The Cowboy And The Debutante

by Stella Bagwell

  His gaze dropped to the toes of his boots. “You’re all making too much of that.” He looked back up at her. “Where’s all the hands? I came down to say hello and couldn’t find any of them.”

  “Moving cattle. The south section has gotten pretty well grazed out.”

  He nodded, then glanced awkwardly around the room. “Uh...how’s Anna? Isn’t she helping you with the horses?”

  Chloe folded her arms across her chest. “No. Anna’s gone. She left a few days ago.”

  Stunned, he stared at her. “Gone! Where?” Then before she could answer, he nodded knowingly. “Back to her career.”

  Chloe shook her head. “I don’t think Anna has a piano career anymore. She told her manager she was finished. She wasn’t going back.”

  Miguel swore under his breath. “The fool girl! Doesn’t she realize what she’s throwing away?”

  “Money and fame don’t always equal happiness, Miguel. And that’s what Wyatt and I want for our daughter. Whether it’s making music or having a passel of kids, it’s her choice.”

  A bunch of kids, Miguel’s thoughts echoed. When he’d talked to Anna about his son, Carlos, she’d told him they could have children of their own. But he’d rejected the idea. Rejected her. He’d more or less told her to go out and have her babies with someone else!

  “If Anna hasn’t gone back to playing the piano, where did she go?”

  Chloe quickly glanced away from him. “Uh... well, I’m not sure. Ruidoso probably. She didn’t say exactly where.”

  Miguel frowned at her evasive answer. “Didn’t say? You mean you let her leave and you didn’t even know where she was going!”

  Chloe shrugged. “She’s a grown woman, and she wanted some time to herself. She doesn’t have to answer to her parents anymore. And—” she looked at him pointedly “—you weren’t interested.”

  Interested! His every waking moment was spent on her. He wanted her to be happy and safe. He wanted only the best for her. He loved her!

  “She’s left with Dalton! That’s why you don’t want to tell me!”

  Chloe made a complacent gesture with her hands. “I don’t know about that. He has been pestering her to go out with him. Maybe she decided a few days away with him would lift her spirits.”

  He whipped his hat off his head and whacked it against his leg. “Are you crazy, Chloe! You know what that damn man is! He’ll only use her, then throw her away when he gets tired of her.”

  Chloe decided it was time for her to dig back into the stack of bridles. Turning her back to Miguel she said as casually as she could manage, “Anna has to grow up and learn these things for herself sometimes. If she gets hurt...well, you know as well as I, Miguel, that’s just part of life.”

  Her remark tore another curse from Miguel, and he slapped his hat back on his head.

  “You might look at it that way, Chloe, but I can’t. I’m going after her. I’m not about to let that ba—jerk, lay his hands on her! And if he already has I’ll kill him!”

  His boots clattered on the wooden floor as he headed out the door. Chloe whirled around to call him back. “Miguel! Wait!”

  She raced out of the room and caught up to him halfway down the building.

  Miguel kept on walking. “Don’t try to stop me, Chloe. You can’t.”

  “But you don’t know where she is,” Chloe reasoned as she stumbled to keep up with him.

  “I’ll start with Dalton’s secretary. She’ll know where he is.”

  “But—Miguel, I’m expecting her back any time today! In fact, she promised to call this evening if she couldn’t make it. So why don’t you go home, and I’ll let you know the minute I hear from her.”

  Miguel glanced at his watch. “It’s four already. I’m going to go pack a few things. If she hasn’t called by five I’m leaving.”

  Chloe nodded, then silently prayed, for everyone’s sake, that Anna showed up soon.

  Back at the honeymoon house, Miguel jammed a few pieces of clothing into a duffel bag, then paced mindlessly from room to room.

  If Anna was with Dalton, he’d never forgive himself. He’d hurt her by sending her away. And she was so young and innocent she might just turn to him for comfort.

  So what’s your problem? a nasty voice growled inside his head. You weren’t willing to pledge your love, your life to her. You gave her up because you were scared of loving, losing and giving up another child born from your own flesh.

  Groaning aloud with torment, he walked out to the back of the house and stared up at the wild cliff towering up toward the even higher grove of pines. Anna loved the cliff. And this ranch. She’d come back here for solace, because it was her home, her deepest roots. But he’d mocked her idea to stay here. He’d been afraid to believe she would actually consider staying. And even more afraid that if she did stay he could not help but fall in love with her.

  But that had happened, anyway. Now she was gone. He’d probably lost her. If not to Dalton, then to his own stubborn refusal to accept her into his life.

  “Miguel! Miguel! Are you here?”

  His head whipped around. That was Anna’s voice!

  Quickly he rounded the house, then stopped dead in his tracks. Anna was standing on the deck, and her arm was around a boy. A dark-headed boy who looked amazingly like himself.

  “Carlos!”

  At the sound of his name, the boy stepped forward and looked expectantly, hopefully at his father.

  Miguel opened his arms, and he was certain a choir of angels began to sing above his head as Carlos ran straight to him and flung his arms around his waist.

  Too choked for words, Miguel could say nothing. He held his child tightly, patted his back and ruffled his hair until the tears in his throat eased enough to speak.

  “Carlos, how did you get here?”

  The boy smiled tentatively over his shoulder at Anna, who was waiting quietly on the deck. “Anna brought me. She’s very nice.” He looked back up at his father. “At first I didn’t want to come. I was afraid you’d be mad. But she talked me into coming.”

  “Mad! Why would I be angry?”

  Carlos’s chin fell against his chest. “I didn’t think you wanted to see me. You quit writing and never come to Texas to see me anymore,” he mumbled.

  Miguel wedged his forefinger beneath Carlos’s chin and lifted his face. “Oh, chico, that wasn’t because I didn’t want to see you. I thought it would be better if I didn’t interfere in your life. I didn’t think you needed me.”

  The boy shook his head. “You’re my father,” he said as if that were the most precious thing on earth to him.

  Miguel could only tug him back against his chest and hold him close. Later he would explain to his son just how much he loved and needed him. But for now it was enough to be able to simply touch him.

  Leaving the deck, Anna slowly approached the two of them and waited a few steps away. Eventually Miguel lifted his head, and the moment her eyes met his, her heart soared to heaven. Everything was going to be all right. He would never send her away again.

  “You did this for me,” he said in an awed voice. “How did you know where to find him?”

  “Your sister.”

  He swallowed, then, straightening, he tucked Carlos beneath his arm, and the two of them stepped over to her.

  “I was afraid you’d left with Dalton,” he told her.

  Anna groaned. “Mother is going to pay for that, believe me.”

  A grin suddenly split his face, and he shook his head. “No. I’m glad for her misdeed. It made me see how foolish I was to let any man have the chance to win your love.”

  “That will never happen, Miguel.”

  He reached for her hand, squeezed it, then tugged her into the circle of his other arm. “You will marry me?”

  “On one condition,” she said, then smiled down at Carlos.

  “Anything,” he agreed. “Life would be hell without you. I know that now.”

  “My one condition is that Ca
rlos is included in our family, too.”

  “It’ll never be any other way,” he promised, then glanced at his son. “What do you think?”

  Carlos grinned. “I think you should kiss her and make it official!”

  Miguel chuckled. “I think you’re absolutely right,” he said. Then, turning his head to Anna, he kissed her with love and hope and happiness.

  The space beside him was empty, the sheet cold. Miguel sat up in bed and glanced around the room. She was nowhere in sight.

  He threw back the covers and pulled on a pair of jeans. And then he spotted her. Through a long, open window, he could see her standing on the beach. The morning sun was just breaking over the horizon, spilling glorious pinks, yellows and magenta through the sky and over the water. The vibrant colors silhouetted her slender figure in dark blue silk.

  The flimsy garment fluttered around her bare legs and molded against her curves. Her long, flaming hair lay loose and wild against her back.

  The precious sight of his wife squeezed his heart and filled him with such tender emotion that he could only gaze and wonder how such happiness had come to him.

  Then finally he was compelled to leave the house and join her. The sound of his approach was drowned out by the ocean rolling up on the sand. When his arms slid around her waist from the back, she squealed with pleasurable shock.

  “Miguel! I thought you were asleep!”

  He pushed her wind-tangled hair away from the back of her neck, then planted a warm kiss on her nape.

  “How do you expect me to sleep without your body next to mine?”

  She laughed softly and spread her hands over his strong, brown forearms. “Last night was our wedding night. You haven’t had time to get used to having me in bed with you. Yet,” she added seductively.

  He buried his face in the side of her hair and inhaled the heady scent of gardenia. Last night she’d given herself to him so tenderly, so passionately that just the memory of it turned him inside out. She was his woman in every sense now. And he would never let her go.

  “Our wedding,” he repeated with a smile in his voice. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen anything more beautiful. With the church full of candles and flowers. And you all in white. It was so wonderful to have your whole family there.”

  Anna suddenly giggled. “I still can’t believe Adam accidentally caught my bouquet.”

  Miguel chuckled. “Well, he did instantly toss it to your cousin Caroline.”

  “Yes. But he believes he’s jinxed. If a woman even looks at him crosswise now, he’ll probably take off running.”

  “I hope not. Everyone should be as happy as we are.”

  Sighing, she turned in his arms and brought her hand up to his face. “You are happy, aren’t you?”

  His forehead rested against hers. “I didn’t know I could ever feel this way. And to have Carlos back in my life, too. I can hardly believe it.”

  Anna smiled. “He looked very handsome yesterday at the wedding. Just like his father. And I was very glad Charlene came, too. You know, when I talked to her in Texas, she admitted how sorry she was for the way she treated you all those years ago. And I believe she truly is. She seems to want to make amends.”

  “Yes. Giving me equal custody rights of Carlos made me see that. Now he can live with us during the summer and visit on most of the holidays.” He pressed his lips to hers, then whispered, “Thanks to you, querida. If you hadn’t come into my life I would still be lost and festering with bitterness.”

  “And if you hadn’t come into mine I would still be swearing off all men forever.”

  “You have sworn off all men. Except this one,” he said with a laugh, then swept her up in his arms and started back to the house.

  “Miguel! Miguel! Where are we going? I wanted to see the sunrise!”

  “We’re going to work.”

  “But this is our honeymoon!” she exclaimed.

  “Yes. But Carlos is expecting me to produce him a brother or sister. I can’t disappoint him.”

  She pressed her lips against the side of his neck. “Hmm. If that’s the case, then I guess the sunrise can wait.”

  Who will lift Adam’s jinx? See when he meets

  his perfect match in the next

  TWINS ON THE DOORSTEP book,

  coming from Silhouette Romance

  early in 1999!

  ISBN : 978-1-4592-6650-6

  THE COWBOY AND THE DEBUTANTE

  Copyright © 1998 by Stella Bagwell

  All rights reserved. Except for use in any review, the reproduction or utilization of this work in whole or in part in any form by any electronic. mechanical or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including xerography, photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, is forbidden without the written permission of the editorial office, Silhouette Books, 300 East 42nd Street, New York, NY 10017 U.S.A.

  All characters in this book have no existence outside the imagination of the author and have no relation whatsoever to anyone bearing the same name or names. They are not even distantly inspired by any individual known or unknown to the author, and all incidents are pure invention.

  This edition published by arrangement with Harlequin Books S.A.

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