His Cowgirl Bride

by Debra Clopton

  “Heads up,” he called and stuck his hand out of the hole with one squirming, newborn pup.

  “Isn’t he cute?” Tacy cooed, taking the puppy and cuddling it against her.

  “Another one on the way,” he called, his voice slightly muffled.

  Tacy stroked the puppy’s head and gently placed it in the box Brent had brought. He’d thought of everything, and she couldn’t help being impressed. The man got under her skin no matter how hard she tried not to let him.

  “Six puppies,” Brent said, dusting his shirt off and watching Tacy gaze at the squirming pups.

  “They are beautiful,” she said, petting Birdy’s head as she shoved her nose into the box and tried to tend to her babies. “Thanks for helping.”

  He shrugged and gave her what he hoped was a casual smile. “Anytime. Let’s get them home.” He held out a hand to Tacy. For a minute he didn’t think she’d take it, but she did. And as his hand wrapped around hers, he knew he was going to have a hard time letting it go. And a harder time not pulling her into a hug.

  She popped to her feet like a jack-in-the-box and tugged her hand free almost instantly.

  He studied her, fighting the need to tease her. He was pushing his luck with her today but he was determined to spend time with her. Determined to share more with her than arguments over riding a horse. “I’ll carry the box,” he said when she reached for it. “If that’s okay with you,” he added, just in case she thought he was being bossy.

  She just smiled and picked up the shovel. “I’ll get this. I know what you’re doing, you know.”

  He grabbed the box and stilled his heart, ready for her to tell him he was barking up the wrong tree if he thought he could get her to fall for him…that it was a bad idea and he knew it. “You do, do you?” he asked.

  “Yup. You’re trying to steal my dog’s affections with all this hero-to-the-rescue stuff.” She tossed a fake glare over her shoulder, sashaying away, shovel swinging.

  He grinned, watching her, then picked up the box of pups and followed her.

  “You know, we get along pretty well when we’re not fighting over horses,” he said as they left the woods behind and started toward the barn.

  “Oh, but that is such an important point. Just think how well we’d get along if you weren’t so pigheaded.”

  Their kiss sprang instantly to mind. “So are you telling me a horse ride might, um—” he cleared his throat “—make you like me a little more?”

  They entered the barn on the back side as they were walking through toward the yard and her truck. She stopped in the center of the alley. “Is that bribery?”

  He came to a dead halt and felt his neck heat up. “N-no. That wasn’t what I meant.” Sure sounded like it. “I—” he cleared his throat, since it had suddenly turned about as dry as sawdust “—I only wondered if you would like me more if we didn’t have that difference of opinion.”

  “Probably not,” she quipped and strode out of the barn.

  What? He followed her to her truck. “You would like me,” he pushed, unable to stop seeking the truth. “In fact, you do like me, don’t you, Tacy Jones?”

  Tacy gave him a look that said, “That’s what you think.” Then she took the box of puppies and set them on the front seat of her truck. Birdy jumped onto the floorboard, as if she hadn’t just given birth, placed her front paws in the seat and began taking care of her babies. It was easy to see that she would be a great little mother. Unable to stop himself, Brent stepped close to Tacy before she could hop in the driver’s seat and leave. “You do, you know,” he said. He was near enough to catch the flash of hesitation.

  She placed a hand on his chest and held him back.

  “Have you called your mom yet and told her you are coming home for Thanksgiving?”

  “No. Are you trying to change the subject?”

  “Nope. But I have this problem. I’m just not into fear. I’m not into giving in to it. I fight it all the way. You, on the other hand, let it run your life.”

  “What?”

  She tapped her fingers against his chest. “I’ve figured you out. You were almost the world champion, so you messed your life up. Then, when your bad choices caused you to let your inexperienced sister make a very bad choice, you decided to hide behind that…and you’ve been doing it ever since. So the answer is no. Even if I do like you, there could never, ever be anything between you and me. Because you look at me and don’t see what I’m capable of. You see some entertaining little gal with a feisty side—someone you’re drawn to—but that’s it.”

  He stepped back. “That’s not true.”

  “Yes, it is. I’m a free spirit, Brent, with a mind and a will of my own. You’re drawn to that, but you’d still try to put me in a cage and clip my wings. Why, I ask you, would I let myself fall for someone who’d do that to me? Simple answer—I wouldn’t.”

  “I didn’t sabotage my career on purpose,” he ground out in a very controlled voice. “And I think you need someone to help keep you out of trouble.”

  Her eyes widened. “Maybe I’m wrong as far as your career is concerned. But I’m not wrong about how you would treat me. You just proved it with that statement. If every man feels that way, I might stay single forever. God didn’t create me to be afraid, and I won’t let someone try to change that.”

  “I’m not trying to—”

  “Look, I’ll admit we have great—chemistry—but that’s not good enough. I have to go. Thanks for your help. I’m supposed to work on the pumpkin chunker today.” She nodded toward the corral. “And you’ve got a bunch of colts to ride all by your lonesome.”

  She pulled the door closed, and Brent yanked his hat off and slapped it against his thigh as he watched her leave. He wasn’t that person she believed he was…was he?

  He stomped toward the corral. He was supposed to help with App and Stanley’s pumpkin contraption, but he didn’t have time. She might be completely wrong about him, but she was right about the colts. They had to be ridden, and he was the only one to do it.

  “Tacy, where is your head?” Norma Sue asked. “You’ve been distracted the whole time you’ve been here. What’s wrong?”

  “Nothing,” Tacy said. The last thing she was going to do was tell the three ladies known as the matchmaking posse of Mule Hollow that, no matter how brave her words to him were, she was struggling with her feelings for Brent.

  Esther Mae dropped the paintbrush into the tray of orange paint. “You’re having man troubles, aren’t you?”

  “Esther Mae,” Adela warned softly, “don’t push.”

  “I’m not,” Esther Mae said, “but I’m bored and I can’t help wanting to help.”

  Tacy’s eyes narrowed. “Ladies, I’m in no need of your services as far as a man is concerned.”

  Norma Sue set down her screwdriver, her plump face glowing. “That’s what everyone says, but what they really mean is, ‘Help me.’”

  Tacy crossed her arms and frowned sternly at them. “Look, Brent and I are too different. The man is—well, he’s handsome, and yes, it’s true that I love arguing with him. He’s entertaining. But he’s also messed up.” What am I doing? She was asking the question of herself just as three sets of eyes locked on her with expectant anticipation.

  “Go on,” Norma Sue demanded. “You wouldn’t be the first person to notice that men and women are different. That’s what makes everything work.”

  Tacy couldn’t believe she was doing this. But looking at them and knowing they had all this experience—it was as if she had to let out her frustrations. Maybe they could help, and suddenly she knew she wanted help. “It would never work. I want to break horses, and he’s afraid I’ll break my neck—but it’s my neck to break! The one thing I’m not going to do is stop because I’m afraid. That, ladies, is the thing that will keep us apart no matter how attracted to each other we might be.” She was breathing hard when she finished.

  “Did y’all hear that?” Esther Mae exclaimed, clapping
her hands together. “She said they were attracted to each other.”

  “We heard, all right,” Norma Sue said, crossing her arms and scratching her chin.

  Tacy knew she’d just made a huge mistake. “Didn’t y’all hear the other stuff I said?” she asked.

  Dainty Adela smiled kindly, her blue eyes as gentle as the hand she placed on Tacy’s arm. “Certainly we did, dear. We heard everything you said. But the question is, did you?”

  Huh? “He’s controlling.”

  “He’s concerned,” Norma Sue said. “Why, my Roy Don used ta try and keep me from working cattle when we first started dating. But when I showed him I could do it as good or better than most men—including him—he gave up. It’s not something I have to do every day—especially the rougher stuff now that I’m getting a little older. But when I get the hankerin’ to help with a roundup, I do it.”

  “Well, Brent won’t let me near a colt, so we’ll never know if there could have been more between us than this irritating attraction—which may simply come from each of us trying to prove the other wrong.”

  “Oh, I’m sure that’s part of it,” Esther Mae said with a sly smile and a bob of her chili-pepper head. “But even then, if you didn’t like him, you wouldn’t get very far before you got bored or the attraction died.”

  Tacy cringed. “He’d smother me. I could never stand for that.”

  “Understandable, dear. But surely if he loves you, he will compromise. If he doesn’t, you should walk away and never look back,” Adela said. “But my thought on the subject is that God made the heart to know its own mind. Love makes all things possible—even compromise.”

  “I never said I loved him.” Tacy couldn’t believe this. She’d heard this town was marriage-crazy, but this was ridiculous.

  Norma Sue chuckled. “Maybe not. But there is certainly potential there if you two could get past this horse-breaking thing.”

  “That horse-breaking thing happens to be my lifelong dream.” Frustration tightened its hold on her.

  It was bad enough that she was—fine—falling in love, without having the matchmaking posse of Mule Hollow practically reading her thoughts.

  Chapter Fourteen

  Brent got tossed on his rear by colt number three. As he pushed himself up out of the dust, he knew it wasn’t the colt’s fault, but his own. If he’d been concentrating on what he was doing, he’d have deflected the reaction of the threatened animal. Much of horse breaking was concentration, reading the horse before it acted. Same with riding broncs. Concentration, instinct and technique. Today he had none.

  Tacy was right. He needed help, and she was available and willing. He just couldn’t do it, though. God had forgiven him for his stupidity, but he couldn’t make the same mistake again. She was a good rider though, and once he had the saddle on them and a few days in the saddle she should be safe. Right? The two he’d already broke were in need of more time than he was giving them. Plus, Pace was depending on him. Argument done, Brent left the horse standing in the center of the pen and headed for Tacy’s place. It was time to compromise a little….

  Even if he wasn’t comfortable with it, maybe Tacy was right about him being too afraid. Dusting himself off, he climbed out of his truck and strode onto her porch.

  He found Birdy and her babies on the porch snuggled together. The proud mama looked up at him and gave him her signature grin. “Hey there, beautiful. How’s it going?” he asked, bending down and scratching her between the ears. “You have got some beautiful babies.”

  The front door opened, and he looked over his shoulder to find Tacy lounging against the door frame, arms and ankles crossed as she watched him. “She looks good,” he said. And so do you.

  “She’s very happy. I was actually afraid she was going to start carting them one by one back to the shed or to your barn or something. But thankfully now that the delivery is done, she’s decided to stay put.”

  “And why not? Her favorite person is here watching over her.” He smiled at Tacy, but she only gave him a slight lift of one side of her mouth.

  “You have dirt on your back,” she said. “Interesting, since you weren’t digging puppies out from beneath a shed today. Did you get tossed, Brent?”

  He sighed heavily and stood up, no use denying it. “Yep. I did.”

  Her chin jutted to the side. “Imagine that. The great Brent Stockwell bit the dust.”

  He shot her a weary look. “I wasn’t concentrating.”

  “Ohhh, and why was that? Too much to do?”

  Because of you. “Yes, you’re right. I realized I do need some help.”

  “So you’ve come here to ask me to recommend some cowboy to help you ride?”

  “Actually, I came to ask you if you’d like to help me ride.”

  “But not break them.”

  “This is all I can offer. I won’t put you on a green colt. I won’t be responsible for hurting you.”

  Her lips flattened and she studied him hard. He knew she was weighing her options, calculating her chances of changing his mind. She was a smart woman, and she’d realize that he hadn’t said the words out loud, but he was offering her the opportunity to watch him break the colts while she rode them. That was more than he wanted to offer her, but it couldn’t be helped. When she gave him that sassy smile, he had to admit, even with the trepidation he felt, that he enjoyed very much being responsible for putting that gorgeous grin on her face.

  “Okay, I’ll do it,” she said, the smile spreading like a slow sunrise.

  He swallowed and took a deep breath, feeling a catch in his chest just looking at her. “Good,” he managed, backing to the edge of the porch. “I—I’ll see you tomorrow at sunup. Don’t be late.” He spun on his heel and headed toward the truck.

  “Sunup,” she called. “I’ll be there with bells on.”

  He chuckled, got in his truck and tipped his hat to her before backing out of the drive. Tomorrow. It was the beginning of a new headache for him, but he was looking forward to it like nothing he could remember.

  The sun was just a thin sliver of orange on the horizon when Tacy hopped out of her truck. The colts were nothing but dark shapes behind the corral, and for a minute she thought she’d actually beaten Brent out of bed. Then he came strolling casually out of the barn with a saddle on his shoulder. Her heart gave a kick and she kicked it right back down, focusing on why she was here. She was still reeling from his offer and determined to be the best helper he’d ever seen. She understood how hard it was for him to ask her to do this, and she was actually proud of him for doing it. Not that she’d let him know that.

  “Is that for me?” she asked as nonchalantly as possible.

  “Nope, I’ll be using this one. Yours is waiting in the barn.”

  She almost laughed at that. “Phew, that’s a relief. I thought for a minute there you’d gone soft.” She strode past him, but his husky chuckle followed her into the barn.

  And boy, did she like the sound of it.

  She scratched Rabbit between the eyes, then grabbed her saddle and headed to work. Her spirits were soaring as she walked out of the barn. She knew what he’d offered, even though he hadn’t said it. He was giving her permission to watch him and learn. He might not be able to put her on an unbroken horse, but he wasn’t going to stop her from learning by observation. It wasn’t enough, but it was good enough for now. One step at a time. For both of them.

  “Who do you want me to start with, boss?”

  He opened the holding pen where the three horses he’d saddle-broken were waiting. He shook his head at her comment and held the gate as she squeezed past him. “We’ll move down the line from the first broke to the newest.”

  She set her saddle on the ground and walked easily to the black he’d ridden first. The two-year-olds were still a touch skittish, but the black held its ground for the most part as she spoke softly to him. “We’re going to be fast friends, you and me. And you two also,” she added, giving the other horses a smile
. As if taking her words to heart, the black let her run her hand down his neck. She took her time petting him, letting him get used to her. She could feel Brent watching and wondered what he might be thinking. She was determined to impress him with her ability. She didn’t know why it was so important to her, but she had to make him realize that what happened to his sister wouldn’t happen to her. If she could take away the guilt she knew he felt, she would do away with that, too, but that was out of her hands. There were some things that only God could help with…. She looked up at him as he moved to stand beside her. Looking into his solemn eyes, she knew she cared deeply about what was going on behind those eyes and in his heart.

  “I think he’ll let me on him. What do you think?” she asked, suddenly feeling crowded.

  “You’re handling yourself well. He’s ready. I’ve had more saddle time with him than the others. But I still want you to be cautious. Is that understood?”

  He’d actually praised her. Wow! “I hear you loud and clear, boss.” She gave him a teasing smile and headed for her saddle. The sun was now aglow and the sounds of early morning filled the air. Somewhere in the distance, a rooster crowed. Closer, in the woods, the soft twitter of birds drifted on the air and mingled with the snorts of the colts.

  “I love this time of morning,” she said, carrying the saddle back to the black. Brent had a halter on him now. She hadn’t even noticed that he was holding it in his hand. That’s how distracted she’d been looking in his eyes and standing near him. She focused again on the horse.

  “I’ll put that on him,” he offered.

  “Oh, no, you don’t, buster. You hired me to do this, and I’m going to do it. I know how to saddle a horse.”

  “For the hired help, you sure are bossy,” he said, stepping back and letting her do her job.