Cowboy Courage: Includes a bonus novella

by Carolyn Brown

  Waylon hated to hear that, but he was so glad that it wasn’t even worse news—like his dad had been hurt in a ranch accident or his mother had dropped with a heart attack. He opened his mouth to say something, but then he remembered Granny Denison’s house. “You need to get the hell out of East Texas?” he asked. “I kinda came into a little bit of property today. I was thinkin’ of turnin’ the house into a bunkhouse. If you need—”

  “Yes,” Cash butted in. “Can I bring Emmylou with me? She needs to get away too.”

  “What’s goin’ on with her?” Waylon asked.

  “Mama is stomping on her and Patsy’s last nerve about grandbabies,” Cash told him. “They both need a vacation, but Patsy has a boyfriend, and things aren’t quite as bad for her.”

  “And June? What’s goin’ on with her?” Waylon asked.

  “She’s the only one that can stand Grandma. She spends a lot of time over there helping her out, but me and Emmylou could sure stand a change of scenery. We can be there by suppertime tomorrow night if that’s all right,” Cash said.

  “I’ll have a pot of chili waiting and enough work to keep you both busy for a year.” Waylon grinned. Tomorrow he was going over to the Dunlap Ranch and make an offer on it. If they accepted, that would triple the size of his ranch, but he didn’t tell Cash that bit of news right then.

  “Work might keep me from shooting Rachel and Mitch,” Cash said. “Thanks so much. I’m going to tell Emmylou to pack her bags. See you tomorrow.”

  Waylon finished making his hot dogs and sat down to the kitchen table with them. He looked to his right, where Shiloh had always sat, bowed his head, and said a silent grace. When he opened his eyes, she still wasn’t there, but he sure wished that she was. He wanted to tell her how overwhelmed he was with what all had happened in the last twenty-four hours.

  He ate his supper, washed the dishes, and then went to the living room, where he surfed through the channels on the television. There was nothing that he wanted to watch, but the house seemed so empty without Shiloh there. He picked up a ranching magazine, flipped through it, and tossed it on the far end of the sofa.

  He heard a vehicle outside, and was on his way across the floor, when someone rapped on the door. He slung it open to find Shiloh. The expression on her face said that she was anxious about something.

  “You told me not to be a stranger, and I wanted…” she stammered. “You told me I could name two of the kittens and it didn’t seem right to do something that important over the phone.”

  He butted in, “I was just thinking about callin’ you.” He slung open the screen door and motioned her inside.

  Callie came out from her basket to greet Shiloh the moment the cat heard her voice. She dropped down on her knees in the living room to pet the mama cat. “I knew you’d miss me.”

  Old folks, babies, and pets all adored her, Waylon thought. Granddad just might say that she’d do to ride the river with.

  “Want a beer or a glass of sweet tea?” Waylon asked.

  “Love a beer,” she replied.

  He went to the kitchen, brought back two bottles, and handed one to her before he sat down on the floor beside her. “I just got off the phone with my brother Cash. He and my sister Emmylou will be here tomorrow evening. They’ll be stayin’ over at Granny Denison’s house, so I guess the idea of turning it into a bunkhouse has happened quicker than we thought.”

  Shiloh laughed out loud. “Have you been in that place?”

  He shook his head. “I sat on the porch with her a few times and had cookies and sweet tea, but I was never invited inside. Why did you ask?”

  She told him what Bonnie had said about the place being totally feminine. “I just hope Cash don’t mind.”

  “I guess the first money of what I inherited will be spent for paint,” he chuckled. “Emmylou hates pink. Mama always dressed the three girls alike from the pictures I’ve seen, and most of the time it was pink.”

  He didn’t want to talk about paint or bunkhouses, but he’d gladly listen to her read the dictionary if she’d just stick around a while.

  “I’ve been doing a lot of thinking this evening,” Shiloh said.

  “About what?” Waylon hoped that she’d say she’d been thinking about the past week and those heated good night kisses they’d shared.

  She inhaled deeply and let it out ever so slowly. “I’m wondering what Ezra’s true motive was in putting us all on that ranch together. He was a sly old son of a bitch, and he probably wanted us to fight, get mad, and leave. Abby Joy wouldn’t say how much one-third of the money he left behind was, but she did say that if she’d known about it before, she might have never stayed on the ranch as long as she did. So”—Shiloh stood up and took a seat on the sofa—“knowing the way he felt about girls, I figure he wanted Rusty to have the place, and he left us money to ease his conscience for the way he treated us. After all, Rusty is a guy, and he wanted an heir to leave his land to, not an heiress.”

  “I’m not sure Ezra had a conscience.” Waylon joined her on the sofa. “If he did, it was buried pretty deep. What are you going to do?”

  “It would be just what he deserves if me and Bonnie stuck it out and kept the ranch, but then even if we changed the name, it would take a hundred years before everyone quit calling it the Malloy Ranch. Rusty liked him, so I figure he’d keep the name. Hell, he might have even had a deal with Ezra to keep the name and maybe even change his name to Malloy to make it legal. Who knows what that old codger had up his sleeve?” Shiloh took a long drink of her beer.

  “Well, if you decide to move out, there’s a spare room here, and from what you’ve told me about my new bunkhouse there’s lots of room over there. You can have your choice of any of them,” Waylon told her.

  “That’s so sweet. Are you going to give me a job, too?” she asked.

  “Honey, you know what I just inherited.” He moved closer to her and put an arm around her shoulders. “I’ll give you half of it to move across the highway and work with me.”

  * * *

  Shiloh noticed that he’d said with me, not for me. She met his eyes and didn’t blink, “Don’t joke with me.”

  “Honey, I’ve never been more serious in my life. I wanted to ask you out the first time I saw you,” he said as he leaned in for a long, lingering kiss.

  “And that was when?” Her heart pounded in her chest when the kiss ended.

  “At Ezra’s funeral,” he admitted. “And then at the church the next week, and every time I saw you after that.”

  “Why didn’t you?” She shifted her weight so that she was sitting in his lap with her arms around his neck.

  “After the way Ezra treated you girls, one of you deserves to have that ranch, no matter what the damned place is named.” He planted another kiss on her forehead.

  “But I’m not sure I want it. I’m struggling with living there since this past week. I’ve been thinkin’ about what I really want, and I’m not so sure it’s his ranch,” she whispered.

  “Like I said, you’ve got a job and a place here if you want to move.” He kissed her on the tip of her nose.

  “Moving over here to take care of you is…was…” she stammered.

  “Spit it out,” Waylon said.

  She moved away from his lap and began to pace the floor. “I’ve been attracted to you ever since Ezra’s funeral too, but there was something about going to Granny Denison’s services today”—she hesitated—“that made me wonder about letting opportunities pass. At Abby Joy’s wedding, it seemed like a sign for me to get to spend more time with you. Then the wreck happened and gave me the opportunity to do just that. But living with you this week made me restless at home.”

  “Are you uneasy here?” he asked.

  “No, this is where I’m at peace,” she told him.

  He stood up slowly, took her by the hand, and led her to his bedroom. Callie and Blister followed behind them, but Waylon closed the door before they could get through. He sat down on t
he edge of the bed and pulled her down beside him.

  “I’m only at peace when you’re with me,” he said.

  “Fate sure had a crazy way to bring us together.” She pulled at the top snap on his western shirt and unfastened them all with one quick tug.

  * * *

  Sometime after midnight Shiloh woke to find Waylon staring at her, much like he had that first night they’d shared the bed—only that night they’d slept and last night there had been so much more than sex. Two soul mates had met and fallen in love. She wasn’t sure if it happened right when she made the decision to leave Ezra’s place, or when she turned onto the Wildflower Ranch property. As she stared at the sexy cowboy beside her, she realized that maybe she’d been in love with him longer than she even realized.

  Callie jumped onto the bed and curled up between Waylon and Shiloh.

  “Kittens!” Shiloh popped herself on the head. “I came over here to name the kittens, and I forgot. You make me forget everything, Waylon.”

  “Honey, you do the same thing to me,” he said as he traced her lip line with his forefinger, and then leaned over the cat for a good-morning kiss.

  Callie cold nosed his chin and broke up the make-out session. They both laughed as they moved away from each other a few inches.

  “Evidently she thinks it’s time to give her babies their names,” Waylon said.

  “Well, since I thought they were mice, my girls’ names are Minnie and Perla,” Shiloh told him.

  “I understand Minnie, but where’d you get Perla?” he asked.

  “From Cinderella,” she told him. “There were three little girl mice and three boys.”

  “Never watched that one.” He grinned. “But our boy will be Mickey.”

  “Sounds good to me.” She yawned. “Now we just have to raise them and hope that we live through their teenage years.”

  He chuckled. “I believe that’s Callie’s job.”

  “I should go home.” She pushed back the covers on the bed.

  “This is home. We just have to give it enough time to work out the details.” He began to massage her back.

  “How much time?” she whispered as she moved the cat to the foot of the bed.

  “As much or as little as you want.” He gathered her into his arms and held her close, their naked bodies pressed against each other. “Just don’t forget where home really is, Miz Shiloh Malloy.”

  “I won’t,” she said. “You’ve got my word on that.”

  He buried his face in her hair. “I’ve always thought that love at first sight was a crock of bull crap, but now I believe in it. I love you, Shiloh.”

  “I love you, Waylon.” She didn’t even mind that what was going to happen would cost her a hundred dollars and a bottle of whiskey.

  Chapter Ten

  There wasn’t a cloud in the sky the last Saturday in May. The sun was just setting over the western bank of the canyon, and wildflowers were in full bloom everywhere. It all made for a perfect setting for the wedding reception that was about to take place on the Wildflower Ranch—the brand-new registered brand for Waylon and Shiloh’s property. She’d spent the night before at the bunkhouse with her sisters, Bonnie and Abby Joy, and Waylon’s sisters, Patsy, Emmylou, and June.

  Shiloh was barely awake when Bonnie and Abby Joy bounced into her room and jumped onto her bed. “Wake up, sleepyhead,” Abby Joy said. “You’re getting married in three hours and you look like hell.”

  Shiloh kicked off the covers, sat up, and looked at her reflection in the mirror above the dresser. Abby Joy was right. Her dark hair was a fright. She was sunburned from helping bring in the first cutting of hay the day before, and her eyes were puffy from staying up too late with all the ladies the night before.

  “You’ve got your work cut out for you,” she moaned.

  “Not to worry,” Bonnie said. “We’ll get you beautified and to the church on time.”

  Shiloh’s mother, Polly, poked her head in the door. “Breakfast is on the bar. Amanda and I made pancakes and bacon. You don’t want anything too heavy on your stomach for the wedding.” She came on into the room and sat down on the end of the bed. “As much as you were going to prove Ezra wrong and inherit your part of that ranch, I’m surprised that you’re giving it all up.”

  “I figured out that some things are more important than revenge.” Shiloh leaned over and gave her mother a hug. “I love Waylon, Mama.”

  “He’s a good man,” Polly said. “And I can tell by the way he looks at you that he loves you. I couldn’t be happier for you than I am this day.”

  “How does it feel for you to be back here? Does it bring back painful memories?” Shiloh asked.

  “Honey, I put Ezra out of my heart years ago. Some folks just aren’t worth stealing your peace. I’m glad that you found that out for yourself,” Polly said.

  Shiloh scooted closer to her mother. “I’m glad you let me do it on my own, and that you didn’t lecture me, but just let me do what I had to do. If I hadn’t I would have never met Waylon.” She kissed her mother on the cheek. “And he’s my soul mate.”

  Bonnie slung an arm around Shiloh. “You lost a bet. I’ll expect you to pony up on it.”

  “Wouldn’t dream of forgetting that.” Shiloh stood up and handed her younger sister a bottle of whiskey with a hundred-dollar bill held tightly around it with a rubber band. “Here it is. Now you can celebrate me being gone. Break it open, and we’ll celebrate together.”

  “I can’t drink with y’all.” Abby Joy shook her head. “I teased Cooper about getting pregnant on our honeymoon, and the test I took yesterday said that it happened, so Bonnie gets that whole bottle of whiskey all to herself.”

  “That’s fantastic!” Shiloh hugged her older sister.

  Bonnie jumped off the bed and did a happy dance. “I’m going to be an aunt, and the baby is going to love me more than Shiloh,” she singsonged as she pulled Abby Joy out of the room and toward the kitchen.

  “We’ll just see about that,” Shiloh yelled.

  “I can only pray the same thing happens to you, my child.” Polly held up a hand toward heaven.

  “Whoa!” Shiloh grabbed her mother’s hand and put it down. “One thing at a time.”

  Polly patted her on the back. “Well, darlin’, the first thing is breakfast. Today, you’re marryin’ Waylon. He’s everything I ever hoped that you’d find in a husband, and honey, I’m glad you left Malloy Ranch. You would have never been happy there.”

  “But, Mama, I was happy there with my sisters,” she said.

  Polly smiled. “The key words are ‘with your sisters.’ Without them, you would have been lonely, and besides, you belong with Waylon.”

  “You’re so right, but I sure hope Bonnie sticks around, because I rather like having sisters.” Shiloh looped her arm in her mothers and together they left the room.

  “Even Waylon’s sisters?” Polly whispered.

  “Emmylou is outspoken, but I like her. Jury is still out on the other two. They only got here a couple of days ago, and things have been crazy, with trying to get hay baled and attending to wedding stuff,” Shiloh said in a soft voice.

  * * *

  Waylon sat down to breakfast with his two brothers and his father that morning. If he’d followed Shiloh’s advice and gone to the courthouse, got married, and then told his family and her mother and aunt, he could be plowing a field or hauling in that sixty acres of small bales of hay that was ready. But he was the first one of the six Stephens siblings to get married, and he knew his mother would be disappointed if they didn’t at least have a small wedding. So having to get dressed up, go to the church, and say his vows was no one’s fault but his own that day.

  “Got what you’re goin’ to say to Shiloh all memorized?” his father, Jimmy, asked.

  “Pretty much goin’ to wing it,” Waylon answered.

  “Just say what’s in your heart,” Buddy advised. “Even if you stutter a little, it’s better than a rehearsed thing that
has no feelin’.”

  “Great advice, Dad.” Waylon pulled out his phone and stepped to the other side of the room.

  He typed in a text to Shiloh: I wish we would have eloped.

  One came right back: Me too!

  He was typing another text when his phone rang. When he saw that it was Shiloh, he almost dropped it, trying to answer on the first ring.

  “I’ll be so glad when—” she started.

  “I know—” he said.

  “I am looking forward to the reception and dancing with you out in our new gazebo, and Waylon, you’re never going to believe what my one-third of the money is. I almost fainted when I saw all those zeroes,” she said. “The lawyer brought me the check last night, and I signed the papers saying I was giving up my rights to the Malloy Ranch.”

  “That’s your money, darlin’,” he told her.

  “No, it’s ours, and I’m thinkin’ we might make an offer for the land to the north of us. We’ve got plenty of room in the bunkhouse to house the hired help,” she said. “I’m not interested in anything but building a life with you.”

  “I love you,” he said.

  “Me too. See you at the church at eleven o’clock. I’ll be the one in the white dress.”

  “I’ll be the one that has eyes for only you,” he whispered as he made his way out to the porch. “I’m the luckiest cowboy in this whole canyon.”

  “You’re almost as lucky as I am,” she said.

  * * *

  The church was packed that morning at eleven o’clock when Shiloh arrived. Her sisters, her mother, and her aunt waited with her in the nursery until Loretta Jackson came to tell them that it was time to start the ceremony. “Jackson is going to seat your aunt Audrey, then Bonnie and Abby Joy will make their way up the aisle, and when you hear the first of the song you’ve chosen to walk in to, then your mom will take you down to where Waylon will be waiting.”

  “Got it.” Shiloh gave her the thumbs-up sign.