The Cowboy's Rebel Heart: An Enemies to Lovers Second Chance Romance (Wild Texas Hearts Book 4)

by Deborah Garland

  “You don’t hear that?” Cam said and sat next to me.

  “Hear what?” I asked him.

  “The giggling.”

  I looked around. All I heard was country music from the jukebox. “Where?”

  “He’s being sarcastic,” Walker said. “The girls are hanging out at Nickel Song.”

  I coughed into my sweet tea. “What?”

  “They had plans to go to Grace’s house, but after she invited Delsey, cowgirls-gone-wild changed to her house,” Walker clarified.

  That explained why I hadn’t heard from her. At that moment Delsey was with each of my friends’ women. Oh boy...

  “Where’s Owen?” I asked Walker.

  “Sleepover.”

  I glanced at Maddie. Those do come in handy. Good for Grace to get a night off.

  The waitress came and took our order. Handing the menus back, I whispered to Cam, “Don’t pull your picking up the check bullshit on me.”

  Cam grinned. “Hey, Walker, how did Fancy Free’s bloodwork look?”

  Walker put down his beer and cinched his eyebrows together. “The colt’s fine. Why?”

  “See?” Cam clinked his beer to my plastic cup. “This just became a business supper.”

  I rolled my eyes and sipped my sweet tea.

  The conversation stayed on Cam’s racehorses and it pinched at me, feeling how much I missed something I truly loved. Then I heard a giggle at the end of the booth. Maddie and Chloe laughing at something on Chloe’s phone. Probably silly Snapchat pics. Seeing Maddie happy wiped all regrets of missing the racing circuit away. Fast.

  I glanced at Jamie who smiled in his phone making goofy faces and then looked at the girls. He was sending them Snapchats, the horse conversation holding no interest for him.

  Jamie caught my stare and gave me a nod of approval. I was doing good, I guessed. Making the sacrifice of going backwards to just a ranch foreman and trainer.

  The meal came and we ate with just a simple conversation shooting around the table. After the plates were cleared away, Jamie grabbed the spotlight and talked about his recent shows out in California, something about his parents showing up, who he’d not seen in years. Then Walker started talking about Emma. With that, Chloe and Maddie itched to get away from us guys in favor of the pinball machines in the back.

  With them gone, supper turned into an interrogation.

  “What’s going on with you and Delsey?” Walker asked me.

  Goddamn small town. I wasn’t sure how much I wanted to indulge. “You all know Delsey owns my house. Well, here it is. I haven’t paid my rent in six months.”

  “You are one smooth talker if you got her to go with you to the Middle School dance instead of paying up,” Cam snorted.

  And that was before we’d had sex.

  “Okay, you sumbitches, here it is.”

  “Whoa...” Cam put a hand on my shoulder. “We’re just—”

  “No.” I reached for my wallet and pulled out everything I had in it. Slamming it on the table, I said, “I’m broke. All right.”

  “We know you’re broke,” Jamie said. “We’ve been trying to help you.”

  “I don’t need help.” I’d been slinging that bullshit so often I actually started believing it. “We worked something out, Delsey and me. In the process, she met Maddie and it turns out my niece is a huge fan of hers. Delsey noticed her leg and got her an appointment to see a prosthetic specialist at the VA hospital. Maddie wanted Delsey to tag along. That’s it.”

  The table fell silent. All eyes watching me until Jamie shook his head. “I call bullshit. That’s not it. Dude, you’re red as a tomato talking about her.”

  I ran a hand over my face, feeling the faint scruff and missing my full beard. Like it had hidden how unhappy I was for nearly a year.

  “Did you sleep with her?” Walker asked, his voice low.

  Oh shit.

  Cam waved his hand. “Okay, that’s really none of our business.”

  Walker sat back. “I only heard about you picking on Delsey in high school from the guys here years later. I was long gone from Wild Heart High by then. And back in school, she never said anything to anyone. But these two hinted you had some kind of crush on her and that’s where it all came from.” Anyone who thought guys didn’t listen or didn’t get into details never met Walker Rhodes. “Our families have been tight forever. And Delsey was like a little sister to me and Parker. Now she’s a grown woman who can handle herself, but let me just lay it on the line now, Logan. You mess with Delsey or break her heart, I will wipe the floor with you. And then I’ll steal Cam’s jet to go to Wyoming, grab Parker, and the two of us...” He stopped and we followed his gaze to see the girls standing at the end of the table.

  “How can Uncle Logan break Delsey’s heart?” Maddie asked.

  “Who’s Parker?” Chloe asked.

  “And that’s enough for us.” Jamie smiled and pushed on Walker’s shoulder to get up. “Cam, you got this?”

  “I got this,” Cam, the billionaire said with a wide grin then sipped his beer.

  My face felt all hot as I watched Cam get up to hug his niece Chloe goodbye. His late sister Layla was Jamie’s high school sweetheart, but they never married.

  “Mads, can I just finish my conversation with Walker?” I eyed her cautiously, to see how she’d react. “Do you need more money for pinball?”

  “No. And Delsey is awesome, Dr. Walker. Uncle Logan would never hurt her.” She hugged me and scampered off.

  Walker and I just stared at each other. After a moment, he nodded and put his fist out to me to bump. “I got a little carried away. Seeing Delsey this week stirred something inside me. Protective-wise. I got the feeling in my gut she’s in trouble somehow. But she wouldn’t open up when I saw her. I’m worried maybe she’s a little vulnerable right now.”

  “What makes you think she’s in trouble?”

  “She loves her life in Houston according to her mother, who talks to my mother every day. But now she’s home in Wild Heart for a whole week. Something’s going on.”

  “She came here to kick me out of my house.”

  Walker scoffed a laugh, and I guess he had that right considering she ended up in my bed.

  “Look, that’s her business, that’s your business. She looked great. Sounded great. Just a little off. I can see what Maddie sees in her. We all know she’s very smart, Logan and someone like Delsey is good for her. Kids need role models. For that reason alone, I don’t mind pummeling you if you do something to hurt her.”

  “And threatening to get that beast of a brother of yours to help was a nice touch.” I reached out to clink his glass.

  “Anything to get his ass home,” Walker grumbled into his beer.

  I exhaled and my eye snagged on Maddie in her pink sweater playing pinball. Already dressing like Delsey with the pink. But my fingers itched to smack around that metal ball, too. “So, grab the Renner jet, fly to Wyoming, and go see your brother.”

  “Delsey said the same thing.” He finished his beer and hissed out a sigh of happiness. “I might just do that.”

  “I settled up the bill.” Cam strutted up to the table and eyed the money I left in the center next to dirty napkins. “And left a big tip.”

  “Hey, I’m just a poor old horse vet next to these rich guys. They can buy me supper any time.” Walker slid out of the booth. “There’s no shame in letting your friends help out.” He punched my shoulder and swaggered to the door, tipping his hat to people on the way out.

  Cam sat across from me. “What can I do?”

  “Nothing. I’m good. We’re good.”

  “I trust that if things got dire and Maddie needed something you couldn’t give her, you’d break down and come to me. Or Jamie. Or anyone. But what about yourself?”

  “You’re a dad now. You know we have to put the kids first.” I nodded and stood up. “You really won’t take this?” I pushed the money toward him.

  “Nope.” Cam crossed his arms
.

  “Dick.” I shoved the bills in my front pocket. “More money to play pinball with Maddie.”

  “Good. She looks good, man. The leg... I noticed she’s walking steadier.”

  “Delsey saw she was having trouble right away and I didn’t.” I choked up.

  “Go with it, man.”

  “With what?”

  “Your gut. If your gut is telling you to go for it with Delsey, do it. I trust you’ll pull out all the stops to make it work. You did an amazing job with Maddie when she needed you the most. Now, I want you to do something for yourself. You want Maddie to be happier? Make yourself happy.”

  That left me with a hell of a lot to think about. I gave Cam a man hug, one of those part palm grab, and then shoulder bumps. “Tell Lake I said hi and kiss that boy of yours.”

  Cam pushed his black Stetson further on his head. “That’s if I can get him away from my father.”

  I choked up, realizing when I had a kid there’d be no grandfather to try to snatch my kid away from. Lake had lost her dad too, in a way, and forged a relationship with Cord. Jamie’s parents were in California and he got his guitar hero Billy Cross as a father-in-law. That left the dad of the woman I’d marry to be the other man in my kid’s life. And Maddie’s.

  I hadn’t met Charles Mackenzie, but he did a great job with his daughter. Whoa, too much to think about.

  Cam left, too and then I met Maddie at the pinball machine, only she was staring at her phone. “Out of quarters?”

  “Nope. Just seeing what Delsey’s doing. No posts to Instagram in a while.”

  Using one of her quarters, I plopped it in the machine and pulled the lever back to take a good shot. “Because here in Wild Heart, we live. We don’t post about living. Now look out, peanut. I’m about to crush your top score.”

  Delsey

  “GRACE, STOP THAT. YOU’RE a guest.” I whisked the Tupperware containers away from her.

  Our eyes had been too big for our stomachs and Verity’s Italian dishes were proportioned for six-foot-tall hungry cowboys. Since this turned out to be a dry girls’ night with Lake breastfeeding, food became the intoxicator. Now I knew where to get the best dang Tiramisu in the state of Texas.

  “And thank you for including me. This was fun.” I hadn’t stopped laughing all night.

  “This is shirt number three.” Lake came out of the powder room off the kitchen with a wet blouse all balled up.

  “Is it normal to leak like that?” Emma asked Lake, pulling at her dress.

  “I have a hungry boy, so my boobs have to be prepared.” Lake flicked her long blue hair that had me thinking about developing a line of hair coloring all night.

  “Owen was a fussy baby. Liked formula more.”

  “Does that...hurt?” I touched my boobs, too.

  Grace and Lake said yes, while Harper said no.

  We all laughed.

  “Maybe girls just don’t...suck as hard,” Harper said and we all tamped down the obvious inappropriate thoughts we were having about men sucking on nipples.

  A wash of arousal soared through me remembering how Logan’s mouth felt on me. I dared not mention what happened. Based on the stories these ladies told, the guys were tight. They’d be protective of Logan. Think I was taking advantage of him being vulnerable given all he’d been through.

  Could I...move back to Wild Heart? Was it best for the company if I stepped down? I believed my products were helping women and why should my output suffer because of some bad PR that wasn’t even based on fact?

  The money part was irrelevant. So long as the stock prices soared, I had a guaranteed income. But what... What the hell would I do with myself? Maybe devote more time to Hearts and Horses. With the VA hospital nearby, maybe Wild Heart needed a therapy center. Get the non-profit set up and lure Logan to work with me?

  I needed more chocolate to process that. I found Lake picking at the mostly devoured Tiramisu wearing a tee-shirt that said Sutherland Farms. Lake Sutherland. That’s right.

  “Hey, Lake, how’s your brother Rafe?” I knew Rafe Sutherland in high school. We were in the same grade, but he ran with a different crowd from Logan. Athlete. Jock.

  “He’s good.” She snuck a look around. “I guess I can tell you guys. They found natural gas on the far end of our land, well his land. Sutherland Farms. I’m a Renner now.” She patted her boobs. “Cam’s father made a fortune from all the extractions made on parts of Renner Ranch, but the agreement expired. The gas company took samples down by the river and found Sutherland Farms had pockets of gas, too. Not as much as the lot Cord gave them access to. But Rafe’s doing pretty well.”

  Natural gas. Fortune. River. Logan...

  “We have a caravan of cowboys lined up to take us home,” Grace said, peeking at my security monitor.

  My heart raced, hoping to see Logan’s truck in the procession. No. Then again why would he be here?

  I watched all the faces light up. Except Grace, who was alone like me. But she and Emma were best friends and I knew that meant Walker would look out for her.

  Best friend... I hadn’t had a best friend in forever.

  “Hey, Grace, can you stick around? I’ll drive you home.”

  She and Emma exchanged looks then hugs. When the house emptied out, I took Grace’s hand.

  “Where are we going?” she asked me, sounding nervous.

  “To my office. All of my tenants’ property records are up there, right?”

  “Yeah. And I scanned everything to the network drive we use.” That was my Grace, so organized.

  In my office, I spun around, not really knowing where the files were. Grace smiled and opened the right drawer. “What are we looking for?”

  “Logan’s land. Well, my land. How far back does the property line go?”

  She shrugged. “I don’t know, let’s get the survey and find out.” She thumbed through the thick folder. “Why?”

  “I smelled the river this morning. It’s back there.”

  Grace stopped thumbing. “This morning?”

  Crap. I exhaled. “I spent the night. With Logan.”

  Grace’s jaw hit the desk. “Oh, okay.”

  “I care about him. And Maddie. We’re both not sure where it can lead. But we don’t want Maddie to get hurt.”

  “I know.”

  “Either way, I’m going to be back here more. You shouldn’t have had to go back and forth with the tenants waiting for me to respond. Those days are over. I enjoyed meeting everyone in person, getting to know them.”

  “Good. That will mean a lot to everyone. What am I looking for on this survey?”

  “Did you hear Lake say the energy company found natural gas on Sutherland Farms down by the river? I don’t know much about geology, but I have a feeling the river is key. And if there’re pockets all along the river and my property line goes down that far... Then I could make a deal with the energy company, too.”

  “That’s great, Delsey. How does that help Logan?”

  “I’m gonna sell him the house. I already have my accountant working out a private loan deal. The same lending arm we’re using for Iona, Damien, and Willow will make a loan to Logan, too. It’s a long shot he’ll take it. I know what his argument would be, if he couldn’t pay rent, how could he pay a land note. If he’s the owner of the land with natural gas...”

  “He can afford...” Grace went breathless. “Anything.”

  “You’re also gonna get a commission on the lending points. You deserve a great bonus for all this extra work you’re doing.”

  Grace looked away and then went into another file. Next, she was laying out a map of Wild Heart.

  “What are you doing?”

  She smirked and from her work bag took out a roll of tracing paper. “Here’re Sutherland Farms and Renner Ranch.” She tore off a sheet of paper and circled the lots the energy company had licensed for gas. Then she moved the see-through paper further down the river to the location we knew was Logan’s house. The plot
points lined up with respect to the distance from the river.

  “This would be amazing for Logan,” Grace said and left me the marked-up tracing paper.

  “I agree.” I fingered the sheet, curious. “Um, Grace, why do you have tracing paper in your bag?”

  She swallowed and a blush spread across her cheeks. “I’ve been taking architecture classes online.”

  “Really.” I sat down, watching her face light up. Now, it made sense, all the sketches with the tenants’ requests.

  “Tatum’s trade school has a program, but I can’t commit to a full schedule. Emma and Walker help with Owen enough. Plus, it’s expensive.”

  I couldn’t help her with Owen, but I could take care of the money issue. “As a VP with the LLC sounds like you deserve some tuition reimbursement, too.”

  She sat in the chair next to my desk. “Thank you. Please don’t think it’s because I’m not happy working for you.”

  I reached out and gripped her balled-up hand. “There’s nothing wrong with having a dream and wanting more for yourself and your son.” I thought about what Walker had said about Owen. Something familiar about him. Like he’d seen Owen’s father somewhere, the boy’s eyes haunting him.

  I straightened my back and the question I thought many people in Wild Heart weren’t brave enough to ask. “Grace? Who’s Owen’s father?”

  Her eyes went wide and she bit her lip, at the same time. I got the sense she was dying to talk about it. Letting go of a breath, she said softly, “His name is Hawk. Well, that’s the name he gave me. I met him at The Whistling Frog. I was new in town. Lonely. Stupid. Reckless. I brought him back to my apartment, the place I had before the house I have now.”

  “Grace, that happens more often than you think. It was, um, consensual, right?” That’s what had me worried the most.

  Grace smiled. “Quite. His looks took my breath away. There was a football game on the television and we talked about the team. He said he played in high school, but when he didn’t offer up where that had been, I didn’t ask. I admit, I liked the idea of a mysterious stranger. I wasn’t looking for a relationship.” She broke into a fit of laughter, holding her stomach. “Funny, I didn’t want to be tied down to a man, but I ended up with Owen.”