Cowboys, Cowboys, Cowboys

by D'Ann Lindun

  The coming night was going to be wonderful.

  A quick glance at his cell phone showed it to be eleven a.m. Just enough time to grab lunch and make it to Lily for their agreed meeting time. He thanked the clerk and hurried to his truck, carrying his bags.

  At the grocery store, he headed for the deli. He chose roast beef sandwiches with horseradish, coleslaw and orange cupcakes. A couple of cokes completed his selection. As he hurried for the checkout lines he spotted the floral department. Flowers. Why hadn’t he thought of them sooner? A bouquet of bright orange tiger lilies caught his eye and he placed them in his cart.

  Pleased, he turned toward the checkout lanes. After paying, he had about fifteen minutes to get to Lily. Perfect. He’d be there exactly on time.

  As he left the store, someone calling his name drew his attention. He glanced around and saw the blonde girl he’d met briefly at the tractor supply store headed his direction. Damn, what was her name? He couldn’t recall. He forced a smile.

  She stopped in front of him. “Hi.”

  “Hey.” He tried not to sound lukewarm, but he wanted to get to Lily.

  Apparently undeterred by his halfhearted response, she placed her hand on his upper arm. “We met the other day, remember?”

  “Sure.” He tried not to shrug off her hand.

  “I hope you’ll come to my brother’s memorial picnic tomorrow. I realize you didn’t know him, but there will be a lot of people there and it’ll be a great opportunity to meet everyone.”

  “I’m planning on coming with Lily,” he told her as kindly as possible.

  She dropped her hand from his arm as if he’d burned her. “Well, good. See you there then.”

  Will hurried away, anxious to see Lily.

  CHAPTER THIRTEEN

  Will parked by the barn, ran upstairs with his new bedding and then raced to the John Deere, carrying lunch and the tiger lilies.

  The big piece of equipment didn’t move as fast as a car, especially on the winding country road. Will glanced at the glowing green clock on the dashboard. Ten after twelve. Damn. He was late and still had ten minutes to go before he’d reach the farm. He stepped on the gas as hard as he dared.

  Rounding a corner, he came upon a herd of cattle directly in the road with riders and dogs pushing them. With no choice but to wait, he stopped and idled the engine. He couldn’t be impatient with the cowboys because he came from a family of them and understood their job, but the delay was going to make him really late.

  After about fifteen minutes the cattle, riders and dogs turned into a pasture. Will waved at one of the riders as he passed. God, Lily was going to be mad and he didn’t blame her. Luckily, there wasn’t much traffic on the road so he could push the tractor.

  At the farmer’s driveway, he swung in, anxiously looking for Lily. She should be waiting by her pickup, but he didn’t see any sign of her. Odd. Maybe she had given up on him and gone back to work.

  He parked next to her truck and swung down from the driver’s seat. There was a dip in the field, making it impossible to see the far half. She must be down there. Any minute, she’d drive over the rise. When she didn’t appear in a few seconds he walked that direction. At the hilltop he stopped and looked for her. Her bright yellow tractor was stopped in the middle of the field, the left front tire at a strange angle and Lily nowhere in sight.

  Will’s gut clenched.

  Something was terribly wrong.

  “Lily,” he shouted.

  No response.

  With his heart in his throat he lunged down the slight incline toward the tractor. Even before he reached it, he knew something was off. The motor was running, but Lily wasn’t visible. As he bent around the left side of the machine he spotted legs sticking out in front of the equipment. Dear God. Had she been run over? Afraid to look, and scared not to, he stepped toward her. “Lily?”

  She lay face down, unmoving, in front of the tractor.

  Bile rising in his throat, he knelt and touched her throat seeking a pulse. She had one. Faint, but there. Thank God. He grabbed his cell phone and dialed 911.

  “I have an emergency. Send an ambulance immediately.”

  ~*~

  Lily opened her eyes and stared at the bright light above her head. “Where am I?”

  Someone to her left spoke. “You’ve had an accident and you’re in the hospital.”

  Turning her head made her groan. Or maybe it was the overwhelming scents of cleaner and medicine that made her stomach whirl. “Will?”

  A cheerful nurse in bright purple scrubs took her pulse. “I haven’t seen anyone but a woman with long dark hair. She’s been here for at least an hour.”

  Polly? Where was Will? Lily lifted a hand to her aching head and felt a bandage. “What happened?”

  “Some kind of farm accident,” the nurse said. “I imagine the lady in the hall knows the details.”

  “Can I see her?”

  “Certainly.” With another bright smile the nurse headed for the door. “The doctor will be in to see you first though.”

  No more had the words come out of her mouth than a gray haired doctor entered. “Hello. How are you feeling?”

  “My head aches,” Lily admitted.

  He flashed a little light into her eyes. “You took quite a tumble. You have a concussion and a cut on your forehead. I stitched that up. You’re going to be okay, but I want you to stay overnight for observation. Take Tylenol for pain and let me know if anything changes.”

  Lily licked her dry lips. “Thank you.”

  The doctor paused at the door. “You’re a lucky woman. I understand that tractor could have run you over.”

  A shudder skipped up and down Lily’s back. “I know.”

  The nurse raised Lily’s bed a little and handed her two white pills. “Take these and then I’ll send in your friend. She’s frantic about you.”

  But Will hadn’t even come. Lily obediently swallowed the medicine along with her disappointment. “Thank you.”

  “You bet, honey.” She bustled out.

  The door opened and Polly rushed in. She looked like hell—pale, her wild hair in worse disarray than normal. Had she been home after last night? It seemed so long ago now. She perched on the edge of the seat next to the bed. “God, Lil. You scared me to death. How are you?”

  “Been better,” Lily admitted.

  “What happened?”

  Lily gave her head a small shake and instantly regretted it. “I’m not exactly sure. I think I hit a bump and the tractor threw me over the hood.”

  “Thank the angels in heaven you’re okay.”

  Lily forced a wan smile. “Amen.”

  “You look like hell,” Polly said bluntly. “I imagine you don’t feel much better.”

  “Not really,” Lily admitted. “How did you know I was here?”

  “Will called me.” Polly touched some lilies on the bedside table. “He said you needed a friend.”

  So he wasn’t coming. He’d discarded her after last night. A hot rush of tears rolled down Lily’s cheeks and she swiped at them. “He’s apparently dumping me after w-w-we—well you know.”

  “Ah, honey.” Polly reached for her hand. “I’m so sorry.”

  “Me, too.” Lily took her friend’s hand.

  “He sounded completely broken up on the phone,” Polly said. “Told me you were here and he was responsible. What the hell did he do to you besides break your heart?”

  “The ass,” Lily spat. “He’s no more responsible for what happened today than I am. It was a stupid accident, but he can’t see that. A girl he was involved with in Iraq was killed and he can’t let go of the guilt. I’m paying the price for it.”

  The truth of her words hit her. Will wasn’t abandoning her because he didn’t love her. He was hiding because he still blamed himself for Amy’s death. Sagging back against the pillow, she closed her eyes. “Damn it. I love him.”

  “Then tell him,” Polly urged.

  Last night had s
hown her just how much she loved him. Accidents happened every day. Life was too short to waste. Losing Jeff had taught her that. Somehow she had to make Will see the light before it was too late. Lily tossed the covers aside. “Take me home?”

  “Let’s go.”

  ~*~

  Polly reluctantly dropped Lily at the barn with the stern warning she should get in bed.

  “I promise,” Lily promised. “As soon as I see Will.”

  With a waggle of her fingers Polly drove away in a cloud of dust.

  Lily slowly climbed the stairs, stopping at the door to stare in wonder at an enormous bed. Carved from some kind of light wood, it stood in the middle of the room. It was breathtaking. She’d expected a mattress at best, not this extraordinary object.

  She advanced toward the work of art when steps on the stairs alerted her Will was approaching.

  Holding onto the bed for support, she turned to face him.

  He stopped in the doorway and twisted his ball cap in his hands. “Hey.”

  “Hi,” she said.

  “What are you doing here? You should be in the hospital.”

  “I checked myself out. I’m fine.”

  He gave the cap another twist. “No thanks to me.”

  “What are you talking about?” Lily frowned. “I had an accident. You didn’t have anything to do with my tractor hitting a prairie dog hole.”

  He stared at the cap in his hands. “If I hadn’t been late, you wouldn’t have been hurt.”

  “That’s absolutely ridiculous.”

  His head lifted and the pain in his eyes tore at her heart. “I let you down.”

  “Will, it was an accident. Even if you’d been on the tractor with me it still would have happened.” She fought to find the right words. “You can’t take this on yourself.”

  “I’m leaving town,” he said abruptly.

  Lily fought to breathe as stars swam in front of her eyes. “You’re running away?”

  He flinched. “I’m not someone you can count on. For a minute I let myself forget it. But today a big slap in the face reminded me exactly how you can’t rely on me. Neither could Amy.”

  “That’s crap.” Lily struggled to stand upright. “If you don’t want to be with me find another excuse. If you find me repulsive, or too old, just say so. Don’t make up reasons to dump me. And quit using Amy’s memory to do it. It’s insulting to both of us.”

  “I’m not dumping you. I’m keeping you safe.”

  She laughed bitterly. “Right. I should have known better than to let myself fall in love with you.”

  Her words hung between them.

  “I don’t deserve your love, Lily.”

  She took a deep breath. If she didn’t lay all her cards on the table now she’d regret it forever. “You bought this bed for me. For us. You didn’t do that because we had meaningless sex last night. You bought it for a woman you care about. Me.”

  She could almost see the struggle going on inside him. Finally, he looked up from his crushed cap. “I just don’t want to disappoint, or hurt anyone else.” He sounded strangled. “Especially you.”

  “That isn’t going to happen,” she said bluntly. “You aren’t perfect. You’re going to make mistakes. Things are going to happen you can’t control. The question is, are you willing to walk away from everyone who loves you to avoid risking hurt? Become a hermit? Stay away from everyone for the rest of your life to avoid risk? Am I worth taking a chance?”

  She held her breath. He had to come to his own conclusions.

  “I don’t want that,” he said raggedly.

  “Then stay.”

  ~*~

  A shudder ripped through Will.

  God dammit.

  She was right. He could either run, or stand and be the man he’d been raised to be. He’d make mistakes, fuck up. But the right thing to do was face them. Not take off like some pussy.

  Lily stood right in front of him, opening her veins and bleeding for him.

  He couldn’t bring Amy back.

  It was past time to put her ghost to rest and start living again.

  If he lost Lily, he had no one to blame but himself. She wanted him to face whatever challenges life brought. How had he gotten so lucky to get a second chance?

  With a ragged sigh, he moved to the bag he’d dropped by the bed earlier and withdrew the sheets. As Lily watched, he made the bed. He turned toward her. With her gaze glued on him, he unbuttoned his shirt and removed it. He unbuckled his buckle, then unzipped his Wranglers. Kicking his boots aside, he pushed his jeans and shorts to the floor.

  Already fully erect, he stood in front her and repeated her words from the night before. “Make love to me.”

  Hope filled her face. “Does this mean you’re staying?”

  “It does.”

  She wet her lips. “Then yes, I want you to love me.”

  Moving in front of Lily he undressed her. When she was nude, he gently lifted her and laid her in the middle of the beautiful bed. With her blaze-red hair spread around her she reminded him of a wood nymph.

  He climbed in beside her. “How’s your head?”

  “Fine.”

  Turning toward her, he studied her white face. The white bandage wrapped around her head made her ivory skin even paler. “You’re so beautiful.”

  She waved a hand. “All these freckles…”

  “Are adorable.” With his forefinger, he traced the trail of cinnamon colored spots across her nose. Then turning over his thumb, he ran it across her full lips. Her mouth parted slightly as she breathed one word.

  “Will.”

  The sound of his name over her lips made goose bumps rise on his skin. He resisted the urge to roll over her and plunge his cock deep into her body. Instead, he moved to his back and tugged her across him. Her hard nipples pressed into his chest. One of her thighs rested against his pulsing erection.

  She kissed his jaw. “I want you.”

  “I love you, Lily.”

  “And I you.” She lifted her chin to meet his eyes. “One thing I’ve learned this last year is not to waste time because life is precious. We have to grab hold of it when we can. I know this is thing between us is kind of unusual, and some people might talk, but I don’t care. I want to spend every possible minute with you.”

  “You’ve already asked me to your friend’s barbeque,” Will said, “as your friend. But I want to know if you’ll go as my date. Hold my hand and let me kiss you in front of your friends.”

  “I’d love to,” she said instantly.

  “That reminds me… we were invited to the lake tonight,” he said. “I told Boyd I’d see if you wanted to go.”

  “You did?” she arched her coppery brows.

  “Yeah.” He brushed a kiss over her lips. “Because if you didn’t want to I wasn’t going.”

  “I’d prefer to spend the night here with you,” she said.

  “I was hoping you’d say that.” Will rolled Lily onto her back and settled between her thighs. “We’ll have a lifetime to go to the lake.”

  “Yes,” she murmured. “Now love me.”

  He happily obliged.

  ~The End

  Author’s Note:

  If you enjoyed this story, find two of Will’s brothers in these anthologies:

  Marin's Mountain Man

  and

  Do You Take This Cowboy?

  Cowboy Bred, Cowboy Born

  Cowboy Bred, Cowboy Born

  Photographer Alannah Murphy refuses to be tied down. She watched her parents struggle to hold onto their dairy farm until it killed them. The mere thought of the same fate makes her shudder. When she meets rancher Sterling Gentry, she has to face her fears or lose him.

  Sterling Gentry longs for someone to hand his ranch down to. Like his father before him, he has sacrificed everything to hold onto the land his ancestors settled. But finding Ms. Right proves harder than he imagined. Then he meets Alannah Murphy with her big city ways. How can he ever take a ch
ance with a woman exactly like his mother, who abandoned him when he was a child?

  Despite their determination to stay the course they’ve each chosen, attraction pulls them together as steadily as a nail to a magnet. Can these two find a way to mesh Alannah’s need for freedom and Gentry’s desire to hold onto his land?

  Dedicated to the best cowboy I’ve ever known~

  My pop, Howard Linscott

  CHAPTER ONE

  The powder-blue ’67 Mustang coughed, bucked and came to a grinding halt in the middle of the road.

  “Dammit, Mavis!” Alannah Murphy pushed Off on her iPod. Sheryl Crow’s voice, which had been floating out over the dry Arizona air, went silent. Only the sound of Alannah’s own breathing met her ears. She glanced to the long, lonely stretch ahead and desperately tried the key. “Come on, girl. Don’t let me down now.”

  The classic car refused to cooperate, making only a groaning sound.

  Getting stranded out here among the cactus wasn’t a good thing. It would mean a long walk under the hot Arizona sun dodging scorpions, lizards and rattlesnakes. Maybe even javelinas, and they could be dangerous. The last town, Holbrook, stood ten miles behind her.

  With a deep sigh, Alannah glanced back. She should be on Gentry land by now, but she’d seen no marker, no archway. The emailed directions had been terse, direct, but this desolate place seemed so far off the beaten track, she’d begun second-guessing the person who’d sent them miles back. The landscape reminded her of an old black-and-white western. She half-expected Clint Eastwood or John Wayne to gallop around a bush.

  She checked her phone. No signal. No help.

  Damn.

  She should have made sure the phone was charged.

  Well, she wasn’t going to be rescued sitting like a bunny in the road. To enjoy the late summer sun, she’d left the vintage car’s top down, and a hot, dry wind blew across her face. She pulled her straw hat tighter on her head and tried the key one more time. Not even a groan. Just silence. Time to use her feet.