“Is it going to live?” Alana whispered.
“Give it a minute. She’s only been cleaning it up for a few seconds.” Pax slipped an arm around her waist. “Look. She took her first breath. That’s one good-lookin’ girl you got there.”
“Yes, she is.” Alana nodded. “She’ll grow up to be a breeder.”
“You do know that you are going to own everything on this ranch, so why do you have a personal herd?” Pax asked.
The baby struggled up onto its wobbly legs and bawled. The mama nudged it toward her udder, and the calf began to have its first meal.
“I started my own herd when we were showing cattle at the county fair. Remember, you and I competed a lot of times in FFA?” She didn’t take her eyes off the mother and baby.
“Of course I remember,” he said. “One of my proudest moments was when my steer beat out yours when we were seniors.”
“Daddy told me not to show that animal, but I wouldn’t listen to him. God, I feel sorry for parents of kids who are seniors now,” she said.
“Amen!” Pax remembered all the things he’d put his grandmother through when he was a senior in high school. “We knew everything about everything that year, didn’t we? If we were half as smart now as we thought we were then, we’d be runnin’ the whole world.”
“We were going to set the world on fire, for sure.” Alana nodded. “Anyway, I’ve built up my own little herd, but I’ve never spent a dime of the money I made from it. It’s all going into a savings account for my first child’s college fund.”
“Oh, so the second and third ones don’t get to go to college?” he teased.
“No, that’s on you to provide for the rest of them,” she giggled.
“Now who’s being funny?” he asked.
* * *
The heifer in the other stall bawled, and Alana whipped around to go see about her. By the time she opened the gate, Pax was right beside her. This time, there were no hooves in sight and the heifer was heaving with the contractions that were coming every few seconds.
“She’s in distress.” Alana wasn’t worried, though. With Pax’s help she was confident that the two of them would take care of her prize heifer. She dropped to her knees, threw off her chambray shirt, and rubbed the animal’s sides. “Come on, sweetheart. You can do this. I know you can.”
Minutes seemed like hours before the calf finally entered the world, hooves first like it was supposed to. Pax held a hand out to her. She let him help her to her feet, and then the two of them watched the young mother take care of her baby like nature had taught her to do.
“I never get tired of the feeling I get when there’s a new calf born on the ranch.” She sighed. “It’s like the next generation coming on.”
“It really is, and I feel the same way,” Pax agreed.
“You ever wonder if we could read a mama cow’s expression, would it be like new parents staring at their baby through a hospital nursery window?” Alana asked.
“I expect that mothers feel the same no matter what the species. Think about a mama cat. She would take on an elephant if it tried to mess with her kittens,” Pax answered.
Alana caught a whiff of his shaving lotion—something woodsy and sexy. Meantime, her hair was a fright from working outside all day. She had perspired so much her skin felt to her like she’d been rolled in salt. Her tank top was dirty and her work shirt likely ruined.
Pax let go of her hand and reached out to brush her hair away from her face. “Congratulations on a job well done, ma’am.” He bent to brush a sweet kiss across her lips.
* * *
“One of each.” Pax smiled at Alana. She might look like a mess right then, but to him she was beautiful. He recognized the pride at having two new calves to add to her herd and knew exactly what she was feeling. He’d had the same bursting feeling in his heart when any new calf was born over on the Callahan Ranch.
“You got a girl over there.” He nodded in the direction of the other stall. “And a boy right here. Both seem healthy, and that bull calf looks to me like he could be a good enough breeder to pay for a semester of college.”
“Yep,” she said. “Thanks for being here with me.”
“Aw, shucks!” He kicked at the straw on the barn floor. “You would’ve done fine without me.”
She looked him right in the eyes without blinking. “Maybe, but it felt good to have you here, Pax.”
“Then you are so welcome. Bringing those calves into the world meant more than going out dancing,” he admitted.
“Spoken like a true rancher.” She took a deep breath, as if she was about to say something else, but changed the subject. “I need a shower. I can feel dirt growing on me.”
“I guess I should go,” he said.
“Why?” She grabbed him by the hand and pulled him along with her. “I’m too nasty to even get in either of our trucks. There’s a bathroom off the tack room. I’ll take a shower there and then we can watch a little television or talk.”
She opened the door to the neatest tack room he’d ever been in. Most barns that had a storage room for things like saddles and tools smelled like old sweaty leather and had no air-conditioning. This place was spic-and-span, clean and cool. Alana went to a small refrigerator and took out a beer for him. “Remote is on the end table. Is something wrong?”
“No, but our tack room sure doesn’t look or feel like this,” he said.
“Daddy turned it into his little poker cave a few years ago, back when we sold the last of our horses and went to four-wheelers to round up cattle. Then he built a room on the back side of the barn to store what was left in here when he got rid of the saddles. The only ones left on the place are my saddles. The one that I used to ride my Shetland when I started training to barrel race, and a couple of others are at the house on display in Daddy’s den.”
“I thought you were a bronc rider.” Pax turned the bottle up and drank from it.
“I was until a couple of years ago. I got tired of the aches and pains,” she admitted as she disappeared behind a door.
Pax sunk down in a buttery-soft leather futon and looked around. A poker table, complete with chips in the middle of it, was to his left and a desk with a computer on the top sat to his right. When he and his friends played poker, it was usually around the kitchen table. He picked up the remote, but before he could push the power button, he caught the reflection of pictures on the wall behind him on the television screen. He stood up and turned around to see a collection of photos of Alana. The center one was of her on a Shetland pony, holding a blue ribbon. A couple of the pictures had Alana’s mother, Joy, in them with her and her pony.
“She sure looks like Joy did,” he muttered.
His eyes went back to the first photo, and he remembered Alana wearing her hair in two braids like that when they were in elementary school. She’d always been tall, but to him, she’d been beautiful even then.
“And she intimidated the hell out of me,” he whispered as he studied several more shots of her in her bronc riding days. Those would have been right after high school, when he had begun to really compete with her to prove to himself—and to her—that she shouldn’t have slapped him over that first kiss, or given him dirty looks all through high school. Mam used to tell him that things happened when they were supposed to, not necessarily when folks wanted them to. Maybe he and Alana weren’t supposed to be friends or even more until now.
“If that’s the case,” he muttered, “then what has a fake engagement got to do with anything, and where is it leading us?” Finally, he sat back down, turned on the television, and started channel surfing.
He was watching a bull-riding event when she finally came out of the bathroom. She’d twisted a white towel around her head, and a pair of bright red shorts with turquoise trim peeked out from under an oversize T-shirt. She smelled like vanilla and roses mixed together, and there was a whiff of coconut when she removed the towel and shook her blond hair out.
“Oh, I
love bull riding,” she said as she sat down beside him, reached across him, and picked up his beer. She took a long drink and then handed the bottle to him. “Thank you. I needed that.”
“I don’t mind sharing with a beautiful woman.” He winked at her.
“I sure don’t feel pretty with wet hair and dressed like this,” she said.
“Well, darlin’, Mam always said that beauty from the inside outshines anything on the outside,” he told her.
“My mama said the same thing,” she said and then got quiet.
“What’s wrong?” he asked.
“Tomorrow will be the first Sunday since Daddy told me…about…his…time,” she stammered.
Pax scooted over and put his arm around her. “I’ll be right there beside you. After all, we are engaged.”
“I’m scared, Pax,” she whispered. “I’ve always plowed ahead like a bull going through a flimsy fence, but I look at this huge ranch, at everything I’ll need to do. Daddy has taught me well, but to think about making all those decisions I’ll have to make without him is terrifying.”
“You could run this place with one hand tied behind your back, woman, but remember you’ve got good neighbors, as in a cowboy sitting right here, who’s willing to help. All you have to do is holler, and I’ll come runnin’. Not only through however long we’re married, but as long as you need me. And you can talk with me about any decisions you need to make.” He assured her with a sideways hug.
“I couldn’t get through this without you.” She rested her head on his shoulder. “Having someone to talk to is a comfort.”
“I can’t begin to imagine what you’re going through, darlin’.” He tipped her chin up and gave her a soft kiss.
She cupped his face in her hands and brought his lips to hers in a long, lingering kiss. That led to even hotter kisses and then she tugged his shirt out of his jeans, unfastened all the pearl snaps with one tug, and ran her fingers over the hair on his chest.
“My God, Alana, I can’t take much more of this,” Pax groaned.
“Me, either.” She panted as she undid his buckle.
“Whoa!” Pax leaned back and put his hands on her shoulders. “Is this going to complicate things?”
She covered his mouth with another kiss. “I can’t worry about tomorrow. Let’s live for the moment right now.”
Pax ran the back of his hand down her cheek. “You are so damned gorgeous that it takes my breath away.”
“Why didn’t you tell me that ten years ago?” She traced his lips with her forefinger.
“Because I was young and stupid,” he said.
He was already throbbing with desire. He ran his hand up under her nightshirt, expecting to find a bra, but there was none. Her breast filled his hand like it had been formed purposely for him. Then she whipped the shirt off over her head and tossed it on the floor. She unzipped his pants, asked him to stand up, and tugged them down. She pushed him back down and pulled pants, boots, and socks off with one fell swoop and peeled off her shorts.
His breath caught in his chest at the sight of her, standing there like a goddess. Then she was beside him on the futon, her warm naked body next to his, and the kisses began again. Making love to Alana was more intense than he’d ever thought it could be, and the cuddling afterward was even better. She fell asleep snuggled up to his side with the quilt thrown over both of them.
He awoke sometime after midnight to find her still sleeping in his arms. He’d been with a lot of women, spent the night with more than a few, but he’d never felt like this afterward. He couldn’t put it into words, but being with her was like completing something in his life. Light from the television lit up the room enough that he could see every eyelash resting on her high cheekbones.
Her eyes opened slowly, and she smiled at him. “No regrets?”
“Nope, not a single one. That was amazing.” He gave her a sweet kiss on the lips. “But I reckon maybe I should go home. It’s only a few hours until I pick you up for church. We really should go together, don’t you think?”
“I’d rather stay here the rest of the night and all day tomorrow.” She yawned.
“Me too, but Trudy would think that you had morning sickness for sure, if we did that,” he chuckled as he pushed back the quilt.
She sat up and reached for her shirt. “You’re right. I suppose we shouldn’t make a habit of this, either, should we?”
“Why not?” he asked.
“Friends with benefits, huh?” She slipped her shirt on over her head.
“Doesn’t have to have a title.” He started getting dressed.
She laced her hands around his neck and hugged him. “I’ll see you in a few hours.”
“I wish we could stay right here all day.” He buried his face in her hair and inhaled deeply.
“We’d have to face a thousand questions from my dad and your family if we did,” she teased as she pressed even closer to him.
“You’re so right.” He gave her a steamy hot kiss.
“The devil is telling me to see where this goes, but I think I’d better tell him to get behind me and leave me alone,” she giggled as she wiggled her naked butt into her shorts. “I’ll be ready by ten forty-five. I’m going to wear bright red so no one can miss seeing that I’m with the sexiest cowboy in the state.”
“I’ll get my best swagger on when I walk you into the church on my arm.” He kissed her once more on his way out the door.
Chapter Eight
The preacher started off his sermon that Sunday morning with an old saying—“O, what a tangled web we weave when first we practice to deceive,” he said. “That comes from Sir Walter Scott, and in a shorter form, straight from the Ten Commandments. Thou shalt not lie.”
Alana squeezed Pax’s hand hard.
“That doesn’t simply mean lying as we think of it,” the preacher went on, and Alana could swear that he was staring straight at her. “It also includes lying to ourselves. If we aren’t truly honest with ourselves, then we’re living a lie.”
“Do you think he knows?” Alana whispered.
“No way,” he answered. “It’s our secret. We didn’t even tell God.”
“God knows everything.” She sat up straight and tried to listen, but she kept visualizing a gray casket up there in front of the altar. Finally, she bowed her head, closed her eyes, and sent up a silent prayer for God to help her. When she opened her eyes, the weight had left her heart. Her thoughts went back to the night before. Had she opened a big can of worms by having sex with Pax?
“Oh, shit,” she murmured and then clamped a hand over her mouth.
“What did you say?” Pax asked.
“Protection,” she muttered.
“What?” Pax frowned.
“Later,” she said.
The preacher finally closed his Bible and tucked his notes down onto the shelf under the lectern and smiled at the congregation. “Before I ask Matt Carey to deliver the benediction, I’d like to congratulate Paxton Callahan and Alana Carey on their engagement. Matt has given me permission this morning to invite everyone in our church to the wedding, which will be held on the Bar C ranch on June sixth, and to the reception afterward. Time is seven o’clock, so save the date. Alana and Paxton, we want y’all to be happy and have a long and happy marriage. And one more thing, I’d like to take a moment to say happy Mother’s Day to all our mothers, grandmothers, and expectant mothers in church this morning. Now, God bless all y’all.”
He stepped away from the lectern, and Matt stood up. He thanked God for everything that had happened or been done since the day that dirt was first formed on the earth. Alana thought that her head might explode if he didn’t get through his prayer so she could talk to Pax. It seemed to her like everyone in the church sighed when he got around to saying, “Amen.”
Then, as luck would have it, everyone in the church wanted to stop them, shake hands, hug them, and wish them well. Her father beamed. Pax was the perfect gentleman. And Alana couldn’t
wait to get outside so she could tell him that she’d been off the pill for a month. She’d been so busy with spring planting, calving season, and getting the first cutting of hay in the barns between the rains that she’d forgotten to fill her prescription.
“You kids are on your own for Sunday dinner,” Matt said as they left the church. “I’m meeting my poker buddies for Mexican in Tulia.”
“But Daddy, we always have Sunday dinner together,” Alana said. “It’s Mother’s Day.”
“That was before you got engaged.” Matt patted her on the shoulder. “You go on with Pax and have a good time. Don’t worry. Joy understands.” He disappeared into the crowd heading for the door.
“I thought we might go up to Amarillo. We always take Mam to a little pizza parlor on Mother’s Day,” Pax said. “Is that all right with you?”
She looped her arm into his and pulled him along. “I’d love to see Iris. Haven’t talked to her in months.”
As she and Pax made their way across the parking lot to his truck the folks that had missed them in the church kept stopping them to have a few words. When they finally reached his truck and climbed inside, she let out a heavy sigh and blurted out, “I’ve been off the pill for a month.”
“Don’t worry, honey, I used protection.” He smiled across the console.
“Praying for a crop failure during church doesn’t work so well,” she said.
“I used a condom,” he told her.
“I didn’t see you…” She blushed.
“I guess I was distracting you well, then,” he chuckled.
She slapped him on the arm. “Did you come prepared for that? Dammit! Did you plan on having sex?”
“Plan on it? No, but I always stay prepared.” He wiggled his eyebrows.
“And you planned on seducing me?” she asked.
“I did not,” Pax protested, “and if I remember right, you started it.”
Alana let out a whoosh of pent-up air. “Thank God for that. All I need is for Trudy to be right about me being pregnant.”
Cowboy Strong - Includes a bonus novella Page 8