Cowboy Casanova (Wild At Heart Cowboys Book 3)

by Charlene Bright

  Bill looked down at the mug in his hands and took another long sip of coffee before looking back up at Dylan and Tara, resolve written in his eyes. “Well, I guess we’re gonna have to start telling some folks … on a need-to-know basis.” His shoulders slumped. “You go ahead and tell ‘em I’m sick,” he said. Then he took a deep breath, sitting up straighter. “And you tell ‘em I don’t want to talk about it and I don’t want their pity. So they don’t need to ask me no questions or fuss over me. You got it?”

  Dylan smiled and looked at Tara. “I got it.”

  12

  Tara had gawked at the ranch house on Dylan’s property as she’d rolled down the long dirt driveway in her car with Bill in the passenger seat. She’d been amazed by Bill’s place, but Dylan’s house was twice the size of his, and the land was beautiful and green with the forest as a backdrop. Bill had told her more about the fire, and she’d expected to see scorched wood, but instead, it only looked like some small areas had been cleared away, leaving thick greenery on stately trunks.

  But that wasn’t even the most impressive part. The interior of the house was basic but decorated in good taste with no gaudy colors and no deep, dark bachelor tones. The stables were huge, and though Dylan didn’t have many horses, the ones he had were gorgeous. The mustang was easy to pick out—the big black beast was angry and snorted and snuffled at her, trying to break out of his prison.

  She expected the sheep barn to stink, but it didn’t, and she had never seen freshly sheared sheep, so that was an experience. Dylan petted them like dogs and cats, and she found herself doing the same, giggling, when they bleated and rubbed their heads on her. The cows were just as interesting, a couple of them nosing at her for attention while the rest just stood as if ignoring everyone’s presence.

  “I’ve never even toured the livestock at a state fair,” she admitted, blushing as she ducked her head sheepishly.

  “Really? You’re pretty sheltered for a city girl,” Dylan teased.

  She nodded. “I guess so. But I’ll say this. I’m glad I waited. I don’t think I could have picked a better way to get introduced to the world of agriculture than this place. It’s beautiful, and it’s organized. That’s the kicker,” she laughed.

  His eyes danced, and she was glad they’d snuck away for just a few minutes while Noah and Zoe talked to Bill up by the house. She took advantage of their momentary solitude and wrapped her arms around his neck, kissing him shortly but with a lot of pent-up passion. He heated instantly, his skin burning her where they touched, and his mouth twisted into a mischievous grin. “What?” she asked in a hoarse, low voice.

  “You better watch it,” he growled back. “Behavior like that’s going to land you in a pile of hay, and you’ll be picking it out of your hair for the next few hours, trying to explain how it got there.”

  The thought nearly made her fall back into the stack of hay behind her, and she breathed in short, heavy pants. “Don’t make promises you can’t keep, Dylan.” She nodded her head toward the house. “We should get back before we get in trouble.”

  “Good idea,” he agreed. “But I would suggest not talking to Zoe too much. She’ll just give you more ideas to start trouble.” Tara was sure she would. A brief introduction to her and her very pregnant belly had told her all she needed to know about the artist who’d married Noah. She had decided that she didn’t just want to come for lunch. She wanted to make a day of it and, Tara suspected, get a good look at how Bill was doing. She was a feisty one, and Tara thought it might be to her advantage to ask Zoe for a few tips on how to rope a cowboy.

  “Are you ready to take a beating?” Noah asked as they approached, winking at Dylan. Tara couldn’t tell if they were all serious about the potential for injury or not, but she was a little worried. She hoped she was hiding her nervousness well. Why hadn’t she thought about the possibility that Dylan would get hurt?

  “As ready as I can get,” Dylan told him. “Let’s get this party started.” He gave Tara a short nod and turned to Bill. “Enjoy the show, old man, but don’t ask for popcorn. It’s not that kind of movie.”

  “I’d rather have a cigarette,” Bill laughed. “I’m sure I’ll get plenty of pleasure watching you try to tame the beast. Noah, I hope you have an insurance policy because this is one client I doubt you’ll be able to keep out of harm’s way.”

  Noah shrugged. “We’ll see.” He kissed his wife and followed Dylan to the stable to release the mustang into the corral.

  Alone with Bill and Zoe, Tara suddenly found herself at a loss for conversation. She wasn’t usually socially awkward, but she didn’t know what to talk about. Dylan had explained Bill’s illness and Tara’s presence before everyone had arrived. And in honoring Bill’s request that they not discuss it, she didn’t think she should mention it. She also didn’t think Dylan was ready to share their budding relationship with anyone else, so she didn’t dare talk about love and marriage. Zoe was probably tired of talking about the baby, so that wasn’t the best source of conversation. “How long has Noah been training horses?” she finally tried.

  “Practically since birth,” Zoe told her in a bright voice. Tara couldn’t imagine being nearly so chipper with such a heavy load to carry, but Zoe looked amazingly well-adjusted. “It’s something he’s got a natural touch at, and he’s been doing it forever. He loves it, too, even when it’s frustrating and brutal.”

  “So, are they actually going to get hurt?” The idea seemed more and more horrifying as it grew more realistic. She had a sudden flash in her mind of Dylan lying on the ground, covered in blood. She closed her eyes to the thought for a second and focused back in on the present.

  “Bruises, cuts, scrapes. But Noah hasn’t broken a rib in over a year now.” Tara gaped at Zoe, who laughed and shook her head. “It’s not that bad, Tara. I know it sounds like it, and it’s a dangerous living, if you’re always working with wild stallions like this. But you can break just as many bones falling off ladders working on roofs, or tripping in the wood and falling over a hollow log. And they love the adrenaline rush.”

  Tara thought that was crazy, but before she could say as much, Bill chuckled. “It’s all about testosterone, ladies. I know there are women who do these rodeo-type challenges, but it’s a man’s sport because it fills you with testosterone and makes you feel like a big, strong man.” He had a haunted look in his eyes, and Tara knew he missed the active lifestyle. She could still see the young man beneath the wrinkles and wear and tear on his face, the avid interest in working long, hard days in the burning sun. These were the rare moments she wished she’d chosen a different career path, one that wouldn’t make her regret her inability to restore youth and health to good people like Bill. He didn’t want to run a marathon. He didn’t want to go out and party. He didn’t even want to get rich. He just wanted to go back to a life in which he could enjoy a day’s honest work.

  Rather than dwell on that, she turned her attention to the action already starting a few dozen feet away in the corral. The horse was rearing back on his hind legs, and Noah looked like an insane person, goading him forward and dodging the front hooves that treaded air. Dylan was almost as ridiculous, behind the horse and making noises so it would move forward.

  “Are they going to get on that thing?” she asked in disbelief.

  With a bubbling giggle, Zoe told her, “That’s the goal. Well, it’s the first half of the goal. Once one of them gets on, the final goal is to keep the mustang from throwing them off, and then they can work on getting it used to being ridden.”

  Tara didn’t know what planet she’d been living on, but for some reason, she had assumed all horses were ready to ride. She’d heard about “breaking” horses, but she thought that was something like teaching them to eat at a certain time, sort of like house-training a dog so it didn’t mess the carpet inside. She hadn’t realized you had to teach a horse to be ridden without tossing the rider to the ground.

  She was tempted to excuse herself and get a star
t on lunch, but she was morbidly fascinated as they continued making weird noises and gestures at the maniacal animal. The horse himself looked almost possessed, his eyes huge and his muzzle twitching as he whinnied and snorted and snarled. “How much time have you spent with Dylan?” Tara froze at Zoe’s soft inquiry. She glanced first at Bill, who was hollering expletives at the two men in the corral and laughing. He hadn’t heard, and she realized Zoe had purposely moved to her other side to avoid anyone overhearing the conversation.

  Just as quietly, she answered, “I’m not sure how to quantify that. Not a lot.”

  Zoe cleared her throat, forcing Tara to turn and look at her. “You look at each other like you’ve spent a lot more time together than ‘not a lot.’” Tara started to get defensive, but Zoe held up a hand to stop her. “I’m not going to say anything to anyone. But if you keep eyeing each other the way you do, it’s not going to take anyone long to notice. When did it … start?”

  Tara gave an embarrassed smile. “That’s a tough question. I mean, technically, I’m not even sure if you could say we’ve started anything. We had … a moment yesterday, and then we stopped and talked, and we sort of left it where we’ll try and see if something comes of it.” She shrugged. “That’s all. No dating, no commitment, not even a night of wild sex.” She stopped herself before she could say, “unfortunately.”

  Zoe nodded slowly, as if processing the information. “Maybe you just had a talk, but there’s something under the surface that’s been going on for a while. I know you haven’t been here forever, but that doesn’t mean anything. I had something deep inside that connected with Noah instantly, no matter how hard I tried to deny it, so even if we haven’t been together since then, it all started the day we met. I have this nagging sensation the same thing happened with you.”

  Tara thought back to that spark she’d felt the second Dylan had opened the door, and she knew Zoe was right. Tara wasn’t the only one who’d noticed that connection, either. She’d seen it in Dylan’s eyes, and he’d all but admitted it yesterday when they’d finally both confessed what they’d been holding inside. “It did, but the question is, how do we move forward? I mean, neither one of us has any time to spare, and in the end, I have an apartment and a life far from here.”

  Zoe narrowed her eyes and said nothing for a long minute, making Tara feel like the woman could see straight into her soul. “You have an apartment. But the way I see it, you do a lot of traveling and living with your patients, right?” Tara looked away, not wanting to admit how lonely she was most of the time. Zoe stepped closer, leaning across her protruding belly so she could speak intimately. “You don’t have to be shy about it. I had friends and an apartment, but I didn’t feel fulfilled in the city. I was running all the time and never doing anything for myself. You have an apartment, but you don’t live in it. It’s a place you stop between jobs where you’re too busy doing everything for everyone else to think about having a life.”

  “That’s a little harsh,” Tara told her, but she didn’t argue.

  “Sometimes, you have to turn the spotlight on the worst so you can find the best,” Zoe said with a smile in her voice, and Tara thought she’d met her match for positive thinking. “But you can’t regret any of those decisions because they’ve led you here. And here, you’ve found Dylan, who just might be the match you’re looking for, the one you didn’t even know you were searching for this whole time.”

  Tara just stared at her in awe. “Is that something you took out of a self-help book or an epic romance novel?”

  “A little of both, but it’s genuine, sweetheart.” She laughed and then pointed to Noah, who had finally calmed the horse and was standing in front of it, cooing something in its ear. “You learn as you go, and I’ve learned a lot about fate and faith and chance since the day I came into town. And I’m never afraid to speak my mind. I don’t think you are, either, and you shouldn’t let anything change that.” She poked a finger into Tara’s chest. “You always need to tell that man exactly how you feel, or you just might miss out on something special.”

  Tara wondered how similar the situation had actually been between Zoe and Noah. “I suppose it would suck to come face to face with utter happiness and do something that made it all disappear. Or worse, walk away from it.” She wrinkled her nose and thought about what would happen when this assignment came to an end. She didn’t like to think about those moments, especially when she truly liked her clients. They became like family, and even though she tried to maintain a careful distance emotionally, it broke her heart every time she lost one.

  This time, though, there was more involved than just the typical devastation. She stood to lose a lot more than a single friend. Admittedly, Tara was elated that Bill had been given a better prognosis, but she also knew that the extended period was going to make it even more difficult to lose him. On top of that, she had to think about how things were going to work out with Dylan.

  But that wasn’t all. She’d never made friends at any of her other assignments. Today, she was making friends with Zoe, and even if she tried to back off, she knew the woman would never let her. They were going to be friends, and there were no two ways about it. She didn’t have friends back home, which meant that there was already more for her to leave behind in Five Forks than there ever had been back home. How was she going to cope with that when she was sent to a new place?

  Of course, she could always quit and stay here. The problem was, she had no other skills, no other means of supporting herself, and she could not abide the idea of depending on anyone else. So, even if by some miracle Dylan fell in love with her and they got married, she couldn’t just sit at home and twiddle her thumbs while Dylan worked to bring home money. She would have to do something. The nearest hospital was a pretty decent drive, and she doubted the local M.D. needed a nurse. Her skills were useless.

  “Whatever’s going through your head right now, you need to slow it down,” Zoe chuckled, bringing her out of her panicked reverie. “You seem to be following some path that doesn’t even exist yet and freaking out over unanswered questions. Trust me, I’ve been there. It’s not worth it. There’s nothing you can do to predict the future.”

  “Damnit!” The shout was followed by a loud thud and a cry from the horse, and Tara stared in horror at the horse running circles around the corral, while Dylan rolled from his back to his feet and dodged being trampled, climbing up on the fence. Noah had hold of a rope lassoed around the horse’s neck and was drawing it back under his control in slow measures that seemed almost fruitless. She saw the wince on Dylan’s face as he rubbed his hip and wanted to run to him, the nurse in her working on instinct, but she forced her feet to stay planted.

  “Is he okay?” she asked in a hiss.

  Zoe nodded. “He’s fine, or he wouldn’t have gotten up so quick. He’ll have a nice, big bruise, though.” She elbowed Tara playfully and muttered, “I know it seems like a horrible profession, but if you can handle letting him get hurt, you get to baby him later. And it gives you lots of opportunity to see that body.”

  She made Tara laugh, the imagery too much for her to stay nervous. But there would definitely be a lot of compromise to her lifestyle if she was going to make something like this work. She didn’t like the idea of someone she cared about doing something dangerous for a living, but then, at least breaking horses wasn’t a typical pastime for Dylan. She had a lot of respect for Zoe, who seemed to be fine with it. Hopefully, if things got serious with Dylan, Tara would find that inner strength as well.

  13

  Dylan hadn’t expected the day to go quite so quickly, and by the time they’d made any real progress with the damn horse, he was thoroughly exhausted, and he felt completely empty, as if he hadn’t eaten an enormous breakfast. The women had gone inside, and when Noah told him it was time to stop for the day, he wanted to argue, despite his tiredness. “We’re not getting anything else out of him today,” Noah explained. “We’ll have to work again later this week.
”

  Reluctantly, Dylan followed his friend in after putting Chase—as he’d decided to name the beast after chasing him in circles for hours—back in the stables and cleaning him as best he could. Thankfully, Chase was pretty tired and let Dylan get through most of a full-body brushing.

  Zoe and Tara were chumming it up in the kitchen, where they’d prepared a feast, and with a shushing motion toward the spare bedroom to let Dylan and Noah know Bill was sleeping, they were ushered off to clean up for lunch. Dylan’s stomach protested the delay, especially when the aroma of fresh baked sourdough rolls and barbecue beef wafted to his nose. He nearly drooled as he and Noah scrubbed up to their elbows and washed their faces, and he couldn’t get back to the kitchen fast enough.

  But once he was there, it wasn’t the food that enticed him the most. The glowing smile on Tara’s face and the way she looked at home in his kitchen, as though she belonged there and had been best friends with Zoe for years, caught him off guard and made him hungry to feel her in his arms. He walked over to her, at least needing to be near her and smell her scent, and said, “Lunch smells delicious.”

  She gazed up at him through her lashes and said quietly, “So do you. Surprising, considering you’re filthy.” She bit her lip to cover a giggle, and he clenched his fists at his sides to keep from grabbing her and carrying her to his room where he could finally get his hands beneath those scrubs of hers. Louder, she said, “There’s sliced chicken breast, ham, and brisket, with plenty of barbecue sauce. You’ve got pickles, onions, tomato—”

  Dylan couldn’t resist as he watched her lips move. To hell with what anyone else thought, he decided as he bent his neck and caught her mouth with his, silencing her with a long, passionate kiss. They both came up breathless, and she blinked at him in surprise. He smiled sheepishly and told her, “I don’t have time to waste. I have to take what I want when I want it, or I might miss out.”