MULE HOLLOW MATCHMAKERS 21: NEW HORIZON RANCH 01: Her Mule Hollow Cowboy 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

  Epilogue

  Dear Reader

  New Horizon Ranch: Mule Hollow series

  Excerpt from Book 2: RAFE

  Excerpt from Book 3: CHASE

  More Books by Debra Clopton

  About the Author

  Copyright

  HER MULE HOLLOW COWBOY

  New Horizon Ranch: Mule Hollow Book 1

  DEBRA CLOPTON

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  www.debraclopton.com

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  Her Mule Hollow Cowboy:

  Cowboy Cliff Masterson saw a woman in need and stepped in—because Maddie was too stubborn to ask…

  Cowgirl Maddie Rose has never belonged anywhere but she’s just inherited part of New Horizon Ranch—along with her partners, four handsome, extremely capable cowboys… Maddie’s trying to adjust to her new life and her new partners she’s still unable to believe she’s an owner of this fabulous ranch. Not sure why she was included, she’s out to prove herself worthy of the honor of the inheritance. Loving her new life in the small Texas town of Mule Hollow, she’s determined that, for the first time in her life, she’s going to finally belong somewhere…

  Professional Bull Rider Cliff Masterson has been chasing his dreams for years—or has he been running from his past? He’s searching for more in life and ready to dig in his spurs and put down roots deep in the heart of Texas. Rescuing a beautiful cowgirl from being trampled by a bull has him dreaming of romance, home and hearth.

  But Maddie’s had enough people in her life leave and she’s not willing to risk her heart on him—Sparks fly as he’s determined to prove to the feisty cowgirl that the only think he’s chasing now is wedding bells with her…

  Can the Matchmakin’ Posse of Mule Hollow help this couple find their happily ever after?

  Chapter One

  "Get in there, you ornery hunk of steaks," Maddie Rose gritted out through clamped teeth while thrusting all of her weight into pushing the cattle trailer's rear gate closed. A hard task since her hundred twenty pounds didn't hold up against Buford's two thousand pound bulk. Needless to say, despite all of her shoving and pushing. Despite all of her exertion. Buford's big, hairy rump hadn't budged even an inch! Nope, there it was—hanging out over the back end of the trailer.

  Firmly in the way of the latch.

  "C'mon, only a few more inches," she coaxed, pushing, giving it everything she had. But the bull wasn't buying it. He didn't budge.

  "Arrrg," she growled, frustration nearly getting the better of her.

  This should have been a piece of cake—an easy load-up. Ha!

  Bull-headed Buford messed that up deciding he wanted off rather than on.

  Just Maddie's luck.

  And what was new about that? "Nothing," she grumbled.

  She wasn't a whiner, but there was no getting around the hard truth that most things in Maddie's life hadn't come easy. She'd been fighting for survival since the moment of her existence—a sickly baby only a few weeks old at best estimation, found alone, sitting in a carseat. Yup—just sitting on the steps of the post office like she belonged there.

  Obviously, she didn't belong anywhere.

  Maybe before that, but unlike most people Maddie had no recollection, no records, nothing...as far as her life record went she hadn't existed until that day in the post office when she was found.

  If she'd been a whiner she wouldn't have made it.

  No, Maddie was a survivor so she'd grown used to days like today. But it sure was getting old.

  Buford's attitude was a sharp reminder she'd better not get comfortable with the good fortune that had recently come her way.

  Owner.

  The thought dazzled her. Like a beautiful sparkly gift under the Christmas tree that she knew had to belong to someone else...and yet it was hers.

  She really was part owner of this magnificent New Horizon ranch. An amazing cattle ranch sitting on the outskirts of Mule Hollow, the most embracing little town she'd ever known. For a gal with her past, raised in an orphanage and then the foster care system this homey community was as close to family as she'd ever gotten.

  But she felt like an impostor.

  "What had C.C. been thinking when he'd made me an heir?" The question plagued her since the reading of the will two months ago. The day it was revealed that her boss, God rest his sweet soul, had left his ranch to five employees: four cowboys and her.

  She could understand why he'd leave her four amazing partners a share. After all, he had no children of his own and these men had been here on the ranch for years, despite not being much older than her. They were cowboys who'd had a bond and a dedication to C.C. and they loved the ranch. She'd noticed it from the first day she'd walked onto the premises two years ago. They deserved the gift.

  But why her? Had he felt sorry for her?

  It wasn't as if she went around telling everyone her past. She told no one. But intuitive C.C. had guessed some facts during a conversation once.

  Sympathy was the only valid reason she could come up with that she was here.

  The very thought soured her stomach as life-long insecurities ran rampant inside her head. Despite those insecurities she was still an owner and she was determined that she'd earn this gift if it was the last thing she did.

  Teeth grinding down hard she met the ill-tempered glare of the bull. Her palms went slick on the sun warmed metal of the trailer gate. Her insides tensed—but she'd had enough.

  Digging her boots into the dirt, Maddie refused to give up or to run away. Letting the bull get the better of her was not the way to prove herself.

  Working harder, accomplishing more, being competent and reliable...that was how she became deserving.

  For the first time in her life she'd been given a shot at something big—it didn't matter that she didn't deserve it—she was going to do her fair share to see that her former boss never looked down from heaven and regretted the faith he'd shown in giving her this opportunity. She'd already decided that any dream she'd had prior to the reading of that will was going on hold...there would be plenty of time for them later.

  Buford snorted sending Maddie instantly on alert. He never did anything he didn't want to do and Maddie knew the ornery bull could make mincemeat out of her if he chose.

  He chose—one powerful kick sent the gate slamming into Maddie. A scream ripped from her as the bone crunching impact knocked her off her feet. Flying backwards like a rag doll she slammed into the pipe fence. The hit was immediately followed by the heavy, steel gate. Pain exploded everywhere, glazing everything as it seared through her, dazing her.

  Got to stay on your feet.

  The gate swung away from her and instinct had Maddie clawing, grasping for its rungs.

  Stay off the ground or be trampled.

  Buford kicked the gate again, this time, all Maddie's breath whooshed from her, her lungs locked up—the impact so excruciating she hit the ground instantly.

  Right in Buford's pathway.


  She landed face first in the dirt and her mouth filled with foul tasting grit. Fighting for breath she couldn't help herself, she was helpless. A flashback to her childhood crowded her mind.

  Wheezing, she willed herself to move. To breathe.

  But, as she'd been unable to help herself all those years ago when she was a sickly abandoned baby, she was helpless now.

  Suddenly, boots attached to denim-clad legs thudded to the ground between her and Buford.

  "Yah," yelled the cowboy, planting himself directly in the line of danger as the bull bolted from the trailer like a runaway tank.

  Where the cowboy had come from, Maddie didn't know, but from her position he looked like a gift dropped straight from heaven.

  "Go on, now," he yelled then stomped and waved his arms—held his ground—Buford cut sharply to the right, away from Maddie.

  Though her lungs still burned with the need for air, relief surged through her watching the cowboy herd the bull away from her and into the holding pen. Within moments he returned and dropped to his knees beside her.

  "Here you go," he drawled, easing her to her side. "Try to relax. The breathing will get easier. Come on, now go easy."

  She struggled to relax. He was right, after a few more inhales the breaths did come easier, though there was a sharp edge to each breath if she inhaled too deeply. "Thank. You," she managed, giving him a weak smile.

  He didn't smile back, concern etched his rugged, handsome face. "Glad I was here. How are you feeling now?"

  Maddie's pulse fluttered, she was mesmerized by his penetrating indigo eyes. Flustered, she yanked her gaze off her gorgeous rescuer and rubbed her ribs, wincing. "Like I've been kicked by a two-thousand-pound bull."

  His soft chuckle sank over her like warm honey.

  "You may have broken some ribs," he said, kindly then demanded. "What were you doing out here by yourself in the first place?"

  "Loading a bull," she retorted, humiliated by the entire pitiful ordeal and the fact he'd witnessed it. This cowboy probably thought she was some greenhorn who didn't know beans about bulls or cattle.

  Needing more control she struggled to sit up without groaning. Honestly, she was feeling better—but who wouldn't? Her cowboy rescuer would make any woman forget she'd been almost stomped to a pulp by a bull—even her.

  And that those eyes of his were lethal weapons.

  The guy was gorgeous—even oxygen deprived and in pain as she'd been she'd realized that immediately. Touchable dark hair curled from beneath his straw hat and enhanced his firm, chiseled jaw. His high cheekbones underlined those penetrating, strength filled, blue eyes.

  He flashed an enticing crooked grin. "You're one tough lady, Maddie Rose."

  Maddie got hung-up on that smile—suddenly thinking about long, slow kisses... There was an understandable delay in her fogged brain relaying the message that he knew her name.

  And she'd never met him. She knew because she would have remembered him if she'd met him anytime in her entire life. And yet, she realized there was something slightly familiar about him.

  "Have we met?" she asked, as dawning hit her dazed brain and she saw the resemblance. "Wait, you're Cliff Masterson, Rafe's twin brother. The bull rider." Rafe was one of her ranch partners and a good friend.

  "Some nights. Some nights I eat more dirt than you just did." His expression was a mixture of humor and ire—one that made him look more like his brother than he had so far. Rafe had said they weren't identical by a long shot. He'd been right.

  They were both dark haired, good looking and with similar face shapes and body builds, but other than the occasional similarity of expressions a person would never mistake them for twins.

  She relaxed, some. "Rafe said you were coming but I thought it wasn't until next week."

  His left cheek twitched. "My plans changed."

  She'd caught the way his expression tightened and pain briefly dulled his eyes. "Oh—"

  "How about we get you up to the house?" he asked and before she could answer or even nod he'd moved behind her and in an instant his strong arms slipped around her, gently lifting her up.

  Momentarily all pain disappeared. His purely masculine scent wrapped around her, drawing her like a hummingbird to sugar water. She fought the overwhelming urge to lean into him.

  "Lean on me," he said, as if he could read her mind.

  Ha! Like she needed any encouragement. Even the sharp pains shooting from her ribs overrode the initial shock of his touch, Maddie's awareness of the man stunned her.

  She didn't let men get too close. Held them at bay and even though she got lonely and hoped one day she'd have the guts to change that...this kind of reaction had never been a problem.

  Never happened.

  She chalked it up to the fault of the ordeal she'd just gone through.

  It didn't matter anyway. Not right now. Finding the guts to knock down her emotional barriers. To risk her heart for her dream of falling in love and having the family she longed for—that dream was on hold for now.

  She had other priorities. Like not flubbing up any more. To prove to herself that she was deserving of this gift.

  Needing a hero to ride to her rescue was not the way to do it.

  Chapter Two

  Cliff Masterson's stomach clenched thinking about how close Maddie had come to being trampled by the huge bull. If he'd arrived at the ranch a moment later he wouldn't have seen Maddie fly through the air and hit the pipe fence like a sack of concrete. He wouldn't have heard her scream when the trailer gate slammed her. And worse, he wouldn't have seen her crumple to the ground in the path of Buford's hooves.

  He hadn't thought he was going to make it to her in time.

  When he'd scaled the fence and landed between her and the crazy bull his pulse was exploding. Even now, his heart hammered and his mouth went dry thinking about her being crushed beneath the bull. What if he hadn't shown up?

  "You're doing great," he encouraged, squeezing her shoulder gently as they eased their way toward the ranch house. "Hopefully those ribs are only bruised and not broken. But I speak from experience--there isn't too much difference, bruised ribs are as painful as broken ribs. At least in the beginning. Broken take a lot longer to heal though."

  She huffed out a shaky laugh. "I guess you would know about that—being a bull rider."

  "More than I care to think about. Think about something else to put the pain out of your mind." He glanced down at her and her pale caramel hair tickled his nose. She felt slight in his arms and he found himself willing her to look back up at him with those huge green eyes. Eyes that had zapped him like a hotwire the moment she'd rolled her over and she'd planted them on him.

  He never felt anything like the electric surge that had arched instantly through him—or the protective instincts still driving him where she was concerned.

  He forced himself not to think too closely about his reaction to her. He knew full well that he had issues fogging his head right now. Until a week ago he'd thought he had his life figured out. Had grown good at ignoring his past.

  He'd thought he'd left it behind the day he and Rafe had struck out on their own when they were barely seventeen.

  But now his dad was dead.

  And for reasons he wasn't sure about, Cliff was now questioning everything he'd ever thought about himself.

  "That was really stupid of me," Maddie said, her disgust filled words yanking Cliff out of the past. "I should never have gotten in there until he was far enough into the trailer."

  "True," he said, not wanting to make her feel worse but the danger she'd put herself in was still too fresh on his mind. "I certainly didn't expect a rooky mistake like that from you—not after the description Rafe gave me."

  The minute the words were out of his mouth he knew he'd said something wrong. If he'd been hoping for her to look at him, mission accomplished. Her head jerked back against his shoulder, her expression guarded she stared up at him, her gaze narrowed suspiciously.
/>   "Why were y'all talking about me?"

  Their faces were mere inches away, so close he could see the deeper flecks of green dotting the huge pools of emerald. His mind went blank looking into their luscious depths—the sudden desire to lower his head and kiss her nearly overwhelmed him.

  He swallowed hard. What's wrong with me? Instead of getting a grip his gaze wandered from her tempting lips, over her jawline to the reckless beating pulse at the base of her throat.

  Whoa there, hotshot, he warned himself. He hadn't come here to get infatuated with his brother's partner. He'd come to figure out what he wanted out of life. For a man who'd always thought he'd known the answer to that, it had come to quite a blow when he'd realized that he might have been running from his past instead of reaching for a dream.

  "Don't get all riled up," he said glad they'd made it to the house. He used the time it took to cross the patio and get inside to try and get his thoughts on track. Once they were in he headed across the large kitchen to the table where he pulled out a chair for her.

  She eased onto the seat and looked up at him. "Well?" she prompted, her pretty mouth twisted into a small frown.

  Obviously she was prickly about being talked about. "Rafe talks about all of his ranch partners. He says y'all are all good at your jobs. Says you in particular are one of the best cowboys he's ever seen despite you being female and all," he teased.

  "Oh." Her brows dipped and her cheeks flushed a pretty pink. "Well, I do my work."