A Christmas Baby for the Cowboy

by Deb Kastner

  ’Tis the season for a new start

  But can he be a daddy in Cowboy Country?

  With a baby on the way and Christmas around the corner, disgraced rodeo rider Cash Coble returns to Serendipity hoping to fix his reputation. Cash never imagined that pretty Alyssa Emerson would inspire him to cowboy up—let alone open his heart. But will she agree to be part of his new family once she learns his dark secret?

  “I hope I didn’t frighten them too much.”

  Cash crouched beside the box and ran the tips of his fingers across the kittens’ soft fur. “I suspect the mama cat is going to be the most difficult to deal with.” He flashed the back of his left hand. Angry red claw marks etched the skin.

  “Your poor hand,” Alyssa murmured sympathetically. “Between the cat and your hammer...” She was serious, but she added a teasing note in her voice.

  “Rub it in, why don’t you?”

  She chuckled. “Can I help it if you’re a walking accident just waiting to happen?” Who also happens to save kittens.

  He snorted. “That about sums it up.”

  Their gazes met and locked for a moment before she looked away.

  Her heart was rapidly beating, and she took a deep breath, concentrating on slowing her pulse to its normal rate.

  She tried to tell herself that it was just the adrenaline of having found the litter of kittens, but deep inside, she knew better...

  A Publishers Weekly bestselling and award-winning author with over 1.5 million books in print, Deb Kastner writes stories of faith, family and community in a small-town Western setting. She lives in Colorado with her husband and a pack of miscreant mutts, and is blessed with three daughters and two grandchildren. She enjoys spoiling her grandkids, movies, music (The Texas Tenors!), singing in the church choir and exploring Colorado on horseback.

  Books by Deb Kastner

  Love Inspired

  Cowboy Country

  Yuletide Baby

  The Cowboy’s Forever Family

  The Cowboy’s Surprise Baby

  The Cowboy’s Twins

  Mistletoe Daddy

  The Cowboy’s Baby Blessing

  And Cowboy Makes Three

  A Christmas Baby for the Cowboy

  Christmas Twins

  Texas Christmas Twins

  Email Order Brides

  Phoebe’s Groom

  The Doctor’s Secret Son

  The Nanny’s Twin Blessings

  Meeting Mr. Right

  Visit the Author Profile page at Harlequin.com for more titles.

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  A CHRISTMAS BABY

  FOR THE COWBOY

  Deb Kastner

  Seek ye the Lord while he may be found, call ye upon him while he is near: Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts: and let him return unto the Lord, and he will have mercy upon him; and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon.

  —Isaiah 55:6–7

  To the choir at St. John the Baptist Catholic Church. You are my tribe and I’m incredibly blessed to be a part of this wonderful, talented group.

  Contents

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  Chapter Ten

  Chapter Eleven

  Chapter Twelve

  Chapter Thirteen

  Dear Reader

  Excerpt from Mistletoe Twins by Lois Richer

  Chapter One

  “Cash Coble, front and center, please.”

  Jo Spencer, the bubbly elderly redhead serving as the auctioneer, had more energy in her pinky finger than Cash had in his whole body, and her warbling voice made his head throb mercilessly.

  Cash, a rodeo bareback rider only recently returned to his hometown of Serendipity, Texas, winced at the high-pitched feedback of the microphone that followed his name being called over the loudspeaker. The screechy whine drilled straight into the space between his eyes.

  He was the next bachelor on the docket at Serendipity’s First Annual Bachelors and Baskets Auction in the middle of June.

  But if he had his way, he would be anywhere but here.

  The last thing he wanted right now was to display himself for all his hometown to see. He’d left Serendipity in the dust when his rodeo career had taken off and he hadn’t been home since—with good reason.

  Now he had no choice. Even if he’d rather slink off to the nearest bar and drink himself into forgetfulness.

  “Remember,” said his publicist, Martin Brandt, stepping back a pace as he surveyed Cash from the tip of his boots to the top of his hat. “You get up there and turn on your cowboy charm. Don’t forget to smile. I have a photographer from Rodeo Times here to document this, so you’d better make good out there if you want your career back.”

  Cowboy charm.

  That was what had got him into this predicament in the first place. His once-handsome face and enormous ego.

  He scoffed under his breath. There wasn’t one blessed thing that could even remotely be considered charmed about his life right now.

  What was the opposite of charmed, anyway?

  Pete Drexler grinned and held up his camera as Martin leaned up on tiptoe and adjusted Cash’s black cowboy hat, presumably to reveal more of his eyes. The middle-aged publicity agent was a diminutive fellow who stood no taller than five feet even. Cash, at six-one, towered over him.

  But what Martin lacked for in size, he made up for in vigor, and he was one of the best agents in the business, with all the attitude of a T. rex in obtaining the best for his clients.

  Cash hated being bossed around by the man. Sometimes he had to grit his teeth to fight from barking back, especially when he was feeling as physically out of sorts as he was right now. But Martin was the only one in the rodeo world who hadn’t dumped him after all that had recently happened to him, and Cash appreciated his loyalty.

  Cash’s advertising sponsors had dropped him like a hot potato when his life had turned into a downward spiral after his best friend, Aaron Emerson, had died.

  Martin could easily have done the same. Having Cash as a client couldn’t be good for his reputation, and yet Martin had persisted, believing in Cash when he didn’t even believe in himself. There was a lot to be said for that kind of commitment.

  Martin had this inspired idea that Cash could prove himself worthy of advertising support and save his public image by participating in this bachelor auction, not only because his agent expected Cash to be popular with the ladies, but because it was for charity.

  What better way to show that Cash was a changed man?

  Cash didn’t blame his sponsors for dropping him. Carrying a secret darker and thicker than tar affected every area of his life, from blackouts after nights of hard drinking to losing his stamina on the rodeo circuit.

  He was a down-and-out, has-been cowboy, and deserving every bit of what was coming to him. Up to and including the ridicule and humiliation he would suffer as he stood on an auction block with little to no expectations of being bid on.

  When he’d been a winner, nobody blamed him for his actions. Young cowboys were expected to le
t off steam. He got a pass.

  But now?

  Who would want him?

  A big fat nobody. That’s who.

  Yet he had to try. Rodeo was the only thing left for him.

  If he lost that, well...

  He would lose everything.

  The good folks in Serendipity had gotten together to raise funds for a new senior center and hospice. With such an outstanding cause, townsfolk had come out in droves and were opening their hearts and pocketbooks with cheerful generosity.

  The bachelor auction, where a single man would offer his particular expertise and skill set to the winner, had originally been Jo’s idea, but it hadn’t taken long for married men to sign on, as well.

  Did a young woman need her car fixed? Carpentry? Plumbing? Accounting? Painting? Laying hardwood flooring?

  There was a man for that.

  Refusing to be outdone, Serendipity’s women had decided to chip in by preparing down home country meals served in festive picnic baskets to the men they bid on. All for a good cause and all in good fun.

  He’d given up praying the night Aaron had died, but he mumbled under his breath something that might have been a prayer. He hoped this scheme of Martin’s wouldn’t backfire. Cash didn’t know how it could get any worse, but with the downhill slide he was on, it wouldn’t surprise him if it did.

  He growled under his breath and climbed the stairs to the makeshift platform. He’d watched the previous bachelors hamming it up for the crowd, curling their biceps and showing off their muscles. One guy had even run up a tree and done backflips across the stage, much to the audience’s amusement.

  Cash was an athlete on the back of a horse, but he couldn’t do a backflip to save his life. He wasn’t going to flex his biceps, either, not even if Martin pressed him to do so. The auction was already degrading as it was. If the ladies wanted to bid on him, they would just have to take him as is.

  He plucked off his hat, curling the brim in his fist until his knuckles hurt. The muscles in his shoulders and arms clenched, resisting the sudden hush of the crowd.

  Instead of the cheering and catcalls the other men had received, people were either staring mutely or whispering to their neighbors behind their hands.

  He glanced at Martin, who gestured for him to do something, but there was nothing to do. He’d made an entrance, all right, just not the kind he’d wanted.

  Raising his chin, he gazed across the crowd. No one would meet his eyes.

  His throat was as raw as sandpaper and he couldn’t keep still. He wiped his free hand across the rough material of his jeans, stilling a tremor that had nothing to do with his snapping nerves at being plunked in front of an unyielding audience, and everything to do with counting the minutes since the last time he’d experienced the sweet burn of alcohol.

  He was as dry as the Sahara. He’d thought that after three days, he ought to be over the worst of the physical withdrawal, but if anything, he was feeling worse now than he had those first horrible couple of days.

  This—abstention—wasn’t a part of his cleanup act—or at least not one meant for the benefit of the camera. Drying out was his own personal journey, made by his own choice and determination.

  At the moment, it was his own personal torment.

  “Now, ladies and gents,” Jo announced in a singsong voice, “you’ll be happy to hear that our very own Cash Coble is back in town, fresh from his success on the national rodeo circuit.”

  Success?

  That was embellishing the truth if Cash had ever heard it, but he appreciated Jo for trying to help him. A man was only successful until he wasn’t.

  And Cash wasn’t.

  “Now, anyone can see that Cash here is easy on the eyes. Better yet, his agent informs me that he is ready and willing to help you out, no matter how big or small your project. Whatever odd job you’ve got, Cash is your man, ladies.”

  This was usually the point where the crowd broke into an uproar of laughter and the single ladies started tossing out bids.

  However, the entire crowd was acting peculiar, milling around in small groups and having personal conversations rather than paying attention to the unsteady cowboy rooted to the platform.

  No one called out a bid.

  Not. One. Woman.

  While Serendipity was full of good people, Cash knew how easy it was for gossip to flood such a small town. A perpetual game of Telephone where the story changed bit by bit as it went from person to person.

  Cast blame first and find out the truth later.

  Only in Cash’s case, the truth was far worse than anything these spectators’ minds could conjure, something he would carry with him to his grave, a burden that was his alone to bear.

  “Come on, ladies,” Jo urged. “Let’s see those hundred-dollar bills waving in the air. Remember, it’s for a good cause,” she reminded everyone. “The new senior center ain’t going to build itself without your generosity, so I’m going to ask you again. Who will start the bidding at one hundred dollars?”

  Cash waited, tapping his hat against his thigh.

  Nothing.

  There wasn’t a single bid, even with Jo’s urging. And if Jo couldn’t get a response from this otherwise receptive crowd, there was no hope whatsoever for Cash.

  People might not believe it from the way he’d been acting recently, but he had a heart, and it was stinging nearly as bad as his ego.

  There was no way he would let anyone in Serendipity know how their collective rejection affected him. He shook his head and scoffed audibly, then straightened his shoulders, jammed his black Stetson on his head and turned to stomp down the platform stairs.

  “Three hundred dollars,” came a female voice that carried across the silence with the pure tone of a bell.

  He turned to scan the crowd.

  Who had bid on him?

  “Once, twice, sold,” Jo said, speaking faster than any real auctioneer Cash had ever heard. She banged her gavel on the podium that had been placed on the stage for just that purpose. “Alyssa Joan Emerson, come on up here and rope your prize.”

  Of all people, not only an Emerson, but Lizzie—Alyssa. He couldn’t get over how his best friend’s kid sister had bloomed into a beautiful woman. Her wavy strawberry-blond hair was grown out now, more blond than strawberry. He didn’t recall her eyes being so very...brown, like deep, rich dark chocolate.

  Little Lizzie Emerson, all grown up.

  * * *

  Alyssa wasn’t in all that much of a hurry to claim her prize, as Jo had called winning Cash Coble. She wasn’t sure she’d made the right decision at all. This might very well rank up there among some of the most foolish decisions she’d ever made.

  But when no one else offered to buy Cash, her soft heart had gotten the best of her and her mouth had worked faster than her head.

  Her oldest brother, Eddie, accused her of letting her empathy get the best of her. She led with her heart instead of her head. She felt too deeply—and then acted on those emotions even—often—to her own detriment.

  She couldn’t seem to help herself. She chose to believe the best about people, even when they showed themselves to be untrustworthy.

  Was she crazy, bringing Cash back into her life? Even without all she’d heard about the kind of man he’d turned out to be, she suspected Cash would be a problem for her.

  She had so many other challenges to face.

  Despite her best efforts, tears burned at the backs of her eyes and she blinked rapidly. Cash would be a constant walking, talking reminder of the brother she had recently lost. Cash and Aaron had been best friends since childhood. After graduating from high school, they had traveled the pro rodeo circuit together.

  Sweet, fun-loving Aaron.

  How was it that he’d been the one to get behind the wheel of a car drunk and fatally crash into a tree
when Cash was still alive?

  It didn’t seem fair.

  Alyssa was ashamed that such a horrible thought had passed through her mind, and yet there it was.

  She didn’t want Cash here. She wanted her big brother back, with his jokes and smiles and unceasing teasing.

  Ironically, there had been a time when she would have given anything to have Cash notice her. As a teenager, Cash had worked in the Emerson family’s hardware store part-time. Their store was the town catchall, not only carrying hardware, but boots, clothing, gardening supplies and animal feed. Once upon a time, she’d had a crush on the boy whose dark hair flopped over his forehead and into his impossibly blue eyes, but too much had happened in her life since high school to consider those errant feelings as anything more than childhood fantasies.

  Little Lizzie Emerson had grown up. While she was still called Lizzie by a select few of her closest friends, most people now referred to her by her given name, Alyssa.

  She didn’t give much stock to rumors, but from what she’d heard around town, Cash was a heavy drinker. He’d got a woman pregnant and then walked away from his responsibilities to the baby. She couldn’t respect a man like that.

  She had no idea why she’d piped up with a bid at the last second.

  Well, no, that wasn’t entirely true. Cash was the logical man for the job she had in mind. He’d worked at Emerson’s Hardware in his youth and already knew how she did things. She could put him straight to work without having to explain everything.

  Which was why, despite everything, he was a good fit for the work she needed done. Kickfire, a major brand name in boots and Western wear, had contracted with her to sell their products in her store. That meant a lot of rearranging, building new display cases, creating a window display and, just before Black Friday, putting out the new stock.

  But she wasn’t really going to trust him. Emerson’s was the one solid thing she had left in a world that had completely tilted awry.

  She intended to lay down the rules and keep a sharp eye on Cash to make sure he didn’t screw up.