Her Homecoming Cowboy Read online

  “I’ve actually brought my nephew to meet you. He’s your number one fan. I’m sorry to intrude, but I was wondering if you would take a moment to meet him.”

  A child. Colt’s heart jerked at the thought and he shook his head. “I can’t— I mean, I’m not—”

  Behind her, the creak of the battered blue car’s door opening drew his attention. His heart sank as a little boy, about five or six years old, peeked out. Colt steeled himself against the slash of guilt that ripped straight through him.

  “Colt!” The kid’s big eyes, wide and dancing with excitement, stared at Colt as if he was some kind of superstar. “It is you!” the kid yelled and charged.

  Stepping back, Colt wanted to turn and run the other way, but he held his position, glaring at the lady. Her mouth was hanging open as the kid skidded to a halt in front of him, gravel crunching as he came.

  “I been waitin’ my whole long life to meet you,” he exclaimed, then joyfully threw his arms around Colt’s knees.

  Images of another child flashed through Colt’s thoughts, breaking his heart once again into shattered pieces. Sweat popped across his brow and his heart thundered. It was all he could do to hold his ground as his gaze flew from the boy’s ecstatic, upturned face, then back to the woman. To his disbelief, she looked more terrified than he felt.

  Three weeks ago, Colt would have patted the kid on the head and asked him questions, drawn him into a conversation and tried to make a good impression on the boy. Today he couldn’t breathe, his voice clogged in his throat and all he could think about was getting away. Life had changed in the blink of an eye. One minute he’d been on top of the world, chasing the dream reflected in this little boy’s eyes. Today that dream meant nothing compared to the lives lost because of him. How did he move on from that?

  How did he deserve to move forward from a tragedy that he could have prevented?

  That was the question he was wrestling with.

  Looking into the little boy’s eyes, all Colt could think of was getting away.

  Far, far away.

  Chapter Two

  Leo, Leo, Leo. Annie’s heart tugged at his childish adoration. It was obvious Colt Holden was not used to being fawned over by kids. This shocked her. The man was a rodeo hero and there were always photos of him grinning and signing autographs... Please tell me he is not one of those “fake it for the camera” guys.

  If he was, she might as well turn her car around and head back home. Why, the man looked terrified...and totally worn out. Deep weariness etched his face.

  She was startled by his overall appearance when he’d come barreling out of the office looking fierce and scraggly. He needed a shave and two weeks of sleep.

  Very different from the photos Jennifer had hung in Leo’s room. Those were of a very clean-cut, slick-shaven cowboy with an intriguing glint in his eyes and mischief in his expression. This cowboy looked ten years older than the twenty-eight she knew him to be...still unbelievably handsome despite the hair that brushed his collar and the scraggly two- or three-day-old beard.

  Getting over her shock, Annie bent to one knee and reached for Leo. His innocent face was a storybook of happiness as he clung to Colt Holden’s legs. He was six and had never latched on to anyone like Colt. Then again, this was a dream come true for him. A dream that was looking as if it had all the potential in the world of blowing up in her face.

  The enormity of what she was here to do hit her with new force, and instantly fear for Leo gripped her.

  She was a take-control kinda gal. The fact that she’d procrastinated this move for a year showed her fear and worry. It had finally taken a major Godly shove and a hard dose of reality to get her moving. She’d decided to take the bull by the horns, and here she was...feeling really stupid for bringing this child here before she’d checked the man out.

  “Honey, let go of—let go of Mr. Holden.”

  Bright eyes beamed back at her. “But, Annie Aunt, I’ve been waiting for-evvv-er.”

  “Yes, I know.” She smiled, feeling a sense of urgency to extricate him as she gently took his arm and tugged him away. Looking up, her gaze locked once more with Colt’s alarmed brown eyes.

  Annie’s heart sank. Ever since she’d learned who Leo’s daddy was God had laid a heavy burden on her heart. It had taken her house burning down to make her figure out what she wanted to do. And that was to come find out what kind of man Colt was.

  Did any honor exist beneath that facade?

  She’d been here all of ten minutes and things weren’t looking so good. She pushed on, though. “I’m sorry about this. I guess I should introduce myself. I’m Annie Ridgeway and this is my nephew, Leo.”

  “Our house burned down and my room is gone,” Leo said, staring up at Colt with big, bright stars in his eyes. “But Annie Aunt told me we were moving here to your town and I didn’t even care anymore.” He cocked his head to the side. “Does Mule Hollow have a bunch of mules?” Prone to ask random questions, it was one of many more to come.

  Colt’s brows crinkled in dismay. “Y-your house burned down?”

  His words were choked and she didn’t miss the flash of compassion in his reaction. So the man did have a heart buried in there somewhere, Annie thought with a smidge of relief.

  Always ready to tell a story, Leo placed his hands on his hips, cocked his little blond head to the side and studied his hero even more intently—if that were even possible. “My Annie Aunt always says life kicks you in the pants sometimes. But you just gotta go with the punches.” He was as serious as a little old man and she could have pinched his sweet cheeks!

  “How old did you say you were?” Luke Holden asked, clearly impressed.

  “I’m six. Annie Aunt says I came into the world as a twenty-year-old—and that’s real old. I already lost a tooth and everything. See.” He grinned and showed off his missing tooth.

  That got a chuckle from Luke and Jess. Even Colt’s lip quirked upward on one side.

  “That’s terrible,” he said, his gaze sliding to her. “You lost your home.”

  There was something missing in the depths of his eyes. It was as if she were looking at a lake, a totally still lake with no ripples in sight. Butterflies fluttered in the pit of her stomach.

  “Yes,” she offered. More than intrigued by the man, she wasn’t willing to accept that her pulse had actually increased as those soulful brown eyes held hers. She wanted to add more, speak intelligently; however, nothing came out.

  “That’s terrible for you and all the others who lost their homes,” Colt continued. “We’ve been lucky here to have had only a few small grass fires that were caught early.”

  Jess, who’d seemed content to listen as he studied his brother, added, “Those fires near Austin have been rough. Not as bad as the Bastrop and Montgomery fires last year, thankfully, still bad enough. Right, Colt?” he asked, and it sounded all the world to Annie like the man was trying to keep his brother involved in the conversation.

  “We didn’t lose any lives in our fires,” Colt said again, quietly. His brows bunched and he glanced away, toward his truck. Even took a step toward it as if impatient to get away.

  It hit her then that he’d been hurrying to leave when he’d barreled from the building. “I’m sorry,” she said, meaning it. “We’re keeping you from something.”

  “No,” Luke and Jess barked at the same time.

  “Don’t go,” Leo said, tugging at Colt’s pants, causing Colt to halt midstep.

  “I need to get out of here. I’m sorry.” He looked down at Leo,
and Annie’s heart tugged ruthlessly, stealing her breath with the sharpness of it.

  “You can hang on a few more minutes, Colt. Can’t you?” Luke asked, clamping a hand on Colt’s shoulder and squeezing.

  Her gaze latched on to that hand—was Luke squeezing extra hard on Colt’s shoulder?

  “Yeah. Sure.” Colt hit his brother with sharp eyes.

  Call her late to the dance—there was definitely something churning beneath the surface here.

  “I need to get back to my place.” His words were quiet. And in that quietness she heard a very firm edge that was as clear as a heavy steel door slamming shut. Luke’s jaw hardened as he held his peace. He didn’t say anything more about Colt sticking around.

  Uncertainty crashed into Annie with equal force. How would he react to the news that she’d come here to share with him? It would take more than this off-the-cuff meeting before she made her decision.

  That was for certain.

  “What brought you to Mule Hollow?” Luke asked, directing his questions at her, as if that would keep Colt from leaving. “I know it’s not just to see my bullheaded brother.”

  Oh, if he only knew. “Actually, we were looking for a change. And I realized since my job at the landscaping business had burned up in the fire right along with our home, there was nothing holding us there any longer—”

  “She decided it was time to make a fresh start,” Leo said, grinning, as if reciting her very words. Words he’d heard her say more than just a few times.

  Annie tousled his hair. “Right, I needed to find a new job and I knew if I started one there, I might never get up the nerve to relocate us.”

  Or the courage to tell you the truth.

  Her plans for how to break the news to Colt rattled through her brain—all unusable. She’d forced herself to do this because it was probably the right thing to do, understanding that only time would tell if that were true. And also because Leo might need his daddy someday. A flashback of being trapped inside a burning building reminded her all too vividly of when she’d had that epiphany.

  Pulling her thoughts away from those less pleasant ones, she saw Leo grinning up at Colt. He was rocking back and forth on his little cowboy boots as his eyes, so full of adoration, drank in his hero.

  “Annie Aunt said we was coming on an adventure. I like adventures a lot. My momma used to tell me lots of stories about having adventures on bull riding and bronc bustin’ and rodeo’n.” He grinned wider at Colt. “You were always in the stories!”

  Colt looked shocked, or as shocked as a man who was showing little emotion could look.

  “You’ll have to come out here and ride horses. Isn’t that right, Colt?” Luke nudged Colt with his elbow when the man said nothing.

  For a minute Colt looked like he was going to say something, but instead he reached for his door, wrenched it open and climbed inside the cab of his truck.

  How rude—right in the middle of a conversation, the man was just going to drive off! And, he’d barely acknowledged Leo. For them to have come so far and for Leo to be so excited about seeing Colt, she knew this was going to hurt.

  Just when she thought it was over and done, Colt looked down at Leo from his open window. “Hey, kid. I...I have to go. But take this.” He pulled the stiff blue rope from his truck. It had a loop on one end, and Annie recognized it was the kind used for roping steers.

  “Do you like to rope?” he asked, causing Leo’s eyes to grow wide.

  “I ain’t never done it before. Can I try?”

  Colt handed Leo the rope. “Sure you can. Practice with this—it’s yours.”

  “Thanks,” Leo gushed, his voice soft with awe, drawing the word out for a mile as he studied his gift.

  Colt was backing out of the driveway before Leo got the entire word out. Annie was speechless.

  “Colt, wait,” Luke called after him. But it was too late.

  The cowboy was gone.

  “Did you see what Colt gave me, Annie Aunt? Did you see what Colt gave me?”

  “Isn’t that something?” Annie managed, totally and completely perplexed by the cowboy driving off into the midday horizon. What in the world had just happened?

  Thank goodness Leo’s infatuation with Colt and the gift he’d been given distracted him.

  Luke bent down and held out his hand to his nephew. Annie held her breath as Leo stopped trying to make the loop go around and shook Luke’s hand.

  “You want me to show you how to hold that rope?”

  “Sure. Are you a bull rider, too?” Leo asked, letting Luke position his small hands on the rope. “Or a roper?”

  Jess laughed, stepping into the conversation. “Are you kidding? Luke couldn’t hit the broad side of a barn with a rope.”

  Instead of getting mad, Luke’s mouth twisted into a wide grin. “Don’t listen to him. He and Colt are the better ones with the rope in the family, but ask them who taught them.”

  Annie smiled, relaxing a little. Liking the kindness she sensed in these two men. They were teasing each other to smooth over the actions of their brother. Little did they know they were talking to their nephew. Hope kindled anew in her heart that she was doing the right thing.

  Leo looked at Jess. “Who taught you?” he asked as Luke had suggested.

  A teasing grin spread across Jess’s face. “My big brother, Luke. See, at one time when I was a little kid like you, I thought Luke was the best roper around. Then he taught me and Colt how to do it, and we found out just how bad he is at landing a loop. But he’s a real good teacher.”

  Leo turned back to a smiling Luke. “Did you teach Colt to ride bulls, too? He’s the best there is, and I want him to teach me how to ride a bull.”

  Nervous at all Leo had said, Annie realized she’d come without a well-thought-out plan of action and now she had to fess up. Before she could say anything, Jess spoke to Leo.

  “I’m sorry about the fire, little buddy. But a bull busted Colt’s collarbone a couple of weeks ago, so he won’t be throwing a loop anytime soon. I bet when he’s all healed up, you could talk him into it, though.”

  “Puppies!” Leo exclaimed, suddenly distracted when he spied two small puppies that came around the back of the office building, tumbling around as they wrestled together. Leo raced over to play, leaving Annie alone with the two brothers. They watched Leo fall to his knees and welcome the puppies into his lap. Both brothers had quizzical expressions as they studied Leo. When they turned almost as one to face her, Annie felt the weight of their gazes. An odd sense of guilt overcame her.

  “That was good timing,” Luke said. “Is there something we can do for you? Anything we need to know?”

  Annie’s heart hiccuped. That he’s your nephew.

  “Yeah,” Jess added, an odd light in his eyes. “You came out here to see Colt. Was there a reason for that? Other than him being Leo’s...hero? Maybe something we can help with?”

  The weirdest feeling overcame Annie—they knew. She shook it off as guilt making her paranoid as she contemplated her dilemma. She had no one to confide her problems to or to ask advice from other than her best friend back home who had urged her to leave Leo’s life as it was when Annie had confided that she was thinking of locating the boy’s dad.

  Looking at Leo’s uncles, she told herself they didn’t know anything. Her imagination was playing tricks on her. Paranoia was setting in. Finally, realizing they were waiting on a response, she asked, “Can you tell
me how to get to the veterinary clinic? I’m their new office manager.”

  Jess snapped his fingers. “Oh, yeah—that’s why your name sounded familiar,” he said, his lip hitching into a lopsided smile. “My fiancée, Gabi Newberry, is the vet tech there. I knew they were expecting someone. We’ve had so much going on, it slipped by me that it was this week you were supposed to arrive.”

  She was going to be working with Colt’s soon-to-be sister-in-law.... “Oh, really,” she said, hiding her surprise. “I talked to Gabi last week. I’m excited about working with her.”

  After a few minutes spent talking about the clinic, Annie called Leo over and they headed to the clinic using the directions Jess had given her. The clinic was right down the road from the Holden Ranch.

  Annie glanced in her side-view mirror at Leo’s uncles as she drove away. She wasn’t sure whether she was going to break her news or not—only time would tell. She was here, though, and she had to admit that she liked the brothers very much. But the jury was still out on Colt Holden.

  Annie, and Annie alone, would decide if Colt was worthy of being Leo’s daddy—or if he would forever remain Leo’s rodeo hero.

  Chapter Three

  “We are going to make this last rodeo the best one yet,” a spunky-looking redhead declared as Annie and Leo entered the Mule Hollow Veterinary Clinic.

  With her flaming-red hair contrasting against the tangerine capri pants and sunshine-yellow top, to say that she was bright would have been an understatement.

  All four women in the room turned to look at them as Annie pulled the door shut behind her. Two other women who looked to be in their sixties, like the sunny redhead, stood in the waiting area.

  One was a stout woman in a blue plaid shirt and a pair of denim overalls. Her short gray hair was the color of steel wool and just as coarse. She had a smile as wide as a half-moon, and the twinkle in her eyes was as bright as the Milky Way. Beside her stood a small-framed woman with noticeably blue eyes that contrasted with her snow-white hair, cut short and fringed around her face, and those amazing sapphire eyes. Looking at her, Annie felt immediately warm and welcome, even though she hadn’t said a word yet, just smiled.