The Cowgirl’s Secret Love: The Colemans of Heart Falls, Book 2

by Vivian Arend

  She didn’t bother moving her truck, walking from the library where she’d been using their video conferencing equipment to the cozy coffee shop.

  Karen gave a quick wave to Tansy, who was behind the counter working, then settled next to Julia at one of the small tables.

  “You finish an early shift or getting ready to start a late one?” Karen asked.

  Julia looked intrigued. “It’s rather fascinating you know to ask that question. I’m headed into a night shift. I woke up earlier than I wanted.”

  “Then we’d better get you some coffee. Breakfast for you, lunch for me.”

  “Since pizza is the perfect food for any time of day, we won’t quibble about what we call it.” Julia tilted her head toward the board listing the daily special. “My treat. Whatever you want. I’m having a pizza bagel.”

  “Let me order. I need to talk to Tansy for a minute.”

  They were early enough the lunch crowd hadn’t arrived yet, which gave Karen time to put in their order then make a special request. “Girls’ night out next month. How do you think everybody would react to the idea of doing a moonlight trail ride?”

  Tansy’s eyes widened before she pressed a finger over her lips. “Keep it quiet, or we’ll have Rose squealing for the next month.”

  That sounded positive. “I take it you don’t think it’s a terrible idea.”

  “Hell no. It’s a fantastic idea. Even though some of you spend a lot of time in the saddle, I don’t think you’ll hear anyone complain.”

  Karen nodded. “It’ll take me some time to get the details into place, but we can test run a route we might use at Finn’s ranch.”

  “Let’s talk about it this coming month—which is a week from Monday, by the way. I don’t think anyone will have a problem with it.” Tansy started on their coffees. “How are things going at the ranch? Is Finn back and overdoing it yet?”

  “Just back. He hasn’t had time to start overdoing it.”

  “He will,” Tansy said confidently. “Bet you Zach has to sit on him to slow him down.”

  That wasn’t a bet any of them would be willing to take. “You’ve been hanging around Lisa too much,” Karen told her.

  She waited until the coffees were ready, carrying them back to the table where they’d been joined by Julia’s boss, Brad.

  “I won’t interrupt for long,” he said.

  Karen waved the comment off. “It’s okay. No use standing by the door and pretending you don’t know us while you wait for your order to be done.”

  A big sheepish grin crossed his face. “Well, I don’t know that I’d be pretending. I mean, you haven’t been in town that long. And Julia and I’ve only been working together since April. We hadn’t seen each other for a year before that.”

  Julia rolled her eyes, and she leaned forward and spoke in a conspiratorial tone. “We do so know each other. I’ll prove it. That little game of Clue we played the other day. Remember that?”

  Brad stiffened.

  Karen’s sister forged ahead in spite of his uncomfortable body language. “You remember where your sweet fiancée killed you with a kiss?”

  He didn’t say anything, and for a moment Karen worried this might head in some weird direction, but Julia was smiling too hard for it to be anything terrible. “Tell us, Brad. How many people did you actually take out before you ended up with Hanna as your target?”

  It took a moment for Karen to figure out what Julia was suggesting. “Wait. I don’t remember anybody saying Brad knocked them out. That means—”

  “Exactly. It means Brad had Hanna’s name from the first minute of the game and never even tried to get her gone.” Julia leaned back and crossed her arms over her chest. “And that’s exactly what I would’ve expected from you, Mister Knight in Shining Armour.”

  He looked uncomfortable, glancing around to make sure nobody was listening to their conversation. “It’s not that I didn’t want to win the game, but I was having a good time being with my friends and kind of lost track of time. Besides, it was seriously entertaining to watch Hanna sneak around and surprise everybody.”

  Karen might die from the sickening sweetness of that comment. “You’re terrible,” she informed Brad.

  “I’m in love,” he tossed back. “Makes you do all sorts of things.”

  The sincerity with which he said it rattled her down to her toes. Watching Julia gloat over being right helped keep Karen’s thoughts from sliding down a dangerous path.

  Brad visited for a few more minutes before Tansy called out that his order was ready. He glanced between the two of them. “Julia, I’ll see you at the start of your shift. Karen, hope you have a great day.”

  He took off to grab two large bags from Tansy, pushing the door open with a shoulder and heading into the beautiful sunny day.

  Julia watched him go, a curious expression on her face.

  Karen paused. “What’s that about?”

  Her sister shook her head as if tossing away thoughts. “Oh, nothing. Just shoving away a few memories that need to behave.”

  Which was more intriguing than an answer.

  They enjoyed their meal together, then Karen headed back to the ranch as Julia took off in the direction of the fire hall to prepare for work.

  During the month Karen had been around the ranch, huge changes had already taken place. All of the outbuildings that were beyond saving had been taken apart. The usable pieces had been salvaged and stockpiled in an area behind the main barn. The rest were stacked in heaps, ready to be burned.

  A group was gathered near where the house of ill repute stood. Karen made her way across the yard to find not only Finn and Zach, but a half dozen of the work crew, including the foreman who’d been hired to oversee actual construction.

  Cody Gabrielle spotted her and offered a tip of his head even as he kept talking to his crew. The motion was enough to get Finn’s attention, and he pivoted on the spot, crutches under his arms and a weary expression on his face.

  Zach waved her over. “Definitely need your help.”

  The crew passed her, headed in the opposite direction. One of the new guys razzed her, low enough his voice didn’t carry but loud enough she couldn’t miss the dirty comment.

  Another joy of working with mostly male crews.

  Nipping it in the bud was the best way. She pivoted on the spot and offered a sharp whistle. “Hey.”

  The entire crew paused, glancing over their shoulders.

  “You make another comment about my sweet ass, or you try and touch it, and you’ll be wearing my boot where the sun don’t shine. We clear?” She glared down the one who had spoken.

  His leering expression vanished, his gaze darting beyond her to where his foreman stood.

  Shit. Both Cody and Zach had witnessed the scene.

  And Finn.

  Karen turned and walked away without waiting for a response because continuing to diffuse the situation was the next step.

  “Hey, guys. Zach, what’s the question?” She deliberately kept her tone light.

  Cody wiped his mouth with his hand, glancing at the crew that had suddenly grown wings and was moving rapidly to get started on whatever task had been assigned.

  Zach squeezed the hand he had resting on Finn’s shoulder then offered Karen his full attention. “We’ve got an idea but wanted to run it by you. Looks as if the brothel—for lack of a better term—is mostly structurally sound. Just the one part had an issue. Cody suggested we take the building down to the bones then refurbish it as a kind of a row-house dwelling. It could go over really big with singles who want to come out to the ranch.”

  “Their own room in a cowboy bunkhouse,” Cody added.

  It sounded like a great idea. She paused. “If you can do it with structural integrity, it sounds like a plan. What do you need my opinion for?”

  “You don’t think there’s a problem rebuilding where we had an accident?” Cody said bluntly.

  Karen glanced at Finn. He was still glari
ng at the work crew industriously pounding nails into new cabin platforms. “Finn. You have a problem with it? I don’t think there’s any residual bad luck hanging around.”

  He met her eyes. “As long as you’re okay with it.”

  She would give him a break because he’d been injured and all. “If there’s any ghostly residual energy hanging around an old brothel, it would be sexual in nature. Maybe we focus on that part,” she teased.

  Zach’s face underwent a series of contortions, and for a moment Karen thought he was having a seizure.

  Instead, he grabbed her hand and pumped it enthusiastically. “You are a genius.”

  “Ummm, thank you?” Karen pulled her hand free and slipped closer to Finn. Some of his rigidity slipped away as she leaned in close and mock whispered, “What’s up with Zach?”

  “It’s the question of the ages.” Finn’s voice was a rasp, threaded with pain.

  “The answer to what we should call this place,” Zach inserted. “I mean, really. You’ve been giving me grief over all the fantastic names I’ve tossed at you, but now I get it. You were waiting for this perfect moment to arrive.”

  Finn eased back against the support pillar in a position Karen recognized all too well as the one she used to take when her entire body throbbed.

  Still he folded his arms and gave his friend his full attention. “We’re listening. I don’t know why, but we’re listening.”

  “We’ve got to use something from the past of this place when we name it. Scarlet Station. Red-Light Ranch. Dance Hall Gertie’s.”

  “Dear God, not Gertie,” Cody said quickly. “I had an Aunt Gertie. She had one eyebrow.”

  Karen paused. “One…eyebrow?”

  Cody held one finger above both eyes. He shook his head before looking thoughtful. “And maybe not something quite so blatant as red-light, but I like the idea of scarlet or red in the name.”

  “Red Boot ranch?” Finn asked.

  “That’s it. That’s what we need,” Zach said with hyper enthusiasm. He glanced at Karen. “What do you think? It’s genius for branding, but it’s not really dirty unless people want to dig into the history.”

  She caught his excitement, wrapping her fingers around Finn’s. “I think it’s a great name. Let’s run a search first to make sure we’re not setting up within a hundred miles of some other Red Boot ranch. But if we’re not, I think it’s cute.”

  A sigh of exasperation escaped Finn, but he winked at her. “Okay. If it works, we have a name. Welcome to the Red Boot ranch.”

  It was barely two o’clock, and he was done.

  As Finn made his way slowly across the yard and up to the cottage, parts of his body screamed in pain that he hadn’t expected.

  He made it as far as the living room before a little ball of white fluff attacked the sock covering his uninjured foot. The next moment, the demonic creature had all four claws dug into the thick knit fabric, limbs splayed wide to keep his balance as Finn’s leg swung freely.

  It was like an elephant getting attacked by a mouse, and in spite of his pain and exhaustion, Finn discovered laughter bubbling up.

  “Beast.”

  He pulled out a kitchen chair and leveraged himself into it. Once his foot was resting on the ground, the kitten made his way upward, climbing Finn like a scratching post.

  “Oh, hell no. None of that.” Finn grabbed the thing by the scruff of the neck before he could dig his claws into Finn’s crotch. He held the kitten in the air in front of his face.

  The beast swung teeny paws and offered adorable growling meows.

  Finn snickered. “Should’ve called you Marshmallow Fluff. You’re sweet enough to make a man go into shock.”

  He scratched the little thing under his furry chin then tucked the kitten against his chest. He kept one hand over Dandy’s body, cradling him close, and the next thing Finn knew, the kitten was purring, nuzzling his shirt.

  “Now there’s a sight.” Karen stood in the doorway, a soft smile on her lips. “I wondered where you’d gotten to, but now it all makes sense. You knew Dandy needed cuddles.”

  “Can’t have him getting lonely,” Finn said gruffly.

  Her head tilted as she examined him, obviously reading the signs of pain in his body. But she didn’t say anything as she moved into the kitchen.

  “Want a drink?”

  God, did he want a drink. “Since I assume alcohol is out of the question, you got any kind of juice?”

  “No problem.” She put two glasses on the counter then dug in the refrigerator as she changed the topic completely. “You know as a woman I put up with rude comments pretty much all the time, yes?”

  Finn knew, but didn’t like it one bit. “You shouldn’t have to.”

  “I agree one hundred percent, but this is my reality, and I don’t see it changing overnight. What does help, though, is me shutting it down real fast. That’s all I was doing, and nine times out of ten, that’s all it takes. At least in this kind of a setting where we work together on a regular basis.”

  “What about the one in ten who doesn’t know when enough is enough?” Finn took the glass she handed him. “I won’t have assholes working around here who don’t know how to read no as no.”

  “And if we get any of that type around here, I swear I will tell Cody, and he’ll do his job and take care of it. But I’m not about to have you fire someone for a rude comment that didn’t even register on his asshole meter because it was mild compared to what he could get away with on another ranch.” Karen was in the chair across from him now, her expression softening. “Do I like having to deal with it? No. But changes are coming. Slowly, damn slowly in the agricultural world, but it is happening.”

  Finn stared into the glass of orange juice she’d handed him. “I don’t like bullies or harassers. Never have.”

  She slipped a hand onto his good knee. “I knew that about you from the first minute when you warned my cousin off for being nothing more than a minor annoyance. You’re one of the good ones, Finn Marlette.”

  If he didn’t have both hands full, he would’ve covered her hand with his own. Instead, he watched a twinkle of amusement rise in her eyes.

  She scooped the kitten off Finn’s chest and moved Dandy to a box in the corner of the room. “If I’m breaking all the rules and temporarily having an animal in the house, you will learn to behave,” she informed the little beast.

  Three times Dandy tried to get out, and three times she patiently put him back in the same position. Each time she offered a little pet, and once he relaxed, she gave him a treat.

  He opened his mouth in a tiny yawn then laid his head down on his tail and fell asleep.

  Karen settled opposite Finn. The room grew quiet for a moment before curiosity rose in her eyes. “Tell me something about the time you were gone.”

  The whole situation with his family flashed to mind, but no way in hell was he was up to that conversation right now.

  But Bruce?

  He leaned back in his chair and stared out the window as he considered. “One of the biggest things that happened was meeting the man who mentored Zach and I. Bruce Travers. Damn good man, creative and innovative. A bit of a risk-taker, but very down-to-earth and kind.”

  She leaned on her elbows. “Mentored you how?”

  “He taught us about business. How to invest, what chances were worth taking, when it was better to fold and try something new.” Finn sipped his drink as he considered. “Imagine someone who knows pretty much everything about horses offering you a chance to come work with them for a few years. You don’t even know what you don’t know, but as time passes, you start to understand that it’s more than a list of dos and don’ts. It’s like a poem or a song, with a rhythm and a rhyme, when you’re making a business better or convincing others that what you have in mind is brilliant.”

  “Sounds as if he was more than a business teacher.”

  Finn nodded. “He was a friend. Helped me deal with a lot. Taught me a lot. Zach
too.”

  He could talk about Bruce for hours and never finish singing the man’s praises, but that would have to happen another time. As sweet as it was to just sit and share with her, he had reached his limit.

  “Karen? Do me a favour?”

  “Hmmm?”

  Stupid how hard this was. “Can you grab me a painkiller?”

  “No problem.” She slipped past him and headed to the back of the house, trailing her fingers over his shoulder as she went.

  She was back a minute later, the pill in the palm of her hand and a bottle of baby oil in the other.

  “I don’t think that’s a good combination,” Finn drawled.

  Laughter trickled from her as he took the pill and washed it down with the rest of his juice. “You need a rubdown, and I don’t have any massage oil. Not unless you want wintergreen foot cream on your chest and arms.”

  His brain was too numb to think straight. Did this mean what he thought it meant? Dear God, to have her hands on his body—

  He went for casual. “Skip the wintergreen. I’ll take the baby oil.”

  She grabbed the towel off her shoulder, motioning him forward in his chair. “Take off your shirt. I’ll put this behind you so when you want to lean back, you’ve got something soft between you and the wood.”

  Just the thought of her touching him was creating other kinds of wood.

  Slowly adjusting position so he didn’t cut off blood flow to his groin meant he wasn’t undoing the buttons fast enough for her. Either that or she was eager to get him partly naked, because she pushed his hands away. A moment later, competent fingers moved down the placket of his shirt.

  He moved obediently as she pushed the flannel off his shoulders, peeling it off his arms. He reached over his head to grab the shirt he had on underneath, pulling it forward and off in one motion.

  “Dammit, Finn.” She pulled her chair closer, fingers drifting over the bruises on his torso. Over the long line where a jagged board had scratched through everything and left an angry welt, red edges flaring into mottled green and blue.

  It was heaven and hell, her touching him with slow, cautious strokes. She put oil on the palms of her hands, rubbed them together, then placed them on his biceps.