Billion Dollar Cowboy

by Carolyn Brown

  He reached across the seat and put the keys in her hand.

  “What’s this all about?”

  “This truck is yours. I’m giving it to you and releasing you from staying a whole month right now. You can go wherever you want.”

  She threw the keys with enough force that they bounced off the window and landed in the backseat. “I don’t want your truck. And I’ve got almost another week so I’m not going anywhere. I’m not ready to leave Roxie and Aunt Maudie or the ranch.”

  “And me?”

  Laura stomped her foot so hard that a puff of dust floated all the way to his knees.

  “Especially you. Why are you trying to run me off anyway? Did an old flame appear on your doorstep? She did, didn’t she?”

  Colton stammered and finally spit out, “No!”

  “Then why are you trying to run me off?”

  Colton unbuckled his seat belt and got out of the truck.

  It was plain to Laura that he was going to start walking. He could call Andy and he’d drop everything to come get him. Well, she sure wasn’t driving that blasted truck a single mile. If he could walk, she could too.

  She bailed out of the truck and met him at the back tailgate. “I told you I don’t want this truck and I’m not leaving. You can stay here and fight with me or go home and puff up like a bullfrog but I’m not leaving the ranch.”

  “Ever?”

  She stopped in her tracks.

  “That depends, but I’m sure staying until next Sunday.”

  “Depends on what?” Colton pushed.

  “Whether you fight with me or not. I don’t like cowboys who pout.”

  He laid a hand on her shoulder and she looked up into his green eyes. They slowly slid shut as his lips came closer and closer. She snapped her blue eyes shut a split second before the kiss landed. Passion, peace, and love all mixed together into a roller coaster of emotions in his heart and soul.

  He hugged her tightly to his chest. “Laura, I love you. I didn’t intend to fall in love with you, but I have. Not only do I love you, I’m hopelessly in love with you. That’s a double whammy. I couldn’t bear to live through another week knowing every day that you were leaving at the end of it. So I’m setting you free to go or to stay. It’s up to you.”

  She leaned back and stared right into his eyes again. “I love you, Colton. It scares me but I do. You are a good man and you deserve a woman who’s confident in her role as a wife and a mother. I’m not but I’ll do my best.”

  He dropped down on one knee in front of her and held out a velvet box. “Laura Baker, will you marry me?”

  The ring inside wasn’t nearly as big as the fake diamond on her finger but she loved it… almost as much as she loved the cowboy on one knee in front of her.

  “The sapphire reminded me of your eyes and there’s fifty small diamonds surrounding it, one for each year until our golden anniversary. I chose gold because the band is gold and when you take off the engagement ring to play in the dirt, you can still wear your wedding band. Please say something, Laura. Please say yes.”

  ***

  “Who picked that out?” she asked.

  “I went to the jewelry store last week. I promise that Andy didn’t. I’m asking again. Laura, will you marry me?”

  “Yes, I will.” She removed the fake ring from her finger and handed it to him. “As long as we always, always live in a real world from now on, I will marry you. I’m tired of living in a make-believe world.”

  He stood up and drew her close to his chest.

  “You got it, darlin’. When?” he asked.

  “Next Sunday, but don’t tell anyone. I do not want a paparazzi wedding. I want a real one and I don’t want to wait for it. Make arrangements with Roger to take care of it right after church and then we’ll go home like always.”

  “Are you afraid of a long engagement? Are you afraid I’ll change my mind? I won’t, Laura. It took me a long time to get up the courage to tell you how much I love you. I will never, ever change my mind.”

  “No, I just want to be married. And tell Andy to draw up a prenup. Without it, I won’t ever marry you. It has to be simple. If I ever leave you, then all I take with me is my personal possessions.”

  Colton frowned. “I trust you, Laura.”

  “Like I said before, I’m not interested in your money. I want your heart and I want to give you mine. Neither have a price tag on them.”

  ***

  By the end of the week, Laura wished she’d insisted on a courthouse wedding on Monday morning. She couldn’t imagine a six-month engagement when one week made her as nervous as Donald in duck season. What if Colton changed his mind? What if in six months she wished she had waited? No wonder women got crazy during engagements and lost their minds planning a wedding. All she had to do was pick out a dress, go to church, listen to the sermon, and then get married.

  No flowers, no ribbons, no pew bows, not even a cake to worry about. Colton assured her that he’d talked privately to Roger, who would be ready to marry them right after Ina Dean delivered the benediction.

  She snuggled up against Colton’s back and wrapped her arms around his body. Tomorrow she would wake up in the master suite in the big ranch house.

  Colton turned over and hugged her close to his chest. “Good morning, Miss Baker. I can’t believe that tomorrow morning when we wake up I get to say ‘good morning, Mrs. Nelson.’ Are you sure, absolutely sure, that you don’t mind sharing the house with the family? We can build another house or we can build one for Granny and Roxie.”

  “Shhh.” She laid a finger over his lips. “I love the family and the house is plenty big enough for all of us. Besides, I love all of them. I love having meals with them and we have our privacy when we want it. And,” she grinned, “we can always sneak out here if we want.”

  “It’s hard not to kiss you this morning,” he moaned.

  “I know, but it’s our wedding day. I want the first kiss today to be the one when I’m your wife. I can’t believe I’m getting married in the hottest month of the whole year. I’m sure glad I don’t have to worry with a big white dress. I’d faint dead away in that hot satin,” she said.

  He picked up her hand and kissed each finger. “I love you, Laura.”

  “I love you too.” She bailed out of bed but it didn’t cool her hand or her desire to want an early morning bout of sex that got hotter and more passionate every time she and Colton fell into bed.

  He found his shirt on the floor next to the door and his jeans at the foot of the bed. When he was dressed, he hugged her close and said, “I’ll get dressed for church and meet you at breakfast?”

  “I’ll be there.”

  “I’m terrified that you will change your mind. Promise me you’ll marry me?” He held both her hands and looked deep into her eyes.

  She didn’t blink. “I’ll be the one sitting beside you during church. If you still want to marry me when the service is over, then squeeze my hand three times. I’m afraid you’ll disappear while Ina Dean is thanking God for everything from tomatoes to Jesus.”

  “I’m not going anywhere, darlin’.” He dropped her hands and was gone before she could answer.

  The sun hung above the treetops, promising another hot August day as she crossed the yard from the carriage house to the main ranch house. A sudden burst of indecision hit. Should she go back and change into something fancier? The blue sundress and her best cowboy boots didn’t look much like a wedding dress. Lord, she’d be glad when it was over!

  She could hear Roxie and Maudie talking about school shopping when she slipped into the office.

  Colton stood up. He wore creased jeans stacked up right above his boots and a pale blue shirt. “You are stunning. Please say you’ve changed your mind and we aren’t doing this.”

  She shook her head.

 
“Well?” Andy asked.

  “I’m not saying a single vow until I sign that prenup.”

  Andy produced another sheaf of papers. “This is the prenup our group of lawyers has drawn up saying that in the event of a divorce you will leave the ranch with only your personal belongings.” He held a pen out to her.

  She took it without a minute’s hesitation and scrawled her name on the line with a red check beside it. “Colton Nelson, I never plan to divorce you or leave the ranch. If you leave me, all the money in the world wouldn’t fix my broken heart. However, if you ever cheat on me, rest assured I will make sure that the buzzards and coyotes do not even know where to hunt for your body. So are you ready for this?”

  “That will not happen,” Colton told her.

  “Okay, kids, let’s go to breakfast and then to church,” Andy said.

  ***

  They were lined up on the pew like always. Andy at the far end, Rusty beside him, then Maudie, Roxie, Colton, and Laura. The number for the first hymn was given out when Janet slipped down the aisle and tapped Laura on the shoulder. Everyone on the pew shifted to allow her to sit beside Laura.

  “Happy wedding day,” she whispered.

  “How…”

  “Andy can’t keep a secret and he was in on the prenup. Good for you!”

  It seemed like Roger preached forever, but when he asked Ina Dean to deliver the benediction, Laura looked at her watch and he’d cut his sermon short by fifteen minutes.

  Ina Dean finally, after what seemed like an eternity of giving thanks, said, “Amen.”

  Roger quickly picked up the microphone and said, “If everyone will please remain seated, I have a couple of things to share with you. First, as you all know I’ve been offered the job of preaching over in Bokchito, Oklahoma. I have prayed and prayed about it and have decided that God isn’t finished with the work he wants me to do right here in Ambrose. Second, last night I asked Cynthia to marry me and she said yes. There will be a wedding sometime over the Christmas holiday right here in our church. And Laura has talked to me and joined the church. And, I do love that word and because it means there is more to come, I saved the best until last. Laura and Colton are going to get married right here today. So if you two will come forward, we’ll get this ceremony under way.”

  Colton squeezed her hand three times and they stood up together.

  Maudie sniffed into a handkerchief.

  “Yes!” Roxie whispered.

  “I love you.” Janet pulled a gorgeous nosegay of daisies, roses, and orchids from her oversized purse and handed it to Laura.

  “Colton, stand right here,” Roger said. “And Miss Laura, you stand here. You two face each other and look at each other, not at me.”

  In ten minutes she would never be Miss Laura Baker again. Panic clenched her heart into a pretzel.

  “Dearly beloved, we are gathered here today in the presence of God and these witnesses,” Roger began. “Traditional vows?” he whispered.

  Colton nodded.

  All the fears, doubts, and worries left Laura when Colton said his vows without stuttering one time and finished with his own words, “All this I vow because I love you and because you own my heart.”

  Maudie wept loudly into a handkerchief behind her.

  Roxie sighed.

  Rusty cleared his throat.

  “Now repeat after me,” Roger said to Laura.

  She drew strength from looking deeply into Colton’s eyes and blocking everything else out as she repeated her vows, ending with, “All this I promise to do because I love you too, Colton, and my heart is yours for all eternity.”

  “By the authority invested in me by the state of Texas and by God, I pronounce you man and wife,” Roger said. “Now, Colton, you may kiss your bride.”

  The kiss sealed the vows and Laura knew complete and honest peace in that moment when her husband’s lips touched hers.

  Roger laid a hand on Laura’s shoulder and one on Colton’s. “Let me be the very first to introduce to you all in this room, Mr. and Mrs. Colton Nelson. There is a reception out at the ranch with a light lunch, fellowship, and wedding cake for anyone who’d like to follow the new couple out there.”

  Colton looked at Laura.

  She shrugged. “I don’t know what he’s talking about.”

  Colton looked at the family pew and Andy winked.

  “Andy?” he whispered.

  “I might have known.” She nodded.

  Colton tucked Laura’s arm in his and a standing ovation and loud clapping led her out to his truck. He caged her with an arm on each side of her against the truck and kissed her hard, passionately, and with so much heat that she was panting when he stepped back.

  Andy was behind Colton when she opened her eyes. “Congratulations! And Laura, I did the reception. Not Colton or even Maudie and Roxie knew about it. Hired a caterer and called Janet. So don’t ever be mad at Colton. You both need the memories.”

  “I’m so happy right now I could never be mad at anyone,” she said. “Let’s go home.”

  Colton left a cloud of dust behind the truck the whole way home and skidded to a stop so fast that it scared Donald and Daisy, who’d been sleeping on the front porch. The cat climbed the mimosa tree and Donald flew toward the pond.

  “What is the big hurry?” she asked.

  “I want to get something done before everyone gets here,” he said.

  “You ready for this?” Andy asked the minute they were out of the truck.

  Colton grabbed Laura’s hand and followed Andy into the house.

  “Bring it on,” Colton said as soon as they were in the office.

  Andy pulled a single sheet of paper from the briefcase. “This paper nullifies everything you just signed, Laura. It says that from the moment you became Mrs. Colton Nelson that the ranch is yours as well as his.”

  “But,” she stammered.

  “You needed to show me how much you trusted me.” Colton signed his name to the bottom of the document. “This is showing you that I trust you.”

  Tears flowed down her cheeks. “I love you.”

  He wiped them away with the back of his hand. “Don’t cry, darlin’. What’s mine is yours and remember what you said about the heart. Well, if you were ever to leave me, I’d die and wouldn’t have any need for all this anyway. Now let’s go share our wedding day with all our family and friends.”

  Dear Readers,

  A few months ago, four new cowboys showed up in my virtual world and asked, hats in hand, that I tell their stories. I guess word is getting around that I’m a sucker for sexy cowboys with an interesting love story. Colton Nelson wanted to be first and invited me down to Ambrose, Texas, to take a look at the town of less than a hundred people and his ranch, the Circle 6, which was ten times bigger than the whole town. I was hooked from the first line of their story about how they’d even met each other.

  Ambrose is at the end of the road, quite literally, since you can’t cross the Red River into Oklahoma at that point. The school closed years ago and the kids are bussed six miles over to Bells, Texas. The old school building is now used as a community center. They lost their post office a while back and the mail comes by rural mail delivery. But there is still a church and the folks are a friendly lot who take care of their own.

  I fell in love with the small towns in that area as well as the cowboys and their stories. Lucas is from Savoy, not far from Bells. Greg has lived on a ranch in Ravenna his whole life, and Mason lives just outside of Whitewright with his twin daughters.

  So begins a brand-new venture in a brand-new area of Texas. Trust me, the cowboys are sexy and the ladies that capture their hearts are very sassy. Here’s hoping that you settle in real well with these folks and enjoy reading all about the cowboys from north Texas.

  Many thanks to my fabulous editor, Deb Werksm
an, and all the staff at Sourcebooks who turn my manuscripts into gorgeous books. I’d like to thank Sourcebooks once again for continuing to publish my books. Also thank you to my agent Erin Niumata and the folks at Folio Literary Management. And Husband, the man who is always ready at the drop of a hat to go with me anywhere I want to go for research. He even drives and takes tons of pictures for me so my hands can be free to take notes. It takes a special person to be the spouse of an author and he has my utmost love and appreciation.

  And a very, very big thank you to all you readers! Y’all are truly the wind beneath my wings!

  All my best,

  Carolyn Brown

  Read on for a sneak peek at

  Cowboy Seeks Bride

  coming August 2013 from Sourcebooks Casablanca

  If it was an April Fools’ joke, it damn sure wasn’t funny.

  If it wasn’t a joke, it was a disaster.

  Those five big horses complete with cowboys didn’t look like a joke. Cattle bawling and milling around looked pretty damned real, too. And that little covered wagon, with a bald-headed man the size of a refrigerator sitting on the buckboard holding the reins for two horses in his hands, didn’t have a single funny thing about it, either.

  Haley’s mouth went dry when she realized that the big dapple gray horse was for her and that absolutely nothing in front of her was a practical joke. It was all as real as the smell of the horses and what they’d dropped on the ground.

  She slung open the door of her little red sports car. The cowboys were all slack jawed, as if they’d never seen a woman before. Well, they’d best tie a rope around their chins and draw them back up because she was going to be their sidekick for the next thirty days. They could like it or hate it. It didn’t really matter to her. All she wanted to do was get the month over with and go home to civilization.

  “You lose your way?” The cowboy on a big black horse looked down at her. His tone was icy and his deep green eyes even colder.