Cowboy's Haven

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by Ella Cooper




  COWBOY’S HAVEN

  by Ella Cooper

  Copyright 2020 by Ella Cooper. All Rights Reserved.

  In no way, it is legal to produce, duplicate or transmit any part of this book in electronic, digital or printed format without the proper and express consent of the author or copyright owner. The recording of this publication is strictly prohibited. Storage and republication of this book are also prohibited without the express consent of the author or publisher.

  DISCLAIMER: Some scenes are sexually explicit and are not suited for readers under 18 years of age. All characters and situations are all fiction. Any similarity to actual situations or persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental.

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  Copyright

  About the book

  Bonus Gift

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Thanks for Reading

  About the Author

  Every cowboy in Mandy Hawkins’s life brings trouble instead. But, when an old pervert vows to make her into his mistress and take away the ranch she loves, Mandy asked another cowboy for protection–her sexy and beefy brother-in-law.

  Bentley Hawkins is reluctant to help his widowed sister-in-law, but he doesn’t want any other man to have the curvy young mother. Mandy is his, just as the ranch is his. He’s prepared to prove it with all he has.

  Will Mandy let this sexy cowboy become more than just her protector?

  Chapter One

  The morning after her husband died, Mandy Hawkins looked over her land. The small ranch looked peaceful. The smell of the fir and pine trees around the house refreshed her. The sound of her son, playing with his trucks under the kitchen table, made her smile. She even laughed a little. She was free. A free woman.

  Mandy had felt like a prisoner in the ranch. Only her son and the greenhouse helped her endure her life there. Jonathan had never treated her as a wife, but as his personal slut and sometimes his punching bag. Mandy had thought of running away, but she had nowhere to go. The ranch was her hell whenever Jonathan was home, but it was also her haven when he was gone.

  Now, it’s just my haven, Mandy thought. Doubt crept into her heart when reality bit her. She’d begun managing the ranch a few months ago when Jonathan stopped coming home. She spent all her savings to revive half of the canola fields. It would take three months before the ranch could earn from the fields.

  “You can do this, Mandy!” she yelled at the fields. William looked at her with his big, curious, brown eyes. She laughed and told her son, “Mommy can do it.”

  “Mommy can do it,” William repeated in the same pitch as his mother.

  Mandy laughed and hugged her son. William was the only happiness she’d had in the past six years. Her life had been a mess, and she promised to do better for her son. For both of us. Her laughter faded when two trucks entered the ranch. She pushed William back to the house and walked out front.

  “May I help you?” Mandy asked from the porch.

  Eight rugged men hopped off one of the trucks. They all had guns holstered at their waists. Most of them were twice as big as the young mother. A tall man in his fifties stepped out of the other track. Mandy shivered. Mark Pennington. She trembled when Mark flashed a smile underneath his thick mustache.

  “We meet again, Mandy,” Mark said with a creepy smile.

  Mark Pennington was the reason she’d married Jonathan. Her father, who was a gambler and a drunkard, sold her to Mark Pennington to pay for his debts on the day she turned eighteen. Instead of going along with the plan, Mandy ran away and worked as a waitress in Greybull, where she met her husband.

  Jonathan was a handsome, young ranch owner. He was a bit arrogant, and Mandy never liked him, but he was a better choice than Mark. Who would want to be the mistress of a fifty-year-old pervert? Mandy surely did not want to. So, she married Jonathan without knowing much about him.

  Her husband was no saint. He was also a gambler and a drunkard, but Mandy fell in love with the ranch. The ranch gave her a home and security she needed. And, the greenhouse. The large greenhouse satisfied the gardener in her. Mandy felt like it was meant to be hers. The ranch was her haven, now, and she would not let Mark shake its peace.

  “W-what are you doing here?” Mandy asked.

  “I’m taking what is mine,” Mark said while looking around the ranch. He looked at Mandy like she was nude and said, “You look better. Waiting a few years was good. Those honkers still got milk?”

  Mandy frowned at the old man’s foul mouth. She glared at him and asked, “What do you want, Mr. Pennington?”

  “I’m here to take my new ranch and my new mistress,” Mark replied with a loud laugh.

  Mandy couldn’t think of anything to say.

  Mark reduced his laughter to a wicked smile and explained, “Your husband sold this ranch to me, and it included you.”

  No. It can’t be true. Jonathan was a drunkard and a gambler, but he was a wise man. He would not sell the ranch to a loan shark like Mark Pennington.

  Mandy rushed back to the house and took the shotgun from the kitchen. William looked up at her with scared eyes. She flashed a smile and gave him a thumbs up. The child smiled back and returned to playing. The young mother gathered all her courage, took a deep breath and stepped out to the porch.

  “Leave my ranch or I’ll blow your heads off,” Mandy declared while pointing the gun to Mark.

  Her action startled Mark and his goons. The goons pulled out their guns and pointed them at Mandy. She choked in fear, but she kept her stance. Mark cackled at her display of courage. He motioned for his goons to lower their guns.

  “You amaze me, Mandy,” Mark said. “You make me want you more. And, this time I will have you.”

  Mandy was about to reply when the sheriff’s car pulled up to the house with another car behind it. Mark’s goons hid their guns and returned to the truck. Only a few remained at Mark’s back.

  “You should put down your gun, Mandy,” Mark suggested.

  Mandy kept the gun pointing at Mark. The sheriff ran out of the car as soon as he arrived.

  “What’s happening here, Mandy?” Sheriff Osborne asked. He looked at Mark and frowned a bit.

  Everyone in the county knew Mark. The slimy old man had acquired many ranches by force or by illegal means. He had the authorities in his palm, too. Those who were against him, like Sheriff Osborne, were afraid to question or report him.

  “Get that filthy old man off my ranch,” Mandy yelled. Her voice shook as she began to lose her courage.

  “I’m here to claim what is mine, sheriff,” Mark said.

  The sheriff’s forehead wrinkled. He looked at the other man from the other car. Mandy lowered her gun as the stout man approached the front of her house.

  “I’m Mr. Kevin Lewis from the Security State Bank,” the man introduced. He took some documents from his bag and gave them to the sheriff.

  The sheriff looked at the documents and reluctantly held them out to Mandy. She refused to take them, saying, “You know, I can’t understand them.”

  Mark and his goons laughed at Mandy’s honesty. The sheriff sighed and explained, “This is a notice for auction. The bank is auctioning the ranch sixty days from now.”

  Mandy felt off balance after hearing the sheriff’s explanation. Jonathan! She wanted to curse her dead husband, but it would not help her. She looked around the ranch with misty eyes. Her haven for the past six
years could be gone in sixty days. No. She raised the gun and pointed at the bank agent.

  “Get off my ranch before I shoot you,” she warned in rage.

  Mark laughed while Mr. Lewis panicked. Sheriff Osborne stood in front of Mandy and raised his hands. He looked at her with pleading eyes and said, “Calm down, Mandy.”

  “Just get rid of them!” Mandy cried.

  Sheriff Osborne turned to the bank official. The man nodded and headed back to his car. Mark refused to leave despite the sheriff’s request. Everyone shrieked in shock when Mandy shot the ground near Mark. The goons and the sheriff took out their guns and pointed them at each other.

  “Mandy!” Sheriff Osborne yelled.

  “The next bullet will be in your head, Mark,” Mandy warned. “Do you still think I’m scared?”

  Mark glared at Mandy. He gave his goons an order to leave and then said, “Before the sixty days end, you’ll be on your knees sucking my cock, bitch.”

  “Never!”

  I will do anything to keep this ranch safe for me and my son. Mandy swore as she watched Mark and his men drive off.

  #

  “Mr. Pennington will stop at nothing to get you and the ranch,” Mrs. Osborne said as she served Mandy some tea.

  Mandy grabbed the cup with two hands. She hadn’t stopped trembling since she arrived at the sheriff’s house. Sheriff Osborne had brought her to his wife to seek more information about the bank’s claim.

  Jonathan took out a loan from the bank and used the ranch as collateral. He had been delinquent in paying for the past year. The bank had no choice but to take the ranch. But, it could not auction the property immediately because of Jonathan’s death. They needed to give his heirs some time to settle the estate.

  Mandy did not know if she should be thankful that Jonathan died. They would have lost the ranch if he had not. But, there was a problem. She had no money to pay the debt before the auction. Mark’s claim on the ranch had no legality, but she remembered his threats. The filthy old man could buy the ranch at the auction and use it against her.

  “Jonathan’s insurance money would be enough, right?” Mandy asked Mrs. Osborne.

  The older couple looked at each other with worried eyes. Mandy became suspicious of their reaction. She’d found an insurance policy and other documents among Jonathan’s belongings and had asked Mrs. Osborne to find out about them. She hoped that her late husband had left something for her and William.

  “The insurance was never approved because Jonathan did not pursue it,” Mrs. Osborne answered.

  Mandy’s hope crashed. She’d relied on Jonathan’s insurance to start a new life. She shook her head as she tried not to cry in anger. A few hundred dollars were all she had. The auction would be before she could harvest the canola. She would not only lose the ranch, but she would lose all her investment in the canola fields. She would be left with nothing.

  “We could try to demand a higher price for the canola fields,” Mrs. Osborne said. “It’s a long shot, but I think you can get a few thousand from it.”

  “I don’t want to lose the ranch,” Mandy said in tears.

  “Mandy, a young woman like you cannot run a ranch,” Sheriff Osborne stated. “You need to raise cattle on that land if you want to save it. You can barely ride a horse.”

  Mandy frowned, but she admitted that the sheriff had a point. The ranch began failing when Jonathan stopped caring about it. Their stables had been empty for two years because Jonathan had no time to muster livestock. She could not do it alone because of her fear of horses.

  “If only Bentley would come home and help,” Mrs. Osborne murmured.

  Mandy worried when she heard Bentley’s name. She had heard about him from Jonathan. Bentley Hawkins was his younger brother. According to Jonathan, Bentley planned to take everything. He’d also been imprisoned for murder. Mandy certainly did not want any murderer near her son.

  “No. I’ll find a way to get the ranch back and away from Mark Pennington,” Mandy responded. “I don’t need another Hawkins in my life except for that one.”

  Mandy looked at her son with loving eyes. William was the only Hawkins she needed.

  “I don’t know what Jonathan told you about Bentley, but he is the only one who could help you,” Mrs. Osborne insisted.

  “Honey, come on. You cannot let her call Bentley,” Sheriff Osborne objected. “She’s a young widow, and letting her brother-in-law stay at the ranch with her will only cause rumors and scandals in this town.”

  “Oh please! I would be happy if she ended up with someone like Bentley,” Mrs. Osborne snapped at her husband.

  Mandy smiled a little at the bickering old couple. They were like her parents, especially Mrs. Osborne. The older missus was one of the few people who welcomed her. Some town people believed that she was jinxed. The Hawkins ranch was one of the most thriving ranches in the Big Horn County, despite Bentley’s scandal. But, when Jonathan came home with her, the ranch went bankrupt.

  No one believed that Jonathan had a gambling problem. Most people in Greybull believed he was the good son. That’s why their mother had given him the ranch. Only the Osborne couple believed her when she told how Jonathan had abused her. They had been helping her since she gave birth to William. They were one of the reasons Mandy did not want to lose the ranch. She would never give up on her home and the people she’d learned to love.

  #

  Bentley Hawkins crushed the week old newspaper with the account of his brother’s accident. This was the first he was hearing of it. He didn’t often have enough time to read the newspapers now that he was living in Cheyenne. He needed to learn new things for his job.

  Bentley looked at his reflection in the window. Six years in prison had changed him from being a cowboy to a merciless club bouncer, but his face had not changed. His body grew wider and more muscular, but he still looked like the young cowboy who once enjoyed his life in the ranch.

  One thing had changed. His big, deep, almond-shaped hazel eyes were full of hatred. They’d lost their happy spark the day he was convicted as a murderer. Bentley became more hateful when his older brother, Jonathan, became the sole owner of their ranch.

  The Hawkins’s ranch was Bentley’s life. The young cowboy had sacrificed his college football career to stay at the ranch. His father was furious, but Bentley insisted that football was not for him. Being a cowboy was his dream. Riding his horse around the ranch was better than scoring a touchdown. Rounding up cattle and horses was better than hustling other football players. Bentley wanted to stay on the ranch all his life.

  “Now, it is ruined,” he said and threw the newspaper.

  He was aware of what Jonathan had done to the ranch. His brother sold half of it and let the other half rot. He probably spent all his money to fund his wife’s whims. He had heard many stories about Jonathan’s wife. Most of them talked about her age and how she’d seduced Jonathan. Why would an eighteen-year-old club waitress marry a man twelve years older than her? Money. It was the only explanation Bentley could think of.

  “Hey, cowboy! The old hag wants you downstairs,” Patrick, one of the waiters, called.

  Bentley stood and walked out of the break room. He blew a deep sigh and walked back to his post as the club bouncer. He settled his face into a stern, merciless scowl. Switching his personality was easy. The frustrated cowboy only had to think about the injustice done to him, and he was ready to beat everyone.

  Bentley had always been the problem child in their family. He was not as intelligent and as admirable as his brother. Jonathan was the good son while he was the prodigal one.

  But, the younger Hawkins was the one willing to stay at the ranch. The whole town was disappointed when Bentley refused to play for the University of Wyoming. Many claimed that he was lazy. He could not keep up with Jonathan, who went to the University of Utah on an academic scholarship.

  Their mother was prouder of Jonathan than him. His father accepted his choice, but his mother did not. Whe
n Jonathan finished college, he demanded the right to manage the ranch. Their father opposed and wanted Bentley to have the same right. Jonathan knew the business side of the ranch, but Bentley knew how to run the ranch. Jonathan got mad and left town.

  Their mother was furious at Bentley. She became more furious when he was accused of a crime. A crime he never committed.

  The young rancher was alone in the ranch on that day seven years ago. His father and a few of their workers left to deliver some livestock. Jonathan took their mother to his place for the night. His brother claimed that he wanted to spend time with her. Everyone was confident that nothing would go wrong that night.

  But, some men came to the ranch in a truck and ran over the canola fields. Bentley warned the men, but they ignored his warning. Their intention was obvious. They wanted the fields destroyed. The young cowboy still did not understand their reason or who was behind the destruction.

  The young rancher took his gun and fired warning shots. The men panicked and shot at him. Bentley was young and he still lacked experience and judgment. He engaged in a shootout with the goons until he hit one of them. The truck fled from the ranch after one man had fallen. Their truck had destroyed half of the fields when they left.

  The police apprehended the truck driver, but he claimed that they did not have any bad intentions to the ranch. They were only lost and accidentally drove over the canola fields. Bentley shot at them without any warning. They panicked and shot back at him, but the Bentley ended killing the other man in the truck despite their plea to surrender.

  The court convicted Bentley with second-degree murder for his failure to present evidence of complete self-defense. He claimed innocence and only his father believed him. The Hawkins patriarch appealed the case, but he died a few weeks after the appeal was submitted. Without his father, no one looked over Bentley’s case. His mother was busy taking care of Jonathan and his young wife until she died five years ago. His mother never visited him since he was brought in the state penitentiary.

 

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