Say Yes to the Cowboy

by Vicki Lewis Thompson

  He smiled. “Good to know.” This might work out, after all.

  “But I still have to think about whether to stay there for the next couple of days.”

  “Understood. See you tonight.” After he disconnected, his first thought was about the road. Some thunderheads were building up over the mountains and now she’d be driving her sedan over here and back.

  He needed a quick fix for that low place in the driveway. If he called in the next hour he might be able to get a dump truck out here to lay down a load of gravel in that one area. He wanted things to go without a hitch tonight.

  He’d been pacing the front yard during his call to Tess, but now he sat on the porch steps to think. He’d made love to her on these steps. Making love to Tess gave him joy. He’d never felt closer to another human being than when he was intimately connected with her.

  Even better, he could tell the feeling was mutual. Taking pleasure in the experience was fun, but giving it to each other turned sexual satisfaction into something much better. Something joyful. He’d never broken it down like that before.

  The front door opened behind him and he looked over his shoulder expecting Rosie. Instead, it was Damon.

  “Hey, bro.” He took a seat beside Zeke. “Hope I’m not interrupting.”

  “Nope. Just thinking about something Rosie said to me.”

  “Yeah?”

  “I asked how she kept from going crazy knowing anyone she loved could be wiped out in an instant.”

  “And what did she say?”

  “She exchanges risk for joy.”

  “Wow. Someone should needlepoint that on a pillow.”

  Zeke laughed, which siphoned off a bunch of tension. “Thanks. I needed that.”

  “I could tell. You looked like you were carrying a Black Angus bull on your shoulders.”

  “Just trying to figure out what the hell to do about Tess.”

  “She has something to say about that, too, you know. It’s not all up to you.”

  Zeke stared out into the yard. “I’m aware.” He turned to Damon. “On a practical matter, do you think Matt would care if I order up a load of gravel for the bad spot in the road? I’ll pay for it. Tess’s car can’t handle that dip when it rains.”

  “I can’t imagine Matt would care if you make an improvement to his road. He might even pay for it.”

  “No, this is my deal. I’ll see if I can get somebody out here this afternoon.”

  “Sounds good to me.” Damon cleared his throat. “Not to change the subject, but Cade called me this morning and we both concluded we’ve been remiss.”

  Zeke looked over at him. “Regarding what?”

  “Ezekiel Manfred Rafferty, you’re hereby invited to join the Thunder Mountain Brotherhood.”

  “What?”

  “Cade and I realized you were off twirling ropes and such when we decided everyone who’d ever lived at Thunder Mountain should be considered a member. So if you wanna be in, you’re in. If you don’t, that’s cool.”

  Zeke stared at him as feelings of envy and loneliness bubbled up from wherever he’d buried them long ago. Cade, Damon and Finn had formed the brotherhood a couple of years before Zeke had arrived at the ranch. They’d kept it exclusive to the three of them and Zeke had pretended he didn’t care.

  “We were jerks back then. Arrogant jerks. You have every right to tell me to take a flying leap, but I hope you don’t.”

  Zeke found his voice. “Didn’t you guys have some kind of oath?”

  “We did. Cade made it up.”

  “What is it?”

  “Let’s see if I can remember. Okay, here goes.” He cleared his throat. “‘We swear to be straight with everyone and protect the weak. Bound by blood, we declare ourselves the Thunder Mountain Brotherhood. Loyalty above all.’” He glanced at Zeke. “You don’t have to do the blood brother thing with the knife and all.”

  “Good, because I faint at the sight of blood.”

  “So you’re in?”

  “I’m thinking. What does loyalty above all mean exactly?”

  “Bottom line, we’d protect each other with our lives.” Damon wasn’t smiling. “We’re family.” He met Zeke’s gaze. “You can let me know.” Getting to his feet, he put a hand on Zeke’s shoulder. “And that ‘trading risk for joy’ thing? Mom’s got it right, bro.” Then he went inside.

  Yearning battled fear. First Tess had punched a hole in his defenses by announcing she was pregnant. Now Damon had ripped away another chunk by offering him official brotherhood status. If he accepted that, his protective shell would be gone for good.

  Chapter Sixteen

  Tess found a parking space near the entrance to Scruffy’s. Leaving Rosie and Herb’s had been harder than she’d expected. She’d felt at home there from the moment she’d walked in the door, more so than anywhere she’d lived, including the house where she’d grown up.

  But Zeke was right that they should make some decisions. They needed time together to work out their future plans. Sure, they’d also make love, and she looked forward to that. She was only human.

  The main reason to stay with Zeke, though, was to get down to the nitty-gritty of how they’d co-parent this child. For starters, they needed a visitation schedule. She’d brought a notebook to record the rodeo events where Zeke expected to perform and the dates when he’d be able to make it to Casper.

  The reality that he’d show up every few weeks hadn’t sunk in yet. Would she let him stay at her house? Logically he’d spend more time with the baby if he did, but he’d be sleeping under her roof. She could guess how that would turn out.

  Nothing about this situation was neat or structured and she hated that. The visitation schedule was a beginning, though. Once that was in place, she could talk to him about sleeping arrangements.

  Someone tapped on her window and she looked over to see Zeke standing there, thumbs hooked in his belt loops in typical cowboy fashion. She turned on the auxiliary power and rolled down the window. “I was thinking.”

  “I could tell. I’ve been here for about five minutes and I finally decided to check on you and find out if you’d be coming out anytime soon.” He gave her a crooked smile. “If not, I might go grab myself a beer.”

  Oh, yes, he was charming. One glance at that sexy grin and she was ready to order their meal to go so they could head back to Matt’s place for some private time.

  But she wouldn’t do that. For one thing, he’d spruced up for this date. She could smell the citrus scent of his aftershave and both his shirt and jeans looked fairly new. The pearl-colored yoked shirt emphasized the breadth of his shoulders and the width of his chest. His belt looked hand-tooled and the shiny buckle might be a roping prize.

  It would be selfish of her to keep all that male beauty to herself. She’d spent one evening with him in a bar before and she knew he’d collect admiring glances from the women customers now. If the servers were female, he’d get excellent service, too. She’d never seen him signal for another glass of beer. His level would get low and along would come the cocktail waitress to ask if he needed a refill.

  “I’ll come in.” She buzzed up the window and pulled the keys out of the ignition. Before she could reach for the door handle, he opened it and offered his hand.

  “Allow me.”

  “Thank you.” Grabbing her purse from the passenger seat, she stepped out of the car and straight into his arms. He engineered it with such precision that it was almost like a dance step. She gazed into his eyes, which were shadowed by the brim of his black Stetson. “You smell delicious.”

  “I taste even better.” He tilted her chin up. “But I’m not going to kiss you. I’ll mess up your lipstick if I do.”

  The heat of his body called to her. “Ask me if I care.”

  �
�I like your attitude, lady.” His voice grew husky. “I like it a lot.”

  “Wait until you sample the rest of me.”

  He groaned. “Maybe we should skip this and pick up a pizza.”

  “No, we’ll go in. I want to dance with you.”

  “I have tunes on my phone.”

  “Not the same.”

  “Okay, we’ll go in, but before we do, I have to ask. From the way you’re acting I think I know the answer, but did you bring—?”

  “In the trunk.”

  He sucked in a breath and crushed her against his muscled body. “Thank God. Now I really want to kiss you.”

  “Go ahead.”

  “No, ma’am. After last night’s dinner, you deserve to be fed right.” He released her with obvious reluctance. “Let’s go eat.”

  “Just so you know, I’m not starving. I had iced tea and freshly baked chocolate chip cookies with Rosie this afternoon.” She’d hang on to the memory of that warm chat for times when she felt lonely or discouraged back in Casper. “She gave me some cookies to bring over to your place.”

  “That’s Rosie for you. Always doing something nice for someone.” Zeke took her hand as they walked toward the lighted entrance. Scruffy’s had a log-cabin exterior similar to the ones in the meadow at Thunder Mountain.

  “I can see why you like this place,” she said. “It probably reminds you of home.”

  “If you mean the ranch, yes, it does. But I don’t think of Thunder Mountain as home.”

  “You don’t?”

  “I don’t think of any place as home. The ranch is great and so are Rosie and Herb, but I didn’t actually grow up there and they’re not my parents.”

  “They’re not Cade’s parents, either, yet he calls them Mom and Dad.”

  “That’s up to him. Like I said, they’re not my parents.”

  His jaw was tight, so she dropped the subject. What he called Rosie and Herb was none of her business. Whether he considered Thunder Mountain his home or didn’t wasn’t any of her business, either.

  The mention of home and family clearly was an emotional trigger for him, and no wonder after what he’d been through with his parents. But that also meant she couldn’t expect him to commit to her when she represented everything he feared. As Lexi had said, she’d better guard her heart.

  Scruffy’s was busy and cheerful, exactly what she would have expected from a small-town bar. They were seated in a booth. As she looked the laminated menu over, she tapped her foot to the fiddle and guitar music coming from the raised platform.

  Zeke glanced up from his menu. “The band’s good tonight.”

  “They’re excellent. Can’t wait to get out there.”

  “Since you said you weren’t starving, want to dance now and order later?”

  “Great idea.”

  “Then come on.” He led her to the dance floor and spun her into a lively two-step.

  They’d made it halfway around the floor when she had a horrible thought. “Is all this hard on your shoulder?”

  “Could be if I didn’t do it right.” He winked at her. “But I do it right.”

  She had to agree with him. She’d forgotten how good he was. Her most vivid memory was slow dancing toward the end of the evening while they turned each other on. But that night had started out like this, executing elaborate steps and laughing as they navigated the crowded floor effortlessly. Dancing with a skilled partner was the best kind of foreplay.

  When they returned to the booth she was breathing hard but far more relaxed than she’d been all day. “That was fun. I’m glad we’re doing this.”

  “Me, too.” He returned her smile before picking up the menu. “And now I’m the one who’s starving. Worked up an appetite yet?”

  “I could eat.”

  Right on cue, the waitress approached. They both chose the night’s special with all the trimmings and Zeke ordered a beer. Tess asked for a pitcher of water.

  The drinks arrived quickly but the waitress warned them that the kitchen was backed up.

  “No problem,” Tess said. “We can dance.”

  Zeke glanced over at the band. “Not right this minute. They’re taking a break.”

  “So they are. Oh, well, that gives me a chance to find out where you got all those cool moves.”

  He laughed. “Are we talking about dancing or something else?”

  “Dancing!” She flushed. “I don’t plan to discuss the other thing in the middle of a crowded bar.”

  “But we did in Texas.”

  She leaned toward him. “Quietly. On the dance floor. We were whispering. No one could hear us.” But remembering that seductive exchange made her squirm.

  He reached across the table and held her hand between both of his. “I can tell when you’re thinking about that particular topic. Your eyes go from light blue to navy.”

  “I need to stop thinking about it. We’re here to eat and dance.”

  “And at the moment we can’t do either.” He rubbed his thumb lazily over her palm as he held her gaze. “So now what?”

  Until Zeke, she’d never met a man who could take her from zero to sixty in less than five seconds. But they both had to throttle down or they’d never make it through the meal. “We talk. Tell me where you learned to dance.”

  “I learned from Ty, one of my foster brothers. He got me aside one day and said if I could twirl a rope I ought to be able to twirl a lady around the floor. I wasn’t opposed to learning a skill that would impress women.”

  “FYI, it works.” So did the slow stroking of her palm with his thumb. She should pull her hand away but couldn’t seem to manage it.

  He grinned, which added another layer of sexy to his gorgeous self. “Dancing was one of the most valuable things I learned at Thunder Mountain. When Ty started giving me lessons, some other guys wanted in. Looking back on it, those lessons must have been something to watch. We were a bunch of guys who certainly didn’t want any girls to see us stumbling around, so some of us had to dance the lady’s part.”

  “Wish I could have seen that.”

  “I’m grateful you didn’t.”

  “Where’s Ty now?”

  “Living in Cheyenne with his wife Whitney. You’ll meet them both when they come to the wedding next month.”

  “Will there be dancing at the wedding?”

  “Count on it. Rosie and Herb will pull out all the stops.”

  “Then I have dibs on you as my dance partner.”

  “You might change your mind when you see Ty’s moves. I’m an okay dancer but he’s great. So are you, by the way. Where did you learn?”

  “My high school boyfriend taught me. We dated for three years so I had a lot of practice. We even entered some dance competitions. Won a few.”

  “And then what?”

  She shrugged. “After graduation we wanted different things. He assumed we’d get married and have kids right away. I’d decided on a teaching career. The breakup was the right thing, but so painful for both of us.”

  Zeke’s grip on her hand tightened imperceptibly. “Have you seen him since?”

  “Sometimes when I visit my folks in Laramie we run into each other on the street.” She could be wrong, but she thought Zeke looked jealous. If she were a different kind of person, she’d let him dangle a bit, but she didn’t like playing those games. “Last I heard, his wife was expecting their fifth baby.”

  His grip relaxed and he went back to caressing her palm while he studied her without speaking.

  “What? Is my mascara smeared? Sometimes that happens when I get a little sweaty.”

  “No, you look beautiful. I was just thinking that if you’d decided to marry that guy, we’d never have met and there’d be no Heath.”

  Ins
tinctively she put her other hand over her stomach. “That would be terrible. At least, I think it would. I can’t speak for you.”

  “It would be terrible. Three days ago I didn’t know he existed and now I can’t imagine a world without him. And he isn’t even born yet.”

  She nodded. “Exactly how I feel, especially now that we’ve given him a name.”

  “He still needs a middle one. Which reminds me that I don’t know yours. Or whether Tess is a nickname for something else.”

  “Tess is short for Theresa. That name’s fine, but it didn’t feel like me, so when I was around six I changed it to Tess. My parents still call me Theresa, though.”

  “Sorry.”

  “It’s okay. I’m used to it, but if my mother’s upset with me she uses the whole thing, Theresa Marie. When I break the news about Heath, I’ll probably be Theresa Marie for a while.”

  “How about if I go with you when you tell them?”

  She was shocked to her toes by the offer, but once the surprise wore off, she was incredibly touched. “That’s very sweet of you, but I won’t subject you to that.”

  “Why not? You’ll be subjected to it.”

  “Yes. But I’m their daughter, so it goes with the territory, while you—”

  “Listen, if they’re liable to be mean to you or say anything rotten about Heath, I want to be there. You shouldn’t have to put up with that. We behaved responsibly and against all odds you got pregnant. We’ve accepted the consequences of our actions and are doing our best to make a good life for Heath. We have nothing to be ashamed of.”

  She’d always respected him, but that little speech increased her respect by several notches. Everything he’d said was true and she’d do well to remember it when she faced her parents. Knowing he was willing to be there to defend her if necessary was a bonus she hadn’t counted on.

  “Thank you, Zeke.” She drew courage from the determination in his hazel eyes. “I haven’t decided when to drive down there, but when I make my plans, I’ll let you know. Maybe you’ll be free.”

  “I’ll be free. I’m sure someone would be glad to watch Matt’s place for a couple of days when they hear about the errand we have to run.”