“You know what’s going on, don’t you?” she whispered, a grin spread across her friendly expression. “They’ve found their new match. And it looks good from all of our viewpoints.”
Annie’s mouth fell open. “A match,” she gasped in a strangled whisper, turning to Lacy. “But what do I do?” She didn’t need the ever-persistent matchmaking posse of Mule Hollow latching on to the idea of her and Colt as a possible love match! It stole her breath, even as an unwanted tremor of awareness swept through her.
“Not sure there is anything to do but be aware of what’s going on. I have to say, though, that you and Leo seem to be bringing Colt back to life. And that has nothing whatsoever to do with the posse’s shenanigans.”
Annie opened her mouth to say something, then thought better of it and clamped her lips tight. She couldn’t tell anyone that Leo being his son was affecting Colt this way. “He likes Leo,” she whispered urgently. “It has absolutely nothing to do with me. Nothing. Why, we fight most of the time.” She was ready to fight the man right now.
Lacy chuckled. “That’s called sparks—and the posse can spot a spark from miles away.” She winked and went back to her prior conversation, leaving Annie frustrated.
Annie’s stomach roiled furiously in denial. But she knew some of it was true. At least on her part. But sparks or no sparks, disagreeing about Leo put out any fires that the sparks might cause.
She turned back to the conversation. Colt’s warm brown eyes met hers and Annie felt as if she were melting inside.
Suddenly she knew she was in big trouble in more ways than one. Because this was not at all what she wanted to feel. But she did.
* * *
It was a perfect summer day—if you called ninety degrees in the shade perfect. And Colt did, especially since he had Leo standing beside him in his yard.
“That’s good, Leo,” Colt said, watching Leo’s loop fly toward the roping dummy six feet away.
“I can do better,” Leo said when it missed. With determination in his voice, he pulled his rope back and coiled it as Colt had shown him.
His son had a good eye, great coordination and an insatiable persistence to be good at what he did. At his young age, if harnessed and focused it could take him far. Pride warmed through him like sunlight rolling from behind a cloud. My son.
“You keep practicing. I’m going to go over there and talk to your aunt for a few minutes. Is that all right?”
“Sure it is. Annie Aunt looks kinda sad today. I don’t think she wanted to come watch me chunk this rope.”
Colt had noticed the way Annie looked, though, and it wasn’t sadness that he was seeing. It was pure and simple anger. She’d been cold to him ever since he’d given her that check and told her he wanted his identity kept secret.
She stiffened when he sank to the steps beside her. He needed to get some decent outdoor chairs for the small porch, but he’d been fine sitting on the steps when he came outside. A woman would like a chair, he figured—not that Annie planned to be coming over all the time. He had a feeling Leo had been absolutely correct when he’d said she hadn’t wanted to come.
She scooted away from him on the step, and it was all he could do not to move closer to her. He’d been thinking of Annie a lot. As much as he’d been thinking about his newfound son. There was no denying that he was mad at her, purely aggravated that she’d kept his son from him. But late into the night, when sleep evaded him and he’d been sitting here on this very step listening to the sounds of the forest at 2:00 a.m., he’d admitted to himself it was more. Annie drew him; something about her spoke to the unrest in his soul.
“Annie, look at me,” he said when she was content to watch Leo throw his rope, keeping her eyes purposefully straight ahead. “Look, I know you’re not happy with me.”
“You got that right,” she said, her gaze darting at him for a brief but sharp moment. “I’m looking at a man who is passing up on the best thing this world has to offer. Look at him. He’s your son and you won’t acknowledge that.”
He felt her intense anger directed at him. Colt fought down the guilt that clawed at him. “I’m glad Leo has you,” he said. “Annie, I can’t expect you to understand my reasoning. I’m not even asking you to. There was a moment that I almost...” He looked down at the rough wood beneath his boots. He couldn’t tell her that he couldn’t acknowledge Leo as his because of what he’d done. He didn’t deserve Leo. “Telling Leo is just not an option. Maybe at one time it would have been. But I’m glad he has you.”
“You don’t get it. What if something were to happen and he didn’t have me anymore? Who would he have?”
“In that case he would have me. He has me now, just not in name.”
“Y’all, look at me,” Leo called, grinning when his rope landed on the nose of the roping dummy.
“Lookin’ good,” Annie called, giving him a thumbs-up while Colt called out his approval, too.
“You’re doing great, buddy, keep it up,” he said, watching Leo coil his rope and then start twirling it over his head again. When he looked at Annie, she was watching him with curious, sad eyes.
“Does it have something to do with the wreck and that family? The ones who died?”
Locking down hard on his molars, his jaw jerked. “Yeah, it does,” he found himself admitting. “How could it not?”
They stared at each other for a long, silent moment. He knew there was nothing he could do to explain what was going on inside him. Annie’s beautiful eyes searched deep, as if she were trying hard to figure it out on her own.
She sighed and her features, taut with anger since her arrival, relaxed. “Then, that’s the way it’ll be,” she said, and then she smiled. “One day, when you’ve moved past the grief that’s tearing you up inside, maybe you’ll change your mind. Until then, I’ll love him and be his family and you’ll be there for him. You’ll be the man in his life. Right?”
Her kindness surprised him. Grief, she’d called it. He couldn’t deny that was exactly what it was.
“I think you’ve had a hard life, Colt Holden. And in a way, so have I. I think we both agree that we want to make Leo’s young years more normal and secure than either of ours were.”
“Yes,” he said, captured by her words and her voice, so soft and sure, Colt could listen to her speak for the rest of his life. The knowledge seeped through him, warming his heart. You’ll be the man in his life. Her words about Leo rang in his head and Colt wondered, who would be the man in Annie’s life?
Smiling, she held out her hand. “Truce? Together we’ll make his childhood healthy and happy.”
Colt didn’t hesitate in taking her hand. Her fingers slid easily into his and locked with his in a handshake they both meant with all their hearts.
They were sitting on his step holding hands and smiling at each other when Norma Sue’s big double-cab truck came growling through the trees.
He’d picked up on what was going on at church that morning. Norma Sue and Esther Mae had set their sights on matching him up, and he’d known the instant that focus had zeroed in on him and Annie. Seeing them like this was going to do nothing but fan the flames of interest.
Pulling away, Colt stood and moved toward the truck He wasn’t going to linger on the porch beside Annie and give them any more to talk about than what he’d already given them.
Only problem with that was, after looking into Annie’s eyes and holding her hand, he’d given himself too much to think about!
Chapter Ten
Annie stared at herself in the mirror and felt a jangle of nerves. Nonsense, she told herself, wishing with all her might that the thought of spending the evening with Colt didn’t make her pulse beat faster and her nerves rattle so. But nonsense or not, it was the truth.
The worst part was everyone seemed to be hoping—even praying—
that she and Colt would fall in love.
It was enough to make a woman who had no plans to fall for the good-looking bull rider scream. It was the perfect situation, they all thought...her being Leo’s aunt and Colt being Leo’s hero. And dad. Though they weren’t saying, Annie knew that the posse had their suspicions about the relationship between Leo and Colt. The more time the two spent together, the more time folks had to realize how much they resembled each other in so many ways. Speculation was rampant, and though nothing was being said to her directly, she could see it and feel it when she was around. Then again, it could be her mind going crazy on her like always. Colt’s family had all figured it out, and though their speculations had been confirmed by Colt, they’d been sworn to keep to themselves what they knew. No one else had had their suspicions confirmed. Not even Colt’s mother, whom Annie had yet to meet. But Colt had told Annie he’d rather not bring that complication into the picture right now. She didn’t know exactly what that meant.
“He’s coming, he’s coming!” Leo called as he came racing into her bedroom with a big grin on his face. “Are you ready to go?”
Despite her nerves, Annie had to laugh. “Yes, I’m ready.”
“Then come on.” Leo grabbed her hand and tugged her down the hall. “We got a rodeo to get to.”
The third and final Mule Hollow Homecoming Rodeo was tonight and they were going with Colt. There had been one a month over the summer. The ladies of Mule Hollow had come up with the idea to try and get some of the folks who’d moved away from the small town to come home for a visit and maybe decide the little town was worth moving back to. Though Annie wasn’t exactly sure what all the fuss was about, since the town had been growing one marriage after another for the last few years.
Leo let go of her hand and threw open the front door just as Colt was walking up the steps. Annie fought off the butterflies that swarmed inside her chest at the sight of the man. He carried himself with such control. Though he wasn’t quite six foot, he seemed larger than life. It was a trait of a bull rider, she’d come to realize. Maybe it was because they weren’t afraid to get on the back of a two-thousand-pound bull that would love to pound them into the ground. Annie figured if she could do that and come out alive, then she might carry herself with that much pride. But even if she tried to carry herself the way Colt did, there just wasn’t any way it would look good on her. He definitely took her breath away. Especially tonight. He wore a starched black Western shirt with lots of stitching and pearl snaps. His jeans were dark and well fitted, and the buckle he wore was huge and sparkled with the intricate detail and small stones crafted into the silver creation.
“Wow, what a buckle!” Leo exclaimed.
Colt chuckled, and the sound warmed something deep in Annie’s chest.
“It’s one of my buckles from the finals. You’ll have one of these one day if you keep practicing like you’re doing.”
“I know it,” Leo chirped, as if winning was a piece of cake.
“You look nice,” Colt said, his gaze sweeping over to Annie.
Instantly her blood warmed and her skin tingled. “Thank you.” She suddenly felt self-conscious about the fact that she’d actually fussed over her appearance because she was going to spend the evening with him.
“She sure does.” Leo beamed. “I didn’t think she was ever gonna figure out what to wear.”
Colt grinned. “She changed clothes a bunch?” he asked, his eyes teasing.
Leo’s face scrunched with disbelief. “At least a hundred times. You should see all the clothes stacked on her bed.”
Annie gasped. “Leo, it’s not that bad.”
Judging by the grin plastered on his face, Colt was enjoying this. Annie knew good and well that he was thinking she’d done all that changing because of him.
Annie could still feel the warmth of his hand from a week ago when they’d shaken hands and agreed to give Leo a better life than they’d had. Annie had buried herself in her Bible since that day. She’d felt lost the moment she’d looked into his eyes and wondered what it would be like if they were in love, if they were a family.
The idea filled her with feelings she couldn’t explain. But one of those feelings was fear. All her life she’d dreamed of love. She’d craved it, but she couldn’t let down the walls that she’d built around her heart. And here she was looking at Colt Holden, and suddenly all the hopes and wants seemed to fill her up inside to the point where she thought she might explode. It terrified her.
* * *
“Can I ride Samantha?” Leo asked as they walked through the small fair that was set up outside the covered rodeo arena. Lilly and Cort Wells, looking like the cutest couple in the world, her with her head of dark, tight ringlets and he the serious-looking horse trainer. He was intent at the moment to corral the herd of kids swarming around them looking to pet the animals and take a spin on Samantha or a couple of miniature ponies they had brought along.
Their son, Joshua, who was about four, waved Leo over to where he was feeding a baby calf a bottle. “Wanna feed him?” Joshua asked. “He don’t mind.”
“Sure,” Leo said, and jumped right into the task.
“He’s game for anything, isn’t he?” Colt said.
“Oh, if you only knew the half of it. That little boy can get into more mischief. Jennifer and I held our breath many times worrying what he was going to do next. But what am I supposed to expect? She brought him up idolizing riding bulls.”
“You wouldn’t have done that, would you?”
“Jennifer and I didn’t see eye to eye on a lot of things.”
He had figured that out without her telling him. From what he could remember about Jennifer, she was high-strung and had enjoyed partying pretty heavily. The truth was, she’d chased him hard from rodeo to rodeo. He wasn’t proud of his own actions, but he knew that if he hadn’t been stuck out on the road, he wouldn’t have been attracted to Jennifer. Annie was different from her sister. She was quieter and he knew that playing the field wasn’t something a woman like Annie would even consider. Following rodeo cowboys around for the fun of it wasn’t anywhere near her radar.
He had a feeling that Annie Ridgeway was a one-man woman. He liked that. He liked it a lot.
Not that what he liked mattered. They were in this odd relationship strictly because of Leo. Keeping his mind off Annie was the best policy. Besides that, he knew letting himself think about looking for love, for happiness, was a lost cause for him.
Samantha walked over and nudged Leo, then pulled her big lips back and grinned. Leo and Joshua laughed.
“He’s making friends,” Colt said, trying to make himself not notice how the sun made Annie’s hair shimmer like warm spun gold.
“Yes, I’m so glad. Joshua is a little younger, but there’s several boys his age. He’ll have a great group to go to school with next year.” She inhaled as she nodded. “I’m really glad we moved here, Colt.”
Before they’d shown up, he’d been on the verge of falling apart. Now he had a reason to get up in the morning. A reason to try and move forward, to come to terms with the tragedy he’d caused. “I am, too.”
Two hours later, Colt shifted his sling and wished his collarbone wasn’t broken. Thankfully, it was almost healed, but he wished he could be out there on the back of a bull competing with the rest of the bull riders, who were gearing up for their time in the arena. It would be easier than sitting beside Annie in a crowd of people who were causing the back of his neck to itch from all the watchful eyes keeping tabs on them!
Sitting so close to her in the crowded arena stands, their legs and shoulders rubbing with every movement, he couldn’t think straight. And he was working hard to keep his head on target and answer the constant string of questions that Leo kept firing at his distracted brain.
Colt hadn’t wanted to come to the rodeo. He’d drea
ded everything about it except being with Leo. For an injured bull rider, sitting in the stands watching was torture. Compound that with the guilt he felt for enjoying life, then tack on to that sitting beside Annie. Annie, who made him feel alive just being around her—yes sir, he was being tortured in more ways than one.
“I’m gonna do that one day. I am,” Leo stated, pointing at the ropers as they busted from the gate and charged after the calf. Leo clapped and hooted when the cowboy’s rope caught the calf; his horse stopped running, the cowboy jumped from its back and ran to the calf. “Look, look, look!” Leo exclaimed, pointing at the roper, who threw the calf to its back, yanked the pig string from between his lips and expertly wrapped three of the calf’s legs together before throwing his hands up in the air, signaling the timer to stop. “Man oh man, I am gonna do that one day.” Leo whirled around, his face an electric show of excitement.
Colt laughed, his heart full of love. He wanted more than anything to hug his son tight and tell him he was his daddy. And he loved him. That he would help him achieve any dream he wanted. As a child, that had been something Colt had never known.
He’d told himself all his life that it didn’t matter. He’d gone on and fought for his dreams without the support of his alcoholic father or his mother, who’d left because she hadn’t been able to handle the life she’d been dealt. Only trying recently to come back into their lives. Looking at Leo, he knew he’d do anything to make sure Leo felt loved and secure. But will you tell him you’re his daddy?
“I’d much rather you learn that than bull riding,” Annie said, making no bones about the fact that bulls scared her and she was not going to go down without a fight where Leo was concerned.
“I’m gonna learn that, too. I’m gonna be as good as Colt.”
Colt could feel Annie tensing up beside him. “I have a feeling you’ll be better than me,” Colt said to Leo. Then to Annie, he added, “Relax. Bull riding is technique and self-control. By the time I turn Leo loose, he’ll have both and there will be no stopping him.”
Her Homecoming Cowboy Page 10