by Tessa Layne
A HERO’S HEART
A RESOLUTION RANCH NOVEL
(Book 2)
TESSA LAYNE
Shady Layne Media
www.tessalayne.com
Copyright © 2018 by Tessa Layne
Kindle Edition
Cover Art by Razzle Dazzle Design
Published by Shady Layne Media
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, distributed, stored, or transmitted in any form or in any manner without written permission except in the case of brief quotations included in critical articles and reviews. For information, please contact the author.
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are products of copious amounts of wine, long walks, and the author’s overactive imagination, or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, organizations, or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
Table of Contents
Title Page
Copyright Page
Meet the Heroes of Resolution Ranch
Welcome to Prairie!
Dedication
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Chapter 28
Chapter 29
Chapter 30
Chapter 31
Chapter 32
About A Hero’s Haven
About the Cowboys of the Flint Hills Series
Acknowledgements
Meet the Heroes of RESOLUTION RANCH
Inspired by the real work of Heroes & Horses… Chances are, someone you know, someone you love has served in the military. And chances are, they’ve struggled with re-entry into civilian life. The folks of Prairie are no different. With the biggest Army base in the country, Fort Riley, located in the heart of the Flint Hills, the war has come home to Prairie.
Join me as we finally discover Travis Kincaid’s story and learn how he copes in the aftermath of a mission gone wrong. Meet Sterling, who never expected to return to Prairie after he left for West Point. Fall in love with Cash as he learns to trust himself again. Laugh with Jason and Braden as they meet and fall in love with the sassy ladies of Prairie. Same Flint Hills setting, same cast of friendly, funny, and heartwarming characters, same twists and surprises that will keep you up all night turning the pages.
A HERO’S HONOR – Travis Kincaid & Elaine Ryder (On Sale Now)
A HERO’S HEART – Sterling Walker & Emma Sinclaire (On Sale Now)
A HERO’S HAVEN – Cash Aiken & Kaycee Starr (On Sale Feb 27th)
A HERO’S HOME – Jason Case & Millie Prescott (Coming 2018)
A HERO’S HOPE – Braden McCall & Luci Cruz (Coming 2018)
WELCOME TO PRAIRIE!
Where the cowboys are sexy as sin, the women are smart and sassy, and everyone gets their Happily Ever After!
Prairie is a fictional small town in the heart of the Flint Hills, Kansas – the original Wild West. Here, you’ll meet the Sinclaire family, descended from French fur-trappers and residents of the area since the 1850s. You’ll also meet the Hansens and the Graces, who’ve been ranching in the Flint Hills since right before the Civil War.
You’ll also meet the heroes of Resolution Ranch, the men and women who’ve put their bodies on the line serving our country at home and abroad.
Prairie embodies the best of western small town life. It’s a community where family, kindness, and respect are treasured. Where people pull together in times of trial, and yes… where the Cowboy Code of Honor is alive and well.
Every novel is a stand-alone book where the characters get their HEA, but you’ll get to know a cast of secondary characters along the way.
Get on the waiting list for Prairie Devil and the rest of the Cowboys of the Flint Hills
Additional books in the series:
PRAIRIE HEAT – Blake Sinclaire & Maddie Hansen (on sale now!)
PRAIRIE PASSION – Brodie Sinclaire & Jamey O’Neill (on sale now!)
PRAIRIE DESIRE – Ben Sinclaire & Hope Hansen (on sale now!)
PRAIRIE STORM – Axel Hansen & Haley Cooper (on sale now!)
PRAIRIE FIRE – Parker Hansen & Cassidy Grace (on sale now!)
PRAIRIE DEVIL – Colton Kincaid & Lydia Grace (coming in 2018)
PRAIRIE FEVER – Gunnar Hansen & Suzannah Winslow (coming in 2018)
PRAIRIE BLISS – Jarrod O’Neill & Lexi Grace
PRAIRIE REDEMPTION – Cody Hansen & Carolina Grace
COMING IN APRIL 2018 – PRAIRIE DEVIL
He’s the Devil she shouldn’t want
Colton Kincaid has a chip on his shoulder. Thrown out of the house when he was seventeen by his brother, Travis, he scrapped his way to the top of the rodeo circuit riding broncs, and never looked back. Until a chance encounter with hometown good girl Lydia Grace leaves him questioning everything and wanting a shot at redemption.
She’s the Angel he can never have
All Lydia Grace needs is one break. After having her concepts stolen by a famous shoe designer, she returns home to Prairie to start a boot company on her own. But when her break comes in the form of Colton Kincaid, Prairie’s homegrown bad boy and rodeo star, she wonders if she’s gotten more than she’s bargained for.
They say be careful what you wish for
To get her boot company off the ground, Lydia makes Colton an offer too good to refuse, but he ups the ante. Will the bargain she strikes bring her everything she’s dreamed of and more, or did she just make a deal with the devil?
Help a Hero – Read a Cowboy
KISS ME COWBOY – A Box Set for Veterans
Six Western Romance authors have joined up to support their favorite charity – Heroes & Horses – and offer you this sexy box set with Six Full Length Cowboy Novels, filled with steamy kisses and HEA’s. Grab your copy and help an American Hero today! All proceeds go to Heroes & Horses
Visit www.tessalayne.com for more titles & release info
Sign up for my Newsletter here
Hang out with me! Join my Facebook Reader Group – Prairie Posse
For those who teach us to love fearlessly
&
to the friends and family left behind by the 22 Veterans a Day who take their own life.
CHAPTER 1
As far as resting places went, this one didn’t suck. And when it stopped raining, the view from Johnny McCaslin’s final resting place overlooking the bay would be downright gorgeous. But that did nothing to alleviate the all-consuming ache in Sterling Walker’s chest. Or the guilt that he could have done something more. Anything, to save his friend.
As if condemning him, a breeze kicked up, spraying an extra heavy gust of cold rain across his shoulders. In front of him, just under the shelter of the tent erected to cover the gravesite, little Sophie buried her head deeper into her mother’s embrace.
How could Johnny do it? Leave the ladies he said he loved most behind? Sophie had been the apple of his eye. Or so he�
�d said. The spitting image of her mother’s red curls only with Johnny’s bright blue eyes. Eyes that when the last time Sterling saw them, had been cloudy and dull with pain.
The Officer in Charge grunted a command and Sterling’s eyes snapped to the flag-draped coffin. It was time. Beside him, their other best friend, Jason Case rose to his feet, arm tight in a salute. As if pushing through mud, he stood too, bringing his hand to the edge of his cover. This wasn’t happening. Couldn’t be happening. The crack of the rifles cutting through the rain told him otherwise. They’d survived Beast. Crack. They’d been part of the honor guard at Johnny and Macey’s wedding at the West Point chapel fresh out of school. Crack. Together, they’d survived countless missions, covered some of the worst territories in the world. Injuries. Fallen friends. The lonely muted trumpet sounding Taps pulled him out of the movie reel of memories. Johnny’d survived everything but being a civilian. Grief closed his throat. He couldn’t swallow. He couldn’t breathe. He wanted to scream. He wanted to pound the coffin. Tear it to pieces. Hell, he wanted to cry, but he wouldn’t dishonor Macey and Sophie with his tears. Not when they were standing so stoically in front of him. He swallowed the hot ache and breathed in slowly, dropping his hand as the last note faded into the wind.
He slid a glance right to Jason. A muscle ticked above his jaw as the honor guard snapped the flag taut and began the intricate, slow process of folding it. They sat. In the distance a seagull cried, a mournful wail slicing through the steady rain.
The OIC dropped to a knee in front of Macey. “On behalf of the President of the United States, the United States Army, and a grateful Nation, please accept this flag as a symbol of our appreciation for your loved one’s honorable and faithful service.”
Sophie leaned forward, placing a pudgy hand on the flag next to her mother’s. How could Johnny have left them? Left his little girl to grow up fatherless. Leaving Macey to go it alone? Anger stabbed through his grief. He and Jason had already made a pact. They were the girl’s godfathers, after all. They’d never abandon Sophie.
And then it was over. The small gathering began to disburse. Jason nudged him before making his way down the chairs. Macey turned to them, eyes tired. “Are you sure you won’t come back to the house for dinner?”
“Jason flies back tonight, and we need to catch the four p.m. ferry.”
She nodded, clearly disappointed. “I understand.”
“We’re only a phone call away if you need anything,” Jason said, wrapping an arm around her. “And we’ll always be here for Sophie. You know that, right?”
Sterling crouched. “Uncle Sterling loves you, honey bear. I’ll skype you on Christmas, ’kay? You can show me what Santa brought.”
She nodded solemnly and wrapped her arms around his neck. Grief washed over him. Johnny’d had everything and it hadn’t been enough. And his death hadn’t just ended one life, it had ended two others.
“I love you, sweetie pie. I’m only ever a phone call away.” He kissed her soft cheek, damp from the rain. Standing, he pulled Macey into a hug. “That goes for you too. Whatever you need. Jason and I are here for you.”
She nodded into his coat, covering a sniffle. Raising her head, she took a deep breath. “Thank you two for everything.” Her face crumpled, and inside, Sterling’s heart crumpled too. “I know it means a lot to Johnny that you came out. He loved the two of you.”
“I know.” Sterling swallowed hard. He’d save his mourning for a bottle of scotch in his hotel room.
Jason clapped him on the shoulder. “Ready?”
He nodded. There was nothing left to say.
The thirty-minute drive to the ferry terminal was silent but for the constant rhythm of the windshield wipers beating like a heart, a bitter reminder of their loss. As they pulled into line, Sterling turned to Jason. “I never thought Johnny’d become a statistic.”
Jason let out a small laugh. “We’re all statistics.”
“But he had the package. He had the girl and the kid. Everything we were fighting for. He had a nice life after he got out. And he destroyed them.”
“Did you have any idea?” Jason pulled the car forward onto the ferry.
“Me?” Sterling shook his head. “I knew he was tired. And he’d mentioned he and Macey were having a rough patch. That he felt like an ass for dragging her down. Said he felt like he was at loose ends. But I didn’t think he was suicidal.”
“Me either. I just talked to him right after Thanksgiving.”
They made their way topside and found two seats by the windows. “Me too. He told me I should get out if I wasn’t happy. That it wasn’t worth being sad every day. Find what gives me peace.”
“Damn. He told me the same thing. That I should quit the family business if I hated it so much.”
Sterling’s stomach pitched. “Do you think we missed something? Like he was trying to tell us he had no peace?”
“Fuck, I don’t know. But I can say when I was at my lowest point at Walter Reed, I kept a lid on that shit.”
“Why? I could tell you were low when I came to visit you.”
Jason narrowed his eyes. “The last thing I wanted was a military shrink pumping me full of pills. I was already on enough meds from the surgery.”
“But what kept you from doing it?”
“Honestly? The fact that they didn’t allow sidearms in the hospital. You’d want to die too, if you lost everything I did.”
“But your family…”
“My family likes dressing me up in suits and parading me around to their friends. The injured warrior, home for good. The rest of the time, they want to pretend nothing ever happened.” Jason reached into his coat and pulled out a flask.
Sterling accepted the offering and let the scotch burn down his throat. “You know what pisses me off the most? Why the hell didn’t Johnny tell us? At least let us try and help him? I mean, Jesus. Who kills themselves two weeks before Christmas?”
“Would you?”
“Ask for help?” Sterling shrugged. “I don’t know. I don’t wanna find out. But I can tell you this much. Johnny is the reason why I’m never getting married. Look at Macey. She gave up everything for him, and he broke her. I’ve never seen her so devastated.”
The mournful blast of the ferry interrupted them as the boat glided away from shore, slicing through the dark cold waters with purpose.
“She grew up in an Army family. She knew what she was getting into when she married him.”
“Sure, at first. But he was out. He was supposed to be normal. She wanted more kids, man. She’d waited all those tours. Endured all that worry. And he comes home, and two years later – blammo.” Sterling shook his head vehemently. “Hell, no. I’m not doing that to a woman.”
Jason shrugged “But what if you fall in love?”
“Love is for the weak.”
“Don’t let Johnny hear you saying that.”
Sterling looked skyward, raising the flask. “Hear that? I’m not following in your footsteps man.” His throat grew tight again, and he swallowed it down with another hit of the scotch. “You shouldn’t have left us. I’m never gonna do to a woman what you did to Macey.” His side pocket began to vibrate. Phone calls could wait until later. Until tomorrow. Or next week. Or whenever the hell he felt like talking again.
“What’s next for you?” Jason asked after a moment.
“Fuck if I know. I just signed my separation papers first of the month. Figured I’d pop in on my folks at Christmas. Last Christmas I was overseas, and then all hell broke loose.”
“At least they didn’t medically retire you.”
“Bad enough. Transferring me to sit behind a desk all day, pushing paper. I’ll never go on another mission again.” He’d never forget the day his superiors came and told him he could no longer be a Ranger. Part of him died that day.
“I get it. Mom and Dad won’t even let me get out in the vineyards anymore. They’re so afraid. Or embarrassed. Mom refuses to look at my leg.”
Jason took the flask. “Come to California for a few days. It will do you some good. You can charm the pants off some local ladies. Go dancing. You’ve been cleared for dancing, right?”
Sterling scraped a hand over his face. Jason was only trying to be funny, but it still cut. “Yeah. Just not jumping out of planes.”
“That makes two of us. Think about it? There’s a bar 15 minutes down the road where they do line dancing on Thursday nights.”
“In Napa?”
“I swear. My family can fawn all over you for a change. Give me some peace.”
“I wouldn’t want to be a burden.”
Jason rolled his eyes and snorted. “You do remember I live on an estate? You can probably catch a seat on my flight. Or come for New Year’s. Make a fresh start.”
A fresh start would be nice. Maybe the change of scenery would do him some good. “I’ll think about it.”
* * *
Something buzzed against his cheek. He slapped it away. Damn mozzies. It buzzed again. How in the hell did a mosquito get into a plane twenty thousand feet in the air? He was next out, so it didn’t matter. But that couldn’t be a mosquito. There was a rhythm to the buzzing.
And he wasn’t in a plane. He was spread eagle across his hotel room bed with his phone buzzing into his face. It was dark now. The clock showed nine-thirty. And the inside of his mouth felt like a stable floor.
Fuck.
The phone buzzed again. Goddammit. Why couldn’t everyone leave him alone? He punched the side button. “What?” he growled. But even to his own ears, he sounded more pathetic than fierce.
“Sterling?” the voice said, surprised.
“If your name’s not Johnny or Jason I don’t want to talk to you.” He might have slurred some of his words.
“You okay, Sterling?” the voice asked sharply.
In the foggy recesses of his brain, a lone synapse fired. “Travis?”
“What the fuck, Sterling. Are you drunk?”
It was definitely Travis Kincaid. “If you’re calling to rub my nose in the Army-Navy game, I really don’t want to talk to you.”