Dalton: Contemporary Western Romance (New Horizon Ranch: Mule Hollow Book 5) Read online

  Table of Contents

  Title Page

  Description

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  Chapter Ten

  Chapter Eleven

  Chapter Twelve

  Chapter Thirteen

  Chapter Fourteen

  Chapter Fifteen

  Chapter Sixteen

  Dear Readers

  Excerpt from HER MULE HOLLOW COWBOY

  New Horizon Ranch: Mule Hollow Series

  More Books by Debra Clopton

  About the Author

  Copyright

  DALTON

  New Horizon Ranch: Mule Hollow, Book 5

  DEBRA CLOPTON

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  Dalton:

  Dalton Borne is a cowboy who keeps his past closed up inside. He’s watched his partners at the New Horizon Ranch find love and he’s happy for them and even envious. But his past prevents him from believing he deserves a future that includes a love of his own. But then one stormy night he rescues a very pregnant Rae Anne Tyson from floodwaters and ends up delivering her baby on the side of the road. Suddenly Dalton’s life is turned upside down and no matter what he believes he does or doesn’t deserve—he can’t walk away from helping Rae Anne.

  Chapter One

  Torrential rain poured down relentlessly making Dalton Borne slow his truck to a crawl and ease along the flooded road. Water swirled across his windshield faster than his wipers could swipe it away and he squinted through the filmy glass, as if that were going to help him see well enough to estimate the creek overflow. It had to be at least a foot deep and he knew the road dipped a few feet ahead and would get even deeper while the water flow grew faster.

  Despite knowing better than to cross here when the water was rushing over the roads like this, he continued forward.

  The downpour and flash-flooding had come on fast and he’d thought he could beat it before the creek got over the banks. He’d been wrong.

  Another time, another torrential downpour filled his thoughts, causing the memories of that fateful night to lay heavier on his shoulders. He tightened his grip on the wheel and tensed automatically. He shook his head and tried to regulate his breathing, fighting off memories that couldn’t be changed. Memories that, despite three years passing, still hit him hard at times like this. He struggled to focus on what was going on around him now…he needed to turn back. Flash floods in Texas weren’t something to ignore.

  Pressing the brake he brought his truck to a halt and reevaluated the situation as the sound of his heartbeat roared in his ears as loudly as the storm outside. Despite wanting to ignore the warning signs, he pulled the shift into reverse and began the careful process of backing up. Running off the blacktop was not what he needed to do at this moment. Angling the truck around, he drove back the way he’d come, more than ready to get out of this storm. Needing to get out before the memories drew him too deep—a flash of red off to the left of the road caught his attention.

  Dalton straightened in his seat and stared between the swipes of the wipers trying to get a clearer view through the rain. His heart stalled when he realized what he was seeing.

  Taillights.

  “No way,” he muttered, knowing it was true. That was taillights out there in that darkness. He rammed his gearshift into park. “This is not good.”

  There was only one place that car could be and that was stuck in a small stand of trees at the edge of the river.

  Someone had been swept off the road by the flood.

  Miraculously they’d been stopped by the trees before being swept downstream into deeper water.

  He had to get to them. And there was no time to waste.

  Stuck where it was might last but the danger of it being dislodged and swept away was a problem since the water was rising fast.

  He yanked his cell phone out of its holder at his hip, jabbed a few numbers—there was no signal. The storm had killed what little service there was out here.

  He’d been repairing a fence a few miles back on the outer edges of the ranch when the storm hit. The New Horizon Ranch was a big spread and it took him and all four of his other partners to keep it running smoothly. He was more than grateful now that he’d been out here working or whoever was in that car might not have had the chance of being found.

  He’d learned that the hard way that second chances and rescues didn’t always happen…

  Acting as quick as possible he snapped on his flashers, grabbed the big beamed flashlight from the seat and opened the truck door. He’d brought the truck to a stop in a couple of inches of water and as he stepped into the downpour his boots sank into water. It didn’t quite cover the tops but he knew that even an inch and a half of water could pick up a car or a heavy truck and sweep it off the road. The vehicle caught in the trees had found that out. It had foolishly thought it could get across the foot deep water swirling fifteen feet down the road from where he was parked.

  His hat shielded him a bit from the rain but still his face had rivulets of water running down it as he lifted the toolbox cover in the truck bed and pulled out a coil of rope and slung it over his shoulder…just in case he needed it.

  With no one else to help and not sure what he would find, he tied the rope to the cargo tie-down on the truck bed and then he moved into the water letting the rope out as he went. The water was moving fast but at this point it was manageable. It was the last ten feet to the car that would be deeper and a faster current. He reached the edge of the drop off and stepped into the knee deep water, his boots sank into the mud, he focused on balance and pushed forward. He couldn’t see movement in the car. That had him worried. If he had to carry someone from the car to his truck he prayed the water didn’t rise much faster. It was going to be a rough go coming back.

  By the time he reached the back of the car the water was up to the doors and the only reason it wasn’t higher was because the vehicle had come to a halt on high ground.

  He stepped up onto the bank and moved to the far side of the car. The hood was crammed into the embankment and the trees but there was room for him to get to the driver’s side door…His heart stalled when he saw a woman hunched over. He knocked on the window and she turned to look at him through the rain soaked glass—even in the blue light of the dashboard inside he could see how pale she was. And her eyes were as big as the steering wheel.

  He lifted the handle and eased the door open. “Ma’am, are you injured?” he asked leaning forward to be eye level with her and that was when he froze. Surely not…he stared from her pale face to her stomach. “Ma’am are you pregnant?”

  “Yes,” she gasped, then grimaced as she grabbed her rounded belly. “And I’m in labor, have–-been–for a while—” she bit the words out through clenched teeth. Before Dalton could completely comprehend the full force of what he’d just waded into he heard a small child’s voice from the backseat.

  “Are you our angel here to wescue us?”

  Dalton forced his head into the car, water poured from the brim of his hat onto the poor woman, who yelped as he found the little boy sitting in the darkness strapped into his car seat. He looked to be about two or three…Dalton wasn’t a man to feel fain
t very often but a wave of nausea rushed over him. He had floodwaters rising, already it was starting to seep into the floorboard of the car, and he had a woman in labor and a toddler in the backseat. And on top of that the wind was billowing like a tornado was stirring the air.

  He sucked in a deep breath and focused—these two, no three, he amended thinking of the child that was very nearly here, were counting on him.

  And he could not let them down…failure wasn’t an option.

  Rae Anne Tyson gritted back the panic that had a grip on her as violent as the labor pain that had just ripped through her. She’d been praying for the last twenty minutes for the Lord to send help. For Him to overlook her bad choices and take control for her children’s sakes.

  She had really gotten her and her children into a mess…a life or death mess. Something she hadn’t foreseen, yet if there had been a little planning involved in the decision to travel she would have avoided this.

  She could have at least stopped in the larger town thirty-five miles back when she saw the weather was going to get rough. At least then she could have prevented the possibility-the disaster, of giving birth and sinking in floodwaters.

  What kind of mother was she to put her babies in this dangerous predicament?

  She looked into the concerned green eyes of this cowboy who was her only hope and gratefulness overwhelmed her.

  “Please. Help Joey. Get him to safety.” She would have doubled over in pain if the steering wheel wasn’t in her way. Instead, she grabbed it and held on, fighting back her moans and the need to scream as she’d been fighting them down for the last few contractions. She couldn’t scare Joey.

  “How close are they, ma’am?”

  His words, a deep drawl that resonated through the fog of pain in a commanding, reassuring way had her twisting her head to look at him.

  “Five…maybe.”

  “That’s close, right?”

  Okay so maybe not as commanding as she’d thought. She nodded. “Close,” she managed, huffing as the pain intensified to unbearable. This didn’t quite feel right. They were too hard. Too painful. Was something wrong or did her fear have them intensified?

  His eyes widened, but his jaw set in a stubborn jut. “You hang on. I’m getting Joey out of that car seat. Hold on. We’ve only got a few minutes so we’re going to have to get this done in one go.”

  “No. No way. Get Joey. First.” She bit the words out wanting at least one of her babies safe.

  He moved away from her door and she heard the back door open and him speaking to Joey. She realized her feet were now wet. The water was coming into the car. Dear God–her mouth went dry with the prayer. Her throat constricted and her abdomen spasmed harder. A groan tore from her.

  Her cowboy was back in a second holding Joey in his arms. “Okay, are you in between contractions?”

  “Almost. Take him out first, please?” She rested her head on the steering wheel and held on as the pain began to ease.

  “I’m not leaving you and that baby behind, ma’am.”

  She glared at him. “You have to.”

  “No, ma’am, I don’t.” His voice and the look in his eyes were steel.

  She could tell there was no need to argue with him and she didn’t have the energy. If she wanted Joey safe she had to comply.

  “Then we better go before I start having to push,” she warned and saw the color drain from the cowboy’s face.

  “Can you walk?” To his credit his words were calm.

  Rae Anne truly did not know if she could or not. She nodded. “Help me get out of this car.”

  He offered his arm and she grabbed it, digging her fingers into hard, strong muscle. Reassuring muscle. He was going to need a lot of strength she was afraid.

  She grunted as she twisted around and placed her feet into the water. A gasp escaped her at the shock of the cold water swirling about her calves.

  “Are you okay?”

  She nodded then holding onto his arm she stood up. He set Joey on the front seat then pulled a length of rope and tied it around his waist and then tied it around her just beneath her breast. He didn’t say anything as he worked, just secured them and then reached for Joey.

  “You got a rope on you,” Joey stated.

  “Yes I do. Now it’s your turn little fella.” He took the last of the rope and secured it around Joey then took him onto his hip and reached for her.”

  “You ready?”

  Her mouth was going dry and she felt a new twinge. Terror filled her. Was she about to go into another contraction? She couldn’t. Not yet. “I’m ready. We have to hurry.”

  He nodded and then they started moving. His arm came around her waist after they moved down into the deeper water that was almost to her thighs. The force of the water pushed and pulled and she clung the first thing her hands found, his belt. Joey talked excitedly, as they went, blissfully excited about being in the rain and unaware of exactly how much danger they were in. She thanked God once more for that and threw in a few more fervent pleas to get them through the floodwaters to the big truck she could see waiting for them.

  She stumbled and went down but his strong, iron grip held and he hoisted her back to her feet and clamped her to his side as he practically carried her forward. Rae Anne felt the clutches of a fresh contraction reaching for her as they started up out of the deep water.

  “Contraction,” she gritted, and a gasp tore from her as a pain so powerful she couldn’t stop the cry. Her knees buckled and she went down on them.

  “Mama!” Joey cried.

  The cowboy wasted no time lugging her up with one arm as he hoisted Joey over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes then scooped her up into his arms, then he plunged forward the last few feet to the truck.

  One minute they were outside and the next he had the rear door opened and had deposited Joey into the seat and then her.”

  He worked the knot from his rope and slipped it from around his waist then tossed it to the floor and slammed the door. Rae Anne lay back in the seat.

  “Joey,” he commanded from the front seat. Get on the floor and let your mom lay on the seat. Can you do that for me?”

  “Yes, sir. I can do it,” she heard him say in his sweet determined little voice. Her tough little man she thought as a contraction hit her full force.

  Rae Anne grimaced and started her breathing exercises, fighting to control the pain. There was no way they were going to make it to the hospital. Joey stared at her with wide eyes. “It’s okay, Mama. You can stop making funny faces we’re safe.”

  She tried to smile. Her precious boy might never forget this night.

  She just prayed his baby sister was going to be alright…and would stop being so impatient to come into the world. She needed to hold off for a little longer before making her entrance. But Rae Anne didn’t think that was going to happen…her baby was coming.

  Chapter Two

  Dalton rammed the truck into gear never so scared in all of his life. He’d delivered his share of calves but a calf and a baby–not the same thing.

  He did not want to deliver a baby!

  From the panting sounds coming from the back seat he feared he was all out of luck.

  And the poor woman was in so much pain. She’d been tough out there fighting through that flood while in labor. She’d been something. And he couldn’t let her down. Indecision warred inside of him, twisting him up like a pretzel.

  “Ma’am, how you doing back there? You’re going to have to let me know if I need to stop and help you in any way.”

  “Keep driving,” she growled.

  Her command startled him. “Okay, you got it.”

  The rain was blinding him as the wipers worked to move the water off the windshield. He held the steering wheel with both hands. He could not have a wreck with a kid sitting in the floorboard and a pregnant woman having a baby. There was too much at stake for him to mess up and get them in a ditch. He figured they weren’t going to make it to the hospital.r />
  Think, Dalton...Norma Sue Jenkins.

  Dalton sat up in the truck. The ranch woman and her husband Roy Don lived ten miles down the road. Norma Sue was perfect, capable and would know what to do. Plus she was a woman. And in this situation that was a good thing.

  “Ma’am, you hang on ten miles and I can get you to someone who’ll know how to help you. Just ten miles. Okay?”

  The kid popped up and hooked his elbows on the seat to look at him. “Is that far, mister? Cause my mama she’s nodding but still making them funny noises. Something is bad wrong.”

  “It’s going to be okay, buddy. Your mom is in some pain but that’s normal when you have a baby. It’s going to be okay. I promise.” What was he saying? He sent up another prayer–a record for him since he and the Lord weren’t on the best of terms. But he was desperate and he hoped this time his prayers would be heard.

  The rain started to let up five miles down the road and he pressed the gas pedal harder. The entrance to Norma Sue’s came into view. He took it and then gunned it on the gravel drive. He started honking as he wheeled the truck into the circle drive and slammed to a halt. In seconds Dalton had hopped from the truck and yanked open the back door. Holy smokes, the woman’s eyes were huge as she glared at him.

  “Hurry,” was all she said as he slipped his arms beneath her legs and back.

  “Wait for me, Joey, I’ll be back.” And then he stomped through the rain to Norma Sue’s back door. Thankfully they’d heard his horn and the door opened.

  “What’s going on?” Norma Sue asked, hurrying out onto the porch with Roy Don behind her. Alarm flashed over her face as her gaze took in the woman in his arms and she realized he was carrying a pregnant woman. “Is she in labor?”

  “Yes, ma’am. You’re the closest person I could think of to help her.”

  “Roy Don, hot water and towels,” Norma Sue commanded, a take charge kind of woman she wasted no time. “Follow me, son.”