Table of Contents
Title Page
Description
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Epilogue
New Horizon Ranch: Mule Hollow Series
More Books by Debra Clopton
About the Author
Copyright
TY
New Horizon Ranch: Mule Hollow Book 4
DEBRA CLOPTON
Sign up for Debra's newsletter
Follow Debra on Twitter
Chat with Debra on Facebook
Touch base at www.debraclopton.com
Ty:
Best friends forever…happily ever that is…Christmas wedding bells will be ringing if the Matchmakin’ Posse of Mule Hollow can get this stubborn cowboy and cowgirl together under the mistletoe for the most anticipated kiss of the holiday.
Will Ty Calder, mild mannered partner in the New Horizon Ranch, get his secret Christmas wish and heal his lonesome heart this season? Find out in Book 4 of the New Horizon Ranch/Mule Hollow series.
Horse trainer Ty Calder did the right thing four years ago and sent his best friend, Mia Shaw off with a hug and best wishes in her quest for her rodeo dreams to come true. But now she’s back for the Christmas holiday and he’s not sure he can send her off again without revealing his true feelings…
Mia is back in Mule Hollow healing up from an injury that could end her run for the championship. But, lately her heart’s not been completely committed to her rodeo dreams and Ty has her thinking he might just be the reason.
Suddenly, tensions are running high between Mia and Ty…sparks are flying and have been spotted by the Matchmakin’ Posse. Now these two are dodging mistletoe, matchmakers and the kiss they’re both fighting to avoid and longing for.
But Ty can’t believe Mia is ready to give up on her dreams when she’s so close…he knows it means more to her than most people realize. No matter how much he wants a life with Mia he refuses to stand in the way of her dreams even if it means losing her forever…
It may take his four partners at the New Horizon Ranch and the town of Mule Hollow to get these two believing Christmas is especially the time that love can conquer all.
This is going to be one Christmas these two will remember forever…
Chapter One
Ty Calder was lonesome.
Christmas was almost here and for all of his adult life Ty’s Christmas wish had been for the opportunity of a do-over…but he’d lived long enough to know that Christmas wishes very seldom came true. Christmas wishes were for children after all.
Pushing his restless thoughts aside he strode into the county auction barn to check on the two colts he had in the sale today. Two weeks till Christmas and there was a threat of snow in the air. If the weather kept this up Mule Hollow, Texas might get a white Christmas this year.
Several cattlemen standing around a gas heater in the corner greeted him and he paused to shake the hands of Applegate Thornton and Stanley Orr. The two older men couldn’t hear worth anything but they had great eyes for a good horse or a good heifer.
“You two looking to buy,” he asked, taking the moment to warm his hands, rubbing them together in the heat.
“Naw,” Applegate boomed as the perpetual frown on his thin wrinkled face lifted slightly at the corners, for him this was a big smile. “We’re here to enjoy the show.”
“Ha!” Stanley grinned causing his rounded cheeks to lift high as his booming reply caused nearby cattle to jump. “We like to watch you younger cowboys pick livestock. You know yor horses, but thar are some who ain’t quite got yor eye. If you know what I’m talkin’ about.”
“It can be plum entertaining to watch,” App added with a smirk.
Ty chuckled. “You two find your entertainment in odd places—” A sudden shout had him spinning to see a woman with a brace on her knee struggling with a horse in the parking lot. The horse reared and the woman stumbled back.
Ty charged forward to help.
The woman managed to stay on her feet, though the leg with the brace looked stiff as she moved back from the gelding that was in the midst of a full blown fit. If someone didn’t get him under control the woman wouldn’t stand a chance. Especially with that obvious problem with her leg.
Ty reached her while the horse pawed the air. He grabbed the reins in a firm grasp, kept his eyes locked on the horse and fought for control. “Whoa there,” he crooned.
“What are you doing?” the woman demanded, refusing to let go.
The big gelding smashed its front feet to the ground and yanked on the reins. Its eyes were wild and its ears were flattened to its head–not a good sign.
“I’m getting this horse under control.” Ty shot the stubborn woman a glance and almost let go of the reins-Mia Shaw glared back at him.
Mia.
“I can do it myself,” she snapped, her grip hardening beneath his. The horse jerked in response to the added tension.
If the horse had kicked Ty in the gut it wouldn’t have knocked the wind out of him like seeing Mia had just done.
He couldn’t believe his eyes. Seeing her, he suddenly felt as tongue-tied as he’d once been in school. Mia had sat in front of him in English class and he’d been a blundering idiot at that time.
If he’d tried to speak to her, his words twisted inside and wouldn’t come out. It was as if he couldn’t say anything right around her. Even if he got words out they were basically a jumble of just plain embarrassing mumbo jumbo.
What had been wrong with him?
Mia had made his world spin, that’s what. Just looking at her and being near her had been torture because he was so tied up in knots around her.
And then, one day out of the blue, she’d asked him to help her learn to ride.
Riding was his comfort zone. He could talk about horses and could ride anything. And thus he’d pushed his crush to the back burner and became her teacher. And also her friend. As her friend he could talk to her.
Once their friendship had become solidified, taking the chance to try and become more had been impossible. By then, he’d learned and saw what her dreams were…and they didn’t include living in this small town and marrying a cowboy. This cowgirl had her eyes on rodeo glory just like her late father once had…she’d lost so much in her life that there was no way Ty was going to try and get in the way of her dreams coming true.
But his world had always begun and ended with thoughts of her. He’d always wanted the best for her. He was always praying she was having a good day and that this would be her year to win her championship.
No one had ever affected him like Mia Shaw.
And here she was standing in front of him, eyes as blue as a bluebird and hair as silky and golden as a palomino. For him, no one had ever come close to Mia…
The horse jerked and let out a snort that brought Ty to earth once more.
If he didn’t do something about this horse, he and Mia both were about to get kicked to the ends of the earth and he would never get the opportunity for that do-over he'd been praying for.
“Let go, Mia,” he said calmly and was forever grateful that he’d managed to come up with those words.
“I can do it. You let go. It’s my horse.”
“No, Mia. Let go.”
The horse jerked again. “Whoa,” Ty urged, managing to sound calm when, in fact, his blood pressure skyrocketed. Feeling her hand beneath his, feeling the firmness in her grip, and the determination in her eyes all told him she wasn’t giving in.
Well if she wasn’t letting go, he certainly wasn’t.
They’d do this together.
She glared at him. “I can do it,” she gritted through clenched teeth.
“Not on my watch,” he growled. “If you’re going to hang on, then, baby, I’m going to hang on too.”
The horse pulled back, pawing at the earth. “Come on, boy, calm down,” Ty urged, as the horse reared again, its hooves flailing madly in the air. Ty grasped Mia’s arm with his free hand and yanked her out of the way as he moved between her and the horse. He ignored Mia’s disgusted mumbles as he shortened the rope and held firm. Determined to wrangle this piece of irritating horse flesh into his control Ty dug his boot heels into the ground and drew the reins even shorter. His arm strained with the effort of physically holding the horse to the ground. The animal swung its body attempting to take him and Mia out that way. They moved quickly to stay out from under it but Mia stumbled sideways and molded herself to Ty’s side, her soft curves taking his attention off the horse. Their gazes locked momentarily before she pushed away.
The horse jerked powerfully on the rope forcing Ty to refocus.
Mia could never, ever have held on to this horse.
Ty managed it only because this was what he did. He took wild, unbroken horses and trained them. But not this horse…he’d realized during the struggle that he knew this horse.
He could feel Mia’s fury beside him but at the moment he didn’t care. She would have been hurt and he knew that now because this horse was crazy.
He held firm and through force of will led the horse over to the trailer where he tied it securely to the side bar then he spun toward Mia. She’d finally let go of the animal and stood waiting on him with an expression as angry as he felt.
At least she was standing out of the danger zone.
“What were you thinking? That horse would have kicked you. It would have stomped you. You had no control—”
“I had control of the horse—” she snapped, thrusting her shoulders back as she stepped toward him.
“You had no control of that horse. None.” He couldn’t believe after all these years, all these years of wanting to speak to Mia that here he stood and he was furious and almost shouting at her.
This was not the way he’d dreamt that they might one day meet again. Nope, he’d dreamed they’d meet and he’d prove to her that he wasn’t a blooming idiot who couldn’t talk to the woman he was awe-struck over.
The woman who was, at the moment, red faced with anger. “I…that is my horse,” she stammered. “And I know what I’m doing.”
“I couldn’t tell that you did. If you’d have known what you were doing you’d have let me have control of that horse instead of taking your life into your hands and risking getting stomped. Especially when you knew I had him.”
She huffed, “I did not know such a thing. The horse just reared up. I was going to get him under control. I was.”
Ty ground his molars to keep from saying anything more. Fumes were surely billowing out of his ears–he could feel them. Hot as fire and crackling as he fought not to say something else that would cause this to go any further in the wrong direction. “I can see,” he managed tightly, carefully. “That you might have thought that you knew what you were doing. But how in the name of thunder…” he said, tighter as his temper started creeping up again, “…did you load that horse?”
He’d recognized the horse finally after getting over the shock of seeing Mia again. He knew where she’d gotten it. It was one that her uncle, who lived about fifteen miles outside of town had bought at an auction one day when Ty was there.
Not that her uncle ever spoke to him, but he did see him on occasion and as Stanley would say, her uncle, Huey Shaw, despite being one of the older men in town, had no eye whatsoever for good horseflesh.
And he was right. This beast was about as worthless as they came.
And of course her uncle had bought it and taken it home and now because of this horse Mia was in danger of her life! It should have gone to someone who at least had a little understanding of what a horse needed in order to be tamed. Or at least controlled.
Mia’s eyes flashed fire. “I was able to load it,” she said, enunciating each word. “And I would have been able to get it into the auction barn.”
“You don’t know what to do with him. So you brought him back to the auction to resell. Isn’t that right?”
Her head cocked to the side and those amazing eyes of hers narrowed and he got distracted looking down at her. Boy she looked hot… Really hot. Hot as in really good to look at, she was beautiful and he couldn’t believe he was standing here with her again. But she looked about as hot as a chili pepper, too and it dawned on him that give her a little bit more ammunition and she might haul off and crack him across the jaw.
Not that she’d ever been the violent type, but of course for some reason right now she was fumingokay, it could be the fact that she had in her own mind thought she could control this animal.
Ha! It just went to prove that she was really, really kin to her uncle.
“Okay, you are absolutely correct,” he managed, getting control of his own temper at long last.
She looked a little contrite at his agreement. “Well, maybe I couldn’t have gotten control of him. But he’s my horse and I don’t need you tending to my business.”
It was so ridiculous he chuckled—“I wasn’t tending to your business. I was saving your hide.” Maybe he shouldn’t have said that, or chuckled. Maybe, just maybe, he should have kept his big mouth shut. But um, it was a little too late for that.
So much for the dream…nope, she would probably never speak to him again now that he’d finally gotten his shot—gotten his do-over.
And what had he done?
Opened his big mouth and inserted…no, he’d stuffed his big, booted foot into it…
Chapter Two
“Saving my hide?” Mia snapped, wanting to disappear. She hated to admit she was in over her head with this horse but with her bum knee, she was. The maniac horse had given her nothing but trouble all morning but she’d managed to stay alive. Then the ornery beast just had to completely freak out here at the auction barn.
And then, Ty showed up and witnessed it all.
Anyone else would have been fine. But not Ty Calder.
“So are you trying to sell him?”
“My uncle wants to sell him.” Needed to sell him was more accurate but Ty didn’t need to know that.
Ty’s brows scrunched cutely beneath his cowboy hat as he pinned his dove gray eyes on her. She’d always found him so handsome and the cowboy had only gotten better with age.
“Acting crazed like he is that horse isn’t going to bring much if anything.”
“Why do you say that?”
“Because no one in their right mind is going to put good money on a lunatic horse. He’s unreliable and dangerous. You know that, Mia. There isn’t any guarantee his temperament will change.”
She groaned inwardly. “He’s from a great bloodline and that counts,” she argued weakly, knowing full well what he said was true though she’d had to take a chance coming to the auction.
“It’s got great bloodlines. But unless he’s polished up, at least a little, no one in their right mind is going to touch him. Not for the price your uncle paid for him.”
Her uncle had absolutely no horse sense. And worse, not really any ranching sense. He’d come into ranching by default when he’d come to her rescue the day her parents had been killed in a car wreck. She’d been twelve, heartbroken and lost. He’d come to her rescue, left behind his life in Waco and stepped into a world he knew nothing about s
o she could remain in her home where she’d lived with her parents.
“Wait. How do you know what he gave for him? Were you there?”
“I was.”
She grimaced. “He bought Sinbad for me to compete with. He refused to tell me how much he paid but he thought this horse...” she waved a hand toward the willful horse, “...would be the one to give me a real shot at the championships.”
It was his turn to grimace. Ty knew horses and she knew that he knew this was impossible. Given the fact that the horse was crazy and needed major training before there could even begin to be a chance that it could be used to compete for the national titles that she was competing for. And time.
“That explains it,” Ty said, almost apologetically. “I had thought about bidding myself but they started the bids way out of the ballpark.”
This time she groaned out loud. “You know Uncle Huey, he tried so hard to take to ranching but he was terrible at it. But he wanted me to go after my dreams and he tried…” she let her words trail off thinking about those dreams.
“We all wanted you to go for your dreams and you’re doing great. But him thinking this horse could help was a really bad idea. And trying to sell him like this isn’t a good one either, Mia. Sinbad’s reputation preceded him and everyone knew he was a time-bomb. Is still,” he amended, shooting the horse a glance.
Great. Just great. The weight on Mia’s shoulders grew heavier.
“Mia, my heart is still thundering from thinking about you nearly getting trampled by this horse. Why are you the one here doing this? And with a bum leg?”
Mia stared at him. “I’m doing it because when I arrived home last night I found Uncle Huey trying to get Sinbad into a stall and it’s a wonder he didn’t get himself killed. When I asked him what he was doing he told me he was selling him. And so I loaded Sinbad up this morning and headed for the auction.”
Ty: Contemporary Western Romance (New Horizon Ranch Mule Hollow Book 4) Page 1