A Cowboy's Kiss

by Vicki Lewis Thompson

  “Then I’m totally confused.” Roxanne studied her. “You were at his house and evidently he delivered on the first kiss. And that’s it? End of story?”

  “We’re not rushing things.” It was too special to rush. She sighed. “I kind of wish he didn’t have to dig into my finances, though. There’s nothing romantic about that.”

  “Does he have to dig into them?” Roxanne paused to pour a fragrant oil into the palm of her hand. “Couldn’t he just give you some marketing advice and let it go at that?”

  “No.”

  “Why not?”

  Abigail gazed at her friends. “It’s time I told you the whole story.” She stood. “But first I’ll fix some of that soothing tea.” This wouldn’t be easy, but Ingrid deserved to know. She was smart. She might already suspect.

  Minutes later, armed with her drink, she sat in the bean bag chair and confessed the state of her finances and the sorry condition of her records.

  “Oh, dear.” Ingrid looked stricken. “There were times I wondered how you were keeping track, but I was hoping…anyway, it doesn’t matter. Take back that raise you gave me when I started baking. I’ll be fine with what you were paying me before.”

  Abigail shook her head. “I’m not reducing what I pay you. You earn every penny and then some. We’ll keep your paycheck as is.”

  “But—”

  “You’re not going to suffer because of my failings. I’ll fix this because it’s my fault for not being better organized.”

  Roxanne paused the massage long enough to glance over at Abigail. “Does Luke know your records aren’t in order?”

  “I’m sure he suspects, but we haven’t come to that point in the process. He’s not going to like what he finds.” A knot of anxiety in her stomach tightened.

  “Do you think he’ll judge you?”

  “Maybe.”

  Ingrid picked up her mug of tea. “Just so you know, I don’t. You’re an awesome baker and you’ve never owned a business before. I understand how this could happen.”

  “That’s very generous of you. But like I said, I’m not going to let this sink us. Luke won’t, either. He came up with another idea to boost revenue. I’m not sure it will work, but I—”

  Ingrid sat forward. “What is it?”

  “Specialty coffee.”

  Her eyes widened. “Yeah? Would you do that?”

  “Maybe. But I’ll have to buy some equipment and one of us will need to learn how to be a barista. And fast. That could get tricky.”

  Ingrid grinned. “Got that covered.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “I already know how.”

  “You never told me that!”

  “No reason to. If you’d had a typical job application for me to fill out, you’d already know it.”

  Abigail waved a hand. “Hate those things. Hate filling them out and hate reading them. I prefer just chatting with someone.”

  “Me, too, but it meant you didn’t find out about my past job experience.”

  “And you were a barista?”

  “Yes, ma’am. And I’m damn good at it, too.”

  “Hallelujah.”

  Roxanne reached for a pair of warm socks and put them on Ingrid’s feet. “You’re done.”

  “Thanks, Rox.”

  “You’re most welcome. But now you need to put on your barista hat and help find a coffee machine.” She got up and crossed to her computer.

  “I can do that.”

  Abigail climbed out of the bean bag chair. “Just to get an idea, right? Tomorrow after I close up I can drive to Bozeman and buy something.”

  “Not efficient.” Roxanne woke up her computer and turned back to Abigail. “You’ll use time better spent organizing your space to accommodate this new offering.”

  “Yes, but I have to wait for it to get here.”

  “Not long these days. I’m the queen of online shopping and we have our barista here to advise us. Together we’ll find you a great deal on the best machine with free shipping and fast delivery. See if we don’t.”

  Abigail laughed. “Clearly I haven’t been making use of the resources at my disposal. That sounds awesome.”

  “It will be.” Ingrid headed over to the computer desk. “Go get your credit card while we start looking.”

  “Yes, ma’am.” By the time she returned, they’d found the perfect deal at the perfect price.

  “It’ll be here Tuesday!” Ingrid looked like a kid on Christmas morning. “I can’t wait to get my hands on it. I love making all that fun stuff.”

  “But when will you have time?” Abigail saw pitfalls everywhere. “You’re an apprentice baker.”

  “So I’ll be super busy at first.”

  “You deserve another raise.”

  “And I’ll ask for one once everything settles down. In the meantime, I’ll train all of you on the machine so everyone can use it. Don’t worry. We’ll figure a way to cover our bases.”

  “It’s worth doing.” Roxanne exited the site. “That’s about the only thing I’ve missed living here. Eagles Nest is ready for this.” She brought up a new screen. “Let’s design your coffee menu.”

  The knot in Abigail’s stomach began to loosen. “You know what? This is going to work.”

  Chapter Twelve

  Sunday morning. Hot damn. Luke had invited Abigail to stay for lunch and she’d accepted. Kendra was thrilled. It was shaping up to be an awesome day.

  He loaded Delilah into the truck and climbed behind the wheel. “We’re off, girl.” As he shoved the key in the ignition, his phone rang. He picked it up and glanced at the screen. Heart of the Valley Animal Shelter.

  They’d never called him. He’d checked in with all the organizations in the area a bunch of times, but this was the first instance anyone had contacted him. He glanced at Delilah, who was sitting upright, eagerly awaiting their next adventure. His gut tightened as he answered the call.

  “Mr. Bennett?”

  “Yes.”

  The woman identified herself. “Do you still have the border collie mix?”

  “Yes.” His stomach twisted.

  “You asked us to notify you of anything that might pertain to the dog and we have something, but it’s inconclusive.”

  “What is it?”

  Delilah gazed at him, worry in her golden eyes. He reached over and stroked her silky head.

  “We came across a flyer that appears to describe the animal you have, but there’s no picture. It’s also been out in the weather and the last three digits of the phone number are unreadable.”

  Someone had tried to find her. He’d always believed that would happen. She was too amazing to have been discarded like an unwanted toy. Yet whoever it was hadn’t persisted. Why?

  “I checked the area code and whoever posted the flyer has a San Diego number.”

  “San Diego?” He had a tough time imagining her as a California dog. She enjoyed the snow too much.

  “Let me read you the description.”

  “All right.” The description fit her to a T. The timeframe matched, too. “That’s…” He stopped to take a breath. “That’s gotta be her.”

  “But we don’t have the whole number.”

  “I understand that. But they would have posted more than one flyer.” A dull ache worked its way from the base of his skull to his temples.

  “Logically, yes.”

  “Then all we need is for someone to find a flyer with a complete number.”

  “That’s true, although Montana weather being what it is, I doubt that will happen. Is there any problem with you keeping her for the time being?”

  “There’s no problem with me keeping her, period. She’s a great dog.”

  The line went silent for a moment. “I really doubt any more flyers will show up.” She sounded kind.

  “But let me know if they do.”

  “I will.” The woman wished him well and disconnected.

  He stared at the phone. Why would someone g
o to the trouble of posting flyers and not follow up with calls to the various animal shelters? The numbers were all on the Internet. But they might not be online. Flyers without a picture indicated they weren’t tech savvy.

  He glanced at Delilah. “I can’t figure this out, pup.”

  She gave him her sad-eyed look.

  “Basically we’re in limbo, and that sucks.” He gave her one final scratch behind her ears. “But we have to get moving or we’ll be late.”

  On the drive to the ranch he took several deep breaths to ease the tightness in his chest but his headache refused to go away.

  Although he’d been checking with the shelters on a regular basis, lately he’d done it out of habit. Each call that yielded nothing had helped convince him that everyone was right. He’d get to keep Delilah.

  But now…. San Diego. So far away. Or maybe they’d moved and that was their cell number. If her people lived around here and they came to claim her, he might get visiting privileges.

  On the other hand, if they were in the process of moving, she could end up anywhere. He might never see her again. The iron band around his chest was back.

  When he pulled up to the barn, Kendra had all three horses at the hitching post and was grooming a tall bay named Jake. She’d probably chosen Jake for herself.

  He let Delilah out before he climbed down. The pup trotted over to Kendra, tail wagging and a mile-wide doggie smile on her face.

  Kendra laid aside her brush. “If it isn’t my new best friend!”

  Delilah whined and wiggled as Kendra scrubbed her gloved hands over the dog’s back and told her she was beautiful.

  His bad news stuck in his throat. Maybe he wouldn’t say anything. No point in saddling Kendra with this. “She sure loves coming over here. When we turned onto the ranch road, she couldn’t sit still.”

  “Is that right, Delilah?” Kendra crouched down and ruffled the dog’s floppy ears. “Are you excited to come see your Aunt Kendra? ‘Cause I’m excited to see you, too!” She reached in her pocket.

  “Oh, boy.” Luke managed a weak chuckle as Kendra pulled out a dog biscuit. “I see how it is. She won’t want to go home, now.”

  “Sure she will.” Kendra gave Delilah the treat and smiled as she stood to face him. “She likes me fine but she’s devoted to you. Which reminds me. Have you heard from anybody?”

  “Uh…”

  Her forehead wrinkled. “Luke, what’s wrong?”

  “Heart of the Valley called this morning.”

  “And?”

  He told her about the flyer.

  She took a deep breath. “Okay, that’s upsetting, but whoever put out the flyer can’t be very invested in locating her, can they? You don’t just put out a flyer, in bad weather, no less, and then forget about it. You call around.”

  “But they could be in the process of relocating. They might—”

  “I don’t care if they’ve relocated to Timbuktu! You get on the Internet, you find all the shelters in the area where you lost the dog and you call. This is a member of the family we’re talking about!”

  A weight lifted from his shoulders. “You’re right. You’re so right.”

  “Of course I am.”

  “I want to believe her people love her and can’t wait to get her back. But they sure aren’t acting like they give a damn. Even if they don’t have Internet access, they can find somebody who does.”

  “Exactly!” She cupped Delilah’s jaw and gazed into her eyes. “You’re amazing. And we love you to pieces.”

  “Yeah.” Luke cleared his throat. “And if another flyer shows up with a readable number, I’m grilling those people. She’s not going anywhere unless they have a damn good reason why they haven’t followed up on this.”

  She kissed Delilah on the top of her head and straightened. “Excellent.” She glanced toward the road as a vehicle approached. “I’ll bet that’s Abigail.”

  “It is. I’ll go meet her.”

  “Ask her to park up by the house, since you’ll be staying for lunch.”

  “Yes, ma’am.” He walked toward Abigail’s SUV as she drove in and Delilah came along. Evidently the possibility of another dog biscuit wasn’t enough to make her stay with Kendra. He kind of liked knowing that.

  After waving to get Abigail’s attention, he pointed toward the area near the house where Kendra’s truck was parked. He hadn’t been thinking about lunch or he would have left his there, too.

  Abigail pulled her white SUV in, shut off the motor and got out. Delilah charged over to meet her with even more enthusiasm than she’d shown with Kendra. Interesting.

  Crouching, she loved on the dog for a while before glancing up at him. “I brought gloves but I don’t have a hat, just my hood. The boots aren’t riding boots but they have a heel.”

  “You’ll be fine. This’ll be a mellow outing, as requested.” Seeing her again just naturally put a big old smile on his face. “Kendra thought you’d want to park here since you’ll be staying for lunch.”

  “Good idea.” She zipped her parka as she stood and walked toward him. Her rosy cheeks could be due to the cold breeze, but if her pulse was acting up like his, then it was excitement creating that flush, not chilly weather.

  The last time they’d been together…no, better not focus on that right now. “How’ve you been?”

  “Great! You won’t believe this, but Ingrid’s a trained barista.”

  “No kidding! That’s terrific.”

  “You’re telling me. The coffee machine will arrive Tuesday. Ingrid wants a day to familiarize herself, but we plan to be brewing specialty coffee first thing Thursday morning.”

  “I’m impressed.”

  “Me, too. Friday night I finally broke down and explained my financial situation to both Ingrid and Roxanne and they’ve been so—”

  “Ingrid didn’t know?”

  “Since I didn’t want to face it, I certainly wasn’t going to tell her. I think she suspected something, though, especially when I hired you.”

  “Thinking back on it, I’m a little surprised you did.”

  “Self-preservation finally kicked in. And I knew immediately you were kind. You walked into the GG with a dog you’d just rescued.”

  “She’s a gift that keeps on giving.” Might as well not mention the flyer. It didn’t loom as large now that he’d talked with Kendra. “Anyway, I’m impressed that you’re moving so quickly on the coffee.”

  “Turns out it was easier than I thought.” She smiled at him. “I’m glad you suggested this, Luke. I was nervous when I was driving here. I thought maybe we’d be awkward with each other after Friday night. But we’re not, are we?”

  “No, ma’am.” But he couldn’t wait for the right moment to kiss her again.

  Abigail had told the truth. Her nervousness about seeing Luke today had disappeared to be replaced by a deep longing to be held in those strong arms.

  He’d always been a good-looking cowboy in his Stetson. But when he’d mounted Spot On, his handsome Appaloosa, he’d transformed into a dream come true. He owned every bit of sexiness attached to the cowboy fantasy. Abigail could watch him forever.

  That turned out to be impossible. Kendra led the trail ride and Abigail was assigned the middle spot. It made sense because she was the least experienced rider. But she had to dream up reasons to say something to Luke just to give her an excuse to scoot around and get a look at him.

  And to enjoy Delilah’s antics, too. She was having the time of her life. Mostly she stuck close to Luke and Spot On. But every so often she’d see something of interest off the trail and bound through the drifts to investigate.

  She’d come back with snow sticking to her muzzle like a fake beard, which always made Luke grin.

  Abigail was so entranced by Luke, his dog and his horse, that twice she’d lost a stirrup while twisting in the saddle, but she’d covered that well. Maybe. When she’d nearly tumbled off, though, she’d given up trying to glance back at him. Falling from a ho
rse that was only walking down the trail would be damned embarrassing.

  Her gelding, a roan aptly named Strawberry, was a sweetheart. He ambled along at a pace that would have been relaxing if she hadn’t been focused on the manly cowboy riding behind her. The one who could kiss like nobody’s business.

  Because Kendra could turn in the saddle without losing a stirrup or her balance, she did that periodically to check on her guests. Abigail appreciated it. Kendra had a reputation for providing the safest trail rides in the area and her skills were on display this morning.

  Her tone was calm and cheerful as she asked about prior experience with horses, how the saddle felt and whether she liked the horse she was on.

  “Strawberry’s perfect for me,” Abigail said. “How long have you had him?”

  “About eight years.”

  “How long have you been offering trail rides?”

  “Let me think. I started when Jo Fielding and I became friends. She offered to watch my boys on the weekends so I could add trail rides to the mix. Prior to that I was only boarding. I guess we’re talking more than twenty-five years.”

  “And business has been steady?”

  Kendra chuckled. “People in business for themselves don’t generally use the word steady. They accept the peaks and valleys and work through them.”

  That was an eye-opener. “Pie in the Sky hasn’t had any valleys, yet.” Just the cliff that loomed ahead, the one she was determined not to go over.

  “Then you’re lucky. Maybe you won’t experience fluctuations. Bakeries could be different. With my business, it depends on so many variables—airline fares, weather, the economy, the cost of feed, competition from other stables, the general mood of the country. It all factors in.”

  “I chose Eagles Nest because I wouldn’t have competition. But I see what you mean. This has been a good year, but I’m new in town. Still a novelty.”

  “That never hurts.” Kendra reined in the tall bay she was riding, turned around and called out to Luke. “Let’s head back!”

  “Got it!”

  “Want to lead?”

  “Sure, why not?” He glanced up at the sky. “Think it’s gonna snow?”