark and receive the ultimate surprise. But is a baby on the way enough to keep them together when their families are wanting to tear them apart once again?
“Caleb and I grew up together in Haven.”
“So the two of you are...old friends?” Grace guessed.
Caleb looked at Brie again, waiting for her to answer.
“Yes,” she agreed. “Old friends.”
He gave the slightest shake of his head then, as if he was disappointed by her response.
“We’re a little more than that,” he said, and though he was answering Grace’s question, his eyes never left Brie’s face.
“How much more?” Lily asked curiously.
He settled a hand on Brie’s knee, the casual gesture of a man accustomed to touching a woman.
Her breath caught in her throat as the contact caused her blood to heat and race through her veins, the effect of his touch exactly the same as it had been so many years before.
The barest hint of a smile tugged at the corners of his mouth as he registered her body’s instinctive response to the contact before she drew her leg away. He shifted his attention to her friends and finally responded to Lily’s question.
“Actually, Brielle is my wife.”
* * *
MATCH MADE IN HAVEN:
Where gold rush meets gold bands!
Dear Reader,
Falling in love is an exciting and exhilarating experience. Falling in love for the first time is all that and more—and the newness and intensity of the feeling guarantees the experience will live on in our memory forever.
When that first love leads to first heartbreak, most of us put the pieces back together and discover love again with someone new. But for some, that first love lasts forever...
Caleb Gilmore and Brielle Channing were the Romeo and Juliet of Haven—their love for one another would not be denied. And like Shakespeare’s title characters, their happiness was destroyed by feuding families.
Seven years later, an unexpected encounter stirs up old feelings again—and one night together has long-term consequences.
Will these star-crossed lovers risk their hearts again for a second chance at happily-ever-after? You’ll have to read to the end to find out.
I hope you enjoy Caleb and Brielle’s story—and please look for the next book in my Match Made in Haven series, coming spring 2020!
All the best,
Brenda Harlen
PS: I’d like to shout out a sincere thank-you to Melissa Burton (#heartinnybodyinla) for answering my strange and numerous questions about life in Brooklyn. All the good details are hers—any mistakes are my own.
One Night with the Cowboy
Brenda Harlen
Brenda Harlenis a former attorney who once had the privilege of appearing before the Supreme Court of Canada. The practice of law taught her a lot about the world and reinforced her determination to become a writer—because in fiction, she could promise a happy ending! Now she is an award-winning, RITA® Award–nominated national bestselling author of more than thirty titles for Harlequin. You can keep up-to-date with Brenda on Facebook and Twitter or through her website, brendaharlen.com.
Books by Brenda Harlen
Harlequin Special Edition
Match Made in Haven
The Sheriff’s Nine-Month Surprise
Her Seven-Day Fiancé
Six Weeks to Catch a Cowboy
Claiming the Cowboy’s Heart
Double Duty for the Cowboy
Those Engaging Garretts!
Baby Talk & Wedding Bells
The Last Single Garrett
Montana Mavericks: The Lonelyhearts Ranch
Bring Me a Maverick for Christmas!
Montana Mavericks: The Great Family Roundup
The Maverick’s Midnight Proposal
Visit the Author Profile page at www.Harlequin.com for more titles.
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This book is dedicated to my dad.
Daniel Stickles
5 December 1931–25 September 2018
My first hero. Forever in my heart.
Contents
Prologue
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
Chapter Fifteen
Chapter Sixteen
Epilogue
Excerpt from Their Inherited Triplets by Cathy Gillen Thacker
Excerpt from Love and the Laws of Motion by Amanda Weaver
Prologue
Brielle Channing slid out of bed in the darkness before dawn, dressing quickly in a plain T-shirt, a pair of well-worn jeans and her favorite cowboy boots. She didn’t need any light to make her way down the stairs, out the back door and toward the stables—she’d traveled the familiar route more times than she could count.
She saddled up Domino, the black gelding with white markings, and tried not to think about the fact that this would be their last ride before Brie piled her bags into the back of her father’s truck and headed to the airport. She would miss her equine companion as much as she’d miss her parents and sister and brothers, but the hardest goodbye would be the one she said this morning, by the stand of ponderosa pines on top of the rocky ridge that formed part of the northern boundary of the Crooked Creek Ranch.
By the time she led Domino out of the barn, the sun had begun to rise, painting streaks of orange, pink and purple across the early morning sky. She lifted herself into the saddle, then let her horse take the lead, bending low over Domino’s back as the gelding galloped across the field, hooves biting chunks out of the tired, dry soil. The wind whipped through Brie’s hair and made her eyes sting, but she kept them open and focused to absorb all the sights and scents and sounds of the world around her—as if to lock them into her memory forever.
The sky was more light than dark now, and she could see the outline of the simple cabin that had been built as a shelter for cowboys caught by unexpected severe weather. The first time she’d given herself to Caleb Gilmore had been in that cabin, and the primitive shelter had become their private refuge from everything that wanted to tear them apart.
She was thinking about Caleb as she dismounted and led Domino to the narrow stream to drink. The boy she’d known for most of her life had always been serious and intense, and when he’d focused that intensity in her direction, she hadn’t stood a chance.
Not that she’d resisted. Not even for a minute. Because she’d loved Caleb Gilmore with every beat of her heart—and loving him had nearly destroyed her family.
The thundering hooves of Indigo, his prized stallion, crashed through her reverie moments before horse and rider came into view. As always, the sight of him made her body quiver and he
r heart sigh. Though barely twenty, he was already so much more man than boy: over six feet tall with a solid build that attested to years of work on his family’s cattle ranch. He controlled the powerful animal beneath him with a light hand on the reins and subtle signals from the strong thighs that gripped its flank. Indigo pulled up and Caleb slid off the stallion’s back, releasing the reins so the animal could dip its head to drink from the stream beside Domino.
Though Caleb’s face was shaded by the brim of his hat, Brie felt the intensity of his gaze on her. After a long minute, he finally said, “I hear you’ve decided on Columbia.”
She nodded. “It’s a really good school,” she said, because it was true, though not even a fraction of the whole truth.
“So’s UC Berkeley,” he pointed out, naming the college she’d originally planned to attend.
She nodded again.
“But California wasn’t far enough from Haven,” he guessed.
“I just think it’s best, for everyone, if we put some distance between us,” she said.
He shook his head. “Do you really believe that?” he challenged. “Because I can guarantee it’s not best for me, and I don’t think it’s what you want, either.”
She’d known this wouldn’t be easy, but she hadn’t imagined it could be this hard. After everything they’d been through over the past few weeks, her heart should be numb. But it wasn’t—it was torn open and bleeding, and she knew that going away from here, away from Caleb, was the only way to make the hurting stop.
She had to swallow before she could speak. “I’ve always wanted to get out of this town,” she told him, her voice breaking just a little. “And you’ve never wanted to be anywhere else.”
“You didn’t always want to get out of this town,” he contradicted. “There was a time when you wanted to be my wife and help me build our home on the Circle G.”
“That was before I knew that the idea of a Blake married to a Gilmore would give my grandfather a heart attack.”
“Your grandfather is a grumpy old man whose heart is kicking along just fine with his new pacemaker. And you’re a Channing, not a Blake.”
“My mother was a Blake,” she reminded him, as she retrieved a manila envelope from her saddlebag. “And her blood runs through my veins.”
He had no choice but to take the envelope she thrust into his hands. “There’s nothing I can say that will change your mind, is there?”
She shook her head. “This is a great opportunity for me.”
“And when you’re finished with school—what will you do then?” he asked. “Will you come home?”
She looked away. “I don’t know.”
“Yeah, you do,” he said, his tone resigned as he hoisted himself into the saddle again. “Good luck in New York, Brie.”
Then he rode away, Indigo’s hooves trampling the already broken pieces of her heart.
Chapter One
Seven years later
“We’re going to Las Vegas!”
The words stole the air from Brie’s lungs, like the first big drop of the Cyclone at Coney Island. But unlike the thrill of plunging eighty-five feet at sixty miles an hour, there was no exhilarating rise that followed—only an uncomfortable queasy feeling.
Judging by Lily’s excited squeals, she had an altogether different reaction to the announcement.
“Okay.” Grace clapped her hands together and grinned. “Stop squealing and start packing—we fly out at eight forty-five tomorrow morning.”
“Tomorrow?” Brie echoed, when she’d managed to find her voice. “But—”
“Don’t you dare say you can’t go,” Grace interjected. “We talked about this months ago, and we all agreed that we would take a long weekend to celebrate my twenty-fifth birthday.”
“Of course I’m going to celebrate with you,” she assured her friend. “I just thought you’d want something a little more...or maybe a little less. And Vegas in August is going to be sticky and gross.”
“Worse than New York?” Lily asked dubiously.
“Trust me,” Brie said.
“I realize you’ve probably been there a thousand times,” Grace said. “But I never have and that’s where I want to go. Plus, the plane tickets and hotel are already paid for by my parents as their birthday present to me.”
Although Brie had grown up less than 450 miles from Las Vegas, she’d only ever made one trip to Sin City. One unforgettable trip more than seven years earlier, and though the heartache had begun to fade, she knew she could never forget the man—or their reasons for making that trip.
“Now I’m off to the obligatory birthday dinner with the family at Per Se,” Grace continued, already heading toward the stairs. “Make sure you pack your party clothes—I want to celebrate my quarter-century milestone in a big way.”
Lily pushed off the sofa. “I knew there was a reason I bought that sexy red dress at Bergdorf’s last weekend.”
“I thought you bought it because you couldn’t resist a sale,” Brie noted dryly.
Her friend grinned. “That, too.”
Lily disappeared into her bedroom to begin packing, and Brie decided to do the same, albeit with less enthusiasm. Because going to Nevada naturally made her think about Haven, where she’d grown up and where most of her family still lived, and thinking about Haven brought back memories of Caleb, the first—and only—boy she’d ever loved. And even after seven years, those memories made her heart yearn.
When she left Haven, she didn’t think she’d ever go back. And for the first four years, she hadn’t. Then her grandmother died, and she’d needed to grieve with her family. Two years after that, she’d returned for a much happier occasion: the wedding of her brother Spencer to Kenzie Atkins, Brie’s best friend throughout high school. The next spring, she’d gone back for the birth of her sister Regan’s twin baby girls—and again for Piper and Poppy’s baptism.
Each successive trip had been a little easier than the one before. Of course it helped that she didn’t need to worry about running into Caleb, because her parents had built a big house closer to town a few years earlier and he rarely ventured far from the Circle G.
She pulled her suitcase out from under her bed now and set it on top of the mattress—and vaguely wondered if she could fake being sick to avoid the trip. She immediately felt guilty for even contemplating such a ruse, but the way her stomach tied itself into knots at the prospect of returning to Las Vegas, she might not have to fake anything.
But she would do this for Grace. She would do anything for either of the two women who’d been her best friends since her first week in New York, when they’d met as freshmen residents of Hartley Hall.
There was a light tap on the partially open door, then Lily poked her head into her room. “Can I come in?”
“Of course,” Brie invited.
Her friend looked at the still empty suitcase, then at her. “You absolutely hate the idea of going to Las Vegas, don’t you?”
Brie opened a drawer and began rifling through the contents. “There are a lot of other places I would have preferred to visit, but I can understand why Grace wants to go. Everyone should experience Sin City at least once.”
“I’m not particularly close to my family—as you know,” Lily admitted. “But even I go home at least three times a year.”
“My parents come to New York periodically.”
“They come here,” her friend agreed. “How often do you go there?”
In the past year, more than she’d wanted to, but Brie knew that response would only raise more questions. “I don’t enjoy traveling as much as they do,” she suggested as an explanation instead.
“Says the woman who visited ten countries in Europe on her summer vacation last year,” Lily noted.
“That was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.”
Her friend low
ered herself onto the mattress, leaning against the headboard with one leg tucked up beneath the other. “Las Vegas is 432 miles from Haven,” she pointed out.
A detail of which Brie was well aware, but not one that she’d expect an East Coast native to know.
Her surprise must have shown on her face, because Lily shrugged and explained, “I looked it up.”
Brie continued packing.
“Are you ever going to tell us what happened to make you leave Nevada and never want to return?” her friend asked gently.
“What can I say? I love New York.”
“I know that’s true, but I also know it’s not the whole truth.”
Brie sighed. “Maybe I should have told you—and Grace—a long time ago, but I was feeling too raw and vulnerable at first. And then, as time passed, I realized that my heartbreak wasn’t nearly as big a deal as it seemed.”
“It must have been a bigger deal than you’re pretending now,” Lily said. “Or the thought of going to Nevada wouldn’t have you strangling that dress the way you are.”
She immediately unclenched her hands and shook out the garment, then folded it neatly into her suitcase. “It wasn’t a big deal,” she insisted. “I simply fell in love with the wrong guy.”
“Why was he wrong?” her friend wondered.
“Our families were the Montagues and Capulets of Haven,” she explained. “And while the whole star-crossed lovers thing seemed incredibly romantic at the time, it didn’t end well.
“No big surprise there, of course, but I chose to walk away with a broken heart rather than put a dagger through it.”
“Are you still in love with him?”
“It was seven years ago,” she reminded Lily.
“Which doesn’t actually answer the question,” her friend noted.
“I’m not still in love with him,” she said, because she needed to believe it was true.
After more than seven years, she didn’t want to admit—even to herself—that Caleb Gilmore still owned the biggest piece of her heart.