I left my CEO job making millions a year and now worked as a prosthetic technician, specializing in developing new chemical compounds to make the metals lighter, so the legs in turn could be lighter. It wasn’t cosmetics to make women beautiful, but it gave back the dignity to wounded warriors and now children who’d suffered as well. I’d never been happier. I could have fought harder to keep my job at Delsey Cosmetics, but then I wouldn’t have this. All of this.
I raised my water glass and smiled at Walker. This wasn’t about me. Go. Go!
“Welcome home, Delsey,” Mama Rhodes said from across the table and blew me a kiss.
Walker had turned forty a couple of years ago, and since he’d declared himself not the marrying kind, poor Olympia had maybe been thinking she’d never see this day.
“Even braver than Delsey moving back home to little ole Wild Heart was this filly right here.” He cupped Emma’s shoulder and she looked as relaxed as could be.
Oh, hell’s bells, she knew the proposal was coming.
“I told this woman out of the gate, I don’t do relationships and I ain’t fixin’ to get married.”
“Walker!” Mama Rhodes crowed and Harlan gripped her hand, tamping down her excitement.
He knew too!
Not as many people were gonna lose their minds as I’d hoped.
“He also said, he ain’t boyfriend material,” Emma purred. “And I said...” She developed a southern accent in the nearly four years she’d been living in Wild Heart. “You ain’t no boy. You’re a man.”
I felt my eyes roll imagining the kind of intense sex those two had. Logan rocked my world in his bed with passion and heat. Walker was all brute force and raw intensity. Mama wouldn’t be asking them to move into Nickel Song.
The columns in front of the house would be rattling every night.
I rolled my fingers signaling Walker to get on with it when he looked at me. At this point, I was looking forward to him calling Parker. At least he’d be surprised.
“I also told Emmaline I wasn’t flowery. So here goes.” Walker took the box from his pocket as he got down on one knee.
A few gasps, not the shock and awe lose-your-mind-fest I was hoping for. Grace looked surprised and smiled so wide for her best friend.
Walker proposed.
Emma said yes.
No hoopla. Just very sweet.
Now, I’m gonna have to walk around Wild Heart naked to top this.
The servers whisked in and began removing the plates. We got up from the table and moved into the grand living room while they cleaned up and got the dessert platters ready. I’d already eaten two pieces of blueberry pie and honestly, I felt ready to bust.
You should have seen the look on Mama’s face earlier when I brought my plate back to the table with a slice of pie and a heap of mashed potatoes next to it.
In the corner, near a door to Daddy’s office, I hugged Walker and Emma and looked at the ring.
“Nicely done, Dr. Rhodes.” I loved the simple round shape set in a circle of halo diamonds. “Congratulations, Dr. Phillips.”
“Yes, nicely done.” Logan shook Walker’s hand, keeping the other on me.
At. All. Times. Which I loved about him. Which reminded me...
I turned to him and sang softly in his ear, “Have I told you lately, that I love you?”
He smiled. “Yep, but keep those reminders coming because I won’t lie, it’s still hard to believe.”
“Believe it!” I smiled and turned back to Walker. “When are we calling Parker?”
Walker snorted. “I guess now’s as good a time as any.”
“What time is it in Wyoming?” Emma asked.
“They’re an hour behind us, sugar.” Walker stared at his phone.
“What’s wrong?” Emma leaned against her man.
“I’m...afraid.” Walker dragged in a breath. “Afraid he won’t take my call. I have the biggest question of my life. Er, the second biggest.”
Emma marrying Walker was a foregone conclusion. Parker picking up the damn phone on Thanksgiving was a wild card.
“Here goes.” Walker scrolled through his phone.
“Does he have an iPhone, too? Can you FaceTime him?” I asked, admittedly wanting to see Parker after so many years.
“What’s going on?” Grace asked, wandering into the circle we made, eating a piece of pumpkin pie. It wouldn’t have made sense not to include her and Owen today. I’d learned from us getting close she didn’t have anyone else. She didn’t speak to her parents, but I didn’t know why. I’d pried enough information about her when she told me about Hawk, Owen’s dad.
I still owned property in Wild Heart and wouldn’t divest until a tenant wanted to buy or move. With the LLC making more money from the new lending arm, Grace’s increased salary and the perks I promised her were easy to cover every month.
Emma held Grace’s hand. “Walker is calling Parker to ask him to be the best man. You two will be spending a lot of time together.”
“The mysterious Parker Rhodes.” Grace shimmied her hips. “I have goosebumps.”
“When did you see Parker last, baby?” Emma asked Walker.
He blew out a breath. “Nine years ago, I think. He came into town for our parents’ thirty-fifth wedding anniversary and it was like pulling damn teeth. He left the party right after they blew out the candles, saying he had an early flight and wanted to stop at The Whistling Frog to catch up with old friends before he left.”
I froze.
Nine years ago
The Whistling Frog.
Owen!
Only...Grace hadn’t reacted. She was finishing her dessert. Maybe I remembered the details wrong, or Grace hadn’t told me the exact truth. Maybe she made up Hawk and really bought some sperm.
I breathed and turned back to Walker, who now held the phone up to his face as the wah-wah chimes of a FaceTime call rang out.
Emma leaned on his arm, smiling. What a way to meet your soon-to-be brother-in-law.
“Walker?” the deep gravelly voice I remembered as Parker’s came out of his phone.
“Happy Thanksgiving, bro.”
“Thank you. You too. You know they have Thanksgiving every year, bro. To what do I owe the honor of a call this year? A FaceTime call no less.”
“This is Emma.” Walker tilted the screen toward her.
“Hi, Parker!”
“Well hello, Emma. What have you done to my brother that’s got him calling Wyoming on a holiday for me to meet you?”
“It’s what he’s done to me.” She held up her ring. “I’m gonna be your sister.”
“Holy shit, Walker. That’s fantastic. Thanks for the news, I have to—”
“Hang on, Parker.” Walker looked flustered, his hands gripping the phone. “Okay, here it is. I want you to be my best man. And you don’t have a year to get out of it. Emma and I want a Christmas wedding. Next month. Go talk to that foreman of yours on your ranch and get your ass home to Wild Heart as soon as possible. I assume you have a ton of vacation time built up. I want you here for the whole thing, man. The tux fittings, everything. I need you, big brother.”
My heart ached, listening to Walker choke up.
“Please, Parker?” Emma flashed a smile that did one Rhodes brother in.
Grace now took an interest in the call, hearing the want in Emma’s voice. Parker stayed silent. The phone’s screen lit up on Walker’s face, making it glow.
“Hawk, you coming?” sounded from the phone in the background.
Grace dropped her plate, my mother’s good china thankfully bouncing off the thick carpet.
“Grace, what’s wrong?” Logan asked, picking up the plate.
She and I exchanged looks.
Hawk.
I lunged for Walker’s phone and with it in my grasp, I stared at the screen. “Hey, Parker. Remember me?” I could only see one side of his face since he held his iPhone on a damn odd angle.
Didn’t matter, the man was still go
rgeous like his brother. Same dark hair. Same steel blue eyes. His face had weathered beautifully with hard lines around his eyes and mouth from the harsh Wyoming winters making him even more damn handsome. Walker had been right, working on a cattle ranch was tough work and it showed on Parker’s sculpted god-like face. The half he let me see.
“Delsey?” Parker sounded shocked to see me.
“It’s me. We have so much to catch up on.” My hands shook holding the phone as I slowly tilted it to show Grace, who looked ready to throw up.
She nodded, breathing raggedly.
“I hear. Lots happening in Wild Heart,” Parker said, sounding anxious to get off the phone. “My confirmed bachelor brother getting married is quite the shocker I guess I’ll need details on.”
“So come home. I’d send my plane, but I sold it. Come home and I’ll personally fill you in.” The light caught Grace’s eyes as I made the screen visible to her.
In a flash, she held her throat and turned away just as fast.
Oh. My. God.
Parker Rhodes, aka Hawk, was Owen’s father. That meant... I went breathless. Walker was Owen’s uncle. All this time that little boy had been under his roof. Under his nose.
I’ve seen those eyes somewhere.
Yeah, they were his eyes because he had the same eyes as Parker. The Rhodes gray-blue eyes were legendary in Wild Heart. And holy smokes, Harlan and Mama Rhodes had a grandbaby! Right there on Mama’s living room sofa!
“Okay, Parker. Please don’t disappoint Walker and I hope to see you real soon. Here’s your brother.” I shoved the phone back at Walker and with Logan’s hand tight in mine, I yanked him away to find Grace.
“Darlin’ what’s got you all caddywonked?” he said to me as I searched for Grace.
“Parker is Owen’s father,” I mumbled.
“Are you shitting me?”
Grace sat next to Owen on the couch, holding him, her face flushed and her eyes closed. Maddie cuddled on the opposite couch with my mom. Both sofas sat in front of the fireplace, roaring with crackling flames. I took a seat next to Grace and Logan lowered next to Owen. Our hands overlapped on the back of the couch. We were a team, Logan and me.
“Breathe, Grace,” I whispered in her ear. “This is a good thing. You found him.”
“How do I tell him?” she muttered, her lips on Owen’s head. “Both of them.”
Crap. I hadn’t thought about that part.
Logan and I exchanged looks, I felt grounded having him in my life. Some serious shit was about to go down in Wild Heart. Our friends’ lives were about to turn upside down.
“Grace?” Walker’s deep voice sounded over our shoulders. “You all right?”
“Grace?” Emma crouched in front of her.
I took a deep breath and laid one last look on Logan. “Start by telling Walker,” I whispered to Grace. “He deserves to know, too.”
“Tell Walker what?” Emma asked, her curious eyes on me.
“Yeah, tell Walker what?” The six-foot-three cowboy came around to face Grace and me.
Grace lifted her beautiful violet eyes and I realized the minute Parker saw those eyes his world would come crashing down around him. No one forgot those eyes. Even if he may have forgotten a one-night-stand with a stranger nine years ago.
“Walker...” Grace took a deep breath. “I have something to tell you....”
Thank you for reading The Cowboy’s Rebel Heart! If you enjoyed this book, please consider leaving a REVIEW.
The story picks up right from here in The Cowboy’s Christmas Bride.
A woman haunts my dreams. Is she real? I'm not sure. A side effect of head trauma. Then I go home for the first time in nine years to get all my questions answered. And something else too...
Parker:
I’ve not been home to Wild Heart, Texas in nine years. I’ve been recovering from a head injury I got on my cattle ranch in Wyoming. Trauma that stole large chunks of my memory and left me with scars I don’t want my family to see.
When my brother Walker announces he's getting married at Christmas and wants his big brother as his best man, I’m out of excuses and must go home to face my family.
I wasn’t expecting to meet the woman who’s been haunting my dreams for nine years, a woman who holds the key to my best stolen memory. The greatest night of my life.
Grace:
I met an alluring stranger nine years ago and then never saw him again. I knew it was a one-night-stand, but my mystery man left me with more than just amazing memories.
When my best friend, Emma, asks me to be the maid of honor at her upcoming Christmas wedding and begs me to let the best man stay in the apartment over my garage for all the wedding and holiday festivities, saying yes is easy.
Then I meet the mysterious Parker Rhodes. Only he's not exactly a stranger...
Grab The Cowboy’s Christmas Bride right HERE
WILD TEXAS HEARTS COWBOY SERIES
Save a Horse. Ride a Cowboy! Preferably mine :)
The Cowboys of Wild Heart, Texas are here!
The Cowboy's Forbidden Crush: An Age-Gap Professor-Student Forbidden Romance
The Cowboy's Last Song: A Country Music Star Single Dad Romance
The Cowboy's Accidental Wife: A Marriage Mistake Sports Romance
The Cowboy's Rebel Heart: An Enemies to Lovers Romance
The Cowboy's Christmas Bride: A Secret Child Amnesia Holiday Small Town Romance
MORE BOOKS BY DEBORAH GARLAND
The Lords of Gotham Billionaire Romantic Comedies
The Good Billionaire: (Free Prequel) Grumpy Doctor
Daring the Billionaire: Strangers to Lovers
Bossy Billionaire: Grumpy Boss
Rebel Billionaire: Enemies to Lovers
Fiery Billionaire: Fireman’s Fake Date Debacle
Reluctant Billionaire: (Formerly Book 1) Marriage of Convenience
The Mallory Family Romances
Wait for Me: Millionaire Office Grump
All for Me: Second Chance Runaway Bride
Live for Me: Single Dad/Fireman Romance
His Christmas Surprise: Family Drama Christmas Baby
Stay with Me: Billionaire Accidental Pregnancy
The Princeton Allegiant Series (Paranormal Romance/Vampires)
Drawing Bloodlines
Guarding Bloodlines
Matching Bloodlines
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
I wrote this book nearly two years before it was published as part of the Wild Texas Hearts series. It’d gone from being a standalone to Book 4 in a series. A shocker. That meant when I picked it up for editing, I had a world to weave in. I’d waited for years to bring this special couple to the page. Thank you to Lauren R for helping me with the CVS scene. And to my team, Julie, Samantha, Marsha, Kia, Karen, and Carol I really can not do this without you. xoxo
HERE’S DEBORAH
Deborah Garland is a 3x Award-Winning author of emotional and funny, steamy romances!
She lives on the beautiful North Shore of Long Island with her very patient husband and their mischievous pug. She had to learn how to make her own Cosmopolitans and right now there’s a bartender who will NEVER see her again. She eats cheap mac and cheese with expensive red wine, her heroes are ALWAYS over six feet tall, and they fall, hard, HARD for the girl.
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The Cowboy's Rebel Heart: An Enemies to Lovers Second Chance Romance (Wild Texas Hearts Book 4) Page 25
