Stealing the Cowboy's Heart

by Debbi Rawlins

  He seemed stunned. And hurt. But that wasn’t her fault. Not after all he’d pulled.

  “I came to tell you the plan—”

  “Sure, after Kevin and Rudy forced your hand.”

  “What are you talking about?”

  He didn’t look guilty or defensive, just confused. While she would probably never sleep again worrying about all the money she owed.

  “Look...” He held his hand out. “I wasn’t trying to hide anything from you. I only made the decision about when to get back on the circuit today. After my phone calls.”

  Behind her someone banged on the door, then on the window. Kylie wanted to just scream, not even sure she trusted herself to be polite.

  “Um, you might want to get that,” Landon said. “She can see us. It’s Shirley.”

  Kylie stiffened. Her entire chest twisted into a painful knot. “Shirley?” she whispered. She’d never fainted before, but it was possible she would now... “The birthday cake. Oh, my God.”

  Landon’s mouth tightened. “Did you forget?”

  She was supposed to have made it this morning. After Celeste left. “Get out,” she said calmly.

  “Kylie...”

  “Right now.”

  He didn’t move.

  “My life was really good here, Landon,” she murmured, tears filling her eyes. “Until you came and screwed up everything.”

  “Let’s talk to her. I’ll help. We can still make the cake—”

  “You call yourself my friend. What crap! You were never my friend. You could’ve told me about Gary’s cheating, but you didn’t. You just let me be humiliated. And you think everything can be solved by sex. So like him. So like him.”

  “Come on, that’s not fair.” Anger stained his face. “Last night wasn’t about trying to slip something by you. And as for Gary, you know I couldn’t say anything.”

  “Bull.”

  “You think I wasn’t tempted? You wouldn’t have believed me. I wanted you for myself and you knew it. I would’ve loved to see you dump his ass.”

  Shirley banged on the window again.

  Kylie ignored her. Almost too sick and angry to speak, she held Landon’s gaze. “You’re a liar. Just like Gary. Wanna deny that?” She paused. “No? Then go,” she said, swallowing thickly. “Just go.”

  They stared at each other for a charged moment. “Fine.” He tossed the espresso instructions on the counter. “But don’t kid yourself. No one had to tell you about Gary. The signs were all there but you didn’t want to face it. You had to catch him in the act. Tell me, whose fault was that?”

  He brushed past her, angrier than she’d ever seen him. From what she could make out through her tears, anyway.

  * * *

  TWO WEEKS LATER, Kylie came home after working thirteen hours and decided to clean the house. She was exhausted. Nothing new there. She actually functioned better when she was too tired to think. Ask anyone in town. Just about everyone had an opinion about her mood lately. And an opinion about Landon. And what had happened to make him leave. If she wasn’t so depressed she might’ve found the varying accounts entertaining.

  However, if one more person asked her when she was going to set up the espresso machine, she’d hurl the damn thing through the window. Let it sit in the middle of Main Street. Then they could all make their own drinks.

  She pulled her ancient vacuum out of the closet and even before she plugged it in she could tell from the poufs of dust that the bag needed changing. A chore she hated more than anything. She should’ve made Landon do it.

  See? Using her brain at all wasn’t a good idea. She seemed to keep circling back to him.

  Even though she’d cleaned the small house from top to bottom twice since he’d left, she still hadn’t been able to get rid of his scent. Or shake the sense that he was going to sneak up behind her at any moment and kiss her neck.

  How could she miss him so much? He’d gone behind her back, manipulated the truth. Hidden important things from her.

  She was right to be furious. And yet that hadn’t stopped her from thinking about him. Or about her own part in this mess.

  It had taken a couple of days, but she’d finally understood why he hadn’t told her about Gary’s cheating.

  She had known, back then. About the other women. About her feelings for Landon that she’d tried to hide. From Gary, at least, as she tried so hard to save what was already ruined.

  The bitter irony was how afraid she’d been of turning out like her mother and yet she hadn’t even seen that staying with Gary was Darlene all over.

  At least Landon had been clearheaded enough to leave her be after they’d almost—Come to think of it, maybe if they’d actually kissed, things would have turned out better.

  In the end, though, it hadn’t made a difference.

  She wiped her cheek with the back of her hand then hauled the vacuum out to the garage. The moment she turned on the light she wanted to go right back inside.

  The beautifully aged ash benches, the tables, perfectly balanced for holding hot coffees. And of course the one lone chair that would chase even Goldilocks out of the bakery after an hour.

  Everything was ready to be loaded up and taken to The Cake Whisperer. She’d had offers of help from Matt and Gunner. Even Kevin said he’d rent a truck. But her enthusiasm for the coffee bar had cooled so much that the only reason they were using the espresso machine at all was because Celeste insisted.

  Even without the tables and chairs, there was enough milling about by the busybodies to make her days more hectic. And aggravating.

  Everyone seemed to have known about Landon’s surprise, and how worried he’d been about pulling it off. She knew for a fact he didn’t personally know half the people that acted as if they were his best pals. Word had spread like a virus. The women thought Landon was the most romantic cowboy that had ever mounted a horse. While the men grumbled he’d raised the damn bar too high and their wives would never give them any peace again.

  But they didn’t know everything.

  They didn’t know he’d toyed with her about his future plans. She still had no idea where he expected to end up, and she’d bet his family didn’t know either. There was so much she’d ignored, even though he’d said he wasn’t sure about things. She had no right to be shocked now that the blinders were off.

  She felt so stupid.

  Thinking about it was enough to get her to change the damn vacuum bag, but as she struggled to make it fit, Rachel phoned.

  “Has he called?” Rachel asked.

  “No. And I haven’t called him.” This was getting really old. “When are you going to stop asking?”

  “When you get your head out of your butt.”

  “Oh, is that how we’re playing it?” Kylie was starting to move past irritated. Wasn’t Rachel supposed to be on her side? “Go have a brownie. Hell, I’ve got a chocolate torte sitting in the fridge. Have at it.”

  Rachel gasped. “That does it. We need to have a talk. You, me and the girls. And I mean now.”

  “Pass.”

  “We’ll be there in forty minutes.”

  “I’ll leave.”

  “I’ll sic Grace on you.”

  Kylie sighed. “I need new friends.”

  Rachel simply laughed as she disconnected.

  Chapter Twenty

  What another stinker of a day. Thank God it was Saturday. Kylie couldn’t wait to get home, lock the doors and not have to speak to another living soul.

  Kylie would’ve been worried about making it home without crying again, but she had no tears left after hearing from the bank. They weren’t going to approve her loan.

  Just as she was crossing Main Street, she thought she saw Landon’s truck a block away. Great. Now she was imag
ining things. Clearly it couldn’t be him, since he was back on the circuit, but she’d never seen another maroon color like it around town. Why would he be here, anyway? Apparently, neither of them had wanted to be the first to call, so they hadn’t spoken since that last nightmarish day.

  Even though she’d let go of her anger, she was still disappointed that Landon had left so many questions unanswered. But even more disappointed in herself. She’d been right to want to give them a real chance, but she’d been oh, so foolish to ignore reality. She could have asked him, and told him what worked for her and what didn’t work, but she hadn’t. She tried to blame it on fear, after her experience with Gary, but it wasn’t that. It was her being a child. She might have built a business by herself, but a healthy relationship had been beyond her.

  As the truck came closer she couldn’t help but look to see who was driving.

  She froze in the street, one foot on the sidewalk.

  Landon?

  As he drove past her, he lifted a hand in a casual wave, as if it hadn’t been three weeks since they’d seen each other. As if they were still friends.

  He didn’t stop, just kept driving.

  She watched him park in front of the Watering Hole and told herself whatever he was doing here, it had nothing to do with her. Somehow her feet didn’t get the message.

  Keeping her eyes trained on him, she picked up the pace, her heart pounding so fast she could scarcely breathe. Rachel better not have anything to do with this, her or her merry band of annoying culprits.

  Landon didn’t get out of the truck right away. If he was waiting for her, well, she... She had no idea what she was going to do.

  Just as she reached the bed of the truck, he opened the door and climbed out, his gaze immediately finding hers. At least he didn’t try to pretend he hadn’t seen her.

  She stopped several feet away. He needed a shave and a week of solid sleep by the look of those shadows under his eyes. As if she should talk. Except Landon had pulled the brim of his Stetson down low, and even tired, he looked too damn handsome. While she was a big puffy mess.

  “Hello, Kylie,” he said, and took off the hat.

  “What are you doing here?”

  He stared uneasily at her. “I have some business to take care of.”

  “Business?”

  “I’d also like to speak with you if you’ll give me a chance to explain a few things.”

  “Aren’t you supposed to be in Kansas City about now?” she asked, and when his eyes narrowed slightly, she realized how much she’d just told him. She looked down at his boots. “Did you hurt your leg again?”

  “No,” he said. “The leg’s fine. The rest of me isn’t so hot.” He gave her that lopsided smile. “I miss you, Kylie.”

  She drew in a shaky breath and glanced around. People were staring. She met Landon’s intense gaze and lowered her voice. “Why are you really here?”

  “Business, like I said. And for you.”

  Trying to swallow was useless. “You didn’t even call.”

  “You didn’t want me to.”

  “Really?” Kylie needed to make sure he wasn’t playing games. “How would you know that?”

  “I know because you’re a strong, independent woman, who wouldn’t put up with my crap, or anyone else’s. And you had every right to be angry with me.” He paused and glanced around at the crowd they’d attracted. “Can we sit in the truck?”

  For moment, she let all he’d said sink in. Before she jumped him for being wonderful, she said, “What about your business appointment?”

  He actually checked his watch. “I still have ten minutes.”

  Huh. He really had an appointment? Well, it wasn’t much time for her to do her own explaining. “Fine,” she said and walked around to the passenger side.

  He joined her in the cab, making sure all the windows were up, and she almost laughed at the disappointed faces around them.

  “Okay,” she said. “You think you know me so well. Why would I want to talk to you now?”

  “You’re a fair-minded person. You’ll hear me out. Even if you don’t like what I have to say. Which makes me a bigger ass for not talking to you sooner.”

  Damn him. “Go on.”

  “I was dead wrong sneaking behind your back, no matter what my intentions. But I don’t think we need to rehash things in that department. Lord knows we have enough to discuss.”

  She shifted nervously. They did?

  “Look, Kylie, I’m not using this as an excuse, I swear I’m not. But I felt trapped—”

  “Oh, my God, you don’t get to say that. I never asked you for any—”

  He took her hand, startling her into silence. “Let me finish. Actually, I should start from the beginning. Before I came here. Initially, I told my family I was moving back home to work with Chad and Martin. Honestly, that’s all I’d ever wanted. But as time went on I started to realize what a risk we’d all be taking. You said it yourself, Chad had grabbed life by the tail. It wasn’t easy for him to step up and make himself useful.

  “I couldn’t take that away from him. If I went back, all of a sudden he wouldn’t have as much responsibility to shoulder. I couldn’t let him slip back into that dark hole again. Tell me I’m being manipulative or sneaky, whatever, but I wasn’t willing to take that chance.”

  He glanced away and cleared his throat. “So about six months ago I told them I wanted to spread my wings, run my own operation. Of course, Chad gave me shit about being a cocky rodeo star and if that’s what he wanted to think, I was fine with that. When I said I’d find a place nearby, Martin razzed me about staying close to the nest.” Landon shrugged, stared at something on the hood. “That was okay, too. In a way it was the truth. I love my family, and I’d wanted to live as close as I could, watch Liam, Fiona and Jenna grow up. Be there if they needed help. So it was a good solution.

  “Until I came here and I fell in love with you.”

  Kylie was relieved she was already sitting down.

  He touched her arm. “I’m not saying that was a bad thing. Those two weeks we spent together was the happiest time of my life. But it turned out to be more complicated the longer I was here. That’s when I started feeling trapped, knowing what my family expected.” He squeezed her hand, his gaze steady as he looked deep into her eyes. “Kylie, I see how much people care about you here. You’ve made great friends. You have the bakery. Hell, in one year you’ve put down roots. That’s a rare thing. I would never ask you to move to Wyoming, leave everything you’ve built behind.

  “So, that’s why I’m here telling you things I should have spelled out long ago.” He glanced at his watch again. “In three minutes I’m meeting with a Realtor. She’s going to show me three ranches between here and Kalispell. Hell, it’s only six hours to the Running Bear. And then, later, I’m going to ask you to be my wife. You’ll say no, and so I’ll ask you again in two weeks. And then again two weeks later. You know what a stubborn jackass I am.”

  Kylie laughed. It was that, or cry buckets.

  “You know, you can talk now.” He looked endearingly nervous, searching her face, squeezing her hand a little too tight.

  She drew a shaky breath. “I have more than three minutes of apologies to make.”

  “What?”

  “It wasn’t just that you didn’t tell me everything. I spent all our time together not wanting to have things spelled out. I didn’t know if I could take it. Those two weeks were the best I ever had, too. I didn’t want reality to ruin anything. So I kept letting it ride. I’m sorry.”

  “I think we might have both been on that horse.”

  “Speaking of horses, aren’t you supposed to ride this weekend?”

  “I am, but I also know you’re not crazy about that. Plus, it’ll keep us apart. I don’t mind admitt
ing, these last three weeks have been hell without you. I needed to know exactly where we stood. So...it was simple. I decided to come here and find out.”

  She touched his face. Liar. Sweet, sweet liar. She could feel his tension, see the struggle in his eyes. Oh, she believed he’d chosen her over the rodeo, but there had been nothing simple about that decision. “How are you going to the finals if you aren’t ranked, you dope?”

  His Adam’s apple bobbed as he swallowed. “What are you saying?”

  “That you need to win the million bucks to pay for my chairs and espresso machine.”

  He started to laugh.

  “Oh, and yes.”

  And he stopped laughing just as quickly. “Kylie...”

  “I love you, too. And yes, I’ll marry you. So we can start a ranch together after you’re ready to leave the rodeo. And also so you don’t have to pester me every two weeks.” She blinked back the tears. “By the way, you can’t drive and make it in time. Kalispell has an airport. As for the Realtor—”

  He kissed her so hard she fell back against the seat. Clutching his shoulders, she kissed him back. How in this crazy world had she gotten so lucky?

  When they came up for air, he gave her that lopsided grin she loved. “Let me tell the Realtor to put the appointment on hold, and then we can drive out to the airport. You take my truck back, and I’ll manage from there.”

  “Then I’ll meet you in Vegas for the finals.”

  His grin somehow grew. “You mean it?”

  “I already ordered my ticket.”

  He gave her an adorable frown. “You know, you could’ve led with that.”

  Kylie laughed. “Go on, hurry up. We’ve got a great big future to start.”

  * * * * *

  If you enjoyed this story, check out more great ranching romances available now from Harlequin Western Romance.

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