A Cowboy at Heart

by Roz Denny Fox

  The waitress reappeared. “Anything else, sir?” She hefted the coffeepot.

  Linc realized the turn of their conversation had stolen everyone’s appetites. “We’re ready to leave. No more coffee for me, but thanks.”

  Smiling, the woman took the check out of her apron pocket. “Pay at the register up front.”

  Accepting the check, Linc stood. Digging in his jeans pocket, he pulled out a money clip. A quick perusal of the check showed she’d added it correctly, and he peeled off a couple of hundreds to cover the bill, plus the tip. That was when he noticed the older kids staring, openmouthed, at the wad of cash he had in his clip.

  Unsure as to whether any of them had police records, he decided that carrying so much cash might have been a dumb move.

  But John Montoya had said not all merchants in the small towns bordering the ranch were set up to take credit cards. And because Linc knew there’d be things he’d have to buy right away, he’d brought five thousand in cash. Of course, he’d never dreamt the ranch would need big-ticket items like baseboard heaters or a commercial dishwasher. The very thought made him pause and wonder again if he’d been crazy to plunge headlong into this project without any experience or even an apprenticeship.

  Figuring he might as well test the kids’ honesty straight away, Linc handed his car keys to Eric. “I’ll go square our account at the register. Will you see that everyone gets loaded and buckled up? Oh, and start the heater. Those last people who came in said it’s gotten cold outside.”

  For a minute, Eric acted stunned, as if he couldn’t believe Linc had singled him out. The kid even shot a wary glance over each shoulder. “Me?” he finally managed to croak. “You want me to start your Excursion?”

  “Yes. You seem like a guy who’s done his share of tinkering with engines and such.”

  Eric straightened visibly. “I got my license. Both me and Shawn do.” Snatching the dangling key chain, he turned to the others. “You heard the man. Let’s go load up and get some hot air rolling besides what’s coming out of your mouths.”

  Linc allowed himself a second or two to marvel at how the rest of the kids fell meekly in line with Eric’s orders. Including Ms. Sassy Randi, who lingered to help Cassie into her wheelchair. She settled the injured child and maneuvered her over the doorjamb—like a regular little mother. He mulled that over as the others filed out after her.

  That was it—the major thing that set Randi apart. As a rule, teens were self-centered. Randi looked out for others first.

  Speaking of looking out for others, Linc sent up a silent prayer that he’d still have a vehicle parked in the lot when he exited the restaurant.

  To his relief, it sat in the exact spot he’d left it.

  As he sprinted toward the SUV, Linc could see his breath in the night air. “Whew, it’s colder than a witch’s, uh, tail.” He hurriedly changed what he’d been about to say as he jumped into the SUV. With the little ones, he’d have to learn to watch his mouth. Hollywooders weren’t known to use the best language. And old habits died hard. Turning, he dumped a handful of mints in Jenny’s lap.

  “What are these for?” she asked, scrambling not to let them fall off her lap.

  “For…because you all behaved yourselves, I guess. The cashier complimented me on my children’s good manners.” He wondered how they’d react to that statement.

  “Didn’t we act how you’re supposed to?” Shawn stopped blowing on his hands and frowned at Linc.

  He kicked up the heat a few notches before responding. “You did. Apparently they’ve served a few families lately with really rowdy kids. You did us proud in there, guys, but frankly I thought the fact that she referred to you as ‘my children’ would get a rise out of at least some of you.”

  “She couldn’t see half of us aren’t children?” Eric snorted sarcastically. “Or was she blind? Like you’d be my dad, or Greg’s.”

  “If Mr. Parker was ever a sailor, he could be my dad, you know,” Greg said tartly.

  “Sorry, Greg, I never served in the military. For the record, I don’t have any kids floating around the country.”

  “That makes it even weirder that you’d be the one to open a shelter for street kids, don’t you think?” Miranda had little inflection in her voice. Nor did she look directly at Parker. She was busy checking Hana’s seat belt as she made the comment.

  “Or maybe it makes him gay,” Eric said defiantly. “A lot of guys in Hollywood are.”

  Linc could let both remarks slide. He probably should. On the other hand, maybe they deserved to know his reasons. In a voice fraught with emotion in spite of his effort to sound matter-of-fact, he said, “Jenny hit the nail earlier when she implied I’d let my sister down. At her funeral, I looked around and saw that everyone there was either my friend or a business acquaintance. That’s when it struck me how little I knew about Felicity’s day-to-day activities. So I started asking myself some hard questions. The answers I got didn’t exactly nominate me for guardian of the decade.” His deep voice trailed away into silence.

  Miranda tried to read between the lines. “You mean you felt guilty, so that’s why you quit a lucrative job to come and do penance in the back of beyond?”

  Linc let his eyes locate hers in the mirror. Who was this woman he hardly knew—a woman who could cut to the heart of the massive guilt he’d been burdened with every day for the past six months? “I don’t consider it penance,” he corrected. Wishing himself anywhere but here, he slammed the gearshift into Reverse and backed in a sharp turn so he could peal out of the lot.

  If any of them thought his speed was worrisome or even a bit dangerous, no one made a peep about it.

  Linc covered the distance to the motel in absolute silence.

  CHAPTER FIVE

  LINC WAS QUICK to anger, but just as quick to cool down—a useful ability for anyone who hoped to be successful in the business he’d so recently left. Stars prone to fits of temper themselves tended not to work well with anyone who behaved in a similar fashion. Over the years Linc had learned to perfect control. And he’d been good at his job. That was why it irritated the hell out of him that he’d let Randi rattle him tonight. It wouldn’t happen again.

  By the time he slowed to make the tight curve into their motel parking lot, Linc had a lock on his guilt and his self-contempt. Perhaps that was why he took notice of an all-night pancake house adjacent to the motel, which he hadn’t seen earlier. The place caught his eye now because of the group of rowdy young men hanging out near two low-slung sports cars.

  Shawn saw them, too. “Hey, Jenny, do you think we can bum some smokes off those dudes?”

  Jenny pressed her nose to the window. “Go ahead, Shawn. But not for me. I haven’t had a cigarette in a week. Like Randi’s been trying to tell me, food tastes better and my throat’s not so scratchy. I’m going to try and quit for good.” Still, the girl gazed longingly at the red glow being passed around the huddle of strangers.

  Linc, afraid the yokels might offer his kids more than cigarettes, thought it best to nip Shawn’s idea in the bud. “First person I see approaching those creeps can kiss off sleeping in a bed tonight. The only rooms available when we checked in were nonsmoking. I promised there’d be none. And before you say you’ll step outside, let me squelch that idea. I don’t want you mixing up with homegrown hoods. Those guys look about as far removed from the Chamber of Commerce welcoming committee as anyone can get. Tomorrow I’ll be doing business with local merchants, and I prefer to avoid a bad reputation before I even start out.”

  “Jeez, I wasn’t going to fight ’em if they refused me a smoke,” Shawn muttered.

  Eric solved Linc’s potential problem. He eyed the group of toughs and said with finality, “Shawn, you dumb-ass. Didn’t you see the bloody daggers on the backs of their jackets? That’s a trademark of the Steel Blades. They’re not from here. At least, this didn’t used to be their territory. They’re from up north around where my pop grows olives. Word is, they’ll carve a
dude up for lookin’ cross-eyed. I say, let ’em be.”

  Linc sneaked a second peek. “Sound advice. Let’s see how close I can park to our rooms.” It was his good fortune to spot someone backing out, four doors from the rooms he’d booked. Linc assumed Eric had warded off danger until the nine of them split up to go unlock their rooms and he overheard Randi talking to Jenny.

  “Jen, will you fill the tub and stick Hana and Cassie in to soak while I walk Scraps? He’s lunging at the window with that anxious look that says he’s gotta go outside now.” She removed a coiled leash from her pocket and transferred Cassie’s wheelchair into Jenny’s hands. “Sorry, I know I said I’d bathe the girls. I promise I’ll take over as soon as Scraps is finished doing his business.”

  Linc didn’t stop to consider that Randi and the others had been on their own throughout their journey. He only conjured up a vivid picture of how futile that nothing of a dog would be as a bodyguard against hoodlums who had bloody daggers stitched on the backs of their black leather jackets.

  “Here, give me the leash. You carry out your original plan. I’ll walk the damned dog.”

  The words had no more than left his lips when Linc managed his first good look at the leash—a psychedelic fuchsia strap attached to a narrow band of garish purple sparkling stones. “I can’t believe you bought this for a mutt named Scraps.” He shuddered to think how many Steel Blades he’d be forced to punch out if he strolled past them with a yapping dog clamped to the end of this getup.

  Randi studied him, laughter crinkling the corners of her eyes. “No one asked you to walk him. I can’t help it if L.A. has a leash law and this was the only one left in the pet store.” She plucked the leash out of Linc’s hand. “Scraps is my responsibility. I’m perfectly capable of walking him.”

  There ensued a tug-of-war on the hot-pink leather that the others found amusing. Eric finally stepped between them and took the leash from both Randi and Linc. “If all you’re gonna do is argue about which of you does the honors, it’ll be too late, anyway. The dog will have done his business on the motel rug.”

  The two had the grace to look guilty.

  Squaring his shoulders, Linc drew himself up to his full five-foot-eleven, towering over Randi’s scant five-foot-three. “Somebody get me the dog,” he insisted. “I’m walking him around the building and that’s that.”

  Randi nibbled on her lower lip. She’d seen Parker’s gaze dart toward the raucous-looking thugs who lingered by their sports cars. Parker was so transparent. She knew exactly what was going through his head. Zipping her denim jacket, she flipped the collar up around her ears. “Scraps is used to me. He doesn’t trust men yet. But I’ll understand if you feel the need to walk off that big steak. Scraps and I won’t object if you tag along, Parker.”

  “Damned decent of you,” Linc said sarcastically.

  Scraps streaked out from between Jenny’s legs and danced around Randi’s feet. She bent and greeted her pet with a musical lilt—the sound of which caught at something in Linc’s chest.

  Jamming his hands in his jacket pockets, he reminded the kids to lock up. “You’ll hear us return. And I’ll check on how you’re all getting on. Everyone has half a bed. And there’s enough hot water to go around.”

  “Yeah, yeah, yeah!” Eric waved Linc away before slamming and locking the door to the boys’ room.

  “Are you sure you aren’t a dad?” Randi asked very near Linc’s ear. “You have the routine down pat.”

  He moved aside, giving her and the animal more room on the sidewalk. But he must’ve made some feeble noise because she began to justify herself. “My dad had a habit of lecturing me to be careful and lock up tight, even if he was only gone a few minutes. I could recite his litany word for word.”

  Linc might have said nothing about her revelation had the light at the corner not illuminated her face, which revealed the despondency in her eyes and the downward curve of her lips. Her sadness reached so deep inside him, it triggered memories of past losses.

  It’d been twenty years since he’d allowed himself to despair over missing what most kids had—parents who cared. When the feeling returned now, swiftly and with deadly precision, Linc was ill-prepared. So ill-prepared, he ran into a post that held up the second-floor balcony.

  “Hey, are you okay?” Randi shot out a hand and grabbed his arm.

  “I’m fine.” He pulled away. “Must’ve stumbled on a sidewalk crack.”

  Frowning, she glanced back at where they’d been. Miranda hadn’t felt any flaws in the walkway. Nor did she see any now.

  “Hey, wait,” she called to the man who barreled on ahead like a steam engine. “While we’re at this lighted intersection, I’m going to give Scraps the steak I saved. It’s not much. Since I’m not sure how rich meat will affect his stomach, I’d rather feed him while we’re outside, if you get my drift.”

  Stopping midstride, Linc turned and noticed the mist from Randi’s breath curling around her head. “Okay, but make it snappy. It we stay put too long, we’ll freeze into ice statues.”

  Smiling, she peered up from where she’d knelt to feed the shivering dog. “You and Scraps are thin-skinned Southern Californians. I love cold crisp autumns. Reminds me of home.”

  “Really? Where’s home?” Linc stopped rubbing his palms together and pounced on her statement.

  Miranda felt the color drain from her face. In the harsh lamplight, she felt exposed. Trapped. “I can’t tell you that, Parker. Please don’t send me away. I’m…uh…”

  “What? On the lam from the cops?”

  “No, no. Nothing like that.” Stronger now, she didn’t fumble so much for words. “There’s some…one I’m running from.”

  Linc drew back and studied her pale features, then the nervous fingers shredding the bits of well-cooked steak. “A man?”

  Looking stricken, Miranda nodded. She waited for the logical next question and then for the ax to fall. She sincerely doubted a man known as a financial guru in Hollywood would show mercy for a performer cutting out on her contract.

  The longer Linc gazed into her wary eyes, the more his brain manufactured worst-case scenarios. He wondered if the dark shadows he was seeing hid scars of mental and maybe even physical abuse. “You’re running from a husband, then?” he asked harshly.

  She shook her head, not trusting herself to speak.

  Ah, a boyfriend, or live-in lover. Linc filled in the blanks himself, feeling a knot tighten in his stomach. “There are laws protecting minors.”

  “I’m not a minor.” She rose, dusted off her hands and then wadded the napkin that had held the meat.

  “Not a minor,” he repeated. “That means…you’re twenty-one?”

  “Twenty-six, actually.” She stared at her toes. “Please, if you find it in your heart to let me stay, don’t give me away to the others. It’s easier pretending to be one of them. Easier on them and on me.”

  “Well.” Linc didn’t know how to react to her revelation. “I guess the age explains your patience at dealing with the younger kids.” He scowled momentarily. “You don’t have any, do you? Children hidden away, I mean,” he blurted, oddly nervous, although it should have been a huge relief to know his instincts hadn’t been wrong, after all.

  Miranda realized the path his mind had taken. He thought she’d run from an abusive relationship. Well…he was right in a way. Wes Carlisle had a stranglehold on every aspect of her life. It was suffocating her. Why not let Parker think what he wanted if it would give her more time to figure out how to free herself from Wes? “I promise I haven’t left a husband or any children behind. I have left an untenable situation. I need time to sort through my options. To rebuild my life. If you can see your way clear to give me that time, you won’t regret it.”

  He shoved his hands deep in his jacket pockets. “I already do,” he said in a sandpapery voice that seemed to have difficulty getting past his lips. “But I applaud your courage in coming clean with me. We’ll see how it goes. Has that mu
tt done his stuff? If so, we’d better be getting back.”

  “Yeah. Jenny wasn’t happy that I asked her to start the girls’ baths. They’re liable to resemble prunes if they’re left soaking much longer.”

  They’d progressed to the far end of the motel and were now adjacent to the pancake restaurant. The young rebels stopped talking among themselves and stared openly at the couple with the dog. One by one, they uttered catcalls and piercing wolf whistles.

  Linc latched on to Randi’s elbow. “Don’t look at them,” he ordered. “What were we talking about before they noticed us? Oh, I know, Cassie and Hana.” He casually raised one arm and let it drop around her shoulders.

  She stiffened, but he squeezed her upper arm and gave a shake of his head. He kept his broad body solidly between her and the pack of young hoodlums. “Will you wash Cassie and Hana’s hair? I didn’t find shampoo with their stuff in the bunkhouse. I have a bottle in my shaving kit, if you need it.”

  “Uh…I have shampoo.” Miranda found it difficult to speak. Her heart had begun to race as the warmth from his body seeped through her jacket. He certainly couldn’t be feeling what she was, otherwise he wouldn’t be chatting so matter-of-factly.

  “It’s a travesty to call what I found in those kids’ dressers clean clothing. Gray is the universal color of their underwear. Makes me furious when I think about those so-called houseparents.”

  Miranda hiked a shoulder in an attempt to put more of her collar between her face and Linc’s rumbling chest.

  “It’s a damn wonder those kids didn’t freeze last winter. Did I mention there’s no heat in the bunkhouses? No bathroom, either. The only halfway clean clothes I found for them are pathetically thin.” Linc cleared his throat. “If I ever catch up to anyone at the top echelon of Oasis, somebody’ll have to bail me out of jail.”

  “Are you planning to meet with them tomorrow?” Miranda couldn’t help feeling uneasy at the prospect. She didn’t doubt that Jenny and the crew would abandon Wolfie and the girls if something happened to detain Parker.