Colton's Cowboy Code

by Melissa Cutler

  Maria’s eyes glowed with warmth. “The luck was all mine.” She enveloped Hannah’s offered hand in both of hers. Her hands were rough, calloused, and her nails trimmed short. “I was ready for a change from those long, late nights in New York kitchens, and since my parents live in Tulsa and they’re getting older, it was the right move to come home to be near to them. Managing the Coltons’ kitchen has been an honor.”

  Brett draped his arm across Maria’s shoulders. “I’ll have you know that I was only able to lure Hannah here by tempting her with the promise of your signature, small-batch cured bacon every morning.”

  Maria seemed delighted. “Consider it done.”

  Hannah gave him a chiding look. “I didn’t agree to this arrangement because of bacon.”

  “So you’re saying it was the real maple syrup and butter I plied you with that reeled you in?”

  The preposterous idea tickled her funny bone, and before she knew what hit her, she was back to smiling like a lovesick fool. How did he do that? How did he make her so instantly comfortable and joyous? He had the gift of charm, for sure, but not with the artifice of a snake-oil salesman, as she’d originally compared him to. More like a gifted leader.

  “You’re going to give Maria and Edith the mistaken impression that all I care about is food.”

  Edith’s eyes twinkled. “Well, you are pregnant, if you don’t mind me mentioning. So a healthy preoccupation with food is perfectly permissible, you know.”

  “And if Edith says it’s okay, then you’re good to go. I learned that growing up,” Brett said.

  “You’re going to love the dinner I’m making for you tonight,” Maria said. “And tomorrow night, the whole family will get to meet you. I’m planning a feast in celebration.”

  Hannah drew a fortifying breath at the idea of being the center of attention in a room full of Brett’s whole family—the same people who were eager to run a background check on her. Then again, if she could confess to her parents that she was pregnant out of wedlock and resist their attempts to cajole the father’s name from her, then she could handle meeting Brett’s family all at once—her family, too, now.

  There was just one problem—Brett’s mother, the family matriarch, wouldn’t be there. “Thank you. Both of you. But I wonder if perhaps now isn’t the right time for a celebration, given that Brett’s mother is in the hospital.”

  Edith didn’t miss a beat. “The way I see it, the Coltons could use a little uplifting, and what better way to inspire hope in this family than by celebrating the news of a new Colton coming into this world?”

  As Brett said, if Edith deemed it so, then there was no salient counterargument to be had.

  “Then I look forward to it. Thank you both for making me feel so welcome.”

  “Our pleasure. We’re going to let Brett show you to your bedroom suite. Brett, you let me know about tonight.” Edith’s smiling eyes darted between Hannah and Brett before both women walked away on silent feet.

  Brett picked up Hannah’s suitcases and they started up the stairs. After a particularly powerful crack of thunder, lightning flickered outside the window, casting long shadows of the grand stairway’s ornate chandelier onto the walls as they climbed to the second floor.

  “Edith and Maria are very nice,” Hannah said.

  “Most of the people here are. We consider it a job requirement,” he added with a wink.

  Hannah thought about Mavis Turnbolt. Maybe not all the employees were as nice as Brett seemed to think. He did seem to see the best in everyone, which was a quality of his she found endlessly attractive—yet another one on her growing list of them.

  “What did Edith mean with her question about tonight? If she’s wondering about your dad, because I know he lives here, too, then I don’t mind meeting him tonight at dinner. I don’t want him to dine alone.”

  “No, it’s not that. My dad already made plans to eat at Jack’s house tonight. Maria thought you might prefer to eat a low-key meal in the kitchen or your suite tonight.” They crested the top of the stairs. Brett stopped and set her suitcases down. His hand, big and strong and sure, slid over her arm as his gaze met hers. “But if you’re amenable to the idea, I’d like to have you all to myself in the dining room. A dinner date, if you will.”

  Oh. She felt heat rising on her cheeks, even as her lusty hormones started clamoring for attention again. “You really are a smooth operator, aren’t you?”

  “Is that a bad thing?”

  She smoothed her hands over his chest, letting her fingers bump over the ridges of muscle beneath it, muscles she remembered quite well from their night together. Mmm. Her hormones definitely approved. “No, it’s not a bad thing—as long as you use your powers for good and not evil.”

  He chuckled. “‘With great power comes great responsibility’?”

  “Exactly.”

  His smile turned contemplative. “Please say you’ll have dinner with me tonight. I want to get to know you, Hannah. You’re carrying my child—”

  “Our child.”

  His focus dipped to her belly. “Yes, our child.” His gaze turned distant, but only for the span of a few heartbeats. Then he cleared his throat. “So dinner seems like a good place to start to get to know each other better. Like, middle name, birthday, favorite dessert. You know, the important stuff.”

  “Bernice, October twenty-second and red-velvet cupcakes.”

  A smile lightened his features. With her suitcases in hand once more, he led her over thick burgundy carpet through a dimly lit hallway. “Cupcakes rather than cake?”

  “Yes. Only cupcakes will do.”

  “I’ll be sure to inform Maria.”

  The hallway ended with a floor-to-ceiling window, but this afternoon, with the sun gone behind a curtain of darkening clouds, the hall was dim. With the quiet and the shadows, Hannah’s thoughts drifted once more to the tragedies that had befallen the family the month before. She scanned the doors they passed, wondering behind which one Abra’s attack had occurred.

  “Your mom, she was attacked in your parents’ bedroom, right?”

  Brett froze midstep. His face went pale.

  Hannah regretted the question instantly. “I’m sorry I asked. I didn’t mean—”

  “No. It’s a fair question. She and my father sleep in separate quarters. She was attacked in her suite, which is adjacent to his on the other end of this hall. Listen, Hannah, you’re safe here at the ranch. On my word.”

  “The police think your mother’s attacker is still on the loose.” She cringed inwardly at the slip. She’d come by that information by eavesdropping and wasn’t eager for Brett to find out.

  Brett’s lips flattened into a straight line. “You’re right. Some of her jewelry that was stolen the night of the attack turned up in a Tulsa pawnshop this week so the police are investigating, but that would have to be one stupid criminal to come back here again. If it makes you feel any better, we’re starting nightly patrols around the perimeter of our acreage to make sure everything’s as it should be, starting with my brother Jack and my dad tonight—not because of what happened to my mother, but because we’ve had some fences tampered with recently. You’re safe. I promise. Just do me a favor and don’t go walking around after dark by yourself, okay?”

  Another crack of thunder shook the house, followed by the sound of rain pelting the windows. Dread tightened Hannah’s chest as she thought back to the conversation she’d overheard just minutes ago in the sitting room. What had she gotten herself into?

  He took hold of both her shoulders. “Hey. There’s nothing to worry about. You’re safe. I wouldn’t have asked you here if you weren’t. We’re just taking extra precautions.”

  “Okay. I can accept that answer.”

  “Good, because it’s the truth.”

  She drew her shou
lders up and rubbed her arms. “I just... I can sense the heaviness and heartbreak in this place. Despite Edith’s optimism, I know it couldn’t have been easy to spring the news of the baby on your family, with everything else you’re all going through. I know it doesn’t sound like it with my questions about your mom, but I’m glad I’m here. I’m going to do a great job as your bookkeeper.”

  His expression softened. “As if there was ever any doubt about that.” They set off again along the hallway. He stopped next to an open door and ushered her in ahead of him. “Your suite.”

  Forget comparisons to her apartment—the suite was bigger than her parents’ house. Like the rest of Brett’s house, the sitting room of the suite and what she could see of the bedroom beyond it had no shortage of windows. Tall ones that showed off the uninhibited view of the Oklahoma landscape—rolling hills of grassland and scrub trees that had been turned to a quilt of deep greens and mustard yellows by the rain and dark gray clouds that served as a foil for the rich colors.

  The rectangular sitting room was decked out in blue-and-gold shabby-chic decor, including royal blue, gold and white embroidered curtains framing every window and delicate whitewashed wooden furniture with artfully distressed flair. The whole suite looked as if it belonged in a magazine and was the most luxuriously appointed space Hannah had ever been in.

  “This suite is incredible. I love it.”

  “My mother’s handiwork. It’s always struck me as ironic that she could decorate rooms to look so warm and inviting.”

  He didn’t elaborate on the odd comment, but disappeared with her suitcase through the double doors that opened into a bedroom. She made to follow him to check out the next room when a mouthwatering aroma caught her attention. There was no mistaking the smell of chocolate chip cookies. Inhaling deeply, she followed the scent to a cozy sitting area near the balcony doors composed of a sofa and chairs clustered around a spindly-legged coffee table.

  Eureka. On the table sat a tray loaded with cookies and a carafe of milk set in a small ice bucket. Edith and Maria’s loving touch, no doubt. The chocolate chips on the cookies shimmered. Could it be that they were fresh from the oven?

  She lifted one from the plate. It was warm to the touch. She took a decadent bite, barely stifling a moan of pleasure as the melty chocolate hit her tongue. She had the rest of the cookie gone in the next bite, then strolled to the bedroom in search of Brett, blissed out on the sugary, chocolaty goodness.

  She found Brett arranging her suitcase on a luggage rack near the wall of windows in the bedroom and devoted a few moments to properly appreciate his backside as he leaned over. When he glanced over his shoulder at her, she wrenched her gaze away, feeling positively lascivious, though not at all remorseful about it. Her attention landed on the bed in the center of the room and she nearly choked on her last bite of cookie.

  The bed was enormous.

  “You okay?”

  “I don’t think I’ve ever seen a bed that big.”

  “Yeah, it’s nice, huh?” He walked to her side at the foot of the bed, smiling at her. He tapped his lip. “You have something on your lower lip.”

  “Oops. I found chocolate chip cookies in the sitting room. I couldn’t help myself from indulging in one already. And I’m glad I did because it was melt-in-your-mouth delicious.”

  She darted her tongue out and licked the bit of chocolate off.

  His gaze lingered on her mouth until with a grunt, he wrenched his gaze away, not unlike she had when she’d been caught staring at his backside. What a pair they made, pretending not to be affected by each other. But there was a reason that the two of them had fallen into bed together that night four months ago, an attraction that had crackled between them from the first moment that their eyes linked.

  He cleared his throat, his focus on the wall. “Uh, anyway, as I was saying. Guests who’ve stayed in this room have said the mattress is great, so you should be really comfortable here.”

  “How could I not be comfortable in a bed this size? I bet I could lie in the middle of it, spread-eagle, and neither my feet nor my hands would touch the edge.”

  Really, Hannah? Spread-eagle? Could you make any bigger a fool out of yourself?

  He said nothing to that, nor did he look her way, but his lips went flat. With a sharp intake of breath, he spun on his heel and fast-walked out the bedroom door.

  Way to go, champ. Huffing in frustration at herself, she gave him a minute of space before joining him in the sitting room once more.

  He was at the windows, pushing the curtains all the way open. “As soon as the afternoon storm passes, it’ll brighten up in here. There’s a great view of the ranch from your balcony.”

  She seized on the topic change with gusto. “There already is a great view. Your ranch is beautiful. Where’s your suite? What kind of view does it have?”

  He tipped his head left. “Mine is right next to yours. You could knock on the wall behind your bed and I’d hear it in my sitting area.”

  So they were back to talking about her bed. Right. Okay. Maybe she wasn’t the only one navigating a minefield of Freudian slips.

  Shaking his head, he hooked his thumb toward the main suite door. “I’d better go. I’ll come by your room tonight at seven to escort you down to dinner.”

  “Brett?” she called to his retreating form.

  He paused halfway out the door.

  “Thank you. For all of this. You’re being really great for a person who found out his life just got permanently turned upside down.”

  His posture straightened. Trust and strength radiated from his eyes. “Your life did, too,” he said. “We’re in this together, Hannah. More than anything, that’s what I want you to know. I’m not sure it’s fully sunk in yet that I’m going to be a father or how my life is going to change, but it will and it’s going to be fine. I’m going to do right by you and by the baby. I promise.”

  She loved that he got that, how they were in the same boat and that lamenting their life changes or having a negative attitude wouldn’t do anybody any good, especially their child. Right then and there, she knew he was going to make a magnificent father. “I’m going to do right by you and the baby, too.”

  A warm, genuine smile tugged at his lips, the kind that made her knees go weak all over again. “Then it sounds like we’ve got the makings of a great partnership.”

  * * *

  Hannah prowled her suite, looking in drawers and cabinets and under the bed, getting a feel for the place. After that, she unpacked, which took about two seconds, then prowled some more, restless. She couldn’t stop thinking about Brett’s room on the other side of the wall from her bed. She couldn’t stop thinking about how he’d smelled and the feel of his body close to hers. She’d been at Lucky C for less than an hour and already she was stir-crazy and man-crazy all at the same time.

  There was only one solution to an emergency situation like that. From her purse, she found her phone and hit the first speed-dial number for the one person who knew her inside and out and loved her unconditionally—her best friend.

  “Hey there,” Lori said. “Are you calling from your new digs?”

  “New temporary digs.”

  Lori clicked her tongue in protest. “Maybe.”

  Hannah rolled her eyes.

  “I can hear that eye roll,” Lori said, bringing a smile to Hannah’s face. “I didn’t expect to hear from you so soon. Is everything going okay?”

  “More than okay, but I need to do a pros and cons.” One thing she loved about Lori was how great a sounding board she was, and pros and cons with Lori was Hannah’s favorite way of navigating difficult decisions.

  “All right, let’s do it. What’s the topic this time?”

  Hannah took a deep breath and locked gazes with her reflection in the vanity mirror. “Sleeping with B
rett Colton.”

  “Whoa, whoa, whoa. Back up. You just moved in to his family’s house this afternoon—and he’s already coming on to you again? Damn. That man is as much of a horndog as we’d always heard.”

  “No, he hasn’t come on to me. I’m the horndog. My hormones are so out of whack right now, I’ve got whiplash. I vacillate between wanting to hurl because of my morning sickness, resisting the urge to weep uncontrollably, wanting to shovel cookies into my piehole, and fantasizing about doing naughty, naked things with my baby daddy.”

  “Dang, sweetie. You’re a hot mess.”

  “Tell me about it. I’m like a one-woman soap opera. For the foreseeable future, my bedroom suite shares a wall with Brett, and he’s so charming—like, pantie-melting charming—and he arranged for us to have a private dinner tonight. A dinner date, he called it. And you should see what his butt looks like in the jeans he’s wearing. I’m dying over here.”

  “Wait—you don’t just have a bedroom, you have a suite? How rich are the Coltons?”

  “I have no idea, but now that I’m their accountant, I wouldn’t tell you even if I knew.”

  “That’s no fun.”

  Hannah snapped her fingers. “Back to my problem.”

  “You mean your sex problem,” Lori teased.

  “Yes, Lori. Thank you. My sex problem.” Geez, she hoped Brett wasn’t listening on the other side of the door. Cringing at the idea, she walked into the bathroom and pushed the door mostly shut.

  “Continue,” Lori said.

  Hannah lowered her voice. “Okay, so, I pretty much want to throw myself at him tonight at dinner. I mean, I’m already pregnant with his child, so what’s the harm? And you know me, that’s so not my personality.”

  “You’re the good girl,” Lori offered.

  “Yes, exactly. I’m the good girl. Except now I’m the jezebel who got pregnant from a one-night stand, so maybe I should just own it and embrace my inner slut.”