A Cowboy Worth Loving (Canton County Cowboys 1)

by Charlene Bright

  “We’re country; we’re not dumb,” Gavin said. “We get open and notorious.”

  Kayla shot her brother a glare, and Lucy cleared her throat. “As I was saying, the actual, physical occupation of property that’s not yours to occupy for a period of years exclusively and in an obvious way can cause the person possessing it to have the right to gain ownership of said property. In Texas, that period is five years.”

  “Well, we’ve been here a lot longer than five years,” Kayla said excitedly. Gavin had his brows drawn together in the center. He finally took his eyes from Lucy’s face and looked at his sister.

  “She’s saying that she wants us to go into court and say that we been trespassing on this property all these years, Kay. This is our family’s land. My granddaddy and his daddy and our daddy… Those men worked and sweated for this land. They didn’t adversely occupy it. They paid for it with cash and blood and sweat.”

  “Mr. Walker, I’m not trying to disparage what your family did to obtain their land. I’m just trying to help you keep it.”

  Gavin got up, drained the beer bottle, and professed, “I’m not going into open court and say that I’m a trespasser on someone’s land damn it! This is my land.” He looked at Kayla and said, “It’s our land, Kay.”

  “Right now, Gavin,” his sister assured him, “but if we just go into that courthouse and say ‘This is our land, damn it!’--I’m afraid that’s not gonna be enough. We’ll lose everything. Lucy is trying to help us.”

  “I still don’t see what you get out of this,” Gavin said, looking back at Lucy.

  “I get the satisfaction of knowing I helped someone who deserved it.”

  “And what makes you think we deserve it?” Gavin asked.

  Lucy stood up and picked up her bag. She looked at Kayla with a soft look and then back at her brother. “I think that your sister very much deserves my help. I’d have to say that the jury is still out on whether you do or not. Kayla, thank you so much for talking with me. You have my number. I’ll be in Collinswood tonight, and if you decide that you want my help, I’ll arrange to stay for as long as I need to.” She looked back at Gavin, who suddenly seemed to have a smile playing at the corners of his lips. “Mr. Walker, it was lovely meeting you.” Lucy walked past him then and toward the door.

  Kayla followed her and said, “Lucy, I want your help. I will call you in the morning.”

  Lucy nodded and replied, “I’d like to come out when it’s not so close to sundown and get some photos of the land in question.”

  “Absolutely,” Kayla said. “Tomorrow morning will be perfect. Thank you so much for coming out and please forgive my brother’s rudeness. He’s much better with animals than he is with people.” It was Lucy’s turn to smile as she left.

  ***

  When Lucy was gone, Gavin said, “Don’t apologize for me like I’m a child.”

  “Then don’t act like you’re a child. Jeez, Gavin! This lady came here all the way from Houston. She’s spending her time and her money to help us for no other reason than she’s a good person, and you treated her like she was the one here to take our land away!”

  “We don’t know her, Kayla. She could be here for that very purpose. She wants to go traipsing around on our land. She’s talking to us like we’re idiots.”

  “Oh stop it! She was not. She was just trying to explain things so we understood them. I, for one, appreciated it.”

  “Well, I didn’t. I don’t need her help.”

  “Okay, smart guy, and then you tell me how we’re going to fight the state of Texas while we’re struggling to keep this ranch alive and fending off attacks by Tuck?” Gavin didn’t say anything, so after several seconds Kayla said, “I thought so. I have to go feed.” He stood there and watched as his sister went over to the back door and slipped on her rubber boots. She was right. He didn’t know how to save their land yet. But he was sure that he wasn’t ready to trust anyone else to do it, either.

  “I’m going to finish my work before the sun goes down. We’re gonna have to get that stock out of the holding pens and back out into the pasture tomorrow, so I need to check fences, and I think that Chestnut is about ready to foal. I’m going to catch her today and bring her in and put her in the stables. That’s if you don’t have any other meetings you need me to attend?”

  “Not today,” she said as she stood up and reached for the door handle. “But you will be at the next one and the one after that until this is over. You’re not just a cowboy, Gavin, you’re a landowner, and you need to start learning how to act like one or there won’t be any land left for us to pass on to our kids.” She slammed the door on her way out.

  Gavin tossed the beer bottle in the trash and went out through the front. Satan was waiting for him by the door. He climbed on the horse and clicked his tongue at him. Kayla didn’t look up at them as she threw hay into the holding pens. She was pissed at him, but she would get over it. He was just protecting them, and sooner or later she would understand that. The pretty red-haired lawyer lady would show her true colors, he was sure of it, and when she did, Kayla will be thankful that her big brother was there to look out for her.

  He started to head out to the east pasture with the dogs and the goat in tow when he heard a vehicle coming up the drive. He stopped and waited until the pickup made it up over the small hill that led to the main house. It was a brand new Ford F-350 with about a six-inch lift on it. He didn’t recognize the truck, but the driver had been his partner in crime since the second grade: Brance Duncan. Brance parked the showy red pickup in front of the house and stepped out of the truck. The dogs and the goat ran up to greet him, and he stopped to pet them all before walking over to where Gavin and Satan sat watching him.

  “Hey, Mongoose! You don’t look happy to see me.”

  Gavin slid down off the horse and grinned at his old friend. “Hell, I haven’t seen you in so long that I forgot what you looked like.”

  Brance and Gavin hugged as Brance said, “I been out earning my fortune, young man. You should have come with me!”

  “Right, and leave Kay here to handle things on her own for nine months? I take it from the new wheels that you’ve done well?”

  “Seriously? You haven’t even been following me? I won it all, brother! You are looking at the 2014 season PBR champion!”

  Gavin smiled. “Really?”

  “No, but I was so close,” Brance said with another grin. “You should think about going with me, man.”

  “I’m not going anywhere,” Gavin said. Brance knew him well enough to know when he got that look in his eye he wasn’t talking about it any further, either. The look was gone as soon as it came as he said, “I’m surprised you have time for us little folk now that you’re so close to being the big bull rider on campus.”

  “I don’t really have time for you,” he said with a grin. “But for that pretty little sister of yours…”

  “Get that thought right out of your head,” Gavin told him, only half kidding. He knew his sister had a crush on Brance since she was a kid. He loved his friend, but he loved his sister more, and a man who went through women like underwear was not going to get within a foot of her if Gavin had anything to say about it, friend or not.

  “You always were a killjoy.”

  Changing the subject, Gavin said, “Where are you staying?”

  Brance made a hopeful face and asked, “With you?”

  “Still not talking to the old man?”

  “He’s a stubborn old mule,” Brance said of his father. He and Brance had had issues since the younger man was in high school. Most of them were related to the fact that Brance refused to stay around Collinswood and work on the ranch. He was always the restless sort; the rodeo circuit, and most recently the Professional Bull Riders association, was where he wanted to be. “I stopped by and saw Ma for a while until he came in for supper. I ain’t seen him in nine months, and all he said was something snide about my girly red truck.”

  Gavin look
ed at the truck and back at his friend. “It is a little girly.”

  “Shut up!” Brance said, laughing.

  Gavin laughed too and said, “You can stay with me, on one condition.”

  “What’s that?”

  “Keep your distance from Kay. She’s got a lot going on right now. She doesn’t need some Cowboy Casanova messing with her head.”

  Brance held up his palms and said, “I won’t touch your sister, bro.”

  “Good. Here are the keys to the house. I have some horses to tend to.”

  “Great, thanks. It won’t be for long. I’m thinking about buying me a place in town.”

  “Really? I thought the whole point of this bull riding thing was no roots.”

  “It is. I ain’t planning on growing to it. It’ll just be a place to crash on my trips home. Nothing fancy.”

  “Brance?”

  Damn! Gavin had been hoping he’d take off before Kayla finished feeding and realized he was here.

  “Well hey there, pretty girl.” Gavin fumed as Brance opened his arms and Kayla ran into them. He caught Brance’s eye over Kayla’s shoulder and cleared his throat. Brance let go of her, but he didn’t lose his lecherous grin as he said, “Look at you!”

  Kayla looked embarrassed. She tugged at the long dark braid that hung over her shoulder from underneath her hat. “I’m a mess,” she said. “You, on the other hand, look great! Is this your truck?”

  “Yep! I won it,” he said with his chest puffed out.

  “Well, I need to get to work before it gets dark. Maybe I ought to go let you into the house.” Gavin said, trying hard to interrupt.

  “I thought you said the house was unlocked.”

  “Are you staying with us?” Kayla asked, sounding just a little too happy about it for Gavin’s taste.

  “No, he’s staying with me. I may be wrong about it being open.”

  “Good! I’ve got a pot roast in the crock pot; you can have dinner with us,” Kayla told him.

  “We should get over there.”

  “That sounds great, Kay. I haven’t had a home-cooked meal in I don’t know when.”

  “Brance!” Gavin had had enough of being ignored.

  Brance turned toward him and said, “It’s okay, Mongoose. Kayla and I will just catch up while you’re finishing up your work. After dinner is soon enough to take my things over to your place.”

  Gavin stood and watched Brance Duncan follow his sister into her house. He wished that she was still twelve sometimes. That’s about how old she was when he left for Corpus Christie. When he came back, she was a woman. He had never been sure how to handle that transition, since to him it literally seemed as if it had happened overnight.

  Chapter Four

  “Miss Lancaster, Mama wants to know if you want more eggs.”

  Lucy was having breakfast at the inn where she was staying. She was only one of two guests, and she had yet to see the other one appear. “Miss Hildie,” as everyone in the little town called the owner, was convinced that Lucy was way too skinny and was determined to fatten her up while she was in town.

  “Oh no, Sylvie, I couldn’t eat another bite, but thank you.” Sylvie went back toward the kitchen, and within minutes, Miss Hildie was coming out herself, armed with a bowl full of fried potatoes. Lucy laughed when she saw her and held her stomach. “Really, ma’am, I couldn’t eat another bite.”

  “Ain’t no wonder you’re as thin as a rail, you don’t eat.” Lucy had consumed more at this one breakfast than she normally did in an entire day. She’d hate to see the person whose appetite Miss Hildie approved of.

  “It was great, but I’m really stuffed. I need to get out to Salt Cedar Ranch.”

  “Oh! I knew you were here to do some legal work for somebody or other. I didn’t know it was for those sweet kids. How is Kayla? I ain’t seen her in town in months.”

  “She seems well. She told me she doesn’t get many chances to get off the ranch. I get the feeling she works a lot.”

  “Poor baby, losing her mama and her daddy like she did at only twenty-one years old. Then that old tomcat Tuck Stevenson moving in on them. I can’t imagine how she does it all.”

  “It does seem like a lot. But she has her brother, at least.”

  Hildie laughed. “Gavin Walker is the best there is at training your horse or seducing your girl, but a businessman he ain’t. You better watch your drawers though, sweet-pea, ‘cause that boy seems to just have to look at ‘em on a pretty girl and they fall down.”

  Lucy felt her cheeks go hot at the mention of Gavin Walker “getting into her drawers.” She could all but guarantee Miss Hildie that was never going to happen. It wasn’t that she didn’t find him physically appealing. She’d have to be blind not to notice how his dark brown hair stuck out in little curls underneath the back of his felt cowboy hat or the way his hazel eyes appeared brown when he was annoyed and dark green when he was passionate like when he was talking about his land. Sure, she’d taken notice of all of that as well as the way the short sleeves of his t-shirt stretched so tightly across his biceps they looked like they might tear and the snug fit of those Wranglers on his long legs. She’d noticed, and she’d appreciated it all like she would a fine painting. It was something to be looked at, but never touched. Touching it would set off all kinds of alarms, and Lucy was smarter than that.

  “Don’t worry,” she told the older woman. “I’ve got my drawers cinched tight.”

  Hildie threw her head back and laughed at that. Lucy thanked her again for breakfast and started out for her rental car. It was just after seven a.m. She was sure that someone like Kayla would be up by now. She was anxious to get out to the property in question and take pictures. As if reading her mind, her phone started ringing. Kayla Walker was calling her.

  “Hello, Kayla. I was just about to call you.”

  “Good morning, Lucy. I was calling to let you know that I have a horse that is foaling this morning, and Gavin’s already out in the pasture. I’m not gonna be able to leave her and go out there to take pictures with you until she does.”

  “Oh, okay. Well, if you just give me the directions, I don’t mind going out myself.”

  “Are you sure? I tried to get ahold of Gavin to see if he could meet you out there, but sometimes he don’t get service.”

  “Oh no!” Lucy said, horrified at the thought. She realized how that sounded and added, “I mean, don’t bother him. I can manage.”

  Kayla agreed, and after they hung up, she texted Lucy the directions to the land. She would have to drive down some narrow dirt paths to get there, but she had the foresight to rent a four-wheel drive vehicle for just such an occasion. Lucy wasn’t as “city” as they all thought she was.

  She headed out to the ranch, happy in the knowledge that she wouldn’t have to see Gavin again today. She drove the six miles out to the ranch, and as she passed the house and the stables, she didn’t see any signs of life. She breathed one more sigh of relief; she’d been worried that she would run into him anyway. She turned to the right when she got past the turn-out pens, like Kayla had told her to. About a mile past that first turn, she passed another little house. It was brown with red trim and a red door, and there were pretty little yellow daisies out front. There was a giant red pickup parked out front, and Lucy wondered if it was Gavin’s. She decided that it probably wasn’t. She had him pictured in a beat-up old truck and a log cabin.

  She made her next turn at the gulch, as Kayla had directed. That was as far as she remembered the directions. She reached over into her purse for her phone. Just as she did, the Land Rover hit a bump in the road. Lucy reached back over to grab the wheel with both hands. When she did, she accidentally overcorrected. The next few seconds seemed like they happened in slow motion. As she pulled back to the right, the tires of the vehicle slipped off the side of the road. She felt it sliding, so she pulled too quickly back to the left. When she did that, the little four-wheel drive turned over on its side, slid for about ten fee
t and landed sideways in a big hole on the side of the road.

  Lucy sat there for a few seconds, trying to get her bearings and make sure she was okay. When she caught her breath, and realized that she didn’t seem to have any gaping wounds or crushed bones, she reached for her seatbelt. The side of the SUV was crushed down so tight on her left side that it had pushed her seat over into the console. She couldn’t get her hand between them to unbuckle the belt. The vehicle was lying on her door, and with her seatbelt on, there was no way she was going to reach the other one.

  “Damn it! Okay, Lucy, take it easy. Take some deep breaths and think. You can handle this.” She could feel the hot burn of the tears accumulating in the corners of her eyes. “Stop it! You’re a grown woman, Lucy. No tears.”

  “Hey! Anybody in there?” The sound of the deep baritone voice startled her

  "Yes! I’m here. I can’t get my seatbelt undone.”

  "Are you okay?”

  “Yeah, I think so. I’m just stuck.”

  Okay, hang on a sec.” She realized then with a feeling of dread that she had heard the voice before. It belonged to Gavin Walker. Oh hell! This is just what he needed to decide she was completely incompetent.

  A minute or so later, she saw his silhouette block the sun that was streaming through the window again. He tried to pull the passenger door open, but it was stuck.

  “Put your arms over your face and turn your head away from me,” he said.

  She did as he told her to, and then she would have jumped about a foot if she hadn’t been tightly strapped down. He hit the corner of the window with something, and the glass shattered. He picked it out until it was just an empty hole. Then she heard the metal squeak and groan underneath his weight as he leaned through the window so he could see inside. When he saw her, his face broke out into a wide grin. If she could reach him, she may have blacked his other eye. “Well I reckon this don’t beat all I ever seen.”

  “When you’re finished making fun of me, would you mind getting me out of here?”