Cowboy for Keeps

by Cathy McDavid

  As with most disagreements, there was more to the story than met the eye. Last fall, after Sierra Powell returned to Mustang Valley, the truth had emerged. The two families were at last able to put their differences aside and restore their friendship. Good thing, too. If not, the church would have been pretty empty when Sierra married Clay. Instead, it overflowed with friends and family and celebration.

  Dallas had also attended the wedding, taking photographs for the bride and groom, as she had at the Powell double wedding, when Ethan and Gavin had married their spouses. Conner had assumed the next wedding she attended would be her own.

  He’d been wrong and had yet to decide if he was sorry. As much as he didn’t like thinking about Dallas and Richard, their child deserved the best from both parents.

  Dallas hovered near the wagon, watching the men. They weren’t progressing as fast as Conner would like. Dolly and Molly shared a similar opinion. Undoubtedly hungry and thirsty, they’d been anxious the last half hour, shifting from side to side and taking periodic nips at each other.

  “Do you think the mare and colt are wild mustangs, too?” Dallas asked Gavin. “Like Prince?”

  “I doubt it,” Gavin said, his voice straining as he and Conner lifted one end of the wagon so that Ethan could slowly spin the wheel and check the flat iron tire. “They most likely escaped from some ranch.”

  “Hunting is allowed in these mountains?”

  “No,” he grunted, lowering the wagon when Ethan gave the okay. “This is an urban preserve.”

  “Then what would somebody be doing with a bow and arrows?”

  “Breaking the law.” Conner started collecting the tools. “Or she may have been shot near the river, where hunting is allowed.”

  “That’s a long way to travel.” Dallas stared at the distant landscape as if she could see the river.

  “Take about a week. And her wounds are at least that old.”

  “Just because hunting’s not allowed,” Ethan said, “doesn’t mean someone wasn’t poaching.”

  “Poaching!” Dallas retreated a step. “That’s illegal.”

  “People break laws all the time.”

  “Do they also mistake a horse for a deer?”

  “Not usually.”

  “Exactly. Whoever shot that horse was being intentionally malicious.”

  “She could have been trespassing on a rancher’s land, and he shot her.”

  Dallas gaped at Conner. “To kill her?”

  “Chase her off.”

  “That’s inhuman.” Her voice rose with outrage. “He could have called...whoever it is you call, and had her removed.”

  “We’re only guessing. Who knows what really happened to her? It might have been an accident.”

  “Yeah. Two arrows accidentally found their way into her neck and back.”

  Conner noticed Dallas shivering. Unbuttoning his jacket, he said, “Here. Take this.”

  “I’m all right.”

  “You don’t need to be getting sick.”

  “I have a better idea,” Ethan said. “The wheel’s almost fixed. Gavin and I don’t need your help to finish.” He turned toward Conner. “The keys are in the ATV. Why don’t the two of you head on home? I’ll drive the wagon and Gavin can ride ahead of me on the other ATV.”

  “Sounds good,” Conner agreed. “I’ll come back as soon as I drop Dallas off at the ranch. You should be well on the way to finishing by then.”

  “I can stay,” Dallas protested.

  “Don’t be stubborn. It’s been a long day. You’re cold and tired.”

  “You are, too.”

  “But I’m not pregnant.” He refastened his jacket and unearthed one of the rain ponchos from the wagon bed. “You’ll need this. For a windbreaker.”

  When she didn’t budge, he put an arm around her shoulders—and was immediately reminded of holding her during their near kiss earlier.

  Lucky Gavin and Ethan hadn’t shown up then. He could easily guess what would have gone through his friends’ minds.

  Given the curious glances they were directing at him and Dallas, their suspicions were already aroused.

  He removed his arm.

  That didn’t stop the stares.

  “Come on, Dallas. Think of the baby.”

  “All right, all right.” Relenting at last, she grabbed her camera bag and the rain poncho and stomped off toward the ATV.

  Conner sat down first. She straddled the seat behind him, adjusting her camera bag and encircling his waist with her arms. He tried not to notice how nice she felt pressed against him.

  “Call my cell if you have any problems.” Conner started the engine. “Reception’s better at the top of the hill.”

  “Will do,” Gavin hollered back.

  “If it gets too cold for you,” Conner said to Dallas as they crested the rise, “let me know.”

  “Don’t worry about me.”

  As if he could not worry about her.

  What had taken an hour by wagon required only fifteen minutes by ATV. He had to admit she was a trouper, enduring the harrowing night ride without complaint. He drove the ATV right up to where her car was parked behind the barn, and pulled to a stop.

  She got off first, peeled away the rain poncho and dug in her zippered jacket pocket for her car keys. “Thanks for everything you did today.” The headlights flashed when she activated the automatic door lock.

  “Been better if the wagon wheel hadn’t broken.”

  “I’m just glad it was at the end of the ride and not the beginning.” She opened her car door.

  “Dallas. Wait a minute.”

  “If you’re thinking about trying to kiss me again—”

  “I’m not.” He paused. “Okay, I am.”

  She smiled.

  “But I’m not going to act on it.”

  “Probably wise.”

  Was that a flash of disappointment he saw in her eyes?

  He must be wrong. The light was playing tricks on him.

  “We should talk,” he said.

  “We should. But not tonight.”

  With a hand on her wrist, Conner stopped her from slipping in behind the steering wheel. “We can’t ignore what happened.”

  “I don’t intend to.” She sighed and met his gaze. “How could I? If the mare hadn’t interrupted us, I’d have kissed you. And I’m pretty sure I’d have liked it.”

  Conner couldn’t help himself, and grinned—foolishly, he was sure.

  “We’ll talk,” she said resolutely. “In a few days or a week. I’m just not ready to tonight.”

  “Dallas—”

  “Please. I get it. You and I, we’re walking through a series of land mines. I’m fresh from a two-year relationship. I’m pregnant. And my ex-fiancé took your job. It couldn’t get more complicated.”

  She didn’t add that Conner was struggling financially and had yet to find a decent job. Two more land mines.

  “Have a good night, Dallas.” Ignoring everything they’d just agreed on, he leaned in and gave her a chaste peck on the cheek. So much for maintaining a strictly professional relationship. She didn’t pull away. “I’ll call you tomorrow. Let you know what the authorities say about the mare and colt.”

  “Thanks.” She climbed into her car.

  He stood back and waited. The engine didn’t turn over right away, grinding once, then twice. He was about to suggest she pop the hood when the engine suddenly caught and roared to life.

&
nbsp; The moment her car disappeared around the corner of the barn, Conner got back on the ATV. He didn’t drive up the trail to join Gavin and Ethan, he practically flew.

  He’d kissed Dallas Sorrenson. Again! He might regret it later, but right now, he was pretty damn happy.

  Chapter Six

  “Thanks, Sage. Dinner was delicious.” Dallas rubbed her full stomach. “If I keep eating like I have lately, I’ll be as fat as a house soon.”

  “Enjoy yourself. Being pregnant is one of the few times in your life you get to indulge. Then it’s back to dieting. I still can’t fit into my prebaby jeans.”

  Gavin’s gaze took in his wife from head to toe, the look in his eyes that of a man who appreciated what he saw.

  Dallas wondered if Richard ever looked at her that same way, with such unabashed longing. She thought not.

  Conner did. She’d seen him when he thought her attention was elsewhere. Just as she feared she looked at him.

  “I’ll help you with the dishes,” she said, when Sage collected the nearly empty lasagna pan and rose from the table.

  “Nonsense. That’s the girls’ job. Right, girls? You can show Gavin and Conner the pictures you brought once we clear this mess away.”

  On cue, Gavin’s daughter, Cassie, and Sage’s daughter, Isa, pushed away from their chairs and scooped up more dishes from the table, obedient but not excited about the prospect of fulfilling their nightly chore. Cassie’s faithful companion, Blue, a happy-go-lucky cattle dog, jumped up from his place beneath her chair and trailed after her.

  At thirteen, she was poised for transformation from girlhood to womanhood, and eagerly anticipating high school in the fall. She’d talked of little else during dinner. Free from typical teenage drama, she was patient with her seven-year-old stepsister and clearly enraptured with her brand-new baby brother, who was currently enjoying the attention of “Uncle” Conner.

  Dallas observed the pair as unobtrusively as possible while retrieving her portfolio from the counter.

  Who’d have thought it? Conner was a natural with babies.

  He cradled little Emilio, or Milo, as everyone called him, close to his chest. The baby, bathed, dressed in pajamas and swathed in a cotton blanket, resembled a miniature mummy. He cooed and gurgled contentedly, perhaps because he heard Conner’s heart beating.

  “Milo looks happy,” Dallas observed.

  “He definitely has a preference for Conner.” Gavin wore a half serious, half joking expression on his face.

  Conner beamed broadly. “That’s because I’m better looking than you.”

  “Don’t listen to him.” Sage patted Gavin’s shoulder. “He’s just had more practice with babies than you.”

  “Practice? You?” Dallas blurted, before catching herself. Did Conner have a child she didn’t know about?

  “It’s been a while, but my two sisters are a lot younger than me. Fifteen and thirteen years. I was the only guy in high school who could dribble a basketball with one hand and bottle feed a baby with the other.”

  “You didn’t mind babysitting?” Dallas was intrigued. Conner had mentioned sisters before, but she hadn’t realized they were significantly younger than him.

  “It was torture. At first.” His cocky grin softened to a warm smile. “Then I got kind of used to the little rug rats.” He gave Milo’s chin a tickle.

  “He whined like a girl when he went off to college.” Gavin snorted. “Missed his sisters more than he did his friends.”

  “I did not.”

  Conner took the dig in stride, which made Dallas think that maybe he had shed a tear or two at being separated from his siblings.

  “Do you see them much?” she asked.

  “Whenever I can.”

  “Every free weekend,” Sage clarified.

  Just when Dallas had convinced herself she could stay away from Conner and the potential for more kisses—even chaste ones like last night—he had to go and show her another incredibly sweet and touching side.

  He liked babies and was good with them.

  He might even like her baby, too.

  No. No, no, no. This had to stop. Contemplating any kind of relationship while she was pregnant with Richard’s child was simply out of the question.

  Opening the portfolio, she withdrew several dozen of the best photos from her and Conner’s trip into the mountains, having spent the afternoon getting them developed and enlarged. She hadn’t wanted to arrive at dinner empty-handed.

  The photo on top was one of the many including Conner.

  He’d called her late last night to let her know that he, Gavin and Ethan had arrived safely home with the wagon. Other than Dolly and Molly being spent, all went well. She’d suspected the men were also spent.

  As she’d requested, there was no discussion of their kiss—the close call on the hill or the peck on her cheek at her car. Instead, their conversation had been brief, impersonal and to the point. She blamed exhaustion. Then decided Conner, like her, was having second, third and fourth thoughts.

  His conduct toward her today had been that of a family friend and business associate. What it should be.

  Why, then, was she disappointed?

  “These are the ones of the box canyon and the ride there.” Returning to her chair, she started with the pictures for the book, fanning them out in front of Conner and Gavin.

  “Here, let me have Milo.” Sage relieved Conner of the baby, who emitted a gurgle of protest at losing his comfy roost. “First a bottle, then bed.”

  “See ya, buddy.” Conner gently tweaked Milo’s toe through the blanket. “You ever find yourself hankering for a night out with the boys, come see me.”

  “Conner Durham,” Sage admonished, shielding Milo with her body, “you try and corrupt my son before he’s full grown, and I’ll have your hide. I swear.” She fired Gavin a warning look, as well. “You, too, buster.”

  Conner and Gavin exchanged conspiratorial glances.

  “I saw that!” She huffed, and then addressed Dallas. “If you want, you can rock him to sleep when you’re finished here. Practice for when you have your own baby.”

  Dallas was filled with sudden warmth. “I’d love that. Thanks.”

  “You two finish your homework when you’re done with the dishes,” Sage instructed the girls. “No TV till then.”

  “I need help studying my spelling words.” Isa had tucked a dish towel in the waistband of her jeans to serve as an apron.

  Just like Cassie, Dallas noticed, and smiled.

  “I’ll help you,” Gavin said.

  “Cassie, can you help me?” Isa pleaded. “Please?”

  “Sure, squirt.” She tousled Isa’s hair.

  “Humph.” Gavin looked displeased. “I think I’ve just been insulted.”

  Isa came over and gave Gavin’s neck a hug. “You’re the best riding teacher, but Cassie’s better at spelling.”

  He patted her cheek. “All right. If you put it that way.”

  “These are good.” Conner had been sorting through the pictures, picking up first one and then another.

  “They are,” Gavin concurred. “Going to be hard choosing only a few for the book.”

  When their favorites had been determined and set aside, Dallas showed Gavin and Conner the pictures of the mare and colt. Even after examining the images repeatedly throughout the day, she was shocked yet again—by the extent of the mare’s injuries and the savage cruelty of whoever had shot her.

/>   “Sage called her boss at home earlier,” Gavin said. “Told him about the mare and baby.”

  “What did he say?” It being Sunday, Dallas hadn’t expected any progress until Monday at the soonest.

  “He’s going to contact both the Forest Service and the Scottsdale police as well as the deputy director at the Game and Fish.”

  There was a lot to be said for having connections. After a four-month maternity leave, Sage had just returned to work as a field agent for the Game and Fish Department.

  “According to him,” Gavin continued, “possibly all three authorities have jurisdiction in the Sonoran Preserve.”

  “What about capturing the mare and colt? Will they send someone?”

  “The Forest Service is going to notify the rangers in the area. Advise them to be on the lookout.”

  “That’s not much.”

  “It’s all they’ve got. For now. They don’t have either the manpower or the resources to chase down loose horses in the preserve. Neither do the police, especially when it’s likely the mare and colt will wander off or go back to where they came from.”

  “What about the Game and Fish?”

  Gavin shrugged. “The wheels move slowly.”

  “But you’ll go after them, right?” she asked.

  “We discussed that today.” Conner leaned back in his chair. “It’s a long shot. The preserve is nine thousand acres and the horses could be anywhere.”

  “You just said—”

  “We’ll give it a try. Business comes first, however.”

  “I understand.” Dallas didn’t quite know why she cared so much about the mare and colt and their welfare. Perhaps becoming a mother herself had something to do with it. “How can I help?”

  “Send the photographs to every newspaper and TV station in town. Pressure them into running the story.”

  “I’ll also speak to the head of the Arizona Animal Welfare Association.” Dallas was acquainted with him through her volunteer work at the no-kill shelters. “He may have some ideas. And influence with the media,” she added, “if I don’t get anywhere. With luck, someone knows who shot the mare and will turn them in.”