Cowboy in the Extreme

by Rita Herron

  Johnny stared at him for a long moment, then offered his hand. “Thank you for saving her and Lucy, Brandon.”

  Emotions flooded Brandon, and he shook Johnny’s hand, although he couldn’t speak for the fear and guilt needling him.

  This whole mess was his fault. Lucy being kidnapped. Kim being shot. Even Marty, who’d been hurt because he couldn’t love her.

  Kim had to survive so they could be the family they should have been five years ago.

  He just hoped when she woke up that she could forgive him.

  VOICES FLOATED IN AND OUT of Kim’s consciousness as she struggled to open her eyes. Her body ached, her limbs felt weak, and terrifying images of Lucy being held by Brandon’s wife bombarded her.

  Where were they now? Had Brandon and Marty gone away with Lucy?

  No…Brandon had been here. And so had Lucy. She’d heard their voices.

  Or had she been dreaming?

  She faded again, disappearing into a thick veil of darkness. She was being swallowed by it, consumed by the pain. She couldn’t move. Couldn’t breathe.

  Then something heavy settled over her mouth and face, shutting out the light.

  Another voice. Shrill. Sinister. Chilling.

  “You’re going to die, Kim. Then Brandon will love me.”

  Marty? She was here? In the darkness?

  No…it was the drugs. She was in the hospital.

  Hard fingers closed around her neck. Kim felt a dampness on her face and then something soft like a pillow. Then it was smothering....

  She tried to open her eyes, but when she did, all she saw was a sea of black.

  Terrified, she tried to scream, but something was cutting at her windpipe.

  No…she had to fight. But her arms and legs and her voice wouldn’t cooperate.

  “You should have died back there at the cabin,” the voice rasped against her ear. “But you will now. If I can’t have Brandon, neither will you.”

  Oh, God…Marty. She was here and she was trying to kill her.

  The pressure over her face and mouth became more intense, cutting off her oxygen. She gagged, gasping for a breath.

  God help her… She was going to die. And she’d never see Brandon or Lucy again.

  Chapter Nineteen

  “Brandon,” Johnny said, hesitating. “Are you sure you don’t want me to stay?”

  Brandon’s heart thumped at the uncertainty in Johnny’s eyes. Years ago, he, Carter and Kim had been best of friends. None of them would have questioned the other.

  But things had changed. They’d grown up. Made mistakes.

  “I know I hurt Kim, Johnny, and if you don’t trust me, I understand.” His voice warbled as he tried to control the anguish rolling through him. “But I love your sister with all my heart, and I want us to be a family.” He shifted awkwardly. “I just hope she can forgive me for…this mess.”

  A slow smile titled Johnny’s face. “You two were meant to be together.” He punched Brandon’s arm like they used to do when they were kids.

  “You didn’t think so when we first got together,” Brandon said wearily.

  Johnny gave him a sheepish look. “Hey, I was just being a big brother. I had to know it would stick so you wouldn’t hurt her.”

  “But I did,” Brandon said, sobering. “I swear to you, Johnny, I’ll make it up to her.”

  Johnny pulled him into a man-hug. “Don’t tell me, buddy. Tell my sister.”

  Brandon smiled, then gave a nod. “I’m going to do that right now.”

  Johnny released him and went to gather Rachel and the kids and take them home. Brandon walked down the hallway, for the first time in ages feeling hopeful that he might have the life he’d dreamed about when he was eighteen.

  But when he opened the door to Kim’s room, he saw a shadow hovering above Kim, a dark shadow. Then he saw Kim’s feet moving as if she was struggling and realized she was fighting off an attacker.

  Marty! Dammit, she’d survived.

  He lunged forward, grabbed her around the neck and yanked her away from Kim.

  “Let go of me, she has to die!” Marty screamed.

  Brandon knocked the pillow off of Kim’s face and saw her heaving for oxygen as he contained Marty in a stranglehold. “Stop fighting, Marty,” he growled. “It’s over.”

  Kim shoved at the bedding, the machines by her bed beeping loudly. A second later, a nurse and doctor raced in.

  “Take care of Kim and call security!” Brandon shouted. “This woman tried to kill her.”

  Marty seemed to finally realize that she’d lost, and she slumped in his arms and broke into hysterical sobs. He still didn’t trust her though, so he maintained his grip around her, determined to make sure she didn’t escape this time.

  The nurse gave him a sympathetic look but hurried to Kim, reattaching her oxygen while the doctor checked her vitals. “She’s going to be okay,” she said.

  “Get her out of here!” the doctor ordered, gesturing toward Marty whose wails grew louder.

  Marty kicked and screamed as he dragged her through the door and down the hall to the waiting room. He was grateful when security rushed up and took over.

  KIM SLUMPED AGAINST THE BED, exhausted and drained, and so weak from the gunshot and surgery that she had no energy.

  But she would live. She had fought Marty off, and she would survive. Still, despair rooted itself inside her. Brandon had saved her life.

  But it had cost him dearly. She had heard him tell Marty they would be a family, and he had built the ranch and the house Kim had dreamed of for the two of them.

  Brandon might have made love to her out of desperation or pity because they’d both been afraid for Lucy.

  But Marty was the one he’d chosen as his wife. And even if he asked her and Lucy to stay with him, she could never be with a man who didn’t love her.

  BRANDON DIDN’T KNOW whether to hate Marty or pity her. Her clothes were muddy and damp from the river, her hair a wild nest, scrapes and scratches marring her arms and legs where she’d fought to escape the river.

  As soon as the sheriff appeared and took her into custody, he rushed back to Kim.

  The nurse was checking her vitals as he entered.

  “Is she all right?” he asked.

  The nurse nodded. “She just needs rest.”

  He wanted to pull her in his arms and confess his love, but she looked exhausted and in pain, and she closed her eyes as the medication took effect.

  So he claimed the chair by her bed and waited through the night. Each time she moaned or labored for a breath, he thought of Marty and the guilt settled deep in his bones. He had made a mess out of all their lives.

  Would he be able to fix them now?

  THE NEXT FEW DAYS dragged by for Kim. Between the painkillers knocking her out, her exhaustion, and the ordeal of giving her statement to the police, she felt drained.

  Johnny and Rachel had brought Lucy to visit her, and Brandon had barely left her side. Which confused her even more.

  He had apologized for Marty’s actions, and she sensed he blamed himself. But she also sensed he was grieving for his lost marriage, and she didn’t know how to respond to that.

  A few times, she thought he was going to say more, but she hadn’t wanted to hear a confession about him loving Marty so she had cut him off.

  Now she was being released, she couldn’t postpone the conversation they needed to have any longer. She would make it short and to the point. She’d have to, or she’d break down and pour out her heart.

  The nurse knocked, then pushed a wheelchair in, and Brandon appeared behind her, his jaw set and strained.

  “Ready to go home?” the nurse asked with a cheerful smile.

  Kim gritted her teeth as she moved her legs to the side of the bed.

  “Actually I’m going to my brother’s ranch to recuperate.”

  Brandon’s eyes flared with surprise. “What?”

  “I think it would be best,” Kim said, then lower
ed herself into the wheelchair.

  “No, we’re going to my place,” Brandon said in a voice that brooked no argument. “Rachel and Johnny and the kids are there waiting.”

  Kim clamped her lips closed. She didn’t intend to argue in front of the nurse. “Fine. Then Johnny can take me and Lucy to the BBL afterwards.”

  Brandon glared at her, and she shivered, knowing he would fight for Lucy, and Lucy would want to stay....

  Tension stretched between them as he helped her in his SUV and they drove toward his ranch.

  “What’s going on, Kim?” Brandon finally asked. “Why do you want to go to Johnny’s?”

  “I just need to rest, Brandon. And Lucy is comfortable there.”

  “She seems happy at my ranch.”

  “That was before she was kidnapped,” Kim murmured. “If you remember, we only came there because we were in danger.”

  Brandon tensed. “You’re taking Lucy away because you blame me, don’t you?”

  Kim started to speak, but he threw up his hand to silence her. “I understand, Kim. It was my fault. All of it. I screwed things up badly with you, and Lucy…she was caught in the middle.” His voice broke. “For that, I’ll never forgive myself. But Lucy is my daughter and I’m not giving her up now.”

  Kim sighed wearily and leaned her head on her hand. “I know you love Lucy,” Kim began. “But you were married to Marty and you’re grieving for her now. For your marriage.”

  “You have no idea how I feel about Marty.”

  Kim shut down. “I don’t want to talk about this now, Brandon.” She closed her eyes on a heavy sigh. “I can’t. I’m too tired.”

  And on the verge of tears.

  Brandon muttered an oath, then fell into silence as he drove them the rest of the way home.

  As soon as he parked at the ranch, Lucy, Johnny, Rachel and Kenny bounded out. They had strung banners on the porch welcoming her home, ones she was sure Lucy had helped make.

  “We’re having a party for you, Mommy,” Lucy said as she launched herself into her mother’s arms. “We gots cupcakes and ice cream, and Daddy made you a surprise.”

  Kim glanced at Brandon, confused, but Lucy was so excited, she couldn’t disappoint her so she smiled and played along as they swept her inside for a homecoming celebration.

  And as she watched Johnny with Rachel and her son and Lucy with Brandon, her heart ached even more. She wanted this place to be a home for her and Brandon and their daughter.

  But she couldn’t forget that he had built it for the woman he had married.

  Not for her.

  BRANDON WATCHED KIM kiss Lucy good-night before he carried Lucy up to bed. He couldn’t let Kim leave the ranch. If she did, he might lose her forever. The memories of finding her in that grave and Marty trying to smother her still haunted him day and night.

  Still, she had erected a wall between them during the welcome-home party. A wall he had to break down.

  By the time he descended the stairs, Kim was walking toward the steps as if to retire to her room.

  Now that he’d had her in his bed, he wanted here there again. Forever.

  “We need to talk.”

  “I’m tired, Brandon, I—”

  “I know you need rest. But you can’t keep running away from me.”

  Kim averted her eyes. “I’m not.”

  He tilted her chin up with his thumb. “Yes, you are. And God knows you have reasons. I hurt you years ago, and if it hadn’t been for me, for Marty, you and Lucy would never have been in danger.”

  “It’s over now, Brandon,” Kim said, meeting his gaze. “But I can’t stay here, not in this house, not when you built it for her. I can’t be a replacement for the woman you love.”

  Brandon stared at her, stunned.

  How could he have been so dense?

  He tugged her hand and urged her to sit down. “Listen to me, Kim, you have it all wrong. I never loved Marty.”

  Her soft gasp echoed between them. “But…you left me to marry her…you said—”

  “I know what I said, but it was a lie.” The events that had led to that decision haunted him. “Back then, Joanie was so ill. I…promised her I’d find a way to bring her home, to get her out of that terrible nursing facility. I thought they were abusing her there.”

  Kim gasped. “Oh, my god, I didn’t know.”

  “I know,” Brandon said. “I didn’t have proof, but it was a feeling. That’s the reason I married Marty. Her father offered me a job, a future, money, a way to take care of my sister.” He’d never regretted anything more in his life. “And I took it. Then Joanie died, and I’d lost you, and Johnny hated me. I wanted to leave Marty then, to tell you the truth, but I figured you’d never let me back into your life, and then you’d—”

  “Slept with Carter,” Kim said in a raw voice.

  “And I couldn’t get that image out of my head—”

  “Just like I couldn’t get the image of you making love to Marty out of mine.”

  He nodded, sighing heavily. “So I tried to make it work with Marty and built my ranch.”

  Kim worried her bottom lip with her teeth. “And you were happy?”

  “No,” he said. “How could I be when I was still in love with you? When it was always you?”

  Shock flickered across her face, then pain and regret, and he brushed her cheek with the pad of his thumb.

  “The thing is, Kim, I think Marty always knew that. She sensed that I wanted you, not her. And even if I had wanted her, our goals were too different. She wanted to travel, live in society. I wanted this place, the land, to work with my hands.”

  Kim gestured around the rustic den. “But you built this house for her.”

  Brandon shook his head, feeling foolish and hopeful at the same time. Foolish because on a whim, he’d built Kim’s dream home when he’d had no idea if she’d ever forgive him.

  And hopeful that she still loved him.

  He gathered her hands in his. “No, Kim, I built this house for you.”

  She narrowed her eyes in confusion. “Because you found out about Lucy?”

  He shook his head again. “I didn’t know about Lucy until we met at the Bucking Bronc,” Brandon said. “Until that night you were attacked. When I saw her…those eyes, that’s when I knew.”

  “But I heard you tell Marty that the three of you would be a family.”

  His chest clenched. “God, Kim, she had a gun on Lucy. I was just playing along with her to get the gun away. I would have said anything at that moment to save you and Lucy.”

  Tears glittered on Kim’s eyelashes, and he lifted her hands and kissed them. “Come here, I have to show you something.”

  She frowned, but stood and he led her to his bedroom and opened the door. Kim’s mouth gaped when she stepped inside.

  “It’s…different. You changed it?”

  He nodded. “This week while you were in the hospital, I’ve been busy.” He dropped her hands long enough to walk over and open a wooden hope chest. Then he removed the magazine he’d saved from years ago.

  “Brandon…” Emotions tinged her voice. “That’s the magazine—”

  “The one you liked.” He flipped it open, revealing dog-eared pages. “When I built the house, I showed the architect and decorator these photographs. I tried to replicate the things you wanted.”

  “The porch swing,” Kim said in awe. “The bed upstairs, the colors…”

  She raked her hand over the new pale-green-and-white quilt he had bought this week. He’d painted the room a soft sage green and had Rachel help him find decorative pillows and touches similar to the one in Kim’s dream room.

  “Marty never lived here, Kim. She’s never even been in this house.” He cupped her face between his hands. “I built this house hoping to bring you here and win you back someday.” He gestured toward the new bedding. “And I changed the room this week because I wanted to give you the room of your dreams. To let you know that this is not my ranch, not my ho
use. Not my home. It’s ours.”

  “OH, BRANDON…” Tears of joy filled Kim’s eyes.

  “I love you, Kim,” Brandon said. Then he dropped to one knee and removed a velvet ring box from the hope chest and held it out for her. “You’re the only woman I’ve ever loved. I know I made mistakes, but I promise that I will love you and Lucy, that I’ll protect you and cherish you the rest of my life. We can live here and grow our family, and we can both help out at the Bucking Bronc Lodge.” He paused, then opened the box to reveal an antique set diamond. “Will you marry me, Kim?”

  Kim’s heart gushed with love, and she reached for Brandon and threw her arms around him. “Yes. I love you, too, Brandon. I always have.”

  He kissed her fervently, then slid the ring on her finger, and Kim’s heart swelled with love and happiness as he picked her up and deposited her on the bed.

  At eight, she’d followed a rough-and-tumble, troubled teenaged cowboy around, enamored with everything he said and did.

  At eighteen, she’d fallen hopelessly in love with him.

  At nineteen, she had given birth to their child.

  And now, finally, he was going to be her husband.

  * * * * *

  ISBN: 9781459220959

  Copyright © 2012 by Rita B. Herron

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  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events or locales is entirely coincidental. This edition published by arrangement with Harlequin Books S.A.