The Littlest Cowgirls--A Clean Romance

by Melinda Curtis

  Ashley grew cold. “He knew Roy was there.”

  “He probably asked him to take the shot. You know how gullible Roy can be sometimes.” Laurel toggled through her phone screen. “And if he set this up, he could be setting us up.”

  “Maybe he wants our little girls all to himself.” Mom was fully embracing the glass half-empty now. “I’ve said that all along. He plays his cards too close to the vest for me to trust him.” She stomped out, taking a mug with her, leaving Ashley alone with Laurel, the consequences of a walk through the woods and a few kisses weighing heavily on her shoulders.

  “I’m sorry,” Ashley said again. “We need him to sign those paternity papers.”

  “I know I shouldn’t want to cut him out of the girls’ lives,” Laurel said, making little circles around her baby bump. “A man deserves to know his children if he wants to. It’s just... Are you falling for him, Ash?” Laurel’s voice was small. “Because I get it if you are. It’s just...” Her blue eyes, so like Ashley’s own, clouded over with worry. “If you’re a couple for real, he’s going to be around more than any of us thought. Wouldn’t that make it harder for us to coparent? He’s already butting into our lives, trying to manipulate where we live. He stopped by a few minutes ago to say he’d ordered a pair of high chairs. What if he wants to tell us how to raise them?”

  Ashley brushed Laurel’s hair from her shoulder. “It’s more likely that he’s just trying to compete with that stroller I gave you and put Ashley Monroe in her place before he waives his rights to the girls.”

  Regardless, those papers would be signed.

  CHAPTER TWELVE

  “HEY, ASHLEY.” WYATT wove his way through the horses, Clarks and Monroes assembling for a trail ride to Mike Moody’s hideout.

  Ashley sat in a saddle on Missy. The demon seed swung that big equine head of hers around when Wyatt approached and reached out as if about to give him another love bite.

  Wyatt leaped back. “I missed you this morning at breakfast. Did you sleep in?”

  “I had a lot of calls to make that required privacy.” Ashley glanced down at him without any of the warmth she’d shown him in previous days.

  Her reaction triggered a warning in his head. He needed to proceed carefully.

  “I wanted to talk to you about—” Wyatt checked to make sure no one was listening “—playing Mike Moody.” And about those kisses, and his jumbled feelings about fatherhood, and those kisses.

  “You want...” He’d clearly broadsided her.

  “Yes. I’ve been reading up on him.” Perusing the fairly thorough notes Gabby had given him.

  “I can’t have this conversation with you. Not now.” Ashley backed Missy up with barely a move of her hands on the reins. She wore a cowboy hat today and her hair plaited over both shoulders. “You shouldn’t even be here. This ride is for family only.”

  “Adam invited me. And Shane sent someone to pick me up.” That friendly horse wrangler Zeke. But only after Mitch had called over to the Bucking Bull when Wyatt couldn’t find Ashley or any of the visiting Monroes. And only after Wyatt had offered to read a copy of the paternity papers later. And since he’d arrived at the ranch, there was no sign of Shane, whom he’d wanted to thank before he took him to task for things like stolen spark plugs.

  “Shane.” Ashley shook her head.

  “Have your people send over a nondisclosure agreement to my people,” Wyatt said, not sure if he should be annoyed that she was pushing him away or worried that something deeper had changed between them. “I want to read the script.”

  Ashley opened her mouth, hesitating. And then she squared her shoulders. “I’m still not sure you’re right for the part.”

  “But I check so many boxes.” Gabby had also shared the history of Mike Moody with him yesterday. He was interested. And if Wyatt Halford was interested in a role, people scheduled a meeting and let him read the script. Kisses or no!

  “Wyatt!” Emily rode up on a big gray horse, leading a big black horse. “We need to get this show on the road.” She handed him Bumblebee’s reins. And then she stood in her stirrups to announce, “We’re about to get going, folks. We’ll be heading through that gate over there. If you’re a nervous rider, never fear. We’ve taken the horses on this route a time or two. They know the way, and most of them will follow the tail in front of them.”

  Zeke opened the gate and led his strawberry roan through. “Our attraction is now open for business.”

  The Monroes headed their horses in that direction. There were at least ten of them. Most were about Wyatt’s age or younger and looked as if they had some skill on horseback. The Clark boys lingered at the end of the line with Emily and Wyatt.

  “Mr. Wyatt, I told Papa Shane you had to come along.” Adam sat on a brown pony and stared up at Wyatt with a proud grin. “’Cause you have to see Merc’less Mike’s hiding spot. It’s safe now that the new Buttercup is at the rodeo.”

  “There used to be a wild bull guarding Mike’s hideout,” Emily explained.

  “But we caught him,” Davey said, as if it was no big deal.

  “And now we call him Buttercup,” Charlie added, most likely grinning because it had been a big deal.

  “That was all after he tried to kill us,” Adam said, straight-faced. “He smashed our work truck and Papa Shane’s big black SUV.” He created his own sound effects of crashing, none of which fazed his pony.

  “Time to go, boys.” Emily rode forward, followed by Davey and Charlie.

  “I got something to show you. My mom said I couldn’t, but later Papa Shane said I could.” Adam reached toward Wyatt. “Go on. Take it.”

  Wyatt held out his hand. Adam dropped a rock in it. Except it wasn’t a rock. It was a small gold nugget! Gold like Mike and Letty Moody might have stolen. “You found this?”

  “Adam, no straggling,” Emily called from the gate. “That goes for you, too, Wyatt.”

  “Don’t lose it, Mr. Wyatt.” Adam kicked his pony into a trot, leaving Wyatt no choice but to tuck the nugget into his pocket and follow.

  Emily closed the gate behind him. “All set, Zeke.”

  “May I have your attention, please.” Zeke held up his cowboy hat at the front of the straggling line of horses. “Welcome to the inaugural ride of the official Mike Moody Escape Trail Tour. I’m Zeke, and I’ll be your tour guide today.” He settled his hat back on his head and leaned one forearm on his saddle horn. “Most of you are aware of the legend of Mike Moody. He was a fearsome hombre in these parts for several years. Stagecoaches were his favorite target, but he also robbed trains and the occasional wandering traveler.”

  Behind Zeke, a tall man wearing an old-timey suit sauntered out of the tree line. He wore a burlap sack over his head with eyeholes cut out and held a six-shooter, aiming it at the tourists. “Hold them hands up high. Come on.” He waved his pistol. “Stick ’em up.”

  A few Monroes chuckled.

  Zeke stood tall in the saddle and made a show of peering into the trees. “But a posse was always on Merciless Mike’s tail.”

  Adam giggled. “They’re doin’ better than at practice.”

  Merciless Mike slipped into the trees.

  “You are now all deputized into Second Chance’s posse.” Zeke flashed a star badge attached to the lining of his vest. “Be on the lookout for Merciless Mike as we track him into the woods.” Zeke turned his horse around and led them up the hill.

  Emily and Wyatt brought up the rear of the line, waiting for horses and riders to mosey up the trail.

  “You guys are creating an entire experience around Mike Moody?” Wyatt asked.

  “Yeah.” Emily shrugged. “Shane seems to think it’ll bring in tourists. I hope he’s right. We bought a lot of horses in anticipation of the summer tour season.”

  Wyatt’s mind hummed around the concept. “Does this tour match the mo
vie script?”

  “No.” Emily gave him a sly look. “Maybe you should just experience it before you ask all your questions.”

  The trail opened up. In the lead, Zeke turned in the saddle and reviewed his posse. As he turned back around, he whistled.

  The hooded Merciless Mike emerged from the tree line on a tan horse farther up the trail and then disappeared into the woods on the other side.

  Zeke leaned over as if looking at the ground. “Fresh tracks. We’re on to him.”

  Adam squealed. “Hurry up. Hurry up. We can catch him.” He motioned to his pony but went no faster.

  “Didn’t Mike die in a rock slide?” Wyatt asked.

  “The tour takes a different timeline,” Emily explained. “Before Mike’s fateful end.”

  Adam twisted in his saddle to glance at Wyatt, looking intrigued. “Here he comes again.”

  Sure enough, as they rounded a bend, the bad dude crossed their path once more.

  “We’ve got to catch him before dark!” Zeke swept his arm forward, as if they were going to charge ahead.

  The horses continued their leisurely walk up the hill.

  The Monroes were laughing and having a good time. It was a great idea and would no doubt be popular once Ashley’s movie released.

  There was one more Mike Moody sighting before they reached what Zeke called Lookout Ridge.

  Once they arrived, Zeke and the Clark boys tied up everyone’s horses to a long hitching post, and the party was encouraged to dismount. There was an outcropping of rock on the far side that served as a backdrop for a small cemetery.

  “Gather round, Deputies.” Zeke rubbed his hands together. “This is where the tale of Mike Moody gets real. For more than a century, Mike Moody’s stash remained a mystery. A secret guarded by the family of Jebediah Clark, a location marked by their family cemetery. But are only Clarks buried up here? Or could there be a mystery woman?”

  “There is!” Adam started to march on his short legs toward the small cemetery and its uneven headstones.

  Zeke held him back. “This is where the new deputies get a chance to do some sleuthing of their own, little buddy.”

  While the rest of the Monroes walked through the cemetery reading headstones, Ashley remained and raised her cell phone into the air. “No signal.”

  Wyatt moved to stand beside her. “I take it you’ve been here before.”

  She nodded and smiled, finally showing some of her characteristic warmth and enthusiasm. “Go on. They’ll find her in a minute.”

  Her. Letty.

  Jonah emerged from the woods wearing the Mike Moody costume and carrying a burlap mask. He stood near a fissure in the rock. A fissure large enough for a man to walk through.

  And Adam had called it Mike’s hiding spot.

  Wyatt joined the Monroes in the cemetery.

  “Jebediah Clark.” Holden brushed pine needles from a headstone. “He was the smithy?”

  “Yep,” Jonah said, with pride.

  Adam managed to break free of Zeke’s hold. He hurried through the field of headstones on his short legs. “Clark. Clark. Clark,” he said, as if he was playing Duck, Duck, Goose. He grinned up at Wyatt and pointed to a small headstone. “Not Clark.”

  Wyatt bent down, pushing dirt and debris from the small headstone. “Letty.” No last name. He got chills.

  He turned his gaze back to Ashley. There was a twist to her plot, all right. Something that even Gabby didn’t know about.

  He had to read that script.

  * * *

  “YOUR FAMILY FOUND the gold,” Wyatt said to Ashley on the ride down from Lookout Ridge. He’d guided Bumblebee next to Missy.

  “With the help of the Clarks.” Ashley gave credit where credit was due. But she did so while channeling her mother’s clipped voice. How easy it was to push him away now that she couldn’t take him at face value.

  “So the blacksmith, Jeb Clark, was in on it? Is that it?”

  “He wasn’t part of the gang.” Ashley scowled. “We should be talking about your decision regarding the babies so we can put an end to our public charade. Not to mention that it would ease Laurel’s mind.”

  “But Jeb buried Letty up here and knew where the gold was.” Wyatt wouldn’t take the hint, wouldn’t stop looking at her, couldn’t even keep his horse from veering closer and practically forcing Ashley into a ditch. “Is it all explained in the script? I won’t bug you with questions if you let me read it.”

  Ashley brought her horse to a halt, feeling like she wanted to nip someone the way Missy sometimes did. “What’s going on here, Wyatt? You told me you didn’t want anything to do with the film.”

  He pulled Bumblebee to a stop. “Someone in town told me some of the history.”

  “History,” Ashley huffed. “Gabby.”

  “For being a beloved daughter of the town, everyone seems to know she is the weakest link when it comes to keeping a secret.” But he smiled when he said it, sobering to add, “I can help you get this film made. My name carries a lot of weight in the industry.”

  Like hers didn’t? Granted, his name opened an entirely different set of doors, but still. “At what cost? If I say yes, you can have a role in this film, will you sign those paternity papers?” Had she just said that out loud? The bargain sickened her.

  He didn’t look happy to hear those words either. “Are those your terms? Really?”

  “They should be.” She stared ahead, at the ground, up at the mountains, anywhere except at him. She adjusted her fingers around Missy’s slim reins. “It doesn’t have to be. We can talk this through. If you trust me.” Which he shouldn’t. She didn’t trust him. Not in her head, where it mattered.

  “Giving the girls my name implies responsibility. Not just me to them but them to me. Do I want to give them the burden of being Wyatt Halford’s daughters? His heirs?”

  Ashley wasn’t naive enough to believe he could acknowledge them as his without bringing all the baggage of celebrity and wealth along. “You think they’ll be spoiled? I doubt Mitch or Laurel would allow that.”

  “The truth...” He removed his cowboy hat and ran his fingers through that cowlick. “The truth is I don’t know. It’s like the decision is there in my head. I can feel it. But I don’t know what it is. And maybe I’ll know when the babies are born. Maybe I won’t feel an attachment and it’ll be easy to sign. But I just don’t know.”

  When Laurel had first told the family she was pregnant, the solution had appeared so cut-and-dried. Laurel wanted the babies. Wyatt was a world-renowned playboy who wouldn’t. And now nothing was simple.

  “You don’t really mean to hold the role ransom in exchange for my paternity rights, do you?”

  Ashley swallowed thickly. “I need to protect my sister.” She couldn’t give voice to the bargain again. But she could look into Wyatt’s eyes and let him see her turmoil.

  He swore.

  “Why did you kiss me?” she demanded. “Yesterday. At the A-frame. Why there?”

  “My impression was that kiss was mutual.” Wyatt’s grin. It had launched a million swooning sighs.

  It tried to launch one of Ashley’s. “You told Roy to take our picture. Don’t deny it. I’ve seen it.” The bitterness of betrayal pushed through her words. “You gave him a thumbs-up.”

  Wyatt frowned. “I didn’t ask him for anything but photos of the two places I planned to take you to. When I heard him crashing through the woods, I gave him a thumbs-up to let him know the A-frame was a winner.”

  Ashley wasn’t sure she believed him. “Roy told Laurel he was going to send it to you, presumably so you could post it online.”

  “You fault me for that when everyone else in town is posting to some newly created fan page? The reason for the cold shoulder is now clear.” Wyatt studied her, shaking his head. “You haven’t been kissing me
like we’re in a performance, Ash. Are you afraid your family sees that, too?”

  She wasn’t going to tell him they had. “We have to remember who has the most to lose here. It’s Laurel and the babies. Until you settle things with her, I can’t pretend I’m your anything.”

  “And you can’t give me a shot at Mike Moody either.” It wasn’t a question.

  But Missy saved her from answering by giving Wyatt a nip on his thigh.

  * * *

  “WYATT, WHAT ARE you doing?” Emily ducked under Bumblebee’s neck and the reins that were tied to the arena’s rail. “The others are heading back into town.”

  Wyatt continued loosening his horse’s girth strap. “I can help put the tack away and brush the horses down.”

  “I’ve got hands for that.” Em frowned.

  “I know what I’m doing and...” He met her inquisitive gaze squarely. “I could use a little honest work right now.” To prove to himself that there was more to him than pretending in front of a camera, be it a still photo or a film. Ashley’s accusations had hit too close to home. He shouldn’t have wanted to post a picture of something as intimate as a kiss.

  “Okay,” Emily allowed slowly. “But you’ll have a supervisor. Or three.” She craned her neck. “Boys. Make sure Wyatt does right by Bumblebee.”

  Adam scampered over as Emily moved on. “Are you going to rope, too?”

  “I haven’t roped in years.” Wyatt spared the kid a glance, digging in his pocket for that gold nugget and then handing it over. “Thanks for showing it to me.”

  Adam grinned, shoving the nugget in his jeans pocket with hardly any care. “Papa Shane says you find friends in all kinds of places, and that you should be kind to them when you do.”

  That didn’t sound like his version of Shane Monroe, but Wyatt nodded politely before returning his attention to removing Bumblebee’s saddle and pad.

  Forty-five minutes later, the horses were all turned out to pasture or put back in their stalls. Zeke dragged a practice roping steer into the arena. It was a simple metal sawhorse with a metal steer’s head welded on the front. “Join us for roping practice and then I’ll drive you back in town.”