Hope on the Range

by Cindi Madsen

Chapter 27

  For what seemed like the hundredth time, Brady surveyed the area where Tanya had been before the official rodeo started. Her team had taken a seat in the grandstands, but she wasn’t among them. Partway through the amateur events, she’d disappeared, not even sticking around to see who won the competition.

  A month of buildup and hard work, and she’d left early? What fun was that? Not to mention, it shot his plan to hell. Going over to gloat was going to be his excuse to talk to her and check in and just be where she was. He wouldn’t have rubbed the loss in her face, not with her leaving and their predicament so heavy and sad. He could’ve consoled her, too, with his arms or his mouth or any damn body part she wanted him to use.

  Then she’d missed her own event, something she’d never done before, and she still wasn’t back. The antsy sensation that’d hounded him scraped at his nerves, rubbing them so raw there was hardly anything left.

  Was this what it’d always be like? Searching for Tanya, only to remember she was gone? A sharp pain lanced the center of his chest, stabbing and slicing like he’d caught the wrong end of a bull’s horn.

  Brady glanced down, almost wishing there were blood and gore marking the aching spot. That could be seen and stitched up. If he lost Tanya…

  The wound he couldn’t see gushed.

  Years of working with livestock and machinery and competing in rodeos had taught him that timing was a real bitch. One wrong move, a change in the weather, one second too early or too late, and you’d seal yourself into a different fate.

  Fate. Another bullshit word. Brady thought that was what falling in love with his best friend had been, but it turned out to only be a cruel glimpse of everything they could be.

  He wanted to kick himself for waiting so long to make a move, but as Ma always said, “No use dwelling in the past, or you’ll wreck your present and your shot at a better future.”

  How could the future be better if it involved Tanya living somewhere he wasn’t? The two of them had spent most of their lives together, yet that wasn’t long enough. More than anything, Brady wanted a future with Tanya. But he also wanted her to have the best possible future, and he worried those two desires didn’t go together.

  Since staring at where she used to be wasn’t doing much good, he turned to address Maddox. After the stunt the kid just pulled off, his outlook appeared much shinier than it had last week. “When you said you and Jess had cooked up a plan, I was worried.”

  “Her cooking is a bit hit or miss,” Maddox joked, and Jess popped up out of nowhere.

  “Hey! I heard that.” Jess climbed the metal rungs of the fence and perched herself on the top.

  “Thanks again, Miss Jess,” Maddox said, raising his hand for a high five.

  Harlow, who was still plastered to Maddox’s side, added her thanks as well. Shortly before the team roping event, Maddox had told Brady he’d asked Jess what she’d like to hear as a mother with a daughter, and after chatting about his intentions and making sure they were genuine, they’d come up with the grand speech idea.

  Brady had to give it to the kid. He went from pretending he didn’t care about anything or anyone to pouring his heart out in front of the entire town. He clapped Maddox on the back. “I’m proud of you. It takes balls to take a chance like that. Just make sure you follow through.”

  “I will. And thank you.” Maddox’s expression turned solemn, and he rubbed the side of his neck. “For everything.”

  Suddenly, Brady’s heart felt too big for his chest. This was the good stuff. These moments were what kept him going through the ups and downs of working with at-risk teens.

  “Now,” Maddox said, slapping him on the back, a bit harder than Brady had done to him. “You gonna stop being a pussy and go get your girl?”

  Harlow gasped and jabbed his side with her elbow. “Maddox!”

  “What?” Maddox shrugged. “There’s no better word for it.”

  Brady dragged his hand along his jaw and sighed. “I’m afraid it’s not that easy. Our issues are gonna be harder to overcome.”

  Harlow furrowed her forehead, her skepticism plain as day. “No offense, but considering adults were working to keep Maddox and me apart, I highly doubt that.”

  “Hey, I’m the one who put you together in the first place,” Brady said.

  “And I can never thank you enough for that.” Maddox curled Harlow close and kissed her cheek before returning his gaze to Brady’s. “Which is why I’m telling you to stop being an idiot and go get Tanya. Whatever it takes.”

  “Wait.” Jess pushed off the fence, her bright-pink boots sending up a puff of dirt as she landed. “Are we telling Brady that he should go find Tanya and confess his love for her?”

  Harlow and Maddox nodded.

  “Kathy,” Jess called, and Ma pushed into the circle they’d made. “Do you wanna add anything to our discussion about how your son should go find his best friend and confess he’s in love with her and will do whatever it takes to make them work?”

  Brady pinched the bridge of his nose. “Jeez, you guys. Not that it’s any of your business, but Tanya’s accepted a job offer in Palisade. She’s going to move there and start her horse ranch, and it’s not gonna do either one of us any good to ruin our friendship trying to make a long-distance relationship work.”

  “So what if she’s moving?” Ma cocked her head at him like she must’ve dropped him on his head a few too many times when he was a baby. “Did you forget that you have legs and a truck? When you love someone that much, you go where she goes.”

  “But the ranch—”

  “Can survive without you,” Wade said, stepping up on his other side.

  Brady glanced from one family member to the other. “How do you even know that we—?”

  “Please,” Ma said. “A mother knows. Plus, Jess saw Tanya sneaking into your place in the middle of the night. Then, a couple days later, while I was out tendin’ to my garden, Tanya showed up and you two disappeared into the stables for long enough that I put two and two together. No one spends that much time in there unless they’re muckin’ stalls, and you haven’t mucked in so long you probably forgot how. You and Tanya have been a long time coming, if you ask me, which unfortunately no one does around here.”

  Busted. On every side, apparently. “Okay, yes. She and I’ve moved past being just friends, and of course I love her—how could I not? But the timing’s all off.”

  “Only a fool waits around for timing,” Ma said.

  “And if it’s the ranch you’re worried about, we can manage.” Wade jerked his chin toward Jess. “I’ve been training her and, no offense, but she’s a lot more fun to look at while we’re feeding and fencing and doing the other chores.”

  Jess bounced on the balls of her feet, a scary amount of excitement on her face. “Am I finally going to get to drive a tractor?” she asked, and Wade paled.

  “What we’re saying is,” Wade sidestepped, “do what you gotta do.”

  “I think this is where I repeat my earlier question,” Maddox said, “but I’ll edit it for the sweet girl at my side. Are you gonna cowboy up, or what?”

  The encouragement and love of his family filled in the blanks Brady couldn’t see earlier, leaving two paths before him.

  The one without Tanya was dark and empty, full of shadows and regret.

  The other path showed glimpses of curly red hair. Laughter and kisses and eventually kids who looked like both of them. Days and nights filled with his best friend and the woman he loved and adored, where he always had her back and she had his. The amount of need that washed over him nearly knocked him out of his boots, and he did feel like an idiot for being so close to letting her go without a proper fight.

  “If you’ll all excuse me, I’ve got somewhere to be.” With that, Brady rushed toward his truck. Just before he pulled out of the rodeo grounds, he sent an SOS
text to Tanya, requesting she meet him at their spot as soon as possible.

  * * *

  Tanya was seconds away from texting Brady to meet at their spot when he beat her to the punch.

  Normally, she wasn’t so nervous when she arrived at the place that would forever be theirs, but this was going to be an important, life-changing type of conversation. One that wouldn’t be easy for her.

  She parked her truck beside his, surprised he’d made it here first. He must’ve left the rodeo before the official end, because when she’d driven by, there were plenty of vehicles left in the lot. It’d made her worry she would have to wait another hour or so before Brady could meet her.

  Better just to rip of the Band-Aid than to stew for hours.

  Right?

  Tanya found Brady seated at the shore of the pond, but his feet were still in his boots instead of dangling in the water. “Hey,” she said, and her voice came out croaky after the countless phone calls she’d made, along with the fact that she’d talked to more people in the past couple hours than she normally did in an entire week.

  “Hey.” Brady patted the grass next to him, and she lowered herself to sit cross-legged at his side. Was it only a month and a half ago that Brady had told her his idea about the preshow and they’d had their archery competition where she’d tried—and failed—to flirt? It seemed like yesterday and a lifetime ago.

  Since that’d been the start of the shift between them, it was only fitting they have this big talk here. “I—”

  “You were right,” he said.

  Whoa. Did the cocky cowboy who never admitted defeat just tell her she was right? “About what?”

  “I wasn’t being fair to you. I was so caught up in what your leaving would mean to me and how much I’d miss you that I couldn’t see what I was asking you to give up. I’m sorry for not being excited about your new job, for not supporting your horse-rescue dream the way you needed me to, and for not saying it’s about time you get to steer your own ship.”

  She placed her hand on his and opened her mouth to tell him what she’d decided, but he kept on talking before she could get a word out.

  “Tanya, I’ve loved you in one way or another as long as I can remember. I wouldn’t dare tell you what to do, but I’m gonna tell you what I’m gonna do. I’m coming with you—that’s my decision. Because we’re a team, and a damn good one at that. A couple months back, I felt so restless, like I was missing something. But becoming an us changed all that. I don’t need shiny belt buckles or fancy saddles. What I need is you by my side. I can’t live without you, and I’m in love with you, and that means my dreams are your dreams.”

  Tears gathered in her eyes, and if this guy didn’t have her whole heart already, she’d have handed it right over. “You’d be willing to move with me to Palisade? To leave your family ranch and your home to start over with me?”

  Brady cupped her cheek, and the eyes she’d peered into at every single stage of both of their lives locked on to hers. “You’re my home, Yaya. And a cowboy sticks to his home—that’s the cowboy way.”

  Tanya curled her hand around his wrist. “You have no idea what that means to me. You’re right. It is time for me to steer my own boat and live out my dreams.” She sucked in a deep breath, one that might’ve been closer to a sniff. “I had this idea, and I spent the entire afternoon running around to see if I could pull it off.”

  Excitement sent her stomach somersaulting, even as an internal voice told her not to get too far ahead of herself. First things first, she needed to figure out where to even start. “I spoke with my parents about my plans and, after laying it all out there, Mom shocked the hell out of me and confessed to Pops that she’d asked me to come home from college. She stood up and told him I’d been doing most of the work on the ranch for the past couple years, and Pops agreed.”

  A strangled laugh came out. “Can you believe that? Because I couldn’t. While it didn’t magically fix everything, Pops did offer to allow me to build another set of stables on the back forty.”

  Hope shimmered in Brady’s blue eyes, beautiful and bright. It buoyed her and left her soaring before her flawed nature took hold and yanked her back to earth.

  “But then he started adding all these stipulations, and I realized that if I didn’t break completely free, he and I would always butt heads. Work would become a battle, and he’d constantly be weighing my time with the rescue horses against the hours I put into the dude ranch. He’s back on his feet well enough, and they can afford to hire help, but I can’t afford to waste any more time not going after my dreams.”

  Brady’s hope flickered out, although she could see how hard he was attempting to pretend it was still there.

  “I also talked to the Thompsons, and the bank, and Eric…” This was the hard part, the moment she’d dreaded. But looking at this man she loved more than anything—the man who was her home as much as she was his—it didn’t seem so hard after all.

  The passion that’d fueled her frenzied afternoon surged, pushing her to let go and give this man everything. “I don’t need you to save me—”

  “I know,” Brady said. “Like I said, I wasn’t being fair, and you amaze me each and every day. You’re the strongest women I’ve ever met, and I love that about you.”

  She pressed her fingertips to his lips. “If you’ll just let me finish, I had a speech all prepared, and you’re ruining my flow.”

  He grinned against her fingertips, and she lowered them so she could give him a quick peck on the mouth. “I don’t need you to save me, but I do need you to help me save myself. The Thompsons are willing to split off a ten-acre lot. Unfortunately, the bank won’t lend me the money to buy it and build a stable unless I have a cosigner. And I was hoping…”

  If she left that hanging in the air, Tanya was confident Brady would fill in the blank, but it was important for her to take this step and cement the part of their relationship she’d been too stubborn to give on before. “My dream is you, Brady. Not just you but the two of us being able to do what we love—for me, that’s running the rescue ranch, and I know you don’t want to leave your family, land, or job. We can totally have it all, if…” She licked her lips, forcing out words that’d never been easy for her. “Will you cosign on the loan and help me?”

  “Is that the end of the speech?” Brady asked.

  “Guess it was shorter than I realized.” Her heart beat double time, and she twisted a hair around her finger, around and around—and why was he taking so long to answer?

  “Yes. I’d be honored to cosign the loan and help you build your rescue ranch. That thing you said about dreams…?” He plunged his fingers into her hair, cupping the back of her head and drawing her face toward his. “You’re mine, too, and I can’t wait to live out the rest of my days with you.”

  Brady sealed the words with a breath-robbing kiss, one that reached down and gripped hold of her very soul. “I just had a brilliant idea…”

  Tanya pressed her lips together, but it wasn’t enough to stifle her smile. “This is what I get for forgetting to schedule your narcissism intervention.”

  His deep laugh vibrated through her, and he nipped at her lower lip. “Oh, I’m about to show you that I think a lot about other people. For instance…” He moved his lips to the spot where her jaw met her neck and placed a hot, openmouthed kiss on her skin. “I’ve thought about your mouth and this neck.” He tugged down the sleeve of her shirt, exposing her shoulder and drifting the tip of his tongue across her collarbone. “Thought about licking every inch of your body…”

  “Okay, that is actually sounding rather brilliant,” she breathed more than said.

  “We could also throw in a bet about who can give who more orgasms.”

  “Ah, one of those ‘participation trophy’ challenges, where everyone wins.”

  Brady paused, his mouth hovering over the swell of
her breast, two inches above where she needed his lips and scruffy chin. “Are you saying you don’t want to play?”

  Tanya slid her hands up the back of his shirt, running them over the muscles in his back. “Oh, I want to play.”

  “Good. I think we can do better than a participation trophy. Although come to think of it, I should be the one getting a prize. My team beat yours today after all.”

  “I can’t believe you’re going to bring that up right—” She moaned as the rasp of his whiskers hit her skin. “Then again, I’m sure I can think up a suitable reward.”

  She peeled off his shirt, and hers was quick to follow. Then they were exploring each other’s bodies, adrift on a sea of euphoric sensations, as they claimed this place as theirs in every single way.

  Read on for an excerpt of

  A Cowboy Never Quits

  Available now from Sourcebooks Casablanca

  Chapter 1

  Of all the places Jessica Cook had thought she’d spend the eve of her thirty-first birthday, a correctional ranch for teens wasn’t one of them. Which was par for the course, really. None of her plans for life had gone the way she’d originally intended.

  If she dwelled on that right now, she might lose the battle to hold back her tears, so she swallowed the lump in her throat and shoved that thought away to lament over later. The faces looking back at her were a range of ages, from the couple in their sixties to the three ridiculously handsome males in their late twenties to early thirties.

  Don’t think about the hot cowboys, either. She’d expected grizzled men with gray mustaches—which the eldest Dawson was sporting in the most Sam Elliott of ways. What she hadn’t expected were the three dudes donning cowboy hats, some seriously sexy scruff, and jeans tight enough to display…well, something she hadn’t noticed or thought about in quite some time, and she was totally going to stop thinking about it now.

  While the five people on the other side of the wooden-walled office all wore kind expressions—save the furrow-browed one in the middle who’d hijacked the meeting about a minute in—Jessica’s nerves stretched tighter, her panic ratcheting up a notch. She couldn’t fail. Just couldn’t.