A Cowboy to Keep

by Karen Rock

  Much more than he cared to admit.

  CHAPTER NINE

  LATER THAT EVENING, Dani shoved back her bangs and frowned at her reflection in the freestanding oval mirror in the corner of her room. The light blue, off-shoulder blouse brought out the red in her blond hair and deepened the green in her hazel eyes. It looked nice, but maybe too nice. Like she was trying too hard. Wanted to catch a fella’s eye.

  Jackson Cade came to mind.

  With a disgusted noise, she yanked the blouse off and tossed it on the growing heap of discarded, would-be square dance outfits on her double bed. A fan whirred on the slanted ceiling in the apartment she occupied at the end of the storage barn, turning in lazy circles while a moth banged against its domed light. Outside her window, crickets sang and stars clustered around the full moon like fireflies.

  She had to stop thinking about him. Even during her earlier start-of-the-season meeting with the wranglers, her first as stable manager, she’d found her eyes drifting to him where he’d leaned against a wall in the back, his black hat pulled low over his dark eyes.

  While handing out tomorrow’s assignments, she’d imagined their almost kiss in Tanya’s closet. It’d been the barest of pressures, more shadow than flesh, a stirring of air that’d somehow made her heart thump so hard she’d been dizzy.

  Had she imagined it?

  Maybe. Standing close to his lean, muscular shape had made her imagine all kinds of things she had no business considering. Other wranglers and staff seemed to be keeping their distance from the terse bounty hunter. They sensed trouble and avoided it. She needed to do the same because only an idiot ran straight at danger, a fool who hadn’t learned from her mistakes.

  Yet he’d offered to rehabilitate Milly, which meant so much to her. How did that reconcile with his desperado image? Was he a bad boy with a heart?

  That sounded like an even more lethal combination.

  One she had to guard herself against.

  Her cell phone buzzed and a familiar, smiling face appeared on the screen. A signal! As always, she sent a silent thank-you to the capricious satellite powers that be and hoped it wouldn’t cut out on one of her sister Claire’s infamous teasers, like, “And you’ll never believe this...”

  “Hey, Claire!” Dani said. She tapped the speaker button and dropped her phone on the mound of clothes as she pawed through her choices. “I was just thinking about you.”

  “Me, too.”

  “Sisters,” they both said, then, “Jinx,” then, “Buy me a cola,” then they laughed. It was basically their verbal version of a not-so-secret sister handshake. The familiar weight Dani carried in her chest lightened; her lungs moved easier.

  She slid on a black tank top and stepped into a pair of worn jeans. “How’ve you been, girl?”

  “Good. Real good, and...you’ll never believe this...”

  Dani braced herself, waiting for the inevitable static, but heard, instead, the sound of a bag being ripped open followed by noisy crunching. She sat on the edge of her bed, shoved her feet into her favorite pair of dark red boots, then stood. “Dad’s okay?”

  “The therapist has him knitting,” Claire mumbled, her mouth full, Dani guessed. The words sounded more like The rest is kitten. Luckily Dani had a lot of experience translating Cheeto. “She says it’s good for his fine motor skills.”

  Dani laughed at the image of her John Wayne look-alike father holding a pair of needles, a ball of yarn at his feet. “He must love that.”

  “He’s already knitted three baby blankets for the church.” Then, after a moan, “Have you tried the cheese-fries-flavored Cheetos?”

  “We’re lucky if our convenience store has more than one flavor of chips.”

  The sound of a scandalized tut made her grin. “How can you live like that?”

  “It’s a burden.”

  “I would imagine. You just need to move home, that’s all.”

  She leaned her elbows on her knees and clenched her eyes and jaw and fists—held everything clenched until she could speak without betraying herself.

  “Dani?” Claire’s voice sounded sharper now. A lull in the chewing. “Dani?”

  “Yeah. Still here.” Always here and not there...

  Please let me get through this season without incident. In six months, the statute of limitations would run out on her crime. Accessory to a felony. Without the threat of jail, she’d be free to visit Coltrane whenever she wanted. Now she only had to keep her distance from Jack in case he uncovered her secret.

  Easy.

  Right.

  Dani grabbed a soft plaid shirt and slid her arms into it. “So, what won’t I believe besides the taste of cheese-fries-flavored Cheetos?”

  “They’re the best I’ve tried yet.” More crunching.

  “You always say that. Remember the sweet pickle relish ones.”

  “I’m trying to forget. I had a stomach ache for a week.” Claire’s voice grew muffled, as if she’d turned her head away and was speaking to someone else, then, “Can you talk to Jonathan?”

  She grinned as she pictured the red-haired, freckle-faced boy she’d watched grow up, mostly in pictures. “Of course.” She left her overshirt unbuttoned, tied it at the waist and looked around for her hat.

  “Aunt Dani?” Jonathan sounded excited. She could feel her expression go soft and gummy.

  “Yes, honey. How’re you?” The brim of her hat peeked out from under the bed and she grabbed it.

  “Fine! Guess what?”

  “What?”

  “Don’t say anything, Jonathan!” she heard her sister warn.

  “Okay, I won’t.” Then, in a whisper. “Mommy’s got a wedding dress.”

  “Jonathan!” exclaimed Claire.

  “What?” Dani fell backward onto the bed, her hat to her chest. Another milestone in her sister’s life—missed because she lived so far away.

  “I’m sorry, Dani. I was going to wait until you could come home again when your season ended, but with the wedding coming up...”

  Dani nodded, tracking the fan blades as they circled, then said, “Wait. Did you set a date?” Her dismay turned to excitement.

  “Yes! Tanner and I picked September 20. It’ll be cool then, and you’ll be through the season, right? I mean, you’ll come.” Claire’s voiced dropped a bit.

  Dani crushed her teeth together. “Wouldn’t miss it.” Unless she was in jail. She pushed the crazy thought aside, shoved upright and put on her hat.

  “And you’ll be my maid of honor...”

  “Depending on the dress you pick out.” She grinned, recalling some of the pictures of hideous bridesmaids’ dresses her sister had sent as jokes.

  “Something with a big bow,” Claire mused.

  Dani rolled her shirtsleeves to the elbow. “And satin. Really shiny. Like, if you look at it too long you’ll go blind or start singing a Diana Ross song.”

  “Puff sleeves.” Her sister began humming “Ain’t No Mountain High Enough” and she could picture her. Smiling.

  “Crinoline. Especially if it’s hot out.”

  “Mint green or lemon yellow.”

  “Sounds perfect.”

  Claire’s half laugh, half sigh came through the phone. “I just miss you so much...”

  A beeping sounded and Dani stared at the now empty screen, a “disconnected” message where her sister’s face had been.

  Shoot. She’d been lucky to chat with her that long without the call dropping. Just in case, she tried the number, got nothing, tried again and gave up.

  The familiar emptiness inside her swelled and she thought of Tanya. Normally, hanging out with her friend helped. Now, after what she’d overheard, she didn’t know what to think of the woman who was like another sister to her.

 
Her mind drifted to the sketchy phone conversation. Had it been Smiley? On an involuntary shiver, she hugged her knees to her chest. It felt dead wrong thinking anything bad of her two friends...but she’d be naive not to be suspicious.

  Could Tanya be in trouble? Manipulated by Smiley?

  She finger-combed her damp hair, still wet after her quick shower a half hour ago. At the square dance, she’d corner Tanya. Get her to come clean without blowing Jack’s cover. She didn’t want her friend taken in by a guy who wasn’t good for her.

  Yet she couldn’t tell Tanya everything... Another secret between her and someone she cared about.

  More friends hiding illegal activities.

  Same issues, just a different location.

  Lord, no.

  Things had changed. She’d changed, but the more time she spent around Jack and Tanya, the more she saw that maybe she hadn’t...not nearly as much as she’d thought.

  The digital clock on the night table caught her eye. Nine o’clock. As if on cue, the opening strains of a fiddle twanged in the crisp air and she imagined the reunited workers excitedly gathering for their season kick-off event.

  She had to move and stop fussing. That girl she’d left behind her in Oklahoma was gone and forgotten.

  Mostly.

  She twisted in front of the mirror. With her hair curling over her shoulders, her face makeup free, she looked like she always did, without the trail grit. Spit-shined, as her father liked to say.

  There. Good enough.

  A few minutes later, she neared the brightly lit deck beside the main house. White string lights stretched from poles at each corner of the long rectangular space. A three-man band sped through a fast-stepping tune that got a number of couples twirling on the large dirt area beyond the deck.

  Joe, one of their maintenance men, sawed with his fiddle bow. One of the cooks, Pete, madly plucked his banjo while a groundskeeper, Todd, strummed a guitar. Nan sat on a stool by the mic, calling the dance. The fringe on her shawl swung as her boot kept time, the lights glinting on the rhinestones adorning her hat.

  “Hey, Dani!”

  She stopped to chat with different groups, catching up, listening with half an ear as she scanned the crowd for Tanya or Jack.

  Her friend hadn’t shown yet, but her midnight cowboy had made an appearance, barely. He stood in shadow, leaning against the side of a barn, alone. No surprise there. She wanted to ignore him, but something in the way others kept staring and whispering, his tense body language, propelled her to his side.

  “Having fun?” she asked when she reached him.

  He shot her such an agonized look she had to laugh. “How long does this thing last?”

  Settling herself beside him, she leaned against the wood-slatted building. He smelled of woods after a thunderstorm, clean and elemental, and his crisp shirt filled her nose with the scent of fresh laundry. She breathed deep. “It just started.”

  He tipped his head back and his hat slid forward, covering his face. “Wake me when it’s over.”

  Lifting the brim, she peered at him. His shadowed face was mysterious in the moon’s glow, the light pooling beneath his high cheekbones and highlighting the jagged ridge of flesh that sliced through his face. Insanely, her fingers itched to touch it. She dropped her hand.

  “Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep.” She did her best impression of an alarm clock.

  He opened one eye. “Are you being annoying on purpose or does that just come naturally?”

  “It’s a gift.” She shrugged, amused. “And you’re intimidating.”

  Both eyes were open now and gleaming at her, sharp. “I like the sound of that.”

  She ignored the traitorous leap of her pulse and gestured to the chattering group. “You’re supposed to blend in, not look like you’re about to steal the payroll.”

  His eyes were smiling, his mouth only sort of. It did something funny to her heart. “Fair enough. What do you suggest?”

  “How about getting out there? Dance.” She blinked, astonished, as her own words fell around her ears. Why had she suggested dancing?

  Because you want to spend more time with him.

  Please let him say no...

  And, eyelashes, stop batting.

  His eyebrows rose and he slid his hand into hers. “I thought you’d never ask.”

  * * *

  WHAT WAS HE DOING?

  He’d come to gather information, Jack thought, not get lost in a pair of hazel eyes. Yet here he was, stepping out with the lithe woman beside him, her hand folded into his like some long-ago wish.

  “Thanks,” called the older woman he’d met earlier, Nan, as a song ended. She stood and waved at the cheering crowd. “Now, y’all go on without me for a bit while I wet my whistle.”

  The trio swung into an instrumental version of Blake Shelton’s “God Gave Me You” and Dani stepped into his arms like she belonged there. Or maybe it just felt that way.

  His arm rose up around her waist and one hand settled on the curve of her back. His other fingers laced with hers. As soon as he touched her, he wondered how he’d gone this long without doing it. He was aware of her every breath this close. Her skin was as soft as it looked.

  The lilting music faded. The other couples disappeared. Under the star-studded sky, Dani shone the brightest. She was as lovely as a warm wind in the shade. Her pretty face shone up at him from beneath her cowboy hat—big eyes, full pink lips that curved in a way that made him itch to kiss them.

  And she had adorable cheeks, round as crab apples. Dimples on top of freckles, which shouldn’t even be allowed. Rosy skin like a fresh peach. A long neck that arched, proud and strong. He steered her around the dance floor and she followed his lead, stepping backward easily, trusting him not to let her stumble.

  Suddenly a gust of wind blew through, and he snatched Dani’s hat as it lifted off her head. Settling it back on, he couldn’t resist reaching out and wrapping one of her curls around his finger. The honey-and-vanilla scent of her rose around them and his arm tightened, bringing her closer.

  “So, tell me about Carbondale. Do all your siblings work on the ranch?” she murmured through her smile, her eyes never leaving his. She had the kind of smile that could have been in a toothpaste commercial. Wide and genuine.

  “No.” He twirled her beneath his arm and drew her close again, their feet picking up the tempo without faltering.

  “What made you leave?”

  Jesse’s thin, worried face bloomed in his mind. “Work.” That was all he’d say on the matter, though something about Dani made him want to open up and believe that speaking his hurt out loud wouldn’t cut him straight through. They moved slower now, closer. His fingers tightened around hers.

  A line appeared between her eyebrows. “Is this one of our monosyllabic conversations?”

  Despite himself, he felt a laugh come on. Held it back. “Maybe.”

  She looked up at him through her bangs and flattened her smile into a smirk. “That was two. Two syllables. Don’t hurt yourself there, cowboy.”

  This time he did laugh and she joined him. She had the kind of full-on belly laugh that shook her shoulders, loosened her joints and made him want to make her do it again.

  “So tell me about your ranch.”

  “It’s called Cade Ranch. It’s been in the family for almost a hundred and fifty years. Not much has changed, except now all our Angus beef is grass fed.”

  And Jesse was gone.

  He was keeping both his eyes mostly shut, and his heart wrenched as he pictured their spot in the center of the Rocky Mountains, the places he and his siblings rode, fished, camped. Every corner of the property reminded him of Jesse and how he’d failed to protect him.

  She whistled. “That’s all the thing, huh. My family’s ranch is mode
rnizing, too.”

  The wistful note that’d entered her voice drew his gaze and made him wonder if they had more in common than the ability to get under each other’s skin. He ran a thumb along the veins in her wrist. “Do you miss it?”

  A strange look crossed her face and she stumbled slightly. He steadied her, and her face fell for just a second against his shoulder, against the sleeve of his shirt. “I wish I could see it more.”

  “Don’t you go home much?”

  “No,” she said shortly and seemed to stiffen. Sore subject. It made him wonder. “How about you?” she asked quickly. “Do you go home much? What made you give up ranching for bounty hunting?”

  He opened his mouth to answer, then shut it. Her eyes searched his and it seemed like she could read his mind. His heart. She felt right in his arms, like she was born to be there and he was meant to hold her. He wished his life was different and he was the kind of man who could spend more time in Dani’s world.

  When he looked away, a familiar man caught his eye. The groundskeeper from the trail. “Does he go by Sam Perkins?”

  She followed his point. “Yeah. Why?”

  “Not Everett Ridland?”

  “Jack. What’s going on?”

  “Nothing. Will you bring me over? Get a conversation going?” He didn’t wait for an answer, just tugged her after him until they stood before the bearded man.

  “Hey, Sam,” Dani said, sounding a little winded. “I wanted you to meet our new wrangler, Jackson.”

  The broad-faced man studied him for a long minute, turned his head and spat on the dirt at Jack’s feet. “Met him before.”

  He felt the fight rising up in his throat and put his hands in his pockets. Pressed them into fists. “Wasn’t much of a meeting.”

  “Enough for me,” ground out Sam, his hostile tone setting Jack’s stomach on edge.

  “Where’d you run into each other?” Dani asked brightly, and Sam’s expression grew guarded, his small eyes sinking deeper into the thick folds of his skin.