Sunset Promises

by Carla Cassidy

  Home. Back to the ranch with her sisters and no fear of retribution or revenge. Yes, at the ranch maybe she’d forget about Hank. Beneath the blue Wyoming skies maybe her heart would begin the healing process.

  Within two hours the powers that be had arranged a ticket for a flight back to Cheyenne, and a secretary to take Colette and Brook to the airport.

  “I’ll bet you’re glad this is all over.” The secretary, Amanda Rowen, smiled at Colette as they pulled out of the hotel parking lot.

  “Yes.” But it wasn’t over…not really. Colette realized she couldn’t return home until she said goodbye to Hank. She needed closure. “Would you mind taking me by the hospital where Hank Cooper is? I’ll just be a minute, but I’d really like to tell him thank you.”

  Amanda checked her watch. “Sure, we’ve got time and the hospital is right on the way.”

  As the southern California scenery flashed by, Colette knew she’d be happy if she never visited here again. For her, California would never evoke memories of sunny days and sandy beaches. It would always be the place where her heart had been broken. Too many memories, the good ones as painful as the bad.

  It took them only minutes to arrive at the hospital. Amanda sat in the waiting room while Colette, carrying Brook, went to Hank’s room.

  Hank dwarfed the hospital bed, looking too fit, too vital, for a man who’d been so recently shot. His gaze was focused out the window, away from where she stood. She paused just inside the doorway and took a moment to drink in his features, impress them in her mind, knowing her memories would be all of him she’d carry back to Cheyenne, her memories and his child.

  “Hi,” she said, her voice husky with suppressed emotion.

  He turned and looked at her, as always his gaze dark, giving nothing away of his emotions. “I figured you’d be on your way back home by now.”

  “I am…I just stopped to say goodbye before going to the airport.”

  “Goodbye,” he said, and turned his head away from her.

  Anger swept through Colette, rich and full, momentarily muting any pain. “That’s it?” She walked over to the side of his bed and stared at him in disbelief. “That’s all you have to say to me after everything we’ve shared?”

  He turned back to look at her. “What should I say? I’m glad your ordeal is over. With Collier dead you no longer have anything to worry about.” He winced and pushed a button that caused the head of the bed to rise. “I never made any promises.”

  “If you believe that, you’re a fool,” Colette exclaimed. She bit the inside of her mouth, trying to maintain control and not allow emotions to overwhelm her. “Hank, you didn’t have to mouth words to make a promise. It was in your eyes, in your kiss.”

  “You mistook passion for promise,” he countered, his gaze not quite reaching hers.

  “I don’t think so.” She moved closer to the side of his bed and shifted Brook from one arm to the other. “Are you telling me Brook was conceived in lust…not love? Can you honestly look me in the eyes and tell me you don’t love me?”

  As Colette said the words, she knew this was why she’d had to see Hank before she left. She had to know if her memories of love were true, or if the love she’d felt from him had only been a fantasy…the need of a little girl wishing for a prince beneath a twisted tree.

  For a long moment his gaze held hers, and in his eyes she saw the answer. Euphoric joy swept through her as she recognized love. “I knew it,” she breathed softly. “You do love me.”

  “Colette, it doesn’t matter what I feel for you. I intend to live my life alone, without commitment.” His eyes darkened, a whisper of a new emotion deep in their depths.

  Colette’s joy faded, replaced by a piercing ache. “You’re afraid,” she said in surprise. “You took a bullet for me, risked your life to keep me safe, but you’re afraid to love me.”

  He turned his head and stared toward the window, as if wishing himself away from the hospital, away from her. Seconds ticked by…tense seconds filled with unspoken emotion and unfulfilled dreams. He finally moved, reaching into the drawer next to the bed. He pulled out a small book and threw it on the bed. “Take it. It’s a savings account for Brook. I was going to send it to you, but you might as well take it now.”

  His words chilled her. “I don’t want it,” Colette replied, a renewed burst of anger sweeping through her. “She doesn’t need your money, and I won’t let you salvage your conscience by taking your money.” She reached into her blouse pocket and pulled out the gambling chip that had rested against her heart. For a moment she held it tight, remembering. The night he’d given it to her he’d said she was his good luck charm. That had also been the first night they’d made love. She tossed it to him. “Now I guess we’re even.”

  Although there were a million things Colette could say about what Brook did need from him, Colette refused to use her daughter as a bargaining tool to try to make him change his mind.

  She walked to the door, feeling dead inside.

  “Colette?” She paused at the doorway and looked back at him. “I never promised.” He said it as if it somehow gave him absolution.

  She sighed wearily. “You can tell yourself that a million times, Hank. But you did promise. You promised with your eyes and with your kisses. Every time you took me in your arms, you made a promise. Promises don’t have to be spoken aloud, and sometimes it’s the unspoken ones that hurt the most when they’re broken.”

  “I’m sorry,” he said, his eyes dark orbs of pain.

  “Oh, don’t feel sorry for me.” She raised her chin and straightened her back. “I’ll be fine. I still have my dreams, my hopes. Even though I love you with all my heart and soul, I won’t be like you. I won’t let my dreams of happily-ever-after die like you did.” She hugged Brook closer against her heart. “Hank, fate is giving you a second chance for happiness.” Once again her voice was hoarse, filled with tears and broken dreams. “You’re a fool for turning your back on it.”

  She turned and left the room, hoping, praying he’d call out to her, stop her from walking out of his life. But he didn’t. And in his silence, Colette’s heart broke in two and she knew she’d lied to him. He had stolen her dreams for happily-ever-after, for she couldn’t imagine loving another man as she loved Hank.

  “It’s all right,” she said softly to her daughter, who stared up at her with Hank’s dark eyes. “We’ll be okay. At the ranch you’ll be surrounded by love. And maybe…just maybe, at home I’ll be able to forget Hank.”

  * * *

  FORGETTING HANK was the most difficult thing Colette had ever tried to do. As the days passed into weeks, thoughts of him still intruded into her days, continued to haunt her with dreams of bittersweet love mingled with heartache.

  The twilight bathed the landscape in golden hues as she walked toward the dragon tree. Brook gurgled and cooed in the carrier as if pleased to be out in the fresh air.

  Life at the ranch continued to be a daily financial struggle, but everyone had been in high spirits since Colette and Brook’s return. Although her sisters had grilled her about the crime, the return of her memories, and Cameron Collier’s suicide, they had steered clear of the subject of Hank, as if knowing Colette’s heart was too badly bruised to want to talk about him.

  She’d left the house after supper, wanting to watch the splendor of the sunset in solitude.

  When she reached the dragon tree, she spread out the blanket she’d brought along, then placed Brook in the center and sat beside her.

  The sky overhead was a lustrous blend of colors as dusk reached out fingers to claim the blue sky. The air was filled with the sounds of the ranch getting ready for the coming of night…sounds that rang of home. Home. If home is where the heart is…where is my home? Colette wondered. Certainly her heart wasn’t here.

  Her heart was with a man who’d been strong enough to protect her, but too afraid to commit to her. Her heart was with a man whose dark eyes possessed the power to warm her throughout
, whose callused hands could make her body sing.

  At least she had Brook. Even though the pregnancy had been unplanned, Colette was grateful for the baby who unmistakably bore Hank’s genetic stamp. At least she’d always have this little piece of him.

  Funny, she hadn’t been able to cry. In the two weeks she’d been back at the ranch, not one tear had fallen. Her heartache was far too deep for mere tears.

  She leaned over and rubbed Brook’s cheek, laughing as the little girl kicked her feet and waved her hands in excitement. “I’ll make you love him,” she said to her daughter. “Somehow I’ll make you understand that your daddy is a good man, that he was just afraid to love again.”

  She straightened as in the distance an unfamiliar car pulled up in front of the ranch house. A man got out of the driver’s seat and Colette’s heart began an irregular beat.

  What was he doing here? What could he want? Dear God, she didn’t want to see him again. She wished desperately she could hate him.

  He looked around, then, spying her, started in her direction. The gasping, dying sun overhead gleamed off his black hair, making it shine with a dark lustre. His strides were long and purposeful, his posture rigid with determination.

  Colette stood, hating the way the sight of him filled her with longing, brought all the memories of their time together to the forefront of her mind.

  Was it business that had brought him back? Loose ends on the Collier matter? Surely that was the only thing that would bring him to see her again.

  “Hi,” he said when he reached her.

  “What are you doing here?” She was pleased her tone was harsh. She didn’t want him to know how the mere sight of him made the ache inside her intensify.

  He shoved his hands into his pocket and rocked back on his heels. “I’ve come about the job.”

  She frowned in confusion. “The job? What job?”

  “You mentioned that when you got back home there would be a position here for a horse-breaking bodyguard.”

  She wrapped her arms around herself and stared off into the distance. “The position is no longer open.”

  “What about the position of husband and father?”

  She whipped back around to look at him, her heart racing. “Husband and father?” She eyed him narrowly, then sank to sit on the blanket, her legs suddenly wobbly. “What are you talking about?”

  He sat next to her, bringing with him the evocative scent that Colette would always associate distinctly with him. “I’m talking about promises, and happilyever-afters.”

  “That’s not the song you were singing last time I saw you.” She hung on to her anger, needing it to shield her heart from another hurt. She pulled her knees to her chest and wrapped her arms around them, trying to maintain her self-protective anger.

  “You’re right,” he agreed easily. “I was damned and determined when I saw you in the hospital that it would be the last time I saw you and Brook.” He smiled down at the baby, and in the tender smile, the first stirring of hope blossomed in Colette’s heart.

  “Then why are you here?” she asked, her voice tremulous with suppressed emotion.

  “It’s a funny thing what a bullet in the chest can do for a man. Makes him examine choices he’s made in his life, nurse regrets those choices might have made.” He frowned, his gaze distant. “Lying there, I realized that I had no regrets, that if I had it to do all over again I would fall in love with Rebecca, marry her, even knowing the pain of loss that was to come.”

  “She must have been a very special woman,” Colette replied softly.

  “She was…and the baby she carried.”

  “Oh…” This new bit of information pierced whatever anger Colette had been trying to maintain. Her heart ached for this man who’d lost a wife, a baby and his dreams all in one tragic moment. For the first time she recognized the depth of his reluctance to bare his heart again. “Oh, Hank, I’m so sorry,” she whispered.

  He nodded and continued. “But they’re gone, and despite my best intentions to not get involved ever again, I find myself in love with another special woman.” His gaze captured hers, an inferno of emotions flaming in his eyes. “I’d have come here sooner, but a reaction to some medication kept me hospitalized until late last night. Colette, I thought I could let you walk away from me, thought I didn’t care that you and Brook would make a life without me. God help me, I was wrong.”

  “Oh, Hank.” Colette flew into his arms, a sob escaping from her as his arms enfolded her close.

  “Colette…” He cupped her face in his palms. “I told you once I never make promises, but I’m going to make one now. If you marry me, I promise I’ll do everything I can to be that prince you wanted. I’ll spend every day of my life giving you the kind of happily-ever-after you deserve.”

  “Hank, all you have to promise is to love me. That’s all I need for my happily-ever-after.”

  “I do. I love you, Colette. I love our baby, and I want to spend the rest of my life loving you.” He stood and pulled her to her feet, then kissed her. His kiss was filled with promise, with hopes and dreams.

  As the kiss ended, Colette looked upward, where the boughs of the dragon tree were silhouetted against the blaze of the sunset. The promise of a sweet, clear night. Life was filled with promise.

  She remembered three little girls playing here, each vowing to find a prince and live happily ever after. With his dark, unruly hair and dusty blue jeans, Hank looked more rogue than prince, but in his eyes she saw her future…a future of forever love.

  EPILOGUE

  “Oh, Colette. You look beautiful.” Abby dabbed at her eyes as she looked at her sister. Colette stood in the center of her bedroom, her two sisters sitting on the edge of her bed.

  “Like a fairy princess,” Belinda agreed, her eyes also suspiciously shiny.

  Colette twirled around, loving the way the silk wedding gown billowed with her movement, then reached out to embrace each of her sisters. “I can’t believe this is happening. I can’t believe it’s my wedding day.”

  “You’d better believe it,” Abby said with a laugh. “We have a lawnful of people outside and a wedding cake the size of New Jersey. Somebody better be getting married today.”

  A knock fell on the door. “Mom, the wagon’s ready.” Cody’s voice radiated with excitement. “Bulldog says it’s time to get this show on the road.”

  Abby opened the door to admit her son. Cody danced in, his miniature white tuxedo decorated with smudges of Wyoming dust. “Oh, Cody, you’re already dirty,” Abby exclaimed in dismay.

  “Mom, cowboys don’t stay clean,” Cody replied, making the three women laugh.

  “It’s okay,” Colette said, ruffling Cody’s hair. “I think you look perfect.”

  Abby looked at her watch. “Bulldog is right. It’s time to get this show on the road.” She picked up Brook, who was clad in a ruffled pale pink dress, and handed her to Belinda. “You take the kids and go on to the wagon. We’ll be right out.”

  Belinda nodded. With a final kiss on Colette’s cheek, she left the room, leaving Abby and Colette alone.

  “I feel like since Mama’s not here and I’m the eldest, I should say something wonderful and wise but I’m too filled with happiness for you to be able to think straight,” Abby said.

  Colette hugged her sister. “I don’t know what I’d ever do without you and Belinda. I’m so glad you don’t mind Hank and me making our home here at the ranch.”

  “I wouldn’t have it any other way,” Abby replied. “This ranch is our home…and there’s plenty of room for all of us here.” She released Colette and wiped her eyes once again. “I’m just so grateful the Collier mess is behind you and you can live the rest of your life without being afraid.”

  Colette frowned. “Sometimes I wonder, though. Bob Sanderson says he didn’t push me off that butte, but there are times I’m positive I was pushed.” She shrugged. “And then there are times I’m not so sure. In any case…you’re right. It’s all beh
ind me.”

  “And now it’s time to get you married to that handsome hunk of yours.” Abby took her hand and together they left Colette’s bedroom and went outside where a flower-bedecked wagon awaited them.

  In the distance, Colette could see the people sitting in folding chairs around the dragon tree. As the wagon carried her closer, she saw Hank. Tall and proud, he stood beneath the tree in front of the preacher, his gaze warming her despite the distance.

  It had seemed right that they marry beneath the dragon tree. Colette had explained to Hank that the tree was a place for vows. It had been here that Colette and her sisters had vowed their love and devotion to each other, here that they had played out their dreams of handsome princes and happily-ever-afters.

  As the wagon pulled to a halt, Hank stepped forward and helped Colette down, his hand warm, his gaze loving.

  As their friends and neighbors looked on and with the dragon tree shielding them from the heat of the sun, Hank and Colette spoke the vows to unite them as husband and wife.

  “I now pronounce you husband and wife,” the preacher said, then smiled at Hank. “And you can kiss the bride.”

  “With pleasure.” As Hank’s lips claimed hers, she tasted the sweet promise of love, knew her fantasy had come true and together they would live happily ever after.

  * * * * *

  After befriending Mandy Wright in a snowstorm, Brody Booth is certain they’ll stay “just friends.” That is, until a killer forces Brody into a protector role that brings all of his worst fears about himself to bear.

  Read on for a sneak preview of

  SHELTERED BY THE COWBOY by

  New York Times bestselling author Carla Cassidy,

  the next thrilling installment of

  THE COWBOYS OF HOLIDAY RANCH.