Marrying the Cowboy

by Trish Milburn

  “Because I’m a fool.”

  “Didn’t like New Zealand, huh?”

  She smiled at him, and he’d never seen anything so beautiful.

  “I loved it, actually.” She took a step toward him. “But not as much as I love you.”

  “Lis—”

  “No, let me finish. I’ve been practicing this across I don’t know how many time zones. What I did had nothing to do with my feelings for you, unless you count how much I want you to have everything you’ve ever wanted. You are the nicest, most decent man I’ve ever met, and you’ve had more bad things happen to you than anyone deserves. I knew how much you wanted to become a trooper and then a Ranger, so when you said you loved me I was afraid you would allow that to keep you from following your dream. But I realize how wrong I was in not telling you the whole truth, that I’m totally crazy in love with you, too. I understand that I may have ruined everything, and—”

  He closed the space between them. “Will you stop talking and let me kiss you?”

  She looked stunned, as if she really thought that he could have stopped loving her so quickly. Unable to resist her any longer, he pulled her next to his body and kissed her deeply with all the love he felt for this woman.

  “Does that mean I’m forgiven?” she asked.

  “You’ve taken a good first step.”

  “Do I want to know what the other steps are?”

  He dropped a soft kiss on her lips. “Don’t worry. I think you’ll enjoy them.”

  She smiled up at him, making him the happiest man on the planet.

  “This doesn’t change the fact that I don’t know where I’ll be stationed.”

  “It doesn’t matter.”

  “I can’t ask you to give up your dream any more than you could ask me to give up mine.”

  She reached up and cupped the side of his face. “Dreams change, and you’re my new dream. Besides, I can operate a nursery anywhere. Who knows, maybe I’ll open a second location for Paradise Garden.”

  “Well, in that case...” He pulled his phone out of his pocket and dialed Carl’s number.

  “You’re making a call?”

  “Yes, very important business.”

  “Yep?” Carl answered.

  “Hey, man, I’m going to have to take a pass on dinner. Looks like I’m going to be busy.”

  “What could be better than barbecue?”

  “How about the woman I’m madly in love with?”

  “Oh, yeah, I can see where that’s better than barbecue.”

  Pete ended the call and slid his key card through the door’s lock. And then he scooped Elissa up into his arms and carried her inside, kicking the door closed in their wake. She yelped, then laughed, and he had the deep need to make her laugh for the next sixty or so years.

  He set her on her feet at the end of the bed. “You know, I almost flew to New Zealand to find you.”

  “Why, after the way I treated you?”

  “I had something I thought might change your mind.” He turned and opened a drawer behind him, retrieved a small box from below his T-shirts. “I thought it might be romantic to propose to you someplace a little more exotic than Blue Falls.”

  Elissa gasped when he popped open the box to reveal an engagement ring that he’d spent the entire day after she’d left picking out, calling himself nine kinds of fool all the while.

  “Oh, Pete.”

  “I know a motel room is even less romantic than Blue Falls, but I’m not willing to wait a minute longer in case you disappear again.” He lowered himself to one knee. “Elissa Jane Mason, will you marry me?”

  “Yes.” She dropped to the edge of the bed and claimed his mouth with hers. “And I promise you I’ll never disappear again.”

  He slid the ring onto her finger, his heart beating wildly and his mouth stretching into a smile that felt as if it were consuming his entire body.

  Elissa looked down at the sparkling diamond on her finger, then back at him. “I just have one request.”

  “What’s that?” Right now she could request anything and he’d move heaven and earth to get it for her.

  She trailed the hand with the ring over the top of the bedspread. “It would be an awful waste to have this bed and not use it, don’t you think?”

  He ran his hands up her bare legs. “It would indeed.” He stood and brought her with him down onto the bed. He caressed the edge of her face. “I love you, Lis, and I’ll spend the rest of my life trying to make you happy.”

  She smiled up at him. “You don’t have to try. You make me happy just being you.”

  Unable to find the words to tell her how happy she made him, he gave her a kiss filled with all the love he felt for her.

  “I know this sounds crazy, but I’m glad that tornado blew my house away.”

  She looked horrified. “Don’t say that. You could have been killed.”

  “But I wasn’t, and if it hadn’t happened I might never have known that the perfect woman for me was right next door.”

  “Well, if you put it that way.” Elissa began unbuttoning his shirt. “I guess we have a lot of lost time to make up for.”

  “I think you’re right.” He captured her lips again and set about making up for that lost time.

  * * * * *

  Keep reading for an excerpt from THE SURPRISE HOLIDAY DAD by Jacqueline Diamond.

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  Chapter One

  Wade Hunter trudged up the rickety stairs of the rent-by-the-week apartment hotel. As he climbed to his second-floor unit in the fading October daylight, he repeated the words that had kept him going in the months since the Northern California town of Pine Tree had laid off half its police force: “Today something will change my life for the better.”

  He didn’t bother glancing at the handful of mail he’d pulled from his locked mailbox. That could wait until he sat down. His feet hurt from his part-time job providing private security for a cluster of warehouses, his cheek still smarted from the punch he’d taken at his second job as a bar bouncer and his heart ached from losing the close-knit group of fellow officers who’d been like a family.

  Quit feeling sorry for yourself. You’ll turn this around.

  Inside, Wade tossed the envelopes and advertisements on a chipped end table. After hanging his jacket over the back of a chair, he kicked off his shoes and sank onto the creaky couch. With a sense of homecoming, he picked up his lovingly polished guitar and flexed his hands.

  For a few indulgent moments, he fingered chords and hummed a country-and-western song. Not loudly, though. Downstairs neighbors had complained the last time he sang full-out.

  What were they complaining about? It had been a reasonable hour, and he’d won prizes in karaoke contests.

  Too tired to get up and stick a frozen dinner in the microwave, Wade reached for the mail. Most of it had been forwarded several times—there’d been an interim month when he stayed at a more expensive motel—but there was one address he’d kept current. And here it was, the env
elope he’d been waiting for, from the California Bureau of Security and Investigative Services.

  His breath catching in his throat, Wade opened it.

  His muscles relaxed. It confirmed that he’d passed the exam to earn his private investigator’s license. All he had to do was submit the licensing fee of $175.

  Ouch. He’d been saving every penny he could, but that wasn’t easy, especially with child-support payments. Still, this license might help Wade find a job with a detective agency. While he’d prefer a position at another police department, layoffs throughout California made that unlikely in the short term.

  Becoming a P.I. wasn’t what he’d dreamed of nearly a decade ago when he’d earned his degree in criminal justice. But if there was one thing Wade had learned in his thirty years, it was to focus on today and let the future take care of itself.

  Invigorated by the sense of moving forward at last, he heated a beef dinner before scanning the other mail. Since he kept up with his bills and bank statements online, these were mostly ads. One long envelope, creased and marked with forwarding addresses, bore the logo of a law firm with a return address in the Southern California town of Safe Harbor.

  Wade stiffened. The only people he’d stayed in touch with in his hometown were his father and, indirectly, a woman he’d rather not think about. Now here was a letter from Geoff Humphreys, attorney. According to the logo, the man specialized in family law.

  No doubt this had something to do with Vicki Cavill. She’d driven Wade out of town by threatening to file false charges that could have derailed his law enforcement career. She’d also deprived him of the most precious thing in his life.

  And, goaded by bad advice and his own immaturity, he’d let her.

  No more running. Since the first of the year, she hadn’t cashed his child-support checks. The woman was hopelessly disorganized. This wasn’t the first time she’d gone for months before cashing a batch of checks, although it had never been this long.

  Now she’d apparently hired a lawyer. Did she plan to shake him down for larger payments? If so, she’d have a fight on her hands.

  He tore open the envelope.

  * * *

  “WHAT DO YOU mean he won’t waive his parental rights?” Dr. Adrienne Cavill stared across the desk at Geoff Humphreys. “My sister barely knew him, and he abandoned his son as an infant. Vicki’s will appointed me as Reggie’s guardian. Why should what’s-his-name have any rights?”

  Hearing the shrillness in her voice, she stopped to take a deep breath. Working the overnight shift at Safe Harbor Medical Center’s labor and delivery unit wreaked havoc on her body’s sleep rhythms. And although the hospital’s attorney had mentioned there might be complications when he’d referred her to Geoff, she hadn’t anticipated any serious obstacles to adopting her nephew.

  She wished now that she’d pushed harder to complete the adoption right after her sister’s death in a single-car crash last New Year’s Eve, but it had seemed little more than a formality. Also, between working long hours to pay off medical-school bills and providing a loving home for Reggie, Adrienne simply hadn’t had the energy.

  “Matters were not exactly as your sister represented them.” With his receding hairline and calm manner, Geoff had a reassuringly paternal air. He was also the husband of a popular teacher at Reggie’s elementary school and a father himself. “He’s been sending checks to her at a post-office box. When I reached him by phone yesterday, he was wondering why they hadn’t been cashed since the first of the year.”

  “He was helping support Vicki?” Adrienne hadn’t paid much attention to her sister’s messy finances, aside from the legal necessity of closing out Vicki’s meager checking account and paying off her bills after her death. Suffering from bipolar disorder and drinking heavily, Vicki had spent every penny she earned as a housecleaner, and more. “She described him as a deadbeat.”

  “He emailed me copies of the canceled checks.” Geoff gave a sympathetic sigh. “He also says that he sent gifts for his son. I presume she gave them to your nephew without revealing where they came from.”

  Adrienne could scarcely speak. “I had no idea.” She rallied quickly. “But he’s a total stranger to Reggie, and Vicki appointed me as guardian.”

  Geoff winced. Attorneys ought to have poker faces, Adrienne thought irritably, despite how much she’d appreciated his sympathetic glance a minute ago.

  “I’m afraid that under California law, his rights trump yours,” the lawyer said. “His name is on the birth certificate, and he informs me that he took a DNA test.”

  “And then skipped town,” Adrienne replied bitterly. “Where was he when Vicki went off her medication and my mom was dying? I moved in with them for Reggie’s sake. He could have used a father.”

  “According to Mr. Hunter, your sister threatened to accuse him of abuse and file a restraining order,” Geoff said. “Since he was a police officer, that could have damaged or destroyed his career.”

  Vicki had been capable of unreasonable behavior. Despite a sweet and loving nature during her best periods, she’d been unstable, to put it mildly. That didn’t excuse the man’s neglect of his son. “Surely he’s moved on. Married, with kids?”

  “Not married, no kids,” Geoff said. “I hate to mention it, but there’s another issue.”

  Oh, great. “Which is?”

  “As Reggie’s father, he could claim control over the half interest in your house that his son inherited.” The lawyer paused to let that bombshell sink in.

  “He could what?” Adrienne wasn’t sure why she bothered to reply, because she understood what she’d just heard. But it was unthinkable. “I’ll see him in court.”

  Geoff raised a hand placatingly. “Naturally, a court will take into account what’s best for the boy. You’re an obstetrician with a steady income and a lifelong relationship with your nephew. And Mr. Hunter is, I understand, between jobs.”

  “Unemployed?” Typical of Vicki’s boyfriends. “Naturally.”

  “However,” the lawyer continued, “a court battle will be expensive and may not be in Reggie’s best interest. In the worst-case scenario, Wade Hunter wins, insists you buy out his half of the house and takes his son away. And since you’ve become his enemy, he refuses to allow contact.”

  Tears of frustration burned behind Adrienne’s eyelids. She’d weathered so much these past few years, standing strong for her sister while taking responsibility for Reggie. Did his so-called father have a clue how hard she’d worked to find trustworthy sitters, to maintain friendships that substituted for family and to nurture her vulnerable nephew?

  “An antagonistic attitude isn’t in your best interest or Reggie’s,” Geoff went on. “My recommendation is to reach an agreement with Mr. Hunter to share custody or to gain primary custody with generous visitation for him.”

  Adrienne felt an urge to pound on something, except that as a doctor, she didn’t dare risk damaging her hands. Also, it would be childish. “What do you suggest I do next?”

  Geoff smiled, clearly pleased at her decision to accept his advice. “He’s driving down this weekend to stay with his father, who lives in town. He’s eager to meet his little boy.”

  “If he thinks he can blow into Reggie’s life and then out again...” Adrienne halted. Wasn’t that exactly what she hoped Wade Hunter would do? “Fine. Reggie’s sixth birthday party is Sunday but his real birthday isn’t until next Tuesday. I suppose this man will expect to see his son on his birthday.”

  “I’ll find out if he can meet with you and me before then to lay some ground rules. How about Monday?”

  Since that was one of her days off, Adrienne nodded. “Early afternoon would be best.”

  “If it’s any consolation, he seemed like a rational fellow on the phone.”

  Okay, so the man had paid support and sent a few
presents. Still, it was hard to adjust her mental image when for so long she had pictured Reggie’s father as a jerk.

  And he hadn’t been there for his son. Despite Vicki’s threats, he could have tried harder.

  As she left the office, Adrienne considered how to break the news to her nephew. At this age, Reggie spun fantasies about his dad being a superhero who would swoop in to rescue him if trouble threatened. All Wade Hunter had to do was show a little kindness, and he’d capture the boy’s heart.

  In reality it was Adrienne who’d swooped in to rescue Reggie. And she suspected that once this stranger tired of playing Daddy to a kid with real needs, she’d have to do it all over again.

  Might as well wait until Monday to tell Reggie. She’d rather keep everything normal for him as long as possible.

  * * *

  WHEN WADE EXITED the freeway at Safe Harbor Boulevard, he inhaled the briny tang in the air with bittersweet nostalgia. This used to be his home. After six years away, he felt like a stranger.

  Although he kept in touch with his father, Daryl, and they met for the occasional camping trip or for a weekend of watching NASCAR races, Wade rarely made the nine-hour drive to his hometown. His last visit had been years ago, and memories of a wrenching argument with his grandfather still stung. Now he figured he’d stay with Daryl while he secured his claim on his son and put out feelers for a job in the area.

  Having worked at the Safe Harbor Police Department early in his career, Wade had applied there, but the department’s tight budget meant there were no hiring plans. He’d received the same response at other nearby agencies.

  But while he might not be able to provide little Reggie a home instantly, he intended to demand custody as soon as it became feasible. As for the kid’s aunt, he appreciated that she’d stepped up to the plate in the past, but with a sister like Vicki, how reliable could she be, even if she was a doctor?