by Joann Baker
BY THE HEART BRIDE: GABE
Matchmaking A Marriage
Copyright 2017 by
Joann Baker and Patricia Mason
Blush Publishing
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ABOUT THIS BOOK
Gabe Anderson had the reputation as a love ‘em and leave ‘em cowboy. One who couldn’t—wouldn’t—commit. What he hadn’t told anyone was that he’d loved once, and been left. He’d committed once, and been burned. Wild horses couldn’t drag him down that road again. Could they? The reappearance of the woman who’d trampled his emotions had him wondering if a second chance at love wasn’t just what the doctor ordered.
Doctor Amelia Murphy thought she knew what she was doing when she moved to Devil’s Spur. But the small town had a few surprises—like the cowboy responsible for breaking her heart ten years ago. She thought she’d put the past behind her, but one look at Gabe Anderson’s handsome face told Amelia that he still held her broken heart in the palm of his calloused hands.
Can two stubborn souls overcome the misunderstandings of the past and find a future…by the heart?
TABLE OF CONTENTS
PROLOGUE
CHAPTER ONE
CHAPTER TWO
CHAPTER THREE
CHAPTER FOUR
CHAPTER FIVE
CHAPTER SIX
EPILOGUE
A WORD FROM THE AUTHORS
OTHER BOOKS BY JOANN BAKER AND PATRICIA MASON
BOOKS BY OTHER BBW AUTHORS
PROLOGUE
“HOW MANY CARDS you got, Otis?”
“Four, nimrod. That’s the second time you’ve asked. Where’s your mind at anyway?”
“Yeah,” Silas piped in, deftly picking up his remaining card. “You’re not your usual self. Something you want to talk about?”
“Maybe Frank finally fell for Nurse Betty’s many charms,” Harvey added, staring at his own hand intently.
Otis shuddered. “Humph. That woman has about as much charm as a pit viper.”
Harvey laughed, trying to imagine the gray-haired battle ax that manned Frank’s office like a drill sergeant as a femme fatale.
“You do know she was married once?” Frank looked at his friends, grinning at the astonishment on their faces.
“The hell you say,” Otis sputtered.
“Her husband died when they were pretty young. She never remarried.”
Otis snickered. “She probably scared the poor sap to death.”
Harvey reached for a pretzel and Frank grabbed it from him. “What part of ‘no salt’ do you not understand?”
Harvey grimaced. “Everything tastes like cardboard without salt. This low sodium diet you’re torturing me with is God-awful. Besides,” he grabbed at the pretzel and missed, “a little bite ain’t gonna kill me.”
“It just might.” Frank’s bushy white brows drew together. “Here, have some of these.”
Harvey eyed the tray of broccoli and celery scornfully. “Damn rabbit food.”
“It’s good for you.” Frank deftly moved the pretzel bowl off the table and out of his friend’s reach.
“Cut it up especially for you,” Silas nodded.
“Yeah, well, I don’t see you all chowing down on it. Besides,” he looked at Frank, “I didn’t think you were supposed to discuss my medical condition with anyone else.”
Frank shook his head. “Someone has to keep you from killing yourself.”
“And I’m not going to tell the boys—unless I have to.” Silas threatened softly.
“Well, hell,” Otis leaned forward, “at least you ain’t got hemorrhoids.”
The comment brought a round of laughter, lessening the tension between the men.
“So,” Harvey threw down two cards and waited until Frank dealt him two new ones, “if it ain’t Nurse Betty, then what is it that has your mind so far off the game tonight?”
Frank finished dealing new cards to Otis, dispensing one to himself before setting down the deck. Picking up his hand, he studied it quietly. “I don’t think it’s my place to talk about it.”
“Raise.” Harvey threw a dollar into the pot. “You can tell everybody my business, but you can’t say why your mind isn’t in the game? Nice.”
“Are you sick or something?” Otis peered over his glasses.
“No,” Frank shook his head. “I ain’t sick.” He heaved a deep breath. “It’s the new doctor that I’ve hired to take over for me.”
“You quitting?” Harvey’s brow creased.
“No. At least not right away. I just figured if I had somebody else in the office, I could have more time for fishing and porch sitting.”
“I can’t believe it,” Silas added his dollar. “You’re an institution around here, Doc. Ain’t nobody gonna take to a new doctor—especially not an outsider—too quick.”
“Is that what you’re worried about?” Otis asked.
Frank put his elbows on the table, holding his cards close to his nose. “No. Amelia is a beautiful, intelligent, and personable young lady. I don’t think she’ll have any problem once people get to know her.”
“The new doc is a shemale?” Otis’s voice rose. “I ain’t letting no female look at my posterior.”
“Aw, calm down, asshat. Ain’t no woman wants to see that sagging white crater anyhow. If you’d let me go ahead and remove them things, you wouldn’t have to worry about it.”
“So this new doc,” Silas spoke up, “she married?”
“Nope,” Frank’s lips pursed. “And don’t even think about it.”
“About what?” Harvey asked innocently, winking at Silas.
“Gabe. And her. Kings over eights.” Frank laid his cards on the table. “I love you both, but I don’t think she’s looking for a man. Especially not one like your oldest grandson.”
“She gay?” Otis asked matter-of-factly, laying his cards face down. “I got nothing.”
“No, she ain’t gay,” Frank muttered.
“Then what’s her problem?” Harvey, too, laid his cards aside. “I can’t beat that.”
“I can,” Silas spread his cards, revealing four aces. “Looks like I win again.”
“Lucky at cards…” Otis recited, earning a glare from Silas.
“So?” Harvey asked again, eyeing Frank as he gathered the cards to shuffle.
Frank stretched. “I don’t know any particulars, mind you. But she’s had a bad relationship that kind of burned her, put her off men in general.”
“What makes you think that?”
“I overheard Betty telling her about the eligible men in town.”
“Did she mention me?” Otis asked excitedly.
“No, you old letch. She wasn’t talking about geriatric geezers, she was talking about healthy young men that Amelia might be interested in.”
“And?” Harvey nudged.
“She said, and I quote, ‘men are scum’.”
“Wow.” Silas whistled. “Where’s she from?”
“Colorado. Her granddaddy and me went to medical school together.” His chest puffed out and a grin of pri
de stretched his lips before he continued. “Anyway, he called me up and asked if I knew a place that needed a good doctor. Said his granddaughter was looking for somewhere quiet to practice.”
“She ever worked anywhere else or is she brand new?”
“That’s just it,” Frank frowned, “she did her residency in an ER at the University of Colorado in Aurora.”
“Whew,” Harvey whistled, whacking the cards on the edge of the table to put them in perfect alignment before cutting the deck. “Wonder what happened to make her tuck tail and run to a little backwater town like Devil’s Spur?”
“Don’t know,” Frank sighed. “And I’m not sure I want to ask. Especially if it’s romance problems.”
“Maybe she needs someone else to talk to. Someone who knows about pain.” Silas suggested.
“I told you,” Frank picked up his cards, “don’t even think about it. I love Gabe, but this poor girl has apparently suffered enough.”
“But…,” Silas began.
“We hear you,” Harvey said, sliding his friend a ‘we’ll talk later’ look behind his winning hand.
CHAPTER ONE
AFTER WALKING THROUGH hell for the last ten years, Gabe had been in enough fights to know how to take care of himself.
If you were in a bar, already two sheets to the wind, and some two-bit cowboy wanted to show off to his girl by taking you down, then you either bought a round for him and made him your buddy—or you took his girl and left him sitting, embarrassed in the corner. Or, if you were at a table enjoying getting soused and some loud-mouthed cowboy began making threats, you never looked up from your glass unless you were ready to let the fists fly.
Being in charge of a group of cowboys ready to fight at the drop of a hat was a different matter entirely. And these days, Gabe was too exhausted to think straight and too disillusioned to even care about much of anything. That’s why, when his stern command to stop didn’t dissuade the two cowboys in front of him from their physical altercation, he almost turned his back and let them go at it. Unfortunately, there was no one else there to take care of the situation and letting the two go at it would not set a good precedent for the rest of his hands, most of whom had gathered around to watch.
“I said, cut it out, damn it.”
But boss,” the older man heaved, “he called me a dirty injun’—which I can handle, but what he said about my wife…”
“Is that true, Benson?” Gabe turned a fierce glare on the slim cowboy, recognizing him as one of the last hires of the season.
“Look, it ain’t personal. I mean,” the blond man snorted, “half-breeds are a dime a dozen in these parts, but that don’t mean I have to work with ‘em.”
Gabe didn’t like what he was hearing. The slender cowboy apparently thought he was too good to work with Naola. The older man had been with the Ace in the Hole for a quarter century. It didn’t matter one damn bit about his heritage. That was supposed to be the beauty of working on a ranch. No one asked questions about your background, just if you were willing to put in a hard day’s work for a fair wage. He sighed inwardly, feeling the full weight of the considerable responsibility of running the Ace in the Hole fall squarely on his shoulders. He hoped to hell his brothers got the damn stars out of their eyes and got back to work on a regular basis soon. To him, their lax attitude was just one more strike against love.
But then he supposed he needed to cut them some slack. After all, they’d been following him around for years, cleaning up his messes. He scraped his hand across his face, feeling the stubble that had been there for three days. “Where are you from, Benson?”
For a moment, the blond man appeared to be thrown by the question. “Oklahoma.”
“Your family well-known, are they?”
“Not particularly.”
In spite of his weariness, Gabe was beginning to enjoy himself. He appreciated a battle of wits almost as much as he did a good fistfight. “Then I can assume you know the history of your state.”
Again, the young cowboy appeared baffled by the question before the familiar cockiness reappeared. “Of course. I ain’t stupid.”
Gabe nodded, silently disagreeing with that statement. “Then you would know of a rather famous Indian chief by the name of Quanah Parker.”
“I’ve heard of him. Learned all about him in school.” He smirked. “How he married some white girl that was captured.”
“Cynthia-Ann Parker was nine years old when she was taken from her home,” Gabe said matter-of-factly. “Quanah Parker had nothing to do with her capture. He married her after she was grown and had become part of the tribe. They had three children together, and later Quanah became a successful rancher. Naola here is only following in his great-great-grandfather’s footsteps.”
Some of the men around them clapped Naola on the back, some of the calling him ‘Chief’ in a friendly tone.
“Well, I still ain’t gonna work with him.”
The good-natured teasing stopped immediately at Benson’s strident tone.
Gabe took a deep breath. It was well past suppertime, and he’d just finished with the last horse. On top of having to do the training by himself, he’d also had to deal with a downed fence and several head of wandering cattle. He’d had no time for lunch nor had he been able to check on Pops, who had been in bed for the last two days after suffering from a bad attack of vertigo. While that rankled, he’d known that if anything happened, Gramps would have sent for him. Though he’d dealt with a lot of crap, not only today but over a number of years, racism was high on his list of shitty things he refused to tolerate. It had no place in society in general, but especially on a ranch in west Texas. The landscape and people were about as diversified as a place could be.
He’d known men like Colby Benson before. “You will,” Gabe said icily, “or you won’t work on this ranch at all.”
Silence reigned for several seconds before the younger cowboy turned away, cutting through the crowd toward the bunkhouse. “Fine,” he muttered, “but I don’t have to like it.”
“Okay, everybody, go get some chow.” Gabe turned to his friend as the cowboys dispersed. “Sorry about that, Naola. Sometimes people can be, well, just plain stupid.”
“Don’t worry about it,” Naola smiled. “It’s not like I haven’t been here before.”
“Sorry about that, too,” Gabe grimaced.
“No worries, boss. See you tomorrow.”
“Thanks, Naola. Tell Jana and the twins I said hi.”
“Will do.”
Alone for the first time since sun up, Gabe took a moment to enjoy the quietness of the night. The sun had set behind the mountain and twilight was quickly turning to darkness. The gentle lowing of cattle carried on the wind. It had been a very long day and he felt every moment of it deep in his bones. Several of the horses nickered from the barn, reminding him that morning wasn’t far off. With a resigned sigh, he headed to the house. As he walked to the ranch house his great-grandfather had built, he admitted that he felt a little alone. Not a feeling he usually had, or if he did, one he quickly got over. Usually by finding a woman to spend the night with.
Hell, he was so damn tired of late that for the first time in years, picking up a woman seemed like too much trouble.
Or maybe, he just didn’t want to any more. Maybe seeing his brothers, Ryder and Calhoun, find the love of their lives had gotten to him.
Or maybe, it was the thought of the woman who had sent him down the path of self-destruction in the first place.
A woman who had shown up in Devil’s Spur a few months ago. The thought of her being so close made him break out in a sweat every time he thought about it. She’d been the one to stitch up Calhoun after he’d suffered a head wound rescuing his now new wife from an ex-boyfriend. It had been so unexpected, so damn heart-stopping, that Gabe had turned tail and run when he’d seen her.
Just like he had before.
He pushed the thought away. He hadn’t turned tail and run, he’d been tol
d to leave. Told to get out of her life and on with his. And he’d done just that. Taking up with any woman who wanted a taste of him in an attempt to forget what he couldn’t have. What he still wanted.
“Bout time you come in,” Silas grumbled, turning from the sink as Gabe came in the kitchen door. “I’ll get your dinner out of the oven.”
“I’m not hungry, Gramps. I’m just going to grab a cold beer and a hot shower and hit the hay.” He hung his dusty Stetson on the hook and toed off his equally dusty boots. Padding across the tiled floor, he opened the refrigerator and took out a frosty bottle. “I’ll check on Pops before I turn in.”
“You can do that later.” Silas pulled the covered dish from the oven and waved Gabe to the table. “First, you’re going to eat something.”
“I told you…”
“You’re not hungry,” Silas finished, glaring at his grandson as he removed the foil from the plate of steak smothered in mushroom gravy, mashed potatoes, green beans, and fluffy rolls. “Yeah, I heard. But I took the time out of my busy day to fix it so you can at least take a few minutes to eat it.”
Gabe pulled one of the chairs from beneath the table and sat down. “I didn’t ask you to,” he groused, then immediately regretted the words.
“No, you didn’t,” Silas agreed as he put silverware and a napkin by the plate. “However, since you’re someone I love very much, I didn’t want you to go hungry after such a long day.”
With a long sigh, Gabe picked up his fork. “Thanks, Gramps. I love you, too.”
“I know.” Silas smiled as he took a seat across from his eldest and most troubled grandson. He knew he and Harvey might be pushing their luck trying to match-make with Gabe, but dang it all, Ryder and Cal were happy as clams now. And he knew Gabe would feel the same with the right woman by his side. He fiddled with the salt and pepper shakers and added more napkins to the holder on the table as he waited for Gabe to finish his food. When he finally drained the last of his beer and set the bottle on the table, Silas reached for his empty plate.