Billion Dollar Cowboy

by Carolyn Brown

  Like a gentleman, Rusty was complimentary to Janet—even though he’d told Colton earlier that she was nothing like her sister and not to be getting any ideas about playing matchmaker between the two of them. Besides, he was too old to be thinking about settling down and Janet was too young even if he was.

  Colton and Dillon were the last two men standing when Roxie floated down in a cute little pink sundress and matching cowboy boots. Her hair had been styled just like Laura’s had been for the Dallas party.

  “Feel a little bit like you just fell off a four-wheeler and ate a mouth full of dirt?” Colton whispered.

  Dillon nodded. “Yes, sir, I do.”

  That left Colton as the last man standing. He looked at his watch at least fifty times in the next five minutes and then there she was. When he looked up she was staring right into his eyes and as the distance closed the heat built from a tiny flame into a Texas wildfire.

  “My God, you are beautiful,” he said.

  “Thank you, but I think that’s a line from an old movie.” She smiled.

  “Don’t make it any less true. I want to kiss you but I’m afraid I’ll mess something up.”

  “Can’t have your cake and eat it too, but I can.” She wrapped her arms around his neck and moistened her lips with the tip of her tongue.

  In that moment, Colton Nelson realized that he did not want Laura to ever leave the ranch. Not in a month. Never, ever! He might not be willing to give up his heart but he sure didn’t want to live without her.

  “You were awesome in that white dress, but darlin’, you take my breath away in this,” he said.

  She smiled. “Thank you. Let’s forget the party and go to bed.”

  He groaned. “Can I take a rain check on that? Granny would kill us both.”

  “Yes, she would,” Maudie said from the dining room door. She was decked out in designer jeans, boots, and a bright red Western shirt.

  High colored flooded Laura’s cheeks, making them almost as red as her dress and Maudie’s shirt. “I thought you’d already be at the party.”

  “I’m going right now. I waited to give you these pearls to wear tonight. Now, y’all give me ten minutes and then you two will arrive and be introduced. Preacher Roger will say grace and dinner will begin with y’all going first. The band will set up while we are eating and you’ll have your first dance right after you eat. You have the ring in your pocket, right?” Maudie looked at Colton.

  “Yes, ma’am.”

  Laura could still feel a burn in her cheeks.

  “And Laura, I’m glad that you’d give up a party to go to bed with my grandson. See y’all later.”

  ***

  Laura’s hands trembled as she and Colton made their grand appearance. Maudie held the microphone and settled the noise in the barn by tapping on the end.

  “Colton and Laura have arrived. We are going to ask Preacher Roger to say grace and then they will start the buffet line. Anyone who hasn’t met Laura, please feel free to stop and chat with them anytime.” She handed the microphone off to the preacher.

  All those games must’ve worked up his appetite because the prayer was brief.

  When Laura opened her eyes, Maudie was standing right beside her.

  “I’ll be right behind you. We want everyone to see a united front from the family in supporting Colton and your relationship,” she whispered.

  “I feel like a traitor,” Laura said.

  Maudie patted her arm. “Honey, he’s happy right now. No one is causing havoc in his life and for the first time since he got rich he’s not stressed out over just going to town to get a tractor part.”

  “Did you know that Cynthia likes him?” Laura asked.

  “Everyone knows that and we all know that she’d never live on a ranch. She might break a nail,” Maudie whispered.

  Laura and Colton were both seated and had begun to eat when she noticed the place card right beside her and felt guilty. Movement to her right caused Laura to look up. A waiter seated Janet. She unfolded an oversized white napkin and laid it across her lap.

  “I thought you were wearing jeans,” she whispered.

  “So did I but Maudie thought I should wear the dress.”

  “You listen to her and you’ve only known her a few weeks, but you won’t listen to me and we’ve stuck together our whole lives?” Janet smiled at Darcy who sat down right beside her.

  “She gives me good advice,” Laura said.

  Darcy leaned backwards and stretched her hand out to touch Janet’s shoulder. “This is amazing. The day was so much fun. Andy was a hoot. He’s got a tremendous sense of humor and reminds me of my younger brother. And now this dinner and the dance. I’m so glad I moved to Ambrose but what I really want the scoop on is that foreman, Rusty. He’s more my age and he’s a fine-looking cowboy.”

  Laura smiled sweetly. “Well, darlin’, you just come on out here sometime to talk flowers and I’ll be sure to get you some time with him.”

  Janet poked her with an elbow. “What’s on for tomorrow?”

  “We sleep as late as we want. Breakfast will be served on the buffet in the dining room just like today. And then we are having a picnic dinner at the pool.”

  “Where is the pool? I didn’t see a swimming pool!” Janet said.

  “It’s a surprise. And we do have a gym, so eat all you want. You can exercise, spend some time in the sauna, and then the pool if you are really energetic,” Laura answered.

  “I bet I can get one of these cowboys to take me home with him tonight,” Janet whispered.

  “I’m not betting against that. I’d lose for sure. You look amazing, sis.” Laura hugged her. “And I was proud of you in the games.”

  “I let the preacher win,” Janet whispered. “Rusty and I could have nailed it but I deliberately let her win. She looked like she needed it.”

  “Really?” Laura’s eyebrows drew together.

  “Hell, no!” Janet giggled.

  Laura air slapped Janet’s arm. “You are a rat from hell.”

  “And you love me, right?”

  “Of course I love you.”

  “And you’d do anything for me, right?”

  Laura had her mouth open to say that she would but clamped it shut. “Not this time.”

  “You ain’t no fun anymore.” Janet pouted.

  “I disagree,” Darcy said. “She’s great.”

  Roger and Cynthia were all smiles when they sat down across from Colton and Laura. Roger didn’t look a thing like he did the first time Laura met him with a do-rag tied around his forehead, but he sure didn’t look like he did on Sunday morning either. He wore jeans—loose fitting instead of cowboy tight—a plaid shirt, buttons not snaps, and cowboy boots, square toes, not pointed. And he was flirting with Cynthia.

  Preachers were allowed to do that, weren’t they? After all, they were human and the attention was absolutely making Cynthia glow.

  “Congratulations again,” Colton said.

  Roger touched Cynthia on the arm. “We never dreamed we’d win, did we?”

  “I didn’t even dare hope for it. But Roger is very good at putting things together. We never have to hire repairmen for anything at the church,” Cynthia beamed.

  Maudie sat down beside Colton. “No hurry, but when you two finish, the band will begin to play and you will dance.”

  The band was set up on the stage and was just waiting for a signal to start the music. The whole barn buzzed with excitement and conversation. People came by the table to meet Laura and after the first three or four she stopped even trying to put names with faces. It was just impossible.

  God was going to strike her stone-cold dead before the night was over. Ina Dean might be fooled, but the Almighty would not think telling such blatant lies and toying with the sanctity of love was one bit amusing.


  “I’m getting really nervous about all this,” she leaned over and whispered under the ruse of kissing Colton on the cheek.

  He shook his head. “If you’re going to string someone up, put the rope around Andy’s neck, not mine. He started it all by putting us together in church that Sunday morning.”

  Andy should be banned to the desert to live in a tent with no electricity or even a generator for his computers for the rest of his life. Maybe with only one person to talk to the whole time and that would be Janet, or worse yet, Cynthia. It might be the only place in the world where Janet couldn’t gamble and Cynthia couldn’t worry about her looks.

  Laura frowned.

  “Something wrong?” the preacher asked.

  “I’m just fighting with the devil’s voice in my head,” Laura answered.

  “You do love me.” Janet hugged her.

  “Not that much,” Laura whispered.

  “You two sound like me and my sister. We can’t wait to get together and then all we do is bicker, then we cry when we have to be parted,” Cynthia said.

  “And I always thought I wanted a sister,” Colton said.

  Roxie piped up from the end of the table. “So did I but all I got was you and I didn’t even want a brother.”

  Colton kissed Laura on the cheek. “I told you. I liked her better before she met you.”

  “It’s time,” Maudie said when Laura swallowed her last bite of pecan pie. She raised a hand to the lead singer in the band and he took his place behind the microphone.

  Laura stood on shaky legs and let Colton lead her out into the middle of the dance floor. When was all the proposing supposed to take place anyway? After the dance or before it? Dammit! She’d forgotten to ask and now she was jittery with nerves.

  “And now, cowboys and cowgirls, Colton and his lady friend, Laura, will start the dancing. Miz Maudie says for those of you who haven’t finished eating not to rush. We’ll be playing until midnight so there will be lots of time to work some leather off your boots.”

  The band struck up “I Cross My Heart” by George Strait, and Colton removed his hat and held it with both hands at the small of her back.

  She wrapped her arms around his neck and laid her face on his chest. Listening to his heart beating so steady and true settled her nerves. She could do this to be free of the debt that she owed. She kept telling herself that as the singer sang just like George Strait.

  “I think Cynthia and Roger are flirting,” Colton whispered.

  “If they are it’s the real deal, not fantasy like our world.” She smiled up at him like she was deeply in love.

  “This is the real deal, Laura. Maybe not the proposal but the way I feel when we are together. It’s not pretend anymore,” he said. “Might be that Roger and Cynthia will beat us down the aisle.”

  The song ended and Laura looked up at Colton with a question on her face.

  “Trust me,” he said. “This isn’t our song.”

  The singer breathed into the microphone. “Before y’all stampede to the dance floor, Colton has asked us to sing a song just for him and Laura. So this is a Blake Shelton tune, ‘God Gave Me You.’”

  Colton kept her close to his chest and did a slow two-step around the floor with her. “What was the devil telling you at the table?”

  “He was reminding me that my sister will never change if I don’t stand my ground and then it’s an iffy situation. She might be too old to change.”

  “Do you want her to change?” Colton asked.

  “Yes, I do.”

  “If she does, she won’t be dependent on you to get her out of trouble.”

  “I’m ready to cut the apron strings.”

  “Want me to hand you the scissors?”

  The song ended and she had forgotten all about the proposal until he settled the hat back on his head and dropped down on one knee in front of her. “Laura Baker, will you marry me?” he said loud and clear.

  Gasps were heard all over the barn.

  She froze. Absolutely froze, couldn’t move or speak.

  “Laura, darlin’, I’m going to ask you one more time, will you marry me?” He popped the ring box open and the sparkle of the big fake diamond caught her attention.

  She nodded.

  He put the ring on her finger and stood up, bent her backwards in a Hollywood kiss, and then tossed his hat into the air.

  “She said yes,” he yelled above the noise.

  Dozens of camera flashes going off created a strobe light effect in the barn and her eyes got misty. If only it was real, she would be a happy woman. But it had all started wrong and everyone knew a house built without a foundation could never weather the storms.

  “Don’t leave my side, promise?” she whispered as he stood her upright.

  “Darlin’, wild horses couldn’t keep us apart.” He kissed her again, that time sweeter and not so dramatic.

  A drumroll filled the barn and then the lead singer said, “And now it is time for everyone to join the newly engaged couple in a dance. Choose a partner and come on out on the floor.”

  Roger held out his hand to Cynthia and she walked right into his arms. Janet turned around to find a cowboy grinning at her. He was tall and the word handsome barely covered his description. She pointed and he joined her on the dance floor.

  “Who is that?” Laura asked Colton.

  “Nothing to worry about, believe me.”

  “Is he married?”

  “He’s a widower and not looking for a wife. His name is Mason Harper and he’s got a set of twin girls that could scale a glass wall on a rainy day. Don’t worry about Janet. She’s safe.”

  “But is he?” Laura asked.

  Colton pulled Laura tighter into his arms as the singer started a slow ballad. “Have I told you tonight that you are beautiful?”

  She smiled up at him. “Couple of times.”

  ***

  Janet removed her boots and fell back on the pillows piled up on her bed. “Fine party. Best I’ve ever been to in my life. I’m going back home and tellin’ those ranchers how to really throw a party. The games were a hoot and the makeovers were wonderful. And the barn was absolutely fabulous and the cowboy I danced with was very attentive. I might have pressed the issue of going home with him but I found out he’s got kids. God, I’d be a horrible mother and so would you, but I’m proud of you for landing a damn billion-dollar cowboy. Surely you weren’t serious about a prenup.”

  “Another round?” Laura pulled off her boots and joined Janet on the bed.

  Janet shook her head. “I had champagne and a beer at the party. Better not be trading one vice for another. Let me look at that rock some more. Lord, girl, that thing cost as much as a third-world country, I bet. How many carats is in it?”

  Roxie peeked in the open door. “Colton told me five carats in the big stone and three more in the little ones surrounding it. Y’all old ladies aren’t tired yet?”

  Laura patted her on the shoulder. “Us old ladies know how to pace ourselves. We can run at fifty-five for a couple of days before we crash. You young kids start off at zero and go to ninety in five seconds and never slow down, then you crash at the end of six hours.”

  “Well, I’m old as the hills. I danced with a man that is only two years older than me and he’s got eight-year-old twin daughters. I shudder to think of raising kids,” Janet said. “And where is your fiancé? What in the hell are you doing with us? You should be with him tonight.”

  Laura finished off the last of her beer. “He’ll be along in a few minutes. My orders are to wait right here in my room until he arrives to sweep me off my feet.”

  Roxie propped her bare feet on an extra chair. “He’ll probably lean over the balcony and whistle like he’s callin’ up the heifers.”

  Laura gently elbowed Roxie. “Colton is right. You ha
ve changed.”

  Roxie laughed. “I know it and I like the new me. Rosalee don’t even mess with me no more now that I speak my mind.”

  “I’m not calling heifers,” Colton said from the doorway.

  His boot heels sounded like drumbeats as he crossed the hardwood floor. He put his Stetson on Laura’s head and gathered her up like a bride in his arms.

  “See y’all tomorrow morning,” he said. “We’re going for a midnight walk to look at the stars.”

  Laura snuggled into his chest. It had been a perfect day. They’d made a good team and she had memories that no one could ever take from her. But nothing, especially good things, lasted forever.

  Chapter 19

  The hot, demanding kisses started halfway up the stairs to her apartment. Laura felt like one of those big lightning balls she’d seen dancing across the Texas flatlands had settled in her lower stomach. The fire was so intense that it would take Colton half the night to get it under control. She couldn’t wait for him to drop her on the bed and make wild passionate love to her.

  Colton carried her inside, kicked the door shut with his boot heel, and took her to the bathroom. Following another long, lingering steamy kiss, he set her feet on the floor beside the full, bubbling tub. One hand slipped around her back to unzip the red dress; the other went to the nape of her neck to untie the halter strings. He kissed his way down as he pulled the dress an inch at a time toward her feet.

  “I’ve dreamed about this all night long,” he said.

  She’d removed her boots in Janet’s bedroom so all that was left was lacy red underpants. He hooked a thumb under the elastic on each side, brought them to the floor, and tasted his way from the ends of her bright red toenails upward, past her belly button to her breasts, and finally settling on her lips.

  She was so ready for the real thing but she didn’t want the kisses to end. Her scalp tingled when he began to remove the hairpins, setting her blond curls free. His lips slid to that soft spot right below her ear. She wasn’t sure if she was physically floating through the air or if it just felt that way until he lowered her into the warm bathwater.