Cowboy Doctor

by Rebecca Winters

  Roce remembered that painful period as if it were yesterday. He remembered his father’s kindness and wisdom. His belief in Roce had been the turning point in his life. He was too choked up to think, let alone talk.

  “You okay?” Toly asked.

  “I don’t know what to say. You guys are the best.”

  “We know,” Eli quipped.

  They all laughed.

  By now Luis had come inside, wearing a grin. “Don’t kill me, Roce. I had to come up with an excuse you couldn’t turn down.”

  “Well, you sure did know how to do that!” Roce gave the foreman a huge hug. He and Solana might not be blood, but they were part of the family.

  He stared at Wymon. “Was Tracey in on this?”

  “Yes, but she doesn’t know about the gift. That’s for you to tell her.”

  “Yeah.” Eli smiled. “One night below a Greek moon, while you’re walking through white sand.”

  “You lucky devil,” Toly murmured.

  Roce nodded. “I know.”

  July 29

  LITTLE LIBBY LOOKED adorable in a long, white lace dress with a purple sash. As soon as the organ music started, she walked down the aisle of the church in Polson, holding a bouquet of larkspurs.

  Behind her came Roce’s two sisters-in-law and Tracey’s best friend dressed in soft lavender gowns. Then came the bride on her father’s arm.

  Tracey was draped in floor-length white silk and a long, flowing white lace veil, carrying a matching sheaf of purple larkspurs over her arm.

  On Roce’s insistence they’d been picked fresh on Clayton property. He wore one pinned to the lapel of his tuxedo, as did his three brothers, who acted as Roce’s best men. They stood near Tracey’s aging minister, who would perform the ceremony.

  All four of them wore Ralph Lauren midnight-blue, two-button tuxedos with black bow ties. As she clung to her wonderful father’s arm and approached her husband-to-be, Roce’s elegance took Tracey’s breath away. His male beauty was unequaled. I’m really going to marry him.

  Tracey’s mother, looking lovely in a pale pink dress, sat in the front pew with Tracey’s grandfather and her brother and his wife. Roce’s family were in place in the front pew on the other side of the aisle. Alberta, beautifully dressed in an off-white silk suit, sat with Luis and Solana.

  Except for Roce’s father and her grandmother, everyone else they loved was here.

  No detail had been overlooked for their midmorning church wedding. The reception would follow at Tracey’s family home. Afterward, she and Roce would leave for the airport in Missoula. Once they returned from Greece, there would be another reception held at the Clayton ranch house for friends in that area of Montana.

  Another step closer and Roce’s hazel eyes locked on to hers. They gleamed like the gems brought out of the Sapphire Mountains. The moment they’d been waiting for had come. Her blood sang in her veins and she prayed she wouldn’t collapse from too much joy.

  The minister smiled at Tracey. “If you’ll grasp your fiancé’s hand, we’ll begin.” She passed her flowers to her mother, then took her place at Roce’s side. He threaded his fingers through hers like he’d done so many times.

  “This is it, sweetheart,” he whispered.

  Her heart was thumping so hard, she feared everyone in the chapel could hear it.

  “There’s no greater privilege for me than to marry Tracey to her beloved. I blessed her when she was brought into this world. I’ve watched her grow up from a sweet little girl into a lovely woman who has always been a blessing to her parents and family. I’ve lived long enough to hear her heartaches on occasion, and then rejoice to learn she’s found the man of her dreams.

  “Roce? I haven’t had the privilege of knowing you. But when Tracey and I talked and she told me about you in the kind of glowing terms a man would give anything to hear from the woman he was going to marry, I knew this was going to be a very special, unique love match.

  “Few people here know how you two met. It’s worth mentioning that Tracey, a great horsewoman, discovered a horse in trouble, and through means I’m convinced came from above, Dr. Clayton was there to take care of it. I found their story inspiring, which is why I’m honored to perform their ceremony on this red-letter day.

  “Do you, Dr. Rocelin Clayton, take Tracey Marcroft to be your lawfully wedded wife, to keep her in sickness and in health, to laugh with her, cry with her, build your life with this sweet woman, to love her, honor her and cherish her as God intended, all the days of your life?”

  “I do.”

  The emotion in Roce’s voice reached Tracey’s heart.

  The minister smiled at her. “I already know your answer, but so that your husband can hear it, do you, Tracey Marcroft, take Dr. Rocelin Clayton to be your lawfully wedded husband, to be his comfort, to support him in his care of God’s creatures, to love him and only him, to be a light for him when things look dark, to be his delight no matter the season, to make your home a place he will always yearn for?”

  Tracey looked into Roce’s eyes. His love shone through with a luster she’d never seen before. “I will.”

  “Then by the power invested in me, I now pronounce you man and wife. I believe you have tokens to exchange.”

  She’d kept the simple gold wedding band for him in her left palm. Tracey had bought it secretly from Alberta, and now slid it on his ring finger. He in turn had a thin gold wedding band he placed on her finger next to the sapphire.

  “What God has joined together, let no man put asunder. You may now kiss your bride.”

  “Darling,” she whispered against his mouth, before he gave her a husband’s kiss, hot with desire, lighting her on fire. She clung to him, forgetting they had an audience. They’d waited for this for so long.

  Roce was the one who came to his senses first and relinquished her lips. The fire she glimpsed in his eyes excited her to the very core of her body. How were they going to last the twenty hours they’d be in flight from Missoula to Mykonos before they could be truly alone? But at least they would be together. Forever.

  Mykonos, Greece

  THE SHORT TAXI ride from Mykonos airport to the beach resort was the longest Roce had ever known. They could have stayed in New York overnight and then flown to Greece. But both of them wanted to spend all their time on the Aegean.

  They were almost there. How was it possible to be so exhausted, yet trembling in desperation to be alone in order to begin their life as man and wife?

  “Oh, look, Roce. How beautiful!” The sun had just dipped below the dark blue water when they arrived at their destination. The famous white Cycladic architecture flowing through a labyrinth of streets and white rocks didn’t seem real.

  Roce paid the driver, then they went inside the office of the building where they’d be staying and were promptly shown to their beach apartment with its colorful wooden balcony and stone floors. It was built right on the sand, with a small pool to bathe in. Beyond it was the sea as far as the eye could see.

  The man put their bags down and kept talking until Roce told him they were on their honeymoon. Hearing those words, he left so fast Tracey started to laugh. “I need a quick shower,” she said.

  “Did you mean it when you promised to be my comfort?”

  “Wait a minute and you’ll find out.”

  She soon emerged from the bathroom wrapped in a white terry cloth guest bathrobe. He almost had a heart attack. “The bathroom is yours.” Her smile lit up his universe.

  Roce took a shower in record time and came out wearing his own robe. The room was dark except for the soft glow of the outside lights through the double doors opening on to the balcony.

  Roce found his wife turning down the covers of the bed. She lifted her silvery-gold head as he walked toward her. “We’re official now, Tracey. I’ve been wa
iting for this moment for so long, I’m trembling.”

  “So am I.”

  “I love you. Let me show you how much.” He drew her into his arms and pulled her down on the bed with him. The second he covered her mouth with his own, their passion ignited. He’d never known such overpowering desire. The wonder of it all was that they didn’t have to hold back, not ever again.

  For the rest of the night they gave each other indescribable pleasure. His generous, loving wife thrilled him in ways he didn’t know were possible. “You’re so beautiful, so wonderful. What if we’d never met?” he whispered softly against her neck.

  “I don’t even want think about it, Roce. I didn’t know love could be like this. Keep loving me, darling. Never let me go.”

  “As if I would.”

  Throughout the night, their hunger for each other knew no bounds. It was almost noon of the next day when he awakened first. Intoxicated by his brand-new wife’s sweet scent and the sight of her lying next to him with her hair seductively disheveled, he studied her until he couldn’t resist kissing her awake.

  As she came alive, he moved her on top of him and they began the process of loving all over again. Sometime later, she raised herself up on one elbow and looked down at him. “You’re so handsome it hurts, and I could stay like this forever. But I just noticed the time, and I know you’ve got to be hungry. All I have to do is pick up the phone and ask them to bring us some food.”

  He traced the line of her mouth. “Do it, but don’t go away from me.”

  She rolled on her side to make the call. The second she hung up, he pulled her back to him. “When they knock, I’ll get it.”

  “I’m not sure I can let you go for that long.”

  Roce was full of so much emotion, he crushed her in his arms. He kissed her succulent mouth over and over until they heard a knock. After sliding out from the covers, he threw on his robe and took some bills from his wallet to pay room service.

  This time he was the one to put their tray in the middle of the bed. It reminded him of the night she’d helped him to bed after their ordeal in the mountains. Tracey lay propped on her side waiting for him.

  Before joining her, he reached in his suitcase for the envelope Wymon had given him in the barn during his bachelor party. Then he walked back to the bed with it and stretched out on the other side of the tray.

  He’d never tire of taking in her beauty. “You have no idea how alluring you look this morning.”

  Tracey beamed. “I could say the same thing about you. I adore you and your irresistible five o’clock shadow.”

  “I gave you a rash, but I’m not sorry.”

  “Neither am I,” she said breathlessly. “What’s in that envelope?”

  “I’ll tell you as soon as we’ve eaten our breakfast. This looks delicious.”

  When they’d finished, he put the tray on the floor at the side of the bed. “Now. Come over here and we’ll look at this together.”

  She cuddled up to him while he opened the envelope and held up the map with the big red circle in the bottom left corner. “This, my love, represents the Clayton property.”

  Tracey sat up straighter. “Then that’s the circle around your house.”

  He laughed long and hard. “Our house is in one portion of it. That circle is the outline of the property I now own.” He reached in pull out the deed. “For our wedding present from the family, we’ve been given enough land to do whatever we want.”

  “Roce...”

  “Fantastic, isn’t it? My family expects we’ll build a big ranch house, and kennels for the surgery. The list goes on and on, including a barn for our horses.”

  “It is fantastic. That’s because they love you so much. But I have to tell you I love our little house in the big woods.”

  “So do I.” He pulled her back into his arms. “But when the babies come, we’re going to need more room.”

  “Babies—your babies. I can’t wait. Can’t you see our little boy or girl toddling around, with Daisy running circles because she’s so excited?”

  “All in good time, sweetheart. For a little while I just want you to myself.”

  She kissed the side of his mouth. “How little is a little while?”

  Deep laughter rumbled out of him. “Are you telling me you want a baby right away?”

  “Not if it isn’t what you want.”

  He leaned over her. “If you want to know the truth, I’d love to start a family right now.”

  “You would?” She sounded ecstatic. “Oh, I love you, I love you. Let’s not go anywhere for a while. Let’s just stay in this little apartment.”

  “You’re quite shameless. I hadn’t realized.”

  “There’s a lot you don’t know about me, Dr. Clayton.”

  “I’m beginning to realize that, Mrs. Clayton. By now you have to realize I’d do anything for you. All my life I’ve heard the expression ‘getting your heart’s desire.’ I never dreamed it would actually happen to me.”

  “Thank heaven I drove by your house that day and found mine. Don’t ever let me go, Roce.”

  “That works both ways, sweetheart. Now no more talk,” he whispered against her lips before devouring her.

  * * * * *

  Toly’s story is next! Read more of

  Rebecca Winters’s

  SAPPHIRE MOUNTAIN COWBOYS miniseries

  in ROPING HER CHRISTMAS COWBOY,

  coming December 2017,

  only from Harlequin Western Romance!

  Keep reading for an excerpt from HER COWBOY BOSS by Patricia Johns.

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  Her Cowboy Boss

  by Patricia Johns

  Chapter One

  So this is my dad.

  Avery Southerly shook Louis Harmon’s calloused hand, suppressing a wince at his too-tight grasp. He was in his midforties with a potbelly and a white cowboy hat that shaded his heat-reddened face. His dark eyes were kind, and he gave her a cordial nod. He’d only have been nineteen when she was born, but somehow, she’d always imagined her father looking older than this.

  With a quick look around the property, she could tell that he ran a clean ranch. The front yard had been recently mowed, and the drive was clear of vehicles. The fence that separated yard from pasture was well maintained, and she could make out some horses grazing in the distance. Farther off she could hear the growl of a tractor’s engine on the grass-scented June breeze. She’d have found this place relaxing if she weren’t so wound up.

  “Avery, yo
u said?” He released her hand, and she waited for some sort of recognition to dawn. It didn’t.

  “Avery Southerly.”

  He raised his eyebrows—still no recognition. She’d come out to Montana to introduce herself to her father, and she’d known it would be difficult. Since her mother passed away, she had a new desire to meet the father she’d never known. However, she was nervous enough that she’d come with an excuse: an advertisement for a cook at the Harmon Ranch that she’d spotted on a bulletin board in the coffee shop. If she couldn’t suss up the courage to tell him everything right away, then she’d simply apply for the job and wait for the right moment...maybe even get to know her father a little bit before there was all the pressure of surprise paternity.

  He nodded toward the flyer in her hand. “I assume you’re here for the cook position.”

  She looked down. It was now or never...

  “Yes.” She gave a decisive nod. “I’m applying for the job, sir.”

  “Glad you are because the competition is very thin right about now.” He laughed.

  Well, that took care of that. Louis nodded toward the house and started walking away, so she followed him.

  “The team isn’t too fussy,” he said over his shoulder. “They like the basics—griddle cakes, bacon, eggs, baked beans, steak once a week and as much corn bread as you can bake.”

  He led the way along a path toward the side door of the low ranch-style house. It was large and sprawling, with one wing dedicated to a three-door garage. He pulled open the screen door and gestured her through.

  “You can make corn bread, can’t you?” he asked.

  “Uh—yes. I can make corn bread.”

  She’d made corn bread once, at least, from a recipe she found online. She wasn’t a great cook, to be honest... She wasn’t completely inept in a kitchen, but she knew her limitations, and this idea was starting to unravel in her mind already. She should just come out with it—tell him the truth—but Actually, I’m here to inform you that I’m your daughter just wouldn’t come out of her mouth.