Cowboy Brothers of Rainbow Canyon: A Western Contemporary Cowboy Romance

by K. C. Crowne

The chemistry between us had been instant and irresistible. And I’d wanted that kiss so badly it hurt. I considered what his lips would taste like, and how those big, strong hands would feel over my body. If shaking his hand had felt that good, who knew what the rest of him touching me would be like?

  My own hands moved down my body, over my round hips. The right hand slowly began to make its way between my legs. I was ready for a little morning fun with Wyatt in the starring role in the fantasy I had in mind.

  But at the moment I was on the verge of touching myself, a knock on the door interrupted me. It was a loud knock, but not a purposefully hard bang. More like the kind of knock someone couldn’t help but make if they had a big set of hands. It had to be Wyatt.

  “Yes?”

  “Morning. Breakfast is ready. You decent in there?”

  I looked down at my pajamas again. Sure, they were full body, but they made it clear what kind of shape I was in. And I wanted Wyatt to see.

  “Yeah, come on in.”

  The door opened and there he was. Wyatt was wearing another one of his rugged flannel shirts, this one red and black patterned. Along with that were his usual work boots and a pair of loose-fitting jeans. He leaned against the door frame and slipped one hand into his pocket. The pose made him look like the sexiest rancher I’d ever seen. Not that I’d seen many ranchers. As far as I knew.

  His eyes drifted down my body, just like I’d been hoping. His gaze lingered on my breasts, on my hard nipples. He quickly snapped his eyes off me. I figured it was more out of being a decent gentleman who knew he ought not ogle ladies than out of fear of being caught. I couldn’t imagine Wyatt being afraid of anything.

  “Did you sleep alright?”

  “I did,” I said with a smile.

  He nodded toward the window. “You check out the view yet?”

  “Nope. Just woke up, actually.”

  “Go on and look. It’s about as beautiful as it gets out there.”

  I rolled over and off the bed, the rug beneath my feet soft and plush, and stepped over to the window. I gasped at what I saw. “Holy shit. You weren’t kidding about the view.”

  If the weather last night had been hell, the scene it had created today was pretty much heaven. The huge expanse of the property was lit by the shining sun. Pools of water stood here and there, but the rivulets running looked like little streams flowing about the property. I could see for what felt like miles, and I was mesmerized.

  “Beautiful.”

  “Yep. One of the perks – you can’t beat the view.”

  Although I wasn’t looking at him, I could feel his gaze on my body. I didn’t mind.

  “Perfect weather for gettin' a car out of the mud, too. The boys and I will take care of the heavy liftin’, so to speak, but you can tag along for the ride if you want.”

  “If I come, I’m going to help,” I told him. “I’m pretty sure I’m not the type to sit around while other people do the work for me.”

  “Suit yourself. But if that’s the case, you’d definitely better get a good breakfast in you.”

  My stomach growled. The food last night had been so amazing, and all I wanted was more of Ginny’s cooking. The woman was a wizard in the kitchen. No wonder these boys had all grown up big and strong.

  “I think you can talk me into eating more of your mom’s cooking.”

  “Careful – you’ll get addicted to the stuff,” he said with a smile.

  A bell rang downstairs, and I didn’t need to ask to know what it was –time to eat.

  “Let me throw on some clothes.”

  “Sure. I’ll meet ya down there.”

  He left, shutting the door behind him. And since he’d been checking me out, I thought it only fair to return the favor and give his butt a long, lingering gaze. It was about the most perfect ass I could ask for, and the way his jeans clung to it was almost criminal.

  After throwing on some more appropriate clothes, I headed downstairs. I noticed a few people I hadn’t seen before. They didn’t look like members of the Walker family, more like people coming and going.

  “Who’re they?” I asked Wyatt, who was waiting for me at the bottom of the stairs.

  “Those are guests. Got a few stayin’ for the next few days. Most of ‘em are from Houston and Dallas, but we get a few from all over the place.”

  “Really? Is this a resort or something?”

  “Think of the place like a big bed and breakfast. Speakin’ of breakfast.”

  We moved through the vast house, arriving once again in the kitchen. I couldn’t have been happier about it. Just like with the chicken last night, the scent of sausage and bacon and eggs filled the air. The family was gathered around the table, all of them greeting Wyatt and me with a warm smile.

  “Been wonderin’ when you guys were gonna to show up,” Chance said warmly.

  “Don’t tell me y’all were waitin’ on us,” Wyatt replied.

  “That’s the rule,” Ginny said. “No eatin’ until everyone’s at the table.”

  His eyes met mine and he patted one of the nearby open seats. I didn’t waste any time sliding into it, Wyatt settling beside me.

  Ginny stepped out and returned with a big plate piled high with flapjacks, a mason jar of syrup in her free hand. “Main course is here,” she said as she set them down in the middle of the table. The family didn’t waste a second spearing flapjacks with their forks and plopping them on their plates.

  “Dang,” I said, taking in the sight of all the delicious food. “You guys must have a hell of a grocery bill.”

  “Nah,” Silas answered. “Don’t need to worry about that when you grow everything yourself.”

  “Bacon and sausage are from our pigs, eggs from our chickens, and we even grow a little wheat for flower.”

  “Syrup’s from Canada, though,” Emily said with a wink. “They’re the only ones who can do it right.”

  “Wait until I get some maple trees planted,” Silas reminded her. “Then you’ll see me whip up some syrup that’ll put the canucks to shame.”

  “Right,” she replied with sarcasm on her tongue. “Maybe in twenty years when they grow.”

  “Trust me,” Silas said. “It’ll be worth the wait.”

  I dug in, spreading butter on my pancakes and dousing them with syrup. The first bite was like heaven –warm and delicious and just the right combination of chewy on the inside and crispy on the outside.

  No one spoke for several minutes because we were enjoying the food and washing it down with fresh coffee.

  Finally, Wyatt spoke. “Alright, so we need to head down and get Jess’s car out of the mud.”

  Ginny lifted an eyebrow. She must’ve noticed him calling me “Jess” and wondered what it meant. I got the feeling she was one of those women who never missed a thing. But if she had a comment, she kept it to herself.

  “Great,” Silas said. “Been meaning to put my new truck to use.”

  “She insists on being a part of the process,” Wyatt added, glancing at me and winking.

  “I like a lady who doesn’t mind putting in some work,” Travis said, tipping his hat as he spoke.

  Ginny noticed his hat and took it off his head. “No hats inside, baby. And no flirtin’ with guests.”

  Laughter sprang up from the table. It was easy to tell it was just a joke. Wyatt glanced at me and winked, and I wondered if he liked the thought of me helping.

  “Easy now,” Chance teased. “I think Wyatt’s already got his eye on her.”

  My face reddened. “Oh, I don’t know about that.”

  “Jess and I are just friends,” Wyatt tossed out. “But fast friends. She’d a good girl to know.”

  “Well,” Emily interjected. “If anything does happen to go down between the two of you, make sure all the antiques are bolted down first.”

  More laughter, but I didn’t join in. Truth be told, I didn’t know what they were talking about. “What does that mean? You think I’m going to take something?”<
br />
  “Nah, just a little joke at my expense about a certain woman who’s no longer in my life. Thankfully.”

  I was more than curious to hear about this. “What kind of certain woman?” I asked, unable to resist.

  “That would be Wyatt’s ex-wife, Amy,” Ginny answered me, shaking her head.

  Something strange happened. At the mention of the name Amy, a memory flashed in my mind. Nothing specific, but one of those vague ones that reminded me of something I couldn’t quite put my finger on.

  “You alright over there?” Wyatt asked. “You had a little bit of a moment.”

  “Like a senior moment,” Ginny commented, watching me. “But you’re way too young for one of those. How old are you, sweetheart?”

  “Twenty-eight according to my driver’s license” I told her, still thinking about the strange feeling that had come over me.

  “Did you remember something?” Wyatt asked.

  “Um, kind of. But nothing really concrete. Just felt something at the mention of the name Amy?”

  “Really?” Emily asked. “Like you know her?”

  “Yeah, kind of like that. But it’s probably nothing. I mean, if the name Amy did remind me of someone, it’s a pretty common name. I doubt it’s the one you’re talking about.”

  “If you don’t know her,” Chance offered, “consider yourself lucky. Pretty darn lucky, in fact.”

  “Alright now,” Wyatt said. “We all know I didn’t exactly choose well when it came to my first wife.”

  “First wife?” I asked. “Does that mean there’s a second?” Or a third?

  “Nope, just the one,” Wyatt answered. “That’s about all I needed.”

  “I take it none of you like her very much?” I asked, looking around the table. They all shook their heads almost in unison. My gaze returned to Wyatt.

  “No, no one did, but I was too stubborn to see it until it was too late. We’ve been divorced a little over six months, but she keeps comin’ back looking for more.”

  “More what?”

  “No discussing business at the table,” Ginny reminded her family. “We shouldn’t have brought it up.”

  I turned to Wyatt, silently beckoning him to tell the story. He popped half of a strip of bacon into his mouth and chewed it silently as he stared off. I couldn’t tell if he was trying to decide where to start, or if he was upset the subject had been brought up in the first place. Maybe both.

  “We met a few years back at a wildlife convention in Vegas. I was there to check out some of the newest stuff in the vet tech field, and so was she. Or so she’d said.”

  “Rotten little liar,” Ginny mumbled, shaking her head before taking a sip of coffee. She’d asked them not to talk about it, but she seemed to understand Wyatt wanted to say it.

  “She spun this tale about how she was a veterinary hobbyist, in the business for the love of it and not for the money.”

  “It was always about the money with that one,” Travis said, gesturing with his fork. “That woman had a one-track mind, real eyes-on-the-prize kind of lady.”

  “She was a sweet-talker, too,” Wyatt conceded. “Told me whatever I wanted to hear. We decided to keep in touch when she went back to Houston, and…well, I just kind of got caught up in the whole thing.”

  “Then what happened?” I asked.

  “Well, we got married in this big, fancy ceremony she insisted on.”

  “That we paid for, of course,” Ginny said. “So much for the father of the bride covering that one.”

  “We got married and she moved in here with the rest of us. At first, things went about as well as I’d hoped. But over time, the real her came out little by little.”

  “Like what?” I was so curious I was leaning forward.

  “I’d naturally assumed she’d want to play a role in the vet care of the animals here. It’s what I do, and I was happy to show her the ropes. But every time I’d head out there and invite her along, she’d make up some excuse or another. When she wasn’t too hungover to get out of bed, anyway.”

  He shook his head in disgust before continuing. “One day I decided to ask her if she had any real interest in doing what I did. And she must’ve had enough vodka to let it all out. Turns out she didn’t know the first thing about being a vet. She’d picked up enough lingo to fool me, but nothing substantive.”

  “Woman didn’t even know which side of the bull you know what came out of,” Ginny smirked. “And you’d think she would, considering you know that’s a specialty of hers.”

  Laughter sounded from the table, and I joined in this time.

  “I kept on her, asking if there was anything else she wanted to get off her chest –and here’s where she screwed up. She said that she hadn’t ‘happened to bump into me’ at the convention. She’d known exactly who I was. Didn’t take much for me to put together that this meant she knew I came from a wealthy family, and, well, what her motivations were I’m sure you can figure out from there. Needless to say, that was the end of our relationship.”

  “Total gold digger,” Silas grumbled. “Woman had nothing but dollar signs in her eyes the whole time. How the hell someone could lie to another person’s face like that for months…”

  “I’m just glad she’s gone,” Emily cut in.

  “When she left,” Wyatt said, “she took a bunch of stuff from around the house, whatever she thought looked valuable. Guess she decided if she wasn’t going to rob me blind through my bank account, she’d do it the good old-fashioned way.”

  “You know, she really did us a favor with that one,” Ginny admitted. “Bless your father’s heart, but I don’t have any idea what he saw in that damn vase. Thing was ugly as sin.”

  “No idea how she even got it out of there,” Travis said. “Ugly as sin and heavy as a rock.”

  More laughs. I let the story settle in my mind. Wyatt had been married. There was more to this cowboy than met the eye.

  Wyatt

  Juniper, my big gray mare, looked ready to pop. She was ten months into pregnancy, and I was probably as eager to see the foal as she was. I patted her rump on the side as I moved around her, making sure she looked healthy.

  “How you doin’, big girl?” I asked. “You ready to be a mama? I bet you are. Probably excited and scared as hell all at the same time, eh?”

  She let out a snort as if responding to me. Her tail flicked back and forth. In a month the ranch would have a brand-new addition. I couldn’t wait. Few things were more beautiful than a healthy foal. I just had to think of a name.

  “What do ya think, girl?” I asked. “Got any ideas for a name?”

  She let out another snort.

  “Not sure how I’d write that one on the birth certificate. I know, I know, bad joke.” I made another slow circle around her. “Hmm. How about Misty? Always thought that’d be a pretty name for a horse. Might be a boy, though. In that case we’d have to pick one a little tougher. Like maybe Rocky. Or Beast. Yeah, kinda like the sound of Beast.”

  Another snort, this time accompanied by a head shake.

  “Fine, fine, no Beast. Maybe Jeff. How about that? Good name for a horse?” No response. Maybe my jokes were too corny even for her.

  “I don’t know. I think Jeff sounds pretty good.”

  I recognized the voice and turned around to find Jess standing in the door of the barn. The sky was a bright blue behind her, making her look beauty even more otherworldly. She was bundled up in a surprisingly thin coat and a wool scarf Mom had made not too long back. It was pulled down just enough for me to see the broad, warm smile on her face.

  “Glad someone here’s got my back.” I flicked a glance at Juniper, who snorted once more.

  She stepped into the barn and shut the door behind her, the place darkening aside from the beams of stray sunlight shining through the slated windows. “Which one’s this?” she asked, stepping up to Juniper.

  “Juniper’s her name. And as I’m sure you can tell, she’s about to be a mama.”
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br />   “Bet she’s thrilled.”

  “We’re all thrilled. Ain’t that right, girl?” I patted Juniper on the side.

  “That was sweet,” she commented. “What you were doing?”

  “What’s that?”

  “Talking to her. Just like you said you did.”

  I shrugged. “I think it helps. Especially with the horses. They’ve got a way of knowin’ what’s really goin’ on with humans. If you’re antsy, they get antsy. If you’re calm, then they’re calm.”

  Jess undid her scarf and opened her coat before sitting down on a nearby bale of hay. Underneath her coat she wore a simple white blouse, and I could see the faint outline of what looked like a red bra. It took all the restraint I had not to stare at her breasts, not to mention think about what I wanted to do with them.

  “So how often do you go into town for your work? You have a clinic, right? I heard Travis mention it.”

  “These days, not too often,” I explained. “You’re right about the clinic, but that’s mostly run by my staff. I only pop in to check in, see if they need anything, or to do complicated surgeries the other vets don’t think they can handle.”

  She gave me a curious look. “Why’s that?”

  I looked aside, trying to decide where to begin. “Don’t get me wrong – I love my work. Like I told you, I’ve always wanted to be a vet. But the lifestyle…it can be rough. You love animals, but when you see them, they’re sick. And when one passes, it never gets easier breakin’ the news to their owners. ‘Owners’ isn’t even the right word, really – they’re more like family to these animals.”

  She nodded sympathetically. “I can imagine how that’d be hard. Must take its toll after a while.”

  “It can. And I’ve seen a lot of good doctors have a hard time copin’ with everything. A lot of them end up cracking under the stress, retire early, that kinda thing.”

  “You seem like you’ve got a high tolerance for stress, though. You seem like a man who can handle anything.”

  “Ha, I’ll take that compliment,” I joked, pursing my lips. “But it’s true, I seem to be a little more skilled at handlin’ those sorts of things. But still, it took its toll after a time. So I decided to put the clinic in good hands and spend most of my time at the ranch.”