Cowboy's Heart (Copper Canyon, Texas)

by Patti Ann Colt

  ∞∞∞∞∞∞

  CHAPTER FIVE

  Jess and Shane battled the grass blaze side-by-side. Shane’s fire engine had arrived just as he’d parked his truck and the two brothers made their way to the burning grass near the corrals. Shane was dragging the hose from the fire engine and Jess had the pick and shovel from his truck. They were focused on saving the barn and house from the sweeping fire.

  He was hot and sweaty and drenched and getting nowhere. The fire was roaring across the dry grass, sparks flying in the air like little fire flies. Two trees on the opposite side of the grassy area were already in flames.

  Jess threw another shovel of dirt on a hot area and turned to survey what the other crews were doing. He damn hated when this happened. The fire blackened the land, leaving a scar that took years to heal, leaving a rancher without good grassland to feed the cattle. Hopefully, the barn and house would be spared. Yet, Ethan Hardy and his crew were more focused on getting his cattle and horses moved away from the fire.

  The whipping wind wasn’t helping. Not a stiff breeze, but enough of one that pushed the fire to uncontrollable.

  “Jess!” Shane pointed to the gully to the left side of the barn.

  The spit disappeared from his mouth.

  Fire in the trees there, too!

  That gully ran to the back of the grove on Amy’s Rose’s land.

  He dropped his shovel and reached into his back pocket for his cell phone. Amy Rose’s cell rang and rang, then bumped to voicemail.

  “Dammit.” He turned to his brother, about to tell him he had to get to Amy Rose.

  Shane spoke first. “Go! I’ll be right behind you with a fire engine.”

  Jess raced to his truck and drove like a maniac down the road to Amy Rose’s house. He pushed the speed dial on his cell phone. Ring. Ring. Ring. Voicemail.

  He swore long and loud, and kept his hands gripped on the wheel. He could barely see from smoke.

  “Should have told her last night, should have talked to her. Don’t let it be too late.” He swore as he had to slow for a curve. Big large plumes were rising just over the tree line, which meant the flames were in the grove and coming up behind the house. Where was Amy Rose?

  The driveway came into view and he strained to see her car, but he wasn’t close enough yet. “Let her be gone. Let her have gone to the store, or anywhere.” When he pulled into the driveway, the smoke was lying so low, it was like fog on a bad morning.

  Two things, he recognized simultaneously.

  Amy’s car was by the back porch.

  The roof of the house was on fire.

  ∞∞∞∞

  Amy Rose woke groggy, coughing and fighting the urge to puke her stomach inside out. She rolled over, offering anything to the pregnancy gods to make her feel better.

  Except the pillow smelled and the room smelled.

  She carefully sat up, begging her gut to settle and took a sniff.

  Smoke.

  Smoke in the house.

  “Oh my God,” she rolled off the bed, searching for her shoes.

  A door in the kitchen banged. “Amy Rose!”

  “Jess! In the bedroom.” She got to the doorway and braced herself on the door frame. Smoke was rolling down the hall from the back of the house.

  Jess, black face and clothes, raced down the hall. “House is on fire. Get out.”

  “What happened?” She leaned into him and let him carry her weight down the hall to the front living room and the door there.

  “Wildfire.”

  Out on the porch, he lifted her effortlessly off the porch and carried her to his truck. “Take my truck. Get down the road.”

  He shoved the keys into her hands. “What about you?”

  He didn’t answer, just lifted her into the seat. “Go.”

  He took off across the yard, headed to the barn.

  Amy Rose turned to look at the back of the house and sucked in a horrified breath at the wall of flames that were bearing down on them. “Jess, no!”

  A fire engine pulled into the yard. First man off the truck she recognized.

  “Shane!” She ran from Jess’s truck to the fire engine. “Barn! Jess went after the horses.” She bent double and coughed until she gagged.

  Strong arms came around her. “Ambulance coming up the road. Get in Jess’s truck and meet them at the crossroads. Can you drive?”

  She looked at the resolute expression in Shane’s eyes and knew he wouldn’t go help Jess until she left. “I’m going. I can get there. Help Jess.”

  The smoke had thickened. The back of the house was fully aflame. The other members of Shane’s company were battling a lost cause. Grief and frustration didn’t begin to stand against the fear for Jess’s life. Shane left her and ran to the barn.

  She coughed her way to the truck and realized she had to leave. All this bad air wasn’t good for the baby. She got in and started the engine. Betsy Brash raced by her, followed by her other horse.

  Thank God! She backed around and did exactly as Jess and Shane had asked her to, reluctance in every fiber of her being. One glance at the rearview mirror showed the house fully engulfed in flames.

  Her grandmother’s house and antiques were gone.

  Tears slipped down her face. Let her not lose Jess, too.

  ∞∞∞∞

  Amy Rose sat on the edge of the ambulance with the oxygen mask over her face —worried, scared and spitting mad. She supposed it was some kind of defense against the shock and tears.

  Her breath was choppy.

  There was a fine tremor in her hands.

  Tiredness pulled at her.

  She’d reached the crossroads near her house, been checked by an attendant and then they’d been forced to move further away from the flames. She’d been sitting like this, breathing fresh clean air through a mask, and refusing to go to the hospital for more than half an hour. She needed to wait for Jess to find her.

  Every vehicle that drove by raised her hopes. Every man that wasn’t Jess plummeted them. Her phone was gone, burned in the house along with everything else. Tears rose and she hiccupped, fighting against them. Her stomach churned, but she ignored it. The loss of the house didn’t matter. Not as long as she had Jess. Where was he?

  Thirty minutes later a truck pulled up from the Hardy Ranch. Jess got out and thanked whoever had driven him. His eyes snapped to hers the moment he turned around.

  He walked in slow, measured steps to her. His clothes were black, his hands shaking, and his eyes watering. He sat next to her on the edge of ambulance, wrapped an arm around her and pulled her close. “You okay?”

  She grabbed his free hand and squeezed, dropping the oxygen mask. “Don’t ever do that again!”

  “I had to fight the fire, honey. This land is our future.” He rubbed his knuckles down her cheek. “I’m sorry. Your house is gone.”

  She sobbed. “I don’t care about the house! I don’t care about the land or the damn future! Don’t you know there’s nothing for me in this world if you aren’t in it? I love you so much and I need you.” She grabbed the front of his shirt and pulled him down to her face. “Our baby needs a daddy.”

  He pulled back and stared at her, his expression perplexed. “What are you talking about?”

  She reached for his hands and pressed them against her abdomen. “This baby… she needs you. I need you. Don’t ever do that again.”

  His eyes followed to where her hands pressed his against her stomach and his eyes widened. “Pregnant? How? And it’s a girl?

  “How? Are you really going to ask me that?” She swallowed a hiccup of a sob, her stomach rolling. “It’s a girl. I just know it is.”

  He held her closer, brushing her hair from her eyes. She could see in the movement of his mouth with no words forthcoming that he was stunned by her announcement.

  She wanted to let those words sit between them for a minute, but she had to get things said. “I broke things off with my parents this morning, told my Dad I wasn�
��t joining the law firm. So you better be prepared to look at our future, because this baby deserves a daddy, and I deserve you. Got that?” Tears streamed down her cheeks and she let them fall.

  Jess dropped his arm and laced his fingers with hers. “I’ve loved one woman since I laid eyes on her and that’s you. I’m sorry for all the stupid things I said.” He cupped her face with his free hand. “Will you marry me?”

  Tears rushed in, choking her. He’d proposed! “I’m sorry, too. Talk about stupid. I shouldn’t have gone away.” She couldn’t move away from him, never wanted to be further away from him than right now. She shifted closer. “You are what I want, what I’ve always wanted. Your strength, your stability, your passion — even when you rush into a burning barn.”

  He leaned in and softly kissing her lips. “I tend to make choices and follow one course. But according to Mama, I gotta let you make yours in your own time. I don’t know if I get that, but I promise, from now on you’ll get my advice, but I won’t make your choices.”

  She rose and dropped the oxygen, then tugged him to his feet. “Thank you. I needed to hear that – God, more than you know. But more important, I shouldn’t have left. I should have stayed and talked to you. I promise I won’t do that again.” She started to say more, but he put a finger over her lips. He pressed a light kiss to her forehead. She stared at him through burning eyes and thought of the way he rushed to save her and her horses, of the cushion on the back swing to the new paint in the barn. Emotion clogged her throat, but it was hope and love this time, not frustration and despair.

  She ached over the split with her parents and the loss of her house. But having Jess standing here next to her was all she needed. He always took good care of her. Bed, barn or kitchen, he saw to her comforts, thought of her first, encouraged her in whatever she wanted to do and made sure his eyes never strayed.

  “I love you, Amy Rose. I can’t always promise I’ll think before I speak, but I always want what’s best for you – for you and our baby.” He slipped his hand into his pocket and pulled out a tiny necklace. “I bought this a long, long time ago, especially for you.”

  She fingered the necklace, tracing the diamond, then turning it over.

  Your Jess.

  “Oh, Jess.” Tears flooded again, flowing down her cheeks. She ruined the moment by coughing until her insides revolted and she pulled out of his arms to toss the remaining contents of her stomach in the ditch. Jess held her while she was sick, gently rubbing her back and barked an order for some water to the paramedic.

  She took a mouthful of water and spit it out, carefully swallowing another before rising to her feet.

  “You okay?”

  “Except for morning sickness all day long, every darn day…yes.” She stroked his face.

  Jess fumbled with the clasp and slipped the necklace around her neck and fastened it. “Mine.”

  She couldn’t help running her fingers over it again. “I love you so much. I always have, always will. Yes, I’ll marry you.” She felt him smile against her hair. She looked up into his eyes and fell deeper in love. “Who will be your girl when the baby comes?”

  Jess grinned. “Darlin’, this cowboy’s heart has room for two.”

  THE END

  Keep reading for a preview of

  The Rock Star’s Sheriff

  CHAPTER ONE

  Zach Murphy looked up from the paperwork on his desk and listened to someone tromp through the Parson County Sheriff squad room toward his office. He leaned to get a look. His twelve-year-old daughter flounced toward him in a temper with new black clogs on her feet. They clicked with a racket that made him want to toss them in a trash can and deliver a stern lecture to Uncle Beau for buying them for her.

  Carlee stopped inside the doorway and hissed at him. “Dad, how could you?”

  He leaned back in his chair and studied her belligerent pose. “How was school?”

  She huffed. “Fine. How could you?”

  He glanced through his glass office window and caught the eye of his brother, who was a few paces behind her. Beau shrugged.

  “How could I what?” He eyed the black leggings and black glittered Hard Rock Café Denver T-shirt she wore and mourned the bright-eyed little girl who used to dress in pinks and yellows and run to meet him after school. Now her face was set in a mulish frown, her brown hair swept low over her eyes until he could hardly see their pretty green. Her hair had a streak of red down one side, but not the other. That hadn’t been there this morning.

  “You arrested her!” The shrill of her accusation hung in the air, drawing his focus.

  He sorted through his last twenty-four hours of duty hours and calls. “Arrested who?” He dropped his pen on the blotter, knowing there was only one woman who’d been picked up last night.

  She rolled her eyes. “Leia Shae!”

  He frowned, pondering his memory of the woman. “Who?”

  Carlee huffed. “The Leia Shae, Dad!” When the name didn’t process fast enough, she curled her lip at him. “I have a poster of her over my bed. I have five of her CDs and play them all the time. Only for You—her latest hit song. Duh, Dad!”

  “I arrested Leia Shae, the rock star?” He looked to the corner of his desk for the booking reports, but they were gone from the basket, which meant Blanche had grabbed the things to be filed.

  “Blanche has her picture on the paperwork on her desk. I recognized her face.” Her mouth set in an argumentative line, waiting for the lecture.

  Carlee was snooping again, obsessed with the booking paperwork of the small sheriff’s office. Blanche Gritz, his receptionist and day dispatcher, usually let Carlee peek, even though he talked to the woman repeatedly about filing the damn booking reports so his little girl wouldn’t stick her nose into things she shouldn’t know about.

  Carlee didn’t wait for the lecture. “I think she’s sick or something. She looks awful in that picture.”

  Or something.

  He stifled a sigh, contemplating the information. He’d taken the call last night. He’d made the arrest. Something had seemed familiar about the woman, but he’d been more worried about getting her off the road; when it was obvious she was ill, he’d run her over to the hospital for the night.

  Beau moved to the doorway to listen. He gave Zach a baffled look, apparently not knowing any more about Leia Shae than he did. Zach wasn’t comforted to know his brother was in the same boat with him and wouldn’t be coming to his rescue. He had no problem dealing with his cussed stubborn brothers. He had no problem dealing with ten deputies. He had no issues in general getting his will across to other people. But when it came to his daughter, he felt as inept as it was possible for a father to be. That bugged him; it rubbed against his natural leadership tendencies, his need to love and protect his daughter.

  “Can I see her?” Carlee bit her lip and moved closer to his desk. “You’ve gotta let me see her.”

  “No.” He stood, intending to go get the booking report and look at the picture again.

  “But, Dad…” she wailed. “It might be my only chance to meet her.”

  If Leia Shae was the young woman he’d brought in last night, he was pretty sure she wasn’t going to want anyone to see her the way she was or for anyone to know she was there.

  “The answer is no, Carlee. You shouldn’t have even seen the booking report. What have I told you about that?” He walked around his desk to stand beside her, putting a hand on her shoulder which she shrugged off.

  “No talking to your friends about it either,” he warned, giving up trying to be the understanding dad and laying down the law like a sheriff.

  The mulishness spread to her posture, her stubbornness pushing one of Zach’s hot buttons.

  Beau gave Zach a commiserating look over the top of Carlee’s head. “Why don’t I take Carlee to the Burger Barn for a snack and run her out to Aunt Fiona’s until you get off?”

  “I don’t want to go to Aunt Fiona’s.” Carlee’s mad was a sigh
t to behold. Ever since she was a little baby her face had always turned the deepest shade of red whenever she got the least bit upset, embarrassed or angry. It was a trait she hadn’t outgrown. “I can wait with Blanche like I always do.”

  Since he planned on having words with Blanche again, that wasn’t going to work. “Go with Uncle Beau and have a burger. I’ll pick you up from Aunt Fiona’s when I’m finished.” He went out of his office and was half way through the squad room when he realized Carlee wasn’t walking behind him. She stopped in his office doorway, preparing for a tantrum of epic proportions.

  The squad room was empty except for Kane Martin, his detective and second-in-command. It wouldn’t be the first time his deputies had seen Carlee have a temper tantrum, but he’d hoped to stop putting them through that on a regular basis. He glared at her, willing her to cooperate.

  “I can wait at home by myself.” She slung her backpack over her shoulder, trying to stare him down. It didn’t work.

  “Carlee, no. Do as I say,” he bit out.

  “Come on, young ‘en. Let’s go eat.” Beau helped coax her toward the exit.

  “You never let me do anything I want to do!” She flounced out the secure door and down the outer hall to the entrance.

  “Sorry, bro. I didn’t know Blanche was off limits.” Beau followed Zach into the hall where they could both watch her stalk to the glass entry and turn back to glare.

  He swore under his breath. “She’s not off limits. She’s supposed to file those damn things instead of letting Carlee thumb through them.”

  Beau shook his head. “Don’t worry, Zach. I’ll get her some food. Aunt Fiona will settle her down.”

  He doubted that, but he had to find out who exactly was over in the hospital and do some damage control. Because he suspected Carlee was right.

  He had arrested America’s favorite rock star—Leia Shae.