by Roni Adams
“Stay away from him. Go get Cord.”
She ignored him—big surprise—and yelled, picking up rock after rock to throw at the stubborn, enraged bull.
“Damn.” Buck cringed as one of the rocks bounced off his head.
“Oops sorry!” she squeaked and heaved another at the red back of the beast.
Satan ignored her and lowered his head. Buck froze. He braced himself. This was it. Should he close his eyes or keep his eyes on his murderer. He swallowed and forced himself to stay still. Should he roll to the right or the left? Which would give him the best chance of surviving? His mind raced with various scenarios.
Suddenly, Sara appeared almost right beside the bull.
Buck’s eyes widened and his heart leapt to his throat. “You stupid fool, get out of here,” he yelled this time, hoping to catch Satan’s attention before he noticed her.
She jabbed at the bull’s back end with a pitchfork. Immediately, the bull twisted around.
Sara ran.
The bull charged.
Buck scrambled to his feet.
“Hey! Hey!” he shouted, attempting to get Satan’s attention back on him. Maybe if he could get the beast to follow him into the barn again his original plan would work.
He yelled louder but the bull ignored him completely intent on his new prey. Buck’s heart hammered. He couldn’t handle it if something happened to Sara because of his own stupidity.
She slipped through the opening in the barbed wire fence and the bull followed. Now Satan was out in the yard and Sara ran in a bigger arc back and forth keeping him on the run. Buck ran behind him waving his hat and hollering at the top of his lungs.
The wooden horse corral was directly ahead and mercifully empty. “Sara, turn this way, I’ll run to the horse corral and get him in there.”
She shifted her direction and Satan followed on her heels. At the last moment, Buck realized she was heading into the corral too. In his mind, he played it all out, if she could get in there first and get back out as he locked Satan in, it would work. But one small trip or stumble, like he did, and...
His chest constructed as she reached the wooden pen and hustled through the gate. Satan followed. Buck slammed the gate knowing he’d just sealed her fate, but he also knew Sarah, and had to trust that she had a plan.
With a tight jaw, he watched as she quickly jerked to the side and ran in a zigzag towards the far end of the corral fence. Buck’s heart was in his throat as she reached the wooden enclosure. In a flash, she hit the ground and rolled under, her hat coming off and staying inside the wooden enclosure. Buck watched in disbelief as Satan angrily flung her hat in the air and snorted.
Sara brushed the dirt from her hands down the front of her jeans. Buck ran to her and hauled her into his arms, holding her tight enough to squeeze the very life out of her. He closed his eyes seeing again in his mind the way the bull had destroyed the hat she’d lost. She clung to him, head tucked into his neck and heart beating against his chest.
“You idiot, I can’t believe you did that.” He kissed her hair, her neck, her cheek. “You could have been killed.” He kept his arms firmly around her, not about to ever let her go again.
“I saw you on the ground and all I knew was that I had to get him away from you. I’m sorry. I’m sorry. It’s all my fault.” She pulled back slightly and stared up. “I should have gotten rid of him. I saw him, and then...”
Buck cupped her face in his palms. “I love you, and this nonsense has to stop. I can’t live without you. I’m so distracted I didn’t even see him out here.”
Sara nodded. “I know, I’m sorry. I love you too. I just want to be us again.”
Buck paused. He did love her. He swallowed hard. If he had to live with her friendship, as long as he had her, he’d somehow adjust. The important thing was that they were both still alive to have that chance.
“Not as friends.” Sara rushed on as if replying to his inner turmoil. “I don’t mean that. I mean like we were in Houston, and before the Will and everything. I want to be with you as your friend and more.”
Buck crushed her mouth under his and pulled her up tight against him. He wrapped his arms around her so tight, if it was anyone else he’d probably have crushed them. But this was Sara, his Sara. She always could handle whatever he dished out.
When he finally released her lips they both started talking at once.
“I’ve been in such hell—”
“I know how much the ranch means to you—”
Buck smiled. “We’ll figure something out, I promise...together. We can handle anything together, just like always. Cord will understand.”
Sara laughed. “Cord understands way more than we thought. He already told me he won’t marry me.”
Buck froze. Was that what this was about? He dropped his arms and stepped back.
She followed right after him. “Don’t go there you stubborn fool. He knows I love you. It has nothing to do with Cord and nothing to do with whether or not I’m pregnant.”
He’d forgotten about that. Oh God, and she’d just fought a bull and dove under a wooden fence. He must have revealed his concern because she hurried on.
“No, I don’t know yet, and I don’t care. I love you and I want to be with you. I don’t need this ranch, or the land or even a possible pregnancy to make me finally admit it.” She shook her head at the very idea. “Cord and I talked this afternoon. I came out here to find you because I told him I wasn’t going to marry him. Then he told me he wasn’t going to marry me either. It was all an act to get you and me to wake up.”
“Cord doesn’t do things like that.” Buck frowned. “He told me he was going to do the right thing because it’s what your father wanted. Your father thought Cord was the right man for you.”
She laughed and it was the most wonderful sound in the world. It seemed like forever since he’d seen her happy.
She went up on tiptoe and moved closer, her arms linked around his neck as she pressed into him. “You can ask him if you don’t believe me—heck, I don’t even care that you don’t believe me. But if you could ask him later, that would be great. I really would like to see something in your room, first.”
Buck wanted to believe her, but hell, not even eight hours ago they were at each other’s throats and she had accused him of being just like Tyler, and trying to make her do things his way.
Sara dropped back down to her feet and looked up from under her lashes. She wet her lips and glanced at Satan now pacing the wooden enclosure and then back at him. “You know how much I love this land, but I wouldn’t die for it. Just now, though, I was more than willing to be the one that Satan maimed or killed if it meant that he wouldn’t hurt you.” She held her hand out to him palm side up. “I’ve never lied to you in your life. I’m your friend, and I want to be that and all the more for the rest of our lives. I know what I want, the rest is up to you.”
The weight that he’d been carrying since they left Houston vanished. He swooped down and picked her up into his arms. He wanted to whoop and holler and shout to the world that he had everything he ever wanted back in his arms and this time to stay. “Right after you show me how much you’ve missed me, I’m going to show you how much I missed you. Then you can prove you love me, and I’ll prove I love you...”
Sara laughed and clung to him as he walked across the yard towards the house. “Is anyone home over there? I mean, where’s Teddy?”
“He’s gone to the LoneStar. Cord’s in the den?”
She nodded and whipped his hat off his head to put on her own. “If he’s a smart man, he’ll stay there for a while.”
Buck marched up the porch steps, stuck his boot in the screen door to open it and stepped inside. He set her on her feet in the kitchen and kissed her again. “As soon as we get married, we’re building our own damn house somewhere about five miles away from these two so we can have some privacy.”
Sara drew his bottom lip into her mouth as his hands molded to her rear end. “Hmm, that
sounds like a great plan.”
Buck pulled her up hard against him. “What was it you wanted to see in my room?”
She reached for his belt buckle. “You. Naked.”
He laughed and scraped her hair back from her face as he kissed her. He pulled back and scanned her eyes. “You honestly don’t know yet if there’s a baby?”
Her hand stilled on the zipper of his jeans. “No, why?”
“What if you are? I mean, are you going to be okay about that?”
She shrugged her shoulders and pulled his zipper down. “I’m not going to worry about it.” She slid her hands up under his T-shirt and leaned her head back to smile up at him. “If I am pregnant, then whatever we do right now won’t make any difference.”
Buck shuddered as her hands flattened on his skin. His erection pressed into her belly and he wanted nothing more than to race upstairs with her. Still, he didn’t want anything to go wrong, he wanted all bases covered before they went any further. “If you’re not pregnant? Should we, I mean, we need protection.”
Her hands seemed to be all over him and now they were inside the open denim of his jeans. “Are you saying you don’t want kids?”
Buck groaned as her hands fondled him. He cupped her breasts in his palms. “I want whatever you want.”
Sara moaned and lifted her face. “I say we let the chips fall where they may.”
She stepped out of his arms but grabbed his hand and tugged him towards the hallway. “I want to work alongside you every day, just like we always have.” She smiled as they reached the bottom of the stairs and began to climb backwards as she held his gaze. “But when the workday is done, I want to be alone with you in our own home with our own kids and just be us.”
Buck nodded. There wasn’t anything in the world he could think of that sounded better. He pulled her back into his arms. “You always did have the best ideas.”
Coming November, 2008 from
The Wild Rose Press
www.thewildrosepress.com
The Cowboy Comes Home
The second in The Double B series
by Roni Adams
Chapter One
He was back. Beth knew without looking. She couldn’t explain it even to herself, but she knew he was there. The hairs on her neck didn’t stand up or anything weird like that, simply a feeling deep inside that all that had been wrong was suddenly right again. The air seemed infused with energy somehow like that feeling you get when you step outside on the first crisp morning of fall after a long stifling hot summer.
Invigorating. That was the word. Invigorating.
Beth detested it.
She continued dancing with Cole Pritchard as if nothing had happened, but when their dance steps turned her around and she faced the door, her suspicions were confirmed. Tyler Weston had come home for Christmas.
He looked different in a brown leather jacket she hadn’t seen before and sporting a scruffy beard. It looked odd on the face that had always clean shaven. Tyler stood just inside the LoneStar Bar and Grill and glanced around without any expression. Probably looking for his brothers. Considering they always sat at the same table, he was sure to find them soon enough. Nothing had changed in the two years he’d been gone.
Cole pulled her closer and his lips pressed against her forehead. Well some things had. She closed her eyes. Cole was one of the good guys—attentive, polite and just as handsome as any of the Weston brothers. Yet, he didn’t stir her. All Beth got when the redheaded rancher kissed her was a nice warm feeling. The same feeling she got when she hugged her horse. She longed to feel the same intense, burning need and desire Tyler had always stirred in her.
The song ended on a resounding chord and Beth blinked as Cord stopped dancing. He squeezed her hand. “How about another drink?”
She nodded and wanted to follow him to the bar, but he was already urging her towards her family and friends at their table. Her stomach churned and her heart raced as she forced herself to walk across the room. Her older sister, Sara, and two of Tyler’s brothers, along with several old friends were there. It was definitely a “home for the holidays” moment, and she had been enjoying herself...until the cowboy came home.
Lifting her chin, she sank her gaze into Tyler’s back as he stood talking to his oldest brother, Cord. Cord grinned from ear to ear, his large hand clasped on his youngest brother’s shoulder as if to keep him right where he was. He must be beyond happy to have him home. Tyler hadn’t just left her two years ago, he’d walked away from his family as well.
Beth studied the breadth of his shoulders and narrow waist. He turned suddenly and caught her stare. The brown eyes that used to make her melt faster than snow in Texas bore into hers.
As if she’d fallen off her horse and landed on her back, all the air rushed from her lungs. Blindly she reached out for the back of the chair in front of her for support. Her lips were dry and she wet them before trying to speak. “T-Tyler,” she began and then swallowed, hard. “Welcome home.” Her hands clenched the back of the chair tighter, willing him not to hug her—or worse, kiss her cheek like she was an old friend. They weren’t old friends. Friends didn’t do what he did to her.
He half smiled, sort of a lifting of one side of his lips. She was mesmerized by the moustache and had a sudden curiosity to know how it felt, soft or prickly? She didn’t think she’d ever been around a man with a moustache and beard before. None of the Westons ever had one, Cole was clean-shaven, and so was her business partner, Grant Clark.
Tyler shoved his hands in the pockets of his jeans. His leather jacket hung open, revealing a black turtleneck, another thing she’d never seen him wear before.
“Hi, Beth,” he said without moving towards her.
No one at the table seemed to know what to do. Fortunately, Cole’s return with their drinks broke the tension. He handed her a glass of wine, and then slipped his arm around her waist, his hand cupping her hip. Beth tried not to show her surprise, the gesture pretty possessive. Tyler didn’t miss it.
His gaze flick to Cole’s hand and then to the other man’s face. “Pritchard,” he said and held out his hand.
Cole was forced to release her to shake hands, and Beth wondered if that was exactly what Tyler wanted to happen. Two years ago, another man would never have even asked her to dance for fear of dealing with Tyler Weston’s wrath.
Beth pushed aside those thoughts. It certainly shouldn’t matter now. His little letter made it more than clear she was to live her life and he was going off to find his. She didn’t matter to him. Cole pulled out the chair for her. Grateful, she sank to it before her knees gave out. Her sister, Sara drummed her fingers on her enormous belly, eyeing Tyler with a glare that made Beth nervous. Here we go.
“So, Ty, long time no see. What’s new?” Sara asked.
Tyler pulled out a chair towards the end of the table and sat down while Cord handed him a beer. “Looks like you and my brother have bigger news than I could have. Congratulations. Do we know if it’s a boy or a girl?”
With a wide smile, Buck Weston slid his arm around his wife’s shoulders. “Nope. We want to be surprised.”
Beth watched as the giant cowboy kissed her sister tenderly and Sara rested her head back on her husband’s shoulder. The two of them gave a new definition to the word love. Turning back, she caught Tyler’s gaze on her and her cheeks instantly heated. She lifted her glass and drained half the wine.
“Hey, little girl, better slow down. What if you have to go out on a call tonight?” Cord cautioned.
Beth set her drink down even as she shook her head. “Grant’s on call the rest of the weekend. Monday, he’s heading home for two weeks.”
“Grant?” Tyler asked, one brow raised in concern.
Beth stared at him coolly. As if he didn’t know. Her friendship with the other man had been something he’d never understood. “Grant Clark. I did my residency with him at Cornell. He came back here to practice with me when I took over from Doc.” She tried not
to sound defensive, tried to keep the bitter edge out of her voice, but she knew he got her point. One for me, she thought lifting her wine glass again.
Cole’s hand slid to her leg and squeezed. It wasn’t a romantic gesture, rather a show of support. Cole would stand by her and help her through this awkwardness. Even though she’d been more than clear that she wasn’t interested in anything more than close friendship, she sure didn’t mind it looking like something more tonight.
Tyler lifted his beer. “How is your Dad, Pritchard?”
“Doc’s doing a lot of traveling these days. He’s heading to Mexico right after Christmas. Says turning the practice over to Beth was the smartest thing he ever did. She’s terrific.”
He slid his arm around the back of her chair and Beth leaned into him while he pressed his lips to her temple. Across the table, she caught Sara’s questioning gaze on her. Everyone was on edge, as if Tyler’s coming home was going to send her over the edge again. They shouldn’t worry. She’d grown up. She wasn’t the same silly girl she was two years ago.
“Hey, I thought I saw you come in the door, baby brother!”
Tyler stood as his third brother and lead singer for the Scoundrels, Teddy, hugged him. Beth’s sister, Susan was close behind and enfolded Tyler in her embrace.
“You look great, Ty.” She yanked on his beard. “What’s with this?”
Tyler winced and rubbed his chin. “Something different. Thought I’d try it out.”
“Looks like you’re trying to hide from the law or something.” Susan took a seat next to him, her sparkling blue eyes shining and her red mouth curved into a warm smile.
He laughed. “You guys sounded great tonight. I didn’t realize you still sung together.”
Susan glanced at Teddy and rolled her eyes. “We don’t, but I was in the holiday spirit and decided to class up his act a bit.” She quickly stood up again. “Anyone want anything from the bar?”
Beth would love another wine, but didn’t dare. Her head was already woozy from drinking the other one too fast. The last thing she needed was to get tipsy and end up telling Tyler what she really thought of the coward that broke off their engagement in a letter while he skittered off to who knew where like a scared rabbit. Wouldn’t that make for a happy family Christmas?