Carolyn Brown - [Spikes & Spurs 07]

by Cowboy Seeks Bride

Chapter 20

  Haley would have been much more comfortable if she’d been wearing her business suit and high heels when she opened the door to the Caldwell Messenger, a small weekly newspaper in Caldwell, Kansas. But those things were half a lifetime in the past and she needed to talk to the person in charge of the newspaper.

  “Hello, could I help you?” a woman asked.

  Haley removed her dusty cowboy hat and held it to her side. “I’m H. B. McKay.”

  The woman extended a hand. “I’m Dorothy Amos. We were hoping you’d come by and visit. It’d be a big thing for us to have your people come through our little town and set up shop for an episode. We are very proud of our Chisholm Trail heritage around these parts.”

  Haley shook it firmly. Usually a woman with a gift of gab, Haley was eager to get out of the office and back with the drive. Apache, her horse, was hitched to a porch post, but the cattle would be coming along any minute and the people were gathering to watch the sight. A little boy was out there eyeballing the horse and after the fiasco in Comanche, she damn sure didn’t want him to turn her horse loose.

  “I appreciate that,” Haley said.

  Dorothy brought a pen out from the gray bun on top of her head. “I’ve got the questions right here if you don’t mind answering them. Number one is: What’s it like, being the only woman on a drive like this?”

  “It’s been an experience that has given me a lot of ideas for the show. Ideas that I would have never thought of if I hadn’t come along for the ride,” Haley said.

  She could see a little boy messing with Apache’s reins. If that horse got loose, Dewar would never let her live it down.

  “I bet it has. We’ve got a man out there taking pictures. He just sent a couple back to the computer. Good-lookin’ cowboys for the most part.”

  “Yes, ma’am. Did he get a picture of Coosie, our cook?”

  She nodded. “That man looks like he should be playing football for the Dallas Cowboys, not cooking for a cattle drive. Do you miss your modern conveniences?” she asked.

  “Of course, and so will the contestants. That’ll be part of the intrigue of the show.”

  “How about the contestants? Will you be interviewing them when you get back to Dallas?” Dorothy asked.

  Haley nodded again, eager to get out of the shop and back outside before that child turned Apache loose in a hundred head of cattle. “That process is going on right now. Anyone who is interested should be contacting the 800 number at Levy Enterprises.”

  “I think that’s everything. We’ll use your quotes and write up our own story. Want me to send a tear sheet down to your business address?” Dorothy smiled.

  Haley nodded. “That would be very nice, and thank you for your time. If I’m going to head up the drive, I’d best be going now. And whoever is in charge of the show will drop by when it comes through Caldwell.”

  “Am I right? Dewar is the one heading up the cattle and Coosie is the one driving the wagon at the rear?”

  “That’s right.”

  “And the other ones? I’d like to get their names right when I do the article for today.”

  “Dewar O’Donnell’s three cousins who are also O’Donnells: Finn, Sawyer, and Rhett. And then there’s Buddy.”

  She pointed at a picture on her phone. “He’s this man?”

  Haley pointed to the picture. “That’s right. Dewar is this one.”

  She could hear the cattle bawling and the cowboys whistling at them as they came into town. “Got to go. Any other questions, just send them down to Joel at Levy Enterprises and he’ll answer them. I just wanted to stop by and pave the way for the reality crew.”

  “Nice to meet you, H. B. Frankly, I was surprised to see that you are a woman. I figured you’d be a man.” Dorothy followed her to the door.

  “Most people make that mistake.” Haley stepped out into a brisk south wind that brought the smell of cows and horses right along with it. Would she feel as caged as she had in the newspaper office when she returned to her own world? Had days on a horse and nights under the stars turned her into an outdoors woman? Would life ever be the same?

  That ornery kid looked at her, grinned, and slapped Apache on the rear end. Evidently he’d already untied his reins because Apache took off into the traffic running like the wind right up the middle of the street. All she could do was run like the dickens and whistle for him to stop and come back to her.

  Cars and trucks were on both sides of him, and a stray dog jumped between the vehicles and snapped at his heels. Horns blared and people leaned out of trucks to tell her to get her damn horse off the street. Apache finally heard her whistle and stopped dead, stirrups flapping against his side and cars still breezing past him at twenty-five miles an hour.

  Then suddenly the cars all pulled over to the side like a funeral procession was coming up the street. Only it wasn’t a hearse, it was a rangy old bull. And the procession wasn’t a string of cars with their lights on; it was a line of cows. The stray dog slunk back down a side street with his tail tucked firmly between his legs. He wasn’t nearly as mean when it came to facing off with a big black bull as he was chasing a running horse.

  Haley picked up a rock and slung it toward him. The dog picked up speed and darted under a parked car.

  “Get on out of here and leave my horse alone, you mangy bastard,” she screamed.

  The cows looked from one side to the other as if they were disappointed that there wasn’t a sidewalk sale going on. Haley just hoped that that little boy had run all the way home and wasn’t brave enough to slap a cow. Lord, she’d done already had enough stampedes to last a lifetime. She was totally out of breath and heaving until her sides ached when she finally caught up to Apache. She reached for the reins and looked up into Dewar’s twinkling eyes.

  He handed her the reins. “Lose something? Want me to go back and get that dog so it can be your second pet? Poor little bastard looked lonesome, didn’t he?”

  “You bring that dog to camp and I’m tellin’ Eeyore that it’s a coyote. One more kid touches my horse, throws a rock at my horse, or sticks his tongue out at me, or tries to steal one of our cows, I swear to God, I’m going to chase him down and…” She tried to think of something horrible enough to do that wouldn’t land her in jail.

  Dewar threw back his head and laughed. “Does that mean you don’t want a dozen sons?”

  “Right now you’d have to pay me big bucks to even consider a sweet little daughter.”

  ***

  Dewar pushed them past the usual mileage that day, especially on a day when they had to go right down Main Street of a town. Haley began to think she’d grown fast to the saddle and it would be stuck to her butt forever. Even Coosie was cranky when they finally stopped a hundred yards from the Chikaskia River.

  “You ran at least five pounds off those cows today,” he told Dewar.

  “They’ll gain it back with good fresh water and all this green grass. I wanted to reach the river so we could clean up, so stop your whining.”

  Coosie narrowed his eyes. “Don’t you talk like that to me, son. I could take you down with a broken arm and the other tied behind my back.”

  “Are we m-m-mad?” Buddy asked.

  “We are tired. Y’all are getting potato soup and corn bread for supper. I’d planned on doughnuts, but it ain’t happening tonight,” Coosie snapped.

  The saddle didn’t stick to Haley’s butt like she’d feared, but it was a hell of a lot heavier than it had been that morning. By habit, she’d dropped her bedroll six feet from Dewar’s and then lugged her saddle over to the same spot. Apache waited patiently for her to come back, remove the blanket, and brush him. Finally, she finished taking care of her horse, unfurled her bedroll, placed the saddle at the top end, and stretched out, surprised as hell when she lay down that with her bowed legs she didn’t look like she was rigged up in the stirrups at her gynecologist’s office.

  As tired as she was, the idea of stirrups conjured up a vision o
f sex with Dewar in that position and she had to hold back the giggles. In her Dallas corner office she damn sure wouldn’t be entertaining thoughts of sex in stirrups with a cowboy. She’d be all about the business, the next conference, and the next big thing on television. She hardly even knew this new wanton hussy that had taken over her body. Were the Cajun genes surfacing? Granny would be tickled, but her father would be mortified.

  She shut her eyes and the next minute someone kicked her boot. “Hey, supper is ready.”

  She didn’t want to wake up. The dream had been good. She and Dewar were in a nice restaurant with a candle in the middle of the table and she was all dressed up in a cute little dark green dress that showed off her cleavage. Dewar laid his big hands over her small ones and squeezed gently.

  She opened her eyes reluctantly to see Rhett standing at the foot of her bed, a smile on his face. “Is Coosie in a better mood?”

  “Hell, no! I am not!” Coosie said from the campfire.

  She sat up. “Is the potato soup burned?”

  “I don’t burn food just because I’m pissed at the trail boss for making us do a parade and extra miles.”

  Dewar yawned and stretched. “You’ll feel better with some food in your stomach and a good bath.”

  Coosie pointed the soup ladle at him. “Way I feel right now I might drown your sorry ass.”

  Haley fished the notebook from the saddlebags and wrote:

  We’re more than halfway through the cattle drive and we pushed on to a record amount of miles after running the cattle through downtown Caldwell. Stopped at the newspaper and talked to the lady editor who is running an article this week and very interested in the reality show. Tempers are getting edgy and Coosie, who’s usually calm about everything, is cranky as hell. Tonight the guys are taking a bath in the Chikaskia River and then I will take one. Think pushing the contestants to the limit today just to see how they react.

  “You going to write in that thing all night or eat?” Coosie asked.

  She slipped the notebook back into the saddlebag and stood up. “I was just waiting for you guys to get your soup first because I’m hungry and what’s left belongs to me. I can eat while you are getting cleaned up, and then I can get my bath.”

  Coosie handed her a bowl and the ladle. “That’s a lot of soup you plan on eating.”

  She looked into the pot. “That is potato soup?”

  “Lucy calls it potato chowder since it has got bacon and sour cream in it. Ice is about melted in the chest so I needed to use up the sour cream. Fried enough bacon this morning to use in it,” he explained.

  “Well, it looks delicious,” she said.

  The scowl on his face softened.

  “Don’t you dare get it all. I’m coming back for seconds. My belly feels like my throat has done been slit,” Sawyer yelled.

  “You better hurry. Boss man has done kept us all in the saddle so long today that we’re all hungry,” Haley said.

  “I got so hungry I almost ate my ponytail,” Rhett said.

  “Hey, I meant to ask and forgot. Why did you say you were cutting your hair when you got home?” Haley asked.

  “Because summer is coming and it’s hot. I thought maybe you and I’d go get our hair cut together. You can get a spike and a tat, maybe of a set of bull horns on a pretty heart that has initials in the middle.” He wiggled his black eyebrows.

  He was waiting for her to ask what initials, but she shoved a spoonful of soup in her mouth and said, “Mmmm, delicious, Coosie.”

  “Thank you,” he said.

  “Is the water clean?” she asked Dewar, changing the subject even more.

  “Not as much as I’d like,” he answered.

  Rhett finished his second bowl of soup and followed Sawyer and Finn to the river. Buddy left next and then Coosie, leaving her and Dewar at the camp alone.

  “Confession,” she said.

  “Me or you?”

  “Me. I felt cooped up in the newspaper office today and it scared me.”

  A grin curled the scar on his jawbone even more and the dimple in his chin deepened. “What do you figure that means?”

  “That I’ve been in the saddle too long.”

  “What’re you going to do about it?” he asked.

  “Get over it, I guess. I got over the measles when I was a kid. I guess I can get over this. You going to take a bath?”

  “Oh, yeah. Want to take one with me?” He flashed the most brilliant smile she’d ever seen on his sexy face.

  “You ready for the whole world to know about us?”

  “Are you?”

  She slapped his arm. “Do you ever answer a question?”

  “Do you?”

  He carried his dishes to the pan at the back of the chuck wagon, washed and dried them until they were squeaky clean, and picked up his clean clothing. “Guess that means I’ll be washin’ up all alone.”

  “Guess so, trail boss,” she whispered.

  “Hey,” Finn yelled from the tree line. “The water is okay to take a bath in but don’t think about washing your dirty clothes in it. Have to see if Coosie will let us have a panful from the barrel for laundry.”

  Haley yearned for the washer and dryer in the utility room of her apartment. She might even hug them when she got home. She’d finished her dinner, wrote some more in the journal about the grouchy mood that had hit the whole crew and how that could be played into the show, and then it was her turn for a bath. She gathered up her clean clothes and headed through the trees with Eeyore following behind her.

  “I don’t think there’s coyotes or mountain lions out here in this flat world,” she told him.

  He wiggled his big ears and kept pace with her.

  She stripped down to bare flesh, picked up her soap and washcloth, and sat down at the edge of the water. The cold water made goose bumps pop up all over her skin, but washing away the grime of the day felt really good.

  She had just leaned back and dunked her red hair into the lazy river when Eeyore let out a bray that brought her straight up to a sitting position, eyes wide open and wet hair plastered to her neck and back.

  His eyes were set across the narrow river and he took off in a fast trot, the water splashing up to his belly as he ran. She looked toward the other bank to see a coyote. The stupid thing had the audacity to wade right out into the creek and growl at Eeyore, who never slowed down. They clashed in the middle of the creek like a hurricane colliding with a class five tornado. The coyote tried to latch onto Eeyore’s legs, but they were moving too fast. Eeyore kicked and snapped at wherever he could find a chunk of hair.

  The coyote figured out pretty quick that he’d bitten off more than he could chew but he couldn’t get away from the jackass so he put up a hell of a fight. Mud and water shot up like a geyser all around Haley. She threw her bar of soap at the coyote and screamed, “Get the hell out of here, you mangy bastard. Eeyore, go back to the bank and give him some space.”

  Neither animal listened. All the frantic carrying on soon churned the creek up into a muddy mess. Haley looked like she’d been a contestant in a mud-wrestling contest—and lost. She had waded right into the middle of the fight, kicking the coyote and trying to separate them.

  She didn’t even see all six cowboys coming at the creek in a dead run. Until Dewar waded right out into the water in his sock feet, kicked the shit out of the coyote’s ribs, and removed his clean shirt all in one motion, she wasn’t aware of anything but protecting her donkey. When she came to her senses she was covered in mud, wearing Dewar’s red and black plaid shirt, and five cowboys were staring at her from the edge of the creek.

  The coyote finally got loose from Eeyore and took off whining with his tail between his legs. Eeyore brayed a few jackass cuss words at him and calmly walked over to see about Haley. She tugged the edge of Dewar’s shirt down over her butt and kissed the donkey smack between the eyes.

  “Good boy,” she said. “You showed that mean old coyote who was boss, didn’t you?
”

  “You scared the living shit out of me,” Dewar gasped as he pulled her close to his chest. “I thought that damn coyote was eating you alive.”

  “We’ll be getting on back to camp,” Coosie called out.

  “Oh my God!” Haley clamped a hand over her mouth. “Did they see me naked?”

  “Honey, you’re so covered up with mud and there was so much fightin’ goin’ on out here that I don’t think they saw very much.” Dewar grinned. “It looked like a spewing volcano raining down mud and cuss words. Damn, I didn’t know a girl could use that many bad words in such a short time.”

  Haley’s cheeks were so hot that the mud covering her face felt like it was drying and cracking. “I can’t ever look them in the eye again,” she whispered.

  “They’re going to tease you for sure.”

  She stepped back, grabbed at the edges of the shirt, and pulled it around her naked breasts then realized it was Dewar’s shirt. “Oh, no! Your clean shirt. I’m so sorry. And you’re all dirty just from touching me.”

  “Don’t be. It’s worth getting it dirty to see you unhurt. I do think you should go on up the creek a little ways and get cleaned up again. I’ll go back to camp, wash the mud off, and you can…” He grabbed his ribs and laughter rang out across the land.

  “It’s not funny,” she said.

  Eeyore let out a long pitiful bray and Dewar laughed even harder. “Even he thinks it is.”

  Haley fished her soap out of the water, stomped out of the creek, picked up her clean things, and held them out away from her body. “I’ll see you both after a while.”

  Eeyore dropped his head and followed her up the creek, braying the whole way.

  She glanced over her shoulder when the laughter died down. Dewar was on his way back to camp where he’d wash up in a basin of water. Damn that coyote anyway. If it showed its face again, Eeyore would have to stand in line behind her to even get a single kick in.

  Dewar was finishing up his laundry when she got back to camp. He reached for the dirty shirt she had in her hand and grinned.

  She whipped around and faced the whole bunch of grinning cowboys. “Okay, get it over with and then I don’t want to hear any more about it the whole trip.”