The Wrangler's Last Chance

by Jessica Keller

  Now that Carter was done talking, she took another step, bridging the last of the space between them to hug him. The second her arms went around him, she felt his muscles sag, tension releasing. If only she could give him half of the strength he had helped her find since they met. He buried his face between her shoulder and hair as he returned her hug tightly.

  “I’m so sorry all that happened to you,” she murmured close to his ear. “I’m so sorry for all you’ve gone through and how people have treated you. They didn’t see you, Carter, and that’s their loss.”

  Carter shook his head and set her back from himself. “You keep being so nice to me and I don’t know what to do with it. I’m not a good guy, Shannon. I’m not—”

  “You don’t think you’re a good guy?” She laughed. “How do you not see yourself?”

  A frog splashed into the nearby pond as she waited for Carter to say something.

  His brows knit together. “You heard everything I just told you, right? The thefts and the battery—those things really happened back then. And Audrey... I did ruin her life. I don’t think her parents ever let her go away to school.”

  “Let’s see if I’ve got this right.” Shannon laid a palm on his heart, savoring the sudden freedom to touch him. She grabbed his hand and drew their joined hands up between them. “You were a teenager who was willing to stand in the way of and stand against physical abuse.” She tipped her head up, making sure he was absorbing her words. “You took hits for your mom, Carter.”

  A muscle in his jaw jumped.

  She went on, “At only eighteen you were willing to give up your dreams in order for a child to have the best chance at life—to do better than was ever done for you.” She stepped back, getting more animated. “And you took a punch for me before you even cared about me.” She tapped his chest. “So don’t you dare tell me you’re no good, when you’re the kindest man I’ve ever met. Your heart is so big and you care so much and you crave justice for others. You’ve helped me find my strength when everyone else only wanted to baby me.”

  Shannon brought her hand to his face again. She loved the feel of his stubble under her fingertips. “As far as I’m concerned you’re the best guy out there,” she whispered.

  Carter’s Adam’s apple bobbed. He looked up, blinking at the sky. “You’re wrong.” His voice was thick with emotion.

  She placed a hand on either side of his face and guided him to look at her. “No, I’m not.”

  “Well, about one thing.” His gaze finally crashed into hers. Looking into his blue eyes was like gazing across the ocean—calming yet full of endless possibilities and hopes. It made her want to dive in, even though she knew there was a risk. “When I took that punch from Cord, I had already lost my heart to you. I was long beyond merely caring by then.” He brushed hair from her shoulder and then leaned in, claiming her lips again.

  Shannon’s hands found their way to his solid chest and she wound her fingers into the fabric there, tugging him close.

  “I want you back at the ranch,” Shannon said against his lips. She would do whatever it took to clear his name with Rhett and Wade, though she didn’t think it would be that difficult. After Carter had left she had gone over the details pertaining to when the missing items had been reported to have disappeared. A quick check on the volunteer log had shown Easton working during every reported theft and some had lined up to when Shannon knew Carter had been with her in town and Easton had been primarily unsupervised. Which wasn’t uncommon. At eighteen he was considered capable of completing tasks without a staff member forever on his heels. She would talk to the teenager and see what he had to say and they would go from there.

  Just as Carter was moving to deepen their kiss, his phone started going off. “I’m sorry.” He broke away and scrambled to answer it in time. “Spira listed my number in the away message for the clinic. It could be someone having an emergency.” But his head jerked back when he looked at the screen. “Why is Wade calling me?”

  Shannon snatched the phone from Carter’s hand and answered it. “What do you want?”

  “You shouldn’t be with him, sis.” Wade’s voice was clipped. “We ran that background check to keep you safe. Does that mean nothing to you?”

  Shannon squared her shoulders. It was high time for her to tell her brothers to back off. She should have done it weeks ago when Carter first suggested it. The solid foundation she had begun to build thanks to her group counseling sessions helped her gather her courage. “Is Rhett there with you?”

  “He is.”

  “Put the phone on speaker.”

  “Done.”

  “Listen,” Shannon started. “I love both of you so much but I don’t need you guys rushing in to fight my battles all the time.” She reached for Carter’s hand. He pumped it lightly in a show of support. “I know you think you’re taking care of me and you don’t want me to get hurt because of what happened with Cord, but the truth is you’re both trying to control me just as much as Cord ever did.”

  Rhett cleared his voice. “That’s not fair.”

  “It is when you’re telling me who I can and can’t spend time with.” She stepped closer to Carter. “I don’t need you guys to be my heroes. I just want you to be my brothers. I just want to know you love me and support my choices.”

  “We do, sis.” Wade’s voice was subdued.

  “Then let me go. Let me make mistakes or thrive without the fear of constantly disappointing you.”

  “You’ve never disappointed us,” Rhett said.

  “How you both act makes me feel like I do.”

  Wade sighed. “You’re right. We’ve overstepped ourselves a lot since Cord. I’m really sorry, Shannon. I just—I love you a lot.”

  “I know you do. And you, too, Rhett. But I need you both to take a step back from my life. I don’t need either of you acting like overprotective dads toward me.”

  “We can do that,” Rhett said. “I promise we’ll both be better.”

  “And tell us when we’re overstepping,” Wade added. “I’m sure we won’t go down this road perfectly but we want to be better for you.”

  Shannon let out a long breath as adrenaline from finally having this hard conversation buzzed through her body. “So we’re all okay, then?”

  “We’re all more than okay.” Rhett’s voice was warm.

  Wade clicked off the speaker setting. “Hey, so totally not being overprotective, but I really do need you to come home.”

  “Right now?” She glanced at Carter. One of his eyebrows went up in a silent question. Shannon forgot to breathe for a second. With his dark hair, blue eyes, strong build and the trail of stubble across his chin, Carter was gorgeous. There was no other word for it. He was steal-your-breath gorgeous.

  And Shannon had just kissed him.

  A lot.

  “It’s urgent.” Wade’s voice broke her out of her moment of swooning. “We’re all meeting at Rhett’s and you’re the only one we’re missing.” When she didn’t answer right away he added, “It would mean a lot to me if you would head back now. It’s a personal thing and I want to share with everyone in the family at once. We even have Boone, June and Hailey waiting on video chat already. But this needs to happen today because June’s heading off on a weeklong trip with some of the women from their church next week.”

  It’s a personal thing. Shannon latched onto Carter’s bicep, holding on for support.

  Last year Wade had been diagnosed with thyroid cancer. He had undergone surgery and radioactive iodine treatment during his battle and had been declared cancer-free afterward. But he had to go in for checkups every six months and he and Cassidy were always balls of stress while they waited for results each time.

  What if Wade’s cancer had returned?

  Shannon’s heart lurched into the back of her throat. Wade was her twin. Growing up, he had been her
confidant and best friend. Last summer, his return had been the driving force to finally get her to leave Cord. Despite the fact that he had been fighting cancer at the time, he had walked every step of the breakup with her. From discovering her bruises to filing police reports and facing the man down in court proceedings—Wade had held her hand through it all.

  “Of course, Wade. I’ll head home now.” Shannon hung up with him and turned to Carter, thrusting the phone back at him. “I have to go. My brother. I have to go.”

  She took off down the steps and was in one of the ranch’s trucks a heartbeat later. Carter called after her, but she had to get to Wade.

  * * *

  Rhett showed up at the Spiras’ doorstep the next morning, entirely contrite. He explained to Carter that when Shannon had told Easton about Carter leaving over the thefts, he’d confessed to taking all the items.

  “And I’d like to know if you would be willing to resume your position at the ranch,” Rhett said. “Honestly, the horses have never had better care.”

  Carter wouldn’t return for Rhett’s sake or even for the horses. While he had grown to love Red Dog Ranch and believed in their mission, if he went back, it would be for Shannon.

  They hadn’t spoken since she had rushed off yesterday.

  But Carter had a responsibility to Dr. Spira, too. Late last night a frantic client had showed up at the doctor’s house, begging him to save their potbellied pig, Ham Solo, who was a beloved family pet. Upon inspection, Carter had discovered that Ham Solo had torn the cranial cruciate ligament in his front left knee. In order to save the pig, Carter had scrubbed up and performed surgery to stabilize the leg. Once he was done, Carter had been exhausted but had only been able to sleep off and on for a few hours in a chair in the recovery room because he had needed to stay near and monitor his patient. Ham Solo would require supervision and care for a few days before Carter was comfortable with him going home. With Spira gone, Carter couldn’t exactly leave the pig alone.

  “I won’t be able to come back today,” Carter said. He explained about Ham Solo. “I can probably be back by Friday, since Dr. Spira is set to return late Thursday night.” He would want the doctor to be able to have a good night of rest before taking over the care of the pig and any other animals that came in between now and then.

  Rhett pursed his lips. “The horse show is Saturday morning.”

  “I know.” Carter jammed his hands into his pockets. He wanted to be there for Shannon’s event, but he couldn’t simply shirk his responsibilities at the clinic. “I’ll work as many hours as she needs me to on Friday in order to be ready to roll on Saturday. I’m not going to let her down.”

  “I know you won’t.” Rhett turned to leave, but then he stopped on the steps and turned back around. “She was the one who found out it was Easton taking things. She told me she had a hunch it was him before she sought him out.”

  “I hope you weren’t too hard on the kid.” A stone settled in the pit of Carter’s stomach. Easton was a hurting teenager who needed direction and mentoring. Being a part of the ranch’s volunteer program where he could get hands-on experience for a résumé was vital to Easton’s future success. A huge setback now could derail his life for a long time, and from his own life experience, Carter knew that was the last thing Easton needed.

  “Nah. But I thought of a great punishment.” Rhett’s mouth twitched in what looked like it might want to be a grin. “We assigned him to the mentoring program. I told him he needed closer guidance and counseling from one of our best.” Rhett leaned a hip onto the rail. “I hope you don’t mind that I assigned him to you.”

  “Me?” Carter couldn’t believe his ears. The man who had basically kicked him off his property a few days ago was now saying Carter was one of his best people on staff?

  “My brother and I—we messed up, Carter. There’s no other way to say it,” Rhett said. “We were quick to judge and slow to listen and handled things in a way that was upsetting to both you and to God.” He laid a hand on his chest. “Shannon is our baby sister and Wade and I both feel as if we failed her where Cord was concerned.” His shoulders slumped as he kept talking. “We just didn’t want to see her hurt and that blinded us, and we responded poorly when we got your record check back. We’re deeply sorry and ask forgiveness for how we acted.”

  Carter opened his mouth but nothing came out. No one had ever asked for his forgiveness like that before. It all felt a little strange and overly formal. He closed his mouth, took a deep breath and tried again. “I forgive you and I get it. Shannon’s really special.”

  “She really is.” Rhett tapped the railing. “Oh, speaking of that, I wanted you to know why Shannon rushed out of here—”

  Carter held up a hand. “You don’t have to share family stuff with me.” It felt too personal, too much to know about an emergency among the Jarretts. In the end, he was only a staff member.

  “It’s fine. Wade wouldn’t mind because everyone at the ranch knows by now. Cassidy is pregnant. So it was good news.” Rhett edged backward down the steps. When his boots hit the sidewalk he stopped and dipped his head, tipping his hat to Carter. “I hope you stick around, Carter. You’re good for my sister. I’m sorry I didn’t see it before.”

  After Rhett left, Carter lowered himself onto the front steps and dropped his head into his hands. Carter knew so little about navigating family relationships. Already he felt way in over his head. Did heading back to the ranch mean he was committing himself to something he wasn’t ready for? He loved Shannon, but that didn’t necessarily mean he was prepared for all that went along with it. If things progressed he would be expected to join their family.

  Carter didn’t even know how to start processing that thought.

  He grabbed the railing and yanked himself to his feet. As he headed back to the clinic his steps were wobbly with exhaustion. For now he would focus on things he did feel confident about, and right now that was taking care of Ham Solo.

  Chapter Eleven

  Shannon couldn’t have picked a better day for the spring horse show. It was the Saturday before Easter and it was hard to believe that only a year ago they had been dealing with the tornado that had ripped through their egg hunt event. This year’s egg hunt was planned for next Saturday but was going to be much smaller and only open to local foster kids as opposed to the grand affair of years past, which had been open to the public.

  Giant, lazy clouds hung in the sky, playing peekaboo with the sun, and the slightest breeze kept it from feeling too warm. Yesterday a team of twenty volunteers—herself and Carter included—had decorated the ranch, striped the ground to designate the parking area and set up twelve sets of transportable bleachers as well as hundreds of other chairs.

  Since Carter had been back they hadn’t been able to speak beyond delegating work and asking what else needed to be done. The couple of times she had happened upon him alone he had been on the phone. But she hoped to be able to catch him at some point today so they could talk. She had thought he might flirt with her more openly now, but so far both yesterday and today’s interactions had been kept very professional.

  The makeshift parking lot had filled within an hour of opening and now Wade was directing cars to park in one of the cow pastures. Chatter filtered through the air as people milled between the vendor booths, and the smells of cinnamon and fried food mingled together beautifully. Shannon’s phone, which Easton had returned, buzzed with a message from Macy letting her know Violet Byrd had arrived and was looking for her. As she headed to collect Violet, she sent Carter a message saying he should make his way to the judges’ table because they’d be starting in ten minutes.

  A few minutes later Shannon slid into the seat next to Carter and Violet took the last spot on her other side. Initially, when they were planning the horse show, Shannon hadn’t been able to remember Violet’s name, but now that they had been reintroduced Shannon recognized her fr
om the years the woman had attended the summer camp Red Dog Ranch ran for foster children. If her guess was correct, Violet was a few years younger than she was.

  Carter leaned over Shannon to shake Violet’s hand. “It’s great to meet you. I looked you up online and watched videos of some of your runs.” Carter whistled. “You and your horse are truly impressive.”

  Violet blushed. “Thank you so much.”

  Carter leaned in more, bringing his face inches from Shannon’s, but all his attention was on the barrel racer. “I saw you’re ranked forty-sixth with the Women’s Professional Rodeo Association. I have to say, I’ve worked at a lot of ranches so I know a little about the rodeo circuit. That’s a huge accomplishment.”

  “I plan to get that number up higher this year.” Violet winked.

  Carter chuckled and started to sit fully back in his chair.

  Shannon placed a possessive hand on Carter’s shoulder. “Carter hasn’t just worked at a lot of ranches. I’m sure he knows a lot because he’s actually a veterinarian, too.”

  “Oh, that’s wonderful,” Violet said, leaning over to smile at Carter. “Maybe after the show you can have a look at Hawken—my horse.”

  “Are you kidding?” Carter beamed at her. “That horse is a work of art. I’d be honored.”

  The whole exchange caused a small twinge of jealousy to tiptoe into Shannon’s heart, where it crouched in a dark corner there. Not good enough. He’ll lose interest in you. Cord’s words invaded her peace again. She rubbed her temples and growled internally. Her group meeting for survivors of domestic abuse had been helping her learn how to silence the lingering lies.

  But with her long blond hair and striking green eyes, Violet was a very beautiful woman, and suddenly Shannon, who rarely cared about trying to impress others, felt a little shabby sitting next to the knockout. Compared to Violet, she was fairly ordinary. Carter’s hand came to rest on Shannon’s knee, which pulled her from her odd thoughts.