by D'Ann Lindun
Table of Contents
Title Page
Copyright
Other Books by D'Ann Lindun
Lily's Summer Cowboy
Lily's Summer Cowboy Blurb
Dedication
Acknowledgments
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Author's Note
Cowboy Bred, Cowboy Born
Cowboy Bred, Cowboy Born Blurb
Dedication
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Ride, Cowboy, Ride
Ride, Cowboy, Ride Blurb
Dedication
Acknowledgments
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Falling for the Cowboy
Falling for the Cowboy Blurb
Dedication
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
A Cowboy Kinda Christmas
Dedication
A Cowboy Kinda Christmas Blurb
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
If You Enjoyed this Black Mountain book....There are More!!
About the Author
Thank you!
Cowboys, Cowboys, Cowboys
They ride hard and love harder
D’Ann Lindun
This book is sold subject to the condition that it shall not, by way of trade or otherwise, be lent, resold, hired out or otherwise circulated without the prior consent of the publisher in any form other than that in which it is published and without a similar condition including this condition being imposed on the subsequent purchaser.
This is a work of fiction. Names, character, places, and incidents are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events or locales, is entirely coincidental. All rights reserved including the right of reproduction, distribution, or transmitted in whole or part in any form or means, or stored in any electronic, mechanical, database or retrieval system, or otherwise, without the written permission of the publisher.
Cowboys, Cowboys, Cowboys: Lily’s Summer Cowboy, Cowboy Bred, Cowboy Born, Ride, Cowboy, Ride, Falling For The Cowboy, A Cowboy Kinda Christmas
Copyright 2018 by D’Ann Lindun
Cover Design: Kim Killion/Hot Damn Designs
The Cowboys of Black Mountain:
A Cowboy To Keep
Ladies Love A Rodeo Man
Ladies Love Cowboys: the daughters of Clem Jamieson
Ladies Love Lawmen
Ladies Love Rock Stars
Promise Me Eden
The Christmas Fantasy
*
Branded
Desert Heat
Ride A Falling Star
Shot Through The Heart
*
Anthologies:
Bachelor Auction: Men For Mutts
Cowboy Ever After
Cowboy Kisses
Cowboy, Mine
Cowboy Yours
Do You Take This Cowboy?
Sounds Like Love
Lily’s Summer Cowboy
Friendship, passion and so much more…
Afraid to love, Lily Halderman is determined to never feel despair like when she lost her husband to cancer. Left alone to continue their custom farming business, she struggles to stay afloat, both financially and emotionally. Until Will comes along to help with the farm, impressing her with his hard work ethic, and presenting a danger to her heart because he is just the kind of man she could love.
Will Wainwright is running from the pain of the past. Feeling responsible for the death of fellow soldier—the woman he loved—Will takes a job working for Lily, hoping the dawn-to-dusk labor will help him forget his sorrow. But, Lily’s grit and determination to move forward catches him off guard.
Friendship turns to passion …but can they heal one another?
DEDICATION
For the gang who made the summer of 1992 the best ever!
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
I’d like to thank my nephew, Kegan Jordan, who served his country and helped me with the military details. Any errors are mine alone.
CHAPTER ONE
“You coming, Lil?”
“On my way.” Lily Halderman’s hands trembled with exhaustion as she filled her cup from the big silver pot sitting on a table in the back of the Methodist church’s meeting room. She poured in a splash of cream and added too much sugar before sliding into the chair next to Maggie, who’d already taken the seat closest to the leader’s seat. “Made it.”
Maggie’s hazel eyes filled with compassion. “Long day?”
“Planting.” Lily shrugged one aching shoulder. “You know how that goes. Sunup to sundown on a tractor.”
“I bet. I remember putting in our trees all too well. And it would have been harder than hell without Stan.” Maggie’s chin trembled. “I miss him so much.”
Nodding in understanding, Lily grasped her friend’s hand, noticing the how the purplish age spots on the older woman’s skin seemed to have worsened. Widowhood was hard on Maggie. She’d expected Stan to be around for their old age; enjoying retirement after all their years of growing apples on their farm.
“Good evening.” Taralyn, the group leader, moved to her seat. “How is everyone tonight?”
“Okay,” Lily murmured automatically. The same answer she’d given for months. Once the initial shock of Jeff’s death had worn off she’d answered the same way pretty much any time anyone bothered to ask how she was holding up. Okay. Or all right. The simplest, safest answers to a question that would take forever to answer.
“Terrible,” Bridgit, one of their oldest members, said.
Taralyn’s voice filled with sympathy. “Hard week?”
Lily let her mind wander as Brigit launched into how lost she felt without her teenage son who had been killed in a drunk driving accident. The incident had been four years ago. Why wasn’t she doing better by now? Lily immediately banished that thought. Greif was grief was grief. It didn’t matter if you’d lost someone at ten, thirty-five, or ninety, it still hurt like hell. Although Brigit had longer to process her feelings than Lily, the woman was caught in her pain, seemingly unable to move forward.
Was she moving forward?
The thought startled her.
Lily had been coming to the grief group for months, relying on the people here to get her through the darkest days after her husband’s death. But somehow she’d been reluctant to come tonight. Knowing Maggie counted on her had been the main reason she decided to show. Bone tired, all she wanted to do was climb in bed. With a jolt, she realized it had been quite a while since she cried herself to sleep.
“Lil? You with us?”
Lily realized Taralyn had called her name. She blinked. “Oh, sorry. What?”
“I asked if you had anything to share with Brigit,” Taralyn said.
Looking around at the expectant faces of her friends, Lily fought to find the words of comfort they had so often given her. She took a deep breath and turned toward Brigit. “Just remember to breathe when you want to curl up and die. Every day gets a little easier.”
So trite. So empty. Such bullshit.
But Brigit nodded and smiled tremulously as if Lily had said something profound.
Thankfully, one of the others spoke. “The days are bad, but the nights go on forever.”
“Yes,” Brigit said. “The nights are awful. Especially weekends when I know the kids are out partying.”
The five other members nodded in commiseration. A few weeks ago Lily would have been totally into the conversation. Tonight, all she wanted was to rest. Was it the mind numbing work of planting hay that had her feeling this way? Or had she turned a corner? Had she hit the fifth level of grief—acceptance?
She sipped her coffee, mind churning. She still missed Jeff; she always would. But her heart didn’t twist into a painful knot at any thought of him. When had this happened? When had her memories turned more toward the happy times and less of never-ending despair?
The meeting broke up with Lily still mulling over her feelings.
“You were quiet tonight,” Maggie said.
“Just tired,” Lily told her. “The big tractor kept acting up and I’m not sure what’s wrong with it.”
“I have an idea to help you with that.” Maggie dumped her half-full cup in the sink. “Let’s grab a bite to eat and I’ll tell you my plan.”
“Okay,” Lily agreed, her curiosity aroused. What did Maggie know about fixing tractors? “But not too long tonight. Sunup comes early.”
“Deal.” Maggie grabbed her jacket from the back of her chair. “The Mineshaft?”
“I’ll see you there,” Lily said.
~*~
Just as they had for the last several months, Lily and Maggie met outside the café. Lily opened the door and they walked to the last booth and slid in. The café was always quiet on Tuesday nights and meeting here after group gave them a chance to visit.
Darlene, their regular waitress, smiled when she spotted them. “The usual?”
“Please,” Maggie said.
Too tired to think about it, Lily nodded. “Yes.”
In a minute, Darlene arrived at their table with two cups of coffee and a small pitcher of cream. She placed it all on the table. “What can I get you girls?”
“A cheeseburger,” Lily said.
“I’ll take a BLT,” Maggie ordered.
The same thing they had every week. Lily poured cream into her coffee, added too much sugar and stirred. She was in such a rut. Work. Attend grief group. Dinner with Maggie. Go home and start over.
Did she want something else?
Sell the farm and move away from Lonesome Valley?
The thought startled her. And do what? She’d grown up here, married her high school sweetheart and made a life with him. What would she do elsewhere? No, her life was here. Although without Jeff it would be hard if not impossible. She sighed.
“You’re far away tonight.” Maggie studied Lily over the rim of her cup. “Missing Jeff?”
Lily nodded. “Always. Plus, I’m thinking how much work I have to do. Without Jeff’s help it’s overwhelming.”
“Thank God Stan and I had retired before his heart attack. I don’t know how I would have managed the orchards without him.” Maggie set her cup aside and took a deep breath. “I mentioned earlier that I have an idea. My grandson is at loose ends. I think he might be interested in working for you.”
Lily automatically opened her mouth to say no, then closed it. “Does he know anything about farming?” Was she actually considering this? Could she eek out a wage for a hand? How could she not?
“He grew up on a cattle ranch in Montana, so I would assume so.”
Darlene placed their plates in front of them. “Enjoy, ladies.”
They ate in silence for a few moments. Lily wondered if Maggie’s grandson would actually be interested in working for her. She and Jeff had never hired anyone, doing all their custom farm work on their own. At one point they had considered having children and the topic of extra help had come up, but a baby had never been in the cards for them and the subject of extra hands had been abandoned.
Jeff had fallen ill late last summer after the third cutting of hay. After his death in November, she’d managed alone through the winter. But the spring and summer season of planting, irrigating and harvesting was a whole other matter. Impossible for one person to handle on their own.
“You don’t want to hire your grandson yourself? You’ve been so lonely,” Lily said. “Won’t having him around help?”
Maggie lifted her gaze from her cup. “It would, but I’ve made up my mind to take the RV and travel. It was Stan’s dream. He would want me to live it.” She blew a strand of gray hair out of her eyes. “So, while a visit from my grandson is always welcome, I plan to take off at the first of May. I don’t really have time to entertain him more than a few days.”
Lily couldn’t hide her astonishment. When they sold their apple orchard the Wilsons had kept a few trees, just enough so Maggie could make jam and jellies to sell at craft fairs around the region. They’d purchased an RV and planned to travel from town to town selling her wares, but the camper had sat unused in her shed last summer.
“You’re traveling this year?”
“I am. It might keep my mind off missing Stan so much, plus give me a little extra income.” Maggie ate a French fry. “So you see having my grandson here is great…for a little while.”
“You don’t need him to stay at your place and take care of it for you?” A wave of envy filled Lily. How great would it feel to be able to shake off all responsibilities and just go?
Maggie shook her head. “No. I’ve already lined up the Hansoms to watch the house and Joey to mow the yard. The Franks will take care of my trees along with theirs. There’s really nothing for my grandson to do. So, you see, if you hired him it would help us all.”
“I guess I could talk to him,” Lily said slowly. “I can’t afford much though.”
“I don’t think he’ll require a lot of money.” Maggie smiled. “I’ll send him over after he arrives.”
They changed the subject chatting about the Colorado Rockies baseball team, the weather and how the upcoming growing season looked for farmers.
“How do you think hay sales will run this year?” Maggie dipped her last French fry in a puddle of ranch dressing and popped it into her mouth.
“Good. I sold everything we cut last year and most of those buyers will be back.” Lily pushed her empty plate away. “Speaking of, if I don’t get to bed soon I won’t be able to get up at dawn. I have two fields to plow tomorrow.”
After they stood Maggie hugged her. “Take care of yourself, Lil.”
An unexpected lump formed in Lily’s throat. She’d miss her friend while she was away. “You, too. I’ll see you next week, right?”
“No, not again until fall.” Maggie pulled on her jacket. “I didn’t want to tell everyone and have a big scene. Let them know for me, will you?”
“I’ll miss you.” Lily blinked hard. She would not cry. This was a good thing.
They embraced again until Maggie released her. “Keep an eye out for my grandson in the next day or two.”
Lily reached for the check. Her turn to pay. “How will I know him?”
“You’ll know him.” Maggie grinned. “Trust me.”
As Lily drove home she thought about the evening behind her. Maggie had really shocked her when she dropped the bomb about going on the highway. Never in a million years had Lily expected her friend to take off on a road trip by herself.
A little tingle of envy rip
pled through her. How wonderful would it be like to leave all responsibilities behind to travel around the country? Almost as quick as that thought arose she banished it. She loved her job, hard work and all.
Would Maggie’s grandson be the godsend Lily needed to keep her business going? Damn. She had forgotten to ask his name.
Well, she reasoned, recognizing him shouldn’t be hard—just look for the first teenager who showed up on her doorstep.
CHAPTER TWO
Three days passed and Lily had forgotten all about Maggie’s grandson. Her hours had been filled with plowing and nothing else. Her shoulders ached from steering the big John Deere and she still had another five hundred acres to till by the end of the week.
She parked the tractor in the barn and trudged toward the house. The sun had begun to set behind the mountains in the distance, making it hard to see, but she thought someone sat on one of her wicker chairs on the porch. Maybe Maggie’s grandson had come after all.
Too tired to do more than eat, shower and fall in bed, she fought a spark of irritation. She didn’t have time to babysit a spoiled teenager. Why Maggie thought she did was beyond her. With a frown, she stepped up on the porch. And stopped. And stared.
