“I just got off the phone with Conner. Kendra and Mark were arrested about an hour ago near Fort Worth. They’re being charged with DUI, resisting arrest and possession of drug paraphernalia. There will be more charges locally.”
She moved toward him and placed her hand against his back. “I’m so sorry, Tyler.”
He shook his head. “No, it’s a good thing. If she’s locked up, she’ll be forced to get clean and away from her creep boyfriend.” He took a deep breath. “And Maddie will be safe.”
Tyler pushed away from the truck and faced her, crossing his arms.
“I totally understand if you don’t want to be a part of this mess. If you want to move, I won’t charge you any rent. And I can help you, or if you’d prefer I can find someone else.”
She couldn’t listen to this anymore. She stepped forward and placed her palms against the bulk of his crossed arms. “I didn’t come down here to tell you I was moving.”
“You didn’t?”
“I’ll admit this morning I did think about it. But with the help of a good friend, I realized that’s not what I want.”
“It’s not?” He sounded like he wasn’t sure whether to believe her.
“No, it’s not. I’ve thought about nothing else all day. What I want more than anything in the world is you, Tyler.” Now for the big reveal. “I’ve fallen in love with you. You and Maddie and this ranch, my new life. It’s everything I never knew I wanted. And every bit of it has made me believe that I can move beyond what happened to me and have a good life, a happy life. But I understand it’s fast and that you might not feel—”
“I love you, too.”
Leah froze, not sure she’d heard him correctly. But when he pulled her into his arms and kissed her, she thought maybe she had.
When they finally stopped to breathe, Tyler pulled back enough to look at her. “You’re really not leaving?”
“Not unless you want me to.”
“That’s the last thing I want.” He ran his thumb across her cheek and looked at her with an expression that really did make her feel loved. “We’ll go as slowly as you want, but I’m going to be honest with you. I feel like you’re already part of this family, and I want to make that real at some point.”
She swallowed. “Are you saying what I think you are?”
“If you think that someday I want to make you my wife, then yes. But there’s no hurry. I want you to be ready, and I want to do things right.”
Leah had the crazy idea that she was ready now, but she thought it was probably a good plan to take their time. With Maddie safe and neither of them going anywhere, they hopefully had all the time in the world.
“Thank you,” she said.
“For?”
“For everything. Picnics by the creek, horseback rides, fixing hot water heaters, making me laugh, understanding when I was having a hard time conquering my fear.” She ran her hands slowly up his arms. “And you’re pretty good in bed, too, if I remember correctly.”
“That right? Maybe I need to refresh your memory.”
“Sounds like a good idea.” She grew more serious. “Thank you for helping me get my life back.”
He kissed her softly. “Thank you for filling the spot in mine I didn’t know was empty.”
As they kissed beneath a gorgeous late summer sky, Leah’s heart overflowed with love until it filled the rest of her body and outward to envelop the night around her. It wasn’t scary anymore because she was safe and in control of her life. And even more important was the fact that with Tyler, her heart was safe, as well.
* * * * *
Look for THE COWBOY TAKES A WIFE,
the next book in Trish Milburn’s
BLUE FALLS, TEXAS series in October 2016! Available wherever Harlequin books
and ebooks are sold.
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A Maverick’s Heart
by Roz Denny Fox
Chapter One
Lila Jenkins bustled around the Snowy Owl Café, straightening up after her women’s group, the Artsy Ladies, ended their meeting. “Rory,” she called to her nine-year-old son. He was in the kitchen with his grandmother. “Collect your homework and bring your backpack. It’s almost time to go home.”
The lanky kid dragged his pack into the café. “Mom, tomorrow can I go to ball practice? Coach told Kemper if I watch, I’ll learn what Little Leaguers do.”
She paused. “It’s supposed to rain. If so, won’t the coach cancel practice again?”
Three of the women who’d been at the meeting said goodbye. Tawana Whitefeather still stood at the kitchen pass-through chatting with Lila’s mother.
Waving to those leaving, Lila still saw her son’s pout that ran his many cheek freckles together. “I’m never gonna get to play ball on Kemper’s team, am I?”
“Well, I asked Kemper’s dad about costs. We’re earning some extra money what with Zeke Maxwell’s brother and his other friends staying at our B and B for Zeke’s wedding. I may be able to swing the fees.”
He perked right up. “Yippee!”
Lila chewed her bottom lip. “It’s not yippee-time yet, Rory. You need new equipment. And with games being in Wolf Point, there’s a matter of transportation.”
“I can ride my bike,” he said brightly.
“No way. You’re only to ride your bike from the school to Memaw’s café. Don’t even think about riding farther. I’ll pay gas for someone to drive you. But, honey, cash is still tight, so for now it’s only a maybe.”
Rory’s shoulders slumped. “I wish my daddy hadn’t died,” he mumbled. “He’d buy baseball stuff for me and teach me to bat and catch and throw like Kemper and his daddy.”
“Oh, sweetie, I’m sorry, too. I’ll do my best to work something out.” Crossing to him, Lila tried to kiss his thick auburn waves, but he ducked. With a light brush of his cowlick, she finished wiping the last table then joined Tawana.
“Lila, what time is Zeke’s brother taking the other groomsmen to the airport?”
“All I know is they’re checking out after breakfast.”
“Did Hunt
er ask about booking a room? He’s planning to come back after he gets his permanent prosthetic leg.”
Glancing at her friend, Lila reeled a bit, but hoped she hid her envy. First, Myra had found someone to love. Now, Tawana may have met someone special.
The pretty Native American feigned innocence. “Didn’t I mention he and I plan to keep in touch? We hope to meet in DC if Jewell gets us an appointment to see the Natural Resource Committee about our snowy owl preserve. Hunter’s VA is near there. Well, it’s late. I’d better run. Thanks for providing a meeting place, Doreen,” she called through the opening.
“I love having you all while I wait for my dough to rise. I have four pans of cinnamon rolls ready for the morning rush. Now I can lock up and go up to bed.”
“It’s raining again,” Rory announced. He had his face pressed to the glass of the front door.
“Drive carefully, you two,” Doreen said. “Rain makes roads slick.” She came out of the kitchen.
Lila skirted Tawana to hug her mother. “Don’t worry, Mom. You know all the ranchers in the area are asleep by now. We’ll be the only ones on the highway.”
Tawana picked up the sweatshirt she’d worn into the diner. “Yuk. Still wet.”
“You have the farthest to drive,” Doreen said. “I’ll run upstairs and get you a loaner. You can return it next time you’re in town.”
“I’ll go, Mom.” So saying, Lila dashed off.
Doreen went to the door. Reaching over her grandson, she slid open the dead bolt.
“Auntie Tawana, are you going home with Mama and me?” Rory gazed expectantly at one of his faux aunts.
She laughed. “No, slugger. I have my pickup.” She accepted the fresh sweatshirt from Lila, who had reappeared.
“Mama, she called me ‘slugger.’” Rory beamed. “Did you tell everybody how much I want to play baseball?”
“Honey bunny, like you didn’t tell everyone within earshot at Auntie Myra’s wedding reception.”
“Oh, yeah.” His grin widened, but he looked a bit sheepish. “Some of the men there asked why Kemper and me want to play ball instead of ride in the kids’ rodeo. Why do they think rodeo is funner?”
“More fun, not funner, Rory. And it’s Kemper and I, not me,” Lila corrected as they readied to follow Tawana outside.
“Well, we have more pro rodeo riders than baseball players in these parts,” Doreen said. “It’s something to consider.”
Rory’s face fell again.
Seeing his crestfallen expression, Lila rose to his defense. “Mama, I’m all for him choosing what he wants to do. Most schools have ball teams. Anyway, by the time he’s grown, who knows what he’ll want to do.”
“True.” Doreen nodded. “I want Rory to be happy, but I especially want him to stay out of the mines.”
“Lord, yes.” Lila didn’t need the subtle reminder that her dad and her husband had both died in mine accidents. “G’night. Wait, Ma...do you need me to work the breakfast shift? I could use the time to wash linens and tidy the rooms. Three of the guys are checking out of the Owl’s Nest tomorrow and I’ve got two couples who stayed with me last year booked for trout fishing this weekend. I need to turn the rooms around fast.”
“Take the morning off. Tell the fishermen if they catch any, I’ll buy them to serve as a weekend dinner special.”
Lila flipped up her hood. “Okay, but they may be catch-and-release fishermen.”
“If not, my offer’s on the table.”
Doreen closed up as Lila skipped over a deep puddle to unlock her old Jeep Cherokee, making sure Tawana’s pickup had started before she climbed in.
“What’s ‘catch and release’?” Rory asked once he settled into the backseat on the passenger side. It was always his chosen spot.
She checked to see he’d buckled in before firing the engine. “There are people who love to fish, but either don’t want to see fish die or they have no means of keeping them fresh to cook. So they turn them back into the lake or river.”
“Um, I guess that’s good. But it seems silly.”
Lila smiled as she left the town behind. “Fly-fishing takes skill. And let’s not say anything negative, since fishermen rent our rooms and that pays our bills.”
“Okay. I’m tired. How long before we get home?”
Lila heard his yawn. “Ten or fifteen minutes.”
Rory fell silent and Lila thought he had gone to sleep—which left her free to worry about whether she was a bad mother for making him stay with her at work. Since kindergarten, Kemper Barnes had been Rory’s best friend. Rory used to go home with him to play or to study until the café closed and Lila could pick him up. Now that Kemper was in Little League, Rory had to come to the café. And on nights she met with the Artsy Ladies, he was stuck there late.
As she’d told her mom, the highway was empty tonight. It wasn’t long before she turned onto the paved lane that led to their ranch.
Suddenly Rory shouted, “Mom, stop! You’re going to hit Ghost and...and a man!”
Her nerves jangled—she’d thought Rory was asleep. His shout had her stomping hard on the brake pedal as she glimpsed a flash of white off to her right. The Cherokee hit a puddle of standing water, and although she’d slowed for the turn, she felt the front end kite. Her back wheels spun like racing slicks seconds before the brakes grabbed. It all happened so fast and jerkily, her head smacked the left-side window hard. Briefly all went dim and she heard birds tweeting and bees buzzing.
Lila wanted to clutch her head. Instead she gripped the wheel tighter. Only vaguely did she remain aware that the back end of her SUV had landed in a deep culvert.
Flinching, Lila wondered why her lights cast pretty halos in the branches of a nearby tree instead of illuminating the lane ahead of her. She tried to check on Rory, but a sharp pain in her head rendered her voiceless.
All at once her door was yanked open. The dome light illuminated the SUV’s interior, blinding Lila. Ghost, the almost-white yellow Lab that Jewell Hyatt had given Rory after his dad died, scrambled across her tense body and over into the backseat.
“Are you okay?” inquired a deep male voice.
Somewhere behind her Lila heard her son ordering his dog to stop licking him. A tiny bit of her relaxed. However, she honestly didn’t know whether she should tell the man yes, she was okay, or no, she might be dead and floating above everything amid those sparkly lights.
But she wasn’t dead. She felt the man’s arm slide across her, saw him put the Jeep in Park and turn the key to shut off the engine. Then his head appeared directly in front of her still-unfocused eyes. Blond hair, askew. Darker in spots from the rain. Gorgeous yet concerned green eyes in a chiseled, sun-bronzed face stared at her. Well-shaped lips set in a straight line above an appealing cleft in his manly chin.
It took Lila several rocketing heartbeats, but she finally managed to assemble all the attractive parts from those strong shoulders upward. The parts belonged to Seth Maxwell, Myra’s husband’s twin, who was staying on after his brother’s wedding. He’d been the groomsman who’d escorted Lila down the aisle.
He shone a small, bright light in her eyes, causing her to wince and blink, and she lost his handsomeness into blackness shot with pinpoints of pain.
Rory’s anxious voice yelling, “Mom... Mom!” right near her ear shook Lila from her stupor as nothing else had.
She tried once more to speak, but her mouth felt as if she’d swallowed cotton.
“Is my mom all right?” she heard Rory demand.
* * *
SETH MAXWELL FROWNED. “I don’t know, kid. For sure she’s dazed. I need to get her to the house so we can see. I’ll carry her if you can manage the dog—the rascal. I took him out for a run. When he spotted your car, he yanked the leash right out of my hand. I was scared witless that your
car would hit him.”
“Me, too,” Rory said. “I don’t think Mom saw him or you. I yelled at her to stop. I probably made us land in the ditch.”
“If anyone’s to blame, it’s me. I took your dog out in questionable weather,” Seth assured the boy as he shifted the flashlight to his left hand and with his right slowly released Lila’s seat belt. “I’m going to get your mom. We’ll take it slow back to the house, okay?”
“The lane goes straight there,” Rory said. “What were you doing with Ghost anyway?”
“Ghost?” Seth, confused, paused in lifting Lila into his arms.
“My dog. He stays in our part of the house when we’re gone.”
“Well, tonight he was in the foyer. I wanted to go for a run and your dog brought me his leash.”
Rory tightened his grip on that leash. “Oh, you’re one of the guys renting from us, huh?”
“Yes. Remember, we met at my brother’s wedding? Most of the guys in the wedding party are staying here until tomorrow. Tonight we all went to Zeke’s place for supper. He and his wife fed us so well, when I got home and realized the rain had slackened, I decided to go out for exercise.” Seth spoke calmly to the boy as he trudged toward the house with his burden. “In the middle of our run it started to drizzle, so I turned back.”
Lila spoke for the first time, a guttural sound somewhere below Seth’s chin. “I, uh, think I can walk.” She gingerly touched her left temple. “I hit my head on something. Maybe the window. Did I crack it?”
“Your head?” Seth asked, a smile in his voice.
Lila shoved at his solid shoulder. “The window, you goose. Did I break the window?”
“No, but you did a number on your vehicle. It’s stuck. We need daylight to see if you did any damage to its underpinnings. I don’t think you broke an axle,” he said, supporting her back with his hand.
“My head hurts, but stuff is starting to make sense. Rory, we carry a big flashlight in the glove box. Run back and get it for Mr. Maxwell.”
“It’s Seth, okay?” They’d all stopped in the lane, and Rory and Ghost ran back to the Cherokee, leaving Seth and Lila in the dark.
A Rancher to Love Page 18