The Cowboy's Last Goodbye (Grass Valley Cowboys Book 6)

by Shanna Hatfield

  “Thank you, sir. I’m very excited to be able to offer my accounting services locally.”

  “Well, if you’re still accepting new clients, we might be interested in having you handle our accounting. My new partner and I are talking about expanding the ranch. With Michele working full-time, we need someone to take care of the book work.”

  Harper smiled at Mike. “I’d be happy to set up an appointment to discuss the available options with you.”

  “That sounds fine, Harper. Give us a call and we’ll get something on the calendar.”

  “Yes, sir. I’ll do that.” Curiosity got the best of her and she leaned closer to Mike. “If you don’t mind my asking, who is your new partner?”

  “That lunkheaded, stubborn idiot over there talking to his sister.” Mike pointed a finger Ben’s direction.

  “Ben’s staying? He’s your new partner?” Harper asked in surprise. Although Ben loved the ranch, she wasn’t sure he’d ever admit it to himself. Rather like she doubted he’d ever admit how much he loved her.

  “Sure is. That boy of mine has brought a truckload of good ideas to the ranch since he took over. If he keeps on like this, I might retire and leave him in charge.”

  Shocked speechless by this change in Mike, she was glad he and Ben had worked out their differences and moved forward together.

  Unexpectedly, Mike reached out and patted her shoulder. “We want you to know, Harper, when Ben does come to his senses, we’ll be delighted to welcome you to the family. If you’ll still have him, and us, that is.”

  Harper shook her head. “As wonderful as that would be, I don’t think it’s ever going to happen.”

  “Oh, you never know…” Michele said cryptically then excused herself to visit with some friends.

  Mike moved along, leaving Harper to greet more guests as they arrived. She hurried over to hug Denni Hammond and shake Hart’s hand when they stepped inside. Hart had asked her to take over his bookwork for the local stores and hinted if he liked the way she handled things, he might hire her as his corporate accountant.

  The support, encouragement, and friendship the community had poured out to her since she returned was beyond anything she ever hoped for or imagined.

  Other than the heartache she felt over Ben, things couldn’t have been better. More guests arrived and Harper extended warm greetings to everyone who walked through her door.

  From the corner of her eye, she noticed the Thompson and Morgan family members grabbing their jackets and coats while Trent ran outside.

  She thought she’d just seen Tess heading back from the bathroom, but Harper hurried their direction, concerned something was amiss.

  “What’s going on?” she quietly asked Cady as she shrugged into the coat Trey held for her.

  “Tess is in labor. In an effort to keep from worrying us, she failed to mention that she started having contractions a few hours ago.” Cady hugged Harper. “This was a wonderful party, Harper. We’re so happy for you and happy to have you as part of the community again. We hate to run out on you, but we need to get Tess to the hospital.”

  “Is there anything I can do?” Harper asked as Travis and Ben flanked Tess on the way out to the car Trent pulled up outside.

  “Just say a prayer that she’ll have a safe delivery and the baby is fine,” Cady said, grabbing Trey’s hand as they hurried out the door.

  Harper waved to Denni, Michele, and Mike as they rushed outside to the car Hart drove up in front of the office.

  At least the snow they’d had last week had melted and the roads were clear.

  Although the party lasted for another hour, Harper’s thoughts weren’t on her business. They remained with the Thompson family. She prayed for their safekeeping as she walked the last of her guests to the door and cleaned up the mess.

  She debated driving into The Dalles to sit with the family. Admittedly, she couldn’t endure Ben’s cool glances and sullen quietness in the waiting room.

  In need of something to occupy her thoughts, she went home and started cooking food Tess could take out of the freezer and easily reheat. She was sure Cady had probably already made plenty of similar meals, but Harper needed to feel useful as she waited for word on the baby’s arrival.

  At just past midnight, Cady sent her a text.

  It’s a girl! Tess and baby Jade Lynn are fine. Come see them tomorrow!

  Harper did a little happy dance in the kitchen, causing General to cock an ear and give her an odd look. “It’s a girl, General. They have a sweet baby girl!”

  The dog woofed and dropped his head back down to his dog bed.

  Thrilled at the news mother and baby were well, Harper sent a text message to Cady.

  Tell Travis and Tess congratulations. As soon as they’re home, I’ll stop by.

  Everyone would understand if she avoided being anywhere she might run into Ben. After all, he had plenty of opportunity to contact her, to apologize for breaking her heart.

  Instead, his silence had shattered the few pieces that remained.

  Chapter Nineteen

  “I didn't want to kiss you goodbye —

  that was the trouble —

  I wanted to kiss you good night —

  and there's a lot of difference.”

  Ernest Hemingway

  Ben sat in his truck around the corner from Harper’s accounting office.

  Since he’d heard she was back, he’d driven past it almost every single day, planning to go in and apologize for being the world’s dumbest, most cowardly man.

  Regardless of what he needed to do, something held him back. He couldn’t explain what, especially when his family kept asking him why he didn’t mend the fences with her he’d painfully torn down.

  He wanted to.

  Desperately.

  The night of her open house, when his parents had practically forced him to attend, he’d been rooted to the floor when he stepped inside her office and saw her across the room. She looked like a sunbeam had fallen out of the sky, dressed in a beautiful yellow suit that hugged her curves while a peek of bright blue lace perfectly matched her eyes.

  Everything in him wanted to rush to her side, take her in his arms, and beg for her forgiveness.

  Rather than follow his heart, he’d turned away, waiting for just the right moment to speak to her.

  Only instead of lingering at the end of the evening as he’d planned, he ended up at the hospital as his family awaited the arrival of Tess’ baby.

  Three days had passed since the open house. Three days that Ben hadn’t slept, barely choked down a few bites of food, and functioned on autopilot, tormented by what he needed to do.

  He had to talk to Harper and see if there was any possibility she could find it in her heart to forgive him. It was too much to hope she’d give him a second chance, but her forgiveness would at least let him rest easier.

  With one more deep breath, he opened the pickup door and strode down the street. Before he could change his mind, he hurried into her office.

  The warm, welcoming atmosphere as he stepped inside Sunny Accounting made him feel at home. Combined with the hint of her fragrance in the air, it also made him think of a sunny locale on a secluded beach with her stretched out on the sand beside him.

  He yanked those thoughts under control before they ran away from him and glanced around, expecting Harper to be at her desk.

  General wandered out from the back room and raced over to him, wagging his tail so excitedly, he nearly upended himself.

  Ben’s spurs jangled in the silence of the office as he hunkered down and gave the dog a good scratch behind his ears and along his back. “Hey, boy, I sure missed you. Have you been good? Are you taking good care of Harper?” As he spoke, he fished a dog treat out of his coat pocket and gave it to the excited canine.

  “I see you’re still plying my dog with treats to stay on his good side.” Harper smiled at Ben as she walked into the room carrying a vase of yellow and white flowers. She set it on a
side table in the front corner near the couch.

  “Hello, Harper.” Ben’s voice sounded rough and raspy as he spoke. The sight of her rattled him. She looked beautiful in a cobalt blue sweater with a black skirt and black high-heeled dress boots.

  “To what do I owe the pleasure of this visit? I set up an appointment for next week to meet with you and your dad to discuss your accounting needs. Did he tell you the wrong day?”

  Ben shook his head and took a step closer to her. “No, he told me about the meeting next week. I’m not here to discuss our books.”

  “Oh?” Harper quirked an eyebrow, unsettled by the embers smoldering in Ben’s brown eyes and the determined look on his face. “Is Tess okay? The baby?”

  “They’re all fine. Tess showed me the blanket you gave Jade. It’s one of her favorite gifts.” Ben crossed the distance between them in a few strides, standing next to Harper in front of her couch. “I’m not here to talk about any family members, the community, and not even that bacon-loving pooch over there.” He tipped his head toward General as the dog contentedly gnawed on a bone. Gently, Ben took her hand in his. His thumb traced lazy circles across her palm.

  The tingling sensation created by his touch unnerved her. A blunt refusal by her traitorous legs to hold her upright — legs that turned languorous at his continued attention to her hand —forced her to take a seat on the couch. “Why are you here, Ben?”

  “Because I owe you an apology, Harper. I’m sorry I hurt you. I’m sorry I ended things the way I did. I’m sorry I ended them at all.” In spite of the doubt in her eyes, he continued. “I love you more than I ever imagined loving anyone and it scared me. I know I’m a coward and a jerk, but I love you with all of my heart. I hope you can someday forgive me for being such an idiot.”

  Caught off guard by his apology, Harper found it impossible to speak and stared at him, unmoving.

  Ben scooted closer to her. “The truth is that I can’t stop thinking about you. I need you in my life, Harper. After what I’ve done, I understand if you never want to see me again, but if you think we could at least be friends, I could eventually try to settle for that.”

  Still miffed at him for wounding her so deeply, she wasn’t letting him off the hook easily. “Then why’d you tell me goodbye in the first place, Ben Morgan?” She glared at him “Why?”

  “Every time we said goodbye, what I really wanted was to say good night and then good morning. I never wanted to leave you, Harper. I just wanted you. I wanted to hold you all night and tell you how much I loved you. It got harder and harder to let you go until I realized I couldn’t say goodbye to you again. Not if I wanted to stay in control of myself.” A deep sigh rolled up from his chest and out his lips. “You may have noticed, but I pride myself on being in control. With you, I lost the ability to control anything. All of that was new to me, something I never experienced before. That powerless feeling, those emotions I couldn’t restrain, played on the fears I already had about trust and commitment. The love you stirred in me, the need for you that goes down to the depths of my soul, scared me. It scared me so badly, I ran from it, like a moron.”

  “I see.” Harper stared at her clasped hands instead of looking at him. “What about now? How do you feel?”

  “I still don’t want to say goodbye, Tinker Bell. Not when my love for you grows with every beat of my heart. Not when I want to hold you forever and never let you go.” Ben slid closer and tipped her chin up with his index finger, searching her eyes and finding what he needed there. “Besides, I much prefer saying hello.”

  “Me, too,” Harper whispered as Ben’s mouth met hers in a kiss that left no doubt in her mind about the depths of his love for her.

  He wrapped her in his arms and continued kissing her until a sound drew their gazes outside her office window. Denni Hammond and Michele Morgan executed an excited little dance on the sidewalk as they peered inside.

  “I swear, there isn’t a single sacred thing in this whole county,” Ben grumbled, burying his face against Harper’s fragrant head of hair.

  She giggled and snuggled closer to him. “And you love it.”

  “Yes, I do, my sweet little pixie, but not nearly as much as I love you.” Ben took a box out of his pocket as he dropped to one knee in front of the couch. He opened the lid and a diamond glittered in the sunlight streaming in the window.

  “I’m gonna have to ask this quick before those two loopy women rush in here, but Harper Hayes, will you please marry me? I don’t ever want to say goodbye to you again.”

  Harper threw her arms around his neck and hugged him tightly as he rose to his feet and swung her around and around.

  He barely got the ring on her finger before Denni and Michele burst inside, eager to offer their congratulations.

  Chapter Twenty

  There are no goodbyes for us.

  Wherever you are, you will always be in my heart.

  Mahatma Gandhi

  “What is it about Grass Valley men that makes them so stubborn to admit they’re in love and in such a hurry to wed when they do?” Bailey asked as she helped Lindsay and Cady place the final touches on the decorations at the church before Ben and Harper’s wedding.

  Although the couple planned a small, intimate ceremony with just family, the Thompson women insisted the church had to be decorated. Cady’s Aunt Viv volunteered to host the reception at her café. By the time it was all said and done, more than a hundred people had been invited to the wedding taking place the Saturday before Christmas.

  “I think you already said it, Bailey. They’re stubborn, yet they aren’t prone to wasting time. Once they make up their minds about what they want, they’d move mountains to get to it,” Lindsay said as they stood back and admired their handiwork.

  Cady giggled. “And if the mountain happens to block one of them from the woman he decides he can’t live without… goodbye mountain.”

  As the women laughed, their husbands walked into the church and gave them speculative glances.

  “Are you three brewing up trouble?” Trey asked, wrapping his arms around Cady’s waist and kissing her neck.

  “No, boss man, just discussing some traits you boys all share.” Cady glanced over her shoulder at her husband with a coy grin.

  “Then we probably don’t want to know what you said.”

  “Probably not,” Cady agreed, pointing to a pew that needed to be moved and a bow that sagged.

  Before long, the church filled with guests and Ben took his place up front next to the pastor with Brice, Trent, Travis, and Trey.

  “Are you sure you’re ready to do this, bro?” Brice asked, slapping Ben on the back.

  “More than ready. Did you take care of the surprise like I asked?”

  Brice nodded and handed Ben a key. “Sure did.”

  “For an annoying little brother, I’m pretty lucky to have you.” Ben grinned at Brice.

  Brice smiled at him and playfully slugged his arm. “Don’t go getting all mushy on me now, bro. Save it for a day I’m really getting on your nerves.”

  “You can count on it.”

  As the music started, they looked toward the back of the church where Harper’s attendants filed in wearing dresses in shades of blue.

  Lindsay walked up the aisle first in a gown as pale as the winter sky. She smiled at Trent as he stood across from her. Together, they watched Cady approach in a teal blue dress that drew an admiring glance from Trey. Tess wore a sapphire blue dress and carried Jade instead of a bouquet. The baby fussed if anyone other than Travis or Tess held her. Bailey strode to the front of the church in a dark blue gown and grinned at Brice as she took her place across from him.

  Emily entered, skipping down the aisle in a pink dress, tossing white rose petals with gusto as she rushed to her mother and leaned against her legs.

  Finally, the pianist began playing the wedding march and Ben swallowed hard as he watched his beautiful bride float down the aisle on the arm of her uncle in a white taffeta gown tha
t made her look like a princess.

  General walked beside her with a big blue bow tied around his neck that held the wedding rings.

  Cletus gave Ben a warning glance as he handed Harper into his keeping then took a seat in the front row next to Mike and Michele. With a little coaxing from Trent, General sat by him, watching as his two favorite humans exchanged vows.

  The service was brief but heartfelt, which suited Ben fine. He could barely concentrate on anything the pastor said anyway with Harper’s hand holding his and her fragrance tantalizing his senses.

  This was what a wedding should be, with family and friends gathered around him, sharing in the special day.

  Everything about Harper spoke of her love for him: the sparkle in her blue eyes, the emotion in her voice, the electrical charge shimmering between them.

  Ben hoped she had some idea of how much he loved her, needed her, and wanted her.

  When she looked up at him and winked, he decided she had a good idea of what was in his heart.

  After repeating their vows and exchanging rings, the pastor pronounced them man and wife.

  “You may kiss the bride, Ben.”

  “With pleasure.” Seductively, he smiled at Harper as he bracketed her face with his hands and gave her a tender kiss full of emotion and promise.

  “Man, can’t you do any better than that?” Brice teased from beside him.

  With a sly smirk, Ben bent Harper over his arm into a deep dip and kissed her with enough passion to make her cheeks turn as crimson as the poinsettia plants near the door.

  Cletus cackled from the front row.

  General barked and thumped his tail against the floor while Emily, Shiloh, and Shane giggled.

  Cass rolled her eyes from her spot beside Denni and Hart. “Here we go again,” the little girl said, drawing laughter from those around them.

  After spending a few hours with their guests at Viv’s, Ben and Harper snuck out without saying goodbye. Cletus had agreed to keep watch over General and had already taken him home.

  Ben swept Harper into his arms and carried her to his pickup, setting her inside. Under threat of bodily harm, no one had dared decorate it with tin cans and shaving cream.