A Texas Soldier's Family

by Cathy Gillen Thacker

And that meant changes had to be made, Hope schooled herself firmly. No more dead-end love affairs. No more falling for guys who weren’t falling for her just as hard.

  Aware Sharla was waiting for more of an explanation, about how Hope could be so close to the family one week, and then working so furiously to distance herself from them, Hope said in a low tone, “Crises can bond people together intensely in the moment. Those feelings rarely last.”

  How often had she said those very words? And found them true?

  Sharla fit bubble-wrapped pictures of her family into a box. “You’re not friends with any of the people you’ve helped in the past?”

  Hope began taking plaques bearing Lucille’s name off the wall. “Not the way we were when the scandal or situation was in progress, no.”

  “That’s too bad,” Sharla sympathized.

  It was. She needed more concrete relationships in her life. More people she and Max could rely on through thick and thin. Otherwise, her son was likely to grow up feeling as alone as she had when she was a child.

  “I thought you and Garrett were getting, well, close.”

  They had been, Hope thought ruefully. She’d actually started to put herself out there instead of sticking to the script. She’d made the cardinal sin of allowing the overwhelming emotion of the crisis itself to influence her actions, as they had Garrett’s.

  If they’d simply had a casual fling, and ended it when they’d agreed that they would, without complication or hurt feelings, maybe they could have remained friends. Maybe she would have been able to move to Laramie, and see and work with Garrett every day. Let Garrett be a constant, loving male role model in Max’s life.

  And that might have left open the possibility that maybe, over time, as life returned to normal, they would both realize they wanted to take a chance on each other, this time with no holds barred.

  But that wasn’t ever going to happen, Hope realized again with a pang as she said goodbye to Sharla and worked on alone.

  When confronted by his family, Garrett had taken an immediate and decisive step back. A move that had, sadly, told her all she needed to know.

  He’d decided to settle close to his family, after all, and make good use of his inheritance, just the way his late father had wanted him to do.

  He’d found a way to open up his heart. Just not to her. Not the way she wanted.

  And she knew now that she couldn’t settle for half measures. Not when it came to Garrett. She wanted it all with him, or she wanted nothing at all. Twenty minutes later, Hope had taken the last of the awards off the wall when she heard the door to the suite open and close.

  Thinking Sharla had forgotten something, Hope stepped out into the reception area. There stood Garrett. Handsome as ever, big as life. Like her, he was in jeans and sneakers, and a loose-fitting cotton shirt worn open at the throat.

  He looked good, too.

  Freshly shaven, his hair cut, blue eyes glinting with the masculine determination she found so appealing.

  “This was a setup,” she deduced, her heart squeezing hard.

  He nodded. “Engineered by me.” As he strolled toward her purposefully, his sexy grin widened. “I have to tell you, my mother did not want to help me.”

  Tears misted her eyes and joy rose inside her. Even though she knew it was too soon for that. Might not even be the right time.

  She swallowed around the lump in her throat and did her best to appear cavalier. Tilting her head, she looked him up and down, as if she found him wanting. “Obviously, you convinced her.”

  “Once she listened to all I had to say.” He squinted. “The question is, will you?”

  Fear moved past the excitement roaring through her. She knew she couldn’t bear it if he disappointed her again. She regarded him steadily, her guard up. “I think we said all we had to say during the board meeting.” That she never should have been invited to attend, because then she wouldn’t have heard all the questions, or seen him hedge.

  Wouldn’t have had everyone bear witness to her humiliation and heartbreak.

  He came closer still, his eyes level on hers. “Not quite,” he said softly but firmly.

  Her heart pounded all the harder.

  His eyes were full of things she was almost afraid to read as he took her hands in his. “I’ve never had trouble saying what was on my mind.” The tips of his fingers caressed the back of her hands, eliciting tingles. “You may have heard,” he continued, his voice a low, sexy rumble, “I’m blunt to a fault.”

  Hope hitched in a breath, suddenly afraid of where this might be going. “Except for the last time we saw each other,” she reminded him, surprised she could sound so brave when inside she was on the verge of falling apart. Again. She lifted her chin. “Then you had no words.”

  Regret flashed on his handsome face. He nodded ruefully, his gaze narrowing. “Part of that was because I didn’t want my family interfering in my life, or yours, and trying to engineer either of us into doing what they felt we should be doing.”

  Hope understood that.

  The Lockhart clan had put them on the spot. Well-intentioned or not, the move had been a complete disaster.

  Knowing he still had his own reticence to account for, she swallowed. “And the rest?”

  “I was trying to follow your lead. Be sensitive. Discreet in a way I’ve never been before. Now, I’m here to lay my soul bare and tell you exactly what’s on my mind,” he said, his voice firm and strong. “First, I realize that holding back on what we are both thinking and feeling is never going to be right. Not for me, not for you, not for us.”

  She fought back a grin as her heart kicked against her ribs.

  He wrapped both his arms around her waist. “I can still be tactful,” he said, drawing her close, “but you need to tell me what’s on your mind and in your heart, and I need to do the same.” His voice dropped to a husky timbre. “So we’re not caught off guard. Or left guessing what the other person is thinking or feeling.”

  “Agreed.”

  “So here’s what’s on my mind. No more scripts for either of us to follow. We both have to agree to wing it in the most genuine of ways to avoid miscommunication.”

  “You have given this a lot of thought!”

  He waggled his brows as if to say Just wait!

  “Next, as far as business goes, I want you to come to Laramie and work with me on both the WTWA and the re-launch of the much smaller but entirely laudable Lockhart Foundation. It will require you wearing two hats, being public relations director for both, but the hours will be entirely flexible to accommodate Max, and the offices are all going to be in the professional building I own, when the repairs are finished, which are apt to take about three months.”

  She splayed her hands across his chest. Felt his heart beating as hard as her own. “And until then...?”

  “The WTWA will be working out of the Victorian. Renovations will be going on there, too, mostly on the weekends, but Max can come to work with you as much as you want, and there will be a place for you and Max at the Circle H bunkhouse, where you can live rent free.”

  It was nearly perfect. And yet...she knew she still had to have—they had to have—more.

  But if that meant giving a little, too. Slowing down. Waiting to see what developed...

  She could do that.

  Yes, she could.

  Because some things—some people—were worth waiting for.

  “As family friends...?” Hope asked.

  Because she and Max definitely fell into that category.

  “No, sweetheart.” Garrett shook his head. “As the woman I was meant to spend the rest of my life with.” Raw emotion glimmered in his eyes. He wove his fingers through her hair and tilted her face up to his. “I love you, Hope,” he told her hoarsely. “I have since the fir
st moment you landed in my lap.”

  He pulled her up and into him. She rose even higher and met his lips in a searing kiss. Wrapping her arms around him, she tucked her face into the crook of his neck, shivering at the delight she felt being with him again.

  “I love you, too,” she whispered, drinking him in. His heat, his size, the brisk, masculine scent of him. She released a shuddering breath, savoring the feel of his hands moving over her. “I should have told you earlier.”

  He stroked a hand down her spine. His voice as tender as his touch, he asked, “Why didn’t you?”

  Hope drew back. Her arms resting on his broad shoulders, she looked deep into his eyes. It was time to let the defenses go. To dare the way he had. “It was all just so complicated.” She shook her head with remembered misery. “I wasn’t sure if what we had discovered was strong enough to last past the crisis.”

  A wry smile started on his lips and lit his eyes. “It is.” He bent his head and kissed the top of her head, her temple. His thumbs caressed the line of her chin. “It definitely is.”

  He was so confident. She forced herself to admit with wrenching honesty, “Most of all, I was afraid to put myself out there all the way. Afraid of what would happen to us if I put it all on the line and you didn’t love me back.” Tears misted her eyes. “I didn’t want to lose you.”

  His eyes crinkled at the corners, and he gave her a confident smile that she felt in every iota of her being. “You won’t.” He lifted his brow mischievously. “And to that end...” He reached into his pocket and drew out a velvet jewelry box, pressed it into her shaking fingers.

  Inside was a beautiful diamond ring.

  The sparkle of the gem was nothing compared to the brightness in his gaze. “Say you’ll marry me, Hope,” he rasped.

  Was there any question? She grinned, a grin big as all Texas. “I will.”

  They shared another kiss. Long, lingering, sweet.

  He cupped her face in his big, gentle hands, rested his forehead on hers. “So, it’s agreed. From now on—” he kissed her cheek, nose, ear, with the kind of slow deliberation that always preceded the most mind-blowing lovemaking “—to avoid future misunderstandings, we both promise to always speak our minds. And encourage each other to do the same.”

  Not following a preordained script suddenly felt very, very good. Her heart melted a little more. How had he gotten so wise? “I think I can handle that.”

  “Good.” He tipped her face up to his and looked into her eyes until her knees went weak and joy bloomed within her. “Because I can’t imagine a life without you and Max.”

  Hope kissed him back, promising, “You’ll never have to...”

  Epilogue

  Six months later...

  “Come on, buckaroo,” Garrett crooned from the opposite side of the third-floor party room in the office building that now held both the Laramie Foundation offices and West Texas Warrior Assistance. Hunkered down affably, both hands outstretched toward their son, he encouraged cheerfully, “Walk to Daddy.”

  Eager to share what she had seen just a few hours earlier, Hope helped her wildly grinning nine-month-old son balance on the soles of his feet. “Show him what a talented boy you are.” When Max seemed completely steady, she slowly and carefully released his hands.

  Max let out a joyous whoop, swayed slightly and then shifted backward, landing squarely on his diapered bottom, as if that were the plan all along. He clapped his hands. And whooped again, Texas cowboy style.

  His spirit was infectious. Hope and Garrett clapped and yee-hawed, too.

  Max shifted quickly to his knees and crawled rapidly over to his daddy’s side. Garrett scooped him up in his arms. “Good job, little fella!”

  Max threw back his head and chuckled again.

  Hope joined in the family hug. Briefly, she leaned her head on Garrett’s chest. “I swear. Max was doing it earlier.”

  Garrett put a squirming Max back down so he could explore again. Immediately, Max crawled to a window ledge and pulled himself up to a standing position. “I believe you.”

  Hope put her hands on her hips, while Max thought about walking sideways using the wall for balance, as he had been doing for a good two months now. Then he changed his mind, sat down, flipped and began crawling again.

  This was ridiculous.

  Hope shook her head, laughing. She met the indulgent arch of Garrett’s brow. “No. You don’t.”

  And probably with good reason. She was always jumping the gun and seeing progress that wasn’t quite there yet.

  Sage breezed in with a tray of goodies for their first annual Day Before Thanksgiving party. “Have you met this man?” She peeled back the plastic wrap and offered Garrett a taste. He gave the cranberry, pecan and cream cheese appetizer quiches a thumbs-up. Hope nodded her approval, too. Grinning, Sage put the tray aside. “All he does is brag about you and Max.”

  Darcy and Tank walked into the group meeting room. The usual circle of chairs had been pushed back to the walls to allow for maximum dining space. Winking, Darcy spread tablecloths over the double row of buffet tables in the center of the room. “I think Hope might have had a few kind words to say about her hubby, too.”

  With good reason, Hope thought. No longer afraid to say what was on her mind, she swept her son up in her arms and walked over to buss Garrett’s jaw. “Sage’s big brother is a wonderful husband.”

  Wyatt and Chance appeared in the doorway. A chorus of male groans sounded. “Tell me they’re not getting mushy again,” Wyatt complained, strolling in.

  “Yeah, you-all have been married for three months now. Enough already!” Chance said with a mischievous wink. “The honeymoon is over.”

  “It’ll never be over,” Garrett vowed.

  Everyone groaned again—in humorous approval.

  Lucille walked in, a horn of plenty in one hand, a big basket of fruit in the other.

  She set both down on a buffet table and turned to her beloved grandson. “Want to show your nana how you can walk?” she said.

  “Not quite there yet,” Garrett told her.

  “Maybe it was an anomaly,” Hope reluctantly admitted.

  Max pulled himself up on Garrett’s legs, turned around, balanced briefly on the balls of his feet and took off for his grandmother. One step, two. Everyone held their breaths. Then he swiveled and headed right back to Garrett and Hope.

  Tears of joy pouring down their faces, they watched him toddle all the way to their sides. One arm wrapped around each of their knees, he chortled and looked up at them.

  Everyone cheered.

  Max pulled on their legs, his signal he wanted to be picked up. Garrett lifted their son in his arms. Hope kissed his cheek.

  Puzzled, Max tracked the happy tears pouring down both their faces while smiles flashed all around. Then he tucked a fist in the shirts of each of his parents. “Mine,” he said fiercely.

  “You bet we are,” Garrett said fiercely.

  “No question,” Hope murmured, going in for a joyous group hug. “We have so much to be thankful for!”

  * * * * *

  Watch for the next story in Cathy Gillen Thacker’s TEXAS LEGACIES: THE LOCKHARTS miniseries, A TEXAS COWBOY’S CHRISTMAS, coming November 2016, only from Harlequin Western Romance!

  Keep reading for an excerpt from A RANCHER TO LOVE by Trish Milburn.

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  A Rancher to Love

  by Trish Milburn

  Chapter One

  Frustration and anxiety twisted Leah Murphy’s middle as she sat outside the sheriff’s department office. Which, of course, was completely irrational considering she was here to see her cousin Conner, one of the local deputies. But some part of her brain, the section that governed fight or flight, had her flashing back to the night when her apartment had been filled with uniformed officers.

  No, she didn’t want to think about that here. She’d come to Blue Falls to leave the memories behind, but they seemed determined to stay adhered to her every thought like a supremely unwelcome guest. Like one of those people who didn’t understand the concept of personal space and insisted on invading it.

  Leah gripped the steering wheel of her little crossover SUV and forced herself to take several deep...slow...breaths.