A Real Cowboy Never Says No

by Stephanie Rowe

  Shit. He had only one choice, didn’t he?

  Swearing, he jammed his hand into his pocket for his car keys, and followed her out the door.

  ***

  Twenty minutes later, Mira slammed her car door shut, the sound reverberating in the dark night. She kicked off her high heels, and then broke into a run, her bare feet sinking into the damp grass. She didn’t slow down until she got to the edge of the river.

  The water was rushing, churning violently after the recent rainstorm. The familiar sound wrapped around her like a blanket, easing the tightness gripping her so ruthlessly. She slowed to a jog and then finally stopped beneath the huge willow tree on the edge of the river.

  Her initials were carved into the trunk just below AJ’s, and she traced her fingers over them, remembering how many times they’d hid by the river when his father was looking for them. The old pieces of wood they’d used for a ladder were still there, crookedly nailed to the tree trunk. AJ had been three years older than she, so she’d climbed that tree by herself many times after he left for college. It had always made her feel closer to him, despite the fact he was gone. Maybe it would work today as well.

  She grabbed one of them, testing it. The wood was cracked and rotting a bit, but it seemed strong enough. Besides, what was the worst that could happen? That she’d fall a few feet to the muddy ground? Not exactly a mind-numbing tragedy.

  Almost hoping for the distraction of a fall, she quickly pulled herself up the ladder they’d built for themselves so long ago.

  A few seconds later, she was perched in the crook of the tree, her knees pulled to her chest. She took a deep breath, letting the damp air fill her lungs. She hadn’t come here in so long, but suddenly, tonight, she’d had to return. She looked up into the starry sky, barely visible through the thick branches. How many nights had she sat in that tree, making wishes about a future that had never unfolded to match her dreams? “AJ,” she whispered. “I don’t know what to do. This was really bad timing for you to die, you know that, don’t you?”

  Of course he didn’t answer. It was just a lonely, empty silence.

  Headlights swept across the riverbank, and she glanced over her shoulder as a black pickup truck swung in beside her battered sedan. Stiffening, she sat up, watching as the driver’s door opened. The broad-shouldered silhouette that emerged from the car was immediately recognizable, and it wasn’t simply because of the cowboy hat. There was a lithe grace and rugged strength that emanated from Chase, as if he were a man who could barely contain his true self long enough to survive in polite society for an evening.

  She nestled deeper into the crook of the tree as he scanned the area, then grimaced as he stepped into the grass and headed right for her. She watched with growing dread as he walked straight to the tree, and peered up at her. “Got space up there?”

  His deep voice rumbled through her just as it had at the church. There was something so warm in his voice. It seemed to wrap around her like a blanket, at the same time it rolled through her belly like a searing kiss designed to make her insides burn. “Not really,” she said. Between the shadows and the brim of his hat, she couldn’t really see his face. “I’m not feeling sociable right now.”

  “Yeah, me either. I hate crowds of superficial bastards. They always make me cranky.”

  To her surprise, she found herself laughing, despite her cranky mood. “Okay, fine, you can come up, but I can’t promise I’ll be good company.”

  “No problem. I’m rarely good company myself.” He swung up the ladder with the practiced ease of a man who was used to a physical life. He settled in beside her in the crevice that had always had plenty of room for her and AJ. Now, however, it felt cramped and tiny. Chase’s shoulder was against hers, and there wasn’t enough space for her to move away.

  Then he leaned back against the tree trunk, adjusting so they weren’t touching. Although she was grateful for the space, at the same time, a part of her wanted to inch just close enough to him to feel the heat of his body against hers, penetrating the cold that seemed to be buried so deeply inside her.

  Chase clasped his hands behind his head and propped his feet up on another branch. He tipped his hat over his eyes, as if he were stretching out in a hammock for a nap instead of invading her personal space in a tree fifteen feet in the air.

  He said nothing, and after a few moments, she began to relax. The night sounds returned to her. She listened to the roar of the river, the chirp of birds, and the rustling of the leaves in the tree. With Chase beside her, the moment felt complete. This place had been meant for two people, and she was used to a comforting male presence beside her.

  Chase wasn’t AJ, but in a way he was, and that made him safe enough for her to relax around. She rested her chin on her knees and thought about the last few weeks, trying to figure out what she was going to do. Somehow, with Chase beside her, her life didn’t feel so overwhelming. She still didn’t have any answers, but at least she felt composed enough to think clearly.

  “He’ll figure it out, you know,” Chase said after a while.

  She jumped, startled by the sound of his voice, and his hand shot out to steady her, settling around her elbow with effortless ease. “Sorry. I was in my own world,” she said, her heart hammering at the sensation of his fingers grasping her arm.

  “I noticed.”

  “You did?” She realized that although his hat was tipped forward, it didn’t obscure his eyes. He was watching her intently.

  Awareness tingled over her skin. “Who will figure what out?” She didn’t actually care what he was talking about. She just wanted a distraction from how she was reacting to him.

  “Alan.”

  She frowned. “AJ’s dad? He’ll figure out what?”

  Chase’s eyes bore into her, and with sudden dread, she knew what he was going to say before he said it. Oh, no. She definitely didn’t want to get into that discussion with him. “I’m getting tired,” she said quickly, faking a yawn. “I think I’ll be heading home.” She pushed lightly at his legs, urging him to move out of the way.

  He didn’t. Instead he sat up, moving with a slow, relaxed ease that was in direct contrast to the sudden pounding of her heart. He leaned forward, his gaze boring into her relentlessly. “Alan’s going to figure out that you and AJ slept together when he was here for your mom’s funeral. He’s going to realize you’re pregnant with AJ’s kid, who happens to be Alan’s grandchild, and his best chance for an heir to his throne.”

  Mira felt like her entire world had congealed into horror. “I’m not—” She stopped herself before she’d even completed the lie. What was the point? Chase would never believe her. Instead, she sagged back against the tree, too exhausted to fight the battle she’d already lost. “How did you figure it out?”

  He shrugged. “I’m a master of observation.” His words were light, but his eyes were still boring into hers. “Alan’s a bastard. He’ll have legal custody of that kid before it’s even born.”

  Mira bit her lip. “I know he’ll try.” She managed a smile. “It’s okay. I’ve already figured it out. I’ll leave town. He won’t bother to track me.” But even as she said it, she remembered Alan’s accusation at the hotel ballroom. If he thought she’d influenced AJ’s will, he would pursue her relentlessly, no matter where she went.

  No, no, no. She couldn’t worry about that. She and AJ had never discussed his will, and she had to believe Alan would realize that and let her disappear.

  Chase said nothing for a long moment, and she began to relax. Then, he said. “What are you going to do for money? Last I heard, you had to quit even your part-time admin job to take care of your mom. You’ve been moonlighting as in the office of the middle school, but with school budget cuts, there hasn’t been much work. Do you even have savings?”

  “I’ll find something.” She lifted her chin, annoyed that AJ seemed to have shared so much about her situation. “There’s no reason for me to stay in town, now that my mom and dad are both g
one.” Well, there was no reason except for her one, dear friend, Taylor Shaw. New tears threatened. Taylor had been her rock over the last few years. How could she leave her behind? How on earth would she ever start over by herself? She managed a perky grin. “It’ll be an adventure.”

  Again, Chase was silent, and she wondered if he believed her. Even she didn’t believe it, but she had to.

  “And if Alan finds you in six months with a swollen belly? Or in a year with an infant on your hip? What happens then?”

  Mira swallowed. There was no good answer to that. They both knew what Alan was like.

  Chase finally tipped his hat back, so she could see his face more clearly. His jaw was angular, and the moon was casting his face into shadows. He looked dangerous and lethal, the kind of man who would walk beside her with a machete if that was what it took to keep her safe.

  “I owe AJ my life,” he said quietly. “You’re the only person in this world who really mattered to him, and now, he has a kid on the way. You’re both in danger, and he’s not around to protect you. So it’s my job.”

  “Danger?” She managed to laugh. “I think you’re being a little melodramatic.”

  He unfastened the cuff of his shirt and jerked the sleeve up. His muscular forearm was covered with dozens of small round scars, just like the ones that had covered AJ’s back. Her heart clenched, and she put her hand over the marks. His muscle flexed beneath her touch, but neither of them pulled away. “Cigarette burns?” she asked softly.

  He nodded. “I know what AJ’s dad is like, because mine wasn’t that different.”

  Sadness bore down on her, and she wanted to hug this man she’d just met. She knew the kind of pain a man like Alan could inflict on his son, and it made her sad to think Chase had endured the same things as AJ. “I didn’t know. He never told me that about you.”

  Chase shrugged, dismissing her sympathy as he pulled his sleeve back down. “There’s no chance in hell I’m leaving you unprotected,” he said. This time, there was no hesitation. He just looked right at her. “Tonight, I’ll spend the night at your place, and leave my truck in your driveway for the whole town to see.”

  She gaped at him. “If you do that, everyone will think that I picked you up, and we had sex the night of my best friend’s funeral.”

  He nodded. “I’m a couple weeks late, but the timing should work okay for the baby.”

  Tears filled her eyes as she realized what he was offering. “You want the world to think you’re the biological father of AJ’s baby?” Then she could stay in town. She didn’t have to leave.

  He looked at her, and her words died in her throat at the expression on his face. There was something else he hadn’t said. “What?”

  “It’s not enough,” he said. “You know that won’t be sufficient against Alan. It’s a start, but it needs more. He’ll know damn well that there’s an equal chance it could be AJ’s baby, and he won’t stop until he’s certain. A DNA test is going to tell him what he wants to know.”

  Mira bit her lip, the fleeting hope abandoning her. “You’re right.”

  “There’s only one way.” He brushed his fingers through her hair, ever so slightly. His face was dark and intense, his eyes turbulent with emotions she couldn’t begin to decipher. “After we set the stage tonight, you’re going to have to move to Wyoming and marry me.”

  Chapter 3

  Chase almost laughed at the expression of absolute horror on Mira’s face. It wasn’t that different from what he’d felt the moment he’d proposed to her. Shock, surprise, and yeah, maybe a little horror. He hadn’t intended to offer to marry her. He hadn’t intended to ever offer to marry anyone, but now that he’d done it, it felt right. He knew in his gut that it was his duty to be there for both of them.

  She, however, didn’t appear to agree with him. “Oh, no. No.” She shook her head, scrambling backward so fast she almost fell out of the tree.

  Chase caught her arm just as she started to slide backwards. “Why not? I’m a great guy. You know I am.”

  Her mouth dropped open. “Marry you? Seriously? No.” She twisted her arm free, and scrambled over his legs. Her breasts brushed over his arm, and desire clenched through him. For a brief moment, her body was pretzeled up with his, and then she was over him and flying down the makeshift ladder.

  For a brief moment, he considered not following her. He really didn’t want to get married any more than she did. He never had. But he thought of the cigarette burns on AJ’s back, and he knew there was no way he was going to leave AJ’s kid to face that future.

  Swearing, he swung down from the tree, not even bothering with the ladder. He sprinted after Mira, who was running toward her car. He caught up to her just before she got her door open.

  He leaned against the door and folded his arms across his chest, blocking her access to the car. Her face was pale in the moonlight, and something tugged inside him at the vulnerability of her expression. “I didn’t mean to scare you,” he said softly, using the same tone he reserved for frightened horses.

  Mira backed up, then set her hands on her hips, visibly summoning her strength. One strap of her dress had slid off her shoulder and down her arm, a visceral reminder of both her femininity and her vulnerability. “I am not going to marry you,” she said.

  “Why not? It seems like a logical choice.” He wanted to slide his fingers beneath that strap and coax it back in place. He could imagine how soft her skin was…shit. He dragged his gaze off her shoulder and pinned it to her face.

  “It’s not just you,” she explained. “I’m not going to marry anyone.”

  He frowned at her blanket statement, which sounded way too much like something he’d say. “Why not?”

  “Don’t you know?” She cocked her head, apparently confused. “You seem to know everything about me.”

  “I have no idea what you’re talking about.” He shrugged, and held out his hands in a gesture intended to make him appear harmless, despite the fact he was still firmly blocking her car door. “Tell me.”

  She sighed, and pulled the strap back up over her shoulder. “When I went to college, I fell in love freshman year. I got engaged. We were going to get married the summer after my sophomore year.”

  Sudden jealousy surged through Chase. She’d been engaged? Why the hell hadn’t he known about that? “What happened?”

  “What happened?” Her voice became slightly high-pitched, revealing emotion he could tell she was struggling to contain. “I got a call that my parents had been in a car accident. My dad was dead, and my mom was paralyzed.”

  Chase swore under his breath. He remembered that call. AJ had been absolutely devastated. Mira’s parents had been the only source of love and family AJ had ever had, especially Mira’s dad. As sheriff, he’d been the one man in town with the power to stand up to Alan and protect AJ from him, and he’d done it repeatedly. The tragedy had derailed AJ. Maybe that was why AJ had never mentioned Mira’s romantic entanglements at the time. During that period, AJ hadn’t cared about anything other than the loss of Mira’s dad.

  “I decided to drop out of school to take care of my mom,” Mira continued, her voice becoming calmer now, as if she’d somehow managed to separate herself from the memories. “My fiancé refused to even come to the funeral, because it was too close to exams and he needed to study. After two months, he called and announced he didn’t want to marry someone who was stuck caring for an invalid. He said I had to come back to school and live a real life, or he was calling off the engagement.” Tears filled her eyes. “I loved him, and my family had been taken away from me. I had no one to lean on except him. How could I let him go? I told him I would come back to school, but I needed more time to get things settled with my mom. For two weeks, I tried frantically to find a way to secure care for her, but I was really struggling to find someone I trusted. I wasn’t fast enough, and he broke up with me. He married my roommate three months later.”

  Shit. Chase shook his head in empathy. He
knew what it felt like to be hit when he was down. It sucked. “Bastard.”

  A strangled laugh choked out, a breath of humor breaking through the pain in her blue eyes. “I won’t do that again.”

  “Get engaged?”

  She shook her head. “No, count on a man like that and commit to him. I was actually willing to give up taking care of my mom for him. What if I’d done it? What if I’d left my mom to wither and die in some nursing home so I could marry some jerk?”

  He touched her arm. “You didn’t do that. It’s okay, Mira.”

  “But I would have if he hadn’t dumped me.” She sighed, searching his face for understanding. “I’m so scared of how close I came to marrying someone who would have taken me away from what was important to me. I won’t ever give someone that kind of power again. My parents loved each other unconditionally. It was so beautiful, and I thought I had that with Brian, but I was wrong. I was stupid and desperate, and willing to marry a jerk just to have the fairy tale.” She ran her fingers through her hair, her hands shaking. “I realized that it’s better to never be married than to settle for less than what my parents had.” She met his gaze, and he saw the depth of torment in her eyes. He realized then how deeply she’d been traumatized. “I know you’re AJ’s best friend, but how on earth can I trust you with my life and my child’s? Because it’s not just AJ’s baby. It’s mine, too.”

  Chase was stunned by her story. AJ had told him how she’d stepped up to take care of her mom, but Chase had never comprehended how much she’d had to endure. He had always thought of her as the rock, the steady balance in life, and yet she’d suffered greatly. He felt her pain, the betrayal she’d endured, and her genuine fear of being married to someone who would betray her. “I get it,” he said. And he did. She’d been burned badly, and she was smart enough not to want to risk it again.

  She blinked. “What do you mean?”