The Cowboy's Sweet Elopement

by Jean Oram

  Her lips parted as he angled in. Closer. Closer.

  The kiss was soft, sending a wave of warmth through her. It was short, but filled her with so much hope for the future she wanted to throw her arms around him and kiss him deeper, longer. She wanted to know everything about him. Wanted to know how well they’d fit together in every aspect of a relationship, and if they’d go the distance.

  Brant blinked and straightened. He looked surprised again, but also wary as he glanced around the room. April felt the gravity of what they’d done as awareness crept in. They’d kissed. In front of the family. In front of Kurt. She sucked in a small breath, hating that she always seemed to race into things and, as a result, ruin them. She glanced around the room in turn, her fear overtaking the dreamy aftereffect of the kiss.

  What was everyone going to think about them kissing so soon after her divorce? How was Kurt going to react? What if getting involved was just part of Brant’s rescue act? The one where he thought he was in love with her, like he had with Shelley St. Martin after college, when all she’d wanted was his help.

  April scanned the room, waiting for a telltale smirk or stare to say the family thought they were making a mistake. Nothing. Nobody was looking at them. Nobody had seen the kiss.

  She relaxed, keeping her lashes lowered while she sorted out her next move. She laced her fingers with Brant’s, then slid their interlocked hands between them so nobody could see. She wanted him to know that the kiss hadn’t been a mistake. That it had been welcomed, even though she wasn’t ready to pursue more. She didn’t want to mess this up, create rumors or hurt anyone.

  He gave her hand a squeeze, but when she glanced up again, he was looking away.

  Maria and Laura were talking about supper, but April couldn’t focus. Then the front door opened and her friend Jackie Moorhouse came blowing in, out of breath and full of excitement as always. Henry Wylder, Carmichael’s younger brother, came in as well, frowning and complaining about Jackie’s driving. Around them the ranch’s menagerie of dogs drifted in and out, preventing Henry from closing the door.

  April struggled to focus on Jackie’s banter, the others’ laughter and why Brant was offering to help fix Jackie’s car. April needed to drag him into a different room and figure this out. Right now. Her brain was screaming at her that she was repeating past mistakes, that she was rushing into things.

  Jackie’s eyes suddenly cut to the two of them. April held her breath, her hand still clutched in Brant’s, out of sight.

  “I saved you seats together at the football games,” her friend announced. “Am I four-for-four?”

  April’s heart dropped at this blatant reference to Jackie’s touted matchmaking skills. The feeling of losing control, of sliding into something she couldn’t steer away from overtook her.

  Before she or Brant could speak, Maria gasped loudly, and suddenly the focus was on the front doorway again, where April’s ex-boyfriend stood, grinning as though he had only stepped out to do chores, not left town five years ago.

  He’d left because April had asked for some space. And then he hadn’t returned, despite multiple requests from his family. Now he was here. Moments after she’d kissed his sweet brother Brant.

  As April’s blood ran cold, then hot, then cold again, Cole said to Jackie, “Who did you save those seats for?”

  His gaze moved through the room, landing on April’s. She pulled her hand from Brant’s, certain her past mistakes had finally caught up with her.

  2

  Five years away. Why was Cole here now? Brant had been tracking his brother across North America for years, intermittently asking him to come home. And literally moments after Brant finally kissed April MacFarlane, Cole’s ex-girlfriend, his brother had decided to listen. Brant hadn’t even processed the kiss, and where April might be mentally with this shift in their relationship, and then Jackie had come blasting in, followed by his missing brother.

  Had Cole heard April was divorced, and come back for a second chance?

  If so, he was definitely a jerk.

  Brant caught himself narrowing his eyes at Cole amid the buoyant chatter and laughter. Everyone had gathered in the living room after their mother’s amazing Christmas dinner, but neither Cole nor Brant had taken a seat.

  Cole was telling tales of his adventures, which sounded intriguing. He’d always been a bit of a rascal, meaning chaos and upheaval would no doubt be the theme for the upcoming year, with him here. If the past was any indication, he’d find a way to suck April back into his personal undertow. The man was a riptide specially suited to her, just like her ex-husband, Heath. They drew her in with promises of adventure, only to shred her entire world. She’d changed, but Brant knew how strong the attraction could be despite her desire for stability.

  With arms crossed, he shifted so that he was standing slightly in front of April, watching Cole work over the family.

  His brother had left everyone five years ago. Left April, his ex-girlfriend, a woman who was family, pregnant, lost and hurt. He could have helped her navigate things with Heath. Instead he had left the ranch. Their brothers. Their mom. Their dad. Their aging grandfather. He’d even left his horse.

  He’d abandoned them all because he couldn’t face the tough stuff, and now that the smoke was clearing, thanks to Brant, he’d returned as if nothing had happened.

  He was acting as though he still belonged here.

  And the worst part was that, despite it all, he did.

  But he no longer belonged with April.

  Brant did. And he was going to make sure his brother knew it.

  “We should talk,” April said, snagging Brant’s shirtsleeve as he passed her in the living room after supper, his attention focused on Cole.

  He paused, watching her. “Okay.”

  She glanced around the room. With the meal and most of the cleanup completed, almost everyone had filtered into the living room. She needed somewhere private where they discuss things without raising suspicions about the two of them.

  “Well, am I going to get a hug or what?” Cole asked just then, his cowboy boots echoing across the tile floor as he crossed the room. April stiffened when he pulled her into a brief embrace that was familiar yet uncomfortable. Whatever had been between them was gone. Long gone. Relief swept through her as she realized that the attraction of Cole’s touch, once powerful, had died.

  She straightened her spine,, shortening the hug. Since the day she’d moved to the Sweet Meadows Ranch as a five-year-old with her ranch-hand dad, she’d had a crush on Cole. She’d grown up yearning to be important enough that the second Wylder boy, older than her by two years, would want to have her at his side, even though he could have any gal on the rodeo circuit riding shotgun in his pickup.

  But that crush had died long ago, as had her desire to be noticed by him. Hugging him now, she’d felt none of that old desperate attraction that had once characterized her feelings for Cole. She was ready for something settled, her powerful need for excitement gone. Something had shifted inside her, and she realized that, emotionally, she might be way more ready for something with Brant than she’d previously thought.

  “So you’ll be around for a bit?” Brant asked his brother.

  “We’ll see.” Cole held April at arm’s length, his eyes likely tracking every change that time and motherhood had brought. Especially the fifty pounds that made even her new clothes fit snugly.

  April politely eased herself from his grip. Like Brant’s, Cole’s dark hair didn’t show a hint of plans to recede, despite his thirty-three years. He still had those crazy electric-blue eyes, although to April they didn’t have the depth Brant’s did. The last hints of youth had faded in the years Cole was away, leaving what seemed to be a solid, self-assured adult. He was handsome like his brothers, but lacked that calm warmth that drew her to Brant. There was something about the way Brant quietly watched her, a soft smile teasing his lips, that would make her heart flutter and feel the urge to smother him with kisses. />
  She inhaled, reminding herself that she needed to go slowly with Brant. Even though coming face to face with her past, aka Cole, made her want to run to Brant that much faster, to capture that special thing they seemed to have growing between them.

  “I didn’t realize you were coming home,” April said mildly. Brant was at her side, shifting closer, and she got the impression he was struggling with the urge to put a possessive arm around her.

  Cole’s semi-cocky expression slipped, and she realized his comfortable bravado had been an act. Cole Wylder, the most confident man she’d ever known, was feeling uncertain in his own family home. Somewhere along the lines, this had become her turf, and he wasn’t sure he was welcome.

  But why?

  When she’d discovered she was pregnant with Heath’s baby after their rebound relationship, a few months after her final breakup with Cole, she’d been afraid she’d get wound up in Cole and his ideas on what she should do. She’d asked him for some space—just a few months—so she could sort out how she felt about Heath. He’d granted her five years.

  It made little sense, as did the quiet sorrow in his eyes, telling her there was more to his absence than her simple request for some breathing room.

  “This is your home. You’re always welcome here,” she said.

  He snorted, a soft sound that resembled hurt. Emotion flickered across his face before he tamped it back. April glanced at Brant, glimpsing Levi in the background. Both had looked away from Cole when he’d snorted.

  Something was definitely going on here.

  “This is where you belong,” she affirmed.

  “Do I?” He crossed his arms protectively.

  “I didn’t ask you to leave.” She’d asked for space. Enough that she could give Heath a chance, without being drawn back into the familiar turbulence of dating Cole. “I don’t know why you—” The room had grown silent and April abruptly bit her tongue.

  Just like old times, within the space of a few words they were heading straight from a civil conversation to locking horns. It was so obvious to her now that they were a poor fit. It was like trying to fit a metric nut on an imperial bolt.

  “Let’s all just take a breath,” Brant said, exhaling slowly as though to demonstrate. “You’ve both moved on, and you’re both different people now. And Cole, I’m sure Levi’s glad to have you back on the ranch again.”

  Cole sent him another assessing look, this one longer. Brant stood beside April, shoulders back, ready to defend her.

  Her heart swelled even as her brain reminded her that women who had their lives together did not need rescue by wonderful men like Brant.

  “I’m going to help your mom finish up in the kitchen,” she muttered, letting the brothers face off on their own.

  “So? What’s up with you and Brant? And you and Cole?” Jackie whispered, falling into step beside her, an empty dip bowl in hand.

  “Nothing and nothing.”

  Her friend twisted her lips in disbelief, and April sighed. She was sure to be the topic of some pretty juicy gossip in the coming days, with Cole’s sudden return. Especially so shortly after her divorce.

  “I’m different now,” April said forcefully. “Everything is different.” She was no longer that needy gal who got sucked in by Cole’s adventures, then turned around only to find herself spit out on her hands and knees.

  And she was no longer interested in doing the same thing to him, either.

  “Brant was ready to haul you away like a caveman. So hot!” Jackie fanned herself.

  “I can take care of myself.”

  “I know,” Jackie said simply. Her voice dropped as she asked hesitantly, “Did he ask you for a second chance?”

  “Cole? No.” April stopped in the kitchen doorway, giving her friend a look of disgust.

  Jackie’s hands flew up and she shrank back with an uneasy giggle.“Just asking.” She lowered her voice again. “So you and Brant then? He’s the kind of guy who could have any woman in town running down the aisle, with nothing more than a nod and a smile.”

  April let that vision soak in before shaking it off. “It’s just…” She leaned her head against the door frame, thinking about Brant and that wonderful kiss, and how she felt so certain he was the one. “It’s complicated. I’m not in the right place to start something serious, but on the other hand, a big part of me is so ready.”

  Jackie grinned. “Girlfriend, buckle up, because when you two become a 'you two’ that news will spread like wildfire.”

  “And if we don’t?”

  “That’s going to spread like wildfire, too.” She tipped her head toward Cole.

  April sighed. Either way, it looked like she’d be spreading some fiery gossip. The question was, what kind should she create? Did she want to make it look like Brant had broken up her marriage? Or that Cole was back for a second chance?

  As she peeked around the corner into the living room, she spied Brant tucking a blanket over her sleepy-looking son. Kurt had been playing with toys on his stomach, and now, unmoving, had his head resting on his arm.

  Yes, if April MacFarlane was going to star in some wildfire gossip, she knew exactly what kind of rumors she wanted to start. And it wasn’t either of the two previous options. It was something much more heart-lifting and sweet, something about two people finally falling in love with the person they were meant to be with.

  “You’re still April’s big defender, huh?” Cole asked, after April left the room with Jackie.

  Brant sized up his brother. He was tanned despite it being December, hinting that he hadn’t come from the north—Blueberry Springs, Colorado, the last place Brant had tracked him to. Over the past several years, his brother had put on miles as if he was being chased.

  “Levi said you bought her a house,” Cole stated.

  Brant hooked his thumbs in his belt loops and turned to face him more fully. Cole didn’t understand that sometimes it wasn’t about usurping independence when you took action, but listening and then taking care of the tough stuff. Not taking over or walking away. “I’m helping her. She’s family.”

  It was worth going into debt to provide her and Kurt with safe shelter. And it was worth stretching his clinic’s budget to hire her as extra help. There was no way he’d ever regret doing that.

  “You were always there for her,” Cole said thoughtfully, his tone tinged with something that might be regret. “Letting her cry on your shoulder.”

  Brant had a flash of insight. “You’re jealous.”

  His brother crossed his arms even more tightly across his chest, his shoulders hunched. “Nope.”

  Brant continued to stare at him as memories fell into place, creating a picture. All those times April had come crying to him after Cole had done this, that or the other thing to cause another breakup had actually eaten Cole up inside.

  “I just wanted to say thanks for being there for her,” Cole said, his voice gruff. “As a friend.”

  “Always,” he replied, bristling at the pointed reminder of how many years he’d found himself in the friend zone.

  Cole’s gaze had fallen on Jackie Moorhouse as she reentered the room. Her eyes widened, her face flushed and she spun on her heel, muttering about helping in the kitchen. She disappeared around the corner on stiff legs.

  “She’s been real quiet,” Cole stated.

  Brant kept his mouth shut. Jackie was still a matchmaking, meddlesome and endearing brat who had never in her life been described as quiet. She’d had her eye on the Wylder brothers since elementary school, and twenty years later, Brant bet that Cole was her pick of the litter.

  “Didn’t she used to talk a lot?” Cole asked, still watching the kitchen doorway.

  “She still does.” She was bubbly, effusive and a ton of fun. “She’s single, you know.”

  “She never wrangled someone into meeting her in Old Man Lovely’s chapel on New Year’s Eve?”

  Brant shook his head.

  “Does he still do that?” C
ole asked.

  “Every year.”

  The Texas legal system still had the odd old statute sticking to the books, such as the unlawfulness of milking someone else’s cow, and how if two willing parties publicly announced that they were married, and did so three times, then it was considered official. In their little spot in Texas, Grant Lovely had retained the authority to marry couples without them going through the usual licensing rigamarole. It was a legal loophole left over from the days of shotgun weddings. Rumor had it that Old Man Lovely was the last living person with such authority in the state. And each New Year’s Eve he would exercise that ability by turning on the lights in his six-person chapel located on his property near the swimming hole, and marrying one couple. The next morning the Sweetheart Creek newspaper, now online, would announce the year’s newlyweds, and their photo would be framed and hung on a wall in the town office. There’d be a reception in the community barn and gifts would flood in.

  There had been some embarrassing, poor decisions made over the years. And naturally, the town found that to be most entertaining.

  “And do you still pimp yourself out as a fake boyfriend to help women with persistent exes?” Cole asked with an amused chuckle, his shoulders relaxing.

  Brant scowled. There had never been any pimping or anything untoward. It had always been just a nice thing to do.

  Cole slapped him on the back. “Some things never change, huh? You’re a good man.” He glanced toward the kitchen doorway where Jackie had disappeared. “Except she’s cuter. Why is she here for Christmas?”

  “Her dad’s in a nursing home now, so she had an early supper over there, but typically joins us for the holidays. You heard Connie passed?” he asked, referring to Jackie’s mother. Cole nodded. “Jackie’s going to her brother’s in Dallas tomorrow. They’re at his in-laws tonight.”

  “Remember when she used to chase us around at recess?” Cole smiled at the memory.

  “I’m pretty sure she’d still chase you around, if you were game.”