The Cowboy's Forever Wish

by Lori Wilde

  Brett shrugged. “Works for me. I’ll pick you up at about a quarter to six, Annie. That way we can ride together.”

  Annie figured they all wouldn’t be able to spend much time talking if she had Courtney with her, but still, she’d give it a chance. “Sounds good.”

  Brett used the break in the conversation to mutter something about checking the equipment and quickly escaped her office. Once he was gone, Tyler grinned at her and then walked out. Annie stared at the space where he’d been. The man would drive her crazy. What bothered her most about working with Tyler wasn’t any changes he might have in mind.

  What she really feared was her attraction to Tyler, a man who was—and had always been—wrong for her. She could protect the business. But could she protect her heart?

  **

  Tyler wandered into the drugstore later that night. He was killing time before he went to pick up Annie. He didn’t want to show up early. That would upset her.

  As he wandered the aisles, he couldn’t help thinking about Falling Star. So far, two people had greeted him, and he’d only been here a few minutes. Even after all these years being away, he knew a lot of people in Falling Star, which he liked. He liked being part of the town.

  He also couldn’t help thinking of Annie. How many times had they hung out in this very drugstore, laughing about silly products. Sometimes he caught a brief glimpse of that Annie, but then she’d be replaced by the cautious one who doubted his sincerity.

  Of course, the attraction between them didn’t reassure her that he meant what he said. The fire they shared all those years ago still burned, and truthfully, they needed to decide what to do about it. He wasn’t the only one feeling the chemistry. The attraction was so strong, he felt like he’d go crazy sometimes if he didn’t hold her and feel the softness of her lips beneath his own.

  Ultimately, he was every bit as drawn to her now as he’d been long ago.

  “Too bad you aren’t on this year’s football team.”

  Tyler turned around. Karla Strass stood behind him, a broad smile on her face. “We’d cheer extra loud for you.”

  Karla had been the lead cheerleader when Tyler had been on the team in high school. She’d spent a great deal of time trying to convince him to date her, but she’d never succeeded. She was nice, but not his type.

  Because his type was Annie.

  “What brings you to town?” Karla asked. Despite the years, she looked very similar to the way she had when they’d been in school. Oh sure, she was older, and her brassy-blond hair was now a honey color, but she still had the same smile.

  “I’m visiting my mother,” he said.

  Karla nodded. “I heard you’d been back a couple of times before this.”

  “I used to visit each year for the holidays. But now I’m living here.”

  His pronouncement obviously startled her. “I thought you were a lawyer in New York.”

  “I am. I was. I’m thinking about relocating here. I want a change,” he explained.

  Karla studied him for a moment, then said, “Hey, I have an idea. Why don’t you go out with me?”

  “Out with you? You mean on a date?”

  She laughed. “Well, we wouldn’t be doing Algebra homework. We could have dinner. Maybe even see a movie.”

  It took a moment for Tyler to realize she was sincere about a date. She wasn’t the first woman to ask him out, but considering how he felt about Annie, it wouldn’t be fair to accept. Now the question was how to say no to Karla without hurting her feelings. They might not be close friends, but she was a nice lady.

  “Thank you for the offer, but I’m involved with someone else,” he said, softening his words with a smile.

  She blinked. “You are? Um, no one said you had a girlfriend.”

  “I do.” He wasn’t sure who no one was, but whoever they were, they didn’t have all the facts. He might not have an official girlfriend, but he also wasn’t interested in dating. At least dating anyone who wasn’t Annie.

  Karla took the news with good grace. “That’s okay. I understand. If you’re already involved, then it’s just my poor luck for asking too late.”

  “This woman and I go back a long time,” he said. That was certainly true.

  With a twinkle in her eyes, Karla nudged him. “Would the lady in question be Annie?”

  He just smiled, and Karla laughed. “You are like a man who has found a comfortable pair of loafers, Tyler Nelson.” She leaned forward, then added, “You should give the other shoes a chance.”

  Her analogy was so bizarre that he couldn’t help laughing. “What?”

  “You know exactly what I mean.” Then with a little wave, she headed off. “Stop being a creature of habit.”

  Tyler watched her leave. Was he a creature of habit or was he instead a man who’d never gotten over his first love?

  He’d have to think about this.

  One thing he knew for certain, Annie would not appreciate being compared to a pair of comfy loafers.

  **

  Annie wasn’t the least surprised when Tyler appeared on her doorstep at a quarter to six. She and Brett had agreed they’d ride together to Tyler’s house, but she wasn’t surprised her brother had chickened out. He hated having dinner at a friend’s house. He always said it reminded him of having to be good in church, so he usually ditched it—just like he had tonight.

  When she opened the front door, Tyler smiled at her. She sighed softly, said hi, handed him the baby bag, and held Courtney’s hand as they walked out. Once outside, she locked the front door.

  Courtney looked up at Tyler and grinned. “Man Man.”

  He squatted next to her. “Tyler. Can you say Tyler?”

  Courtney grinned at him again. “Man Man.”

  “It may be easier for you to change your name,” Annie said.

  Tyler stood up and laughed. “I think you may be right.” As they started walking to where his truck was parked, he said, “I thought you’d be mad.”

  Annie refused to let this evening sour, so she shook her head. “Not in the least. If you want to drive and play the move-the-car-seat game, it’s fine with me. But just so you know, I could have driven myself.”

  Tyler took her comment in stride. “I know, but my mother shooed me out of the kitchen and told me to go make myself useful. Hence me being here, trying to be useful. If I drive, you can rest. If you drive, well, then—”

  “Rest is out of the question,” she said, finishing his sentence.

  “Unless you want to smack into something,” he teased.

  “Nope. I have no desire to smack into anything.” She opened her car and unfastened the car seat. Then she traded items with Tyler, giving him the car seat and taking Courtney’s diaper bag.

  “I will say I think Courtney has more things in that bag than I had in my first apartment,” he said while putting the car seat in the back seat of his truck.

  “You know the old rule, the smaller the person, the bigger their need for stuff.”

  Courtney had been looking around, but now that her car seat was in place, she raised her arms. “Up, Man Man.”

  Tyler picked her up and fastened her into the car seat. She rewarded him with a smile and a very loud “Koo.”

  Laughing, Tyler turned and looked at Annie. “Did she just call me Koo?”

  Annie shook her head and explained, “Koo is her way of saying thank you.”

  “Ah, I see. She’s dropping a few of those unnecessary letters,” he pointed out.

  Annie couldn’t help herself. She laughed at his silliness, which made Courtney laugh. Still laughing, Annie walked around to the passenger side of his truck, but before she could open the door, Tyler reached around her and did it for her.

  For a heartbeat, Annie stared at him. He returned her look, more than a trace of fire lingering in his eyes. She could smell the tang of his cologne and feel the warmth of his breath. Involuntarily, she licked her own lips.

  “Please don’t do this to me,”
he said softly. “Not now when we’ve got several hours to spend with my mom.”

  Annie didn’t pretend she didn’t understand. She felt the same desire he felt and was grateful when her daughter started singing loudly in the back seat.

  Annie was a little wobbly as she climbed into the passenger seat. Tyler looked at her and said, “At some point, we need to talk about what’s happening.”

  Knowing it was silly to pretend she didn’t understand, she simply nodded. Yes, they needed to talk about this attraction between them. Of course, it would have been easier if he didn’t look so wonderful. His hair was ruffled as if the wind had blown it; his jeans were worn just enough to mold his long frame, and his faded sweatshirt was shoved up on his forearms, revealing a tantalizing view of his tanned arms.

  Annie didn’t even want to think about what she looked like. As usual, her blue dress was more functional than pretty.

  “How’s your mother feel about us coming?” Annie asked.

  For a moment she thought he would comment on her obvious change of subject, but he didn’t. Instead, he said, “She’s thrilled, especially about seeing Courtney. I secretly think she’s longing to become a grandmother.”

  That brought up an interesting point, and even though Annie knew she’d regret asking him this question, she couldn’t stop herself. “So why haven’t you married and had children?”

  Tyler raised one eyebrow and glanced quickly at her. “Touchy subject for us, don’t you think?”

  He had a good point, but she still wanted to know. “I’ve been thinking about the past a lot, and I realize we were very young.”

  “Yeah, we were.”

  She hadn’t noticed she was holding her breath until his words sunk in. “We were. So why didn’t you marry after you got out of college?”

  “At first I was too busy starting my career to get involved in anything but short-term relationships. Then I was too busy at work to have time for relationships at all. I worked unbelievable hours.”

  The trace of sadness in his voice made her look at him. She never thought Tyler would have regrets. He always seemed to know exactly what he wanted and exactly how to go about getting it.

  “If practicing law means so much to you that you made it the center of your life, why are you giving it all up to come back to Falling Star?”

  He shrugged. “You can’t make a life out of work.”

  They had arrived at his house, and since the gate was open, he pulled in and parked in front of the house. She shoved open her door and climbed out, anxious to put some space between them. Tyler retrieved Courtney from her car seat before Annie could, so she grabbed the baby bag and followed him up the walk. Her daughter giggled at the silly faces Tyler made, her delight in his company obvious.

  “She’s so wonderful,” Tyler said over his shoulder. Annie nodded. Yes, Courtney was great. Everything was great. Truthfully, when she considered her feelings, she was less worried about Tyler’s involvement in the business than she was about the two of them and the attraction between them. She couldn’t decide if she was worried it would turn into something or she was worried it wouldn’t.

  Glancing at Tyler as he opened the front door and held it for her, she was glad he wanted to talk about it. They needed to decide what they were going to do.

  “After you,” he said, smiling down at her.

  Annie tried to move past without brushing against him, but it proved impossible. With Courtney perched on his hip, Tyler took up most of the doorway. The only way to enter was to turn sideways and scoot by. When she was facing him, she glanced up, finding the grin she’d expected to see planted firmly on his face.

  “You never grew up, did you?” she muttered.

  He chuckled. “My philosophy has always been that when something works, don’t change it.”

  Annie wanted to be mad at him, she really did. But she found it difficult to stay angry with someone whose mere voice could send tingles dancing down her spine. It had been so long since she’d felt even a twinge of attraction to a man, that Tyler was difficult for her to handle. Talk about dancing too close to the fire.

  With a sigh of relief, she made it past him into the foyer. For a moment, her surroundings distracted her from thinking about Tyler. She hadn’t been inside the Nelson home for many years. She’d only been invited to dinner once, and that evening had proven to be her last with Tyler. She hadn’t slurped her soup or burped or done anything at all to embarrass herself. But still, from the moment he’d learned of their engagement, Tyler’s father had made it clear he didn’t approve of the relationship.

  On the way home, Tyler had apologized for his father’s rudeness. When they’d reached her parents’ house, he must have sensed how upset she was because he’d just held her and told her to forget his father. What Henry Nelson thought didn’t matter. All that mattered was how they felt about each other.

  At that moment, settled in his arms, listening to his silken voice utter those soothing words, Annie had felt confident in their love. However, the next day, he’d broken up with her.

  She glanced over her shoulder at the man she’d once loved. Then she looked back at the living room. Everything had changed. The room looked different, and Annie felt different. She no longer had anything to fear.

  “Don’t think about the last time you were here,” Tyler murmured from behind her. His hand rested lightly at her waist, but she didn’t move away from him. She also didn’t look at him, not wanting to see the kindness she sensed in his voice reflected in his eyes. Tyler being kind would be difficult for her to take.

  Thankfully, Judith came in from the kitchen, a wide smile forming on her face the second she saw Annie and Courtney.

  “I’m so glad you two could come to dinner. Dolores and I were just talking about how quiet this house is, and how much life a child would bring to it.”

  The older woman’s comment surprised Annie. She’d never really known Tyler’s mother. Up until the other night, Judith had struck Annie as a woman who’d been brought up to keep her own counsel. However, Tyler’s mother had changed over the last few years and now obviously spoke her mind.

  Judith walked over and smiled at Courtney. “How would you like to play in the backyard? We have a dog who loves children.” She glanced at Annie. “Do you mind?”

  Annie shook her head. “No, Courtney likes dogs.” She moved forward, hoping to put some distance between herself and Tyler. Tyler solved her dilemma when he draped his arm around his mother’s shoulders and set Courtney on the ground. Holding Courtney’s hand, he led the way to the large patio. Rather than a purebred dog as Annie had expected, the dog Judith referred to was a friendly little mutt who instinctively reacted gently to Courtney. After several admonishments, Annie finally got her daughter to stop kissing the “moddie.”

  When Judith took Courtney across the manicured lawn to play a game of fetch with the dog, Annie sank into one of the thickly cushioned lounge chairs.

  “Courtney seems to like Puddin,” Tyler said, dropping onto the chair next to her. “Why don’t you get her a puppy?”

  Turning her head, Annie studied him. He wasn’t even looking at her, but she could feel his presence as strongly as if he were touching her. Absently, she rubbed her arms. “I have enough trouble taking care of Courtney without adding another creature to the formula.”

  Now Tyler did look at her. “Are you sure that’s the reason? I’d hate to think you don’t want the status quo to change, even because of a dog.”

  Surprised by his statement, Annie shook her head. “That’s not true. I love dogs, but I’m rarely home. Maybe once Courtney is older.”

  Tyler studied her closely, his gaze seeming to assess her in a way that made her uncomfortable. Finally, unable to stand the tension between them, she turned and watched her daughter instead. He was wrong. She didn’t hate change; she just didn’t like it, and she had every reason to feel that way.

  “I know it’s been tough, Annie.”

  Next to he
r, she heard the gentle scrape of the metal chair against the patio bricks as Tyler stood. She stiffened, expecting him to approach her. When she didn’t feel his presence after a few moments, she glanced over her shoulder. He’d moved across the patio to the grill and was working on dinner. A strange feeling of disappointment engulfed her. Uncertain of the reaction she would get, she stood and slowly strolled over to join him.

  “Can I help?” She deliberately kept her tone light.

  The look Tyler gave her would melt ice in a blizzard. Annie sucked in a tight breath, uncertain of how to react.

  “Things happen whether you want them to or not,” he said.

  Annie blinked, wanting to break the spell he cast around her. But it didn’t help. His softly uttered words just increased her feelings of confusion.

  “I know.” Her voice was husky.

  “We seriously need to talk about what’s happening between us and soon,” he said.

  Annie nodded, then backed away. Here in this house surrounded by memories of long ago was the last place she wanted to have this conversation. “Maybe later,” she said.

  “Moddie run.”

  Annie turned around, grateful for the interruption her daughter provided. She picked up Courtney, knowing she was a coward to hide behind a small child, but she did it anyway.

  And she kept doing it all evening. Courtney was always with her, either seated on her lap or straddling her hip. Her daughter’s presence made it easy for Annie to avoid looking at Tyler. Her luck ran out, though, when he approached her after dinner ended.

  “Do you want to go over those ideas for the business now?” he asked. “I know Brett isn’t here, but I’ll catch him up later.”

  Annie couldn’t think of anything she’d like less than to be alone with Tyler, but this discussion was the whole reason why she’d come over to his house in the first place.

  She glanced at Judith. “Would you mind watching Courtney for a few minutes?”

  Judith smiled and shook her head. “No, I’d love to.”

  Resigned, Annie headed toward the study, acutely aware of Tyler next to her. Some of her trepidation must have shown because he chuckled when they reached the door.